Moment of Truth

When a child loses a parent, Social Security pays them a survivor benefit their mom or dad earned through years of work. But if that child ends up in foster care, many states have been quietly taking that money for themselves. Tim Walz once said those benefits gave him dignity growing up. Minnesota is still one of 13 hold-out states stealing these funds from orphans today.

Assistant Secretary Alex Adams is trying to put an end to it. The “Orphan Tax” is only one of the messes he inherited at the Administration for Children and Families, but since his arrival, the ACF has become one of the most talked-about departments in all of HHS, both for their ruthless red tape cutting and also for their focus on children’s wellbeing.

The Biden administration left behind childcare rules that paid providers before kids ever showed up, a foster care rule that sorted families by whether the government deemed them LGBTQ friendly, mask mandates at Head Start long after COVID, and regulations that drove the program’s budget up while enrollment dropped by a third. Adams walks Nick through everything he inherited, and what he’s doing to clean it up.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

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"What happens when the actual evidence doesn't match up with the developing public narrative?"

That's what the chief medical examiner in the George Floyd case reportedly asked a prosecutor the day after the autopsy. When former federal prosecutor TJ Harker read that line in a 2023 deposition, every alarm bell in his head went off. He spent the next three years pulling the thread.

The result is American Scapegoat, and Harker's conclusion is one most of the country isn't ready to hear: that Derek Chauvin is innocent. Nick walks through the case with him minute by minute — what the autopsy actually found, the prosecution theory that collapsed in the middle of trial, the nine-minute delay nobody has explained, and the pills found in the squad car months later.

Agree or disagree, you'll never see that video the same way again.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj
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This week, the tables turn. Nick sits in the guest chair on The Long March, the new podcast from our friends at New Guard Press, to talk about the thing he's spent a decade obsessing over: who actually runs the government. Why a president gets 4,500 appointees to steer two million employees. Why most members of Congress never read the bills they vote on. And why a car mechanic who's read everything Michael Anton ever wrote might be a better hire than a Yale grad.

He also gives away one of his favorite interview questions — so if you're applying to American Moment, listen closely (but you won't be able to use his answer.)

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(00:00) A Special Cross-Post With The Long March
(03:07) 4,500 Appointees vs. 2 Million Civil Servants
(07:30) What Went Wrong in Trump 45
(08:40) Nobody Reads the Omnibus
(11:31) In Defense of Patronage
(13:52) What to Do About Career Civil Servants
(16:00) Merit Without the Ivy League
(19:16) How American Moment Finds Its People
(24:46) Gen Z is Ready to Fight
(33:39) What Nick Looks for in a Resume
(41:55) The Interview Question You Can't Fake
(45:49) Why You Have to Be Aligned Across the Board
(47:04) Stop Quoting Philosophers in Interviews
(50:07) What Nick Is Reading Right Now
(53:26) The Debate Over Using Government Power
(59:46) Trade, Immigration, and Foreign Policy
(1:03:08) What Winning Actually Looks Like
(1:06:22) Closing — Go Subscribe to The Long March

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529
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The next time you pass a semi on the interstate, you might want to ask yourself who's behind the wheel. Congresswoman Harriet Hageman did, and she uncovered a quiet crisis among America’s truckers.

It started with a phone call from her nephew, a Wyoming rancher who kept seeing wrecked trucks on I-80 and drivers who couldn't speak a word of English. That call sent her down a rabbit hole of CDL mills, chameleon carriers, and blue states handing out commercial licenses with almost no questions asked. Now she's become the closest thing truckers have to a champion in Congress. But Hageman didn't spend 34 years as a trial attorney in Wyoming to stay in one lane. She also goes after the climate lawsuits targeting American energy, sets the record straight on beef prices, and explains how lax surrogacy laws have opened a back door for birth tourism.

Meet the congresswoman from Wyoming who is taking on the world.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj
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Andrew Kloster has been inside the conservative legal movement since long before President Trump came down the golden escalator and reoriented movement towards untouchable issues like immigration and tariffs. He’s been in the biggest right-wing think tanks, legal groups, and even the White House itself. And he’s not blackpilling, so why should you be?

Andrew sits down with Nick to take stock of where the movement actually stands. What's working, why nobody should care about Chevron as much as the donor class does, and why the recent losses on tariffs and birthright citizenship are really an indictment of a Congress that refuses to do its job. It also gets practical. If Democrats take the House, what happens to political appointees? Who gets targeted, who doesn't, and why the people who jump ship between now and November are telling you exactly who they are. Plus the case for fighting lawfare with lawfare — and why crying uncle only works after you've thrown a punch.

If you're a young lawyer or appointee, this one is required listening.

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American Moment's "Moment of Truth" Podcast is recorded at the Conservative Partnership Campus in Washington DC, produced by American Moment Studios, and edited by Hunter Smith, with original graphics by Jared Cummings.

Subscribe to our Podcast, "Moment of Truth"
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-truth/id1555257529
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5ATl0x7nKDX0vVoGrGNhAj
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.