Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Vance Takes WH’s Ultimatum to Iran plus Trump Rips NATO as Allies Fall Short—Again

Transcript

Vance Takes WH’s Ultimatum to Iran plus Trump Rips NATO as Allies Fall Short—Again · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Vice President J. D.
0:01
Speaker 2: Vance is heading to Pakistan to lead the US delegation
0:05
Speaker 2: and direct negotiations with Iran, is what we're being told
0:08
Speaker 2: at this hour.
0:09
Speaker 1: The talks are expected.
0:11
Speaker 2: To begin immediately, and the reason why is President Trump
0:15
Speaker 2: is clearly impatient and ready for results, for something real
0:19
Speaker 2: to happen now. The US expects good faith negotiations, and
0:24
Speaker 2: if Iran stalls or plays games, the White House says,
0:27
Speaker 2: pressure will ramp right back up.
0:30
Speaker 1: Vance has even worn that Iran would.
0:32
Speaker 2: Be making a serious mistake if it allows these talks
0:36
Speaker 2: to collapse.
0:37
Speaker 3: A threat to wipe Iranian civilization off the map still
0:41
Speaker 3: on the table. Is it fair to keep ninety million
0:43
Speaker 3: Iranians under that threat for the actions of their leaders.
0:47
Speaker 4: Well, look, the leadership is really to blame for the
0:49
Speaker 4: condition of the country in Iran. The President of the
0:51
Speaker 4: United States has made very clear that the United States
0:55
Speaker 4: has a lot of leverage here. We have economic leverage,
0:57
Speaker 4: We've got military leverage. What he's trying to do is
1:00
Speaker 4: make sure the American people are safe and strike a
1:02
Speaker 4: deal that's good for the American people. I just look,
1:05
Speaker 4: I encourage the Iranians to come to the table. Seriously,
1:08
Speaker 4: We've seen some signs that they're gonna do that. We've
1:11
Speaker 4: seen some signs of bravado. Fundamentally weren't a good spot.
1:14
Speaker 4: They're reopening the straits. We have a ceasefire, and frankly,
1:17
Speaker 4: if they break their into the bargain, then they're gonna
1:19
Speaker 4: see some serious consequences.
1:21
Speaker 3: Wiping them off the map is different than an economic
1:24
Speaker 3: leverage or military leverage. Why is that kind of language
1:27
Speaker 3: useful in this kind of scenario.
1:29
Speaker 4: Well, again, the President of the United States is saying
1:32
Speaker 4: that unless the Iranians do the right thing, he is
1:35
Speaker 4: going to have some serious consequences for the regime. We
1:37
Speaker 4: obviously don't want the people of Iran to suffer, but
1:40
Speaker 4: we have a lot of leverage the President of United
1:42
Speaker 4: States could use. And it's why I think it's so
1:44
Speaker 4: important for the Iranians to be negotiators in good faith.
1:48
Speaker 2: Now, what many of you may be asking this question,
1:51
Speaker 2: what is actually even being negotiated? These talks are not small.
1:54
Speaker 2: They are really massive, and at the center of the
1:57
Speaker 2: negotiations is a long term regional stability and that all
2:02
Speaker 2: revolves around Iran's nuclear ambitions. They also in the negotiations
2:07
Speaker 2: are ensuring safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. There's
2:11
Speaker 2: even been discussions of a broader framework that could include
2:14
Speaker 2: sanction relief, which Iran is begging for. That's only, by
2:19
Speaker 2: the way, going to happen if Iran makes major concessions.
2:23
Speaker 2: There's also just the reality check of all this. The
2:26
Speaker 2: ceasefire is temporary, it's also conditional, and it could collapse
2:31
Speaker 2: at any moment within the next less than two weeks
2:34
Speaker 2: now since it began. Even officials inside the White House
2:38
Speaker 2: acknowledge this is just the first step, not a final deal,
2:42
Speaker 2: and there are still major disagreements, especially over the nuclear
2:47
Speaker 2: enrichment that Iran is obsessed with, as well as the
2:50
Speaker 2: regional conflict like Lebanon. The Vice President was asked about that,
2:55
Speaker 2: and here's what he said.
2:57
Speaker 3: There seems to be a disagreement about whether Lebanon was
2:59
Speaker 3: in in this proposal. And the Speaker of the Parliament,
3:02
Speaker 3: who you're going to sit across from the table from
3:04
Speaker 3: An Islamabad, has just said that he thinks negotiations would
3:08
Speaker 3: be unreasonable while that war is on going. So would
3:10
Speaker 3: you ask Israel to hold off strikes to allow some
3:13
Speaker 3: space for these songs?
3:14
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I know there's been some conversations
3:16
Speaker 4: between the Israelis and the leadership of our country today.
3:20
Speaker 4: I haven't been involved in that because I've been busy
3:21
Speaker 4: doing stuff in Hungary. I'm actually supposed to get an
3:24
Speaker 4: up date when I get on the plane. But let
3:26
Speaker 4: me say a couple things. First of all, I actually
3:28
Speaker 4: think and there's a lot of bad faith negotiation and
3:31
Speaker 4: a lot of bad faith, you know, propaganda going on.
3:35
Speaker 4: I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding. I think
3:38
Speaker 4: the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon, and it
3:42
Speaker 4: just didn't. We never made that promise, We never indicated
3:45
Speaker 4: that was going to be the case. What we said
3:47
Speaker 4: is that the ceasefire would be focused on Iran, and
3:49
Speaker 4: the ceasefire would be focused on America's allies, both Israel
3:52
Speaker 4: and the Golf Air of States. Now that said the Israelis,
3:56
Speaker 4: as I understand it again, I'm supposed to get a
3:58
Speaker 4: full of report when I get on the plane. Actually offered,
4:01
Speaker 4: to be frankly, to check themselves a little bit in
4:06
Speaker 4: Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation
4:09
Speaker 4: is successful. That's not because that is part of the ceasefire.
4:12
Speaker 4: I think that's the Israelis try to set up us
4:15
Speaker 4: up for success, and we'll of course see how that
4:17
Speaker 4: unfolds in the next few days. But look, if Iran
4:20
Speaker 4: wants to lead this negotiation fall apart in a conflict
4:23
Speaker 4: where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing
4:27
Speaker 4: to do with them, and which the United States never
4:30
Speaker 4: once said was part of the ceasefire, that's ultimately their choice.
4:33
Speaker 4: We think that would be dumb, but that's their choice.
4:36
Speaker 2: We think that would be dumb, but that is their choice.
4:39
Speaker 2: The Vice President wasn't done there, by the way. He
4:42
Speaker 2: also talked about who he's negotiating with, and can you
4:46
Speaker 2: negotiate with people that well are a little crazy.
4:49
Speaker 4: What's happening on the ground in Iran is that you
4:51
Speaker 4: have clearly the position of the government, which is to
4:54
Speaker 4: negotiate with the United States of America. You have the
4:57
Speaker 4: position of the President of the United States, which is
4:59
Speaker 4: to send the negotiation to Pakistan and engage in this
5:02
Speaker 4: good faith negotiation. And then yes, you have some crazy
5:05
Speaker 4: people at the fringes of the Iranian system who are
5:08
Speaker 4: leaking anonymously, either for propaganda purposes or because they're embarrassed,
5:13
Speaker 4: or because they don't like what happened. And the final point,
5:15
Speaker 4: when I say they don't like what happened, what we
5:17
Speaker 4: know is that the United States accomplished its military objectives.
5:20
Speaker 4: What we know is the United States could have imposed
5:23
Speaker 4: significant additional military and economic costs in Iran and.
5:27
Speaker 1: Still has the capacity to do so.
5:29
Speaker 4: But we think, thankfully at this point, I think have
5:32
Speaker 4: a ceasefire thanks to the leadership of the President of
5:34
Speaker 4: the United States. We have the Iranians promising to open
5:37
Speaker 4: the straits of poor moves, and we have a negotiation
5:39
Speaker 4: that's supposed to start this weekend.
5:41
Speaker 1: That's the truth. I think it's a good first step.
5:44
Speaker 4: We're going to see if we can make more progress
5:46
Speaker 4: here in the days to come.
5:48
Speaker 2: So it seems like the Vice President is hopeful, but
5:51
Speaker 2: he also seems to be very realistic about what he's
5:54
Speaker 2: dealing with. The President clearly is sending him with, hey,
5:58
Speaker 2: good luck, see what you can get done. There also
6:01
Speaker 2: seems to be a reality within this administration that there's
6:04
Speaker 2: a very good chance that Iran and the negotiations, well,
6:08
Speaker 2: they're not coming to the table in good faith. There
6:10
Speaker 2: are wreckers within the Iranian hierarchy holding on for dear life,
6:14
Speaker 2: and the Vice President sounded a warning on competing factions
6:18
Speaker 2: within Iran, with some open to good faith negotiations with
6:22
Speaker 2: the US in the coming weeks, and then there's the spoilers,
6:25
Speaker 2: those that are wanting to do nothing at all.
6:28
Speaker 1: Now.
6:28
Speaker 2: The Vice President is also, I think, being honest about
6:32
Speaker 2: the rocky start of the ceasefire, stating that look, it's
6:36
Speaker 2: really up to Iran. If they want to give up
6:39
Speaker 2: almost immediately as everything started, that would be dumb, as
6:42
Speaker 2: he described it.
6:44
Speaker 1: Now.
6:44
Speaker 2: The Vice President in the White House also talked a
6:47
Speaker 2: lot about Israel over the last twelve hours.
6:50
Speaker 1: As he understood it, the Vice President said.
6:53
Speaker 2: Israel frankly offered to check themselves a little bit in
6:56
Speaker 2: Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation
7:00
Speaker 2: the US and Iran are successful. And that's not because
7:05
Speaker 2: that is part of the ceasefire. He said, again, I
7:08
Speaker 2: think that the Israelis are trying to set us up
7:10
Speaker 2: for success, and well, of course, see how that unfolds
7:13
Speaker 2: in the next few days.
7:16
Speaker 1: He also told reporters.
7:17
Speaker 2: That it would be unwise for Rand to end the
7:19
Speaker 2: ceasefire because of israel strikes on Lebanon. America is entering
7:24
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Speaker 2: to two Patriot Switch today. The White House Press Secretary
8:51
Speaker 2: also saying this from the Oval.
8:54
Speaker 5: Danny, thanks, thanks cart with President Trump like to see
8:58
Speaker 5: Lebanon including this PCD. It's, as you know, that's been
9:00
Speaker 5: increased as ready the strikes on leven today with dozens
9:04
Speaker 5: of casualties.
9:04
Speaker 6: Then sure Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that
9:08
Speaker 6: has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire.
9:11
Speaker 6: As you know, Prime Minister in net Yahoo put out
9:13
Speaker 6: a statement last night in support of the ceasefire, in
9:16
Speaker 6: support of the United States' efforts, and he's also ashored
9:19
Speaker 6: to President they'll continue to be a helpful partner throughout
9:21
Speaker 6: the course of the next two weeks.
9:24
Speaker 2: Now, let me also be clear, all of this that
9:26
Speaker 2: we're talking about right now is coming as the Islamic
9:29
Speaker 2: Iranian regimes military threatened to expanded strikes against the Persian
9:35
Speaker 2: Gulf energy facilities and US interests in the wake of
9:39
Speaker 2: President Trump threatening to unleash American firepower against the country's infrastructure.
9:45
Speaker 2: So if these talks are going to go well, it
9:48
Speaker 2: honestly may take a real miracle for something to come
9:52
Speaker 2: out of it. Iran seems to be digging in and
9:55
Speaker 2: not dealing with reality. They're holding on for dear life
9:58
Speaker 2: to their power. They don't care about their people if
10:01
Speaker 2: they suffer. That would include if the bridges are hit
10:04
Speaker 2: and their infrastructure aka their energy source, their electricity.
10:08
Speaker 1: Is gone as well.
10:10
Speaker 2: So here it is the President United States of America
10:13
Speaker 2: in a tough spot and the Vice President doing everything
10:17
Speaker 2: he can to try to give peace another chance before
10:21
Speaker 2: they have to make a real decision which what will
10:24
Speaker 2: come next for America and our foreign policy.
10:28
Speaker 1: All Right, so let's deal.
10:29
Speaker 2: With a elephant in the room and this really growing
10:33
Speaker 2: conversation right now about President Trump just straight up saying
10:38
Speaker 2: what so many Americans are thinking, and that is that well,
10:42
Speaker 2: NATO and our quote unquote allies are like pretty much worthless.
10:47
Speaker 2: They don't do much for us, right like they have
10:50
Speaker 2: hung us out to dry. So is there a way
10:53
Speaker 2: is the President described it to punish NATO allies? And
10:56
Speaker 2: if you understand history, it's not hard to see why.
10:59
Speaker 2: Now go back and look at the data. The United
11:01
Speaker 2: States has carried the overwhelming burden of NATO, not just
11:06
Speaker 2: in money, but also in manpower, in leading it, with
11:11
Speaker 2: strategy with other bad actors in the world, and just
11:15
Speaker 2: overall leadership. NATO was in theory created as a collective
11:21
Speaker 2: defense alliance.
11:23
Speaker 1: That's not what it really is though, all right.
11:25
Speaker 2: The reality is that America has been acting as the
11:29
Speaker 2: only defender, the primary defender, if you want to call it,
11:32
Speaker 2: that of Europe while many of the quote unquote and
11:36
Speaker 2: I call them quote unquote allies because they don't act
11:38
Speaker 2: like it, have failed to live up to their commitments
11:41
Speaker 2: for decades and they knew that America would keep footing
11:45
Speaker 2: the bill. Let's just start with the basics, Okay. NATO
11:49
Speaker 2: countries agreed to spend two percent of their GDP on defense. Now,
11:54
Speaker 2: that was not a suggestion. I want you to understand.
11:58
Speaker 2: That was the actual promise, like the guarantee, and for
12:02
Speaker 2: many years, many of these countries haven't done that at all.
12:07
Speaker 2: Instead of investing in their own security, they just decided,
12:11
Speaker 2: we'll rely on America to not only pick up the tab,
12:14
Speaker 2: but to come save our aas's if we ever need them. Now,
12:19
Speaker 2: that's when it gets even more frustrating for me because
12:23
Speaker 2: some of the same countries that are literally purposely underfunding
12:28
Speaker 2: their own militaries, they're actually spending heavy on domestic programs.
12:34
Speaker 1: Why are they doing that?
12:35
Speaker 2: Because they expect you and I as taxpayers to guarantee
12:39
Speaker 2: their protection. Now, President Trump has been signing the alarm
12:43
Speaker 2: on this four years. He was talking about this in
12:45
Speaker 2: fifteen and sixteen and even before that when he was
12:48
Speaker 2: in the private sector that America has taken advantage of.
12:53
Speaker 2: And his position now is actually pretty simple. If you
12:57
Speaker 2: want America to protect you, then you need to start
13:00
Speaker 2: paying your fair share. And it's not even about just
13:04
Speaker 2: the money. It's also about loyalty and priorities. The White
13:08
Speaker 2: House Press secretary had this to say when she was
13:10
Speaker 2: asked about it from the briefing room.
13:13
Speaker 1: John John, go ahead, thanks a lot, Caroline. Two questions
13:17
Speaker 1: for you.
13:18
Speaker 7: One has to do with a statement, a joint statement
13:20
Speaker 7: put out this morning by some of America's European allies,
13:24
Speaker 7: our NATO allies. And in that joint statement they said,
13:26
Speaker 7: regarding the Strait of Formose, our governments will contribute to
13:30
Speaker 7: ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of For mouse,
13:34
Speaker 7: please the administration's reaction to that joint statement is that
13:38
Speaker 7: smooth things over when the President meets with NATO's Secretary
13:41
Speaker 7: General a little bit later this afternoon.
13:44
Speaker 6: I have a direct quote from the President of the
13:46
Speaker 6: United States on NATO, and I will share it with
13:47
Speaker 6: all of you. They were tested and they failed. And
13:51
Speaker 6: I would add it's quite sad that NATO turned their
13:53
Speaker 6: backs on the American people over the course of the
13:55
Speaker 6: last six weeks when it's the American people who have
13:57
Speaker 6: been defunding their defense. As you know, President Trump will
14:00
Speaker 6: be meeting with Secretary Ruta in a couple of hours
14:03
Speaker 6: here at the White House, and I know he looks
14:04
Speaker 6: forward to having a very frank and candid conversation with him.
14:08
Speaker 2: Now, before I even get to some of the money
14:10
Speaker 2: aspects of this, let me just talk about the loyalty aspect,
14:14
Speaker 2: all right. There have been repeated moments where NATO allies
14:17
Speaker 2: have been deliberately slow to act. They've also been multiple
14:22
Speaker 2: moments where they've been divided or outright unwilling to step
14:26
Speaker 2: up when it matters the most, because it's all about
14:29
Speaker 2: the money to them, whether it is confronting our adversaries,
14:33
Speaker 2: whether it's increasing their own defense readiness, or they're were
14:36
Speaker 2: less reliant on the US or backing US let initiatives
14:39
Speaker 2: on the global stage. Our NATO allies have been screwing
14:43
Speaker 2: us every chance they get. So what happens if the
14:48
Speaker 2: United States of America stops treating NATO as a one
14:51
Speaker 2: way street? That is the question the media should be asking,
14:54
Speaker 2: and they're not. It could actually mean a range of
14:57
Speaker 2: different things happen. It could actually make Europe stand up
15:02
Speaker 2: for themselves more and that would actually be a good
15:05
Speaker 2: thing for US in this country. It would also force
15:09
Speaker 2: them to more directly meet their obligations to applying economic
15:14
Speaker 2: or even diplomatic pressure on others and saying to their
15:19
Speaker 2: allies within NATO outside the US like hey, we got
15:21
Speaker 2: to step up, and you got to step up in
15:23
Speaker 2: other countries like well, if we're going to step up,
15:25
Speaker 2: then you better step up because then there would be
15:27
Speaker 2: actual accountability. Now, the goal for the White House, I
15:31
Speaker 2: want to be clear, and I've talked to the White
15:33
Speaker 2: House about this, is not to abandon NATO. It is
15:38
Speaker 2: to in essence rebalance it as it's been described, or
15:42
Speaker 2: even rework it or reorganize it, or if you really
15:47
Speaker 2: want to look at it for what it is. It
15:50
Speaker 2: needs to have a balance sheet that has changed drastically.
15:54
Speaker 2: The President has made it clear that the current system
15:57
Speaker 2: rewards weakness and dependancy. It penalizes the country doing the
16:03
Speaker 2: most to keep the alliance strong, which, over and over
16:05
Speaker 2: again is you guessed at us, the United States of
16:07
Speaker 2: America and our tax dollars. And for far too long,
16:11
Speaker 2: as Trump has been saying this, America has been expected
16:14
Speaker 2: to do more, spend more, risks more, including our men
16:18
Speaker 2: and women in uniform, and the others who are doing
16:21
Speaker 2: the least are benefiting the most from our protections. Now,
16:25
Speaker 2: let's also just talk about the money, because this matters.
16:29
Speaker 2: As of the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five budget,
16:32
Speaker 2: that's the latest that we have, the United States is
16:35
Speaker 2: the largest contributor to NATO's direct budget, accounting for approximately
16:39
Speaker 2: fifteen point eight to sixteen percent of the shared common
16:44
Speaker 2: funded budget.
16:45
Speaker 1: All right.
16:46
Speaker 2: This direct funding, by the way, covers NATO's headquarters, joint operations,
16:51
Speaker 2: and infrastructure, amounting to about five hundred and seventy two
16:56
Speaker 2: million to seven hundred and fifty three million in twenty
17:01
Speaker 2: twenty four. These are the best numbers I have that's
17:03
Speaker 2: a hell of a lot of our tax dollurs. Now,
17:05
Speaker 2: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the North Atlantic Treaty
17:09
Speaker 2: Organization and the Extended Group is very interesting because here's
17:14
Speaker 2: the breakdown of the US funding. Number One, direct funding,
17:18
Speaker 2: that is the common budget. It is a percentage share.
17:22
Speaker 2: The US contributes about one sixth of NATO's direct annual budget,
17:27
Speaker 2: which totaled around three point five billion in twenty twenty four. Now,
17:32
Speaker 2: as in March of twenty twenty four, the US and
17:33
Speaker 2: Germany shared the highest percentage, both paying fifteen point eighty
17:38
Speaker 2: eight percent of the common funded budget. You go back
17:42
Speaker 2: and look at the twenty nineteen agreement, all right, it
17:46
Speaker 2: reduced the US share from twenty two percent to about
17:50
Speaker 2: sixteen percent. That would be matching Germany. Then NATO has
17:55
Speaker 2: another part, and that's their indirect funding. That's defense spending.
17:59
Speaker 2: There's a two two percent target. NATO members aim to
18:02
Speaker 2: spend two percent of their own gross te metastic product
18:06
Speaker 2: on national defense. Now, the US is spending, for example,
18:09
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, about three point four to nine
18:12
Speaker 2: percent of its GDP on defense and total defense output
18:16
Speaker 2: in terms of raw dollars, the US accounts for roughly
18:20
Speaker 2: sixty to sixty two percent of the total defense spending
18:25
Speaker 2: of all NATO nations combined.
18:27
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
18:27
Speaker 2: We're the ones doing all the work and they're getting
18:29
Speaker 2: the benefit of our hard work. That is estimated to
18:33
Speaker 2: be about one trillion dollars in twenty twenty five. That
18:36
Speaker 2: number is going to go up in twenty twenty six
18:38
Speaker 2: because of what's happening in Iran. Just so you understand now,
18:42
Speaker 2: the recent quote promises or developments have been a five
18:45
Speaker 2: percent target. Following pressure from the Trump administration that NATO
18:50
Speaker 2: allies in June of twenty twenty five agreed to a
18:53
Speaker 2: new non binding goal of increasing spending defense spending to
18:57
Speaker 2: five percent of GDP by twenty thirty five. Guess what,
19:01
Speaker 2: Most of the countries aren't moving at all, because it
19:03
Speaker 2: kicked the can down the road a decade to twenty
19:06
Speaker 2: thirty five. All right, European allies in Canada have significantly
19:10
Speaker 2: increased their spending, however, with estimates suggesting all members would
19:15
Speaker 2: meet the two percent target at least now for the
19:19
Speaker 2: first time, but there's still far to many other countries
19:23
Speaker 2: that are not doing it. This goes back to exactly
19:26
Speaker 2: what I said about the President of the United States
19:28
Speaker 2: of America, Donald Trump understands that unless you're willing to
19:34
Speaker 2: walk away and directly criticize these quote allies and say
19:39
Speaker 2: good luck defending yourself, nothing will change, nothing at all
19:46
Speaker 2: will change.
19:47
Speaker 1: And the President knows that.
19:50
Speaker 2: So is it time for America to say to our allies,
19:53
Speaker 2: our fake allies and NATO, good luck, like, defend yourself,
19:56
Speaker 2: good luck? Yes, overwhelmingly is exactly what we should be doing.
20:02
Speaker 2: I think there's a very good chance that is where
20:05
Speaker 2: we're headed. I think there's a very good chance that
20:08
Speaker 2: this is what the future is going to look like.
20:11
Speaker 2: And I'm honestly beyond thrilled that this is what's happening.
20:16
Speaker 1: If you want to.
20:17
Speaker 2: Know what Democrats are going to do if they get
20:20
Speaker 2: control of the House in the Senate, well, they're now
20:23
Speaker 2: literally campaigning off of their agenda item, and that is
20:27
Speaker 2: to impeach and remove not just President Donald Trump but
20:31
Speaker 2: also Vice President JD. Vance, even if it means rigging
20:36
Speaker 2: the US Senate's two hundred and fifty year old impeachment process.
20:41
Speaker 2: How do we know that, Well, a far left Democrat,
20:43
Speaker 2: a guy by the name of George Conway, has explained
20:47
Speaker 2: it all in a new interview and here is what
20:50
Speaker 2: he said.
20:51
Speaker 8: And I do think we're going to have also a
20:53
Speaker 8: democratic Senate, and yeah, I don't know.
20:56
Speaker 1: Whether it'll be fifty two, fifty three, fifty.
20:58
Speaker 8: Four, maybe even more. And that when you have control
21:03
Speaker 8: of the Senate in that way, you can set the rules,
21:06
Speaker 8: and the rules this time should be should provide for
21:11
Speaker 8: a real trial, not these show arguments, these you know,
21:15
Speaker 8: these statements on the floor by managers where there's politicians
21:20
Speaker 8: giving speeches, but where you put on live witnesses and
21:24
Speaker 8: you can show that they're lying, and you can show
21:26
Speaker 8: how they're being done, and they have to answer the questions,
21:29
Speaker 8: and the Chief Justice of the United States will direct
21:31
Speaker 8: them to answer questions. A trial, a real trial, that's
21:35
Speaker 8: what the framers of the Constitution meant, and that will
21:39
Speaker 8: be I think, an education for the American people who
21:42
Speaker 8: will be suffering from all of the deleterious effects of
21:47
Speaker 8: Trump's chaotic policies and his you know, psychotic policies. Frankly,
21:52
Speaker 8: he's just he's now just out of his mind. And
21:55
Speaker 8: at that point, you know, the trial will show people
21:59
Speaker 8: that this is not the way government is supposed to operate.
22:01
Speaker 8: This is corrupt buying. You know, a good trial presentation
22:07
Speaker 8: is going to basically, I think flip enough Republicans who
22:10
Speaker 8: will be exhausted by this and who want to rescue
22:13
Speaker 8: their party, if it can be right and give the
22:16
Speaker 8: vance but jd Vance, But look, I mean jd Vance is,
22:21
Speaker 8: you know, subject to impeachable offense. He may be impeached
22:24
Speaker 8: two and removed. That's that's also possible. But also it
22:28
Speaker 8: will have even if he is not, it will have
22:32
Speaker 8: a a a chilling or an effect on everybody else
22:39
Speaker 8: who comes after that.
22:41
Speaker 1: You know, we can't.
22:42
Speaker 8: You can't do this. You have to obay the law.
22:44
Speaker 8: You have to obay the constitution. You have to obey
22:46
Speaker 8: your duties and your oath.
22:48
Speaker 1: Now let's go back to just the words you heard there.
22:51
Speaker 1: One of the things he said was a good trial
22:53
Speaker 1: presentation is going to basically I think flip enough Republicans
22:57
Speaker 1: who will be exhausted by this and who will want
23:00
Speaker 1: to rescue their party. In other words, he's looking for
23:04
Speaker 1: the neocons, he's looking for the rhinos Republicans in name only.
23:10
Speaker 1: And then he added this jd Vance's subject to impeachable offenses.
23:16
Speaker 1: He may be impeached two and removed, that's also possible.
23:21
Speaker 1: This is now the Democratic Party's playbook. And after admitting
23:26
Speaker 1: that they would violate the two one hundred and fifty
23:29
Speaker 1: year constitutional norm of the impeachment process, the Democratic Party
23:34
Speaker 1: is literally saying, and we need to reassert those norms
23:40
Speaker 1: that we used to accept and take for granted. And
23:43
Speaker 1: if we don't do that, there's no one else to
23:46
Speaker 1: do it. If Congress can't do it, nobody can. Now
23:51
Speaker 1: this is the playbook for the Democratic Party of the
23:53
Speaker 1: midterm elections, if they gain the houses.
23:56
Speaker 2: In it, they're saying, to hell withoul the Constitution, to
24:00
Speaker 2: hell with America. We are going to go after and
24:05
Speaker 2: throw out of office every person we don't like. We're
24:09
Speaker 2: gonna go after the president, We're gonna go after the
24:11
Speaker 2: vice president, and we'll go after anybody else that we
24:14
Speaker 2: can now understand. This is the reason why you should
24:17
Speaker 2: believe this is because this is all a piece of
24:22
Speaker 2: the never Trump plan in general. Remember, the never Trump
24:25
Speaker 2: plan has been to bankrupt President Trump, bankrupt as family
24:30
Speaker 2: members overturn Trump's selection. That doesn't work, then we jail
24:35
Speaker 2: Donald Trump. Don't forget he's got a mug shot and
24:38
Speaker 2: then jail the Trump family as well, and then we
24:41
Speaker 2: act like we're just gonna go back to normal life. No,
24:45
Speaker 2: this is the Democratic Party, now, this is the new
24:47
Speaker 2: norm Now. When all of that didn't work, what came next,
24:51
Speaker 2: assassinate the president the United States of America.
24:54
Speaker 1: They tried that as well.
24:55
Speaker 2: Never forget, the president was in fact shot in the ear,
25:00
Speaker 2: and if he wouldn't have turned his head, by the
25:01
Speaker 2: grace of God, unfortunately, we would probably be without Donald
25:04
Speaker 2: Trump right now. And that's the Democrats whole plan and goal.
25:09
Speaker 2: The only way to save the norms is to burn
25:11
Speaker 2: all the norms to the ground. Is also what the
25:13
Speaker 2: Democratic Party is saying, meaning, we don't respect this country.
25:17
Speaker 2: We don't respect the laws of this country. We sure
25:20
Speaker 2: as hell don't respect the Constitution, we don't respect the
25:23
Speaker 2: founding fathers, we don't respect the court system, we don't
25:26
Speaker 2: respect the Supreme Court. We delegitimize all of it. Now,
25:31
Speaker 2: you may say, all right, Conway is a political guy
25:35
Speaker 2: that's been out there for a long time, and he's
25:38
Speaker 2: we know he's a lefty, we know he hates Trump,
25:40
Speaker 2: he's got Trump Dranger syndrome. Surely he can't be speaking
25:43
Speaker 2: on behalf of like Democratic candidates. Well, let me just
25:47
Speaker 2: remind you. Conway is now running for the United States
25:51
Speaker 2: Congress to replace retiring Representative Jerry Naviler in New York's
25:56
Speaker 2: twelfth congressional district, which is kind of perfect if you
25:59
Speaker 2: think about it. Conway would be the perfect replacement for Democrats.
26:04
Speaker 1: Both he and Naveler are old.
26:06
Speaker 2: Well, they're ugly, they're fat, they're homely, they're leftists, they're authoritarians,
26:09
Speaker 2: and they both walk funny.
26:11
Speaker 1: You can't make it up.
26:12
Speaker 2: Conway, by the way, is an individual here who is
26:16
Speaker 2: behind in the polls. He's got some other crazies he's
26:19
Speaker 2: got to run behind as well, and some of those
26:23
Speaker 2: are just really creepy individuals. I'll save that for another show.
26:27
Speaker 2: But what I do want you to understand about what
26:30
Speaker 2: George Conway is saying here, and what is very real,
26:34
Speaker 2: is the Democrats that are on the ballot. This is
26:37
Speaker 2: what they are running on. This is the same party
26:40
Speaker 2: that already spied on the American people. We know in
26:44
Speaker 2: fact now and this coming from the Blaze media, that
26:48
Speaker 2: the government funded a weapon to fight terrorism and instead,
26:53
Speaker 2: do you want to know what happened? They used it
26:56
Speaker 2: on the Blaze, a conservative news site. An agency established
27:01
Speaker 2: by Barack Obama backed companies that took steps to limit
27:06
Speaker 2: America's speech. And it didn't take long for a federal
27:09
Speaker 2: government agency originally designed to censor certain foreign entities and
27:15
Speaker 2: curate their narratives on terrorism to literally be turned on Americans.
27:20
Speaker 1: Now, this goes back to present. Barack Obama.
27:22
Speaker 2: He issued an executive order all the way back in
27:25
Speaker 2: twenty eleven establishing the Center for Strategic counter Terrorism Communications
27:30
Speaker 2: within the State Department. That doesn't sound threatening to any
27:33
Speaker 2: of us, right, Well, you'd be wrong. They weaponized this
27:36
Speaker 2: exact agency and these strategic counter terrorism communication against conservatives. Now,
27:42
Speaker 2: the agency was initially tasked with quote using communication tools
27:47
Speaker 2: to reduce radicalization by terrorists and extremist violence and terrorism
27:53
Speaker 2: that threatened the interest in national security of the United
27:56
Speaker 2: States quote unquote. Obama then broadened the mission of the
28:00
Speaker 2: agency and renamed it the Global Engagement Center in another
28:05
Speaker 2: executive order just months prior to Donald Trump's election victory
28:08
Speaker 2: in sixteen. Now, the Global Engagement Center overseen by a
28:13
Speaker 2: steering committee of deep State officials, codified into law in
28:17
Speaker 2: the twenty seventeen National Defense Authorization Act, and afforded both
28:21
Speaker 2: grant making authority and the ability to quote leverage expertise
28:27
Speaker 2: from outside the federal government eventually became, as one former
28:32
Speaker 2: intelligence source said, an incubator for the domestic disinformation complex
28:37
Speaker 2: quote unquote, well, in the final days of the first
28:40
Speaker 2: Trump presidency, we're now learning that the deep State and
28:44
Speaker 2: its censorship contractors, desperate to control the narrative about the
28:48
Speaker 2: twenty twenty presidential election and the COVID nineteen virus, turned
28:53
Speaker 2: this disinformation complex on conservative site Blaze Media, and a
28:58
Speaker 2: quote proof of unset test is what they claimed it was.
29:03
Speaker 2: According to the discovery evidence gleaned by the Federalists in
29:07
Speaker 2: a now settled case against the government, the Global Engagement
29:11
Speaker 2: Center backed a trial targeting Blaze Media and the free
29:15
Speaker 2: speech in its platforms. Despite concerns at the State Department
29:20
Speaker 2: about possibly censoring an American company with an American audience
29:25
Speaker 2: in contradiction of the agency's foreign focus mandate, it didn't matter.
29:32
Speaker 1: The Global Engagement Center.
29:33
Speaker 2: Which Secretary of Saint Marco Rubio acknowledge actively silenced and
29:38
Speaker 2: censored the voices of Americans that we're supposed to be serving,
29:43
Speaker 2: was nominally closed in January of twenty twenty five, then
29:47
Speaker 2: effectively killed by the Trump administration last April hundred, its
29:50
Speaker 2: final name the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation Interference Hub Now.
29:56
Speaker 2: Two years prior to the agency's demise, the Federalists and
30:01
Speaker 2: several other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Global Engagement
30:04
Speaker 2: Center and the State Department. You may be asking yourself,
30:08
Speaker 2: why have I never heard about this? Because the media
30:11
Speaker 2: didn't want you to know about it. The lawsuit accused
30:14
Speaker 2: the government of actively intervening in the news media market
30:17
Speaker 2: throughout the Global Engagement Center to render disfavored press outlets
30:23
Speaker 2: unprofitable by funding the infrastructure, development, and marketing and promotion
30:29
Speaker 2: of censorship technology and private censorship enterprises to covertly suppressed
30:36
Speaker 2: speech of a segment of the American press. We'll guess
30:40
Speaker 2: exactly what press that was. It was conservative media. So
30:45
Speaker 2: if you think the Democrats in this midterm election are
30:49
Speaker 2: not going to turn this agency right back on to
30:53
Speaker 2: silence and censor conservatives, you're insane. And if you think
30:56
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party isn't going to go a wall and
31:00
Speaker 2: destroy America's constitution right away if they get power, you're
31:04
Speaker 2: also wrong. They want to get rid of Trump and
31:07
Speaker 2: the vice presidency and anyone else that stands in their way,
31:12
Speaker 2: and now they're saying it openly in interviews for everyone
31:15
Speaker 2: to see.
31:16
Speaker 1: Well, keep following this story.
31:17
Speaker 2: I can promise you that we've got a lot more
31:20
Speaker 2: that's going to happen the days ahead, So make sure
31:22
Speaker 2: you don't forget. Grab our podcast, the Ben Ferguson Podcasts
31:26
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Speaker 2: breaking news.