Breaking News from Pod Save America - Reckless Trump Bombs Iran Again In SHOCKING Escalation

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Trump suddenly escalates war with NEW strikes against Iran. Plus, Trump’s Qatari jet scandal gets even worse. Tommy Vietor and Jon Lovett react to the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

United States and Iran are back at war. Over the last couple of days, the U.S. has struck nearly 200 targets in Iran, and Iran has fired missiles and drones at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as at U.S. military sites in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. President Trump took questions from reporters on Air Force One as he was en route back from the NATO summit on Wednesday about all of this. He was specifically asked if the U.S. is about to resume full-scale war with Iran. Here's his answer. Are we returning to full-scale military conflicts, sir? I don't know. But win it very quickly. It's another way of doing. We have many ways we can win. But we've already won militarily.

They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago, they want to make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making a deal. I don't know that they're going to honor the deal. That's the problem. Do they want to make a deal? Why do you think they attacked commercial vessels? Because it's not a crazy, to be honest with it.

They're a little bit out of control, but they want to make a deal. badly. I don't know is not the most confidence-inspiring answer to are we going back to a full-scale war? Yeah, it's also, depending on the day, they're actually great partners and can really work with them versus they're unreliable and no deal can be trusted. Right, a couple weeks ago, they were way better than the old guys. Right, right, right. Remember that? They were more practical. What is the explanation for attacking commercial ships? So the Iranians, they're trying to cement their grip on the Stradle-Pro-Muz. as part of that, they want to make all the ships pass through this northern, the throughway of the straits, closer to the Iranian coast.

And I think a bunch of ships were passing through, I don't know if it was Omani territorial waters, but it's closer to Oman. So they fired at those ships as a way of saying, go our route or you're not going through it all. Yeah, good stuff, right? Yeah. It's like a precursor to their plan to basically toll people going forward. One U.S. official told Axios, quote, we're going to sloth.

we're going to slap them a bit so they understand we're not fucking around. They also said the escalation could last a day or two, a week, or even a month. Feels like we tried that. We talked with us when they first announced the 60 days, which is how are we, what is going to happen during the 60 days? What is going to prevent there from being escalation during the 60 days? Because Iran is signaling that the end of that time, they are going to assert some kind of control over the straight or from those.

We have said that is unacceptable. They have done it despite a massive military campaign. So what is our brushing them back going to do? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. This is the whole problem. They just punted all the hard parts of these negotiations down the road.

They're trying to piece together this temporary ceasefire, but it's not going well. Love it. Before we get to the NATO summit and some more security news, let's briefly talk about this weird situation with Air Force One. As viewers know, Trump was gifted a Boeing 747-8 by the government of Qatar, which he plans to use as Air Force One for a while before eventually just pocketing for himself. It's clearly the biggest bribe in our political history, but Trump is proud of it. He did a big rollout of the new plane a couple weeks back. So fast forward to this week, Trump flew his new Qatari-gifted Air Force One to Turkey to the NATO summit, but then he flew the old Air Force One back from Turkey to the UK.

And everyone was trying to figure out why. Here's Caitlin Collins speaking with Maggie Haberman for the New York Times about all this, the swap on CNN. Let's watch. The Qatari-gifted plane. He just started flying it last week. He's only taken it on a handful of trips, and he flew it to Turkey. But then he announced that he was sending the new plane ahead. to a military base and he would take the old Air Force one,

which he is denigrated and said was, you know, an old plane, out of date, embarrassing to meet with world leaders, flying on that plane. He does raise questions about what exactly this new Air Force One, which was gifted by Qatar to the US, and then will be given to President Trump when he leaves, how equipped it is with the kind of defense systems that the current Air Force One is this plane was rushed.

Lots of people told us they could not imagine a scenario where it could properly be fitted. It seems like a bad idea to fly them around on that thing internationally. Well, but then it's a, if it's not, you can't fly it from Turkey to London. What's happening from the U.S. to Turkey? And there have always been two Air Force ones. That was the whole thing. They would preposition them, right? They were these two identical, interchangeable planes that they would use in different,

in different configurations for, you know. Backup, basically. Yeah, backup. They'd also send one in advance to be prepositioned for certain flights. It's just a complicated logistical operation. And now there's this one other plane that this is always meant to be temporary. They're building two new ones as well that are meant to be the real replacements for after Trump leaves office. And he takes this plane with him as a little present.

Yeah. The whole story is just so weird. I mean, the New York Times says the Secret Service urged him to switch planes as a security precaution because we restarted the war with Iran. And it seems like what that says to us is that the New Air Force Air Force One doesn't have the countermeasures. it needs to keep the president safe, especially the missile defense systems. Like there's like laser-fired missile defense countermeasures on the current one. And then another weird thing. So when Air Force One was flying out of Turkey, the press on board was told to keep their blinds down,

which is the protocol for like flying it out of war zones normally. So it's all just like, it seems like there was a pretty serious security threat there. Trump tried to lie and say, oh, we're sending it ahead. So the troops in the UK can tour it on the military base. But then he later goes, yeah, but I'm the Ron's number one target. it. Right. And so it's it's just not as secure a plane so they can kind of, he's going to take it on some trips, but if they think there's any chance that they're in any kind of danger, it's actually not one they're going to use. Yeah. And again, his idea that it was a gift in the same way that the

ballroom is a gift, but the security is going to be by the taxpayers, which costs more than building the ballroom itself. Right. Securing Air Force One is the cost. Yep. The the airframe is not the cost of Air Force One. It is the massive communications that upgrades and security upgrades and retrofitting that happens on these commercial planes. And they already spent like hundreds of millions of dollars upgrading the thing. I guess on like what? Like new couches like decorations? It is and it's just it's just the fact that he's taking the plane obviously makes it a criminal. But they are already building two new Air Force ones at full cost. This did not do anything to that process is continuing. It's going to happen. This is just extra taxpayer money.

just to retrofit this one plane, which they clearly can't do to get it up to the level of the actual planes they use as Air Force. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. Potsave America Breaking News is brought to you by Act Blue. With so much at stake, campaigns need the right foundation. For over two decades, Act Blue has been the go-to platform powering Democratic candidates across the ballot by providing the digital tools to fundraise, organize, and win. And this year, they've launched an organizing platform built specifically for the people doing the work. Act Blue field tools. This all-in-one platform handles texting, phone banking, and canvassing so your team can focus on what actually wins campaigns. Real, meaningful conversations with voters. Act Blue never sells your data or your personal information so you can stay focused on what matters most. Donating, organizing, and helping Democrats win. This November, the elections could come down to just a few hundred votes.

The work that wins those races starts this summer, and it starts with you. Get started at actblue.com slash crooked. Speaking of plain news, did you see that the FAA just announced that Palm Beach International Airport, their three-letter code has been changed from PBI to DJT because the airport was officially renamed to Donald Trump International Airport? Like, why would, why do you need an airport named after you? Like, is that even cool? It is cool. You think so?

I think it's cool. LaGuardia. John Wayne Airport's kind of cool. Yeah, Kennedy. Yeah, you're right. It's fucking cool. But the thing that I it doesn't matter because I like I think there's a lot of people that like enjoy politics as like a blood sport and like they want to see their enemies in pain. And like I like, like, you know, I'll do some shat and forth with the rest of everybody.

But like I don't care like, oh wow. Boy, Trump probably hates this. I don't care about that. But it is worth remembering that he's miserable and that none of this. You know what I mean? That like he lives, he lives in a sea of lava on little tiny islands of compliments all the time. Like that's his experience and none of it works. It's why he needs the FIFA Peace Prize.

Yes. Well, speaking of this, let's get to NATO. That's a perfect segue to NATO. And by the way, on Tuesday's Potta of America, you and I preview the NATO Summit. Please subscribe to Potta of America here on YouTube. We are trying to build a progressive counterweight to all the right-wing pro-war crap you see from Fox News on YouTube. And you subscribe, it helps us out a lot. So within Europe, there's been this endless debate over whether they should stand up to Trump or they should kiss his ass in curry favor.

The NATO summit itself featured a lot more of the latter with allies sucking up in various ways. and then also committing to Trump's crazy demand for spending targets for defense spending, 5% of GDP. So, Leavitt, let's see how this appeasement strategy has impact Trump's public commentary and attitude towards Europe. Let's watch. Are you going to pull more U.S. troops out of Europe, and so how many and where is this? I haven't made that final. A lot's going to depend on Greenland and a lot. A lot.

I think, you know, make a very good deal on Greenland. And if we don't, maybe I will. And a lot's dependent on Iran. Big success, huh? A lot is going to depend on Greenland. It's, he's such a, fuck it. Let's say you, let's say that these people that like try to find the wisdom and what Trump is doing, they're like, look, yes, he says crazy shit and he is chaotic.

But ultimately, he is trying to create the pressure on Europe to up their defense spending to 3.5% of their GDP, which is what the goal is for NATO, plus an additional 1.55. for infrastructure and other ways of making Europe kind of fund its own long-term defense. He is getting what he wants. They are reluctantly being pushed to get to those numbers. Countries like some countries are being more resistant than others, whether or not they're actually going to meet those goals, whatever. But he's getting what he wants, right?

But he's teaching them that if you give Trump what he wants, there's no end. There's no end because Greenland is unsolvable. The 5% is possible, right? could achieve that goal. But the idea that at the end of it, everyone's going to get together, he's just say, I'm in Europe. Let's get, let's protect Ukraine. I got your back. Nato's great now. No, it's not possible because once he turns to Greenland, that just carries through the, to the next couple of years because there's no resolution of Greenland that's acceptable to both Trump and Denmark and everybody else because he's being a, he's trying to, he's trying to take

the territory. And you know next year, you know, the, the defense target will be six percent of GDP or something. It'll just escalate and escalate. He's still pissed off. that all these countries didn't support the war with Iran, which is ramping back up and is still a disaster. And he still thinks he was right about that somehow. And yeah, now he wants to just like take the sovereign territory of another NATO ally. Right. Or he can just say they're not on track to meet their 5 percent, right? Because, you know, many of them aren't. They won't be. They won't be. But yeah. It's stupid. Native Secretary General Mark Ruta, he's been like leading the impeachment charge when it comes to Trump. Let's see how that is going over in Denmark. This is a

question to Ruta at NATO from a reporter named Rasmus Svainborg of the Danish news agency Ritzau. I bet I didn't pronounce that right. Boy, that's great. Spainborg. You sit next to Donald Trump in moments where he talks about conquering Greenland, talks about lashing out at allies like Spain, starting trade wars, things that it doesn't seem like the old Mara would approve of. Does this have any effect on your self-respect when you sit next to him like that and say nothing? the very polite why are you such a little bitch mark good it's spain my spain board you know the hard guy what the fuck uh yeah hey um you sit next to him and he uh insults you and uh makes

fun of you and you call him daddy and you don't seem to be getting anything for it and now he's trying to take parts of the europe for himself it's like how's that going can you look your wife in the eye yeah that a thing you're able to do mark rootsa told politico i just like the man no you don't you don't you don't like him you might think you might actually respect what he's doing you might think nato needs to spend more you're You might think they've been free riding for decades and that, you know, they need to do more to bolster the defense against a Russian invasion. You don't like the man. We know you don't.

Yes. So the sucking up publicly, in the first, remember when, when Ruta first comes in, there is all this talk about how he is, he's cracked the code. He's like the Trump whisper. Yep. And they had a good relationship. But in that first meeting, if you remember, he actually pushed back on Trump affair. He found a right way to kind of like strike the balance between praising him personally and saying we have some differences that we're going to work through. Interjecting with factual corrections.

Right. Right. But in a way that Trump didn't seem to mind. Because Trump wants his, Trump can't take a psychic injury or an ego injury, but he also doesn't really like obsequiousness. I mean, he is a complicated relationship with it. It is a balance. You're right. Yes.

And now here he are a couple years later. He's calling him daddy saying I really like the guy. Trump is doing the Greenland thing. He's getting walked all over. It's just not working in the same way. It's not working in the same way. Ruta, come on, man, toughen up a little bit. Finally, love it.

I just wanted to reintroduce you to an old friend, someone you probably haven't thought about in a while, a man who was so annoying that Elon Musk fired him from Doge before Doge even existed. I'm, of course, talking about Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramoswam. Oh, wow. I forgot about that guy. What a guy. Vivek released a campaign video the other day that we wanted to quickly play for you. Let's watch. Here's 10 things I'm going to do for Ohio.

Slash your property taxes. Take your income tax down to zero Cut your electric bills Prosecute Medicaid fraud Bring higher standards to our schools I should say The audio there So as well

Our viewers Our devoted listeners might know That Elijah Cohen from our team Has been like paternity leave for a while He's now back Elijah apparently Saw that video on Twitter Downloaded it

made a bunch of grunting sounds, sent it to Ryan on our team and had it. Oh, that's not in the video? Oh, I was like, what the fuck? Because they were getting so, they were getting kind of horny at the end there. That's Elijah making those noise. Elijah, you absolutely fucking freak. And he posted it on Twitter. But the tennis parts are real.

Yeah, so he's serving while saying we're not going to pay taxes in Ohio anymore. Oh my God, I guess that's cool. The first grunting was really believable. By the end, it was like, what the fuck is this? I saw Elijah's Twitter feed and I was like, what is happening here? It goes, there's like 38 seconds, eight more seconds of it, by the way, which we cut down. But hey, Vivek, we missed you, man. Vivek.

Boy. Good stuff. Great. Welcome back, Elijah. It's great to have you back. We missed you. Thanks for watching this episode of Pod Save America here on YouTube. Please subscribe.

Talk to you guys soon. Yeah. Bye.