The Philip DeFranco Show - Tucker Carlson Goes Off On Republicans

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

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Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. Tucker Carlson is leaving the Republican Party, and while it really matters because it exposes a huge problem for Trump, you really shouldn't believe him. The Iran peace deal situation keeps getting worse as nobody is agreeing on what agreements are actually being made. We've got devastating new updates on Nancy Guthrie. We're talking about all of that. Even more on today's brand new Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news. So buckle up, hit that like button and let's just jump into it, starting with this.

So Tucker Carlson is done with the Republican Party. I'm out. And if I'm out, then I think a lot of other people are out. Or at least Tucker says that he's done with the Republican Party, right? But he might be right about other people. Carlson, by no means, is the only prominent Republican or supporter of the party to say that he's out. One of the things that you're seeing is that among everyday voters, Democrats are absolutely surging past Republicans in participation in the primaries even in Republican districts. But starting with Carlson, he along with fellow commentators like Candace Owens, Alex Jones, Nick Fuentes,

Marjorie Taylor Green, soon to be former Congressman Thomas Massey. They're among a group of influential right-wangers who believe that the US attacked Iran essentially at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister B.B. Netanyahu. And while they're not all totally on the same page, they have, have all been accused of anti-Semitism for pushing this narrative as well as, in some cases, peddling genuinely baseless conspiracy theories or making almost undeniably bigoted comments. But the court claim, right, that Israeli interests at least influenced American foreign policy, that isn't without any basis. Right, in the early days of the war, as the administration scrambled to come up with some sort of coherent explanation for its decision to attack,

you had Secretary of State Marco Rubio just straight up saying that the decision had been motivated by the administration's knowledge that Israel planned to attack first. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties. Though, of course, Rubio, along with Donald Trump, they later denied that version of events, right, despite what they said and the cameras that documented it. And now, you've got Carlson explicitly identifying Israel's influence over the administration as his main reason for breaking ties with the Republican Party. I would not

support the Republican Party. There's no chance I would support the Republican Party. I'm not going to support the Democratic Party. I don't know what I'm going to do. But at this point, you know, How could you support, how could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens? Like I voted Republican in my entire life. I worked at Fox News. CNN, MSNBC. I've been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party. I mean, very consistent defender.

But there's no defending this because it's immoral. And it's exactly the opposite of what a political party in a democracy is. is charged with doing, which is representing its own voters, its own citizens, its own nation, and they're not doing that. So no, I'm out. And if I'm out, then I think a lot of other people are out. But then Marjorie Taylor Green taken a break from what she calls a pull-up to respond on Twitter to say, Tucker is not the only one who's done supporting the Republican Party, writing there is a lot of us that are absolutely fed up and will not support a party that betrays its voters and country. But then adding, that does not mean we are turning into

Democrats either. But we are done with the America last Republican Party. But then Thomas Massey separately taking aim at the party, writing in a post, the irony of Republicans controlling all branches of government while bankrupting the country, starting a war, sending money to fraudulent programs, violating the Constitution, giving corporations immunity, but arguing that the biggest problem we have is stolen elections. I understand, not everyone's taking the same side. Are you a Nick Fuentes, for example, saying that he's not convinced that Tucker's really done with the Republican Party? Suggesting that Tucker would support J.D. Vance at his expected 28 presidential bid.

Then you also with the likes of Laura Lomer accusing Tucker of having, quote, an irrational hatred of Donald Trump and his foreign policy. And doubting Tucker is a complete saboteur, backstabber, and jihadist sympathizer. And then finally back in Congress, you to Republican Senator Ted Cruz launching a similar thing. Writing this has been obvious for some time. Tucker Carlson hates Trump, Republicans, Israel, Christian Zionists, you. And adding Tucker loves Qatar, the Ayatollah, anti-Semi crackpot, shirtless Putin, Sharia law. And while Cruz's statement there, it's not shocking, right?

He and Tucker Carlson, they do not like each other. It still stands out because Cruz is among several Senate Republicans who have openly criticized aspects of Trump's deal with Iran. And while no one in that group's announcing the departure from the party, there is reportedly tension. Or with many worried that the decisions that Trump is making, they're setting up the Republican Party for failure in the midterms. And some are reportedly so fed up with them that they're trying to mitigate those potential losses, not by making better decisions, but instead, by obsessing over the passage of the Save America Act. Or which is a bill that we've talked about that critics say would effectively disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. And with that, Trump's been invited to a lunch with the Republican senators on Wednesday, and he reportedly plans to hound them on the Save America Act. But it's being said that several of those senators, they plan to tell him to just forget about it already.

Though I will say, it's not really based on opposition to the bill as much as the fact that, that the bill just doesn't have the votes to pass. Or with Bill Cassidy, for example, who lost his primary to a Trump-back candidate saying, I'm a co-sponsor, but it doesn't have the votes and it's time to talk about something else. So realistically, when was the last time Trump heard no and was like, oh, that means no? That means stop. And so he's been calling the senators to kill the filibuster to get the bill passed, writing in one post. Anybody who doesn't want to terminate the filibuster is a fool, a very stupid one at that.

The Democrats will end it within minutes of taking office and saying the Republican Party will never win another election. But it is clear that even Trump, he, appears to realize how bad things look for the Republicans right now. Though also I'll say, we now have data that suggests that it could be even worse than what we thought. Or because you've got a new analysis from the Washington Post finding that Americans have been voting for Democrats at far higher numbers in both primaries and special elections this cycle compared to previous midterm years. And they also found that voters have been casting more ballots this year than they did in 2022 in a whopping 90% of Democratic House primaries that have already taken place. With one of the biggest things being that's not just happening in solidly blue districts. That's also what's going down in solidly Republican districts where they're heavily favored to lose.

And so with all this, it might actually be a very good sign for the Democrats that so many Trump endorsed candidates have been winning their primaries in nationwide races. Right now, it's pointing to really just the far right faction of his base mobilizing to vote while more moderate Republicans maybe stay home. Though there, I'll warn that November, it's light years away. It'll be here faster than you expect, but still, just as far as what can happen. Right, how much time there is for things and sentiment to change? That's miles. But still, you've got experts saying, the signs here, they're hard to deny. Or with one voter turnout researcher and political science professor telling the pose, something would really fundamental

mentally have to change in a way that would favor the Republicans to change the dynamics that we're seeing right now. But ultimately with this, I do need to warn, you should remain very skeptical. And I mean that both in general, as well as Tucker Carlson saying that he is done with the Republican Party. Because the way that it really seems is that Tucker actually very much like Fuentes, they want to see the Republicans get decimated in the midterms. It's really one of the only ways that many see the party actually being able to change and get out from just Trump. They don't understand whether it be these two are really a number of these characters. They're also doing this because they want to be closer to power with whoever is next.

Because if you don't think Tucker O' Run is like a real Republican or support a real or a different or an outsider blah blah blah, whether it be J.D. Vance, however they try to move his image or someone else, you're crazy. But it will be very interesting over the coming months and even, you know, the next few years to see how effective it is. How much of the, you know, right-wing pushback against Trump is kind of just an online thing versus, you know, real-world voting impacts. Because I really don't believe that is something that's been showcased in the primaries. Because those general elections, they bring in way more people and it brings in people that usually don't fuck with politics, at least at like a midterm really care about local elections and primaries level. But then also I'll say, you know, there is another question out there that's not just, you know,

Republicans or Democrats. Right, if we're seeing the swing from right to left or somewhere in the middle, we're also seeing a swing from moderate Dems to progressive Dems. And one of the ways it's playing out today is with Democratic primaries in three states. You've got Utah, Maryland, and New York, where you have different wings of the party struggling for control over the future. And understandably, a lot of eyes are on New York. The races there are being treated as a test of Mayor Zoran Mamdani's political club. He endorsed three candidates. He's spoken to rally for them over the weekend, and he even ran an ad for them during the Knicks' Playoff games.

You've got Claire Valdez in the 7th, Daryaliza Avila Chevalier in the 13, and Brad Lander in the 10th. And that 10th district, it really stands out because it has become extraordinarily heated. You might remember Lander from the mayoral race last year, he's a progressive, he and Mamdani cross endorsed each other. Well, now you got him running for Congress, going up against two-term incumbent Dan Goldman, who's estimated to be one of the wealthiest members of the House. And their district, which covers part of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, is one of the most progressive and most Jewish districts in the country. So it's really not that surprising that one of the biggest issues, if not the biggest issue in that race, is Israel. And you've got Lander and Goldman kind of reflecting the tense divide within New York's Jewish community as a whole.

Right, both are Democrats, both they're Jewish, both call themselves liberal Zionists. And that is where the similarities end. Right, Goldman's endorsed by the pro-Israel Governor Kathy Hockel. Landers endorsed by the anti-Israel, Mayor Zora Mamdani. Lander is called the war in Gaza, a genocide. Goldman hasn't. Landers called the treatment of Palestinians apartheid. Goldman balks it even calling the situation in the West Bank in occupation. Lander opposes U.S. aid to Israel. Goldman supports it, though he has voted to reject additional aid since 2024.

Lander spent May 31st canvassing with Jews for racial and economic justice. Goldman spent it marching in the Israel Day parade alongside other Democrats and far-right Israeli officials. Also, Lander, he's sworn off any ties to A-PACC, though Goldman has accepted their endorsement, though he hasn't taken direct funding from them. But direct is the keyword there because he does accept money from individuals funneled to him from A-PAC's website. Also, he has accepted direct funding from the group in past campaigns, and he actually even met his wife at an A-PAC of Which then, speaking of his wife, she doubles as his campaign treasurer and she fell into the spotlight after progressive groups dug up right-wind tweets that she liked following October 7. Or like this post from end-wokeness with a photo of people holding a Jews for Palestine sign, captioned chickens for KFC. Or like the account God bless Donald Trump, praising the author of the case for Trump, arguing that the US should revoke visas and ban travel from Palestinians.

Or this one from Matt Wall, she keeps in Black Lives Matter of supporting Hamas and calling BLM a terrorist organization. And with that, you had some kind of comparing that social media scandal to what happened with Mamdani. Because his wife, like posts in the wake of October 7 that many considered anti-Semitic or pro-Hamas. And actually, just like Mamdani's response, Goldman distanced himself from his wife's social media activity, saying that they don't always share the same views and she doesn't represent it. But still, the Israel issue has stuck to him. With Lander taking the lead in what little polling there's been, and the two of them sparring over it in a debate recently.

I believe that Israel's destruction of Gaza is a genocide. I think what is important is for us to focus less on this terminology, legal terms that have very, very specific definitions and focus on our path forward. Somewhere between 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed, a majority women and children, during the Biden administration. I was urging President Biden to put more restrictions on Israel. When we say never again, it's got to mean never again to anyone, not just never again to us. I talked to the voters in the district. They're not talking about Israel. They're trying to figure out whether their Section 8 funding is going to be saved.

I have never taken APAC money. I never will take APAC money. Representative Goldman is endorsed by them. I do think that APAC has some real problems and is harmful in many ways. But they are an organization that I coordinate, that I discuss things with. And so things were already pretty heated by the time that Goldman took his seven-year-old daughter into a coffee shop in Brooklyn on Sunday. But then in the eyes, many, it boiled over.

I mean, it's just hours after he left, the cafe, chain, Poetica Coffee? They posted a photo of him in the shop with the caption, Hey Congressman Dan Goldman, we see that you stopped by our shop today for a coffee. Do you see how it doesn't taste like genocide juice or are you still having a hard time telling the difference? See, here at Poetica, we don't serve racist, fascist, homophobes, genocide enablers, or anyone in between. Too bad, we didn't recognize you right away or we would have turned you away. And saying we issued you a refund, we don't need your money. It's probably coming from A-PAC anyways. Enjoy your loss on

Tuesday. Don't ever come to Poetica. Now in response, Goldman was like, I just was there So my daughter could use the bathroom. I bought a coffee out of gratitude. The barista was super nice. I gave her a big tip. Where is this coming from? The idea of accusing someone who you don't know of, you know, supporting a genocide. I mean, it's crazy. It's crazy. Now, I may disagree as to whether or not there's a genocide. But come on, we're better than this. Simply because I support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, as the only Jewish state, does not by any means mean that I support everything that government does. And in fact, I do not. With this campaign also telling the New York Times that, ironically, his volunteers have launched campuses from Poetica's shops,

and his staff members have worked from there too. You then also had right-wing outlets like the New York Post and the Washington Free Beacon picking up the story, pointing out that Poetica's website claims to promote radical hospitality, where the door is open to everyone. And from there, it wasn't too long until Trump's people got involved. Or with his assistant attorney general, Harmee Dylan, who heads, the Civil Rights Division announcing on Twitter, federal law prohibits public accommodations such as coffee shops from discriminating against patrons based on their race, religion, or national origin, saying these actions are not only reprehensible, they're potentially illegal. Insadding, the Civil Rights Division has opened an investigation and will bring an enforcement action if warranted. Though with that, funny enough, you had Goldman saying, that was a bit excessive.

I would rather they spend their time and resources investigating anti-Semitism against people who do not have a platform that I do. But also among the reactions, you had people online kind of less restrained flooding Poetica's Facebook page with negative reviews. Calling it horrible, terrible, filthy, one person claiming the coffee tastes like globalized in defada. Others saying allow Jews to get your coffee and maybe just maybe you'll get your reputation back. Other saying a perfect example of why we need to stop the spread of Islam. And then, and actually another twist, even Lander came out against Poetica. Though not for anything that was really connected to the comments that we just saw, but rather because he disagreed with their decision to ban Goldman from its shops.

Saying there are plenty of ways to lobby elected officials and express outrage at the votes they've taken without turning coffee shops into places people don't feel welcome. He's adding, I'm glad Poetica took down their post, and I thought Representative Goldman's reply was extremely gracious. You know, based on however the votes go tonight, this whole story is then going to take on a whole other life as far as whatever narratives next. In the meantime, whether it's this or anything

from that Tucker Carlson situation, I would love to know your thoughts in those comments down below. And then there's actually so much more we gotta dive into in just a minute, but first let me thank a sponsor and say, you know, the older I get, the more I realize that most people do not have a motivation problem, they have a decision-making problem.

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But then diving right back into the news, we've got a wild one. Because you've got a pro-life mega congresswoman doing an interview saying that pregnancy complications nearly killed her and then asked the reporter not to air it. With this whole controversy surrounding Florida Representative Kat Kamak, who also co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus and has supported legislation restricting abortion. And while she does support exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and if the mother's life is in danger, a lot of the laws, they don't do enough to actually protect women in those scenarios. And this week, while she was on the Tara Palmeri show, she discussed having a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy herself back in 2024 when she was five weeks along with no heartbeat found.

And notably, it happened shortly after Florida's six-week abortion ban took effect. And she says that she was given two options. Either a surgery where she would risk losing her uterus, or take a shot of a a cancer drug, which would stop the embryo from growing. But when she was then taken to the emergency room for the shot, she said that the doctors hesitated. And I'm like, oh boy. And that, that started me down a path of really understanding how broken one, the system is. And two, how politics has really, really endangered a lot of women's lives. The nurse who was taking care of us, she was, you know, very kind. And she said, listen, there's going to be a bit

of delay, there's some stuff that admin has to figure out. And I said, what's going on? And she said, well, according to the law, if we give you a shot of metatrexate, we are going to be held liable. And the doctor is very concerned. With the nurse apparently pointing to an ad on her phone that said that any health care worker who helps a patient

with a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy to go to jail. And you had KAM Act claiming that the ad was made by pro-abortion groups to create fears about Florida's abortion law. And she said she tried to read the law itself to the nurses to prove that she could get care. But. And they said, we understand, but we've got to do some checking before we do anything. And I'm like, if I bleed out, like, how long?

I asked my husband, like, please Google, how long does it take to die if you have internal bleeding? It was very clear in that moment that whether you're pro-life or your pro-choice, the politics around this issue are hurting women. With a really, you know, places the blame on the politics around the law for the confusion in her care, not the law itself. And you also had her at one point kind of rejecting the idea that pregnancy, is unsafe in Florida. I will say after hearing your story, it would terrify me to have a child in Florida.

I hate to say it. It shouldn't. It shouldn't. But the thing is, many have noted that parts of Florida's law are vague. Regulators in the state say that ectopic pregnancies are exempt from restrictions and don't count as abortions, but the law also didn't define what an ectopic pregnancy is. So doctors don't have clear guidance on where they can intervene. And when the penalty for something where you're unsure is an end to your career and felony

charges, they're not trying to be political when they navigate these gray areas. These are professionals that are trying to protect themselves. But also with this, what you had was Kamak's situation, only making her more steadfast in her pro-birth beliefs. Protecting life is, it is the realist issue for me. And I think that situation and the birth of my daughter definitely has made me more of an advocate for life. Now, with all this, you know, while I understand that it is blowing up now,

it should be noted that this is not actually the first time she's told this story. And she actually told it to the Wall Street Journal a year ago. And again, not blaming the Florida law, but instead left-wing rhetoric about it. You ever saying that after telling this story, she and her family faced threats. And so after speaking with Tara Palmeri,

Kamak asked her not to air that part of the conversation. Or with it being around 20 minutes out of an hour-long interview, and Kamak didn't ask to cut it until after it happened. And so Paul-Marie into this kind of journalistic pickle. She said she feared renewed backlash and concerns for her family safety. She has discussed this experience, though publicly before, and the interview was conducted on the record without any conditions on the topics we could discuss. I thought really carefully about her request. As a journalist, I often

deal with sensitive subjects and I take it very seriously to protect vulnerable sources when appropriate. But Congressman Kamik is a public official discussing a matter that relates directly to one of the most consequential policy debates in the country. So she ultimately decided that their conversation was in the public interest and opted to air it in full despite Kamak's request. And so now what you're saying is that this story has kind of two sets of backlash. One around Kamak and her pro-birth beliefs and one around the journalistic ethics of airing this conversation. And when it comes to Kamak, some wrote, she almost died and still can't see that her politics are deadly. As well as her party is terrorized women across this country, she is complicit and how many other force birth are elected to have similar stories?

With many saying she's essentially one of these people that says every abortion is immoral, but my own. Though there, you had Kamak saying that the procedures she had is not considered an abortion. You then also had people out there defending Palmerry's choice to air the story, saying she was on the record and it's not Tara's fault. Kamak has to hide her real story from Republican colleagues who keep supporting laws and endanger women. You had a representative from Pennsylvania calling it a powerful interview. But then, you also have people out there, they're slamming her, accusing Paul Mary of exploiting a woman's most difficult and heartbreaking moment, saying conservative lawmakers should not even go on these kinds of shows and that journalists can't be trusted. Though again, Palmerie defended her choice to air it.

Writing it wasn't new information, she had spoken publicly about it, there were news stories, but hearing her tell the story herself moved me. And adding, what struck me most was that we came away from the same story with very different conclusions. Kammak believes the problem was misinformation. In her view, activists and advocacy groups had created fear where none should have existed. And adding, I saw a law that created the conditions for that fear to flourish. Because if the law was so clear, why was there confusion at all? And then with all this, one of the things that's interesting to me is, I don't know if this story really would have gone anywhere if it just went out with no request to remove that segment. Because now there's so much commentary around it, there's debate around it, you're getting clips everywhere. But like the interview itself on YouTube, it has 7.7.

6,000 views. And so one of the biggest things that stands out to me isn't just, you know, the morality debate and hypocrisy debate that's happening, but again, the stricand effect. But then also, you know, we're talking about abortion controversies, it's not just controversies like that that are making headlines right now. Right, because you now also have the news that local governments are digging around in your poop for signs of drug use. So I guess maybe not your poop specifically, but the collective poop of your neighborhood.

And actually to explain, let's start in Tempe, Arizona. Because that's where you have the local government using wastewater-based epidemiology or the process of monitoring health indicators through sewage to detect drug use in their community. It's actually a process that's similar to the methods that they use to attract the spread of COVID or other infectious diseases. Tempe city workers, they regularly go to 11 different sewage monitoring sheds. They grab samples of the city's wastewater, and then they take those samples to a municipal lab where chemists check for traces of dangerous drugs. And so the idea is to catch exactly when drugs start infiltrating neighborhoods. When you know, you can then start to inform people and put emergency services on alert and hopefully lower overdoses.

And this isn't something that's unique to Tempe. In fact, they're just one of a growing number of local governments and, even schools testing like this. We've seen tests in New Orleans during events like Mardi Gras in the Super Bowl, and at truck stops in Kentucky and even at high schools in Missouri and New Mexico. In fact, legislators in five states have proposed bills to fund this type of testing. And it's really only expected to grow from here, especially after you had the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, giving it a huge thumbs up last month,

saying it has great potential to show illegal drug use and trafficking across the country in real time. And this isn't just, you know, Team Trump BS. This, there is actual proof that this works. Right, for example, when xylazine, a veterinary sedative started showing up in Tempe wastewater, first responders got training in how to treat those over Also in Missouri, right, they did a testing of 37 high schools and in 26 of them, they found a new class of synthetic opioids called Nidazines. And it led to those schools making overdose reversal medication available, bringing in local law enforcement to inform the community and educating their students about Nidazines specifically.

Right, you also have examples like when opioids and stimulants, they popped up in Laredo, Texas's wastewater. The public health department set up a knock and talk program where workers canvassed high-risk neighborhoods to hand out leaflets about emergency and support services. Some places are even testing for overdose reversal or drug addiction treatment to see how widely those are being used. But still, even with results like that, not everyone's on board, and there is a lot of concern. Or with a big thing being privacy. And so when Tempe, they introduced their testing programs, you had residents pretty anxious about it. But the Tempe City Manager, for example, saying people ask questions like, why does the government feel a need to test my poop and what else are you looking at while you're there?

But then also, another major concern about this kind of testing is the conclusions that it could draw. Specifically, that the results could stigmatize certain neighborhoods. And in Tempe, the city responded to those concerns by committing to sampling across the city's entire 40 square miles and only from areas with the population of more than 3,000. Which has actually proven to be an important step in getting the whole picture, with Tempe's city manager saying, it was not just in alleys where the homeless were. It was in affluent neighborhoods where people would probably be hesitant to call 911

because they don't want the fire engine showing up on their street. And also the city promising to be transparent with the results and post them publicly and immediately. Though I will say at least, that part does not seem to be universal. Where with the Tennessee investigators who have been testing wastewater across the state for drugs for nearly a year, not making any of their findings public yet. And so overall, you could kind of say this is interesting shit. Hate myself for that one.

But while we wait to see what happens there, we then have to talk about other interesting shit, and that is the situation in Iran. Because Iranian officials have basically contradicted every major victory that the Trump administration has claimed in ongoing peace talks. And it's just impossible to know who to believe because the administration has lied so much up to this point. For many, they've become just as unreliable as a notorious authoritarian regime. So one of the things, for example, while speaking to reporters yesterday in Switzerland, where the talks are currently underway, you had Vice President J.D. Vance announcing that Iran had agreed to allow international inspections of their nuclear facilities. This is probably what we're most excited about as Americans.

The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran. And that's exactly what we wanted to do. That's exactly what we asked to happen. But then, among other pushback, people quickly pointing out that this new concession that Vance's painting as America's new crowning achievement. It's actually something that we already had under Obama's nuclear deal. For decades, inspectors will have access to Iran's entire nuclear supply chain, from the uranium mines and mills where they get raw materials to the centrifuge production facilities where they make machines to enrich it. And under the terms of the deal,

inspectors will have the permanent ability to inspect any suspicious sites in Iran. Iran was literally already subject to regular inspections and had actively agreed to stronger monitoring. But Trump, he famously threw that away and is repeatedly condemned that as being too weak. And while, for a while, Iran did still allow inspections of some of its sites after Trump tore up the deal. Since Trump and Israel started bombing Iran last June, they've banned inspectors from visiting the facilities that have been targeted in the ongoing attacks. And so basically, this would be Trump reinstating a key element of the Obama deal that he tore up and then trying to gaslight you into being excited about this massive achievement that he allegedly succeeded in securing. And I say, allegedly, because one of the other things is that top Iranian officials have already refuted that announcement, saying they never agree, to the nuclear inspections.

In fact, one official even told the state-run media outlet that Iran didn't negotiate on its nuclear program at all during the talks with Vance. But then with that this morning, even Trump taking a swing, writing on Truth Social, despite their protestations and false statements to the contrary, coupled with the drumbeat of the fake news, which is doing everything possible to make the US victory as small and insignificant as possible, Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level nuclear inspections long into the future, infinity! And adding, if they did not agree to this, there would be no further negotiations.

Though notably here, we did see the director of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency saying in an interview that his agency will be inspecting Iran's enrichment facilities. But it's also unclear where he got that information because Iranian officials, they denied having any meetings with the agency director. But then that's also not the only place that Iranian administration officials have contradicted each other. Or just yesterday, Trump's Treasury Secretary announced on Twitter that the administration was temporarily lifting oil sanctions against Iran for the next 60 days, saying that the decision

was the result of ongoing productive talks. And I just really need you to know how absolutely enormous that move is. It's why you have some outlets describing it as the most sweeping rollback of American oil sanctions against Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This is a massive reversal of decades-long policy that's aimed at undermining Iran's economy. In this decision, it will bring huge economic benefits to Iran. You've got experts saying that the temporary lifting of sanctions, it could unlock around 67 million barrels of Iranian crude netting the regime as much as $8 or $9 billion. And that's by no means the only area that the Iranian regime stands to profit. You also had Iranian officials claiming that they had made progress in their push to get the U.S. to unfreeze 20,

$24 billion in frozen assets. Or with Iran's central bank governor telling an Iranian news agency that the necessary memorandums were signed during the first day of talks. And that was also echoed by Iran's top negotiator who said that Iran had reached an agreement to release $12 billion in frozen funds. But you didn't have U.S. officials officially confirming the release, and Vance has said that if the assets are unfrozen, Iran would have to spend them on U.S. agricultural goods such as soy and wheat. But today, Iran's ambassador to the UN told reporters that they had not agreed to those terms and that Iran alone would get to decide how to use its unfrozen funds. Singaporean is the only country to decide what to do with its assets, which are going to be defrozen. And so I reject any claim about that if there would be any role for any other country to have an influence on the decisions or on those processes.

But you also had Trump himself appearing to contradict that. Writing the money and or sanctions that the U.S. Treasury is releasing goes into escrow, controlled by the USA, and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies exclusively from the United States, including corn, wheat and soybeans from our great American farmers. And then also beyond that, there's been contradictory accounts of what is going on with the straight-of-hor moves. And that's including from within the Trump administration itself. Right, in the same post, Trump said that because Iran agreed to nuclear inspections and other major concessions, he has agreed to allow the Hormuz Strait to remain open with no further naval blockade.

We also added that all ships are remaining in place should it be necessary to reinstitute the blockade, which he said was highly unlikely. But then, minutes later, he claimed that 19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Hormuz Strait yesterday, an all-time record. And so there are a few things we have to unpack. First of all, Trump had already agreed to end his blockade on the strait before negotiations officially kicked off, which was a crucial part of even starting the talk. So this effort to kind of paint this as our award that he's giving Iran for making concessions to him.

That appears to be total bullshit, especially because you have Iran denying that it even agreed to nuclear inspections. There's also, say, zero evidence right now for Trump's claim that 19 million barrels of oil float out of the strait yesterday. It's also difficult to see how that would even be possible if ships are, quote, remaining in place,

as he stated in the earlier post. In fact, we've seen reports that just 109 vessels pass through the strait between Saturday and Monday. That's a fraction of the more than 130 that transited the waterway every day before the war. And well, yeah, that is a significant number after months of blockades, it seems physically impossible that it could have broken any kind of record. Beyond that, while Trump's kind of painted the reopening of the strait as a major win that he secured,

Iranian officials, they've used it to reassert their own sovereignty. Where with Iran's chief negotiators, seemingly contradicting Trump entirely, telling state media overnight that the waterway will never return to its pre-war conditions and will be administered by the Islamic Republic of Iran in accordance with international law. And today, you had both Oman and Iran, emphasizing their claims of sovereignty over the strait in a joint statement where they also raise the possibility of charging fees for passage. Now, a big thing with that is that, charging tolls for passage that would violate international law. Then also despite that, you've also seen Trump threatening to do the same if a peace deal with Iran isn't reached within the 60-day deadline.

And then you also had Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemingly contradicting both Iranian officials and Trump himself. With him telling reporters, no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. And so with so many things being contradicted, so many conflicting claims, you've got so many people just going, what the hell is going on? How are we going to lock down a serious deal with unserious people? arguing that like everything with this pointless war of choice, they can't seem to get their story straight, and their goals, it's just a moving target. And that's also something you've seen commentators like John Stewart hitting on his show last night. I guess the theory is why trade smaller concessions with Iran for peace

when we could instead lose a war with them and make bigger concessions? Well, I hope you learned your lesson, Iran. There's plenty more concessions where that came from. You mouth off again, and you're getting Greenland. All right, but that's fine. Let's just make the best of it. But also understand, it's not just people on the left who slam the administration. You also have people like Ben Shapiro digging it.

Also, by the way, we have now released openly billions of dollars in oil money to go to the Iranians in frozen funds. So things are going great. This is not an accomplishment. It is not. Iran's saying, sure, come on in. We'll allow you to look at the things we allow you to look at. And then we won't allow you to look at the things we don't allow you to look at. And also, we'll rebuild our ballistic missiles, which are not part of the negotiations.

and we'll rebuild our terror support, which is not part of the negotiations, and yeah, we'll keep tolling the straight-of-hormuz. What are we even doing here? What are we even doing here? The idea that some sort of win has been achieved here is unbelievably silly. Not only has it not been achieved in these negotiations, the vice president looked extraordinarily weak. With Shapiro also repeatedly taking aim at Vance, in particular, accusing him of being a weak,

amateur and failing to uphold Trump's America First policy in the negotiations. Meanwhile, however, Vice President J. J.D. Vand spent the weekend looking weak. in front of the Qataris, the Pakistanis, and most of all the Iranians. In fact, I've never seen a weaker look from a Republican politician. It is not peace through strength. It is war through weakness. Get the amateurs back on the bench.

We've got the professionals back in the game. Of course, I'd let me know your thoughts on all of this. Again, the Shapiro stuff, it stands out to me. One, because Shapiro was just such a fucking coward. He goes after Vance because he's fucking terrified of Trump. Because Ben, two, you know what, is weak? Trump's so-called art of the deal, which at this point should be the art of the kneel. He makes countless threats and deadlines, and then nothing.

Moves that red line in the sand again. He trains people to not take him serious. Yeah, make it all about Vans. Let him be your whipping boy and trick people that still listen to you somewhere into thinking that you speak some truth to power. And then there's even more that we've got to dive into in just a minute, but first, let me thank another sponsor and say, you know, this weekend, the U.S. and Iran reportedly agreed on a roadmap toward a final deal.

With both sides outlining steps to wind down military operations, we've been covering on the show. And if you've ever wondered why, you know, people can look at the same event and come away with completely different conclusions, today's sponsor, Ground News, it's worth known about. Some outlets framed it as a major diplomatic breakthrough, others focused on the obstacles, they could still derail it. And that is exactly where we're seeing multiple perspectives and arguments becomes useful.

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My favorite feature I'll say is the Blind Spot Feed, which highlights stories that one side is covering heavily while the other side's barely talking about it. And it's one of the easiest and fastest ways to spot gaps in your own news consumption. So, hey, if you want to dive deeper into the news instead of just reacting to the headlines, you can check it out. Head to ground.combe, or scan that QR code to get 40% off unlimited access to the vantage plan, which is the one I use. Twizzlers keep the fun going.

Yeah, I know. I just stopped whatever you were listening to to tell you that Twizzlers keep the fun going. Well, irony isn't my forte, but twisty, chewy, The yummy Twizzlers sure is. So think of Twizzlers as a little pallet cleanser for whatever's queued up, which by the way should be coming very soon. Like any second now.

Okay Twizzlers, time to keep the fun going. Then diving into our final block today, some more news you need to know. It starts with one that it just kind of feels like torture to have to see this play out for this family. Because we now know what was in that second note from whoever kidnapped Nancy Guthrie. It indicated that she died with kidnappers sending the note

to CNN and a local news team in Tucson area. and they claim that they didn't mean to kill her, but she passed away shortly after they took her. And allowed that they reportedly didn't make any apology or requests for payment in exchange for her body, which you may have heard rumors up. And so we knew that there was a second letter, the news station agreed to keep the news of her death

from the public so that law enforcement could authenticate any future communications with the alleged kidnappers. And so it seems like that note sparked one of the videos from Savannah Guthrie, the co-host of the Today Show that she posted with her siblings back in February. We received your message and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace.

This is very valuable to us and we will pay. But also what's new in all this is that TMZ is now saying that they've been receiving information about the case as it's been unfolding as well. There is a reference to Nancy Guthrie not being alive anymore, but that is from the person who sent us multiple emails saying that he knows or knew where Nancy Guthrie was and where the kidnappers were and he wanted money in return for information. This guy apparently wasn't going to talk unless they paid him $100,000. Levin claiming that he wanted the money to go underground in case the actual kidnappers found out that he was blowing the whistle on the case.

While he wasn't given any direct information, he did seem to hint that Guthrie had died soon after she was taken. Early on, he said, time is of the essence. And then a few days after the kidnapping, he said, time is no longer of the essence, meaning she wasn't alive. So that's where that came from, not the people who kidnapped her, but from the person who was sending us these notes. I've been also saying that he talked to the FBI,

that they took the mystery man seriously, though he claims that they never actually paid him for any information. Now, with all this, the Guthrie family's going on almost six months without any closure, and you had Savannah Guthrie speaking out again. We are in agony, and we cannot be at peace. So not how much I try to come out here every day and smile and find that joy. And I will. I promise I will. This is a moment to tell you that we need your help.

We're begging for your help. No matter how small, the reward is there. But then also in the news, we have 5 million people, having now dropped out of their Medicaid and Affordable Care Act plans in just the last year alone. So that's about a 3.8 million drop in Medicaid and the children's health insurance. program and a 1.2 million drop in the ACA enrollment. And a lot of this, it comes from Medicaid cuts from Trump's so-called big beautiful bill and ACA subsidies expiring last year, which led to premium increases that priced millions of people out of their coverage. And unfortunately, we've known that this was

going to happen. You had health policy experts warning and speaking out. So you have some saying, this was an entirely predictable consequence of the multi-layered cuts and restrictions on eligibility. And in fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that about 15 million more people would find themselves uninsured by 2034 with Medicaid cuts and expiring subsidies. The experts also saying that some drops in enrollment might be from people switching to job-based insurance, but with a drop already this big, that points to people just flat out losing coverage. And the consequences here, they're literally life and death. You've got experts saying people who lack coverage get sicker sooner and they die earlier.

People putting off going to the doctor or they can't even afford to go to a doctor so they put off getting any care until they're sicker than they would have been otherwise. And while this is bad, the worst is yet to come. Because by that top of next year, Medicaid work requirements are expected to knock millions more people out of their coverage. And for those, you know, you're not on Medicaid or an ACA, plan, you might think, hey, this isn't going to affect me. I wouldn't be sure about that. Or you've got experts explaining that the cost of treating uninsured patients will ultimately get passed on to U.S. taxpayers, saying it just all contributes to this affordability crisis

that the American people are faced with. But then my friend brings us to the end of your Tuesday show. Thank you for watching, hitting that like button, take a part in the comment section down below. And hey, stay safe, stay sane, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow. Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if, like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

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