What A Day - How Trump Bullied Israel Into A Ceasefire

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire. The ceasefire could pause weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran. The agreement followed the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1993. Of course, there’s still a lot we don't know about the ceasefire or how it will affect America’s war with Iran. So to talk about what all this means, we spoke with Tommy Vietor, co-host of Crooked Media’s Pod Save The World.And in headlines: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going after your Lululemon yoga pants, Secretary of War/little boy Pete Hegseth is getting real creative when reciting his prayers, and the grudge of the century is not letting up! Trump is still beefing with the Pope.Show Notes: Check out Pod Save The World – crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-world/ Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, April 17th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What Today, the show that does not share Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's sunny appraisal of the economy. Here's what he told a reporter on Thursday when asked why people aren't happy about how things are going. Well, look, in the heart of hearts, they feel good. I'm not sure what they're telling the survey people. Trump administration to America. You're fine and you're lying. On today's show, Texas Attorney General and candidate for the Senate Republic. in primary, Ken Paxton is coming for your Lulu Lemons. And as President Donald Trump continues to beef with the Pope, Secretary of Defense Pete Higsef recites a fake prayer he learned from Quentin Tarantino. But let's start with Lebanon, Israel, and Iran. Trump announced Thursday,

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, ending weeks of fighting between the Israeli government and Hezbollah and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group. The agreement came after the two countries held their first direct talk since 1993. As always, Trump, Trump gave all the credit to himself. Here he is on the White House lawn speaking to reporters Thursday. Today, they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah. And I think it could be number 10 for me. By the way, when he says, I think it could be number 10 for me, he means that he thinks he ended 10 wars. Previously, he claimed he ended eight wars. He hasn't. And no, I don't know what war number nine was. Moving on. There's still a lot of

we don't know about the ceasefire. For one thing, a statement from Hezbollah said the group acknowledged the ceasefire but did not mention accepting it. But the bigger question for me is, what does this mean for America's war in Iran? According to Trump, the U.S. and Iran might meet for talks as soon as this weekend. Here's the president responding when asked if he's going to extend the ceasefire with Iran. I'm not sure it needs to be extended. Iran wants to make a deal and we're dealing very nicely with them. Of course, everything is coming up, Trump. He also claimed that Iran had agreed to hand over, quote, nuclear dust buried by last year's airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, but Iran hasn't confirmed any of that. So to talk about

what this means, as well as how Democrats are trying to limit weapons sales to Israel, I spoke with Tommy Vitor, co-host of Crooked Media's Pod Save the World. Tommy, welcome back to Wad today. Thank you. Good beer. The president announced that Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire that begins Thursday and would last for 10 days. Israel was down to announce its agreement. Why would they agree to this when they've been dominating so much of southern Lebanon?

And there's been some reporting that the Israeli parliament was not happy about this at all. Yeah, it sounds like Trump just forced this on Netanyahu and then announced it before the National Security Cabinet even had a chance to vote on it. So I would imagine there's some folks within the Israeli government that are mad. I think that this is just an incident of Donald Trump.

telling them Yahoo what he wanted and then making it so. So the complicating factor here is that this is a deal between Lebanon and Israel. As we're talking right now, Hezbollah has not weighed in. Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Iran-backed militant organization that acts as we've talked about as a government in southern Lebanon, but is not controlled by the Lebanese government. Hezbollah is the party fighting Israel. do you think that Iran is pushing Hezbollah to accept this? What do you think the relationship is between Iran and its proxies in this moment?

It's a great question. I mean, to your point, I don't think that the Lebanese government can deliver on a ceasefire if Hezbollah doesn't want it. They don't have a military that's nearly as powerful as what Hezbollah has. So Hezbollah has all the cards. So it's a big question of whether the Iranians and their proxies will want a ceasefire in this moment. I mean, maybe the Iranians will say, okay, let's do 10 days to sort of overlap with the current ceasefire we've agreed to, and then the things blow up, all bets are off, and we're back to fighting. But, I mean, it's important to note that it's not like Israel's withdrawing troops from southern Lebanon. They're still occupying in. Right. What do you think that says about what Israel wants to do in Lebanon after the ceasefire? I think it's clear that it's likely that the war in Lebanon will continue long after the war with Iran ends. Netanyahu, I'm almost positive, will seek to annex and fully occupy a whole bunch of territory in southern Lebanon.

They will say it's a national security need because you need to prevent rocket fire from Hezbollah into northern Israel. But it's important to note that Hezbollah was born out of the last Israeli occupation of Lebanon. So we're going to see some sort of blowback from this. But it doesn't seem good. Let's stick with Israel. for a second, and the Iran war, and the second front of that war, which is in Lebanon. This week, Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders rallied Senate Democrats to halt sales of weapons and bulldozers to Israel. His measure failed, but what got me was that it got like

85% of Senate Democrats, including a bunch of names. I mean, I think he could have expected Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, but you may not have expected Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, a host of people for who, whom it's clear that they were kind of looking at the tea leaves on this issue and they made a decision. This seems like a big political moment for how the Democratic Party views Israel. How do you explain the vote? Yeah, I mean, this was a vote on what I think it was like armored bulldozers and 1,000 pound bombs. Right. So it feels like something that, you know, you would imagine would be pretty easy to vote no one. I mean, why does Israel need an armored bulldozer to defend itself against Iran? They

don't. They get used to annexed territory in the West Bank, for example. What this tells me, though, is that Democrat elected officials are feeling enormous pressure to get tougher on the Israeli government, specifically the Netanyahu administration. I mean, that whip count, was it 40 Dems voted yes? Would have been unthinkable. Unthinkable five years ago. Now, I think a lot of folks in the base would say, still too slow. Yeah. We still want more. Yeah. But the elected officials are clearly like a lagging indicator. year and they're reading the same poll as you and I are that show Israel is wildly unpopular with young people, with progressives, and increasingly the rights, especially, you know, non-evangelical conservatives. I have to ask just to back up for a second because this has always been a question that you see posted online and one that I actually have. Israel is a pretty strong economy. It's actually doing very well since the war in Iran began.

There's been, you know, their economy is booming. Why exactly do they need so much military support from the United States? I understand their positionality in the Middle East. I get it. I understand that. But like, thinking economically, why do they need so much from us? I think a lot of people would argue that they don't. You know, and you even see like Ben Shapiro, a huge defender and fan of Israel,

says they should cut off U.S. military aid and just not deal with the problems that causes. I mean, you're right. It's like a rich country. They have an advanced military. They have an industrial base of their own. I think a lot of people would point out that money is fungible. And if we are supporting Israel by providing them weapons or missile defense systems, they can then use that for universal health care for their citizens, something we might like back home.

So I think they answer your question is they don't need our money. It's just sort of become a thing. It's become an article of faith over time. Barack Obama signed a 10-year MOU that provided billions and billions to made to Israel. It was a different time. I think then it was more of an argument about helping defend Israel. from Iranian attacks, which obviously we've seen play out. But I think at the time has passed for that policy to change.

The U.S. House held another vote to rein in Trump's power to wage war in Iran. It went down by just one vote. This is the third time the House stepped back from challenging Trump on the war. You know, they say the third time is the charm. I would say, is this Congress going to just give up on pulling Trump back? I know. It's so depressing. I mean, the good news on this is that there were three Democrats who had voted against a previous

war powers resolution. Henry Quayar, Greg Lansman, and Juan Vargas, they flip their votes, and now they're in favor of the war powers resolution and ending the war. We still lost another Democrat, Jared Golden, who's resigning Thomas Massey of Kentucky, a Republican voted in favor of it. But it is exhausting and infuriating that Congress has just decided that, you know, Constitution be damned. I guess they think they have no role in deciding when we go to war.

Because this isn't new exactly. Like, what requires a war powers resolution? Because this happened under the Obama administration with regard to Libya. Like, we've seen this for the last 15 years or so that when we go to war seems to be a decision now made by the executive branch and not by the legislative branch. How did that happen? Look, I mean, I think every president over time has argued some version. of, you know, the case that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional and has asserted their authority under Article 2 to do things to defend the country. I think Obama got two-kepti-half during the

Libya resolution when, you know, the argument from the lawyers was basically the U.S. didn't have troops in hostilities because it was entirely an air campaign. I suspect the Trump people are making a similar kind of argument now, though, of course, there was just a massive ground mission to rescue these pilots who were downed in Iran. So clearly we have had boots on the ground. But yeah, I mean, look, this is a fight between the executive branch and the congressional branch. I wish the congressional branch would fight a little harder for their own authority or else why do we even have them? Yeah, what would it take for Congress to step in?

It seems to me that, like, if you believe that you are a co-equal branch of government, why are you afraid of the branch to which you are equal to? Agreed. I mean, there are some members of Congress who have been quite consistent. Some of them I like a lot, like Tim Kane, Senator from Virginia. Some I disagree with on most things, right? Like Thomas Massey or Rand Paul in Kentucky. But I do think we need more members of Congress who like their power and want to use it. Tommy, as always. Thanks for joining me. Thanks for having me. That was my conversation with Tommy Vitor, co-host a Pod Save the World. We're heading into the weekend, but there's more news ahead. If you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads.

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Hey, Greg. Hey, Jane. Greg, if you wondered if Trump had ended his beef with the Pope, fear not. The president of the United States still has a lot of thoughts on the pontiff. Here he is outside the White House on Thursday answering questions from reporters. Why are you fighting with the Pose? And are you worried it's upsetting your... No, no, I have to do what's right.

The Pope has to understand that. It's very simple. I have nothing against the Pope. His brother's MAGA all the way. I like his brother, Lewis. I'm not fighting with him. the Pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if the Pope looked at the 42,000 people that were killed over the last two or three months as a protester with no weapons, no nothing, I mean, you take a look at that.

So I can disagree with the Pope. Now, see, a reporter corrected Trump saying, quote, he didn't say that, referring to Pope Leo, which is correct. because the Pope did not say Iran can have a nuclear weapon because he's the Pope, Greg. I don't think the Pope wants anyone to have a nuclear weapon. And Trump had much more to say about Pope Leo on Thursday, adding that he would not meet with the pontiff because, quote, I don't think it's necessary. And adding that he supported the Pope preaching the gospel because, quote,

I'm all about the gospel. I'm about it as much as anybody can be. But then he added that Iran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Greg, I'm just going to go out in the limb here and say, I do not think Donald Trump is all about the gospel. All contrary, Jane. The Bible is extremely personal to Donald Trump. Do you remember that time back in 2015 when Trump went on Bloomberg politics and he was asked about his favorite Bible verse? It's a classic.

I'm wondering what one or two of your most favored Bible verses are. I wouldn't want to get into it because to me that's very personal. You know, when I talk about the Bible is very personal. So I don't want to get into verses. I don't want to get into. There's no verse that means a lot to you that you think about or sight. The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics. Even to cite a verse that you like.

No, I don't want to do that. You're an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy? Probably equal. He's talking about the New Testament versus the Old Testament, like you can't decide between the Godfather Part 1 and the Godfather Part 2. You're like, they're both great. They're both great. I mean, first, Godfather Part 1, obviously.

Anyway, the Pope has lots of things to do. He's the Pope. So he is currently on a four-country tour of Africa. But during a visit to Cameroon on Thursday, the Pope said, quote, woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. He added, quote, it is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God's creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. Did he say Trump's name?

No. But I don't think he had to. Woe to someone whose name shall not be used. Woe to some guy who maybe is a president. Who could say? Woe to fill in the blank political medlips. You know, Jane, like people who know a lot more about military strategy than I do, they say don't pick a fight that you can't win.

It remains to be seen whether Trump made that mistake in Iran. but in this case, it really looks like the guy who can't name a single Bible verse, because they're so personal, has made the extremely optional decision to get into a Sunday school throwdown with His Holiness, the Bishop of Rome. And when it comes to a contest over religious and moral authority, my money's on the Holy Father. Now, speaking of people using Christianity as a shield for their own weird thing they're into, Secretary of War slash little boy Pete Hegsaith held a prayer event on Wednesday at the Pentagon.

Now, Hegsa said he was reading a prayer commonly recited to search and rescue crews ahead of their missions, like a recent effort to find two U.S. Air Force crew members shot down over Iran. Hegsaas said the prayer was from Ezekiel 2517, which reads, quote, And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. But that's not what Hegseth said. Instead, he went full royale with cheese with a prayer that will sound extremely familiar to Quentin Tarantino fans. Okay, here is Hegsseth on Wednesday, remixed alongside the great Samuel L. Jackson in a scene from the 1994 classic Pulp Fiction.

They call it Cesar 2517, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 2517. So the prayer is Cesar 2517, and it reads and pray. with me, please. The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the loss through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon me with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One when I lay my vengeance upon me.

Now, number one, Greg, great movie. Pulp Fiction, fantastic movie. Though now, again, I'm very worried as to what Pete Higgseth thinks that movie is about. Like, I would love to hear, I actually want to hear more of his thoughts on Pulp Fiction. Not less. More. Honestly, Jane, I'd be a lot more into politics if they would just always speak in film quotations. I mean, imagine if Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gets up to give a speech about government bonds,

and instead we just get a few quotes from the Big Lobowski or snakes on a plane. I, for one, think that would be an improvement. But, Jane, let's take a break from earthly politics for once and get into some leggings politics. Now, Attorney General Ken Paxton, you don't listen to this show. I know you don't. But you have entered my dojo, a dojo made out of Wonder Train leggings. Here's CBS 19 on Tuesday. Texas Attorney General Campaxton is launching an investigation into a major athletic

wear company, Lulu Lemon. Baxon says his office is looking into whether the brand misled customers about the safety of its products. The investigation will focus on whether Lulu Lemon's clothing contains PFOS, known as Forever Chemicals, which had been linked to serious health concerns. Yes, that is correct. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is currently locked in a tight runoff race for the GOP Senate nomination in Texas, with Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn, has decided to take on the real enemy, the leggings I wear to work out in every day.

This is not new for Paxton, the scandal-prone Attorney General of Texas. In the past, Paxton has investigated Skittles for chemicals, Colgate toothpaste for fluoride use, and Tylenol, after Trump and RFK Jr. claimed the over-the-counter pain reliever was a potential cause of autism. Now, Lula Lemon says their products have not contained any forever chemical since 2023. But this is obviously a clear effort by Paxton to really garner favor with the Maha audience. But Greg, he's gone after me. This is about me. This is all about me.

This is about you, Jane. And I say, can leave Jane and her yoga pants alone? I guess he thinks there's some, in Texas, that there's some kind of like, take your yoga pants away demographic that's going to help him squeeze into the Senate. But if you will excuse me, Jane, for saying this in a story about yoga, I think that's a bit of a stretch. I would, however. Bend over backwards for you, Greg.

Thanks for hanging out. Good to see you, Jane. And that's the news. Before we go, on this week's hysteria, Alyssa and Aaron dig into the sexual assault allegations against former representative Eric Swalwell, while Vice President J.D. Vance continues his ongoing campaign to lose the plot in real time. Then, Kathy Griffin drops in to talk about hosting the perfect salon, surviving straight white guy menaces, and why life on the D-list is actually where the stories are.

Tune in to hysteria wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, celebrate some big-time donations to public media and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about how NPR announced Thursday that it received gifts totaling $113 million, including the largest gift from a living donor in public radio history. Like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and you could spend a lot of money trying to live forever, or you could put a ton of money into ensuring something you care about exists long after you're gone. But if you choose to give, please donate to your local stations and rural stations too. What Today is a production of Crooked Media.

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