The Young Turks - The Lone Ranger - March 18, 2026

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

Donald Trump blasts NATO for refusing to back the Iran war, calling it a “very foolish mistake” as allies decline to join U.S. operations in the region. At the same time, Israel publicly urges Iranians to rise up while privately assessing that such a revolt would likely be crushed, underscoring contradictions in war messaging. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at shopify.com/tyt Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter FOR FREE: ziprecruiter.com/tyt Check out Pocket Hose and use my code TYT for a great deal: https://www.getcopperhead.com If your work depends on conversations — interviews, meetings, calls — check out plaud.ai Explore opportunities in more than 60 countries and apply at http://PeaceCorps.gov/serve Use less data, get paid by switching to Noble Mobile: https://go.tyt.com/getnoble Hosts: Ana Kasparian SUBSCRIBE on YOUTUBE ☞  https://www.youtube.com/@TheYoungTurks FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK  ☞   https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER  ☞       https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM  ☞  https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK  ☞          https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH  ☞      https:/www.shoptyt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to the Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, not three, not four, but five stars. You're awesome. Thank you. Welcome to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian, and it's been a pretty fantastic day today. I had a great interview earlier today on Deep Dive. That's Colonel Daniel Davis's show. So after you watch TYT, if you've got some time, if you have any interest, definitely check it out. He is so brilliant on issues pertaining to foreign policy, national security, the ongoing war in Iran. If it weren't for voices like his, John Mearsheimer's, Colonel Douglas McGregor, now, I don't think that these people are lefties, but it doesn't matter.

Their foreign policy analysis has been on point, and you'll usually get a better sense of what's going on in the Middle East if you listen to their analysis. So definitely check that out. We have a fantastic show ahead for you today, though. We're going to talk a little bit about the break between the United States and our NATO allies as it pertains to this war against Iran. Luckily, there are some cooler heads that are prevailing. Unfortunately, none of them are in our government. But we'll talk about that first in the rundown. Later, in the second hour, something I'm really looking forward to, Glenn Greenwald,

will be joining me to talk about where we are right now with the war in Iran, Joe Kent's resignation. And more importantly, why did Joe Kent specifically blame Israel for why we invaded Iraq in 2003? I think that this is a story that many Americans are not really aware of. And so when you hear it, it sounds like crazy anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but it's not. And so this is a is something that Glenn Greenwald has done extensive reporting on, so he'll help us kind of go through what the allegations are and why these allegations are being made. So I'm really looking forward to that. That'll be in the second hour. Without further ado, let's get to our first story. I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder

whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a, this was a great test. Because we don't need them, but they should have been there. The head of Germany just made a statement that, well, they weren't involved and they have nothing to do with the war. But at the same time, they think we did a great thing by knocking them out. Do they think the United States did a great thing by going to war with Iran? Something tells me that our European allies were actually advising against starting this war, especially considering the fact that they are definitely experiencing the pain of increasing oil prices. We'll get to that later in the show.

But for now, I just want you to remember, close your eyes and remember a time it wasn't long ago, when President Donald Trump alleged that he had cobbled together this coalition of European countries who'd be willing to help the United States take control of the Strait of Hormuz, in which of course 20% of the globe's oil and gas is transported through and is currently controlled by the Iranians. Now, it appears that, well, Trump didn't actually cobble together a group of countries willing to help us. In fact, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt was asked, why NATO would engage in a war that they had not started? And here's what she had to say. He did not consult NATO before the war began.

And it's a defensive alliance, obviously, that doesn't traditionally engage in the Middle East preemptively. Why is it fair for the president to expect NATO allies to help now after the feds? NATO allies benefit far more from the reopening of the Strait of Hamos than the United States does. As you know, thanks to this president's energy agenda, we are a net exporter of oil. We have enough resources here at home for our people, and that's a good thing, thanks to President Trump. The straight opening is obviously good for America because it will stabilize the global oil industry. It will bring prices down again, but it greatly benefits Europe and our allies in NATO, and the president wants to see them do more. What's the latest trend in hiring?

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That's what makes ZipRecruiter the number one rated hiring site based on G2. Let ZipRecruiter help you find amazing candidates with the skills you seek. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash TYT. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash TYT. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. But our European allies didn't ask for this war. So, and let's please, here's a thing.

If the Trump administration wants to come out and say, you know what, we've been wrong. Our entire economic ideology has been wrong. In fact, we would like to nationalize our oil and gas. And it will be an asset, a resource that we will reserve. for the American people. We're going to nationalize oil and gas. We're going to take it from the corporations who, of course, sell oil and gas on the international market. This is an international market that we're talking about. Unless you nationalize your oil and gas, have the state, meaning the United States in this case, sees control of oil and gas, and you use that oil and gas

for the American people and you don't export it. Now, is that going to happen? No, that's not going to happen. So when you hear U.S. politicians or members of the Trump administration allege, like, well, you know, the Europeans need the Strait of Hormuz more than we do. No, no, it is a global energy market that we're having a discussion about right now. So the Strait of Hormuz in which 20% of the globe's oil and gas travels through, liquidified natural gas I'm talking about, travels through. Yeah, it is a problem when it is effectively closed. by the Iranians because we, the United States, decided to spark a war with Iran. Yes, on behalf of Israel.

This is not a war the U.S. needed. This is not a war the U.S. wanted. We get nothing, literally nothing out of this war. But as Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has said on the record, it has been his dream for 40 years to get the United States to attack Iran like this. So congratulations. And anyone calling me an anti-Semite for plainly stating the truth. is an enemy of this country, okay, wants to basically provide cover for the detrimental

relationship that we have with the Israelis right now. They are a liability to the American people. They are a liability to our country. They are a liability to our soldiers, tens of thousands of them who are currently in that region of the world right now, risking their lives for no reason other than Israel wants to expand its borders and essentially kneecap Iran so they don't face any challenges as they do. So that is the reality of the situation. That is the truth.

Now, with that in mind, Trump also seems to be engaging in a bit of cope, okay? Because as he claims, our European partners just absolutely love the fact that we've started this war. They love it. They support it, he claims. But they just don't want to get involved in it. Take a look. They've gone to war on our behalf after 9-11. He seems to forget that.

But he has talked down to our NATO allies from day one. And when you treat your allies disrespectfully, you can't just expect him to. That was my bad. I thought we had a video for that. I mistook it for something else. I actually have a quote from Trump. So let me start that again. So Trump also seems to be engaging in a bit of cope. He seems to be under the impression that the Europeans absolutely love the fact that we started a war with Iran. He says, quote, I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake in not helping the U.S. with this war. Everyone agrees with us, but they don't want to help.

And we, you know, we as the United States, have to remember that because we think, we have to remember that because we think it's pretty shocking. No, it's not pretty shocking. Why would anyone in Europe think this war is a good idea? First of all, they're much closer geographically to the war. Obviously, this is going to hurt the global energy market. Europe was already harmed by the fact that there were sanctions on Russian oil after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Now, Trump has temporarily lifted some of those sanctions to alleviate some of the pain that the increased oil prices are causing to our European allies. And so, like, the idea that all these European countries behind the scenes are like, Yeah, keep going. This is great. I find laughable. I don't think that's true. But NATO allies, to be clear, actually did caution against the war prior to the war happening. Now, Trump says that he does not intend to retaliate against our NATO allies for refusing to engage in this war, to defend the United States, to work alongside the United States. When he was asked by the media fairly recently, if he had any retaliation in mind, he said he had nothing in mind. And I hope that

he's telling the truth about that. I don't think it would be in the best interests of the American people to further alienate ourselves from actual allies. Although he has previously, by the way, threatened to leave NATO, which he would not be able to do unilaterally. You would need two-thirds of Congress to vote in favor of leaving NATO to make it so. But even Republican lawmakers, like Congressman Don Bacon admit that our NATO allies have, you know, sour toward Trump's America for what I believe are pretty obvious reasons. Take a look. They've gone to war on our behalf after 9-11.

He seems to forget that. But he has talked down to our NATO allies from day one. And when you treat your allies disrespectfully, you can't just expect him to jump when you say jump. And in this case, I sort of understand that they were an, coordinated with, talk to about the attacks that I ran, and then they suddenly want them to help out. It's probably a bridge too far for most. But he needs to work on strengthening our alliances. If you have a strong friendships, they're more willing to do this. But when you denigrate Denmark

and all these other countries, they're going to be more reluctant. And there's a loss of trust. You know the hardest part of starting TYT? It wasn't being on camera. I'm pretty sexy, so that was easy. And it wasn't trying to figure out a new thing called YouTube. That was fun. It was realizing I had to wear every single hat. Writer, producer, marketing department. It was overwhelming. I felt like I was stranded on an island.

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sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash t-y-t. Go to Shopify.com slash t-y-t. That's Shopify.com slash tyt. There are many things about Don Bacon. I'm not a fan of. Let's just put it that way. But he was on point in the statement he just made in that video we watched. Because speaking of Denmark, Trump's nonsense about fighting Denmark in order to acquire Greenland,

wasn't so smart, was it? Especially in the moment that we find ourselves today, turns out that that was a huge mistake. Because now, as Trump is begging our European allies for help, well, they're actually pivoting in a completely different direction. And this is something that does jeopardize U.S. national security, right? You need to forge alliances and friendships, not out of the kindness of your own heart, but because it's mutually beneficial and you want to do it for security purposes, right? But Nordic countries recently had a joint press conference, and it was led by Denmark's prime

minister, meet Friedrichson, and you're about to hear the kind of thinking that's going on when it comes to our European allies, especially these Nordic countries. Are they thinking about helping us in an illegal war? No, but they are concerned about their own security. And if you read between the lines, the U.S. is not thought to be part of that security. Take a look. The old world order is gone and it will probably not come back. So we have to build something new.

And it has to be a world order that is built on the values that we represent the leaders standing in front of you today. We have had a totally unacceptable pressure from U.S. and the U.S. President. It has been very difficult for the people in Greenland to experience this. And one of the reasons why we have been able to stand firmly on very common values, that you have to respect sovereign states, that you have to respect a people's right for self-determination, is because of our good friends in the Nordic countries, in Europe, but also with partners outside, especially you, Mark. So we are deepening our cooperation in the Arctic region.

It is important. We are deepening our cooperation also militarily in our own region, not only the Arctic, but also more locally and the northern part of Europe. Now notice, she cited two specific words that I think are important, sovereignty and self-determination. So sovereignty and self-determination are two things that, It doesn't really fall in line with Israel's foreign policy goals. And as long as we're attached to the hip to Israel's illegal foreign policy goals,

which includes genocide, displacement, expanding borders, annexing land, we are going to continue alienating ourselves. We are gaining nothing from aiding and abetting Israel in their plot to expand their borders and take control of that region. And by the way, I don't think it's a mistake that now there are questions as to whether or not the United States will rebuild its military bases in the Gulf countries. Do these Gulf countries really want to have a U.S. military presence there knowing that they don't really get much from it, do they? When push comes to shove, the U.S. is doing nothing to defend those allies. And that doesn't speak volumes simply to our Gulf allies. It speaks volumes to our other allies who are concerned that they can't rely on the United States. And I think they're justified in the way they're feeling today.

But let me turn to Norway's prime minister who called out war crimes, escalations, and how the globe is being punished by a war that they have nothing to do with. Take a look. We are not part of this war. We did not initiate it. but we are all affected by it. So I think there's a clear call here that international law must be respected. And it should be the responsibility of the concerned parties

to find ways of ending the hostilities that now have great impact around the world. We are concerned to see that there is still an escalation. There are still worries about how the world economy will be affected by the energy situation around the Gulf. And for our part, you know, we will, use any channel we have, any opportunity we have to urge the parties to find a way that will not escalate this war. I think that's what we can say. It is not our war. It seems to us that the plan for how it will develop is pretty unclear. And that's the danger with initiating

wars that they rarely follow a script. He is absolutely correct in pointing out how disastrous this is for the economy, the global economy. And on top of that, as a As an American, I think this is disastrous for our global partnerships, you know, longstanding alliances that are mutually beneficial. That's what I'm talking about. But just checking in with the economic ramifications of this disastrous war, this, I mean, obviously this war is not well thought out. There is no exit strategy.

I think Trump is just taking it day by day, and it's been a disaster. So we got some news about Israel's latest attacks. against Iran. And it's not just various leaders that are being assassinated by Israel in Iran. Turns out that they're targeting some very important infrastructure, which leads to retaliation by Iran. And we all suffer from it. So what am I talking about?

Let's put up this graphic. This is from Dropsite News. They reported on how Israel struck Iran's South Pars gas field, which happens to be the world's largest natural gas field and a core pillar of Iran's energy supply. Well, that was a really dumb move. Let me just sidetrack for a second and note that it really does seem like Israel is going out of its way to ensure that this war continues and that Trump doesn't have any real avenue for peace negotiations. When you strike, you know, this energy infrastructure, this massive natural gas field in Iran, what do you think Iran is going to do? They're going to want to retaliate, which is an

escalation. This is all an escalation. What Israel did here is an escalation of this war intentionally. Because Israel knows that Trump wants to get out of this, okay? They don't want to get out of it because they want to topple the regime. Trump keeps signaling like, oh, we obliterated their military capabilities. No, okay, maybe we can get out now. And boom, one of the more moderate individuals in Iran, Lars Johnny, who could potentially help negotiate a peace deal or an end to the war. They assassinate him. That guy's gone. Now you escalate the war by attacking this natural gas field. It's a huge escalation. So the major escalation, as drop site rights, comes alongside reported impacts on other oil and petrochemical facilities. And so the IRGC linked Tasneem news agency

basically issued a warning, urging people to immediately leave major oil and gas sites in Saudi Arabia, in the UAE, and Qatar, saying that they had become direct and legitimate targets that could be struck within hours. And then they listed the specific sites that they plan on attacking, right? And again, it's in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar. As of this morning, the price of Brent crude had surged 4% from yesterday. So if you guys can remember the reporting we did on the price of oil per barrel, it was about $102. That price has now gone up to 108. It will continue to go up because oil and gas infrastructure is being struck, is being targeted. Iran has already begun its retaliation.

There's no end in sight. So we are going to feel the pain economically. Our European allies who didn't want this war, didn't ask for this war and want nothing to do with this war are going to feel the pain economically. This alienates us from longstanding alliances that I think are actually important to the United States. And for what? In order to carry out the desires, the wishes, you know, the fanatical nonsense, our Israeli partners demand? What do we get from that?

Other than dead soldiers, other than endless wars, other than endless hostility toward the United States for carrying out the disastrous interests of the Israelis? You're not going to get this on CNN. Okay, you're probably never going to see me on CNN again, by the way. Okay, you're not going to get this on any other news organization that's longstanding, any legacy media organization. You're going to get this from Indy News. But make no mistake about it, this is the truth.

And so if anyone wants to refute what I'm saying here, please explain to me what is the benefit of constantly fighting Israel's wars. What do we get out of it? And who knows, maybe someone can stump me, but so far I haven't seen it. We got to take a break. When we come back, we've got a lot more to get to. I actually want to do a deeper dive on the economic situation tied to this war against Iran. Don't miss it.

We'll be right back. What's up, everyone? Welcome to our first social break. I'm going to read as many comments as I can. Pestimistic progressive says, hey, Anna, love the solo hours. You're awesome. Keep doing what you're doing and ignore the noise. Continue speaking truths of power, finding common cause and fighting for what's right.

I intend to and thank you so much for your support. Art guy says Trump's lifelong strategy has been, if I can't win, I just lie and say that I won. And he's still trying it now with humiliating results. You're so right about that. You know, the one thing that I just can't get past, and I know that there are definitely people across the political spectrum who feel the same way. I can't get over how humiliating all of this is for the American people, right? to wake up and realize we are not a sovereign country and we're getting dragged into a disastrous war that doesn't benefit us in any way, shape, or form because there is a deep state.

There is, okay? Because there is way too much foreign interference and influence in our political world, in our foreign policy, and it needs to stop. Solidarity Works says also as also more AI war crimes, AI targeted an Iranian park. I know the one that's called like police park or something. AI targeted an Iranian park named to honor local police. It had the word police in its name, police park. The use of AI in war is so loathsome and disgusting.

Also, an Iranian boys school was bombed in elementary school. Yes. I just want to let you know about Noble mobile. They'll save you money. And if you want to learn more, just go to tyt.com slash switch. That's tyt.com slash switch. That's tyt.com slash switch. All right.

Let's move on to our next story. I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions. The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure. Of course, individuals are influential and each person plays their role, some better. some worse, some less. But what matters is that the political system in Iran is a very solid structure. We have not had anyone more important than the leader himself, and even the leader was martyed.

Yet the system continued to work and immediately provided a replacement. If anyone else is martyed, it will be the same. That was Iran's foreign minister Abbas Arakshi on Al Jazeera, responding to the various assassinations that Israel and the United States have carried out in Iran. Various members of its leadership have been killed as we've been covering as it happens here on this show. However, Israeli officials are now encouraging Iran's citizens to rise up and overthrow their government. So far, there have been no signs of that happening. In fact, if anything, the attack on Iran has actually led to more nationalism,

within Iran, it turns out that countries don't like foreign powers coming in and meddling with their business. I mean, just think about yourself as an American. As much as you might hate the administration that's in charge, and I really do not like Donald Trump, as you can imagine. The idea that I would want a foreign country to come in, attack us, and meddle with our politics is ridiculous. But nonetheless, you have the Israelis trying to agitate and get Iranians to rise in. up. But according to a stunning report from the Washington Post, the Israelis secretly acknowledge that many of them, meaning Iranian civilians, that they're agitating and encouraging to rise up, will be slaughtered for doing so. They know that. They acknowledge that. And they're calling for

it anyway. In fact, Israel doesn't mind at all. So let's back up a little bit for context. Okay, so Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dishonestly claimed that the Iran war is being carried out for the liberation of the Iranian people. Now, you have to be the most naive person on the planet to actually believe him when he says that. Israel has no interest in liberating anybody. Israel has an interest in expanding its borders, and the only real challenge to that in the Middle East has been Iran, both because Iran would fight them in doing so. but more importantly, Iran does fund and arm proxy groups like Hezbollah, which at this current moment is trying to defend its borders against Israel as Israel tries to annex more land. So that's the reality of the situation. Toppling the Iranian regime would make it far easier

for Israel to carry out the Greater Israel Project. Now, it isn't a surprise that you are starting to hear more and more Israeli officials to talk about how the next target will be Turkey because if and when Iran falls, if and when that regime is toppled, well, what's the next powerful country that might pose a challenge to Israel in that region? Turkey. So something to keep in mind if you're still gullible enough to believe that the Israelis are doing this because they care about the liberation of the Iranian people. So now, just after this war began with Iran,

Benjamin Netanyahu wrote the following on X. Let's take a quick look at this. In the coming days, we will strike thousands of targets of the terrorist regime. We will create the conditions for the brave people of Iran to free themselves from the chains of tyranny. And for this reason, I address you once again. Oh, citizens of Iran, do not miss this opportunity. This is an opportunity that comes only once in every generation. Do not sit idle because your moment will arrive soon.

So again, agitating, agitating, agitating. When the protests sprung up prior to this war, you have Israelis and, by the way, U.S. officials in American media bragging about how there's Mossad on the ground. You know, Mike Pompeo, for instance, former Secretary of State under Trump's first term, was bragging about Mossad on the ground. You had Israeli media bragging about how there's Mossad on the ground. So whenever you hear about the, oh, there's 32,000 people who got slaughtered by the regime during these protests, the reason why I don't believe it is, A, there's not a single source that, you know, like reinforces that number. Like, you can't just pull numbers out of your ass and expect people with minds to believe it. Like, you want to see evidence of it.

No names of those killed have been released. I mean, the elementary school that the United States struck in Monop, we saw aerial images of all the good. graves lined up for all those little bodies, 168 children slaughtered by the United States, okay? And we still don't know where we got that intel from. I think it's important to do an investigation into that. And it would be nice if the president of the United States acknowledged and apologized for what we did, because that is such a stain on our country's history. It really is. But nonetheless, I mean, I just, I don't believe the number. And until I see some concrete evidence for the number of people who were killed until I see a report that distinguishes between, you know, the regimes, security forces carrying out killings and the armed individuals

tied to Mossad carrying out killings. I'm not going to believe these like BS numbers that are just being pulled out of people's asses. I'm just going to be real about that. But anyway, Netanyahu doesn't even care about his own people. Look at what his own people are are currently going through because he's finally been able to fulfill a 40-year dream of his. Okay, a couple pensioners, two elderly people sitting on their balcony yesterday in Israel, got killed by Iranian missiles. They would be alive today had we not carried out these attacks against Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu, much like Trump, only cares about himself. He's a loathsome scumbag. But unfortunately, he is not unique when it comes to Israeli leadership. It's one

scumbag after another. They're horrible people. But anyway, I continue. So he continues, the moment when you must take to the streets, come to the streets in your millions to finish the job to overthrow the regime of terror that has embittered your lives. Yeah, the only regime of terror is your regime, Netanyahu. Anyway, I continue. In recent days, Netanyahu has claimed that he wants Iranians to freely and safely celebrate the festival of Nauru. I'm sure he really cares a lot about these types of holidays, I'm sure. Take a look. I take this opportunity to wish you a happy Noroos, a year of freedom, a new beginning of hope to all of you, my dear friends. Norus, Perus, Bayon de Iran.

In the past 24 hours, we knocked out two of the terrorist chieftains, the top terrorist chieftains of this tyranny. Our aircraft are hitting the terror operatives on the grounds in the crossroads, in the city squares. This is meant to enable the brave people of Iran to celebrate the festival of fire. So celebrate. And happy, Noroos. We're watching from above. And Trump, just like a good dog for Israel would do, regurgitates the same type of messaging.

So, for instance, after Ayatollah Ali Hamenei was killed, Trump wrote the following on social media. This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans, this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. But again, there has been absolutely no signs of an uprising, if anything, this is increased nationalism in Iran.

And the hollow pro-freedom messaging from Trump and Netanyahu, you know, it just gets regurgitated by media figures who just support war against Iran. So here's a Fox News panel discussion showing you just that. And you have the people who are talking to Iranians in Iran saying, you know, they're most afraid of the bombs stopping because if the bombs stopped, they believe the United States might be done. Absolutely. And when they have the moment to tweet, they're tweeting and saying, please don't stop. Because the worst thing that could happen to us is if you leave this regime in place,

which means who is going to pay the price we, the Iranian people are. They're going to torture us more. They're going to kill us. They're going to throw us in prison. You've got to finish the job. They are celebrating every time a bomb goes on. Just imagine, Trace, for a moment, that you'd be celebrating when you hear a bomb go off because that is a freedom mission. It's a freedom mission for them. This is not a war. They are finally going to be free from their oppressors that have held them hostage for the past. It has 47 years. It is rich for a rustlin-filled-filled-filled face in the United States,

sitting in a cushy studio to allege that the Iranian people are desperate to be bombed, desperate to be terrorized by the West, desperate to have the United States come in and decide, based on the advice of the Israelis, who should lead Iran? It's rich. I mean, this woman, what would she know? She knows as much about the Iranian people in Iran as Reza Pahlavi does, which is to say nothing. Now, if you genuinely believe that the Iranian people deserve liberation, then that has to happen organically, not through us dropping bombs on their homes, on their hospitals, destroying energy infrastructure, killing, little children, we are opening salvo, slaughter 168 little girls at an elementary school in Monop. You think the Iranian people like that? These people are beyond evil, beyond evil.

But anyway, on Pierce Morgan uncensored, myself and Jank, by the way, have debated commentators who use very similar talking points. Goldie Gamari, who lives in Canada and was disbarred because she's unhinged, is one of the individuals spreading propaganda. Let's take a look at that. I just want to say, you know, thank you to the United States. Thank you to Israel for everything that they're doing. We Iranians were so grateful. And I can tell you that this has been one of the most amazing weekends,

not just for me, but for Iranians in occupied Iran and around the world. Okay. You live in Canada and you have no idea what's going on. like the propaganda in like the Western world, speaking on behalf of a population of 92 million people who are being terrorized right now from the comfort of Canada is hilarious to me. But anyway, another talking head who claims to represent Iranians is, I kid you not, Danny Dannen, the Israeli ambassador to the UN. Okay, so last week, Pierce Morgan pressed him on his alleged love for the Iranians. And let's see how that went. You say you love the Iranian people, the cold hard reality on the ground,

is that more Iranian civilians have now been killed in the last eight, nine days of this war than Hamas killed on October the 7th, according to the official figures. That doesn't sit very easily with your love of Iranian civilians. I beg to differ with you. I think the Iranian people, they cannot say it out loud. But when they look up in the sky, then they see the Israeli aircraft and the US Air Force, they are grateful. They have been waiting for those moments for 47 years. They were oppressed.

And today we come to unchange them, to give them the tools to rise up. Yes, it's going to be painful. Also, it's painful for us in Israel. And let me remind you that Israel wants to reinstall the Shah, right? They want a monarchist in power that they can easily manipulate and control, which is why. Reza Palavi is their favorite to replace the IRGC. And what happened under the Shah? Were the Iranian people free?

Were they liberated? Or were they living under a police state with Sabak? Okay, with secret police terrorizing them and monitoring their every move, please. Now, all of that brings us to the Washington Post piece. I know that that was a lot of context, but I think it's important to know what's going on and what the different players are alleging, okay? Because according to the Washington Post, the U.S., I'm sorry, the Post, I should say, uncovered a State Department cable that was circulated by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem just last

Friday. Now, what did that cable say? The cable relayed an Israeli assessment that Iran's regime is not cracking and is willing to fight to the end. If large numbers of Iranians return to the streets, Israeli officials say that people will get slaughtered because the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's principal military force, has the upper hand. This is what the Israelis are saying behind the scenes. You see what kind of liars they are? Had they lie right to your face? But behind the scenes, they're like, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, a lot of Iranians are going to get slaughtered. Liberation, am I right?

Yeah, liberation from living, I guess, from being alive. But regardless of the mass slaughter, the Israelis expect to be, expect this to be carried out, right? This agitation, they're urging the US to prepare ways to egg on protests with messages of support for an uprising. And in reality, there has been more, again, more nationalism in Iran since the war started. It turns out civilians are not really interested in having foreign actors come in and make decisions on who gets to rule them and lead them. But Israel is too brain dead to realize that. Israel expected that the Iranian Supreme Leader's assassination last month would sow more chaos within the regime in the immediate aftermath. But in recent days, the Islamic Republic's hold on power has been evident in its ability to continue launching ballistic missiles and drones everywhere they want to.

Israeli officials told U.S. diplomats. And just going back to that cable again, Israeli officials, according to the cable, speculated that the regime might moderate its views if the new supreme leader were killed, but noted that it was stubborn and would have to be taken down from within. I don't know how any group of people can be as stupid as the Israelis are, but killing leaders of foreign countries doesn't make them want to like give you flowers. Okay. It's not going to make you celebrated. It's not going to make you welcomed into Iran. It's going to lead. But honestly, I think Israel wants this. I don't think they're as dumb as they make themselves out to be. Israel loves extremism. They love to use extremism. They create extremism because they love to be

victim. So when that extremism that they themselves have created turns around and bites them in the ass. Well, you'll get them whining about how they're all, we're the victims. We're in, we're living in such a hostile region of the world. Israel is the biggest threat to world peace. And all the chaos that we've been seeing in that region of the world in the Middle East is because of Israel's intentions to steal land and expand borders. It's that simple. The idea that they're interested in liberating anyone is a joke. If anyone needs to be liberated, It's the United States from Israel. We got to take a break.

We'll be right back. Asimov's prophet in our member section says, yeah, Iranians listen to Netanyahu. He's treated Palestinians so well. I think the arrogance of the West bothers me the most because they just think the Iranians are morons. Like they're like barbaric animals and like unintelligent can easily be manipulated. It's infuriating. Anyway, Ells Bell says the Zionists want us to believe that the Iranians have been begging for and are grateful for liberation via mercy killing.

I know, it's laughable. Let's go to our super chats. We've got Tario Preacher who says, I don't know which is worse, the Nazi propaganda in World War II or Fox News propaganda. Fox News is pretty bad, which is why I know it's hard to do, guys. But when I say be kind to your fellow Americans, the reason why I say it is because, Because people do exist in these terrible media filter bubbles. So someone who's getting their news from Fox, they genuinely think like, oh, they're advocating. In supporting this war in Iran, they're genuinely advocating for the right thing.

They're genuinely thinking about the Iranian people because that's the propaganda that's being spewed on Fox. It doesn't mean that the viewer is a bad person. The viewer is being fooled by propaganda, which is why if you have the people, being able to sit with people you disagree with and have civil conversation and debate is far better than dividing the country by hating the other side. Let's get back to the show. What's up, everyone? Since our social breaks are so short and I don't get a chance to read more of your comments. I'm going to go ahead and read a few right now. Let's start with free meatballs and linguine. You sound like a good time. I'm concerned that if the war continues to not go well, Israel will use nuclear weapons. What do you think? Israel has a policy known as the Samson option. And, well, you should look it up for yourselves. But basically, if there is any real, real threat to Israel's existence, which there isn't,

it's a nuclear power. But their whole thing is, well, we will deploy nuclear Armageddon, if there's any jeopardizing the existence of Israel. And by the way, Jonathan Pollard, a notorious traitor to the United States. He was a CIA analyst who sold our secrets classified information to Israel. Since he moved over to Israel and lives there now, he's threatened nuclear weapons. So look, do I think they'll actually use nuclear weapons? Honestly, I don't know. There are too many nuclear powers, and it would lead to mutually assured destruction.

Like, it would be such a stupid move. But I'm out of all the countries that have nuclear weapons. And remember, Pakistan has nuclear weapons, North Korea has nuclear weapons. The country I worry about the most is Israel, especially because they're not part of the non-proliferation treaty. They think they are above any international law. They think they should be treated in a special manner, if you will. All right, let's go to Rose Orozco, who says, APEC tracker says that the state of Illinois funds Israel infuriating. Oh, yeah, not only does the federal government provide financial aid to Israel, so do the state.

states independently of the federal government. It is infuriating. Anyway, let's get back to the news. I do want to talk a little more about the economy and the consequences of this ongoing war in Iran. Let's get to it. All of the appointees need to realize it's not about them. It's not their policy. They need to shut up and salute. All right. Well, last night, the United States, Special envoy, Richard Bernal, told Joe Kent that instead of resigning, he should just shut up in salute. Shut up and salute. Do as you're told. Now, Kent publicly announced that he is stepping down from his role as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He was working under Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and we'll get to her in a moment

later in the show. Now, his acknowledgement on X included his letter to President Donald Trump in which he asserted the following, quote, I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation. And it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. Now, that, of course, led to just rage from people who know that there is undue influence of our foreign policy by Israel. They know it. They know that there's nothing anti-Semitic in stating it. But of course, Kent got all sorts of smears of being an anti-Semite because he plainly stated the truth. Now, as of producing the story, Kent's resignation message on X has received over 800,000 likes. Okay, so obviously

it struck a chord. But again, Kent has faced some pretty extreme and harsh criticism for shedding light on Israel's role in agitating for this war. By the way, including from Senator Mitch McConnell, who wrote on X, quote, those who mistake its baseless and incendiary conspiracies for brave truth telling are only fooling themselves. Isolationists and anti-Semites have no place in either party and certainly do not deserve places of trust in our government. Well, I would argue that the scumbags currently in our government, who cheer led, were huge cheerleaders of the 2003 invasion of Iraq are the real enemies of our state.

Because that's what basically started the unraveling of our country, both economically, foreign policy-wise. We are in a lot of trouble as a country because of these ridiculous wars, because of these entanglements, which again, I just want to reiterate, if anyone can give me a specific example of how our relationship with Israel, how us fighting their wars benefits the United States, please let me know, especially in the case of Iran, a country that didn't even have the military capability to strike the United States. It's ballistic missiles. They're not long-range missiles that can strike the United States.

Why are we worried about Iran? But anyway, McConnell has yet to comment on the reality that Kent is telling the truth. He has called, by the way, has Mitch McConnell, this is important. Has he called out the virulent anti-Semitism of Secretary of State Marco Rubio? Now, why do I say that? Well, because Marco Rubio just said it out loud. Here's what I'm talking about. It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel

or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders. It was automatic and, in fact, it bared to be true. If we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the president made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.

And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed. Okay, so I know that we've processed that statement from Marco Rubio before, but let's do it again. Because I think it's really important to do that. So ask yourself, if a allied nation, in this case Israel, decides, hey, you know what, there's a bunch of U.S. troops in this region, tens of thousands of them, but we want to strike Iran anyway. So we're going to do it. We're going to strike Iran. And you tell the Americans, we're going to do it. We're going to strike Iran. And obviously Iran is going to retaliate by

striking U.S. bases in the region. Is that country really an ally? Are they an ally if they're going to put your troops in jeopardy? They're not really an ally, are they? I think that's the important question to address here. But the second question is, are we doing this for Israel? You'd have to be stupid to say no. Of course we're doing this for Israel. And it's not anti-Semitic to say it. Okay, anti-Semitism means you hate Jewish people. Okay? I've got no problem with Jewish people. I have a problem with the nation state of Israel, which insists to call themselves the Jewish state. Okay. I don't think that Israel is representative of the entire Jewish population.

I think that it is a disgusting country, built on lies, built on blood-soaked land, and that has nothing to do with Judaism. It has everything to do with the three terrorist groups that founded that country in the first place. who couldn't care less about putting Jewish people, actual Israelis in harm's way, by engaging in endless conflict in that region simply to expand their borders. You don't have enough land? You don't have enough land. Anyway, like the fact that everyone gets smeared as an anti-Semite, it's cheapened the word. The word means nothing. The word means nothing.

At this point, I mean, I'm hearing Americans behind the scenes basically say it's a badge of honor to be called back because it means that you're willing to acknowledge the truth. Israel is the biggest threat to Jews globally than anything else. Know that? Absorb that. That is the truth. Furthermore, did Mitch McConnell have any problems with Lindsey Graham when he plainly stated the following? Let me read it to you. This is, this is Lindsey Graham. To help make the case on Iran, Senator Lindsey Graham traveled several times to Israel in recent weeks. meeting with members of the country's intelligence agency.

They'll tell me things our own government won't tell me, he said. Gee, I don't know, moron. Could it be that maybe they're trying to manipulate your ass? Further, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nanyahu, coaching him on how to lobby the president for action. Basically, you have a United States senator taking multiple trips to Israel to coach a foreign country's prime minister on how he can manipulate our president to goad him into a war on behalf of Israel. Oh, is it anti-Semitic to state that?

Please explain to me how stating that means that you hate the Jews. Anyway, so let's also remember that Netanyahu said publicly that he's been dreaming about this war for 40 years. Have Americans been dreaming about this war for 40 years? I don't think so. I don't think so. Meanwhile, you have Batia Ungar Sargon making stupid points. I'm not even going to go to that video. She bores the hell out of me. Now, Joe Kent is also facing accusations of leaking information to the press. Of course, Mark Levin is out for blood. And so he says, I know for a fact, Kent leaked to Tucker Carlson, a meeting the president had with me at the president's request, which Carlson in turn used on the internet.

president should be treated like that. Apparently there were more not good. And apparently anonymous sources are making similar statements to Fox News. Let's take a quick look at that. Well, now our own Aisha Hosni reporting that on background to a senior administration official says that Joe Kent was cut out of POTIS intelligence briefings months ago due to allegations of suspected leaks and that he has not been a part of any Iran planning discussions or briefings at all, which sort of posed the disconnect addressed earlier this morning by the administration saying that he wasn't privy to the classified information that indeed underscores and proves, provides the evidence that Iran was nuclear empowered or about to be.

So which one is it? Because even like last week, President Donald Trump, you know, this is an outfit. Fox News is an outfit that does propaganda on behalf of this administration, right? So which one is it? Because just last week, Trump repeated again that we obliterated Iran's nuclear facilities last summer. So why do they keep pretending as though Iran was a nuclear power when it wasn't? Why are they lying about that? You see how they manufacture consent for wars, how they manipulate the American people into thinking that we were genuinely in danger, that the Iranians posed a real threat to the United States? You want to know what poses a real threat to the United States?

Israel does. Israel does. 13 of our soldiers gone, dead. Young men and women with families left behind. How many American citizens have been slaughtered by Israeli settlers in the West Bank? You want to talk about a threat to the United States. Okay, let's put lives aside for a second. Let's talk about the economic ramifications of being aligned with a a country that uses us, abuses us, and drags us into wars and just endlessly.

A country that has like led to brain rot in our government that's so extreme that under the Obama administration, we were literally arming al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria to overthrow Bashar al-Assad on behalf of the Israelis. So did al-Qaeda attack us on 9-11 or not? Or is there something else at play here? I'm not saying these things simply because I loathe Israel. I do. I do loathe Israel. I don't hide that. I tell you guys the truth, which is why when people call me an anti-Semite, if I was an anti-Semite, I'd be open and clear about it.

I'm not. I love Jewish people. My best friend since I was a teenager is Jewish. She's the best person in my life outside of my family. Okay, the fact that Jewish people are being harassed makes me sick. But you have to understand where the anti-Semitism is stemming from, where it is. is coming from. We have to stop engaging in these wars because it's not benefiting us. And it is leading to complete, and utter chaos, bloodshed for what? All right.

Now this morning, Caroline Levitt gave an onymus warning to leakers in the administration without really specifically referencing Kent. So let's take a look at that. Anyone who has been as suspected of leaking or is proven to be a leaker will not be welcome in this administration. I know that for a fact because I've heard the president say it myself. There are investigations underway into leakers in this administration and people will be held accountable for that. Okay, fine. I don't know what that means, but okay. And we'll end with Vice President J.D. Vance, who struck somewhat of a different tone when asked about Kent this morning.

Before I toss to the video, I want you to remember something. J.D. Vance desperately wants to position himself as an anti-interventionist. He wants to position. He's going to run in 2028. And he knows where the Republican base is actually at when it comes to questions of war and peace, especially young conservatives. Young conservatives are not in favor of this war. So he's trying to balance this difficult situation he's in where he's trying to mark. market himself as something he's not, let's be clear, to the electorate, while avoiding putting himself at odds with Donald Trump. Because once Trump catches onto this, of course, it's going to be

real ugly, right? But I don't want you to make the mistake of thinking that J.D. Vance is any different from the Warhawks that we've dealt with in this administration and previous administrations. Take a look. Now I know Joe Kent a little bit. I like Joe Kent. You heard the President yesterday that he likes Joe Kent too. But it's one thing to have a disagreement of opinion. I know the president very well. He welcomes differences of opinion. He likes it when people express their views about what should happen. He listens to everybody. It's one of the great things I like about him is that whether you're the Gardner at Mar-a-Lago or whether you're the Secretary of the State, the president cares about what you think about an issue. He recognizes

that everybody has smarts and everybody has wisdom. That said, whatever your view is, when the The President of the United States makes a decision, it's your job to help make that decision as effective and successful as possible. And so the president said this yesterday, if you are on the team and you can't help implement the decisions of his administration, he has the right to make those decisions, then it's a good thing for you to resign. And I think that's exactly right. No, he didn't attack Kent.

He didn't do what Trump did by calling Kent weak. And guys, whatever you think about Kent, I know, he's his right winger, he's got all sorts of things in his history that I don't like. I'm only focusing on his decision to resign and call this whole Iran war for what it is. I think he deserves credit for that, even if you disagree with him on everything else, including his involvement in denying the results of the 2020 presidential election. I obviously loathe people who purport those kinds of claims, total lies. But anyway, putting that aside, I don't need to do throat clearing and caveats a million times when I'm talking about something very specific here. What Kent did was right.

Okay, resigning and putting out a statement and being very clear about what's going on was the right thing to do. And so you have Trump attacking him as being weak. I'm sorry, Captain Bonespurs. You're the one who dodged the draft, whereas Kent actually was in the military, you know, was part of the service. And on top of that, you know, when it comes to J.D. Vance, He's trying to be friendly. He's taking a different tone. But do not mistake that as J.D. Vance being notably different from the rest of the administration. He's not notably different.

He's also, look, I don't know if he's actually a Warhawk or not. It doesn't matter. What matters is following the money. And not only did Palantir founder Peter Thiel fund him, basically grow him in a petri dish, but you want to know one of the major fundraisers that was held for, J.D. Vance, who it was held by? Les Wexner. I'm sure Les Wexner has no interest in dragging the United States into wars on behalf of Israel. Just consider that as we hear more about J.D. Vance's anti-interventionist ideology. I'm not buying it. You shouldn't either. Let's get back to the break.

And when we come back, we will have a wonderful guest on. Glenn Greenwald will join me to to talk about the war, talk about Kent's resignation and more. Don't miss it. What contributions to the progressive cause are you most proud of? I mean, I don't have super high aspirations for a singular role that I can play in the movement or anything. I just, I try to present myself as what I think that I am, which is a progressive man who is driven by a, I think, well interrogated and well organized system of values that I try to stay consistent on and I demonstrate that that's the sort of life that a person can lead and be successful and be happy and all of that. And that should not need to be done, but there are so many people

on the right that are trying to push men in the opposite direction that I want to be able to do that along the way, if I can get people to care about some topics that not that they wouldn't necessarily care about, or that for some men might, they might think that's not a topic that they should be focused on. That's definitely something that I relish doing. And along the way, I mean, we've been able to introduce people to a lot of candidates. That's been a big part of what we've done. You know, not all of them necessarily got in office. Probably most of them did not. And a lot of them, you might not even remember their names. But it was great to be able to provide people the platform where they had the chance of, you know, making a difference.

Obviously, AOC and all that. But there's been a lot of great people along the way. In the bonus episode for the members, we do some inside baseball. We're going to look at John's desk. Nice little spaceship here. Nerd. But it is kind of look cool. Who has Legos? Oh, no.

He's taking apart a keyboard. Who has a mouse pad that's this big? He's got a dog with a nose that you can hang something like. You know what this desk screams to me? Nerd. And that's how we like him. We love Johnny Pie. He's got his own personality like everybody does at T.R.T.

Come meet us all in the bonus episodes. WIT.com slash team. David Soror and Nina Turner. Is Adam Green Drop by? Charlamine. It's been great to have you. It's great to be with you, Chang. Your show is a great thing.

You're informing people. A lot of the shows that I live on, you know, my CNN and my MSNBC and even Fox and any of the other shows, MPR. They are so quick to decide that they know what this building means today. The one thing that I hate that politicians do, you know, they talk about the people they should be talking to. Do they have any idea that they're their establishment and that they're hated? Or do they not realize that at all? People are so deeply in their little universe. I think it's very easy to not really question what you're doing.

Voters have a right to ask questions of any nominee, whether they're independent, Republican, or Democrat. The system is lawfully that suppresses competition. How is it the year 2024? And we're still like, maybe they'll talk about pain medical. How are we? How is that like, at one level, it's like, good, what we're talking about. And you're like, it's 2024.

And that's always been the critique. that your critique of us is, well, you guys give good speeches, you put out good tweets, but you're not wielding actual power. Now we're starting to. My favorite news platform by far. It's not even close. It's about a country and a principle, and that's what you and I both work to achieve. And I'm so glad that at least half the battle has now been won. If you want to go really hear what's going on, honestly, you should tune into the Young Turks.

Thanks for doing such a great job. Please keep it up. That makes me so happy. Oh, I like making that. I didn't know about that. This is a happy Anna Kasparian. You're welcome, YouTube. Join the Dragon Squad by becoming a YouTube channel member.

Click the join button below or sign up on tYT.com slash join to get access to fun emojis, a member only chat, exclusive shop TYT designs, add free watching and so many other amazing perks. Plus, you get bragging rights for being part of the coolest community on the internet and help us drive real positive change in the world. The Dragon Squad awaits. So join today. Welcome back to TYT. I'm your host, Anna Kasparian.

And we're going to continue on with this topic of the, war in Iran. Now, when it comes to questions of U.S. foreign policy, someone who has always been on point, who has done extensive reporting and has tended to be correct, is journalist Glenn Greenwald. He's the host of System Update, a longtime friend of the show, and is active again on Substack if you want to subscribe to his work. And luckily, we have Glenn with us today. Welcome, Glenn. Great to be with you, and thanks for having me. Thank you for joining us. I wanted to start off by asking you a little bit about Joe Kent.

Your latest piece is on the resignation of Joe Kent. He stepped down and put out that letter explaining that he just can't serve in this role, knowing that the U.S. got dragged into fighting this illegal war in Iran. He writes that the echo chamber or this echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and that should you strike now there was a clear path to victory. This was a lie. And is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women, his wife included, by the way, who died in a suicide bombing. He says, we cannot make this

mistake again. So this was in his letter to President Trump announcing his resignation. He posted this on social media. And that has led to a chorus of corporate media, legacy media talking heads, essentially smearing him as nothing more than an anti-Semite. Let's start with Jake Tapper. His letter blames Israel and absolves Trump. Blames Israel for the war in Iran, blames Israel for the war in Iraq, blames Israel and its supporters for the war on ISIS in Syria. And I think there are a lot of people today wondering, how did somebody like this get a position like this in government, given his anti-Semitic views? So let's address whether it's genuinely anti-Semitic to point to Israel for goading us into certain wars, right? The Iraq war being one of them.

And so why do people say that, Glenn? Why do people say that this was actually a war fought on behalf of Israel? Well, let's ask the question if you want to just look at it this way, which is why are we, why are we in the Middle East? For as long as I can remember, going back to the first term of Obama, the entire U.S. national security apparatus was saying that the most important thing was to pivot to China, to pivot to Asia, that that was really where our national and most vital interests were that we had no vital interest in the Middle East anymore. What vital interest do we have in the Middle East? We are a net exporter of oil. We don't need Middle Eastern oil, even if we did those countries. are more than happy to sell it to us, to provide it to us. We're not desperate for oil. We don't have oil shortages. Why haven't we extricated ourselves from the Middle East? Why are we fighting all these wars, including the ones Joe Kent referenced in Syria, in Iran, in Iraq,

all throughout the Middle East where American service members have been killed over the last five years, protecting Israel for sure. That's what those deployments are for. The only reason is because of Israel. And there is not an imaginary Israel lobby. There's a very real Israel lobby that you can document, you can follow the money. People have done that going back to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, the very first people to really drag out the Israel lobby into the light in 2007. And so there's a very documented, well-reported lobby that is extremely influential in Washington, in part because of their money, but also because huge numbers of people grow up, either because they're Jewish or evangelical, and are taught from birth

to have supreme loyalty to Israel. And this combination means that we do, in fact, gear a lot of our foreign policy to the protection of that foreign country and not to the interest of American citizens. I mean, I think that that's just demonstrably true. Anyone who kind of stops to think about it will realize what the reality is. Because when it comes to the aftermath of 9-11, there was a very real attempt of like propaganda to convince Americans that Iraq was somehow behind 9-11, which of course we now know is definitely not true. The terror attack was essentially exploited by the Bush administration to invade a country in the Middle East that Israel saw as a threat. Israel saw Saddam Hussein as a threat. So can you explain to the audience? Because this is, it seems like ancient stuff,

but it's really relevant to what's happening right now. Why did Israel at that time see Saddam Hussein and Iraq as a threat? Well, if you go back and look at, the 1990s. So before 9-11, there was a movement of neoconservative thinkers, all of whom were extremely loyal to and supportive of Israel, people like Bill Crystal and Robert Kagan, and Paul Wolfowitz, who ended up at the very high level of the Bush-Cheney administration as the deputy defense secretary under Dick Cheney, Richard Pearl, the whole crew that you can go find in the 1990s, arguing that the United States should have gone and taken out Saddam. And at the time, It wasn't a very popular policy view.

It was really confined to this small group of people who were constantly going back and forth to Tel Aviv. And they viewed Saddam Hussein in the middle of the Middle East as a major enemy of Israel, as did Benjamin and Yahoo, like he said when he came to the U.S. Congress in 2002 to urge United States to go and invade Saddam Hussein and change of the regime and promise there'd be freedom and democracy and peace spreading throughout the region. Because Saddam Hussein was an adversary of Israel. He did not want to be one of those. Arab puppet states that we had installed throughout the region that served Israel's interests, like the people in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, or throughout the Persian Gulf. And they viewed him as a defiant force, as a counterbalance and a counterweight to Israeli power. And you know, what's so amazing on it is if you go and look at the people after 9-11 who did link Iraq to 9-11,

and I think it's so important, we remember the Iraq War for the lies about weapons of mass destruction. The bigger lie was that Iraq had an alliance with Saddam Hussein because Americans weren't going to support a huge war 18 months after 9-11 unless there was some connection to 9-11. And the lie that was even bigger than WMD's was that they were in bed with al-Qaeda, that Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were allies. And this was a lie spread by people like Jeffrey Goldberg when he was at the New Yorker. He just about a decade previously had gone and fought and served in the IDF. He actually served in the IDF as a prison guard, even though he was an American citizen. Up and down the media, you had these kind of people

promulgating exactly these sorts of lies that we're seeing now back then on behalf of taking out Israel's enemy and Saddam Hussein and today doing it for the Iranian government. The connections are so vivid. You know, it's not like you have to dig very deeper or get out a chalkboard in and draw them. They're right there out in the open. They really are. And I should note that Goldberg has never served in the U.S. military, but did serve in the IDF, which is incredible. really is. Now, Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, actually, before we get to that, I can't help myself. I know we're kind of rewinding a little, but it's important to understand the context of what's happening today. So Syria and Libya, let's talk about that for a minute,

starting with Syria. So under the Obama administration, based on what I've read, Obama began arming terrorist groups in order to help topple Bashar al-Assad in Syria, correct? Yeah, there's a WikiLeaks cable from Hillary Clinton where she says, hey, we're fighting on the side of al-Qaeda. We were on the side of al-Qaeda a decade after 9-11 in Syria because Al-Qaeda was fighting to get rid of Assad. And of course, Al-Qaeda is now in power and running Syria. That's right. Okay, so I bring that up quite often on the show. I think that it's just an epic injustice that this has happened, especially considering

Al-Qaeda attacked us on 9-11. Why are we arming al-Qaeda terrorists? In fact, in the very document that you're referring to, Jake Sullivan was messaging back and forth with Hillary Clinton, and he basically said, Al-Qaeda is our, they're our guys now. I just, okay, all right, so that happened. Al-Sharahara was, you know, an al-Qaeda terrorist. He's now the leader of Syria. How does this benefit the United States in any way?

Why did we do this? Well, you know, it's so interesting because Bashar alasad was definitely one of the perceived enemies of Israel. He was aligned with Iran. He was kind of in the Middle East as this transit for weapons and for intelligence and other sorts of material between Iran and Hezbollah, between Iran and potentially Hamas. This is how the Israelis perceived Basharer. al-Assad, but the reality is, you know, Bachel al-Assad was a secular leader, very pro-Western in his orientation and his enemies were the radical Islamists that we said we were at war with after 9-11,

that we restructured our entire country and went and fought multiple wars and sacrificed thousands of our soldiers' lives in order to defeat, and then suddenly we're empowering them because they're the alternative to Israel's enemy in Syria. And let's remember on as well that, like, when, He used to be called Al Jelani before he got his makeup over and put on Armani suits and was welcomed at the White House, this al-Qaeda terrorist. Benjamin Nihahu, when Assad was vanquished and went to Russia, took credit for it. He said, we, the Israelis are the ones who enabled this. They were the ones who put America's, what we were told, most dangerous and devoted enemy,

al-Qaeda, into power in the middle of Syria. And we help them do that. As you say, how does empowering al-Qaeda and deposing a secularist leader who's protecting religious morality in Syria benefit the United States? I get how it benefits Israel, just like they get how there's war and Iran benefits Israel, but I don't understand at all how it benefits American citizens. The reason I don't understand it is because it doesn't. It doesn't, exactly.

Now, another example, of course, is Libya. And I think Libya is a model for what Israel would be very happy to see Iran turn into, right? Because Israel is not shy about stating that they want regime change in Iran. But I think people mistake what Israel is saying as, oh, they actually do want, you know, liberation for the Iranian people. They want a better regime or better government that's going to represent the Iranian people and allow them to be free. But my view of this is that Israel would be very happy to see, you know, the regime toppled,

but for chaos to ensue, a total failed state. And that certainly happened with the overthrow and killing of Omar Gaddafi in Libya. Now, Libya is basically a failed state. And so all these countries that were listed in that clean break memo have now been invaded. And so when you mention the clean break memo, which was a documented game plan, if you will, presented to Benjamin Netanyahu back in 1996, if you mention that, people think you're a crazy conspiracy theorist. But every single country listed in that blueprint has been invaded at this point. And so at what point does it end?

Now, Turkey is not on that list. But we're hearing some Israeli officials state that Turkey is now a threat to us. We need to focus on what we're going to do with Turkey. At what point does this end? I think the most important thing is that people who have platforms, who have established platforms and are able to withstand attacks. And this is one of the reasons why I respect so much what you've done with your platform and what other people have done with theirs because it answers your question directly,

is we have to stand up and destroy the taboo about talking about exactly what's happening. This taboo has been maintained through extremely bullying, extreme bullying tactics, tactics of terror. We will destroy you and your reputation. as bad as it is to stand accused of racism in American society, you can overcome that. Many people have overcome very valid accusations of racism, say nothing of every other kind. Anti-Semitism was always the third rail. If you got that label put on your forehead, you are pretty much done in decent society.

And you can understand why after the Holocaust and in the years following it, why that was such a powerful accusation. And of course, like all power, it got exploited and commandeered for other agendas. The other agenda specifically being that everybody had to submit to the interest and dictates of the Israeli government and to their loyalists inside the United States who are American citizens, but have loyalty to a foreign power. And anytime anyone talked like we're talking over the past to say 10 or 15 years, they were not only accused of being an anti-Semite, but really suffered serious reputational and career destruction. All of that changed with October 7. Too many Americans,

too many young people around the world saw the true face of Israel, the real, relationship between the United States and and its support for Israel. And it was no longer sustainable anymore to keep the lid on that and it's all exploded. And that's what needs to happen on it. It's like people need to see the truth. And to see the truth, people need to be less afraid about talking about Israel and its toxic influence inside the United States. And and to be willing to be called anti-Semite by these very well-funded groups by these orchestrated Sleazy online campaigns that will try and destroy your reputation, just try and try and destroy your name, anything else. And more and more people coming together, there's always

strength of numbers is what really is, I think, the key to pushing back against them. And for the first time in my life, I think it's succeeded. I also think it's important to come together as Americans and maybe for at least a short period of time, if you can do it, put the partisan brain rot aside and talk to fellow Americans about situations like this. You know, you said something on TYT when you were hosting the show with Jank not too long ago that really resonated with me. You know, Jank asked you, like, what is your political label and you kind of reject all labels. And I think that's really smart because once you, you know, plant your flag on one side or the other, you kind of close yourself

off to cogent arguments that are being made by, you know, a political side you might disagree with on other things, but are being honest and accurate about, you know, issues of foreign policy, per se. And so I really appreciate you for saying that because I find myself kind of in that direction. I don't want to be labeled as anything, not because I don't have strong political views, but because I think sometimes seeing yourself as part of some sort of political tribe closes you off to perspectives and information that I think is important and beneficial for Americans overall. So let's end on one thing. I want to show you a video of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi,

She was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee today. And there was one moment in particular that particularly that really stood out to me. Because she essentially made her role within the Trump administration, Nolan Void. Take a look. Was it the assessment of the intelligence community that there was a, quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime? Yes or no? Senator, the only person who can determine what is and is not an imminent threat is the president? False.

This is the worldwide. This is the worldwide threat searing where you present to Congress national intelligence, timely objective and independent of political considerations. You've stated today that the intelligence community's assessment is that Iran's nuclear enrichment program was obliterated and that, quote, there had been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability. Was it the intelligence community's assessment that nevertheless, despite this obliteration, there was a quote, imminent nuclear threat posed by the

Iranian regime. Yes or no? It is not the intelligence community's responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat. Glenn, what's the point of having an intelligence community if they don't assess threats to the United States? You know, it's so painful to listen to that. You know, I will confess, I've had, I've covered Tulsi. I've, you know, had somewhat of a personal, I guess you could call it a friendship with her. I have respected her even when I disagreed with her. Remember, she became a known political quantity by destroying her political future in the Democratic Party, which was very bright. She became the vice chair of the DNC very quickly. And she resigned in order to blow the whistle on the DNC for cheating for Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders.

And that kind of resignation on principle is something I think we need so much of. It's what we just saw her deputy, Joe Kent, do, but that she's afraid to do. And what's happening here is she knows that Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapon. She said that under oath last year, two months before Trump went and attacked Iran with. with Israel and Trump in public when asked about it said, I don't care what Tulsi Gabbard said, like completely demeaning her. So she doesn't want to lie and say, oh no, Iran has a nuclear weapon they were about to get one. But she also seems so desperate to cling to power that she's spouting what she knows are idiocies like these. Like, oh, it's just for the president

to decide not for me. Well, then what's her job? And like, what did George Bush do wrong? If he thought Saddam Hussein was a threat, who was anyone to question him? He's the president. Only he makes that determination. It's really sad to watch what she's doing, not only to herself, but to our country. I totally agree. Final question for you. I think it's pretty clear now that there is continuity from one administration to the next when it comes to foreign policy. I mean, just look at the Obama administration. He gets elected because there's so much disdain for the type of foreign policy that was carried out under George W. Bush's administration. He not only continued that foreign policy, he expanded it. He's the one who put boots on the ground in Libya. And so my

question to you is, if elections aren't enough to change the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy, what can Americans do? Because it does seem that there is a deep state. And these are the individuals, unelected officials within the government that are making the decisions, regardless of what the administration genuinely wants or what the president genuinely wants. I don't know if that sounds conspiratorial to you, but to me, that continuity exists for a reason. You know, I went through the first campaign that I covered as a journalist was, was 2008. And, you know, I was a constitutional lawyer before I became a journalist. And so listening to Barack Obama talking about the importance of habeas corpus and not putting

people in prison with no charges for life without giving them a chance to prove their innocence and overturning all these like civil liberties abuses in the name of the war on terror and these endless wars actually believe that he meant that. You know, because I, and I, and on some of all, I think that he did. And he gets in to office and suddenly you're surrounded by these guys with, you know, huge metals on their chest and these secret rooms and the CIA and you're told that if you end this program, you're gonna have blood on your hands and you know JFK was killed under very, you know, these are not people who play games. And this is what the deep state is. It is a permanent

power faction in Washington that exists and exerts power regardless of which presidents come and go. And you don't wanna be blackpilled and say, I'm never gonna believe in a politician again and runs for president because I don't think they're going to get into office and do anything other than what they're told to do. But you have to also be realistic. And at some point, realize that change is going to require a lot more than just how you vote every four years or every two years or pledging allegiance to a particular party because it is proven over and over that no matter how much they promise that they're not going to continue these policies, these policies continue whether they want to or not. And that's just the reality. And if you've

been around long enough. Unfortunately, like you and I have, even though we're still very young, there's no other alternative but to, but to accept that. Glenn, you do incredibly important work. Everyone, please check out his work over on Substack. I watch a system update on YouTube. I know you, is it still on Rumble? I'm not sure. No, we're not doing it around the show anywhere. Yeah, but we're on YouTube and Substack and everywhere else. Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us and being so generous with your time. See you soon. No problem. See you. Bye. All right, everyone, we've got to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll finally get to that story I've been teasing about in regard to the economic ramifications of this war. We have some more details on that. Don't miss it. We'll be right back.

Langford, Jeremy, thank you so much for the super chat. We also have Anthony who says 89% of Iranian support regime change. That's wonderful. regime change should happen organically within their borders without the interference of a foreign power that's bombing them to smithereens. That's my take. Ames Kelly says it's funny that the Leviathan plant is for natural gas and set to open in 2029. We've got Abdullah Saraj who says first, it was Ben Shapi. Now it's micro Mark Levin. I think Shepi sounds funny. Like, it just does.

Like, I know that it's childish. I get it. But I'm amused by it. Just like I'm amused by Tucker Catorelson. Like, we are adults and people are like throwing out these ridiculous nicknames. It's crazy. By the way, guys, Joe Kent was just interviewed by Tucker Carlson. We have our wonderful producer, Taylor Ellis, who's been working on that segment.

For our members-only bonus episode today, I will be covering that. So if you're a member, you can look forward to that. It's one of the benefits of membership. If you are not a member, you can become one by going to t-y-t.com slash join, or you can become a member by hitting that join button. Michael Cotevelli, I'm going to read your comment when we come back from this insanely short break. That doesn't give me enough time. I'll see you there. For the members of the show, I do see your comments in the document,

and I will be reading member comments, more member comments in the bonus episode for our members. I'll just quickly read a super chat from Michael Cotevili. Israel needs a constant enemy. It keeps the Israeli population fearful to keep electing someone like Netanyahu. It's part of the indoctrination that Jews need Israel as a safe haven, similar to what Biden said. Yeah, I first of all, completely reject the notion that Israel is necessary in order to have a safe place for Jewish people. Jewish people are welcome and thriving in the United States. Is anyone really going to deny that? Yes, anti-Semitism exists and it should be fought genuine anti-Semitism, genuine hatred toward Jewish people. But our Jewish sisters and brothers here in the United States are protected. We love them.

and there's no reason for them to be fearful living here in the U.S. So really great point there. Anyway, let's move on to some other news. I want to talk a little bit about this. Let's end it here. Let me say one more thing. Because we when we inevitably get dragged into this war, when we inevitably end up spending tens of billions,

if not hundreds of billions, if not a trillion, depending on how long that war with Iran lasts, will you guys come back on this show? and at least admit I was right. Absolutely. Well, I said that on her take about eight months ago, and guess what? I was right. But I'm not sharing that with you simply to brag about how right I was.

We're now in the third week of this unnecessary war against Iran, and it's already costing American taxpayers literally billions of dollars. And as I said in the video you just watched, This mess could ultimately end up costing us some trillions of dollars, and we're already $40 trillion in debt. How is this beneficial to the American people in any way, shape, or form? Well, last Thursday, the Pentagon announced that it spent about $11.3 billion on the war in Iran in just the first week, in one week, in one week.

By the way, all those people who got kicked off of the Medicaid system because our Congress decided to cut a trillion dollars in funding to Medicaid, how do you feel about the fact that we spent $11.3 billion on the war in just one week? We don't hate our government enough. Let me just be clear about that. I should also note that the director of National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, actually corrected the number to closer to $12 billion. in that first week. Great. But disastrously, it appears that President Donald Trump not only underestimated Iran's military capability and resolve, but he also underestimated just how much this war would end up costing the American people. So the Intercept put out this fantastic report. I highly recommend you read the whole thing, but for the purposes of saving time, I'll read you the relevant excerpts. So Nick Terse over at the Intercept writes that initial estimates of the first 100 hours of the war tacked on $3.7 billion in operational costs,

munitions, and damaged or destroyed equipment, according to a cost breakdown by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS. This and other estimates turned out to be drastic undercounts as Pentagon officials in classified briefings disclose that the military burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions in just the first two days of the war. Hmm. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, they're the ones who advise the Trump administration on how much this war would cost us. Fascinating. We should look into that organization. So it's a bipartisan nonprofit org. Okay, so far so good. No problems with that. Since it's a nonprofit, they have to do financial filings, which I love, I love financial

filings. Oh, I jump in it all day or day. All right. And so I looked at their financial filings. 20203 is the most recent financial filing they have available. And it turns out that the chairman of this organization, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, happens to be Thomas Pritzker. Thomas Pritzker, where have I heard that name recently? Oh, that's right. The same Thomas Pritzker, who had to step down as chair of the Hyatt board because of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, which we recently learned about after the Epstein files were released. Yeah, that guy. Jeffrey Epstein, the individual that was Wheelan and dealing on behalf of Israel, that guy. Yeah. Anyway, let's move on. So the billionaire, Thomas Pritzker, has a step down as executive chair of

the hotel chain Hyatt after revelations over his ties with the late child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Files released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that Prisker was in regular contact with Epstein after his 2008 plea deal for procuring a minor for prostitution. So in other words, this scumbag is the chair of the very organization that severely underestimated the cost of this war that the United States is fighting on behalf of this. Israel. Oh, by the way, Leon Panetta is also a trustee of this organization. Yeah. These are the people advising our government. Anyway, let's get back to the real cost of this war. So take a look at this video from Al Jazeera that breaks down exactly how much is spent per day just based on the CSIS numbers.

Item one, operations, keeping more than 200 fighter jets in the air, a fleet of warships at sea and artillery on the ground, about $196 million. Most of it was already budgeted. The real cost was what this war machine fired. Item two, munitions. Over 2,600 guided weapons launched in 100 hours. Missiles, precision bombs, drones, replacing them cost $3.1 billion. Item three, things that broke. Three F-15 jets destroyed by friendly fire in Kuwait. The bill came in at $359 million. Add it all up and it's $3.7 billion for four days of war. Of the $3.7 billion, only 178 million was in the Pentagon's budget. Everything else? No funding source. The Trump administration is running this war on a military credit card, and Congress hasn't seen the bill yet. Now remember, that video was based on data

that was provided on the cost of this war by CSIS. It's an underestimate, severe underestimate, and they updated their analysis. They now estimate that Operation Epic Fury will cost the U.S. a whopping, or has, yeah, it did cost the U.S. a whopping $16.5 billion by the 12th day of the war. And honestly, judging by the obvious pro-Israel bias of this organization, I wouldn't be surprised if that is an underestimate. Now, the intercept spoke to experts in the cost of war. Lawmakers experienced with the Pentagon budget, the same Pentagon that has failed every single audit.

And two government officials briefed on Operation Epic Fury, who did speak on condition of anonymity so they can speak freely. So a three-week conflict could cost taxpayers between $60 billion and $130 billion, according to the two government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, with both stressing that the estimates were spent. speculative. It's a back of the napkin estimate, said one official. We are already, even before this war started, spending over a trillion dollars to service our debt. This is money that we don't even have. This is just more debt that we're taking on. Like, know that. A five-week war could top out at $175 billion. Eight weeks could put the total at $250 billion. Quote, they really have no idea of the real cost, end quote, said one of the officials, noting that bookkeeping is not a Pentagon strong suit. And remember, this is the same Pentagon that Trump

wants to increase the budget for from a trillion dollars a year to $1.5 trillion a year. They haven't passed a single audit. Now, even though we're allegedly ahead of schedule, whatever the hell that means, according to the Trump administration, and Kevin Hassan specifically, he still believes that this war is going to end in four to six weeks. I don't think so. In fact, Israel has just escalated this war by striking Iran's gas field. And as a result, Iran has retaliated, has already begun retaliated.

by hitting energy infrastructure in some of these Gulf countries. So things have only been escalating. Now, Trump made a series of miscalculation since the start of this war. And that's not just according to me, it's according to who's that? Oh, yeah, former U.S. Army Major Harrison Mann. Take a look. Nothing that Donald Trump imagined was going to happen has come to pass. He thought it was going to be really an overnight success.

like he views his regime change operation in Venezuela. In his personal experience, he thought he was going to do this a second time. Nobody who knows anything about Iran thought that that was going to happen, though, and it's impossible to do a decapitation operation on a country with that cohesive a government and a regime. I think to a certain extent, this war is going exactly the way that Netanyahu and other boosters of this war expected, which is they wanted to draw the United States into really a really long quagmire with the goal of collapsing or fracturing the Iranian state. And guess what? As I've shared with you previously, but I'm going to say it again, it's important for you to know what's going on with our country, our budget, our money. Jake Sherman over at Punchbowl News noted that the White House, Pentagon, and some congressional leaders are already discussing an additional supplemental funding bill for this war.

Let me read you the relevant excerpts. We've had several sources suggest the package may carry a price tag of $100 billion or more. Lawmakers see this as potentially the last must-pass bill of the year and may try to attach their own. costly proposals. Reconciliation, meaning passing this bill through a simple majority in the Senate, is probably the best option for the GOP leaders because there's no chance that Democrats would allow anything to pass without a vote on ending the conflict or reigning in Trump's freedom to operate. But any new spending would have to be offset with cuts elsewhere. So in other words, If they want to pass a supplemental funding bill to the tune of $100 billion in order to continue funding this devastatingly stupid war,

well, then Congress would need to cut $100 billion elsewhere in the budget. So we are paying taxes for what reason? When our services, things that benefit us, the American people, continuously gets cut, and we spend more and more on the Pentagon, more and more on wars. And what makes it even worse, it'd be one thing if there was actually a threat to the United States and we had to spend the money to protect our borders to protect our country, that is not what's happening here. We are going deeper and deeper into debt to fight Israel's war to help them build their empire. That is the truth. That is the reality of the situation. So where are they going to cut that money or that funding from? Is it going to be food assistance? Is it going to be more Medicaid cuts?

Medicare cuts? I don't know. I guess we're going to have to wait and see. But there are no brakes on this car until the American people rise up and say, enough, we're not doing this anymore. And as we talk about the cost of war, we also need to keep in mind how much more we will spend in the long term. So Linda Blymes, who's a former assistant secretary and chief financial officer

of the U.S. Department of Commerce, this was under Bill Clinton's administration, spoke to the intercept and said this, enormous short-term expenses like spent munitions, the deployments of aircraft carrier strike groups, and aircraft shot down will be eclipsed by even more significant expenditures like the long-term costs of veterans' benefits and interest on the debt to pay for the war. The ultimate cost, Blime says, may reach into the trillions of dollars. Now, how the hell would she know that? Well, it turns out that Blime's first called attention to the immense hidden costs of America's wars in her analysis of the Iraq war, another war fought on behalf of Israel. The George W. Bush administration initially put the likely cost of the Iraq war at a measly $40 billion.

dollars. By 2008, so literally just five years later, Blimes and economist Joseph Stiglitz discovered that the real cost would be at least $3 trillion. But even that was an underestimate. By 2021, that figure had ballooned to around $8 trillion. So as Ben Shapiro tries to propagandize Americans into believing that they're not worthy of social security benefits. Oh, you know, it's going to be insolvent soon. God forbid we raise the social security tax cap and, you know, keep that incredibly popular program intact. No, no, no, we need to do away with it because he's a fiscal conservative. He argued on CNN when I was on the panel that the reason why we're in debt overwhelmingly is due to social security.

No. If you look at the maps, at the graphs, I should say, of when the U.S. started digging itself deeper and deeper and deeper into debt, trillions of dollars into debt, it started under the George W. Bush administration. You can't spend $8 trillion on a war on behalf of a foreign country and expect your economic health to be intact. It's that simple. Anyway, Blimes noted that there are currently 50,000 U.S. troops deployed in the Middle East,

the majority of whom are being exposed to toxins, burning oil, fumes, et cetera. I mean, not to forget about the mental toll of these types of deployments. As the U.S., Israel, and Iranian forces strike these oil facilities, it is causing a toxic, you know, situation in the air people are breathing. we can estimate that at least one third will be claiming disability benefits under the PACT Act, she said, referring to, and this is Blimes again, referring to a landmark 2022 law, expanding health care and benefits for our veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. Let me be very clear. Our veterans, our service members

shouldn't be placed in this situation in the first place. But if they are, And since they are, they deserve any and all financial assistance if they get sick as they're forced to fight these wars, especially on behalf of a foreign country. We got to take a break. We'll be right back. What's up, everyone? Welcome back to our final social break of the day. I just want to read Heidi's internet per comment because it's really sweet. Anna Casparian, Crystal Ball, Ash Sarkar. I love that you know who Ash is. I love Ash Sarkar. Real role models for young girls and women. If you guys are at all interested in diversifying your media diet, Navarro Media is fantastic. It's out of the UK. I listen to them on a regular basis. I don't know if I would say diversifying your media diet. They're definitely more in like the socialist camp. There's no question about that. But in terms of questions of war and peace, I think that we're very much aligned. And they just do really good content, good commentary as well. All right. Let's start. move on. We've got Arcane Eclectic who says, I saw a report that said U.S. military industrial complex only has a two-month supply of rare earth metals at their current production rate.

Well, the other thing to keep in mind is as Israel's escalating this war by attacking Iran's gas field, they're running out of missile interceptors, just as the United States is running out of missile interceptors. So maybe not a good time to escalate war with a country that seems to have a pretty significant inventory of missiles and drones. Just something to keep in mind, you know? Anyway, I'll read more of your comments when we come back and I'll see you there. What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the show.

Just want to read a few comments before we move on to the rest of the news. Beck B. 1023 says, as an Iranian American, born as an American citizen abroad, I don't claim to speak for anyone. I would still like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, spot on with everything. you're on fire today. Thank you so much, Bekby. And I don't speak on behalf of the Iranians. What I want for the Iranians is the same thing I want for the American people. I want justice. I want freedom. I want peace. And the reason why I push back against the notion of the U.S. bombing the crap out of Iran in the name of Iranian liberation is because they don't care about.

As an American, I'm here to tell you, our government doesn't care about your liberation. And I'm so terrified for the people in Tehran, especially, as people are being bombed, homes are being destroyed. It is just absolutely devastating. The death toll continues to increase. It's just awful. Anthony says, since when does the left care about spending money? Well, the left does care about spending money. I mean, I personally do care about going deeper and deeper into debt.

Now, I don't like it when so-called fiscal conservatives pretend like. they care about the economic health of our country when they're trying to nickel and dime American taxpayers on programs that they have paid into. But in terms of the debt, obviously, the debt's a huge problem. But Anthony, stick around. I can tell that you don't agree with me on a lot of things, and that's totally fine. I definitely commend you for watching the show. And we should be worried about our debt. There's no question about it. Box writes in and says, I saw that Amy Dangerfield made a video about, you know, what I showed you guys from her take, where I predicted what was going to happen with this warrant.

It turns out that I'm right. She said, Jillian owes you that apology, and she does. She'll never apologize. Jillian's been making her rounds talking mad crap about me. And you know what? It's fine. She's a sore loser, and it is what it is. Anthony writes again and says, make oil and gas not nationalize because that works so well for Venezuela.

nationalizing oil was not the biggest problem with Venezuela's economic downfall. It was the fact that they stopped manufacturing anything. It was the fact that they were importing everything and they were relying. The only export their economy was relying on was oil. And so when oil prices dropped and inflation became a huge problem. And on top of that, they're not able to manufacture anything because all of the products that they were consuming were being imported, that's not a smart economy, obviously. But I hear what you're saying. You don't believe in nationalizing these types of resources.

Anyway, let's get back to the show. We've got some more content for you. And I want to talk a little bit about this. Look, gas prices are up. And we know they're up. And we know that people are hurting because of it. And we're doing everything that we can to ensure that they stay lower. I will say, you know, the president said this, and I certainly agree with it. This is a temporary blip. Okay, what happened under the Biden administration is that gas prices were high for four years. Gas prices are higher right now.

And frankly, they're not even as high as they were during certain parts of the Biden administration. Because of what's going on in the Middle East, it's not going to last forever. We're going to take care of business. We're going to come back home. And when that happens, you're going to see energy prices come back down to reality. A lot of cope coming from the vice president of the United States now that the U.S. has been dragged into a devastating war with Iran, and that war has led to the destruction of all sorts of energy infrastructure in the Gulf region and in Iran as well. Now, J.D. Vance thinks

that high gas prices are just, you know, a temporary blip, you know, transitory. Remember the word transitory that we kept hearing over and over again from the Biden administration when inflation was a problem? Yeah, temporary blip, sure. Now, we've been telling you, for the last few days, how this war has created a major energy crisis, especially following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the Iranians. They've effectively closed it. And that's a problem considering the fact that 20% of gas and liquefied, I'm sorry, liquefied natural gas and oil is transported through that strait. And striking fuel depots and oil facilities also, you know, creates a problem, limited supply of really important energy sources

for the globe. And so this is costing consumers and Americans some real money. So let's talk about what I mean here. So this morning, DropSight News reported that Israel carried out a major escalation, major escalation by striking Iran's South Pars gas field. Now, this happens to be the world's largest natural gas field, and it's also a core pillar of Iran's energy supply. As drop site notes, this was reported alongside impacts on other oil and petrochemical facilities in the assoluille, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, I apologize, area. And so look, attacking these sites is going to limit the supply of oil and gas in the global market. It's not difficult to understand. understand. And so the IRGC noted, we're going to retaliate. Like this isn't the summer of 2025.

We're not just going to take it. So you're going to strike our largest gas field. We are going to retaliate big time and that retaliation has already begun. So IRGC linked task name news issued an urgent warning urging people to immediately leave major oil and gas sites. in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, saying that they had become direct and legitimate targets that could be struck within hours. And then they list the very specific areas where Iran intends to strike. I had to go on air and wasn't able to read deeply into it, but it appears that Iran has already begun its retaliation. And the report added, previously clear and repeated warnings were given to your rulers about entering this dangerous path and gambling with the fate of their

nations. And what Iran is essentially saying there is your decision to get in bed with the Israelis in the United States is costing you. So congratulations. Now, I don't love this, obviously. This is, again, yet another escalation, but we should discuss why these escalations are happening. Because if you listen very carefully to the messaging from the Trump administration, it is very obvious that he's looking for an exit route. This has been disastrous. It's unpopular with the American people overall. I know we've seen some polls indicating that for the most part, Republican voters are on board for this war. But Trump is now thinking about possibly putting boots on the ground. He sent 5,000 additional Marines to the region. I promise you if he puts boots

on the ground, it is going to be a disaster for the Republican Party overall. It is not a good idea. There have been some rumors. I have some sources that I'm not at liberty of exposing here, but there's some concern that Trump might actually put boots on the ground to retrieve Iran's enriched uranium. And look, that is a mistake in analyzing the perspective of the Israelis. What I mean by that is, Israel is not genuinely afraid of Iran having nuclear weapons. They know that Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons. They know that Iran isn't close to building nuclear weapons. Iran wants regime change. That's why you have Netanyahu urging the people of Iran to rise up, to revolt, to topple the regime. And by the way, according to the Washington Post, the, it's a cable

obtained by the Washington Post. The Israelis internally fully acknowledged that it's a A ton of Israelis will get killed if that happens, but they just want the chaos. They want a failed state if they can't get a regime that is deferential to them in Iran, in power in Iran. So like this idea that Trump and Netanyahu have the same objectives is false. They do not have the same objectives. And so what you're seeing from Israel is one act of sabotage after the next that escrow. the war and keeps the United States engaged, which is why it's such a huge problem that Trump

did this to begin with. Now it's incredibly hard to get out. It does not appear that Trump has a real exit strategy. Now the whole thing about retrieving the enriched uranium, some people are thinking that Trump will point to that and say, we did it. We retrieved the enriched uranium. This has been a major victory. We're now going to withdraw our troops. But I don't think Trump realizes it's up to you anymore, home boy. It's not up to you at all, actually. Because you have two factors you're not considering. Factor number one, Iran ain't done. They're not interested in peace negotiations. They don't want to ceasefire. They have said that repeatedly. They don't trust the United States. They want to do real damage. We shouldn't have gotten into this in the first place.

But the, I think probably more important factor here is that Israel doesn't want the war to end. They want to destroy Iran, so they have no real challenge as they expand their borders in the Middle East. But they're running out of interceptors, and they're dealing with attacks simultaneously by Hezbollah out of Lebanon, which, by the way, Israel is also attacking, and also from the Iranians. Escalation is not a good idea. I mean, I loat the Israeli government. I really do. But I don't want innocent people to die in any country, including Israel. What they are doing is playing with the lives of Israelis, knowing that they're running out of interceptors, knowing the U.S. is running out of interceptors.

Yet Netanyahu continues to escalate. Pretty devastating. I don't know how this is going to end, but it is not looking good. Anyway, bonus episode for our members is next. We're going to talk a little bit about Tucker's interview with Joe Kent, who just stepped down from the Trump administration over this war against Iran. I haven't watched it myself. I can't wait to see what was said. Stick around for our members if you're not a member.

TYT.com slash join to become one and we'll see you there.