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May 4, 2025 - Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano
26:23
Larry Johnson : Mike Waltz Wanted a War!
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Hi, everyone.
Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
Today is Monday, May 5th, 2025.
Larry Johnson will be here with us in just a moment on what really happened to Mike Waltz, President Trump's now former national security advisor.
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Larry Johnson, welcome here, my dear friend.
I appreciate your accommodating my schedule.
Before we get to why Mike Wolf was fired and whether this was a promotion, as the vice president claims, using air quotes, the Netanyahu regime announced just about two hours ago that the IDF plans to occupy Gaza.
What will this look like?
What have they been doing for the last 20 months?
So, you know, we're told that the Israeli military is the greatest in the region.
Nobody better.
And yet they've been incapable of defeating what is essentially a guerrilla insurgent force, armed only with light weapons.
By that I mean rifles, maybe some machine guns.
A few mortars, but not heavy mortars.
They certainly have no artillery, no tanks, no armored vehicles.
They don't have any kind of overhead, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance.
They don't have fixed-wing aircraft.
They don't have helicopters.
And yet, Israel, who has all of that stuff, can't defeat Hamas.
So they've had to resort to starving women and children.
And that's not even going to accomplish it.
These Zionists, these crazed Zionists, they don't even remember their own history.
That in the Warsaw Ghetto, where a very, very small group of Jewish fighters held off the German Wehrmacht for a month.
And they were only armed basically with pistols and maybe five or six rifles.
So Hamas has got a lot more than that, but they're still not an organized military.
This is Israel in the process of destroying itself, I think.
Won't this breed even deeper than what has happened since October 7th?
Another generation of Hamas fighters against Israel?
More animosity, more hatred, more suicide bombs, and the like?
Well, it's going to make it even more difficult for Israel to continue the war.
You're correct.
This is not driving support away from Hamas.
It's driving support towards Hamas.
That's number one.
But it's creating growing opposition and isolation of Israel within the region.
The Houthis have now declared that they're going to shut down Ben-Gurion Airport for the foreseeable future.
They're going to keep launching ballistic missiles in there.
And Israel proved that they couldn't stop it.
You know, I about fell out of my chair earlier today when I heard General Jack Keene admit that even the U.S. THAAD system, which was sent over to help Israel intercept ballistic missiles, failed.
Couldn't do it.
So now we know.
So now the Houthis got that as a sign.
The reservists, that represents the bulk of the Israeli military, they're rebelling.
They're not showing up.
They're getting orders to deploy.
They're going, no, screw that.
We're not going in.
So Netanyahu has ordered about 10,000 reservists and many of them.
We don't know the number we'll refuse as you continue.
He's also threatened Iran because the Houthi missile did some damage at Ben-Gurion Airport.
Where is this going to go?
Well, again, if Israel is going to be possessed of hubris, you know, they couldn't stop the Houthi.
Ballistic missile.
Iran has ballistic missiles that are far more sophisticated, capable, and lethal than anything the Houthis have.
So if he wants to go provoke a fight with Iran, he's going to get it.
And, you know, this deluded notion possessed not just by Netanyahu and some of his, you know, Zionist fanatics.
But it's also in Washington and surrounds Donald Trump.
They really genuinely believe that Iran is weakened, Iran can easily be beaten, and all we have to do is just fly in there and drop bombs, and they'll surrender.
You know, I remember getting that storyline when we went into Iraq the first time.
Right.
Back in 19, oh, I'll be over in a heartbeat.
Had a little problem with that.
Same in 2003.
Right.
So we've never learned.
And, you know, the Balkans?
We thought all of our bombing campaign would immediately end the fighting there.
No.
So, you know, nobody's learning a damn thing, and they're going to rinse, repeat, and do some of the same stupidity all over again.
Here's a spokesperson for the Netanyahu government.
Well, you'll get a kick out of this.
This is not an occupation.
It's just expanding the holding of territories, as if that's a difference.
But you'll hear him.
And this expanded operation will help the return of our hostages.
The plan will include, among other things, the expanding and the holding of territories.
Not occupation, the expanding and holding of territories and moving the Ghazan population south for its own defense and denying Hamas the ability to capture humanitarian supplies and also...
There will be powerful attacks against Hamas.
These actions, we believe, will help achieve victory.
And the Prime Minister and the government believe that this is a worthy plan because it can both achieve both of our goals in this war, which are the defeat of Hamas and the return of our hostages.
The government has also made it clear that this plan certainly differs from predecessors in that we were...
We are moving away from the method of raids going in and going out, but to expanding the territory held by our military and remaining in them to prevent Hamas from taking it back.
So expanding and holding, moving two million people to one corner of the place, but that's not occupation.
Yeah, it's Orwellian language, you know, George Orwell.
If he'd lived to see this, I mean, he'd be saying, man, I didn't realize I was that smart to be able to predict this kind of nonsense.
But, hey, it's only 19 months since Israel vowed to defeat Hamas.
You know, 19 months.
They haven't been able to do it.
And now what has happened in the interim?
Has Israel's population grown in size where they have more recruitable, trained men to fight?
No, it's decreased, diminished, gone down.
They're more reliant upon the United States to continue to supply weapons, and they've expanded their theater of operations into Syria.
So now they're fighting in Syria, in Lebanon, in the West Bank, in Gaza, and they're also going to go after the Houthis.
When you have a limited number of personnel, coupled with limited resources, And yet you expand your mission.
That is a recipe for disaster.
And yet, you know, I've been involved with training with the Israelis in the past, and I've got to say, back when I was at the State Department, I was over with the Deputy Director of the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Training Program.
The Israelis were some of the worst students simply because of their attitude.
It's a combination of arrogance, and you can't teach me anything.
Ironically, the best students were the Palestinians.
They were eager to learn.
They followed direction.
You can't make this up.
Yeah, no.
So it's just this leopard doesn't change its spots.
The Israelis haven't grown in humility.
They've grown actually in their viciousness.
Some of the military leaders within the...
Israeli Defense Forces, which would have in the past put some brakes on some of this outrageous behavior that we've witnessed, are no longer there.
And so you've got, it's more like a violent gang as opposed to being a well-disciplined army.
Netanyahu has accused Turkey of attempting to finance the resurgence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Are we looking at Israel versus Turkey?
Oh, yes.
Yeah, no, listen, Israel and Turkey conspired to get rid of Bashar al-Assad, but they didn't think through the details, and now, you know, that initial marriage has gone bad, and they're going to be getting a divorce.
So, yes, Turkey's going to fight back against Israel.
Erdogan's already under pressure for having appeared to be appeasing Netanyahu and his crowd.
But Syria, you know, Syria now, you remember six months ago, this was a major blow for Russia and for Iran.
Man, it's like getting that nasty relative that doesn't pick up after himself.
He came to live with you.
He's out of the house now.
That's sort of, I think, how Russia and Iran look at Syria.
Thank God we don't have them on our hands anymore.
But do you think there will actually be conflicts, military conflicts, between the Turks and the Israelis?
Yeah, I think it's a realistic possibility.
Because the Israelis, when they bombed right next to Jelani, the former leader of the HTS terrorist group, next to his presidential palace last week,
It's a sign that Israel likes to pretend that it sits back and is just a passive observer in this, but it's bombed more countries in the Middle East than any other country in the world.
Why was Mike Waltz fired?
Well, now the official version that's come out in the Washington Post stipulates that he was conspiring behind the back of the president with Bibi Netanyahu to get us to go to war with Iran.
What's fascinating about that Washington Post article, which came out last Friday, I believe, or Saturday, is that this is quintessential Washington insider politics at work.
This article was designed to damage Mike Waltz, and I think it's going to make it even difficult for him to secure confirmation as the UN ambassador.
I agree with you on that, but do you have a feeling that the essence of the article was untrue?
No, no, I think it was probably true.
But, you know, the key decision maker in this is Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
She's running a pretty tight ship.
And I think it wasn't so much signal gate.
It was the signal gate aspect that Waltz lied about his relationship with Jeffrey Goldberg and that it was Waltz who put Jeffrey Goldberg into the group for whatever reason.
But what they've done is because Waltz has to go through this confirmation process, the information that was in that article Man, the Democrats are taking notes and some Republicans taking notes right and left because it is great ammunition for savaging waltz, number one.
And number two, here's a guy who's going from the position of coordinating and basically telling Marco Rubio...
At Secretary of State, Pete Hanks at Defense, John Ratcliffe at CIA, what their marching orders were from the White House as far as this is the policy, this is how we're going to go about it.
Now he's going to be at the U.N. where his boss, the guy he reports to that tells him what to do, is now Marco Rubio.
So for Vance to pretend that this was a promotion was just sheer nonsense.
They had a problem.
They recognized they needed to get rid of Waltz.
But, you know, since he'd given up a safe congressional seat, they didn't want to just dump him because then he would have been, you know, a potential, you know, hand grenade rolling around on the deck, live, ready to blow up.
So, you know, they placate him, they put him in New York, give him time and place where if he gets confirmed, he'll be able to go out and maybe find another more lucrative job.
But the key in getting confirmed is...
By these White House sources leaking this information, they weren't done damaging walls.
They piled on.
And that is, you know, that's one of the nasty ways this game is played in Washington.
All right, but think about what he was accused of doing and what you and I, accusations that you and I find reasonable.
Conspiring with Bibi Netanyahu behind the president's back.
About attacking Iran.
And not just Bibi.
He was also apparently in touch with the commander of Central Command, U.S. Commander of Central Command, CENTCOM, which is just up the road from me here at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
So both Carilla is his name.
That's the general.
That's the general Carilla.
And Wallace were all pushing for an attack on Iran.
The way that storyline played out in the Post is that Trump is opposed to that, and yet Trump and Hegseth both, within the last week, have put out some tweets and said some things which intimate they're more than ready to attack Iran.
So, you know, in the past we've heard Donald Trump talk about there's going to be hell to pay and there was no hell to pay.
So maybe this is just, again, part of his negotiating style to take the bombast in public and to threaten, but then to back away.
Where are the negotiations now?
Do you know?
By that I mean, is Whitcoff telling the Iranians that they can have the uranium that they need for domestic purposes, hospitals, etc., or is he in the Netanyahu neocon camp that they can't have any?
Uranium.
Enriched uranium.
Based upon the last meeting, which was now almost two weeks ago, or a week ago, Saturday, we could have said that they were open to a deal that would have allowed Iran to continue enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.
With this shake-up at the White House last week, and dumping of walls, It's rumored that Stephen Miller could come in as the National Security Advisor.
Well, with respect to catering to Israel, he's even more hardline than Walt's.
Yes.
He'll want World War III.
Yeah.
So we really don't know where Trump stands, and there's been no new announcements about convening, setting a date for the talks to renew.
And I think part of that reflects is there is a battle within the Trump administration.
I had a second-hand source from a friend of mine who was directly involved with the decision-making to kill General Soleimani in Trump's first term.
And he said that Trump came under enormous pressure from people like Pompeo and Bolton and others to go after Soleimani, and Trump was actually trying to resist it.
And, you know, ultimately he caved.
So it's a reminder that while he instinctively tries to avoid going to war, he really is too weak against sustained pressure from people that are in the pro-Netanyahu camp.
So that's why I think ultimately he's going to cave to it.
And if he does so, I think it'll lead to the undoing of his presidency.
Here's what he had to say about Stephen Miller last night on Air Force One, cut number 13. Stephen Miller's at the top of the totem pole.
I mean, I think he sort of indirectly already has that job.
You understand?
Because he has a lot to say about a lot of things.
He's a very valued person in the administration, Stephen.
But we have a lot of people.
I'm going to be naming somebody.
What's the last one you got?
I would say within six months.
Within six months, he needed somebody yesterday.
Yeah.
Rubio supposedly has both jobs.
When Kissinger tried that, he almost died of exhaustion.
I mean, both of those jobs are 18 hours a day, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, aren't they?
Well, it should be, but it looks like what Trump's talking about doing is ignoring the national security staff function.
See, at the National Security Council, you've got the overall person in charge, and then it's delegated out based upon both regional issues, say Russia, China, Middle East, South America, and...
Then also on functional issues like counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism.
And within those sectors, people collect the relevant intelligence.
They identify critical issues that are coming up.
They try to think ahead about what would the president be doing on this front in six months, a year, year and a half out.
And it's up to the National Security Advisor, who in theory has a strategy to go forward.
Trump's not doing that.
He's sort of just making it up as he goes right now.
And just the fact that he said he might do something in six months, it's almost I think he views that national security bureaucracy more as a threat and a burden than as a tool to be used.
Before we go, just jumping to the other hot spot, can he bring about a negotiated end to the war, to the special military operation in Ukraine?
I mean, No, no, he can't.
In fact, you know, Trump keeps trying to pretend that he had nothing to do with this war, that this was all Obama and Biden.
And boy, if I was doing it, I wouldn't have happened.
Yet he's the very one, as we discussed, I think, on Friday, that, number one, Trump quadrupled the size.
Under his administration, the size of the Ukrainian military quadrupled in size, growing from reserves that are around 150,000 up to 900,000 reserves.
Trump brags about providing lethal aid in terms of javelin missiles that were used to attack Russians.
So from the Russian standpoint, Trump...
Trump's no different than Obama or Biden.
At least he did recognize the need to talk to the Russians.
But until Donald Trump comes to the realization and acceptance that he's as much responsible for this war going on today, because if he pulled the intelligence and he pulled our personnel out and pulled the money, it would stop.
Ukraine will not be able to continue.
But Trump's not doing that.
He's an enabler of the war.
And so the notion that he thinks he can be some sort of neutral mediator is just ridiculous.
Did he recently boast that he sent more effective missiles than Biden did?
I forget what they're called.
Is it Taurus?
Or Javelin?
Javelin.
Well, yeah.
No, he sent, yeah, the Javelin, but that's an anti-tank.
You know, it's not.
The Taurus is made by the Germans.
Apparently, the United States warned the Germans, told them that they couldn't use the Taurus because there are components in the Taurus missile that are U.S.-based, and the U.S. has a control over where Germany can use those.
Trump's been all over the board bragging that it was the United States that beat the Nazis, not the Russians.
He's saying some of the most ridiculous stuff.
Thank you, Larry.
I'm sorry these conversations don't lead us to a happy conclusion.
This is only going to get worse.
I mean, much of what you have described is a function of his personality and his ignorance.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, look, it's one thing to joke, but particularly when it comes to World War II.
And is it genuine ignorance or is it deliberate malevolence?
To point, to claim that no other country made the kind of sacrifice that the United States did in World War II and did more.
And it's like, are you kidding?
You know, we had a grand total of about 299,000 combat deaths.
There were a total of like 425,000 military deaths.
But like 130,000 of those were from accidents, getting malaria, getting their version of COVID back then.
So they didn't die in combat.
The United States lost fewer than 300,000 people in combat.
Whereas the Russians lost between 8 and 11 million.
They're not sure, but they know it was a lot.
And then on top of that, we hardly had any of our civilians killed in World War II.
But the Russians, they had between 11 and 16 million civilians killed in World War II.
And so for Trump to have said what he said was obscene, obscenely stupid.
And this is anyone with just the base understanding of the history of World War II would know just how ridiculous it is.
You know, the Russians got to sit back and wonder, You know, is he really that, you know, lacking in intelligence, that completely uninformed, misinformed, or is he just deliberately doing this to insult us?
Either way, it's not that Russians don't grow conclusions and say, man, that Donald Trump boy, he's sharp as a tack.
When you and I were in Russia, they gave us a number of 27. Million.
That's the addition of those two numbers, civilian and military.
It's an extraordinary number.
Larry, thank you very much.
Much appreciated.
We'll see you Friday with the youngster.
I'll be there.
All right.
All the best.
Thank you.
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