The Young Turks - Restarting The War

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

WAR IS BACK ON! Trump strikes Iran in retaliation for a downed helicopter. Israel continues to sabotage peace with attacks on Lebanon. Drop Site News exposes the Israel First forces that got Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker banned from the UK. Hosts: Ana Kasparian, Glenn Greenwald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm so up. I'm a Casparean, and we have a jam-packed show ahead for you today, which I'm very excited to share with you. So not only do we have some incredible news to get into updates on the war in the Middle East, of course, lots to get to there. We're gonna have a fantastic co-host, someone who I've been looking forward to co-hosting the first hour with and that would be Glenn Greenwald, host of System Update. He also has an incredible substack that you should all subscribe to.

And he's one of my favorite journalists when it comes to issues of foreign policy. Glenn, welcome. Great to see you, Anna. We finally have some quality alone time without jank, something we've been trying to get for so long. But he's so possessive. He really is. He managed it. I'm so excited. Yeah, he really is. Very jealous, very jealous. But here we are. To be fair, though, I was actually pretty jealous the last time you were on the show with him because you were co-hosting with him and substituting for me. And I appreciate you doing that. But I wanted you to myself as well, Glenn. So thank you for coming on. I create a lot of domestic conflict. I try not to, but I can't help it. Well, on today's show, we're gonna try to make sense of what's going on in Iran and Lebanon,

because this story is just rapidly evolving and changing. The latest news is that the US has carried out strikes against Iran. So we'll get to that in just a moment. We're also gonna get into how the vice president of the United States, J.D. Vance, responded to two separate intelligence reports indicating that Israel has really upped their spying on u.s officials including Steve Whitkoff his response i can't wait to hear you know your response about his response Glenn because he seemed in my opinion a little muted considering the fact that our greatest ally who we shell out hundreds of billions of dollars

to the ally that we have spent trillions of dollars fighting wars on the behalf of is spying on u.s officials and so much so that you literally have enemies of the united states spying on us less posing less of a counterintelligence threat. So let's just get started. And again, bear with us because this story about the Middle East is ever evolving. By the time we finish, I'm sure there'll be another huge update. But let's start with this. Iran has maintained a hold on the street, which is critical to the world's oil supply.

President Trump says despite this incident, he is confident a deal to end the war will happen sooner than later. We have ongoing negotiations in Iran and with Iran that hasn't stopped. And we could have at least an idea by one or two days from now. But I think it's going well that will not allow in any way shape of form nuclear weapons. Well, soon after President Trump issued that statement, which seems to be a repetitive statement he makes. it's recycled over and over again. Israel renewed its military offensive in Lebanon. Again, mere hours after Trump insisted yet again that there was a peace deal on the horizon with Iran. Iran has repeatedly stated that they will not agree to a peace deal if the war against Lebanon

continues. And Netanyahu knows that. The Israelis know it, which is why they renewed their military assault against southern Lebanon in particular. And wouldn't you know it? The latest news is that the U.S. is currently carrying out strikes against Iran. It's a developing story. It broke right before we went live on air. But Glenn, before I give some more details about how we got to this point, I'm just curious what your read of this situation is at this moment. Obviously, this is a war that Trump can't get out of.

He has nothing but bad choices. He doesn't want to continue the war because it's been a disaster for him politically and economically and in every other way, especially with the midterms, getting closer and closer, but also the people that he loves the most, which are the dictators of the Persian Gulf, are the ones who most eagerly wanted into this war. They've suffered a lot of damage. And Iran can and will do a lot more damage to them if there's an outbreak of further hostility. So on the one hand, he can't restart the war, but on the other, he can't end the war without some credible claim that he actually won something beyond what President Obama already

secured with the Iran deal that President Trump under the demands of Sheldon to Mary Middleston and that Njahou nullified in 2018. And right now the Iranians know that and they're not really inclined to give him anything beyond that because they also need to tell their own population that they defeated the United States. So Israel has this opening because as we know, Israel doesn't want an end to this war. What Israel wants most is for Iran to be shattered into a million pieces because Iran is the only country in that region that can deter Israel, that can provide a countervailing weight

to their hegemony and their desire to dominate the region. And so you have Trump between his own political needs and the demands of the Israelis. And now because a drone supposedly ran into or was shot at, it's unclear. Even the U.S. is it's unclear. A U.S. plane downing that plane and the two pilots ejected safely and aren't harmed. President Trump now says we have to retaliate. We'll see if it's a mild restrained retaliation or whether this really does restart the war. But it's been a disaster all the way around.

And the reason is President Trump is too afraid to end the war because he fears the rage of the Israel lobby, both in Israel and here in the United States. I mean, he should also fear the rage of the American people because this is a deeply unpopular war. 60% of Americans are against it. A growing number of Republican voters are against it. Just recently, the Brookings Institute, which, of course, has its own biases, carried out its own poll, which showed that even among Republicans, there are more Republicans who believe we have already lost this war than Republicans who believe we have won the war.

More Republicans believe that we have achieved nothing. We have actually lost through engaging in this war, lost in terms of American interests. And so it's just really interesting because on one hand, it is true that the Israel lobby is incredibly powerful. And if you are in their crosshairs, they'll do anything and everything to destroy the future of your political career. In the case of Donald Trump, dude's 80, this is his second term, but he's probably concerned about the midterms. I agree with you on that. But at the same time, the voters see what's happening to their own pocketbooks. They see the rising price of fuel.

They're not going to be happy about this. That's going to hurt them, and that's going to discourage them from re-electing some of these Republican lawmakers way more than, you know, anything else that the Trump administration is up to. At least that's my read of it. What do you think? Well, of course, no, your read is of court, not only is your read correct, but Trump knows your read is correct, is that he himself spent the last decade warning Americans about the dangers of these kinds of wars, saying that the Republicans and George Bush and Dick Cheney destroyed themselves with protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He knew the American people were sick of these wars, understood that they were being fought based on lies and not in their interests, which is why he rode the wave of this anti-war sentiment by promising that he wouldn't involve the United States to new wars, especially in the Middle East, especially ones dedicated to regime change. So this to me is the key point, Anna, he knows it because we've heard him say it so many times. It's not like George W. Bush or, you know, where you wonder, like, why did he go to the war in Iraq? Maybe he just got persuaded by warmongers. This is somebody who has spent years warning that exactly this sort of thing would happen if the U.S. got involved in other regime change war in Iran. And yet not only did he do it

anyway, knowing that this was likely to be the outcome, but also now that he's in it, and as you say, the American people are enraged about it, this war was unpopular from the beginning and has only gotten more unpopular as we've gone on. Why isn't he getting out of it? And I think he, again, he can choose between the American people and the people who are surrounding him, who financed his campaign, which is the Israel lobby, and he's siding with them for a variety of reasons that I think are worth discussing, but it's not unclear or in doubt who side he's on, and it's not the American peoples. One other thing that I'm kind of curious about, you know, in terms of your own opinion,

because this is a theory that's been thrown around, I certainly think there might be some credibility to it. You know, the fear about the Israel lobby, I think, goes beyond losing their support. Some are concerned that there might be dirt that the Israelis have on Trump and maybe they're holding it over Trump's head and that, because a lot of his behavior doesn't make sense. I mean, he is losing more out of engaging in this war, making good on his so-called promises to the Israeli lobby than anything else. Like it's not benefiting him, it's not benefiting the Republican Party. He's only harming himself by continuing in this direction.

So all right, he took the money from the Israel lobby. He took the hundreds of millions of dollars from the Aedelson's, not just in his second term but also in his first term. What happens if he just walks away and says, I've done enough for you, okay, enough? I'm walking away now. I mean, what's the worst that could happen if they don't have dirt on him? I think, you know, first of all, I'm going to get to that point in a second, but I just want to know this one thing, which is you have to look at where Trump's social and family circle is centered. His daughter, who by all accounts, everyone who knows him will tell you that Ivanka was always his favorite daughter,

like the child were the favorite child actually, the one he thought was like the only real, interesting and talented one. She's married to Jared Kushner, who's an Orthodox Jew, the Kushner's Jared Kushner's father was this fraudster who made, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars, went to prison for it. Trump pardon him. Ivanka Trump has now converted to the same kind of Orthodox Judaism that the Kushners belong to. They fund West Bank settlement. They're hardcore Israel supporters and those are Trump's grandchildren as well. He's been surrounded his whole life by people like Steve Whitkoff and Howard Deletnik. He's kind of, you know, Jewish real estate billionaires in New York who are very pro-Israel. They form the core of his social circles.

And it's not just the core, you know, and then you have evangelical leaders on whom he depends. Pence too, are extremely pro-Israel. And these are the people constantly in his ear. That said, I do want to just, you know, you reference at the start this report about how Israel was spying on the United States. And it's true every country tries to spy on every other one, but the report was that they're spying in the most invasive ways on our top officials about our most sensitive information, namely negotiations with Iran. We did Snowden reporting on a 13 years ago or so now, where we published documents that the NSA said that even though we give a ton of information and technology and data, raw data on Americans to Israel,

they're the number one surveillance threat against the United States. They spy in the United States more aggressively, more invasively. And if you look at Donald Trump's life, it's not exactly been a paragon of fidelity or sexual morality. He was very close friends with Jeffrey Epstein. That is the reality. Eventually that ended, that ended. But that was the circle in which he was circulating.

Who knows whether sexually or financially. I don't want to sound like a Russiagate fanatic because that was what they were saying about Trump. and I'm not saying it's true. But the Israelis use these tactics constantly. They spy on people. They collect that dirt and information on people. They see their national security as an existential matter and religious matter.

And they will do anything and have proven that repeatedly against people who threaten them. And I wouldn't be surprised if Trump is at least afraid of that. Even if the Israelis haven't actually used it, Trump is aware of all these things. And I think he genuinely fears the Israel lobby. I think you're right. I think you're right about that. And so we, and I think the point that you make about the, the individuals who surround him and how he's really just kind of getting this repetitive

pro-Israel messaging. It's a powerful point, and I think we forget that often. Something that I brought up on the show multiple times, and it bears repeating, is that members of his own administration, his own cabinets, have actually worked on Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election campaign. I mean, Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, was a consultant for Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection campaign in 2020, and she really is the gatekeeper in regard to who has access to the president of the United States, who gets to talk to him, who gets to lobby to him. And honestly, with that

in mind, it was kind of shocking that someone like Tucker Carlson, who's so vehemently against what we're doing in the Middle East, had any access to the president at all, given the heavy pro-Israel bias within Trump's cabinet. And what's also really interesting, Glenn, is that when he was running and when he was appointing certain people to his administration, not necessarily cabinet officials, but people within the State Department and things like that, it seemed as though he was moving in a more America first direction where we wouldn't necessarily abandon Israel, but we wouldn't carry out everything Israel wanted us to carry out in the Middle East, including arming terrorist groups and places like Syria, you know, stuff like that.

But I just feel like we all got fooled, right? I mean, he then proceeded to fire those individuals from his administration at the behest of Laura Lumer of all people. And what we ended up getting is a US foreign policy that's even more brutal toward the Palestinians or toward the Arab populations in these Arab majority countries and Muslim majority countries in the Middle East. So what's amazing to me is you see those who have totally bought into his cult of personality. They're gonna love him and support him no matter what.

That's about, I don't know, 25, 30% of the country. But that pretty robust coalition that he was able to build leading up to the 2024 election is now completely fractured. And people are just kind of aimlessly trying to figure out where they fit in this, you know, political duopoly where they don't really feel represented by either party. Biden was awful on foreign policy, absolutely horrendous on foreign policy. And Trump is just worse. So where do you go from there?

You know, who do you vote for? Who do you support? It's just, it's frustrating. Yeah, you know, I couldn't agree more with that. I think it's worth remembering because I think it's been forgotten that when the never Trump movement first emerged, these kind of lifelong Republican operatives, conservative of operatives, like the Bill Crystal types. When that movement first emerged, the first trigger for it was that Trump had given an interview where he was asked about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

and he basically said, we have a lot of business we want to do in the Middle East. He already had his eyes on all that money in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates and the Qataris and the Bahraini's. Trump is attracted to money. He saw that money. And he said, we need to get a two-state solution and a deal done to get rid of this Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the problem is we can't mediate it because we've been too pro-Israel and we need to be more even-handed. That was really the first thing. You go back and look in 2015 that made the Bill Crystals and David Frums of the world absolutely apoplectic and started saying Trump is a huge threat and never Trump.

So he has this instinct on the one hand that has been apparent throughout the next 10 years where he called his movement America first. And yet look at what the second Trump administration has been, bombing Yemen, going to kidnap the governor, the president of Venezuela, bombing Iran with Israel last year, Iran and starting a whole new war with Israel again this year, talking about regime change in Cuba, focused on everything but America, you know, just constantly trying to do these words that neocons have craved for years. So the question is, was Trump a fraud the whole time? I really don't think so.

I think what happened was he always had these kind of two different impulses. And ultimately, the neocons and the Zionists won out. I think partly because they saved Trump in 2024. Remember, he really believed truthfully that he was running to avoid prison for life. had he lost, the Democrats were going to put him in prison for life. So he became for sale. He sold himself to the highest bidder. And that was the neoc, and I think one of the most, you know, significant things, even though it seems like a little interpersonal drama, was when he got rid of Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, Kansas Owens, Alex Jones, Tom Massey, Marjorie Taylor Green, anyone questioning him on Israel, he said, these people are traders, they're dirt, they're out of our

movement. And he basically taught everyone, the only one you should listen to is Mark Levine. And if that doesn't tell you what the second Trump administration is about, I don't know what does. Fair, that's definitely fair. Well, let me just back up a little bit and give the audience an update on what Israel has been conducting in Lebanon. So as I mentioned earlier, Israel has renewed its assault, its offensive on Lebanon, southern Lebanon to be exact. And this comes after Iran made abundantly clear that they will not sign on to any peace deal with the United States. if Israel's attacks against Lebanon continue. Now here's what we know so far.

Let's go to Graphic 3 here. Its military issued fresh, meaning the IDF, issued fresh evacuation orders for Tyre, the fifth largest city in Lebanon, including the city's Christian quarter, that had until now been spared the destruction inflicted on much of the area, meaning southern Lebanon. The IDF claims that the Christian quarter was housing Hezbollah, There was the presence of Hezbollah. However, as always, they refused to provide even a shred of evidence, justifying these evacuations and these attacks on the Christian quarter. By the way, just to be abundantly

clear, I don't think any of these attacks should be carried out, period. I don't care if it's the Christian quarter. I don't care if it's a, you know, Arab village in southern Lebanon, a Shia village in southern Lebanon. These attacks are very clearly being carried out in an effort to annex land from Lebanon under this like false narrative of, oh, we feel so afraid of Hezbollah that we must do this. We must steal more land, settle it, which is what they typically do. And then when the settlers are attacked by resistance fighters, they end up justifying annexing even more land, right? It's just this circular logic that goes on and on and on. Now Netanyahu is getting attacked for agreeing to stop bombing Iran. And this kind of gives you

a sense of the type of internal politics at play within Israel. And so here's one example. This is an ad that was shared by one Israeli politician by the name of Gotti Eisencott. And it's meant to, I guess, push this idea that Israel is being controlled by the United States, which I find laughable. Take a look. What if you said to Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to hold off on strike? You'll do whatever I want them to do. Right. So Glenn, a few things that I want to mention and get your thoughts on.

Number one, I was talking to a friend who does business with Israel. You know, he works in the medical equipment industry. And so he has conversations with a lot of Israelis and the topic of who controls who comes up a lot. They genuinely do think that the United States controls the government of Israel. In the meantime, here in the United States, we see the undue influence, Israel has Israel has over our own government, obviously through the Israeli lobby, through, you know, the individuals who own our media or increasingly are beginning to own all of our legacy media. You know, there was a new story today in the New York Post about how Barry Weiss might be

tapped to have editorial say over CNN. So my days over at CNN were numbered anyway. But, you know, all of this is going on. Internally in Israel, they have the totally wrong idea. And Netanyahu knows that he becomes a person. political target if he does listen to anything Trump has to say. So I mean, I don't know how you become allies with a country that has completely different goals than the US, completely different objectives in the Middle East. Israeli society wants more war. They want the

American people to bankroll more war so they can expand their borders. This is an unwinnable situation for the American people. And I just, I don't know how we get out of it other than pushing for anti-establishment candidates to be voted in and oust these Israel firsters in Congress. But even that, I don't know if it's gonna work. I mean, I look at some of the individuals that have been elected in recent years who are supposed to be a check on the establishment's power, but they've only acquiesced to the establishment ever since. And so, you know, what do we do with that? You know, when I first started writing about politics in 2005, I naively believe the Democrats and President Obama when they said things like, oh, the war and terror is so evil and sinister and we have to put an end to it.

I really believe that it was important that Nancy Pelosi become House Speaker in 2006 and Obama went in 2008 because I thought that they would follow through on what they were saying, which is that they hate the war on terror and what ended. And lo and behold, Nancy Pelosi does win in 2006, writing on opposition to the Iraq war. the first thing she does is says, I'm going to keep funding the Iraq war because we can't defend it because that will leave our troops in harm's way or whatever Fox News narrative was being pet all the time. And then, of course, Obama gets into office and immediately starts defending and even expanding many of the worst defining parts of the war on terror. And that's when over the years I started realizing, you know, I even had a pack once with Jane Hampshire. And the idea was, which she was like an old school liberal blogger. And the idea was let's recruit primary challengers to Democratic incumbents who are anti-establishment or anti-war, anti-Israel.

And you pour all your, you know, heart and soul into that. The liberals at one point got Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic Party, but he ran as an independent and won anyway. And at some point, you start looking for alternatives. And, you know, that's what I spent the last eight years doing, you know, seeing these cracks in the MAGA movement and anti-war movement and opposition to supporting and financing Israel. and even opposition to corporatism and kind of big corporations and trying to work these wedges. And of course, then you get accused of having to switch sides or become a far right, you know, whatever. And I think the time is here to start seeing the world not through the prism of right versus left. You know, there are times when it's still applicable on abortion or social issues.

You can still see the world that way. But increasingly, that's not the way to understand the world. And to me, I find optimism in that. I think it's so encouraging that there's finally a significant portion of people on the right who are saying Israel commits genocide. And, you know, they're using our taxpayer dollars and our government to commandeer and force them, force us to fight wars. And let me just have one thing, Anna, which is like it was never the case that Israeli and U.S. interests were converged. In fact, Israeli-in-U.S. interests have been at odds for a long time. You go back to the 80s where the Bush 41 administration was outraged that Israeli settlements kept expanding.

because they knew they needed a two-state solution to be able to do deals with Arabs, which Bush being an oil man always wanted to do. And the thing that made us so hated in that region was the perception that we were tied at the hip to Israel. And they told the Israelis, we're not going to give you loan guarantees anymore if you don't stop West Bank settlements. And they were accused of being anti-Semite. Bill Clinton ran against Bush 41 in 1992 by calling him an anti-Semite, saying he's endangering Jews by criticizing Israel. And we've lived in this climate for so long where we pretend that we have an interest. in supporting and arming and financing Israel, when in reality, there are few things more damaging

to our national interest than that, and yet it doesn't stop. And we'll see now with this huge shift in public opinion, which I never thought I would see, where you and I and I and a lot of other people can say things openly and aggressively that even five years ago, we would be destroyed if we said, now being more and more mainstream, these signs are encouraging to me, but it's not going to change if you just stick to the Democratic Party and hope to vote in a few more AOCs or whatever, seen with the AOCs, that that doesn't really work. You need a political movement built around this perspective of the world, anti-war sentiment, extricating ourselves from these alliances with countries that only drag us down, including Israel. And only then do I think you can start to

see actual change in the policy of the United States? Because at some point, you have to listen to mass public opinion. You can only ignore it for so long. I completely agree with your optimism. In fact, that's the only area where I've been optimistic as well. In my entire career, my entire adult life, there has never been a moment in American political culture where there was a growing movement within the right wing that was questioning our alliance with Israel. And suddenly some of the loudest, most influential voices are questioning that alliance. And I think this is honestly a really important opportunity that I don't want to squander.

Because it's taught me two things. Number one, yeah, you can build issue based coalitions in order to apply pressure to get the government to actually represent what we demand instead of what a lobby demands. But the other thing, Glenn, and I want to give you credit for this, is seeing Megan Kelly's transformation, or I shouldn't even say that evolution on certain issues, I think you are responsible for that. I think that your willingness to have conversations with her, go on her show. I've listened to the episodes that you've co-hosted with her, where you talk about foreign policy and you have informed her on things that she otherwise might not have known about. And that has moved her on U.S. foreign policy in ways that I didn't

think was even possible to begin with, right? And so that has taught me that if you're willing to have good faith discussions with individuals who are good faith themselves, There is a possibility of swaying people, persuading people, learning something yourself about their perspective and how they've reached conclusions that they've reached. But more than anything, I agree with you in that you're not going to change anything if you just consistently vote Democrat or consistently vote Republican and think that these are individuals or these are parties who have real incentives to represent what you want. You have to apply pressure and you have to make them realize that, you know, you have to make them

realize that they can't take your vote for granted. And so, you know, just out of curiosity, walk us through your experiences on Megan Kelly's show because I really do think that you're the one who sparked this evolution. I mean, I think, you know, I think I appreciate that. And, you know, certainly I've been friends with Megan for a long time. And I think she respects my views. You know, we used to, I used to go on her show. I was the first guest on her show, by the way. So I've been on from the beginning. Long before she really started focusing on these issues, I think most people before October 7th

who weren't already thinking about Israel as such a menace to the world and our support for it is so unjustifiable and evil, basically just ingested the Israel propaganda that bold parties more or less supported. It wasn't really debated in the mainstream. Everyone kind of knew that you had to avoid it. Tucker didn't talk much about Israel before October 7th either. And I think, you know, I went on Megan Schumann,

And I, we got to some really robust, like aggressive arguments, debates about things like Mahmuk Khalil and whether these student protesters were actually anti-Semitic. And she was there, you know, kind of spouting the the Fox News narrative about it. And over time, she started hearing from a lot, you know, you see this on the right with a lot. Charlie Kirk was the same way. He's talked to him all the time and I saw his evolution. Obviously Tucker, you know, when I was going on Tucker and a lot of people on the left were screaming at me. I was listening to what Tucker were saying, well on the air and off the air.

And I knew that these, these, this transformation was possible. And let me just tell you a quick story. I did an event today in Brazil. And like in Brazil, there's a big controversy over censorship. And this 20 year old college didn't come up to me and, you know, said, oh, I'm a big friend of your journalism, Snowden, and whatever. And but I've been like arguing against censorship. And he, and there's a big, big support for censorship of hate speech, quote,

and quote in Brazil. And he said to me, well, you're gay, like, do you really think people should be able to argue homosexuality is a sin? It shouldn't exist. I said, you know, when we first started, when the gay and lesbian movement first started, and I just like became part of it in college and high school, and law school, that was everybody's view. That was like the dominant view. And we didn't try and censor it or suppress it. We understood that you go out and you search for it. You talk to people and you say, okay, you have these ideas about about what it means to be gay, about homosexuality,

and you change their mind through persuasion. You can't force them to change your mind, but you have to go in and engage them and find them. And only for that reason is there now things like gay marriage, which was completely unthinkable back then. Nobody even thought that was possible. And you see this change in public opinion. If you're only willing to sit in your kind of, you know, bubble and talk to people who already agree with you and let people yell at you when you go to other places where you're not supposed to platform people or have dialogue, you may build a big audience, you may make a lot of money in media, you may be popular among a certain faction, but you're not going to have any effect. Only, I mean, what's the alternative

to changing people's mind, you know, violence, civil war? There is, censorship, forced tyranny, but other than that, those extreme measured, this kind of dialogue is the only thing that that matters. And a lot of us say that, and it's so gratifying to see those changes when they happen. Absolutely. Well, we got to take a quick break. But when we come back, I do want to get into that story about the Apache helicopter that was downed, what the Iranians are saying about it, what the U.S. is saying about it and more. So stick around. We'll be right back. What's up everyone? Welcome to our first social break of the day. I'm gonna go ahead and read some of our member comments and super chat starting with Michael Napens. Anna is sitting in the main seat in the studio. I like that. I'm sitting in my usual seat, but I hear what you're saying. Good to see you or hear from you. Michael as always. Don't Bork says Israel has sold over 19 billion in international war bonds since 23, 29 billion in bank underwriting alone from Goldman, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan since 23 follow the money.

Well, war profiteering is certainly something that we're aware of. And unfortunately, aside from the Israeli lobby, you also have defense contractors who profit handsomely off of conflicts in the Middle East. And I have no doubt that they've engaged in the lobbying necessary to get Trump to sign on to what we're doing right now. And it's not just, again, the Trump administration. We experienced similar behavior under Biden's leadership. And even though it was increasingly obvious that it was going to cost the Democrats the election,

neither Joe Biden nor Kamala Harris were willing to pivot off of the devastating U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, and it cost them politically. Who's a boomer in our Twitch sub says this is going to keep up till he's out of office, meaning Donald Trump. I think you're right about that sadly. All right, we got to get back to the show. Let's do it. Back to TYT, Anna Kasparian and Glenn Greenwald with you.

Glenn referenced the helicopter, Apache helicopter that was downed in the near the Strait of Hormuz. And I want to elaborate on that story a little more just so you guys have an understanding of what's going on and what Trump is likely going to use to justify the latest strikes against Iran. So without further ado, let's get into it. U.S. Central Command says that an Army Apache attack helicopter was lost at sea and crashed while off. the coast of Oman. It was on patrol as part of the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, enforcing a blockade on Iran, preventing ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports. Earlier today, President Trump vowed to retaliate against the IRGC following that alleged Iranian attack on a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hrabuz.

Now the AH-64 Apache helicopter was downed, although we don't know if it was a mechanical error, if there was a mistake by the Iranians, or if it was an intentional strike. Two crew members were luckily rescued and Trump claims that there were no injuries, although there is some reporting that conflicts with what Trump says about no injuries. The incident was first reported by the New York Times, which said that an army Apache helicopter gunship went down in unclear circumstances. quite honest with you at this very moment, I think the circumstances remain pretty unclear. Now the United States, though, is saying that Iran was behind the attack, and that could be

the justification the Trump administration intends to use to justify the latest strikes against Iran, although that story is developing as we speak. Iran denies this, however. They say that the attack was not carried out by them. And then later, Abbasarokshi, who's the foreign the minister of Iran said that Iran did not intentionally target the army helicopter. Now, the aircraft went down Monday at about 7.30 p.m. Eastern time and was rescued about two hours later, U.S. Central Command said in a statement today, the crew members of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter were in stable condition and the details of the incident are under investigation. Now the way the two aviators were rescued kind of gives you a sense of just how much warfare is changing,

especially when it comes to using unmanned equipment. And this is definitely an example of that. So take a quick look. For the first time ever, there was what's known as an unmanned surface vessel. Basically what you and I might call a drone boat or an unmanned boat that actually located these two soldiers and was actually able to save them or rescue them out of the water. the boat then moved them to another location. Again, unmanned, took them to another location where they were picked up by a helicopter. They're now both receiving medical treatment, a U.S. official telling us that while they both have some injuries,

they're not considered life-threatening or that serious. BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, has everything you need for 2026 Stanley Cup playoff action. Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets every game during the quest for the cup. Create same game parley's, take player props, and place futures on the 2026 Stanley Cup champion. Check out BetMGM original bets. Hockey markets you can't find anywhere else. And it's not just about what you can do on game day. The BetMGM app has improved its first line this season to include instant withdrawals.

Download the BetMGM app and enjoy the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs like never before. Betmgmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1866-531-260 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. So the concerning part about this story is the fact that initially Trump said one thing, then he said something entirely different, and then the U.S. carried out strikes against E.R.

Initially, he said that the United States must of necessity respond to this attack. But then later in a phone conversation with journalists over at the Wall Street Journal, he said something entirely different. So this is what they write. In a phone call with the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Trump said the blockade was making Iran very poor and said he would keep it in place as long as necessary. He sought to play down the helicopter incident saying it wasn't a big deal and stressing that the pilot was fine.

Okay, so there were two crew members, they were rescued. It does appear that they're fine. And then immediately after that, the US carries out strikes against Iran. So it's really hard, Glenn, to believe anything that comes out of this man's mouth. And it makes it really appear as though there is no disagreement between Trump and Netanyahu, that they're both playing us, that they're both creating this illusion of disagreement in order to carry out like surprise attacks against Iran. Iran, right? Because how do you go from, ah, the attack wasn't a big deal to now striking Iran? I don't understand.

You know, the problem is exactly what you said, which is that every country, every government lies about war. It's just a weapon of war. But Trump is on a completely different level. And there's still so much mystery and secrecy and doubt surrounding those two pilots that Iran that were shot down by Iran over Iranian territory, one of whom was supposedly immediately rescued, the other of whom was rescued two days later in a very disastrous operation for the United States where they lost a lot of military hardware, including planes and helicopters and the like. We'd never seen those soldiers, which you know they would trot out if they were fine and you would personalize them and talk about them and turn them into heroes to connect to them the way that the United States has done before with false campaigns. They've kind of disappeared. I know a lot of people inside the government who insist that we're running out of weapons, that the Iranians have blame more weapons than Trump says that we've, the casualties throughout

that first week and into the war have been far worse than the U.S. government has said. I mean, people kill, but I mean the severity of injuries and the number of injuries to U.S. soldiers. So it is so difficult to ascertain what's going on when you have a government and a president who just will outre lied to you sometimes in the course of, you know, an hour, like you just demonstrate. My belief is that Trump does not want a restarting of this war because he understands for all the reasons that you said why it would be so damaging to him to his legacy, which I think he cares a lot about, to his political estate. If the Democrats take over the House and Senate, he'll probably be impeached. The end of his presidency is basically upon us. He won't get anything done. So I do think he cares about that. But at the same time, if the Iranians shoot down a helicopter, you're going to have the Pentagon saying, what do you mean? You're just going to let Iran shoot at our guys and do nothing. So I think hopefully it's kind of like a pinprick, symbolic retaliation, just he did. And it doesn't really risk escalation that he did it in cooperation with the Iranians. But the one they want to say on is like, isn't it amazing?

We're acting like the Iranians engaged in some sort of unprovoked aggression against our precious helicopters when we're there because we're blockading their country and won't allow ships to come in or out that is the lifeblood of their economy. Think about what we would do to a country if they tried to blockade our ports and our cities and our boats and our ships and our trade. Which is an active war. Exactly. Of course, that's an active war. It's a classic active war.

Exactly. And honestly, considering the fact that the blockade has been in place, the U.S. blockade has been in place for as long as it's been in place, it's actually shocking how much restraint we've seen from Iran because I think Iran does want an end to the war. I don't think they enjoy what's going on right now. They wanted to prevent it to begin with, which is why they've, they've, showed a tremendous amount of restraint toward the United States after multiple attacks, after the 12-day war that took place last summer.

Calling the US and letting Donald Trump know, this is where we intend to strike, make sure you evacuate these bases, so none of your troops get harmed. That is an amazing level of restraint that you can't really expect from the United States and certainly not from the Israelis, who made a habit of literally assassinating nuclear scientists in Iran and no one made a peep about it. No one thought that was unusual. I remember having a conversation about that on a show called her take, which I used to host with Gillian Michaels. And Gillian Michaels brought that up. The fact that Israel assassinates nuclear scientists in Iran as if it's a good thing, as if it's totally normal to do that. And it's like, would you be

okay with our nuclear scientists getting assassinated by a foreign country? Why are we okay with this? Why are we accepting it? This is terrible and could spark a bigger war. Luckily that didn't spark a war because again, Iran showed a tremendous amount of restraint. And so I actually am a little more willing to believe that if there was a strike by Iran against this helicopter, it was likely an accident. Although you don't know for sure. They're denying it. The US says, no, it was definitely Iran.

They definitely did it intentionally. And US Central Command put out this statement. CENTCOM forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. Eastern time today at the commander in chief's direction in response to yesterday's downing of a US Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression. So to your point, Glenn, it does appear that this is gonna be a limited, you know, these are limited strikes. Hopefully it doesn't, you know, expand into a larger war. Yeah, first of all, moment of piece for her take, RAP.

I really love that show and I'm sorry that it blew up. I don't know how you withstood Jillian Michaels for as long as you did. So congratulations on that, but I can imagine or I can barely imagine. Just to this point that you made, I think it's so critical and it, you know, following war propaganda for as long as I have, sometimes it actually does shock me, like the fact that the American government can tell its citizens in the world that we're going to war to free the oppressed people of the planet, like we're going to be Venezuela and Cuba to free them are going to save the Iranian people and bring them democracy,

when our closest allies, including right this moment in this very war, are the most savage tyrannies on the planet, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, the Qataris, the Bahrainis, the Jordanians. We love tyranny, and yet we can say with the straight face that we're going to war to free people, and a lot of people will start just nodding. But the other part of it is think how long we've been told that the regime in Iran is this apocalyptic and, you know, end times doomsday cult that they crave death. because they believe they'll be rewarded in the afterlife.

They love death more than they love life. They want to die. And yet you compare Iranian actions. Like you can go back even, you know, right after October 7th in 2024, when the Israelis bombed the Iranian consulate in Syria and killed people on their soil who have been invited to the inauguration of their president, acts of war for sure. Iranians, when they sent missiles to Israel, which they felt obligated to do, sent these like slow, older model missiles that they knew were going to be intercepted,

told the United States that were going to do it, did the same thing, as you said, when the Iranians felt obligated to retaliate against U.S. bases and told them to evacuate the bases, told them exactly where they were striking. Is this the kind of behavior of an apocalyptic religious fanatic cult that actually wants to die and craves the destruction? To be absolutely honest, if Iran had a nuclear weapon and John Mearsheimer has made this point a lot, I do think the world would be safer because the Israelis would then be actually constrained and deterred. I think the most dangerous situation is for the Israelis and them alone in that region to have a nuclear weapon. Because if you want to talk about an apocalyptic, limitless cult that's filled with religious

and ideological fanatics, you're talking about the Israeli government, not the Iranian government. And look at how our propaganda leads people to believe the exact opposite of the obvious truth. I mean, you make such a devastating point here. And you know, you're you're citing the Democratic, I'm sorry, the nuclear peace theory, which was popularized by Kenneth Waltz, one of my favorite political scientists along with Mirschimer. But, you know, I totally agree with you. I think that, you know, much as we saw with North Korea after they obtained nuclear weapons, do we have any conversations about attacking North Korea?

No, of course not. We're not going to go to war with North Korea. Would we ever go to war with Pakistan? They have nuclear weapons, of course not. There are two countries who are problematic given their nuclear arsenal and their past behavior. One of them is the only country that's ever used nuclear weapons. That's us, the United States of America.

And then you have Israel, which has a clandestine nuclear program. They are not part of the nonproliferation treaty. And yet, and by the way, on multiple occasions, you have various figures within Israel threatening to use nuclear weapons, the notorious traitor to the United States, Jonathan Pollard, being one of them. And so it's amazing to me that the two countries who have pretty dark history with nuclear weapons are the ones going around the Middle East, you know, policing who can and cannot have any nuclear weapons to begin with.

So that's a really, really great point. But we do have to take one more break. Let's do that. And when we come back, I actually wanted to talk to you a little bit, Glenn, about what happened to Jenk and Hassan Piker in the UK, because it turns out that the internal politics in the UK and how the Labor Party has been hijacked by Israeli interests plays a pretty big role. here. We'll be right back. Jonathan Borsjani in our member section says, Casparian Greenwald, 2028, they bring the receipts.

I would not want to be in the White House. I don't know about you, Glenn, but it's just, it doesn't seem fun. Let's just put it that way. I think I'm more effective doing what I do now. All right, let's go to Mark Francis. My two former friends told me I was a fool for voting for Kamal? I mean, I think you mean Kamala? Because she was the warlike candidate and Trump was for peace. I've got news for you, neither one of them were for peace. I don't think Kamala Harris. Well, I don't know if Kamala Harris would have started a war against Iran, you'll never be able to know. But her unwillingness to differentiate herself from Biden, especially in regard to foreign policy and what was going down in Gaza, was a huge red flag. And I don't believe for a second that

she was working tirelessly to secure a C-Steel for Gaza. I just, that statement from AOC during the Democratic convention was shameful to say the least. All right, let's go to some more comments here. We've got Bob's who writes in and says both sides work for corporations who want to control citizens. You know, also one thing that I noticed in Megan Kelly's show today, she was actually railing against corporations and how Americans are struggling and having to pay for the bare necessities on credit cards, which I again would have never expected for Megan Kelly a few years ago. So people do have the capacity to change. Just keep that in mind. Let's go to our member section

where David, David just says Anna 2028. Thank you, it's very sweet. That's not going to happen. And we got to get back to the show. Let's do it. Greenwald with you. If you aren't already, please subscribe to Glenn's substack and make sure you're also subscribed to system update over on YouTube. Glenn, is there anything else I should plug because you're doing a lot of work. So I don't want to miss anything. No, no, that's funny. That's funny of plugging. Thank you. Perfect. Well, I'm glad you're here because I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what transpired in the UK. You know, Jank Ugar and Hassan Piker were supposed to be in the UK for multiple events, but they were both invited by the Oxford Union

in order to speak about what's transpiring in the Middle East. And then they both found out that they've been banned from the UK. Well, now we have a little more clarity about what happened. Take a look. This is unbelievable. I've been banned from the United Kingdom. It turns out the British government went out of their way to ban me from the country. So gee, I wonder why. I wonder why. But hey, don't say anything. They're allowed to ban you. You're not allowed to say anything about it. This is a real seismic shift that is taking place in Western democracies right now. We are killing the most redeemable aspects, the most redeemable fundamentals of Western liberal democracies at the behest of Israel. Well, luckily we have actual journalists working for DropSight News who looked into this to see

whether pro-Israel forces were involved in getting Jank Uyghur and Hassan Piker banned from the UK. And lo and behold, they were able to confirm it. British Prime Minister Kirstarmer, who is a member of the Labor Party, is supposed to be, you know, a left-leaning politician within a left-leaning group. But an investigation by Dropsite News has revealed that labor has been hijacked by a think tank that's called Labor Together. It was created back in 2015. Now, Labor Together has some very significant goals, objectives, and they seem to be effective in accomplishing them. One of the main reasons why Starmers government functions as a punitive pro-Israel regime is because of how this think tank has essentially.

potentially supported, funded, and bolstered the Labor Party in recent years. Its primary function as described by DropSight News was to steer the Labor Party away from Jeremy Corbin's politics and toward more neoliberal policy, which has been incredibly destructive for both the UK and the United States. And there are a number of figures involved, including Sir Trevor Chin. He is a donor to labor together and served as one of the organization's board members. But his primary cause is Israel in 2013. He literally stated the following, I spent my entire life working for Israel.

Chin has worked tirelessly to, it's amazing, right? They just say it out loud, Glenn. They say it, they admit it. It's better that way. It is, it is. But then when you just draw attention to it, people accuse you of being anti-Semite. It's amazing. Exactly.

Yeah. So there's other figures involved in this, but it gives you a better understanding of what has happened to the Labor Party, which to be quite honest, their treatment of Corbyn was despicable to begin with. And ever since then, you have this think tank pushing the Labor Party even further away from Jeremy Corbyn's politics. So I wanted to get your thoughts on all of this, because you see this happening in the U.S., in the UK, in the media. Media is getting snatched up by, you know, Zionist forces. What do you make of all of this? Yeah, I think this is a really important point.

I think finally people understand the influence of the U.S. lobby, the Israel lobby in the U.S., which is the well-financed for a lot of reasons. More Jews in the U.S. than any other country except Israel, as well as the fact that the U.S. is the most important country to Israel, since we pay for their wars and their military. But there's very powerful Israel lobbies in most countries throughout the democratic world. I covered what happened to Jeremy Corbyn in real time because I actually really admire Jeremy Corbyn. Don't agree with him on everything, but I admired him. I've admired him for a long time. when he took over the Labor Party, it's hard to express what the analog would be.

It's not really even if as if Bernie Sanders took over the Democratic Party and became the nominee, which he almost did. And you see what the establishment did there. They cheated in the 2016 race. Jeremy Corby is a much more radical figure, much more anti-establishment, much more populist, much more leftist, and definitely much more vocal about his opposition to Israeli aggression and the atrocities they've committed long before October 7th. And when he won the leadership race in the Labor Party, and they tried to oust him for years. And he stayed until 2019.

And that race, though, was depicted as a landslide against him. He actually came very close to being the British Prime Minister. That is when they panicked. They completely overhauled the Labor Party with money, with rule changes. They really just hit the panic button. Huge amounts of money pouring into Labor Party to turn it into this utterly pro-Israel Zionist party. And that was what led to things like the disaster of Keir Stramer appointing Peter Mandelson as U.S. as U.K. ambassador to the U.S. But what they did to Jeremy Corbin, which was took this man who, whether you agree with them or not, has been, I mean, just admired for his personal conduct, his treatment of people over the many decades, an anti-racist activist, and turned him into an anti-Semite, the most cynical, disgustingly false smear campaign I've ever seen.

And the labor party that now runs the UK is the byproduct of what happened there, which is flooded with Zionist money, with pro-Israel money. And that, of course, is what led to the UK, the labor left government. This is the worker party, the labor party, banning Jenkins and Hassan obviously due to their advocacy in opposition to Israel. Why just the UK is the place where the Magna Carter was founded, one of the homes of the Enlightenment, that's like where free speech emerged from. And now you see, as exactly Hassan said in that clip, I've never seen threats to free speech, which has been the primary cause of mine for decades as a lawyer and journalist, being as threatened. It's being threatened now, not just in the U.S., throughout Europe, here in Brazil, throughout the democratic world,

laws and all kinds of institutional changes being enacted to destroy free speech in service of this foreign country. It is incredibly alarming and it's hard to overstate how severe it is. It's incredibly severe. And so, I mean, Hassan Piker and Jank Yuga are banned from the UK. They're as if they're like terrorists themselves. Like it's insane to me. And the fact that we have no clarity on whether this is ever going to be reversed is just crazy. Especially since we're, look, Glenn, this is a thing that enrages me to no end.

And I don't know how other Americans are able to live with it. we are being attacked by a country, a foreign country and its lobbyists, when we the American people are forced to bankroll that foreign country's wars. We, the American people, are forced to provide military aid to that foreign country that's getting Americans banned from the UK, that's getting Americans smeared as anti-Semites, when in reality they have a problem with the endless bloodshed that's going on in the Middle East, the endless attempts at expanding Israel's borders, which of course ends up killing, you know, innocent civilians and just leads to nonstop conflict in the Middle East that we get

dragged into. The fact that we are paying for it and at the same time being victimized by the very government that we're forced to fund in order for them to do all this stuff in the Middle East is infuriating. It's infuriating. When you see images of IDF soldiers writing Jank Uger's name on a missile that they're about to drop onto the heads of children in Gaza, how does that not infuriate? You have a little bit of respect Israelis. Jank Uger's hard-earned money partly paid for those weapons. But it's like the sense of entitlement, Glenn, that drives me crazy. And then you move on over to the United States and what's currently happening with our media. I want to read you a headline today, I noticed that you also posted about it on X.

This is from the California Post, CBS News Boss, Barry Weiss, poised to oversee CNN editorial operations. I mean, because she's been such a success over at CBS, their viewership has plummeted under her leadership. I guess they're, you know, motivated to do the same thing to CNN, not that their numbers are necessarily that impressive. But all of this is happening and anyone who calls it out, like Jake. Ugar and Hassan Piker do gets labeled an anti-Semite.

If you go out of your way to buy up legacy media in order to control it with a pro-Zionist message, then how are you gonna argue that Zionists don't control our media? They do. But if you say it- They do, I mean- Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, then you're an anti-Semitic trope. I think the most underappreciated story of the last two years was, you know, five years ago, Trump said we should ban TikTok because of China and nobody cared.

They were nowhere near enough votes to ban TikTok. Nobody got near banning TikTok because of China. No one took that seriously. After October 7, they see young Americans going out and protesting Israel. They think that it's because they're seeing so many videos of what the Israelis are doing in Gaza and people talking against Israel freely on TikTok. And the ADL says you have to ban TikTok and within six months, you have both parties in Congress coming together with the Biden administration to ban TikTok or force its

sale into the hands of somebody who the ADL finds more comfortable. And lo and behold, it ends up in the hands of Larry Ellison and a consortium led by him, filled with people who have devoted their lives to Israel. He's the largest single donor to the IDF. So he controls TikTok. They put an IDF soldier, an American woman who went to Israel and joined the IDF in charge of censorship. You now have the Ellison, the same Ellison, buying up CBS, buying CNN, buying Paramount and Warner Brothers, controlling our entertainment. They don't care about making money. Larry Allison is the second richest man on the planet. They care about turning these influential media outlets into outlets for Israeli propaganda. And most importantly, not allowing dissent or criticism of Israel to be banned.

Our liberties are being threatened as Americans, our most fundamental ones that were taught to cherish from childhood in service of this foreign country. It is infuriating beyond belief. It is infuriating beyond belief. And the very people who have built their entire media career on the notion of protecting free speech, people like Ben Shapiro, are now celebrating. Or Barry Weiss or Barry Weiss are now celebrating Hassan Piker and Jank Uyghur being banned from the UK. They're so dangerous. And in fact, Ben Shapiro on now multiple occasions has lied and said that Hassan and Jank both want to see as many Jews slaughtered as possible in the Middle East. It's disgusting.

It's absolutely disgusting. But if you are on the side of the Zionists and you get offended by anyone who says that our media is controlled by Zionists, How are you going to argue that when increasingly legacy media is getting bought by Zionist interests like the Ellison's and putting someone like Barry Weiss, you know, in charge of editorial decisions? And how do you do that at both CBS and CNN at the same time? It's just absolutely absurd. All right, well, this hour flew by Glenn and I hate it because I want you to stay on and

talk with me about more of these stories. But we got to do that. I'm happy to come on anytime. Thank you for coming on. Yeah, definitely. Thanks for having me. It. Have a good one. All right, Donna, have a good evening. All right, everybody, we have to take one more break. When we come back, Ken Klippenstein will be joining us to talk about a pretty explosive piece that he just published in Substack.

It has to do with U.S. troops being deployed to Israel, which we didn't know about until that story was actually leaked to him. He'll tell us why they were deployed to Israel, what they're up to there, and more when we return. BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, has everything you need for 2026 Stanley Cup playoff action. Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets every game during the quest for the cup. Create same game parlays, take player props, and place futures on the 26 Stanley Cup champion. Check out BetMGM original bets.

Hockey markets you can't find anywhere else. And it's not just about what you can do on game day. The BetMGM app has improved its first line. this season to include instant withdrawals. Download the BetMGM app and enjoy the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs like never before.

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to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hey, Andrew, what's up? Hey, Jack, 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. Oh, I see it. You crazy. No, wait, I don't see it. Oh, yeah, I do see it. Here we go. I actually did not realize that you'd be searching in real time, but I love it. How much do people actually normally say? Yeah, the average American is going to save between $500 and $1,000 a year on Noble. 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 phone, yeah.

What the fuck? 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. This in my shoes.

Hi, I'm Brett Erlich with Breaking News with Bruder. This is breaking news with Brett Erlich. Hi, Brett Erlick here. According to EPA head Scott Pruitt, climate change is not happening. He cited a meme on Facebook he saw. When pressed to back up this source, he said it must be accurate

because the watermark said it was made by a scientist. So your move, truth. At TYT, our mission is to boldly pursue truth, challenge the establishment, and drive positive change. At a time when corporate key, capture of our media, our government, and our politics is nearly absolute. Everyday working people need a champion to fight for them and a pushback against the

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We can do this together and serve our audience. And yes, have fun doing it. You're much needed. TYT, TYT, TYT. The place is like 95% TYT on. Message out. The people who support us on the internet, that's what gives us strength. That's what allows anyone who was in there who was undecided to think, one side seems

to be winning, they seem to have a bigger army. It might be a reason for that. So thank you guys. Welcome back to TYT. I'm your host Anna Kasparian, and guess what? We've got another banger from wonderful journalist and friend of the show Ken Clippenstein. It's titled exclusive US secretly deployed paratroopers to Israel. Quick reaction force specializes in forced entry.

In it, Ken writes that when the Pentagon announced that the 82nd Airborne was deploying to the Middle East in March, it concealed a key detail. Some of the paratroopers were headed to Israel. Ken's reporting is based on an army deployment order that was actually leaked to him, much to the chagrin of that Will Chamberlain guy, whoever he is and wherever he came from. And the 82nd airborne for those who are unfamiliar with it is trained specifically to parachute into hostile territory. So does that mean the Trump administration and the Pentagon have been preparing for troops on the ground in Iran? Further, Clippenstein writes that a military source involved in war planning tells me the deployment,

the deployment is tied to a new U.S. Israeli joint contingency plan completed since February for seizing Karg Island and carving out coastal territory inside Iran. The Pentagon has never acknowledged it. In public, it has said only that the 82nd was bound for Centcom, the military's term for U.S. Central Command, the combatant command responsible for the entire Middle East. The press echoed the vague terminology suggesting the unit was headed to existing U.S. bases in Kuwait or Qatar. So what's really going on here? What do we make of this story? Luckily, we have Ken Klippenstein joining us right now to answer some questions. Glenn, welcome to the show.

Glenn, sorry. Ken, welcome to the show. Hey guys, great to be back. So I have so many questions about this, Ken. And we will get to Will Chamberlain in just a second because he's like threatening you over this report. But first, let's get to the actual substance. So why is this joint mission with Israel shrouded in secrecy? Because of what it's part of, which is what that war planner, who I quote in the story you just mentioned, told me, which is a contingency plan for going into Iran, like within

their territory, seizing nuclear material and also seizing Karg Island, which controls a large portion of Iran's oil infrastructure. And so the question is, as people have, people asked a response to the story, okay, why would they put them in Israel it's so far away? Why not put it somewhere closer? Because Israel is the only country that the US can assume will be okay with launching an attack from. If they did it from Qatar, if they did it from the UAE, if they did it from any, virtually

any other country in the region, they wouldn't tolerate it because Iran would respond and they would respond with a lot of force. So Israel is the only country that they could launch the planes from where they would carry out, you know, a raid style targeted operation of that sort. And like I said, there's been no debate about this because the Pentagon has just said, oh, we're sending them to the Middle East, like broadly. No specifics. I know that part asked, I know that there are major outlets that know that there are people going to Israel.

They know where they're going, but they play along with the Pentagon. game of not being specific, they would probably say for operational security, but I think so that they stay in the good graces of the Pentagon. And that was really my motive for writing the story. Well, yes, I agree with you on why legacy media operates the way they operate. It's also increasingly bought up and controlled by pro-Zionist, pro-Israel interests. I mean, just today, you know, the California Post published a article about how Barry Weiss is poised to oversee CNN editorial operations. So I don't have much faith that the editorial leadership of Barry Weiss is conducive to accurate reporting about what our troops are doing on the ground in Israel. But what I also find

kind of interesting is this reporting reminds me of what happened with our soldiers in Iran not too long ago, where we lost a ton of military aircraft. Our troops had to be saved. from within Iran, there's still no clarity about, first of all, who those troops were, who were saved, no clarity about why they were in Iranian territory to begin with, what were they doing? And, you know, Iran has put out some, not Iran, but, you know, the Lego cartoons that come out. One of them specifically noted that that operation was about retrieving Iran's enriched uranium, which really makes me wonder, Ken, what your thoughts are about, retrieving enriched uranium because that's always been a cover story to justify war against Iran.

I don't think Israel has ever been genuinely concerned about Iran building nuclear weapons. And so when you see our troops risking their lives to potentially retrieve enriched uranium that the Israelis aren't even really concerned about, it makes me wonder if the Trump administration has been duped into thinking this is a serious issue and they must retrieve the enriched uranium. And what's your read on that? Well, it's a complicated situation because the U.S. and Israel's interests diverge in key ways. You know, Israel has regional interests, questions of, you know, influence that they want to exercise over the region. The U.S. has much narrower ones. If you're looking at nonproliferation, that's a much narrower thing.

And I think a lot of the coverage on this has been kind of misleading because the U.S. can't do a large-scale war, at least not in the near term, because that would just be such a massive. I mean, Iran is a huge country that is nothing like some of the other countries in the region in which we've intervened. And so what that means is that they would have to do it more like the bin Laden raid in Pakistan, a more targeted operation, which carries all sorts of risks with it. But it just looks different than the traditional massive ground invasion that you saw, for instance, in neighboring Iraq. And so a lot of the arguments that people make for why this can't escalate because, you know,

US simply can't absorb the political cost that you saw politicians have to deal with in Iraq, it's a completely different situation in Iran. It would be something in the order, probably hundreds of troops, these two different locations. From Trump's point of view, not being to take over the entirety of the Iranian state, but to secure some kind of a win so that in the negotiations would seem to not be going great when those negotiations ultimately either collapse or the U.S. has to to offer some concessions that it doesn't want to. He can say, oh, look, well, we got the nuclear fissile material and we took over the oil infrastructure.

So I have a win. And so I think at least in the near term, that's what we're looking at. And again, it's something that's not being debated. At all, because people don't know about it. Right. Yeah, exactly. So talk to me about the May 5th briefing that you write about with Secretary of Defense Pete Pete Heggseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Dan Cain, they discussed Project Freedom of some sort of defensive operation to protect commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. How does that press briefing tie into your story? Yeah, so this is like an object lesson in how good the Pentagon. They're so good at manipulating the press because they have an information advantage, which is true, it's hard to find things out. But they take advantage of that by doing this kind of middle ground where they say, oh, we briefed you guys on this.

So in this case, they said, we're sending the 80 second air. This was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Kane, he said, we're sending the 82nd airborne into CENTCOM, which just means the Middle East. No more specificity. But then the Pentagon can go to the press and say, hey, we told you guys about this. And you've seen some people reacting like this on social media saying, oh, Ken's reporting, they sent them to Israel. They basically already told us.

They said that they were sending in the Middle East. Well, there's the Middle East and then there's Israel. And there's a big difference between those because like I was saying earlier, Israel is the only country that would allow us to launch an attack of the sort that we're talking about. None of the Gulf Arab countries, maybe Kuwait, I doubt it, but none of the Gulf Arab countries would tolerate something like that because they would get punched back very hard by the Iranians. And that's why it's important to have these details, which the Pentagon doesn't offer in these press conferences. And the media doesn't ask. I know some of these outlets know these details, but they don't go out of line by saying it. And you mentioned Will Chamberlain. That's what happens when you get specific.

People say, why are you talking about troop movements? You're imperiling people. Completely ridiculous. Nothing is going to happen to the 80 second, the airborne because I wrote this story. But that's how they stay in line. Is this fear that they're going to get yelled at and that they'll be taken off the shortlist of the Pentagon? Well, then they should resign.

They're not they're not interested in being journalists. Like if you're going to be controlled by the very people that you're supposed to hold accountable, that you're supposed to check in a democratic system, just sit down. Go find something else to do. Go literally be a court stenographer if that's what you want to do. But let's get to that dork Will Chamberlain, who I had never heard of once in my life until like a week ago. And now he's all over the place. It's like they roll like new figures out to be like attack dogs and they fail every single time.

But let me let me give you this exchange. So you know, Ken Clippenstein decides he's gonna promote his work. So he posts about his piece over on X and Will Chamberlain responds with, Tickled to hear you say that, hope you're ready to give up your source or be jailed for contempt. Wow, sounds like someone who really believes in Western values and freedom of expression and freedom of press. Ken responds in the way that you should expect Ken to respond. He calls him Will Chambermaid. And Chamberlain responds with, you'll have plenty of spare time to brainstorm better epithets soon enough. basically, you know, making reference to you being, I guess, imprisoned for doing journalism,

you know, the terrible, you know, violation of actual journalism. So are you worried at all about these threats, Ken? No, I don't worry about this stuff at all. If I worry about anyone, I worry about sources, because they can be, you know, messed with, with internal investigations and things like that. But in this case, I'm not worried about that either for reasons I can't go into. But this is why this is part of why media doesn't report with the level of specificity that I was just criticizing before because you get slimed like this. You get treated like you're putting the troops in arms away, which is certainly in this case absolutely not true.

I mean, the other thing is the Iranians know this. The Iranians know this. The U.S. government knows this. I'm sure a lot of the Gulf Arab countries know this because they have their own intelligence. The people that are left out in the dark is the public. They're basically the only party that doesn't know this. And it's a real shame that that's the state of affairs that, that, you know, prevails. And that nobody, nobody seems to have any issue with it in the press in terms of trying to push back on that.

Well, the press protects power. And I should say legacy media specifically, right? Like, I think that they are in the position of either cheerleading or providing cover for what's going on right now. And anyone who steps out of line is any outlet that steps out of line ends up. being in the crosshairs of the Ellison's. And so if you don't want Barry Weiss controlling your editorial decisions, then you better play ball with what the US and the Israeli government wants. And in this case, it would be to avoid reporting this story, which is great for you because

you get to report it and you get the credit for it. One other thing I wanted to bring up is, you know, there's this ongoing and very annoying debate and I say annoying because every every once in a while I even fall for it and it happened recently where people like Barack Ravid and the broader media will put out stories about, oh, there was a very contentious phone conversation between Netanyahu and Trump. Oh, they disagree. They were fighting. Trump called him a piece of crap, not literally, but I'm paraphrasing, you know, basically

told him I hate, everyone hates you, you're crazy, you're effing crazy. Whatever. I don't believe any of it. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and say I was wrong in believing the whole narrative about Trump having a super harsh conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu. Because I think it's all kabuki theater when in reality behind the scenes, Israel and the United States are 100% working together. They are in cahoots, and we have deployed troops in Israel to potentially parachute into Iran to retrieve enriched uranium, risking their lives on behalf of Israel's BS cover story involving nuclear weapons that they're allegedly so afraid of, but don't even exist.

So it's just, what do you make of it? Am I being too harsh? Do you think that there are significant disagreements between Trump and Netanyahu, or is it all kabuki theater? Well, there are broadly two different types of stories I learned very early on when I started doing this. One is the story that gets given to you, that the White House or the executive branch agencies like the State Department, or the Pentagon, the ones that they want out. The second kind of story is the one that they don't plant and you have to do really hard work and go find and, you know, is an unauthorized story.

It's not one that someone signed off on and wanted to be out there for public consumption. So I don't know Barack Rivitz specific stories, but that gene, that type of story, which is overwhelmingly the coverage that we get throughout this conflict, is obsessed with, you know, palace intrigue, these these leadership figures, people in the White House. It's very reflective of what the stuff that Washington is concerned with. What they don't do is go and talk to the military who's actually carrying this stuff out and who I talk to for this story. And I think give you a much different picture of what's taking place. And the reason you don't get that is because it's not designed for public consumption.

You've got to really, you know, I worked for the young Turks previously. I've been doing this for what, like a decade now. You've to spend a lot of time learning the different parts of the agencies, who works where, who's going to have eyes on what. And so it is hard work, but if you do it, you can actually find out what's going on instead of this, like you're saying, theater of he's mad and they're mad, or are they not mad, now they're not mad. And this theater that creates the impression that journalism is happening and that something is being covered, that the, you know, fit the state is doing what it's supposed to do.

But when you actually squint and look at the details, you realize, wait, there's nothing here. I didn't learn anything. This doesn't tell me anything. Yeah, you're absolutely right. In fact, real journalists would question why someone in a position of power is leaking something to them. Because you don't do that unless you have an agenda, right? And so do you want to be a pawn?

Do you want to be someone who's just used as a tool to carry out the agenda of government officials or people in positions of power? Do you want to actually hold power accountable, which is what journalism is supposed to do? And luckily, you do that on a regular basis, Ken, which is why this, you know, this information information gets leaked to you. I would just say for any leakers within the Pentagon or the government, wherever they are in the Trump administration, don't even waste your time attempting to leak to legacy media journalists. Go straight to Ken. He'll publish it.

I would say that too. I would absolutely say that too. I'm a big fan of leakers. So signals in my Twitter bio, reach out. Love it. All right, everyone. And make sure you follow and subscribe to Ken Clippenstein's work over at Substack. He does excellent work. And I'm honored to have you on the show as usual. Thank you, Ken. Thank you, Anna. Great to see you again. Good to see you too. All right, everybody. We're going to take a brief break and I'm going to read some of your comments, questions, concerns

during the social break. And then when we return, I actually want to go back and cover a story we didn't get to in the first hour involving J.D. Vance and his reaction to two separate intelligence reports indicating that the Israelis are intensifying their spying on high-level U.S. officials. We'll be right back. BetMGM, an official sports betting partner of the National Hockey League, has everything you need for 2026 Stanley Cup playoff action. Hockey fans in Canada can place live bets every game during the quest for the cup.

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I'm not seeing any superchats, guys. I don't know if there aren't any. If there aren't, that's fine. But I just want to double check on that. Let's go to our Twitch subs where we have Bradshaw crew of one. Airstrikes targeting Iran are ongoing and targets include air defense and radar installations. Great. So not targeted, not limited in scope based on what I'm reading here.

Unfortunately, this is all developing while I'm on air. And I wish I could give you guys up to date information. I'll do my best. Anyway, let's go to Live 18 white girl who says, I'm more confident in eating a Taco Bell buffet without a nearby toilet than anything that comes out of stupid face. I, first of all, how dare you smirch the good name of Taco Bell? I have never gotten sick eating Taco Bell, but I totally agree with the sentiment here. A. J. Nestor says Trump is making a fortune off the war. You're right about that. And not only the war, the Trump family in a story that we'll either cover today or tomorrow, is just engaging in one corrupt deal after another, after another. Don Jr. is like working with a super wealthy family in India that had previously been sanctioned by Trump. And would you look at that if you make an investment in this company, maybe we lift those sanctions? I mean, that's what the Trump, M.O. is, it's absolutely corrupt and disgusting. Anyway, let's get back to the show. Back to the show.

I want to read a quick comment from Box because I think he makes an important point. And honestly, I've kind of failed in emphasizing this, so I want to do it right now. As it pertains to the censorious environment in the UK, I do want to be clear that this has affected people across the political spectrum. It isn't just people who have been defending the Palestinians or speaking out against Israel. Box writes the following. While it's It seems reasonable that Jank was not allowed in the UK because of Israel. It goes deeper than that. They have banned people from the left, left, right and center.

They just suck at free speech. And that is true. I mean, we've seen multiple stories develop in recent years where it's just become more and more censorious in the UK and in Europe. And to be fair, they don't have the same robust freedom of speech protections as we have here in the United States with the First Amendment. But that doesn't matter. The types of, the type of speech that's being penalized or punished in the UK is ridiculous.

I mean, when you see a group of elderly people who are peacefully holding signs defending Palestine get rounded up and thrown in jail, that's an issue. That's a big issue, right? And that's one example. There's other forms of speech, maybe even speech we disagree with. It's fine, okay? It's okay to hear speech you disagree with. The way that you fight back isn't by banning that speech, it's by engaging in more speech

and having discussions and having debates. I'm always down to debate. Debating is fun. And if you are confident in your position, then you shouldn't seek to ban other perspectives. You should seek to engage in debates with those people sharing those other perspectives and debunk it, right? Discredit it. And that's the thing.

If you're unable to defend the indefensible, then the only other option is to silence people, right? And so I've been seeing a lot of that happening. Anyway, Box, thank you for sharing that comment because you're absolutely right and I wanted to emphasize it. Okay, let's get to J.D. Vance. So how concerned are you about Israel spying on the United States and freelancing in Lebanon? Well, look, I think obviously the Israelis and I, or excuse me, the Israelis in the United

States. We have a lot of shared interest, but we also have some situations where our interest diverged. I would like to know what our shared interests are because I'm having trouble listing any of them. So far, we have been punished due to our endless, unwavering alliance with Israel. We've been dragged into wars. We have been spending trillions of dollars fighting Israel's wars in the Middle East. We have given Israel directly over $330 billion. in military aid and financial aid over the years. What are we getting out of that again? And what are our shared interests?

But putting that aside, I would venture to say that J.D. Vance seems pretty chill over the fact that our special ally Israel was caught spying on the Pentagon and multiple high-level U.S. officials. In fact, that's according to two separate intelligence reports, which I detailed on yesterday's show. But I do want to give you a quick refresher before we get to more of the vice president's statements here. Because I think his calm demeanor, the fact that he's kind of downplaying the severity of this situation, tells you everything you need to know about how our government seems

less interested about our best interest versus what Israel wants to do. So according to recent intelligence reports viewed by the New York Times, the Pentagon has increased the counterintelligence threat assessment of Israel to the highest level, to the highest level. Okay, so the reports include concerns that Israel has stepped up its efforts to eavesdrop on senior American officials, including Steve Whitkoff, President Trump's top negotiator, unfortunately, Eldridge Kobe, the Pentagon's top policy official, and one of the main deputies, Michael de Mino. Now, as I shared with you on the show yesterday, Colby is in charge of the

Pentagon's policy in the Middle East, and he happens to be one of the most prominent proponents inside the U.S. government of a restrained foreign policy, which the Israelis are not fans of. So it is unsurprising to me that they would spy on him, and he is named in the report as one of Israel's targets for this spying. Now, senior American officials said that Israel is looking for insights into Trump's strategy and shifting stances on the peace talks. Because as we all know and have all witnessed for ourselves, Israel has no interest in peace with Iran. Israel would like the war against Iran to continue at their behest, fought by American soldiers, paid for by American taxpayers in the U.S. government. Trump seems to be angling for

an exit. And every single time he says that he's getting close to a peace deal, Israel will do something that sabotages, the possibility of a peace deal, including carpet bombing Lebanon. Now, this has been going on for a while. So last year, officers from Shinbet, that's Israel's domestic intelligence agency, were discovered to have tried to plant a listening device in a secret service vehicle. And so I'll just sum it up with this, because I think this is the most important takeaway from these two separate intelligence reports. Let's go to In the New York Times notes that Israel's counterintelligence threat level is now higher than any other ally and higher than some adversarial countries. So with all that context in mind, now that you're fully informed and fully refreshed on this story, you can hear what our vice president has to say about it and judge for yourselves whether or not you think he's too nonchalant.

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We should be very concerned about it. The Israeli spying on us. Obviously, the Israelis and I, excuse me, the Israelis in the United States, we have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interest diverge. And I think where the president has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States' main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. And we've actually, thanks to what's happened over the last few months, but really over the last year and a half, we've created the space necessary where the president believes, and I think that he's right, that we can get the long-term settlement to Iran's nuclear deal. Now, Israel may like that. They may not like that, but fundamentally, we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America. So we're going to keep on pursuing it because that's what the president of the United States was elected to do. That's what we have to do in order to properly serve the American people.

What was that? Do you guys remember when there were balloons flying over U.S. territory and there were like Chinese weather balloons and there was a complete panic, especially among Republicans, by the way, and I mean Republican politicians. There's a complete panic about Chinese spying. Now, the argument would be that China is an adversary to the United States. So the thought of them spying on us is so dangerous and so terrible. And of course, there should be a panic. I know that we've all been conditioned to believe that Israel is an ally, even as they carry out military actions that go against our best interests.

Our soldiers have been killed in Iran so far. Not a single Israeli soldier has been killed in this fight against Iran so far. Hezbollah is doing a number on the IDF, certainly in southern Lebanon. We might be able to talk about that later, but nonetheless, like, what was that reaction? Any other country, by the way, any other ally of ours who got caught spying at the level that the Israelis are spying on our U.S. officials would be demonized to no end by J.D. Vance. J.D. Vance would be doing a press tour condemning, let's say France did it. Can you imagine if France did it? France is spying on the United States. You think J.D. Vance is going to have this muted response. to it on Jesse Waters' show.

And I see what Fox News is doing here, right? It's they're covering the story, so you should at least give them credit for that. But what they're really doing is covering the story in an effort to downplay the severity of Israel spying on our government. And it is true, you know, most foreign governments are looking to spy on the United States. But what made these intelligence reports stand out is the amount and level of spying that Israel does on U.S. officials, given the fact that we're talking about a foreign country that's gotten everything they've wanted, starting with the Biden administration,

certainly, and I'm only talking about the latest wars that have been going on in the Middle East. And then Trump gets elected, and he's basically Biden on steroids when it comes to giving the Israelis what they want. He's the only U.S. president who was stupid enough to start a war against Iran and the Israelis are still heavily spying. They intensified their spying on U.S. officials under Trump. And that was the reaction from J.D. Vance? Well, you know, we might have different objectives here. And so as a result, whether the Israelis like it or not, ooh, big boy, big boy, J.D. real tough. Whether the Israelis like it or not, Israel is not an ally.

An ally would not do to us what Israel has historically done to us. Whether you're talking about the USS Liberty, whether you're talking about Jonathan Pollard, US-born traitor to the United States stealing our secrets and selling them over to the Israelis. Jonathan Pollard now threatening to use nuclear weapons against the United States if Israel doesn't get everything and anything it wants, by the way, whether we're talking about, I don't know, there's so many examples. The fact that our nuclear secrets were stolen by Robert Maxwell. Later in the 1960s, our nuclear material was stolen, interestingly enough, by people related to Benjamin, not Benjamin, you know, to Ben Shapiro, right?

1969, I believe it was, when all of this enriched uranium was missing. And then then you have Israel with their clandestine nuclear program. I just, what are we doing? Why are our leaders allowed to sell us out? That's what I want to know. Why aren't more Americans furious about this? And to be honest with you, and I think this should be the motto of the show moving forward, you deserve what you tolerate.

And when it comes to the Israelis, we tolerate a lot of abuse. And when I say we, I mean our government, because I think if the American people were fully aware of how detrimental our alliance with Israel really is, they wouldn't stand for this. But, you know, anyone who speaks out against it in the media, anyone who reports about it, it becomes a target, finds themselves in the crosshairs of the Israeli lobby, or B. Ellison's, if your legacy media might get bought out. It's just, it's pathetic. That response was pathetic.

So again, I think Jesse Waters covered the story and had the vice president on to downplay this, it shouldn't be downplayed. This is serious. An ally who has received far more aid from the United States than any other foreign country shouldn't be spying on the United States, but they do it anyway. And we can always expect U.S. politicians to downplay it on national television. It's disgusting. Anyway, all right, well, let's move on.

Actually, we have one more break, right, Alyssa? Okay, let's take one more break. Let's get that out of the way so I can just do the rest of the show without worrying about that. And when we come back, I actually want to talk a little bit. Let's shift gears. Let's talk a little bit about the clown show that is Dave Rubin. Argoil Dragon writes in and says, can I just say it's nice to see a family business continue. Jared and Ivanka are under fraud investigation in Albania because of their island.

Can I just say the Albanian people are just, everyone take notes. All right, Americans, please take notes. The Albanian people are lit. And I read that, you know, some assets involving that deal with that island that the Kushners are trying to buy. Like those assets got frozen pending an investigation. Who knows what's going to happen? I don't want to get my hopes up too much. But those protests were no joke, and I love to see it.

Let's go to splurter courts who says, let's go, Anna, let's go. Best is host on the Best Show. Thank you so much. We've got 37 and thriving Pakistani American. I want to inform Center of Constitution Rights legal analysis has stated U.S. is aiding in Israel's Gaza genocide through unconditional military slash diplomatic support, failing to prevent genocide and failing to carry out international law or follow international law. Maybe Iranophobia Zionists send their own private investigators and end this illegal war.

Americans are getting nothing except funding ethnic cleansing, and it's a permanent stain on the United States. Well, you know, I agree with all of that. By the way, Netanyahu says that he's going to block any humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in order to retaliate against Iran striking Israel. What do the Palestinian people have anything to do with on that issue? He just wants them dead. It's so clear. That was a good one. Keep that, keep that, you know, anyway. All right. I gotta do the Noble Mobile Reads, so I'm gonna do that right now. So I don't know what plans you have for the summer, but if you're still paying Verizon and AT&T, tons of money for your phone plans, stop right now.

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in order to have a more stable internet connection when I'm doing the show from home, believe it or not. So Spectrum, you're on notice, you're trash. And for T-Mobile and more importantly, the great deals over at Noble mobile mobile, check it out. TYT.com slash switch. All right, it's been a heavy show, lots of very serious stories. But I want to lighten things up for the final segment here by dunking on Dave Rubin. Let's do it.

Mine was, it was like MAGA guy versus 20 far left progressives. I honestly believe several of them would have killed me if given the opportunity, truly. And you all know my guy, Joey, who works for me. And he said to me after, he said, Dave, I made a choice halfway through that if one of them was going to attack you, I was going to get involved. Anyway, for two hours and 55 minutes, I think I did a very nice job. I did have one blit moment where I kind of blanked on something and I fully grant that. And the internet is what it is. My favorite thing about this whole situation, the video that you just watched is how their eyes are glazing over as he's talking.

Like, look at their eyes. Look at Jillian Michael. She's like, what am I doing with my life? What am I doing with my life? I'm having this guy. Dave Rubin embarrassed himself yet again by agreeing. to do the Jubilee surrounded debate. I don't know why he did it.

It was a really bad idea. And I think he's beginning to realize that. So the debate, one MAGA, 20 far left, as it was titled, I gotta say, had some pretty strong debaters challenging Dave Rubin and on multiple occasions, he was having difficulty countering what they were saying at one point when it came to, uh, challenging Dave Rubin. Trump's economic accomplishments, you know, he purports that Trump has done wonderful things for the economy. But when he's asked to name how he's improved the economy, he failed miserably. I'd love to play videos from the debate, but unfortunately, Jubilee is Nazi-like when it comes

to punishing anybody who does so. I don't know why. So I don't want to get a copyright strike and I'm just going to have to describe how terrible Dave did. But if you don't believe me, All you have to see is how Dave talked about the debate after the fact where he tried to say that he thought they were trying to kill him. Okay, we'll get to the videos in just a second. But first, a few more details about the debate itself. So what he claims he blanked on is an understatement to say the least. So halfway through the encounter, liberal social media personality, Parker Sedgwick, stepped up to ask Rubin simply, what is one main metric that Donald Trump has made better,

has made better off since he got into office? An example would be GDP, unemployment, inflation, et cetera, he elaborated. And here's what happened next. Rubin just said, right now, first off, the big beautiful bill was just passed last year. It's kicking in right now. It's kicking in now. So we are, see, we're going to now see the results of that. Like even the tariffs, so let's do tariffs. Are you for or against tariffs? At that point, Cedric responds and says, I'm against the universal tariffs. So what's the main metric that he made better off?

And Rubin just says, well, first of all, what? I remember that moment because he was so obvious he was stumped. Now, the aftermath of that debate was not pleasant for Rubin. For instance, here's some of the criticism he received. Medi Hassan said, I have watched a lot of jubilees and I have never seen anyone get their ass handed to them this badly, just embarrassing. It was embarrassing. And by the way, Medi Hassan debated Patrick Bet David on Islam and that was a fiery debate.

And I will say, Medi Hassan did well. Let's turn back to Ruben's copsech because during his latest actual friends podcast with Jillian Michaels, Sage Steele, and Dr. Drupinski, there was a lot, a lot of excuses made for why he performed so poorly. And most of those excuses had to do with the conduct of his detractors. Take a look. And I kind of didn't want to do it because I've just been through enough versions of the internet and dealt with the hate and though whatever.

My team really wanted me to do it. I was like, you know what, I'll give it, I'll do it, whatever. It's not a big deal. However, I knew going in how much hate I was going to get, like, it's just baked in and how much these lefties, particularly these radical lefties online, they despise me because I was once a lefty and they, you know, once someone walks, they hate you more. They hate you more than if you're just an old-fashioned, you know, Ben Shapiro conservative. They know how to deal with you.

The entire thing, it was three hours. It was gross. That is the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. Dave Rubin is under the impression that the, like, you think we're jealous? Like we want to claim you? No one wants to claim you, Dave. The left doesn't want you. The right doesn't want you.

Seems like the only people who have even a modicum of respect for Dave Rubin are the individuals who clownishly agreed to do a debate called actual friends with him. And those are the clips that we're watching right now. So there's more. The cope doesn't end there because Rubin believes that he was actually experiencing something life-threatening, that his life was in danger as he was engaging in this debate. And that's the real reason why he flopped. Take a look.

I could feel the daggers coming at me. The ones that mostly they had horrible scowls on their faces, but the ones that smiled at me actually seemed like the most dangerous because they were like Joker smiles and not kidding at all, guys. That was a part that drove me crazy. If I were sitting in that seat where you were and all that contempt and the weird Joker smiles, it was so distracting and so unpleasant, you can't have discourse. I don't know how you pulled it off.

You know, truly, in some weird way, I just was like, you know what, I get hate, I get love. It is what it is. I'll just sit here and do it. But to sit around 20 people that have nothing but hatred for you, they offered nothing. And I honestly believe, I honestly believe several of them would have killed me if given the opportunity. True Pinsky, you don't know how Dave Rubin, in your words, pulled it off? Did you watch the debate? He didn't pull anything off.

Okay? Like the only thing he pulled off was whatever was left of his reputation. Okay, like pulled it off. Like there's no reputation left. The guy bombed. And he is blaming it on everyone else without taking any responsibility for the fact that he knows nothing. He's never thought through any of these issues. He's never had arguments, substantive arguments.

There's no rationale for believing what Dave believes because he doesn't care. That's the problem with Dave. Dave is not a political ideologue with the exception of Israel. On that, he's always been consistent and he's a hardcore Zionist. I mean, I think that he's in the same camp as Barry Weiss. He's a Zionist fanatic. But other than that, he couldn't care less about these political issues. He's intellectually lazy, no intellectual curiosity whatsoever, has a difficult time explaining the rationale

behind his political positions, which is why it was effortless for him to go from TYT where he purported to be some progressive to suddenly, you know, vacationing with Peter Teal in Hawaii and being a right winger. No, no, no, classical liberal first and then now a Trump supporting right winger, right, right, okay. He didn't pull anything off, Drew. Nothing, okay, nothing. And lashing out at the debaters who were able to to stump him because he knows nothing is so pathetic. Do you need your safe space, Dave? You need your safe space?

These are, I mean, these are the people who would clown on members of the left when they wanted safe spaces when it came to discussions on things like rape. You know, because if you've been a victim of that type of assault in the past, it might be triggering to hear about it. But they're, God forbid, they're given safe space. When it comes to Dave Rubin, he needs safe spaces from people who have actually thought through their political positions. It's so pathetic.

Anyway, we're not done yet. Believe it or not, there's more. So Rubin is still feeling pretty good, not upset at all about how much he bombed in that performance. And that's why he's talking about it a week later. There's more. Take a look at this. One of the interesting things about the internet now is nothing sticky anymore. So for two hours, my Twitter was lighting up and people were saying horrible things to me.

I basically was like, I'm going out to lunch. And then it's over. I kid you not, when that thing ended, the first thing I wanted to do was just go to the bathroom so I could wash my face. Like several of them smelled. Their breath was bad. Their hands were slimy. I think a couple of them were hopped up on Adderall.

It was just gross more than anything else. Let's give them time. Let's hope and pray that they just slow down and educate themselves and stop focusing on what looks the best on your bumper sticker. They smell, they smell. I had to wash my face and they smell. Okay. You had no response to their counterpoints because you are an empty vessel to be used as a tool by any political group that's willing to fund your ass.

That's the reality. I can't believe he agreed to this debate. I look, I've been asked to do Jubilee, I won't do it, they don't pay. So like the idea and it takes hours and hours of your day. It's not like a quick one hour session, you're done. They want like half the day and they don't pay you. And on top of that, they'll copyright strike you if you use the clips from the debate. So that's the reason why I refuse to do it.

But would I love to debate 20 people on an issue I'm passionate about? Of course, because I care about the issues. What does Dave Rubin care about other than very clearly grifting? And more importantly, Jillian, what are you doing with your life? Like, what are you, is this what you envisioned for yourself? Providing cover for a guy who has no idea what, well, to be fair, she has no idea what she's talking about. She thinks that Dave Rubin is a geopolitical expert. So anyway, we'll end with Jillian Michaels because she apparently knows how Dave Rubin feels

because she felt the same way after a debate with Sam Cedar. I did have a run-in with a radical leftist recently, which I mentioned to you, Dave. And I experienced something very similar. I had a conversation with Sam Cedar. And literally they launched a bot campaign on my YouTube, flagged all of my videos for demonetization. I have something called LifeLock to protect my credit. I have never in my life seen it warn you of death threats on social media.

I have, I had, as of last week, it stopped now finally, like 95 death threats on social media. It was, they sent bots. I have like on the one video that we did together, there are 9,000 comments and 100,000 views. So Red Seat had to deal with the back end of my channel because they thought I was like buying engagement. It was a nightmare.

They're the same people cut from the same cloth. It is exactly what you dealt with. And you get to the point where you're like, all right, you know what? I really want civil discourse. But there isn't, there is a faction of the left that is truly mentally, unwell. I hate that I keep finding myself in in situations where I'm defending people who have like made a point to attack me unfairly constantly.

But it's okay. Sam Cedar showed an astonishing level of patience with Jillian Michaels in that debate, which to be fair, I couldn't get through all of it just because of how insufferable she is. And she doesn't listen. So like Sam would calmly try to explain his perspective or more importantly, you can't have a debate unless you're both, you know, informed at the same level at least on what the facts of whatever you're debating happens to be. And in this case, there's a lot of catching up for Gillian Michaels.

So Sam even went out of his way to explain concepts to her, explain historical context. It was amazing and I don't think that I would have that level of patience. In fact, I know for a fact, because I used to host a show with her and I didn't have that level of patience. But okay, let's address some of her claims here. So she's alleging that what the left has launched a harassment campaign against her, threatening her life because she failed that debate so badly. Do you have evidence of that?

And by the way, so she says that she was accused of buying engagement. Yeah, Jillian, I mean, if that's true, and honestly, I wouldn't take your word for it, but if that's true, if you provide receipts showing that you've been accused of buying engagement, it might have something to do with the fact that your videos perform so poorly in general, but the debate with Sam Cedar got a lot of views. It's because he's got a big audience and people like to see debates between two, I ideological opposites. I just look, the biggest point I want to make here is, I think a lot of people are under

the impression that, oh, I can just do a career change and be like a political commentator on social media and YouTube. It's not a big deal. Anyone can do it. No, anyone can't do it. I know this is going to come as a shock to some people, but like you actually have to care about the substance. You have to care about the issues.

You have to be passionate about it because it's a grind. It is a grind to keep up with what's actually going on to investigate what's being claimed in legacy media, for instance, and ensure that you do your own fact checking and you're not being duped by narratives that are being pushed by the powerful in our legacy media. Like, these are things that I've never seen Jillian Michaels or Dave Rubin show any interest in whatsoever. So when we have conversations about quote unquote grifters, it's amazing to me that people who are actual grifters, never really get accused of being that. And that's what I see with people like Dave Rubin and Jillian Michaels. How do you go from being a fitness guru to now being a political commentator? Like what was the transition?

Like what evidence do you have in your history or your past to show that you have any expertise or any real interest in these matters? And so if you think you're gonna pull a fast one on your audience, I just think you're gonna get caught. And you're definitely gonna get caught if you agree to debate like this where 20 people are surrounding you and challenging your claims. To say that you were in fear for your life during the Jubilee debate, it's like the best best example of adding insult to injury. Don't do that. And look, Dave Rubin did say one thing that's

correct. Like it is a fast news cycle. People do forget things pretty quickly. They move on to the next. But every time Dave Rubin appears on, let's say the Pierce Morgan show, Every time Dave Rubin appears on my YouTube feed, which isn't often, to be honest with you, you know what I'm going to think about? Remember the time Dave Rubin bombed in that Jubilee debate and then whined about it and engaged in a copseh where he said he was in fear for his life? And then proceeded to call the debaters smelly like a child. And I lied, one final thing. Gillian, stop with the acting.

It's super, it's not authentic, people can tell. People can tell. So like the, everyone knows what you're doing. Just be normal, be a normal human being. I'm giving you good advice, okay? But anyway, listen, the best thing you can do after failing at something is learn from your mistakes and get better. Dave Rubin has no interest in that.

He just wants to make excuses for why he sucks. But he does suck, and that's the reality of the situation. All right. My brain is still in recovery mode from taking in so many high level important ideas. Homeboy's brain is permanently in recovery. mode. Okay, let's just keep it 100. All right, I'm gonna read a few comments before we wrap up the show, and then move on over to our bonus episode. We're gonna have Wally Rashidon. He's a Palestinian with Palestinian family in the West Bank. He's gonna talk to us about how four separate countries

have now sanctioned and basically carried out some consequences for Itamar Ben-Gavir of Israel because of the settlements that are being built and the settler violence that's been carried out against the Palestinian people in the West Bank. Let's go to bloated ego who says Iran should tell BB will stop any consideration of a nuke. If you give up your nukes and a third party can verify this, they're not going to give up their nukes. There's no way. Israel would never do that in a million years.

I just think if Israel is allowed to have a clandestine nuclear program, they have no business policing whether other countries have nuclear programs. And in the case of Iran, their nuclear program was not to build nuclear weapons. They had nuclear energy that the U.S. is now demanding they get rid of entirely, which is unreasonable and goes against what any sovereign country is allowed to do. Anyway, bonus episode is next. TYT.com slash join, and I'll see you there. Look, I don't know where your plans are for the summer,

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