The Chris Cuomo Project - Trump’s Iran Strike and the Regime Change Debate

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

Chris Cuomo brings together key moments from this week’s Cuomo Mornings on SiriusXM, featuring conversations with former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), along with calls from listeners reacting to America’s growing conflict with Iran.Bolton lays out why he believes regime change in Tehran is the only viable path to eliminating Iran’s nuclear threat and explains where he thinks the Trump administration’s political strategy has fallen short. Cuomo presses him on the risks of a power vacuum, the role of Kurdish groups inside Iran, and whether the U.S. has prepared for what comes after the regime.Lawler defends the administration’s decision to strike Iran, arguing the regime posed an untenable threat and that the president acted within his authority. Cuomo challenges him on congressional oversight, the risk of another long war in the Middle East, and what lawmakers were actually told in classified briefings.Callers also weigh in on the war, from veterans concerned about another Iraq-style conflict to listeners debating whether regime change is the right goal and what the real strategy should be moving forward. Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos now, by going to https://Ethos.com/CUOMO Go to https://quince.com/cuomo for free shipping and 365-day returns on quality essentials, now available in Canada.Save more than 50% on term life insurance at https://selectquote.com/chrisc.#news #politics #iran #trump #cuomo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and knows what has to happen next for us not to get, into a situation we do not want to repeat okay so that is the lens it's not all but he hates trump i don't give a shit about how he feels about trump it's what he knows about the geopolitical the military and the functional here and he knows okay is he with us now i am ah mr ambassador always a pleasure thank you for giving us time uh in the early morning uh uh what What is your assessment of the level of confidence you have that the administration has thought out the, now what, now what, now what, to get the regime change and the reduction of risk that they say we need and to have this end up in a better place, not a power vacuum where we don't know what's going to happen?

Well, to start, I do think the objectives are completely correct. I don't think there's any chance the regime in Iran would ever have given up its nuclear weapons program or support for international terrorism. And so therefore, if you want to eliminate those threats, you have to eliminate the regime. And you did say recently you wish you would push Trump more to do this sooner. Why? No, I mean, I made the argument in 2018 and 2019 and obviously didn't succeed. But he is now trying to achieve the right objectives. And I think I would distinguish between the political side of things and the military side of things.

The military operations to date indicate the kind of planning you'd expect from the Pentagon, very close cooperation with Israel, which is essential and so far strikingly successful. Knock on wood, it stays that way. It stands in sharp contrast, however, to planning on the political side where I think there are risks to Trump himself and to the plan and to the country. I don't think he prepared the American people well enough in advance. There's a strong case to be made here for regime change. He didn't start making it until 2.30 in the morning of the day.

Well, they say it's not a priority. They say regime change is not a thing. It's not even on the list. Well, that's what Trump has been saying until the past few days, which they've tried to roll back because they're worried about the MAGA base. But let's be clear, regime change is Israel's number one priority. It's been Bibi Netanyahu's priority long. longer than it's been mine. And we are assisting Israel in effecting regime change. We gave the Israelis,

the intelligence, according to the press reports about where the Ayatollahominee was, and the Israelis took him out. So we're in this together with the Israelis. It's regime change, whatever the rhetorical posture at the White House is at any given time. But in addition to not preparing the general public, they didn't prepare Congress. I'm not saying you have to tell Congress what the operation Looks like you have to make the case that regime change is the only acceptable alternative. They didn't do that. They didn't, third point, they didn't prepare the groundwork with the allies. And we see some of the consequences of this now that could hurt us later.

And finally, I'm very worried on the last point that you raised, I'm very worried that consultation with the opposition in Iran has not been adequate. It's the people on the ground there who can help us fragment the regime at the top, bring it apart, as we destroy the instruments of state power, they're the ones that can identify the generals in the regular army, for example, who might welcome over the opposition side. And that's what we need to bring the regime down. So one of the fundamentals of strategy of any form of aggression is to take advantage of a created opportunity. What I don't understand is, arming, working with, motivating with Mossad, Iranian Kurds, smart warrior culture, as you know, for people who don't know them. They're in the northwest corner of Iran, but they're also in Iraq, and they have an area around Turkey that they believe is Kurdistan, their own country.

I've spent time with them. They have fought a lot and they hate the regime. But why start now? If you've been planning this for months, why wasn't that part of the early planning? Well, I think the time to have done it optimally would have been in January when the Iranian people were already in the street. And Trump himself tweeted or posted, keep protesting, take control of your institutions, help is on its way. But help wasn't coming. That shows an absence of advanced planning on the political side, not necessarily on the military side. Now, there are press reports this morning that Trump yesterday spoke with Iraqi Kurdish leaders, Barzani and Talibani, the heads of the two big families, really, the main Kurdish, big.

you're there. So that, you know, better late than never, but I wish we had done it months and months ago. Yeah, because this is the opportunity, right? This is when you would want them to be hitting the regime and pressuring IRGC guys to think about what they want for their future. And it just seems like that's the missed opportunity here. And just to remind people again, well, why is he meeting with people in Iraq? We're going into Iraq now. No, what Mike is laying out to you is the savvy of someone who understands. And now hopefully that's what's understood also within the administration. The Kurds are clan based, meaning what? Meaning you attack one, you attack all. And even if they have internal divisions, they can call on their neighbors in Iraq, which is

literally contiguous, right? It's an adjoining border and say, we're getting into this fight. You've got to come with us. And they can be motivated to do it. And you can go from having nine. percent of the population, let's say two million, two million available warrior class people to five in no time. Is that right? Yeah, this is one of the frictions that the regime faces, as many of the ethnic groups inside Iran are highly dissatisfied with the regime. And it depends on what census you use. But the Persian population of Iran, 90 million people altogether is only 50 or 60 percent. Kurds, Azeris, Balukis, Arabs, all very unhappy. And that's, that's, part of the reason the regime at this moment is that the weakest it's been has the lowest level

of popular support at any time since it took power in 1979. Also, does America have a little bit of a responsibility for how they went down this deep hole with how the Shah came in, went out, and how these guys came in, and I keep telling the audience, not organic. These people are not from Iran. They're outsiders. Iran, Persian culture is not Islamist by nature. And do you believe there's a little bit of a responsibility to help the people there get their country back? Well, look, we have a long association with Iran. It is the case that we helped put the Shah, kept the Shah in power really in 1953. People still remember that, but it lasted for 26 years. And frankly, even in the Carter administration, if the Shah had followed

Carter and Brzynski's advice, he might have toughed out the effort there. What happened in 1979 was an earth-shaking event. We went from an Iran that was a strong American ally to an Iran that was one of America's worst enemies in the world. And the chance to turn that around here is another potential world historical event. So I think we've got a lot at stake and we do have an interest in the outcome. Now the idea of, look, we're not about regime change. Well, then what happens? If you don't wipe out the regime, then this is just about time, right, before they can work with proxies again and get their capacity back up. Absolutely. That's it. You know, you've got two alternatives when you've got a foreign country that's doing things you don't like. You can either

try and change their behavior or failing that. You change the regime. It's a cost-benefit analysis. We've tried for 25 or 30 years to change the regime's behavior. It's not going to work. I mean, the proof is clear. So therefore, we should change the regime and the sooner the better. What the degrading of the instruments of state power that both threaten us and repress the Iranian people, Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, the deceased, militia is you're destroying their capability to threaten us and to harm their own people. And the more they are degraded, the more people in Iran in the opposition and in the government begin to say, this regime is on its way down. And for the people in the regular military, some in the

Revolutionary Guard, even some Ayatollahs, are going to say, maybe I don't want to go down with this ship. That's where the opposition becomes key. They can find those people. They can work with them. I hope quiet conversations with those kinds of figures in the regime are going on right now to help fracture the regime at the top, and that facilitates its collapse. What are your two questions going forward, and what is your concern about whether or not we have the right answers? More than anything else, it's cooperation with the opposition and their capabilities inside Iran to help bring about regime change. And then number two, to make sure with the Gulf Arabs in particular, that they understand that they've wanted regime change for a long time.

They just wanted to do it without any pain and strain. Okay, we're in it now. We need to keep them together. This is the key. If you ever want peace and security in the Middle East, overthrowing the regime in Tehran is critical. And therefore, it's critical for the oil producing Arab monarchies. We need to be in lockstep with them as we go forward here and will maximize the chance for success. But what happens if the regime crumbles, but there's a power vacuum, and we don't have any sense of what comes next? Well, that's a risk. There's no question about it. I don't think any succeeding government could conceivably be worse than the one we have now. And it might be in a situation in chaos when American boots on the ground would be necessary. For example, to take control of the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Esfahan, and Fordo, and perhaps other places to make sure whatever's there doesn't get into the wrong hands. Ambassador Bolton, thank you very much. I appreciate you laying out a fair analysis of a plus-minus on this and what we've got to think about going forward. I appreciate you. Thank you for joining me. I look forward to talking to you again. Absolutely. Thank you. You like that taste of Cuomo mornings? That's my new show on Sirius XM, the Podish Channel, 124. Every weekday morning, 7 to 9 Eastern. But if you want to just join here on my YouTube, channel. You'll be getting a steady diet of selects. And depending on your subscription level,

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is different and nothing is free. But if you want to do it right, efficiently, okay? ethos.com. E-T-H-O-S-com slash Cuomo. Mike, it's good to have you for people who have not followed you. Mike is young. I have been talking for some time that he is absolutely part of the present and certainly the future for the Republican Party. He is a traditional conservative.

And he's a get a done guy, which makes it very tough for him in the current political space. The Iran operation. What are your thoughts on it to this point? Look, this has been a tremendous operation in, you know, we're on day five. now. And many of the objectives that the administration laid out yesterday in a classified brief, two members of Congress, they're executing on. When you look at the situation in Iran, the fact is they were not negotiating in good faith. They were not willing to give up their ballistic missiles program. They were not willing to even discuss the issue of financing terrorism around the

globe. They were working to reestablish their nuclear ambitions. And obviously, we saw just a few weeks ago the oppression and slaughter of tens of thousands of Iranian people. This was an oppressive regime in place for 47 years, a regime built on tyranny and terror. And ultimately, the president made a difficult, but in my opinion, necessary decision to eliminate the threat. This has been going on for a very long time. Thousands of Americans have died at the hands of the Ayatollah and his regime and their terror proxies in the region. And, you know, presidents of both parties said they could not have a nuclear weapon. Members of Congress from both parties said they could not have a nuclear weapon said that the Ayatollah needed to be removed. Ultimately, the decision was made,

and it is a difficult one, but in my opinion, necessary. Would you have done it the same way? In terms of the execution or in terms of the process? Because the execution's not, the execution's not up to you guys. The execution is not up to the president. The execution's up to the military. And nobody is doubting the United States military's capability, although I would like to know if we hit that school. And you guys should be more curious about that because we learn from the Israel Gaza situation. You can't let situations like that fester.

However, I'm talking about the process and what we're getting in terms of why we did this and what's going to happen next. Yeah. So the classified brief that we received yesterday, I thought was pretty extensive. I know many of my Democratic colleagues will argue that, you know, they didn't have all their questions answered,

but from my vantage point, the administration, and in particular Secretary Rubio and Secretary Haguezeth and Director Radcliffe and General Kane did a very good job of outlining why the president made this decision. I think, you know, the challenge with Congress, You know that's the easy part.

No, no, no, I'm just a... Right, why regime is bad is easy. How you get rid of the regime and how we don't get stuck in a situation is hard. That's why I'm asking. No question. And we don't want to be in a quagmire, and we don't want to be in a situation similar to Iraq or Afghanistan where we're there for 10, 20 years. And I don't think anybody is advocating for that.

nobody in the regime in the administration is advocating for that. But when you look at the situation on the ground and what the objectives are that were outlined to us yesterday, they are executing on that and doing it very, very well. Do I think that more could have been done on the front end to explain some of this to members of Congress? Sure, but at the same token, I fundamentally know dealing with some of my colleagues. colleagues and given the sensitive nature of this type of operation, informing 435 members of Congress probably would have been cataclysmic for the security of the operation.

So there are reasons why people were not fully informed in advance of this type of operation, and I have no problem with that. The legal requirement, the architecture of the statute, is vague. But the idea that, well, if you don't notify all 435, you've done it wrong. I think that's the wrong bar. I think that's legally specious and I think it's politically impractical always. That's not my concern. My concern is he just declared war on Iran, okay?

He calls it a war. He says it's going to last weeks. He says we'll probably lose more people. they're not foreclosing the idea of boots on the ground. That's a war, Mike, okay? You guys are supposed to be involved in this. The right way to do it, unless there is an imminency, and I have not heard that case, Mike,

that I had to do it now. They were going to hurt us if I didn't do it right now. He hasn't even offered that up as a suggestion, except as a Band-Aid for criticism. That's what I'm saying. If not now, when? I want to make two points. Go ahead.

I want to make two points. One, with respect to the imminence, and I have to be careful in how I... I do not want you to give away confidential information. Okay. Yeah. The bottom line is that they were producing the ballistic missiles at such a rate that it would become untenable in the future to be able to ensure they did not get a nuclear. weapon. You have to remember they do have enriched uranium. This was an untenable situation that needed to be addressed, number one. Number two, as far as the legalities and, you know, informing Congress

and they need congressional authorization, this is an important point. Presidents of both parties, going back to 1973, have used Article 2 powers to conduct. targeted strikes to conduct military operations without ever receiving any authorization by Congress. You are right. Nancy Pelosi in 2011 said that Barack Obama in a seven-month campaign, a seven-month campaign in Libya, doing precisely what President Trump is doing right now, did not need congressional authorization. You are right. He is fully in compliance with the War Powers Act and has notified Congress.

You are right. He is not the first and he's not even the worst yet. All right, we're at the top of the hour. Mike, I'm going to give you your day back. Congressman, you are always welcome here to make the case, and thank you for doing so this morning. Support comes from Quince. A quince is a fruit, okay? You don't know that because you're not me. But you know what else it is? Quince is a very cool designer line. Why? Fabrics, design, essentials, wear, feel, price point. has the things that you're going to be wearing on a regular basis. And they hold up despite being worn on a regular basis. Lightweight cashmere sweater, short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polo. Yeah, that's right.

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Go to Quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash Cuomo, and you'll get free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash Cuomo. Greg, in New Jersey, what do you got, brother? Hey, how you doing, Chris? Thanks for taking my call. Sure, bud. What do you got?

Yeah, I'll just worry. I wonder, I don't want to go back to the war. You know, everyone's talking about how Trump is a bullet, this and that, blah, blah, blah, but I mean, just look at our enemies abroad. Aren't they bullies as well? I mean, we had the Iranian hostage crisis where they held our American citizens for 144 days. They've done all this other stuff. They obviously don't want, they don't like us, call us the great Satan and written in their own charters to, you know, eliminate Israel. Plenty of reasons to hate the regime, brother.

I think it's, you know, it's better. It's, you know, it's better. late than never. I think. Plenty of reasons to hate the regime. I have no problem with hating the regime, wanting the regime to change, doing things to make the regime change. But the how, I think, discarding the process altogether and having us in another situation now where not only is this not what he was supposed to be doing, right? Maga was no more endless wars and foreign engagements that don't work for us. And this is a tricky one. This is a tricky one.

Well, it's too early to say that it's an endless war. It is too early to say that. It is just started. Obviously. And I think what Trump may do. We had a guest. We had a guest last night, Nagar. Sorry to interrupt both of you.

But I think, you know, look, she was tough and she was somber. She's an Iranian journalist. But I think she really explained both sides of it very well. well, Chris. She used your favorite phrase to things can be true at the same time. You know, like this regime needs to go, but are we doing it the right way? Did we hit a girl school? I mean, was there a girl's school blown up? Is there, do they have it? There's no plan. So the issue is that aspect, okay, which is Greg, I'm with you, but I don't think that you can confuse the who's bad with what is good. And I don't mean that in a moral way. I mean.

why are they given us stories about what the objective is? Why are they given us different stories about why they did it now? You know what I mean? That's the part that I don't like. It doesn't have to be that way. And in fact, it hasn't been that way in the past, right? But who cares? I mean, they've been so bad to us for the past since 1979.

We should have done this a long time ago. You'd be starting wars all over the place if that was the way it happened. I mean, I mean, I'm talking specifically about Iran. And what I think Trump may do, I don't think he has the balls to do it. He may go the same way as Truman did. He doesn't want an invasion of American troops going into the Middle East. So he's just going to drop a bomb on him.

I don't think he's just going to drop. I don't think he's just going to drop a bomb on everybody because he'll be killing more Iranian innocence than he will regime people. Yeah, but it's a big picture war. It's a big picture war. Yeah, but you know what? How'd that work out for Israel and Gaza? Because he would be saving the lives of American.

He would be saving the lives of U.S. arms as servicing. All I'm saying is you've got to look at the political reality. You've got to look at the political reality, Greg. Would you want Trump to be Israel in the next election after what just happened in Gaza? How do you think that would work out for him? You know, now, again, I could argue the case that the existential case that you're arguing about the regime versus us is nothing compared to what threat they pose to Israel. And what threat Hamas poses. Right. I understand that.

And look at how it fucking fared with the American public. That's what I'm saying. Did you remember 9-11? Did I remember it? I was there as the building. Remember 9-11? They are just as capable of striking us if they really want to. There is no question that they are.

So again, it's not about whether they're wrong. It's about how to do it right. What I'm picking on, and it's not penny-ante, because I'll tell you why it's not penny-ante, Greg. You tell the four families and the dozens that are to come perhaps that yeah we did it sloppy yeah they probably didn't have to die six families they they release the names of four but six right but i'm saying like you know right right you tell them that yeah you know look man it doesn't really it doesn't really matter i don't really give a fuck because

these guys are bad so we did it the way we did it he fucked it all up but he got it done and everybody else has screwed it up too so you know just be good with it that doesn't work for me so that's what I'm pushing on. I'm not pushing on the ambition. I'm pushing on the way to do it. And I don't think it's Penny Anty because I've watched our men and women get blown up in foreign theaters and their lives changed forever. And I want that to be worth it. You know what I'm saying? That's all. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Of course. But look, I'm being patient. I'm trying to get into the region because I think the situation deserves the coverage and the attention. So I'm taking it seriously. And I believe that this matters. And I believe it would be great if that regime were gone for them and for us.

All right, brother, be well. Sean and Virginia, how you doing? Hey, Chris, how are you doing this morning? Good. How you doing? Well, after listening to Greg, a little fired up. Let's hear it. actually just on Gerald R. Ford less than four months ago. I've just retired from the Navy in February. First of all, thank you for your service and tell people what the Ford is.

Gerald R. Ford is a U.S. aircraft carrier. It's the newest one. It's actually the lead in its class. But to hear someone in the United States say they would prefer a nuclear weapon be used on

a foreign nation is But I still have friends on that ship, and I understand what threat they are in right now. I'm constantly watching the news, trying to figure out what exactly is going on and what my friends are facing. But we just had six service members die, and I was a veteran throughout all of Iraqi freedom, enduring freedom, all of that, to see how that went and the amount of backlash, and to basically quote you, the lack of give a fuck back in the United States of how those veterans fared and what that meant to those people and to just hear that we still are saying, it doesn't matter. Trump's going to kill them all.

No, that's stupid. There's no reason that we should even have dealt with this. This could have been done a political way. This could have been done many ways. Do I think the regime needs to go? Yes, the regime is already gone. The problem is the buildback and the plan going forward so that we don't have another repeat of Iraq, of Afghanistan.

Hell, look at Ukraine. Right. I mean, look, I think you're nailing it. Sean, and of course you get the deference because you did the job. All right. Everybody likes to talk. You actually walked it and lived it for us. So thank you.

But I think you're also putting your finger on what this is about. It's not about don't use force. It's not about they're not that bad. It's you promised that you wouldn't get us into a situation that we couldn't control and the wrong people wound up paying the price and we didn't really get the benefit out of it to justify anything like the sacrifice. And this does feel like that because it doesn't seem like it's precise, planned, thoughtful, contingencies, and how to make it be what they're telling us it will be, which is the Iranians taking their own fate in their hand.

Do I have that right? So yes and no. What I'm trying to get at is when you say that it's not planned, the people that are actually doing these operations, the actual tactical people that are doing it and the operational people, There's three levels of war. There's tactical, operational, and strategic. The tactical people that are actually flying these missions, they are very prepared. They know exactly what they're doing.

The operational people, they understand the risk. They're actually putting together all of the information, and they know what they're supposed to be doing. Right. The problem is the strategic. The political aspect of it is not well thought out, and there's no plan going forward. And that's exactly my concern. That's the crux of what the problem is. That's exactly my concern. And every double speak, every, you know, every conflict of what one says versus the other, every time they don't tell us something, it starts to make us paranoid that here we go again. I get it. I did not have what it takes to serve the way you did. But I watched you guys up close and personal and lived with you as you served in Iraq and Afghanistan, in Pakistan. And I know the price.

that we paid. And I don't want to see it happen again. I am with you. I wish you well in retirement. And I hope you call in again. Support comes from select quote. Look, if you have responsibilities, you've got to take care of them.

And the big one is the, God forbid, what happens if I'm not here for them? That's life insurance. Life insurance is scary. Why? It means I'm going to die. Okay, why else? Once you decide to not be a child?

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at selectquote.com slash Chris C today to get started. T.C. in Massachusetts. T.C., the only thing I don't want to hear from you is, come on, Como. You know the regime is no good. Everybody knows they're no good. Everybody knows they've got to go. How and then what? Those are my concerns. Are you done?

Oh, yeah, I'm done. Are you going to? I'm just getting warmed up. Go ahead. Good, good. First, you know, I'm painting cabinets here. mind of my own business as usual. And yeah, I got to hear you call my name out. And all of a sudden I get the shakes and I hit a paint on the hinge. And now I got to fix things up. So I'm sure you're happy about that, right?

Do you paint the backs of your cabinets? Front and back, absolutely. Respect, respect. Respect. Yes, sir. All right. First, I just got to come at this. These callers that call in and say Democrats got to get tougher.

We got to get me to Republicans are the bad guys. They're the me, me, me. Yet they tried to impeach the guy twice, throw them in jail like four times, call him Hitler, Pito, racist. Oh, by the way, they shot him. I mean, how much tougher can the Democrats get, Chris? How are they better than we?

I don't think they are. I don't think that's the way to do it. But I got to give voice. You said that we're the worst. Hold on a second. I never said anybody. I don't do we. I don't do us and them, okay?

I'm not part of your stupid little game. of one side against the other. I hate the game. No, you said Republicans are worse than Democrats. I believe that the two parties... Hold on. I'll tell you what I think. I don't think the sides are equal,

and I'll tell you why. I have never seen a party consumed by the fringe movement the way the Republican Party has been consumed by MAGA. And I believe that MAGA, at its worst, which we have seen manifested again and again, is more of a threat than an army of chicks with dicks playing sports against other females. I'm not as worried about that as I am about what I see happening here

in terms of our Constitution and our democracy. But that doesn't mean I want to see Democrats be more like Trump and have more of a fist fight. I think that it's just making us worse, not better. Yeah, but Republicans, I mean, Democrats do stupid shit constitution-wise. I think they say Obama did this war thing and then there wasn't Congress and all. I mean, Democrats got rid of the filibuster for the judges.

I mean, you know, they participate in all this madness, Chris. It is a both- They have a wrong. I didn't say they're good. I said that I think that one fringe has more of a threat profile. That's all. I'm not in the land of good. I'm in the land of flavors of bad.

Well, all right. I'm just saying they're just as bad. We need more parties, but for the callers to call in and say, They got to get tougher. I don't know how much tougher they can get. I don't know what more they expect them to do. Kill the guy.

I don't disagree. I don't disagree. Give me another point. All right. A quick on, I ran. I don't know, Chris. I don't know what I think if I'm for this or against it, because we don't know how it's going to end.

You never do. You don't have to be for or against it. You don't have to be four against it. You're in the exact right place. You are curious. You are concerned. And you want to make sure that you're being told what it is. and it makes sense to you.

That's the right place to be. You don't have to be for or against. Right. Right. I want to see it end well, which I'm sure a lot of Democrats don't want to see this end well. If you want to be honest, Chris,

they would rather see this thing end up in a shit show than us get a regime change. Even if we get it and everything comes out roses, they're going to complain about something. You know, there are too many people died or whatnot. They're not going to give the credit.

Let's see what happens. It's either going to be, he's either going to be a hero or a zero one of the two I don't know he's going to be he's going to be both he's going to be both it's just about the basis and how much the needle moves away from just the bases to critical thinkers and independence and how they feel

about it all I'm saying is this is the biggest swing he's taken as president okay and it's dicey of course it's dicey and he promised that he wasn't going to be about this so I get why some in mag are pissed off but we got to see how it goes and with that, though, that doesn't mean I just watch and wait and don't ask the questions when they seem to be screwing up. Like, for instance, they know exactly what happened with that girl's school.

They know whether it was the IRGC, whether it was the IDF, or whether it was the United States. They know. Just own it. But doesn't their silence give you the answer? It gives me the answer that they don't want to talk about it, because that could mean that it's IDF or us. Right. But if it was Iran, you would know.

Yeah, they would say. They would say. So silence is everything, you know. I don't want to look. I mean, everybody knows how this played out in Gaza. You got to own your mistakes. Otherwise, you look like you wanted them. And I don't think America needs that right now in terms of questioning the motivations of this president.

He just went into Ecuador. People are seeing that as an, you know, as a declaration of war. I don't think it is. They're working with Honduran authorities. That is a huge distinction. And they are dealing with what? drug cartels. You got to agree with T.C.

on the fact that the Democrats definitely are salivating at the fact that if this has any negativity in any way, they're going to consider it a win for them. Of course, but that's the nature of our politics. It is a binary battle

to the bottom of which side is worse. I mean, look at it with our health care, which was supposed to be the big war, by the way. The domestic agenda. Fix America first. That's where we should be. But we're not, right? Why? Because that's too hard. It's easier to go to war in Iran than it is to fix health care. Think about that. The regime is an easier opponent than the health care companies. That's crazy. Think about that. Think about it. So what do the Republicans do? ObamaCare sucks. Obama care sucks. You ever done anything to try to make it better? No, we've tried to repeal it 75 times. Do you have a plan to make it better? No, but it sucks. You see what I'm saying? Jay in North Carolina. Hey, thanks for taking my call.

I wanted to bring up a couple quick things. One, for the families of the six service members that were murdered over the weekend. I really hate that for them. When I was on active duty, my wife, used to say that her biggest fear was seeing the first sergeant coming to commander and the chaplain get out of the car and walk up our driveway. But she said the absolute worst thing was being two doors down for a play date with our friend's daughter. when the car pulled up. So you certainly feel for those families and I want to send out our deepest thoughts for them

and I do hope President Trump and as many people as possible were there when the caskets arrive at Dover. But I wanted to see what your thoughts were on the Saudi Arabia side of this. I think there's a wider play. I think one of my last jobs was foreign disclosure classification management and the sale of arms and weapons systems to foreign countries.

And one of the things that we talked about a lot was if there was regime change in Iran, could Saudi Arabia assist in that? And when I saw that there was the embassy in Riyadh had been hit, my first thought was, well, this is how they execute the regime change. because if we can have Saudi Arabia on our side and then let them deal with the regime change, we could potentially not only have two solid allies in the Middle East, but we could also cut off a lot of China's oil. Yeah, there's no question, but we do have the Saudis, as we know.

But Jay, as you know, Saudi has never been closer to America's interest than right now with Trump. Now, is there good reason and suspicious reason for that? Yes, but we are where we are. So you play it where it lies, right? And they hate Iran, as we all know, and they want to help America, which we all know. Why is part of the conversation. And they can help with the oil flow. It's just that if there's an attack in the Strait of Hormuz, that changes the calculation.

But I don't think there's any question that the Saudis are going to help us. I think the big and vexing question is what happens after this? Is it this regime or is it something else? And if it's something else, what is that something else? You know, those are big questions that you've got to think about a lot. If we allow the Saudis to help facilitate that regime change, then it looks less like a heavy-handed American regime change and more like an organic Middle Eastern regime change.

And that might be why. But external is still a concern. And they hate the Saudis there. There are a lot of people that have real problems with the Sauds for very deep ethnic and cultural reasons. That's why dealing with the Iranian Kurds, I think, is a better bet in terms of forming a coalition. But I just wish that they had been working on this. If this is months in the planning, why wasn't that point?

The best measure of where we are as a society is hearing from other members of that society in conversation that has some cogency to it, some intelligence, not just what do you think about Greenland? It's not about provocation, okay? It's about conversation. That's what we're getting after here on the YouTube channel for the Chris Cuomo project, on News Nation, where I'm doing my cable show, and Sirius XM, Podish Channel 124 for Cuomo in the morning. Bon Appetit!