Ned Ryun
Appearances
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Yeah, no, good to be back with you, Dan, and looking forward to the conversation.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
That's right. No, I mean... It is a new day in America. What is this? Happy Liberation Day number three or four. He hit the ground running and made it very clear with his executive orders. I mean, I kind of put them in three different buckets, Dan. One was obviously the idea of border immigration slash citizenship. The other one was energy. And then the last one was administrative state.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
I loved all of the executive orders except for the TikTok one. Well, I'm not going to quibble. We can't be perfect, but we can be pretty close to perfect. And I think one of the fundamental issues that you just brought up If you don't have an enforceable border, you don't have sovereignty, you don't even really have citizenship.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And I think the whole idea of what does it actually mean to be a citizen, whether it's this whole question mark about birthright citizenship or people coming in illegally and then having all the benefits in many ways of American citizens, what does it actually mean to be an American citizen moving forward? And I think Trump has realized that.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Obviously, it's been a big issue for him on the idea of border and immigration. And I think this whole idea of birthright citizenship is going to bring up the debate. What does it actually mean to be an American citizen? We are not an economic zone. We are very unique people with a very unique culture, with a very unique constitution and a constitutional republic.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And so we have to have the conversation about what does it actually mean to be a citizen of this country? And this is, again, one of those issues, birthright citizenship.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Well, that's I mean, this is I mean, I've had this conversation with him in the past. Like you have four years. It doesn't matter. You're not going for reelection. Let's make this the most epic four years we've ever seen, at least in recent times, maybe for generations, for this country.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And let's have these big fundamental questions about, obviously, border immigration citizenship, obviously the future of this country in regards to energy independence and all of these things. But also, I couldn't tell which one I loved the most in the executive orders dealing with the administrative state. But let's have the conversation about the legitimacy of that.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And the thing that has been very apparent to me and very unique about Donald Trump among recent Republican presidents is that he has rejected the premise that what we have in our current form of governance in an administrative state is not legitimate. He rejects the premise. and he's calling into question with these executive orders, you are not legitimate. You do not decide.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
You do not set policy. The head of the Article II executive branch, the duly elected president, that'd be Trump, I'm the one who decides the policies, and your job and your responsibility is to actually implement those policies and to work for the benefit of the American people.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
I mean, his one, not to get too into the weeds here, Dan, but his executive order on the SES types, the Senior Executive Service Officials, Amazing. And for those that are listening that are maybe not as aware, you have all the political appointees, the secretaries, the undersecretaries, all the political appointments. Then you've got the federal employees.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
In between the political appointments and the federal employees is the SES level. It's a very powerful government official. And they manage, I think it's about 75 federal agencies. And they, again, Dan, they think they decide. They think they govern. They think they set policy. And for him to directly address the SES level on day one in an executive order, amazing. Absolutely incredible.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
But the point I want to make to those listening is the fact that the progressives, when they started this administrative state, these SES types, and I would argue GS-14s and 15s, they have been operating under the entire premise of the administrative state, which is the unelected bureaucrats are the ones who are supposed to govern. They're the ones who are supposed to decide.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
It has nothing to do with the Constitutional Republic. And again, it goes back to those fundamental issues I was talking about.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Donald Trump understands there are fundamental issues that have to be addressed for the good of the country now, but also for the future of the country, what we will look like as a people, what we will look like as citizens, will we be energy independent, which is a national security issue, and what form of governance will we actually have? Will we return to a republic?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Are we gonna continue down this administrative state path? I mean, that's the thing that I hope people did not lose in those executive orders, And dealing with obviously very current issues, but fundamental at the very basis for who we are as a people, who we are as a country, what our future looks like. And honestly, except for the TikTok thing, I couldn't be happier with what he did.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Yeah, American Leviathan is the birth of the administrative state and progressive authoritarianism.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
really about the rise at the turn of the 20th century of these progressives rejecting our Constitutional Republic, rejecting and breaking apart the machinery of the Republic, which is the diffusion of power, and then building out this massive bureaucracy, administrative state filled with unelected bureaucrats, who really they viewed as a vehicle for salvation.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And they viewed the bureaucrats as the ones, even though they were unelected, as the ones who should be doing the actual governing, And then you find yourself in the 21st century going, why do these unelected bureaucrats think they decide? Why do they think they can take out the duly elected president of the United States?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And you realize this tension is between two very different governing philosophies. So I try to make it a very concise discussion. explanation of where it began, how we got here and then how we get out of it. So American Leviathan. And I appreciate the great Dan Bongino blurbing the book for me.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
But having some conversations with current elected officials and members of Congress, it's even worse than you think, Ned. There are lots of members of Congress who think they should take, they ask these different departments and agencies, what money do you need? They take them at face value.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
They think their job and responsibilities then pass through, be a pass through to give these agencies and departments whatever they want. They pass these four and 5,000 page bills that are kind of roughly frame out kind of generally what they want. They send it to these unelected bureaucrats in the article two branch where most of the administrative state resides.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And these bureaucrats put the fine points with statutes and regulations on these bills, and that's the actual governing. So Congress has not only capitulated in oversight because they just give them the funding that they want, they've also capitulated on the idea of legislating.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
I mean, the Article I branch has, of their own volition over decades, given these Article II bureaucrats the right to govern this country. And I think this is, again, one of the fundamental issues where you've got to get back to there's an Article I branch, there's an Article II branch, there's an Article III branch, because the founders got something very right, Dan.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
They did not trust human nature. They did not trust human nature to have consolidated power. And the whole idea was diffusion of power so that it would never be abused. And what the bureaucrats and the administrative state have been doing and trying to do for the last 100 years –
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
It's consolidate the legislative, executive, and judicial into one branch, into their bureaucracy to be able to do everything that they want with not a whole lot of oversight and then dictate to the American people, this is how you're going to live your lives. And that's why I say it's progressive authoritarianism.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Yeah, I was just going to say, you took the words out of my mouth. I mean, Donald Trump's approach to life has been, why not? Why can't I do that? Why can't we do that? Why shouldn't we be doing that? And that to me is precisely what we need at this point in our history. It's a singular moment. The man for the hour is Donald Trump.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
And I think it's his entire approach of, we shouldn't accept anything. We should be asking, why not? And I'll just say this, Dan. My greatest part about Donald Trump is this. He truly believes decline is a choice. We choose not to decline. We choose to be great and climb to even greater heights of freedom and prosperity. And that, to me, is what America needs at this moment.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
We choose not to decline. We choose to be great. And we choose to climb to even greater heights of freedom and prosperity. And the guy that I think is going to do it and hopefully instill a lot of courage into Republicans on the Hill is Donald J. Trump.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with President Donald Trump and Tim Burchett, Dr. Ronny Jackson and Ned Ryun
Thanks, Dan.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Absolutely, Dan. Good to be with you again.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Yeah, no, 100 percent. I think we've gotten to such a level of distrust, especially in the last couple of years after the covid debacle. That's I think the first reaction should be, no, we don't trust you. But then can you prove it? And again, I think we should be highly skeptical of any statements coming out of the government. and say, no, I don't believe you, then can you prove it?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
But you're right. I think we're left with two conclusions. Like you just said, either they do know and are lying to us, which I think is a perfectly acceptable explanation, or it could be, Dan, and I think there's some merit to it, maybe they are so incompetent
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
that they really don't know what's going on because they've been focused on all kinds of weird DEI crap and have incompetent people running our government that we are left with complete and wild incompetence. So I think either one of those two are plausible. I will say I lean towards they probably do know what's going on.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
They're lying through their teeth to us and don't want to tell us the truth of what's actually taking place with these drones.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Well, so there's two things at issue here. One, it does show you how things can go very badly, very quickly with the wrong leadership. Think about how bad the last four years have gone with wildly incompetent leadership. But also at the same time, I think our government, I mean, this is a longer conversation.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
It's one of the reasons I wrote my new book, American Leviathan, but it is filled with not so-called experts, but a credentialed idiocracy. And when it really does come time to actually serve the American people, They do not have the skill sets, nor, by the way, are the American people a priority. And then you get into these situations, and you're like, what are we even doing here?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
I mean, we are literally spending ungodly sums of money on this form of government that we have today. And I don't think it even wants to prioritize the American people. But even if it did, it's incapable of doing so because of – who it's filled with, what its focus is.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
But I'm telling you right now, Dan, you and I both know, having been around DC for a long time and having witnessed some stuff up close. This form of government is so wildly incompetent. It doesn't serve the American people. We need to have a conversation about what it looks like moving forward.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
And that's why I'm thrilled that Trump is actually talking about Department of Government Efficiency and Elon and the vague, you know, taking a hard look at what's going on in D.C. But I have to tell you. I don't want them to trim it or make it more efficient.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
I want them to shatter it into a million pieces and go, let's have a conversation about what form of government we have moving forward that actually serves the American people, that protects our interests both on the foreign and domestic front.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Yeah, no, I mean, this has been built. So we've got to be realistic, Dan. This is the one thing that I'm a little concerned about. And again, I don't know as much about what they're planning, but this has been 100 years in the making. We're not going to get out of it in 18 months. So I want to have a conversation about not dealing with the effects, but the cause. I mean, this is a poisonous tree.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
I would argue that what we have in D.C. today, the administrative state, has nothing to do with how we are founded, has nothing to do with representing the American people. We need to annihilate it. We don't need to trim it. We need to crush it. And so you're right.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
And the other thing you mentioned too, Facebook, this to me is one of my biggest – one of the biggest problems I have today with a lot of people that are on the so-called right where they don't want to go after private corporations, but the left has figured out something that I think –
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
They've been using these corporations to their benefit in which they don't want to make a full-on assault against our Bill of Rights, against our natural inherent rights. So they backdoor this annihilation of the freedom of speech, the free flow of information by using these private corporations like Facebook and, again, before Elon bought X, Twitter, all these things to censor us.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
to crush freedom of speech, to annihilate our natural rights. I mean, we have a whole host of fundamental problems, you know, the very root of which, do we want a government of, by and for the people, or are we going to go ahead and continue to put up with this massive sprawling bureaucracy?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
That's first of all, crushing the life out of us, not only our rights, but just soaking us for cash and then figure out what does this look like moving forward? I think we're in a singular moment.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Dan, where I think if you have a person with the right political courage, that's Donald Trump, with the right team around him, I think we could have a very interesting next four years about having that conversation about what should our government look like? What should it be doing? What should it not be doing? What should it be prioritizing?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
So I think we're in for a very interesting next four years.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
But more importantly, Dan, I think you've got somebody for the first time in a long time who – one of my biggest pet peeves with Republicans is when the people give them political power, they don't know what to do with the political power. They don't want to use the political power to actually enforce their will and say we're going to have massive structural change.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
We're not going to trim – we're not going to shave the elephant. We're going to actually kill the elephant. Donald Trump has political power, and I think this time around he knows exactly what to do with it.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
He's a change agent, and the thing that I'm hoping, and I'm seeing positive trends on these nominees, that he'll get his change agents in the various departments and agencies, because I think the Republican senators are kind of realizing, yeah, we better play along here and give him his nominees, or else some of these red state senators who are up in 26 might find themselves with very legitimate primary challenges, which I would totally applaud.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
Ned?
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
This was a line in the sand. I mean, to me, it was about Pete. You know him. I know him. He's going to bring the change necessary, Department of Defense. But it was about more than Pete. This was, you are not going to do this again, because I was afraid it would be a domino effect, right? Take out Gates, take out Hegseth, and then we'll take out the next one. Right.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
then you've got this this total quagmire that's why i was you know first of all because i know pete but the second one was you're not going to do this you're going to get the memo he won quite frankly you have a majority in the senate because trump won uh we have a majority in the house because of trump um why don't you actually fall in line the american people want change he has appointed he has nominated these people
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
You know, hopefully you'll get the memo. I think they have. I mean, I've been talking with some people that are very much involved in the process, you know, very close to the nominees, some of the nominees. They really have sensed the tide turning in the last few days. to the point where I feel really good about Pete. I feel really good about Cash.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
You know, I think there's probably going to be some fighting still that's going to take place, you know, down the road with other nominees. But I really do think we have seen a really positive trend in the last few days because you're right. A lot of us, you, me, others decided, nope, you're not going to do this. We know what you want. We know what you're trying to do. You don't get status quo.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
We're not going to do this anymore. Donald Trump won. Donald Trump should get his nominees.
The Dan Bongino Show
Sunday Special with Michael Franzese, Jeff Van Drew, Ned Ryun, Andrew Gruel 12/22/24
All right. Thanks, Dan. I appreciate it.