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Mike Drop

Green Beret Muslim Veteran Goes Nuclear on Trump Admin, Tariffs & America’s Future | Ep. 266 | Pt. 3

Mike Drop

Mike Ritland

Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Documentary, Politics, News

4.96.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2025

⏱️ 98 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this powerful and unfiltered part 3 of episode 266, host Mike Ritland sits down with former U.S. Army Green Beret and Afghan-American Kawa Mawlayee — a first-generation immigrant who fled Soviet-occupied Afghanistan as a child, grew up in the American Midwest, and went on to serve 23 years in Special Forces, including multiple combat tours. What starts as a discussion about Trump’s leadership style, tariffs, and manufacturing quickly evolves into a raw, no-holds-barred exploration of the biggest issues facing America in 2025: foreign policy hypocrisy, the military-industrial complex, the Israel-Palestine conflict, Islamophobia and the myth of “Sharia law takeover,” America-First nationalism vs. endless overseas entanglements, accountability in leadership, the future of the U.S. military under Pete Hegseth, and whether the country is sliding toward internal conflict. Kawa brings a rare perspective: a Muslim Green Beret who loves America deeply, calls out both parties, refuses PAC money, and isn’t afraid to criticize Israel, U.S. foreign policy, or the current administration — all while still serving in the National Guard Special Forces. The result is one of the most honest, nuanced, and at times uncomfortable conversations you’ll hear from two combat veterans who actually agree on far more than they disagree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

I mean, yeah, I agree, man.

0:01.8

I mean, Trump, like, there's nobody's going to tell Trump how to talk and what to tweet and what not the tweet.

0:20.7

But that's just him. We just have to accept him for who he is. But now, like, at least conduct yourself like a president. If you don't have the personality as a president, fine. Yeah. I mean, there's no criteria for what a personality needs to be like. But dude, you are the leader of the entire world.

0:21.7

Everybody listens to you.

0:20.8

Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, you are the leader of the entire world. Everybody listens to you.

0:21.9

Yeah, I mean, if you think about, like,

0:23.9

we've been in fortunate positions to be around, you know,

0:28.0

some of the best men that I think this planet has created,

0:31.4

you know, in American Special Operations Forces.

0:34.3

Like, there's, you know, I that I think back to that that I

0:40.0

would want to emulate that inspired me to want to be a better man to to hold myself in a

0:45.1

certain regard to to conduct myself in a certain manner and it's it's guys like that I

0:50.6

think that it's like that's who should be in positions like that or people that are in

0:55.1

positions that way need to carry themselves that way you and I come from a more structured

1:00.1

background where we have seen leadership in all shapes and forms good bad and and we've we are quick

1:07.0

to identify what's bad leadership versus good leadership and And so we look at our presidency the same way.

1:11.7

We try to put some stars on his collar and say,

1:16.4

is that how a four stars should talk?

1:18.0

You know, is that how the sec deaf or the sec war should talk?

1:21.7

And I think it's, there's definitely a tone with this administration.

1:25.1

There's definitely a tone that they speak within

1:27.8

that's very similar to one another. It's kind of a my way or the highway kind of. Like you're gonna do this, if not then too bad. And I don't know where that stems from, but. Again, I think it's the, you know, when you run a company and you can do it that way, I still don't think it's the right way to do it. You know, to me it's the adage, you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar. It's like if the goal is to get as many people on board with X, that's not the way to do it, you know? It's like if you demand and command that this is going to happen, Like you can't make people respect you.

...

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