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June 14, 2025 - Lionel Nation
33:13
Why Americans No Longer Care About the Middle East—And Never Will Again
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Time Text
The first thing I've noticed today is the pushback from people who do not like when I say Americans no longer care about the Middle East and never will again.
And when I do that, when I mention it to you, the first thing somebody says to me invariably is, I care.
I care.
Okay?
I'm not saying you're necessarily that person.
I'm saying that America does not care.
Does not feel any interest in what is happening.
I want you, my friends, to come up with and think of, if you could, one word, one phrase, one word that explains best your reaction to what is happening as far as The attacks in Iran.
Give me the word.
Give me your feeling.
Remember, you're different.
You're not like most people.
I understand that.
You're completely different.
But tell me the thing that you're feeling and how you kind of react to it.
What are you thinking?
What's the word that comes to mind?
Are you indifferent?
Has this been there, done that?
What exactly do you feel?
And I'm very serious.
We have despair, disappointed, apocalyptic, haiti, interesting, interesting.
Are you overreacting because You're not conditioned.
You're kind of used to this.
Or do you think this is something that is completely the end of the time?
What is the question?
The question is, what do you believe?
Or what is the word that best describes how you work?
Let me see if I can explain this to you.
Number one.
What happens if the following happens?
Scenario number one.
Iran, excuse me, Israel, first of all, obliterates Gaza.
There are no Palestinians eventually left in Israel.
Is that possible?
Is that possible?
Let me say it again.
Issue number one, or condition number one.
Israel, by virtue of its...
I can speak with you about it.
By the way, July 19th at the Cutting Room, I want to remind you of that.
We're not going to be talking about that there either because this is something that people do not want to talk about.
they do not want to talk about.
I know WABC says, So I don't know what to say, but I dig it.
First situation.
Israel continues as is through either ethnic cleansing or genocide or whatever, or apartheid.
Whatever the particular word is, whatever the phrase is, their problem exists or goes away and there are no Palestinians left there.
A few ones here and there, but that's number one.
Do you see that it's happening?
Yeah, absolutely.
Meaning, meaning that this could continue as is.
Bibi Netanyahu, and whether you believe this or not, are you hearing that he's doing this because he's this far away from being indicted?
Have you heard this story?
Have you heard that?
Could be.
I mean, it's hard to say, but it very well could be.
These are issues that I find fascinating.
Alright.
That's number one.
Number two.
What do you think they are going to do when you're attacking Iran?
Do you believe Iran?
Do you believe that their nuclear capability is just going to go away?
Are they going to blow Iran off the map?
What's the long term?
You know, Palestine is one thing.
Gaza is one thing.
Where do they think they're going with this?
You don't think that everybody from Lebanon to Russia to China are not going to come in and say, hey, we're going to help you out.
Iran or whatever it is.
I don't know.
Where do they think this is going?
They say there's more attack.
Why?
This is...
This is not a preemptive attack.
This is an act of war.
Do you understand this?
This is an act of war.
I never thought we'd even get to that point.
Let that sink in.
Now, again, I am looking at...
And this hypothetical American, he looks at me and he says, look, you've got to understand how this thing works.
These are just the way, this is the way it is.
This is, this is, this is just the way it is.
You're never going to change this.
How many here seriously believe That Iran is the bad guy.
How many?
How many believe that Iran is the bad guy?
that they're really an evil group, a theocratic, evil group.
I'm not going to yell at you.
How many people really believe this?
How many of you really believe that that's exactly what this is?
that the Iranians, that these people, they're homicidal.
And unless something is done to stop them, unless something is done to fix it, they are...
I mean, they are dangerous.
How many of you folks actually believe that?
How many?
No, no, no.
Come on, somebody does?
Anybody?
No?
No?
No, Hillbilly says, I do.
Hillbilly, why do you believe?
I do somewhat, but not 100%.
That they are evil.
Think about this.
That Iran, this country, These people, the Ayatollah, the clerisy, whoever, that they're evil.
Evil.
Do you believe that, really?
Do you really believe that?
They're evil.
That they're put on this planet to cause problems, to spread Islamist danger.
Do you believe this?
They have Beards and silly hats.
Now, what this person wrote is precisely what more people believe than you can imagine.
More people believe exactly that.
They have funny hats, funny names, and they wear...
I'm serious.
And I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to be a, I'm not trying to joke.
That is precisely what people think.
And people do not, we don't like in this country, we don't like any country, any religion, anybody who does not wear a suit.
Anybody.
Even, even Saudi Arabia.
Americans look at them and say, look, I know you're rich, but can you?
You're wearing sandals, Birkenstocks, and a diaper and a fan belt on your head?
Is that it?
Americans think that.
How many of you believe it's true?
It's true.
I'm even asking.
Somebody before took great offense at that.
They said, I care about this.
You must understand how the rest of our country works.
I've been doing this for a long time, and I recognize the fact, I really recognize the fact that there are people who just, for whatever reason, and I'm sorry to say this, they just, I don't know what the word is.
I don't know how to say this.
They just sort of not, they don't understand things.
They don't understand things.
Now someone says, I don't care what they wear.
I care what they believe.
I want you to do me a favor.
Ready?
Raise your right hand and repeat after me.
We are not talking about Say it.
We are not talking about me.
When Uncle Lenny talks about Americans, he's not talking about me.
Raise your hand.
Say it.
say it.
When he says that Americans look at somebody with a hat and a dress and thongs or whatever it is, that they I'm not By virtue of the fact that you are here, you are enlightened.
You are enlightened.
You're different.
Let's try it again.
Let's try it again.
When I say Americans, I'm not talking about you.
Did you get today's newsletter?
I hope you did.
I said, one of the reasons why people have a hard time with this is because we don't travel.
We don't have passports.
Somebody email me.
The reason why people don't have passports and don't travel is because it's so expensive and we're not to 1% like you or something.
We're all snotty.
I mean, I get these snotty, snotty people.
They're always angry.
Just like people who say, I'm not like that.
I don't think that.
We're not talking about you.
Yeah, but you said, no, no, no, no.
People will, I will refer to, you know, too many people.
CNN is, I don't watch CNN.
I'm not talking about you.
Do we understand this?
Have I done a good enough job in this?
I don't know why people do this.
I'm not talking about you.
Well, I don't watch.
I don't have TV.
Okay.
I know you don't.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
Fair enough.
You don't have it?
That's terrific.
Good for you.
Okay?
Americans don't know anything.
What is the difference between Sunni, Shia, Persian, and Arab?
They have no idea.
They have something about...
Have you ever seen how lovely these people are?
Have you ever seen?
Ladies and gentlemen, Sal Angelo.
Give it up for my man.
Sal says, I will be seeing you live in New York City next month.
Can't wait.
Sal, make sure you bring...
We're going to party like it's 1999.
Thank you for that.
I don't understand how this thing truly works.
I don't understand how people don't grasp the way this thing works.
And I'm going to just put this into perspective.
I'm going to try my best to see if I can put this into perspective.
You have to understand how people think of us.
What would you think about the United States if you lived in Iran right now?
What do you think?
Do you think Israel bombed them?
No, it was us.
Maybe Mossad, maybe MI6.
What do you think?
do you understand about the notion I keep talking about this all the time but do you understand the world how we live how it mattered regarding how it Think about what this is.
Now, the other, I give you a couple of options.
One option could be they bomb and nothing ever happens.
They don't come here.
It goes in history like First Intifada, Second Intifada.
It doesn't affect us.
We will see.
Do you understand that there are people?
There are people representing various shows and you can watch them.
I was listening before to the great Judge Napolitano.
The great John Mearsheimer.
Scott Ritter.
Going down the list.
Everybody.
All of the everybody.
Pictures.
Pictures of the rubble.
Pictures.
Great Max Blumenthal.
Investigating and discovering and exposing Palantir.
Incredible.
Incredible.
Do you understand and recognize that most people that we know, not you, not you, not you, but most people have no idea what that even means.
None.
None of what you're talking about.
Who's dying?
Where?
Kids?
Women?
Children?
And they'll say things in their mind.
They'll say, well, look, that's just the way that is.
That's the way.
That is the way that is.
You've got to understand.
That's the way it is.
And that is the way these people are.
It's the way these people are.
There's nothing I can do about it.
I can't lose sleep.
I don't know what it is.
And they'll move on.
During Vietnam War, do you remember Vietnam?
Of course, during Vietnam, we were, there was talk about, oh my God, the most horrible of, of basically almost close to a genocide.
People being, people being just blown apart, blown to smithereens in the most incredible of, of, oh my God, it was just the most.
Thank you.
That's what we have to do to get back at these Ruskies, to get back at the communists.
That's the way it is.
What do you want?
If you want to make an omelet, you've got to break a few eggs.
This is simply the way it is.
Why are you always bringing this up?
And we told ourselves that.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
We told ourselves it didn't make any difference and we were doing it.
How do you think Americans are going to care one way or the other about what happens in Gaza or Iran?
Because as far as we're concerned, we're not doing it.
Okay, we're giving them some technology.
Okay, fine.
What are you going to do?
Come on.
Big deal, right?
That's exactly what's going on.
There was a time, my friend, years ago, I told you about this.
I think I've talked about it with you.
It was this thing called the Milgram Experiment.
The Milgram Experiment was in 1960.
It was at a Yale University.
The Milgram Experiment was a fake.
It was a phony, phony type of piece.
What it was, it was very interesting.
It had Of all things in the world, it was this design where people believed, believed, honest to God, they believed that they were actually, seriously electrocuting people who were answering the wrong questions.
It was a fake, an ersatz, I don't know what the word is, a lab.
It was a lab.
And these people were involved in this, whatever it was.
Okay, fine.
So, people were shocking people.
As far as they knew, they were shocking people to death and to unconsciousness.
It was the most incredible thing.
I've never seen this as a kid.
I couldn't believe it.
It changed my life.
That's who we are.
When we believe that something is for a better good, we will look the other way and not even think twice about it.
Do you hear what I'm saying?
We will not, we will not even...
That's who we are.
That's the thing I want to try to tell you.
That's the thing I want to try to tell you.
That's the thing which I want to tell you more than anything else.
And that's the thing which nobody seems to get in this world.
Nobody gets it.
Nobody understands it.
We will look the other way.
It doesn't matter to us.
We will talk our ways.
We will rationalize our way.
But what I worry about more and more, and I can't get people to understand, is that do you understand we are maybe talking about triggering World War III, not just there, but also with Ukraine.
That probably scares me even more.
Right?
That scares me more.
And people look at me like I'm out of my mind.
It doesn't make any difference in them whatsoever.
Ladies and gentlemen, Kelly McKinnon joined us.
Kelly, Kelly, you are a delight.
Thank you so much for your kindness, your beneficence, your charity.
Thank you.
Your grace.
So that's this.
Now, remember, we're going to be out there.
How many of you have ever talked to people about this and they're saying, what are you talking about?
You're an anti-Semite.
What?
Nothing to do with Judaism.
You know what I mean.
You're talking about, don't you understand, this is about, this is about, this is about, you know, Judaism.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
You're an anti-Semite.
That's precisely what you're doing.
And that's the thing which I find so incredibly fascinating.
That's the thing which I find so incredibly fascinating.
Can you explain to me, maybe you can, what this has to do with Judaism?
How anybody can actually say, seriously, how anybody can actually say, actually, truly, truly believe that this is what?
That this has something to do with a what?
What are you talking about?
I don't know what it is.
I'm fascinated, fascinated by how we change our mind.
And we look the other way.
And how we can say, well, that's a different story.
During World War II, people said it, they somewhat pretend to look the other way, but there are people who, as you know, during the time of Auschwitz and others, they said, well, we didn't know anything about this.
We were over here, that was over there, that was...
So that's that.
Next, how do you explain to people that this is a five-generation warfare, that there are people who run the world that you have never seen before, whose names you don't know, whose belief system you can't articulate?
How do you explain this to people?
I don't know how to do it.
I don't know how to say it.
Do any of you feel the slightest bit of disappointment in President Trump who said, I'm not going to be a part of this?
And then he said, well, there's going to be more guts and blood and...
I'm going to ask you the most serious question in the world.
Ready for this?
I'm going to ask you a very serious question that I want you to answer me.
Do you believe that President Trump knows what the hell he's doing regarding foreign affairs?
Not economy and business.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I mean, seriously, do you think he really has a comprehensive, a feel the way that Nixon did and others for what is happening everywhere?
Do you even believe it?
Do you think for one minute that this great president, whom we love, being honest, knowing what we know, do you think he really knows anything about what's really happened?
Do you really?
Do you think he knows what's going on?
Do you think he really grasps what's happening?
Do you think this great man says, I understand what's happening?
I understand the history.
I understand the history of what's going on in the Middle East.
I understand what's going on in Iran.
I know the history.
I know the way that we are.
I know intuitively what we're doing.
And I know that Marco Rubio is the best guy.
And my view is down the road world peace.
And Marco Rubio is going to do everything.
Marco Rubio, who is nothing but a...
Do you think so?
I don't think it matters.
I think the president would say, look, it matters, but it doesn't matter.
Look, how do I say this to you?
You don't understand how these people work.
You don't understand.
This is a complicated place, and we just...
And frankly, if I pull out, if I do something, if I undo, redirect, reposition, and lose that absolute, that lifeline of either AIPAC money or Israeli lobby support, I'm sorry, not Jewish, but Israeli.
I can't make that up.
I can't do anything to lose that.
You don't think that's true?
Tell me.
Do you believe that's true?
Come on.
Do you believe that's true?
Do you believe that deep down inside, Trump might sit down and say, it doesn't matter what I think, what's best for the country, best for the world.
What's best for me and best for our situation is for us to realize and to recognize that these people, these people that we're talking about right now, these people, they are critical.
And if they want us to support them, we're going to support them.
I'm going to do it as far as I can without going crazy, but I'm sorry.
What am I going to do?
What, bring peace to the Middle East?
What good does that do?
What's the hell good it was?
What does that matter?
Let other people worry about this.
Why do we have to figure this out?
I don't know.
This is the way it is.
You don't think so?
You don't think?
Seriously?
You don't think Trump would say to you, I'm not going to do anything to change that?
Of course he is.
Because he's not stupid.
Do you really think, really honest to God, and let me just be honest with you, do you think he really cares, like he intuitively thinks Iranian people, do you know that those people, I want you to do yourself a favor, and I want you to spend a little time on YouTube looking at their food, their culture, their cuisine, Their habits.
And I want you to look at what they do.
I mean it.
Listen to how they look, how they act, how they sound.
You know, Farsi verses.
They're not Arabic.
Persian, that history, that incredible, their history is a They're very nice, very smart, they're very cultured.
They love us.
They love us.
They're not all theocratic.
They're ripe for the picket if you want to foment a, quote, revolution.
I don't know if I'm going to do that.
They love us.
Us.
Our music.
Do you remember right after the Shah of Iran, women were walking around constantly with bandages on their nose because they were getting nose jobs.
Because they thought for some reason that the Iranian nose or whatever.
They wanted so much to look Western.
You see it in other countries too that have skin lighteners in the line.
Do you see what's happening?
Do you see what's happening?
They're there for us.
What do you think they think about us now?
Trump may say to you, I don't care what he thinks about us.
I don't care what he thinks about us.
I don't care.
Because if they like us, it doesn't help me.
If the people of Iran think we're great, I'm going to lose billions ultimately.
From this very powerful, very successful lobby.
I'm not going to do that.
Just like people would say, I'm not going to lose the gun lobby when the gun lobby mattered.
Some people are worried about the climate lobby.
This is what it's all about.
We have to address this.
That's not anti-Semitic.
If it's anything, it's out of like, I'm very impressed.
I'm very, very, very, I'm exceedingly impressed upon how they do that.
Call a spade a spade, ladies and gentlemen.
I don't think Trump cares one way or the other.
Trump loves America.
America first.
He is very meat and potatoes.
And he talks about things.
I think he understands better if there's business involved.
Once you talk business and money, he understands completely.
Just like with China.
I think he's laying off this thing about China being these horrible people in China.
I don't think China is half of the threat.
China is a completely different world.
China is a world that they have to be contained, they have to be watched, they have to be a lot of things.
Uh-oh, I'm freezing up here.
Let me make sure I get rid of this here.
I look at things very, very differently than most people, my friends.
And I realized that I watched when I was on WABC and I'm sitting in there and they have these various TVs, as you can see.
One of them was CNN, and then in the middle they've got MSDNC, and then there's one Spectrum, which is this cable, which nobody ever watches.
And then, inside they had Fox News.
I turned it to watch Alice.
The show Alice.
Remember Alice with Linda Lavin and Vic Tabak?
Alice.
Polly Holiday.
I couldn't take it anymore.
I can't stand these people oohing and aahing and saying, isn't this great?
I was listening to a talk show host today who said, it's great, the precision.
They're so great.
They have the best intel.
They're so great, the precision.
I was listening to this, what's his name, Mirandi from Iran.
He was saying, they were targeting apartment buildings.
These weren't military installations.
These are homes with people.
Regular, like village.
And they're so calm about it.
Do you know what we would do if somebody attacked us?
Do you know the way we would...
You know how we would...
They do this so calmly.
Look, my friends.
All I want you to think is just tell me.
You know what's going on.
That's all.
Don't fall for the storyline.
Love the president.
Tomorrow's his birthday.
Tomorrow is the President's birthday.
And in Washington, and this weekend, they're going to have that event with the military, which I don't particularly care for, but nobody understands that because we have to, being a good Republican conservative, you have to love the military to the point of fetishism.
And that's what we're going to do.
by Monday is forgotten.
When we see something, when we see the oversaturation of something, when we are completely imbued, when we are imbued by something, we realize once and for all that there's really nothing...
We recognize the fact that we become habituated to it and we lose any and all kinds of interest in the subject matter.
We're not able to differentiate all of the aspects in finer points.
That's it.
Next month, you were so correct, July the 19th at the Cutting Room.
Please join me, ladies and gentlemen.
Bring the kids.
Bring your pictures.
Bring long chairs.
I'm going to be there.
It's going to be wonderful.
It's going to be wonderful and great and terrific and glorious.
I thank you for this.
Absolutely.
Come on and say hello.
Please follow me.
Make sure you are subscribed to Lionel Nation.
Make sure you are subscribed to Lionel Nation and make sure you're watching this incredibly.
And make sure, this is the most important thing in the world, make sure that you and I are involved in something which is even more important.
The mutual respect and the fact that we will always be friends and family.
Promise me that.
Promise me that we will always be this unique and this wonderful group of people who work together and love and pray together.
I just, I can't say it enough.
I can't.
That's all.
Lori Cuck, ladies and gentlemen, says, have you ever been close to someone who self-deletes?
Self-deletes.
What does that mean, self-deletes?
I'm sorry.
What does that mean, Lori?
Self-deletes.
Very interesting.
Lionel, where is the cutting room?
The cutting room is New York City.
And New York City, and by the way, there is a, if you go right to the very, very top, if you go to the very, very top, it's New York City, it's the cutting room, and if you go and you look at where I, how do I say this?
If you look, it's right up at the top.
You see this pinned?
Right up here.
It says, Lana returns to the cutting room.
Right up here.
It's pinned on the live chat.
You can also go into the description section and read about that.
It's one of the best venues there is.
It's beautiful.
Alright, dear friends, thank you so much.
Laurie Cuck, thank you so much, my dear.
My dear, my great and loyal friend, been with us for years.
Thank you so much for that.
I appreciate it.
Kelly McKinnon, thank you.
Sal Angelo, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
And make sure you're subscribed to Lionel Nation and Lionel Eagle.
I got some other good stuff coming up about the Diddy trial and because you're missing what that's really all about.
It was wonderful.
All right, my friends.
Have a great and a glorious day.
Thank you.
Oh, Lori Cux says, thank you, Lori.
God bless you.
Lori, you're beauteous.
Thank you.
Don't self-delete.
Please don't.
For the love of God.
Oh, oh, oh.
Have you ever been close to someone?
Oh, yes.
Yes, indeed.
Oh, wow.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Someone very, well, almost, Yes.
It's very, very sad.
And by the way, it's not necessarily a mental illness, but it is something that I think it's almost, it's safe to say, it is always per se wrong because of the finality of it.
But it's a very complicated subject.
Got to be very careful here, especially in these parts.
All right, dear friends, have a great day.
We love you, Madeline.
Have a great and glorious day.
It's so good to be with you.
See you tomorrow.
And don't forget, per usual, as we always say, the monkey's dead.
The show's over.
Sue you.
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