Judging Freedom - Alastair Crooke : Power Without Principle — The Trump Era

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Alastair Crooke : Power Without Principle — The Trump EraSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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government? What if Jefferson was right? What if that government is best, which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Monday, January 12, Alster Crook will be here with us in just a moment on power without principle. That's Trump. But first this. History tells us every market eventually falls.

Currencies collapse. And look at where we are now. 38 trillion in national debt. Stocks at record highs defying gravity. So what happens next? Groceries, gas, housing, everything's going up. dollar it buys less every day when the system breaks your stocks won't save you and your dollars won't either but one thing will gold I've set it on my show for

years gold survives collapse central bankers know this and billionaires know it that's why they're buying more is it too late to buy or is it just the right time call my friends at Lear Capital to find out ask questions get the information. There's no pressure, and that's why I buy my gold and silver from Lear. And right now, you can get up to $20,000 in bonus medals with a qualified purchase. Call 800,511, 4620, or go to Learjudgeonap.com today. Alastair, Kruk, welcome here, my dear friend. Good day to you. You have written. Thank you. Thank you. The President of the United States told the New York Times, and for that matter, anybody that reads the New York Times last week, that he is constrained only by his morals. He's not constrained by any law.

What moral values animated, as you perceive it, the invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro? I don't think that they were moral values at all. were mercantilist values, the values of money, the values of what Anne Rand would describe as purely the heightening of selfishness as a sort of characteristic of this era. So selfishness basically, I think it is, I suppose, this political aspect to it. The political aspect to it is, the political, The critical aspect, I think, is that, you know, he is very keen for the world to perceive him as strong, tough. And so I think it's all about that. It's all about his self-perception. But morals, no.

Does he really think, or do you think, that he thinks, just his behavior, and do his words manifest the idea that somehow, by stealing Venezuelan oil, oil, he can reduce America's $38 trillion debt. I think he is thinking that if he doesn't succeed in reducing the debt, or at least the cost of living crisis in the United States, the economic crisis, not for the elites, but for the 80, 90 percent of Americans. If he can't do that, can he at least compensate. by showing a sort of strength and toughness, which will override the disappointment with the economy.

Can he compensate in foreign diplomacy for an economic failure? Well, all history tells you probably not, because, you know, all of politics in America is economics. It's the economics. You know, it's the economy, my friend, that matters. So I don't know that he thinks that that will solve the economic aspect, although there are signs that he did think that, that there was going to be this bonanza of oil that was freely available.

And it's surprising because no one seems to have told him the type of oil in Venezuela. I mean, even if they go and try and take it, I mean, not only is it heavy, it's extremely sour, crude there. You can't pump it. It doesn't just work like that. You have to sort of hydraulically lift it out of the ground to get it. You've got to pull it out and then cleanse it. And the people dealing with it all have to have special protective clothing

because it's such a vicious liquid. And so all of the 300 or more rigs are. or in Venezuela, most of them, you know, this type of crude, I mean, wears down rigs very quickly because, you know, it's not like in Saudi Arabia or in the desert, you know, because you almost have to stop it coming up. It just gushes. In Venezuela, it lies sullenly at the great depth and has to be, as I say, physically lifted out and then sent. And there's not many places. that really, you know, that want it. America does because it has a whole series of refineries

that were made to deal with this strange product. The only other place that has it is Canada with its, I think, tar sands, as they call it, which again, you know, has to be sort of pumped out of the sand. And that can be exported to the, to the, United States and also China uses it as well. Our friend and colleague, Peppa Escobar, described the oil as as thick as tar. And I think you're right.

I don't know if the president understands that. One would think he would have spoken to the oil executives ahead of time and he must have been embarrassed when the head of ExxonMobil, the large oil company in the world, said in the White House, we can't invest money in Venezuela now. It's uninvestable. I never heard the word before, but it's obvious, obvious what he meant. One begins to think if this is just this invasion of Venezuela

was just some self-absorbed act of violent vanity. I think that's exactly what I'm saying was that it was an exercise. essentially about him presenting how he sees himself on the world stage, how he sees the attention he's getting. Is he getting enough attention? And this got him attention and took us away from other issues that were not so favorable for him, the endless Epstein Sarker.

But it is essentially about trying to sort of project that image that he is, you know, strong, tough, can see through. But, I mean, even that, they must have been bewildered because he said at the same meeting that he wanted, you know, the price of oil to be down to $50 a barrel. Well, that means a lot of American oil production is uneconomic. I mean, other countries that are uneconomic at that level, too, like Saudi Arabia, because their break-even prices.

about $100. But even in the, in, if you like, the fracking fields of the United States, they need 60 is absolutely the minimum. So there is saying, you know, well, we're trying to get the price of oil down. And then he's saying you're going to have to invest a huge amount in sort of refurbishing, rehabilitating these rigs to get anything out of Venezuela, let alone get it out and sell it. And it's not, you know, it's not that attractive for much of the world. It's only people who have refineries that need that sort of crude who are built,

engineered to use that sort of crude. So it was a bizarre. It was, it seems to me to have been quite a bizarre meeting in many ways. I'm told with an interlude to go and look at the new building works taking place at the White House, which I think at the moment are sort of still a builder's yard. stuff. Anyway, diversions, diversions. So the Guardian headline, this is exactly what we're just talking about, Alistair, Trump threatens to block ExxonMobil from Venezuela after CEO calls country uninvestable.

I'm sure he's very happy. Yes. I thought thank God for that. I don't have to take the poison chalice. Here's what Trump said. I'll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response. They're playing it too cute.

To which Axon will say, thank you very much, Mr. President. We have more profitable ways to invest our shareholders' dollars. He's behaving like a gangster, isn't he? completely. I mean, you know, this is the Lord of the Rings type of morality and structure. And this is what I was writing about, you know, that if you lose the narrative of what it is that a society hopes to be, what is the narrative of America, what are the values of America? If you lose that, which are often based in myths, not always truthful history, but myths as well, moral myths to provide you with ethics that you bring children up on and they learn ethics from some of these stories, many of them old stories.

I mean, if you lose that, what's left, brute force. I mean, and Steve Miller summed it up exactly when he said, you know, what's left is a world that is governed by force, coercion, and authority, the iron law of the world. Well, you know, actually the whole world is now adjusting to that. It's really upended everything because whether it's China, Russia particularly, looks at this and says, okay, well, we can see where this is going. Now, it's a naval blockade of Venezuela, it's a naval blockade of Cuba, a naval blockade of Russia is in the works.

And then Lindsay Graham beams and smiles and smirks and says, well, sanctions are coming. They're on their way. Next week, we will pursue them. So what do you think Russia's got to do? It's got to, I mean, have some sort of deterrence against us. You can't trust in just the integrity of the person you're dealing with. You have to have deterrence. That's why, if you like, say far the erishing on the, I think it was the 8th of January.

That's why they have been pushing back very, very strongly, not only that, but progressing the attacks on the infrastructure of Ukraine. There's a lot of push now. Even in the Duma, there are people who are pushing and saying, look, we have these reserve armies that haven't been engaged directly in Ukraine. The general staff must release them. They must get engaged. We want to move this quickly. It needs to be done quickly because what else do you do in a world that only recognizes the unlaw of authority and force coercion. I mean, there's no point thinking about negotiating a settlement in this form. The same is obvious to Iran. Today in Iran, there are huge protests taking

place in the big cities, enormous. I mean, that period of the protests is coming to an end. it's pretty well over. In fact, it's being replaced by massive pro-Iranian. I mean, there are just huge demonstrations in Tehran and in other cities supporting the government and against these very, very violent, trained, ordered, coerced militia that have come into Iran under external direction and are causing, you know, many deaths of the security forces and ordinary people, too. But now it seems to pass its peak. It's on its way down. You don't have to believe me because, you know, you may think that, you know, you want a less obvious source, but listen to someone who is an Israeli, security expert, the dweyer of the security correspondence, who is, and I've followed him for a long time, because he's entirely professional. He's not propaganda, like so many, in today's world.

And he says, I want to say things that disappoint not only the viewers, but also myself. We do not see cracks in the regime's mechanisms, in the government, nor in its two armies, the regular and the revolutionary guards. And we do not see dysfunction in the Basij. We do see signs of hesitation here and there. Nothing more than that. There is no increase in the volume of demonstrations. It is not taking on a larger dimension.

And then he went on about Drezza Pahlavi and saying he is trying but failing to become a guide, someone who guides the uprising as Khomeini did in his time when he sat in Paris and issued daily orders, and the masses obeyed. Therefore, it must be said honestly that it will be weeks before we understand where things are going. So that's someone from Israel,

a really professional security expert. And it's quite true. I mean, you know, this is orchestrated from outside. It is, first of all, by a collection of people, the MECA, the Mujah, the Mujah, who are trained in Albania. There's a training camp that the CIA run in Albania with a thousand men being trained.

insertion into Iran and from Kurds, Kurds going into Iran across the border from Iraq and Syrian Kurds going in there. They also have been trained either by the United States or Britain or Israel to go in and to create these disturbances. And I have to say, you know, we've had demonstrations periodically in Iran, but these are much more more violent. There's a sort of Maidan modus operandi taking place here. I mean, we've seen this and can see what's happening. What they do is they set on an individual, not a protester, not a member of the government, but a random individual.

And then they beat them, and they beat them hard. And then the women who are in attendance video and video and say, go on, go on, kill him, burn him. And then, of course, the security forces come in. They fire at these people beating this man up. And then they are armed and they far back at the security forces. And you get the security forces unavoidably killing some of the innocent bystanders. And then it becomes a big event. and then it sort of takes fire.

And that's what, you know, this is what they're trying to do with these things. It's quite obvious. But it's over. And one reason it's over is the huge event that has taken place in the last two days, which is that Iran with support from its friends has the technology to shut down Starlink. The West has provided some 40,000 Starlink terminals, and they're up to 90% of these closed down. And I believe I can't give you an absolute surety,

but also they have new technical means to identify the Starlink users, and they're arresting them. Is it fair to opine that all of this was caused by CIA, MI6, and Mossad? And if the answer to that is yes, that means Donald Trump, Kirstarmer, and Benjamin Netanyahu, unless these three intelligence entities are totally rogue and can kill people without authority. Oh, it's clear and it's proven. I mean, and look, we saw all these parts of this come together together just with a Mar-a-Lago meeting, at which, you know, and we spoke about it, I think, earlier in another.

at another last week or the week before. All of the elements for this were being prepared and the precursors to some sort of attack on Iran were obvious. I mean, the first thing was the devaluation of the currency of the real, which did disturb the bazaars, although the bazaarism are very clear in supporting the government, the people of the bazaar, the merchant class,

are supporting the government. Because in Dubai, it's not difficult. The CIA have some of their money laundering exercises there. It's a drug area. You can deal in cryptocurrencies or gold in Dubai. So it's very easy to sell real. Even if you don't own them, you can sell them forward and create a crisis in the currency.

We saw that many times taking place against Russia. Then at the same time, then you have the start of the demonstrations taking place on the ground. And then you see this massive propaganda saying, you know, oh, you know, the Supreme Leader is sort of seeking a way out. He's about to fly to Moscow or nonsense. I mean, pure, most of the films you're seeing coming out, a lot of the videos are fake or faking, showing. people who are protesting for the government as protesting against the government. And, you know, some of them, I saw some of the videos. They even had a big, you know, studio lights in the background,

and they didn't manage to take that out of the clips before they put them on the website. So huge propaganda in it. But it seems to be, it's dying down the huge demonstrations in favor of the government. millions people, and the Azeris are joining in it. The Zeris are having massive, you know, so it's not only just, you know, one ethnicity at all. The Kurds paid a strong role in us and are being arrested and taken out. So the thing is changing.

It's over. What does that mean? Well, it's too early to say. The language out of Washington, the language from Israel, of course, continues to say that it's ongoing and there are body flags in by the hundreds or 200s or a thousand and that we have to intervene. I'm not sure, you know, it was, I think that they thought, as they did on the 12th of June, that Iran was a house of cards. and the attack then, the decapitation attack that joined one, coordinated between the United States and Israel, that attack where many of the senior command of the army were killed

as well as scientists involved in a nuclear program were assassinated. They thought it was going to implode then. It didn't. So this is the second time they're trying to do it, a regime change this time, through demonstrations, violent demonstrations, they try to make them violent and turn them against the government.

And it's not working. And so now the question that Trump faces, question that Netanyahu faces, well, it's one thing to intervene when the government is weak and showing signs of disintegration. Actually, what you're seeing. Seeing now is a sign, again, as you saw in June, of the government recouping quickly,

coming together quickly and presenting a different face. Is that going to be a good time to mount a military attack on Iran? I think that's a different question. We have to wait and see. Here's President Trump last night on Air Force one returning from Maralago to D.C. saying that Iran wants to negotiate. We'll play the clip in the minute, but it reminds me of the last time he talked about Iran negotiating, and negotiators were ready to go to the place of negotiation when he and Netanyahu attack. But this is relatively short.

Tell me if this is believable. Chris, cut number three. Iran called to negotiate. Yes, sir. The leaders of Iran called. They went. I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States. Iran wants to negotiate, yes. We may meet with them. I mean, a meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called they want to negotiate.

Negotiate what? You know, I think he's just trying to replay the Venezuela soccer and say, you know, well, I negotiated with Maduro. I mean, but I didn't accept what he said. He wouldn't go. And so I think he's still, you know, on this tact that somehow, if only the Supreme Leader can be removed, then there will be someone pliant who's willing to negotiate. Look, all he's doing is taking the standard language that Iran has always used. We are always willing to negotiate, but we will not accept to give up our nuclear enrichment program, our missiles, or our friends. So if you want to talk with us, you know, you can.

But it means actually that it's got to be Washington that, if you like, exceeds to the Iranian. demands rather than that Iran is, you know, pleading for, pleading for talks with America to sort of remove the supreme leader or something and that Pesash Kian will become, you know, the king of Iran. It's not going to happen. No, not at all. I think it's, you know, it was pretty wild thinking that this would work in Venezuela. It's wilder still to imagine. imagine that it will, because actually, you know, much more than the government, the popular sentiment is for the supreme leader. We saw that in the wake of the attack in June on Iran, and it's apparent now.

They're all calling out, and they are saying, I mean, you know, it's all of these protests. If you look at the videos of what's going on in Tehran now, they're saying, F Trump, I mean, him, not the United States, but personalized. F him. Wow. Alster Crook, thank you very much. Thank you for your discretion, of course, no surprise when they're reciting what's on these placards. And thank you, of course, for your time, my dear friend. We'll look forward to seeing you again next week. Thank you very much. All the best. All the best to you. It's Monday. So coming up at 10 o'clock this morning, Ray McGovern, at 1130. this morning, Larry Johnson, and at three this afternoon on all of this, and on President Putin's latest moves, Scott Ritter, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.