Part Of The Problem - Dave Smith - The State of the War
Aired: 2026-05-07
Duration: 01:01:29


=== Trump Grants Too Many Concessions (13:13) ===

[00:00:06]  What's up, everybody?
[00:00:08]  What's up?
[00:00:08]  Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
[00:00:11]  I am Dave Smith.
[00:00:12]  He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein.
[00:00:14]  And we are on our way out tomorrow, tomorrow morning.
[00:00:18]  We're headed out to Phoenix, Arizona, doing shows there all weekend.
[00:00:23]  One show tomorrow night, and then two shows Friday, two shows Saturday.
[00:00:26]  So, really looking forward to this.
[00:00:28]  Yep.
[00:00:29]  And I got a lot of porches coming up.
[00:00:31]  Here's the next few Bridgeport, Connecticut, Astoria, New York, Old Sabre, Connecticut, doing a show in Washington, D.C., Bird at New York, Detroit.
[00:00:38]  Trying to line up a Pittsburgh or Cleveland.
[00:00:40]  Hit me up if you got those porches.
[00:00:41]  Final dates at robbernsteincommie.com.
[00:00:43]  Excited to be back on the road, crisscrossing the country and playing people's lawns.
[00:00:48]  There you go.
[00:00:49]  There you go.
[00:00:49]  It's always a little bit better in porch season than it is out of porch season.
[00:00:54]  All right.
[00:00:54]  So let's get into the latest with this war, which we've been focusing on, of course, for weeks now.
[00:01:02]  So, Rob, it's over.
[00:01:05]  The war is over.
[00:01:07]  This is, we have, with the Donald Trump administration, the propaganda for this war.
[00:01:13]  Has long since reached you're fucking with me level.
[00:01:18]  You know what I mean?
[00:01:18]  Like, it's just like, you're just fucking with me, right?
[00:01:20]  Like, none of this.
[00:01:21]  I mean, so Donald Trump announced the end of the war.
[00:01:25]  Now, clearly, Rob, this will be, Donald Trump will get credit for ending a war, but of course, for legal reasons, we can't refer to it as a war.
[00:01:35]  So it's not a war, but Donald Trump gets credit for ending it, I'm sure.
[00:01:40]  So Donald Trump, try to catch up here, Rob.
[00:01:43]  So, 24 hours ago, we were talking about Operation Freedom, which Donald Trump launched in the Persian Gulf, an escalation of sorts on the blockade of the blockade.
[00:01:59]  It didn't work.
[00:02:01]  I think they got two ships through and then two more got shot at and turned away.
[00:02:06]  And then he just called the whole thing off.
[00:02:08]  He just ended it.
[00:02:09]  It was one day.
[00:02:10]  I think it was less than, it was like 30 hours of Operation Freedom.
[00:02:15]  Go ahead.
[00:02:16]  I think you're missing a step of declaring victory, the straits are now open because we've created this security corridor or some sort of blanket above everyone going through.
[00:02:26]  So there was a full day of we didn't need to negotiate with Iran because we figured out the strait problem.
[00:02:32]  Yes, that's right.
[00:02:33]  That's right.
[00:02:33]  We figured it out.
[00:02:34]  It was a complete success, and therefore we're calling it off right away.
[00:02:39]  And so, anyway, Donald Trump took to Truth Social.
[00:02:44]  There was also a big Axios piece.
[00:02:46]  That just came out.
[00:02:47]  And then there was a New York Post piece that kind of contradicted it.
[00:02:53]  But we got a bunch here from Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth both talked to the media today, which was quite something to watch.
[00:03:03]  So I want to get to that in a second.
[00:03:05]  But let's just read the Donald Trump tweet first.
[00:03:08]  So Donald Trump posts on Truth Social this morning, assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is perhaps.
[00:03:18]  A big assumption.
[00:03:20]  The already legendary epic fury will be at an end, and the highly effective blockade will allow the Hermos Strait to be open to all, including Iran.
[00:03:31]  If they don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be sadly at a much higher level and intensity than it was before.
[00:03:40]  Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump.
[00:03:43]  So, in other words, it's over, and we won.
[00:03:47]  We don't have a deal.
[00:03:49]  And if they don't agree to this deal, We're going to hit them harder than ever before.
[00:03:53]  So I'm just saying, Rob, from the outset, if I was to be a little bit of a skeptic, this sounds a lot like every single day of the war.
[00:04:02]  That sounds a lot like what it's been the entire time.
[00:04:05]  Well, it does sound like there's one big change, which is that America is finally willing to agree to Iranian enrichment.
[00:04:14]  And so it sounds like we are in fact going back to the JCPOA of I think it's 3.4%.
[00:04:21]  And now that's looking like it might extend as far as 15 years.
[00:04:25]  So essentially it sounds like the Iranians actually got a concession from America.
[00:04:30]  The big variables on the table now are whether or not, I guess, Iran's going to actually control the Hormuz.
[00:04:35]  And then we've got another really big variable.
[00:04:37]  Which is Iran will not do this unless Israel stops taking action in Lebanon, which really brings us to the same exact point are we willing to break up with Israel?
[00:04:46]  Who's going, wait, what do you mean you're working out a deal?
[00:04:49]  We were getting ready for more targeted strikes in Iran and we were looking to gear up.
[00:04:53]  So, well, look, as far as what you're saying about even Iran being willing to negotiate to go back down to JCPOA levels, this is totally unconfirmed.
[00:05:04]  And like Iran has essentially said, and again, keep in mind, these are all indirect.
[00:05:11]  Negotiations that are happening right now.
[00:05:13]  Okay, so it's not the Iranians are not talking to the Americans.
[00:05:16]  The Iranians are talking to Pakistan.
[00:05:18]  Pakistan's talking to the Americans.
[00:05:20]  Iran has essentially been saying, which is what they've been saying for a while, that they're willing to do a nuclear agreement as they've always been willing to do.
[00:05:28]  Like they're willing to entertain the idea of some type of JCPOA type deal, which they were not the ones who agreed to it and they were not the ones who tore it up.
[00:05:38]  Or I guess you could claim they tore it up after the 12 day war because they were still in it with Russia and the Europeans.
[00:05:43]  But It was America, obviously, and Donald Trump who did that.
[00:05:48]  They've been saying they'll be willing to negotiate that after we figure out a ceasefire to this war, after we figure out negotiating an end to this.
[00:05:59]  So it's not clear at all what could be gained in those future negotiations.
[00:06:04]  But as of right now, Donald Trump is just floating out that they've made some other promises.
[00:06:10]  Like this is what the tweet is saying, right?
[00:06:11]  Is that assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to?
[00:06:17]  Now, this is obviously incredibly vague.
[00:06:21]  Donald Trump, it's crazy in the middle of a war for him to not even lay out what the war goals are.
[00:06:27]  Every war goal he's laid out so far has not been achieved, but he's saying they're going to give something.
[00:06:31]  The Iranian government is coming out and saying, we're not making major concessions like that.
[00:06:35]  Now, to be clear here.
[00:06:37]  I'm pointing out that's a big U.S. concession, though.
[00:06:40]  Oh, yes, no question.
[00:06:42]  Look, there's no way this isn't ending with major, major concessions.
[00:06:46]  I want to be clear almost to get ahead of this, though.
[00:06:48]  I am.
[00:06:49]  As ridiculous as this whole war has been, this is not such a bad day.
[00:06:55]  Like, I am cautiously optimistic, heavy, heavy, heavy on the cautious here.
[00:07:00]  But Donald Trump is signaling that essentially right now that, like, he's not going to admit it.
[00:07:05]  But yeah, we're making a lot of concessions here.
[00:07:07]  Rob, the whole thing is concessions.
[00:07:08]  The whole thing is concessions.
[00:07:10]  It's the starting point of this was that it's a regime change war and that he demanded unconditional total surrender.
[00:07:20]  So, like, once you start from there, whatever potential deal he's trying to work out now is a gigantic concession from there.
[00:07:27]  But also, yes, it does not seem that any of the war goals are going to be created.
[00:07:32]  Now, one of the things that's interesting here, okay, sorry, go ahead.
[00:07:35]  Yeah, it just kind of sounds to me like Donald Trump won the war and now he's losing the mini war and having to grant too many concessions.
[00:07:43]  But the actual war was already won, just to keep the story clear here.
[00:07:48]  And it never was a war, just in case anyone's interested.
[00:07:50]  It also wasn't a war, but it's been a war for 47 years.
[00:07:53]  There's a lot of moving pieces.
[00:07:54]  Here, okay?
[00:07:55]  You got to.
[00:07:56]  But so to be clear, so yesterday, this is after we stopped recording.
[00:08:00]  Now, both of these things happened yesterday.
[00:08:03]  Donald Trump, just to be clear.
[00:08:05]  So, Donald Trump launches this Operation Freedom in the Persian Gulf.
[00:08:14]  Iran responds by attacking a bunch of ships and attacking the UAE.
[00:08:20]  Donald Trump calls it quits.
[00:08:21]  Like, it's on paper here.
[00:08:24]  It just looks like one more Donald Trump bluff, bluff called, he backs off.
[00:08:31]  The same day that Donald Trump backs off, Iran.
[00:08:35]  Created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority.
[00:08:40]  There's a new body that Iran just erected.
[00:08:43]  This government that doesn't exist with its navy that can't shoot at anything and with military that can't do anything, but can also shoot at ships and can also bomb other countries.
[00:08:52]  They just announced this is from Al Jazeera's reporting.
[00:08:56]  Iran's establishment of the Persian Gulf Strait Authority on Tuesday, a new body to regulate and organize the passage of vessels, whether military or commercial, seeks to permanently alter the status of the strait.
[00:09:09]  So, Iran seems to be setting up for we run the straight.
[00:09:17]  Like, that's the new status quo.
[00:09:19]  Again, if this is the case, Rob, and we're Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, who's now also saying this war is over, are, as of right now, they're not even saying we have a deal.
[00:09:35]  They're saying we're hoping to put together a memo.
[00:09:39]  That can lead to negotiations that could potentially lead to a deal.
[00:09:44]  So we're far from the deal.
[00:09:46]  By the way, Rob, the New York Post spoke with Donald Trump and they asked him, Should we be getting ready to send a reporter over to Islamabad for negotiations?
[00:09:56]  And he goes, No, no, it's just too far.
[00:09:59]  He's been saying lately, No, it's just too much.
[00:10:01]  We're not there yet.
[00:10:02]  So he goes, We're not there yet, meaning we're not there.
[00:10:07]  They're meaning face to face negotiations.
[00:10:10]  We're not even at negotiations yet, according to the president.
[00:10:14]  So, then, if we're at the end of Epic Fury, as they're claiming, at least as of right now, Rob, we haven't even begun face to face negotiations.
[00:10:22]  We're not there yet.
[00:10:23]  So, we have Iran is setting up a new authority to be in control of the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:10:29]  We have not gotten their enriched uranium.
[00:10:31]  The regime has not fallen.
[00:10:32]  The people have not taken over their government.
[00:10:34]  They have not stopped supporting Hezbollah.
[00:10:36]  In fact, as you pointed out, a guarantee of non aggression for Hezbollah is on the table here, according to all.
[00:10:44]  Parties, including Trump.
[00:10:48]  And so, what can you say about this, Rob?
[00:10:53]  I mean, how the hell do you spin this?
[00:10:55]  Literally, the only spin that I've seen coming from people defending this is that, like, well, it's not a forever war.
[00:11:03]  See, Donald Trump's getting out of it.
[00:11:05]  And you're like, look, that much isn't even clear yet.
[00:11:09]  But okay.
[00:11:12]  That's not how you judge.
[00:11:13]  You know, you don't just judge.
[00:11:15]  Things based off other catastrophes, and if it's not quite as long or bad, then it's good.
[00:11:21]  This whole thing has been, in many ways, the dumbest of all the terror wars.
[00:11:28]  Your thoughts?
[00:11:30]  I guess the question now is going to be for everyone who supported this war and thought that Israel was our number one partner are they going to actually be okay with Donald Trump applying pressure on Israel to have to show restraint in combating its neighbors, combating Lebanon, combating Iran?
[00:11:48]  And to tell them, hey, the Iranians aren't that bad.
[00:11:50]  I worked out a deal with them.
[00:11:52]  Knock it off.
[00:11:54]  The people that were really into this war, if it turns out not to be an endless war and not a regime change war, are they going to actually support Donald Trump's actions when it includes having to tell Israel to knock it off?
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=== The War Powers Act Explained (15:50) ===

[00:13:20]  All right, let's get back on the show.
[00:13:22]  Well, the crazy thing is that even when you say it requires us telling Israel to knock it off, like even when we say, which I've said the same thing, I'm sure we all have, but even when you claim that this requires us to get Israeli restraint, it's such a, there's like a weird conceit in that argument because it's like, it doesn't even require us to do that.
[00:13:46]  It's almost the only reason we think it requires us to get Israel to restrain itself is because it's a given that we're joined at the hip with Israel and we're going to always be doing it with them if they're ever doing it.
[00:13:56]  Whereas, like, we could just say, oh, we're leaving.
[00:13:59]  We're done.
[00:14:01]  Israel, if you want to start this back up, you're on your own.
[00:14:03]  That's all it takes.
[00:14:05]  Israel can't do any of this shit without us.
[00:14:07]  You know, like, this is what's always so infuriating about it.
[00:14:10]  It's like, even when you had like American neoconservative figures like, you know, Richard Pearl and David Worms or whoever, who are talking to Benjamin Netanyahu about whether or not we should do regime change.
[00:14:29]  In Iraq, and you're like, dude, the Israel in the 1990s was not prepared to go overthrow the regime in Iraq.
[00:14:38]  They weren't.
[00:14:39]  So, who are we talking about here, guys?
[00:14:41]  Oh, yeah, we're talking about the people who did end up overthrowing the regime in Iraq.
[00:14:44]  Us, that's who we're talking about.
[00:14:46]  We just have to stop doing it.
[00:14:48]  There's no, there's no like iron law of physics that says if we leave the region, we still have to fund and arm and protect Israel if they want to continue these aggressions.
[00:14:58]  Um, all right, let's get into some of these clips here.
[00:15:02]  Um, I will say, by the way, it's being spun in the media that Marco Rubio did a phenomenal job in this press conference.
[00:15:11]  That he like took on, he sits in for the press secretary and takes on all these reporters.
[00:15:17]  He was ridiculous.
[00:15:19]  He was just absolutely ridiculous the whole time.
[00:15:21]  The media, I've seen a bunch of them say Marco Rubio really shines in press.
[00:15:25]  Yeah.
[00:15:26]  All the same people who thought Beto O'Rourke had all the charisma in the world, that Michael Avenatti had the it factor.
[00:15:32]  You remember when they used to celebrate both in 2020 and in 2024?
[00:15:36]  But you remember in 2020, or I guess this would be in 2019, at the very beginning of the primary season?
[00:15:42]  You remember the media was like adoring Kamala Harris and they were like, she's just got this magnetism and this charisma.
[00:15:49]  She's got the it factor.
[00:15:50]  And then, like, just the American people saw her and never, it was like, no one, no one supports her.
[00:15:56]  Like, it was like, we're dividing up between Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar.
[00:16:01]  Nobody wants this.
[00:16:03]  Maybe some people wanted Pete Buttigieg.
[00:16:04]  No one wanted Kamala Harris.
[00:16:05]  Anyway, they just lie.
[00:16:07]  And then, of course, in 24, she's a rock star.
[00:16:09]  She's got the Obama like energy.
[00:16:11]  Remember, they tried to say for a few weeks there.
[00:16:13]  Anyway, now they're saying that Marco Rubio did great.
[00:16:18]  Let's take a look at some of Marco Rubio's press conference from today.
[00:16:23]  actor that enables Iran sanctions evasion is going to face secondary sanctions exposure and a loss of access to the U.S. financial system.
[00:16:31]  As President Trump has said, and the facts clearly bear out, the United States of America holds all the cards.
[00:16:37]  There is no scenario here in which if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting the last say.
[00:16:44]  But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be opened, back to the way it was.
[00:16:50]  Anyone can use it.
[00:16:51]  No mines in the water.
[00:16:53]  Nobody paying tolls.
[00:16:54]  That's what we have to get back to, and that's the goal here.
[00:16:56]  Every day the conflict continues, however, our leverage on Iran will continue to increase, and their position will continue to weaken, especially as the blockade really begins.
[00:17:06]  Dude, if you, this is a pretty good rule of thumb in life, Rob.
[00:17:10]  If you ever do anything, you ever do something, and then after you do that thing, you go, okay, the goal here is to get back to exactly what the state of things were before I did that thing.
[00:17:27]  Then that was a bad idea.
[00:17:29]  This is foolproof, dude.
[00:17:31]  This applies to any situation where you say the goal here is to get back to what we had before we launched this war.
[00:17:38]  So, as he announces, in his own words, says Epic Fury is over.
[00:17:42]  As he announces the end of the war, there is now only one war goal, which is to get back to where we were before we had this war.
[00:17:52]  It sounds like every dude who's ever gone into a casino and he's chasing getting back to break even.
[00:17:58]  Yeah, yeah, literally, right?
[00:18:00]  The goal is just to get back to where I was when I walked into this casino.
[00:18:05]  Or at least in that example, maybe you had some fun.
[00:18:09]  You know, I mean, maybe Pete Hegseth had some fun in this one too, but you know, a lot of people died while he was having fun.
[00:18:16]  Yeah, it's just too wild to even imagine that you could be up there saying the goal now is just that, it's just the Strait of Hermos.
[00:18:28]  At least something else.
[00:18:29]  Let's go to this next Marco Rubio clip.
[00:18:33]  On the war.
[00:18:34]  If the fighting were to resume, because you've said that Operation Epic Fury is over, the president also said that the U.S. would bomb them off the face of the earth if they tried to go after U.S. ships.
[00:18:43]  So if the fighting resumes, are you saying that it would resume under Project Freedom?
[00:18:48]  And I ask as it relates to the War Powers Act.
[00:18:51]  Yeah, look, the Operation Epic Fury is concluded, we achieved the objectives of that operation.
[00:18:58]  I'm not going to, you know, we're not cheering for an additional situation to occur.
[00:19:03]  We would prefer the path of peace.
[00:19:05]  What the president would prefer is a deal.
[00:19:07]  He would prefer to sit down, work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed, a full opening of the straits so the world can get back to normal.
[00:19:16]  And he preferred that that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting.
[00:19:21]  That's the route he prefers.
[00:19:23]  That is so far not the route that Iran has chosen.
[00:19:25]  And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we're the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane. within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there.
[00:19:36]  And that's what we're undergoing now.
[00:19:37]  What that may lead to in the future is speculative.
[00:19:39]  I'm not going to speculate about what it would take or what it would do.
[00:19:42]  But look, the message to Iran, these guys are facing real catastrophic destruction to their economy, generational destruction to their economy, generational destruction to the wealth of their country, imposed on themselves by the actions that they're taking.
[00:19:56]  They should check themselves before they wreck themselves in the direction that they're going.
[00:20:00]  Does the White House believe that these votes coming up in Congress are a move?
[00:20:04]  Can we address what's been said so far?
[00:20:06]  I mean, they're just, I swear, they're fucking with me.
[00:20:09]  Like, I don't know what else to say.
[00:20:10]  We're going MC Hammer on them?
[00:20:12]  Is that going to.
[00:20:14]  Like he just unironically, he was serious when he said it too.
[00:20:17]  Like he was just in the middle of like, yo, dude, I'm going to hit you with this 1987 slang.
[00:20:21]  Okay.
[00:20:22]  I'm sorry.
[00:20:23]  Go ahead, Rob.
[00:20:23]  What did you want to address first?
[00:20:25]  I mean, the idea so the war's over, we haven't left, and the terms aren't agreed to.
[00:20:30]  And I can't speculate about whether or not we're going to have to go back to fighting because we can't agree on these terms.
[00:20:36]  And we still have something that we need to fight with them over because we can't have the straits closed.
[00:20:41]  So it sounds to me like the war is not over.
[00:20:44]  They literally are just announcing this is the end of the war without anything attached to it.
[00:20:51]  Without anything happening, including leaving.
[00:20:54]  Like, not even what's the war's over.
[00:20:57]  Okay, so what's different about today than yesterday?
[00:21:00]  Nothing.
[00:21:02]  In their own words, the issues are still the straight and the right.
[00:21:07]  Okay, you don't have an agreement.
[00:21:10]  You're saying we hope to get a memo that can serve as the structure for the agreement.
[00:21:15]  But right now, we can't.
[00:21:17]  America is the only country that can open a lane in the Strait of Hormuz, which again completely contradicts what the president said a couple weeks ago, which is that this is the hard part's done.
[00:21:27]  Remember, the hard part's done.
[00:21:29]  This is the easy part.
[00:21:29]  Everyone else should be doing this.
[00:21:31]  Now, Marco Rubio says we're the only ones who can do this.
[00:21:34]  Iran is setting up permanent control of the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:21:38]  It seems the parties are no closer to an agreement, and the threat is still if they don't completely capitulate, we're going back to escalation.
[00:21:49]  Where is it?
[00:21:50]  I mean, like, it's amazing that he can even say this to a room full of reporters.
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[00:23:24]  All right, let's get back into the show.
[00:23:26]  Anyway, there's also, to me, there's also a subtle admission because essentially they're saying that they're, and the whole thing's lunacy.
[00:23:34]  If we're going to have a war, Congress needs to declare it.
[00:23:36]  And the fact that whatever this War Powers Resolution Act is, I almost agree with the president that it's not constitutional because it almost seems to be an admission of the fact that the president can do action unless there's a resolution against it.
[00:23:49]  It doesn't make sense.
[00:23:50]  So I actually kind of agree with Donald Trump that it isn't constitutional.
[00:23:53]  Donald Trump, though, seems to be.
[00:23:55]  For very different reasons, though, Rob.
[00:23:57]  Yes.
[00:23:58]  Donald Trump seems to be acknowledging, though, that the War Powers Resolution does have an impact and he's not violating it because he's not currently in a war because the war that he was engaged in is over.
[00:24:09]  Which would sound like that if you went back to war, you would actually need to have a war powers resolution that approved it, which is now why they're walking the line of.
[00:24:18]  And I guess they're going to pull some weasel move of, well, it's a new war.
[00:24:21]  So a new count, there's a new clock.
[00:24:23]  And maybe every 60 days they'll pull that move or they take one day off from strikes and go, no, that was the end of that war.
[00:24:29]  And now we're in a new war.
[00:24:31]  I mean, I wouldn't put that kind of lunacy past Donald Trump.
[00:24:33]  But whatever's going on here, this is a cartoonish way of trying to get around the War Power Resolutions Act, which is also just ridiculous.
[00:24:42]  It shouldn't exist.
[00:24:44]  So, the War Powers Act is debatably unconstitutional.
[00:24:47]  In fact, Murray Rothbard wrote a lot about this when it was first passed, I believe in the 70s.
[00:24:54]  And yeah, because essentially, right, the Constitution's very clear that you need a declaration from Congress.
[00:25:01]  Only Congress can declare war.
[00:25:04]  And so, the president does have authority to thwart an invasion, to deal with an imminent attack without authorization from Congress, but that's it.
[00:25:18]  And so, the idea that it was ever constitutional to say you can just launch wars of aggression and wars of choice, like that the president has the authority to do that, it clearly is not granted that authority in the Constitution.
[00:25:31]  But what they're trying to claim here is that the War Powers Act itself is unconstitutional.
[00:25:39]  Now, look, they're saying it's unconstitutional because the president has the right to do this.
[00:25:44]  And he's pointing out that it's consensus amongst all the presidents that they have the right to start wars without a declaration from Congress.
[00:25:51]  And, like, that is true.
[00:25:53]  But that doesn't matter.
[00:25:54]  It's just an indictment of all of the presidents.
[00:25:56]  Now, for Marco Rubio to sit here and say that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, okay, well, even if you feel that way, here's the thing the goddamn executive branch doesn't get to determine that.
[00:26:10]  If Congress writes a law and it's unconstitutional, if your beef is with unconstitutionality, well, then that is the Supreme Court's job to overturn that and to say that that's overstepped.
[00:26:23]  The president simply does not have the right.
[00:26:25]  To say that a law that's been passed and signed into law by a president just isn't the law anymore.
[00:26:30]  I mean, we'll still do it because it's kind of nice and we want to have a good relationship with Congress, but like we don't recognize that as actually being constitutionally binding.
[00:26:39]  That is insane, an insane violation of the Constitution.
[00:26:43]  The president doesn't have a right to do that.
[00:26:45]  There are rights to just decide which laws he believes are really constitutional in their heart or not.
[00:26:50]  But look, the idea again that anybody, like, Look, you may have different arguments about interpretations of the Constitution or interpretations of any old text, but the idea that the Constitution says that the president can just launch a war where there's clearly no imminent threat, there's clearly been no attack, that the president can just launch a war at his own discretion, like this,
[00:27:16]  clearly not what the Constitution very clearly says, which is that only Congress can declare wars.
[00:27:23]  There was a reason why they made it that way.
[00:27:25]  They didn't want to give war making power to the king.
[00:27:29]  Because then you're a king.
[00:27:30]  Doesn't really matter what other constraints they have on you.
[00:27:33]  If you can just launch a war whenever you want to, you've got ultimate power in every situation.
[00:27:39]  Okay, let's go.
[00:27:40]  Well, I guess the move now is you declare the war over.
[00:27:44]  You still engage in a blockade, pretend that that's not a military activity.
[00:27:48]  And then I guess if Iran escalates, you go, look, there's an imminent threat and I don't need a wartime resolution act.
[00:27:54]  Well, it's funny you should say that.
[00:27:56]  Let's go to this next clip.
[00:27:59]  We got more time on this one.
[00:28:00]  Do you want to play the rest of this one?
[00:28:01]  Oh, yeah, sure, sure.
[00:28:04]  Look, guys, I love talking about this topic.
[00:28:06]  It's about the War Powers Act.
[00:28:07]  Okay, I love it.
[00:28:08]  I was hoping somebody would ask.
[00:28:10]  All right, hold on, hold on.
[00:28:11]  No, no, you don't let me answer.
[00:28:12]  I got to answer the question.
[00:28:14]  Okay, and I love it.
[00:28:15]  I'll tell you why I love it.
[00:28:16]  Because even as a senator, I said something.
[00:28:18]  The War Powers Act is unconstitutional, 100%.
[00:28:21]  Now, this is not the position of me, not the position of the President of the United States now.
[00:28:25]  This is the position of every single president that has occupied this position since the day that law passed.
[00:28:31]  It's completely unconstitutional.
[00:28:32]  Now, we comply with it in terms of notification.
[00:28:35]  Because we want to preserve good relations with Congress, right?
[00:28:37]  And we do that.
[00:28:38]  But even as a senator, I would say that the War Powers Act is 100% unconstitutional.
[00:28:43]  And look, I know some of you, whatever you want to say, you can take this off, honestly, because I already responded to this part.
[00:28:50]  But that's, yeah, essentially he's just saying what the part that I was getting ahead of there.
[00:28:54]  I can't remember which part I saw earlier and which part we played already on the show.
[00:28:58]  But anyway, it's just an absolutely ridiculous argument.
[00:29:01]  I mean, they are really, I don't know that I've ever quite seen anything like it.
[00:29:09]  This war.

=== Defensive Operations and Propaganda (07:24) ===

[00:29:10]  In fact, I'll say I've never seen anything like this war where the, you know, even with previous, like, you know, I don't know, with the terror wars in Syria, they had a little bit of, they had a story that Assad was slaughtering his own people.
[00:29:29]  You know, in Libya, they said he was about to go genocidal and that's why we had to take him out.
[00:29:33]  This war is just like every piece of propaganda has just fallen flat on its face.
[00:29:39]  It is unbelievable.
[00:29:40]  I've just never seen anything like this.
[00:29:41]  Like, Again, whatever you say about like the Joe Biden war propaganda in Ukraine or the Israeli war propaganda in Gaza or the whatever, Iraq, Afghanistan, any of those, it wasn't like, yo, you are completely contradicting the thing you said yesterday.
[00:30:02]  You weren't like, you know, they, at least like when George W. Bush was saying, like when he was bragging about the elections in Iraq, at least he could point to the elections in Iraq.
[00:30:15]  They were holding elections, you know, like it wasn't this.
[00:30:19]  It wasn't like you've achieved none of the war aims and created this new problem and you're going and you haven't solved the new problem and you're going, This was an unbelievable success, dude.
[00:30:28]  This was crazy.
[00:30:29]  It's just, it's wild.
[00:30:31]  Um, all right, let's go to the next Marco Rubio clip, which plays well into what you were just saying, Rob.
[00:30:36]  For this president, under President Trump, the United States will help our friends.
[00:30:40]  We're going to stand up to rogue regimes like the one in Tehran, and we're going to be unashamed to use.
[00:30:46]  Our power and our abilities to project military power in the service of our national interest above all else.
[00:30:52]  Now, what's really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation.
[00:30:57]  This is a defensive operation.
[00:30:59]  And what that means is very simple there's no shooting unless we're shot at first.
[00:31:04]  Okay, we're not attacking them.
[00:31:05]  We're not, but if they're attacking us or they're attacking a ship, you need to respond to that.
[00:31:10]  You're not going to let some fast boat come up on a ship and shoot it up.
[00:31:13]  We're going to respond to it.
[00:31:14]  And we've been successful at it.
[00:31:15]  I don't know what the exact number is, but I know a number of those fast boats have now been targeted.
[00:31:19]  And we'll continue to be if they pose a threat to our forces.
[00:31:21]  We'll shoot down drones, we'll shoot down missiles, but it's defensive in nature.
[00:31:25]  This is defensive.
[00:31:26]  So if you hear stories about attacks and launching of firing back and forth, it's not back and forth.
[00:31:31]  We are only responding if attacked first.
[00:31:33]  This is a defensive operation.
[00:31:35]  And that's what's occurring here.
[00:31:37]  There you go, Rob.
[00:31:41]  I guess if you just say it enough, then it's got to be true, right?
[00:31:44]  This is a defense.
[00:31:45]  Every time there's a shootout, it's aggression on their part.
[00:31:48]  We're just there defensively after we launched a war of aggression, bombed the country thousands of times, killed thousands of people, including at least 168 little girls.
[00:32:03]  Um, and then we put up an illegal naval blockade of the Persian Gulf, but it's defensive.
[00:32:12]  So, you know, anytime you're reading in the newspaper, this is what you guys got to understand.
[00:32:16]  Anytime you're reading in the newspaper about all these people were killing, just know that that was always defensive, no matter what.
[00:32:22]  That's your starting point.
[00:32:23]  Well, uh, from what I understand, uh, we're no longer in the war, but when we were in the war, uh, which of course wasn't a war, but when we were engaged in that and we were engaged in offensive strikes, it was because Iran was actually an imminent nuclear threat.
[00:32:38]  Which means that that was defensive as well.
[00:32:40]  And so, if anything, I think the administration's taking a weaker strategy to being defensive because the best defense is a good offense and we've got the best equipment in the world.
[00:32:50]  And now we're just not doing everything we can to keep Iran from going nuclear.
[00:32:55]  Yeah, man.
[00:32:57]  Man, they really, this is quite a web they are trying to weave.
[00:33:02]  Okay, let's go to the next clip.
[00:33:03]  This one, I just couldn't resist.
[00:33:05]  I posted about this on Twitter earlier, but this one is too, I mean, to me, this summed up the whole thing.
[00:33:11]  This is essentially like a perfect microcosm of this war and this administration's take on it.
[00:33:19]  Let's listen.
[00:33:19]  Again, this is this, by the way, this clip, just to be clear, this was shared by the Department of State in the United States of America.
[00:33:28]  They put this out like, boom, here's the official party line.
[00:33:32]  Here is the Secretary of State, National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.
[00:33:36]  And I love that it opens up with the now Lucy pose.
[00:33:42]  Everybody needs to think about it this way.
[00:33:43]  If Iran had a nuclear weapon, And they decided to close the straits and make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it because they have a nuclear weapon.
[00:33:53]  And a nuclear armed Iran could do whatever the hell they want with the straits, and there's nothing anyone would be able to do about it.
[00:34:00]  And that's one of the many reasons, apart from the massive loss of life in a nuclear strike, why Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.
[00:34:06]  Everybody needs to think about it this way.
[00:34:08]  All right.
[00:34:09]  So just actually, let's process that for a second.
[00:34:12]  Let's all together, okay?
[00:34:15]  If Iran had a nuclear weapon, now they don't.
[00:34:18]  But let's just say they did.
[00:34:20]  Let's say Iran did have a nuclear weapon.
[00:34:22]  Well, then, my gosh, Rob, they could close the Strait of Hermos and there'd be nothing we could do about it.
[00:34:29]  Which I know some of you might hear that and go, that sounds an awful lot like what they're doing right now.
[00:34:38]  That is what's happening.
[00:34:40]  So you're saying that that's the additional threat is that if they had a nuclear weapon, then we'd be right where we are right now.
[00:34:48]  Well, good thing they don't have a nuclear weapon.
[00:34:52]  You know, you're claiming that Iran having a nuclear weapon would bring us to the point we are now.
[00:34:56]  But the only thing in reality that brought us to the point we are now was launching this idiotic war against them.
[00:35:05]  What can you say about this, Rob?
[00:35:06]  Also, by the way, another weird admission in there that totally contradicts the official party line, or at least what the commander in chief has been saying, is that he goes, if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it sends our gas prices up to $9 a gallon.
[00:35:22]  I thought we didn't get our oil from the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:35:25]  I thought this only affected other countries.
[00:35:27]  Oh, that's right.
[00:35:27]  I'm sorry.
[00:35:28]  You guys just can't even keep your fucking lies together.
[00:35:31]  So you can't even think that you're not contradicting the other one.
[00:35:35]  And, you know, the media does a terrible job.
[00:35:38]  I watched most of this whole thing.
[00:35:39]  They really do a terrible job of asking questions, a couple decent questions, but really overall.
[00:35:45]  But it is almost unfair to expect them to constantly be pointing out, like, but, sir, that contradicts everything you just said five seconds ago.
[00:35:55]  Anyway, go ahead.
[00:35:56]  Well, I think.
[00:35:58]  You know, this goes back to at the beginning of the war.
[00:36:01]  Um, if the intelligence was, hey, you're gonna have a hard time engaging in warfare with them because they're gonna close the Hermuz Strait.
[00:36:09]  And so, what people were pointing to is you can work out a nuclear deal with them, uh, but don't try and take military action because you're gonna end up with a closed straight.
[00:36:17]  And now he's basically parroting exactly that back, which is, hey, the straits closing would be a really big problem and would jack up our oil prices.
[00:36:25]  And it's like, yeah, that's why you guys never should have done this.
[00:36:28]  Yeah, it's just, uh, it really is unbelievable.
[00:36:32]  Unbelievable that they have.
[00:36:34]  Yeah.

=== Can the Ceasefire Hold (14:47) ===

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[00:38:17]  All right, let's get back into the show.
[00:38:19]  Okay, so this is the big fear, by the way, of Iran that they would close the Strait of Hermos if they got a nuclear weapon, which is like, again, there's no indication that they were closing this Strait short of us launching this war.
[00:38:34]  And there was no indication that they were anywhere near getting a nuclear weapon.
[00:38:38]  Now, this is all just pure.
[00:38:41]  Theoreticals that have no basis for why we should believe them to be true.
[00:38:47]  Now, I will say in the Pete Heggseth, Pete Heggseth did get a couple good questions asked of him when it was his turn.
[00:38:57]  And so I thought those would both be worth playing now.
[00:39:01]  So let's go to the first Pete Heggseth clip that we have, because this one was pretty great.
[00:39:07]  Don't obscure, I think, a central default that has occurred here.
[00:39:12]  And I would like you both to address it.
[00:39:15]  On the first day of this conflict, President Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and said, when we're finished, take over your government.
[00:39:23]  It'll be yours to take.
[00:39:26]  And then on the seventh day of the conflict, in a Truth Social Post, the president said, quote, there will be no deal with Iran except, all caps, exclamation mark, unconditional surrender.
[00:39:39]  What happens to that pledge to the Iranians?
[00:39:41]  And when did the president decide to capitulate on his demand for unconditional surrender?
[00:39:48]  James, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, you started out nicely, but you ended exactly where we knew you would end.
[00:39:54]  The president hasn't capitulated on anything.
[00:39:57]  He holds the cards.
[00:39:59]  We maintain the upper hand, and Project Freedom only strengthens that hand.
[00:40:03]  And so he will ensure that whatever deal is made or whatever end state is reached creates ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, which is A number one, and he's been focused on that, and the deal and discussions are centered on that.
[00:40:15]  And what the Iranian people take advantage of after the fact is up to them, and he's been very clear about that.
[00:40:20]  And maybe you do it now, maybe it happens later, but ultimately he's also been clear we're not going to entangle this into some nation-building project.
[00:40:29]  Our objectives are clear.
[00:40:31]  They've been pursued from day one.
[00:40:34]  Hopefully, the Iranian people take advantage of that because.
[00:40:41]  It's just, I mean, you just can't envy the position, Pete.
[00:40:44]  Just, I mean, talk about just like little kid with his pants down, like, you know, like just caught.
[00:40:51]  You didn't do your homework.
[00:40:52]  You didn't read the book and you got to give a book report on it.
[00:40:55]  It's like, oh, and maybe, you know, the people take their government or maybe they do it a little later or maybe just like when the mood is right.
[00:41:03]  And then.
[00:41:03]  And then everything works out and it's awesome.
[00:41:07]  And that's what we got all the cards, and like, you know, some good stuff will happen, some more good stuff will happen, and then we'll get everything we want.
[00:41:16]  Except, literally, Donald Trump, as I mentioned, so did this reporter, he did say a week into the war that there will be no deal except complete surrender from the Iranians.
[00:41:29]  And now we didn't get a complete surrender, now did we?
[00:41:34]  And yet, Donald Trump is saying he wants to make a deal.
[00:41:39]  That is by definition capitulation.
[00:41:43]  And, you know, it is something because all of these guys, I remember particularly when Obama, if you remember, this was what the Israel lobby got Obama to commit to his red line was that if Assad used chemical weapons, then he would go in and overthrow Bashar al Assad.
[00:42:02]  And then they all went, great, we heard what we needed to hear.
[00:42:05]  Hey, look, he just.
[00:42:07]  Oh, I'm still here.
[00:42:09]  Oh, that was on my end.
[00:42:10]  Sorry.
[00:42:11]  They go, Oh, look, he just did a gas attack or whatever.
[00:42:15]  And then Obama didn't go in.
[00:42:17]  He got too much pushback, at least initially.
[00:42:19]  He started funding covert rebels.
[00:42:22]  But regardless of that, I remember every one of these hawks used to always say, You can't have a president throw out a red line and then not follow through.
[00:42:33]  Because, of course, they were trying to get him to launch the war.
[00:42:37]  But Donald Trump.
[00:42:39]  Just throwing out red line after red line and then completely capitulating, I guess, isn't that doesn't hamper national security anymore?
[00:42:47]  That doesn't make for a weak commander in chief.
[00:42:49]  None of them have an ounce of consistency or integrity on this issue.
[00:42:55]  But yeah, it's just, I don't know.
[00:42:57]  It's like, it's very clearly black and white.
[00:42:59]  Donald Trump made all these threats, made all these demands, said this was what the war was about.
[00:43:04]  He's getting none of that.
[00:43:06]  And now he's saying he wants to make a deal.
[00:43:09]  By the way, I want to be clear on this because as I did say this at the beginning, And that I'm cautiously optimistic about all of this.
[00:43:17]  This is good.
[00:43:18]  This is a lot better than what it could have been.
[00:43:20]  Now, by the way, I said emphasis on the caution because we still don't know and this still could go back to a hot war any second.
[00:43:31]  But like, it's at least good that they're saying, yeah, end the goddamn war and then pretend some deal is coming.
[00:43:36]  And then when we don't get any of that deal, make up some other excuse.
[00:43:39]  Honestly, this is the best we can hope for at this point.
[00:43:42]  But at the same time, let's be honest with ourselves.
[00:43:45]  This was just a complete, like, even if we're able to get out of it right now, a complete own goal.
[00:43:53]  Just blew a ton of resources, got a bunch of people killed, lost a ton of standing in the world, reshuffled the deck entirely.
[00:44:01]  Who knows what is going to come out of all of this?
[00:44:04]  But none of it's positive for our country.
[00:44:06]  And so, anyways, it's good that they're moving in this direction.
[00:44:10]  But for Pete Hegzett to have to go up there and pretend like the guy didn't demand unconditional surrender and get none of it is just stupid.
[00:44:22]  Well, you know, even Pete Hegzett is thinking, but can't say it.
[00:44:25]  Hey, Donald Trump says stupid shit all the time.
[00:44:27]  And we can't apply this kind of standard to Donald Trump because, and listen, the way that they're going to spin it is well, that was Donald Trump's 5D chest and he was making the most extreme demands, but obviously he's always a deal maker and he was looking for a deal.
[00:44:39]  And it was because of his compassion for the Iranian people that he decided not to bomb them to oblivion and figured out a pathway peacefully to work with them that betters everybody.
[00:44:50]  Oh, doesn't that feel nice?
[00:44:52]  Yeah.
[00:44:52]  Yeah.
[00:44:54]  It's all they can say, man.
[00:44:55]  I do not think it's going to fly, though.
[00:44:57]  I mean, I just do not think it's going to work.
[00:44:59]  Like, I don't think.
[00:45:00]  If this wraps up even now, I don't think you're going to see Donald Trump like have a big bounce back in the polls or put his coalition back together.
[00:45:07]  I mean, I think this is all really damaged beyond repair, frankly.
[00:45:13]  But, you know, we will see.
[00:45:15]  Again, it's still a big question.
[00:45:17]  Forget even can he get a deal with Iran?
[00:45:21]  Can he just get this ceasefire to hold?
[00:45:24]  Can he get the war to not start back up?
[00:45:26]  That is a big question.
[00:45:27]  As you mentioned earlier, Rob, there's a whole nother.
[00:45:31]  A nation involved in this with its own goals.
[00:45:39]  And we saw last time after Donald Trump announced the ceasefire, of course, it was Israel who kept attacking southern Lebanon.
[00:45:49]  And that kept the war going for a while.
[00:45:53]  And then Donald Trump demanded that they stop.
[00:45:56]  They didn't.
[00:45:57]  They slowed down a little bit, but they didn't completely stop.
[00:46:00]  And then they've already put out some statements about how they're not done with this war.
[00:46:03]  Here we have this was another good question asked to Pete Hegseth.
[00:46:06]  Here we have this posed to the Secretary of War.
[00:46:13]  Liam Cosgrove with Zero Hedge.
[00:46:15]  In recent weeks, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Assad have stated they're not to cease combat with the Iranians.
[00:46:25]  Netanyahu put this on Twitter.
[00:46:26]  Israel's head of Assad said Israel's goals are not finished until the Iranian government collapses.
[00:46:31]  And so they're referring to the government that President Trump has brokered a ceasefire with and is working on a lasting peace.
[00:46:38]  In the region with.
[00:46:38]  And so that's something many Americans, especially American farmers, are hoping he does get to a lasting peace.
[00:46:44]  And so if President Trump is successful in that and the Israelis are explicitly stating their intent to continue fighting at a later date, how can you ensure America doesn't get roped back into a war if that comes?
[00:46:55]  And secondly, with Netanyahu comfortable tweeting something like that out, and also Netanyahu has continued bombing Lebanon despite President Trump explicitly telling him that.
[00:47:04]  Well, my question is based on the false premise that somehow.
[00:47:07]  President Trump is being pulled in by Prime Minister Netanyahu to any of these actions.
[00:47:11]  And that's where you're going.
[00:47:13]  Just to be clear, President Trump has led at every step of this based on his view of American interest and America first.
[00:47:19]  And we're grateful that Israelis have been very capable partners at many steps of this.
[00:47:23]  And they may have some objectives at times that are slightly different than ours.
[00:47:27]  But there's only one hand on the wheel ultimately directing this, whether it's Project Freedom or previously Operation Epic Fury, and it's President Trump.
[00:47:35]  So we're grateful for their input, their insights, the existential nature of the threat they face from an Iranian bomb, the capabilities that they can bring to that.
[00:47:42]  But ultimately, the coordination will happen.
[00:47:45]  With the leadership of President Trump.
[00:47:46]  Thank you very much.
[00:47:47]  I appreciate it.
[00:47:48]  Yeah.
[00:47:49]  All right.
[00:47:51]  Well, so there you have it, Rob.
[00:47:53]  Israel isn't driving the wheel.
[00:47:56]  You know, they might be in the passenger seat.
[00:47:59]  They're very capable, you know, friends of ours, but we're the ones who are driving this thing.
[00:48:05]  This is not Israel, it isn't influencing us to worry about their enemies.
[00:48:10]  This is about America.
[00:48:12]  This is why we must obsessively focus on Hamas and Hezbollah every day, Rob.
[00:48:17]  Because they are the threats to us.
[00:48:20]  This has nothing to do.
[00:48:21]  What do you mean?
[00:48:22]  You think this has nothing to do with Israel and their enemies?
[00:48:25]  No.
[00:48:25]  Hezbollah is a huge problem for the middle part of North America.
[00:48:29]  They really have to worry about what militias have power in southern Lebanon, obviously.
[00:48:34]  Just think about it.
[00:48:35]  On its face, it's just so ridiculous.
[00:48:37]  But, like, no, listen, Liam's question wasn't based on any premise.
[00:48:43]  Liam's question was based on the premise of what's going on right now.
[00:48:48]  Donald Trump told Israel to stop bombing southern Lebanon.
[00:48:51]  They didn't.
[00:48:51]  They kept it going.
[00:48:52]  You know, Pete Hegseth here admits we might have some, you know, we're in this war with them, but we may have some slightly different goals.
[00:49:00]  Well, hold on.
[00:49:02]  These aren't slightly different goals, these are diametrically opposed goals.
[00:49:07]  Donald Trump's goal is to get out of this thing, clearly.
[00:49:10]  That's what he wants at this point.
[00:49:12]  He is, well, all you've seen between Rubio and Trump and all of this, they are desperately trying to get out of this.
[00:49:17]  Like, please find us a way that we can save face, but end this thing.
[00:49:22]  We can't go up the escalation ladder anymore.
[00:49:26]  Every time they try, they're like, oh, even just now, right?
[00:49:29]  They tried with this, with escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranians start bombing the United Arab Emirates.
[00:49:38]  And I'm like, God damn it.
[00:49:39]  All right, we'll call that off.
[00:49:41]  Donald Trump threatens bridge and power plant day.
[00:49:43]  They go, okay, we're taking out desalination plants.
[00:49:45]  He goes, all right, damn it.
[00:49:47]  Can't do that.
[00:49:48]  We're looking for something.
[00:49:52]  So Donald Trump wants to make a deal.
[00:49:54]  With this regime to get out of this war, and Israel wants to overthrow this regime.
[00:50:00]  That's not just like, hey, sometimes we have some slightly different goals.
[00:50:03]  This is like you're trying to save the patient and the other guy's trying to murder the patient.
[00:50:08]  You can't work together on that, then.
[00:50:11]  Your goals are diametrically opposed.
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=== Loyal to Netanyahu's Ambitions (08:46) ===

[00:51:22]  And so, yeah, look, again, Rob, as I've made this point a million times, I've made it when I was debating Josh Hammer and when we were responding to Coleman Hughes, where I said, look, they always start with the straw man and they go, so your claim is that Israel is the puppet.
[00:51:41]  And America is just the puppet, and every single thing that Israel wants you to do, they do.
[00:51:47]  And then, like, they try to debunk that.
[00:51:49]  And it's like, no, that's not exactly what people are saying.
[00:51:51]  What people are saying is that there's this foreign country, there's this, that country has a lobby within our country that is very powerful.
[00:52:00]  There are different segments of the population that have very serious religious views that they have to be loyal to this foreign country.
[00:52:12]  Both Jews and evangelical Christians, as well as some others, I suppose.
[00:52:17]  And then there are people for different, more secular, like, but also quasi religious views of the Holocaust or World War II or whatever, who feel we must be loyal to this foreign country.
[00:52:28]  Like, that's what we're claiming.
[00:52:30]  It's not that.
[00:52:31]  So, again, my point is that there's a dynamic here, and we don't know exactly how this is going to work.
[00:52:38]  And obviously, there's institutions and individuals and a government and a lobby at play here.
[00:52:47]  That are going to try to push for these goals that are clearly contrary to the goals that the president has right now.
[00:52:55]  And so, who's going to win that influence fight?
[00:52:57]  I'm not saying it's determined which one it's going to be, but like, if somebody is acting against the interest of the president, and in this case, against the interest of our nation, why should we not call that out?
[00:53:12]  Like, that is the dynamic here, clearly.
[00:53:15]  So, I mean, like, again, Rob, this is.
[00:53:17]  The Overton window on this has moved so much that this isn't even a conspiracy theory.
[00:53:22]  This is the mainstream narrative at this point.
[00:53:27]  This is like, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Jerusalem Post, like this is what happened here.
[00:53:33]  Benjamin Netanyahu pitched, he came and visited like seven times, and then he and the Mossad chief convinced Donald Trump to launch this war and that they would be able to launch a decapitation strike and overthrow the regime quickly.
[00:53:47]  They got him into this.
[00:53:49]  It's his responsibility, he did it.
[00:53:51]  But they persuaded him into this.
[00:53:54]  Now he's in and they want the regime gone because that's all they ever cared about.
[00:53:58]  Yeah, there's a reason why this is a conference ender.
[00:54:02]  And that's because Pete Hegseth doesn't actually answer the question, which comes back to what I said at the beginning of the episode is, are you finally going to break up with Israel?
[00:54:09]  And so the question is if Donald Trump actually wants to walk away from the war, but Israel is saying, no, we're still pushing for regime change.
[00:54:16]  And we know that they've already undermined Donald Trump's efforts because when he did the ceasefire, they continued to bomb.
[00:54:25]  Lebanon.
[00:54:26]  Lebanon.
[00:54:27]  Thank you.
[00:54:27]  Kept thinking Libya.
[00:54:28]  And I was like, I know that's wrong.
[00:54:29]  They kept bombing Lebanon.
[00:54:30]  We're already done with that.
[00:54:32]  Yeah.
[00:54:33]  They kept bombing Lebanon.
[00:54:34]  So then, what's the plan for restraining Israel?
[00:54:37]  Or how are you going to be in this peace agreement if the partner that you tend to acquiesce to will not engage in it?
[00:54:43]  Are you finally going to break up with Israel and cut military spending so that they knock it off?
[00:54:49]  Or are you guys just going to get back into warfare to continue to support them?
[00:54:53]  It's a different question.
[00:54:54]  It's not saying that the United States of America is run by Israel or that.
[00:54:58]  Donald Trump has only been engaging in these actions for Israel.
[00:55:00]  It's asking a new question of at this moment, it looks like he's looking to end the war and Israel doesn't want that.
[00:55:06]  So, what's the plan?
[00:55:08]  Yep.
[00:55:08]  Now, I will say, and of course, this is not a new dynamic.
[00:55:12]  This is something we've been talking about before.
[00:55:14]  And again, all of this is very unclear right now because, as we said, there's not really substantively anything different about today than yesterday.
[00:55:28]  We're essentially in the dynamics are all still there with the threats of escalation still there.
[00:55:34]  And, but again, so we've talked about this before, but.
[00:55:39]  If Donald Trump is really pivoting now, the best case scenario here is that Donald Trump really is pivoting to go, guys, just give us like a memo that we can roughly agree to some starting points in negotiations, and we'll just stop this whole thing.
[00:55:55]  We'll accept, you know, even that you have this new board that's running the Persian Gulf or whatever.
[00:56:01]  We're just, we're getting out of this, and we're going to try our best to spin this as some type of victory.
[00:56:06]  So, this is the best case scenario.
[00:56:08]  Okay, let's say Donald Trump is actually doing that, which is still not clear, but he is pivoting toward that.
[00:56:13]  I can guarantee you that Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro and Barry Weiss, like the entire Israel lobby, including all of their media personalities, like Helen Dershowitz and all of these, they are going to be undermining President Trump at every turn.
[00:56:30]  They are going to turn on him if he's going to leave this regime in power.
[00:56:34]  And Donald Trump's not getting any of us back.
[00:56:38]  He's not winning over, he's not re winning over any of the people who just wanted no new wars.
[00:56:43]  And, you know, that represents a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump.
[00:56:46]  Not saying it's everyone, but a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump wanted, they liked it when he said no new wars.
[00:56:51]  He's lost them.
[00:56:53]  He's lost independence.
[00:56:55]  He's lost young people.
[00:56:57]  None of them are going to come back over him spinning this as a victory when there clearly is none.
[00:57:03]  And then on top of that, now that he's gone all in with, I hate Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones and Candace Owens, I love Mark Levin.
[00:57:14]  Now Mark Levin's going to turn on him.
[00:57:17]  That's going to be the next phase.
[00:57:19]  And as I've said before, man, does he deserve that.
[00:57:23]  Oh, I mean, this is just, I'm sorry, like the country doesn't deserve any of this, but that is not like out of a classic poem.
[00:57:33]  You know what I mean?
[00:57:33]  Like just a perfect end to this story is that, yeah, you threw all of your supporters under the bus for the never trumper neocon war hawks.
[00:57:44]  And what did you think?
[00:57:45]  They were loyal to you.
[00:57:46]  They're loyal to greater Israel.
[00:57:49]  Okay.
[00:57:50]  They're loyal to Netanyahu's ambitions, not you.
[00:57:54]  And his ambitions are that we overthrow this regime.
[00:57:57]  And there's only a tiny bit of evidence for that, which is everything Benjamin Netanyahu's ever said for his entire adult life.
[00:58:04]  So that's where we are now.
[00:58:07]  And that's going to be, I will say, man, that's going to be something that makes the political realities of reaching some grand deal a lot harder.
[00:58:14]  That essentially the only hardcore Trump support now.
[00:58:19]  Comes from guys like Mark Levin and their dying boomer audience.
[00:58:24]  I don't mean that in a mean way.
[00:58:25]  I just mean literally as you get older, you're dying.
[00:58:28]  And that, you know, that's his base now.
[00:58:31]  That's it.
[00:58:32]  And so what does he do?
[00:58:36]  He tries to make some deal with the Iranians.
[00:58:38]  So you think you're going to make a deal that keeps this regime in place?
[00:58:42]  That keeps, because look, also, Rob, you got to remember, right?
[00:58:45]  To all of those people, the nuclear thing isn't actually the issue.
[00:58:52]  That has nothing to do with it.
[00:58:53]  Literally nothing to do with it.
[00:58:55]  This is purely, I mean, to the extent it has anything to do with it, they essentially will say it in their own words.
[00:59:01]  In fact, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak both said to Goldberg at the Atlantic, they both told him that their big concern was that if Iran got nuclear weapons, we couldn't overthrow the regime.
[00:59:16]  There wasn't about nuclear weapons for anything else other than like if they develop them, then we can't overthrow the regime.
[00:59:21]  And then they were worried about like brain drain from Israel or something like that.
[00:59:26]  But, you know, what is it about, Rob?
[00:59:31]  Well, you know already it's about Hezbollah, it's about southern Lebanon.
[00:59:35]  So, if we don't get that, which clearly is not even on the table anymore, if you remember in the last round of negotiations before this war, that was one of the things they had snuck in there too no more support for your proxies.
[00:59:48]  No one's even talking like that anymore.
[00:59:50]  They're only talking about the nuclear issue in the Strait of Hermos at this point.
[00:59:56]  So, okay, if this regime is left standing and they're still friends with Hezbollah, there's no way Mark Levin accepts that.
[01:00:04]  There's no way Ben Shapiro accepts that.
[01:00:07]  They're going to skewer Donald Trump over this.

=== State of the War Update (01:20) ===

[01:00:09]  And we are going to enjoy watching that.
[01:00:12]  I'm going to be rooting Mark Levin on.
[01:00:17]  Of course, these are all big ifs because by tomorrow, we could be back to bombing them.
[01:00:22]  So, big takeaway here's the state of the war.
[01:00:25]  It's the same as it was yesterday.
[01:00:26]  Nothing's actually changed other than the posturing.
[01:00:29]  But that is actually a really good sign.
[01:00:31]  I'll leave the last word to you on that, Rob.
[01:00:34]  And then we will head over to Phoenix, Arizona.
[01:00:36]  Yeah, I look forward to doing an episode on Friday about Back to War.
[01:00:40]  Yeah, yeah, there you go.
[01:00:42]  All right, guys, listen, comicdavesmith.com for the ticket links.
[01:00:46]  And then we also got a bunch more stuff coming up.
[01:00:49]  So please come see us on the road.
[01:00:53]  We will be coming to a city near you sooner or later.
[01:00:56]  Comicdavesmith.com.
[01:00:58]  And then, of course, also you can go see Rob on the Summer Porch Tour, which starts in spring these last few years.
[01:01:05]  And I'm sorry, what's the site for those, Rob?
[01:01:08]  RobBernsteinComedy.com.
[01:01:10]  A lot of dates coming right up.
[01:01:12]  The recent ones coming up are Bridgeport, Connecticut, Astoria, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., Burdett, New York, Detroit, and then looking to add a Pittsburgh or Cleveland.
[01:01:21]  So if you got a porch, hit me up and come support the porch.
[01:01:25]  All right, Elliot, thank you guys so much for listening.
[01:01:28]  We'll catch you guys next time.
[01:01:29]  Peace.