The Keith Edwards Show - HOLY SH*T: Trump's Biggest Influencer Just Turned Against Him

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

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Donald Trump ran on no new wars. He ran on lowering prices. He ran on releasing the Epsing files. And he's done none of that. He lied. I mean, we all knew over here. We knew Donald Trump was going to lie. But MAGA is catching up. And I'm glad they're catching up. I'm not going to be the type of person that's like, I told you so. I told you so. Someone else can say that. I'm going to say, I'm so sorry. Welcome to reality. But what happened just now is frankly shocking. because Benny Johnson, someone we've talked on here who may or may not be a homosexual, but is on the far right. And his show is a total safety net, safe space for MAGA. Nothing bad about Trump has ever said on that show, except for today,

where Benny Johnson had on Rand Paul, and he let Rand Paul talk about why Warner-on is the wrong move. I did want to ask you about the machine at work when it comes to regime change and other executive and military engagements around the world. And perhaps, I mean, you know, you sit in security briefings. You have a security clearance. You know more than I do. And, you know, you're somebody who's obviously been against international interventionism for your entire career. And so, you know, your take on Venezuela. Iran and then what seems like is about to pop off any day now, you know, Cuba, maybe they have that one

queued up for this weekend. Big fat loaded question, but Senator, we're interested in your take. When I look at it, I look at it from several perspectives, number one, a constitutional perspective. At our constitutional convention in the federal's papers, they debated back and forth whether or not the power to go to war, to initiate or declare war would be with the president or with Congress. and to a person, the founding fathers were unanimous, from Hamilton on one part of the spectrum to Jefferson on another part of the spectrum, they all agreed that initiation of war should start with Congress, not the president. Now, there were always exceptions to this, even in the early days, and a lot of people don't quite get this. They're always like, the Barbary pirates, but the Barbary pirates.

Well, yeah, there is always an exception to the rule of initiating war if it's an imminent threat. And that's why some of the arguments you've heard for Iran, well, there was an imminent threat that they would attack. us, if Israel attacked them that they would attack us. I don't really think there was an imminent threat of an attack from Iran. People say, well, they've been at war with us for 47 years. Well, yeah, but that doesn't sound very imminent. It sounds like if it's been going on 47 years, you have time to ask Congress to declare war. People say, well, we don't want them to have a nuclear weapon.

I don't want them to have a nuclear weapon, but we were told last summer that we obliterated their nuclear stockpile. We obliterated their ability to create nuclear weapons. We're told they could have a nuclear bomb within a week. Well, we've been told that. You can look at clips for 25 years. We've been told they're one week away. So that I wonder if it's more of a scare-tacting and less of a reality.

The bottom line is we're also told that we're going to free the oppressed people of Iran. Look, I hope and wish for them to have freedom. But if our foreign policy is to free oppressed people, we would never end. The wars would never end. There's oppressed people in Tibet, the Uyghurs, the Russians oppressed people, the North Koreans oppressed people. If our foreign policy is to go wherever it takes to free oppressed people, there is no end to that. And so I don't think that should be our foreign policy.

And I think when you weigh the danger of what will topple America, what will be the ruination of America, I think the debt. The debt is a greater threat than Iranian soldiers coming up through Mexico or sending their Navy to New York City. They frankly can't and won't, and it really, frankly, isn't a threat. Are they good people? No, they're bad people. Do we want them to have a nuclear weapon? Absolutely not.

But I think in the end that, you know, they're already talking about the president wants $500 billion increase in military spending. We spend a trillion, which is more than the next 10 countries combined, and he wants to increase that by 50%, $500 billion. They're talking about immediately needing $50 billion. And they said, well, what? While we're at it since we're spending money, Ukraine probably needs some more. We gave them 200 billion already.

And they also said, well, the farmers need more too because they're being hurt by the tariffs. So why don't we pile on another 15, 20 billion for farmers, maybe another 15, 20 billion for Zelensky, and then another 50 billion to replace the missiles that we expended? None of that to me sounds fiscally conservative. And so I'm going to remain where I am, but I also admired Donald Trump. I thought Donald Trump was a lot different than the Bushes. He represented so much different and better, and I think in many ways still does, but I'm going to continue to advocate for the Donald Trump who didn't advocate for regime change. Yeah, I mean, you can hear. Yeah. Clearly, your advocacy has worked in a way because all yesterday, from HegSeth to Trump in multiple press conferences, there was an emphatic and very vocal shout against Forever War.

And it's like how they all let off with this will not be a forever war. So I don't know. You have the president loves golfing with you. Obviously, you know, he has your phone number and Lindy Graham's. So I guess we'll see who wins this round. That we will. I think his instincts are actually still very good. People, you know, criticize me for having some opposition and some discussion with the president.

But I think his instincts are still good. I think some of the people around him, I worry. when John Bolton is agreeing with him. The fact that John Bolton loves this makes me worry that it might not be the best policy. It's a good way to live life, actually. That's one of the golden rules of life I will teach my sons.

Like, don't ever agree with something John Bolton agrees with. Incredible. I mean, this is the sign to me that things are shifting. And Donald Trump knows it because a report just came out earlier today that says that Donald Trump has told

House Republicans to stop talking about mass deportations. The thing that Donald Trump ran on, he did run on mass deportations, but it's so unpopular that he's actually having House Republicans stop talking about it. And when you have someone like Benny Johnson coming out against something big your administration is doing, I'm telling you, it's all starting to fall down. It's starting to fall down. And it is incredible. The thing that Donald Trump did run on, and actually did, because as we talked about, about the top of the video. Donald Trump ran on a lot of stuff,

and he didn't do most of it. But the stuff he did do, they don't even want to talk about because it's so unpopular the way they did it. And Joe Rogan joined in on the mess and said this. But just seems so insane based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? And he ran on no more wars and these stupid senseless wars,

and then we have one that we can't even really clearly define why we did it. And I'm going to keep asking this. Why did we do it? Why did we do it? No one's been able to answer why we're doing it. I also don't understand why Congress is just letting him do it. You do the hard work to be elected to Congress. It's not easy getting elected. And you become a member of Congress or you become a senator. And then for what? So that you can sit around and do nothing all day and let Donald Trump take away your power? Okay. And let me just say this too. This is the sign of the flailing. Here's how Caroline Levitt asked a tough question about Iran. The president said yesterday for the first time that he had to strike Iran because he believes that Iran was going to strike U.S. targets within seven days. And then he then bumped that down later to three days. Where is he getting that? Well, that's not the first time the president has said that he chose to launch

Operation Epic Fury because he felt as though Iran was going to strike the United States and our assets in the region first. Again, I addressed this in the last briefing. This was a feeling the president had based on facts. Facts provided to him by his top negotiators who had been engaged with the Iranian regime in a good faith effort. The Iranian regime was lying. It's just beyond parity.

A feeling the president had based on facts. So we got into a war because the president had a feeling, not because there were facts resented that showed that we were in imminent danger. Am I getting that right? No wonder why Benny Johnson's like, get me out of this. He's, listen, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, now Benny Johnson. They see the writing on the wall because this shit does not pass any muster whatsoever. And frankly, it's pathetic, it's embarrassing, it's dangerous, and who wants to have their brand tied to this?

Well, Benny Johnson, I have some bad news for you. You are completely tied to this man. It doesn't matter how many times you have ran Paul on or any other person who wants to critique Donald Trump. This is all because of you. We're not going to forget it. And when Donald Trump's time has passed, and it will pass, one way or another, you're still going to be around. And we're going to make sure you never forget about what you did to our country.