A favor to the world

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NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday, May 6th. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. 

Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Time now for Washington Wednesday!

Yesterday was a busy day in DC: Press conferences and events featuring the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of State.

EICHER: Joining us now to talk about all of this is political scientist Hunter Baker. He is a WORLD Opinions Contributor and provost at North Greenville University. 

Hunter, good morning!

HUNTER BAKER: Good morning!

EICHER: Okay, let's begin where the events began yesterday at the Pentagon. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth laid out details about Project Freedom: this would be the U.S. plan to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Let's listen:

AUDIO: We're not looking for a fight, but Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway. Iran is the clear aggressor, harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately, and weaponizing a critical chokepoint for its own financial benefit, or at least trying to.

Secretary Hegseth said that already two U.S. commercial ships have passed through the strait, and that that is a humiliation for Iran.

Hegseth also framing this as a humanitarian effort, using America’s strength to help others: protecting global trade routes that hurt many of the world’s poorest people when there are  disruptions to the supply chain.

Hunter, I wonder what you think about this, because it sounds like a decidedly different messaging tone. We heard a lot about “lethality” and the power of our military, now we're talking about humanitarianism. 

Now, you see the polls. Clearly this war is unpopular politically. Is there a connection between these two things, and is the administration, you think, at risk of looking weak?

BAKER: I think that they are trying to get control of the narrative. 

So I think that right now, what the narrative has been is that the United States interceded in Iran's affairs, and that it has turned out not to be a short thing, but a long thing, and that it has been very destructive and very costly, and that we are sort of blamed for it.

And I think that what's going on now is that we are taking on the mantle of the problem solver, that we have exited, sort of the offensive part of this engagement, and we have entered into the solving the problem element. 

So we recognize that the Strait of Hormuz is the reason why we are all facing these high gas prices, which will then spur on additional inflation and other problems. And we know that this is affecting essentially everybody in the world, and the U.S. is basically saying, We're ready to intervene. We're going to solve this problem of the Strait of Hormuz. And if anybody such as Iran tries to prevent us from solving that problem, then they will be to blame. It will be very clear who the villain is in that situation.

MAST: Well, meanwhile, over at the White House. You can just imagine the memes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio took up yet another job, standing at the podium, usually reserved for the White House press secretary. 

Now, Caroline Leavitt is on maternity leave, so this is likely a temporary post for the administration's Swiss army knife. But let's start first with what did you think about how he handled the press?

BAKER: You know, when it comes to politics, I am like a person who is a really serious fan of something like football, right? And so you really enjoy football, and then let's just imagine that you enter into a long period where it just seems like there are so many people who play football and who do it terribly. Today was the opposite of that.

Today was watching somebody play the game of politics and doing it really well. The hour or however long it was that he stood in front of the press, it passed very quickly for me. I was, I was deeply impressed, because this was not somebody just standing there, filibustering or trying to score points.

This was somebody answering questions with legitimate knowledge and expertise, and the kind of person where you watch him standing there and you're like, you know what? I'm proud. I'm proud that this is the person who's representing my country in this moment.

EICHER: I want to ask about one question that was asked and answered both in Spanish. I don't think that's ever been done in a White House briefing.

BAKER: Yeah, that was interesting. I almost wondered if she was testing him. 

When George W Bush was in the thick of his political career. You know, there was always this sort of understanding that he could speak Spanish. Now, I think that his brother Jeb was actually better, as he was actually married to a native speaker. But I just wondered if they were testing Marco. You know, is he sort of a Hispanic just by virtue of being born to a family of that type or having that ancestry? Or is he really part of Hispanic culture in some way? Is he a native speaker of the language? 

And so she she asked the question, and he answered in English, and then she insisted on following up in Spanish, and he was able to handle it flawlessly.

MAST: In other matters, Secretary Rubio also took a firm stance that Project Freedom is a defensive measure.

RUBIO: The primary responsibility for this Project Freedom is on the United States, because we're the only country that can project power in that part of the world the way we're doing now. We're the only ones that can do it, and we're going to do it as a favor to the world. Understand this, this is a favor to the world because it's their ships that are stranded…

So it seems to me like he may be developing a theme, maybe advancing the theme that Secretary Hegseth had mentioned earlier in his press conference. What did you think about that?

BAKER: I think that what Rubio is responding to is this general sense that the United States may have done something wrong, that we may have been sort of a wrongful or unnecessary aggressor, and that when it comes to international law, if somebody has broken international law, that it's us. 

And I think that Rubio really wanted to take on that claim, and so he strongly advanced this idea that international waterways are subject to the freedom of navigation, and that by attempting to basically capture or dominate or engage in piracy on the Strait of Hormuz, that actually Iran is the one who has broken international law, and has done so in a flagrant way, and that the United States, who has really, for a long time been sort of the guarantor of international trade and freedom of the waterways, is stepping in, as we have always done. That this is not strange to try to restore order to that situation.

EICHER: So he was also asked about his meeting upcoming with the Pope. What, what was your read on that?

BAKER: It's a good question. I think that he was wary, first of all, of being put at odds with the President. I think he doesn't want to be sort of the the nice guy to Trump's bad guy. And so he tried to sort of re-characterize things that Trump had said in a way that I think was reasonable and, you know, to reduce any friction that might exist between Trump and the Pope, and then to express his own long standing commitment to working with the Catholic Church, and as a faithful Catholic, to ideas such as religious freedom and humanitarian aid.

MAST: Hunter, I wanted to ask towards the end of the press conference, he took a couple of questions about the War Powers Act. Now, he and the President have both said that Operation Epic Fury has ended, and we're now in a new phase. This right around the time that that would have come up for a vote under the War Powers Act. 

He said he's never supported that, that other administrations have not supported it. What did you think about him ending with those questions and not leading with those answers to begin with?

BAKER: Well, I think that he really tried to respond to what he was asked; he was really good about that. He was really good about not kind of just answering the question he wished he had been asked, but instead to respond very directly to the things that were raised as they were brought up. 

And so this question of the War Powers Act came up, and he was eager to jump at it and to express his opinion, which is, you know, he characterized it that there have been no American administrations, no American presidents, who have ever accepted the constitutionality of the War Powers Act. 

And the reason that this is important is, this again goes to this idea that the United States is not some rogue on the international stage, that he believes that the United States is acting lawfully and responsibly.

MAST: Well, in other cabinet news, President Trump signed a proclamation, reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, declaring this month National Physical Fitness and Sports month.

He was flanked by cabinet officials, several pro athletes, a room full of kids in athletic gear. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. says this is about more than gym class. He's tying it to national strength, even echoing his uncle Jack's warning. Listen:

KENNEDY: And he published an article before his inauguration called "The Soft American," in which he said that there’s a national security issue. It threatens our economy. We need a vigorous population that is in good shape, spiritually, morally, physically, if we’re going to continue to exercise leadership around the world. And he launched the Physical Fitness Test, which became a milestone for my generation.

Kennedy pointed out we’ve gone from 5% to 20% of children who are classified as obese. He explicitly linked the phase-out of the test to rising childhood obesity. 

Do you think that's a fair connection—or is that overstating what a school program can do?

BAKER: I don't know if it's a fair connection. I think the reason for rising childhood obesity is largely in the difference in how children spend their time. 

I think a lot of us of a certain age remember the period when you came home from school, maybe you did your homework first, maybe not, and then you immediately set out upon the neighborhood, you know, in your bikes or to play touch football or sandlot baseball or basketball or whatever. Very, very active all the way up to dinner. 

And I think that that's less the case now. The kids come home, they do stuff on their phones, or they play video games, or they sit in front of the super wide screen. It's just a different world. And my understanding is, is that there are real impacts to this, including on our military readiness. I understand that they have difficulty finding people who can actually pass, you know, even sort of the basic physical tests to be considered for the armed forces. 

So yes, it's a school program, but I do think that we probably need to have the government pushing here, not only for military readiness and things like that, but also just for the general health of the population. 

We all know that we're spending an astounding amount on health care at this time, and it's simply the fact that if Americans were healthier, those costs would be lower.

EICHER: Political Scientist Hunter Baker, our regular guest on Washington Wednesday. 

Thanks, Hunter.

BAKER: Thank you.

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