The State of the War

Summary

Podcast Summary: Part Of The Problem

Episode: "The State of the War"

Host: Dave Smith
Co-Host: Robbie “The Fire” Bernstein
Date: May 7, 2026

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Overview

In this episode, Dave Smith and co-host Robbie Bernstein break down the latest dramatic twists in the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict, focusing on the abrupt, muddled end to "Operation Freedom" and the administration’s contradictory messaging on war, concessions, and U.S. foreign policy—in particular, the influence of Israel. The conversation critiques neoconservative war goals, the propaganda from politicians and media, and what these developments reveal about the state of U.S. foreign policy and constitutional norms.

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Main Themes and Purpose

• Analysis of Trump’s sudden declaration that the war is “over”
• Skepticism about actual U.S. goals and achievements
• Dissection of the administration’s spin and press conferences (especially Marco Rubio’s statements)
• Impact of indirect negotiations with Iran, Israeli interests, and the shifting Overton window around America’s relationship with Israel
• Dismantling of legal justifications using the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution
• Political fallout and future risks

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Operation Freedom Ends Abruptly

• Trump declared an end to military operations in the Persian Gulf less than 30 hours after they began; simultaneously, major concessions seem poised to be made to Iran.
• Dave Smith (04:11): “So in other words, it’s over and we won, we don’t have a deal, and if they don’t agree to this deal, we’re going to hit them harder than ever before.”

2. What Did the U.S. Actually Achieve?

• Trump’s demands for unconditional surrender and regime change were quietly abandoned.
• The Iranian nuclear program’s future remains unresolved, with discussion of possibly returning to the JCPOA enrichment limits, but with no confirmed agreements.
• Iran established a new “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” (09:07) to control the Strait of Hormuz—a signal of strengthening Iranian influence rather than U.S. dominance.
• Robbie (11:18): “A guarantee of nonaggression for Hezbollah is on the table here according to all parties, including Trump.”

3. Media and Political Spin

• Rubio’s Press Conferences: Rubio and the administration frame the outcome as a “win” by asserting U.S. objectives were met, even as war goals remain unfulfilled and negotiations are still to begin.
  • Dave Smith (17:53): “If you ever do something, and then after you do that thing, you go, ‘Okay, the goal here is to get back to exactly what the state of things were before I did that thing,’ then that was a bad idea. This is foolproof, dude.”
• Rubio insists U.S. actions are defensive, despite originating the conflict and imposing a blockade.
  • Rubio (32:16): “This is a defensive operation… There’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first.”
• The administration and media try to spin the quick withdrawal as evidence of avoiding a “forever war”—ignoring the lack of any substantive accomplishments.

4. Constitutional and Legal Questions

• Discussion of the War Powers Act—Rubio and Trump claim it’s unconstitutional, arguing it limits Presidential power, but Dave and Robbie note only Congress can declare war under the Constitution.
  • Dave Smith (27:03): “The President simply does not have the right to say that a law that’s been passed and signed… just isn’t the law anymore.”
• Both hosts skeptical of the administration’s attempts to manipulate legality by declaring the war over while not actually ceasing military activity.

5. Israel’s Role and America’s Relationship

• The team highlights the tension between Trump’s stated desire to end the war and Israel’s announced intent to continue striking Iran and Hezbollah.
  • Robbie (12:06): “Are you finally going to break up with Israel? ...Or are you guys just going to get back into warfare to continue to support them?”
  • Dave (53:06): “There are different segments of the population that have very serious religious views that they have to be loyal to this foreign country… That’s what we’re claiming.”
• The Overton window has shifted so much that mainstream reporting acknowledges the intense lobbying and influence Israel exerts on U.S. decision-making.

6. Political Fallout and Damaged Coalitions

• Trump is in a lose-lose political position: concessions alienate Israel’s U.S. boosters and “no new wars” voters alike.
  • Dave Smith (57:03): “He’s lost them. He’s lost independence, he’s lost young people. None of them are going to come back over him spinning this as a victory when there clearly is none.”
• Prediction that pro-Israel commentators like Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and Barry Weiss will soon turn on Trump for not going far enough.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Cynicism about the Administration’s Narrative
  • Dave Smith (04:30): “If I was to be a little bit of a skeptic, this sounds a lot like every single day of the war. That sounds a lot like what it’s been the entire time.”
• On the Pointlessness of the Conflict
  • Dave Smith (30:03): “[In] Libya, they said he was about to go genocidal and that’s why we had to take him out. This war is just like every piece of propaganda has just fallen flat on its face. It is unbelievable.”
• Rubio on Defensive Operations
  • Marco Rubio (32:16): "This is a defensive operation. ... If they are attacking us or they're attacking a ship, you need to respond to that. You're not going to let some fast boat come up on the ship and shoot it up."
• On the Nature of U.S.-Israel Policy
  • Dave Smith (48:33): “This is not… Israel isn’t influencing us to worry about their enemies. This is about America. This is why we must obsessively focus on Hamas and Hezbollah every day, Rob, because they are the threats to us. ... Just think about on its face, it’s just so ridiculous.”
• Restating the State of the War as of Recording
  • Robbie (60:59): “Big takeaway, here's the state of the war. It's the same as it was yesterday. Nothing's actually changed other than the posturing."

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• [02:01] – Trump declares the end of the war and claims unachieved concessions.
• [04:11] – Trump's public statements and vague, contradictory terms for “victory.”
• [09:07] – Iran’s creation of the Strait Authority, reshaping status quo.
• [15:39] – Breakdown of Rubio’s “triumphant” press performance.
• [19:08] – Reporter directly questions war goals and the return to pre-war status as victory.
• [24:03] – Debate over War Powers Resolution and Constitutional authority.
• [32:16] – Rubio clarifies U.S. operations as “defensive.”
• [33:57] – Microcosm of policy confusion: “If Iran had a nuke, we'd be here,” but that's already the case without one.
• [39:44] – Pete Hegseth grilled on abandonment of unconditional surrender demand.
• [46:50] – Liam Cosgrove (Zero Hedge) presses on whether U.S. can restrain Israel.
• [57:39] – Discussion of the coming rift between Trump and the Israel lobby.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein expose the contradictions and failures of the recent U.S. engagement with Iran, laying bare the government’s incoherence, legal overreach, and the enduring Israeli influence on American foreign policy. The aftermath is a blend of strategic loss, hypocrisy, and political fallout—with the “end” of the war representing nothing more than a change in posture, rather than substance. For listeners, the message is clear: American foreign policy’s true goals—and even its legal boundaries—are murkier than ever.

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Transcript

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[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

What's up, everybody? What's up?

[Dave Smith]

Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. And we are on our way out to tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we're headed out to Phoenix, Arizona, doing shows there all weekend. One show tomorrow night and then two shows Friday, two shows Saturday. So really looking forward to this.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yep. And I got a lot of porches coming up. Here's the next few. Bridgeport, Connecticut, Astoria, New York, Old Saber, Connecticut, doing a show in Washington, D.C. bert at New York, Detroit, trying to line up a Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Hit me up if you got those porches. Find all Those [e-mail] Excited to be back on the road, crisscrossing the country and playing people's lawns.

[Dave Smith]

There you go. There you go. It's always a little bit better in porch season than it is out of porch season. All right, so let's get into the, the, the latest with this war, which we've been focusing on, of course, for, for weeks now. So, Rob, it's over.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The war is over. This is, we have with the Donald Trump administrator.

[Dave Smith]

The propaganda for this war has long since reached you're fucking with me level. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like you're just fucking with me, right? Like none of this.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I mean, so Donald Trump announced the

[Dave Smith]

end of the war. Now, clearly, Rob, this will be. Donald Trump will get credit for ending a war. But of course, for legal reasons, we can't refer to it as a war. So it's not a war. But Donald Trump gets credit for ending it, I'm sure. So Donald Trump try to catch up here, Rob. So 24 hours ago, we were talking about Operation Freedom, which Donald Trump launched in the, in the Persian Gulf, an escalation of sorts on the blockade.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Of the blockade.

[Dave Smith]

It didn't work. I think they got two ships through and then two more got shot at and turned away.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And then he just called the whole thing off.

[Dave Smith]

He just ended it. It was one day, I think it was, it was less than.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It was like 30 hours.

[Dave Smith]

The operation Freedom. Go ahead.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, I think you're missing a step of declaring victory of the straits are now open because we've created this security corridor or some sort of blanket above everyone going through. So there was a full day of we didn't need to negotiate with Iran because we figured out the stray problem.

[Dave Smith]

Yes, that's, that's right, that's right. We figured it out. It was a complete success and therefore we're calling it off right away. And so, so anyway, Donald Trump took to Truth Social.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

There was also a big Axios piece that just came out and then there was a New York Post piece that kind of contradicted it. But we got a bunch here from

[Dave Smith]

Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, both talked to talk to the media today, which was quite something to watch. So I want to get to that in a second, but let's just read the Donald Trump tweet first. So Donald Trump posts on Truth Social this morning. Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is perhaps a big assumption, the already legendary epic fury will be at an end and the

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

highly effective blockade will allow the Horus straight to be open to all, including Iran. If they don't agree, the bombing starts

[Dave Smith]

and it will be sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald J. Trump. So in other words, it's over and we won, we don't have a deal and if they don't agree to this deal, we're going to hit them harder than ever before.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So I'm just saying, Rob, from the

[Dave Smith]

outset, if I was to be a little bit of a skeptic, this sounds a lot like every single day of the war. That sounds a lot like what it's been the entire time.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Well, it does sound like there's one big change, which is that America is finally willing to agree to Iranian enrichment. And so it sounds like we're are in fact going back to the JCPOA of I think it's 3.4%, and now that's looking like it might extend as far as 15 years. So essentially it sounds like the Iranians actually got a concession from America. The big variables on the table now are whether or not, I guess, Iran's going to actually control their Hormuz. And then we've got another really big variable, which is Iran will not do this Unless Israel stops taking action in Lebanon. Which really brings us to the same exact point of, are we willing to break up with Israel? Who's going? Wait, what do you mean you're working out a deal? We were getting ready for more targeted strikes in Iran and we were looking to gear up.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Well, look, as far as what you're

[Dave Smith]

saying about even Iran being willing to negotiate to go back down to JCP levels, this is totally unconfirmed. And like Iran has essentially said, and

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

again, keep in mind, these are all

[Dave Smith]

indirect negotiations that are happening right now. Okay? So it's not. The Iranians are not talking to the Americans. The Iranians are talking to Pakistan. Pakistan's talking to the Americans.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Iran has essentially been saying, which is what they've been saying for a while, that they're willing to do a nuclear

[Dave Smith]

agreement as they've always been willing to do. Like, they're willing to entertain the idea

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

of some type of JCPOA type deal, which they.

[Dave Smith]

They were not the ones. They were the ones who agreed to it, and they were not the ones who tore it up. They, or I guess you could claim they tore it up after the 12 Day War because they were still in it with Russia and the Europeans, but it was America, obviously, and Donald Trump who did that.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

They've been saying they'll be willing to negotiate that after we figure out a

[Dave Smith]

ceasefire to this war, after we figure out negotiating, like, an end to this.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So it's like, it's not clear at

[Dave Smith]

all what could be gained in those future negotiations.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But as of right now, Donald Trump is just floating out that they've made some other promises.

[Dave Smith]

Like, this is what the tweet is saying, right?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Is that assuming Iran agrees to give

[Dave Smith]

what has been agreed to. Now, this is obviously incredibly vague. Donald Trump, it's crazy in the middle of a war for him to not

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

even lay out what the war goals are.

[Dave Smith]

Every war goal he's laid out so far has not been achieved. But he's saying they're going, Gibbs.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The Iranian government is coming out and

[Dave Smith]

saying, we're not making major concessions like that. Now, to be clear here, I'm pointing

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

out that's a big US Concession, though.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Oh, yes, no question.

[Dave Smith]

If, look, there's. There's no way this is an ending with major, major concessions. I want to be clear almost to

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

get ahead of this, though.

[Dave Smith]

I am as ridiculous as this whole war has been. This is not such a bad day. Like, I am cautiously optimistic. Heavy, heavy, heavy on the cautious here. But Donald Trump is signaling that essentially now that like he's not going to admit it, but yeah, we're making a lot of concessions here, Rod. The whole thing is concessions. The whole thing is concessions. It's the starting point of this was that it's a regime change war and that he demanded unconditional, total surrender. So, like, once you start from there, whatever potential deal he's trying to work out now is a gigantic concession from there. But also, yes, it, it does not

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

seem that any of the war goals

[Dave Smith]

are going to be created. Now. One of the things that's interesting here. Okay, sorry, go ahead.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, it just, it kind of sounds to me like Donald Trump won the war and now he's losing the mini war and having to grant too many concessions. But the actual war was already won. Just right. Just to keep the story clear here. And it never was a war. Just in case anyone's interested, it also

[Dave Smith]

wasn't a war, but it's been a war for 47 years. There's a lot of moving pieces here.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Okay.

[Dave Smith]

You got to.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But so to be clear, so yesterday,

[Dave Smith]

this is after we stopped recording. Now, both of these things happened yesterday. Donald Trump, just to be clear, so Donald Trump launches this Operation Freedom in the, in the Persian Gulf.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Iran responds by attacking a bunch of

[Dave Smith]

ships and attacking the uae. Donald Trump calls it quits. Like, like it's on paper here. It just looks like one more Donald Trump bluff.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Bluff called.

[Dave Smith]

He backs off.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The same day that Donald Trump backs off, Iran created the Persian Gulf Strait Authority. There's a new body that Iran just erected.

[Dave Smith]

This government that doesn't exist with its, you know, navy that can't shoot at anything with military that can't do anything, but can also shoot at ships and can also bomb other countries. They just announced. This is from Al Jazeera's reporting.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Iran establish Iran's establishment of the Persian Gulf Straight Authority on Tuesday. A new body to regulate and organize the passage of vessels, whether military or commercial, seeks to permanently alter the status of the Straight. So Iran seems to be setting up

[Dave Smith]

for we, we run the Straight. Like that's the new status quo.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Again, if this is the case, Rob,

[Dave Smith]

and we're Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, who's now also saying this war is

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

over, are as of right now, they're not even saying we have a deal. They're saying we're hoping to put together

[Dave Smith]

a memo that can lead to negotiations that could potentially lead to a deal.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So we're far from the deal. By the way, Rob, the New York

[Dave Smith]

Post spoke with Donald Trump and they

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

asked him, should we be getting ready

[Dave Smith]

to send a reporter over to Islamabad to. For negotiations?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And he goes, no, no, it's, it's just too far.

[Dave Smith]

You know, he's been saying lately, no,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

it's just too much. We're not there yet. So he goes, we're not there yet, meaning we're not at. We're not there. They are meaning face to face negotiations. We're not even at negotiations yet, according to the President. So then if we're at the end

[Dave Smith]

of epic fury, as they're claiming, at

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

least as of right now, Rob, we haven't even begun face to face negotiations.

[Dave Smith]

We're not there yet.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So we have. Iran is setting up a new authority to be in control of the Strait of Hormuz. We have not gotten their enriched uranium.

[Dave Smith]

The regime has not fallen. The people have not taken over their government. They have not stopped supporting Hezbollah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

In fact, as you pointed out, a guarantee of non aggression for Hezbollah is

[Dave Smith]

on the table here according to all parties, including Trump. And so what can you say about this, Rob? I mean, how the hell do you spin this? The literally the only spin that I've seen coming from, from people defending this is that like, well, it's not a forever war.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

See, Donald Trump's getting out of it

[Dave Smith]

and you're like, look, that much isn't even clear yet. But okay, that's not how you judge. You know, you don't just judge things

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

based off other catastrophes.

[Dave Smith]

And if it's not quite as long or bad, then it's good.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This, this whole thing has been in, in many ways the dumbest of all the terror wars.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

I guess the question now is going to be for everyone who supported this war and thought that Israel was our number one partner, are they gonna actually be okay with Donald Trump applying pressure on Israel to have to show restraint in combating its neighbors, combating Lebanon, combating Iran, and to tell them, hey, the Iranians aren't that bad. I worked out a deal with them. Knock it off. The people that were really into this war, if it turns out not to be an endless war and not a regime change war, are they gonna actually support Donald Trump's actions when it includes having to tell Israel to knock it off?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

All right, let's get back on the show.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Well, the crazy thing is that even when you say it requires us telling Israel to knock it off, like, even

[Dave Smith]

when we say, which I've said the same, you know, thing I'm sure we

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

all have, but even when you claim that, like, this requires us to get Israeli restraint, it's such a. There's like a weird conceit in that

[Dave Smith]

argument because it's like, it doesn't even

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

require us to do that. It's almost the only reason we think

[Dave Smith]

it requires us to get Israel to

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

restrain itself is because it's a given

[Dave Smith]

that we're joined at the hip with Israel and we're going to always be doing it with them, if they're ever doing it. Whereas we could just say, we're leaving, we're done. That Israel, if you want to start this back up, you're on your own. That's all it takes.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Israel can't do any of this shit without us.

[Dave Smith]

You know, like, this is what's always so infuriating about it. It's like, even when you had, like, American neoconservative figures like, like, you know, you know, Richard Pearl and. And David Worms or whoever who are talking to Benjamin Netanyahu about whether or not we should do regime change in Iraq, and you're like, dude, Israel in the 1990s was not prepared to go overthrow the regime in Iraq. They weren't. So who are we talking about here, guys?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Oh, yeah, we're talking about the people

[Dave Smith]

who did end up overthrowing the regime. In Iraq. US that's who we're talking about.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

We just have to stop doing it.

[Dave Smith]

There's no, there's no, like, iron law of physics that says if we leave the region, we still have to fund and arm and protect Israel if they want to continue these aggressions.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All right, let's get into some of these clips here.

[Dave Smith]

I will say, by the way, it's

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

being spun in the media that Marco

[Dave Smith]

Rubio did a phenomenal job in this

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

press conference that he, like, took on. He sits in for the press secretary and takes on all these reporters.

[Dave Smith]

He was, he was ridiculous. He was just absolutely ridiculous the whole time. The media, I've seen a bunch of them say Marco Rubio really shines in Prescott. Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All the same people who thought Beto

[Dave Smith]

o' Rourke had all the charisma in the world that Michael Avenatti had the it factor.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

You remember when they used to celebrate

[Dave Smith]

both, both in 2020 and in 2024. But you remember in, in 2020, or I guess this would be in 2019, at the very beginning of the primary

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

season, you remember the media was like,

[Dave Smith]

adoring Kamala Harris and they were like,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

she's just got this magnetism and this charisma.

[Dave Smith]

She's got the it factor. And then, like, just the American people saw her and it was like, no one, no one supports her. Like, it was like, we're, we're dividing up between Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuch wants this. Maybe some people wanted Pete Buttigieg. No one wanted Kamala anyway. They just lie. And then, of course, in 24, she's a rock star.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

She's.

[Dave Smith]

She's got the Obama, like, energy. Remember they tried to say for a few weeks there. Anyway, now they're saying that Marco Rubio did great. Let's, let's take a look at some of Marco Rubio's press conference from today.

[Marco Rubio]

Actor that enables Iran's sanctions evasion is going to face secondary sanctions exposure and a loss of access to the US Financial system. As President Trump has said, and the facts clearly bear out, the United States of America holds all the cards. There is no scenario here in which, if they decide to join a ladder of escalation, they wind up getting the last say. But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they're supposed to be open back to the way it was. Anyone can use it. No mines in the water, nobody paying toll. That's what we have to get back to. And that's the goal here. Every day, the Conflict continues. However, our leverage on Iran will continue to increase and their position will continue to weaken, especially as the blockade really begins.

[Dave Smith]

Dude, if you. This is a pretty good rule of thumb in life, Rob.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

If you ever do anything, you ever do something, and then after you do

[Dave Smith]

that thing, you go, okay, the goal here is to get back to exactly what the state of things were before I did that thing. Then that was a bad idea. This is foolproof, dude.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This applies to any situation where you say, the goal here is to get back to what we had before we launched this war. So as he announces, in his own words, says Epic Fury is over, as he announces the end of the war, there is now only one war goal, which is to get back to where we were before we had this war.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

It sounds like every dude who's ever gone into a casino and he's chasing. Getting back. Back to you. Back to break even.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah. Literally. Right. The goal is just to get back to where I was when I walked into this casino.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Or at least in that. In that example, maybe you had some fun.

[Dave Smith]

You know, I mean, I'm. Maybe Pete Hagseth had some fun in this one, too, but, you know, a lot of people died while he was having fun. Yeah. It's just too wild to even imagine that you could be up there saying, the goal now is just. That is just the straight up Hormuz, only something else. Let's go to this next Marco Rubio

[Press Conference Reporter]

clip on the war. If the fighting were to resume, because you've said that Operation Epic Fury is over. The President also said that the US Would bomb them off the face of the Earth if they tried to go after US Ships. So if the fighting resumes. Are you saying that it would resume under Project Freedom? And I ask, as it relates to the War Powers Act.

[Marco Rubio]

Yeah, look, the operation at Big Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. I'm not going to. You know, we're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What the President would prefer. He would prefer to sit down, work out a memorandum of understanding for future negotiations that touches on all the key topics that have to be addressed. A full opening of the Straits so the world can get back to normal. And he preferred that that be negotiated through the route that Steve and Jared have been working and that all of us have been supporting. That's the route he prefers. That is so far, not the route that Iran has chosen. And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the Fact that we're the only nation on Earth that can do anything to open up a lane within the Straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there. And that's what we're undergoing now. What that may lead to in the future is speculative. I'm not going to speculate about what it would take or what it would do. But look, the message to Iran, these guys are facing. They are facing real catastrophic destruction to their economy, generational destruction to their economy, generational destruction to the wealth of their country imposed on themselves by the actions that they're taking. They should check themselves before they wreck themselves and in the direction that they're going.

[Press Conference Reporter]

Does the White House believe that these votes coming up in Congress are.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Can we just. Can we address what's been said so far?

[Dave Smith]

I mean, they're just.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I swear they're just.

[Dave Smith]

They're fudgeing with me.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Like, I don't know what else to say. We're going MC Hammer on them.

[Dave Smith]

Is that. That's going to, like, he just unironically. He was serious when he said it, too. Like, he's just in the middle of like, yo, dude, I'm going to hit you with this 1987 slang. Okay, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Rob, what did you want to address first?

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

I mean, the idea. So the war is over. We haven't left and the terms aren't agreed to. And I can't speculate about whether or not we're going to have to go back to fighting because we can't agree on these terms. And we still have something that we need to fight with them over because we can't have the straits closed. So it sounds to me like the war is not over.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

They literally are just announcing this is the end of the war without anything attached to it. Anything. Anything happened, including leaving. Like, not even what's. The war's over. Okay, so what's different about today than yesterday? Nothing. The exact.

[Dave Smith]

They're in their own words.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The issues are still the straight and the. And the right. Okay.

[Dave Smith]

You don't.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

You don't have an agreement. You're saying we hope to get a memo that can serve as the structure for the agreement, but right now we can't.

[Dave Smith]

The.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The America is the only country that can open a lane in the Strait of Hormuz, which is, again, completely contradicts what the President said a couple weeks

[Dave Smith]

ago, which is that this is. The hard part's done. Remember, the hard part's done.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This is the easy part. Everyone else should be doing this now. Marco Rubio says we're the only ones

[Dave Smith]

who can do this.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Iran is setting up permanent control of

[Dave Smith]

the Strait of Hormuz.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It seems the parties are no closer to an agreement. And the threat is still, if they don't completely capitulate, we're going back to escalation. Where is, I mean, like, it's, it's amazing that he can even say this

[Dave Smith]

to a room full of reporters.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Crowd health. Crowd health is a company I've been telling you guys about for years.

[Dave Smith]

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[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

All right, let's get back into the show.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Anyway, there's also, to me, there's also a subtle admission because essentially they're saying that they're. And the whole thing's lunacy. If we're going to have a war, Congress needs to declare it. And the fact that whatever this War Powers Resolution act is, I almost agree with the President that it's not constitutional because it almost seems to be an admission of the fact that the President can do action unless there's a resolution against it doesn't make sense. So I actually kind of agree with Donald Trump that it isn't constitutional. Donald Trump, though, seems to be for

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

very different reasons, though.

[Dave Smith]

Rob?

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yes, Donald Trump seems to be acknowledging, though, that the War Powers Resolution does have an impact and he's not violating it because he's not currently in a war because the war that he was engaged in is over, which would sound like that if he went back to war, you would actually need to have a War Powers Resolution that approved it, which is now why they're walking the line of. And I guess they're going to pull some weasel move of, well, it's a new war, so a new count, there's a new clock, and maybe every 60 days they'll pull that move or they take one day off from strikes and go, no, that was the end of that war and now we're in a new war. I mean, I wouldn't put that kind of lunacy past Donald Trump. But whatever's going on here, this is a cartoonish way of trying to get around the War Power Resolutions act, which is also just ridiculous. It shouldn't exist.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So the War Powers act is debatably unconstitutional.

[Dave Smith]

In fact, Murray Rothbard wrote a lot about this when it was first passed, I believe, in the 70s.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And yeah, because essentially, right.

[Dave Smith]

The Constitution's very clear that the Congress, you need a declaration from Congress, only Congress can declare war. And so the. Now there are there.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

The President does have authority to thwart

[Dave Smith]

an invasion, to deal with an imminent attack without authorization from Congress, but that's it.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And so the idea that it was ever constitutional to say you can just

[Dave Smith]

launch wars of aggression and wars of choice with like, that the President has

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

the authority to do that.

[Dave Smith]

It clearly is not granted that authority in the Constitution.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But what they are trying to claim here is that the, the War Powers act itself is unconstitutional.

[Dave Smith]

Now, look, they're saying it's unconstitutional because the President has the right to do

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

this, and he's pointing out that it's

[Dave Smith]

consensus amongst all the presidents that they have the right to start wars without a declaration from Congress. And like that is true. But that doesn't matter. It's just an indictment of all of the presidents.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Now, for Marco Rubio to sit here and say that the War Powers act is unconstitutional. Okay, well, even if you feel that way, here's the thing.

[Dave Smith]

The goddamn executive branch doesn't get to determine that if Congress writes a law and it's unconstitutional.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

If your beef is with unconstitutionality, well, then that is the Supreme Court's job

[Dave Smith]

to overturn that and to say that that's, that that's overstepped. There's. The President simply does not have the

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

right to say that a law that's

[Dave Smith]

been passed and signed into law by a President just isn't the law anymore. I mean, we'll still do it because it's kind of nice and we want to have a good relationship with Congress. But like, we don't recognize that as actually being constitutionally binding. That, that is insane, an insane violation of the Constitution. The President doesn't have a right to do that. Right to just decide which laws he believes are really constitutional in their heart or not.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But look, the idea again that anybody,

[Dave Smith]

like, look, you may have different arguments about interpretations of the Constitution or interpretations

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

of any old text, but the idea

[Dave Smith]

that the Constitution says that the President

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

can just launch a war where there's

[Dave Smith]

clearly no imminent threat, there's clearly been no attack, that the President can just

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

launch a war at his own discretion,

[Dave Smith]

like, that's clearly not what the Constitution very clearly says, which is that only Congress can declare wars.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

There was a reason why they made it that way. They didn't want to give war making

[Dave Smith]

power to the king, because then you're a king. Doesn't really matter what other constraints they have on you.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

If you can just launch a war whenever you want to, you've got ultimate

[Dave Smith]

power in every situation. Okay, let's go.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

I guess the move now is you declare the war over, you still engage in a blockade, pretend that that's not a military activity. And then I guess if Iran escalates, you go, look, there's an imminent threat and I don't need a wartime resolution act.

[Dave Smith]

Well, it's funny you should say that. Let's go to this next clip.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

We got more time on this one. You want to play the rest of this one?

[Dave Smith]

Oh, yeah, sure, sure.

[Press Conference Reporter]

Point then.

[Marco Rubio]

Look, guys, I love talking about this topic about the War Powers act, okay? I love it. I was hoping somebody would ask. All right, hold on, hold on. No, no, you don't. Let me answer. I gotta answer the question, okay? And I love it. I'll tell you why I love it. Because even as a senator, I said something. The War Powers act is unconstitutional 100%. Now this is not the position of me, not the position of the President, United States. Now this is the position of every single President that has occupied this position since the day that law passed. It's completely unconstitutional. Now we comply with it in terms of like, notification because we want to preserve Good relations with Congress. Right. And we do that. But even as a senator, I would say that the War powers Act is 100% unconstitutional. And look, I know some of you

[Dave Smith]

can take this off, honestly, because I already responded to this part, but that's, yeah, essentially he's just saying what the part that I was getting ahead of there. I've, I can't remember which part I saw earlier and which part we played already on the show. But anyway, it's just an absolutely ridiculous argument.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I mean, they are really. I, I don't know that I've ever

[Dave Smith]

quite seen anything like this war. In fact, I'll say I've never seen

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

anything like this war where the, you know, even with previous, like, you know,

[Dave Smith]

I don't know, with the, the terror

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

wars in, in Syria, they had a little bit of, they had a story

[Dave Smith]

that Assad was slaughtering his own people.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

You know, in Libya, they said he was about to go genocidal and that's why we had to take him out. This war is just like every piece of propaganda has just fallen flat on its face. It is unbelievable. I've just never seen anything like this. Like, again, whatever you say about, like

[Dave Smith]

the, the Joe Biden war propaganda in Ukraine or the, the Israeli war propaganda in Gaza or the, whatever, Iraq, Afghanistan,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

any of those, it wasn't like, yo, you are completely contradicting the thing you said yesterday. You weren't like, you know, they, they at least like when George W. Bush was, was saying, like when he was bragging about the elections in Iraq, at least he could point to the elections in Iraq. They were holding elections. You know, like, it wasn't, it wasn't

[Dave Smith]

this, it wasn't like, you've achieved none

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

of the war aims and created this new problem. And you're, and you haven't solved the

[Dave Smith]

new problem and you're going, this was an unbelievable success, dude, this was crazy. It's just, it's wild. All right, let's, let's go to the next Marco Rubio clip, which plays well into what you were just saying.

[Marco Rubio]

Rob this president. Under President Trump, the United States will help our friends. We're going to stand up to rogue regimes like the one in Tehran, and we're going to be unashamed to use our power and our abilities to project military power in the service of our national interests above all else. Now, what's really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation. And what that means is very simple. There's no shooting unless we're shot at first. Okay? We're not attacking them. We're not. But if they are attacking us or they're attacking a ship, you need to respond to that. You're not going to let some fast boat come up on the ship and shoot it up. We're going to respond to it and we've been successful at it. I don't know what the exact number is, but I know a number of those fast boats have now been targeted and will continue to be. If they pose a threat to our forces, we'll shoot down drones, we'll shoot down missiles. But it's defensive in nature. This is defensive. So if you hear stories about attacks and launching of firing back and forth, it's not back and forth. We are only responding if attacked first. This is a defensive operation and that's what's occurring here.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

There you go, Rob. I guess if you just say it enough, then it's got to be true, right?

[Dave Smith]

This is a defense.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Every time there's a shootout, it's aggression on their part.

[Dave Smith]

We're just there defensively.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

After we launched a war of aggression, bombed the country thousands of times, killed

[Dave Smith]

thousands of people, including at least 168

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

little girls,

[Dave Smith]

and then we, and then we put up an illegal naval blockade of the Persian Gulf. But it's defensive.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So you know, any, anytime you're reading in the newspaper, this is what you guys got to understand. Anytime you're reading in the newspaper about all these people were killing, just know,

[Dave Smith]

just know that that was always defensive, no matter what. That's your starting point.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Well, from what I understand, we're no longer in the war, but when we were in the war, which of course wasn't a war, but when we were engaged in that and we were engaged in offensive strikes, it was because Iran was actually an imminent nuclear threat, which means that that was defensive as well. And so if anything, I think the administration is taking a weaker strategy to being defensive because the best defense is a good offense and we've got the best equipment in the world. And now we're just not doing everything we can to keep Iran from going nuclear.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, man. Man, they really. This is quite a web they are trying to weave. Okay, let's, let's go to the next clip. This one, I just couldn't, I couldn't resist. I posted about this on Twitter earlier, but this one is too. I mean, to me, this summed up the whole thing. This is essentially like a, a perfect microcosm of this war and this Administration's take on it. Let's listen again.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This is, this, by the way, this clip, just to be clear, this was shared by the Department of State in

[Dave Smith]

the United States of America. They put this out like, boom. Here's the official party line. Here is the Secretary of State, National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

And I love that it opens up with the Now Lucy pose.

[Marco Rubio]

Everybody needs to think about it this way. If Iran had a nuclear weapon and they decided to close the straits and make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it because they have a nuclear weapon. And a nuclear armed Iran could do whatever the hell they want with the straits and there's nothing anyone would be able to do about it. And that's one of the many reasons, apart from like the massive loss of life in a nuclear strike, why Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Everybody needs to think about it this way.

[Dave Smith]

All right, so just actually, let's process that for a second. Let's all together.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Okay?

[Dave Smith]

If Iran had a nuclear weapon.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Now they don't, but let's just say they did. Let's say Iran did have a nuclear weapon. Well then my, my gosh, Rob, they

[Dave Smith]

could close the Strait of Hermous and

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

there'd be nothing we could do about it. Which I know some of you might hear that and go, that sounds an awful lot like what they're doing right now. That is what's happening. So you're saying that's the additional threat, is that if they had a nuclear weapon, then we'd be right where we are right now.

[Dave Smith]

Well, good thing they don't have a nuclear weapon.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

You know, you're claiming that Iran having

[Dave Smith]

a nuclear weapon would bring us to

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

the point we are now, but the only thing in reality that brought us

[Dave Smith]

to the point we are now was

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

launching this idiotic war against them. What can you say about this, Rob? Also, by the way, another weird admission in there that totally contradicts the official party line.

[Dave Smith]

Or at least what the Commander in

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Chief has been saying is that he goes, if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it sends our, our gas prices up to $9 a gallon. I thought we didn't get our oil

[Dave Smith]

from the Strait of Hormuz.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I thought this only affected other countries. Oh, that's right, I'm sorry. You guys just can't even keep your fucking lies together. So you don't, you can't even think that you're not contradicting the other one. And you Know the media does a

[Dave Smith]

terrible job now I watched most of this whole thing. They really do a terrible job of, of asking questions, a couple of decent questions. But really overall.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But it is almost unfair to expect them to constantly be pointing out like but sir, that contradicts everything you just said five seconds ago.

[Dave Smith]

Anyway, go ahead.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Well I think this goes back to at the beginning of the war

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

the

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

intelligence was hey, you're gonna have a hard time engaging in warfare with them cuz they're gonna close the Hormuz strait. And so what people were pointing to is you can work out a nuclear deal with them but don't try and take military action cuz you're gonna end up with a closed strait. And now he's basically parroting exactly that back which is, hey, the Straits closing would be a really big problem and would jack up our oil prices. And it's like, yeah, that's why you guys never should have done this.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, it's just, it really is unbelievable. Unbelievable that they. Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

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[Dave Smith]

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[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

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[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

All right, let's get back into the show. Okay, so this, this is the big fear, by the way, of Iran that they would close the Strait of Hormuz if they got a nuclear weapon, which

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

is like, again, they, there's no indication

[Dave Smith]

that they were closing this straight short of us launching this war.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And there was no indication that they were anywhere near getting a nuclear weapon. This is all just pure theoreticals that, that have no basis for why we should believe them to be true.

[Dave Smith]

Now, I, I will say in the,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

the Pete Hegg set the boy, but the Pete Hegseth did get a couple

[Dave Smith]

good questions asked of him when it was his turn. And so I thought those would, would both be worth playing now. So let's go, let's go to the first Pete Hegseth clip that we have because this one was, was pretty great.

[Pete Hegseth]

Don't obscure. I think a central default that has occurred here and I would like you both to address it. On the first day of this conflict, President Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and said, when we're finished, take over your government. It'll be yours to take. And then on the seventh day of the conflict, in a truth social post, the President said there will be no deal with Iran except all caps, exclamation mark, unconditional surrender. What happens to that pledge to the Iranians and when did the President decide to capitulate on his demand for unconditional surrender? James?

[Pete Hegseth's Spokesperson or Respondent]

I wouldn't, I wouldn't. You started out nicely, but you ended exactly where we knew you would end. The President hasn't capitulated on anything. He holds the cards. We remain, we maintain the upper hand. And Project Freedom only strengthens that hand. And so he will ensure that whatever deal is made or whatever end state is reached creates ensuring that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, which is a number one. And he's been focused on that. And the deal and discussions are centered on that. And what the Iranian people take advantage of after the fact is up to them. And he's been very clear about that. And maybe you do it now, maybe it happens later, but ultimately he, he's also been clear, we're not going to entangle this into some nation building project. Our objectives are clear. They're, they're, they've Been pursued from day one. Hopefully the Iranian people take advantage of that, because

[Dave Smith]

that's just, I mean, you just can't envy the position. Pete just, I mean, talk about just like little kid with his pants down, like, you know, like, just caught. You didn't do your homework, you didn't read the book, and you got to give a book report on it.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It's like, oh, and maybe, you know, the people take their government or maybe they do it a little later or maybe just like, when the mood is right and then, and then everything works out and it's awesome. And that's what we got, all the cards.

[Dave Smith]

And, like, you know, some good stuff

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

will happen, some more good stuff will happen, and then we'll get everything we want.

[Dave Smith]

Except literally, Donald Trump, as I mentioned,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

so did this reporter, he did say a week into the war that there will be no deal except complete surrender from the Iranians.

[Dave Smith]

And now we didn't get a complete surrender, now, did we?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And yet Donald Trump is saying he wants to make a deal. That is by definition, capitulation. And, you know, it is something because all of these guys, I, I remember particularly when Obama, if, if you remember

[Dave Smith]

this was what the Israel lobby got Obama to commit to, his red line was that if Assad used chemical weapons, then he would go in and overthrow Bashar Al Assad. And then they all went, great, we heard what we needed to hear.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Hey, look, he.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Oh, I'm still here.

[Dave Smith]

Oh, that was on my end. Sorry. They go, oh, look, he's, he, he just did a gas attack or whatever. And then Obama didn't go in. He got too much pushback, at least initially. He started funding covert rebels. But regardless of that, I remember every

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

one of these hawks used to always

[Dave Smith]

say, you can't have a president throw out a red line and then not follow through, because of course they were trying to get him to launch the war.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But Donald Trump just throwing out red

[Dave Smith]

line after red line and then completely capitulating, I guess, isn't. That doesn't hamper national security anymore. That doesn't make for a weak commander in chief. None of them have an ounce of, of consistency or integrity on this issue. But, yeah, it's just. I, I don't know.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It's like it's very clearly black and white. Donald Trump made all these threats, made all these demands, said this was what

[Dave Smith]

the war was about. He's getting none of that.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And now he's saying he wants to make a deal. By the way, I, I want to

[Dave Smith]

be clear on this, because as I did say this at the beginning and that I'm cautiously optimistic about all of this.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This is good. This is a lot better than what

[Dave Smith]

it could have been. Now, by the way, I said emphasis on the caution, because we still don't know and this still could go back to a hot war any second, but

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

it's at least good that they're saying,

[Dave Smith]

yeah, end the goddamn war and then pretend some deal is coming and then

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

when we don't get any of that

[Dave Smith]

deal, make up some other excuse.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Honestly, this is the best we can

[Dave Smith]

hope for at this point. But at the same time, let's be honest with ourselves, this was just a complete own.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Like, even if we're able to get out of it right now, a complete

[Dave Smith]

own goal just blew a ton of

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

resources, got a bunch of people killed, lost a ton of standing in the world, reshuffled the deck entirely.

[Dave Smith]

Who knows what is going to come out of all of this, but none of it's positive for our country. And so anyways, just. It's good that they're moving in this direction, but for Pete Hegset, they have to go up there and pretend like the guy didn't demand unconditional surrender and get. None of it is just stupid.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Well, you know, even Pete Hegset this thinking, but can't say it. Hey, Donald Trump says stupid shit all the time. And we can't apply this kind of standard to Donald Trump because. And listen, the way that they're going to spin it is, well, that was Donald Trump's 5D chess, and he was making the most extreme demands, but obviously he's always a deal maker and he was looking for a deal. And it was because of his compassion for the Iranian people that he decided not to bomb them to oblivion and figured out a pathway peacefully to work with them that betters everybody. Oh, doesn't that feel nice?

[Dave Smith]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It's all they can.

[Dave Smith]

It's all they can say, man. I do not. I do not think it's going to fly, though. I mean, I just do not think it's going to work. Like, I don't think if this, if this wraps up even now, I don't think you're going to see Donald Trump, like, have a big bounce back in the polls or put his coalition back together. I mean, I think this is all really damaged beyond repair, frankly.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But. But, you know, we will see again, it's still a big que. The forget even. Can he get a deal with Iran? Can he just get this ceasefire to hold?

[Dave Smith]

Can he get the war to not start back up.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

That is a big question.

[Dave Smith]

As you mentioned earlier, Rob, there's a whole nother nation involved in this with, with, with its own, you know, goals. And we saw last time, after Donald

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Trump announced the ceasefire, of course it

[Dave Smith]

was, it was Israel who kept attacking southern Lebanon. And that, that kept the war going for a while. And then Donald Trump demanded that they stop. They didn't.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

They slowed down a little bit, but they didn't completely stop.

[Dave Smith]

And then they've already put out some statements about how they're not done with this war.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Here we have.

[Dave Smith]

This was another good question asked to Pete Hegseth. Here we have this posed to the Secretary of War,

[Liam Cosgrove (Zero Hedge Reporter)]

Liam Cosgrove with Zero Hedge in recent weeks. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

[Dave Smith]

I didn't realize it was Liam.

[Liam Cosgrove (Zero Hedge Reporter)]

Have stated there not to cease combat with the Iranians. Netanyahu put this on Twitter. Israel's head of Mossad said Israel's goals are not finished and until the Iranian government collapses. And so they're referring to the government that President Trump has brokered a cease fire with and is working on a lasting peace in the region with. And so that's something many Americans, especially American farmers, are hoping he does get to a lasting peace. And so if President Trump is successful in that and the Israelis are explicitly stating their intent to continue fighting at a later date, how can you ensure America doesn't get roped back into a war if that comes? And secondly, with Netanyahu comfortable tweeting something like that out? And also, Netanyahu has continued bombing Lebanon despite President Trump explained the question is

[Pete Hegseth's Spokesperson or Respondent]

based on the false premise that somehow President Trump is being pulled in by Prime Minister Netanyahu to any of these actions. And that's where you're going. Just to be clear, President Trump has led at every step of this based on his view of American interests in America. First, and we're grateful that Israelis have been very capable partners at many steps of this. And they may have some objectives, times that are slightly different than ours. But there's only one hand on the wheel ultimately directing this, whether it's Project Freedom or previously Operation Epic Fury, and it's President Trump. So we're grateful for their input, their insights, the existential nature of the threat they face from an Iranian bomb, the capabilities that they can bring to that. But ultimately, the coordination will happen with

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

the leadership of President Trump.

[Pete Hegseth's Spokesperson or Respondent]

Thank you very much.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All right. Well, so there you have it, Rob. Israel isn't driving the wheel.

[Dave Smith]

You know, they might be in the Passenger seat. They're very capable, you know, friends of ours. But we're the ones who are driving this thing. This is not. Israel isn't influencing us to worry about their enemies. This is about America. This is why we must obsessively focus on Hamas and Hezbollah every day, Rob, because they are the threats to us. This has nothing to do.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

What do you mean?

[Dave Smith]

You think this has something to do with Israel and their enemies? No.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Hezbollah is a huge problem for the United States, for the middle part of North America.

[Dave Smith]

They really have to worry about what militias have power in southern Lebanon, obviously. Just think about on its face, it's just so ridiculous.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But, like, no, listen, Liam's question wasn't based on any premise. Liam's question was based on the premise

[Dave Smith]

of what's going on right now. Donald Trump told Israel to stop bombing southern Lebanon.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

They didn't.

[Dave Smith]

They kept it going.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

You know, Pete Hagseth here admits we might have some. You know, we're in this war with them, but we may have some slightly different goals. Well, hold on. These aren't slightly different goals. These are diametrically opposed goals. Donald Trump's goal is to get out of this thing. Clearly, that's what he wants at this point. He is all you've seen between Rubio and Trump and all of this. They are desperately trying to get out of this. Like, please find us a way that

[Dave Smith]

we can save face but end this thing.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

We can't go up the escalation ladder anymore. Every time they try, they're like, oh, even just now, right? They tried with this, with escalation in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranians start bombing the United Arab Emirates.

[Dave Smith]

And they're like, God damn it.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All right, we'll call that off. Donald Trump threatens bridge and power plant day. They go, okay, we're taking out desalination plants.

[Dave Smith]

He goes, oh, all right.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Damn it. Can't do that. We're looking for something. So these try. So Donald Trump wants to make a deal with this regime to get out of this war, and Israel wants to overthrow this regime. That's not just like, hey, sometimes we have some slightly different goals. This is like you're trying to save the patient and the other guy's trying to murder the patient.

[Dave Smith]

You can't work together on that.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

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[Dave Smith]

All right, let's get back into the show.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And so, yeah, look again, Rob, I,

[Dave Smith]

as, I've, I've made this point a million times. I've made it when I was debating Josh Hammer and when we were responding

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

to Coleman Hughes where said, look, they always start with the straw man.

[Dave Smith]

And they go, so your claim is that Israel is the puppet master and America is just the puppet. And every single thing that Israel wants you to do it, they do. And then like, they try to debunk

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

that and it's like, no, that's not exactly what people are saying. What people are saying is that there's this foreign country, there's this, that country has a lobby within our country that is very powerful.

[Dave Smith]

There are different segments of the population that have very serious religious views that, that they have to be loyal to this foreign country, both Jews and evangelical Christians as well as some others, I suppose. And then there are people for different, more secular, like, but also quasi religious,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

you know, views of the Holocaust or World War II or whatever, who feel we must be loyal to this foreign country.

[Dave Smith]

Like, that's what we're claiming.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

It's not that. So again, my point is that there's a dynamic here and we don't know exactly how this is going to work. And obviously there's institutions and individuals and

[Dave Smith]

a government and a lobby at play

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

here that are going to try to push for these goals that are clearly contrary to the goals that the President has right now. And so who's going to win that influence fight? I'm not saying it's determined which one it's going to be, but if somebody is acting against the interest of the President and in this case against the interest of our nation. Why should we not call that out? Like, that is the dynamic here, clearly. So, I mean, like, again, Rob, this

[Dave Smith]

is the Overton window on.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This has moved so much that this isn't even a conspiracy theory. This is the mainstream narrative at this point. This is like, according to the New York Times and the Washington Post and the Jerusalem Post, like, this is what happened here. Benjamin Netanyahu pitched. He came and visited, like, seven times. And then he, him and the Mossad chief convinced Donald Trump to launch this war and that it would. They would be able to launch a decapitation strike and overthrow the regime quickly. They got him into this.

[Dave Smith]

It's his responsibility.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

He did it. But they persuaded him into this. Now he's in. And they want the regime gone because that's all they ever cared about.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yeah. There's a reason why this is a conference ender, and that's because Pete Hegseth doesn't actually answer the question, which comes back to what I said at the beginning of the episode, is, are you finally going to break up with Israel? And so the question is if Donald Trump actually wants to walk away from the war, but Israel is saying no, we're still pushing for regime change. And we know that they've already undermined Donald Trump's efforts because when he did the ceasefire, they continued to bomb

[Dave Smith]

Lebanon.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Lebanon. Thank you. Kept thinking Libyan. I was like, I know that's wrong. They kept bombing Lebanon.

[Dave Smith]

Already done with that.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, they kept bombing Lebanon. So then what's the plan for restraining Israel? Or how are you gonna be in this peace agreement if the partner that you tend to acquiesce to will not engage in it? Are you finally gonna break up with Israel and cut military spending so that they knock it off, or are you guys just gonna get back into warfare to continue to support them? And it's a different question. It's not saying that the United States of America is run by Israel or that Donald Trump has only been engaging in these actions for Israel. It's asking a new question of, at this moment, it looks like he's looking to end the war, and Israel doesn't want that. So what's the plan?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Yep.

[Dave Smith]

Now I will say, and of course, this is. This is not a new dynamic.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

This is something we've been talking about before.

[Dave Smith]

And again, all of this is very unclear right now because, as we said,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

there's not really substantively anything different about today than yesterday. We're essentially in. The dynamics are all still there with

[Dave Smith]

the threats of Escalation still there.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

But again, so we've talked about this before, but if Donald Trump is really

[Dave Smith]

pivoting now, best case scenario here is

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

that Donald Trump really is pivoting to

[Dave Smith]

go, guys, just give us, like, a memo that we can roughly agree to some starting points in negotiations and we'll just stop this whole thing. We'll accept, you know, even that you have this new board that's running the Persian Gulf or whatever. We're just, we're getting out of this, and we're going to try our best to spin this as some type of victory.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So this is the best case scenario. Okay, let's say Donald Trump is actually

[Dave Smith]

doing that, which is still not clear, but he is pivoting toward that.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I can guarantee you that.

[Dave Smith]

Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro and Barry

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Weiss, like the entire Israel lobby, including

[Dave Smith]

all of their media personalities, Alan Dershowitz

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

and all of these, they are going

[Dave Smith]

to be undermining President Trump at every turn. They are going to turn on him if he's going to leave this regime in power. And Donald Trump's not getting any of us back. He's not winning over. He's not re winning over any of the people who just wanted no new wars. And, you know, that represents a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump. Not saying it's everyone, but a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump wanted. They liked it when he said no new wars. He's lost them. He's lost independence, he's lost young people. None of them are going to come back over him spinning this as a victory when there clearly is none.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And then on top of that, now, now that he's gone all in with I. I hate Tucker Carlson and Megan Kelly and Alex Jones and Candace Owens.

[Dave Smith]

I love Mark Levin. Now Mark Levin's gonna turn on him. That's gonna be the next phase. And as I've said before, man, does he deserve that? Oh, I mean, is. This is just.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

I'm sorry, like, the country doesn't deserve any of this. But that is not like, out of,

[Dave Smith]

out of a classic poem. You know what I mean? Like, just a perfect, like, end to this story.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Is that. Yeah, yeah, you threw all of your supporters under the bus for the never Trumper neocon Warhawks.

[Dave Smith]

And what did you think?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

They were loyal to you? They're loyal to greater Israel. Okay? They're.

[Dave Smith]

They're loyal to Netanyahu's ambitions, not you.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And his ambitions are that we overthrow this regime.

[Dave Smith]

And there's only a tiny bit of evidence for that, which is Everything Benjamin Netanyahu's ever said for his entire adult life.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So that's, that's where we are now. And that's going to be, I will say, man, that's going to be something that makes the political realities of reaching

[Dave Smith]

some ground deal a lot harder.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

That essentially the only hardcore Trump support

[Dave Smith]

now comes from guys like Mark Levin and their dying boomer audience. I don't mean that in a mean way. I just mean literally, as you get older, you're dying and that, you know,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

that's his base now.

[Dave Smith]

That's it. And so what does he do?

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

He tries to make some deal with the Iranians. So you think you're going to make a deal that keeps this regime in place, that keeps, because look, also, Rob, you got to remember, right, to all of those people, the nuclear thing isn't actually the issue.

[Dave Smith]

That has nothing to do with it.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Literally nothing to do with it. This is purely, I mean, to the extent it has anything to do with

[Dave Smith]

it, they essentially, they'll say it in their own words. In fact, Benjamin Netanyahu and, and Ehud Barak both said to Goldberg, the Atlantic,

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

they both told him that their big

[Dave Smith]

concern was that if Iran got nuclear

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

weapons, we couldn't overthrow the regime.

[Dave Smith]

There wasn't about nuclear weapons for anything

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

else other than like, if they develop them, then we can't overthrow the regime.

[Dave Smith]

And then they were worried about, like, brain drain from Israel or something like that. But, you know, there, it's a.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

What is it about, Rob? Well, you know already, it's about Hezbollah. It's about southern Lebanon. So if, if we don't get that, which clearly is not even on the table anymore.

[Dave Smith]

If you remember in the last round of negotiations before this war, that was one of the things they, they had snuck in. There, too, was no more support for your proxies. No one's even talking like that anymore. They're only talking about the nuclear issue in the Strait of Hormuz at this point.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So, okay, if this regime is left

[Dave Smith]

standing and they're still friends with Hezbollah, there's no way Mark Levin accepts that. There's no way Ben Shapiro accepts that. They're gonna, they're gonna skewer Donald Trump over this, and we are going to enjoy watching that. I'm gonna be rooting Mark Levin on.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Of course, this is all, these are

[Dave Smith]

all big ifs, because by, you know, tomorrow we could be back to bombing them.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

So, big takeaway, here's the state of the war. It's the same as it was yesterday. Nothing's actually changed other than the posturing.

[Dave Smith]

But that is actually a really good sign. I'll leave the last word to you on that, Rob, and then we will head over to Phoenix, Arizona.

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

Yeah, I look forward to doing an episode on Friday about back to war.

[Dave Smith]

Yeah, yeah. There you go.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

All right, guys, listen.

[Dave Smith]

Comicdavesmith.com for the ticket links.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

And then we also got a bunch

[Dave Smith]

more stuff coming up, so please come see us on the road. We will be coming to a city near you Sooner or later. Comicdavesmith.com and then of course, also you can go see Rob on the summer summer porch tour, which starts in spring these last few years. And I'm sorry, what's the the site

[Rob's Guest or Co-host]

for Those Rob Robbernstein comedy.com a lot of dates coming right up. The recent ones coming up is Bridgeport, Connecticut, Historia, Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Washington, D.C. burdette, New York, Detroit, and then looking to add a Pittsburgh or Cleveland. So if you got a porch, hit me up and, you know, come support the porch.

[Dave Smith]

All right.

[Robbie the Fire Bernstein]

Hell yeah. Thank you guys so much, uh, for listening.

[Dave Smith]

We'll catch you guys next time. Peace.

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