The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Trump Bulls**ts About Iran Negotiations & Throws ICE Into Airport Chaos Mix | Jake Sullivan

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

Trump’s eventful weekend of golfing, sightseeing, and ignoring the imploding effects of the war in Iran has Jon Stewart wondering who the hell the president has been claiming to negotiate with overs...eas, and whether this "top person" even exists. Plus, airport chaos amid a government shutdown has ICE filling in for the TSA as part of Trump's escalating chaos rampage. Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor, Harvard Kennedy School professor, and co-host of “The Long Game” podcast, joins Jon Stewart to break down the war in Iran, U.S. foreign policy, and the future of nuclear negotiations. Sullivan shares his insights on President Trump’s approach to Iran and Iran’s “coherent and clear” strategy. Plus, Sullivan reflects on his time working on secret negotiations with Iranian officials during the Obama administration and tells the story of a historic first direct contact between U.S. and Iranian presidents since 1979. -- To get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, Hair Loss, Weight Loss, and more, visit https://Hims.com/dailyshow -- Stream full episodes of The Daily Show on Paramount+: http://www.paramountplus.com/thedaily... The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for news. This is The Daily Show with your host, Sean. And I know that's it. We got a great show for you tonight. Former National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, is going to be here tonight. And like all people with a nuanced understanding of the complex geopolitics of the Middle East, he's not working in government anymore. Before I get to all that, ladies and gentlemen,
Starting point is 00:01:13 I hope you had a pleasant weekend and got some rest. Because the dizzy and chaotic carnival ride that is Donald Trump's America continues to careen down shit show hill. It's fucking madness out there. TSA lines longer than your actual trip. Escalating threats in the Middle East. Planes driving into trucks.
Starting point is 00:01:42 The only thing giving me joy is looking forward to this season of The Bachelorette. I mean, they've got a strong Mormon woman. She seems lovely. I hope that she finds... Hold on a second. I'm getting a call. But luckily, in everything that is going wrong in our country,
Starting point is 00:02:07 our intrepid leader is utterly unbothered. The world disintegrates around him largely due to his actions. Yet he still managed to spend the weekend golfing a couple of times. and partying at Mar-a-Lago. I didn't know I was going to be here today. It was supposed to be prosecuting a war. You know, I really think that the less fun we're all having, the better he seems to be doing.
Starting point is 00:02:51 Does he run on our misery? Does that make him stronger? Now, to be fair, that was the weekend. Obviously, today is Monday, the only day of the work week. It's time to focus and get down. to the sobering business of wrapping up this war. President Trump now arriving at Greece land for a bit of a detour on his stop. Elvis had two eighth degree black belts and karate. One was in Kenfo and that's what this
Starting point is 00:03:25 was he really good or was it just actually he was really good. He started practice. Could I have taken him in a fight? Which Elvis are we talking about? 1950s Elvis. No. 1970s Elvis. Still no. It's unbelievable how disconnected Donald Trump is from the chaos that he himself is causing the American people. But I'm glad you could have a nice time golfing and visiting Graceland while we're all freaking the fuck out. President Trump issues a deadline to open the strait of Hormuz by Monday night, or he says he'll, quote,
Starting point is 00:04:05 obliterate Iranian power plants. Iran isn't blinking, saying if power plants are attacked, Iran will target the power plants of regional countries. This escalates every day with no end in sight. The countdown ticks towards Monday night. Oh, Monday, we've got plenty of time to. Wait, I mean, but lo and behold, today Trump removed the sort of Donald Cleese that he himself had hung over our heads.
Starting point is 00:04:40 The president just posting moments ago, he has now decided to, quote, postpone any at all military strikes on Iranian power plants. The president claiming the U.S. has been negotiating with Iran over the weekend, calling them in-depth, detailed, and constructive conversations. Oh, well, I guess we're all going to be have a. A little less action and a little more conversation. That's right. Little less conversation.
Starting point is 00:05:23 That's all we get due to budget constraints, unfortunately. But you know what? Take a step back. You know, it's a good news story. It's a sigh of relief for everybody. It's progress. And we've got to celebrate the wins, you know, in this world. It's like our friend punch.
Starting point is 00:05:39 You remember our friend punch. Yeah, I agree. We brought Punch up previously. Well, good news. Does Punch the monkey have a girlfriend? Punch has been spotted canoodling with a female monkey. There they are, hugging and kissing and affectionately playing with each other. Fantastic.
Starting point is 00:06:02 It's really nice. Although, hey, listen, girl, straight talk. I know what you're thinking, but girl, you can't fix him. You just punch, seriously. If you're watching, I am happy for you. But little advice. You're a famous guy now, and you don't want to end up splitting your fortune in half. I guess that's not quite half.
Starting point is 00:06:50 But back to escalating. Oh, God. Do I really have to escalating tensions in the Middle East? I must applaud the president for stepping back from the cliff of escalation and engaging Iran in productive talks. Iran has responded at state media saying there are no talks. Well, now. We're in the uncomfortable position of who to believe. In this situation, I think we'd all be inclined to, in some measure,
Starting point is 00:07:43 not trust the pronouncements coming from this theocratic and corrupt regime. Iran. Talking about Iran. For clarity, I just want to, Iran, we'd be inclined not to trust Iran. So let's give our president, the Ben, and finish the doubt and just probe a little deeper. Sir, you say we're having talks with Iran. Who did you talk to?
Starting point is 00:08:12 A top person. A top person. Or the top person. The article really makes a huge difference here. Like, the guy or some fucking guy? You know, it's a little tough. They've wiped out, we've wiped out everybody. So a lower level guy who's been elevated to a higher echelon, a bottom who is now a top, versatile, but not stop it.
Starting point is 00:09:03 I will rip your stuffed monkey a guy, but not the top guy, not the supreme leader. No, not the supreme leader, but the people that seem to be running it. Or see. It's a big difference. Hey, where's our car? Oh, I gave it to the guy who seems to be the vass... He had a jacket, standing by the curb, seemed like a top guy, and he did take the car.
Starting point is 00:09:44 You think he was the top guy when you had the talks with him? Mr. Whitgoff and Mr. Kushner had them. So you didn't even talk to them. Your guys, who quite frankly don't seem like top guys, talk to their seemingly somewhat top guys. Are Jared and Steve sure this is even a real person that they're talking to? Out of curiosity, did the top Iranian guy
Starting point is 00:10:20 ever ask for their social security numbers or target gift cards? Is there top guy's name by any chance Ali Baba Booie? Because it's sounding like bullshit. Maybe if you walk us through the details, it'll feel more real. You said there's many points of agreement with Iran right now.
Starting point is 00:10:44 Many. Can you give us a... Many. Like 15 points. 15 points. Like 15? Looks like the creatine is working. I only eat meats and ferments.
Starting point is 00:11:24 Seriously, like 15 or 15. Just keep going. What's the first point? Well, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. That's number one. That's number one, two, and three. It's leave this is real, but there's no way that your 15-point agreement, one, two, and three are no nuclear... First of all, that makes it a 13-point agreement, just right off the back.
Starting point is 00:11:54 And there's no way you went to Iran and we're like, all right, fish, point, no nuclear weapons. And point number two, same. Point number three, C, point number two. That's what we're supposed to believe. They will never have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. Look, Donald Trump is, without a doubt. one of the most prodigious liars this country has ever produced.
Starting point is 00:12:21 He's our supreme misleader. But the chaos, this very actual war is creating, is making this question even his reality-distorting powers. Let's step back into the way back machine. All the way back, I don't know, June, when Israel and the United States first bombed Iran's nuclear program. We wiped out the nuclear capability of Iran obliterated it.
Starting point is 00:12:50 It was obliterated like nobody's ever seen before. I would say it set back permanently. That place is under rock. That place is demolished. They're never going to have nuclear. Never. Permanently. Obliterated.
Starting point is 00:13:04 I'm sorry. Caitlin Collins, you have a question. You've obliterated their nuclear sites last summer with your strikes. Then how can you argue it was an imminent threat now? Oh, we hit them so hard. We obliterated them. But that doesn't,
Starting point is 00:13:18 mean with the right equipment, you can't dig down and go get it. Actually, I think it's exactly what it means. That's what a... God damn it. It's so annoying. It's so unbelievably annoying. Here we go. To obliterate. To destroy completely leaving nothing behind. There's nothing in here about, well, we completely obliterated it unless they have shovels. By the way, nuclear question aside, are they even opening the straight of Hormuz? Isn't that what prompted your apocalyptic ultimatum in the first place?
Starting point is 00:14:10 That'll be opened very soon if this works. How soon? And who is in control of it? Will Iran still be able to control the flow of oil? Be jointly controlled. By whom? Maybe me. Maybe me. Maybe me. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatola is. Coming soon. From Skydance, Paramount Brothers Amazon Comfort. two bitter enemies put aside their differences and learn love and war with opening a straight open their hearts premieres on paramount plus plus minus divided by has already been canceled
Starting point is 00:15:05 Jesus what the f f oh maybe I'll run it with the Ayatola like two bridge trolls whoever wants to take oil to sea must answer me these riddles three I hate, here's what I hate. I hate how these questions of great importance and consequence to our country he handles with such shitty glibness. Maybe I'll run it. Aren't I a little stinker? Bomb Duran.
Starting point is 00:15:40 Can't you just eat me up with a spoon? Meanwhile, here in America, we don't even need a war to degrade our own infrastructure. Our airports are collapsing all by themselves. Fox News Alert chaos erupting at America's airport. This line in Atlanta showing people lined up around midnight for flights leaving this morning. I've been here almost two hours. Three and a half hours to get that. We might not make it.
Starting point is 00:16:05 My flight is boarding right now. Oh, no. Way ahead of you, kid. That should be the left's new don't tread on me, flag. American travelers are so stressed out. What incredibly uncontroversial American enforcement agency could we deploy to... Oh, you're way ahead of me. I believe the audience in mass just went,
Starting point is 00:16:48 oh, no. What agency could we deploy to our airports to ease passengers' journey? This morning, the Trump administration is now deploying ICE agents to help TSA officers. Ending in ICE agents to calm the situation. It makes perfect sense.
Starting point is 00:17:14 It's kind of like the way we calm our dogs during thunderstorms with a blanket of fire. fireworks. You're okay, Rusty. Not to worry, our incredibly competent government knows exactly how these ICE agents can help alleviate these incredibly long TSA lines, right? Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. We have ICE agents who are trained
Starting point is 00:17:46 and can provide assistance to agents. They run those same type of security machines at the southern border. Oh, great. Well, that'll be really helpful if it's true. Is it true? Guy in charge of ICE? Ice isn't trained in X-rays. And look at X-rays see if there's you know, there's something dangerous, not luggage.
Starting point is 00:18:03 Well, no kidding, and we're not going to be doing that. Ice isn't trained on x-rays. No surprise. They don't really seem to be trained on anything, actually. And by the way, who the fuck? Honestly, who the f*** even thought it was a good idea to send America's most hair-trigger agency into America's most hair-raising environment?
Starting point is 00:18:32 This idea was a good ice at the airport. That was mine. What in God's name possessed you to do that? That was like the paperclip. You know the story of the paperclip? How many more years of this shit? Go ahead. 182 years ago, a man discovered the paper clip.
Starting point is 00:19:08 It was so simple. And everybody that looked at it and said, why didn't I think of that? Ice was my idea. Right now and around, they're going, Are we talking to a top guy? And then he just went off on fucking paper clips. Why did I bomb Iran? Well, do you know the story of 2000 flushes blue?
Starting point is 00:19:43 Well, for centuries, people shit in regular water. And then one day a guy said, what if it was blue? And that's why I bombed Iran. It's so fucking stupid. Meanwhile, the rest of us suffer under Donald Trump's attention deficit style of government by whim. And as America, and really the world has to helplessly navigate the turbulence that Trump causes, his administration, I shit you not this weekend, had a message for all those who are suffering. I think that given what has been done to President Trump and his family,
Starting point is 00:20:28 it is impossible for either of us to understand what he has been through. We should all have a little empathy for what has been done to him and his family. I think we have to offer the president grace. He needs grace. In fact, maybe let him live in a land of grace. Grace land. Where he can live his life out asking the important questions. Does Elvis get treated better than me? He's dead, sir. When we come back, Jake Sullivan will be joining us in the studio. Don't tell you out. Erectile dysfunction is far more common than most people realize, affecting millions of men at some point in their lives. However, many wait longer than necessary to take action.
Starting point is 00:21:23 The reality is that bedroom performance shouldn't be a source of constant stress when legitimate treatment is now simple to access. HIMS provides a straightforward way to handle erectile dysfunction by connecting users with licensed healthcare providers 100% online. This means access to professional care from home without the need for awkward in-person appointments or waiting in pharmacy lines. After a simple online intake, a provider reviews the information to determine if treatment is right for the individual.
Starting point is 00:21:44 Options include generic for Viagra, which is available through HIMS, add up to 95% less than the brand name version. If prescribed, treatment ships directly to the door and discrete packaging. To get simple online access for personalized, affordable care for erectile dysfunction, hair loss, weight loss, and more. Visit Hems.com slash daily show for your free online visit. Hems.com slash daily show. Prescription required. See website for details and important safety information. Sildenafil is a generic version of Viagra.
Starting point is 00:22:10 Viagra is a registered trademark of Vietra's specialty LLC, a Vietra's company. Hymns Incorporated is not affiliated with or endorsed by Vietra Specialty LLC. National Security Advisor to President Biden, you know, teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School and his co-host of the Long Game Podcast. Please welcome to the program. Jake Sullivan, sir. Thank you for having me. You are actually, you are in an unusual position during this.
Starting point is 00:22:55 You have spoken with the Iranians in your life. You have negotiated with them on nuclear issues. You were part of that, I guess they call JCPOA, that agreement. that Iran was in before. As you put yourself in the shoes of the people now, who do you think they're negotiating with a guy? What a guy are they talking to? So, John, you're absolutely right.
Starting point is 00:23:21 I was part of the team that President Obama sent for secret negotiations with the Iranians for several months, paving the way for the Iran nuclear deal. One of the guys I actually negotiated with is the guy you see on TV all the time now. their foreign minister of Basa Raqqi, one of the few Iranians that's still showing his face publicly. I actually have a good story about A guy versus the guy. During those negotiations, President Obama wanted the opportunity to speak to the then-President of Iran, President Rouhani.
Starting point is 00:23:49 And in our secret negotiations, I had a contact with one of the Iranian officials. And he gave me a cell phone number to give to the situation room for President Obama to be connected with President Rahani. So I hand over the cell phone. and I'm standing there in the Oval Office while the call is being connected and I have a thought have I just connected the president to like a Canadian shock jock
Starting point is 00:24:10 or some random other person or is this actually the president of Iran and I'm going back through my head what's the chain of custody of this phone number and in the end the Iranians put out a statement saying in fact their president had spoken to our president so it was all confirmed and I was like all good but what if they had
Starting point is 00:24:28 what if it was like like a girl at a bar is like sure here's my Can you imagine this amazing moment in the White House? Right. President of the United States, speaking to the President of Iran for the first time since 1979, a possibility of a real diplomatic breakthrough. Right.
Starting point is 00:24:45 And I'm standing there just sweating bullets like, oh my God, what have I done? Yes. Turned out okay. But look, you know, it to me is a damn shame, and you said this in your opening, that it's really hard to know who to credit with their account. The Iranians say there is no communication. the president of the United States says there is. You'd want to believe the President of the United States
Starting point is 00:25:05 over hardline clerics in Iran, but the reality is probably there's some kind of messages getting passed without real conversations happening, at least not yet. In the times that you had dealt with the Iranians for the JCPOA and then again, dealing with them during the Biden administration, how close did we come to physical,
Starting point is 00:25:27 escalating into war, into bombing. Four years of the Biden administration, we didn't get them back into the JCPOA. We didn't do any of those things. How untrustworthy regime are they? Do sanctions work? Like, it doesn't seem like there are any good solutions. Well, first, I would just say, you know, Reagan said of the Soviets, trust but verify. Right. I always said when it came to the Iranians, don't trust and verify. And you had to do that all the way through. And when we'd got the Iran nuclear deal in the Obama administration, it had deep verification built into it, inspectors on the ground over every inch of Iran's nuclear infrastructure to make sure they were
Starting point is 00:26:11 complying. Did they comply with that? Because the scuttlebut from a couple of guys is that they didn't, and that's why, and we gave them billions of dollars that they used for Hamas and Hezbollah. Is that what happened in your mind? They got sanctions relief as a result of the deal, But yes, John, they were complying with the deal. Even the Israeli intelligence. Even in the nuclear facilities, you guys had people there. They were complying with the agreement. And then in 2018, President Trump pulled out of it, said,
Starting point is 00:26:40 this is the worst deal in human history. If that's true, that is quite remarkable. Because there's been a lot of deals in human history. Well, he also said that about trade with Canada. So you have to temper it. Exactly. Yeah. So he pulls out of the deal.
Starting point is 00:26:52 And you're right, in the four years of the Biden administration, we got close at various points. We negotiated to get back in, but we couldn't get back in. in part because the Iranians said, wait a second, we did a deal with Obama, Trump pulled out of it. How do we know that if you come in, you're not going to pull out of it again? Then Trump comes back.
Starting point is 00:27:09 And when Trump comes back, there is actually an opportunity to do a deal because he's the guy who pulled out. And just a few days before we started bombing Iran, the Iranians put a proposal on the table in Geneva that went a long way towards resolving the nuclear issue. And my understanding is that our side, negotiators simply didn't understand what they were being offered, and they ignored it and decided
Starting point is 00:27:34 to go ahead and strike. Our guys didn't understand. Was it in Farsi? What I don't, what do you mean they didn't understand, like, they didn't understand the Iranians negotiate in code? Well, if you listen to the way that our, the Trump administration officials who were involved in this spoke about what the Iranians were proposing, there is a mismatch between that and what the mediators, the Omani mediator, said was actually on the table. Right. So I think something... Well, the Trump administration said that Iran was threatening them by suggesting that they
Starting point is 00:28:05 had a lot of enriched uranium. And apparently the Omani said, no, they weren't threatening you. They were just telling you what they had. Telling you what they had. And also saying, we're prepared to downblend that uranium, which basically means render it so that it's no longer fit for purpose to be turned into a way. You cut it with baking soda. I've been around.
Starting point is 00:28:22 I know what you do with the enriched uranium. So at the end of the day, and I thought the way you laid out your opening segment with the total obliteration was so powerful because you can strike Iran's nuclear program. Right. But at the end of the day, they still have a stockpile of enriched uranium. They still have centrifuges lying around various facilities we may not even know about it. And they still have scientists who know how to put all that together. So this gets us to the interesting point about belligerent. countries and about belligerent nations.
Starting point is 00:28:56 And that is the difference between capability and ambition. And I think we're seeing that now with Netanyahu. By the way, when you were in office, how many times did you have to say to Netanyahu, like, don't bomb that? Like, do they listen? You know, I was so struck, this is a tangent. He seems f***ing nuts. Like, it's the kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:29:17 I remember when Russia bombed Ukraine and you guys came out with very powerful statements. These are war crimes. You're against that. and then Netanyahu bombs Gaza and kills thousands and thousands of civilians, and the U.S. is like, hey, guys, be cool. Like, it's so weird to me that we don't take... Why is that? Well, there's a couple things.
Starting point is 00:29:39 I mean, first, historically, the U.S. has been harder on our enemies than we've been on our friends, and that's true across the board. But secondly, John, the devastation in Gaza, the killing of civilians, the harm, the suffering, the pain... Right. was something we tried to get up every day to end the war, and we didn't end it fast enough. But when we left office, we did have a ceasefire in place,
Starting point is 00:30:01 and that's what we handed off to the troops. But we don't, there's no conditions. We can say, like, you know, no bombing. Those are our bomb. We give them those weapons. We can't dictate, because I don't know the end game. Like right now, he's bombing Iran, but he's also still bombing in Gaza.
Starting point is 00:30:19 And now he's decided to invade southern Lebanon, or bomb that, again, it gets to, you can degrade capability, but all you're doing is creating more ambition. And how is that a recipe for a lasting piece? Well, we had someone on our podcast a couple weeks ago named Danny Centrenowitz, who is the Israeli Defense Forces' intelligence lead for Iran, was that for 15 years. And what he basically said was, when it comes to Iran,
Starting point is 00:30:48 what Israel would like to do under this particular government is just break Iran, cause chaos. Because as far as they're concerned, a broken Iran is less of a threat to Israel. Now, the United States of America cannot think about it that way. Because a broken Iran means a broken global economy because they continue to threaten the Straits of Hormuz. It means a potential refugee flow like we saw after the war in Syria into Europe. It means a lot else besides. So I do believe that when it comes to this war in Iran, there is a real divergence between Israel's ultimate aims and the United States is ultimate aims. And part of the challenge we've seen is that when we ask, what is the administration doing? They can't answer that question because
Starting point is 00:31:29 they don't know why they're there in the first place. They haven't been able to give us an answer as to what this is all about. But look, I don't go along the root of, because I know there's now all the theories like Israel is wagging the dog. I never bought that. I feel like they're a convenient scapegoat for the United States to continue our imperialistic adventures in that part of the world. And I want to ask you, because it really does what strikes me as maybe, I don't want to say the fatal flaw in American foreign policy, and I want to ask you if you guys have wrestled with this, is the difference between, we talked about capability and ambition,
Starting point is 00:32:09 but what about influence and control? I think America hasn't figured out the difference between to influence events and control it. And our policies in the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, have shown an inability to understand the repercussions of those actions, whereas China doesn't seem to fall into that trap. What do you think of that for us? I basically agree with you. And when President Biden I did not see that coming. Look, when President Biden was elected, one of the charges he gave all of us was end America's longest war in Afghanistan.
Starting point is 00:32:50 Right. And do not put the United States uniformed military men and women back into war in the Middle East or anywhere else if it can possibly be avoided. That was his charge. And we did end the war in Afghanistan, and it was painful and it was brutal and it was tragic. But when we left office, America was not at war for the first time in 25 years. And one of the reasons that President Biden gave for why he wanted to do that is because China was extremely happy to see the United States tied down in war in the war in the war.
Starting point is 00:33:18 the Middle East while they went around the world with their largesse, trying to win influences, you said. And I think we do need to turn the page on the Forever Wars, move forward to compete where competition matters in infrastructure and technology and economic development. But I would also say that in that post-9-11 period, John, we did a lot of good things too. Every administration did. If you look at the question of global health or people coming out of poverty or people gaining literacy all over the world, Those indicators are all up, and that is because, in no small part, because of the United States of America. In no way, though, over these last, if you were to look back on these last, let's say, 25 years,
Starting point is 00:33:59 the reputation of the United States is not. They'll come in and really help us take care of poverty. The reputation of the United States is they'll bomb the shit out of you from wherever. Maybe they'll stay for a little while. Maybe they won't. They'll tell you, like with the Kurds, will arm you and will support you, and then we'll fucking abandon. or we'll tell like where is our credibility on the world stage given the just unbelievable chaos that we've unleashed I think we're generally responsible for the right populist swing in Europe because if we hadn't had done Libya and we hadn't had done Iraq and all those different things would they be flooded with refugees in those moments I think Libya certainly contributed to
Starting point is 00:34:42 that so did Syria right of course the difference between Libya and Syria is in Libya we did military action. In Syria, we didn't. And in both cases, you ended up with these massive... Well, we did, though, in Syria, we just didn't talk about it. We were arming... You mean... Al-Nusra Front and all those other... They were being armed. I remember running into... This was so... It was so weird. I was in Amman Jordan. We were doing a film. And it's all Emirates in the hotel. It was the Hyatt that had been bombed previously, although they'd really patched that up when I was standing in. My room, you could barely tell. And it's Ramadan,
Starting point is 00:35:15 and it's all Emirates and it's thing. And there's this one table of like dudes who very clearly were like raised in Nebraska and had the crew cuts. So I go over to the table and I go, hey man, what are you doing here? And the guy looks at him and he goes, we're not here.
Starting point is 00:35:36 And I was just like, and then I just got cold. But we do do that. And we do interfere in all these places. and somewhat cavalier nature. And then when it blows back on us, we're like, well, I guess we're just going to abandon that project. But it seems like we haven't changed the approach. Well, what I find really interesting is that in his first term,
Starting point is 00:36:02 President Trump said, basically, I don't want to get involved in these foreign nations. Not doing anything, yeah. President Biden comes along, ends the war in Afghanistan. The United States is basically out of the business of directly U.S. forces in these countries fighting wars. President Trump runs in 2024 saying, I'm going to be the peace candidate. It's awarded the FIFA Peace Prize a few weeks ago.
Starting point is 00:36:26 Very prestigious. Very prestigious. And then turns around and says, no, no, I'm getting right back into this game. And the question is why. And I think a lot of it is that the appetite for him has grown with the eating. He did the bombing of the nuclear facility last year,
Starting point is 00:36:43 total obliteration, as he put it. Yes. He does Maduro. He doesn't feel there are a lot of consequences, to your point about consequences and blowback. He doesn't feel that, at least not immediately. There are those of us, like you, who are warning at the time,
Starting point is 00:36:56 there's going to be a bill to be paid for this down the road. He didn't see that. So then he thinks, I can go to war against Iran on a basis that could be up to an including regime change, and the Iranians aren't going to do anything in response. Therefore, I don't even need to prepare to protect the Strait of Hormuz. And that, I think, has been the fundamental flaw here,
Starting point is 00:37:18 a belief that despite all the evidence we have from Iraq and Afghanistan, that when we get into these kinds of Middle Eastern wars, they do not work out well for us, and we need to turn the page on this. Forget about Middle Eastern wars, South American Wars, Central American Wars. We are a regime change machine all over the world, and we're so overly extended. When you were there, does each president have, they're like a little like Iran.
Starting point is 00:37:44 Like there's a library. And I'm assuming it's done alphabetically, but, uh, so Iran and then obviously Iraq, probably thicker book, but, but they sit next to each other and doesn't it say when you pull it out the work of 30 years of, of analysts, here's what's going to happen here, here's what's going to happen here? Don't they game this stuff out at infinitum? Add infinitum. So that's so.
Starting point is 00:38:11 So, so. And he knows that. The president must know that. Well, what was interesting is there were a number of newspaper stories in the days leading up to this war. Because we could see it coming from weeks away as we built up for it. Right. Where it was military officials, including the most senior military officials in the Pentagon, basically being quoted on background saying, we have misgivings about this
Starting point is 00:38:30 because of the potential response we could see from Iran. But President Trump did not listen to that. And my supposition for why is because he was on a high, from the 12-day war last year and the Maduro raid, and he basically thought, I can do the, Iran's weak. I can do this, they're not going to respond. They didn't respond last year, they're not going to respond this year. And it wouldn't just be the military,
Starting point is 00:38:53 but the intelligence community would have told him, you start waiving the possibility of regime change in Iran, these guys are going to rightly consider that existential, and they're going to do whatever they can to respond. You know, I said earlier that the United States doesn't know why it's in this war, And I really believe that because they've given nine different explanations, the administration. Iran knows why it's doing what it's doing. It's trying to raise the cost on Donald Trump so that he ultimately stops bombing.
Starting point is 00:39:21 Well, you see immediately, as soon as gas prices go up to 379, he's like, eh, we got, we're done, we fixed it, everything is good again. So they have a coherent and clear strategy that they are pursuing here. And at the moment, we have the opposite. You really think he believes that he, like he cracked the code and now he's in that. invincible. I swear to God, I knew people, cocaine did this to them. This is the same. This is how a cocaine person acts. A cocaine person is just like, I'm the best. No, I can't be stopped. That's what we have. I couldn't put it better. Yes. Well, thank you. Well, your podcast, they go over all this stuff. You've got to check out his
Starting point is 00:40:05 podcast, The Long Game with Jake Sullivan and John Feiner. Jake Sullivan, thank you for joining us. Do you think, like, check in with your host for the rest of the week, Mr. Josh Johnson, Josh. What are you going to be covering this week? John, I'll be looking at the increasing number of Democrats who say they might not support Chuck Schumer's leader. But the question is, who could replace him? Who could it be? Is that, is that, is that, is, is that, is that, is that your, if I, if I may, and by the way, It's brilliant and beautiful.
Starting point is 00:41:16 Let me just ask you a quick question. Is that your Schumer? Yeah, I got the slump, I got the glasses. Yeah, but Josh, you got to really, it's not a schlump. It's just, you got to really just feel the hollowness of his bones. You just, you got to really feel the just decrepit nature. Okay, so like, like this? But you got to, the key, you've got to breathe like the air is being,
Starting point is 00:41:43 Like the lung capacity is maybe 45%, 50%. Just it. Okay, okay. It's a little less oxygen, a little more flamming. Ho, ho. Hey. Ho. You got to stop me before this gets racist.
Starting point is 00:42:01 All right. Listen. You have my back. I have yours. All right, all right. I will definitely give it your best. Oh, ha. I don't think I'm getting this right.
Starting point is 00:42:17 You know what? I give up. Hey, you gave up. Now that's a good schumer. The real problem here is they have no plan for using these ICE agents. Trump says send them there, they send them there. Some idea pops into his head. And he announces it. And then the people working for them,
Starting point is 00:42:42 they have to rush to try and implement what they know is an idiotic plan. Explore more shows from the Daily Show podcast universe by searching The Daily Show wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central, and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.