A 'More Reasonable Regime' & NASA's Next Moonshot | 3.31.26

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: A 'More Reasonable Regime' & NASA's Next Moonshot
Hosts: John Bickley (Editor-in-Chief, Daily Wire), Georgia Howe
Date: March 31, 2026
Main Theme:
This episode delivers updates on key international and space developments with a focus on U.S.-Iran negotiations under President Trump, Cuba’s ongoing energy crisis amid Russian intervention, and NASA’s imminent Artemis 2 lunar mission. The tone blends urgency, analytical commentary, and excitement as the hosts and guests break down newsworthy events shaping politics, global security, and scientific progress.

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1. U.S.-Iran Tensions: “A More Reasonable Regime?”

Timestamps: 00:34–06:58

Key Points:

• President Trump claims ongoing “serious discussions” with a new, more reasonable faction inside Iran, signaling potential diplomatic progress while warning of escalated military action if the Strait of Hormuz isn't reopened soon.
• The White House is actively debating deploying ground troops or special forces into Iran to retrieve enriched uranium as part of “Operation Epic Fury.”
• Despite U.S. assertions of progress, Iranian officials publicly deny any direct talks and accuse Trump of market manipulation.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio forcefully lists U.S. objectives: neutralize Iran’s air and naval capabilities, diminish missile capacity, and destroy weapons factories—emphasizing containment over regime change.
• Experts note the risk for Iranian civilians and the lack of evidence for an impending popular uprising.
• Trump claims a de facto regime change has occurred, citing a decimated hierarchy post-bombing campaign.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments:

• President Trump on the intractability of talks:
  "But you never know with their end because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up." (00:41)
• Trump’s warning on further escalation:
  "If a deal is not reached and the Strait of Hormuz is not opened very soon, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Carg island, and possibly all desalinization plants, which we have purposely not yet touched." — Cabot Phillips reporting (03:40)
• Rubio’s clearly spelled-out goals:
  "Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their Navy. Number three, the severe diminishing of their missile launching capability. And number four, the destruction of their factory so they can't make more missiles and more drones to threaten us in the future." — Marco Rubio (05:01)
• Expert skepticism on internal resistance:
  "I don't think we should be putting the cart before the horse when it comes to trying to ask why an unarmed population is not going to go out into the streets while bombs from friendly countries are falling on their own territory." — Ben Talablook, Foundation for Defense of Democracies (05:49)
• Trump (via Axios) on regime change:
  "Why the hell should we tell people to take to the streets when they'll just get mowed down?" (06:17, paraphrased)

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2. Cuba’s Energy Crisis & Russian Involvement

Timestamps: 08:05–12:33

Key Points:

• Cuba remains on the verge of a total energy collapse with daily blackouts, a direct result of both failing infrastructure and effects of the U.S. embargo.
• Russian oil tanker delivery provides only brief relief, expected to last no more than “three to seven days” before returning to crisis conditions.
• Russian motives are questioned; experts suggest the delivery may serve as a test of the Trump administration’s resolve or for intelligence-gathering—“not a fix, just a test.”
• The U.S. has slightly eased its embargo, allowing humanitarian shipments but not broader support. Trump remains dismissive regarding the potential for reversal of Cuba’s political status quo.
• Washington may use this as a signaling opportunity, demanding serious concessions from Cuba and watching for evidence of real humanitarian reforms.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments:

• Energy expert on Cuba’s blackout crisis:
  "Cuba's energy system basically runs near the edge of total collapse on a daily basis... this tanker is basically just a band aid on an aging and abandoned infrastructure." — Sandy Acosta, Wilson Center (08:52)
• On the fleeting nature of relief:
  "It'll basically take them three to seven days to process through their refineries... and probably a week or so after that, prioritizing their failing medical system, which doesn't provide much anyway to the poor Cuban people and prioritizing their own facilities." — Sandy Acosta (09:28)
• Trump on Cuba’s grim prospects:
  "Cuba is finished. I have a bad regime, they have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter." (11:19)
• Political calculation angle:
  "It might be demonstrating a way of showing that they're willing to negotiate and that they mean business, that they're not going to let up on the hard stuff and that there, there need to be some serious concessions." — Sandy Acosta (11:39)

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3. NASA’s Artemis 2: America Returns to Deep Space

Timestamps: 12:36–17:08

Key Points:

• Artemis 2 prepares to send astronauts around the moon for the first time since Apollo, aiming to test all major onboard systems before a future lunar landing.
• Key concern addressed: the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield suffered unexpected damage during the unmanned Artemis 1, leading to extensive review and redesign.
• If safe, Artemis 2 will enter a “free return trajectory” around the moon, setting a record for human distance from Earth.
• Artemis 3 won’t land on the moon but will test two private lunar landers (SpaceX and Blue Origin). Actual landings are slated for Artemis 4 and 5.
• Long-term plan: establish a moon base at the lunar south pole with supporting infrastructure like a nuclear power plant.
• Former astronaut Leroy Chao credits renewed geopolitical competition (especially China’s lunar ambitions) with reviving the “space race” mentality.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments:

• Leroy Chao on the mission’s purpose:
  "The main purpose is to check out the Orion spacecraft, really exercise the life support systems, thermal control systems, comm systems with astronauts on board. [...] that's why it's taken three years for all the smart engineers at NASA and the contractors get their arms around what was going on and get confidence that the changes that they've made will make it safe for the astronauts to fly this one." (13:22)
• On historic new distance for humanity:
  "The astronauts will be the farthest humans ever, ever from the earth on any flight." (14:08)
• Moonbase ambitions:
  "A big goal is to launch a nuclear reactor and land it on the moon. Now, why do you want a nuclear reactor on the moon? Number one, you're going to get a lot of power out of there, which is what you're going to need for a lunar base." (15:15)
• Chao on historic perspective and American ingenuity:
  "We went from no NASA, no rockets, no astronauts, and then the creation of NASA to landing humans on the moon. And in just under 11 years. Right. Pretty incredible. [...] Now here we are, 22 years into the current exploration program, and we're just launching the first astronauts." (16:18)
• Artemis 2 launch info:
  "You can look forward to seeing the space launch this Wednesday at 6:24 Eastern. And we will be streaming it on the Daily Wire." — Cassia Akifa (16:56)

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Episode Highlights

• Geopolitics and brinkmanship: The episode underscores high-stakes U.S. foreign policy decisions, the ambiguity around diplomatic versus military actions, and the interplay between Russian, Iranian, and U.S. strategies.
• Expert analysis: Detailed input from field experts contextualizes why civilian uprisings in Iran are unlikely during conflict and how short-term fixes in Cuba reflect longer-term strategic rivalries.
• Renewed space race: NASA’s Artemis program is depicted as both a technological comeback and a renewal of national ambition, spurred by competition with China.

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For Listeners:
This Morning Wire episode blends on-the-ground analysis and sober assessment with moments of optimism about American scientific achievement. It is an essential listen for anyone tracking international policy, the state of American leadership abroad, or the “new moonshot” in space exploration.

Transcript

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[Georgia Howe]

President Trump says talks are underway with a more reasonable group inside Iran, but warns time is running out.

[President Trump]

But you never know with their end because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up.

[Georgia Howe]

I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire executive editor Jon Bickley. It's Tuesday, March 31st, and this is Morning Wire.

[Daily Wire Host]

As Cuba's energy grid remains on the brink of collapse, a Russian oil tanker heads toward the island. Does this signal the end of the Trump blockade?

[Sandy Acosta]

This tanker is basically just a band aid on an aging energy infrastructure that is basically the government's own doing to itself.

[Georgia Howe]

And for the first time since the Apollo era, NASA is sending astronauts back to the moon.

[Leroy Chao]

The astronauts will be the farthest humans ever, ever from the earth on any flight.

[Daily Wire Host]

Thanks for waking up with MORNING wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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[Daily Wire Host]

As the White House weighs the potential for boots on the ground, President Trump is offering new threats to Iran.

[Georgia Howe]

Wired In Live host Cabot Phillips joins us now with the latest on Operation Epic Fury. So, Cabot, we just reached day 31 in this mission. President Trump just issued the latest ultimatum. What is he saying now?

[Cabot Phillips]

Well, first, the president and his top advisors are no doubt going to be meeting today to review those plans for Iran as they continue debating whether or not to deploy ground troops. We mentioned yesterday that Trump is weighing using ground forces to open the Strait of Hormuz. And now the Wall Street Journal says he's also considering deploying special forces and other infantry elements to locate and then bring back £1,000 of enriched uranium deep within Iran. That would obviously be a highly complex and risky move, but some in the White House say it could be the only way to fully ensure the regime never attains a nuclear weapon. As he weighs his options, the president said Monday that his administration is engaged in, quote, serious discussions with a new and more reasonable regime to end our military operations in Iran. He also adds that, quote, great progress has been made. However, he did say that if a deal is not reached and the Strait of Hormuz is not opened very soon, quote, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Carg island, and possibly all desalinization plants, which we have purposely not yet touched.

[Georgia Howe]

So that represents what would be a massive escalation.

[Cabot Phillips]

Huge one.

[Georgia Howe]

Now, President Trump is claiming that these talks are proceeding successfully. What are we hearing from the Iranians?

[Cabot Phillips]

Well, they continue to maintain that no direct talks have taken place and that they're not interested in a deal. Iran's speaker of the Parliament went as far as issuing a statement implying President Trump's claims of peace talks were little more than a ruse to give markets a boost. And to that point, it is true that stocks have typically jumped whenever Trump makes a post about peace talks. But the White House said Monday that despite their public defiance behind closed doors, the Iranians are much more receptive to a deal.

[Tim Pearce]

Have a listen.

[President Trump (audio clip)]

Despite all of the public posturing you hear from the regime and false reporting, talks are continuing and going well. What is said publicly is, of course, much different than what's being communicated to us privately.

[Cabot Phillips]

And we also heard yesterday from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who in a fiery interview, responded to critics claiming that President Trump does not, not have a clear set of objectives for this conflict.

[Marco Rubio]

Here they are. You should write them down. Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their Navy number three, the severe diminishing of their missile launching capability. And number four, the destruction of their factory so they can't make more missiles and more drones to threaten us in the future. All of this so that they can never hide behind it to acquire a nuclear weapon.

[Cabot Phillips]

And if you listen closely there, you'll see that notably absent from that list was regime change. Remember when he announced that this bombing campaign had begun last month, month, the president said that once the military operation was complete, the Iranian people should, quote, take over your government. It will be yours to take. But to this point, we've not seen really any indicators that such an uprising is brewing or even imminent. I spoke to Ben and Ben Talablook from the foundation for Defense of Democracies. Here's what he had to say.

[Ben Talablook]

I don't think we should be putting the cart before the horse when it comes to trying to ask why an unarmed population is not going to go out into the streets while bombs from friendly countries are falling on their own territory. I think that would be a suicide mission for the Iranian people to do that. Unfortunately, they're not doing that. The question is, do they have the resolve and the wherewithal and the willingness to actually be able to go out once major military operations have included? And much of that does depend on political messaging throughout these operations.

[Cabot Phillips]

And on that topic, according to Axios, President Trump even rebuffed Benjamin Netanyahu on a phone call last week when Netanyahu suggested that the White House urged demonstrators to get out and protest. Trump reportedly said, quote, why the the hell should we tell people to take to the streets when they'll just get mowed down? But for his part, publicly at least, President Trump is now saying that a so called regime change has already taken place just because of how many top officials have been killed. In his words, quote, the one regime was decimated. They're all dead. The next regime is mostly dead. And now there's a, quote, whole different group of people who have been very reasonable.

[Georgia Howe]

Well, definitely fog of war happening here. Cabot, thanks for reporting.

[Cabot Phillips]

Absolutely.

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[Georgia Howe]

Cuba will receive much needed relief today with the arrival of a Russian oil tanker. After enforcing a strict embargo, the Trump administration is easing restrictions to allow for humanitarian aid to the island.

[Daily Wire Host]

Joining us now with the latest is Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce. Tim, so we've been tracking this crisis in Cuba pretty closely. We're now seeing Russia getting involved here first. How bad are things now in Cub?

[Tim Pearce]

Well, Cuba's power grid has never been robust, but this US Blockade has pushed it to the breaking point. Blackouts are constant. Critical services on the island are severely restricted. And for those who have generators or vehicles, the price of fuel has soared. Morning Wire spoke to Sandy Acosta, she's the director of government affairs at the Wilson center about the crisis. Here's what she said.

[Sandy Acosta]

Cuba's energy, energy system basically runs near the edge of total collapse on a daily basis. Two and a half years ago, they blackouts, they had a, they had a total countrywide blackout a few weeks ago. This, this tanker is basically just a band aid on an aging and abandoned infrastructure of energy infrastructure that, that is basically the government's own doing to itself.

[Tim Pearce]

Even with this tanker from Russia, the situation in Cuba still looks bleak. The amount of relief that the extra fuel will bring will be gone in a matter of days. Here's Acosta again.

[Sandy Acosta]

From my analysis, it'll basically take them three to seven days to process through their refineries. It's Russian crude, which is a lot easier for them to process than Venezuelan crude. And then they'll distribute it out probably a week or so after that, prioritizing their failing medical system, which doesn't provide much anyway to the poor Cuban people and prioritizing their own facilities.

[Tim Pearce]

But so this tanker seems to be a very short term reprieve and the island will be right back to where it was in less than a couple of weeks.

[Daily Wire Host]

All right. So crisis certainly not averted at this point, we've seen some reports that this Russian tanker could be more than just a humanitarian mission. There could be political purposes here. Can you break down that speculation for us?

[Tim Pearce]

Yeah, there are a lot of theories going around that this could be some sort of test or a move by Russia to maintain influence in Cuba. Here's what Acosta made of it.

[Sandy Acosta]

You've got reporting on all fronts, even amongst civil society leaders on the island, basically saying this is not a fix, this is just a test by the Russians on the Trump administration, and that it also may be a way of getting in some kind of either intelligence gathering information or utilizing the oil shipments, which the Russian media has said is all in favor of supporting humanitarian needs for their ally. But the reality is there could be all sorts of other nefarious things hiding behind that.

[Daily Wire Host]

So with this in mind, that there is probably some sort of Russian interest here beyond helping a friend. What is Washington's view of this? Why did President Trump make the decision to allow this tanker to go through?

[Tim Pearce]

Yeah, the President said over the weekend that one tanker of oil will not make much of a difference and neither will it save the Cuban government from collapse. That said, if countries want to send humanitarian aid to the island, he has no problem with that.

[President Trump]

I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with it. Cuba is finished. I have a bad regime, they have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter.

[Tim Pearce]

Acosta, however, has another take that this decision could serve Washington's interests as well.

[Sandy Acosta]

I think to some extent it's demonstrating, it might be demonstrating a way of showing that they're willing to negotiate and that they mean business, that they're not going to let up on the hard stuff and that there, there need to be some serious concessions. You know, they mentioned 51 political prisoners being released. There are no names. There's, there, there's no one knows. There hasn't been any real movement towards that. Are they serious? And so I think it's a, I think, I think we're at the beginning of a, of, of a next phase of this conversation between, you know, the U.S. cuba and Russia. This, this nice three part conversation.

[Tim Pearce]

So we'll just have to see where negotiations go from here. For now. This Russian tanker appears to be more about politics than bringing any lasting relief to Cuba.

[Daily Wire Host]

Lots of political calculations going into this on all sides, no doubt. Tim, thanks so much for reporting.

[Tim Pearce]

Thanks for having me on

[Daily Wire Host]

this week. NASA will launch Artemis 2, the first manned mission around the moon in over 50 years.

[Georgia Howe]

Daily Wire reporter Cassia Akifa has the latest. So, Cassie, a lot of excitement about this launch for good reason. We haven't seen anything like this in half a century. So what do we know about this launch?

[Cassia Akifa]

So Artemis 2 is part of the Artemis program, which aims to return Americans actually on the moon for the first time in 50 years. Now, this mission will not go to the moon, but it will go around the moon. It's sort of a test flight to get things ready to, you know, return to the moon. So I interviewed a former NASA astronaut, Leroy Chow, who flew four space missions and commanded the International Space Station. And he talks about why this is such an important moment.

[Leroy Chao]

The main purpose is to check out the Orion spacecraft, really exercise the life support systems, thermal control systems, comm systems with astronauts on board. Three years earlier, there was the launch of Artemis 1, and it was a similar flight, but with no astronauts on board. The biggest thing to come back from that mission was heavy damage to the heat shield, much more than we expected. And so that's why it's taken three years for all the smart engineers at NASA and the contractors get their arms around what was going on and get confidence that the changes that they've made will make it safe for the astronauts to fly this one.

[Cassia Akifa]

If the first 24 hours in space go well, the astronauts will head towards the moon and set several historic firsts.

[Leroy Chao]

It's going to take them on what's called a free return trajectory around the moon. That is, the trajectory is designed such that the vehicle will travel to the moon, go past it, and then the gravity of the moon will kind of swing it back around towards the Earth. So one interesting aspect of this is that the astronauts will be the farthest humans ever for. From the Earth at, on any, any flight.

[Georgia Howe]

So if this trip is going around the moon but not landing on it, is an actual moon landing, something we can expect with an Artemis 3.

[Cassia Akifa]

So not quite. According to Chao, Artemis 3 is going to test lunar landing modules created by Blue Origin and SpaceX, and maybe both, if they are both created in time. And Artemis 4 and 5 will be landing on the moon if all goes well.

[Leroy Chao]

And the current plan is Artemis 4 will actually touch down once we gain confidence that the landers that we've tested in orbit are going to work. So we'll keep our fingers crossed and see how quickly that can get done.

[Cassia Akifa]

And beyond the scheduled Artemis missions, the next plan is to actually create a moon base.

[Leroy Chao]

The Priority is to get some pieces on the ground, on the moon, in the South Pole area, which is the area of interest. And starting with probably, you know, just putting some basic elements down, and then a big goal is to launch a nuclear reactor and land it on the moon. Now, why do you want a nuclear reactor on the moon? Number one, you're going to get a lot of power out of there, which is what you're going to need for a lunar base. Number two, the moon. By treaty of which all the major powers are signatories, nobody can own the moon.

[Georgia Howe]

So a very ambitious plan we have for the next few years. Did Chao speak to why it's taken us 50 years to go back?

[Cassia Akifa]

So I asked Chao this exact question because I found it interesting that the majority of Americans alive today were not alive the last time humans were on Earth, the moon. So he said that the space race was a big factor in getting us there so quickly and that we haven't really had that in a while. But now with China planning to send astronauts to the moon by 2030, I think the race is back on.

[Leroy Chao]

We're only now about to launch the first astronauts. To put that in perspective, consider the Apollo missions. I mean, we went from no NASA, no rockets, no astronauts, and then the creation of NASA to landing humans on the moon. And in just under 11 years. Right. Pretty incredible. We invented all that stuff. Launch pads, rockets, astronauts, you know, spacecraft. And now here we are, 22 years into the current exploration program, and we're just launching the first astronauts. So hopefully, under this administration and this administrator, Jared Isaacman, I'm a fan of his. I think he's what's been needed to shake this agency up.

[Cassia Akifa]

So this is all very exciting, and you can look forward to seeing the space launch this Wednesday at 6:24 Eastern. And we will be streaming it on the Daily Wire.

[Georgia Howe]

All right, well, Cassie, we are looking forward to it. Thanks for reporting.

[Cassia Akifa]

Thank you.

[Daily Wire Host]

Thanks for waking up with us. And for those listening to the show, you can also now watch the show free on Daily Wire. We'll be back this evening with more news.

[Daily Wire Closing Host]

You need to know.