Burn the Boats

Jon Soltz, founder of VoteVets, talks about the organization's origins and priorities and what it means to give a voice to veterans.Jon served two tours in Iraq. VoteVets’ PAC helps elect veterans to public office at the federal, state, and local level.Find Jon on Twitter at @jonsoltz and VoteVets at @votevets. Learn more about VoteVets at votevets.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content Warning: this episode includes some graphic descriptions of wounds and combat.Dr. Jon Heavey is an emergency room physician on the front lines of the battle against COVID, who began his medical career as a battalion surgeon with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.Jon is also the Director of Business Development at Cleveland Clinic Innovations and the co-founder of Minuteman Capital.Find Jon on Twitter at @JonHeavey and read his 2012 article “An Unbearable Price” in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine for more about his service as battalion surgeon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carlos Gauna is an artist, videographer and wildlife advocate. On his YouTube channel, TheMalibuArtist, Carlos shares his drone footage of marine life. His videos have been viewed millions of times and are a powerful tool for public education and advocacy on behalf of these animals.Find Carlos’s videos on YouTube and follow him on Instagram at @themalibuartist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Barkhuff, former Navy Seal and founder of Veterans for Responsible Leadership, talks about fighting Trumpism and the importance of belonging. Veterans for Responsible Leadership is an organization founded to help fight Trump and to serve as a tribe to compete with the white nationalism of Trumpism. In addition to founding VFRL, Dan Barkhuff is an ex-Navy SEAL, emergency medicine physician, and star of two viral videos from the Lincoln Project: “Betrayed” and “Conservative”.Find Dan on Twitter at @DBarkhuff and Veterans for Responsible Leadership at @VetsForRL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Schmidt, longtime Republican political strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project, comes on Burn the Boats to talk about his work fighting Trump and Trumpism.Steve worked on the campaigns of President George W. Bush and John McCain. He served in the White House as a senior advisor to both President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and was largely responsible for the Supreme Court nominations of Justices Alito and Roberts. Steve formally left the Republican Party in 2018 and co-founded The Lincoln Project in 2019.Find Steve on Twitter at @SteveSchmidtSES. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Howard, a veteran in the security and protection field, comes on Burn the Boats to talk about his 22 year career with the CIA and the years he spent as Chief Security Officer at Microsoft.Keep an eye out for Mike’s upcoming book on leadership, out later in 2021, titled “The Art of Ronin Leadership: Strategy, Execution, Sustained Success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This rerun from July 2020 features former congressman Max Rose and counterterrorism expert Ali Soufan talking about their work addressing the threat of transnational violent white supremacist groups in the United States and across the world.This episode aired long before the events of January 6th, but the conversation was prescient. If we want to stop threats like last week’s violent mob at the Capitol in the future, we need to listen to people like Max and Ali, who know the dangers of white supremacist terrorism and how to curb them.At the time of this recording, Max was a congressman representing New York’s 11th district, which includes all of Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn. Find him on Twitter at @MaxRose4NY.A former FBI agent, Ali is now the Chairman and CEO of The Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consultancy. Find Ali on Twitter at @Ali_H_Soufan.In this episode, Ken references a New York Times op-ed co-authored by Max and Ali in February 2020. Read “We Once Fought Jihadists. Now We Battle White Supremacists” here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio talks about the dignity of work, his Senate desk 88, and the role of both fear and hope in politics.A lifelong champion for working families, Senator Brown began his political career as the youngest member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He has served as a US Representative, as Ohio’s Secretary of State, and, since 2007, as a US Senator and one of the only Democrats in Ohio elected to statewide office.Learn more about Senator Brown’s legislative priorities on his website. Find him on Twitter at @SherrodBrown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ken celebrates the 10th anniversary of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell with Doug Wilson, former Pentagon official who played a key role in the repeal.Doug Wilson is a former Pentagon official, campaign veteran, and foreign policy expert. As Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, he played a key role in the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which was signed into law by President Obama on December 22, 2010.Learn more about Doug in profiles from Politico and the Washington Blade. Read his bio from the Truman National Security Project and find him on Twitter at @DougAZDEDC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning author Aida Salazar talks about writing difficult stories for children, raising a new generation of activists, and the intersections of art and activism. Learn more about Aida and her work - writing, art, activism, and more - at aidasalazar.com. Her most recent novel, Land of the Cranes, is out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices