Jake Bequette, Arkansas Senate Candidate, Joins C&B

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BUCK: We’ve got Jake Bequette with us right now. He’s a former NFL player, an Army Ranger deployed overseas into war zones, and now an Arkansas Senate candidate. Jake, thanks for being with us.

BEQUETTE: Hey, it’s great to be with on you. Thanks for having me.

BUCK: So you’re not far from the border in your home state of Arkansas, Jake. You heard us just talking about this. What do you make of this scene we’ve had going on with the massive surge of the Haitian migrants in Del Rio but also just the border overall? Seems like it’s wide open.

BEQUETTE: Well, I would even go further. I would say that we have no southern border right now. It’s clear. The Biden administration has no intention of securing our national sovereignty, enforcing our federal immigration laws. And look, if we have no border, we have no sovereignty. We don’t have a country. This is a marquee issue for me in my race for U.S. Senate here in Arkansas. Illegal immigration is something that is offensive to the entire state of Arkansas and to conservatives across the country, and it has to stop.

For generations, for decades, establishment politicians in both parties — I want to be clear, both Republicans and Democrats — have exchanged process of border security for amnesty. Okay. Party leaders in both major parties have made that deal for decades. It’s time for it to stop. We’re living with the consequences. We have to send people to Washington to understand this problem, who understand the nature of the fight that we’re in, and we were actually going to build the wall and finish the wall and secure our borders. It’s unacceptable.

CLAY: Jake, what do you think about Dr. Fauci? I know you’re a big Arkansas Razorback fan, and I may get you an Arkansas Razorback question in here. You can gloat a little bit over the wins over Texas and Texas A&M. But Fauci came out and said, “Hey, there’s gonna be major issues,” essentially, from college football having full stadiums.

Since college football season started, the overall rate of infection all over the South, all over the SEC has plummeted. When do people stop listening to Dr. Fauci? (laughing) We’re 17, 18 months, whatever the heck it is now, and he’s still so wrong about so much. What are you hearing from the people in Arkansas about things like this?

BEQUETTE: Well, first of all, you’re right. I am a huge fan of the number 8 Arkansas Razorbacks. I want to be clear. We’re taking on Georgia this weekend College GameDay. I’m gonna be there. Hopefully me and Herschel Walker can have a little back-and-forth about who’s gonna win. But you’re exactly right. Dr. Fauci has no credibility.

I have no idea why any reasonable America would listen to that man. He’s been wrong on every front and particularly — I was talking to Buck about this last week — we’re seeing these packed college football stadiums. It’s so great for me to see I was in Fayetteville, Arkansas, two weeks ago the bottom Arkansas-Texas game.

There were 75,000 screaming fans in that stadium. Of course, Fauci was predicting these would be superspreader events and there would be a covid nightmare but of course we’ve actually seen cases go down in these major SEC football states, not up. So they’re not superspreader events but we have to find a Iowa to live with the virus. The only way through it is through it. And people should not listen to Dr. Fauci for one more single second.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Jake Bequette, former NFL player, Army Ranger, and he is a candidate for Senate in the great state of Arkansas. Jake, drawing on your time as an Army Ranger serving this country overseas and going to war wearing the uniform, we still have reports that there are certainly those who assisted the U.S. military and were promised that they would get out, Afghans that are left behind in Afghanistan.

There are also reports that I hear that there are still some Americans, U.S. citizens, passport holders who are stuck in Afghanistan. What is your assessment as of today of the Biden administration’s last days in Afghanistan, in a sense, and what do you think we should do going forward?

BEQUETTE: Well, the Biden administration handling of the Afghanistan debacle is a national disgrace. It’s an embarrassment. And you’re exactly right. There’s still American citizens who are stranded behind enemy lines at the hands of the Taliban — a bloodthirsty, Medieval regime. It’s a national embarrassment. And I want to bring clear.

We brought in tens of thousands, perhaps even a hundred thousand unvetted Afghan migrants while we left behind American citizens. I’m sure you’ve seen the reports. There have already been three cases that I’ve seen documented, one that’s currently under investigation by the FBI, of some of these Afghan migrants in our military bases committing acts of sexual the assault and rape.

Including one that’s under investigation of an American people service member. That is a stain on this country. That infuriates me that we brought in unvetted Afghan migrants — some of them are child predecessors — and we felt American citizens behind, and that should say nothing of the tactical and strategic blundering that was done by this administration that resulted in the death of 13 brave American servicemen. It’s an absolute disgrace.

CLAY: Jake, you have a really interesting background. You played college football. As we just talked about, you’ve served in the military, and you also played in the NFL. And obviously sports and politics in many ways has become intermingled. You talked about the fact that Herschel Walker is running for the Senate in Georgia. We certainly hope he wins there.

You’re running in the state of Arkansas. What’s the locker room dynamic like in your experience as it pertains to politics? Does it stun it you in — I know you were with the Patriots for several year — that the NFL got has political as it has? And we were talking in the last hour about the playing of the black national anthem before the games. What are you hearing from your former teammates and other people affiliated with the NFL about that mix of politics and left-wing sports?

BEQUETTE: It’s very upsetting because that was not the sports environment that I grew up in and he played in. I’ve always said that sports has been so popular, it’s such a strong part of our national identity and culture, because sports at its best represents the best of America. I mean, people from diverse becoming — from difference races, different classes, whatever — come together, they strive towards a common goal.

The currency of a sports locker room, it’s not where you came from, it’s not how much money you have. It’s performance. Okay, that’s all that matters. And so I think that’s one of the reasons why Americans love sports, is it represents the best of us. And unfortunately ,the Democrats and the radical left they have to tear that down just like they’ve conquered every other American institution.

They saw sports and the military as well. They saw those as kind of the two final frontiers of American cultural institutions that just had to be changed. And tragically, it looks like they’re succeeding. But look, I’m optimistic. I think we’re fighting back. I’ve seen these packed college stadiums in particular as an act of device against this covid tyranny.

CLAY: Amen.

BEQUETTE: I’m excited to see candidates like Herschel Walker running in Georgia. I think people are excited to see conservatives come from nonpolitical backgrounds. Come from sports backgrounds, military background, people who didn’t grow up in an age-old expectation of running for political office because, look.

You can’t solve this problem unless you have people who come into this for the right reasons, who aren’t looking to get their name in the paper, who aren’t looking to make money off this, who aren’t looking to make politics a career. It’s gotta be true public service, sacrificial leadership. That’s why I’m in. That’s why Herschel’s in it. And that’s why you’re seeing a lot strong, young, bold conservative candidates all over the country.

BUCK: We’re speaking to Jake Bequette, former NFL player and former Army Ranger who’s running for Senate in Arkansas. Jake, just one last one for you. President Biden just got his booster life on TV as we were sitting here talking. It was on the screens here in NYC. A lot of people — I would certainly put myself in this category — are surprised at how long the American people overall have been willing to go along with so much of what just feels like either covid theatrics or covid tyranny, a combination of the two. How do we get our freedom back?

BEQUETTE: We get our freedom back by standing up for what’s right or just simply saying, “Enough is enough.” I think you’re seeing Americans rise up in pockets of red areas across the country, but it has to be a critical mass, right? Because I think we’re all seeing the images on coming out of places like Australia.

And don’t think for one second that the Democrats and the radical left don’t want to bring that to our shores. That is their ultimate goal. We can never, ever let that happen here. It’s one of the reasons why I’m running for U.S. Senate. You all can go to my website, JakeBequette.com. We have to stand up and fight back. This is totally unacceptable, and it’s not gonna stop until we say it stops.

BUCK: Jake, I gotta say, I trust your opinion on this. Before I let you go, Clay is taking me to my first ever SEC football game this weekend: Ole Miss-University of Alabama. Who wins, Jake? You’re a football guy.

BEQUETTE: Well, I tell you what. The Arkansas Razorbacks are gonna win. That’s the only game I care about.

BUCK: (laughing) Look at that! Look at that deftful answer!

BEQUETTE: (laughing)

BUCK: What do you call that move on the football field, Clay, is a spin? Was good, though. I like it.

CLAY: Swim move. Swim move for a defense end to the game he wants.

BEQUETTE: This is life in the SEC, right, where number 1 Bama versus number 12 Ole Miss isn’t even the game of the week. All right? This is why I love SEC football. You got the best teams in the entire country. I think Bama is gonna pull it off at home there. But I’m looking to have my Arkansas Razorbacks shock the world in Athens on Saturday.

BUCK: There you go. Jake Bequette, everybody. Check out his site. Running for senate. Former Army Ranger. Jake, we really appreciate, man. Thanks for being with us.

BEQUETTE: Thanks, guys. See ya. Bye.