← Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar
3/16/26: Trump Threatens Media w/Treason, Tucker CIA Referral, David Sacks Warns Israel May Nuke Iran
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- [00:00]
Krystal Ball
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Saagar Enjeti
Hey guys, Sagar and Krystal here.
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Krystal Ball
Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show.
- [01:44]
Saagar Enjeti
This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else.
- [01:50]
Krystal Ball
So if that is something that's important to you, Please go to BreakingPoints.com, become a member today and you'll get access to our full shows unedited ad free and all put together for you every morning in your inbox.
- [02:01]
Saagar Enjeti
We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you@breaking points.com
- [02:09]
Krystal Ball
so we've got a bunch of updates here on the home front about the censorship regime that the Trump administration is trying to put in place at this point, threatening broadcasters who dare accurately cover his disastrous war. These are some comments from Air Force One last night from Trump himself. Let's go ahead and Take a listen.
- [02:27]
Saagar Enjeti
They put out 43. The kamikaze boats. The kamikaze boats don't exist.
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Krystal Ball
They're fake.
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Saagar Enjeti
And you can almost see that when you look at them. It looks great.
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Krystal Ball
Yeah, because if they did exist, we'd
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Saagar Enjeti
hit them just like we hit other
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Krystal Ball
boats all over the place. But they don't exist.
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Saagar Enjeti
In fact, some of the people say, where are the boats? How come nobody's seen the boats? You know why?
- [02:49]
Krystal Ball
Because it's AI generated, it's fake.
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Saagar Enjeti
And I found. I didn't realize this before we started, but Iran is known for a lot of fake news and they deal with our fake news. And I actually think it's pretty criminal because our media companies who have no credibility whatsoever are putting out information that
- [03:11]
Krystal Ball
they know is false.
- [03:13]
Saagar Enjeti
And it's a very dangerous thing for the country. I think it's.
- [03:16]
Krystal Ball
I think they could be in serious jeopardy. So I know that's hard to hear, but he says there that the coverage is pretty criminal of these specific things. And let's go ahead and put his true social up there. This is from. This is D2, guys. Just to emphasize how, you know, how hard he's going on these threats against journalists in the way that they cover the war here he is threatening to charge media outlets with treason if they report things in a way that he does not personally like. So he says Iran has long been known as a master of media manipulation in public relations. They're militarily ineffective and weak, but are really good at feeding the very appreciative fake news media false information. Now AI has become another disinformation weapon that Iran uses quite well considering they're being annihilated by the day they showed phony kamikaze boats. This is what he was talking about in that clip. Shooting at various ships at sea, which looks wonderful, powerful and vicious. But these boats don't exist. It's all false information to show how tough they're already defeated military is. The five US refueling planes that were supposedly struck down and badly damaged according to the Wall Street Journal's fake reporting. And others are all in service with exception of one which will soon be flying the skies. Buildings and ships that are shown to be on fire are not. It's fake news generated by AI for instance, Iran working in close coordination with the fake news media, shows our great USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, one of the largest and most prestigious ships in the world, burning uncontrollably in the ocean. Not only was it not burning, it was not even shot at. Iran knows better than to do that. Isn't that the one saga that supposedly there was a laundry fire? That was the alleged problem there. The story was knowingly fake. And in a certain way you can say that those media outlets that generated it should be brought up on charges for treason for the dissemination of false information. The fact is Iran is being decimated. The only battles they win are those that they create through AI and are distributed by corrupt media outlets. The radical left wing press knows this full well, but continues to go forward with false stories and lies. That's why their approval rating is so low. I can win a presidential election in a landslide getting only 5% positive press. They have no credibility. I'm so thrilled to see Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, looking at the licenses of some of these corrupt and highly unpatriotic news and scare quotes organizations. They get billions of dollars of free American airwaves and use it to perpetuate lies, both the news and almost all of their shows, including late night morons who get gigantic salaries for horrible ratings and never get, as I used to say in the Apprentice, fired. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So not only does he say maybe we should file charges of treason against companies, you know, media companies that report things that we don't like. But number two, I'm glad to see that Brendan Carr, chair of the FCC is already moving in the direction of threatening media outlets and threatening their broadcast licenses for quote unquote unpatriotic news. Yes, just so disturbing and Orwellian.
- [06:14]
Saagar Enjeti
Well, you can already see. Let's put Brennan Carr's tweet up there. Guys, this is D1, he's the FCC chairman. He says broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions, also known as fake news, have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. The law is broadcasters must operate in the public interest. They will lose their license if they do not and frankly changing course is in their own business interest, blah blah, blah. The point is, is that this would affect the direct networks, NBC or NBC, abc, et cetera, that actually still require a broadcast license from the fcc. Yours truly, we're all here on the Internet and or cable news, who wouldn't be as affected. But if you compare the two things together, CBS News and obviously the Trump administration support for CBS News, you can see how they're trying to control the narrative. What Trump said there empirically. Bullshit. For example, do you remember that crowd that we showed Crystal for the morning of the Ayatollah for his funeral? He is saying that's AI generated. It literally came from a photographer working for the New York Times. It's not AI generated. And now there's a couple things that are very scary about that. Do you want to know who claimed that it was AI generated? The Israelis.
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Krystal Ball
The Israelis.
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Saagar Enjeti
So how did Israel lobby BS talking points get into the brain and the mouth of the president of the United States? That's a very interesting question. So much so that he wants to file treason charges against the people who publish and or talk about such videos. Then you have combined the FCC and this so called patriotic news. I saw this first during this press conference with Pete hegseth. We have D3. Let's go and play this. This is from Friday where he's lambasting the press for accurately giving a report of what's going on with Iran. Let's take a listen.
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Krystal Ball
Or more fake news from CNN reports
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Saagar Enjeti
that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran
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Krystal Ball
war's impact on the Strait of Hormuz.
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Saagar Enjeti
Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades Iran has threatened shipping in
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Krystal Ball
the Strait of Hormuz.
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Saagar Enjeti
This is always what they do. Hold the strait hostage.
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Krystal Ball
CNN doesn't think we thought of that.
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Saagar Enjeti
It's a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better. What do you think that exactly shows you in terms of their support for David Ellison, who was Lindsey Graham's guest for the State of the Union. Do you remember that one? That David, literally, Lindsey Graham's guest for the State of the Union is gonna be owning cnn. So they're gonna seem similar. By the way, who's gonna be affected by a broadcast license because of total oligarchic ownership of media and so called patriotic. And in the press conference, Pete Hegseth out there is talking about how you shouldn't say things like for example, he took issue with a headline where it was like Iran war widens. How could you be take issue with that? He said you should say Iran is defeated or Iran is not doing as well or something like that. I was like, Iran war widens is a statement of literal empirical fact. If you hit 10 countries in a single day, that's widening. That's what it's called. And I mean, look, this is nuts. And when we, I mean compare it with. We're about to talk about with Tucker. This is the most dangerous thing. It is also entirely fitting with every time that this nation goes to war, Americans who live under it become less free. The censorship that happens either Self censorship or state pressure that happened under Iraq shaped the entire environment for pushing the country into war under false pretenses. Under Vietnam. Very similarly, the crazy amounts of censorship, state pressure that was here at home, it empowered the state. Remember the Patriot Act? Of course, also after 9, 11, during World War II, we had literal government censorship where they're deciding what or what not. You know, different reporters can report out from the battlefield. And then the origins of wartime censorship of a lot of the power of the state is the American Civil War and the First World War, where they had the exact same situation play out here at home. State power, locking people up for reporting things badly, using an expansion of surveillance and censorship, all under the guise of patriotism and supporting the war effort. This is why it is so dangerous, actually, for us here at the home front. And in those cases, many of those wars were much more popular, Crystal, than this one is today. If you launch a war with 60% disapproval, I mean, just imagine the way that you're gonna have to censor your way out of that one. So you actually could see an even bigger crackdown that comes from. At that time, at least people were buying the bs. This time, not so sure. Not this time.
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Krystal Ball
Yeah, and Trump is, you know, I mean, he's deeply authoritarian to begin with, and even before launching this incredibly unpopular, illegal war of choice, was aggressively going after the media. And so, I mean, I think there's a few things to note here. First of all, there is. This is also a sign of weakness because they're clearly crashing out. I mean, Trump himself is, like, lashing out at reporters who ask questions. He doesn't like issuing these long, true social posts. He put another one out defending the good honor of Mark Levin, blah, blah, blah, who, you know, Megyn Kelly said he had a micro penis. And now Trump's gotta come and ride to the rescue and make sure everybody knows that Mark Levin is a great American patriot, et cetera, et cetera. In any case, he's clearly crashing out. And Hegseth is not saying this stuff on his own. Brendan Carr is not saying this stuff on his own. He was at Mar a Lago right before he issues this statement, etc. This is all coming directly from Trump, because if there's one thing he knows, it is TV news coverage. And he is watching this. And he knows, even in spite of the fact that so much of the coverage is pro war propaganda to an absurd degree, he is watching this and going, this doesn't look good. This doesn't look good. What can I do? And so he reaches for all of his tools of bullying and threats and coercion. Even prior to this, we had the lawsuits against media organizations to get them to bend to his will. You have major media organizations being sold off to the Ellisons. As Pete Hegseth reminds here, you said, okay, the threats against the primetime broadcasters, those don't apply to cable news. They don't apply to where we are on YouTube, et cetera. But hey, TikTok was sold off to the Ellisons, so they have other means of trying to coerce and trying to stifle dissent. And the TikTok thing was 100% over. They didn't like the way that the Gaza war was being accurately portrayed, the Gaza genocide was being accurately portrayed there. They didn't like that. So he got a crony, a pro Zionist, pro Trump crony, to go in and strike that deal. You know, all these media companies, they are giant conglomerates. They don't care about the news. They don't care about the truth. What they care about is their bottom line. So if, if, you know, YouTube has a deal in front of them, if any of these companies has a deal in front of them, they want it to go through. They're going to be listening to the closely to these words about, you know, unpatriotic content and how you've got to be toeing the Go USA line. And some of that stuff has real power. You also have the. The other effect here is to try to gin up a lot of public fervor and outrage at media outlets that cover things accurately. So if we could put up D6ABC News, they had a headline that I think, again, is just accurate reflection of what is going on. Even as Iran has been pummeled by Israeli and American airstrikes, with its military capabilities greatly diminished, which is actually the Trump administration's framing, Tehran continues to demonstrate resolve both in adapting and expanding its military tactics. Observers told ABC News that is just reality. I mean, we, you know, you guys saw that, the drone strike video, you saw the missiles that were landing in Tel Aviv. You see the, you know, the Strait of Hormuz continue to be held. You see the oil refineries, you know, struck in the GCC countries, like that is just accurate. And yet if you go and look at the comments below this post, you have all these people and can put some of these up on the screen who are furious. How dare you? This is Iranian propaganda. You know, observers told ABC News, the observers being their news RT in Jackson Hinkle. Iran is defending their own country, the US Is not. Well, that one is sort of accurate. ABC News wants us to know that our enemies are very strong and brave. So tons of outrage here in the comments of people who want to be lied to. That is what's going on here. And sadly, and, you know, we saw this in the Iraq war, there was a large contingent of Americans who were desperate to be lied to about that war as well and were furious at anyone who tried to puncture that bubble. You know, the other piece, Sagar, that I think is really important to talk about here is Trump is right, that AI has destabilized reality. And you do see that. I mean, when we're trying to figure out what is real, what's true, what's false, etcetera, it is very difficult. Very, very difficult. And we are, I think, extremely conservative about the images that we bring you. We only put up things that are absolutely verified. You know, even then, it continues to be dicey, et cetera. But there's no doubt that it's become much more difficult to separate truth from fiction because of the quality of these AI Deep fakes. Now, you know, the is. Is BB Alive or dead? Question is a good, good example of that. And so not only do you have things that are fake that are being disseminated that are, you know, have the appearance of truth, but also what Trump is doing is he's taking things that actually did happen and trying to undermine your confidence in them by saying, no, no, no, that's AI So, like you said, the marches and protests in favor of the government and Iran, which is the thing that really has happened not just once, but multiple times, he wants to say, no, no, no, that's AI and we saw this playbook in Gaza as well, where they would say, oh, these horrific images that you're seeing, these are A.I. these are fake. This is Pallywood. Trump is using that same playbook. And because AI has destabilized reality unchecked, AI has destabilized reality. And there are no limits put on this. There's no ability to tell truth from fiction. It gives him an angle to be able to push these bullshit Israeli talking points. And to tell you the truth, I think he believes it. I think he believes that those protests were fake. I think he's buying whatever his, you know, the Israeli handlers are telling him at this point.
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Saagar Enjeti
That is so crazy. Yeah. And I think. I think we should all be extremely, extremely on guard because this can move fast, it can move quick. The power of the state we're about to Talk about this with Tucker Carlson and this what they will do. Usually this actually. Yeah, let's just move over to Tucker. All right, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed Sponsored Jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, Sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non sponsored jobs. It really is a no brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.
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So the other day I found out that the CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report to the Department of Justice on the basis of a supposed crime I committed. What's that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war, they read my texts. So the crime under consideration apparently would be the Foreign Agent act or something like that, acting as an agent of a foreign power. And I don't expect this to go anywhere. I'm not too worried about an actual criminal case against me for a bunch of reasons. One, I'm not an agent of a foreign power. Unlike a lot of people commenting on US Politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty and that's the United States and have never acted against it. Its interests are the only interests I care about because I'm from here and I have a lot of kids, so that's not a concern. I've also never taken money from anybody, don't need it, don't want it, and that's provable. And moreover, it's my job to talk to everybody all the time and try and figure out what's happening around the world. That's literally what I do for a living. And I'm not going to stop doing that, nor should I, I don't think. I'm also an American. I can talk to anybody. I have no secrets to divulge. So legally I think the case is ludicrous and I doubt it'll even become a case. I'm bringing this up for a couple of reasons, though, and they're pretty obvious. One is that countries tend to become more authoritarian in wartime. It's just the nature of war. People are dying. The stakes are high. People's emotions have risen to a very high point, to a crescendo. And so there's much less tolerance for any kind of dissent in the homeland. The irony, of course, is the United States fights wars on behalf of freedom, but there's always less of it here in our country during war. So that's a widely recognized phenomenon and it's likely to happen now, too. Another point to make that is worth knowing is that the usic, the intelligence agency, spy on Americans, now, you probably knew that. And it's been revealed a lot, including by Julian Assange and Ed Snowden, both of whom are threatened with death for revealing it. But everyone knows. But it's probably a little more widespread than most people understand, and it's likely that things like that will begin to happen at greater scale now. So you should just know that going forward. Thanks. I think that that is incredibly, obviously, not only newsworthy, but indicative, combined with the FCC warning that we just gave to everybody about what this enhanced sort of wart censorship is going to look like. Crystal. So, for example, and let's actually zoom out, because what are the Zionists claiming? They're saying, well, he committed treason by talking to the Iranians. Well, if that's treason, then you're gonna have to lock up basically every reporter who's ever spoken to the Iranians, including CBS News, which had the Iranian foreign minister. NBC News, which just had the Iranian foreign minister. Part of natural reportage is actually reaching out to people who, yes, many times, are America's enemies or people who you are at war. Why do we do it? And why is it actually incumbent upon us to do so? The reason why is to give the American people a full picture of what we're actually doing. Otherwise, you only have to rely on Pete Hegseth and General Kaine and Donald Trump to tell us what's actually happening. And as you can all see in front of you in the information age, the biggest threat to their narrative is the truth and alternate, alternate perspectives, and especially in an already unpopular war. So, no, per Tucker, he may not be getting criminally charged, but the fact is, by the way, this has not been denied by the CIA. The administration has not denied any of this. They've had more than 24 hours now at this point to do so. If it was bs, I think they would say so. And I think this is really dangerous. And it also highlights, especially if you're people like us, we're reaching out to foreign officials all the time. Iran, if you're listening, I'll talk to you anytime. But it does demonstrate that we are under not only surveillance from our own government, but possible criminal and legal liability in this case, specifically for just trying to inform the American people. They try to do this under WikiLeaks. Remember, this is a bipartisan thing that we've seen in the past. And this is why it's so dangerous to get into these types of wars in the first place.
- [23:57]
Krystal Ball
Yeah. And this is why, you know, we've always been against these conversations about like, oh, you platformed this person or you platformed that person? Because this is where it ends up like, oh, how dare you speak to these adversarial countries? And it's meant to make such reporting scandalous and in the Trump administration's case, make it outright, apparently illegal. Let's put E2 up on the screen because there was some elaborate trying to concoct after the fact 4D chess that Trump was engaged in here, allegedly. So this person says, and this got, by the way, tons of retweets and views, and everyone really bought into this. This person says. This photo of Tucker in the Oval Office with Trump is hilarious in hindsight. Trump knew Tucker was talking to Iran, so he invites him to Oval Office before the strike, knowing Tucker will run straight back and relay it. Iran sees this photo, thinks Tucker has Trump's ear, thinks Trump is bluffing. Meanwhile, Trump sitting there smiling because he wanted them to believe it. Tucker's ego sells the deception. Khamenei buys it. And just like that, Tucker unknowingly helps take out the Supreme Leader. And now America's biggest traitor, meaning Tucker Carlson, be heading to prison. Perfectly played. Now, let me just ask you a question. Has anything about this war made you think that Trump is playing some sort of 8D chess and elaborately planning out these intricate, brilliant moves, et cetera? No. It has maybe been the dumbest war in all of human history. This man launched a war in the Middle east and did not think through what it would do for oil prices or the Strait of Hormuz. It is literally the most basic thing of all time. And yet, do you think this was all some elaborate, brilliant chess master style plot? I mean, it's just utterly absurd on its face.
- [25:53]
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, this is Zionist fan fiction, let's call it for what it is. Also, reporter Mark Caputo over at Axios, he has a view, by the way. Even he is like, guys, this is total bullshit. He's like, I spoke to people in the White House. He's like, none of this happened. They had a meeting. Tucker said, please don't strike Iran. And the President explained various different things as to why he was either, you know, thinking he was weighing in that direction. And then the meeting ended. That's how it went. There was no some grand plan that they want to describe here. I mean, what they really want is to see their enemies in prison. That's it. They want to see their political enemies. They want the state weaponized against them. They're ginning up these same, like, jingoistic terms in which we're not supposed to be able to talk or consider the viewpoint of the people we are literally in a war with. And that may help us understand exactly what we're doing, what the terms are and what some of the things being laid out by the Pentagon, whether they're true or not, that's vitally important in a time of war. When you lose it, you lose the ability to process information itself. And so I think the fact that CIA is engaging in this type of activity is already a deep threat to the United States. By the way, they're not even supposed to be spying on US Citizens. Not that anybody even cares about at this point. Right. In the entire discussion.
- [27:05]
Krystal Ball
Well, if he's. And this is where so many of the Patriot act abuses just became come so clear because part of what that enabled them to do is if you're talking to someone we deem an enemy or a terrorist, then we're allowed to sweep up your communications. And so that could be what's going on here. I mean, I will say, like in the same Mark Caputo report, he says this isn't happening in terms of spying, he says this isn't happening in terms of the criminal charges. I don't know. So that's the denials coming from the government. I don't know what's really going on here, but the fact of the possibility of this and I don't really see a self interested reason why Tucker would lie by this.
- [27:43]
Saagar Enjeti
I agree.
- [27:44]
Krystal Ball
If anything, it puts him in a weird spot because frankly, listen, when I look at this and when I look at Tucker's overall commentary on the Iran war to which he is very opposed, there's one word that very rarely comes out of his mouth and that is Trump. And it's like he wants to put this all on Israel. It's all Israel's fault. And Israel dragged us into Israel's war. And it's like there is no doubt that Israel had an interest in this war, that they were pushing for this, et cetera. We talk about it ad nauseum on this show. There is also no doubt that Donald Trump also wanted this war. The reasons are a bit mysterious. Right. I think we've. The best we can come up with is high on his own supply after Venezuela thought the 12 Day War went great, loves the spectacle of all the military grandeur, loves to see things blow up on TV and have that kind of power in his hands, is thinking about his legacy, et cetera. Perhaps there's an Epstein files connection as well. I certainly don't Rule that out. But at the end of the day, the President of the United States surrounded himself with a bunch of sycophants who were too afraid to tell him the truth, got himself bought in, hopped up on Lindsey Graham and Israeli propaganda, and decided to launch this war. And it is in his hands. It is his fault. And I think it is frankly pathetic at this point that Tucker can't say that. Clearly I was sympathetic to the argument leading up to this that, oh, he's trying to maintain access and he wants to be able to have influence on the inside. Okay, you tried and you failed. That's where we are now. So why are we still pursuing this strategy? And so when you put on a video in Tucker's case, which is again, why I don't think this is self interested, because it makes him look kind of bad, you put out this video claiming that Trump's CIA is spying on you and Trump's DOJ is planning on filing criminal charges against you. And you can't say anything about the President United States, who is leading this institution. I mean, I just think it's like, come on, man, when are you going to actually be real about the man that you supported three times to be in the Oval Office? You were sitting there next to him at the rnc, you pushed for him. When are you gonna have a moment, say, you know what, I was wrong about this guy, I fucked up. Like there is, you know, I have some small culpability for pushing this guy into the Oval Office multiple times. When is that gonna come? Because, you know, to me, it still seems like he's hiding the ball, trying to avoid culpability for this president, and by extension president for himself.
- [30:10]
Saagar Enjeti
I think that they are playing a very difficult game. They look at it exactly like you said, as trying to maintain some sort of influence with the White House and trying to push things in that direction. And here's actually what I've learned. So do we have the Mark Levin thing? Can we put that up there on the screen? So Donald Trump issues this long screed about Mark Levin, about how he's the greatest, about how he's real maga, about how Megyn Kelly is bad. Basically, the subtext for calling him Micropenis Mark. What do you learn from that? Is that Mark Levin had a view. Mark Levin hated Donald Trump. He literally said he would never vote for him in 2016. I believe he supported Ron DeSantis in the 2024 primary. When Donald Trump does things that Mark Levin likes, he gushes and gives him praise. When he does things that he doesn't like. He actually puts out tweets and campaigns against it and calls and all that. What you learn from that is that people who are actually critical, let's say, if they're part of the coalition or not, when they have a view, and they force that view very, very, very forcefully, they win the anti war. Right. Let's say specifically in the lead up to Midnight Hammer and also here with the strikes with Iran, everything has to be couched in, oh, Mr. President, you're so great. You're my friend, et cetera. Right? That's what they do. And then when they do something that you don't like, then if you're not willing to hit them in the way that Mark Levin and many of the other critics hit, then they view you as somebody who's always gonna be part of that coalition. And I've learned this lesson, I think, I mean, really, during Midnight Hammer and on going forward. I do think that a breaking point, if you will, will. I mean, at a certain point, it has to come soon. We're already seeing it with a lot of the Maga OGs. I saw Milo, a few others. They're like, it's over. The people who are there, literally from 2015, long before many others were. I don't know yet whether that's indicative of anything. But at the end of the day, if you're not willing to withdraw your vote or withdraw your support, withdraw and actually deeply criticize somebody, I don't think that you have a lot of power in Washington. And I've seen that now play out over and over again with a lot of these neocons who hated Donald Trump. And now that he does the stuff that they want, they're his greatest champion. Right? I mean, he's like the savior, literally, and the Messiah in the way that they all talk about him. But they were absolutely willing to trash him whenever he didn't do what they want him to do. And I've learned that especially over the years, like, if you really want sources in Washington, you need to criticize them. Cause then they'll call you and be like, no, you're wrong. This is what I'm saying. If you just write fluff pieces for them, they're like, oh, this person's a joke. We could just feed them anything. And I've seen it play out, unfortunately now.
- [32:43]
Krystal Ball
Yeah, it's a great point. It's a great point. I mean, I think of the same thing with like, you know, the AOC on the left. If you wanna Take that perspective, like constantly trying be good with leadership and not criticize too hard. And it's like because of that, it really diminished her power. It was not a strategy that was effective. So to the extent that your goal here is to maintain influence and access, first of all, to my point, like, you failed that access did not get you anywhere. We are in this war now, and if that is not a principled red line for you, I don't know what is. So what are you still maintaining your access for at this point? Second of all, it does not actually confer you power. Right. You've had. So, I mean, Marco Rubio himself ran against Trump in 2016. The whole little Marco thing, I mean, just absolutely. Vitriolic rhetoric, Ted Cruz, same thing, vitriolic rhetoric, back and forth between them. But Trump, if you suck, back up to him and give him his flowers for doing what you want later on, he's gonna let you back in the circle. I think there's another concern here, though, too, with Tucker specifically, who's a podcaster, influencer, and also may presidential ambitions. I don't know. He floated that recently how he'd love to get on his presidential debate stage versus Ted Cruz. You're walking a tricky line with the Trump base because it is a cult and the one thing they care about. And this is what Ron DeSantis crashed into the rocks of. Where do you stand on the issue of Donald Trump? And so you can criticize Kushner, you can criticize the advisers, you can criticize the Israelis. But there is a concern that if you directly criticize Donald Trump the way that like a Marjorie Taylor Greene does or Thomas Massie does, that you are going to be cast out permanently, and you're going to be a Liz Cheney type figure and be a Persona non grata. And so you're going to lose that base of support, because when Trump says, I am maga, and everything I say is what MAGA is, and that's the end of the story, he is correct about that. So I think that's the other part of the calculation that is going on here. But. But again, if you're saying the CIA is spying on you and the doj, like they're trying to throw you in prison, and you can't man up and name the person who is the head of those agencies and who they are all taking marching orders from because he's installed all of his loyalists, I just think it looks pathetic, frankly.
- [35:06]
Saagar Enjeti
I think the turn that you want may be coming sooner than you think. Or I could be wrong. I really don't know. Maybe they'll be like David Sack. So let's talk about Sacks. Alright, quick quiz for the hiring managers out there. What's worse, being understaffed or being poorly staffed? Well, that's a trick question because both are recipes for chaos. Either way, just say to yourself, this is a job for indeed sponsored Jobs. You'll get matched with candidates that meet the skills, certifications and everything else you're looking for. Or go a different way and get no traction. Seriously, Sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non sponsored jobs. It really is a no brainer. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? This is a job for indeed Sponsored
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Krystal Ball
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- [38:36]
Saagar Enjeti
You also have to, I think, consider the impacts on Israel. I mean, it's hard to know exactly how much damage Israel is taking right now. There's a social media blackout. But what you're starting to hear trickle out is that Israel is getting hit harder than they've ever been hit before in their history. And we're only two weeks into this. If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be destroyed or very large parts of it. Now I think Israel is a harder target than the Gulf states. Their infrastructure is more hardened. Also, they're further away. The Gulf states are vulnerable to drones and short range missiles, whereas Israel is mainly vulnerable to long range missiles. Nonetheless, at some point their air defenses could become exhausted if it hasn't happened already, and Israel could get seriously destroyed. And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon which would truly be catastrophic. So there's a lot of scenarios here, a lot of really frightening scenarios about where escalation could lead. And even though the United States is a much more powerful country than Iran, they essentially have a dead man switch over the economic fate of the Gulf states and even potentially beyond that, the habitability of some of these countries. So I do tend to think that this is a good time to declare victory. I think, Brad, you're right that the president has never said that democracy promotion is one of his objectives. Yes, Jake, Hal, obviously everyone would welcome if the people rose up and chose a new regime, but that's not something that we've said we have to accomplish.
- [40:16]
Krystal Ball
Pretty unvarnished comments there, at least coming from Trump administration official, but unfortunately didn't last long. We could put this next piece up on the screen. Trump put out this true social that says the US has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both militarily, economically, and in every other way. But the countries of the world that receive oil through the hormone strait must take care of that passage. And we will help a lot. The US Will also coordinate with those countries, so everything goes quickly, smoothly and well. This should have always been a team effort, really, and now it will be. It will bring the world together toward harmony, security and everlasting peace. To which Sachs replies, this is a smart strategy. Thanks to President Trump, the US Is energy independent. The countries that actually depend on Gulf oil should apply pressure to reopen the straits. So clearly, you know, he got some kind of phone call and trying to get back in the good graces here of Trump.
- [41:07]
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, he made the mistake of thinking that you actually get to say what you want when you work for the government. I mean, look, every word that he said is correct. Literally everybody, every word. That's the David Sacks that I remember. We interviewed him here at the desk during the war in Ukraine. He was always a voice of restraint, a fan of John Mearsheimer, remember, heroically stood up against the war, against a lot of the neocon agenda for the war in Ukraine and war with Iran, by the way, many years ago. And so this is part of the problem, though, with this entire. I mean, it actually relates a lot to the conversation that we just had about criticism and your ability to voice when you're within the government and when the government and especially this administration, demands absolute and total loyalty from everybody who it works for. I mean, right now, as you and I are doing this segment about David Sacks, the White House press secretary, this happened moments ago, is tweeting out Ben Shapiro fan essays being like, Ben Shapiro, the White House press secretary, saying, ben Shapiro says, this is the most courageous decision of my entire lifetime to go to strike Iran. That's the tone coming from the White House press secretary and the president talking about Mark Levin. So when you have people like this who are more independent minded or have a different view, who actually work inside the administration, if you go out on your skis and, let's say, tell the truth, especially a philosophy which was used to great political effect, I think, during the 2024 campaign, and then they reign it in, what does that tell you about the power? What does that tell you about the information environment, too, that they wanna put out there in terms of who they wanna boost? They don't want really anybody to acknowledge, not even previously held beliefs, but even the truth as it actually stands in front of us. So it's really crazy. And also, as I said at the top of the show, I believe David Sacks is now the first US Administration official ever to publicly acknowledge Israel's nuclear weapons program, even though it has been done by Colin Powell, I think, in the WikiLeaks emails when he talked about Israel's nuclear weapons. But the first time it's ever been publicly acknowledged, I believe, by an administration official, which is incredibly ironic, considering that we all know that it's the case. But, I mean, every word he said was true. But the fact that you have to be reined in immediately just shows you what we're dealing with.
- [43:16]
Krystal Ball
I mean, the comments themselves are just worth lingering on for one more minute. The fact that someone in the Trump administration thinks the Israelis are crazy enough, that if this thing starts going sideways for them, which in some ways it already has, I mean, I think they're, in a sense, they're definitely achieving more of their aims than the US Is. This is going better for the Israelis than it is for the US but they're still dealing with a toll. There's a huge economic toll there. You know, significant part of their population is in and out of bomb shelters. I'm sure there are plenty of people who continue to just leave the country because they're like, you know what? This whole sale, safe haven for Jews is not so safe for me and my family. So they've already had an outmigration problem. So in any case, that you have this official who's like, these people are crazy enough that they would actually use a nuke, that's a wild, wild admission that should be terrifying to all of us that that is even a possibility that is on the table, and that this president has put the world in a position where that's a possibility. And by the way, I don't rule it out for him either, because he's backed into a corner. It's not going to be just an easy cakewalk. Contrary to what he says to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, our allies are not excited about putting their service members and their military equipment at risk to help us fix the problem that we have created. The global economy is going to suffer in ways that could potentially be devastating. And there are no clear paths to some sort of easy victory, which is what Trump wants. So the level of danger that the world is in right now is truly, truly terrifying. And especially when you hear it, you know, even though he ultimately walked back, we all know the original comments are the ones that he more accurately believes to hear that directly from someone within the administration is pretty extraordinary.
- [45:12]
Saagar Enjeti
Yeah, I know. And I do think it's important also. I also think we need to start watching for dissent and for anybody who's listening, who might still listen, who is in the administration. It's time to go. It's time to resign at a certain point. Because unless you want this to be on you forever, if you want to be one of these like Bush folks who has to be a dead ender like Ari Fleischer till the day you die about how you actually acted with honor, we're at the point now we know what time it is and I think you should and I think it's time to go. Especially look, you know, David, he could do whatever he wants. He's filthy rich. He's like nearly a billionaire. Is it really worth it at this point? Especially if you really believed in the anti war agenda? For me, no, I don't think so. I think it's time to go. Especially if you have the means to stand on your own two feet. So that's just my my own two cents. Thank you guys so much for watching. We appreciate it. Hope and pray that we survive the tornado. If we do, we'll see you all tomorrow. The world of business is constantly evolving and Comcast business keeps you in step with secure AI backed networking in more than 100 countries. Powering 90% of the four Fortune 500 and millions of small businesses. And behind it all, thousands of experts answering your call at 2:00am like it's 2:00pm One partner. That's it. Powering how business gets done for companies around the globe. When you add it all up, no one does business like Comcast business.
- [46:53]
Krystal Ball
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