Judging Freedom - Judge Andrew Napolitano - Alastair Crooke : Are Negotiations with Trump Even Possible?
Aired: 2026-05-04
Duration: 28:24


=== Gold Silver Hit All Time Highs (02:33) ===

[00:00:02]  Undeclared wars are commonplace.
[00:00:05]  Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people.
[00:00:13]  Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.
[00:00:18]  To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.
[00:00:26]  What if sometimes, to love your country, you had to alter or abolish the government?
[00:00:31]  What if Jefferson was right?
[00:00:33]  What if that government is best which governs least?
[00:00:37]  What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong?
[00:00:41]  What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave?
[00:00:47]  What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?
[00:01:01]  Hi, everyone.
[00:01:02]  Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom.
[00:01:05]  Today is Monday, May 4th, 2026.
[00:01:09]  Alistair Crook will be here in a moment on Are Negotiations with President Trump Even Possible?
[00:01:17]  But first, this.
[00:01:18]  Don't you just cringe when people say, I told you so.
[00:01:21]  Sorry.
[00:01:22]  I told you gold and silver would reap the benefits due to excessive money printing, inflation, and global uncertainty.
[00:01:30]  It's here.
[00:01:31]  It's happened.
[00:01:32]  Gold and silver have reached the All time highs.
[00:01:35]  Did you call Lear Capital and buy some?
[00:01:37]  It's not too late.
[00:01:39]  Experts are predicting higher prices ahead.
[00:01:42]  Why?
[00:01:42]  Nothing has changed.
[00:01:44]  Geopolitical chaos, cost of living crises, and a weaker dollar are driving central banks to boost their gold reserves.
[00:01:52]  Forecasts suggest gold could hit $6,000 an ounce and silver $200 an ounce.
[00:01:59]  Even Morgan Stanley ditched the 60 40 rule for 60 20 20, putting 20% into precious metals.
[00:02:07]  They're getting educated, and you should too.
[00:02:09]  Call the best in the business and the people I trust Lear Capital.
[00:02:14]  Get their reports, get the facts, get some gold and silver.
[00:02:17]  Tell them the judge sent you and get up to $20,000 in bonus gold or silver.
[00:02:23]  Call 800 511 4620 or go to LearJudgeNap.com.
[00:02:29]  Hester Crook, good day to you, my dear friend, and welcome here.
[00:02:32]  And thank you, as always, for accommodating my schedule.

=== Geopolitics Shifts Dramatically Today (15:45) ===

[00:02:35]  Isn't it a basic premise of all negotiations?
[00:02:39]  That there be some sort of a commonality of aspirations for the future?
[00:02:47]  And if so, isn't it true that amongst Israel, the United States, and Iran, there is no such commonality?
[00:02:57]  Yes, that's true.
[00:02:59]  I think the basic premise before you can start politics, can start negotiation, you have to be able to say, listen, I don't agree with that other person.
[00:03:13]  I disagree with his history.
[00:03:17]  I disagree with his vision of the future.
[00:03:19]  But I do accept he has a right to that vision.
[00:03:23]  I do agree it is a legitimate vision of his people, even if it's at the end.
[00:03:30]  If people won't accept that, if they cannot say that that is true, then it's very hard to have any negotiations at all.
[00:03:38]  And that is very much what you have now.
[00:03:41]  You have a completely different, where there's very Almost nothing, if you like, in commonality about the vision of Iran for the future, the vision of its history, and Israel's vision of the future, and Israel's account of history.
[00:04:00]  And America is also in a different place.
[00:04:03]  So it's very hard to have any political situation when you go that far.
[00:04:09]  And also, I think it's going to be very hard because the basic request of.
[00:04:18]  Demand of Iran, the basic demand of Iran is an end to the war.
[00:04:24]  It's guarantees against further aggression by Israel and America.
[00:04:30]  But how is Trump going to do that?
[00:04:33]  Is it possible for Trump to do that?
[00:04:36]  I don't know.
[00:04:37]  I think it's very difficult for him to do that because his credibility is so broken.
[00:04:45]  No one trusts the United States government on their word, it's not sufficient.
[00:04:50]  Is a treaty possible?
[00:04:52]  Well, I think that's unlikely in the present context of the Congress.
[00:04:59]  Is Trump capable of actually proposing an end to conflict in a sincere, credible way?
[00:05:07]  I think that's pretty much unlikely, too.
[00:05:11]  And I don't think also that it's very likely that Israel is prepared to accept an end of conflict until it has met all its objectives.
[00:05:22]  So I think probably no is the answer.
[00:05:25]  Wow.
[00:05:26]  So Iran wants to be left alone.
[00:05:29]  Wants the sanctions removed, wants to be able to operate as an independent sovereign nation with the ability to protect itself and to protect the Palestinians for whose plight it has a great empathy.
[00:05:48]  Israel wants Iran dismembered so it can dominate it like it's doing in Syria.
[00:05:56]  And the U.S. wants whatever Israel wants.
[00:06:00]  Fair.
[00:06:02]  Yes, that is a very fair summary of the situation.
[00:06:08]  And I'm glad you mentioned sovereignty, because really, I mean, this is about the recovery of sovereignty for an Iran that has had very little sovereignty for 47 years.
[00:06:22]  It has been under siege, it has been under sanctions, economic war, tariff war, UN sanctions war, IEA inspections.
[00:06:37]  And they want their sovereignty back.
[00:06:39]  And they want to be treated as a state, a nation that is due some respect and some taken seriously.
[00:06:52]  That's what they want.
[00:06:53]  And they want the end to this conflict that goes on periodically.
[00:06:58]  Every few years, they are subject to some sort of conflict economic, military destruction, military further destruction.
[00:07:07]  And so.
[00:07:09]  That is what they're demanding.
[00:07:11]  And that would be very hard for Trump to provide.
[00:07:15]  He's unlikely to be able to give it treaty status.
[00:07:19]  But no one will believe him if he says it, because they know that, first of all, Israel will not agree with an end to conflict.
[00:07:27]  Whatever they offer, if they offered everything that Trump is asking for, would it be the end of conflict?
[00:07:34]  No.
[00:07:35]  Because Israel wants an Iran that is completely dismembered and dismantled.
[00:07:43]  And no longer is a functioning state.
[00:07:46]  They want it broken up into little ethno tribal, if you like, sub states at war with one another so that it is weak and produces no threat to it.
[00:08:03]  And I think, in a sense, this is why we're at a sort of very crucial moment.
[00:08:08]  We're at a crucial moment, of course, because of the economic situation, which is, I mean, really on the cusp of turning.
[00:08:17]  Very bad at the moment because of the lack of traffic through Hormuz.
[00:08:25]  That therefore it's not only oil and gas, but it's all sorts of components to supply lines that are missing.
[00:08:36]  But it is also a hinge moment for the United States because Trump has been offered in this latest round by Iran.
[00:08:49]  They've thrown down the gauntlet.
[00:08:51]  Let's put it very frankly.
[00:08:53]  They are openly defying Trump.
[00:08:56]  They say very clearly, Trump, you have 30 days to agree a new settlement with us that will lead to an opening of Hormuz on our terms, on our rules.
[00:09:11]  That's what you've got.
[00:09:12]  We want guarantees against aggression.
[00:09:16]  We want U.S. troop withdrawals.
[00:09:18]  We want the release of our frozen assets.
[00:09:21]  We want compensation and sanctions lifted.
[00:09:25]  And we want our new Hormuz system.
[00:09:28]  Regulated or accepted, and an end to your naval blockade.
[00:09:34]  And that is really demanding.
[00:09:38]  We were talking earlier about the United States, Trump was asking for Iranian capitulation.
[00:09:46]  Well, now Iran feels confident enough to ask for Trump's capitulation.
[00:09:52]  So Trump faces a situation between a rock and a hard place.
[00:10:00]  Either he militarily escalates, and that is going to worsen the economic prospects and worsen his electoral prospects, or he has to accept something which Trump psychologically is not prepared for to be a loser, to come out of this as a loser, and not as a winner, not with some triumphant prize to show for it.
[00:10:28]  And in a sense, it's the same for Israel in a different way.
[00:10:35]  In Israel, this is a hinge moment because, I know you have to go back a little way in history, but if you look when Ben Gurion was prime minister, he introduced a system.
[00:10:48]  He looked at the system and saw that Israel is small, it had a small population, it can't afford a big standing army.
[00:11:00]  America came to that conclusion also after the Vietnamese war that you'd had to have a professional army.
[00:11:08]  And Israel was to have a professional army within its borders and it would rely on reservists for the problems.
[00:11:18]  Now, Israel has moved to this new permanent security posture since the 7th of October.
[00:11:26]  Since that event, they've changed to one of preemptive, if you like, removal of populations, genocide, and massacres to, if you like, Force an end, to force the end of Israel operating as a hegemon over the extent of greater Israel.
[00:11:52]  And it's just not possible.
[00:11:54]  Even today, there are articles in the Hebrew press saying, you know, to do this, we would need six or seven armies, not just the IDF.
[00:12:07]  It's just, you know, the whole.
[00:12:09]  So, the whole, if you like, construct, the whole mechanism is crashing.
[00:12:16]  I mean, the whole idea that the IDF can, you know, fight in Lebanon and Syria and take control of Iran is just collapsing.
[00:12:32]  And so, this is opening out the whole question what's to do?
[00:12:36]  The only thing is to go back to the Ben Gurion idea.
[00:12:40]  Of a small professional army within the borders of Israel, not greater Israel, not stretched across from the Euphrates to the Nile, no, just within its borders.
[00:12:57]  But that has been totally bust by Netanyahu with this, if you like, hegemonic and also maximalist desire.
[00:13:11]  To create a complete, if you like, hegemony.
[00:13:16]  And it's driven, I mean, although this is couched very much in military terms, in terms of, you know, there just isn't enough of an army in Israel.
[00:13:29]  But it's also, of course, a messianic project as much as it's just a military project.
[00:13:35]  And that may be complicated.
[00:13:38]  The foreign minister of Israel said over the weekend pretty much what you've just characterized.
[00:13:44]  If they had the military force that would like to take all of Lebanon, I was surprised he was that candid.
[00:13:52]  And of course, the big question is the if.
[00:13:54]  Let me ask you another if.
[00:13:56]  If the United States enters into some sort of a relationship with Iran that calls for a cessation of war, what happens if Israel and Iran fight each other?
[00:14:08]  That wouldn't even be a close call.
[00:14:10]  Israel would cease to exist.
[00:14:12]  Yes, it wouldn't happen.
[00:14:14]  It can't happen because.
[00:14:15]  You know, although there's a lot of pretense that Israel could manage this on its own, everyone who's been in there, I mean, I was there for many years, knows that, you know, it's impossible for Israel to pursue this sort of foreign policy without America both funding it, providing the munitions, providing it with the political cover, supporting it in every way.
[00:14:40]  They know perfectly well that is not possible.
[00:14:44]  And this is why I've been trying to say also.
[00:14:47]  The other reason there's not going to be, if it's possible to have a negotiation, is really because of this desire to move towards a sort of messianic desire to move towards a greater Israel.
[00:15:08]  And so there's no way in which, you know, I think in earlier administrations they talked about, you know, cutting down the supplies to Israel.
[00:15:20]  And then putting, if you like, restraint on Israel, saying you can't do this.
[00:15:25]  I mean, restraint is not going to work now when you have, if you like, an eschatological messianic force that it is trying to, if you like, that is trying to force through territorial gain greater Israel.
[00:15:44]  They're not going to listen to a president who says, no, come on, it's not in America's interest, really.
[00:15:51]  It's not Americans' interest to go.
[00:15:53]  For you to go continue the war against Iran.
[00:15:57]  It's not our interest.
[00:15:58]  Why would you do it?
[00:16:00]  Because they're not going to be able to do that because there are not the conditions in the United States that allow that to happen.
[00:16:08]  So a president can't.
[00:16:10]  I think if you ask me what it would take, it would take a new president.
[00:16:15]  Wow.
[00:16:17]  Just some breaking news Sky News is reporting that Iran says it stopped a U.S. warship from entering the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:16:25]  Two missiles hit the warship.
[00:16:27]  Near JASK, J A S K island, after it ignored Iranian warnings.
[00:16:34]  According to Iran's Fars news agency, the U.S. Central Command has denied this report.
[00:16:42]  What is the status of the Strait of Hormuz as you understand it as we speak, Alistair?
[00:16:47]  Well, just to go over that report, that Jask is actually also an oil terminal of Iran, but it's just outside of Hormuz.
[00:16:59]  I mean, it's outside of that U turn, which is the actual Strait to the outside on the Pakistani side.
[00:17:09]  And this was, all I understand is that the Iranians fired two missiles at an American patrol boat that was ignoring, if you like, the regulations that Iran has set about approaching the Hormuz Straits.
[00:17:33]  I don't have any, I've not seen anything that suggests that the boats were hit.
[00:17:38]  So, I think it's quite right for the Pentagonists to say, of course, this is not true.
[00:17:45]  We were not attacked and hit.
[00:17:47]  I don't think they were hit.
[00:17:48]  I think warning shots were fired at the patrol boat and they moved away.
[00:17:53]  So, the status is quite clear.
[00:17:58]  And what is, I mean, the other thing that is so important, you can probably see just to the right of the strait itself.
[00:18:11]  And Iran runs a pipeline there too, by the way, which may have something to do with what that patrol boat was trying to do.
[00:18:19]  I have no idea.

=== China Warns of Military Action (09:31) ===

[00:18:21]  But they completely control it.
[00:18:25]  And they've issued a very blunt warning.
[00:18:30]  I think the overall geopolitics is changing dramatically.
[00:18:35]  First of all, Putin rang Trump after Arachi went to St. Petersburg.
[00:18:43]  He was in St. Petersburg.
[00:18:45]  He spoke with Putin.
[00:18:47]  And Putin, in very clear but diplomatic terms, told Trump that if you resume military action against Iran, it is going to escalate and escalate dramatically and draw everybody in.
[00:19:05]  And it's going to cause mayhem in the economics of the world.
[00:19:12]  And he gave a very clear warning and he said, don't do it.
[00:19:17]  Don't escalate militarily.
[00:19:19]  And, you know, this was a serious warning by Putin when he said, if you do this, Iran intends to escalate back.
[00:19:29]  It's going to retaliate.
[00:19:31]  You attack them, they are going to attack, and it will involve new elements of the warfare.
[00:19:38]  It's not just going to be a reprise of the old one, it's going to be a new one.
[00:19:44]  And China, too, sent their message.
[00:19:49]  In Chinese, with Chinese overtones in the sense that it's not publicly announced, but a very important one, because China just activated the blocking statutes of 2021 against U.S. extra national sanctions.
[00:20:10]  So they have said, so they have issued the law, activated the law prohibiting.
[00:20:19]  Those Chinese commercial and refinery interests that are dealing in Iranian oil, they have denied them legally the right to obey American sanctions.
[00:20:36]  I mean, they have literally just kicked over American sanctions and said it is now illegal for you to comply with American sanctions.
[00:20:47]  This is a big step.
[00:20:49]  For China.
[00:20:50]  For all these years, they have largely gone along with sanctions, American sanctions, and now they have started implementing a countermeasure saying it will now be illegal for Chinese, illegal for commercial Chinese, illegal for Chinese banks to comply with American sanctions.
[00:21:15]  This is fascinating.
[00:21:19]  Isn't President Trump scheduled to visit Beijing next week?
[00:21:24]  On the 14th, I believe, exactly.
[00:21:27]  And at the same time, a few days earlier, and just to underline this point, a few days earlier, China announced, as you know, it had its ports at both ends of the Panama Canal taken over.
[00:21:47]  They were Hong Kong owned, and then they have been America.
[00:21:52]  Trump didn't like that, so he's taken control over it.
[00:21:56]  And China have announced that.
[00:21:57]  Any commercial institution using the Panama Canal henceforth is denied access to Chinese ports anywhere.
[00:22:07]  Chinese ports as a whole will refuse to accept them.
[00:22:13]  What was the Panama for?
[00:22:15]  Of course, it was the corridor to China.
[00:22:18]  And China said, I'm sorry, it's blocked to you.
[00:22:22]  You're not going to accept it.
[00:22:24]  So I think this is a very serious measure.
[00:22:30]  Against sanctions.
[00:22:31]  It's the first time we are really seeing China get involved in denying America the ability.
[00:22:41]  And by the way, they make it absolutely clear that these measures of China are extraterritorial in nature.
[00:22:51]  So they affect anywhere in the world.
[00:22:54]  Taken from the American copybook.
[00:22:56]  Yes, they have.
[00:22:57]  And they've said anti sanctions legislation.
[00:23:02]  Is extraterritorial too.
[00:23:05]  So, I mean, what we're seeing, I think, is that the aim of the US, I mean, the Treasury Secretary sort of has been saying how much he is squeezing China, squeezing their supply routes.
[00:23:24]  But actually, what they're doing is they're quickly going to find that China is squeezing the United States.
[00:23:33]  Not only over its sanctions and of its trading abilities, but of course is going to be squeezing the United States in terms of material, rare earths, all the things that you need for technological manufacture that China has a monopoly on.
[00:23:59]  We'll be back to that period.
[00:24:01]  So it's going to be quite a difficult meeting, I suspect, if it happens.
[00:24:06]  If it happens ahead at the end of in mid September, yeah.
[00:24:10]  If it happens, it's been canceled once before.
[00:24:15]  Before we leave each other, what are the prospects for more heavy military escalation?
[00:24:25]  I think they are quite probable.
[00:24:27]  I can't say that it's definite, but there has been a huge increase in military activity, air bridges, bringing in troops, bringing in munitions into the region.
[00:24:42]  All the signs are what I gather from Iran.
[00:24:47]  And this is their position: is that they have concluded there will be military action against them.
[00:24:56]  They've concluded that's their assessments, that their analysis is that Trump is going to do military action of some sort, and they are fully preparing for that and ready for it.
[00:25:11]  And as the IRGC said, they have new means of warfare.
[00:25:17]  which they are intending to unveil in this next round of conflict.
[00:25:23]  So, I mean, for those, I mean, across the world that were hoping, I think that there would be an easing of the problem of the closure of the straits, I don't think it's looking very promising.
[00:25:40]  And therefore, the economic situation is not looking promising at all, looking catastrophic.
[00:25:47]  I think we are now literally at the cusp.
[00:25:51]  It's been more than two weeks since the last tanker arrives in Europe with jet fuel or with oil or whatever it is.
[00:26:02]  And I think the inventories, the commercial inventories in Europe are running absolutely down to zero.
[00:26:10]  So it will be, I think, in the next two weeks, we will really see the pain hit much of the world.
[00:26:18]  In terms of the costs of this conflict, it's not that America has the ability to outlast Iran.
[00:26:27]  Iran has the ability to outlast America.
[00:26:31]  It is not short of money.
[00:26:33]  It is getting its oil out.
[00:26:35]  It is supplying China, even with the American blockade taking place.
[00:26:41]  It is very confident and it is ready for another round of military action if that is what is decided by Mr. Trump.
[00:26:53]  It will be very unfortunate, but that's where it will be.
[00:26:58]  Well, we'll see where this goes.
[00:26:59]  Al Jazeera, more breaking news, claims they have two eyewitnesses that the U.S. ship was actually hit.
[00:27:09]  The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy is broadcasting on open radio to all vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:27:18]  If you cross the Strait without permission from the Islamic Republic of Iran, you will be targeted and destroyed.
[00:27:25]  So, It looks like this is.
[00:27:27]  I think this is.
[00:27:28]  Yeah, and you should be no surprise to anyone, apart from those who listen to True Social, because, I mean, this is what the IRGC have said.
[00:27:41]  Anyone tries to maneuver out of Hormuz against the instructions of the IRGC will be attacked, militarily attacked, as a consequence.

=== Upcoming Guest Lineups Revealed (00:31) ===

[00:27:53]  And that includes American naval vessels.
[00:27:57]  Wow.
[00:27:58]  Alistair, thank you very much, my dear friend.
[00:28:00]  Great analysis, as always.
[00:28:03]  Have a good week.
[00:28:03]  We'll look forward to seeing you next week, of course.
[00:28:07]  Thank you so much, Judge.
[00:28:09]  Thank you.
[00:28:09]  Bye bye.
[00:28:10]  Coming up later today at 9 o'clock this morning, Larry Johnson.
[00:28:14]  At 10 o'clock this morning, Ray McGovern.
[00:28:17]  At 1 this afternoon, Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
[00:28:20]  At 2 this afternoon, Scott Ritter, Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.