Episode 142 | Gen. Hertling Warns: Trump’s Plan for America’s Military

It's Complicated

Renato Mariotti

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Trump is openly pushing to use American cities as “training grounds” for the military and targeting “the enemy within.” Ret. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling joins Asha and Renato to break down the unprecedented meeting with top military brass - and what it means for the country and democracy. Plus, the stunning indictment of former FBI Director Jim Comey, a dramatic escalation in Trump’s campaign to weaponize the Justice Department against his enemies - and why it could ultimately backfire. Tune in! Cruise with us:https://www.travelstore.com/group-travel/its-complicated-cruise-2026/ Asha Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/Subscribe to our podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/its-complicatedFollow Asha on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/asharangappa.bsky.socialFollow Renato on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/renatomariotti.bsky.socialFollow Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asha.rangappa/Follow Renato on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renato.mariotti/Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Legal AF Substack: https://substack.com/@legalaf Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF by MeidasTouch podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	So, Asha, can Pete Hegeseth order the military to go to war in our cities?
0:06.0	It's complicated.
0:12.0	I'm Renato Marietti. I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a legal analyst.
0:19.0	And I'm Asha Rangappa.
0:21.4	I teach national security law at Yale University.
0:24.2	I'm a former FBI special agent, and I'm the author of the Freedom Academy Substack.
0:29.1	And hi, I'm Mark Hurtling.
0:30.3	I'm a retired lieutenant journal in the U.S. Army, and I'm their esteemed guest today.
0:35.3	And we're here to help you understand topics that can't be boiled down into a soundbite or a skeet.
0:45.3	General Hartlein, thank you so much for joining us. It's a real honor to have you with us today.
0:50.3	No, it's a pleasure to be with both of you. I really enjoy the things you do and it's fun to be with you to talk about some very difficult,
0:58.0	complicated things.
1:00.0	Yeah, I feel like, you know, we love having, we don't bring on guests very often and I love
1:06.2	it when we do because I think we bring on people who know a lot about the topics, but it's
1:09.4	usually because something crazy has happened.
1:11.9	So that's like this week, which is complete crazy cakes.
1:21.9	So, you know, I saw you on TV General talking about this meeting and how unusual it was just on its face, just this idea that
1:29.8	you're going to bring in these 800, you know, flag officers generals. And there was a lot of
1:37.3	speculation about some of the things that could go down. Like, is this a loyalty oath? Is this a big
1:42.1	purge? I mean, best case scenario, it seemed like this is some major secure briefing that only can be done in person or something, even though I know that we clearly have technology where that could happen remotely.
1:58.0	Yeah.
1:59.0	And it wasn't any of those things. What was your initial reaction?
	...

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