Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov - Trump Admits More Americans May Die in Iran War — Voters Are Turning on Him

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

Jessica Tarlov and Aaron Parnas break down the political, economic, and legal fallout from Trump’s war with Iran. As the president openly talks about replacing Iran’s leadership and admits Americans may die, the war is already rattling markets, pushing up gas prices, and emerging as a defining issue heading into the midterms. Jess and Aaron discuss why early polling shows the strikes are deeply unpopular — and what that could mean for Republicans, Democrats, and the future of the MAGA movement. They also examine Trump’s latest foreign policy rhetoric after he suggested Cuba “is going to fall” and hinted at a potential deal with Havana — raising the question: is Cuba Trump’s next target? Plus, the fallout from Kristi Noem’s firing as DHS secretary and what Markwayne Mullin’s nomination could mean for immigration enforcement and the future of ICE. And the Justice Department releases another batch of Epstein-related files, including a previously missing interview involving allegations against Trump — as Attorney General Pam Bondi faces a subpoena from Republicans. Follow Jessica Tarlov, @JessicaTarlov Follow Prof G, @profgalloway Follow Raging Moderates, @RagingModeratesPod Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RagingModerates Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Until now, mobile phone companies have worked very hard to ensure their phones do not start fires. But we found one company that dared to go in a different direction and make a phone with fire starting as a feature. On the Vergecast, we talk about all the greatest and weirdest phone concepts from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Plus, after years of legal battles, Google and Epic are now best buddies, contractually obligated to not say mean things about their app stores anymore. That's this week on the Vergecast wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlov. And I'm Aaron Parnas. And in today's episode, we're going to talk about how Trump's war in Iran will impact the midterms, what ICE will look like after Christy Noem and Corey Lewandowski's departure.

He'll be sorely missed. And what's in the latest DOJ batch of Epstein files that just were released? If you aren't already, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube page to get up-to-date coverage on everything happening. New episodes are dropping every day at 5 p.m. Are you liking it? I hope you're liking it. I'm tired. All right, let's get into it. Trump admitted that Americans may die and also said that he wants Iran's leadership structure gone and that he has a preference for a good leader to replace it, which I guess is better than him saying that he has preference for a bad leader. He ruled out the Ayatollah's son, so we won't have a Nepo baby, I guess.

But what is your expectation of who comes next for Iran, Aaron? Well, happy Friday to you. Happy Friday to you. We're at war. We're at war. And I will say, before I get into Iran, to all those watching, you guys have to make this the most watched video of the five days a week so that Scott puts me on more often. Kidding.

Throwing the gauntlet down. Throwing the gauntlet down. What's happening in Iran? I think that this is what happens when you don't have a plan or rather when you accidentally or intentionally bomb your plan B, C, and D and kill them too because that's what Trump did, right? Or I guess the Israelis did or Trump did. I don't know.

We did. We did. Yeah. I mean, we don't have a plan. And I think that's been very clear. I was watching videos from the Iraq War, what generals were saying and the defense secretary was saying back then. And it was like the same, it's like history repeating itself.

Back then it was like, oh, we'll be done in six days or six months. Or, you know, maybe never. And now it's we're going to be done in a few days, a few weeks. Now we're looking through at least the end of September based on political reporting. So ultimately this war is turning into a forever war. Trump is motivated by, I don't know what, because I don't really, other than killing the guy who almost killed him. That was, I think, a big motivation of his to start this war.

And ultimately, the American people are going to suffer because of it. The fact that an American president, imagine if Joe Biden came out and said, you know, Americans may die because of attacks on the homeland. That's what happens. Right? That's just what happens in war. Like, I mean, Fox News, all of these more conservative news organizations would be calling for impeachment, 25th Amendment. I mean, insane.

They literally were. I've been talking about that on one said more conservative-leaning network that Pete Higgsath himself was beating that drum after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which we all remember, was when things turned for Joe Biden. His approval never got back on track after Afghanistan when 13 service members died and he allegedly checked his watch. One thing, well, it's not one thing. It's multiple things that I wanted to bring.

up because there are American lives at risk. And so I have been trying to focus at least some of my energy on the what could go right argument, because I would like this to go right. I am unclear from what the administration has said as to what that actually is. But most of all, I don't want any more Americans to die. And it would be great if the Iranian people were freer, totally free. I'm not sure that's ever going to happen, but lived in better circumstances in that you had a more moderate head of the Iranian government. But it is slim pickens if you are looking for an article or a piece of reporting that is positive about what's going on, and not because they're biased, but because they're actually doing their jobs. So the price of oil, so we're up to $86 a barrel right now,

the Qataris are saying you can go to $150. I don't. I just saw that Trump didn't refill the strategic petroleum reserve, which is something they also criticized the Biden administration for. So that's another notch in the, were you actually planning to do this belt? Americans are posting on social media that it's complete BS, that they're being helped to get out there. I saw that, I guess, Bob Kraft's plane is going to get people so that they can come home on a Patriots jet. So that's the State Department numbers are still not all working. So that's a big fail. The FTs reporting that our Gulf allies, who we traded in a lot of Western allies for,

are now talking about withdrawing from contracts with us and canceling future economic investments. Russia is giving Iran targeting information to attack American forces in the Middle East. So, you know, bad gamble there. Zelensky shows up to bail us out. And the Russians are doing exactly what you would expect that they do because Putin is, you know, the axis of evil. monarch, and they want us to be applauding for this. So you're saying we're in the golden age. Is that what you're saying? This is the golden. I feel it. And the jobs report. The jobs report. 92,000 jobs shed unemployment up to 4.4 percent. I'm searching. I'm hunting. I'm a glass half

full kind of gal. I'm struggling. Yeah, I am. I am too. I mean, I don't really see much positivity here at all. I mean, I think like, and even the, I'm a, idea like, okay, they took out the Ayatollah. Okay, that is a positive thing. Great. He's gone. Gone. No one liked him. No one should have liked him. Moving on. But the Iitol's son is now the head of the regime. It's not like it got any better. And what? You're going to have a regime by just bombing the hell out of Iran? When in history, have you ever changed the regime without putting boots on the ground? That's never happened. What, we're going to arm the Kurds? We fail the Kurds repeatedly throughout American history. They still come back to help us, though.

They come back every time. I'm good on this. I know, but again, I mean, it's history repeating itself. Same thing that happened in the early 2000s. Again, I read a piece from the Atlantic in August of last year, I think it was from, and it makes a lot of sense today. The piece kind of talked about how Donald Trump is very insulated in this White House, how all he watches is positive coverage of what he does. All of the people around him are just yes manning him and just telling him what he's doing is right and a good thing.

And then the people he brings in, like the business execs and all of that, also are just yes manning him when they're in front of him because they know, that's the only way to curry favor with him. So he set up a system in which he never actually gets real criticism, constructive or not. And so what you have now is a president who took a country to war, an economy and decline, prices through the roof, heading into what arguably is the most important midterm elections for any president in this modern century. If he loses in November, that's the end of any legislative action his administration will be able to take. And He'll be a complete lame duck more so than he already is.

And I don't think he really understands that. And I don't think those around him are telling him the right thing. Susie Wiles, based on reports that came out over the past 24 hours, she's looking to get out of Dodge after November. Kristine Ome is gone. There's going to be major more reshuffling, I think, by this time next year. And Trump himself, I mean, you watch him. He doesn't look happy as much anymore.

I think he's really declined physically. I think he's declined mentally. I think he's declined in the way that he even, wants to do this job. He doesn't seem like he wants to do this job. Lately, all he's been doing is, it seems like he's been like a glorified tour guide of the Oval Office for whenever someone comes in. He's showing them around all of these pieces, a declaration of independence. Let's bring in Mom Donnie. Let's show him the drapes. Right? Like the drapes. Like that's all he's doing. And at the end of the day, the American people are like, what the hell? And it's frustrating for a lot of people,

and justifiably so. Absolutely. I mean, you know, a component of this that we have to focus on is what the opposition is doing with all of this material. And Democrats are largely unified in their messaging about, you know, an unauthorized regime change war. This is a war of choice, et cetera. How big of a factor do you think what's going on now is going to be in the midterms? And how do you think, how would you rate the Democratic response? I'm going to be honestly, I think the Democratic response is actually really good because there really isn't a response. And for the first time, I think Democrats just aren't screwing up, right? Like, yeah, I don't think they're doing enough to push back in some respects. But to me, I'd rather than just

sit silent, sit on their asses and not come out and look like a divided party and have some Democrats support what Trump is doing in Iran and other Democrats oppose it and just create this kind of cluster. Sit back. No, like, let kind of Trump fail himself, which is what's happening in my opinion. I don't think Democrats are doing enough. I think Democratic leadership isn't doing enough. I don't think Democratic leadership has been doing enough ever since Trump came back into power. This is not Nancy Pelosi's Democratic Party today, right? Like, Nancy Pelosi is, I remember she was whipping votes against the Iraq war, and I saw a video of her whipping Greg Landsman on the House floor the other day against the vote, the war powers vote. And it was like

peak Democrat right there. Like Nancy Pelosi represented the best of like Democratic. leadership. It's not Nancy Pelosi's Democratic Party today anymore. I think that if Democrats just continue doing what they're doing, they're going to win 40 seats in the House of Representatives, they're going to have a significant majority after November, and they actually may even win the Senate. If Democrats come out and start, for example, if Senate Democrats decide to provide more funding for Donald Trump's Department of Defense, which is what's coming, right? Like some senators are already saying, we might be open to funding. We're already in this situation. If they go out and vote for it, that's a big screw up in my opinion.

like actually be a resistance party. Yeah, it's been interesting to see that the change on that, even from people, I guess, getting five or six hours of online reaction to being open to the idea of more funding. And I do think that we all need a big reminder that the DOD has been funded to the tune of over a trillion dollars anyway, between the budget and the reconciliation bill. And to your point about how lame this lame duck is going to become,

come after the midterms, if it goes well for Democrats. Mike Johnson is already scuttling to get another reconciliation bill done because there haven't been enough tax breaks, I guess, for the wealthy. And he's like, I won't be able to starve any more children in the last two years of Donald Trump's administration. I totally agree about Nancy Pelosi. I think Hakeem Jeffries has had a lot of big wins. They're just not as visible as they were or amplified in the same way as Nancy Pelosi.

But she is just always on message. I had her on a couple weeks ago. And, you know, she's retiring after this amazing career. I, you know, want to talk about legacy stuff. I want to talk beauty routine. She was like, girl, we are talking about winning elections. Like, I am not talking to you about my hair, which is always perfect. I'm sure that you've seen that now Trump is talking about his next foreign policy target,

which is Cuba. Marco Rubio, very happy boy. He says that the island's communist government is going to fall. and claims leaders in Havana are quietly trying to cut a deal with Washington. Let's watch him assigning little Marco his next assignment. Marco, you've been doing a fantastic job, and you've been doing a fantastic job on a place called Cuba. What's happening with Cuba is amazing, and we think that we want to finish this one first, but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba, hopefully not to stay.

I love that. Inter-Miami is just standing behind them. You know, they're like for soccer players. Why are we talking about this? Secondly, I do social media brings a lot of joy in the meme game. I love all the Marco Rubio and his next job outfits that they're always posting. Like him as Christy Noem and Corey Lewandowski. He's going to be the Ayatollah, too. What do you think, do you think this is legit that Cuba is next in the list and we're going to do something?

or this is a little bob and weave from Trump? No, I do think it's legit. I think that Rubio is Trump's shadow president when it comes to foreign policy. Like, this is Rubio as president. This isn't Trump. I don't think Trump does not know who the president of Cuba is today.

Right? Like, if you asked Trump who the Ayatollah was, the only reason he probably knew who the Ayatollah was because the Ayatollah tried to kill him. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't even know who the Ayatollah was. Delsi Rodriguez, you think Trump knew

who Delci was before she came into power? No. This is all Rubio's kind of shadow president And part of me thinks it's Rubio's, I mean, this has been Rubio's goal for as long as I could remember. Florida Republicans are having the time of their life. But I will say this. Miami Cubans love this and it will boost their, if Cuba falls and is actually rebuilt in a good way, they're going to gain a lot of Latino support in South Florida.

But there is always that pitfall when you're doing regime change. when you're doing these efforts. It doesn't actually seem like the Trump administration wants to actually help any of the people. And I think that's what everyone is missing. Like in Venezuela, great, you got Maduro out. He was awful, but you put Maduro's lackey as the number two. And literally zero has changed for the actual Venezuelan people.

Same thing with Iran, right? Like you're going to put in someone who may be just as bad, if not worse, than the Ayatollah that may actually talk to the United States government. Great, you're talking to them and you're giving them oil or access to whatever, but the people are still being hurt. And same thing in Cuba. You may have someone who's willing to communicate with the U.S. government

and do what Trump demands because otherwise will bomb the hell out of them, which is what he's doing in Iran. But does it actually help the Cuban people? And the answer is probably not. You can't just because, and this is something else that really frustrates me, you can get rid of a person.

You can't get rid of an ideology. Just because you get rid of the Ayatollah or you get rid of the Castro regime doesn't mean you get rid of communism or you get rid of some of the religious extremism that we've seen in Iran. You don't just get rid of that. And a lot of the people there, also,

there are plenty of people in Iran who supported what the Ayatollah did. There are plenty of people in Cuba who support the Castro. It is very difficult to change people's minds and change the way people think. It's very easy to change the person in charge. Well, especially if you are not offering them

an alternative that's appealing. And we're not going to be taking hundreds of thousands. if not millions of refugees into the country when this is the most, you know, closed border president slash xenophobic that we've had. So you're completely right. I mean, the interviews with Venezuelans after Maduro was taken out were quite jarring. Or they're like, yeah, are we glad that he's gone? But I'm not going anywhere. Like Americans or the ones who are here are not going back who have TPS status or become American citizens. And the Venezuelans who are there, we're like,

Nothing is really all that different. And the Iranians are in limbo, wondering what's going to happen and also looking at examples of regime change wars from around the region thinking, well, that didn't end so well. Like we had a couple years where we were talking about, you know, girls in sports and job opportunities. But we're all basically back where we started and you guys aren't here and your weapons are being used by bad guys all. over the region, which it's incredible how much of our stuff is being used by bad guys that we just left behind. It is very easy for all of these so-called foreign policy experts and consultants and people in government to sit on their high horse in the United States of America and say, it's okay to go into another country. It's very easy to say that. It's a whole different reality

to actually be on the ground and see what's happening to that other country. Afghanistan case in point, years after the United States military went in, we now have one of the most repressive regimes for women and girls in the entire world with the Taliban. The same thing could very well happen in Iran. You could have something worse than what you have right now. So I think that things are easy said,

actually seeing the impacts of it. You're never going to see what's happening in Iran happen in the United States of America. People are very privileged to live in a country like the United States. So I think a lot of these experts, need to shut up, in my opinion. All right, but not us experts.

Not us experts. That we're going to take a quick break. Stay with us. You don't need AI agents, which may sound weird coming from service now, the leader in AI agents. The truth is, AI agents need you. Sure, they'll process, predict,

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This is what President Trump had to say about why the United States is at war with Iran. We sought repeatedly to make a deal. We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. Again, they wanted to do it. They didn't want to do it. They didn't know what was happening.

Not the best explanation for a war of choice. Sir, I'm personally a do my own research kind of guy, but let's ask AI why we're at war with Iran. Chat? The United States attacked Iran in 2026 because it claimed Iran posed an imminent threat, particularly due to Iran's advancing nuclear program and missile capabilities, and aim to reduce Iran's ability to project power in the region. Wow, that was a better explanation. Thanks, Chad. Fitting that AI was more clear than the president of the United States,

because it turns out the United States is using AI to fight the war in Iran. The future of war is AI, and that future is now here. You can find out whether or not you should be freaking out over in the today explained feed. Welcome back. President Trump fired Christy Knoam this week and tapped Mark Wayne Mullen as his pick to take over the massive agency. Let's get a taste of our next DHS secretary. Here's a clip. that is considered a terrorist organization that is flooding our streets with drugs, that's killing Americans every single day, they're being proactive on it.

Good on them. Are we doubting that these drug dealers are actually drug leaders? We think they're just out there fishing? Do we doubt that this is a terrorist organization that's killing thousands and thousands of people in our streets? What are we questioning here? These individuals don't care about the lives of our friends and families. Why do we care if we take them out in international water?

Cut two, they actually were fishermen. We just don't talk about it anymore. I had almost forgotten about that interaction. I don't think it's one of his dumbest, but it does show a willingness to parrot the administration's talking points, no matter how bad they are. What are your secretary Mullen in waiting thoughts? I'm going to make a prediction.

I don't know that Mullen will ever be secretary. That is going to be my prediction. Yeah. He already has John Fetterman's vote. It's not about votes. I'll tell you what's going to happen. Trump says he's going to be appointed by March 31st. The Senate doesn't move that fast.

There's no way he's going to have hearings, committee votes, and a full Senate vote by the end of the month. It just, I don't think, will happen. And I could totally see a scenario where that doesn't happen. And Christy Nome's gone. And he appoints Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, for example. Someone who worked in his first administration, who's been loyal to him outside of the White House, and then kind of just keeps Chad Wolf in power. I don't know that Mullen ever actually becomes secretary.

He may very well be, but I don't know that he will be. And if he does, I mean, I saw a comment. It was like when you're like child, what is it called? You get like crap all over you and then you just change clothes. And it's like the same thing. When someone like shits their pants, but they change their shirt. Yeah. I think that's what it was.

Yeah. I mean, you're getting someone who's more conservative than Christy Nome is. And I always say this like, Trump, it was Trump versus DeSantis. DeSantis, to me, was a more competent version of Trump. DeSantis actually would be able to get more things done than Trump, in my opinion. Same thing with Mullen versus Noem. He is just a more competent version of her, in my opinion, in the sense that he'll go in there,

he'll sound the way he needs to sound, he'll talk the way he needs to talk, and he'll be more radical than she ever was. That's interesting. I mean, I am a fan of more competency, though it's a very low bar, having watched a lot of interviews of his, I mean, he's even confused this week about whether we're at war. I don't know if you saw that where he's going back and forth on himself on it. But I do think it's a good thing that Christy Noam's been pushed out. I know she has some consolation prize job.

I don't know if it has budget for Corey Lewandowski. Shield of the Americas. Shield of the Americas. It would be interesting, though, if she runs for Senate. I think she will. Against rounds. Yeah. So a test of her popular.

You think? Aren't they a little sick of being embarrassed at this point? Yeah, but I think she'd win. I mean, I think she's pretty popular in South Dakota. And I don't know. And if she ran against rounds, I don't know that rounds would run, right? Like, that's another thing. You may see him bow out.

Yeah, well, still mad about what Steve Danes did. So, trixie and evil. Or Chooey Garcia. But we said it was bad then, too. Yeah, it's bad on both sides. It's bad on both sides. don't behave like that. Other big news and very much on your beat, Pam Bondi is going to have to testify before the Oversight Committee. The files relating to the unverified claim that Donald Trump

sexually assaulted a minor have been released. So I think 37 pages are still missing from that. What do you think about that claim, which stems from a 2019 interview? And what do you think, Pam Bondi coming to testify what the obscene files means. Yeah, I mean, I actually texted a few members of Congress after the subpoena went through, and I was like, your first question has to be, is the Dow above 50,000? That is the first question they have to ask her when she comes in front of the Oversight because the Dow is no longer above 50,000. No, 48, right?

It's even lower now. Oh, great. Losing money as we record. As we record. I think that her being subpoenaed for oversight is kind of a bit of an egg-on-the-face moment for DOJ, because it's not just like one or two Republicans who broke, it's five. And I think that number will likely only grow if she gets up there and she just does a repeat of what she did in front of judiciary and doesn't really answer any questions.

The problem with oversight, what people don't realize, is that this is the committee where they stick kind of like the firebrands of each party on, like the freshman firebrands who just want to go and, like, throw bombs. That's what they, that's where they put them. And so you have some of the, in a way, the craziest members on this committee from Nancy Mace to, to Scott Perry, to Anna Polina Luna. These are like, you're not going to change their minds on Epstein.

Like either Pam Bonney's going to come and answer their questions, and if she doesn't, they're going to vote to hold her in contempt. This is very different. So Pan Bondi should tread carefully. Now, as far as the allegations from 2019 and what was released, I'm still going through some of them. The allegations are horrific. If they're true, they were, at least in the FBI's mind,

legitimate enough to warrant not one, not two, but three interviews with the, woman who accused the president of the United States after that third interview, I don't know what happened to the investigation. There were some reporting that they found her not to be credible. Whatever it is, I don't know. It's not like you have a document saying what the FBI ended up doing. It's also based on the third interview, it's unclear whether or not she gave them any more information because they asked her about specific contacts with Trump at the end. And she said, essentially, what's the point of me giving you the information if you're not going to do anything about it?

but she should be talked to again, right? Like, investigated again, like chase down every lead and make sure whether it is substantiated or not. And because the allegations, they're very bad and they're very horrific. And what's something interesting to me is that this accusation originally was circulating that it happened in South Carolina.

That was like what a lot of people on the Internet were originally saying. And then we're kind of throwing water on the fact that Trump, why was he in South Carolina in the 80s? But if you read the documents, it didn't happen in South Carolina. It actually happened in New York, which makes it a little more credible, in my opinion. Feasible. But like I said, I don't know what's true and what's not.

I just know that it's really horrific and should be chased down. Yeah. Let's hope that we're moving to a new era on that front. I'm not holding my breath for it, but it does feel like a big deal that Pam Bondi is going to have to come and testify under oath. And hopefully they have the same energy for her that they did for Hillary Clinton. Before we go, what's one thing that makes you rage and one thing we should calm down about? The thing that's making me rage this week is D.C. weather because it's about to be 80 degrees in two days, and then four days later it's going to be snowing, allegedly. And so I'm just trying to figure out what the hell is happening.

What to wear? Well, that and whether to put my clothes away or not. One thing to calm down about, like I said this before, but there is nothing to calm down about in this day and age with war and everything. and the economy. And I really don't think people should be calm. I think people should be angry and make their anger known. I think being active is important. However, that manifests for you.

We are all part of, I don't want to just say resistance, but the check, right, on the government, and that's important. Also, everyone should watch Love Story. I'm so into it. What's that? The JFK Jr. and Carolyn Beset's story on Hulu. I had no idea. It's out.

I'll go watch. watch it, I guess. Yeah, I think it's now the most streamed show that Hulu has had 25 million hours or something. Anyway, I'm very into it. It might be a native New Yorker thing, and I grew up in Tribeca, and he lived in Tribeca. But if you need a break from the news, love story is fabulous. Aaron. If you need a break from the news, watch more political videos. I got it. And this one, in particular. All right, I will see you next week. And as a reminder, Raging Moderates is now five days. a week. New episodes dropping every weekday evening on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere else.