Breaking News from Pod Save America - Explosive Tucker-Cruz Fight RIPS Through Republican Party

Episode Date: June 21, 2025

Tommy Vietor and Brian Tyler Cohen break down the week’s political chaos—including the explosive feud between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, the Republican civil war over Iran, and a viral deportation ad that has the White House fuming. Plus: Ben Shapiro calls Tommy the “biggest idiot in foreign policy” and the Trump family’s latest grift—Trump Mobile. CHECK OUT OUR SPONSOR: ACORNS - http://acorns.com/rank 00:00 - Tucker Carlson Calls Ted Cruz a “Sleazy Feline” 02:53 - Republican Civil War Over Iran 08:07 - Ben Shapiro Comes After Tommy 09:06 - Sponsor Segment (Acorns) 10:30 - “Republican Kidnappers” Ad from Progress Action Fund 13:20 - The Latest on Trump’s Deportations 15:53 - Trump’s “All-American” Phone Is Made in China Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now just $449. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Vela through 5'6, wall supplies last. Selection varies by location. So, Brian, there's been a ton of clips flying around the internet of this Tucker Carlson interview slash beatdown of Ted Cruz, but I think this one is maybe the craziest one I've seen. Today's episode of Liberate is sponsored by Acorns. It's interesting you're trying to derail my questions by calling me an anti-Semite, which you are.

I did not. Of course you are. And rather than be honorable enough to say it right to my face, you are in a sleazy feline way implying it, or just asking questions about the Jews. Isn't Israel controlling our foreign policy? That's not about the Jews? You said, I'm asking you. And by the one that just called me, I think, is sleazy feline.

So let's be clear. It's a sleazy to imply that I'm an anti-Semite, which you just did. No, I just said why is that the only question you're asking? You answer it. Give me another reason. If you're not an anti-Semite, give me another reason why the obsession is Israel. Seems like a good time. I don't think I've ever heard someone call someone else a sleazy feline.

I guess it's just saying, hey, you're a pussy. I think so, yeah. I think this is a weird right-wing way of saying that you're a pussy. What's funny. I haven't watched that whole interview yet. I've watched like an hour and 20 minutes. What's amazing is it gets contentious, like, right at the beginning, and then they go for an hour and a half. Yeah. It's remarkable. Anyway, that interview, it's fun to watch. It's also a great

example of this war going on within the MAGA movement over whether Trump should take us to war with Iran. Politico had a report this morning where they tried to throw cold water on the idea that there is a split within the MAGA movement. Right. Clearly, how could there be a split in the MAGA movement? You've got Tucker Carlson calling Ted Cruz a sleazy feline in front of the entire country. But other than that. Millions of people. They interview like Steve Bannon, who's again, Bannon's smart to not not to attack Trump and not to give fuel to the fire. But if you listen to the podcast and the people that help get Trump elected, people like Tucker Carlson, there is huge concern.

A once pro-Trump comedian named Dave Smith said Trump should be impeached and removed over Iran. And here's a clip of Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna on Theo Vaughan show. Do you know anyone, Theo, in your life who's like, yeah, we should go out and go to war with Iran? Like any of the folks you talk to? Nobody. No, even like hardhead, you know, like even guys. who like Navy, former Navy, none of them.

Nobody is saying yes. That seems like a pretty big deal to me. It is. And I think this is all predicated on this idea that Trump came into office promising that he was going to be this peace candidate. I mean, he said it over and over and over again. He went into the Arab American communities.

And they came and put their reputations on the line by saying the exact same thing that we're voting for him because he promises not to be a continuation of the status quo that's like, you know, unip party, neo-con, neo-lib status quo where we're constantly in war in the Middle East. And that, lo and behold, not even six months into his presidency,

he's saber-rattling about war with the biggest player in the Middle East. Yeah. And, look, obviously he could decide not to strike. But, you know, and maybe get these people back. But his whole schick was all these wars never would have happened if I was in charge. October 7th ever would have happened. The Ukraine war never would have happened. Now this war is happening on his watch.

Seems like a pretty big undercutting of that message. Totally. So on Thursday, Brian, the White House announced that Trump is going to take two weeks to make a decision about whether or not the bomb Iran. I pray to God that we do not get involved in this. this war, but I have to say, if putting on my Obama partisan hack hat, if Israel and Iran were trading ballistic missiles and Barack Obama was in charge. And he was like, let me chew on this decision for two weeks. Like Lindy Graham would literally light himself on fire in front of the White

House. Well, and I think, I think this is actually well-timed because that means that decision should come out somewhere around the time that the health care bill drops and the infrastructure plan. So I think he wants to time those all at the same time. That's a really good point that I have not heard made. Also, also, we expect a response from Putin about the prospect of invading Ukraine. That should come in about two weeks as well. And if I'm not mistaken, we have some news on wiretapping coming in two weeks. Oh, good.

Okay, that's a lot of fun stuff. So it's going to be a very busy July. It's going to be a busy July. But also, Brian, a lot of observers have pointed out that Trump often says he will do something in two weeks and then never does it. Here's a little compilation that I think the Democratic part of the DNC put together. Let's watch. Do you still believe that Putin actually wants to? I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks.

I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks. And I'll be making a big decision on the Paris Accord over the next two weeks. You'll be hearing about it a lot more in the next two weeks. Maybe in 100 years from now, maybe in two weeks. I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks. What do you think, Brian? Are we going to get a decision or is he just going to pretend he never said it? Two weeks is Donald Trump's tell that he has no fucking clue what he's talking about.

He has no answers for any of this stuff. Two weeks is far enough out that it gives him a little bit of breathing room, but close enough that it still feels relevant so he can keep people on the hook a little bit. But two weeks is his way of saying he has no clue what's coming next. I also think it's worth noting, Tommy, that Trump was in a movie that is called, I shit you not, two weeks notice. Wait, when was he in that? Here's the clip.

So who's the new chief counts? If she's any good, I'm going to steal her away. Okay, well, that's interesting. I did not know that. Brian, I just want to say, like, there's a lot of focus on will, he, won't he, two weeks, the time frame, et cetera. The White House is currently refusing to rule out using a nuclear weapon on Iran to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. So that seems insane to me. And that's the whole basis of a lot of the complaints from those on the right who are still defending Trump is this whole idea of they'll blame Barack Obama for pulling out of,

of the JCPOA, and even Trump's own team is blaming Barack Obama for pulling out of the JCPOA while claiming that that's responsible for Iran being able to get closer to a nuclear weapon, when the JCPOA was the whole reason that they were prevented from being able to get a nuclear weapon. This whole thing is so stupid. Trump could have stayed in the Iran nuclear deal, renegotiated it, made it stronger in some marginal way, and then called it the Trump nuclear deal. You don't think just saber-rattling about dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran maybe or maybe not in two

week's time is not going to be a better strategy than staying in the JCPOA? Things are going great right now. I think outsourcing your foreign policy to be it in Yahoo, maybe not the best play. Look, as hard as we are on Trump, Democrats are struggling to find a message about Iran right now. It is driving me a little crazy. Again, like if the rules were reversed, if Obama was president, Republicans would have it easy. They would just say, you're weak, you're weak, you're weak, right? They would just push him into war. We're a responsible party. We don't want a war. So it's a little more complicated. But at a minimum, Brian, like, I want Chuck Schumer and Hawking-Jephy and

to try to force a vote in Congress or at least debating whether or not to authorize this war. Yeah, and we've seen instance, like, there is, there are a few resolutions that are floating around, and the reality is that I think Thomas Massey is the only Republican who signed on to any of this, but there is no pressure,

there should be a ton of pressure on all of these Republicans to make sure to protect their own autonomy. They're the ones that are allowed to declare war. The only ones that are allowed. It's in the Constitution. It's in the Constitution, which clearly has been a guiding principle

for them, has been their North Star this entire. entire time. But still, they should jealously guard their own prerogative and it's their and it's their responsibility to be able to declare war. And the fact that only Tommy Massey, there's so little pressure. You call them Tommy. You guys are first name. Tommy Massey. There's so little pressure on these Republicans by the Democrats that all you have is old Tommy Massey signing on and that's it is completely unacceptable. It is unacceptable. It's crazy that the Republican Party, you're finding like moral leadership from Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Green, although she should co-sponsor

this bill. Matt Gates is saying great things about avoiding war with Iran. Like there's a lot of weird people out there making really good points. I'm curious though because we're in a situation where yes, we should always have Democrats be louder about everything that's happening. Is this this kind of scenario there where you just kind of take a backseat and allow the warring factions within the GOP to just battle it out in public and kind of not interrupt your enemy while they're making a mistake? I think we want to shape public opinion and I think making loud our arguments about why war is a bad idea is a good way to do that. I also think, like, for the Theo Vons of the world, I want them to see in this moment an alternative to Donald Trump that is

anti-war, and it is what they thought they were getting. That isn't coming from Tucker Carlson, for example. Right, right, for example. But Brian, maybe you shouldn't listen to me because I apparently am a big idiot. The boys over at Pod Save America are siding with Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Green. I have a general rule. If the people at Pod Save America are agreeing with you on a major foreign policy issue, the designers of the JCPOA is. You are doing it wrong. Here is Tommy Veter, a former van driver for Barack Obama. Tommy Veter is the biggest idiot in foreign policy.

That dude worked with Ben Rhodes on the JCPOA to set up an Iranian dominant Middle East that ended with October 7th and wild expansion of terror groups all over the region. That guy. First of all, there is no shame in driving Barack Obama around in a van. That was a good time. Did you know that that laptop he's holding is only four inches wide in the microphones? Two inches high. He's so annoying.

Somebody seems that I've gotten under your skin, Tommy Beater. Beater? What a little goofball. Anyway, Ben, I love you back. Today's episode of Liberateers is sponsored by Acorns. Did you know that nearly half of people aged 55 to 65 have nothing set aside for retirement? You can avoid this and make things way easier on yourself if you start planning for your golden years now. Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start investing for your retirement.

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All right, Brian. So we're sitting here in L.A. We, you know, last night, Brian and I were at an event after which we joined in the guerrilla war campaign against ICE. So we're a little tired. We got tear gas a couple of times. I did beat up a couple of cops, but they were horse cops. So it was, anyway, it was a long night.

But immigration is still at the front of mind here for us in LA. I'm so exhausted. Did you just segue into you beat up a horse? There's a weird night, I'm telling you. There's a new Super PAC ad. It's getting a lot of attention. It's ruffling a lot of feathers in Republican circles. Let's watch.

I had a really good time today. Yeah, me too. I really like... What are you doing? She's coming with us. What are you talking about? Who are you? I'm your Republican congressman.

Now that we're in charge, we're rounding up illegal. She was born here. She's a citizen. I don't care. She looks like one of them. But don't worry. When she's in prison in El Salvador, she'll have lots of coming. What do you think, Brian? Give strong Tommy Veter energy. Good ad, bad at. Well, I think it would, in another world, I would say that it's over the top.

But in this one, we're seeing this stuff play out. And so it's literally happening. It's literally happening where I think there was a story today about ICE mistakenly arresting and jailing a man with legal status twice. Twice in the same day. Same guy. Same guy, legal status, arrested by ICE. And this is just a, you know, a testament to the fact that these, these people are so haphazard with their enforcement that this is a, that an ad like this, obviously, is going to have more potency than it would at any other time. Yeah. And like, I think the White House got mad about it. They responded to it. So it helped it get more attention.

It's an ad from a PAC called the Progress Action Fund. They say it's particularly effective with young men. We'll see. But I'm glad everyone's talking about this. And that's insane. Like Kilmore Obrigo-Garcia, basically, this is what happened to him. He's wrongly sent to El Salvador to rot in this prison. Some bad news on the immigration front, Brian, federal appeals court ruled that Trump can keep the California National Guard in the streets of L.A. So you and I are going to have to do some more battles. More battles. It's really bad news because the reality is that this allows Donald Trump to be able to continue, at least until this is appealed to either, either they'll seek on Bonk Review and they'll get the entire, I believe it's the Ninth Circuit.

On Bonk. Oh, I do way too many legal series. I think this is the Ninth Circuit. Yeah, it was a panel of three judges from the Ninth Circuit unanimously rolled in favor. It was two Trump judges, one Biden judge, but it was still a unanimous ruling. But there are more Democrats. I think there are 16 Democrats on the Ninth Circuit and 13 Republicans. So if they do seek en banc review, then we do have a better chance of getting this thing

overturned so that they can agree with the trial court, which is Judge Breyer, who did issue that temporary restraining order. But it's bad news in general because this now allows Donald Trump to be able to continue federalizing these troops. And I don't think that L.A. is the end result here. I think this is the test case for him to be able to deploy this strategy to other states and other cities across the country. And think about what he'll be able to do if he has enforcers, if he has his own private police force in states across the country. When election time rolls around, remember back in 2020 when he tried to say that there was fraud, in Milwaukee, in Detroit, and Philadelphia,

and even Bill Barr came out and was like, that's bullshit. And still Trump wanted to seize the voting machines. He wanted to do whatever he had to do to overturn the election. But folks within his administration served as a bulwark against that. You had Bill Barr, Ken Cuchinelli, Ken Wolf, right?

And so now you've got the Pam Bondies and Dan Bongino's and Cash Patels of the world. They're not going to serve as a bulwark. So there's no barriers from within the government. And now he's got his enforcers. He's got his secret police force. out here, oftentimes just covering their faces, not wearing any insignia. And those people are going to be able to effectuate his orders on the outside. So if he's able to get these people

into the states under this pretense that he's protecting the cops from these riots, which, by the way, he himself is inciting, then think about what he's able to do once he has those folks in the cities, in the states already. Yeah, I mean, you could imagine him deputizing ICE to do election integrity work for some crazy madness. And if you put all of those cities at risk, let's say we have to seize the voting machines now in Milwaukee. How do Democrats win Wisconsin without Milwaukee? We have to seize the voting machines in Detroit. How do you win Michigan without Detroit?

How do you win Pennsylvania without Philadelphia? How do you win Georgia without Atlanta? And so this is an area of focus that I'm paying particularly close attention to because if he's able to keep these troops federalized and keep them in the states, keep them in these cities for longer than whatever time is allotted. And it's not like Donald Trump is something like, oh, I only have like a 60-day period. I'm going to adhere closely to the law. Once he's able to get them in, that's where I'm worried.

Yeah, how do you get him out? Also, NBC News reported that J.D. Vance is visiting L.A. today. Do you want to announce that he's coming on your show and crashing at your place? Well, I was going to have the big reveal, but I guess... I guess I just did it for you. Yeah, he did it for me. We're going to the Ivy. Oh, nice.

Yeah, old school Hollywood. He said, I thought he was more of a Chateau Marmont guy. No, no, they wouldn't let him in. Oh, no. I'm glad some places still at standards. The Pope is staying at Shathevian. toe, so they don't want to let him near him. Finally, Brian, the endless grifting from the Trump family continues.

Here's a clip of Eric Trump hocking his latest product to a Maga Bozo named Benny Johnson. We're doing the same thing with Trump Mobile right now. I'm incredibly excited. You can build these phones in the United States. Our customer service is in the United States. It's in St. Louis, Missouri. We can add more functionality. We can do it cheaper.

We can do it better. And eventually, all the phones can be built in the United States of America. We have to bring manufacturing back here. And so our ethos is, you know, build for Americans by Americans, do it cheaper, do it better. Monthly plans, $47 a month, which we kind of thought was fun and cool. Unlimited calling, unlimited text, over 100 countries around the world. Fun bills. Fun and cool.

Fun and cool. Here's the thing. I seem to remember. I'm old enough to remember when Republicans lost their fucking skulls over the prospect of Hunter Biden selling a piece of artwork. because they viewed that as self-dealing for the person in the White House. It was a nice painting. And now you've got the same guy who right now is using his own FCC to hamstring other telecom companies and at the same time introducing his own cell phone plan.

Yeah, well, you told me, though, that you were holding off on your latest iPhone upgrade to join Trump wireless and get a Trump phone, no? I mean, I am, but it's still... It still reeks of corruption. It does wreak of corruption. I'm a sucker for a good deal as much as anyone else. 46, 47? Yeah. By the way, these guys are not building a mobile phone network.

They are leasing unused capacity from existing carriers. So you get to pay the Trump family a little bit of a markup for shitty or cell phone service that you could get directly. So congrats to everybody. Also, there is no chance these phones that will be made in America, which you can tell from the way Eric awkwardly talks about it. Like, the phones are going to be made in China. He keeps saying that the call center is in St. Louis as if like as if that negates the fact that these phones are 100% not going to be made in this country. Yeah, that's where Apple does all its work is the call center is giving you fucking

break. Anyway, these are the worst grifters in the world and it drives me insane that no one seems to care. Sounds like somebody who hasn't eaten a Trump steak lately. Yeah, I'm going to have some Trump wine to wash it all down. All right, Brian, I think that's all we got today. It is. And one reminder for everybody who's watching right now, it is very important as more and more people continue to come to YouTube, continue to come to these digital outlets to get their news. make sure to subscribe to POTSafe America's YouTube channel to make sure that when people sign on, come on to these platforms to make sure that they can watch the news

that they're not getting filtered to right-wing channels. Very important to make sure to subscribe. Click the videos so they get into your algorithm and this way more people will be able to watch. Subscribe to Brian's channel too. It's great stuff.