With Robert Charles, Steven Mosher and Bill Walton
Securing America with Frank Gaffney - TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIPT
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Frank Gaffney: [00:00:16] Welcome to Securing America with me, Frank Gaffney. The program, that's a kind of owner's manual for protecting the country we love against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to the glory of God and His kingdom. We're going to talk about protecting the country we love against all enemies, foreign and domestic, including foreign enemies that are now domestic. And we're going to do it with a man who has repeatedly sworn the oath that I swore on a number of occasions as well, to support and defend our Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. His name is Robert Charles. He's no stranger to this program, that's for sure. We're delighted to have him as one of our regulars. In fact, he brings to bear in each of his visits with us his expertise, notably cultivated during his time as a naval intelligence officer, as a congressional counsel in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush White Houses, and at least as an assistant secretary of State in the Bureau of, uh, Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the at the State Department under Colin Powell in the George H.W. Bush administration. He is, in short, a man of considerable, uh, well, common sense, yes, but also informed, detailed experience. And it's a privilege to have him with us. He is the author, among other things, of a wonderful book, Eagles and Evergreens. And he is the spokesman for the terrific organization that represents seniors, um, which I am happy to be a member. That would be the Association for Mature American Citizens. Bobby Charles, welcome back. It's good to have you with us, sir.
Robert Charles: [00:02:01] It is always a privilege, Frank. Always.
Frank Gaffney: [00:02:05] Uh, Bobby, I have a very pressing subject with you. Uh, you have been thinking hard about, uh, developments in this country that smack of a kind of throwback to, well, a stalinesque Soviet era, uh, in which, uh, we're seeing some, uh, reminders in Russia at the moment, uh, notably the murder, uh, of one of Vladimir Putin's political opponents, uh, Alexei Navalny in a prison, no less, uh, in northern Russia, but also mistreatment of other political dissidents and, of course, the war against Ukraine and the like. Um, but talk a little bit about, um, things that resemble some of those, uh, odious activities right here in the United States of America.
Robert Charles: [00:03:11] You know, Frank, thank you for letting me do this. And I also want to say that I need to provide context so people who live in what they are currently experiencing here in the United States understand what the Soviet Union was like. I spent a lot of time, uh, in the Soviet Union and in the Soviet Warsaw Bloc countries, Poland, for a couple of months during the period of time when the Soviets were in charge under martial law, also in Czechoslovakia, which is now two countries and other parts of of the of the of what was then the Soviet bloc, one of the most remarkable things is that kids sitting or standing on a train platform or on a tram platform in those locations, including the Soviet Union, you could have 2 or 300 people standing there with their children. Not a not a sound, not a voice, no spontaneity, no laughter. Why? Because fear was the all encompassing, pervasive reality of their lives. They were fearful of being dragged away. I watched people dragged away in front of me. I couldn't do anything about it. I was an American at that time. That kind of gave you, with Reagan in charge of the of America, that gave you a little bit of a a little bit of a buffer. But, uh, very sad because fear pervaded everyone except for the dissidents, uh, many of whom died as a result of their convictions.
Robert Charles: [00:04:34] So now we flip the switch. And what has happened in Putin's Russia. And Putin was an old KGB agent who, you know, evolved himself, reimagined himself as a Democrat, in fact, being nothing less than that same KGB guy just re masked. Now, his primary opponent, who is 47 years old and had seemingly been healthy until he was poisoned some time ago, uh, apparently by Putin, recovered from that, went back to his country, got imprisoned, uh, when he seemed to be surviving and doing okay in one prison. They put him in a more remote prison where he had to be found because nobody knew where he'd gone. And now they apparently have found him dead. It doesn't surprise me at all. It's the way Putin behaves. He's sending a signal that says that he's he's he's ruthless and he's in charge. And don't cross him. Now we turn the channel again and we come back here to the United States, and we say, well, look, we we are a very different country. My goodness, we have freedoms. And never would that thing happen here. Uh, never would it happen here. Uh, anything of that nature or Communist China couldn't happen here.
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