Judging Freedom - LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Can Trump Change His Mind?

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Can Trump Change His Mind?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? 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 Tuesday, March 17, 2006, Colonel Karen Koukowski joins us now. Colonel, always a pleasure, my dear friend. Thank you very much. In the past two and a half or three hours, we learned of the resignation of the senior person in the Trump administration in charge of counterterrorism, Joe Kent. He wrote a very articulate letter to the president. I would take issue with one little statement in there, but there's no sense even raising it. their essence of the rest of it is Iran poses no imminent threat to our nation.

Here's a guy who saw and had access to the same intel and level of classified documents as John Ratcliffe, the director of CIA, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, Joe Kent's boss until this morning. Secretary Hague Seth. Secretary Rubio and Vice President Vance. How revealing is something like this? Oh, yeah. This is extremely powerful because I think most observers, certainly people that pay attention to our government's foreign policy,

could not believe that Trump went into Iran as he has done, attacked, launched a joint attack that's totally appears to be unplanned, unlogistically supported without clear objectives. And he's consistently not just changing his mind about it. He's lying about it to the American people in such a way that even his friends at the New York Times and the Washington Post are exposing the lies. So that is very concerning. So here we have a guy who says, you know what, your instincts, Americans were right.

I saw the intelligence. This is what it is. No threat. No need. This is not even America's war. This is a war for Israel. And it's very important to have that confirmed because I think our instincts, all of the Americans, I don't care what party they're in, our instincts have been telling us something's wrong here.

Well, something is profoundly wrong. And this young man who had a tragedy in his own life, his wife was killed by an IUD, be supposedly concocted by ISIS. He came home to raise his boys. He ran for Congress twice. Chris, put up what Trump said about him when he nominated him. When he nominated him,

I didn't realize this position requires Senate confirmation. And here's what Trump posted when he nominated Mr. Kent right before he was confirmed by the United States Senate. It's my pleasure to nominate, nominate Joe Kent as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. As a soldier, Green Beret, and CIA officer, Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life. Above all, Joe knows the terrible cost of terrorism, losing his wonderful wife, Shannon, a great American hero, who was killed in the fight against ISIS. Joe continues to honor her legacy by staying in the fight.

Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism from the jihadists around the world to the cartels in our backyard. Congratulations, Joe. And then, that was then. This is now. Now, an hour ago, I barely knew him, and he was weak. Number 21, Chris. Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security.

I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read a statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it. They've been a threat for a long time. But they've really been a threat. But if I didn't terminate Obama's horrible deal that he made, the Iran nuclear deal, you would

have had a nuclear war four years ago. You would have had nuclear holocaust, and you would have had it again if we didn't bomb the site. So when somebody is working with us that says they didn't think Iran was a threat, we don't want those people because, and there are some people, I guess I would say that, but they're not smart people or they're not savvy people. Iran was a tremendous threat. He really doesn't know what he's talking about. The JCPLA permitted American inspectors, which the Israelis don't even permit. Sure. Sure, Trump has no idea what he's talking about.

And he really isn't increasingly isolated, clearly isolated. And he's been this way, really on most of his, most of his second term. He thought that he was surrounding himself with trusted people. Remember, his first term, he had people that betrayed him or whatever. He wasn't happy with him. They weren't loyal. And so this time, he surrounded himself with people he knew to be loyal or believed to be loyal. And, of course, they're all mostly Zionists because they're playing him, okay,

because he's more useful to Zionism than he is to America right now. And they've played him. They have made him feel comfortable. They have portrayed themselves as loyal, knowledgeable advisors. And anybody who doesn't say what they say must be a betrayer, must be someone who's not loyal to Trump. And Trump has eaten this stuff up because that's his personality. They have assessed him extremely well.

They know how to push his buttons. They know what he needs to hear. And they're feeding him this stuff. And really, Trump is the sacrificial lamb for Israel right now. his legacy is destroyed. I think even at this point, it's not too early to say it's destroyed. And we will remember Trump for none of the good things that he accomplished. They will fade away in the overwhelming historical significance of the damage that he has done

to both this country and to the Middle East and to diplomacy, American diplomacy. I mean, how many presidents will it take in the future before our country believes that, into diplomatic relations with the United States is anything other than a trap. Trump has proven he doesn't believe in diplomacy. Anyway, bad for Trump. They're using him. He's in a bubble and he's losing his mind. Well, I mean, there is no diplomacy.

The two negotiations with Iran were cover for the planned attacks. The two real estate agents set to negotiate with them. or ardent Zionists who participated in this act of deception. Colonel Kutkowski, who would negotiate with the United States of America in good faith under this president? Nobody would negotiate in good faith. That would be silly. I think the major powers, certainly Russian China, will continue to meet with him, and they

will take those meetings for whatever information they can glean. will not trust anything that Trump says. And then there will be people that will seek opportunities to negotiate in bad faith with Trump. And the one I can think of right now, of course, is Zelensky. You know, Zelensky may feel that, you know, Trump needs friends, you know. And obviously, he tried to be his friend with the drone offer and was kind of shut down. But no, good faith, no one. Why would you? You're putting pearls before swine to talk to the United States right now. And where is Chelsea Gabbard until a few hours ago, Joe Kent's boss, and until a year ago, a fierce, fierce opponent of wars of opportunity, wars of regime change, and a war against Iran in particular?

How does she stay in this administration? How does the vice president will play a clip from him showing him thawning over Trump? How does he stay in the administration? Yeah, I don't know how either one of them really. really can do it. You know, I think the online betting or gaming predictions have Vance's potential of being elected as the 48th president down to 17 percent now. And that's all, you know, his doing and Trump's doing. Vance should have resigned. He had said some of the right things a few years ago. He should go back to that and really leave this sinking ship. And Tulsi, I don't know

what motivates Tulsi to stay there. I mean, she has been basically, publicly thrown under the bus by Trump on more than one occasion. She knows better than this, and yet she has not left. And, you know, Dennis Fritz, you know, one of the senior people at the Eisenhower meeting. Well, we know, and I know Fritz and love him. How could you not know? Yes, Dennis Fritz says, I don't, I haven't checked the times, but he says tomorrow is speaking before Congress.

I don't know which particular group of Congress it is. what, you know, group it is. But she's speaking, and he says that would be her chance to join Joe Kent and make a public statement and separate herself from this disastrous and evil and un-American and unconstitutional executive suite. She needs to get out of this. If she doesn't, then I have no sympathy for her and my support completely withdrawn. I mean, I really saw Tulsi is a wonderful example of what.

I mean, ultimately, in my view, maybe a female president. You know, if you have to have one, Tulsi, that would be the one. An anti-war president who knows the military and believes in peace, this I thought was a great thing. Well, I'm withdrawing that unless she pretty much separates herself soon. There's a post from Jackson Hinkle, one of my colleagues in this podcast world. There's a picture of him with Ms. Gabbard. It is beyond pathetic that you, Joe Kent's boss, have not resigned yet. You condemned Trump's sanctions on Iran.

You co-sponsored the No War with Iran Act. You knew Americans would die in a war in Iran. You have 100 plus tweets advocating no war on Iran. You campaigned for president against a war on Iran. You condemned Trump for pulling out of the JPCOA. You sold in caps. No war with Iran's shirts on your website. You oppose the terrorist designation of Iran's military.

Unless you are the only thing stopping Trump from dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran, you only have one option, resign. And then he posted this photo of himself with her. It's very articulate and compelling statement by this young and very popular podcaster. Yeah, yeah. I know I was talking to him actually, I think last week, he's great. That is the long list of, I did not realize that Tulsi had been that outspoken specifically on the Iran war. Yeah, it's a shame. And she is, you know, I think the lesson is, and maybe Americans will learn this. I don't know if we're going to learn it soon enough, but, you know, sticking with your principles, you know, your core beliefs, what you know to be right and wrong, your backbone, your moral competence. If you stick with that, you're going to be okay. Okay? You don't care who you are and I don't care where you work.

Even if you're a member of the elites and you have some semblance of a moral compass, if you go by that, if you hold true to that, you're going to be okay. And I would tell everybody that, you know, do the right thing. My goodness. What basis for the war did Trump or Hegg Seth or Rubio articulate that was moral, legal and constitutional? Well, you know, Rubio let it slip out, I think, not realizing he was saying it, that we went to war with Iran because Israel was going to do

it one way or the other, and then they would suck us in, so we needed to do it for Israel. We had to protect Israel. We had to provide cover for Israel. We went to war for Israel. And Israel had decided that they were going to start something with Iran. again. And they also knew when they were going to start it because they wanted it to be over with, you know, the following Tuesday. And we, so we jumped along for the ride without preparing the American people and without even consulting the slightest bit with Congress and apparently,

from what Jo Kant is saying, ignoring the vast body of intelligence that was being provided to the White House. So that's pretty unconstitutional. I mean, an aggressive attack on another country that does not threaten you is illegal. That's illegal even if you're, that's globally illegal. Okay. That is the definition of a, you know, an unjust and illegal war. Right. You know, I don't, I don't know. I'll tell you this thing. It really makes me think Trump has lost his mind. Did you see what he said about Cuba? He's going to take Cuba and he doesn't know yet what he's going to do with it. Maybe he'll keep it. Maybe he'll let it free. I mean, my goodness, that is, that's Caligula.

I mean, it's the American Gilligillian. All right. Here's Vice President, Vance, yesterday, number 16. I know what you're trying to do, Phil. You're trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration between me and the president. What the president said consistently, going back to 2015, and I agreed with them, is that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon. We have taken this military action under the president's leadership. I think all of us, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, should pray for us.

success and pray for the safety of our troops. That's the approach that I've taken. Make it as successful as possible. So there's no hesitation given your past statements with the current operation? What do you mean there's no hesitation with my past statements? Given your skepticism of war adventurism, you were a critic of the global war on terror previously? Well, I think one big difference, Phil, is that we have a smart president, whereas in the past we've had dumb presidents. And I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes of the passed or repeated, absolutely. So, J.D. has been great.

J.D.'s been great. He sucks up really well. I like him. I like J.D. He's telling me what I want to hear. Yeah, what are humiliating? He involved a military action, not a war. The president referred to it as a military operation, not a war. Tell that to the 170 school girls who were incinerated

in their school and the thousands of others who've been killed in the streets by American and Israeli bombs and missiles, that it's not a war. That's right. And we are actually conducting this war against the people of Iran. We're conducting against the police stations. This is right out of the Israeli, the IDF playbook. We are hitting schools. We've hit, I don't know, 16 or 20 hospitals in Iran, maybe more than that.

We just blew up an indoor sports arena. I guess that's a real threat to America if the Iranians play soccer indoors. You know, that's got that's, that is one of our targets. And I think really, since we don't have a lot of military targets left, mainly because we can't find the important ones that keep launching these regular waves of missiles, we are now, the AI is giving us the lower priority targets, which include this, the economic and social housing, residential, hospital, you know, schools. So we are targeting these kinds of things. That is almost like jumping into, you know, Dresden territory. But we didn't do, we didn't firebomb Dresden in the World War II until towards the end, I don't think. So we're going ahead and like, well, okay, let's just kill them, make them unhappy, you know, torture them. We'll kill the next Iatole. They're targeting the new

grand mullah, you know, the leader, the new common aid. They're targeting him. They're still targeting leadership, political people, and of course now down to local police in order to really

so chaos. But again, that is something you do in war and it's something you do in war when you think you're losing. Okay, so what is it? Do we think we're losing? Are we just horrible, horrible, immoral beasts of human beings in America.

We know Israel is. They've proven it over and over again, but now we're joining them. So we're painting our country in the same way that Israel has already painted itself in the global arena. And this is not going to, we will not live this down long past Trump. So the costs are not just the trillions of dollars of economic losses and the disruption in the oil and inflation and war and more war. It's not just that cost. It is a loss of our reputation.

No one will trust us ever again. But now, interestingly enough, China and Russia are supposed near peer adversaries. They're watching us expend our entire military arsenal. Right. And meanwhile, you know, I have to say this. I have to say this. And this is going to sound terrible. But, you know, the PSA isn't working right now because the Department of Homeland Security,

a department that never should have been created, but it was. And it's now not getting funded because of some. some congressional budget office argument, you know, whatever. So at the same time we launch a war, we also defund the homeland security. So if this thing becomes global, which of course, most observers expected that it would be, when you kill a Shia leader, there's lots of Shia around the world that may be upset about that. I don't know. But it's such an opportunity to hurt our country.

This is an opportunity that Trump has created, facilitated, enlarged, and apparently thinks it's funny. It's not funny. He is a criminal. Here's two guys. I won't even tell you who they are, but you'll know in a minute who think the kill list is funny. Number 24, Chris. Mr. Prime Minister, I want you to know, the president asked me to come and make sure you were okay. Yes, Mike.

Yes, I'm alive. I checked that, and I'm happy to see that, but he wanted to make sure because, you know, you guys get along too well. I know, and we shake hands with five singers in each hand. You know, but I have to tell you, I'm alive, but I have this card. Oh. And, yeah, don't read it. So it's a punch card.

Today I raised two names on the punch cards, and you see how many more to go on this batch. You know what the good news is? My name is not on the punch card. Your name is on the list of the good guys. Thank you. And what the president, the U.S. forces are doing. It's incredible.

We're very proud to stand, shoulder to shoulder with him. And getting rid of these lunatics would like to develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to every American city after wiping out Israel. they couldn't do that. We're wiping them a lot of it. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Good to see you. Thank you, much.

Thanks. Take care. Thank you. Mike Huckabee, I love it. I love you murdering civilian leaders. Yeah. That's the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. In Huckabee, you know, I think he's ordained.

I think he's a minister of some sort. You know, I think he's, maybe it was a mail order course. But yeah, this is pretty disgusting. But, you know, there's a bits of truth there. Huckabee said, I'm glad I'm not on that list. And he was assured by the, if that's an AI or real, I'm pretty sure most of this stuff's been AI on Netanyahu. That may well prove to be AI as well.

But Netanyahu said, oh, no, no, you're not on this list. You know, you're safe. And very submissive, servile behavior from Americans. So, you know, we need a clean house. There's no doubt about it. I don't know when it'll happen, but I think it's going to happen sooner rather than later. People are disgusted by what has happened. And actually, you know, the people, this Joe Kent, his resignation is very important.

The soldiers that we haven't been able, you know, they've shut down social media. I say soldiers. I mean, particularly the naval folk on Gerald Ford, they're coming home. They're going to come home soon enough. They've been on social media shut down on all of our naval ships. And once they get back where they can start sharing their stories, that will not be controllable back here at home. So this story is not going away. It is interwoven with the Epstein failure of the administration to hunt those guys down and bring them to justice, including many politicians.

We can clean house. I think in some ways the track is prepared for us to do that. And I think maybe that's something we are going to be focused on pretty soon. Yeah, that's so distressing. But Karen, thank you very much for your analysis, as always, my dear friend. Oh, I have to ask you this question because you posed it in your piece at Judge Knapp and Lou Rockwell. Is Trump stupid? You know, he really is. I mean, the fact that Vance said he was very smart, that was actually like the punchline. And, you know, when you say something that's not really true, it's interesting.

Now, what I said is how do you fix stupid? I think stupid is what we did, what we've done in assaulting, attacking, surprise attacking, Iran, and then with no planning, no logistics, no leadership, no objectives, and no off-ramp. We've done that. I think that's stupid. Trump himself, I wasn't necessarily calling him stupid, but clearly he wasn't the smartest child in his family. There's no doubt about that. And he strives.

He feels uncomfortable about that. So he has to be constantly reassured. You know, there's been a lot on the social media and other places. It's known for years and years. But the difference between really smart folk and average folk and below average folk in terms of their intelligence quotient, if you want to call it that. But they've done studies. And people that are below average in intelligence often are very confident.

in their abilities to understand things. They're confident in what they know. And they see themselves as average or above average. And that's actually probably healthy for the... Here's someone that Trump has mocked for being low intelligence. I don't always agree with her, but she nails it right here. Watch this. Marjorie Taylor Green, Chris.

Why would an American president lead his political party into the midterms waging a full-scale major war, completely unprovoked on Iran, on behalf of Israel, and that's the way most Americans see it. They see this is for Israel, not for America. Why would an American president do that, which is forcing gas prices to hike right here going into spring break where families are going to be driving out of town, going into summer, declaring and waging a major full-scale war that seems to have no end in sight, that is not. de-escalating. It's escalating every single day. And it just doesn't make sense. We set on every single rally stage, no more foreign wars, no more regime change. It's time to put America first.

And this is a complete betrayal of those campaign promises. Deep betrayal of those campaign promises. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And this message is going to grow and resonate in this country more and more because Trump has done nothing except add fuel to the fire. He hasn't corrected a single mistake that he's made. He's lying even more creatively than he was even on the first day. So yeah, yeah, it's going to be fun. Buckle up. Yeah. Karen Klikowski, thank you, my dear friend. All the best. Yeah, same to you. Thank you, Judge. Sure. Coming out tomorrow, Wednesday at 8 in the morning, Gilbert Docterot, at 1 in the afternoon. I'm not sure where he is, but we'll find him,

Peppa Escobar at two in the afternoon, Professor Glenn Deeson, the three in the afternoon, the great Phil Giraldi. Justin Apollet Town for Judging Freedom.