You Need Tough Teeth

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "You Need Tough Teeth" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: June 17, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Description: The official, On-Demand podcast of The Armstrong & Getty Show! Accept no substitutes!

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Introduction

In the episode titled "You Need Tough Teeth," hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve deep into the escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, exploring the potential ramifications of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. The conversation navigates through political strategies, intelligence assessments, the dynamics within the MAGA movement, and historical parallels with the Iraq War. This comprehensive discussion provides listeners with a nuanced understanding of the current geopolitical landscape and the intricacies of American foreign policy.

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1. The US-Iran Nuclear Standoff

The primary focus of the episode centers on the United States' stance against Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities. Jack Armstrong expresses his deep concern over the potential weakening of American power and the end of the American empire due to aggressive actions against Iran.

• Jack Armstrong on American Strength:
  "[00:58] I am saying this because I'm really afraid that my country is going to be further weakened by this. I think we're going to see the end of American empire."

The hosts discuss the strategic importance of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, highlighting statements from both political figures and intelligence assessments.

• Joe Getty on Intelligence Community Reports:
  "[01:19] Tulsi Gabbard in a hearing a little while back saying Iran's not going to get a bomb... The intelligence community continues to monitor closely."
  (02:25)

Armstrong challenges this assessment, asserting his belief that Iran is "very close" to developing a nuclear weapon, countering Tulsi Gabbard's testimony.

• Armstrong's Skepticism:
  "[02:56] I think they're very close to having one."

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2. Trump’s Position vs. Intelligence Findings

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around former President Donald Trump's contradictory stance compared to the Intelligence Community (IC) regarding Iran's nuclear intentions.

• Trump's Dismissal of IC Statements:
  "[02:43] I don't care what Tulsi said."
  (02:56)

Armstrong criticizes Trump's disregard for the IC's assessments, emphasizing the gravity of the situation and the potential consequences of underestimating Iran's nuclear progress.

• Armstrong on Trump's Response:
  "[03:25] She said because she's wrong... She cannot be in her job a week from now."
  (03:28)

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3. Internal Struggles Within the MAGA Movement

The hosts examine the internal conflicts within the MAGA movement, questioning whether Trump's aggressive stance on Iran reflects a betrayal of American interests or a necessary action to preserve national security.

• Discussion on MAGA’s Cohesion:
  "[08:03] ...the MAGA movement is a coalition of different groups that don't agree and it's coming apart..."
  (08:14)

They debate whether the faction pushing for military action aligns with the broader goals of the movement or diverges into conflicting ideologies.

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4. Historical Parallels: Iraq War and Regime Change

Drawing lessons from the Iraq War, Armstrong and Getty caution against repeating past mistakes in foreign interventions. They highlight the complexities of regime change and the unpredictable outcomes it can entail.

• Armstrong on Iraq’s Mistakes:
  "[23:04] The one thing about the Iraq experience is there were mistakes made so monumentally stupid, it's difficult to believe they happened."
  (23:16)

• Unknown Host on Potential Iranian Chaos:
  "[27:54] If you don't follow Osint Defender... They see a bunch of chaos... a death cultist Shiite version of this."
  (27:51)

The conversation underscores the dangers of creating power vacuums and the rise of extremist factions following military interventions.

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5. The Role of Online Echo Chambers and Public Opinion

The episode delves into how the internet and social media perpetuate echo chambers, reinforcing individuals' beliefs and contributing to polarized public opinion.

• Armstrong on Internet Delusions:
  "[07:24] The worst consequence of the Internet is the almost universal delusion that your opinions are shared by the majority."
  (07:24)

• Discussion on Online Influencers:
  "[14:12] Unknown Host mentions followers believing Trump is on the Epstein list..."
  (13:53)

The hosts critique how algorithms and online communities amplify certain narratives, making it challenging to discern objective truths.

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6. Public and Media Reactions

Armstrong and Getty analyze the varying reactions from political figures, media personalities, and the public regarding the US's potential military actions against Iran.

• J.D. Vance’s Take:
  "[08:48] J.D. Vance... this is really the biggest decision of his entire presidency."
  (08:50)

• Alex Jones’ Support for Trump:
  "[17:07] Alex Jones just tweeted out... 'standing his ground against the psychotic, warmongering neocons...'"
  (17:07)

The discussion highlights the divided opinions within political and media circles, reflecting broader societal splits.

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7. Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

In the concluding segment, Armstrong and Getty share their personal reflections on the gravity of the situation, balancing between skepticism of past interventions and the necessity to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

• Armstrong’s Final Perspective:
  "[37:13] I hope your teeth are good and hard... you need tough teeth."
  (37:13)

• Humorous Sign-Offs:
  The hosts exchange light-hearted remarks, adding a touch of levity to the intense discussion.

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Conclusion

"You Need Tough Teeth" offers a profound exploration of the intricate dynamics between the United States and Iran, framed by past geopolitical interventions and current political rhetoric. Armstrong and Getty provide listeners with a critical analysis of the potential paths forward, emphasizing the need for strategic realism and the avoidance of historical pitfalls. This episode serves as a compelling resource for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of American foreign policy and the enduring challenges of international diplomacy.

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Note: Timestamps provided correspond to the transcript segments for reference.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

The medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Jack Armstrong]

This medal is for the men who went down that day.

[Joe Getty]

On Medal of Honor Stories of Courage, you'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong.

[Unknown]

And get.

[Jack Armstrong]

I am saying this because I'm really afraid that my country is going to be further weakened by this. I think we're going to see the end of American empire. Obviously, other nations would like to see that. And this is a perfect way to scuttle the USS America on the shoals of Iran. But it's also going to end, I believe, Trump's presidency and effectively end it.

[Unknown]

Trump responded to Tucker Carlson, call him kooky. And nobody knows what he said. Get a TV show. I think he said, Tucker has got way bigger following than if he had a TV show, actually. So if he had a TV show, it would be very popular and he would have his following online. So he would, he would be bigger maybe, but he's network. He's bigger than any of the current TV shows out there. He just is. It's just statistically true. So this segment, we're going to really get into the whole various shades of MAGA and that whole thing. And, and is Trump betraying America first by wanting to go to war with Iran, which he seems to be hell bent on? And I'm, I think he's right. For instance, here's Tulsi Gabbard in a hearing a little while back saying Iran's not going to get a bomb. The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon. And Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003. The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program. So I see. The international community, is that what that is?

[Jack Armstrong]

Intelligence community.

[Unknown]

Intelligence community. Okay. Yeah, I don't think that's right. But anyway, here Trump was asked about that's delusion. Yeah. Here's Trump responding to his dni, the Director of National Intelligence. She has access to everything, saying, Iran's not about to get a bomb. Here's what Trump says about that.

[Jack Armstrong]

How close do you personally think that.

[Unknown]

They were to getting one?

[Jack Armstrong]

Because Tulsi Gabbard, Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran.

[Unknown]

Wasn'T building a nuclear weapon.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to.

[Unknown]

Trump says, I don't care what she said. When she testified that Iran's not closing to getting a bomb, Trump just said.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think they're very close to having one. He said, yeah, so he's speaking about.

[Unknown]

The intelligence around the most important issue right now and the biggest decision of his entire presidency. The first person you would go to would be the DNI because like I said, they have access to all of it and all the different departments. And he says, I don't care what.

[Jack Armstrong]

She said because she's wrong.

[Unknown]

Right. He's basically just saying, I mean he's, he's basically saying she's part of that non interventionist, don't ever attack anybody crowd that I kind of catered to. But in this case I don't believe is right.

[Jack Armstrong]

She cannot be in her job a week from now.

[Unknown]

But just, just to make it more complicated. I would agree to make it more complicated. You got John Federman, Democratic senator, arguing that supporting Israel and taking down the regime in Iran will be the key to lasting peace in Middle East. He's pro regime change, not just bombing, but regime change, which of course is a dirty phrase for a lot of people After Iraq, which I saw somebody point out earlier, you have a whole bunch of hosts on cable news who are four years old when the regime change in Iraq happened, because that was 23 years ago, 22 years ago. So if you're 28, you were 5 when that happens, it's history to you. Another interesting wrinkle from who's where on Politics and Weird Bedfellows. Josh Rogan, who we generally really like, although I don't agree with everything he says a lot from the Washington Post said if Trump attacks Iran based on a flimsy claim of preemption.

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Unknown]

After running on a foreign policy, criticizing Bush for attacking Iraq on a flimsy claim of preemption, he either has no core principles or has no clue what he's doing or both. Scary times.

[Jack Armstrong]

How is it comparing those two? Is, is it's a canard, it's not accurate.

[Unknown]

How the hell is it a flimsy claim of preemption when the IAEA and everybody has been reporting that they're very.

[Jack Armstrong]

Close to getting a bomb when both the ayatollah and the chief negotiator of Iran said one thing we're not gonna give up is enrichment. You don't enrich uranium to get the light bulbs to light up and have civilian electricity. You do it to build a nuclear weapon, period. Yeah, I don't know if Josh is off his rocker or what, but I completely disagree with him on this. I will concede this point, and it's a giant point. The idea that this could lead to regime change in Iran. Then what? Then what is a Pandora's Box of Middle east style? God help us.

[Unknown]

Do we have to?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, first of all, Iran can't have the bomb.

[Unknown]

No. That's the bottom line and that's what makes the decision easier. No matter what happens, you. There's nothing that is worse than letting them get a nuclear weapon, is there?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's the question. I think.

[Unknown]

I don't think it's possible. I can't even imagine a scenario that would be worse than Iran getting the bomb.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tucker Carlson disagrees with you.

[Unknown]

Even if it devolved into full Iraq chaos, which I. Seems incredibly unlikely to me, that would be better, wouldn't it, than Iran getting a nuclear weapon?

[Jack Armstrong]

Depends who ends up in charge, you know, and what happens five, ten years down the line. But no, I agree with you. It's not an open and shut case. But I agree. A couple of notes very quickly from the online world. First of all, I came across this. The great David Berg, Iowa, hawk blogger. The worst consequence of the Internet is the almost universal delusion that your opinions are shared by the majority. Once again, the worst consequence of the Internet is an almost universal delusion that your opinions are shared by the majority. It's even worse than that though, David. It's that my opinions are shared by enough people that they're right. Anyway, he says the countdown of the top four sufferers of acute delusions of popularity. Number four, trans activists. Number three. True. Yeah, no kidding. And then the stupid idiot corporations that believe. Well, they, they had the media and education too. Anyway, moving along. Number three, neo Nazi podcast bros. Number two, campus garbage babies.

[Unknown]

What's garbage baby?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's your. It's. I don't know, it's your campus keffiyeh wearing.

[Unknown]

Okay, dopes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Number one, Caitlin Clark haters. And then he mentions there's this weird cult of Paleo WNBA fans who are literally trying to organize a boycott for people to not watch games featuring Caitlin Clark.

[Unknown]

Good luck with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is. The reason I bring that up is that's a pretty good encapsulation of the Internet. It's an echo chamber for everyone, no matter how stupid their opinions.

[Unknown]

And the algorithms, the algorithms are built to feed you people that agree with you, to help reinforce it.

[Jack Armstrong]

The whole, for you, you know, section of Twitter, for instance. So anyway, as MAGA America is at each other's throats over the whole helping Israel thing.

[Unknown]

I got to jump in on that because you just said this drives me crazy. This is just the way politics works. But you always claim that the other side is doing something unique to them and it doesn't happen with you. I watch MSNBC and CNN a fair amount. Lots of discussion about the civil war within the Republican Party and how it was a problem from the get go that the Magma MAGA movement is a coalition of different groups that don't agree and it's coming apart and blah, blah, blah. Are you gonna tell me the Democratic Party hasn't been a coalition of groups that don't agree forever?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Unknown]

Give me a break.

[Jack Armstrong]

Virtually every political party.

[Unknown]

Every political party, yes. But the Democrats especially.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah, yeah. What people have to do with militant Muslims in Hamtramck, Michigan, for instance. Church going black women, same party. That's what they have in common. Yeah. Church go. Well, go ahead, finish that up.

[Unknown]

Church going black women who. Who are the least likely to support any of this trans stuff or even gay marriage for that matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

With all the other people with queers for Palestine. Yes. In the same political party.

[Unknown]

Right. Union leaders who had hate illegal immigration. I mean, there's all kinds of examples.

[Jack Armstrong]

So really interesting study of how this works. J.D. vance has just tweeted, look, I'm seeing this from the inside and am admittedly biased towards our President, my friend, but there's a lot of crazy stuff on social media. So I want to address some things directly on the Iran issue. Then he gets into the whole enrichment thing and he says, as he said repeatedly, this would happen one of two ways. They can't have. I'm sorry. First, POTUS has been amazingly consistent over 10 years that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Over the last few months, he encouraged his foreign policy team to reach a deal with the Iranians to accomplish this goal. The President has made clear that Iran cannot have uranium enrichment. And he said repeatedly that this would happen one of two ways. The easy way or the other way. And then he gets into the whole enrichment question, which we've already dealt with. It's one thing to want civilian energy, it's another thing to demand sophisticated enrichment capability. It's still another thing to cling to enrichment while simultaneously violating basic non proliferation obligations and enriching right to the point of weapons. Civilians grade uranium. Josh Rogan I have yet to see a single good argument for why Iran needs to enrich uranium well above the threshold for civilian use. I've yet to see a single good argument for why Iran was justified in violating its non proliferation obligations. I've yet to see a single good pushback against the IAEA's findings. Meanwhile, the President has shown remarkable restraint in keeping our military's focus on protecting our troops and protecting our citizens. He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision belongs to the President. And of course people are right to be worried about foreign entanglements after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy dipping his cap toward that crowd. Which is fine, it's a good point. But I believe the President has earned some trust on this issue. Having seen this up close and personal, I can assure you that he is only interested in using the American military to accomplish the American people's goals. Whatever he does, that is his focus. And so that is interesting. But the reaction, including some pretty significant accounts, one guy says, yeah, it makes sense to me. Death to America. He can't get away with it. Then this other blue check mark Twitter account, he has a bunch of tweets through the years from Trumps, from Trump. In order to get elected, Barack Obama will start a war with Iran. Barack Obama will attack Iran in order to get re elected. A year later. I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face. There's a list of them that he shows.

[Unknown]

That's another guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nice words. But it's still another war in the Middle east provoked by the Israelis that will suck up a lot of resources. People are just tired of seeing Israel first, not America first.

[Unknown]

Oh my God. So that other stuff about how he criticized Obama or Bush for getting us involved in wars. Okay, fine. Leave that to political historians or something. Let's get back to the bottom line. We started with Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't care who said whatever. It doesn't make any difference. Iran can't have a nuclear weapon. Now the President coming out yesterday and saying, look, I invented America first, I get to define it. It is America first to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. I, Jack Armstrong, agree with that position. J.D. vance, and he doesn't need to ever run again. So you know, if he loses a chunk of people, whatever. JD Vance is in a different situation. He can't lose that whole we don't get involved in wars crowd if he's going to run for president in a couple of years. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Interesting. The only pushback to JD that I've seen on the IAEA thing saying that Iran is clearly trying as fast as they can to get a nuke. That's the effing UN's conclusion. So JD says I haven't seen a single good pushback and somebody says it was contrary to what our own DNI says. Can you help clarify? Well, right, yeah. Tulsi Gabbard in March testify. No, they're not. She's going to be gone by the end of the week.

[Unknown]

So you take the word of Tulsi Gabbard over the president. I do know from that crowd, though, because I know a couple of people personally that are part of the, you know, maybe some of you, the Tucker, Candace Owens, whatever crowd, Alex Jones, which we're about to talk about. They think. I've had a person tell me this to my face. It proves that Trump is on the Epstein list and they have information about him that he is now flipped and had to go the other direction.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. I don't even have time to refute.

[Unknown]

That because the people that hold the cards on the whole Epstein thing have him dangling at the end of their puppet strings.

[Jack Armstrong]

You are being manipulated by people who are smarter than you that know how to trip your trigger. Sorry, I know that's hurtful. It's much easier to fool people than to convince them they're being fooled.

[Unknown]

But they are anyway. Gonna get to some text. 415295 KFTC Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice and in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Jack Armstrong]

This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

[Joe Getty]

I'm J.R. martinez. I'm a U.S. army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and I Heart podcast from Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Unknown]

Today with a decent chance of drones flying. That's the Iranian newscaster who's in the middle of her report on the latest stoning at the soccer stadium or whatever she was using in the Iranian news. And the drone hit from Iran, from Israel.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm enjoying some of the memes. It sounded like angry ranting about how you will not, we will not bow to you. Allah will protect us. No bomb will reach us. Kur bluey.

[Unknown]

So we got a number of texts, very interesting on this topic of going to war with Iran or not. I take in a decent amount of Candace Owens and Joe Rogan, and they are not saying Trump is doing this due to the Epstein list. I just said, I know two people in that follow that world of Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, and they. And they have said that. But it's interesting to me that this person lumps Candace Owens and Joe Rogan together. I don't see that at all. Joe Rogan has those people on, but I. I've never got the sense that he believes everything they say. Another text. After trillions of dollars and thousands of lives wasted over the years in Iraq and Afghanistan, you're really this hunger gung ho about the US Jumping into the fray and doing a repeat in Iran. A repeat? The repeat would be there were no weapons of mass destruction. So you think there are no there, there's no nuclear program or. I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you think Donald Trump's going to try to install a Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq like George W. Did? No, I reject your premise. It's a dumb question. Next.

[Unknown]

Alex Jones just tweeted out a picture of him and Tucker as he was on Tucker's show. I am proud that Tucker Carlson is standing his ground against the psychotic, warmongering neocons that have brought the world to the verge of thermonuclear Armageddon by preventing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Iran from having a nuke.

[Unknown]

Exactly. So, yes, we're bringing the world to the edge of a nuclear war with a country that doesn't have nukes because we're stopping them from getting nukes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly. Is that they've been making that plea about Russia and Ukraine, too?

[Unknown]

Right. And Russia does have nukes, obviously. Does Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson, do they believe that? Do they believe things would be fine if you let Iran get a nuclear weapon?

[Jack Armstrong]

I really don't know. Alex Jones, in his famous lawsuit, his trial, had to admit that. Look, I say all sorts of stuff. I don't believe that's true.

[Unknown]

He did say that out loud. It's like I'm playing a character.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I'm playing a character. I'm pandering to a certain set of people who want to believe certain things. So I tell them what they want to believe, and I sell enormous amounts of, you know, subscriptions and advertising and the rest of that to them. Now, again, as I said the other hour, I guess there are some people I think are. Are 90% grifter and 10% sincere. There are some who are the other or even 100% sincere. They're just misguided and wrong.

[Unknown]

Wow. Be interesting to see how this plays out over the next couple of days, because it's coming. It's gonna happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Jack Armstrong]

This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

[Joe Getty]

I'm J.R. martinez. I'm a U.S. army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and I Heart podcast from Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Unknown]

Given the fact that Israel and Iran, you're engaged in a very active conflict right now, in the short term, how do you declare victory? What is or define victory? What is your definition of victory right now? The ability to destroy Israel through nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Eliminated. That's right. That's our victory. And if the people in Iran then choose a different government, it's going to be great for the entire Middle east and really for the world. Because the people of the Middle east want normalization with Israel, and Israel wants nothing more than normalization with its neighbors. That's an open question. I think we went through the Arab Spring. Just because a regime has changed, the one that replaces it might not be better for the world. So you can't state that openly, but the idea that this ends when they no longer can have a nuke. That makes good sense to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Your whole regime change statement is absolutely true because we have made that statement to, in reference to, you know, people who think you can, like, boot out to the United States government or something and it'll become this paradise or that paradise, Marxist or whatever. Now, the history of that sort of thing is bad. You destabilize things, and the power vacuum can suck something even worse into the, the seats of power over and over again.

[Unknown]

See France from 1789 until Napoleon arrived.

[Jack Armstrong]

And so the guy who asked his somewhat belligerent question before the break that I answered rudely and dismissively. I'm sure he's thinking, well, wait a minute, you're making my point for me. Would you like to reset that briefly? Do you remember it was about, I don't remember. Oh, the guy said, oh, so you want to, you want to do another Iraq? Hey, you want to get sucked into another, you know, quagmire of a, you know, just replicate Iraq? And, and I wish I had that in front of you because it was asked in the typical online belligerent, this is simple. And if you don't get this you're stupid way, which is why I responded in a yeah, you're stupid way. If I were to ask that question more reasonably and intelligently, it would be, dudes, in what ways do you believe this is a different situation than the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Or given the experience of Iraq, how can you advocate for attacking Iran? This seems similar. Now, that's the way, like a civilized human would ask the question, and here's the response, and it's book length, so I'll summarize. The one thing about the Iraq experience is there were mistakes made so monumentally stupid, it's difficult to believe they happened.

[Unknown]

Starting with they had like, three months of funding planned for the war after Saddam was booted out. Like, it'll be over, everything will be fine, and we'll, we'll just leave.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you've got George W. Bush and, and, you know, if I had to leave my life, my fortune, my children in the hands of one man, George W. Bush or Donald Trump, it would. Well, if it was my fortune, it'd probably be Trump. But in terms of being a good, decent, moral human being, I think George Bush wins by a mile.

[Unknown]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which led him down the garden path. He had this unbelievably silly idea that the people of the Middle east, including fundamentalist Muslims, just couldn't wait for Jeffersonian democracy.

[Unknown]

Well. And you know, Dick Cheney famously saying, I think we'll be greeted by liberators. Well, I think we were liberators.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, but.

[Unknown]

But immediately they all, okay, who's in charge now? I'm in charge. No, no, no, you're not. I'm in charge. And that happened like it always happens. Somebody's going to be in charge. And if you don't agree, sometimes you go to war over. It's called a civil war.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and the de Ba' athication of the government of Iraq was one of the most monumentally stupid moves that's ever been made in world history. They essentially said, well, if you're a member of the Baath Party, which is Saddam's party, then you can't be part of the government. Well, that was the entire government, from the people who, like, handed out paychecks to civil servants, to the army generals, to the school lunch program people. They were all in the bath. It was a single party effing government.

[Unknown]

It's such a.

[Jack Armstrong]

To dismantle that and say, all right, let's restart now. That was a bizarre decision.

[Unknown]

It's such a crapshoot and so complicated. The Soviet Union falling. It seems like if you ran that experiment a thousand times, you would get the peaceful result. We ended up with once where the Soviet Union fell and it didn't fall into the hands of crazy oligarchs going to war with each other, and some of them had nukes or all kinds of different things that could have happened, but it didn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that. That's a separate discussion for another day. But it's crazy interesting.

[Unknown]

Just thinking about Iran. If this, if this regime falls, is it going to be. Is it going to be like the Soviet Union where somebody steps in that everybody recognizes, okay, you're the leader and law and order in the streets continues, etc. Or is it going to be more like Iraq?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it's got to be approached with brutal realism, friends. That's what's going to make it different, aside from some of the particulars that are different, but it's got to be brutal realism. You let anybody who's part of the government structure that. That makes the country run that says, hey, I'm glad those mullahs are gone. I'm going to keep doing my job and showing up. That's number one. You keep the country functioning in a way that doesn't create an enormous power vacuum in the streets. Secondly, you recognize concentrated enthusiasm is. Is often how one group gets to power over Another one. And in the Middle east, it's the fundamentalist Muslim lunatics who usually have that concentrated enthusiasm like old. What's his name, Al Bakr or, or fat. Do you remember fathead in Iran? What was his name? I can't remember. It'll pop into my head. Shiite later. He had very close ties to Iran, the guy in Iraq, I mean, anyway, you've got to be brutally realistic that those people are going to come gunning for power and you have to have a plan to suppress them. I remember being fed the line and I think inside the White House, the actual neocons believed this. Iraq is really a secular society. I mean people, I mean people are Shiites and Sunnis. Like you're a Baptist and I'm a Lutheran. Well, that was because Saddam repressed them like crazy. And now those lessons having been learned, you know, whether Trump and the Israelis and the Gulf states, just. Somebody has got to approach it in a realistic way and not make the horrific mistakes of Iraq.

[Unknown]

Even if you took a religion out of it, which is a hell of an. Even if, since it's a theocracy for the last 40 some years, even if you took that out of it, though, whoever's in charge of the army might decide, I want to be the leader. And the person who's in charge of the Revolutionary Guard might say, no, you're not, I'm going to. And they go to war like you've hardly ever seen before for the next 10 years trying to decide who's going to run the place.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's absolutely true. And then, you know, you folks, we historians are going to say, would we better have been better off just letting Iran have the nuke?

[Unknown]

No, I don't think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

Having to sign agreements, non aggression pacts like the other nuclear powers on earth, an uneasy relationship, blah, blah. The difference being that the mullahs mean what they say. A lot of those people are actual religious fanatics.

[Unknown]

But the, the classic Caesar crossing the Rubicon moment was he decided to take his army after whooping ass all over the place. You know what, I'm gonna run the Roman Empire and cross the river, headed back into the country. And everybody knew, okay, it's on. He ended up winning. But yeah, sometimes the generals decide they want to be in charge.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, well, I suspect that that's what will happen. So it would be a fair question then if our questioner were to follow up, he'd say, all right, so how do you see the post regime change Iran taking shape that isn't way worse for humanity than if they got the nuke. That's. It's a great question. It's impossible to answer. I mean I could, I could spin you out a scenario, but it's unlikely to happen. Yeah. It is a classic example of being caught between a rock and a hard place. Having two absolutely awful alternatives. There's a certain school of thought you run into a lot, especially online, that likes to pretend not making a decision is not a decision in and of itself. That if you don't make a decision, really. Right.

[Unknown]

Obama 100% don't do stupid s was their motto. Okay, well, not doing stupid S allows Russia to just keep gobbling up land, for instance.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or Iran. Brilliant. The late great Neil Peart. If you decide. Well, if you don't make a decision, you've still made a choice. And there is a belief, I think, that if you just don't act, everything's frozen in amber and that the status quo continues. It's. It's not true.

[Unknown]

No. No. In your child rearing, marriage, career, whatever it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Two miserable options. Pick one. That's life.

[Unknown]

I think Mark Halpern wrote this today. I think we agree that the most likely scenario is the United States is going to help Israel here in the next 48, 72 hours. Bomb the bejesus out of Fordo to the point that it can't make a nuclear weapon. And we're gonna help in that. Now I assume at that point we're done.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, There will be diplomacy and aid and that sort of thing and pulling of strings behind the scenes, trying to either get a more friendly regime in place or just saying, all right Mullis, if you can still run, if your people will still let you run the place, go ahead and run place. Just remember what happened if you try to get a nuke again. It's going to happen again. You want to keep to yourself and like revive your economy and be reasonably friendly to the nations around you, go ahead, knock yourself out. You know, don't try to get a nuke again.

[Unknown]

I'm trying to be open minded for the other side because I'm pretty hardcore. I think this is a good idea. You know, nobody saw what was coming in Iraq in that ISIS was going to get created and become a thing. Maybe there's some Shiite version of that that comes out of Iran when you unleash the dogs of war that nobody could possibly imagine with a years long insurgency of a death cultist Shiite version of this. Who knows? Not impossible.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Unknown]

I didn't see ISIS coming to anybody else.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't disband the Army.

[Unknown]

That would help. Let them go to work. And she said it'd be better than ISIS anyway. We will finish strong next. You can always text on this is a thorny one. This is a big deal. This is. I do. I absolutely agree with the idea that this is the biggest decision of Trump's life that he's going to be making, depending on how it plays out. Our text line is 415295KFTC.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty the Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the improbable, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Jack Armstrong]

This medal is for the men who went down that day. It's for the families of those who didn't make it.

[Joe Getty]

I'm J.R. martinez. I'm a U.S. army veteran myself, and I'm honored to tell you the stories of these heroes on the new season of Medal of Stories of Courage from Pushkin Industries and I Heart podcast from Robert Blake, the first black sailor to be awarded the medal to Daniel Daly, one of only 19 people to have received the Medal of Honor twice. These are stories about people who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor going above and beyond the call of duty. You'll hear about what they did, what it meant, and what their stories tell us about the nature of courage and sacrifice. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

A man was recently arrested at a Florida strip club after he allegedly called 911 from a private room to complain that he had to pay $300, but the dancer refused to have sex with him. Of course, it's still Florida911, so I'm.

[Unknown]

Sure they were like, try 500. So God, it's hard to not continue on this same theme. We don't usually cover one topic this much, but this is new. President Trump just tweeted out. He actually did a different whatever. I'm going to call everything a tweet that comes out like this. Donald Trump said, we now have complete and total control over the skies over Iran. I read that and said to Joe, I think the key word there is we. So somebody apparently thought the we stuck out. Also, he didn't say Israel has complete control over the skies over Iran. So somebody asked. According to a White House official, the we that President Trump is referring to here is the United States, not Israel. So the so Trump meant to say, we, the United States now have complete Control over the skies of Iran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Therefore, we are willing to send in our B2s with the MOAB bombs. That is the unspoken end of that sentence, I guess. So my final thought on the previous discussion is that there's got to be something transitional if, if indeed the current regime falls. And you've got to. It's got to be a temporary, quote, unquote, military dictatorship with people we can work with. We assure their security, tell them you, you just keep stability. Don't try to go for a bomb. We'll make sure none of the Arab states decide they want. Snatch up your oil refineries or whatever and you go forward from there. It's an ugly choice, but it's a good one. Greed heads, because the military in Iran is a bunch of greed heads. They make tons of money. They like a societal hold on big chunks of the economy. There are a number of countries that are like that. It's very typical. But you deal with the greenheads, not the religious fanatics. The greenheads you know how to deal with.

[Unknown]

If there's an LCC in Iran like there was in Egypt to take over after Mubarak the dictator fell. I don't know if there's one person or. They'll be warring amongst themselves as we talk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, there may have been last week, but they're now.

[Unknown]

If you don't follow Osint Defender Open Source Intelligence Defender. On stories like this, you're missing out. You will know so much, so much sooner than you'll ever get it from cable news or the newspaper. I look at it constantly. Anyway, they have this. Joe, you'll like this. Significant Internet and cellular outages occurring right now across Iran. Admits to reports Iran Cyber Authority that they are currently under a large scale cyber attack from Israel. So their cellular outages are. And their Indian cellular and Internet has gone down. That might be the leading thing before we start bombing today, like in the next couple hours.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have. Israel has the cyber equivalent of a pager in every network, every system in Iran. And it's about to shut it down. That's my guess. Something like that.

[Unknown]

Before we, along with Israel, bombed the bejesus out of them. Can you say when you got Jews bombing Muslims? Probably not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, you can. You can. Absolutely. Free speech, my friend. Defend it. Final thoughts? Yeah.

[Unknown]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap things up for the day. There he is. Michelangelo pressing the buttons. Michael. Well, that news kind of ruined my final thought. I was gonna Guess that they were gonna text everybody that they had won a prize, send them all to one building and then blow up the building. I'll give you super bowl tickets. Classic. Yeah. Katie Green knows something about law enforcement and that sort of thing. Our esteemed newswoman, Katie, final thought.

[Unknown]

It has nothing to do with law enforcement, but I did just write Grape Nuts down on my grocery list for today. I love Grape Nuts. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope your teeth are good and hard. You got some good enamel.

[Unknown]

They are bland and you need tough teeth.

[Jack Armstrong]

Jack, final thought for us.

[Unknown]

I'm looking at the picture of Tucker Carlson with Alex Jones. Alex Jones lost a ton of weight, looks fantastic. And he's no zempic guy, I think. Or one of those drugs. Yeah, man. Why aren't we all doing that? We all got to get on that.

[Jack Armstrong]

My final thought. You know me, I'm kind of a real estate freak. I love it. If you were thinking of purchasing a property anywhere near the Fordo reactor in Iran, I would hold off. I would go ahead and wait a week before you sign that contract.

[Unknown]

Yeah. If you were going to vacation and do an Airbnb somewhere near there, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get a tour of the reactor, that sort of thing. That enrichment site.

[Unknown]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's housed within a mountain that's soon to be a former mountain. So many people to thanks, so little time. Go to armstrong yeti.com hot links are there. Our email address we linked [e-mail] you disagree? We want to hear from you. Make your points.

[Unknown]

You know that will be a spectacular show if it goes down the way we think. Our planes with some of the biggest bunker busters that exist on earth over and over and over again. That'll be something to watch. We'll see tomorrow. God bless America, Armstrong.

[Jack Armstrong]

And get.

[Joe Getty]

It has to stop like the day before yesterday. That's it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you sure? Oh, dead show.

[Unknown]

Adios, mofo. And boom goes the dynamite.

[Jack Armstrong]

You made it rhyme louder than it's rhyme in a long time.

[Unknown]

One final message. Maybe the joke we've been making forever will come true. Everybody's beard will explode. Ahmad, your beard.

[Jack Armstrong]

Your beard. Ah.

[Unknown]

And they run out of the room. Beards on fire. Bye bye.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration in the United States. Recipients have done the impression, probable, the unexpected, showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Jack Armstrong]

This medal is for the men who went down that day on Medal of Honor.

[Joe Getty]

Stories of courage. You'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.