Downed Jet Drama, Trump’s Big Budget Play, and Stunning Artemis Photos

Maya: Okay, Okay, Okay. Good Morning. This is the Morning Rundown. I'm Maya, coffee in hand and a lot on my mind. David: And I'm David. You picked a heavy news day for that coffee, Maya. Maya: Right? Here's the thing. We've got a U.S. F-15E down near Iran. A crew member still missing. Israel hitting targets in Beirut. And Iran ramping up executions while the White House talks restraint. David: Yeah, we're going to ask whether American power should look like strength or more of the More of the soft, please like us foreign policy. And by the way, who actually controls the budget that pays for those jets? Maya: Then we're looking at Trump's new budget plan, big defense bump cuts across almost everything else, and real talk what that actually means if you care about small government and keeping your paycheck intact. David: Plus the chaos factor. Personnel shake-ups, culture war lawsuits, and how those same dollars decide what NASA gets to do next. Maya: Speaking of which, Artemis II is looping the moon, sending back insane photos, while some folks in D.C. act like exploration is optional. David: So we're digging into how to stay fiscally conservative without killing real flight space. You know what I mean? Maya: All right, let's get into it. World news and the downed F-15E up first. Okay, so here's the thing. We're opening this morning with some really heavy news. David: Yeah. Maya: An American F-15E Strike Eagle went down near Iran during a mission over the Gulf. One crew member was rescued, one is still missing. David: And what makes this even stranger is that both the U.S. and Iran say they're out there searching for that missing crew member. Maya: Right, so you're telling me U.S. forces and Iran of all countries are saying they're cooperating on a rescue? Phew, that's a lot. David: Which, like on paper, sounds good; you always want a rescue, you want that pilot home, but I'm already thinking, how much can we trust what Tehran is putting out? Maya: Exactly. Early reports from places like the BBC, CNN, New York Times, they're careful. Even they're saying, look, we do not know yet if it was mechanical failure, hostile fire, what actually brought this jet down. David: Yeah, so folks at home, hold all that speculation loosely. Lastly, social media wants the hot take in ten seconds, but the Pentagon hasn't even finished the basic timeline. Maya: And for the family of that missing airman? This is their nightmare morning. They're just waiting by the phone. David: That's the part I keep coming back to. We talk strategy, we talk Iran, but for them this is one person, one son or daughter, not a chess piece. Maya: You know, it's just embedded in us. Americans don't leave people behind. We'll spend insane amounts of money, risk other lives, move entire... Of entire ships, whatever it takes to bring one person home. Speaker 3: Which is why this weird joint search with Iran makes people nervous. Like are we trusting the same regime that chants death to America to help us find our own pilot? Maya: Yeah, that's a hard sell. Speaker 3: And this is all happening while the whole region is already on edge. Maya: Speaking of which, Israel just hit targets in Beirut again, going after Hezbollah leadership. And at the same time, U.S. officials are warning Iran might might be planning attacks on Lebanese universities. Speaker 3: Universities, not rocket sites, not bunkers, places where kids are sitting in class. Maya: So if you're in Lebanon right now, you've got Israel hitting terror groups, Iran may be plotting its own strikes, and the U.S. trying to deter that without getting dragged into another war. Speaker 3: And you can feel the credibility question. Do people in the region believe Washington when it says, don't do this anymore? Maya: Yeah, because for years we've had the same pattern, right? Big tough talk. Tough talk, red lines drawn everywhere, then we kind of back off when things actually get hard. Speaker 3: A lot of conservatives look at that and say, Okay, this is what happens when you try to manage Iran instead of confronting it. You give them billions, they keep building missiles, keep backing proxies, and now they're central to every crisis. Maya: And then you see stories like this execution this week. Iran hanged two people they said were linked to opposition groups, called them terrorists. Speaker 3: That was tied to a group Tehran really hates. Gates and they made a whole example out of it. No mercy, no second chances, just a message, cross us and you die. Maya: Which tells you exactly where the regime's head is at: they're not in reform mode, they're not softening, they're genuinely scared of dissent at home and they'll do brutal things to make the point. Speaker 3: So when Western politicians talk about engaging or bringing Iran in from the cold, a lot of people on the right are just shaking their heads. They see this and go, why are we pretending these guys are normal negotiators? initiators. Speaker 4: Yeah. And at the same time, nobody sane is cheering for another big Middle East war. I think that's where a lot of our listeners land. Strong, but not reckless. Speaker 3: Exactly. Strength instead of appeasement, but also clarity. If you hit Americans, there's a price. If you cross certain lines, we don't send a strongly worded tweet, we actually respond. Speaker 4: And that's why this one missing crew member is such a massive deal, right? It forces this question. How far do we... we actually go. How much risk, how much money, how much presence in that region are we willing to stake to keep our people safe and our credibility real? Speaker 3: And how much are we even told the truth about what these missions are doing? People remember limited strikes turned into 20-year commitments. Speaker 4: Yeah, you hear just a deterrent patrol, then suddenly you've got a jet in the water, a pilot missing near Iranian territory, and everyone scrambling. Speaker 3: All of that costs serious cash, too. Every jet in the sky, every destroyer off the coast, every deployment, it all starts with a line in a budget written in Washington. Maya: And that budget shows you what the people in charge really value, not the speeches, the numbers. Speaker 3: So if leaders say they want to be strong abroad, protect allies, stand up to Iran, what are they willing to cut or grow or reshuffle to pay for that? Maya: Yeah, like when you're sitting at your own kitchen table looking at your own bills. what does a strong America actually look like in the real numbers? Speaker 3: And who do you trust to make those trade-offs when every dollar can mean armor for a pilot or a job in your town or a program that disappears? Maya: That is the question I keep circling back to. If we're going to send our people into these powder keg regions, who do we want holding the checkbook and deciding what gets funded and what gets cut? Okay, so here's the thing. We gotta talk about how the money side of this actually shakes out for people at home. Speaker 3: Yeah, so numbers first. Trump is pushing a budget with what he calls a historic jump in defense spending, and roughly a 10% cut to a bunch of other federal programs. Maya: So, plain English, more cash for the Pentagon, the border, hard security stuff, and a skinnier federal government everywhere else. Speaker 3: Exactly. Less for some domestic agencies, more for jets, ships, ammo, and people in uniform. That lines up with a pretty classic conservative view, right? Strong military, smaller bureaucracy. Maya: And honestly, after everything we just talked about overseas, I get why- Why a lot of folks hear more defense spending and go, yeah, that tracks. David: Right. The fight is over what gets trimmed to pay for it. You start talking 10% cuts, you are touching real programs people work in and depend on. Maya: Kitchen table version, if you work for a federal agency that's not defense or border, you're probably nervous. If you own a small business near a military base, you're probably feeling pretty good about more dollars flowing. Sure. And then you layer on the Trump drama. Recently, he's been firing and sidelining high-profile allies like Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, people who were loyal foot soldiers. David: Yeah, that whole who is safe in the room vibe. Cabinet secretaries, advisors, everybody's reading Twitter like it's their performance review. Maya: The picture you get is a second term where loyalty tests are constant and people can be gone overnight. That matters when you're talking about who actually runs this budget. budget. David: Because here's the thing: if you're going to swing an axe at 10% of the government, you need steady hands doing the cutting, not people wondering if they're next on the block. Maya: And that's where some conservatives are split. They like the numbers on paper, big on defense, lean on bureaucracy, but they worry about the chaos factor inside Trump world. David: I'm kind of in that camp: smaller government sounds great, but if the management style is you're fired every Monday... And stuff falls through the cracks, you know? Maya: And while all that is happening, there's this whole legal and culture fight in the background. You have stories like that New York Times mosque leader getting arrested on federal charges. Huge coverage around whether this is law and order or religious targeting. Look, critics of Trump and the right jump straight to crackdown on Muslims, chilling free speech, all of that. David: But a lot of his supporters look at the same story and say, no, this is about. It's about anti-Semitism and safety-If you're threatening Jews, if you're cheering terror groups, law enforcement should step in. Maya: In real talk, if you've got solid evidence of actual threats or material support for terror, prosecute it-I'm completely good with being tough there. David: Same. The concern is, does that power get used carefully, or to go after people for ugly but legal speech? That is where the civil liberties folks raise red flags. Maya: So zooming back to the budget fight, this is the world that money's walking into. walking into a White House that wants big defense dollars, big law and order moves, and a pretty aggressive culture stance. David: And a Congress that frankly is already bracing for a brawl. You're going to have Republicans saying trim the fat and Democrats saying you're gutting social programs to fund Trump's agenda. Maya: For listeners, bottom line, if this passes the way Trump wants, you're probably looking at faster hiring and upgrades in the military and border security. already. You'd also see hiring freezes, maybe furloughs at civilian agencies. It's a rebalancing, plain and simple. David: And all while the political class is throwing elbows. So, um, calm and orderly this is not. Maya: No, but here's the interesting twist. While they're fighting over every dollar, some of those same dollars are actually paying for stuff people across the spectrum like. David: You're thinking NASA. Maya: Exactly. That Artemis II mission heading around the Speaker 5: moon? Maya: around the moon right now snapping those incredible Earth-and-Moon photos, that's being funded with the same budget they're slashing and reshuffling. David: So coming up, we'll flip from trench warfare in Washington to what those dollars are doing out in space, and why even space money is now caught in this budget crossfire. Maya: Okay, real quick: can we talk about how we've got people looping the moon again? David: Yeah, Artemis II has cruised past the halfway mark of the trip. Maya: Wow. David: They're doing the full dress rehearsal for that next mission, where Americans actually walk on the surface again. Maya: So this crew was basically the beta test: fly out, swing around the moon, check life support, comms, all the boring stuff that decides whether the fun part even happens. David: Exactly. If this flight goes smooth, Artemis III gets the green light to put boots Boots in the lunar dust for the first time since the 'seventies. Maya: Hearing that still gives me chills. David: Same. And the photos they're sending back help with that-they've been posting shots where you see this tiny blue Earth hanging over the moon's gray curve. Maya: Mm hmm. Those images are wild, right? Like your whole life is that little marble in the corner of the frame. Politics, drama, all of it. David: And what I love is that people aren't fighting in the comments for once-you've got liberals, conservatives, whoever. Ever, all saying, Yep, this is worth doing. Maya: Right, because here's the thing: real wonder still cuts through all the noise. You don't have to agree on anything to say, More moon pictures, please. David: Meanwhile, even NASA isn't safe from tech headaches. One of their mission update emails got blocked because Outlook decided it looked like spam. Maya: Wait, an actual moon mission got ghosted by the inbox filter? David: Pretty much. Engineers sweating the trajectory and some algorithm goes- goes, Nah, junk folder. Maya: That is so on brand for 2026. David: Jokes aside, this is where the budget fight hits. There are proposals floating around that would mean the biggest cuts NASA has seen in years. Maya: Yeah, and I mean, space groups like the Planetary Society are basically begging Congress, don't kill this, it's the good stuff. David: Here's where I land as a conservative guy. I'm all for trimming fat. I don't want NASA doing climate PR campaigns or random... And them feel-good grants. Maya: But you're saying keep the actual science and exploration funded, you know? David: Exactly. Fly the missions, build the rockets, cut the fluff, not the engines. Maya: I'm with you there. Accountability is fair, just don't nickel and dime the part that actually gets us to the moon. David: Plus, the spending is peanuts compared with the rest of the federal checkbook, and it actually lifts tech, jobs, the whole thing. Maya: And honestly, when kids see that Earthrise shot on their phone and and think, "I want to be in that capsule some day. That's money really well spent. David: So, as Artemis II loops back home, the big question is whether we still have the will to send Artemis III down to the surface. Maya: And that we can still disagree on everything else but say "Yes" to reaching higher than whatever headline is screaming that day. All right, so that F-15E story, the missing crew member, that's the real reminder, you know? Foreign policy isn't some Twitter fight, it's families waiting by the phone. David: Yeah, bottom line, strong America, strong budget, or somebody else writes the rules. Maya: Mm-hmm, exactly. If we helped you make sense of some of the noise out there, hit follow, drop a quick review, and send this to that one friend who can't help but argue politics over coffee. David: Or who just needs a calm conservative take before work. Maya: Hey, thanks for spending part of your morning with us. We really appreciate it. David: We'll be back in your feed soon. Maya: Take care. David: See you next time on the Morning Rundown.