The Majority Report with Sam Seder - 3620 - Right-Wing Media Abandons Trump as Iran Quagmire Worsens w/ Krystal Ball, Abdul El-Sayed

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

It's Casual Friday on The Majority Report   On today's program:   Melania Trump gives an unprompted press conference to announce that she is not a victim of Jeffrey Epstein. Seems like the First Lady is trying to get ahead of something. Melania's senior advisor joins Newsmax 2 to propagate Melania's claims that she is not a victim but in fact a champion of Epstein survivors. Trump told an MS NOW reporter that he had no prior knowledge of Melania's press conference.   Krystal Ball, political commentator and co-host of Krystal, Kyle & Friends and Breaking Points, joins Emma to recap the week's news. Topics include Iran, Epstein, Trump's beef with right-wing podcasters, and more.   Abdul El-Sayed joins the program in-studio to discuss his campaign for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.     Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running for Nancy Pelosi's seat in California, calls for sanctions on Israel.   Tim Miller grills Josh Gottheimer on his support for the war on Iran on the Bulwark.   Matt Lech breaks down Tim Pool's moronic take on the new adaptation of Animal Farm.   all that and more   To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is [phone]. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: SHOPIFY: Go to Zocdoc.com/MAJORITY and download the Zocdoc app to sign-up for FREE and book a top-rated doctor SELECT QUOTE: Get the right life insurance for you and save more than fifty percent on term life insurance at SelectQuote.com/MAJORITY SUNSET LAKE: use coupon code 420 to save 30% sitewide at sunsetlakecbd.com The sale ends April 22nd at midnight Eastern time. Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com

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This sale ends April 22nd at midnight, eastern time, see their site for additional terms and restrictions. Now, time for the show. That means Monday is casual Monday. Tuesday, casual Tuesday, Wednesday, casual hump day. Thursday, casual thurs. That's what we call it.

And Friday, casual Shabbat. The majority report with Sam Cedar. It is Friday. April 10th, 2026. My name is Emma Vigland in for Sam Cedar, and this is the five-time award-winning majority report. We are broadcasting live steps. from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, USA.

On the program today, Crystal Ball, back with us to break down the news of the week. And later in the show, Abdul al-Said, candidate for Senate in Michigan, joins us in studio to talk about his race. Also on the program, CBS News reports that Trump originally, originally included Lebanon in his ceasefire agreement, but retreated after a conversation with Netanyahu. You know, who's the global superpower here, huh? Tail wagon dog. Israeli bombardment of Lebanon continues, and so does Iran's closure of the Strait of Ormuz as Trump rages. Open it!

I told you! We won. We won. So why isn't it open? Yeah. J.D. Vance is off to Pakistan to join the talks with Iran. European leaders demand that Lebanon be included in the ceasefire as Israel blocks France from talks in retaliation for that demand. The Pentagon denies threatening the Vatican's U.S. envoy over Pope Leo criticizing Trump's bloodthirsty militarism. The White House had to warn staffers to stop.

Stop placing polymarket bets on things like ceasefires and war with insider information. That slap on the wrist for all those devoted Nazis in the administration is really going to do it. This should not be legal. New BLS data shows inflation soared in March, partly due to increased energy costs from the Iran War. Pro-Israel groups cheer as the DNC punts on resolution. condemning APEC and criticizing Israel, pathetic, relatedly, the DNC is apparently a bit more worried about things like

a lag in fundraising from big money donors. I wonder if those two things are related. Three people launch formal complaints against Trump's Labor Secretary, claiming she retaliated against those who supported, or reported, rather, her husband's sexual misconduct. That's the next woman to go, baby.

We should, for polymarket bets, it's like, is it going to be Lori? I can't remember her last name off the top of my head versus Tulsi Gabbard. Who's the next firing? It's got to be one of those two. Tulsi. Chavez's hyphenated.

Derima. Yeah, thank you. Trump proposes weakening rules for disposing coal ash in a way that puts heavy metals into your groundwater. And lastly, a federal judge rejects a second attempt by the Pentagon to impose loyalty pledges on journalists covering national security.

All this and more on today's majority report. Welcome to the show, everybody. It is casual Friday. Sam will be back on Monday. I realize I didn't headline this, but luckily we're starting off with this story. story, this insane Melania story. But it's been a crazy week. Hello, Matt.

Hello, Brian. Hello, audience. Thanks so much for sticking with us this week. A chaotic news week. Lots of changing facts on the ground to use an Israeli phrase as they bombard Lebanon with this ceasefire. And these talks that are happening in Pakistan are immensely important. we will hopefully, hopefully see some sort of off-ramp here.

It was making a mockery of the idea of diplomacy with these horror that they're inflicting once again on Lebanon. You know, though, how many people thought that the Iran war was a way to distract from the Epstein files. For me, that's not as direct as it gets. I think Trump was high on militarism. But, I mean, even if, If it's not true, it's good political propaganda.

There's a concept called overdetermined where a large number of factors lead to a certain outcome. And maybe none of them play a singular decisive role, but they all contribute. Well said. So just for the sake of this argument, you know how many people thought the Iran war was a way to distract from the Epstein files? Well, what do you do when you need to distract from the Iran war? yesterday, Melania Trump, the movie star and female empowerment goddess girl. Anti-bullion activist. I mean, I don't know her as anything else.

Fashion icon. She summoned the press to the White House for a surprise press conference. Now, I joke about this being a distraction from the Iran War because we will play a clip from Trump or a reporter talking about their conversation with Trump, where it does. doesn't seem like this was that coordinated. Melania Trump gave a surprise press conference. And you know how all these conservative influencer rats are scurrying off the ship because Trump is sinking like a lead balloon?

I guess this also includes the president's wife. Here she comes to, with this impromptu announcement, definitely nothing weird coming out in the next few days. Don't worry about it. Where's a humanoid robot at? Time make air clear. Good afternoon. Hello.

The lies linking me with a disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today. Okay. All right. All right. I'm sorry. I just really wanted the walkout, the good morning or good afternoon, I guess, and the immediate launching into the Jeffrey Epstein stuff. that's what her and Trump have in common.

They like have no interest in small talk. Right, right, right. Five minutes tops. I'm in and I'm out. It's also weird because like she's making this about herself. And admittedly there's some stuff in the emails about her that are, you know, interesting. But, you know, I feel like there's other people to be concerned about. I don't know.

It kind of draws a little bit, makes you take a closer look at this stuff, in my opinion. I was giving advice. This is not somebody who. We stay in the ivory tower for this one. Right. This is not how one would behave if they have nothing to hide. Lying about me, a devoid of ethical standards, humility and respect. I do not object to their ignorance, but rather I reject their mean-spirited attempts to defame my reputation.

Bullying by tying me to Epstein. I never be in friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach Okay To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein

or his accomplice, Maxwell. My email replied to Maxxie. Well, cannot be catarist as anything more than casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything more than a tribal note. Okay. I am not abstin's victory. She meant to say trivial. A tribal note.

I want to hear a little more. did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at the New York City Party in 1998. Okay. This initial encounter with my husband. Who was running the guest list for that party? Yeah, just a little more because we're getting little breadcrumbs as to what might be coming out. Issue here is how Melania met Trump, and there have long been rumors that Jeffrey Epstein was the one that made.

that connection. And if Epstein and Trump were involved in sex trafficking operations, which has also been heavily speculated via the modeling industry in the 1990s, this could be what this is related to. So this, I just want to get this part out. Later on, she tries to talk about how she feels for the victims. We don't need to play that, because this is really about herself. My husband, by chance, at the New York City Party in 1998. Oh, what a coincidence. This initial accounter with my husband is documented in a detail in my book, Melania. The first time crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000.

At an event, Donald and I attended together. At the time, I think that's basically good. So that's her making it clear that we, that correspondence between, Maxwell and me where I ended the email in 2002 with love at the end was casual correspondence. Called her dear G. Yeah. Exclamation point. Hey. Right? She's referred to a sweet pee. And signed off on it with love. But you heard how that sounded, right? She's specifically speaking about herself, talking about her reputation, me, I, I was never friends with Epstein. You know, I wonder what things are like on the marital front with her and Donald Trump.

Normally, they're so close, and it's like they are of one mind and body. But there it feels like she's distancing herself from her husband. And unlike her husband later in the speech, she does actually try to say something about the victims, which is not how Trump has been operating here. I'm the victim. There was like, she, she tells a story as she goes on about how she met Trump in 1999. She says in the speech that he was introduced, it was Paolo Zampoli, an Italian modeling agent who introduced her to Trump. But this guy is in the Epstein files, the Zampoli guy.

So I, it, her insistence that this was all by happenstance feels like an admission that it's probably not. Those men treated like Epstein and Trump and all these guys treated modeling events like cattle auctions. Yeah. And also Brett Rattner, speaking of her book, Melania, there's also the blockbuster film Melania that was directed by Brett Ratner, who was a photograph with Epstein and two girls who were redacted and was an associate of Epstein. That was his fiance. Yeah. That's fair to him. Oh,

that's what he said. No, he's clearly lying. Then why was she redacted, buddy? Why was she redacted in the fur? Her, like, privacy. It's for hers, not mine. When asked,

why didn't you guys get married? I don't know. And then pair it with this. This is her senior advisor, Mark Beckman, who will reveal at one point that he was a producer on Melania. Jesus.

So, um, uh, going on Newsmax to say, don't worry she cleared her record. No one was thinking about this. Exactly. They're all so defensive. In the early 2000s or late 90s,

Mike Piazza held a press conference announcing wanting gay. And this has that same kind of energy where it's like, what are you talking about? Exactly. Exactly. Here, keep going. Certainly yesterday,

a first of a kind moment for any first lady. You work extremely closely with Melania Trump. What prompted her statement yesterday? Yes, you know, thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. It's nice to see you today. Yesterday, the first lady really did accomplish a lot. Specifically, there were three things that she did.

The first is she cleared her record. She eradicated all of the lies, all of the innuendos, and she showed everybody that she's got a clean slate once and for all, and that she's going to fight it. Number two, she became the champion for these women for the victims. There really isn't someone out there as high profile as the first lady that is out supporting the victims, supporting these women. And Melania Trump certainly did that. Two things.

So you mean not the president. Thanks for granting that. And two, can we maybe let the victim say that as opposed to somebody who works for Melania? Yeah. And I don't know. It's a little undercut by the fact that she's still married to somebody. who's credibly accused of covering this up, of misconduct himself, and has also been found liable for sexual assault in court and has dozens of accusers.

But I guess no one stands up for women like Melania. Supporting these women. And Melania Trump certainly did that yesterday. And then finally, as you're aware, she put together as a real leader, as an insider in D.C. As a leader, she said, Congress, let's move. Let's give, to your point, these individuals their day if they wish, if they want to go and be heard on the record. So it was an incredible day. So incredible.

But as we as we teased earlier, this is an MS now report where they, I guess, had a phone call with Trump about this press conference. And her emphasis on herself probably was not an accident because the White House is now saying that Trump, of course, knew that this was happening. But that's not what he said to this MS Now reporter yesterday. Yeah, Nicole, that is the question that we're all asking today. In fact, I just got off a very quick call before we went to air with President Trump, who said he was in the middle of a war meeting and that he couldn't talk for very long and had to go, but that actually he had no prior knowledge to the topic that Melania, Trump, his wife, was going to be touching upon today in his statement, in her statement.

He then repeated that he had to go. But before we hung up the phone, he said that she said that she's, didn't know him, presumably referring to Jeffrey Epstein. And play the beginning just a little bit because I just, this, Trump calls it a war again. Sorry, so busy with war. With war. I mean, excursion. You know, it's like, it's like almost like a homonym in my mind.

Stare or stare. How do you spell it? War, excursion. Yeah, Nicole, that is the question that we're all asking today. In fact, I just got off a very quick call before we went to air with. President Trump who said he was in the middle of a war meeting. Okay, all right, yeah.

The idea of him just be like, hold on General, I got to take this call from MS now. Melania did what? No way, I got to go. She didn't know him. Back to whether or not we're going to. Back to my boom-boob pictures. Where's the montage?

Bebebe, baby, please. What are you doing to me, buddy? What do you have on me? Is that, I mean, I don't know. speculation has to continue on that front, given like the nature of like what we're hearing about these meetings coming out of the Iran war with Netanyahu in the situation room and just a one phone call to Trump means that he can change course on the terms that he agreed to on this ceasefire.

He's certainly acting in a way that's consistent with him not wanting to piss off the Israelis for whatever reason. For whatever reason. So in a way that even other presidents had said, you know, look, like Biden, like we'll let you ethnically cleanse Gaza. I'm not going to start this around war for you. Trump did.

And now he gets ghouls like Anthony Blinken, who should be in the Hague, fodder to go on Jimmy Fallon and say, you know what, we would have never have done this. Oh, I'm sure. We would have just done the genocide in the way that we were doing you previously. That was

as criminal as anything. We wouldn't let Israel bite off more than they can chew. Yeah. In a moment, we will be speaking to my buddy, Crystal Ball, but first a word from two of our sponsors. We all know health issues don't follow a 9 to 5 schedule. While with Zoc Doc having no time to book your doctor's appointment is actually no problem, when you don't have time for yourself until 11 p.m. Or you cut your finger, you're making a midnight snack, or you need a late night heart-to-heart with a, or you have one,

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and at majority. FM. Quick break, and when we come back, we'll be joined by Crystal Ball. We are back, and I'm thrilled to be joined by my friend Crystal Ball, political commentator, and co-hosts of Breaking Points and Crystal Kyle and Friends. Welcome back to the show, Crystal. Always a pleasure. Always great to have you, especially when there's so much news that it's difficult for us to, I think, even digest it.

I mean, covering this Iran War this week with all of the moving parts, with all of the duplicity from the Americans and from the Israelis has been just a bit of a whirlwind. The big report from this morning is that CBS News reported with multiple sources, and I find CBS being the outlet a little interesting, just given what we know about the Ellison and Barry Weiss takeover, but I have a theory about who's the sources.

CBS News reported with multiple sources that Trump's position on the condition for the ceasefire changed after a conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu. I just want to read for a second from the CBS News report. Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that President Trump had been told that the ceasefire announced Thursday would apply to the Middle East region, and he agreed that included Lebanon. Mediators believed that the ceasefire to include Lebanon and Pakistani Prime Minister Shabashirif announced that it did. Arachi also said it was included. that's the Iranian foreign minister. On the day of the ceasefire, a White House official told CBS news that Israel had also agreed

with the terms of the deal that Pakistan had helped to broker. However, the U.S. position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS news the changing U.S. positions and the disjointed remnant of the regime in Iran are making the diplomacy highly complex. Another way to frame that could be that the complexities being caused by the Israelis who refuse to put off their ethnic cleansing project in Lebanon in favor of their letting Trump have this ceasefire have any kind of success and the off ramp that he so desperately wants. Yeah, well, and the other reporting that came out to your point, and actually Dropside has had this for like weeks at this point, but the mainstream press is finally caught up to what Jeremy's. Gayhole was saying, you know, a month ago. But in any case, Trump is indeed desperate for a deal and has been trying to find some sort of an off-ramp. And it's been the Iranians who have been

resistant. And in fact, it was difficult for, for the, you know, the leadership, the political leadership to get the IRGC on board in order for them to even pursue these potential talks. So that's how, you know, because there's a disagreement on whether or not the U.S. and Israel have felt enough pain yet, whether enough of a deterrent has been established to make sure that we don't just go back again and wage war later on if the Iranians agree to something right now. But this Lebanon piece is a really big deal. Ghalibov is the Speaker of the Iranian parliament. He posted that negotiations are not going to start until that part of the original pretext for the negotiations until that is settled and until attacks on Lebanon stop. So Trump has a series of what are in his

mind sort of unthinkable choices. If he actually wants to pursue an off-ramp genuinely right now today, he will have to constrain Israel, something he has shown zero interest in doing whatsoever, especially in the context of this conflict. But equally unthinkable is going back to the war, which was going disastrously, which certainly has the possibility of completely tanking the world economy. And then yet again on the other side of things, also unthinkable for Trump is accepting any of the Iranian demands that were listed out in their 10-point plan, including a new status quo with the Strait of Hormuz and sanctions relief. So by starting this war, he has created an array of, from his perspective, truly unthinkable and impossible options. And the escalation

incentives are there for truly every side involved. I mean, I guess except if you're going to talk about Lebanon here that's getting pummeled. But Iran standing by Lebanon is important. And I'm going to ask you about that in the second. But I just want to point out that this CBS report includes some very flowery language about how Vance has emerged as a senior leader in the diplomacy with Iran and how he's more involved in this now. He was also portrayed in a very rosy manner in that very extensive New York Times piece about Netanyahu roping Trump into this war. And so I'm just speculating a little bit on sourcing here and who's trying to look good. Rubio and Vance seem to be aware that this is an issue for them. And so perhaps that's why CBS got that scoop.

But on Lebanon, I think it just speaks to the strength of the Iranians negotiating position right now, that they are not just concerned about Iran's kind of safety from U.S. bombs right now and their security. They see Hezbollah and their partners throughout the region as essential to their security as well. And they know that they've been able to effectually via geography, exert control over the Strait of Ormuz, and that the Americans really have no other options except escalatory bombings via air campaigns that haven't had the effects that they want. They've stationed troops all in the region, but don't seem to want to have the balls because of the political fallout to actually launch a ground invasion. So they know that the Americans have fewer options. And they're flexing. Like, yeah, we might have the capacity to protect our allies here and really kind of fortify an axis of resistance to the new axis of evil in the 21st century, the Nazis in Israel and the Americans.

Yeah, that's very well framed because they don't just see Hezbollah and Lebanon as like, oh, we're looking out for our fellow man. They see it as important for their own security and their ability to project power. and Hezbollah and Iran have coordinated very effectively in terms of this latest war. So, no, they have been very clear from the beginning. I mean, for weeks now that Lebanon must be part of the deal. Trump is lying when he says that, you know, oh, we didn't know that. Or J.D. Vance, when he says, oh, this was a misunderstanding. No, it was very clear that point was made that was issued in the Pakistani prime

minister's tweet that apparently we drafted. Like, this was all very clear and settled from the start. so I absolutely believe the reporting that the Netanyahu called and the story changed. But, you know, I mean, for Iran, they are really in the catbird seat. They are in a position to name their demand. And I am of the view, and I don't know if you agree with this or not Emma, but, you know, we got told the story about the airman who was lost and he was rescued and all of this. You know, I am very, I am very persuaded by the arguments that have been made that there was

another operation that was going on there as well. expand on that. Like I am persuaded by what I've heard from that, but I would I'm, I haven't dug into the details on it. So maybe you can explain what people are speculating about with this story. Well, the TLDR is, and this is again, this is speculation, but the TLDR is that the force package, the amount of stuff and the amount of people that they were bringing in to rescue this one dude allegedly makes no sense. And it happened to be near Isfahan, which is where we think most of the uranium highly enriched. uranium is located. What they brought in is very consistent with the type of operation that would involve going in special operations, trying to scope out where this material is, get it loaded onto, you know, they brought in these giant sort of like transport carrier aircraft that allegedly got stuck in the sand there on the runway.

So that's the idea is basically. It makes more sense that some operation like that was what was at least originally planned or what they tried to continue to go ahead with. And again, this is speculation. It's not proven, but I think there's a fairly persuasive case here. Also, it's weird that we have never again heard about this supposedly rescued hero airmen, but whatever. Put that aside for now. He is risen and he is now up in heaven with his father and looking down upon all of us.

But in any case, the reason I bring this up and I think it's significant is because if there was some sort of a raid planned to secure some of that nuclear material, you could see in Trump. You could see in Trump's thinking how that was going to be his mission accomplished moment. And then he could say, and now that I've done this, the Iranians have come to the table and we're going to negotiate an end to the war and he'd be able to have some sort of a victory narrative. If this was part of the plan and it went completely sideways, the largest amount of military equipment having to be destroyed and being lost in a single day since Vietnam went completely disastrously wrong. It may have been a wake up call for him of, oh, there is not a military. off ramp here. Anything we try to do is going to be a disaster that's going to cause massive loss of equipment, life, humiliation. We're going to be bogged down now on the ground in Iran. This is not going to work. And it's right after that whole thing, whatever that was happens, that you get

Trump with these bizarre true socials, what on Easter Sunday where he's saying, you know, open the fucking straight and, you know, praise be to Allah. Then you get the genocidal mania one where he threatens to kill the entirety of Iranian civilization never to return again. These smack of desperation, but it also gave him the ability to say, oh, look, through my bullying and my threats, now Iran has come to the table. Now, I don't think many people, including in his own base, are buying it. But to me, that is the logical progression of what likely happened here and led us to the point that we're at now. And then we're at the point where Trump wakes up in the morning. We played Fox and Friends saying, are you kidding me? All of these 10-point

plans that are supposedly the framework for a deal are, is it's all Iranian demands. They were shakily criticizing Trump knowing that he's watching. Like the traditional neocons that he's now been listening to, including Mark Levin, obviously are unhappy with this result. And so, look, we can speculate a lot about what Israel and Mossad have on Trump. But it also could make sense to me that he was primed to believe Benjamin Netany his argument about Lebanon here as a way to hurt Iran because he felt some sort of humiliation when he woke up the next morning and saw that all of conservative media was like, you're surrendering. This is a surrender. Yeah, I could see that as well. And I mean, look, obviously Netanyahu has proven himself to be very persuasive to Trump for whatever reason. And Trump loves to look like a, you know, big tough guy. And if you're letting Hezbollah just be there and able to.

to continue to operate in Lebanon. Yes, that looks like another defeat, a defeat for Israel most directly, but also for U.S. imperial interests. And in terms of U.S. imperial interests, like, we, I don't know if we are able to get our arms around right now, the impacts to what this means for the global order, what this means for the U.S. in the region.

Like, the U.S. has shown that they are unwilling and unable to defend their Gulf state allies where we have bases. So like what is the value in having these kind of security relationships here when perhaps they could just maybe cool relations with Iran or have China be a more powerful player in the region that's not going to prioritize Israel above all? Because that's in part what might be this wedge between the U.S. and some of these Gulf states that are like,

in many ways large corporations and like the UAE, for example. If the U.S. can't guarantee security, well, I mean, and there's already this understanding from some of these Gulf states that they have to move beyond oil and gas as being the center of their economies, like, let's do tourism, let's do sports and stuff. They might want to develop relationships with other, with, say, Russia and China, they're a little deeper than they were prior to this. Yeah, I mean, we live in a new world now, and I think we're only just beginning to understand what that really looks like.

And you're pointing to the GCC states, and you're absolutely right about that. I mean, UAE is the most clear-cut example. Their whole business model is attracting wealthy expats from around the world. And now if you've got a more hard line, Iranian government in place, and they've proven their ability and willingness to strike inside of, you know, Dubai and send all of your wealthy expats. fleeing the region, you got a big problem on your hands. And at the same time, look,

13 bases in the region, American bases in the region have been damaged to some extent, which making them apparently uninhabitable. They've been putting service members up in civilian hotels, which is actually, you know, not permissible in the laws of war, literal human shield stuff there, but whatever, nobody seems to care about that.

But in any case, I mean, just on that one front, what does the reality look like? One of the Iranian demands is all U.S. forces leaving the region. that seems like it would be unthinkable. But which one of these countries is now going to be like, yeah, come on back, US of A, rebuild your base, which made us a target and you were unable to protect us at all. You put us more at risk. So things are on the table that we never could have thought of.

I mean, the piece with the straight of Hormuz obviously being central. If we really arrive at a new status quo where Ron is effectively able to charge a toll in crypto, in crypto, by the way, subverting the U.S. dollar-backed financial system. If they're able to chart that toll, that is $90 billion a year in revenue

into their coffers. Just for a comparison, their entire military budget is less than $10 billion a year. So this is big money for them. It's big money for anyone in the world. Genuinely, that is the game changer. So even though you don't have Iran that we know of having a sound of a nuclear weapon.

And it undercuts the petro dollar. Sorry to just, I just want to add and undercuts the U.S. economic position just in general. And here's the thing too, Emma, is, you know, part of the U.S. empire, right? We have this sort of deal with the world. And one of the things that we provide to the world that's a sort of public good is the securing of the waterways so that goods and commerce can flow and you don't have to pay a toll to the Iranian government. You can go through the straight if we're moving, it's not a problem. That's likely going to be over. So one of the main parts of our maritime-centered empire is going to be dead and gone. I mean, that in and of itself is a, whoa, world-changing moment. So, you know, and for Israel, right,

they were looking at, they were bragging about we're not just going to be a regional hegemon. We're going to be a global superpower. I don't think so. You're going to be at best sharing power with Iran, who doesn't actually need to get a nuclear weapon anymore because they have the straight of Hormuz, which acts as a deterrent, which is almost as powerful, if not more powerful than a nuclear threat. And by the way, they may also pursue the nuclear option as well, given the insane way that we behave around the world. So to your point about how much this is going to change everything, regardless of whether it ends now or a month from now or a year from now, I am just beginning to start to contemplate all of the consequences. And I think they will be playing out

for literally decades to come. And one of those potential consequences, and I would say, perhaps one of the more likely ones in the short term, is that the nature of the defeat, the nature of how much this undercuts America's kind of strategic place in the world is another incentive for further escalation. That's what is so horrifying here, is that given what we know about neocons, given what we know about Trump constitutionally, and what all the incentives are for him. Yeah, he doesn't seem to care too much at this point, this mad king, about the economic pain that he's inflicting on Americans. Like he admitted essentially that tariffs were functionally a sales tax and how he implemented them and he knew and prices have gone up.

And the prices of oil and gas obviously have gone up. And they might permanently go up if Iran is able to keep control over the street. So the fact that this is such a humiliation, if the Iranian government where there's a lot of like question marks about what does this look like? I mean, they could be more hard line towards the U.S., but they could have a different stance and be more open to other nations and be more diplomatic in that way. There's still a lot of question marks about this younger crop of leadership here. Like the concern is that if Iran doesn't maybe try to give Trump some sort of. of like rhetorical victory or off ramp even in the slightest if they pursue humiliating the U.S., which they should maybe, I don't know if I were them, I probably would do that.

Then what is Trump going to do except escalate? Because everybody around him is going to say we can't accept these terms. Yeah, no, that you point exactly to the heart of the problem. He has to be able to sell some kind of a victory narrative, not to the rest of the country, at least to his base. And what we saw this week when he came out and said the Iranian 10-point plan is the framework for these negotiations, it's a workable framework for these negotiations. Even Fox News, when they started looking through these 10 points, is going, I don't know, this doesn't look like a victory to us. This doesn't look like, you know, oh, we obliterated their military and they're defeated and we can name our price.

This looks like a real problem. And that's why he had to come back and say, oh, no, no, no, not that 10 minutes. is secret 10 points that you guys totally haven't seen and it's way different than the one that, you know, that you're taking a look at right now. So his ability to sell some sort of victory narrative with any credibility, again, to the most gullible people in the country, his own base, is really essential here. I think for his own psychology, because if you don't get that, then, I mean, I personally think his presidency is de facto done. He's not going to recover. I think he's got big, big problems. But that has to be on the table for him to be able to bring this thing to a

close. But on the other hand, you're right, he doesn't care about, you know, average people struggling to pay, you know, enough, like afford enough gas to be able to get to work or whatever. He doesn't care about that. He does care about the bond market. He cares about the stock market. He cares about the oil price overall. Those are the metrics that he watches most closely. And so to continue this war and flirt with true catastrophic global economic collapse is also unthinkable for him. So this is a complete bind that he's gotten himself into of his own making that there is no good way on of whatsoever. The only good way out was to not start this war to begin with. Now, as you said, he risks either immediate humiliation or more humiliation down the road after also having committed, you know,

more treasure and more lives to this horrific conflict. Well, okay. Yeah, nothing's not looking that great. Maybe we can have some fun now, though, just to round out the week. Because this is significant. It's also related to the Iran War. We can, I guess we can show this, but no, it is from Trump. This is from, this is from truth social.

Okay. So, but I want six, seven, eight, but we can also show this as well. So Trump last night had this screed here about Tucker Carlson, Candice Owens, Alex Jones, Megan Kelly on Truth Social. Let's put this up and we can just show some of the highlights. I know I Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon. Yes, this is what they've, oh, oh, yes, yes.

Okay, all right. Come on, buddy. Look, I don't, I'm not, Kansas Owens is a psycho, but even I get a little distracted sometimes by how pretty she is. It doesn't, oh, so Brigitte McCrone. Right. I'm sorry.

I didn't realize that Trump had looked into Brigitte's heart and said it is so much more beautiful than that of Candace Owens. Or Megan Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous only Rosie O'Donnell question, right, which is when he said he called him about Rosie O'Donnell, a pig. And she asked him about that. Flailing fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn't even finish college and was a broken man when he got fired from Fox. He's never been the same. By the way, he was let go from Fox in part because he was engaging in election denialism that you were fomenting, by the way. And it caused Fox News to be, have to settle with dominion. Yeah. But for Trump, the greatest insult is that you're not on TV.

Yeah. That is like the most brutal, devastating blow he can land is that you're not on TV. They don't even want you on TV. Yeah. Podcasters. Podcasters. And we don't even need to read all this. but people can see that he just went off and we'll show the video that he he's underestimating these podcasters at his peril some of these right-wing podcasters Tucker Candice are some of the most popular shows in the country which is not a good thing but like he's this is what his bass listens to he also posts this video of him we won't play the audio but you can I didn't even see this actually guess what song is playing is a YMCA yeah

Yes, it's why I'm seeing. Are you serious? Of course. So this is for people that are listening on the podcast, this is a video of him dancing in front of Marjorie Taylor Green, Candace. Okay. Yes. Marjorie, Candice Owens, Thomas Massey, Alex Jones, Joe Kent, Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, and Nick Fuentes.

So that's basically... What percent of the population you think could name all eight of those people? I was going to say, that might be tied to mental health. The more you can name, the less. happy you are. That's a that tracks with me right now. And Tucker ended up responding. You sent this to me this morning.

He and his newsletter here. Could you summarize this for, for us, Crystal, so we don't have to read every second of it? The TLDR is he talks about how the Israelis frequently use blackmail and the, um,

fairly solid reporting that they used blackmail with Bill Clinton because they had, they basically went up to him. We, we, we aren't going to release. Like, we're going to keep quiet this stuff about you and Monica Lewinsky. Like, they already knew about it and had tapes. And so, and it was in the context of one of the, you know, ongoing negotiations, Oslo's also accorded negotiations.

And so the message being like, we know about this, buddy. So you better take our side on some things or else this could all be made public. So anyway, he floats very directly that it could be that Israel is blackmailing Trump because that's something that they're known to do. So pretty, you know, dropside did some polling, I think alongside Zateo, and a majority of the American public believes that part of why we're in the Iran war is because Trump said the Epstein files and a cover up the Epstein files. So when Tucker is suggesting something like this, he is very much in line with where public sentiment is on part of why at least we ended up in this war. It's a credibility issue for any political communicator right now if you are not being critical of Israel. And I'm just like almost a. astounded at how out of touch Trump is with that.

But pull up six again because I want Tim's tweet and then maybe a little bit of Laura Loomer. But, but, uh, Trump, you know, we, we saw that those pew, that pew polling. Uh, okay, Tim is upset now. Uh, when he went after Tucker, Candace Owens, Alex Jones and Megan Kelly. That does it. I am done. This is just him trolling, though, isn't it?

I think it might. It's him trolling. I'm so angry. Yeah. Oh, all right. Okay, it's performative. So I just thought, okay, that's not. That's what does it for you with Trump, not like the war crimes is if he goes after

your friends or is Trump or is Tim, as we've speculated because he's the one of the influencers that met with Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Dave Rubin. Is he looking for to cozy up to the administration and to Zionists because they lost a little bit of money? You know, he's quite worried about having to pay his mortgage. Didn't he say Trump like called him? said he was like a great friend or something before Trump posted that truth going after everybody else. Isn't that a thing that happened? Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right.

But like we see how Ben Shapiro's audience is cratering. Just back to a little bit of what we were saying here, you know, the the pew poll that came out about Americans, 60% of Americans having an unfavorable view of Israel and you look at the dividing lines along generations, a majority of Republicans under 50 now have a negative view of Israel. But the people that are really booing support for Israel in this country are people above 50 who vote Republican. There are some on the Democratic side, some independence, but mostly what is maintaining even that minority of support are also Trump's base. Like this is really, even though he did peel off a lot of Latino voters and young people, they boomerang the other way. It's already happening.

This was not a permanent realignment. This had to do with the Democrats being pathetic, the genocide, the economy being horrendous, and they voted for Trump. But his core MAGA constituency is their older homeowners. That's why he goes out there and he says, don't, I don't want your home values to decrease. I'm not going to. Housing supply could decrease your home values. I don't want to do that because that's his base. And they're also incredibly Zionists.

But this is a disaster for Republicans more broadly. because they have to look to the future about what political constituency they're trying to cultivate. And when they've made the Republicans synonymous with Trump and he is the brand at this point, what does any Republican under 50 see when they see him go to war with all of their favorite influencers and podcasters and support Israel in this deeply unpopular war? Yeah, and trying to take them all on at once, you know, Tucker and Alex Jones and Megan Kelly and a lot of. of these people have really held their fire. I mean, it's really only in the last week that Tucker directly criticized Trump in any meaningful way, although he really did go in when he went in. I got to give him that. But, you know, I don't want to overstate things because there is some polling

that just came out that shows Tucker is pretty unpopular with the Republican base at this point. Like, they've soured on him as he's gone increasingly adversarial versus Trump. And so Trump still has a huge hold on the base of the Republican Party. There's no. doubt about that. And especially to your point, Emma, with the Fox News, boomer conservatives, like that is his bread and butter, and they are still with him. But we're talking about, number one, midterm elections where enthusiasm matters a lot. And you're talking about number two, the future of the Republican Party after Donald Trump, you know, exits the stage, however that occurs. And you don't have a sort of charismatic cult leader figure to hold the pieces together

that he's holding together at this point. And even for him, And one of the things that I can't, I think it was Nate Silver that was tracking this, the number of people who say they strongly approve of Trump. So like are really excited about him. That has declined significantly. So the number of people who are in the category of like, I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and I wouldn't care, that percentage is going down.

And that is meaningful and that is different than what we've seen at any time. So I think these divides are very real. And while in the short term, you know, with regards to the Republican base, I think Trump has more power than Tucker Carlson is more popular than Tucker Carlson. That is certainly true. But this divide is not going anywhere. And for the future of the Republican Party is going to be a big, big problem for them. It's, it is.

And, you know, I, it's also important, I think, to unpack what the right-wing arguments right now are about Israel. I think for anybody under 50, if you are not criticizing Israel, you have no credibility for the most part. This is not this is, it's over. It's done. And that's why the Zionists are engaging in a project of basically whale hunting these large media organizations so that they can neutralize them or large TikTok, you know, or social media platforms so they can neutralize them. And then, you know, trying to do these defensive actions of, of smearing Hassan as some sort of unreliable narrator because of his influence on young people at this, at this point. But, but the that that's over for anybody. who is under 50. But the question is, where do we steer this conversation? And you'll notice that on the right, they focus a lot on criticisms of Israel. It's much less focused on Palestinians and their liberation. When Tucker Carlson talks about Palestinians, it's disproportionately Palestinian Christians.

And he speaks about their actions in moral terms, which in the short term, I think, is helpful. But you see a divide in how, say, Azora Mamdani speaks about. or Abdul al-Sayed, who we're going to be speaking to shortly, about Israel or Graham Platner, where it's like we have to fundamentally change our relationship with this state or speaking about it within the terms of universal human rights. What is so convenient for Tucker and Candace and all these right-wingers that went all in to support Donald Trump is they are outsourcing one, their, or deflecting blame from themselves for their support of Trump by just blaming Israel, but two, I think most critically, also.

washing the hands of U.S. Empire for creating the monster that is Israel. And so then it doesn't, they don't have, Tucker doesn't really have to examine his past support for things like the Iraq war, although now he's blaming it on Israel now. It's just, you don't have to look at the underpinnings of our surveillance state, of ICE, of DHS, of all of the stuff that came out of 9-11 and the outgrowth of the national security state, if you can just blame Israel. Yeah, that's, that's exactly right. And actually I was talking to Norm Finkelstein about this. And he feels very strongly about being, being frustrated with the sort of willful blindness about the way that the U.S. Empire supports Israel more broadly. And how the Israel lobby obviously is very influential.

And Netanyahu has been very influential with regard to Donald Trump and Mary Madelson and that money, like not denying the power of that whatsoever. But the way in which U.S. Empire has seen Israel as being central to their interests in the Middle East. And so if you're racing that part, you're not getting the whole picture. And then the other piece here, just from a leftist, rightist perspective, is for most of these right-wing creators we're talking about, it's not that they're arguing from a place of we want universal human rights. They're arguing from a place of we want a different ethno-supremicist stack. We feel the Jews are being put up top.

We don't want them there. We want a different ordering of who's in charge and who gets to call the shots. And that's really their, you know, at bottom, their issue. And so that may for the moment add up to support for Palestine and opposition to Israel in a way that sounds left coded. But if you dig one layer deeper into that ideology, it doesn't come from the same place. And it will not end with the same result of respecting and honoring, you know, universal human rights in the way that we need to. I think it's also a function of the vacuum that's been left by Democrats. And it is a dangerous situation where you can, because there is not some sort of robust response, an anti-Zionist response within any real, like within the leadership on the Democratic Party on the national level.

And even our best voices on this, I still don't think are speaking about like the day after what it means, what Israel as an ethno state means. How can we stand for diversity here in the United States? and then support an ethno state that maintains its demographics by force and genocide. You know, I am so desperate for there to be leadership on the Democratic side that speaks about racially integrating Israel of a one-state solution and of how Palestinians have a right to return, how that process needs to be overseen with peacekeepers, with, like, actual care. And if you were to say, like, that's how understanding is in general. gendered, living aside, you're somebody that doesn't look like you and you could speak about

multiculturalism as an ethic. That's like moral courage that could be negating for the anti-Semitism that is also inherent in many of these arguments on the right. And that is being deliberately abandoned. I headline this about the DNC where they're, they punted on these resolutions and the Israel lobby is thrilled, just condemning APAC and saying that we might conditionate to Israel. They just, they, they did away with that. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. Yeah.

Well, I will say you're 100% correct about all of that, obviously. But things are changing. They're not changing fast enough, but they are changing. I do not believe that the gulf that exists between the Democratic base and the leadership of the Democratic Party is something that's sustainable. I believe that's going to be, that's going to shake out in the primaries that are going on right now, in the midterm elections, and finally in 2028. And then from the perspective,

of Israelists gets back to the dynamics from the Iran war. As much as this surrender, likely surrender, eventual surrender from Trump is a massive defeat for the U.S., it's perhaps an even greater defeat for Israel. They have a political landscape in the U.S. that is increasingly hostile, not to mention in the entire rest of the world, but, you know, we're obviously the ones that matter the most since we're the ones that fund and support and arm them. Very possible that after 2028, they aren't getting the blank check that they're getting now. so they'll have to live more within their means and their own reality. And actually, you know, we get all this.

Oh, do they have a right to exist as a state? Well, they may actually have to act like a state like the rest of the world and have to learn how to deal and live with their neighbors and within their own boundaries. They also are going to have to grapple with the fact that Iran is a power. They're not going away. No military option is going to destroy them. So you're going to have to deal with that as well. And then there's all sorts of domestic political problems.

It's not like opposition to the war, those sorts of problems. but all sorts of economic, domestic issues that they're going to have to grapple with as well. So the standing of Israel in the world is going to be significantly diminished at a time when they're losing support in the U.S. as well. So the realities for them are changing dramatically. And I do think, like I said before,

democratic leadership is going to be pushed aside if they don't change their tune. And you can see them, they know they've got a problem, they're trying to change their language. But there's no middle ground position that you can strike. Just ask like an Alyssa Slotkin, how that goes.

when you try to find the middle ground on whether or not you support a genocide you did you did it doesn't work out too well you asked her more about her more recent clips that just emerged but yes oh well i know i was thinking about you because of her being like i will not go on hasan piper's stream corey booker also said the same thing and it was just like oh when when did those two people recently uh kind of come into my feed in the past few months as it relates to israel Oh, it was Crystal grilling Slokin and then also Jennifer Welch grilling Corey Booker. And they were humiliated. So now they don't want to go on Hassan stream.

Wow. I wonder why. Yeah. Well, I'm a little bit, I'm a little embarrassed to not be as toxic in their eyes as Hassan. I've got to up my game, apparently. I think it's the whole whiteness. I mean, and that really, like, we will be talking to Abdul al-Said in a second. But I also think-

Abdul-Syad, who is Muslim? Make sure he doesn't squid his eyes at you, Emma. Yes, right. He's going to look at me so Islam-y. And it makes me feel unsafe, but that's not racism. I'm just standing up for Jews. It's just fact, yes. Well, I mean, like that, that and we'll wrap in a sec, but like the, the, I think people also are really, really sick of the Islamophobia.

And in a way that I don't necessarily know if, like, boomers are, yeah, they've watched too much. 24 and they're too far gone on this. But I think like you know, the tweet about destroying a whole civilization, there's just these little like moments where Trump's

psychopathy comes out and people are like, are you for real? Like, we're sick of this kind of thing. We don't want to destroy a whole civilization. The 9-11 era propaganda were 20 years plus out from that at this point. It just doesn't hit the way that they wanted to.

And it's so blatant. I mean, it's really like ugly and blatant. And yeah, I think that for anyone, most people under 50, I can't say anyone because we've got plenty of grape or neo-Nazis under 50. But for many people, they see this and it just feels completely counter to their idealistic view of what America should be. With Trump, you know, there was a New York Times analysis of his replies on true social, which of course is hardest core fans. And they've become increasingly negative. So I think. think that's worth taking note of as well. Now, it's kind of a leading indicator. These are people who are hyper online. But that post, maybe even more so than the genocidal one, but the one he put out on Easter where he's cursing and he says at the end, praise be to Allah. His base was not really super psyched about the way that was coming down on Easter. So he does have, you know, even with his own base, he is on thinner ice now than he's ever been before. And that is kind of a, you know, it's a unique and wild thing to do. It's wild that it takes him like three. threatening genocide and actually getting into World War III and crashing the entire global economy

for them to get there. But anywhere, there we are. A last question, just because I wanted to pick up on this thread from you that you mentioned about Israel and their position here and how this could really, I mean, Israel is not getting what they wanted of Iran being like the failed state here. It doesn't seem like that's going to happen. But, you know, we've seen instances where Israel has so aggressively over-extend, it itself and we've said like they can't sustain it's they can't sustain this they can't sustain this but i think the timing of how netanyahu roped trump into this war with this meeting in february is important because he is a brett across uh american public opinion you know

like like white on rice he he he pays attention benjamin netanyahu and i think that the midterms are really what he's most concerned about here too to to that point of like this is our time. I've got this 10-month window. I've got this 11-month window to do regime-change war in Iran, or at the very least destroy them so effectively that they'll fall into a failed state territory. And this is where greater Israel can expand outside of really American public opinion, although that's already the case, but they can sprint towards that reality before 2028 as well. Just your thoughts on that. I absolutely think that Netanyahu is looking at the political landscape here and feeling that there is an existential demand that he go for the whole thing,

the Greater Israel Project, destroying Iran everything right now, because in the future, the political landscape is not going to be guaranteed. He sees public opinion. He sees sentiment against Trump and against the Republicans. He knows it's very likely there's going to be a Democratic landslide in the midterms, but more importantly, Democratic president in 2028. And so he is going for the whole thing right now. And then he also has his own, you know, personal,

corruption trial issues that are getting delayed again because of war. His whole strategy for staying in power is endless war. But ultimately, like the U.S., it appears he's overplayed his hand. And I think he must have bought some of the drug his own Kool-Aid with regard to the idea that the Iranian government was so weak. They would just, they would likely collapse. There'd be civil war. We can arm the Kurds, blah, blah, blah.

He must have believed some of that hype as well. And I don't think this has gone the way that he expected it to either. and they thought they'd crush Hezbollah. And Hezbollah, look, Israel is able to murder all kinds of civilians in Lebanon. But Hezbollah is putting up a heck of a fight in southern Lebanon. I mean, Israel was projecting how we're going to annex everything up to the Latani River. They haven't been able to do anything close to that because they're meeting fierce resistance from Hezbollah, an organization that they thought they had basically already defeated. And with the control of the straight, with billions and billions of coming in, this really undercuts U.

sanctions capabilities as well because then they can sell fund and then fund Hezbollah. That's right. And Iran then has their own sanction abilities and their own ability to throw their weight around in the world. I mean, they really exposed us as in a lot of ways, a paper tiger. And I don't want to overstate the case. We can bomb the hell out of whoever we want. But in terms of actually achieving our strategic goals, that is a very different matter. And so we've really showed our ass with regard to the Iran war. you know, exposed for the world, just the incredible limits of our capabilities at this point. Crystal Ball, political commentator, co-host of Breaking Points, Crystal, Kyle, and Friends.

We'll put a link to every, to all of that below in the video and episode descriptions. But if you're not also listening to Crystal by now, in addition to listening to our show, I'm just, I'm a little confused. So people can look her up. They go well together. Yes. taste the teeth great together. Great, agree. Peanut butter and jelly.

Thanks so much for coming on the show today. Crystal, really appreciate your time as always. My pleasure. Great to see you, Emma. Great to see you too. All right, folks. We will be joined soon by Abdul Al-Sayy. We're going to take a quick break.

He is obviously running for Senate in Michigan, and he's going to be in studio with us in just a moment. We'll be back with you shortly. We are back, and we are joined in studio by Abdul Al-Syad. physician and U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan, Abdul. Great to see you. Thanks so much for coming on the show. It is an honor to be with you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here in spite of the fact that the elevators went out. And we, you had to walk up. We won't say the number of flights that you, upstairs that you had to come up. I will say there was one working.

We waited an extra long time, but I, you know, I don't want stolen valor on the elevator. Like, we took an elevator up here. This building is constantly presenting us with challenges, including when we have Senate candidates come and they have to walk up many flights upstairs. But like, I mean... That's how we make sure we have fit the senator. Yeah, right, right. So this is we are training my whole life for this moment. We are testing your physical fitness and you have passed. So, uh, and can you remember man, woman person camera TV? Is that, was that the other test that that Trump has to do? Oh, I remember the one about the lion and the zebra. Oh, okay. So I have, I have actually that I have administered that test.

Oh, you have. That's a physician. It's called a mocha. And you usually administer it to people who are either hospitalized in a hospitalized for anything neurological or psychiatric. And I've administered it multiple times. And it's like saying, you know, I am physically fit because I climbed up the slide in the in the front of the school. Okay. And the idea that he's like, I aced.

the mental exam. You're like, bro, you just... Did anybody ever set a record for you? Like, what if they set a record for the best mocha response? I mean, so it's something that you do regularly and, and there it is, there's a mocha. And I've like, I've like had, I mean, you do it every day. And, you know, sometimes you have patients who are extremely high functioning and you still have to do the mocha exam. And I had this one patient who, you know, just incredibly bright. And I administered the exam in the next the next morning because what happens is you ask them to remember the order of things and then you come back to that order of things to see if they have recall and he had it

the next day and I was just like all right what are we even doing here right right um okay so there's a possibility that trump is like not even a low functioning person who has to take this kind of test just in theory there there well I would argue that um you know they say that sometimes you don't need a test to figure something out and I think life life has demonstrated that he is decidedly low functioning. Yeah. With extreme ego strength, as they would say, remembering back to my psychiatric rotation. So I'm sorry for not even, I should have begun the interview this way, just because it's

my patriotic duty. Have you condemned Hassan Piker? I have not. What? I, do I have to leave now? You do. I mean, in fact, we're calling the cops. Go back down the stairs.

In fact, we're calling the cops, yes. No, up the stairs and down. We literally brought you here to ask you if you would condemn him. Go back down the stairs. Yes. Get out. I mean, I obviously do because I'm a patriotic American. Now, just I guess that for people that aren't aware, there was a small kerfuffle. There was a small kerfuffle.

A three week long media cycle. A three week long media cycle where there's a lot of centrist Democrats and pro-Israel donors that are trying to discredit Hassan in particular because. He has joined up with progressive candidates across the country, including yourself doing rallies. We played some footage of it earlier this week at Michigan and Michigan State of the lines that were outside of your rallies to see you and Hassan together. And the queen from Western PA, Summer Lee. Summer Lee, got to say. In all this coverage, the thing that bothers me the most is the Summerlee erasure.

It's because she's such, what did you call her the Tim Duncan of the progressives? the house. That is so good. Yes. Just phenomenal fundamentals. Phenomenal. You're like squares her shoulders, takes a shot. I'm like, whoa. But she's not going to be like the flashiest or the or the one that's seeking the most attention, but she's always shown up in the right way. And look, I, if you can convince

her, I want her to run for Senate in Pennsylvania. Listen, I literally told her. I mean, I was watching her. Just someone who's sort of a student of the game, like I really enjoy public communication as an art form. watching her take that mic and then just set the crowd on fire. I was just like, oh my God, like it would be so fun to watch you run against that ogre. Yes. I would love, I would love that, right? I mean, and, you know, and Tim Duncan wins championships.

I'm just saying, doesn't just win games. He wins championships. He wins championships. That's what I. And, and, but I think that, gosh, it was the, the previous Democratic senator that just lost. Bob Casey? Yeah, Casey.

He's already like, him coming out the other day and saying, oh, I'm going to run for Federman's seat, to me, I think he saw how Summer Lee was kind of putting herself out there a little bit and wanted to head that off. That's just my speculation. Honestly, let's have him jump in. Sure. And then have Summerlee jump in. I actually love those odds.

I love those odds too. Well, I mean, if there's any other white dude who wants to run in Pennsylvania, right, preferably over the age of 60, right? please jump on in there is an open u.s senate seat and then and then like summer duncan's jumping in yeah exactly um ray of sunshine out of there are so many plays on her name i love it it really could work and she's exactly the kind of voice that people are craving similarly to what you're seeing with your campaign like just this has been a long campaign process so far and i was looking michigan primaries not until august august and we've been at this now for a year yeah so

celebrating a year into this campaign on on April 17th. Yeah. So just reflect on, I think, one, your surge in popularity is really coming at the right time right now. I know that this attack, these attacks on Hassan really backfired because didn't you guys get a lot of small dollar contributions once there was more sunlight on your campaign through this? It's been a bit of a slower buildup. But right now it feels like there are a lot of establishment Democrats panicking about where you're at in this race. Yeah, I mean, look, we had a clear sense of the race we wanted to run from the jump. And I also knew it was coming for me.

We watched it happen in 2025. I mean, just to speak to the controversy, quote unquote, TM, Hassan was invited by Vice President Harris to the DNC to stream from the DNC. The last time he appeared with anybody in this race, it was actually Senator McMorrow, who was also at the DNC. speaking. And then the audacity that we have to do the same thing that Vice President Harris did, it was wild to me. Now, look, I knew that there were going to be some voices, particularly from the pro-genocide wing of the Democratic Party, that were going to come out and say, well, how could you?

I didn't realize it was going to be a three-week news cycle in a new cycle that should have been 100% focused on an illegal unjustifiable war. And then people ask, well, why do we lose? Well, I think it's this story in a nutshell. Number one, we miss opportunities to speak to the broadest issues that affect everyday people because this war is literally lighting our tax dollars on fire to raise our gas prices for God knows what reason, except for the interest of a foreign government. Then there's the fact that people are frustrated because we're campaigning. I, my understanding of politics, now, like, I studied complicated things, okay? This one's not that complicated. If you believe in what you have to say, you should take what you have to say out to

people who might want to hear what you have to say, which is why I go on Fox and why I appear with Hassan Piker. Now, nobody's yelling at me for going on Fox, which is interesting because I would argue that the things that they talk about on Fox seem to be less consistent with the broader thrust of our message that we are for human rights and for health care and against corporations in our politics. But now what's happened is

because of the power of money in the Democratic Party, there are a lot of folks who are jumping in and echoing this because they're afraid of what it means for the flow of APAC and other pro-Israel money into the Democratic Party. And so how dare we, speak to that issue if it's going to interrupt the flow of the gravy train to Democrats.

But here's the problem. I would rather have our morals than have their money. And that's the thing that they find so frustrating. But you're also campaigning in such a Muslim way. I know, in your eyes. I generally, when I make comments to people, I slip my gaze at least. Yeah. And then and then I just speak in an accent. Yes, right. Really play it up for people that don't realize. I mean, the free press, I guess that was Olivia Rangel wrote it wrote about you. And in a way that would make like racist cartoonists in the South blush like in the Jim Crow era. I mean, it that I just could you reflect on the Islamophobia that's been directed towards you? Like honestly. And Hassan is a stand in for that too. That's really what they're saying. They that. You know, that. You know, your opponents are afraid to attack you on a racist basis,

so they're attacking Hassan on a racist basis. Look, I'll just tell you this. You know, I'm surprised they didn't come from my beard. Like, because, like, as a Muslim dude, as an Arab dude, you're supposed to have a nice beard. Like, I got a weak-ass beard. I don't know what it is. I always have, my dad's got an incredible beard, all right?

He's got two sons. My brother has a different mother than me, and both of us got weak-ass beards. So in some respects, part of me was just like, At least if I had a nice beard, I'd be like, damn, like come at me for my beard, but I'd have an awesome beard, though. Right. You know, at the end of day, it's not my job to defend myself. Yeah.

It's not. Like, I, you know, I'm not in this because I need to defend myself against their attacks. I'm much more focused on defending people who have been subjected to a politics that is literally picking their pocket to drop bombs on other people rather than to provide them health care or make sure their kids go to a dignified school. So, you know, I'll let you guys comment on that. It's not my job. My job is to focus on the issues that I've been fighting on for a year now and frankly 10 years since I jumped into public service. I want money out of politics, money your pocket, Medicare for all.

If they're going to come at me as a standing for something, if they're going to try and otherwise me, if they're going to try and say, you know, I don't, I don't believe enough in American values. Those are not things I haven't heard before. I've been me my whole life. Right. And at the end of the day, I know enough to know that we are our best when. America empowers one another despite our differences.

And the most amazing thing about the democratic process is that we're constantly testing whether or not America is as big as she says she can be. And guess what? Most of the time, that test comes back positive. Because, you know, when folks can vote for somebody who might not share the same faith, who might not share a name that they're used to, we're saying that America is about those ideals.

And I'll just tell you, like, one of the most formative moments in my life was watching my dad become an American. I was six years old. I remember my mom, my stepmom, Jackie, who's a daughter of the American Revolution, saying, telling me, like, Bubba's going to become an American tomorrow. And I looked at it for a minute.

I was like, what do you mean? Like, and I'm expecting he's, like, going to come out with, like, blonde hair and blue eyes. Right? Because, like, that's what I always thought when I was a little boy. Right. Like, that's American, you're Egyptian, right? And I watched him swear an oath to the Constitution.

And coming out of it, he still had his accent. He still looked like me. And she's like, Bubba's an American now. I was like, no, he's not. She's like, yes, he is. America is not about what you look like. It's not how you sound like. It's what you believe in. And so, you know, all of these folks who are fighting us about what America can be, I know I'm fighting for an America that is as big as she says she is, the America that's always given me so much and that really should be about giving us so much more. And making a positive case for immigration is something that I think the Democratic

Party is starved for. In your time campaigning throughout Michigan, what have voters said to you about ICE and your message on this as somebody who is the child of immigrants? Yeah. I went to Minneapolis at the height of Metro Surge. And I went because I wanted to understand what it looks like when our federal government weaponizes itself against the Constitution under the pretext of immigration. Everybody who has looked at this honestly, understands that ICE has nothing to do with the southern border has nothing to do with immigration because like I don't know I learned maps Minneapolis nowhere near the southern border Michigan where they're setting up nowhere near the southern border this is about weaponizing a paramilitary force against

the constitution itself and I think people understand that and what's funny is watching folks who should understand in their bones how un-American this is talking about reforming or retraining I'm like, what do you say to the ICE officer who used a little boy as bait? Like, can you imagine the PowerPoint slide? Like, you're the guy who's supposed to design the PowerPoint slide to teach that guy to do something different. I'm sorry, but like if your humanity did not stop you from using a child as bait, you do not deserve to work in the federal government anymore. You never deserved that in the first place.

So people understand that abolishing ICE is not this extreme fringe position. Abolishing ICE is the moderate position. holding people accountable who broke constitutional law, right? Forget civil law, right? Like, I mean, immigration law is not criminal law. It's civil law. It's like you didn't pay your parking ticket law. And they're breaking the foundational law of the land, the Constitution,

over the idea that we ought to be enforcing civil law with guns covering our faces. And it's also, it connects with your broader critique of America's support for Israel and our support for the genocide in Gaza because immigration enforcement didn't always look this way. But since 9-11, this has been

the infrastructure that the United States has built out. And it's affecting not just the hundreds of thousands, not millions of people who are currently being impacted through violence with U.S. bombs and Israeli

bombs as well. But it affects people at home. And has that been a salient kind of argument for you on the campaign trail connecting the struggle of everyday people in Michigan and even their experiences with ICE, which I think is a part of the, I don't think, it's a part of the same infrastructure. Has that, have they made those connections? Do they understand fundamentally how linked we all are here?

So fundamentally. And here's the thing about it. Like, I don't need the good people of Michigan to understand the plight of the Palestinian people to want to see. stand up against this. I just need them to understand their own plight. Every dollar that we send abroad to subsidize genocide, every dollar that we send abroad to drop bombs in Iran or bombs in Lebanon or bombs in Gaza is a dollar that we're not spending to provide your kid a good school, your kid health care, your kid dignified infrastructure that you guys drive on every single day. And at the end of

the day, we are getting our pockets picked by our own government being wasted around this idea that somehow we've got an enemy outside at the gate or we've got enemies within. When really at the end of the day, the enemy is this idea that we cannot invest in ourselves and build good things for each other. So people get that 100%. And like, people are feeling that. You can't afford your groceries. Well, probably has something to do with corporations who are.

are manipulating our government to focus on issues that have nothing to do with you, right? You can't afford to fill your tank with gas. Well, turns out that when we bomb oil depots abroad, it raised the global price of oil. You can't afford to see a doctor. Well, we could be investing in your ability to see a doctor, except for instead we're wasting our money on ice, $185 billion. Ice funded to the tune of $185 billion. That's more than the budget of the U.S. Marines, it's more than the budget of the FBI, right? It's funny to me because like, well, you're a Medicare for all guy. I have a book on my shelf back at home. You and Bernie Sanders both wrote the book on Medicare for All. You also ran for governor in 2018. I think that's when I first covered

you. So, I mean, health care has been your central issue here. Like, just speak about what people are experiencing with their health care. And honestly, the pain from this big, ugly ass bill, compared with the prioritization of tax dollars going elsewhere, we're going in the exact wrong direction. Let me offer just some statistics here to set up. We hold as a country $225 billion of medical debt. It affects a third of U.S. households. To put in perspective, $225 billion is more than the GDP of half of the states and the entire

United States. The median deductible, which is the money you pay to get the health care you already paid for in the form of a quote unquote premium, which you pay every two weeks or four weeks, median deductible for a family of four is about $4,500. If you think about what the average or the median income is, about $80,000, you're talking about having to pay a whole paycheck to get health care after having every single paycheck before that garnished just for the privilege of being able to pay a little bit more because you got sick.

That's what we live right now. It's funny to me, right? Because when people think about what they really want, most people just want. to have the security of being able to see a doctor if they get sick without having to choose between that and financial calamity. And that's exactly what Medicare for all would do. Chances are you probably have an insurance card somewhere in your wallet. That insurance card you probably paid about $1,000 a month to get, depending upon how you do it. You or your employer, right? And then to be able to actually use it, you're paying an extra $3,000, $4,000, $6,000 deductible. And then even

after that, you still got like a copay or something else you've got to pay just to go see a doctor. That's the current experience. Imagine next to it, you had a Medicare card that was given to you the day you were born that would not expire until you expire, hopefully after 120 years, peacefully in your sleep, and that you don't have to pay anything to have. You don't have to worry about whether or not you've paid a premium. You don't have to worry about deductible. There is no copay, and it's good anywhere you go.

They don't get the gatekeep in network, out of network. That security would mean that thousands of people, would finally have the freedom to see a doctor without having to worry about debt. It would mean that people who are stuck in dead-end jobs could finally go and start that amazing business. Like it is the most important boon to business we could possibly do.

Think about how many people stuck in bad, potentially abusive relationships because they can't go without their insurance. Like that is the single most important thing we could do to free up American life. And the only thing standing our way is corporations whose CEOs make tens of millions of dollars,

a year, picking our pocket because we deign to do the thing that everybody does, which is get sick. Mexico the other day announced that they are, there we go, great minds, Matt. Here it is. Mexico's socialist president to roll out universal health care. Some socialists may disagree with Shinebound being described as a socialist, right? They'll take it. All right, we'll take it. But look at what's possible just over in Mexico. I mean, they're also investing in infrastructure as we're blowing up infrastructure in Iran, which these are war crimes.

Infrastructure week. Yeah, exactly. It just shows right across the border and north of us, we're sandwiched by two countries that in a few years could have universal health care before the United States. I'm waiting for the Mexican government to be like, hey, you need to control the border. Right, right. They're going to be like, our poorest northern border is the issue. We can't have these people. pouring in stealing our universal health care.

Dental migrants. To be fair, they say that about guns now. True. But I mean, like, that's a real thing. No, that's real. That's a real thing. I want to ask you, since we're on the topic of health care, Sam isn't here today, but there was a clip of Mallory McMorrow, one of your opponents, besmirching the idea of Medicare for All because Trump could be in charge of it. And this was a clip that made Sam particularly upset because when you, you, you know, you make that kind of argument, you are undercutting the idea of really like any social program. Yeah.

I'm wondering if you could reflect on her candidacy and your opponent here because it seems like Haley Stevens, everyone knows she's the APAC lady. It's, that's how she really kind of got going in the race. But that's so toxic that now it feels, it seems like there are other establishment Democrats turning to McMorro. and she went after Hassan and that's really like it was a stand in for you

it felt like too cowardly to go after you let's go after the Muslim guy that you're doing rallies with and I wonder if they're panicking and what your assessment is of that pivot from McMorroro where things had been kind of more of a detain between you guys but with Stevens being so toxic with APEC I'd imagine she's like how do I carve out a lane

in between these two candidates Yeah, I've got nothing against either of my opponents personally. We ran together in 2018. I try to be cordial with everybody, right? I want to speak to the question you asked specifically, because if we argue that we cannot build high-quality social programs because they might be run by Republicans, that is a great argument not to build anything.

So we might as well not have built Medicare or Social Security because maybe they might be run by Republicans. And it is a wild argument to make if you're serious about governing as a Democrat in the year of our Lord, 2026. But ask yourself why someone would make that kind of argument. It's because at the end of the day, you see politics as a game

that is about trying to find a lane that fits in where you can borrow voters here and borrow voters there. And at the end of the day, I just don't see politics as a game. politics that way. Yes, I want to win an election. I want to win an election because I have ideals and ideas that animate those ideals into governing. So what's the point of winning if you cannot use the seat to advance goals that you want to use the seat to advance? So I just,

I can't understand it because it's not how I do politics. I got yelled at that by a nice lady at church because I keep saying the same thing. She's like, baby, you're running again. Eight years on, you haven't said anything new. I was like, ma'am, I thought consistency was a good thing. She's like, it is,

but like, you know, you're just saying the same thing. I was like, okay, look, when we solve those problems, I'll start talking about new problems. Yeah.

But it turns out that those problems have just metastasized into new areas. So there are new problems. AI and the huge footprint it's going to have on our lives is a new problem, but it's a manifestation

of a very old set of problems. Big corporations use their power to influence our politics so they become ungovernable and then they have their way and they pick our pocket. It's just one more manifestation of the same old problem. So I can't understand. I think you, all of us struggle with that.

Because for us, what is the point of politics if it's not to make other people's lives better and you don't have a preset set of ideals? But if you come to your politics and you say, this is just a game where I can pick here, I move here and I'll move here to try and find an electorate that'll pick me, it should tell you a lot about the ways that somebody thinks about governing in the first place. It's also why Democrats are losing. Like, you know, it's interesting to be here in New York City and see how Zora Mamdani's message discipline was so effective and then have the National Party talk about affordability, but they don't say what they would do to advance an affordability agenda. So there's like a recognition that there needs to be some sort of national brand for the party or messaging consistency.

And in the same breath, they say that like any candidate can stand for anything in this race. You can have this person standing for this and this person being almost like a dialogue. Republican. It's, well, you can't stand for everything unless, unless you are willing to extend your human rights. Yes. To Palestinians. Right. That you cannot stand for. That you cannot stand for. That's exactly right. That it just people I think are star for for moral leadership that has the clarity that you're speaking about here. And like I wish that nationally the Democrats could understand that abdicating that responsibility of advocating for people with your full chest, you can't manipulate everybody into being drawn away from sincerity. And we have reached the limit, I think, of Democrats being able to

kind of do a dance without addressing these fundamental issues. And the clock is ticking, though, because a lack of credibility for the opposition party under a fascist administration is a real, real problem. You're entirely right. We are reaching the end game of corporate politics. Because at the end of the day, if you cannot identify the problem because you're being bought and paid for by the people who created the problem, what do you even say? We tried to lean away from the foundational structural issues that people face around affordability or on housing, around health care, and start talking only about identity, and that failed. And then now everyone's talking about affordability as one key word, but not actually talking about

what you do to solve the affordability crisis because it sits on the back end of the very same corporations who are colluding to raise your prices and drop your wages. So you can't continue to take money from corporations and advocate for anything because the corporations have created the problems that people are suffering from. So the only way forward is to move past the corporate politics. And look, we're seeing politicians do that. My opponent, Senator McMorough, has taken corporate money in every race she's ever run and every race she's ever won. And now all of a sudden doesn't take corporate money.

Good on you. That is good evolution. We'll give you credit for that. But at some point, I wonder whether or not your critique is honest if you played that corporate game in the past. and I have to ask what your priors are and why you are even fighting if at the end of the day you are so willing to take money and become a part of the system that made so many people's lives so much harder. So well said. Just want to read some IMs from people writing in very excited about your candidacy and we'll let you go. June Oliver says someone tell Abdul his beard is beautiful.

Thanks June. Appreciate you. You're like end of one here, but thank you. Midwest Brewer, going to see Abdul and Benton Harbor, Michigan next week and hopefully get him into my brewery at some point to talk to the locals. So there you go. Ginger, A Squatch, also live in Michigan, and he has my vote. So we've got a lot of folks that are very excited here. Galactic nurse books.

I love Abdul so much as a medical professional. A huge part of our job is to educate and simplify complex conditions in a way that people can understand them and make meaningful change in their lives. seeing him move to this political sphere warms my heart. It illustrates why I got a bachelor's in nursing and a master's in diplomacy. They go hand. I love that. So lots of really positive stuff about here.

One more, one more. Voter from Canton here can't wait to vote for Abdul Midwest Ranch says. Canton in the house. I love it. There you go. Some Michigan fans. Abdul, where can people support your candidacy? What's the best way for them to do so? Go ahead.

We're building a movement, a national movement. So I hope folks who want to be a part of that will go to Abdul for Senate.com. Follow us on social, share our stuff, sign up to volunteer. We are already phone banking. We need your help. You can phone bank from anywhere. And then I don't take corporate money. I'm the only one who never has and never will. A PAC, I will tell you this. Aside from my weak-ass beer, they're going to give me the beard of my dreams for three months of summer. There's been $20 million to give me the beard that I always wanted. I just turned on the volume. Also, probably some new clothes for you, because we know that they've been photoshopping the journalist that they've been killing in Lebanon into Hezbollah.

Did it to Zoran too? Yeah, right. So are you ready for some new fatigues? You know, like, I hope the shirt they give me is what they said about me, which is Abdul L'Ail is the single biggest threat to the U.S. Israel relationship running in 2026. I was like, make me that t-shirt. Just go ahead and put it out on my chest. Yeah. Why don't you just put that in the campaign ad? I mean, honestly, like, just come right out and say it. But they're going to spend, we've, we've, our, our, our, our, Our insight suggests they're going to spend upwards of $20 million. So I'm hoping that folks will chip us off five bucks, ten bucks.

It goes a really long way. If you have not donated to this campaign, I hope that you will. We've got an opportunity to change the face of American politics. I just want folks to understand something. The reason that they have been so shrill in this, and you've seen it from every angle. Like when you have like CNN, handshake, Fox News, right? The reason that you're seeing this is because they understand that you cannot ignore a senator from Michigan.

Every single person running for president, all 158 of them, right, is going to have to pay attention to this race because when we win, we will have forged a pathway through the heart of American politics that sounds like me on Medicare for All, that sounds like me on corporate money,

that sounds like me on genocide, and they're all going to see an alternative path to the one that APEC wants them to see. And AAC will do everything it can to shut that path down. So every dollar that you give to this race is a dollar that you are giving to paving that pathway in the form of American politics.

And if it's not clear, I don't shut the fuck up, right? So I don't back down to anyone. And so, look, if you sound like me and I'm the U.S. Senator from Michigan, I'm going to introduce you to 10 million of my friends. And if you don't, I'm going to do, like, that's just what I'm going to do, and they all know it.

So that's what they don't want. And they're willing to put their money where the mouth is. So my question for us is, are we willing to put our money and our time and our energy and our resources and our bodies where our mouths are. And that's exactly what we're doing on this campaign. I'll tell you this. There are a lot of Democrats who come up here and slam dunk

on Donald Trump and I'll dunk on Donald Trump all day. Trust me, if I'm in that U.S. Senate seat, we're holding his ass accountable. But the question is not just how do you dunk on Trump. The question is how do you build a politics where the existence of a Trump never happens again? Exactly. And that is a politics where you can demonstrate that there is a clear political path forward to actually getting stuff done that affects people's pocketbooks. Trump is himself is not the disease. He's just the worst symptom. The disease is the way that corporations insulate our government from our politics. Why? Their money. They always get what they want regardless of where we go. And if we're serious about making the existence of a Trump never happen again, then you've got to make sure

that there's a politically viable pathway to making sure that people understand that we can get money out of politics, put money in your pocket and pass Medicare for all. And that's what we're trying to do in this race. So I'm really honored to get to share some of it with you. Thank you for fighting a good fight every single day. I wish you had better elevators, but you know, it's all good. I got my third workout in today. Yes. Next time. Next time. You know what it was? I worked out. And then we did this run with a creator in Central Park. So that was workout number two. And then I came here. Workout number three. But I'll tell you this. I did have pizza at Landustree. Oh. That being said, for all the Detroiters out there, Detroit pizza is still better. So they don't even want to get in this with you. Oh, yeah. I want my pizza to be a big soup.

No, no, no, no, that's Chicago style. Oh, Chicago style. Detroit is like dominoes. It's like cast iron. Oh. You know what it is? It's like, have you ever had jets? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, I'm sorry for being rude. Jets, jets is a crispy crust on the side. Yes, yes, yes. And he's got that like, it's, it's thick crust, it's like, it's not gooey crud. It's like the perfect kind of thick crust. You know what I do like Detroit style. So you've got you. Hey.

Yeah. You know, it turns out persuasion does work in our process. Exactly. Exactly. Look, look. Look, what he can do. It's the big time. over.

Abdul al-Aa, thank you so much. Thank you so much. And also Chicago-style pizza is shit. It is shit. Yeah, Jesus. I don't want kish. All right.

Right, right. No, we've had this debate before. Right. It's a kish. It's a kish. No, no, if you just didn't call it pizza, it's a wet kish. If they said it was like,

it was like pasta pie. Yeah. I'd be like, oh, this is a good pasta pie. But it's just not pizza. You know what I mean? It's like, it's pasta pie. Right. It's like a bread bowl.

Anyway. That's actually so good. All right. Thank you guys so much. We'll take a quick break. We'll do a freebie Friday, guys. But we'll say goodbye to Abdul, and we'll be back in just a second. Thanks, y'all. We are back, folks. It is the fun half.

I'm glad the plumbing was working today. Yes. If I had to pick one, force him to go up the stairs, then have to come in here and say, if the toilet doesn't work again. Let it mellow? I don't really live in the highlight.

here. Did you see those pictures that those guys got of Hassan and his editor? Yes, I think I absolutely stole the high life comment from Hassan saying that as he's napping on the plane. What a psycho. Kentucky boy, I'm a Kentucky boy ready to run through a wall for this next senator from Michigan. Brian's bazungas, Abdul is a giant spark of hope in this current hellscape. Future reactionary. Melania is far less a movie star than Stormy, Daniels. She's a movie in the same star in the same way Robert Durst is.

Chicago, Tim. Jesus Christ, guys, deep dash is not real Chicago pizza. It's thin crust tavern style. Well, I did go to a Chicago pizza place that was recommended that was thin crust tavern when I was there last summer, but I was told that that's not actually Chicago pizza, so I don't know what to believe. You got to go to Lumannadis, and it's great. I don't know if this conversation is too abstract in my

my opinion. Scott Crosan says deep dishes for tourists. Real Chicago style is tavern style. Will. Olivia Rangel has a jaw that could mug the most powerful frat leader in the country. That's because she bashes her head with hammers all the time. That would make sense, actually. California Resistance Emma donating again to Abdul's campaign.

Amazing. LXH in Philly. Yes, I was duped into thinking this fascism could never happen here, but as soon as most of World War II vets were gone past, all of a sudden America has no memory. But tell me how do we keep this from happening again? We owe it to all the children now and in the future. We have to tax the rich in an incredibly severe way, diminish their power.

It's political economic. It's about capitalism. Yeah. It's the same thing that happened at the last time. Capitalism started failing. The reason that Nazis called themselves national socialists is because capitalism was entirely discredited by the Great Depression because it turns out leaving all of the political economy up to people that are just trying to make more money

isn't the most wise thing and it's a lesson we're going to have to learn and hopefully we don't have a dust bowl in the Great Depression and a couple world wars that force us to come to terms with it like happened last century. Let's do 13. While we're highlighting some really good candidates like Abdul Al-Said like Graham Platner in the center, who are speaking about Israel's genocide and like where we go from here in a way that is so refreshing because it remains my frustration that even when we're talking about cutting arms to Israel or supporting block the bombs, we're still not reckoning with the underlying questions about Israel as an ethno state and our support of it going forward.

this relationship has to fundamentally change. And a psychot chakrabati, who is running for Nancy Pelosi's seat in California's 11th district, has a suggestion that is immensely welcome. Sikot used to work on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's campaign, and he no longer does. But he was across some of the more, like, aggressive tactics that she was using when she got into Congress, including the sit-in at Nancy Pelosi's office that I was there for, actually. It was a pretty awesome moment along with the sunrise movement that piss Pelosi off to no end

and was a real part of her kind of boxing out AOC for quite a while. So Saikot is an aggressive political actor. I like that about him. And for him potentially to be to, to, To lead us sit in with AOC in Nancy Pelosi's office and then maybe take her seat, that's the kind of poetic justice that I'm interested in, baby. Here is a psychot chakra body with what he thinks needs to happen with our relationship with Israel going forward. Yesterday, Israel killed over 250 people in Lebanon, and they didn't just target military bases.

They targeted the most densely populated residential neighborhoods. They did this right after we agreed to a ceasefire with Iran, and Lebanon was clearly in that ceasefire because Pakistan, who brokered that agreement, said so. Look, this administration has admitted that we are in this war because of Israel. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And as soon as there's a chance for peace, Israel destroyed it by launching the largest attack to date on Lebanon. That's because Israel doesn't want this war to end, and they know that America's leaders

are just going to blindly follow and keep sending American troops in tens of billions of dollars to keep funding this war. Israel is already committing genocide in Gaza, and now they're doing ethnic cleansing in Lebanon. So if it wasn't clear before, we need to sanction Israel, not fund them. And I'm sorry, I've been saying, Saikot, it's Shoycott. Apologies for mispronouncing it a bit, but yeah, sanctioning Israel, hell yeah, hell yeah. I mean, this should be a standard position, I think, for any left-of-center Democrat, but happy to see. happy to see. Compare that. Let's pull up 11 here to a member of Congress who is as in bed with the Israel lobby as possible. Who wants the war to continue, you know.

And you're seeing this increasingly. Like John Lovett had some good questions for Cory Booker. Like 60% of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Israel. This is the majority opinion at this point. they're never going to be able to avoid these questions. It's only going to get worse as this war in Iran continues. And the broad public sentiment, because it's accurate, is that Israel dragged us into this war. So here's Tim Miller pressing Josh Godheimer, representative from New Jersey,

about why he doesn't oppose the Iran war. That's committee, though. If you don't know, nobody knows. Why not oppose this? I just understand how we could not just be clearly in opposition to a program where we don't know what the objectives are. We can't trust the people running it. They're liars.

They have demonstrated a lack of competence, at least at the political level. We're going to trust Trump and Pete Hegseth and just take our chances. Hopefully it works. That's where you're at. I fundamentally know that the Iranian government is an enemy of our country. I know that they are dangerously close to having a nuclear weapon, and that's unacceptable. You think the Iranian mullahs are a greater threat to the American people than Donald Trump, getting us into this war?

The Iranian government poses a massive, has posed a massive threat to the United States. I think that Donald Trump has handled this? Is it to the United States or is it to Israel? Whose agenda are we following here? Exactly. Exactly. And the threat that they pose to Israel is a one that does not include regional dominance. Yeah, Israel is the threat to give a crap.

I mean, this is the huge problem. This is why it's avoided by leadership is because they are to Trump's right right now on this war. They have. So what if Trump hasn't stated? his objectives. They have objectives and supporting Trump's war helps them toward them. Well, no, obviously not. And I said that. Yeah, obviously not. So why would we trust him to do something? It's not just Donald Trump that runs this. We've got the best generals in the world and the best military in the world, the best intelligence and all of that. Our generals are not the ones that are bleeding out.

A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. That's the president. That's their boss. So yeah, it's absurd. Why would you let a guy that would tweet that be in charge of a war, American lives are at risk. We have a commander-in-chief. That's his job. What do you want? To oppose him, I think, to say that as a Democratic representative, you do not think that an unhinged commander-in-chief should be getting us into a war where he's promising genocide in Iran. You're kind of fore in the abstract. You wish it would work well, but you don't know what the objectives are. Want to do anything to constrain it. I have a huge problem with how this thing's being executed from how it's being executed. The goal of crushing Iran, I think is

I think of all the crushing Rant is the right thing. Holy shit. Yeah, I mean, there it is. This is a, that is a fascist collaborator. And you wonder why the Democrats aren't credible on this shit. It's a matter of process. It's a matter of manners.

It's a matter of sequencing. Don't you think that that should be the thing that's motivating voters to go out is Trump's level of competence in waging a war that everybody hates? We have to be open to the idea that these folks, I mean, actually the reality. not the idea. The reality that people

like this weren't as upset by Trump winning the election as we were because they see it as opportunity. Because not only do they get the war with Iran that they want, they don't have to take responsibility for it. They can fudge around like this saying, you know,

I have issues with the tweet. It's the issue with, we're destroying Iran with our military and you support that. That's the issue. This is kind of satisfying. I want to go a little bit longer. A place now than we were six weeks ago.

Economically, geopolitically, from a safety standpoint, do you think we're in a better or worse place than we were six weeks ago? I think if we've diminished their military, I think we're stronger. Oh, my God. I mean, we've lost billions of dollars of military material. Our economics situation is worse. Our relationship with our allies is worse. If they had 10,000 ballistic missiles just on picking a number yesterday,

and they have 2,000 today. Oh, my God. Pause it. Okay, so this is, I did not see that. So I pointed this out earlier this week because there was a CNN article where it's headline that American intelligence says that 50% of Iran's missile program remains intact. He just cites a 20% figure, which was a lot closer to the Israeli assessment that was in the later body of that same article. They are constantly downplaying. Is that what he said?

Can I just hear that again? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I want to make sure I heard it correctly. He's saying as long as they're firing off their missiles and can't replenish him. But I'm just trying to, I'm actually trying to assess if he's repeating the Israeli military intelligence assessment over our own. Well, yeah. We're stronger. Oh, come on.

Really? I mean, we've lost billions of dollars of military material. Our economics situation is worse. Our relationship with our allies is worse. If they had 10,000 ballistic missiles just on picking a number yesterday. And they have 2,000 today. Yeah. Were they going to shoot 8,000 of them at Florida or New Jersey?

Like, what was the risk? You know, their missiles are longer raged than we expected. They could shoot them in our allies in Europe. They could threaten us. Our allies in Europe aren't on board at this. They're now hostile. You've expressed some concern with people scapegoating Israel. Okay.

All right. So the idea Iran would just send a missile at Rome out of the blue because they all of a sudden have the capacity is so ludicrous. What is incentivizing this is our support for Israeli conquest and dominance in the region. Right. It's just here. I'm trying to find this here just to confirm. Yes. So CNN earlier this week, the U.S. military, U.S. intelligence found that roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact. And then Israel said that actually it's 20 to 25%. So I'm, regardless of if I'm nailing him down on that specific point.

That's exactly what he's repeating there. He's not even actually representing the interests of the United States whatsoever, and it of course makes sense that he's one of the top recipients of APEC in the house. His concern is Israel's. This idea that, oh, they could do our allies. Which ally do you mean? You mean Israel. Iran isn't just going to send a missile at Athens.

And the reason that they have would want to send a missile at Israel is because Israel started a war on them. Yeah. And like this idea that the stronger position, Iran was never exerting control over the Persian Gulf before this in the way they are now. And what is the solution to that? Godheimer thinks that it's the military still. Like we have to continue this fight for like no diplomacy, no off ramp.

It's in fact better for Godheimer to threaten Bridgen power plant day. That's what they think war crimes Because you know what? That's how Israel Solves things too is fucking war crimes Uh Bobville and Tim Miller sounds like a raging lefty in 2026 Randy Parson Gautheimer's a Democrat Yep

They it's ludicrous Zionists cannot have this role in a party that Supposes to be left of center And it You can't be agnostic on that There's no big tent here You can't have a big tent with people who are anti-racist and people who are racists.

They are racists. Rob from Denham, we all know the best pizza style is South Shore Bar pizza. Okay, I don't know what that means. At hominem, Sam isn't on vacation. Emma and Matt have him in a Buffalo Bill-style hole periodically lowering, loathing, and apples to him.

Don't be fooled, sheep. Rub the sepiday on the skin. Noah from Tampa, why you got to make me hate you, Abdul, assuming that's about Chicago deep style, deep dish. Squeaky wheel grease, the attacks against Hassan are a

twofer of attacking the left in Islamophobia. A little ironic with Asan who said repeatedly that he doesn't believe in God, but they will still claim he's Dr. Jihad. Islam's not a religion to those people. Yes, it's a it's a fear that they can't place.

MPG, I'm literally working on coding a Mocha exam for our charting system at work and I taste blood from biting my tongue so hard in a mixed co-worker company to keep from cracking Trump jokes. I don't... We administered that Tessa Sam when you were gone one day. I remember. I remember. I actually did... I ended up rewatching that. Good for him.

He knows what a difference between a giraffe and an elephant. The old man still got it. Opposite Dane says, Bibi, no doubt, sold Trump the idea that Mossad agents were secretly fomenting revolution inside Iran. This is the reason Trump was expecting something revolutionary very wonderfully wonderful might happen. Yeah, he's extremely stupid. International socialist. Emma, is Emma going to clip yesterday's interview

with Dr. Tarak Lubani and spread it around? It's such an important report from Gaza. Brilliant interview Emma and MR. Crew. Solidarity can transform the world. I'm sure we will be clipping that. It already has been clipped. Okay, great. Glea.org, if you want to go support his work.

Social Democrat, Detroit. Melania sounds like an awesome. and power style Fembot. What does? Melania. Not Sam Cedar. Someone said, what if they kidnap Vance as a bargaining chip, the real threat would be to send him back.

Grabbing by the Putin, Epstein is advertised to have had heavy connections with Mossad. Could it not be entirely possible that Epstein fed blackmail materials to Israel on Trump, hence all this? Same could be said for Putin in Ukraine, which has been theorized. It's possible. It's possible. I just say it's crazy that we know that Israel was playing a role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And we just sort of never really reacted to it.

And Bill Clinton's still going around talking about Judean Samaria in needed primaries. Hillary too. Anybody, any like Dem blue Maga folks want to question like, hey, why are we going to bat for people? people who are so clearly corrupt and maybe for that reason. What should we do here? I'm sure Bill was great at like, you know, the whole piece process thing that was very sincere. All right, you want to do this 19 thing, Matt? Let me go to the bathroom first.

Okay, all right. Matt might sit in Sam's chair for a Tim Pool clip. Tom Lofeng, Emma, regarding when you said you don't have a fancy rider when you're on embassy or CNN. What's the point of subjecting yourself to whatever that panel was supposed to be if you're not going to launch a bagel at a grossly underpaid intern? Well, sometimes I will request a straw to not mess up my lipstick. That's my diva request. So I'll say, could I have this water? But do you have a straw? That's when I go really nuts. I, yeah, I do it for free. They don't pay me. The hope is potentially I get paid in the future, maybe. But I'm... Are you in like a makeup chair next to Scott Jennings? I was once across from him in a makeup chair.

Not like weird. Yeah. And the makeup room is huge there. CNN's facilities are very beautiful. And, you know, like I haven't been to the MSN now studios now because they've moved. But even more than like 30 rocket MSNBC. CNN is has a lot like of it's bright lights and stuff like that. But yes, I've been in same room as Scott Jennings getting our makeup done and stuff like that before.

But yes, I do it for free in the hope that eventually I'll get paid. For now, it's more like, I think I've said this. I just, when Trump got reelected in 2025, I kind of had a talk with myself about what I want to do with my, like, platform and how I want to oppose him and oppose this. And it really was just about like getting the message out there about Israel's genocide. the progressive message out there pushing the conversation in that way. So I've been trying to say yes to everything I can for that reason, but I literally just told Brian, I'm slowing down now because I'm working too hard.

Okay. With all that navel gazing out of the way, we're setting up Matt in Sam's seat. I'm going to keep reading IMs. We put the mic back up. Yeah, I did. Okay. Adam from Florida.

CNN needs to have Liz Cheney, John Bolton, and Marjorie. Taylor Green on to talk about how no one should be allowed to talk to Hassan because his foreign policy views are too extreme. Rahil from Cape Cod, Van quoted it on Twitter. Okay. Quoted what? Quoted what? Going to have to figure it out. Carolina Jeff, ironically, these attacks on Hassan are turning him into the Joe Rogan of the left.

Yes, exactly. Well, it's funny. Even Sarah Longwell, the bulwark person is like saying this is the Streisend effect. But like you're the one talking You're the one doing it. You're putting, You have a chapter in your book about it apparently. And she includes Mahmood,

or not Mahmood Khalil. Zora Mamdani, she thinks is a malign actor, but anyway. Okay. I've been on my Sarah Longwell thing, I'll be. You have,

but, uh, but, uh, all right. So Matt is in the big chair because this is a really, uh, essential story for you. Yep.

Tim Poole. Going after the new animal farm movie and that's, bastard. bastardizing Orwell, that's got to piss you off. Yeah, or it says everything. It's Orwell, Syops, and the JFK assassination, and Watergate. All in one. Pretty much everything we're going to get into here.

So I hope you buckle up with 2.14. So we might be here a little bit longer than usual, but it's Friday. So I hope you don't have plans. But it's Friday? It's Friday. Hilarious that you are the one making that call when you're like 2.30 time to go. of the time, but for animal farm. The elevator's broke anyway, so it's not like we're going. Okay, we're all sleeping

at the office because we have to do this Tim Pool animal farm segment. All right, what is going on and what does Tim Pool have to say about this? So the thing is, is what Tim Poole let's say is less important. Let's just play it up front so we can have the tag. This is Tim Poole apparently reacting angrily

about the new animal farm. And we'll play a little bit of this here. It's wherever you really want to put us in, Brian, because yeah, this is a children's movie. I haven't seen it. I wasn't even aware it was out last year, but Seth Rogan's in it.

So that's pretty cool. Interesting. I might check it out. But he's very upset about it. And we're going to go into the long history of animal farm and, in fact, Cyops. Andy Circus has written an op ed for the Washington Examiner about his new film animal farm coming out, which is overtly and admittedly not a genuine critique of communism as the book intended, but a contemporary, view on corporate greed and capitalism. That's at least what the media has been saying. And having watched the film, I will tell you, that's the nice way to describe it. I would

describe it as just overtly anti-capitalist. It takes the worst elements of capitalism, exaggerates them to an extreme degree, and tells you the solution is communist revolution. Oh, boy, if that wasn't their intention, boy, did they slip on a banana peel. Now, I will say this of Andy Circus. He's awesome. I'm a huge fan. I don't like this movie, but that's probably enough, right? So it's funny, he's upset that

this George Orwell work has been portrayed as a not what it's supposed to be anti-communism, but as anti-capitalist. Now, George Orwell, in fact, has stated multiple times that he did not write a book about

communism to serve as propaganda for the capitalists. That's one of the first things he wrote. But I have a copy of Animal Farm here. It's one of my favorite things. This is the Cignette Classics Edition. Millions of school of kids have been given this to read about the Soviet, its allegory about the Soviet revolution. There's a piece in it from the intro here, if you could put this up, Brian, where it quotes Orwell from essay, Why I Write, which was written in 1946, where he says, every line of serious work that I've written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism. Dot, dot, dot, dot. Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried with

full consciousness. Now, that dot, dot, dot, dot is interesting because what is omitted there, and you can put that up just for one second, because I want to make a point about how much space is left on the page there, what they take out in that dot, dot, dot, dot, dot is, and for democratic socialism, as I understand it. Yeah. You could have included that, but. you don't want to put that in a book that you're going to give to the school children of America because literally this and the movie that came out in the 50s was American propaganda, specifically Operation Mockingbird, which was basically Ed E. Howard Hunt, who we'll get into his bio a little bit after a while, but Speer led this project to basically take all of the lessons

from Animal Farm, which are indeed anti-capists, as they are anti-Stalinist. George Orwell was anti-Stalinist. He was two Stalin's left. He went and served in the Spanish Civil War, and he was upset that Stalin told them to stop doing revolution and have a, I'm blanking on the term, what we're supposed to have with centrists. Inter-Sene fight? No, a coalition with that.

Coalition. I'm blanking on the term. But Stalin said, like, we can't be fighting permanent revolution. We need support from, like, the American and Western capitalist states in this fight. And Orwell was with Trotskyists said, no, we need to continue doing revolution here. Right. Amage to Catalonia is a famous book on that. So Orwell was. So this is the flattening of the difference in, like, political ideology amongst socialists or in the Soviet Union.

basically trying to attribute this to being like a critique of socialism more broadly, but it's a Stalinist critique, which basically every Leninist has that same critique, right? I mean, Orwell would be a critic of both Lenin and Stalin. But basically, yes, he thought Russia had become counter-revolutionary by the time the Spanish Civil War reign out. And I think a lot of Orwell's sort of insight into the authoritarian person comes from his experience at that, and I think kind of borne out by the immediate sort of Stalin period after that. Nonetheless, what the CIA was interested in, which is to take some funds from the Marshall Plan,

which everyone knows is the thing used to rebuild Europe after the war, take some of that money and use it to make cultural productions. And among that was the Animal Farm movie, which was helped made by E. Howard Hunt. Now, E. Howard Hunt is somebody, this is literally a sci-up. there's a whole bunch of different changes made to the movie version that Tim prefers he likes because he likes what CIA daddy gives him, which is to like downplay the more maybe leftist anarchic lessons from this book. And instead say like, you know, not all humans are bad, which is to say capitalists in the allegory.

But Ed E. Howard Hunt, who was the person who led that for the CIA, the abridgment of Orwell's actual message so that it would make a little cartoon that Tampoon-A A few years after Orwell died, by the way, in 1950, very convenient that they bastardized his work via film like three or four years later, also at the height of like the kind of covert operations post-World War II. And the more honest conservatives who deal with Orwell's actual writings are clear that, like, while he wasn't a communist, he was also not a conservative. And in fact, some of the last things he ever wrote, including that piece in Y.

I write, but also the thing where he said, you know, I didn't write a book to become capitalist propaganda. He took extra pains, even though both of the animal farm in 1984 kind of lend themselves to conservative propaganda to say that that's not what he meant at all. And E. Howard Hunt, just to tie a bow on it, he had a long and stored career. He was a key point man with the Cuban revolutionaries who would go on to invade Cuba in the Bay of Pigs. And then he would go on to still liaise with anti-Castro Cubans in the time after that failed, including have an office at a location called 544 Camp Street in New Orleans, a place I've been to, that also, which is where he was running his like sort of anti-Castro pro-Cuban

propaganda out of, the exact same address. that a little fellow named Lee Harvey Oswald had for his pro-Cuba hands-off Cuba thing, which is just an interesting little connection that I would underline, that you would have a CIA spy guy doing anti-Castro stuff in the same time

that the future assassin of a president was doing pro-Castro stuff that maybe some people think he was just pretending to do. Anyway, that's not where the E. Howard Hunt story ends. he also was central to Watergate. That's how I knew that name. And I would just underline this as like, Tim has the aesthetic of a guy who's like looking into the secret workings of society, the deep state and how it all works. He's actually a slot pig for the CIA.

And I'm sorry he's upset. And I'm not going to, I'm 37 years old. I'm probably not going to see the new animal farm. I might now that that he wants to. What's this? but yeah this is a well-known thing of how the CIA turned

basically co-authored what we understand to be Animal Farm in 1984 into a more pro-capitalist purely anti-communist message and I'm sorry that Tim doesn't like it but I wouldn't say it's fair

to the original work to say that it is far from what Orwell would have intended. I'm shocked to learn that Hunt support of the Warren Commission's conclusion that Oswald acted alone in the JFK assassination. Yeah, later in life, he, uh, he sort of hinted at knowing more about the Kennedy assassination. Maybe he'd talk or maybe he'd not, but I mean, he's a, he's also like a very prolific

fiction writer. I mean, he's a spy liar, uh, but also a terrorist against democracy. When you look into him, uh, working with the, the, um, plumbers at Watergate, uh, or even his, uh, leasing and basically, running the anti-Castro Cuban folks, which I mean to this day we talk about the Israel influence on American politics. The Cuba

the right-wing Cuba anti-revolutionary influence has been absolutely as toxic and anti-democratic. So that's just a little bit of the history there. I couldn't let Tim Poole talk about that in such a stupid way. It was funny. What does Tim say?

They wanted to run an ad on his Yeah, they wanted to because I guess he has a relationship with that studio because they're like a Mormon. They started out in clean comedy, the people who produced this animal farm thing called Dry Bar Comedy. And now they have a production studio. And Tim has some kind of relationship with him. And they wanted to run an ad on a show. And he was like, I watched the first five minutes. And there was no way in good conscience I could run an ad for this movie. Yeah. It's not the CIA fairy tale that I want. So. Yeah. I mean, I got a, how did this

movie happen. I'm trying to figure this out. So Seth Rogen's in it. So Andy Circus is directing for people that don't know, Andy Circus played Gallum and has done some other, you know, like live action work. Okay. I'm just curious, like, so what is his criticism of it? Has he seen it? Is it political in its message or is it just like a children's cartoon? His problem with the movie is that it is an indictment on capitalism and that the, uh, I just don't trust his assessment of that, uh, but we'll see. Sure. You shouldn't. I don't think I need to even be said. I just need to know like what is triggered. Why? He's saying the farm owner is portrayed as a victim of capitalism.

Okay. In the movie. Okay. All right. The farm owner. The human? Yeah. The human. Interesting. Okay. Well, I'm looking at a poster of it and looks definitely like it's for children, which is exactly the kind of movie that Tim seems to really like. I mean, if we were extremely cynical, um, creepy, you know, that would be part of our growth strategy, too, is to talk about children's entertainment as if it was serious because you get a bunch of, like, young kid, impressionable kids

who, you know, parents are laying on the phone babysit them to give you clicks. We tend to talk more to adults than that, and to our detriment. Well, Matt, any other animal farm tidbits that you want to throw in here now that you are in the big chair? I think that that should just about do it there. But yeah, I appreciate you letting me sit in this chair and, you know, talk about my little Orwell stuff. What if I said no? I would have overruled.

I do the switching. How you act like I have, like I have any authority here whatsoever. Like a true leftist workplace, we are pretty, we disperse authority. think pretty well. Yeah. You can cut back to Eminem. Yeah, right. Okay.

There I am. Hello. Let's read some IMs, folks. The fog of excursions. Was it Tim Poole who said he got Trojan horse? I think it just means he's a bottom. Oh, sorry. Let me just add how the movie was changed.

Oh, okay. Or well, thanks to the CIA version. The CIA held firm. The ending of the film was changed to remove the scene where the pigs are sitting and celebrating with the humans instead, the pigs are by themselves. The film's revisionist ending has the animals creating a new revolution overthrowing the pigs. The film completed after three years of production reflected a compromise that favor the agency's anti-totalitarian agenda. Yeah, so, I mean, basically a lot of it, a lot of the little things changed.

So anyway, that's a... I'm going to this Spyscape piece on the CIA. There was like a little bit of a bidding war between the British Foreign Office, the CIA, the U.S. Army and the creators of the Woody Woodpecker cartoons. We were all really rooting for the Woody Woodpecker guys. Right. Something tells me they didn't have as much cash flow. Yeah.

As they just print it. Yeah. And there was an undercover CIA agent working at Paramount Studios with a writer who flew out to visit Orwell's widow right after he died to fire the rights. Wow. Wow. She really did him pretty dirty there, that widow. but maybe there was a fat check.

Look, O'Rwell married a much younger woman that could basically control his rights for decades after he passed. And so that's on him. I don't think he can complain too much. That's what she was picked for. That was the tradeoff.

Hot lady who's bastardizes one of my texts to the CIA. So, Ernie Burns. Let's talk about when Orwell got rid of high heels on the green Eminem. Brian's horny corpse, my God, Abdul could dig me up any day. I stayed out of the picture with him because I didn't want a picture with a lion's fan. I'm glad that you kept that under wraps though and weren't openly antagonistic.

That's very professional of you. Thank you. I'd rather be passive-aggressive. Yep. Dumb bald thumb says, you guys should really do a history episode starting from like Nixon or Reagan up to how we ended here today. Well,

it's a little broad, but down to approach it is, you know, I mean, I feel like Matt could be really good at some of that stuff too, but more work for us is not what we're after right now. I would love to do more documentary style stuff, but it takes a lot of work. Adam from Florida.

CNN, I read this. Dark Soul. For a second, I thought you were referring to the toilet as Sam's chair. Well, Wisconsin Waccadu, can you give us some consoling about the fact that Alillia Mejia is campaigning with Corey Booker? Senator from her state, you know, it's just I don't really think that changes much. Tell me when it impacts policy. Chef Solo, the question isn't if we should sanction Israel.

The real question which should concern us all is the process by which we go about asking the question. Let's just consider for a moment the motor functions behind our speech, for instance. What? It might be a on the Sebed day. Average listener, the fact that Iran hit U.S. Gulf targets only once being attacked just shows that they are not the out-of-convents. control aggressors that Trump and Beebe, we try to say they are gaslight, off you skate, project. I mean, we started the war. Yeah.

We've been, and not only was it just this time where we decided to throw a missile at their supreme leader, we blew up there head of defense, Trump's first term, with a missile. Like, we are the terrorists. Sir Jacosta, great guess, as always, I sat here rhythmically chanting his name with a narrowed brow. Evan from Maine. I'm from Maine and I look forward to Platner and El Saeed Alliance. We will do so much condemning. Knock on wood. Matt Sout. What a great interview. Something I think needs to be discussed more about why El Sayad and my Dami have such exciting campaigns is their relentless positivity and sense of humor. So many Democrats, whether corporate or progressive, use such bleak and depressing framing that it can be paralyzing. Today's interview showed you can have sober analysis of the world and still find humor and joy since ultimately the point of our political movement is to bring happiness to as many people as possible. Thank you to MR for doing that every day.

Very sweet. I mean, it's also just like about acting like a human being. I think it's like, you know, brotherhood in the gender neutral sense. Yeah. I think that's really what socialism is about. And that's why this frankly, like a nationalistic, exclusive nationalistic, approaches, which are whether it's, you know, Christian nationalists or Israeli nationalists, like, it's incompatible with what we're trying to do.

Three more. Nick from Atlanta, I now think we need a fun or half after the fun half. That's just Matt giving a passionate history lesson about Orwell. Glenn Beck ate my dad. I've been arguing with my dad about climate change, and I'm convinced boomers are just the worst in society, not all my mom's boomer, and she's as left as I am. I mean, it's a generation that like was disproportionately benefited, has a disproportionate amount of the wealth, and they're trying to hold on to it. Probably the worst media environment, too. I mean, the only hope is to get

them off of, you know, Fox News or whatever there. And the final I am of the week, Saturn Girl, E. Howard Hunt, damn, Matt's going deep on the JFK CIA. George H.W. Bush lore. Next, you're going to mention George DeMorchild. When E. Howard Hunt was in jail for the Watergate burglary, he threatened to spill the whole Bay of Pigs thing, which was code for the JFK assassination. Hunt's son, uh, that's certainly what Nixon's aide Haldeman thought. Yep, Hunt son, St. John Hunt, uh, hinted that his dad told him, uh, he was the primary Kennedy assassin and that Alan Dulles issued the order. Um, aren't these the same hunts that own the Kansas city chiefs as well. I don't know about that. I believe so. I believe so. Can I just before we go,

I just want to make sure that, am I wrong about that? I've never heard that before. He's like a East Coast wasp guy, I thought. No, he was a, he was a Texas oil guy, the hunts. I'm, I think those are different hunts. Okay, Lamar Hunt. I'm sorry then. E. Howard Hunts from New York. All right. Well, then, I was wrong about that. I did just think that there was some relationship with the Hunts and, I don't know, forget it. But I was wrong about that. Oh, well, that's not how I want to end.

One more. But I will say, yeah, if you're looking at who actually killed JFK in this conspiracy theory land, E. Howard Hunt is definitely central to it. I mean, he was familiar with all the anti-Caster Cubans who really wanted. JFK dead after the Bay of Pigs. And David Atley Phillips is another guy that he was close with that was liaising with them, who's also brought up a bunch in the literature. The final a a aam of the day, we don't have a shofar, but I will symbolic showfar,

pandemic anxiety. Can I get a birthday memorial show far for Rachel Corey? This IM will serve. Yeah. I met her at an ISM International Solidarity Movement meeting. She was impressive. She would go on to do work in Israel using her privilege to draw attention and protect Palestinian peace activists. In March 2003, she was with her colleagues

protesting the demolition of houses in Gaza using their bodies to slow the demolition by a Palestinian pharmacist's house near the border with Egypt. On the 15th, an IDF soldier driving a bulldozer wouldn't stop like they had every time before. She was run over and would die of her injuries the next day. She is missed by her friends and family. She was only 23. Yes, I think of Rachel Corey often. Her parents, her lovely family, continue on the tradition and you can follow them on Instagram because they support the Palestinian cause as well.

Rest in power, Rachel Corey, a great American. With that said, thank you guys so much. I really appreciate you all. Thanks to everybody that works on the show. You know who you are doing great stuff. All right, guys. See you on Monday. It might take all strength like I

to get to where I want. know somehow I'm going to get there I wasn't looking when I just got caught but see the truth and the love.