Will Cain Country - Inside the Iran War: Is the U.S. Really Winning? (ft. Kurt Schlichter)

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Operation Epic Fury: Total dominance or political quagmire? Senior Columnist for Townhall and Retired Army Colonel Kurt Schlichter joins Will to discuss the current state of the Iran war, explaining the wider ramifications of taking out the Iranian regime and sharing his predictions for what comes next.Plus, Will and The Crew react to James Carville’s bold acceptance of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s misguided response to a failed attack outside his residence during a protest.Subscribe to ‘Will Cain Country’ on YouTube here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country!⁠⁠⁠Follow ‘Will Cain Country’ on X (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), TikTok (⁠⁠⁠@willcainshow⁠⁠⁠), and Facebook (⁠⁠⁠@willcainnews⁠⁠⁠)Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@WillCain⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every family tree holds extraordinary stories, especially those of the women who shaped who we are. In honor of International Women's Month, Ancestry invites you to shine a light on their legacy. Until March 10th, enjoy free access to over 4 billion family history records and discover where they lived, the journeys they took and the legacy they left behind. Start with just a name or place and let our intuitive tools guide you. Visit Ancestry.ca to start today. No credit card required. Term supply. Iran War, dominance or quagmire, win or lose, grades. What's really happening in Iran? Senior columnist for townhall.com.

Kurt Schlichter. It is Wilcane Country, the Wilcane Country YouTube channel, the Wilcane Facebook page. We hope you'll follow us, Spotify or on Apple. Late last week, I saw a post-Cain country. on social media by former MSM journalist, now independent journalist, Mark Halpern, under the banner of Two-Way. He posted that, depending on who you listen to, Fox News or MS Now, you might not have a real idea of what's actually happening in Iran. As an example, he used a clip of me. Reporting that CENTCOM suggests Iran ballistic missile capabilities are degraded by 90%.

Its drone capabilities destroyed 80%. Its navy at the bottom of the ocean. That's all numbers according to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, Nicole Wallace over on MS Now suggests the war is spiraling out of control, out of the control of President Donald Trump in fears that it could be growing into something that is much more than promised. The suggestion was Halpern will cut through the noise, the noise that you hear from Fox from MS Now.

So what's really happening? Is there propaganda? Is there fear mongering? Is there TDS? Is there wishful thinking? What's really happening with the war in Iran? Help to answer that. Let's talk to senior columnistfor townhall.com. The author of Panama Red trial lawyer and retired Army infantry colonel, Kurt Schlicker, joins us now. What's up, Kurt? Hey, how's it going? It's going well. Well, that's the question for you.

How's it going? How do you think it's going, Kurt, in Iran? Well, gosh, we've killed their leadership. We've destroyed their integrated air defense system. Their entire Navy has become submarines. They're, you know, the life insurer of the alleged new president is, you know, probably sweating and mopping his forehead right now. Yeah, I think we're doing pretty good. I think that in the history of warfare, to have seven, casualties after essentially decapitating your enemy and rendering him unable to project combat power in any kind of meaningful way. Yeah, I think we're doing pretty good. As John Wick famously said, yeah, I think we're back. Yeah, I think that answers the question pretty clearly and obviously. When it comes to the question of who's winning or losing, it's quite obvious that we're winning

and we're not just winning, we are dominating. You know, but last week, Kurt, I got in a little bit of hot water virally because I pressed General Jack Keen. But I pressed him on a question that I still think remains very important. What's the objective? What is the goal? And the point of that question is to define as we go along and also at the end, what was a win? What is a win to always be able to answer the question of what are we doing? And how are we doing?

And so what I mean by when I say, what is our objective, what is our goal? Of course I've heard the Pentagon. Of course I've heard the administration. It's to knock out their ballistic missile capabilities is to render their nuclear capabilities inert. And if that requires regime change, then that's what we will do. We will ensure that there will not be a threat, a nuclear threat in the future of Iran in whatever means possible. regime change can mean anything. It can mean a subservient class of Ayatollahs.

I don't think we're in the business of spreading democracy. I think we've seen the zombie model from Venezuela. I mean, essentially the same regime is in charge in Venezuela. They've just had their nuts cut off. So they'll do whatever we say in the United States. And so we don't know what that looks like in Iran. But the point of what is our objective leads us to this next thing, Kurt, not whether or not we're winning or losing. But are we well along our way to accomplish what we set out to do when we started this operation?

And I think that first requires us to define what did we set out to do. And so if it is destroy their nuclear capabilities, there's some things cropping up in the news about what that might mean. Like, will we put special forces on the ground to secure their enriched uranium? So how do you feel like we're doing when it comes to accomplishing our objectives? Well, look, it's, you know, I'm on California time. It's a little early in the morning to throw down the Klaus Wits, but I think I need to. War is simply politics continued by other means. attempting to reorder the politics, not just to the Middle East, but the entire world.

And I wrote about this at town hall last week. Taking out Venezuela, we're about to take out Cuba, which makes my Cuban in-law family just delighted. And anyone who loves freedom is going to be delighted. But it's more than that. And of course, Iran is just one of these. Anybody who loves freedom should love the reordering of the world. We are taking our number one adversary, allies, China, out of the picture, one by one by one. We are solving problems that have plagued us for decades. We've had 47 years of these mullas maiming and murdering Americans. We've had Castro's Cuba as a little abscess right off of Florida for almost for over 60 years. As Michael Corleone said, today we settle all family business.

This is, when you talk about objectives, you talk, well, we want to take out their nukes and we want to take out their ballistic missiles. Well, yeah, those are collateral benefits, but what we're really doing is executing politics by other means. And that means changing the regime into one that is not our implacable enemy and is not going to attempt to kill our people and our allies and help our enemies. Remember, China runs in large part on Iranian oil. Wouldn't it be great to have our hands on that spigot? Because that means our hands are on Xi's throat. He can't invade Taiwan if his oil's going to get cut off immediately. He can't do it.

He can't do a lot of bad things. So he's going to have to rethink how he wants to play the game. Does he want to be a military power or does he want to peace? peacefully compete. This is a part of a bigger political picture. And, you know, there are a lot of folks out there. You got the leftists who hate the idea that America is succeeding. And you got the libertarians who are, well, they're a joke. And you've got a bunch of people who are like, well, Donald Trump promised no forever wars. Well, this is the opposite of a forever war. This is ending a forever war. This war has gone on since I was a freshman in high school. And I got to tell you, I'm a little tired of it. I think it's time for a new paradigm, a new world order where we are back in control. That's what I'm looking at, and that's what I'm thinking we're doing. Okay, so what will that take for us to be in control in Iran? Like, we wake up today. It's the Ayatollah son who's just been selected to be the next leader of Iran. Donald Trump says that's unacceptable.

I'm curious what in your mind and war is conditional outcomes are varied. What does an outcome in Iran look like that leads us towards a win in that grand strategy you laid out? I agree that grand strategy laid out is exactly what's taking place from Cuba to Venezuela to Iran. And the position it now puts one of our really our main global adversary, China. But what is the, describe if you would, and you may have a couple of options, it may be amorphous, but to some extent. What does that win in Iran? Somewhere there's a Iranian regular Army or Air Force General riding around in his car because he doesn't dare go to his command post. He undare go to his house.

He doesn't dare stop. And his phone's going to ring, Will, and it's going to be a weird number. but he's going to pick it up. And it's going to be someone speaking in perfect farcy. Maybe he's Israeli. Maybe he's American working for one of our three letter agencies. And that voice is going to say, hey, how would you like to be in charge? How about you take your battalion or your brigade or your division and you come on over to our side and you get some of your pals to come along too?

and you guys take over. And in return, we won't kill you all. Now, there's another side to that coin. If you turn down this generous one-time-only offer, you're dead because you've got to stop sometime. And we'll find you because we found half your, you know, half the graduating class of the Iranian Military Academy. All your friends are dead.

No one's picking up on the other line. Okay? Okay? So make the smart play and take over. And that's probably what's going to happen. You'll get a military strong man in there for a while. And the military strong man will get things stable and will assure the Americans and the Gulf allies, because now the Gulf guys are our allies because they're really, really mad that Iran lashed out on them. Iran bet, well, they'll force the Americans to quit. No, no, no, now they're going to join us and double down. This guy is going to take over, and he's going to be under a lot of pressure to comply, and he will because he wants to live. And eventually, the Iranian people are going to figure things out and start moving towards something more like a democracy. But I got to tell you, I'm not really concerned with the latest iteration of the Persian Empire. It's the ancient empire. They've handled business for a long time.

They can take care of themselves. I care about Iran precisely to the extent it affects my country and my fellow citizens. So if Iran wants to be a wonderful democracy reminiscent of a small town in New Hampshire, where everybody stands up and says their peace, that's great. And if they want to be something a little more sinister to our eyes, that's fine. who, as long as they don't screw with us or our allies. I'm not in the business. Well, I was in the business of trying to make other people live like us to varying levels of success.

But I'm out of that business now, and I think the country is too. We want an Iranian government that doesn't hate us. Okay, let's keep laying out. The image of victory for the United States and Iran with town halls, Kurt Schlichter, when we come back on Will King Country. This is Ainsley-Airhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told.

Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. We're still hanging out with townhall.com's Kurt Schlichter. I like this scenario that you describe. I like it as an intellectual exercise. I also like it as an acceptable outcome through the lens of America first. And it is what we basically did or have done so far. Venezuela. For those that thought we were going in to ensure a free and fair election, that is not

what we do, at least under the presidency of Donald Trump. That promise died in Afghanistan. But the question now is, okay, can we accomplish this, this end goal, you know, and accomplish America first on the world stage. So, let's play it out. This guy gets this call. First question. We, in order for that outcome to be probable or acceptable or somewhere on the possibility path, hopefully in the sooner rather than later stages of this war, we have to ask ourselves how religiously or ideologically devoted is the entirety of the systemic military complex in Iran. And I don't know the answer to that, Kurt. We always hear they're fanatics, they're crazies. Is that just the opposite? Ayatollahs? Is that just the clerics? Is that just the people at the top? Once you start going down a little bit to some of the military leadership, as you said, do you get more secular? Do you get more self-preservationist? Do you get more rational? And I don't know the answer, Kurt, like IRGC, besiege. What kind of fanaticism are we dealing with? And therefore, what kind of probability

do we get this guy on the other end of that phone who's ready to be the next leader of Iran? Well, first of all, the Israelis have thoroughly penetrated Iran. They know who the right people are. They've got a list. The second thing is, you know, I agree with you. I'm no expert on Persian politics. I don't know. But I do know what I've seen. And I've seen a heck of a lot of Iranians turn on the Islamic Republic. You've got defectors. You've got spies. Israel's able to buy these people off. you know, a lot of these guys, you know, it's not a question of what they are, it's just a question of price. So I think there is a significant chance based on the evidence that we've seen that there will be people out there who are willing to say, well, you know, I am a Muslim. But I also like, you know, breathing and not being blown to little pieces. And I think I can make those two things work together in a way that does. doesn't necessarily mean I've got to go spread my bizarre, apocalyptic, jihadi pagan creed across the globe. You know, we can, you know, it can be them.

You know, the Republic of Iran, our official religion can be Islam, as is the official religion of a bunch of countries around there, without being a bunch of lunatics. All right, let's move forward. We move this guy. We find this guy. We get him on the phone, somebody speaking the person. perfect Farsi. They make him the deal that cannot be refused, you know, in famous Mexican cartel parlance, I think it's the silver or the lead. He chooses the silver. And so he chooses to

be the next leader of Iran. Now, in order for this to work in American First lens, it needs to work in Iran. Because one thing I think we've also learned about Iraq and Afghanistan is the then-what-can-be dangerous to us. If we create a vacuum, if we create chaos, it can have problems not just regionally, but for us potentially back here at home. So let's talk about the prospects for success of this military strongman, if perhaps for only an interim period. It seems to me, Kurt, he would be dealing with two problems. One problem, well, he's been, he'll be dealing with three problems. The first problem is he's put up to the side in that he's now taken the United state's threat off the table, at least as long as he plays ball. His second problem is remnant

elements of the IRGC, the Ayatollah that are not subdued. Does he have the army with U.S. backing to be able to crush that so that we're not looking at a Iraq-style civil war for a decade plus fighting what's left over of the U.S. Islamic revolutionary figures of Iran. That's one problem he's going to have. And we would hope that we'd be able to help that with weaponry and money, but not soldiers, in fighting that Iranian civil war. And the second problem I feel like that he would have, Kurt, is the people of Iran, who think that the probable outcome of this to the extent that they're welcoming American involvement is a democracy or perhaps the return of the monarchy, the Shah. They would,

probably have something in mind different than what President Trump may have in mind. So what kind of problem are the Iranians? Well, first of all, I think that he would present this potential General issimo would present himself as a interim leader. I will take over until we stabilize things. And he will show solidarity with the people because, and it's part of the answer to the first challenge, which I think is a real problem. but it's a problem that can be solved, is to turn the people out into the streets. So you get, you know, 5 million Iranians marching in the streets, you know, 100,000 Iranian Republican Guard Corps members who have absolutely no logistics,

no command and control, no intelligence, no fire support, no hope of refit, refuel, or rearmament, they are going to be, they're going to have a food for thought. They're going to look at this and think, you know, maybe going down in flames here ain't the best idea. And a lot of them are going to quit. Will there be some sort of insurgency? Perhaps. But who's going to resupply them from outside? You know, the Taliban always had Pakistan and Iran helping them.

The Iranian, the Iraqi resistance always had Syria and Iran helping them. Who's going to help? Who's the outsider who's going to supply the remnants of the Islamic regime? I think that's... Well, can we offer, as a thought experiment, maybe two answers to that? One, Russia. There already reports that Russia is offering the current regime Intel and American targets. Does Russia then become a supporter of a guerrilla insurgency in Iran so that Iran is not a United States friendly nation? And although we haven't seem to see this yet,

Kurt, China, because they do stand to be the biggest losers in this deal, do they take some type of supportive role of some kind of insurgency fighting General Helissimo in Iran? That's not usually China's move. China would have to do that through Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are obviously problems with both of those. Russia, just the logistics of physically moving crates of AK-47s and ammo from Russia into Iran, into to get in the hands of the bad guys. I think a lot of that's tough, and I think there are ways to deal with that. As far as the Russian targeting information, you know, a lot of it you could probably just get off Google Maps if you really wanted it. I don't think they're giving them anything particularly useful.

And anyway, what are they going to do with it? They're losing all their weapons systems. Their drones are running out. The ones they haven't fired are getting blown up. Same with ballistic missiles. They just really don't have any effective combat power except at a rapidly decreasing level. You know, right now they've got some guys on the ground. But, you know, if you're moving a battalion around, a battalion of IRGC, we're going to see it.

And they're going to get a visit. And that visit's going to go bang, and they're all going to die. So I'm thinking, you know, I'm not moving a battalion around. Might move platoons around, a couple trucks here and there. It's really hard for them to generate combat power in this environment. All right. Two questions now on this vision of the future for Iran. Do you think this vision of the future, this reasonable outcome,

that we could work towards that satisfies, I think it does satisfy for me the test of America First. Can that be accomplished from 30,000 feet? Can that be accomplished without a ground invasion? Well, those are two different questions. Because first of all, it's not just within 30,000 feet. There are a wide variety of ways to interact in the battle space besides airplanes and besides infant I think there are a lot of very good strategic and tactical reasons for not using significant numbers of American infantry that is traditional ground forces. I don't think we need them. I think it actually goes counter to our larger strategy, so I don't think we'll see that. But I think we can get these effects that way. Right now, Iran is a semi-modern country that is unable to function because we dominate it. infrastructure. They can't, they have a new ruler. What's he rule? How's he rule? He doesn't. He's just a guy.

I mean, a guy with a, you know, the clock's ticking on. We, you know, we do have experience doing these things. We did him in Kosovo, and I was there in the aftermath. We did them in We've done them a number of times with various levels of success. But in this case, we have a rested population that seems like it wants to change. We are in the process of neutering the regime's security services so that they cannot be in a position to once again massacre their way back to the status quo like they did in January. in between 30,000 feet in a ground invasion. You said we have a whole host of other options as well. I assume, at least in part, you're talking about special operations, special forces going in,

targeted operations, that kind of thing. That, cyber, and we still have economic, diplomatic, and information warfare power that we can also use, too. There are a lot of ways to leverage American power in this besides, you know, an 11 Bravo on the ground with an M4. And I think one of the things I've been most pleased with in watching this war unfold. And I've been out for 10 years, so I'm just a spectator. But if you need a 61-year-old colonel back guys, you know, call me. I still on my commission. is the way that they've integrated all aspects of our ability to project power in this.

And you're you're seeing, you're not seeing a two-dimensional fight. You're seeing a four-dimensional fight, the fourth dimension being time, because this operation occurs over time. It's not all a present. There is, there's a rhythm to it. Things happen now to have effects down the road. road. It is really very, very advanced. I'm very proud of the planning that I've seen as well as the execution. Yeah, the enemy gets a vote. Yeah, they hit one of our command posts, killed seven of our

great reserve troops. Awful. But you take casualties in war. The enemy gets a vote. The enemy fights back. We're neutering their ability to do that effectively now through the use of and synchronized application of all levers of American power. This is a war that when we're victorious, and we will be, we will achieve our objectives, will be studied for years by American military officers, and I hope our enemies to learn not to screw with us. Okay, let's keep laying out. The image of victory for the United States and Iran with town halls Kurt Schlichter

when we come back on Will King Country. Welcome back to Will Kane country. We're still hanging out with townhall.com's Kurt Schlictor. All right. One more question, I think, gives us some insight into how the war is going right now. So over the weekend, the price of oil, a barrel, spiked it over $120. It's now since, I think, come down to below $100, somewhere mid-day Monday. 20% of the world's oil supply, and I believe it's 90% of the world's liquid natural

gas supply goes through the Strait of Hormuz. Pretty much it has been shut down. I believe that one, maybe two tankers bravely tried to make their way and did successfully make their way through the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump has offered reinsurance and encouraged these companies to get those oil tankers running through the Straits of Hormuz. I'm curious, like, when those Straits of Hormuz really can be open. And the answer maybe is now, but there's some risk, even in offering reinsurance, there's obviously some risk for the oil companies, the transport companies that they're measuring in right now.

And I would imagine that answer has something to do with when we have totally destroyed Iran's capability to do anything along the coast or from interior that would strike something going through the strait. And I think that's kind of a good proxy for how the war is going. Is it not? like when the straight is open, Iran is almost done. No, I think you're right. And this, what you're talking about with the Straits of Hormuz issue, which is having an effect, not as big as it used. I'm looking at my stock ticker. We are down 286 today, 47,200.

That's about 5% off the, that's about 5% off the former record. Okay. the price is going down because people are realizing the risk is going down because we're applying a multi-pronged approach. Not only are we using American power to go and hunt down the weapon systems that can actually affect traffic in the Straits of Hormuz. We sank all their ships. We're blowing up all the missiles that can hit people. But we're also using another aspect of American power. Lloyd's of London abandoned the field.

we stepped in with our money and said, we'll re-insure you. Your ship sinks, you'll get paid. That is huge. This is going to make the Straits of Hormuz safe, and they will be open again, and this very minor economic turmoil is going to settle down, and things will be going. But, yeah, I think the Straits of Hormuz operating normally, is one of the blocks I'd want to check to, on my list of what constitutes success. The fact that everybody can continue to produce oil, check. That's a big one.

Right. An early one. I would think once the Strait of Hormuz is straightened out, you're on your way to the other check marks on the box of what victory looks like. And while it is not yet checked, that suggests we have some work to do to accomplishing those steps on the way to victory. I want to ask you one last thing. I saved this for the end, but you know, only you teased it in the middle. And President Trump's talking about Cuba and saying basically Cuba is next. I saw a video this morning. I don't know how accurate it is, Kurt, talking about what's currently happening in Cuba, not what's about to happen, but what's currently happening.

And that since January of 2026, Cuban oil imports have dropped to zero. And they got 50% of their oil from Venezuela, so their oil inputs were cut in half once we took out Maduro. Then we put blockades or sanctions on anybody else selling oil to Cuba, which Mexico complied with eventually, I believe. And Russia has, I think, physically been blockaded pretty much from sending oil. oil to Cuba. So they're running on fumes, literally. They're running on fumes. And I saw, and again, I need to double check the accuracy of this, but like the nighttime map of Cuba is, it's darkening. Like the lights are turning off in Cuba, literally, the lights are turning off in Cuba. And since then, now the United States has started to offer to sell energy oil to private companies in Cuba,

not the government, but to private companies in Cuba. And so it's an economic. stranglehold on the regime in Cuba. And so I'm kind of curious, like, do you think this at all any way will involve force in Cuba? Do you think it will involve the United States military? Or will this whatever happens in Cuba be done entirely through economic means? Well, I think the lever of American power that we're going to primarily use is economic, followed by information, and maybe military. But, you know, this is a country full. of Cubans, okay? I married one. These are a war-fighting people. My wife once told me I don't own enough guns. That's kind of their mindset. These guys will, they can take care of their own business.

Maybe we need, maybe we might provide a little help here and there. JFK should have at the Bay of Pigs, but he's wussed out. I am very competent that the Cuban people are going to put things right on their own, the need for American military force, though I would have no objection to American military force to get these communist bastards the hell out of the country they've stolen. They've taken a, only socialists can take a country full of Cubans and make it poor. You know, I guess California is following that model. I think within a year we're going to see a very, very different map, and I think we're going to see Cuba on its way to, if not exactly a representative democracy like the United States,

on its way to freedom and opening up to United States in a way it always should have. All right. That's what's happening now in Iran. What could soon be happening in Cuba. Kirch Lichter, by the way, has one of his books headed for a graphic novel. by the way. Yeah. The People's Republic, which you can see on the shelf behind Kurt,

if you're watching us on YouTube or Facebook, headed for a graphic novel, Kurt. It's going to be amazing. It's going to come down. Go on my Twitter at Kurt Schlichter. The trailer drops tomorrow. Sean Salter is the artist. He does all my covers.

I'm not a graphic novel guy because I'm old. This stuff is amazing. This art is incredible. I was one of Andrew Breitbart's guy. He said, We got to go out and make our own culture. That's what I did with the Nine People's Republic novels. And Blue Flame, the new graphic novel, is another step in that.

Conservative, full action. If you want a lot of talk about feelings, you're just going to want to pass my books by. If you want a good conservative action story, get the People's Republic books, latest ones Panama Red. And the graphic novel, Blue Flame, follow me on Twitter and find it. Awesome. Kurtzlichter, townhall.com, Panama Red, as you mentioned, and a retired Army infantry colonel and trial lawyer. So always good to talk to you, Kurt. Thanks for being with us here today. Hey, thanks for having me, Will. Over in the Willisha, over in the comments section, various people have chimed in on the United States current actions across the world, including first round by who says, yeah, the Iranian people.

would love to have USA making political decisions for their country. That always works out. Great. You know, that obvious sarcasm is picked up on first round by. And I think I'm somebody that consistently adopts the premise in the position of humility when it comes to dictating the lives of other people around the world. I'm totally soured on the idea of trying to export democracy around the world. But just being a realist, you know, and understanding history, The way that this comment is presented, yeah, the Iranian people would love to have the USA making political decisions for their country. That always works out great. Well, actually, that kind of did work out great for America for a long time. It's when we have tried to impose our way of life and our system of government on other people that it hasn't worked out. So great. What I'm referencing first round by is not a moral observation, but a real world observation. that basically from what, 1945 through 2000, the mantra was he's a bastard but he's our bastard. And that held a lot of stability throughout the world.

Well, not you're talking about Egypt or Libya, which didn't work out there for a bit, but then Gaddafi became somebody that was our bastard. The United States putting in strong men to keep a country stable did work for a long. time. That's not necessarily what I'm advocating for, but I think it's a real world politic outcome described by Kurt that you're currently seeing employed in Venezuela. And I think that Kurt is right will probably see employed in Libya, I mean in Iran, at least for some period of time. I do think the Iranian people, like if you had me betting, and I'm not like the world's expert on cultures and civilizations on this, but if you had me betting, I do think the Iranian

people of everybody we've tried this experiment with had the highest probability of success of actually implementing democracy in a real non-malignant fashion on the world stage. I think if you look at Iran before 1979, it was a sophisticated country among the region, you know, with freedom and and a lot of characteristics of first world culture. And I would hope that hasn't been totally destroyed, totally destroyed, in the spirit of the Iranian people over the last 50 years. So I think that you would graduate along that path, that you go from the strongman to try to get stability. And I think that question I asked Kurt is real key. I think that stability is not granted.

I do not think it's a given. I think it's the wild card. I think it's, whoa, yeah, we'll probably get to this stage that he describes. We're probably going to get to this military strongman. I don't know how long that will take. But his fight will have just begun. his fight will be against the remnant insurgent elements of the IRGC and those people that could hold out for a long time causing real problems across not just Iran but across the region. And the people eventually, once that is subdued, could then begin to form the kind of government that they actually deserve in Iran, whatever that is.

And by the way, I actually think that's kind of what's going to happen in Venezuela as well. It's just going to be Venezuela is already on that path and beyond it because they're not dealing with an insurgency. They zomified the Majuro regime in Venezuela. That's what they did. They zomified it, right? To keep stability, they just reestablished diplomatic relations with the United States. And over time, we'll see if the Venezuelan people will choose to move in a productive democratic path. Go ahead, Dan.

Do you think there's any chance to the old Shah's son who's, lives in the U.S. comes into play in this at all? It kind of goes back. So I don't know the answer to that. And I'm going to be honest with you, I feel totally propagandized whenever this topic comes up. Here's what I mean by that. There's a comment right here. It's by Inquisitor Magnus. King Reza Pahlavi's message has been perfectly lined up with President Trump's own messaging. Obviously, they are working together behind the scenes. Whenever what comes next and Iran comes up, the social media. flood is in support of Reza Palavi. Okay? Now, does that represent the will of the Iranian people on the ground in Tehran and the small villages across Iran? I don't know. Is that the will of expats?

Iranians living in America who want to see that return? I don't know. More democracy. Well, does he, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. And what did you see in Venezuela? You had Maria Carina Machado, who to this day, is not very happy with the way things have turned out in Venezuela, right? She thought that would mean she was in power because she contends that she was the democratically elected, you know, I think it was her surrogate in the last election, but she was the Democratic elected will of the people, and she hasn't gotten that because Trump is not concerned with that in the short term.

So do I think President Trump is interested in putting in Rezapalavi in the short term? No, I don't. My guess is it is to zombify the Iranian regime, section off the theocratic fanatic elements, destroy them, and then transition into what's next to Iran. And by the way, those steps sound simple. Please know, I don't think any of those steps are simple. I think every one of those steps are complicated. He wants them to cry uncle, so we'll see. Well, that's what war demands. I don't know what other people's visions wore.

I've seen some of the commentary out there suggesting some of there's other some nice form of war. I do love that about the current secretary of war and the president of Trump. It's like what is this idea that we've adopted through the last, I don't know, 100 years? War is something other than total. That war is something other than the demand of unconditional surrender. That war is anything but absolutely ugly. We've been fighting wars under these other premises for the last half century, losing them, one hand behind our back because there's a right way to prosecute war.

Well, they're called different things. If the goal is to win, what do you mean? They're called different things. Like Vietnam War wasn't called a war really by the administration. It was called a, you know, I forget the terminology, but it wasn't, they came up with these technical terms just to not call it war, really. Laura Portman Dunn says, I am assuming, Will, you are not in favor of this war. I don't know where that assumption comes from. The only place that assumption can come from is that I am asking questions.

You know, and I don't know if this person, Laura Portman-Dun, is somebody who doesn't support this war or does support this war. But I will tell you this. I am not hip to any subject being beyond the realm of questions. Okay. I live through COVID. You live through COVID. And if I start asking questions and they are received in the same tone or tenor,

that they were in 2020, well, then now we got a problem. That doesn't suggest I don't support or that I do support. I think I actually loved our conversation with Kurt. Like, I think you have to be walking through this. And by the way, it's interesting how so many in the public don't want to walk through these things. Because let me tell you one thing that is happening. God, I hope that's happening, and I'm sure that it is. Inside the Pentagon, similar but much higher level conversations are taking place.

They're not just going in going, what are we doing? Kick an ass. How are we going to do it? By kicking ass. When are we done? When we're done kicking ass? It's not the way it goes. And if you think that's the way it goes, I don't really know what you're doing.

Go watch football. Like, that's where you can do that. And the truth is most football fans want to know what's the play, what's the play call? Why is our offensive coordinator a moron? Can our quarterback execute the play? It's the same in everything. So it's like, it'd be like watching a football game and going, man, why aren't we running the ball? What? You don't like the Cowboys?

What do you mean? I don't like the Cowboys. I want to win. That's why I want to run the ball. Like, I don't get it. You're supposed to just go, we, fourth and eight. We just ran for one yard. Yes. Yes? No, you see, that was bad.

We didn't get the first down. It's like this does not only demand cheerleading and it does not only demand criticism. It's like war. It's like questions, interest, curiosity, goals, conversation, American people, democracy, us, we decide. These are all parts of the things of being an American and somebody who is inherently America first. It's a great metaphor.

Sorry. Laura Portman, done. I like that one. All right, we got a few other things going today. Let's take a quick break. When we come back, the boys and I are going to walk through a few topics to get you throughout your day without only thinking. about war on Wilcane Country.

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Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember, 988, Canada's Suicide Crisis Helpline. It's good to know, just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. Gold, Zora Mamdani and James Carvel, give you gold.

It is Wilcane Country at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel. Will Kane Facebook page on Spotify or on Apple. All right, Tim Ford, Pat, two of a days, Dan. Let's start with Carvel, because I want to have fun. Carvel has been a guest a few times on the Will Kane show, and he's an interesting guy to try to figure out. I've never met James Carvel in person, but I've probably had him on my program four times, five times,

and there's a familiarity, and I don't know where that familiarity. he comes from. Maybe he's just a kind of a personable dude. I think it actually comes from sports a little bit. Like, I think he's a sports fan. He knows I'm a sports guy as well. And so he comes on and he makes jokes about LSU or whatever it may be. And there's just a little bit of a dude vibe. You know what I mean? It's just kind of judging the Southern thing too. My suspicion is it could be Southern. It could be sports. Like, it doesn't, like, let me ask you this. Like, if you ranked libs and said who would you be up for having a beer and watching a football game with i actually think carval would rank pretty high don't you think like watch a football game yeah tellerica

trans stuff trans kids how much we love trans kids you would have to pay me i saw that clip on a podcast he was asked who do you love besides your friends and your family and he kind of hmm hmm well i really love trans kids What a talking point. The gold that comes out, the gold that comes out daily about Tala Rico is incredible. By the way, I don't know if these polls are accurate, but I saw an early interactive poll on the race. And it has him leading both Paxton and Cornyn, which is highly concerning. I can only assume, though, the more people get to see about Talarico, the more they're going to have a problem with Tala Rico.

But they want. But I would think, I would think Carvel is up there on, hey, would you. Would you like to watch this football game with this? Totally. And like, you might want to say, like, Bill Marr, I don't think Bill Mar is a sports fan. No. Maybe he is. He's seen more of an arts fan.

Maybe a baseball guy? No. No, I think he's more artsy. I would have wanted to hang out with Bill Clinton, which I think Carville did. You would or would not? I would. He looks like a fun guy. Well, maybe a little too fun there, bud.

I think that I want to hang out with Bill Clinton thing did better when it wasn't presumed you were talking about Epstein Island. Oh. The Monica. I forgot about that part. Yes. Yeah, that's the big part. Did you really forget about that? That's, yeah, you got me.

Yeah. I don't think you want to go there. I get what you're saying. Bill Clinton's got some dude to him. But, yeah. Anyway, our boy Carvel has. A severe, bad, possibly fatal case of Trump derangement syndrome. And he admits it.

I mean, when it gets this acute, I think it can be fatal. I don't know. I think acute TDS. I just rewatched over the last week or so, Charinople, which is an incredible series. It was on HBO for 2019. So disturbing. So disturbing. So well done.

A silent killer. I have decided that a silent killer and some moody music, it might be the scariest thing out there. But the worst part of that show is like episode two or three when the firefighters and the nuclear power station workers who are closest to the explosion end up in the hospital two weeks later with acute radiation sickness. And what happens to them is freaking awful. It looks like the worst death, you can imagine. But I spent the weekend of falling down the rabbit hole of acute radiation sickness and what it is and how many times it's happened. And, you know, it's really fascinating, by the way. Of course, there's going to be stories about what happened in Japan.

There's everything from Chernobyl. There's also Manhattan experiment guys, two of them in particular, who had experiments go bad, you know, and they had to grab a radiated piece of whatever to stop criticality from happening. And they're dead within two weeks, you know, just, you know, just fries them. It just fries them. And anyway, that's acute radiation sickness. And here, here now, here now is acute Trump Drainment Syndrome. I got Trump derangement syndrome. I hate the motherfucker.

And you know what? I don't want to get rid of it. I don't want to get better. I want to get worse. I want to hate him more. I pray to God in heaven. God reign, the righteous reign of Trump Darrangement syndrome. me, pray for me, Lord, I'm your best on this earth.

Pray for the people that listen to this. We want more. We want to hate the son of a so much that we can't see straight. Bro, he's spinning. He's foaming at the mouth. No, he's literally foaming at the mouth. He's literally foaming at the mouth. It's coming out the sides and dripping down his chin.

I've never seen anything like it. It's like he's literally foaming at the mouth. Uh, it's entertaining. I mean, that is a hell of an A block in first take. Right there. Book that man. Book that man. And that is one hell of a first take A block.

And it's, I mean, he's leaning into the camera. He's dropping curse words left and right. He's invoking God like a preacher. Let it rain on it. Let me be your vessel, oh Lord. It's great. It's great. It's like a speech.

and it's honest. Like a man that says those things out loud, you really have to ask yourself if that's what he, the self-awareness actually undercuts the validity of the TDS. You know what I mean? Like the fact that he knows this about himself and he feels this way means he's, I don't know if he's curable, but if he is curable, the only hint the doctor would see is at least he's aware. And I think probably the worst case is, of TDS aren't even aware of their TDS. It's antibiotic-resistant. I'm thinking that lady from Oklahoma who has a podcast that's super popular on MSNBC and CNN now, Jennifer Welch. Like that's TDS without knowing you have TDS. And by the way, that kind of TDS infects other people. James's TDS is so acute that it probably has reached the post-latency stage.

it probably isn't very effective, persuasive, and can't affect other people. You know, he's not infective anymore. He goes, I want to hate him more. What does that mean? That's why it's acute. That's why it's cute and fatal. You know what I mean? Like they say, you know, like when you learns things with COVID, like, what is the thing with a virus?

Like, there's a period in a virus's life. When a virus starts to kill the host, it's no longer communicable. It's no longer contagious. It, like a virus is, the problem with the virus is if it's fatal, then it can't spread because it kills the host and doesn't continue to spread. So it has to spread during this period where it's not fatal and it's sort of latent and in you. So the longer that period, if you got a super fatal virus that killed you in two or three days, then it's not going to spread throughout the population. You know what I mean? It's not, it's not fast. It doesn't have the period of spread. And so once you go into that stage of lethality, it stops becoming contagious.

I think James is not contagious. His virus is reached. It's gone over the arc. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's over the arc. It's not persuasive to anybody. It's now harmless to everyone but the host.

Everyone in the chat's like I could smell the bourbon on his breath. What's wrong with enjoying imbebing? maybe just don't go on rants about, you know, hating people when you're down in the bottle. And his accent, his accent adds to it too. It makes it good. The fuming at the mouth. Yeah. The accent.

Yeah. On a less light note, over the weekend, there was some protests in Washington, D.C., New York, and so forth. They had some counter protests as well. There is an incredible video on social media where this liberal guy in New York is, have you guys seen this version of the events that happened. Here's what happened in New York. Two young men, I believe around the age of 19, launched explosive devices. They were real explosive devices. Like at the Gracie Mansion, the home of the mayor, did not detonate, at the home of the mayor of New York City, the Gracie mansion. So Ramam Dani. And when this happened, there was like a lib guy with like a bullhorn and a,

microphone, whatever, talking into it, talking about this city's for immigrants. We welcome everybody. You know, this is what New York is. This is our spirit. And from behind him, this dude comes running, like, uses his body to launch up, right? Like, he grabs his shoulder to get higher as he ascends, yells Allah Akbar and throws a bomb. As the dude just said about immigration, it's wild. Yeah.

And then the dude with the bullhorn is the guy that posted on social media. Like, is he saying, like, still in, boys? This is good. Yeah. This is the fight. Fight the good fight. What? And so then after this failed whatever attack on the mayor or his mansion, this is what you hear from Zoroam.

I'm Donnie. This was a vile protest rooted in white supremacy entitled Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City. I'm the first Muslim mayor of our city. Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home. While I found this protest appalling, I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Nice. So the real takeaway here is the problem is white supremacists. supremacy and

Islamophobia. You see, the al-Aqbar guys just, you know, they'd had it too. They'd had it too with these. It's a common white

white nationalist phrase, Al-Aqabar. Yeah. Yes. They're probably out on bail. Yeah, I mean, the New York Times of various reporting

is, I think, originally described them as counter-protesters. And then what you're hearing from the mayor of New York is that, you know, this is a result of Islamophobia. Like you're basically you were wearing a short skirt. You were asking for it. By being ugly, by being hateful, you were asking, by, you know, worrying about the Islamic population of America, you were asking for an Allah Akbar. You were asking for this. And so if you'll stop asking for it like that, maybe you'll stop.

getting the al-Aqbar bombs okay so there you go new york are you a little concerned by the way in pennsylvania me about what well we got we got this al-a-acbar bomb scare here where the luckily they just didn't go off we have the shooting in texasososos bomb at the embassy yeah some i mean like it seems to be a bomb threat. There was a bomb threat on a plane. It's the lone wolf stuff that's happening that you were talking about. It's not the sleeper cell. It's the people who are pissed personally. We brought a lot of lone wolves into the country. That's true. Well, I want to know, before I get my complete radars up, yeah, I'm concerned. To answer your question, yeah, but to the level of my

concern. I want to know, like, these dudes in New York, like, was this at all related to Iran? Was this at all related? Like, what is this? That's just on that note. Am I concerned that these dudes live in this country, the United States of America? Yup. Yes. That's the issue that I really care about. I really care about the most. All the people that we've imported into this country who do not love the United States of America, who in fact hate the United States of America. Some of them, yes, come from Muslim countries and have that worldview. Some of them come from other parts of the world. And I don't, I simply, and I don't think this is xenophobic.

I kind of think it's part of the oath you take when you become a citizen of the United States. Like, I just think maybe you should want to be and love America. That's my bugaboo, you know. Otherwise, don't be here. Go. Like, basically, if you have the worldview of Ilan Omar, why are you in America? Go back to Somalia. Like, if you think this about America,

leave. If somebody came over to your house for a party and spent the whole party talking about about how awful your house was, the party was and how you are, leave. Don't come to the party. Yes, you were invited, but we don't want you here anymore. Time to go. Isn't this like a cultural version of terraforming, essentially? Like they're trying to make it their own place. Yeah, I mean, they say it openly. Yeah. Say it openly.

So, Patrick, to answer that question, my level of concern is, is. is through the roof. Watch what happens to the United States of America over the next 30 years if we don't get our arms around that. Got our arms around today's episode of Will Cain Country. We appreciate you hanging out with us here today at Facebook or YouTube. And we hope you will. Follow us on Spotify or Apple so that you can hang out with us tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,

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