Ukraine: “We can't afford weak leadership”

Audio By Carbonatix

Published: March 7, 2022 | Date of Source Audio: March 4, 2022

Transcribed and modified for publication from the original audio program

Dr. Sebastian Gorka talks with John Lovell about Ukraine & our right to bear arms

Dr. Sebastian Gorka: Welcome dear friends to America First. One-on-one with a very special guest who can give a unique perspective on the events –the sad, the tragic events occurring in Europe right now. He is the founder of a superb organization, the Warrior Poet Society and network. And he's been on the show before. John Lovell, welcome back to America First.

John Lovell: Always a pleasure. Good to see you, my friend.

Gorka: John, for those who haven't heard of you before, haven't seen our prior interviews here on the Salem Radio Network, would you just tell a little bit about yourself and what you did prior to establishing the Warrior Poet Society?

Lovell: Sure. So, I was in Special Operations, did some time there. Did quite a few tours overseas, was in business for a while. I went back, got a degree. I was a foreign Christian missionary for a number of years, so done quite a bit already. And then we founded the Warrior Poet Society, which is what we're doing now. And it's going good.

Gorka: All right. I want you to describe why you created the Warrior Poet Society, but as a former Special Operations, you know, frontline kind of guy, will you give us an unvarnished – we haven't rehearsed any of this—we don't send out talking points with our guests, we have frank, real conversations. We are just over two weeks into this war – sights we never thought we'd see again, that we thought were our parents’ or our grandparents’ generation of tanks on High Streets, civilian buildings being shelled. What is John Lovell, former practitioner national security, uniform-wearing practitioner – what are your first responses to what we are witnessing in Ukraine?

Lovell: I'm just not nearly as surprised as those who would just kind of saunter through life, imagining that we truly are going to grasp that ever-elusive utopian ideal. And it doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for better in utopia. But I'm just saying under our skin, mankind is evil, and people want to conquer. Tyrants are going to invade and do terrible things. And I don't think we'll ever outgrow it. I think as long as people are on this earth, they are going to seek to destroy and to dominate, to own, to enslave other individuals. And so, it's the job of good people – of freedom fighters, warrior poets – to be able to stand in the gap and meet violent men with more violence, but for the greater good. And so, I'm not surprised by this at all. Of course, we're going to keep doing war and guess what? This isn't going be the last one. We're not going to figure it out, because depravity is still ever much with us.

Gorka: Yeah, because man is fallen. Evil is real. It exists in the heart of men. And war is part of human history and will not be eradicated, because bad men exist. It's WarriorPoetSociety.us. You're a trainer today. I can't wait for when I join you at a range for my session with you. Tell us why you created the Warrior Poet Society, John Lovell.

Lovell: Great. So, we have this great chasm between two different types of individuals, now, we see the world. One is the warrior. And the warrior, that's my old hat. I had these Special Operations buddies and we're doing combat tours and stuff like that. So, I would see my brothers come home being successful at war, only to fail at life. And to do life well – and to be able to defend the innocent well – it takes a special kind of man, somebody who could be successful in both worlds. And that's not this just fake warmongering bravado that a lot of warriors will put on of like, let’s be lovers of truth and lovers of our spouses and be good and emotionally present fathers. And that's what the warrior poet does. They're successful in violence and successful in times of peace.

Gorka: But correct me if I'm wrong. Your mission, it may have started off to assist warriors to live back home when they're not deployed, not in uniform. But your mission also speaks to those who've never worn a uniform, who've never been part of a tier one, you know, alpha detachment, or what have you. You are speaking to engendering the warrior scholar, the warrior poet ethos in those who've never been to war zone, correct?

Lovell: Good men, no matter what your background or how high-speed or low-speed you are, all of us have a place to be able to protect the innocent. That could just start with you and your family. And I don't care – you're a little out of shape and you never joined some military or police unit or something like that. Like, no. But you want to do some training, make yourself a little harder to kill and be able to protect anyone at your level. I'm a huge fan of that. Love you. Thank you for being part of our brotherhood of sacred protectors. So, yeah.

Gorka: Yeah. And part of that, I think, the last time we met was at the SHOT Show, this all fits organically with the Second Amendment, knowing how to use force when force is necessary, correct? Even as a civilian.

Lovell: Absolutely. I think even in our Constitution First Amendment, which was packed of all the good freedoms, and then the Second Amendment, right to bear arms, was in case the First didn't go so hot. It's the only way you can guarantee the First Rights is to be able to defend it with arms. And so we can't abdicate our responsibility as men, as protectors. We need to be able to defend on whatever scale. So yeah.

Gorka: When you see the images of the last few days – of the civilians, beauty queens, former boxers, man on the street being handed automatic weapons and ammunition – I know it's, you know, thousands of miles away, but could this be a wakeup call for the kinds of things that you've been preaching for years?

“You couldn't ask for a more perfect picture of why you can't possibly disarm your citizenry.”

Lovell: You couldn't ask for a more perfect picture of why you can't possibly disarm your citizenry. This happened back in World War II, when England was about to just get steamrolled by the Third Reich. They had no weapons, they disarmed. And they had to buy a bunch of used awful guns from the United States, like third hand, because they had to scramble because all of the sudden, they had to wake up to the idea of like, Hey, it's a violent world. And only good men who have mastered violence are able to defend it. And so similarly, anybody tuning in, don't you dare ever, ever, ever give up your guns to a government that they're meant to protect you from if everything goes sideways. Don't give them up. The Ukrainians wish that they had never given up their guns before.

Gorka: And what you are witnessing here – you have been increasingly outspoken. You did an amazing video on why now is the time to speak out. What is your comment on what we are witnessing here in America? We just had the State of the Union. I was on British media a lot, and the host was saying, where is your president? Our prime minister didn't sleep last night when the war started. And we're 18 hours into this, he's an hour late for his press conference. America as a player in all of this – John, are you satisfied?

Lovell: Well, I'd be easier on Biden. He had perfectly good excuses. I think he had an ice cream run. He had to get some ice cream –

Gorka: Chocolate chocolate chip!

Lovell: No, no, no. They screwed up his flavor, Sebastian. It was even worse than you can imagine.

Gorka: Oh my gosh.

“There will be real true consequences when violent men sense weakness.”

Lovel: His pet sitter fell through and he needed to spend some time and it's – sorry, it's all just a joke. I'm so embarrassed of our executive office on a world stage. It's not just the travesty that it's embarrassing. It's that there will be real true consequences when violent men sense weakness. It's like sharks circling. They will attack and they'll take more and more ground. They'll get whatever they can get away with. We can't afford weak leadership. And the toll will be paid for in innocent lives, whether that's our own eventually, years down the road, or it’s definitely already happening in Europe. And that's the consequence of a weak foreign policy.

Gorka: Yeah, this is the thing that stuns me. And I'm so delighted to know you as a fellow American, to be associated with what you are doing. Because it's not just about, you know, the tightest shot groups on Range 37 or the coolest kit or the most war-y individual. It’s a very simple lesson: bad guys do bad stuff. And the only people who are going to stop them are good guys, whether you are on the playground, age eight, and the bully comes along, or whether it's a nuclear-tipped killer and thug-like Vladimir Putin. And how this isn't understood by anybody with a double-digit or higher IQ is truly mind bending. It's the WarriorPoetSociety.us, founded, led by John Lovell. I'm Sebastian Gorka.