Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw

Latest Episodes:

SITREP #6: Trump's First Days as 47, America's Artificial Intelligence Gets a Boost, and Return to the Moon Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

Situation Report for January 24th, 2025. Rep. Crenshaw breaks down the week's top stories from the U.S. and around the world. Your one stop shop for real news and clear analysis of the latest congressional legislation and how it impacts your life.

· Biden pardons his family
· Trump's first moves on border security, energy, and the bureaucratic state
· Secretary of State Marco Rubio
· Trump gives a boost to U.S. Artificial Intelligence dominance
· Trump pardons pro-life protestors
· SpaceX launches TWO lunar landers
· The FDA approves a new treatment for depression
Recommended reading: Noah Rothman on "The Resistance Left's Addiction to Hyperbole"

SITREP #5: Pete Hegseth's Senate Hearing, Devastation in LA, & the TikTok Shutdown Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

Situation Report for January 16, 2025. Rep. Crenshaw breaks down the week's top stories from the U.S. and around the world. Your one stop shop for real news and clear analysis of the latest congressional legislation and how it impacts your life.

Pete Hegseth has his Senate confirmation hearing
The House passes the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act
The Los Angeles wildfires
The Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal
Biden Administration removes Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list
TikTok's clock is winding to zero. But here comes Red Note.
Why Congress needs a Select Committee on the Cartels. Read my latest oped for Fox News here

Reversing Four Years of Bad Energy Policy | Mike Sommers Jan 10, 2025

Show notes

American Petroleum Institute's Mike Sommers returns to Hold These Truths to survey the past four years of the Biden-Harris Administration's most devastating anti-fossil fuel energy policies and how the incoming Trump Administration might reverse them. They look at what the future of energy looks like for Texas and the rest of America. And they fact check the tv series Landman's portrayal of the oil and gas industry.

Mike Sommers is the President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade association representing all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry. Follow him on X at @mj_sommers. How realistic is Taylor Sheridan's Landman?

"100 million barrels of oil a day"

Biden's latest offshore lease restrictions

American natural gas, a clear win for the environment.

"It's better to get ahead of the regulators."

The argument for exporting natural gas

Bitcoin mining in west Texas

The EPA's twin tail pipe rules – Biden's war on internal combustion engines

The real costs of electric vehicles

At what point do you have too much wind power?

The future of the Texas grid

First steps for Trump's EPA

SITREP #4: Laken Riley Act, Biden's Offshore Leasing Ban, Taking Greenland, & the New Political Dynamics in the Middle East Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

On the latest SITREP (Situation Report), Congressman Crenshaw explains how the Republican House strategy at the start of the 119th Congress and gives us the Civics 101 on how the legislative process works. He covers the possibility of overturning Biden's sweeping ban on offshore oil and gas leases, U.S. investors making a bid for TikTok, and the possibility of turning Greenland into a U.S. territory. And he examines the shifting political dynamics in Syria and Lebanon as Iran's influence in the Middle East wanes. The House passes the Laken Riley Act (LRA)

Addressing the Democrats "anti-immigrant" charges

Leader Thune's strategy to pass LRA in the Senate

What you need to know about House rules and the legislative process

Parliamentary Procedure 101

Biden's sweeping offshore oil and gas leasing ban

Why reversing Biden's ban will be difficult

Kevin O'Leary makes a bid for TikTok

Make Greenland Great Again!

Gulf of AMERICA

Iran's diminishing influence in the Middle East

A cautious step forward in U.S. – Syria relations

SITREP #3: The Speaker's Race, New Year's Day Attacks, the Nippon Steel Deal, & Constitutional Crisis in South Korea Jan 04, 2025

Show notes

For episode 3 of the SITREP (Situation Report), Rep. Crenshaw gives his insights into the most important news that happened over the holidays.

· Speaker Johnson wins on the first ballot

· What we know about the NOLA and Las Vegas attacks

· The Debate Over H1B Visas

· The Nippon Steel Deal

· Latest on the TikTok Chinese Ownership Ban

· Caution and Optimism in Syria

· South Korean Constitutional Drama

Small Reactors, Huge Potential: The Future of Nuclear Power | Doug Bernauer Jan 03, 2025

Show notes

Entrepreneur, rocket engineer, and nuclear expert Doug Bernauer joined Rep. Crenshaw to discuss the future of portable nuclear energy, colonies on Mars, and the bureaucratic inertia standing in their way. A fascinating conversation with lots of insights into the science and the regulatory environment of space exploration and nuclear power.

Doug Bernauer is the CEO of Radiant Nuclear, a startup developing mass produced portable nuclear reactors. Before that, Doug spent 12 years working on a variety of research and development projects for SpaceX. Follow him on X at @DougBernauer.

• Learning from SpaceX's culture of innovation

• Overcoming the physical limitations of living on Mars

• Nuclear-powered rockets

• Small modular reactors and micro-reactors

• Bringing nuclear power to overseas military bases

• Risk analysis of nuclear power

• Uranium Fuel 101

• What stalled the 1960s nuclear power boom?

• Regulatory reforms to kickstart nuclear again

• Bringing the SpaceX model to nuclear

• Deploying clean, cheap energy to remote regions

• A Russian nuclear power station on the moon?

Stablecoins, Web 3.0, and the Future of Crypto Regulation | Rep. Erin Houchin and Rep. Mike Flood Dec 23, 2024

Show notes

Rep. Erin Houchin and Rep. Mike Flood join the show to discuss crypto policy in Congress and under the next Trump Administration. They give Rep. Crenshaw the 101 on how crypto works and how U.S. dollar-backed stable coins could change the financial system. And they look at the implications of Web 3.0 on censorship, content creators, financial fraud, and China's global power moves.

· The beginning of the crypto movement

· NFTs: the beanie babies of the internet

· The Canadian Trucker Strike

· Gary Gensler – "a fountain of bad ideas at the SEC"

· Regulatory authority in crypto markets

· Stablecoins 101

· Geopolitical implications of stablecoins

· Disconnecting from the banks

· President Trump's Crypto Czar

· Evolution of internet regulation

· Web 3.0

· Facebook's stranglehold on content creators and local news

· The Hawk Tuah Coin Scam

· Cabbage Patch dolls!

· FIT 21 – the House's answer to crypto regulation

· Explaining blockchain technology

· Will quantum computers break crypto?

· Stablecoins and financial fraud

· China's move to control the global stablecoin

Congresswoman Erin Houchin represents the 9th District of Indiana. She currently serves on the House Financial Services Committee, the House Rules Committee, and the House Education and Workforce Committee. And she was recently appointed to serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 119th Congress. Follow her on X at @RepHouchin.

Congressman Mike Flood represents the 1st District of Nebraska. He currently serves on the Financial Services Committee as well as the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee and the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee. Follow him on X at @USRepMikeFlood.

Listen to Rep. Crenshaw's past episodes on Bitcoin with Rep. Patrick McHenry and Peter McCormack.

SITREP #2: The Truth About CRs, Debt Ceilings, and Government Shutdowns Dec 21, 2024

Show notes

On episode 2 of the SITREP (Situation Report), Rep. Crenshaw drops the facts – not the Influencer Industrial Complex spin - on the Continuing Resolution that passed the House late Friday evening. He explains what was in the original CR that failed earlier this week and why it was so controversial. And he walks us through the reality of how budgets are negotiated in Congress.

· Explanation of what a Continuing Resolution (CR) is

· The federal budget process: appropriations vs. authorizations

· Challenges of bipartisan compromise in budget negotiations

· The role of the Senate in passing appropriations bills

· The impact of a government shutdown and why CRs are common

· Details about the latest CR negotiations, including:

· Pharmacy Benefit Manager Price Transparency Act

· Disaster aid and farm bill extensions

· Restrictions on outbound investments to China

· Expiring healthcare programs, such as traumatic brain injury research and the SUPPORT Act

· Political misinformation about the CR (e.g., Ukraine aid, congressional pay raises)

· The argument for and against a debt ceiling

· The consequences of government shutdowns on families and national finances

· Internal disagreements within Congress on legislative priorities

· Explanation of suspension votes and their significance

· Discussion on splitting legislation into smaller bills for voting

· Updates on ongoing negotiations and possible outcomes

SITREP #1: The Big Bad CR, Syria, and Chinese Cyber Espionage Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

We're trying something new here on Hold These Truths: a weekly SITREP (Situation Report) on news of the day with real time insights into what's happening in Congress, the country, and the world. This will now be your one stop shop for real news.

Matt Gaetz ethics report
AOC loses ranking member of Oversight Committee
The Continuing Resolution
Rethinking the budget process
Unknowns in Syria
Corruption in China's military
Assassinations in Moscow
Salt Typhoon (not a James Bond movie)
DOE's ban on gas exports
Trans activists lose their institutional support

Lessons In Urban Warfare, From Syria to Taiwan | John Spencer Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

John Spencer is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He joined Rep. Crenshaw to explore the historical evolution of urban combat and analyze modern strategies for conquering and defending cities. John discusses how urban warfare is playing out in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Ukraine. And he envisions the most likely scenarios for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, along with potential U.S.-Mexico counterinsurgency efforts against the cartels.

• The evolution of urban warfare • Regime change and chaos in Syria • Why willpower often trumps raw numbers • Hezbollah's decimation and its implications • Israeli airstrikes in post-Assad Syria • "The way you take a city is psychologically." • Russia's miscalculation in Kiev and Ukraine's resistance • How Gaza's conflict was unlike any other • Why banning missiles could result in more civilian casualties • Debunking the "Zero Dark Thirty" Fallacy • "Is that Batman??" • Why the pager operation wouldn't have worked in Gaza • More common misconceptions: The Abacus, Vampire, and Peace Table Fallacies • Taiwan's defenses and civilian preparation for invasion • U.S.-Mexico counterinsurgency strategies to combat cartels

John Spencer currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He also serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum, a New York based think-tank. He is a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare.

He is the author of three books: Understanding Urban Warfare, (Howgate Publishing, 2022), Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War (Potomac Books, 2022; Winner of the 2023 Gold Medal Award, Best Military History Memoir, Military Writers Society of America), The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender (John Spencer, 2022).

Follow him on X at @SpencerGuard.

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