Judging Freedom - LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Trump’s Blunders Haunt Him

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Trump’s Blunders Haunt HimSee 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, May 12, of 2020. Colonel Karen Kutkowski is here with us. She'll be here in just a moment on how Donald Trump suffers from his own blunders. But first this.

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That's preparewiththejudge.com. Colonel Koukowski, welcome here, my dear friend. Here we are two months after this war started. It had two different Hollywood-sounding names. I'm going to ask you in a few minutes why this military passion with these cockamamie names, but maybe there's a race behind it. Who controls the Strait of Hormuz today?

Iran. Iran does that. Yeah. And is the United States blockade a real blockade? Like when JFK prevented the Soviets from delivering missiles to Cuba? Yeah. No, it's not a blockade at all. It uses the name blockade, but a real blockade

implies a total shutdown of traffic in an area that's being blockaded. And it really, you know, it's not just an act of war. If you're blockading humanitarian goods or things, you know, it can be a war crime. You know, it's a starvation tactic. It's the kind of thing that Israel conducts off the coast of Gaza. You know, that's a blockade. Nothing comes in to Gaza unless the Israelis allow it to. But what we're doing is a fake blockade.

I mean, it's for purposes of White House propaganda. You know, we have a bunch of ships, but they're not really in close. They monitor as best they can, and then they go out and see what's happening, and maybe they get this ship or that ship, and they either talk to them or escort them or divert them in some way, but it's not very complete. And so it doesn't deserve the moniker of a blockade, because it's, unless you say it's a dysfunctional blockade or it's a non-working blockade because they're not blockading much of anything. The real control is still in the hands of the Iranians.

Here's Senator Chris Coons of Delaware trying to get an explanation on the blockade out of Mr. Personality, who's the Secretary of Defense. Number 14, Chris. My concern, Mr. Secretary, is that you've achieved a series of tactics. successes but are on the verge of a strategic loss because we are now negotiating. Just think it's so foolish. Here we are in a committee in the United States Senate, 74 days in, and you're talking about strategic loss. We have the ability to defeat a 47-year threat of a pursuit of a nuclear weapon. We have more leverage than we've ever had. We've had incredible battlefield successes, and you're talking about a strategic loss,

cloaked and disingenuous questions. This is how you undercut efforts that could otherwise and are otherwise being very effective. I am not your enemy, sir. I am not your adversary. I share your goal of preventing Iran from ever having a usable nuclear weapon to finish my sentence. Control of the Strait of Hormuz,

the ability to degrade our partners and allies gas and oil production capabilities through cheap drones. The ability to harass and hairy commercial shipping remains in Iran's hands. And their demands

are that we recognize sovereignty for them over the Strait of Hormuzzi. Hormuz, which I believe our president's rejected. You've rejected. I reject. But my question remains, how do we reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping? If we control it, how do we reopen it? And your average American is seeing this at the gas pump every single day as the cost of gas continues to rise. Trump and Pete Hage said that the only two people in the world who think the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz. Yeah, it's true. And also, Pete Hedgeseth is extremely defensive, extremely defensive.

And he's gotten more so, which is not good. I mean, as I'm watching him, you almost think of that as a, that he's fighting with his wife or something. She's saying, hey, where's the missing $5? And he's a big story, a big story that what do you mean? You're asking about $5? We have all this. Yeah. It's not a good look.

And I think it reveals that maybe he does not have. type of answer that's good. He has nothing to say. So he's diverting and deflecting these really legitimate questions, which I have to say, I think Senator Coons and others, they know also that we don't have a good answer for the questions that he's asking. How could we open the straight? Well, there's one way to open the straight. That's called Leave the Arabian Sea. depart the area and let Iran tax and charge fees and organize the inflow and outflow through their territorial waters along with Oman. That's the way you open the straight up.

You say it's been a big mistake. Kind of blew it on this one. We're leaving now. And best of luck in your management of the straight, which trust me, they can do it. The bad thing is I think we've given a lot of ideas to other countries who own, have territorial waters that are also an international causeway. I mean, if Iran can tax, then can Indonesia tax some of theirs? I mean, can Turkey leverage, you know, their straight into the Black Sea? I mean, Iran has given a lot of people a lot of ideas.

And you cannot put that cap back in the bag. It's out. So originally international waters were three miles, and the United States began claiming 12.5 and now everybody claims 12.5. So what is 12 and a half over the street? The street is 25 miles wide. So 12 and a half is half of it. The other half is Oman.

But in the Iranian half is the only part that's deep enough. Deep enough. There you go. ships to go through. So this would, what Hexath is claiming would be the equivalent of some ship four miles off the coast of Atlantic City or New Orleans and the U.S. tolerating it, not charging it or not stopping it. That just wouldn't happen.

No, no. Well, we never put ourselves in the shoes of the other people. I mean, since when has America ever considered what it would be like if it happened to us or if we were in that situation. Honestly, if we were located in Iran, if Iran was the United States, we would have been monetizing that straight and completely controlling it.

And probably much as we do for the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America, we have legislation that says only certain ships can do certain things in the Gulf of America. We've had that since the Jones Act. I mean, that's the thinking really behind the Jones Act, that that is somehow territorial waters, even though it's international waters, it's in our

interests, our purview to control that. So there is no doubt. And actually, Trump himself said it. He said, yeah, he said, I want in on that monetization. Me and the Ayatollah, me and, me and Mashita, we will leverage that. We'll leverage the state. I mean, again, Iran is the future, unfortunately, whether you like it or not. You know, their ideas, their way of doing business, their defensive capability against a really outdated United States military, both strategy and capability. That's the future.

And we are not the future. The United States military, a global empire that we can't maintain, you know, all this debt that we can't service. All of these things that maybe made us great in the past are now handicapped. So as sooner Americans wake up to that, which I think many of them have, but as sooner the president and White House and D.C. wake up to this, the sooner we can get back to or move forward into a better place. But honestly, you know, $1.5 trillion. Now they're saying $2.5 trillion in a few years of a military budget. That's not the answer. That is absolutely not the answer. we're driving down the wrong road. You know, we took, we've got to go back to the fort and go the other one.

Choose differently because you can't fix what we have right now. And Iran has exposed that to the whole world. What is or was Project Freedom? Yeah. You know, very. What was with these cockamamie names? Yeah. Oh, and that's actually.

Project Freedom. Yeah. And also Project Freedom, how, like, non-descriptive can you be with your operational name, Project Freedom? That means nothing. But I think what it was, I don't know what it was. It was confusing. It seemed to be, we're going to try to turn this blockade into an escort service of some sort. But it entailed more air power, more flights in the air.

Maybe those are surveillance flights, communications. I don't know. And so it was disrupted after 48 or 50 hours because Kuwait and Saudi Arabia refused to allow U.S. aircraft to use their airspace for this project freedom. And mainly they did that because they were not brought on board. They didn't know anything about it. And they're like, what is this thing you're doing? What is this? You never said anything. And after the U.S. explained it, they said, oh, okay, it's fine. You can do it. But I think we're not doing it. Okay. We're even with that. And I always thought there's two things it is. One, it's just completely stupid. another crazy idea that's not going to work to try to tell the oil markets that everything's going to be better. That was one thing it could be. But the other thing that it could be is from a military perspective is preparation for more air operations in and over Iran. Because this project freedom would have increased the number of American military flights and allied flights right there in the Gulf, you know, close to Iran, under this auspice of a new phase of the operation. And then that would then serve as preparatory for a heavy kinetic attack of some sort,

which Trump keeps threatening. You know, he keeps using obliteration. There's going to be a glow. We're going to, you know, he keeps talking that way. So it's not clear that those threats are not real. They may be real. And if they are, I saw Project Freedom maybe as something like that. But I don't know that.

I mean, seriously, they're going to write whole encyclopedias about how stupid from a military perspective this whole entire operation has been from day one. Here's what Chris looked it up. Here's what AI said. Launched by the U.S. on May 4, 2026, Operation Project Freedom was a short-lived military initiative designed to escort commercial vessels through the, the Strait of Hormuz amidst rising tensions and threats of Iran. Short-lived us right. I don't think it lasted two days, did it? No, it didn't last, it lasted, I think it was, ended at 50 hours.

And also, I think maybe they did try something. It wasn't just the Kuwaitian Saudi refusals of airspace. They actually got close to something and tried to do it, I think, not in the straight, but closer in than we normally operate. And they got some pushback, probably from fast ships or drones. I'm not sure. And so the high tailed it out of there because the risk does not justify the reward. You know, we're not an insurance company. You know, we're not a pay for, pay for security, pay, you know, hired security for these ships. If we go in there trying to help a ship get through

and we sink a battleship or a destroyer or lose sailors, you know, that is not worth it to us. Again, we're between a rock and a hard place strategically. We cannot, can't go forward, can't go back. It's a loss either way. Just to bring you some amusement along with heartburn, the favorite senator from South Carolina, Chris, number 12, Pakistan. Are you aware of reports that Pakistan are allowing

their bases to be used to park Iranian aircraft, General King? Sir, I've seen one report on that. Was it accurate? Sir, I think based on the variety of classification matters that I've seen. Let me just say, do you agree if it is accurate, that is sort of inconsistent with it being a peace mediator? Sir, I wouldn't want to comment on that based on the ongoing negotiations and, Secretary, Secretary, Exist.

If the mediator is allowing reconnaissance aircraft in Iran to be part in Pakistani airbases, do you think that's consistent with being a fair mediator? Again, I wouldn't want to get in the middle of these negotiations. I want to get in the middle of these negotiations. I don't trust Pakistan as far as I can throw them. If they actually do have Iranian aircraft parked in Pakistan bases to protect Iranian military assets, that tells me we should be looking maybe for somebody else to mediate. No wonder this damn thing is going nowhere.

He never met a war. He didn't want somebody else to fight. You know, it's funny that he took that approach because, as I recall with Ukraine, I think the United States was trying to help negotiate peace in Ukraine, even as we were providing surveillance, targeting, and munitions to one side against the other side. Yes, I think he makes a good point that obviously if you're hosting negotiations and trying to make peace, that you probably should be objective as possible. And then, of course, the other thing that he makes clear, really, which he probably didn't even realize he's doing it. But, you know, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, all these Kuwait, you know, these guys got hit by Iran. Well, they got hit, but mainly our bases in their countries got hit in the first week of the war, well, for several weeks of the war. And those countries thought it was very unfair, and we thought it was very unfair.

I mean, as, you know, politicians, oh, why are they doing that? Why are they doing that? And it's like, well, why don't you ask Lindsey Graham while they're doing that? Because Lindsay Graham says if they've got airplanes in another country and our enemy airplanes are parked in another country, they're the enemy. I don't trust him at all. We should hit him. I mean, he didn't say we should hit him. But it sounded like he would have liked it if Kane had said, yeah, yeah, we've got a plan for that.

You know, we're going to bomb those bases or whatever. Yeah, so the self-awareness that's lacking in Washington and certainly in Lindsay Graham, but lots of other people too, very, we do not. understand how idiotic we appear to the world because we refuse to, I guess it's we just think we're better than everybody and we think we're smarter than everybody and we control the whole world. So I guess it doesn't matter what other people think or how they perceive us. But yeah, we have a big problem in this country. We do not understand how stupid we look to the rest of the world. And I'm not saying Kane doesn't, Kane looks like a good general.

He behaves properly. He is very controlled. But Heggseth falls into that category. I mean, he's a laughing stock. I can't think of a single defense minister or person of his equivalent rank in another country that behaves like he does. That is openly as incompetent as he is, as uninformed and as emotional as he is. And this is how we look. This is how we look to the whole world. I mean, nuts. I'm going to give you some more. laughs. This is really stupid is as stupid does. This is John Roberts, not the chief justice, but my friend and former colleague at Fox News of the same name. He's not the one that's stupid. A person he's quoting, well, you can form your own judgment. Watch this. Can you guess

what state will become the 51st state? Don't answer. Chris, cut number eight. I was talking to the president this morning. It was just before the Oval Office event. He kind of surprised me a little because he said, John, I just want to tell you, I'm very serious about this. So you can talk about this. I'm serious about beginning a process to make Venezuela the 51st state. Now, there's a rich history in this nation of taking territories and absorbing them into the United States. You know, Puerto Rico is one that people talk about. But this would be the first time, to my knowledge, that a sovereign country was ever invited to join the United States of America. How would that work? Venezuela now led by President Delci Rodriguez is working incredibly cooperatively with the United States.

So I won't get ahead of any plans that the president may have to that effect. But look, this has been a tremendous success, the United States revitalizing our relationship with Venezuela and in turn improving the economic situation of both countries and our people. He's out of the Marco Rubio School of Speaking 200 words a minute. I just pointed this out because you talk about how ridiculous we look with. our colleagues around the world. Last question for you. This article by Robert Kagan, the Neocon Grandee,

the husband of Victoria Newland, the former national security advisor to Vice President Cheney, probably the most bellicose vice president in modern history, recognizing that Trump and Netanyahu have failed. What do you make of that? Yeah.

Yeah, two things, fundamentally two things. One is neocons are rats, and they always jump off the ship first. So he wants... Joe Raldi said the exact same thing in the private email. Well, he's right, he's right, he's right, he's right, because, you know, Kagan and Newland, you know, they see themselves as great minds, great, great foreign policy, you know, creators. And they do not want to be tagged with a new one. neocon project that's failing. And this one is a neocon project that has failed. I don't think it can be rejuvenated in any way, shape, or form. It's either going to be a nuclear weapon or we're going to back

away with nothing. Either way, it's a total loss for the president, total loss for the neocons, a failure. So part of it is he's getting out in front to make sure by knows that he said this was not a good idea, and they should end it. Because they're going to have to end it one way or the other anyway. So he's getting out in front. That's fine. That's a smart move. The other thing, that he's doing is he is actually worried, as he should be, about his true first love, which is Israel. And Israel's government's in trouble, the IDF is in terrible, terrible trouble. The military is not just proven to be vulnerable to things like Iranian missiles and that kind of thing,

but their society has shown itself to be not as resilient in the face of being hit. Okay, because if you think about this great IDF military, the most moral military and all that, they pretty much go out and take territory and beat up on people and conduct assassinations around the planet. So they do that, not the IDF, but between the Mossad and the IDF, you know, they're pretty much, they're the actors. They are taking the fight to other people. But when the fight is taken to Israel, their vulnerabilities are undeniable. It's a small place. everybody knows, you know, it's high tech. They can't hide their electrical emanations. They are

vulnerable. And their missile stocks are out, okay? And our missile stocks, we supply them, we help them. We're out also, all because of this big Iranian blunder that Netanyahu talked Trump into doing. So Israel's a big problem. And not only that, nobody, the whole world doesn't hate America yet, but the whole world does hate Israel, okay? People are divesting from Israel. Companies are deciding they're not selling arms. They're not going to buy Israeli products. Israel is not trusted.

That is going to take literally more years to fix than the three-month, four-month, five-month, six-month oil stoppage that we're seeing out of the straight of Hormuz. So that's a very long-term problem. It's a big problem. And that's why they're spending $731 million, almost a billion dollars, on Hasbara, on the Israeli global propaganda campaign, you know, visit Israel, buy Israeli. Israel is a great country. They have to say that because the fact of the matter is they're in bad shape.

Kagan will know this. Kagan is positioned and he has the right friends. So he knows this better than any of us do. He needs it to stop. They need it to stop. Israel is much more at risk than we are. We're way bigger than them. we have still many more friends around the globe than Israel have.

We have a productive economy. If we can get it kick started, we can export to the world many, many things. Israel cannot do that. What? We're going to live on cherry tomatoes. That's what I think Huckabee likes to talk about. The seedless watermelon and cherry tomato, we have to thank Israel for that. Well, guess what?

The world will continue on without those products. Israel needs to have peace. They need to get out of this war business, and they need to straighten themselves out as an Something else we can thank Israel for is the reduction of our ammunition and military equipment. Oh, yeah. Well, see, this is Ukraine directly to Israel and the use in this war. Scott Ritter and Colonel McGregor agree that we're way, way, way down. Ritter says we're close to zero. Oh, but the Secretary of State who calls himself the Secretary of War, he has his own opinion on this.

Chris, number 13. Obviously, we know of the munitions issue, and we know of the cost of this conflict, and we know the cost of other conflicts. And so we need to repay those HONM accounts that are going to be used, I suspect, in order to pay for this ongoing operation. So any idea when we're going to get this supplemental? We're well aware of all those dynamics. I think, first of all, the munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated. We know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.

And the reason we're accelerating a lot of this is because the department's been static and how it does this kind of business, not to mention the amount that was given to Ukraine for years and years. So we are getting after changing that dynamic so that we're not getting a hundred more of something. But the companies are investing so there's new plants. So you're getting 2x, 3x, 4X of those munition in future years because that's what we need. That's what our allies and partners through FMM.

require and we just haven't been delivering it. So we're we're in good shape on that front. Whatever we think we need, we will submit. But I'll say even in the conduct of the conflict, working with the chairman and Admiral Cooper, ensuring that any munitions we're using, we know what we're trading off of to preserve capabilities. So we have maximum optionality across the globe, which we do. There you go. And he still wants $2.7 trillion for, for an annual budget for next year, which is more than the next 12 countries, 12 combined. Americans are not, these wars are not popular.

Americans don't want to pay that money. And also, the Pentagon is broken. Okay, it's been broken for a long time. The acquisition system that we have evolved, this military industrial complex, is geared for high profits and low productivity and extended timelines. Okay. Well, you know, and I think Headset gets that. He says, we're building factories.

We're going to be able to produce a lot more at scale sometime in the future, as long as I get my trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars, maybe, maybe we'll be able to deliver. So even HedSeth is aware that this model does not work. And one of the great blessings of the stupidity in Washington and entering this war, both the Ukraine and certainly the Iran war, is we will, as a people, as a government, we will get an opportunity to really sit down and examine what kind of military we need, what we can afford, and how we will. We will We populate our military, not just in terms of people, but in terms of systems, design, you know, how much do we buy, how many plants do we really need?

And also, do we need an empire? I hope that that question is answered, actually, in coming years. I think the Iran War has shown us that empire is very costly and unproductive, and we can't do it very well. Colonel Koukowski, a pleasure, my dear friend. You're not afraid of anything or anybody, and you tell it the way you're You honestly believe it. All the best of you.

We'll look forward to seeing you again soon. Absolutely. Thanks, Judge. Thank you. Bye-bye. Tomorrow, Wednesday at 8 in the morning, Gilbert Doctoro at 1.15 in the afternoon. The Golden Boy, Max Blumenthal, at 2 in the afternoon.

His sidekick, Aaron Monta, at 3 in the afternoon. The great Phil Giroli, Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.