The Young Turks - Marco's Cuba Crackdown - July 21, 2026

Episode Date: July 22, 2026

The Pentagon says nearly 100 U.S. service members were injured during the final two weeks of the Iran war, intensifying pressure on Donald Trump as critics question the true cost of the conflict. The show also features an interview with Ken Klippenstein, meanwhile a new attorney general complaint alleges Israel interfered in U.S. elections through Brad Parscale. Thanks to today's sponsors: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tyt Get 40% OFF the Ground News Vantage Plan when you sign up at ground.news/tyt Stay informed without the media spin at ground.news/tyt Visit www.sleep.me/tyt to get up to $255 off your Chilipad 2.0 with code TYT Use less data, get paid by switching to Noble Mobile: https://go.tyt.com/getnoble Posting a job is easy at upwork.com Check out new podcast series by searching for Future Hindsight wherever you get podcasts Hosts: Ana Kasparian SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞  https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK  ☞   https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER  ☞       https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM  ☞  https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK  ☞          https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH  ☞      https:/www.shoptyt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Hey, oh my God. Let's see how Earth responds to that. The guy! It's so much news that I've been desperate to comment on. I tried to be good and stay away from social media.

I did not succeed. But there's so much to talk about today. Welcome to the Young Turks. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian. We're going to talk about the latest in the Iran War, of course, which has been devastating, continues to be devastating, and if it continues, we'll be devastating for the entire global community. We'll give you all those updates in just a minute.

Lots of debates have been taking place. Lots of stories that I will not have the opportunity to comment on, including Jeremy Ska-Hill's interview with Rokana while I was out. I just want to say anyone giving Ska-Hill a hard time over doing what a journal is, the list is supposed to do, maybe needs to kick rocks. But later in the show, we will have one of my very favorite guests, Ken Klippenstein, to come on and talk a little bit about his latest piece for Substack. He has been reporting extensively on what the US State Department is basically doing to set up

the excuse to go to war with Cuba. And it involves targeting American citizens, by the way. So I'll share those details with you along with the interview with Ken Klippenstein later in the first hour. We've got so much to get to. So I don't want to waste any more time with these teases. Let's just get right to it with our very first story. Iran has found ways to retaliate with lethal results. We're seeing some casualties now. Now military terms, these are not large casualties. But nonetheless, they're politically very important and very sensitive matters.

He promised to keep us out of endless wars or unsatisfactory wars. And now he's in one. It's not all clear how it's going to end. So he's vulnerable on this point. And I was in political terms, he does need to get this over with. War continues to escalate with new U.S. attacks overnight and more Iranian drone strikes on Jordan. Well, the gentleman you heard speaking extensively in that video was Britt Hume, not some anti-interventionist libertarian, not some anti-war leftist, a conservative who typically

supports what the Republicans like to do. But the human toll, meaning the loss. of American service members in this war is going to be politically devastating for the Republican Party. And that's what Brit Hume is warning about. Now remember, this is a war that benefits the United States in no way, shape, or form, and is being fought on behalf of Israel. The Strait of Hormuz, which is now effectively shut now, was open and ready for the free flow of trade and transit. Trump starts the war. Iran did what everyone predicted Iran would do. They shut down the Strait of Hormuz, and now the war is just about getting that straight open again.

What a disaster. In the meantime, it does appear that Israel is happy to sit back and watch the United States fight a war that was started on their behalf and is devastating the global economy. So the United States has lost a total of 18 service members in this war so far. The IDF has not lost 18 service members. They've lost zero service members. Anyway, let's put that graphic back up. 18 service members have died and 447 have been injured since the beginning of the war on February 28th. Now, the new tally of those killed in action included, well, a Friday night attack that left three U.S. troops dead, one still unidentified and others wounded at the Muafak Salty Air Base in Jordan. So the death of another service member in Iraq on Saturday brought the total number of American troops killed in the war against Iran up to 18.

But the number could actually be higher because there is reason to believe that the Pentagon is withholding information about American casualties because of the fact that this is not really a politically popular war. And the Trump administration knows that. And so the more we hear about Americans getting killed in a war that's being fought on behalf of Israel that has caused so much economic damage already that has destroyed oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf, the more we hear about that, the less likely it is that Republicans will win their reelection campaigns, the less likely it is that the midterms will be, I should say the devastation for the Republican Party and the midterm elections would be mitigated, right? Now, for me personally, I don't care. I see Democrats and Republicans is very similar on the issue of war and peace. So anyone who's thinking the Democrats are gonna handle this much differently, have another

thing coming. For the Democrats who are excited about winning, well, after you win and you have the majority, and you continue to do what the Republicans have been doing in their leadership roles in Congress, are you ready for the reckoning that you're gonna deal with? That's the real question. But getting back to this story about US casualties and how this is making an already unpopular war even less popular. The two who were killed in Jordan, this is last Friday, included a young woman who wasn't

even old enough to drink yet, but apparently she was old enough to die for Israel. I wanna put their photos up, I'm sure you've already seen them, but that is Private Isabella Gonzalez, only 19 years old, and first Lieutenant Tyler James. Frihan, 25 years old. Now, President Trump responded to the loss of the service members by saying it's a very sad thing. He also attended the FIFA game and posed for a delightful photo with his corrupt family members, as most Americans were learning about the loss of additional service members. Absolutely trashy, disgusting behavior.

Nonetheless, Trump's decision to pull out of the memorandum of understanding has had devastating consequences for our troops. In fact, let's put this up on the screen. The Washington Post reported today that nearly 100 US troops are injured in the last two weeks of the Iran war. The disclosure came as US military identified two US soldiers who died following an attack in Jordan on Friday. Now if you're wondering, what were US troops doing in Jordan?

Well, you gotta kind of take a step back and look at the the overall, in my opinion, clear military strategy that's being deployed by the Iranians. The Iranians would like the United States to leave the region, or in the very least, weaken the US's military capabilities in the region. And in order to do that, they are specifically doing targeted strikes against US military bases and military assets in Gulf countries and now in Jordan. Now at first, it was only in the Gulf countries, for the most part, and Israel, of course. But why Jordan?

Well, after Iran actually did a pretty good job in destroying military bases in these golf countries, the US decided to move some of their operations into Jordan. And so now Jordan is a target of Iran's, and we should leave the region, okay? But we're not doing that, are we? Now unfortunately, this war looks like it's just gonna continue escalating. Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, said on social media that nearly 100 service members were deemed to have some degree of injuries since July 7th, with 96% of those since returning to duty.

At least that's what he claims. But aside from the obviously disastrous, devastating and tragic loss of American service members, there's also a financial cost, right? That we are dealing with, we are carrying the burden of, even though this war is not really about the United States or our national security or really doing anything that benefits the American people. This is a war that's being fought on behalf of Israel. It's just that simple.

So let's talk about the very real costs of war because while the loss of these American service members takes priority, let's not forget the financial burden is pretty severe. So despite the Pentagon's like literal trillion dollar yearly budget, it appears that recent Reporting shows that the Pentagon is actually losing money and is running out of money, so much so that they're asking Congress for a ridiculous amount of money. Congress has responded by saying, how dare you ask us for that ridiculously high amount of money? We would actually like to respond by giving you even more than you asked for.

You see how this works? How money in politics actually works? When you have defense contractors who are going to get a piece of that pie, when you You have a foreign lobby essentially lobbying both parties in order to keep a war going. You see how this works? It usually translates to higher spending for the Pentagon, higher spending for war, and then they nickel and dime the crap out of us when it comes to the social safety debt, which I would argue is more important than ever considering the fact that a ton of Americans

are already losing their jobs in this AI revolution, right? So with that in mind, let's talk a little bit about what we're hearing from the Pentagon. So, I wanna tell you about a new podcast series I'm enjoying from future hindsight, Occupy and Unfinished Uprising. Occupy Wall Street is the story of the improbable becoming possible. In 2008, millions of people were devastated by an economic crash caused by Wall Street Greed. But it wasn't until 2011 that there was a mass response from the left.

A call to protests went out, and thousands of people were raised. responded. I know I was there. They raged against a system that was rigged against them and tried to create their own anti-capulous village in a small Manhattan park. The movement quickly spread across the country inspiring hundreds of occupations and a new generation of activists. Occupy an unfinished uprising is told through the voices of activists who camped out in Zaccati Park for almost two months, getting inside the drama of a movement that grew rapidly, felt both transcendent and chaotic, and then violently flamed out. Occupy changed. the national conversation about capitalism, popularize the language of the 99% and inspired

a generation of activists. As we approach Occupy's 15th anniversary this September, this series offers a reminder that collective action can reshape what seems possible. To listen, search for future hindsight wherever you get your podcast. According to the Washington Post, to bridge the gap because the Pentagon is running out of money until the 2027 fiscal year begins on October 1st, military exercises and trainings that help keep units prepared for combat or being limited or canceled. The budget for equipment and facility and maintenance is also being drained to cover the shortfalls. So in other words, the Pentagon is arguing, look, look, we know that we haven't passed a single audit. Each consecutive audit we have failed.

We can't really account for a lot of the money you give us. And we also lied about how much this war against Iran was going to cost American taxpayers. But nonetheless, either you give us more money to close the gap or we're going to cancel trainings and make our soldiers less prepared for a war that we should not be fighting on behalf of a foreign country, Israel. That is what they're saying. Like, let's decode it and be very specific about what they're trying to say here. The budget for equipment and facility and maintenance is also being drained to cover the shortfalls.

Okay, great. So recently the Pentagon asked Congress for permission to redirect 4.3 billion dollars from trainings and weapons purchases to address more urgent priorities. What are the urgent priorities? Seems like the Washington both didn't even bother to ask because they make no reference to what those urgent priorities are. Now, Congress allegedly has yet to act on the request, according to the Washington Post. Literally, they have a line that says that in the piece. And then several paragraphs later, the Washington Post notes, Congress is actually offering to give them a lot more money than they asked for. But look at how they framed it, okay? The White House has asked Congress for an immediate infusion of 67 billion to help cover

the cost of the war. The House is expected to vote this week on a framework that would authorize $73 billion in fresh defense spending, slightly more than the White House request. Slightly? I mean, I know that we just shell out an insane amount of money for war. So it seems like billions of dollars, no biggie. But I was led to believe that billions of dollars is a biggie when it comes to like Medicaid and stuff like that, right?

You know, just a small increase from what the White House asked for. Okay. White House budget director Russell Vaught told lawmakers last month that the war had so far cost about $30 billion, but some independent analysts say the price tag is likely much higher. I would say that those independent analysts are correct. In fact, a more accurate accounting shows that the United States has already spent upward of $113 billion in the war against Iran on Israel's behalf. The White House estimate, by the way, doesn't even include the cost of rebuilding U.S. bases that have been completely destroyed by Iran in our Gulf allied countries.

So the number is intentionally an underestimate to misle the American people about the very real financial burden we are taking on as a country to fight Israel's war. So all of this really does highlight how much of a scumbag secretary of defense Pete Hegzith is, Because if you can recall, back in April, he had an exchange with Rokana that infuriated me at the time because I knew he was lying. But now that it's abundantly clear that he was lying, I want you to see what he said, so you'll feel as infuriated as I am. Take a look.

You've testified that it was $25 billion in cost in terms of the munitions we used and what we paid for it. But when you add to that, the damage that was done to our bases and to take it. today's dollars for buying replacement munitions and replacement aircrafts, what has the total cost been over the last 60 days? That number right now reflects the total cost that we're seeing. Including buying today's dollars, the new weapons and replacements and including the damage there? That's your testimony.

If there's adjustments to that, I would defer to the cop controller on that. And how much are you seeing in terms of, are you asking in terms of supplemental funding just for the Iran mission from this committee? If and when a supplemental is submitted, the majority of it would not just be for, would not be for after three would be for Iran. Munitions related to the entirety of what we want to get done. A number.

What would you submit? It would be within the, on Iran, it would be less than $25 billion. But there's a lot more we would ask for beyond just, you're saying it's $25 billion. Okay, I would just, if you come back, you want to revise those numbers, because all the experts are disagreeing with you, when it comes to today's dollars in damage.

So after that testimony, Pete Heggzith was asked by members of the House Committee to provide more information on the war's costs. They wanted the information as soon as possible. The Pentagon later missed the panel's deadline and has since failed to share requested details. Of course, because Hegsith was clearly lying. Hegsith has at times dismissed concerns about munition shortings. which are very real, telling CBS news in an interview last month that U.S. stockpiles were great, and they're only getting stronger. These are weapons that literally take years to manufacture,

and we are running out rapidly. We're also running out of our strategic petroleum reserve, which I'll talk about in greater detail later in the show. But the lies are so brazen, and I think what bothers me the most about it is that this is this is administration and previous administrations as well, but not as openly and overtly as this administration, as candidly as this administration, they really think all of us, the American people, ordinary American voters are all idiots, we're all stupid, we don't know what's going on, we can't tell that they're lying. Pete Higgs is just so much more sophisticated than the American people. And the nonchalant nature of their reactions, honestly, to the loss of American

soldiers, American service members who are fighting a war, who are risking their lives, not for the national security of the United States, but for their masters, really, for the Israelis. And you might be wondering, well, okay, like, what's Israel's part in all of this? I mean, they wanted this war. Netanyahu has wanted this war for literally decades. So what is Israel doing to help the United States? I mean, you guys can probably recall how furious Trump was with our NATO allies because they refused to jump into this war against Iran. He was so angry. So you would imagine that Trump would be similarly furious, if not more furious with Israel considering the fact that they're the ones who wanted this war in the first place.

So with that in mind, what is Israel doing to help the United States as we bear the financial and human costs of this war? Well, I actually want to take you to to Basel Smotrich, that is the Israeli defense minister. I'm sorry, Israeli finance minister, my apologies. Because apparently some Israeli officials are expressing delight over the fact that the US is in fact absorbing the human and financial costs of the war that they wanted, that they called for, that they pressured the Trump administration

to engage in. Israeli finance minister Basel Smotrich has absolutely no shame about the fact that Americans are dying while fighting Israel's war. So I want you to take a look at what he had to say. And for our audio view listeners, I will read you a transcript of his statements when we come back from the video. To get to be in interest to come to have a matter. The matter of which has a matter of interchemyment between Iran to the U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. to us.

I'll remember that the al-shelan our in the matter of the matter of the of the United, is to arrear, to unleash at the power of the matter of

good to and we'll end in inion to chof to us in in in in in what he had to say and I will say the

new, newer crop of Israeli politicians really love to like rub our noses in it because they own us. They do. I mean, I mean, they don't know me.

I won't shut my mouth about how much I load them, but I have no power. The politicians though, they're owned. So it allows for the likes of Basel-L Smutridge to say what I'm about to read to you. At present, the state of Israel has no interest in joining the conflict, meaning the war against Iran, by the way. The current situation in which there is a clearly defined conflict between the United States is the right one and the best for us. He continues, we must remember that our overarching objective in this conflict,

which is not necessarily shared by the United States, nice to see Israelis admit it, is to undermine and weaken the regime to the point of bringing it down. The current situation is favorable to us, and we have no interest in getting ourselves involved. That's fascinating. Now, there's a certain arrogance among the members of the Israeli government that I've learned to actually enjoy rather than allow them to get under my skin. And I'll tell you why. When you've had a military superpower like the United States backing anything and everything you want to do, all of the wars, all of the chaos, all of the destruction in the Middle East, you start to get real cocky. And you think you're invincible, right?

Except the Iranians had to deal with the United States waging war against them in the 1980s. And we used Iraq to do it. In fact, we supplied Iraq with chemical weapons, which were also used against the Iranians. And hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result. So when I hear the whining about, oh, they're chanting death to America. Yeah, I mean, can you blame them when you consider what America has done? into their country and to their people to their civilians and continues to do so by the way. Iran is not full of ignorant, backward thinking, I don't know, doffices.

Like these are people who have been preparing for this day for literally 40 years. And so they are thinking about this in a very strategic way. Baselel Smotrich thinks, well, Israel is untouchable at this point. You're wrong. Right now Iran isn't striking Israel. And that's because their priority is to weaken America's presence in the region, destroy the military bases. Without US military bases in the region, how is the United States going to defend Israel when

Iran inevitably brings out the big guns? And I'm talking about the real missiles to use against Israel in the final stages of this I think what will be the final stages of this war. That's the way that I've gamed it out. I mean, it makes all the sense in the world when you actually take note of Iran's pretty sound military strategy. The United States on the other hand, what's our strategy? Military experts keep repeating that bombing Iran will not get them to bend to our will.

It didn't happen in the 1980s, it ain't gonna happen now. They see this war as a threat for the survival of the future of Iran. All they need to do is survive. And it looks like they're doing a pretty good job. So what happens when the US runs out of the interceptors? What happens when the US doesn't have the military bases necessary to provide defense for Israel as Iran directs its ire toward Israel? And how is Basel-Smotrish going to feel about it when that day comes?

I guarantee you that day will come if the war continues to play out in the way that I see it playing out. Inquiring minds want to know. But it does seem like Trump is prepping for a possible ground invasion. I know it sounds insane, and it is insane. It would be a dumb thing to do. But he met with the president of Lebanon, and I'm gonna read you what he said on truth social about that meeting and how I'm interpreting it.

He says after meeting with the president of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, who has done a remarkable job being a traitor to his own country, working to transform his country, I'm here by directing my administration to allow all U.S. airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land. Hopefully other countries will do the same enjoy. Trump seems to want to use Lebanon for military bases in this escalation of war with Iran. That's the way I read it. You think Trump gives a damn about American safety. Oh, I'm so worried about American tourists in Lebanon.

Right, right. I'm not buying that, especially when his reaction to the loss of more American service members was, it's a very sad thing. The only very sad thing that I'm seeing right now is our current government. Absolutely disgraceful. 19 year old, 19 year old young woman, she wasn't even old enough to drink yet, and she freaking lost her life in a war that isn't even about

protecting our country. It's disgusting. Anyway, we got to take a break. When we come back, Ken Klippenstein joins me to talk about a possible war with Cuba. Your summer travels deserve an upgrade. With select Chevrolete, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac vehicles connected by OnStar, you can stream, game,

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So Anna Casparian with you. Our members are fired up about the news today, which I love to see. Just want to read a quick comment before moving on. James Frank says arrest the foreign traders accepting bribes, including Congress and corporate media. I mean, unfortunately, these bribes are legal and were made so by the United States Supreme court. So we need to pass a constitutional amendment to actually get money out of politics and make it illegal for this type of behavior to take place. But anyway, while everyone might

be under the impression that the United States is squarely focused on the war against Iran, it does appear that our Secretary of State Marco Rubio has other things in mind. So let's discuss it. The United States State Department under the leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio is ramping up for possible war against Cuba. And he is using one of the craziest excuses in order to make it happen. He's arguing that Cuba poses a national security threat to the United States. And the State Department has even released a report on this matter, basically attempting to draw a link between the government of Cuba and so-called left-wing extremism across the globe.

Now, as we're all absorbing images of war crimes, crimes against humanity, just barbarism, barbaric behavior by Israel, you have the United States backing that barbarism while claiming that Cuba is spreading an extremist ideology that poses a threat to the United States. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about their report on the matter. This is a State Department report. For nearly seven decades, the Cuban regime has waged a sustained campaign of subversion against the United States. It is a campaign that has infiltrated the highest reaches of the US government, recruited and cultivated generations of American activists, backed an unprecedented wave of left-wing terrorism on American soil, and carried out one of the most durable and damaging foreign intelligence

penetrations in American history. So this 100 page report actually details the history of Cuban influence operations around the globe, most of which are literally decades old by now. As for what's happening now in 2026, well, the report fearmongers about Americans and organizations that are sympathetic to the Cuban government, kind of like the DSA, while simultaneously admitting that they aren't Cuban siops. So there's no evidence that these groups like the DSA is like working with the Cuban government in some subversive way. And so I'm gonna read you the part of the report that touches on this because it's hilarious. The DSA was not founded as a Cuban

intelligence or influence front. It was born in 1982 as a fusion of socialist organizations and movements from both the old left and new left factions. Today it maintains a fierce, almost religious commitment to the cause of the Cuban regime, not because the group is controlled by Cuban agents per se, but because that commitment is now simply the de facto policy orthodoxy of the American far left. Well, in a democratic system, you know, we choose our representatives based on a democratic process. Our constitution protects our First Amendment. And if there's no evidence of DSA working with a foreign government, what's the problem here? So these are people who just prefer to defend Cuba?

Even as the United States tries to crush the Cuban people with just terrible sanctions and an economic embargo? Okay. Today, let's go to the rest of this. So this represents a significant advance for the Cuban influence operation. Havana no longer needs to rely solely on intelligence penetration or asset cultivation to exert influence over the United States. Whereas the early Cuba solidarity networks were often confined to the militant fringe, DSA represents a newer and far more politically consequential development, a mass membership organization operating openly in American political electoral politics,

with chapters across the country, a growing bench of elected officials and real influence inside the Democratic Party coalition. The report also name drops a number of prominent American citizens with alleged ties to Cuban operatives, including but not limited to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, former President Barack Obama, and of course, Hassan Piker. I think Amy Goodman even makes an appearance on this list. Amy Goodman. Because when I think about real threats to American national security, I think Amy Goodman.

Now, here to talk to us about this story. He's been on it from the very beginning. Thank you for joining us. You've been on this from the very beginning. And honestly, I'm wondering how much Sebastian Gorka has to do with drafting this report. Well, in this case, a lot of their responsibility goes to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, since it was a State Department report, but the spirit behind it is totally Gorka. Gorka released several weeks ago the new national counterterrorism strategy.

And in it, he identifies three different groups as priority counterterror targets. The first two aren't particularly surprising. It's the traditional jihadi groups overseas. And then the second one is narco-terrorists, which is a bit more of a focus of the Trump administration. But the third one is explicitly the so-called radical left. And it was the first time in any national counterterrorist strategy, not just that it's at the left as an area of focus for counterterrorism, but that has identified any American. This is supposed to be something that we prioritize foreign terror organizations in going after,

because it's understood. As soon as you label or treat something as terrorism domestically, that doesn't agree with the Constitution and the civil liberties that people are afforded in this country and under our political system. But that's what he did. And that's the spirit in which the State Department released its own. They just last week held an international summit in which 65 other countries participated. These are cabinet. These are like high-level officials, not just, you know, they didn't just send the local dog catcher to meet with Rubio to discuss this. And they prioritize the threat of what they called.

This is the first time I've ever seen this term used in an official government document. Far-left terrorism or FLT, they even have an abbreviation for it. So they're taking all this very seriously. I'm glad you said that I've been on this from early on because when I was looking very closely at the interviews of Sebastian Gorka, that's Trump's counterterrorism czar. And he was saying, you know, we want to make material support for terrorism charges against political people on the left. I was kind of laughed at because people were like, oh, this is just rhetoric that can't possibly be true. And we are now seeing that that that is very much something that the administration takes seriously. And I hope that, and it seems that at this point, people are finally starting to come around in the media to that this isn't.

just talk, this is something they actually want to do. But yeah, that's really, that's really what we're seeing. Yeah, I totally agree with you. And I took this threat seriously from the beginning because I, look, I remember the exact moment in my life where I became politicized and it was the lead up to the Iraq invasion of 2003. And the labeling of anyone, you know, any foreigner as a terrorist without any due process, without a shred of evidence. And I remember, making the argument, this is going to turn around and negatively impact American citizens. And that day has come. So the Trump administration likes to test the waters when it comes to these types of policies.

As we know, DHS under the leadership of the former DHS secretary, Christy Noem, started labeling American protesters who were against tactics used by ICE as domestic terrorists. They referred to Alex Prattie and Renee Good as domestic terrorists. So that was the first sign that this is an administration that totally sees themselves at war against Americans who don't agree with everything they're doing. That doesn't mean that there can't be an American citizen who carries out an act of terror. But clearly what's being done here is fully motivated by political preferences and the fact that they want to target political opposition.

And so talk to me a little bit about what kind of response, if any, there has been from members of the Democratic Party since there is an effort to target people on the, like, like Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, we're worried about Karen Bass's impact on our national security. Like, okay, but these are, you know, milk toast Democrats. Are they saying anything? Are they doing anything? Are they planning on taking action?

I've seen a couple comments from members. by and large, there's been either silence or even attempts. You know, I saw the ranking member on the Armed Services Committee, Democrat from Washington State, Adam Smith, go on breaking points recently and distance himself and criticized the Democratic Socialists of America, which was a point of focus in this, you know, Cuba subversion report that the State Department just put out. They had a three-page section on it. And he basically said DSA is harmful and we need to, and I've seen more of that than I have

of criticism of this report. People saying, yeah, DSA is out of control. We need to get back to the fundamentals of what the Democratic Party stands for. I've seen a lot more of that than I have people taking this seriously and critiquing it. And to the extent that it's even been reported,

that summit that I told you about, the international summit involving those 65 other countries where they discussed how to go after quote, far left terrorism, their official term for it. The New York Times didn't even report that. There wasn't even a story on it.

It's incredible. So there's this sense, I think, Washington that like oh this can't be real like this is just Trump saying the crazy things he says and Trump certainly says crazy things but I think that there's an abundance of evidence at this point particularly if you look at the case against the anti-ice protesters in which one of them carried out an act of violence but which you know like seven or eight others were charged with these just way over the top sentences amounting to I'm not exaggerating half a millennium of years in prison in federal prison I under under a under under under under under under under under

like domestic terrorism approach. I think it's clear at this point that it's much more than just rhetoric and that the administration is serious about about effectuating that kind of an approach. I totally agree with you. And how much of this do you think is actually, well, okay, let me let me back up and ask. Has the administration, the state department in, you know, in particular, provided examples of the left-wing terrorism that they're attempting to fight? Like, what are they providing as evidence? Well, it depends if you mean evidence from the last half century? Because they had a lot of evidence from before either of us were born in the 1970s.

They talked about things like, it was like a blast from the past. I felt like I was in history class again. They were talking about the Symbianese Liberation Army and the weather underground. And you could almost see the sepia tone film grain as you're hearing it. It's just from so long ago. That was like 95% of the evidence that Rubio and the other people speaking at this summit and in the Cuba report were able to cite. And that's part of what was so interesting with the Cuba report is because it finally

did talk a little bit about contemporary stuff. But when they got to the contemporary, there wasn't, there was very little evidence of the kinds of violent political acts that they're saying necessitated response like this. A lot of the names mentioned it was literally just guilt by association. They had, you mentioned Amy Goodman at the top. Her great crime was attending the wedding of Neville, some billionaire donor who, or some wealthy donor who donates to left-wing political causes in the United States. Literally nothing alleged that she had even done, just associations.

And towards the beginning of that report, it's really extraordinary. They actually invoke the Red Scare and they say, look how effective it was at destroying the American Communist Party in the 1950s. And the implication is really clear. It's like, how do we do that now to what we can see? the new Communist Party, the Democratic Socialists of America. This is just all out there. I was, my jaw story hit the floor because I'm like, I can't believe they're just saying

this. So I go online to think, I'm thinking there's going to be all sorts of reporting on this, virtually none. It's like either no one takes it seriously, I don't know if they notice it. But for the State Department, which is supposed to focus on foreign policy to list, and I number it in the story that I did on it, which people can find in my newsletter, dozens of American citizens and American groups, that's extraordinarily unusual for an institution like the State Department to do.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. And for those who, you know, we do have some conservative viewers who like to check in on different perspectives and I really appreciate that. So for those of you who do consider yourselves conservative, you know, if you're under the impression that maybe this isn't that big of a deal because it's not going to impact us, we're on the right. I just want to remind you all that Ken Clippenstein's previous reporting focused on Sebastian Gorka targeting conservative voices as domestic terrorists if they've been vocally critical

of our alliance with Israel or critical of our attacks on Iran. Tucker Carlson was named. There were others, but their names are escaping me at the moment. Alex Jones. Alex Jones, yeah, another one. So, you know, just briefly to, you know, wrap, discuss the, if this goes unchecked, discuss the broader ramifications for American citizens and our constitutional rights. Well, if you look at what was described in this 100-page State Department report,

It was basically just speech. I mean, yes, there have certainly been some cases of violence carried out by the left, but that's not by and large what they focused on. They focused on people going to, you know, what they describe as solidarity, delegations to Cuba. All that can be stuff that you disagree with firmly, but there is literally no evidence presented to suggest that they're taking direction knowingly from a foreign party. And once you get into that territory, exactly as you're saying, that opens the door to people's

views being deemed by political people in Washington is too dangerous and as sufficient grounds to have them investigated. That's not good for anybody because Trump will not be in the White House forever. And they're retooling the national security apparatus to focus on those things. And it's extremely short-sighted on the part of the Republican Party or conservatives not to care about that because I promise you the Democrats are to come back in in much. the same way that they did after January 6th and in my view went beyond what what was necessary, which was charging many of the individual cases of things like vandalism and treated it as this kind of insurrectionary uprising like there was going to be like it was a real threat

to government when there's no evidence that that's the case. You're going to see us return right back to that and whatever the equivalent stuff is that they're going to look at. So it's really, I mean, you know, it's it's so short-sighted on the part of anybody that's that thinks that this isn't gonna affect them just because they're not on the quote far, far left. But look, Ken, you're reporting so important. And so I want to make sure our audience knows where to find you and where to follow your reporting because you're right.

The New York Times did not report on this. And it's maddening. They also, at least the last time I checked earlier today, hadn't even reported on the house passing the NDAA without stripping Section 219. And it's like, this is a big deal. Like we're merging our military with a foreign military that's currently carrying out crimes against human. Anyway, whatever.

But please tell our audience where they can find your work. Yeah, and independent media's been great on this stuff. And they've given me plenty of room and themselves have covered a lot of what I'm describing at great length. So I don't want to give people too pessimistic of a picture. But you can find me at Ken Clippenstein.com and that's where I run a newsletter that focuses on stuff just like this. Love it.

Thank you so much, Ken. And we'll talk soon. Thanks, Anna. Have a good one. All right, we're gonna take a brief break. When we come back, we'll talk about real foreign election interference that's taking place. It's just that it's not Russia. It's a different country and they've been getting away with it.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to our, actually, this is our first social break of the day. Lots of comments, I want to start with our members. Ronald Fan says, happy Ty-T family Taco Tuesday. And to you, Solo Anna, if Trump wants to bring a regime change war in Cuba, how can we fight back to stop it? Your dress looks so smoking hot Anna, thank you. Thank you for the dress compliment. I don't know, and I want to be honest with you about that.

There is real rage in the country right now over the inclusion of Section 219 in the NDAA, and our house just passed it without stripping that provision. They don't care what the American people think. And if I'm being 100% honest, my fear is that, that as we, as Americans become increasingly aware that they're living under a government that doesn't represent them, doesn't care about them, literally takes their money from each paycheck and gives them the middle finger in return, there's going to be increased political violence. When people feel that there isn't a political way, political means to get proper representation,

they turn to violence. So that's what I'm worried about. I'm not advocating for it, Obviously, but I am worried about it. Major blood says, I think if Biden had done more on the border instead of leaving it up to Congress, Trump would not have been reelected. I think you're onto something. I think Biden's inability to control the border really did hurt the Democrats politically. I don't think that was the only reason. I think there are multiple factors, which I might get into on tomorrow's show.

Let's get back to the show. Watching us live on YouTube, just want to encourage you to ring that bell, because that's how you get notified every time we post new content. Otherwise, you'll have no idea. So just ring that bell, it'll really help us out. Also, just want to tell you a little more about one of our longtime partners at this point, and that's Noble Mobile Mobile, because if you're having trouble with your kids spending too much time on screens, you should keep in mind that Noble Mobile will reward your entire

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You could learn more by going to t.com slash switch. All right, my goal is to do two stories here before we bring Glenn Greenwald on for the second hour, because there is a lot of news we got to talk about. Let's just briefly discuss an important story having to do with election interference in the United States because it is real. It's just that there's one country that's been getting away with it. And some of the incredible reporting by Gen X girl is important to kind of help us all I'll suss that out. Let's get into it. Israel is interfering in our elections. I mean,

that's no surprise when you consider the tremendous amounts of money spent by APAC on congressional races, including the one that was fought against libertarian Republican incumbent Thomas Massey, who unfortunately lost in the primary for his house seat. Now, we are also learning, though, that the interference is a little deeper than money in politics. And in fact, there is a Democratic candidate out of Arizona who is calling for an investigation into it. So Kai Newkirk, a candidate for the House of Representatives in Arizona's fourth district, has filed a foreign election interference complaint with Arizona's attorney general against Brad Parscale's Clock Tower X. So this is a really important investigation to carry out. And hopefully Arizona's attorney general takes

this seriously. Because what Parscale is doing is essentially providing a loophole for Israeli money to flow into these election influence operations. So his company, Clock Tower X, are FARA registered. So he's a foreign agent. So they're FARA registered Israeli agents who receive funding. and direction from Israel through an intermediary state of Israel via Havas Media Company to propagandize America via digital campaigns encompassing AI, chatbots, texts, and social media. Again, this is all reported in detail in Gen X girls substack. Make sure you guys check it out. Now Parscale is getting paid handsomely for the influence operation he's carrying out on behalf

of a foreign country. To the tune, by the way, of $1.5 million a month. So I guess Americans like Parscale have a price when it comes to working against the best interests of their own country. $1.5 million a month should do it, I guess. And as the New York Times recently reported, I'm sorry, as Time recently reported, publicly the campaign was framed as an effort to combat rising anti-Semitism online. You all remember that, right?

And Israeli foreign ministry official familiar with the arrangement says there was another strategic aim, preventing young conservatives from turning against Israel. Oops, turns out that's a lot harder to do, right? Young conservatives do not favor Israel. They are not on Israel side. They see Israel for exactly what it is. You want to know why? This isn't, this is a blanket statement, obviously. they're older people who care about the future of the country. But when it comes to someone in his 80s like Donald Trump, he's gonna die soon. Like not tomorrow unlikely, but you get what I'm saying. He's older. He's in his 80s. So when the global economy fails, comes crashing down, when the power of the United States on the global stage has been completely diminished,

When the US dollar is weakened, people like Donald Trump are going to be like Lindsey Graham, long gone, long gone. By the way, I don't regret my tweet. But we're all going to suffer the consequences. And conservative voters, young conservative voters realize that. So let's take a look at this graphic because it's going to help you understand what Parscale is doing in regard to registering as a foreign agent, but then funneling money from Israel. through unregistered entities. So as Gen X girl reports in her latest substack piece, FARA reporting shows Clock Tower X subcontracts, majority of its work on behalf of Israel to a myriad of companies who are not registered under FARA.

And those companies are listed in the graphic that you see now. Notice that some of them have hilariously ironic names like friends of peace and allies of peace. In reality, they're cheerleaders for Israel's wars and death. So that's the truth. In fact, in May, reporting from The Intercept showed that Parscale's Clock Tower X directed $13 million from Israel, okay, not American citizens who support Israel, from the foreign country of Israel to digital strategy groups such as convergence media, three tech, and spark fire technologies, which operates the AI tech,

text messages campaign called Friends for Peace. Oh, Friends for Peace. What does Friends for Peace do? What kind of work are they doing on behalf of Israel? Well apparently they send pro-Israel text messages to voters and directed them to a YouTube channel for Allies for Peace. Allies for Peace's YouTube channel was created in October of 2025 by Clock Tower X. Brad Parscale's FARA registered Israel agent.

So with all of that in mind, what does this have to do with the electoral race for a house seat in Arizona? You know the one involving the Democratic candidate, Kai Newkirk. Well, Kai Newkirk noticed the influence of foreign money flowing into his race, I'm guessing, which is why he called on Arizona's Attorney General to investigate this. So I should note that he is very likely a target of these propaganda campaigns. He is against sending any aid to Israel, and he's against merging the US military with the terrorist IDF.

And so he filed an election interference complaint with Arizona's Attorney General's office, and I think he clearly has a case. Let's take a look at this law. There is a law that prevents this foreign money from influencing our elections. So this is the federal election campaign act. And it bans foreign nationals from making contributions or donations of money or anything of value, making expenditures, independent expenditures or disbursements in connection with any federal, state, or local election.

Making disbursements for electioneering communications. electioneering communications, certain broadcast, cable, satellite ads, text messaging campaigns. You know, you get what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. Now, right now it does look as though the text messages are sent in a way or framed in a way to skirt the law or skirt consequences by promoting Israel rather than discussing the election directly in text message exchanges with voters. But the timing of the campaign in districts where candidates are challenging our alliance with Israel,

I think is telling. And the races in which these types of campaigns are rolled out in is telling. Now, the Trump administration has gone out of its way to also destroy any enforcement mechanism when it comes to campaign finance laws. And that's important to know about as well. Because even if we have laws on the books, even if you have an attorney general who might actually be motivated to look into this and find out if there's any wrongdoing, you would need more of an enforcement mechanism in the federal government. And what does that enforcement mechanism

currently look like? Well, in February of 2025, then Attorney General Pam Bondi, on her first day, look at how motivated they are when it comes to Israel. I mean, on her first day, disbanded the Foreign Influence Task Force, the very DOJ office responsible for enforcing. From the very beginning, the priority for this administration was Israel. So Tim Dillon is right when he says that Donald Trump and his administration has carried out the largest betrayal, the worst betrayal of American voters in US history. Because he not only reneged on campaign promises, he did a 180 on the biggest campaign promises. And it looks increasingly like we have gotten sucked into a forever war in the Middle East again.

So there you have it. Anyway, we gotta take a break. When we come back for the second hour, we will discuss what the Houthis are doing in the Red Sea right now, which does not bode well for the global economy. But was predictable. Talk about the escalation ladder and more with our friend Glenn Greenwald. Don't miss it, we'll be right back. Hey, Andrew, what's up?

Hey, Jake, you ready to make the switch? Yeah, I guess. I promise it's easy. Universal, basic, and you get income. Yeah, you keep saying that. But you sure I'm going to have coverage? Of course you will. You think I would have bad service?

I'm Andrew Yang. Of course I have good service. All right, let's try. But I'm so bad at tech. So, wait. Should I do this thing of the hashtag business? Andrew, you're still on, right? Yep.

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Yeah, no. You know what I'm going to do, Andrew? Are you ready to become a Noble member? The two buttons are do it and go back. There's no going back. We're doing it. We're doing it. Here we go, Noble Mobile Mobile.

Oh my gosh, I just called you and are you now on Noble and not Verizon? Why didn't you tell me it was going to be super easy? I know, man. Now you just stay away from your phone and watch the money roll in. I can do that. You got a phone, yeah. Jank, you still there? Andrew?

Oh, well, at least I got Noble Mo. It was really just one tape. The whole thing is wild. It's in my shoes. It's in my shoes. Hi, I'm Brett Ehrlich with Breaking News with Brett Erl. This is breaking news with Brett Erlich. Hi, Brett Erlick here.

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They call me daddy. We're host, Anna Kasperin. Joining us to co-host the second hour today is friend of the show Glenn Greenwald, host of system update, long time journalist, and someone who is typically right on questions of war and peace. Glenn, welcome. Great to be with you Anna. Kim, it was just contemplating how jealous Jank must be at how often you're now calling me to appear with you, but I think he'll be all of our struggles. I'm sure I'll get through it. Well, one of the viewers today, I just got back from being away for a week. One of the viewers was like, is Jank here today? Because if he's gone, a lot

less yelling on today's show. So it'll be, it'll be different. It'll be different. Now some enjoy the yelling. I'm the chill version of Zhang. True, very true, very true. Well, I wanted to actually start off by, you know, just quickly discussing some of the latest developments in this war against Iran because some of you may have heard about the so-called escalation ladder and the escalation ladder has been used recently. Things have escalated significantly. I think things have been very predictable when it comes to what Iran is doing in response to the United States, in retaliation to some of what the United States is doing, especially as it pertains to bombing civilian infrastructure ham-handedly all over the place in Iran, which we'll talk about briefly.

But first, take a look at this. by the Houthi rebels, opening up another front in the war. Well, this is what happens. So far, it hasn't happened, it might happen. But we take care of things. If something like that happens, we take care of it. You know, we've done that with the Houthis before. And we haven't heard from them in a while.

Well, I think it's safe to say that President Trump is certainly hearing from the Houthis now, because the Iranian-backed Houthis have decided to escalate in this war against Iran. They have announced a blockade of Saudi oil shipments through the Red Sea's Bob al-Mandab Strait. And by doing so, they are going to cause a lot of pain and suffering to the global economy by closing off one of the Gulf's few viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz for exporting oil. And this is very much part of Iran's strategy.

And this was predictable, which is why it's so devastating. stupid that Trump decided to dissolve the MOU and reignite this war against Iran. Now the impact of the global economy on the global economy is no joke. This blockade would reduce global oil supply by 7% at a time when the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has already halted 10% of global oil shipments. Saudi Arabia partly skirted shipping disruptions by piping oil to Yanbu through the Red Sea instead. That was like there to go around the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, but a full closure of that alternative clearly is going to reduce global oil supply even more than it's already been

reduced. And keep in mind that oil prices have already ticked up since Trump decided to reignite the war against Iran. The average price of gas in the United States hit $4 a gallon on Monday. The second time it has reached that mark since the war disrupted global oil supplies. according to AAA data. The price of oil also briefly rose above $90 a barrel on Monday for the first time since June. So this is meant to economically pressure the United States to end the war. And I'm curious, Glenn, if you think that it will be an effective way in ending the war.

I mean, I think that Iran has demonstrated an enormous amount of leverage that maybe they even didn't know that they had against the United States and now discovered, which is one of of the reasons why they've been so resolute in demanding terms they regard is favorable. I think one of the things that has gotten overlooked on it is something that Trump said during the days after they signed that memorandum of understanding where he was being, you know, very vigorously attacked by not just Israelis, but a lot of the hawkish elements of the conservative party for having entered into an MOU with the Iranians that most people considered excessively favorable to Iran, essentially lifting the sanction,

allowing them to trade their oil, getting billions of dollars, all the things that Trump accused Obama of allowing. With the Iran deal, they basically allowed with that MOU. And one of the things that Trump said, kind of a moment of unintentional candor, was when he was defending himself from the accusation that he had capitulated to Iran, he explained. And this is something I've been hearing for weeks now or had been here for weeks in the lead up to the MOU. And I do believe it's very important and central to the considerations here, which is that one of the reasons why, despite this protracted blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, that gas prices, you know, that oil prices didn't go to, say, $150 or $200 a barrel or $300 a barrel. We didn't pay $8 a gallon at the tanks or $10 or $12.

They rose, but not catastrophically, is because countries all over the world, including United States, have strategic reserves of petroleum, which are designed specifically to prevent, you know, global economic collapse in the event that there's some disruption to the global oil supply. It was created after the OPEC crisis of 1973, when people had lines of gas going six, seven hours. And Trump said, and it's absolutely true, that because of the Strait of Hormuz disruptions, it was basically closed for more than two months. The world in the United States were getting dangerously low on the strategic petroleum reserves.

And once that happens, there's no more oil. I mean, the Iranians are proven they can keep the Strait of Hormuz closed. Now you have the Hussi threatening to do it with the Red Sea. And that was major disruption. The world needs oil. The world relies on oil. Human beings need it for survival. And Trump was saying that if you allow the strategic reserves to get too low, you would have global war. You would have global economic collapse and instability. And we didn't have nearly enough time to fill up those strategic reserves. Maybe we filled them up a tiny bit, but those

have already been depleted. And so the leverage that the Iranians have is just as great now, if not greater, than it was that when Trump agreed to that MOU in the first place. So no one understands what the exit strategy here is. You're absolutely right about that. In fact, some of the more hawkish commentators in the media are kind of furious about the fact that there doesn't really seem to be a strategy here. And the Trump administration hasn't clearly laid out what their goals are. Like, why are we in this war to begin with? Josh Hammer, of all people, I think the editor over at Newsweek was on Pierce Morgan complaining about it. And he is one of the biggest cheerleaders for war against Iran. Now, of course, as any good neocon, he calls for

a Machiavellian approach of declare what your goal is, go in quick, rip the band-aid off, basically cause as much pain and suffering and destruction as possible in Iran. And I don't know, he's under the impression that that will accomplish something that the Israelis want, something of the United States wants. But every military expert who isn't bought off by Israel or the military industrial complex says that there really isn't a military option here for the United States to end the war. It needs to be done diplomatically. But Trump doesn't seem to have the capability of doing that. And to your point about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, you're absolutely right that us tapping into it has helped to keep oil prices relatively low. I mean, it would

have been far more disastrous than what we're already experiencing at the pump. However, people forget that China also stopped importing oil and has just reentered the market. They were tapping into their strategic petroleum reserves. And that was also helping to mitigate the demand for the limited supply of energy oil in the global market. And so we're in a lot of trouble. And I'm not entirely convinced that Trump is fully aware because all of the military movements that we're seeing in the Middle East right now appears to show that the United States intends to expand the war, escalate the war, But maybe my interpretation or my read of it is incorrect. I'm curious what you think.

The problem with Trump is that he has so many different instincts and so many different factions that are constantly successfully manipulating him that it's almost impossible to know from one day to the next which of his many conflicting statements you're supposed to believe. And I don't even think he knows, frankly, until the decision is made. We know we've seen this so many, how many times have we seen him saying, I'm done with negotiations, we're going to obliterate their civilization, we're going to and may unleash L on them. And then two days later, there's some kind of a deal announced where he announces

unilaterally that there's a pause in the threats or deadlines that he gave. Because Trump, for whatever else you want to say about him, he does have a kind of, like a lot of narcissists do, a very kind of sharp, almost instinctive understanding of self-preservation. He knows that a protracted war with Iran is extremely dangerous to his political interest, to his legacy, to everything that he wants to do. We're very close to the November election. It's already an uphill battle for him. If this war is dragging on or gets worse or there's more people being killed from American

service members, he's almost guaranteed, not just a Democratic takeover of the House, but also the Senate, which means impeachment, investigations of all the little corrupt things or big corrupt things that he and his family and Steve Whitkoff and their kids and Howard Lutnik and the rest have been doing. And I think he understands that on the one hand, on the other hand, although I'm not somebody who cares about what we typically call U.S. credibility, like showing we mean business in the world and people better do what we say or there's going to be a consequence. The people in Washington the care, Trump cares. Trump cares about not looking like he was had his ass kicked. And obviously,

if they stop now, what do they have to show for it? You know, nothing. That was the reason why people got so upset at this MOU because we were agreeing to give Iran most of what they wanted. And we got nothing, we, the United States got nothing of value in return. That formula hasn't really change. So the scary part is what happens if Trump gets desperate? What if he just decide, if he really gets convinced, oh well, you know what? I can just unleash our military and get rid of the restraint that we've been showing and scared the crap out of Iran and then they'll surrender. The problem is that Iran has also been showing a great deal of restraint. They can destroy the energy infrastructure and gas infrastructure of these tiny little fragile U.S. pro-U.S.

dictatorships in the region and absolutely collapse the global economy to say nothing of closing the straight of our moves and activating the Houthis, they have their own leverage. So it's a really dangerous situation, which is why it was such a bad idea to start the war in the first place, because you might think you were going to get out of it quickly, but you don't get the only say. Wars in the Middle East don't end quickly. He should have known better. But he got- Or well. Or well. You're so right about that. Exactly. By the way, I don't know like what weird timeline we're living in where suddenly I'm supposed to defend Al-Qaeda in. Syria, but you literally have like Democrats defending, like us giving weapons to al-Qaeda and Syria.

Anyway, that's beside the point. That's a totally different story. But our involvement in these Middle Eastern countries has been disastrous for the civilian populations of these countries. And I think Syria as a failed state is a perfect example of that. But just kind of getting back to what Trump is likely to do next, you know, there are some who argue that. Trump is signaling an escalation in war. And I want to give you some of those statements right now.

So is there a possibility of boots on the ground? Administration allies believe that there are allegedly a number of military options that fall short of boots on the ground, including escalating the US naval blockade, which again, going back to doing a blockade of Iran's blockade or a blockade of the Houthi blockade that's currently taking place. Or attacks on Iranian infrastructure, which has been happening, is not working, Iran is not going to respond in the way the US wants to these bombardments. But military experts warn that Iran is unlikely to respond to those bombardments.

However, a source close to the White House told Politico, quote, a good indicator of where Trump intends to go is his massive defense budget request to Congress. He wants to ensure the United States has more than enough capability to sustain any future operations if necessary. So in addition to the $1.5 trillion defense budget that the White House has requested, they're also requesting an additional $67 billion to cover the current costs that have been inflicted as a result of this war. Colonel Douglas McGregor also notes that CENTCOM's air campaign looks to be designed to isolate

Iranian ground access to western coastal and island areas. And so he thinks this is a prelude to a U.S. ground invasion. And this is the reason why Iran has been carrying out, in my opinion, incredibly intelligent and strategic targeted strikes against U.S. military assets in the Gulf region and in Jordan, because if they are preparing for a ground invasion, weakening these military bases would be critical. I'm curious what you think. Yeah, I mean, I do think Trump is the kind of person and, you know, this comes even from all the decades he spent in real estate or negotiating Hollywood contracts, writing that

stupid art of the deal or getting someone to write it for him. But it captured his personality, which is he believes that when you're, you know, in litigation, which is kind of like a war or a business deal, you have to threaten maximum destruction, show people that you don't care, that you're not really invested in the consequences, that you're kind of sociopathic. So the fact that Trump is trying to scare the Iranians to believing that he may, and he's even considering actively escalating fully, doesn't necessarily mean he will for the reasons I described earlier.

But again, the problem is, is that this kind of gameplaying in war is unbelievably dangerous. I mean, you know, I'm sure most of your viewers know that the U.S. and Russia came very close to destroying the world during the Cuban missile crisis through this kind of game playing, This kind of misperception about that the other side intended. And you could easily see unintentional escalation happening very quickly. And this is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is not Libya.

This is not Syria. All of which dragged the U.S. into horrible clagmires and worse. This is a much more formidable serious country in terms of their military skill. I do believe China and Russia are helping them to some extent. I was kind of shocked by the capabilities they displayed in being able to success. attack our military bases in Jordan and Bahrain and Kuwait. I mean, these are places where we've had military bases for decades. You can imagine how fortified those are and they just shot missiles right into our army barracks

like they were nothing. And you know, also showing these other states that these dictatorships that they can't rely on the US for protection. The one thing I do think it's really worth, you know, noting here is that I the political cost to Trump will come from this increased gas price, but he's hoping to be able to get out of it or mitigate it. But also, if we start getting American service members coming back in body bags, that is when the public really starts to pay attention. And he's particularly vulnerable here, because unlike the Iraq war, which was supported by 70% of the population, as you remember, when it began,

this war was very unpopular from the beginning. It was supported by only a small portion of the Republican Party and Trump's base. And it's only gotten way more unpopular. since. So if there are now real costs that Americans are incurring, not just economically, but in terms of, you know, seeing service members killed, which we're now seeing and we will continue to see because I do think Russia and China are helping them. Why wouldn't Russia do it? We're helping Ukraine attack deep inside Russia. Of course, they are likely to do that. That means Iran has even greater capabilities and that means the cost of our continuing is is even higher than it was, say, two months ago. Yeah, I agree with you, your assessment on that. And, you know,

Just to go back to what you just said about, you know, a crisis involving possible nuclear war, you know, the U.S. and Russia in our history is a good example. But what I thought was fascinating is what Joe Kent put out on X today, because he kind of warned about what Israel has been hinting at and has increasingly become more vocal about. And that is the use of nuclear weapons. He writes just last week, Netanyahu was hinting again publicly about Israel. nuclear capability, which has never officially been confirmed. Now, we all know that they have nuclear weapons, they stole our nuclear secrets, they stole our enriched uranium, we all know the truth.

But in the last 24 hours, reports from Israeli intelligence claim that the Iranians have moved their enriched uranium to the heavily fortified pickax mountain, providing Israel with justification for potentially using a nuclear weapon. And just to elaborate on that a little further, there have been reports. about how the US has been striking Iran and how we've been using our quickly diminishing stockpile of weaponry, including missiles and missile interceptors. And Mertaza Hussein from Dropsite in a conversation with Ryan Grim just today talked about how the US military has been using incredibly difficult to produce missiles. Like they've been using it against like granite mass.

mountains in Iran. Now, don't get me wrong, Iran has been just pummeled with our missiles, and we've caused a lot of damage, which I'm not celebrating. I don't think that's a good thing, especially when it comes to their civilian infrastructure. But the ham-handed way in which this war is being carried out does not bode well for U.S. national security. Because what it's kind of projecting on the global stage, Glenn, is that what was making us a global power the perception of our strength, but we're not really that strong. I mean, Trump gave up on fighting the Houthis not too long ago. I mean, we couldn't fight a proxy of Iran.

What makes Trump think that you're gonna be able to beat Iran militarily in a direct conflict? Like it's crazy. You know, one of the things that I think has not gotten anywhere near the attention it's gotten and it's because our government operates in total secrecy. The national security state in particular is fortified with all kinds of anti-transparency mechanisms. They punish people who talk to reporters about these things. But if you have any contacts in the national security world at all, you know that, for example, even last year, when the Israelis stopped their war with Iran that the United States briefly joined for that one night, but was, of course,

a participant. I'm talking about the last war in 2025. The reason the Israelis had to stop that war, short of achieving their goals, was because they had to. They were running out of anti-missile defense systems and leaving Israel increasingly vulnerable. And not just Israel, but also those other Gulf state dictatorships. The U.S. has been handing those out to Ukraine, had been using all kinds of them to protect Israel over all these years during the destruction of Gaza. And they're very difficult to produce. They take years of manufacture. And it's unbelievable because we all know these statistics that we spend, you know, now Trump wants to spend $1.5 trillion. We've close, been spending close to a trillion dollars every year in a military for a long time. You know, all the statistics,

four times more than any other country, more than the next 18 countries or 14 countries combined, depending on what it is. And yet we don't have munitions to even give to Ukraine. We don't have anti-defense systems or patriot systems. We have to take them from South Korea and other places to which we had promised them and still don't have enough. It is amazing that despite how much we spend on our military, one of the reasons why we haven't been able to defeat Iran, which is at best a middle power, is because, well, I guess, in part, it's because Americans won't accept. ground troops in Middle East countries, given the horrible history of those over the last 25 years.

And that really hamstrings your ability. But also, you know, it's probably a saving grace for Trump, that that's the one thing preventing him from really getting sucked into a protracted conflict with thousands of casualties on American soldiers. But also, we just don't have the equipment. We built a military that Raytheon wanted, that enriched general dynamics and Boeing, but that really didn't prepare for the kind of warfare that we've been seeing, for example, Ukraine and Iran, Russia fight or that Iran uses with drones. We've built these gigantic battleships and these very advanced, you know, fighter jets that really aren't usable or don't have much utility in the current expression of modern warfare. American taxpayers have totally been swindled by our

Pentagon, by these defense contractors. And, you know, despite all that spending, which has sucked us into a tremendous amount of, you know, federal debt, we're not. not safer. We're actually less safe today as a result of the way we fund the Pentagon and these defense contractors. And it's important for Americans to wake up to that reality, because that's our money. Okay, the government's taking it from our pockets in order to funnel it to a small group of already incredibly wealthy defense contractors. And the fact that we're running out of interceptors and we're still barreling toward escalation in this war against Iran is absolutely insane. Now, when we come back from the break, we're going to

switch gears a little bit because, well, Glenn had some choice words for Van Jones on X, which I particularly enjoyed, but it's worth getting into Van Jones's complaints against a faction of the left. And what it says about the machine, because Van Jones was very different from how he's presenting himself today, Glenn will get into that and more when we return. I read some super chats starting with Pakistan, American for Liberation. Oh, you changed your handle. I like that. Let's see how Rubio goes after international criminal court and attempts to dismantle brick by brick and let all war criminals walk free.

Even those can't wait how Trump and St.Niahoo poisoned his ear will backfire. Midas touch dropped this an hour ago. Susan Collins took blood money from Epstein contacts, then fought to keep the Epstein files see. Well, good thing, good thing she's not going to have to deal with a challenge from Graham Plattenor, right? I mean, grand platinum, real bad guy, allegedly. I'm being sarcastic in case you guys can't pick up on that. I know people are, I don't know, Glenn, tell them, we only have 47 seconds, but I find

the way things played out in the whole Platner situation. And I say that as someone who wasn't really gung-ho about Platner to begin with. that the whole situation disgusted me to no end. How quickly people folded based on allegations that didn't provide a shred of real evidence, disgusting. The fact that that allegation was reported by Politico in a super misleading way to make it appear as though she had reported this to her therapist at the time, disgusting. Now you have 18 seconds.

Yeah, I mean, I'm a big believer in evidence and the need for it in due process. Just this weird little like constitutional fetish I have about the need for due process. But also when people are opposing the establishment, these kind of accusations come fast and inevitably and we should be particularly skeptical when they do. I agree. I totally agree. Anna Casparian and Glenn Greenwald with you. Well, Glenn had some statements about Van Jones on X that caught our attention.

And I think it's worth talking about the, I don't know if you want to call it evolution of Van Jones, the regression of Van Jones, who knows? Van Jones though, frequent contributor over it. CNN, not very happy with the far left flank of the Democratic Party. Take a look. I am tired, tired, tired of a set of people on the very far left in the Democratic Party, my party, telling us that in order for us to be progressives, we now have to believe ideas and support ideas that are completely nuts.

I am a progressive Democrat. In other words, everything that's good in our party, I believe in, have believed in for a long time. Well, the Democratic Party is reckoning with a full on civil war as Democratic Socialists of America insurgents face off against more centrist Democrats slash, you know, conservative Democrats. And over the weekend, Van Jones jumped into the fight, declaring that he wants to save his party from far left Democrats. Now, before we proceed, I just want to note, I have my own disagreements with the far left, which has obviously led to a lot of backlash against this show, which I'm willing to take on because I want to be honest with my audience about where

I stand. That being said, I respect the will of the people. And if voters in, let's say, New York City favor policies from the Democratic Socialists of America, who the hell am I to try to crush them? Now, Van Jones puts out this video, and we should hear more about what Van Jones supports as well as what he does not support. Do I want universal health care, Medicare for all, whatever you want to call it? Absolutely. If you are sick, you should be able to go see a doctor. That's a good idea. I want free education for everybody as long as they want to keep learning. I think I say good idea. The Green New Deal, I'm the author of the Green New Deal.

The Green New Deal is my phrase from my first book in 2008. There's nobody more committed to criminal justice reform than me, ecological solutions, the whole deal. These are our ideals as progressives. We should fight for them. We need them now more than ever. But what does it have to do with supporting Hamas? What does it have to do with putting up candidates who say we should have no police, no prisons? We can't deport anybody, even if they commit rape or murder. Israel shouldn't exist. These are terrible ideas. These are awful ideas. Where did these ideas even come from? If we want people to join this party, when people come to the party, you want to give them a wonderful punch bowl of wonderful

ideas like this. Who is putting the poop in the punch bowl? Okay, now he specifically points to Darya Lisa, who won the Democratic primary in New York. And just to be clear, she has definitely said things that are, incredibly radical far like way to the left of where I stand on those issues. I do not want to abolish police for instance. But again, I think it's important to talk a little bit about where Van Jones used to be and where he ended up. And Glenn Greenwald did call him out on that.

So he writes that in 2009 Jones was forced to resign from the Obama administration after six months because Fox News and establishment Democrats denounced him as the radical left due to his prior support in the 1990. of Mumia Abu Jamal calling a GOP member and, you know, a whole, allegedly signing a petition suggesting Bush did 9-11, et cetera. That's when he realized that wealth and celebrity awaited him only if he were willing instead to transform himself into a vehement defender and guard of establishment dogma, a useful tool for those who had just struck him down.

Well, Glenn, I both appreciated your post on X because you're pointing to reality, but also at the same time, how do we address people like Van Jones while avoiding co-signing onto some of these more radical left-wing policies, right? I'm not really interested in crushing these candidates. That's not like what I'm doing here. But I do think that, you know, sometimes issues are raised that I agree with, but I'm not a lot. on Van Jones's side here. This is obviously an attempt to beat down or beat back. A growing, you know, faction of Democrats who are to the left of these, you know, centrist pro-corporate creatures. Yeah, I think there's a lot going on. I mean, you know, Van Jones in order to demonstrate his bona fides as a what he calls a progressive Democrat. That's what Hillary Clinton calls herself, by the way, as well. So it doesn't really mean all that much. But, you know, he said,

oh, I'm for Medicare for all and I'm for free education and free college and up for all these great things. None of what you're actually being fought for, none of what you're actually on the table, none of which is even close to being voted for or implemented. So it's very easy to say you're for them as kind of like a checklist just to put yourself in a certain box that's advantageous for you to be in, to make an argument. And then conversely, you know, the reason why these primary challengers are beating incumbent Democrats or Democrats favored by the establishment is not because most people woke up and decided they want to abolish prisons or abolish the police. This is not the motivating force. I'm sure, you know, some leftists in New York really do believe in that. You know,

there are a lot of really fringe MAGA people or Republican Party elected officials who have views that aren't even close to being implemented so we don't talk much about those, even though their views that are way to the fringe. The reason why people are voting for these candidates are the things that Van Jones didn't mention, like foreign policy and war and financing Israel and its genocide and the general perception that the Democratic Party joins hands with the Republican Party to favor corporate interest overworking people. These are all things Grand Jones didn't mention because those are all the things that he's defending and is really pretending that he's talking about certain issues like abolish ICE or open borders that most

Democrats, even the ones on the furthest left wing of the Democratic Party, don't actually favor. Now, I have a very similar trajectory to you. I have had my own wars with the left to put that very mildly. I have my own critiques of people who are in this DA, a DSA faction. But, you know, one of the reasons why I was more open than I ever had been in my life or ever thought I would be to working with people on the populist right, you know, Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Telle Green and those people isn't because they suddenly abandon all their views that I disagree with. You ask Marjorie Taylor Green, what she thinks about immigration and she's going to be much harsher than I am or other kinds of issues like that. Same with Doug Carlson. But on the issues

that are actually on the table, like should we be going to war in Iran? Should we be bombing the Houthi? Should we have military based throughout the Middle East? Should we be sending a trillion and a half dollars in our military to fight foreign wars? Should we fund Israel? I'm in agreement with those, though with them. And so I'm willing to join hands with them or anyone in the DSA in order to advance those really critical causes that are are actually being fought. So there's so much cynicism in what Van Jones is saying. Obviously, I can't stand a lot of the woke discourse and views that a lot of people in the SAA have. I have by my own wars with them, just like you have. They've been at war with me for the same reasons.

But that's not really what we're discussing. And I just want to make this one of their point. I was going to tell you this little story that I've never told before. In 2015, maybe 2016, I had breakfast of Toneheese Coats. And at the time, I was just coming off the Snowden reporting. We had created the intercept and all these like weird doors opening for me in the U.S. around the world that I never thought I would have access to. And he was experiencing something very similar because he started off like as this sort of like very far left, you know, street activist and then suddenly was writing covers article for the Atlantic.

And he had his own, you know, kind of inducements even more so that I am. We talked about how powerful these temptations are. Like they, once you get to a certain point, they see the value in you and they try and commandeer you with all the benefits that they can bestow on you. And if you don't fight against that actively, you will immediately capitulate. You're suddenly going to be with them. And that's so obviously what happened to Van Jones. He got this big CNN contract. He was suddenly meeting with top Democratic officials. He got $100 million from Jeff Bezos, big book contracts, all the things that happened to if you're willing to then become a tool of the establishment and their

bipartisan dogma. And he's just one of the most blatant cases of that. The last thing I'll mention is a lot of these DSA challenges or just left-link challenges in general are being, are removing from Congress and ending the political careers of the people in Washington who have the most influence in power. So people like Van Jones love these people like AOC and the Joe Crawley's career. That was what made people so angry at her. And Darleez ran against a very popular Republican, Democratic incumbent, who is the head of the Hispanic caucus, Democratic caucus. And that's Dan Goldman, you know, had his career ended. a lot, Diana DeJad in Colorado, a lot of this is just like rank closing on the part of people who are in the establishment, people who are political immediately to all know each other, angry

that their prerogatives are being taken away. And I think that's what Van Jones is up to more than anything. And unfortunately, there is a big part of the Democratic Party that is now the black establishment. The congressional black caucus is very tied to APEC. They're very tied to corporations. They're not anywhere near the kind of black far left activism at the 60s and 70s that people assume they are. And I think there's a lot of the kind of black Democratic establishment that also feels threatened by this new movement. And he's speaking for that as well. Oh, I think you're so right about that. I mean, a good example is how, oh my gosh, I'm blanking on her name, the Texas race for Senate. Jasmine Crocket. Yeah, Jasmine Crocket is a perfect example.

And I mean, she has really had one mask off moment after the next, after the next. I'm like, this woman does not share my values. And, you know, I could have been fooled into thinking she does. through the theater that she engaged in during, you know, house hearings and things like that. Her little conflict with Marjorie Taylor Green. Now Marjorie Taylor Green has views on foreign policy that I favor far more than anything Jasmine Crockett has said about foreign policy. But thank you for crystallizing something that I think is pretty clear. And it's the fact that these DSA candidates didn't front load like abolish ICE, abolish police policies. so much as they front loaded what Trump front loaded during his campaign in 2024, which is

we want to do something about affordability, no more forever wars. Democrats didn't learn their lesson when it came to Trump's effective campaigning. And they're clearly not learning a lesson when it comes to these insurgent, you know, Democratic, DSA candidates who are beating these establishment, you know, tools. So it's really fascinating to see. Yeah, I would just say that probably the most important example is the success of Zoran Mondani, not just his victory, but also his popularity. And one of the reasons that I knew that even when he was at like 1% in back in December of 2024,

the first thing I ever saw him do once he announced he was going to be mayor is he went to the exact working class multiracial neighborhoods in New York that had shifted most to the right or most to Donald Trump, a lot of those, you know, like black and Latino and immigrant neighborhoods that voted for Trump in larger numbers than ever any they had ever voted for a Republican candidate. And he just went up and asked them like, why did you vote for Trump? And he was hearing, you know, we're sick of having our money sent to Israel and Ukraine. We're sick when our neighborhoods are falling apart. You know, we're sick of all these foreign wars. We can't afford our rent. We can't afford this. We can't afford that.

And he built his campaign around the things that he heard in part from Trump voters who should not be Republican Party voters. They should be Democratic Party voters, but they feel alienated from the the modern manifestation of Democratic Party voters. He also then just talked about very kind of like, like cost of living and lifestyle issues for like small business owners and all the like misery they have to go through to get a business license, even if they're just like a vendor on a street selling, you know, food on the side of the street in New York City. It was a very practical way to improve the material well-being of people's lives who have

been ignored and forgotten by both parties. And I think that combined with Israel as a kind of proxy for how our politics work or don't is what is driving this, not this kind of, you know, mega wokeism or land acknowledgements or trans issues or, you know, abolish the prisons. That's just kind of on the menu because that's what DSA activists believe in, but I don't think that's driving this movement that is not quite as ideological as they are anti-establishment for very valid reasons. And that's why people or establishment mavens are so threatened like Van Jones. Well, they're definitely catching some steam, especially in, you know, deep blue districts and states. New York is a perfect example

of that. But Representative Jared Moskowitz, who absolutely loves our constant support of Israel, regardless of war crimes, regardless of crimes against humanity, complain that Democratic leadership isn't doing more to condemn their own members and Democratic voters. He wants the Democratic Party to condemn their own voters, he says, I think they're doing everything they can to not talk about the anti-Semitism on the left to get themselves through elections. I think it's more convenient just to pretend it's not happening. And then Josh Gottheimer had a similar statement saying, this is no longer about substance. It's about the raw fear of pissing off the far left.

Now, Crystal Ball over at breaking points had a debate with Adam Smith. with Congressman Adam Smith today, which was fantastic. I'm gonna cover it in more detail on the show tomorrow. But I did wanna share this moment because she specifically asked about these statements. And here's how he responded. People say, well, if you blame the left, you're just being a Republican. Well, can't we learn as we go? Well, my problem is not with your, I have my own critiques of the left, right?

I think that not to, I actually think the identity politics thing came out of the Hillary Clinton campaign and was away for the establishment to beat back the rise of the Bernie Sanders left, no doubt the left embraced it. I have been a critic of quote unquote woke, although I hate the word at this point. Identity politics, that's my, you know, my position. I'm on class first leftist. So I have my own critiques here. I'm not, I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying when you caricature an entire wing of party at this point. Aren't you character to the entire wing of the centrist and saying that we're like, no, because I'm not character. I'm not trying to say you have the same views as John Fetterman. I don't think that you do or Josh Gottheimer for that matter. And I'm not saying they all have the same views here.

You are trying to take the views of let's say DRA and the DSA platform and saying this is what the entire you know, TSA coalition stands for. I'm just saying it's an issue and it's a challenge. And I should note that while he complained about identitarianism and the more radical proposals being proposed by members of DSA, Crystal Ball was like, didn't you co-author? an abolish ice bill not too long ago. So I love that she caught him on that because, you know, these establishment Democrats are the ones who have made the culture war issues front and center. And every action is going to have an equal or greater reaction. And I think that's what we saw from, you know, more left-wing members of the Democratic Party. But that debate was worthy

of a watch. So if you guys haven't watched it, definitely take a look today. And I'll cover my thoughts on various parts of it for tomorrow's show. But any final words from you, Glenn, before we go to break? No, I would I watch that interview too. And I was just, what struck me is that he actually reached out to breaking points because he wanted to go and address these left wing critiques of the establishment Democratic Party, which even two years ago would have been unthinkable. And I think it really shows the dynamic that he had to go and kind of defend the establishment position. And set there for 45 minutes doing so. And someone like him especially, he was always been like Boeing's man in Congress, you know, like on the military committees would never have done that,

but it shows the pressure that they're under. And I think that's very positive. It's fantastic pressure. And, you know, he went back on his support of Section 219 in the National Defense Authorization Act. Now, ultimately, it wasn't stripped from the NDAA, but it is what it is. It does show that pressure, if intense enough, does get these democratic lawmakers to behave differently. Let's just put it that way. All right, we got to take our final break. When we come back, I want to give you an update on section 219 and what just transpired in the House when it comes to the National Defense Authorization Act.

Come right back. All right, since this is our last social break, I'm going to read some super chats. And in our bonus episode for our members, I'll read a bunch of member comments and comments from our Twitch community. YTP Renewed says, it is real is real, pun intended. I know what you're referring to. It was earlier in the first hour of the show. That pun was not intended. But as soon as I said it, I'm like, that sounded like a pun, but I don't want to distract

from what I'm trying to say here. Hurley 666 says, you guys should interview Nikaila Jasmine Thomas before the runoff. She's battling a centrist lawyer with deep ties to AI. Oklahoma needs your help. I'm sure that's a candidate that Jank 100% would want to interview. So we should definitely let Marissa know about that, guys. Would be a great revolution interview. Make it make sense.

1988 says, remember for Arizona voters, today is primary day. Get out and vote. This is our chance to get rid of incumbents. Absolutely. Primary elections, I would say, are far more important than the general election. Because if you want an option that you don't hate, you're going to have to get involved. in primary races and cast your ballot for the better candidate in your party. So for our Arizona viewers, please make sure you vote today. Make sure you get involved in the primary races.

All right, we've got some more time, shockingly. Let's go to our member section where Simon Moody says, remember Trump wants the U.S. military to conduct strikes on criminals in Mexico, 50% tariff on Canada. I want to cover that. Hopefully I can in the bonus episode today. Is the U.S. trying to catch up to Israel attacking its neighbors? We're out of control. I mean, our foreign policy has always been belligerent, but now it's even worse. So Anna and Glenn Greenwald with you. Glenn, we've got some updates on Section 219, which is an attempt to merge the U.S.

military with the IDF, even as the IDF is carrying out war crimes. Another Israeli genocide scholar just came out with a piece recently doubling down on the fact that Israel and the IDF has committed and it continues to commit genocide in Gaza. And I want to talk a little bit about what House Republicans did today. Let's get into it. House Republicans have advanced the trillion dollar military funding bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act. And unfortunately, it does include Section 219.

That's the provision that merges the war crime, you know, loving IDF with the U.S. military. And among other things, the United States Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, as it's called, would require the U.S. to share intelligence with Israel and establish a system of weapons research, development, and production, particularly in the domains crucial to warfare in the modern age. That includes artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and various other fields of high defense technology. And there's the Senate version, which so far we've been able to fight back. But unfortunately, this effort has advanced in the House. Now, ahead of the vote, Congressman Thomas Massey said that the House will soon take two votes that will compromise our sovereignty by merging our military technology and supply chains with Israel's.

Today's vote on House Resolution 1438 brings the NDAA to the floor without a vote on striking section 219. And then tomorrow the House is set to vote on the NDA in total, like basically to pass it. And it does look like it's gonna work. Marjorie Taylor Green. And I gotta say, like where was this version of Marjorie Taylor Green when she first got elected? Because I can get behind this. Okay, she says they won't allow Massey's amendment.

to strip section 219, but instead they allowed Congresswoman Luna's amendment that only removes the word integrate. Taking out the word integrate does nothing. It basically skips integration and goes straight to full fusion of our militaries, vote no. And, you know, there are Republican voters, a faction of the Republican base that's outraged by this. Evan Kilgore says if the GOP votes to integrate the U.S. military with Israel's, that I'm never voting, for a Republican at the federal level again, I'm done with the GOP. Thomas Massey says that Speaker Johnson is destroying our party for those APAC dollars. So we're about to get into Adam Smith's defense of Section 219 in just a bit. He is part of the Democratic leadership

and the House Armed Services Committee. But before we do, Glenn, give me your thoughts on the likelihood of this provision actually passing, not just in the House where it seems like it will pass, but also in the Senate. Yeah, Massie, Congress from Massey said, unfortunately, the rule passed just now and there will be no debate or vote. And so he's basically saying it'll pass the House. I think one of the main issues here is that everybody knows that there's no political space to pass new funding or support for Israel, even that now who knows that, which is why

he's pretending, oh, I don't want any more of the funding because they know democratically and politically there's no space to do that. What this is is really pernicious because it's attempting to just take U.S. support and cooperation with the Israeli military and just stick it in the top secret realm of the Pentagon where everything that they do will be removed from democratic transparency and accountability. Now, it is true that it's not like some full scale integration of our military, but it is not trivial either, the level of cooperation and mandated integration. There are very significant programs that the Pentagon is now duty bound by law if it passes in order to basically turn over to Israel and supposedly get things from Israel that'll

merge the militaries in ways that are unprecedented, even though public opinion has turned so strongly against that. Is there a chance that it'll get stopped in the house? maybe, but I don't know, I generally put my money on Israel and APAC and the U.S. National Security State whenever these political debates happen because I've just had the football kicked out and removed so many times when I thought I was going to be able to finally kick it. And well, unlike Charlie Brown, I have kind of finally go on my lesson. Well, you know, Congressman Adam Smith was asked about Section 219 during his debate with Crystal Ball on breaking points today.

And I want to show you a few highlights because, you know, he initially supported, vocally supported section 219, which at the time was section 224. Then there was so much backlash from Democratic voters. And by the way, good job to the people who pushed back effectively. He's now pivoted to no longer supporting the provision. It doesn't seem like it's going to matter because obviously they just passed that rule in the house, which means there'll be no debate on section 219. They won't even consider Massey's amendment to strip the NDAA of the provision.

But I do want to talk a little bit about the lies that Adam Smith told during the context of that debate because he did downplay the impact of Section 219. And you're about to hear it in this next clip. Take a look. Section 224 has been of a lot of interest to our audience. This is what would effectively partially merge the U.S. military with the Israeli military. originally in support of it. You change your position on it. I just wonder, why did you know about your thought process here? Merge the US military with the Israeli military.

What it does is it talks about co-development programs. And mostly, I see this as a benefit to the US military, particularly when you're talking about missile defense. The Israeli military is really good at it. They can help us develop those systems so that we have a better system. I think it's an incredible exaggeration to say that this would merge the US military. Because out of thousands, literally thousands of programs, we would have three, four, maybe five, or six that we were co-developing with the IDF. But you've changed your position now, correct?

So, okay, there's a lot to unpack there. He totally downplayed what this provision would do. The House provision, along with the Senate version of the provision, which is known as Section 1217, would forbid the president of the United States. States from limiting intelligence sharing with Israel. The commander in chief would not be able to stop our government from sharing intelligence with a foreign. Israel is a foreign country. It's not America, even though we bankroll it. Okay, but by the way, Glenn, really we need Israel because they're so good with their

missile interception technology. led to believe that we developed and funded their missile interception technology in the Middle East. But maybe I'm wrong. What do you think? You know, I think this is why I got to the point where I just couldn't keep putting my faith in the Democratic Party because as we talked about before the break, you know, Adam Smith is someone who obviously felt compelled to go to breaking points, which he considers lowering him himself to do to talk to this kind of audience that's filled not with like far leftists, with kind of the AOC Bernie. left liberal who's at the end of the day still loyalist of the Democratic Party,

while he's went for the Democratic candidate to justify why the Democrats are getting better on things. And he kind of went there as an avatar of that. And yet here he is, you know, as somebody who has spent decades in Washington, which is how he became the ranking member on this committee to basically defending the fundamental foreign policy that is very bipartisan in longstanding in Washington, which is that Israel is our close ally. We work with them. And now they're trying to claim that the reason this has to continue is not because we want to keep subsidizing them, but because somehow we're the beneficiaries of their largesse that we need them. This is all complete and total lie to try and get you to forget about the fact that this is an

apartheid state based on ethnic Jewish supremacy that is just engaged in genocide in Gaza that that is doing the same in the West Bank, that has stolen land from the Lebanese and the Syrians, that has induced the United States, this incredibly dangerous war in Iran, to be able to say, oh no, they're just a very high tech country and we get benefits in this very limited way. This is the Democratic Party trying to show a better face for political reasons to convince alienated leftists that they should still find space in the Democratic Party with their heart. But at the same time, making very clear that they will never alienate their main donor base, which is A-PAC and these big corporations and the defense contractors that have underwritten Adam Smith's

career. As I said, he's basically Boeing's representative in Congress from Seattle, a deeply blue district but can never get defeated. And you see here just how sinister they are. Like, these lies that are being told to shift this very hotly debated issue out of the public view into the Pentagon where it's forever shielded from challenger scrutiny. Now Massey had proposed an amendment to stop funding Israel, including Israel's defensive capabilities. And the absolute meltdown that was obvious online shows you that Adam Smith is full of crap because every pro-Israel pundit on X that day was like, oh, they want to see the destruction of Israel. They desperately need that almost $4 billion a year in military funding. Otherwise,

Israel would be destroyed. So how do you square that circle? How does Adam Smith argue we need Israel? Without Israel, we're in a lot of trouble. We need their missile interception technology, which again, we developed and we fund. It's called the Iron Dome. We give them. We give it to them.

We pay for it and we give it to them. It's our development. And also, you know, Adam Smith, he said in this interview repeatedly, oh, I voted for the Massey Amendment. Of course he voted for the Massey Amendment because it had no chance to pass. He's running for reelection. He has a not a very formidable primary challenger, unfortunately, but he has one. And this is the Democrats trying to catch.

I've seen them do this for decades as well. I watched them in the Bush years constantly pretend that they were going to vote against the most controversial war on terror policies. And they would always have just enough votes to give the Republicans in the Bush administration what they needed to pass. And as many Democrats as were politically vulnerable and needed to vote no, would vote no, knowing that it would never mean anything or change anything. And yeah, you're absolutely right.

If Israel is the one that's giving us so much and we need them. And one last point on it is like I know you know this. $4 billion a year is the absolute minimum we're required to give to Israel under the MOU that Obama signed with Netanyahu when Obama was on his way out in 2016. The reality is that when Israel has wars, which is most of the time, we end up transferring 10 times that to Israel. In fact, under Biden from in 2024 to 2025, we gave the Israelis more than $20 billion. dollars. That was just direct transfers to say nothing of how much we spend the deploy our military to protect Israel to give them arms, to give them all sorts of things directly from our own military through our own protection through use of our anti-missile systems now going to war with them and

for them in Iran, as well as the billions of dollars we give to the Egyptians, the Jordanians, which we give to keep peace in the Middle East to protect Israel as well. None of that's even included in the tally. And this $4 billion, it's a lot, but it's really a fraction of what we spend for his role. That's like the bare minimum required just to give to them, like as part of a wire transfer. Yes, and I'm really glad that you clarified that. So the economic costs for U.S. taxpayers is very real. And, you know, Glenn, you're amazing. Thank you for, you know, really laying that out for the audience. And, you know, since we're wrapping up now, please let the audience know where they can find you, both your substack, your YouTube page, all of that.

Yeah, so I do most of my work at a substack, which is greenwald.substack.com. And then I also have a YouTube channel where I do videos maybe once or twice a week, which is just under my name, Glenn Greenwald. And you don't have to look for me very far because my plan has been long in the making, to which is to do a coup again, Shank and ultimately replace him. So I'll be here to enough. But for now, that's where you can find me. Love it. Thank you so much, Glenn. Have a wonderful night.

All right, Anna. Great to see you. Good night. All right, everybody. We are done with main show, but if you're a member, stick around. We're going to have a member's only bonus episode where I'm going to ask, is Curtis Lee Wahzatti? I know that sounds weird, but it's a real question. We'll be back with the bonus episode for our members, t.com slash join to become one. We'll see you there. Tired of the doom scroll, you're not alone. The entire system is designed to keep you glued to your screen while the billionaire owners of big wireless.

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