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Pod Save America

Department of War (Crimes)

December 02, 2025 • 1h 39m

Summary

⏱️ 16 min read

Overview

Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor discuss the Trump administration's response to a Washington D.C. shooting by an Afghan veteran, allegations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered war crimes in the Caribbean, Trump's pardon of a Honduran drug trafficker, and various corruption scandals. The episode concludes with Tommy's interview with Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand about flipping the state and addressing issues like trade wars and rising cancer rates.

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Afghan Shooting and Immigration Crackdown

Following a shooting by an Afghan national who killed a National Guard member deployed to D.C., the Trump administration announced sweeping immigration restrictions despite the shooter having been extensively vetted and granted asylum by Trump's own administration. The White House is using the tragedy as justification for Stephen Miller's long-planned agenda to restrict legal immigration from what Trump calls "third world countries," including ending asylum for Afghans who helped the U.S. military and reviewing green cards from 19 countries. The hosts argue this represents collective punishment and white nationalism rather than a genuine security response.

  • 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with CIA-backed militia for 10 years ambushed National Guard members, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom
  • Shooter was extensively vetted and granted asylum by Trump administration in spring 2025
  • Trump announced pause on migration from 'third world countries' and plans to denaturalize migrants and deport those 'non-compatible with western civilization'
  • Administration ended asylum for Afghans and temporary protections for those evacuated in 2021, reviewing green cards from 19 countries
  • Policy represents collective punishment - one individual's crime used to punish everyone from Afghanistan including U.S. allies
  • DHS tweeted 'remigration now' - a European far-right concept of ethnic cleansing via mass deportation
  • Stephen Miller tweeted migrants 'and their descendants' recreate conditions of their broken homelands
" I will permanently pause migration from all third world countries, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States or is incapable of loving our country. "
" Migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions and terrors of their broken homelands. "
" This is like a fucking war crime and should be prosecuted. This is a war crime that should be prosecuted. I think one of the reasons we're in such a dangerous moment is because hanging over all of this is the fact that Trump will, of course, before this gets anywhere, try to get out of it by pardoning him. "

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