Maryland Governor Wes Moore returns to Independent Americans for a Veterans Day conversation that refuses to let anyone spike the football. Elon Musk’s DOGE fired more than 31,000 federal workers in Maryland alone — one in four of them military veterans — and on January 1, up to 680,000 children could lose food assistance. Moore is blunt: the message from Tuesday’s election wasn’t that a party won, it was that the American people are losing. Trump still has two years, still has the power to deploy ICE into American cities, still has the power to start a new war. The job now is not to celebrate. The job is to get to work.
Paul and the Governor also look down the road at a looming post-9/11 veteran showdown for the presidency — Vance, Hegseth, DeSantis on one side; Moore, Buttigieg, Sherrill and others on the other — and what it means for the country when combat-tested independents and partisans finally face off for the top job. They close on what Veterans Day is actually supposed to mean: not a Hallmark holiday, not a day off, but a reminder that veterans are an investment, not a charity, and that the country still needs them in the fight. This is a conversation for every American who’s done with cheerleaders in Congress and ready for leaders who remember who they’re fighting for.
In this episode
- Why Moore says Tuesday’s election was not a Democratic victory lap — it was a warning that the American people are losing
- The 31,000 federal workers fired in Maryland by Elon Musk’s DOGE, and why one in four were military veterans
- 680,000 kids on the edge of losing food assistance on January 1 — and who voted to put them there
- “Donald Trump didn’t want leaders in Congress. He wanted cheerleaders.” Moore on how that era ends
- The looming post-9/11 veteran showdown for president: Vance, Hegseth, DeSantis vs. Moore, Buttigieg, Sherrill
- Why Moore is focused on January 2027, not November 2028 — and what Trump can still do with two years left
- Veterans are not a charity. They’re an investment. Moore’s Veterans Day message to a divided country
- Why Moore is more concerned with running Ravens GM than running for president — for now
- Baby Governor School: Democrats, Republicans and independents putting politics aside at the National Governors Association
- Paul’s charge: make every day Veterans Day, and stop minimizing service to a Hallmark holiday
