Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Iran Deal! Separating Fact from Fiction, What's Next plus Maine's Nazi Communist Oyster Farmer

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Iran Deal! Separating Fact from Fiction, What's Next plus Maine's Nazi Communist Oyster Farmer · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome. It is Verdict with center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: with you on this Memorial Day, and we want to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: start off, obviously center, by saying thank you to so
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: many who gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country, so
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: many that protect and defend, and so many families that
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: today is a really hard day for them remembering their
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: loved one who fought, protect and defended this country.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I hope you spend some time with your family, spend
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: some time with your kids, but I also hope you
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: stop and think and say thank you to the heroes
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: who keep us safe, who keep us free, who are
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: responsible for every liberty. We have a Memorial Day in particular,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: we remember those heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice, the
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: last full measure, those who lost their lives protecting our nation.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Every year we honor them, We remember their sacrifice, We
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: are grateful, We honor their loved ones and their families,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and we also honor those who are still serving, who
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: are risking every day and and risking potentially giving their
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: own lives so that we can continue to be free.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: On for everyone in the arm services, for everyone who
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: has served, and especially for those who's loved ones have
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: given the last ultimate measure. We just want to say
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: thank you, We appreciate you, we are grateful. Thank you.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, amen to that. We've got a lot that we're
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: going to cover, including some big news on the possibility
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of getting a deal done with a Ran. That is
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: something that's going to be very interesting as well. And Sata,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I want to get your overview on this real quickly
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: because it's important. There is a lot of people that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: are online that are throwing up a lot of things.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Some of it's based and in fact a lot of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: it is not, and it's just speculation. People try to
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: score political points left and right here. So I want
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: to get your overview and your take on this and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: exactly what you think about where we are. Are we
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: close to a deal and what does a good deal
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: look like for the United States of America. Before we
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: get to that, I do want to pause and talk
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to you about the the International Fellowship of Christians and
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Jews and the amazing work they're doing right now for
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: those in need in Israel. When you hear about Israel
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in the news, it's easy to think of headlines politics
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: or another conflict far away, But for families in Israel,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and Jews around the world. This is incredibly personal. Anti
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Semitic attacks in the Holy Land and across the globe
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: are happening right now. Elderly Holocaust survivors who endured so
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: much already again fear for their lives. Jewish families are
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: praying for the freedom to worship in safety, and in
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: moments like these, your voice matters because your voice can
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: remind them that they're not alone. The International Fellowship of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Christians and Jews inviting you to leave a personal prayer
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: or message of encouragement that will be delivered directly to
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: someone in Israel who needs hope right now, not filtered
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: through the media, not lost online, but personally delivered. A
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: simple prayer, a few heartfelt words. They can lift the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: spirit of someone facing fear, uncertainty, and isolation. This is
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: more than support. This is standing with Israel when it
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: matters the most. Go to PREYIFCJ dot org. That's Prey
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: p R A y I F CJ dot org and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you can submit your prayer today. That's prey if CJ
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: dot org. So, Senator, let's break this down for everybody.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: This is complicated. A deal was always going to be complicated.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: But when you have people trying to score political points
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: in dealing with this, it's frustrating because there's a lot
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: of people are saying, what's actually going.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: On, Well, that's right. There's a lot of news breaking
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: and it's difficult to tell what is true and what
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: is not true. There's some active disinformation online. You have
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: a bunch of different sides, all trying to push their
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: own narratives. What we're going to try to do in
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: this podcast is what we always do, which is walk
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: you through the facts, walk you through what we know,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: and walk you through what exactly is happening. Let's start
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: out with the objectives in Iran. President Trump has been
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: very clear about the objectives in Iran. Number one was
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: nuclear preventing Iran, making sure Iran never ever ever gets
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon. Number two was missiles and preventing Iran
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: from using its missiles to terrorize its neighbors, to terrorize
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: American servicemen and women serving in harm's way. Number three
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: was their navy and their navy that Iran had been
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: using to project force and to threaten, in particular shipping
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: through the Strait of Hormuz. And then number four was
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: terrorisms Iran for forty seven years has been the number
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: one funder of terrorism in the world, funding over ninety
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: percent of Hamas, of Hesbala and of the Huthis. And
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: so President Trump made the decision to go in to
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: launch this military attack. As regular listeners of Verdict No,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: I spent the entire day before President Trump launched this
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: attack with him on on Air Force One, flying with
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: him from DC to Texas to a big rally in
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Corpus Christi, and then one on one the two of
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: us together in the beasts the Presidential limo, and almost
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: all of that time we were talking about Iran. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: urged him to go down the path that he's on.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: I believe the decision to launch this attack was the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: single most consequential decision of President Trump's presidency, and I
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: think it was exactly the right thing to do, and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: I think it has made America safer. Now where are
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: we now in terms of military objectives. The President's success
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: is extraordinary. The success of our military is extraordinary. I
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: mentioned the missiles. The missiles are almost entirely gone. The
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: missile manufacturing capability is almost entirely gone. Not only that,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: the drones are almost entirely gone, and drone manufacturing is
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: almost entirely gone. Not only that the Air Force is
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: in rubble bombed and sitting on the runway, and the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Navy that I mentioned, the Navy is sunk on the
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: bottom of the ocean. So in terms of military objectives,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: it's been extraordinary. Not only that the IATOLA is dead,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: many of the Mullahs are dead, many of the senior
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: leadership of the IRGC are dead. In terms of military operation,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Iran spent forty seven years building a military and in
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: thirty nine days the United States military utterly and completely
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: eliminated it. Now where do we stand now? We stand
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: number one, with Iran acting really as terrorists threatening the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Strait of Hormuz. And number two, we have the ongoing
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: threat of nuclear weapons, both through Iran's continued desire to
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: enricheranium and through Iran's possession of substantial amounts of enriched uranium.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: In that context, President Trump in the last few days
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: has put out several statements saying that we are close
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: to a nuclear deal. We are close to a deal
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: with Iran, and I gotta say, uh, if that comes
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: to fruition, and it's a good deal, that would be
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: a phenomenal outcome. I think the President has achieved incredible
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: success right now to date in this military action. And look,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Ben part of what makes this confusion confusing to understand
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: is I think there are multiple sides that are putting
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: out online different narratives. So Iran and Iran's echo chambers,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Iran and Iran's echo chambers are putting out in massive
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: quantities online that this deal is a complete capitulation, that
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: the President is going to send them tens of billions
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: of dollars that they'll keep there, they're enriched uranium, that
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: they'll continue to be in charge. Look, that would be
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: a terrible outcome, and there's a reason the Iranians are
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: pushing that. In fact, they've been pushing memes of the
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: president bowing down and kissing the feet of the Iyahtola.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: They're not subtle, but those are those are also not disguised.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Those those are foreign propaganda that are coming from our
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: enemy and our defeated enemy in this military conflict. The
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: President has also been clear that he said we're close
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: to a deal, but we're not there yet. It's not
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: one hundred percent negotiated. And I will tell you the
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: history within this administration, at every step on foreign policy,
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: there have often been two or more camps within the
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: administration that are pushing for different outcomes, that are pushing
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: with respect to Iran, either to be more vigorous in
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: insisting on the red lines the President has drawn, or
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: less vigorous and simply trying to get out of it
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: in a hurry. And I think the President has been
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: right saying he was not going to back down from
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: enforcing those red lines, from protecting the American people, And
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: I for one, am confident, I hope and am confident
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: that he will continue to hold that line.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Well, when you talk about what a deal could look like,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: let's also go through those parameters. What does a good
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: deal look like? What is it? As conservative we should
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: make sure that we're advocating for. I'm one of those
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: where I go back to what the President said very
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: early on, there's no circumstance where Iran is going to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: be able to get a nuclear weapon. That to me
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: is number one. It's a national security issue. And I
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: think that's where a lot of people are just straight
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: up lying online about this issue as well.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look that's right, and you're right, that's the number
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: one objective is that an Iahtola, who chanced death death
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: to America, having a nuclear weapon is completely unacceptable. You know,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you. I put out a tweet this weekend
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: on all of the swirling rumors of the deal and
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: what could be in it. Here's what I said. I
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: said President Trump's decision to strike Iran was the most
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: consequential decision of his second term. He was right to
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: do so, and we achieved extraordinary military results, including destroying
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: all of their missiles and drones and sinking their entire navy.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: If the result of all of this is to be
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: an Iranian regime still run by Islamist who chant death
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: to America, now receiving billions of dollars, being able to
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: enrich uranium and develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: over the Strait of Hormuz, that outcome would be a
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: disastrous mistake. The details are still coming out, and I
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: pray that the early reports are wrong, but the fact
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: that Biden's Rob Malley is praising the deal is not encouraging.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: President Trump believes in peace through strength, and his strong
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: leadership has already made America much safer. He should continue
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: to hold the line defend America and enforce the red
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: lines that he has repeatedly drawn. Now, when I sent
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: that Twitter and the Internet was all lit up, and
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: in fact, Drudge Report breathlessly put a story Worry above
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: the fold. Is their top headline story Cruise defying the
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Dawn diss is Iran dealing? And you know Drodge is
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: known for subtlety. And let's be very clear, what I
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: was saying was precisely the opposite. What I was saying
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: is President Trump has been exactly right in how he
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: has conducted this military conflict in Iran. And he's done
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: so despite significant naysayers around him urging him not to
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: hold the line consistently. And so what I'm saying very
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: publicly is, mister President, You've done an extraordinary in an
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: historic job in Iran. Don't listen to voices that would
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: urge giving away the victory. Now here's some good news.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: What has happened On Sunday, The administration set up multiple
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: calls with reporters with different briefers, and one Administration of
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: People official told people on the call that Iran has
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: to quote address the main issues, which are nuclear and
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the Strait of Hormuz, up front, and the phrase they
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: used on that call was quote no dust, no deal.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Now that approach is exactly the right approach. There should not,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: at a minimum, there should not be concessions until Iran
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: hands over their nuclear material and opens up the straight.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: And that is consistent with what President Trump has been saying.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: But again there have been other voices, other voices saying no, no,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: we don't need to insist upon that. And so what
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: I am urging the President, both privately and publicly, to
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: do is hold the line, remove the enriched uranium, prevent
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Iran from enriching uranium. We've had incredible success, we've already
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: had based on the degradation of the military. Iran's ability
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: to support terrorism is dadically reduced. But we need to
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: open up the Straight of Hormuz and we need to
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: ensure that never ever, ever does Iran have a nuclear weapon.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: And I'm encouraged. Not only that, but something the President
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: put out yesterday was really striking, which is he said
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: that in the discussions that multiple Arab countries had also
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: agreed to join the Abraham Accords.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Now, if that was a big deal, and can you
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: remind people quickly exactly what is in the Abraham Accords,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: why it's so significant, and then the significance of other
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: countries wanting to come into the Abraham Accords and how
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: that strengths it in a very very big way.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Well, the Abraham Accords were historic peace agreements negotiated at
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: the end to President Trump's first administration, and they were
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: peace agreements between Israel and the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, Israel,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: and Bahrain. I was there on the south lawn of
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: the White House when when the Abraha Accords were signed.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: At the time, multiple Arab countries still had not entered
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: and to this day have not entered the Abraham Accords,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the biggest of which is Saudi Arabia. And in terms
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: of the Arab country Saudi Arabia is the most important
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: counterbalance to Iran, and I think the Saudis were on
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: a path to joining the Abraham Accords at the end
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: of Trump won and had President Trump continued serving in
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: the White House for an immediate consecutive term, I think
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: the Saudis would have already entered the Abraham Accords. But
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: they didn't. Joe Biden came in and it broke up
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: the progress we'd made towards deal and towards peace. The
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Saudis and other Arab countries coming into the Abraham Accords
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: normalizing their relationships with Israel, it would essentially bring peace
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: to the Middle East between the Arabs and the Israelis. Look,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: the Arabs and the Israelis have been in conflict from
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: the very dawn of the nation Israel. If the President
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: is able to bring the Arabs and Israelis into the
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Abraham Accords, into peace agreements, into normalizations, into trade and
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: commerce where they're not at tention that they're not engaged
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: in military conflict, but instead they're working together and trading
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: with each other, that would truly be an historic milestone
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: that would change the entire geopolitical landscape.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: You look at now you bring that up, and then
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: you say, Okay, there is a midterm coming up, so
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: let's just talk about the timeline here. We're almost to June.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I think it's pretty clear that the White House understands
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: this needs to get done sooner than later. We need
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: gas prices to go down because the midterm elections. I
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: also think national security is more important than the gas
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: price at the pump and right now, but you want
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to make sure you win the midterm election. So you
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: have to think about those things. How much of a
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: runway do you think we still have before that becomes
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: a real issue? Is it two weeks? Is a month
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: as it's six weeks? I mean, I mean how much time?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Because obviously Iran's looking at this the same way we are.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, the good news is I think President Trump
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: is clear eyed that he's not just just reading polls
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: and running scared, but rather he takes very seriously his
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: obligation to protect America, that he's commander in chief, and
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: that when when the Iyatola chance death to America, when
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: he leads mobs chanting death to America, when when they
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: fund the Iranian regime has murdered nearly a thousand Americans.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: They've been carrying out war against us for forty seven years.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: And I think the President is committed to finishing the job.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: I don't think that's going to be driven by short term,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: short term political impulses or by the polls. And I
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: will say, you know, the President has a phrase that
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: he's fond of pannikins, which is which is Republicans who
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: are panicking. And I got to say on the Iran War.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: There are some pankins who are like, well, it's just
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: got to end right now, because again, prices because of November. Now,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: now look, let's put gas prices in context. Under Joe Biden,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: gas prices swared to over six dollars a gallon. That
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: really hurt. People were feeling the pain from that. By
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: the way, the Democrats at the time were celebrating that.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: You had Democrats were saying they wanted gas to be
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: ten dollars a gallon. Remember, these are the same people
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: who were trying to ban the internal combustion engine and
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: force everyone to buy an electric vehicle. So they wanted
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: high gas prices and they got what they wanted. President
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: Trump came in and in the first year of his
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: second term, we saw gas prices drop nearly in half
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: to about three bucks a gallon. That made a huge difference.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: That lifted a big load off the shoulders of a
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: lot of Americans, And it was the result of common sense,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: sound economic policies ending the regulatory assault on oil and gas.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Where we are now, as gas prices have gone back up,
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: some are about four bucks and fifty cents a gallon,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: So basically we've given back about half of what we
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: gained and it's not complicated why. And anytime you have
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: a military conflict in the Middle East, gas prices go up.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: That uncertainty in the Middle East predictably has an impact
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: on gas prices. What I will say is, I think
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: number one, that impact is short term. Number two, if
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: and when we reach a good resolution in the Middle
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: East with Iran, I think we will see the long
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: term trend of gas prices go down and go down significantly.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: But no reason why is there's so much oil that's
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: been backed up waiting to get out of countries in
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the Middle East because of the Strait of horror movies
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: and the issues there. So traders I've talked to you,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: they said they expect a total crater once there's a
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: deal in safety and security and they can get back
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and forth through the strait with no issues at all,
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: because there's so much backup of oil that is desperate
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: to need to be sold because of capacity issues as well.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and by the way, a total crater is a
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: good outcome. If you look at gas prices, look gas
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: north of one hundred dollars or oil north of one
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: hundred dollars a barrel is too high, and that results
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: in high gas prices. But if you see the oil
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: prices collapse down to forty bucks in oil forty barrel,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: that's not good either, because that ends up putting a
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: lot of American producers out of business, which ultimately makes
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: us more vulnerable to foreign producers. So you want to
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: be somewhere in the middle. You want prices high enough
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: that American producers keep exploring, keep developing, because that economic
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: independence gives us enormous freedom. But you don't want them
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: so high that people are feeling the pain at the
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: gas pump. But here's the point I want to make
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: on this ben everyone who is freaking out, it's not
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: that many. It's a handful of mostly political knuckleheads in
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: the Beltway who are freaking out and saying we've got
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: to end this immediately or else the midterms. I have
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: seen zero data that back up the case that the
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: midterms have gotten materially worse because of the military conflict
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: with Iran. Look six months ago, we were in a
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: rough political situation where we were in about a D
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: plus six environment, meaning nationally the numbers were showing that
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: the polling was about six points more Democrat than it
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: had been in November of twenty twenty four. Well, today
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: we're still in about a D plus six environment, so
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: it is still bumpy. We got work to do. We
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: got work to do in terms of making the case
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: to the American people about the historic victories that have
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: been won in the past year and a half. But
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: I see no evidence in the data that the military
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: conflict with Iran is doing meaningful political damage for the
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: mid terms. And I think short term obsessing over polls
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: and not finishing the job would be an historic mistake.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: That's why I'm confident President Trump won't do.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: That final question on this, And then I want to
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: move to some other news. But the straight up horn
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: moves in this deal, What does that look like and
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: what is it that we should be advocating for. Should
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: it go back to the way it was before or
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: should America be more involved, should other countries be more involved?
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: What does a good deal look like to make sure
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: we have security there as well?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Listen, and I want to be clear, I'm not part
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: of the negotiation, so we have not I have not
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: had a briefing, classified or otherwise on the precise details.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: So I see the reports that are coming out. I
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: see the propaganda that Iran and their allies are putting out.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: I see what left wingers who hate the president are
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: putting out. And then I also see the reports of
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: the calls that the administration is putting on for reporters.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: But the details of the deal I don't have right now.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: So what precisely is agreed upon or should be agreed
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: upon Until I see what the details are, it's hard
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: to have a fully formed opinion. But the Straight of
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Horrmus needs to be free and open. It needs to
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: be open to commerce, and Iran should not be profiting
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: off of it. I mean, Iran has talked about wanting
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: to charge a toll for every ship that travels through
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: the Strait of Hormuves. That would be a bad outcome. Look,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: I think anything that results in the regime in Iran
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: being stronger is a bad outcome. The outcome I would
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: like to see as regime collapse, that not to have
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Iran governed by Islamist radicals who chant death to America.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Look who they choose to govern themselves. That's for the
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Iranian people. I don't want America to be in the
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: business of nation building. I don't want us to be
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: running other countries, but not having a government in place
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: that is trying to kill us, I think is very
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: much in our interest. So the Strait of Horrmus, I
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: think the President is focused very clearly on opening it up,
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: but he is also right now exercising asymmetric power. Right now,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: there is very little direct military conflict happening in and
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: around Iran. We're not actively bombing and shooting right now,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: but we are blockading Iran, bringing oil in and out
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: of the nation. That is putting massive economic costs on Iran,
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: and I think it's one of the real lever points
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to get this conflict to end. I think we will
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: see it end, and I hope it ends soon. But
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I also hope that the President holds the line and
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: ends with a victory that builds upon the incredible victories
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the United States has won the past several months.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Well, and you mentioned even the Abraham and Coords. Another
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: country is going to come into that that could be
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: a distarsive byproduct of all of this. I want to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: move back to the elections here, the midterms here one
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of the most interesting things about it.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: But by the way, by the way, ben By the
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: way ben I mentioned that I was at the signing
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: of the Abraham Accords. Do you know how many Democrats
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: came to that signing?
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: How many?
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Zero?
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Wow?
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: Not a single House Democrat, not a single Senate Democrat.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Historic Middle East peace, something not seen in decades. Not
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: a Democrat came there. Do you know one of the
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: first things the Biden administration did when they came into power.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm assuming change, alter, or get rid of it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: They instructed the State Department in writing, you are not
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: allowed to refer to the Abraham Accords as the quote
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Abraham Accords. Instead, you have to call them the quote
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: Normalization Agreement. And Biden did everything they could to de
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: emphasize the Abraham Accords and to stop passage towards peace.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: Zero countries joined the Abraham Accords during Biden because their ideology.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: They hated Trump so much that they could not acknowledge
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: the foreign policy victory he had won. I think we
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: will see additional countries come into the Abraham Accords, and
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: if the President is able to do that as part
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: of a peace negotiation that permanently stops Iran from getting
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon, that then then that would truly be historic.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: That that would be the kind of step. Look, look,
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: the President has not hidden that he would very much
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: like to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, and bringing peace
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: to the Middle East is is almost the.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: It's a worthy one, right, get one? Yeah, yeah, if
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you're ever gonna get one, that would be like the
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: reason to get one. In my opinion. There I want
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to move the midterms and talk about something that I
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: actually think is very one interesting, but two why every
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: time when I'm I'm having to debate this on TV,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: it's all the Republicans are in trouble. Donald Trump's in trouble.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: The midterms are going to be a bloodbath, They're going
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: to be a disaster. And I keep saying the same
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: thing over and over again. Look at who the Democrats
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: are running. There are radicals in the Democratic Party that
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: they are running instead of what I would argue would
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: be the easiest way to win if you think you
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: have an advantage, and that would be to run moderate
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Democrats that are that are like not crazy and hate
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: law enforcement and want to abolish ice and want to
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: get rid of of, you know, law and order in
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: basic things in America like waste, fraud, and abuse, for example,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and the funds that we've seen that have been stolen
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: through Medicare and Medicaid in hospice, and the list goes
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: on and on is keeps growing. But right now I'm
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: not that sour on the midterms center because I see
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: who they're running and I think that's their biggest liability.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: And some of these are in very big races where
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: I'm sitting there going, if you're sane, you wouldn't have
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: taken this risk with this candidate. But I also think
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: it tells you about the Democratic Party. They're not saying
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: they want to run these radical extremists. Candidate has said
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: insane things in their past.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I got to say, you're right that this
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: is potentially a bumpy political environment in November. Although I'm
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: still optimistic. I'm optimistic we hold and grow our majorities
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: in both the House and Senate. I don't think that
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: is off the table at all. I think it's very
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: much in flux right now. But I will say that
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: the Democrats are helping us by nominating some of the
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: craziest loons I've ever seen. Listen, and parties can do
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: something do a lot to affect their outcome of the
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: general if you nominate strong candidates who are widely appealing,
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: who are attractive, who have real records of success, that
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: can be formidable. And if you nominate lunatics who scare
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: the voters, that can hand the election to your opponents.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: And I got to say, I think there's no candidate
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: in the country that better embodies just how batcrap crazy
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: the Democrats have gotten than Graham Platner. Graham Plattner their
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: nominee for Senate in Maine. Now, let's start off. Look,
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: Maine is one of the obvious pickup opportunities for the Democrats.
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: Maine is a blue state. Susan Collins, the Republican senator,
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: is the only Republican elected in all of New England,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and so in a state that votes by a large
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: margin against Donald Trump. If you're the Democrats, that's an
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: obvious place to say, all right, let's target a pick
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: up there. And in fact, Janet Mills, Democrat governor relatively
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: popped in the state, was running. And yet the party
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: has gone so crazy that their own governor was deemed
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: not crazy enough, and instead they went with Graham Platner. Look,
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the governor might have been a.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: The way I wish you were joking, but you're really not.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Like I mean, if you're a extreme Democrat three four
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: years ago, you're now moderate in the Democratic Party.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: So who is Graham Plattner? He has described himself as
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: a communist. It used to be the socialist where the extremes.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: I cannot think of another major Democrat nominee who is
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: self described as a communist, but Graham Platner. That's how
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: he described his own political and economic philosophy. Graham Platner
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: had and you've heard this because at this point most
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: people had had a Nazi tattoo on his chest, not
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: just a Nazi tattoo, a totin comp. What is a
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: totin comp It is a Nazi skull and crossbones. That
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: was the symbol of the SS that ran the concentration
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: camps in u in Germany, and and and and and
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: throughout throughout Europe and the World War Two. That's what
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: he put on his show. So you've got an actual
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: communist Nazi is their nominee. And and by the way,
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: we've seen Democrats rushing up to Maine to support him.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders this week is up there campaigning
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: because the you know the Communists and the Nazis standing together,
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: but I gotta say it is amazing. You might think, Okay,
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: a Nazi communist, that's pretty out there. That's that's gonna
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: be tough to defend this guy's APO file. I don't
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: know who's doing the opera research on him, but he's
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: having more fun than anybody has ever had the history
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: of politics, because every day something comes out and I'm
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: gonna repeat some of it, but I'm gonna give a
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: caution that most of what's in his APO file I
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: can't repeat because this is a family friendly podcast, and
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: this guy is Soper. He's so obscene. So one of
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: the most recent comments that he put on on Reddit
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: that just came out was quote, you don't have much
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: experience with Latin American hookers, do you? That would be
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: the Democrat nominee for Senate in Maine. What else did
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: he say? He also he attacked a veteran, an Army
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: combat veteran who received the Purple Heart. He did this
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: online and he called him a dumb mffor, although he
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: did not abbreviate m effort, and he said this army
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: combat veteran didn't deserve to live. This guy wants to
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: be a United States senator and and and by the way,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: just today he was questioned by IT about it and
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: asked if he wanted to apologize. Give a listen to
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: what he said about when he was given the opportunity
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: to apologize for calling an army combat veteran in a
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: purple heart recipe it a dumb mf orr who didn't
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: deserve to live. Here was Platter's response.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: I was wondering a few regret the posts about the
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: purple heart veteran. If you think you need to apologize
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: to him, what you would say to the voters who
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: might be upset by it?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I have poor tools the infantry.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Any attempt to say that I disrespect utters is slanderous
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: and attention.
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: Do you think you om an apology?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: Do you know how many much friends have reports? Do
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: you know how many much friends governed you?
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: Charlotte?
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you? I mean that's what you call a double
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: down there.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: Sir, So no apology doubling down. By the way, he
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: also he has some bizarre things. He talks about how
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: women who are raped it's their fault. He attacks African Americans.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: He says they're cheap and they don't tip. Oddly enough,
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: he also so wrote about, okay, this is bizarre, fantasies
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: about how every time he sees a port partty he
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: wants to go inside the porta potty and masturbate in
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: the porta partty. Look, this is weird. This is not
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: mainstream that this guy is extreme. And you know what
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth Warren says about someone who says all that she
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: likes him, no money even more. She says, quote, he's
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: my kind of man.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Oh that's right, Yeah, that was that was her quote
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: from this past. Yeah, he's my kind of man. A
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: guy with a Nazi tattoo is a communist who says
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: he likes to do that in a porta party.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: There you go and understand. Look, the Democrats are so extreme.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: He can attack and mock and insult women, he can
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: attack African Americans, he can attack Jews, he can attack veterans,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: and they don't care. They all circle the wagons. He's
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: our guy because he's a Democrat and and they're unwilling.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: There is nothing too much. By the way, they love
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: to call every Republican a Nazi, and yet when they
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: have a guy that puts a Nazi tattoo on his
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: own chest. They're good with that, and they're not backing
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: off and and and not only that, but you look
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: at the corrupt corporate media. Just this week, what did
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Time magazine do? They put them on the cover. They
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: put them on the cover and it's entitled party Crasher. Now,
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: I gotta say Time Magazine, it's interesting because they have
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: a long history of putting Nazis on their cover. They
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: were fond of putting Adolf Hitler on their cover. I
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: did have some fun online when I said, hey, hey,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: groc what is a Totin comp and and does Time
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: have any history of putting Nazis on their cover? And
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: you could read the whole response that came up to that,
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: But the short answer is yes. And I got to say,
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: having seen this guy's like daily drip of APO between
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: now and November is going to be interesting because because
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: I guarantee you there's a lot more coming.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there is, and we'll cover it all here. Don't forget.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: We do this show Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Hit that subscribe
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: or auto download button wherever you get your podcasts, and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: we all see the show on YouTube as well, so
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: you can watch us on YouTube or on Facebook and
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the Centaer. I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.