WTH: Can Trump Really Build a Golden Dome to Protect America? J.D. Crouch Explains
What the Hell Is Going On
AEI Podcasts
4.4 • 633 Ratings
🗓️ 5 June 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump has promised Americans that in three years, with the help of Congress’ “Big Beautiful Bill” and a $25 billion-dollar downpayment, his dreams of a golden dome protecting the nation will become a reality. Inspired by Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome, Trump has selected General Guetlein of the Space Force to lead the missile defense shield project, signaling a focus on space that is bound to ratchet up the arms race in the skies. With our adversary’s missile capabilities growing by the day, can a ‘golden dome’ save us? What does it mean for deterrence? And how much time and money will it take?
Dr. J.D. Crouch has had a distinguished diplomatic career as a leader in national security and missile defense. Dr. Crouch served in the administrations of presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W Bush and George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on policy for missile defense, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. As an advisor to the U.S. Delegation on Nuclear and Space Arms Talks with the former Soviet Union, Dr. Crouch is a foremost expert in missile defense and serves as a Senior Advisor to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Read the transcript here.
Subscribe to our Substack here.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This podcast is brought to you by the American Enterprise Institute. |
| 0:03.1 | If you like what you hear, please subscribe, rate, review, and share. |
| 0:07.1 | Thanks for listening. Here's our show. |
| 0:08.7 | What the hell is going on? |
| 0:10.5 | What's really going on? |
| 0:12.0 | We said, what the hell happened? |
| 0:13.5 | You don't have to know what the hell is on it. |
| 0:15.6 | They see what's going on. |
| 0:16.7 | I don't know what's going on. |
| 0:18.0 | What is going on? |
| 0:20.0 | We must find out what's going on. What is going on? We must find out what is going on. |
| 0:30.8 | Hi, I'm Danielle Pletka. |
| 0:32.4 | I'm Mark Teeson. |
| 0:33.2 | Welcome to our podcast. |
| 0:34.5 | What the hell is going on? |
| 0:35.8 | What the hell is going on is that four and a half decades after Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, we're finally going to build it. |
| 0:45.0 | Donald Trump, who has a giant portrait of Ronald Reagan in his Oval Office, every press conference he does in the Oval Office, has announced that we are building the Golden Dome, |
| 0:54.6 | and he wants it to deploy before he leaves office. And he's marshalling, he put a general in charge |
| 0:59.7 | of the effort. He's calling on Congress to put in his big, beautiful bill, to fund it, the first |
| 1:04.3 | tranche of it. And he's going to build it. You know, God bless him, this is one of the best things |
| 1:08.5 | that Donald Trump has done since he's come back for his second term. |
| 1:11.4 | All in favor. Yes. What a shock to all of our listeners. Well, here's the shock. You're in favor, too. And you give him credit, don't you? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from AEI Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of AEI Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.