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- [00:01]
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- [00:36]
Dave Smith
What's up? What's up everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem, a weekend episode. We don't usually record on Sundays but felt like we needed to, to do that today. I was, I was just busy yesterday and didn't have a chance to record. But you know, sometimes that's a little bit better in situations like this. Rob, I know everyone's always rushing to be first, but. Which is important in news too. But you know, it's, it's. I'm kind of glad that we waited another day because the time that we would have recorded yesterday anyway, things have changed quite a bit anyway. So. Rob, this is a shitty way to be vindicated. You know, it's a really awful way to be completely proven right. This is. Well, we'll kind of get into that. But one of the, one of maybe the less interesting dynamics in all of this is that the justification for the 12 Day War has just been completely blown up and exposed for what it is and what a lot of us called it out at the time to be. So on Friday night at around 2am, I guess more accurately described as Saturday morning at around 2am Donald Trump announced what we had all been, you know, what, what all the signals were that we're going to war with Iran and that this is a full regime change war. A regime change war from the sky. We're not invading the country, but we are bombing the crap out of them. And with the stated goal of overthrowing the regime. Now we had been saying, Rob, on, on the, on the show for a couple weeks now and in fact I've made this, you know, a pretty big point to talk about in Donald Trump's State of the Union last week that, well, man, this is really his opportunity where he's got to like present the case for war with Iran. I mean, he's been building toward this war for quite a long time, making major military moves in the region for the last couple months. And, and yet the war is very unpopular and he's really never given the American people a good reason why we have to fight it. And so I was interested to see. Oh, he's going to have to lay out his case for the war. Nope, just did it. Just, just did it. And posted a video on Twitter about it. Most Americans, and you got to keep this in mind, Rob, most Americans do not pay attention to the news cycle the way me and you do. And that's good. We don't want everybody to do that. If everybody obsessed over politics as much as I do, we, we'd all starve to death because no one would ever make food. So it's important that other people don't. But I just say that to make the point, Rob, that like, a lot of Americans didn't even know that we were moving military hardware around the Middle East. Do you know what I mean? Like, this just wasn't even something they were keeping up with. And they just woke up. No debate in Congress, no debate across the nation. They just woke up to like. Donald Trump made a Twitter video that says we're going to war with Iran. He in, in the video explicitly stated that this is a regime change operation. And Rob explicitly stated that Americans are likely to die in this war. But, hey, that's the price of fighting wars for Israel, I guess. Here, before we get. I'm very curious your thoughts on this, Rob, but let's just play a clip of this Is Donald Trump announcing that he's taking the country to war with Iran.
- [04:09]
Donald Trump
We must abandon the failed policy of nation building and regime change that Hillary Clinton pushed in Iraq, in Libya, in Egypt and in Syria. We want to help them. We'll be good to them. We'll work with them. We'll help them in any way we can. But they can't have a nuclear weapon. We're not looking, by the way, for regime change because some people say we're looking for regime change. We're not looking for regime change. I've watched President Obama and many other presidents try. That doesn't work out too well. We're not looking for that at all. Finally, to the people and leaders of Iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, one of prosperity at home and harmony with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace again. I think Iran has tremendous economic potential and I look forward to letting them get back to the stage where they can show that. I think Iran, I know so many people from Iran. These are great people. It has a chance to be a great country with the same leadership. We're not looking for regime change. I just want to make that clear. We took action last night to Stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. I have deep respect for the Iranian people. They are a remarkable people with an incredible heritage and unlimited potential. We do not seek regime change. However, the Iranian regime's aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors, must end, and it must end now.
- [05:58]
Rob
Do you want to see regime change in Iran?
- [06:01]
Donald Trump
If there was, there was. But, no, I don't want to. I'd like to see everything calm down as quickly as possible.
- [06:07]
Dave Smith
Okay. All right, we can cut this off. I am. I'm. I'm being told that this was not, in fact, Donald Trump announcing we're going to war with Iran. This is just everything he said about it until five seconds ago. What can you say, Rob?
- [06:24]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
- [06:30]
Dave Smith
It really is. You know, it's just. Look, what can you say? I mean, obviously, this was always the big fear of a Trump presidency. I said on at least a couple different shows. Oh, I for sure said on. It was on the Reason just Asking Questions show with Liz and Zach. I said that, you know, when I was talking about that I'm voting for Donald Trump, they were like, what's your biggest fear? And I was like, oh, it's war with Iran is the biggest fear. You know, obviously, of course, Donald Trump in his first term had flirted with this war a couple times, but he did back off when he had the opportunity to escalate it. Donald Trump part two is just that much more controlled or that much weaker, but he has been pushed into this war. It's pretty. You know, this is. Of all the terror wars, it's the most blatantly for Israel of all of them. I mean, if you. If you do your reading, then, yes, you know, Iraq and Syria and Libya were wars for Israel, but this one is just blatantly a war for Israel against the will of the American people, against the will of Trump's own base, at least the day before he launched it. I guess as of today, they're saying a slight majority of. Of Trump supporters support it, but of course, they're just going to support whatever Donald Trump does the first day of it or the first two days of it. And we'll see what this turns into. So only a couple days into this conflict, already, there's been a lot of developments. Number one, the. The Iranian response. Well, there's been a lot of bluster about what they're going to do, but certainly you would have to say that it hasn't been a response like the 12 Day War. It's not a response where they're giving advance notice and trying their best not to hurt people. They've touched targets all over the Middle East. They've hit Tel Aviv fairly hard. And, you know, I haven't gotten good casualty reports out of Israel, but there's definitely been people killed. It has been confirmed by Central Command that three Americans have been killed and I think something like a dozen wounded. So Americans have been killed in this war for Israel already. And then, of course, the very big event yesterday was that they did, they killed the Ayatolla. And this was something we had said on the show many times that, like, hey, there is a good chance that maybe they can get intelligence on where the Ayatollah is and they can take them out with, with a bombing campaign. Well, it turned out that that was true. And impressively, they did it the first day. And so have to admit that was I, I did not think they were going to be able to do that quite so quickly. But hey, they were able to pull it off. And so, okay, so essentially, I'll say this. I, so I was yesterday, around yesterday afternoon, this is before it was confirmed that the Ayatollah had been killed. I was talking about this. We were on, we do like every month, we do like a zoom call with, like, the supporting listeners. If you want to sign up over@partoftheproblem.com in the top two tiers, we do a monthly zoom call with all of us. Great group of people, too. And so what I was talking about at the time was, and this is almost like if you could do the, the timeline of it, right? So during the day yesterday, I was saying, well, look, the thing that's really concerning here is that now that Donald Trump has announced that this is a regime change operation, well, that puts him in a, I mean, Donald Trump has, has put all of his balls out on the table. Like, he's gone all in. This is his legacy. He, he, his presidency hinges on how this military operation proceeds. Like, and so you get into a, once you announce that it's a regime change, if you bomb the crap out of them, but the regime is still standing, that's very hard to have an off ramp, too, because now you look like a failure. And of course, you know, the Israel lobby and Netanyahu and all of them will pounce on you if you try to walk away and say, hey, you drew a red line, it's regime change. And so it's a failure if you don't do that. Then yesterday it's, well, first the Israelis claim they had killed the Ayatollah. It was a few hours before Iranian state media acknowledged that it was true. But once that was the case, then I went, okay, well, maybe this is a potential off ramp. Like, maybe this is an opportunity where Donald Trump, who, as you just saw in the video there, seems to have never really wanted this war, seems on some level to know how dangerous these regime change wars in the Middle East. Are you here out of his own mouth saying, look, we tried this in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Syria, in Libya. Look what a disaster it was. These guys want to do it again in Iran, it's going to be another disaster there. This is Donald Trump's own words. So on some level. And of course, as we saw in the 12 Day War, when he was given the opportunity, he did take the off ramp. Makes one wonder what the hell he's doing doing this stuff at all. But, so I did suspect, and I said this to you, Rob, maybe this will be what me and Rob were talking at the comedy club last night. I was like, well, maybe this is his off ramp. You know, he can do the Trump thing in Venezuela and say, we did it, even though you didn't really do anything, but, hey, we did it, and the Ayatollah is killed and so blah, blah, blah, he can just say, iran's been liberated, we run the country now, you know, like he did in Venezuela, even though we don't really. And I got to say, Rob, from the reporting, it looks like my guess on that was right, that Donald Trump did want to take that. It's now being reported that they went to, through it, through Italy. They, the US Went to negotiate with Iran after the Ayatollah and some other senior members were killed and said, okay, let's do a ceasefire now. And the Iranians said, no, see, this is the goddamn thing that I was telling all you people about last summer that nobody wanted to fucking listen to. And, man, God damn, Rob. I mean, God. I mean, the levels of vindication here, where I was saying, hey, this is all about a regime change. This is the regime change Israel has wanted for, for decades. And this is what they're going through. They go, no, it's just about 60% enriched uranium and we obliterated their program. Oh, you panic, you panic, you worry. You guys are so, so like little girls. Worrying about the unsustainability of multiple wars, worrying about debt and permanent militarism and forever wars, that's just silly little panic and things. See, this was an easy little intervention. Except here we are six months later, and what was the point that I made over and over again about the 12 Day War? Think about it, dude. You. For all these people who are telling us what a scary threat the fucking mullahs are, okay, well, you put it all in their hands. For the 12 day war to work out the way it did, it relied on Iranian restraint, maybe for self preservation, but Iranian restraint nonetheless. But see, here's the thing, Rob, about relying on restraint for self preservation. Once you announce the regime must be destroyed, and then you kill the leader of the regime, who, by the way, Rob, is also a very important religious figure to the Shiites. You can't just count on the fact that they're going to do that once again. And so they've turned this down. By the way, this is, as is always the question that never gets asked. It's what comes next, which we'll get into a bit more. But so they kill the Ayatollah and that, and. And then Trump wants to do a ceasefire. Okay, they don't want to do a ceasefire. And the regime has still been responding since the Ayatollah has been killed. Oh, and Rob, there's a new ayatollah who's just been appointed. So it. It seems like as of now, all that's been achieved. Well, there's reportedly like 100 Iranian children have died. The. Probably the casualties are much higher than that. Some Israelis have died, some Americans have died, some Israel. Some Iranian children have died. And now instead of having the Ayatollah who had shown restraint in the past, who had vowed that due to his religious convictions, he never wanted nuclear weapons, now we got a whole new guy in there who, from all the stuff I've been reading, is more radical than the last one. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Prize Picks. Shoot your shot on Prize picks and get $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5. That's right. Prize Picks is now giving you $50 in lineups when you sign up and play your first $5. Prizepix makes every dunk, every dime and every board that much more exciting. So don't miss the chance to get started on America's number one app for sports picks. Prize Picks is simple to play, even for people who don't know sports at all. They. They have fun with it. All you do is you pick more or less on two to six player stat projections. If you get your picks right you can cash in, pick from all your favorite sports, anything from basketball, baseball, hockey, ufc, soccer, college basketball, and their new feature, Prize Picks early payouts. If your player gets off to a hot start, you have the option to cash out those winnings before the game even finishes. 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- [16:59]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Yeah, I got a lot. I'll start with this. And this is always the problem when we hang out in the green room before we do an episode is you will get some repetition. But off the bat, it's incredible that for all the outrage from the machine over Donald Trump becoming president, he turned out to be the best deep state president yet and he pulled off the war that even John McCain couldn't get. So impressive in that regard. Now, I said this to you last night in the green room, but much like during COVID as much as I want it to be right, I did not root for vaccine injuries. And while I would like to see less war in the world and I don't think, I think we could do a lot more to get along with people and not have these excursions. And I think these excursions are bad for the country now that it's kicked off. I'm kind of rooting for the best. But this is an incredibly risky play. And speaking, you know, amongst the risks is we once again bombed them while there were negotiations going on. And so from their side, you know, at what point can they trust us at all? I think the game that's being played here is that they want to escalate and get back some. They need some blood, which I'm not endorsing, but I think that they need to make this somewhat costly for Donald Trump. But they don't want to escalate it to the extent that they just get nuked. So I don't think that they've totally unleashed hell. But then they also got the risk factor of if you hold your bombs too long, maybe all of your munition factories and whatnot get exploded and then, you know, you've got nothing left. Donald Trump does have a great off ramp here of going, we did get regime change. I killed the ayatollah. They learned their Lesson. And now we're going back to the jcpoa. And I just don't see them giving up their ballistic missiles programs because amidst everything that's going on, I really only see an incentive for them to now push for a bomb and be more aggressive. Amongst the risk factors of them being more aggressive is not just that the new Ayatollah is more aggressive, but also if maybe they actually radicalize people for more terrorism, which their branch of Muslimhood, I don't know if that's the word. Wasn't really doing it was the other guys.
- [19:09]
Dave Smith
Yes, yes.
- [19:10]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
So all of this just seems completely reckless and like, just extremely risky. But I don't know. Yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe they, maybe they walk it back from here because Iran doesn't really have an out. So maybe the regime change stays in. Donald Trump claims it's a different regime and, you know, they go back to some sort of a nuclear agreement, you know.
- [19:33]
Dave Smith
Okay, so there's a lot of really good points in there. So let me first just, just to kind of second your point there. Look, I agree, man. I would much rather. This is kind of what I was getting at, being kind of tongue in cheek, like, this is not a good way to be vindicated. And I don't care about being vindicated. And I, I hope, even though it would, I don't know, look worse for me if Donald Trump was able to do this and there's no bad ramifications. I mean, there's already obviously been people have died, but I hopefully no more people die and this ends. And if that gives the hawks a talking point where they can brag about, see, you guys are alarmist and it's not that hard. Whatever. I'd rather have that in a good comparison you make to like the vaccine injuries after you're warning people don't take this vaccine. But enough of them have you go, man, I hope I'm wrong and I hope there aren't vaccine injuries because I'm not rooting for death and destruction so that my prediction looks better. That being said, I'm making the prediction for a reason or have been for a long time because there's a real risk to this stuff. Now, to your point about the negotiations, look, it just can't be overstated. It's not just that Donald. It's not just Donald Trump and it's not just with Iran. It's not just that Donald Trump can never be trusted to negotiate again, but there's a precedent just for negotiating with America, period. And you know, the. Again, I hope I'm wrong about this, but the Iranians had already offered the jcpoa plus like they had offered the JCPOA without sunset, without sunset clauses and with more restrictions. Donald Trump already had the off ramp of coming away going, I negotiated a better deal than Obama did. I do not see how that happens now. I don't see how they go back to negotiating. And you know, one of the things, and of course I agree with you, look, I don't want to see any American boys get killed. One of the problems here is that Donald Trump has now created in incentive structure. And I got to say this is just simply, this is, this was the Israelis plan and they're just much smarter than Donald Trump and so they were able to con him into this. Donald Trump. The, one of the major problems with Donald Trump is that he's weak and he's stupid. You know, these are real issues. He doesn't know anything. He goes into this shit blind, convinced that he's a genius who knows more than everyone else. But the, the incentive structure here that, that he's created is that now the Iranians can reasonably calculate that they have to give us a bloody nose, that the, their only chance here is to make sure they at least hit us back, you know, after the, you know, the 12 Day War was only half a year ago. No, after they come in, they bomb the country and you don't respond and then they go, oh, a few months later they're right back here Bo country get now murdering your leader. It's, it's very easy to see where the lesson to that would be, hey, we have to respond, we have to make this cost them something, otherwise they're just going to keep with us forever until we're dead. And so now you turn like the self preservation incentive around to be like, well I guess we got to do something. And look what Iran's already done in their response already is a huge risk. But it's an interesting calculation on a geopolitical level. So they have essentially attacked everybody, not just Israel or you know, they're bombing all types of countries in the region. And it seemed like to some, with some of them they were targeting like US sites, but some of them not. And so the dynamic you have here is that essentially no one in the region except Israel wanted this war. Perhaps Saudi Arabia, I've heard some conflicting reporting on that. But the rest of them in the region didn't want this. Right, because they don't want a catastrophe right next door to them. And also because the strait of Hormuz being closed, which it now apparently is, that's a big deal to a lot of those countries in the region there. This has major, major ramifications for Saudi Arabia and Qatar and Pakistan and India. And, like, it's a really big deal to slow down. I don't know, like, Rob, if you've read any of the numbers there, but it's like 20 of the world's oil, like, flows through there. It's a weird thing because if you look at it on the map, you're almost like, oh, why do they need the Strait of Hormuz? But, like, if you really zoom in, you is a very, very narrow little area. And this is like the area where so many of those countries have to get their oil out from. Like, you know, Saudi Arabia has, like, the Red Sea on the other side, and they do some of their trade through there, but for multiple reasons, it's much, much harder to do it. So this is. So anyway, the countries in the region didn't want this conflict, and so now Iran is attacking them. And, you know, that's a big gamble. What does that result? Does that result in them all recognizing that there's a real cost to America and Israel doing this, or does that result in them getting real angry and wanting to join in on the fight against Iran? You know, that's. That's unclear. But Donald Trump has certainly now pushed the Iranians to a point where, look, between, number one, there's the strategic, you know, incentives that they could very reasonably feel like they got to make a big show here. And then, number two, there's also just like the human emotional component of this, which is that you just killed their leader. You just took out the ayatollah, a religious figure and a political leader. And I don't know, Rob. I mean, you saw there's major demonstrations, pro regime demonstrations across Iran. There are also Iranians out in the streets celebrating. But there's just. As of right now, the regime has not fallen. The attacks are continuing, the ceasefire has been rejected. And again, this is another important detail that I guess we'll get into a little bit more here. But Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, the national security advisor, he's been on record for a few weeks now where they said they don't have a plan, which is just so wild. It is so insane. Rob, at this point, 25 years into the global war on terrorism, with examples in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, with all these examples that anyone. And a president who said all the things that we just played Donald Trump saying would launch a regime change war and openly admit we don't even have a plan. Like, they don't even have a car's eye. They don't even have a figure who they're claiming is going to be the guy they've bailed on the Shah's kid. They know, they know if they send him into Iran, they're sending him to his death. So they're not even claiming they have a regime, that they want to replace this regime. We don't have a military occupation on the ground, so we have no mechanism by which we can direct what regime would rise up in the event that this one collapses. And so look, I mean, as Donald Trump himself said, the big lesson of all of this is that what comes next might be worse, right? You could sit here and talk about how bad Saddam Hussein is, but what comes next might be head shop and bin Ladenites and you could talk about how bad the Ayatollah is, but what comes next might be a minor Ayatollah or another religious figure three clicks to the right of him. So just a, wild, just, I don't know. It's just this policy, it really is like so blatantly it is risking catastrophe for America and the region so that Israel can achieve the Greater Israel Project. It's just these people are traitors to the country.
- [27:44]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Well, I, I think it's because they're more than okay with the failed state. And so they don't mind if there's no leadership or chaos or some sort of other, you know, just civil war between different terrorist groups. What they don't want is an organized country. That I guess.
- [28:00]
Dave Smith
No, that's right.
- [28:00]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Could, could pretend to, or pretend to be a threat to Israel. That, that's what they know.
- [28:05]
Dave Smith
That's, that's right. Look, it was Ben Shapiro who came. He celebrated when Assad fell. And why? Because we broke up the Shiite crescent. Now Iran can't get weapons through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon anymore. I mean, yeah, sure, we gave the country to Al Qaeda and the Christians are being murdered in the streets, but you know, Hezbollah isn't getting the weapons from Assad anymore. So that's how they look at it. Yes, that's right. Rob, if this turns into a Libya or a Syria, if it becomes a playground for Al Qaeda, a catastrophic failed state, if hundreds of thousands of people die, if there's open air slave markets, okay, but they're not Armin Hezbollah anymore. That, well, that's, that is worth it according to Benjamin Netanyahu. Now why the. That should be worth it to any of us. Well, that's because we don't really get to have a country. It's what, what's up to Benjamin Netanyahu. That's what matters. And it's. I don't know, it's just goddamn disgraceful. Hold on, let me just see as. Okay, no, nothing major. This is just one of those days where when a news thing from the Washington Post comes in, I'm like, oh, maybe I better read this and see. See what's going on. So, yeah, I mean, this is, I don't know, even, even already, this is, you know, there's just, like I said, a bunch of people have died. You know, there was, it was initially reported that something like 50 girls died in that, in that Iranian school. Now it's, they're saying it's something closer to a hundred of them have, you know, I posted something about this yesterday and I said, like I said, oh, look, you know, the number was 50 at the time. I go, oh, look, 50 Iranian children liberated already. You know, and it's, it's amazing how many of the people who pretend to be so outraged, you know, about like the Iranian people, the Iranian people suffering, but we're supposed to feel nothing for that. And then you know, what they all end up doing, which again, this is totally uncooperated at this point. But they all start arguing that, no, no, it was an Iranian shel. That that misfired, or it was an Iranian missile that malfunctioned and killed all these kids, which I never claimed it was an Israeli or American missile. It's kind of not the point. You're like, okay, yeah, but either way, that's on Trump and Netanyahu. You just launch a war of aggression. Again, when you're in the middle of negotiations, just launch a fucking war. You cause that goddamn chaos. You cause their response. Even if it was one of their missiles that misfired and hit there, it's still on you. That's the result of you launching this war. So congratulations, you killed a bunch of kids and the regime's still standing. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Cowboy Colostrum. Cowboy Colostrum offers the highest quality bovine colostrum available in the United States. Cowboy colostrum is 100% made in America from 100% American grass fed cows. Unlike other Colostrum brands, Cowboy Colostrum is true. First day, whole colostrum. Cowboy Colostrum isn't Processed or stripped down, their colostrum is whole, full fat and high protein for ultimate nutrient density, making the highest quality bovine colostrum that you can buy. It's also super easy to drink. It's made with delicious natural ingredients, no artificial flavors. You simply add a scoop of their chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, matcha or strawberry into your coffee or smoothie and you feel great for the entire day. Plus, for a limited time, our listeners can get up to 25% off their entire order. Just head over to cowboy colostrum.com Dave and use the promo code Dave at checkout. That's 25% off when you use promo code Dave@cowboy colostrum.com Dave. All right, let's get back into the show. By the way, it should also be pointed out as we'll start to get into some of the reactions that people had here. But, I mean, Donald Trump's declaration of war, I guess that's what passes for a declaration of war now, is a tweet. That's what, as they lay it out in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Rob. So. But it's just, he didn't even have anything. Did you notice that? Like, he didn't even have. He didn't even try to come to. Like, hey, there's this new update. Like, at least lie, dude. Say there's some new intelligence. There's a new thing. They're planning this, they're planning that. He just went like, oh, they took our hostages in 1979 of a proxy, bombed our Marines in 1980. You know, like, what? What are you talking about, dude? That's what you got. The same shit that we've had forever. Wasn't too much for Ronald Reagan to sell them weapons in the middle of a war a few years later, but now, four decades after that, we gotta launch a war. So, again, look, I mean, what can you say here? You've got. Just call it what it is, a war of aggression, a war of choice on behalf of a country sold off. Pure lies. That's where Donald Trump has gotten us. And this is, this is a time right now for all of the goddamn people to, you know, especially on the right, especially the people who have been supporting Trump. There's no, there's no riding the fence on this one, man. Like. Like what I just said. Can anyone argue with what I just said, that this is a war of choice, a war of aggression, sold off lies. Okay, well, if that's the case and the guy's whole fucking, you know, political career, he's been saying how stupid these regime change wars are. And then he's now embarked on the stupidest one yet. Fuck this guy.
- [33:54]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
I was, I mean, it was almost humorous in a tragic way. But I got home at 2 in the morning, maybe even later than that, from dropping you off after great shows we did at the dojo.
- [34:04]
Dave Smith
Very fun. Yes.
- [34:05]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
I go on Twitter and I'd seen earlier reports of this, but then I started seeing, you know, I saw an interview, I think it was on one of the mainstream networks, but basically that Iran had agreed to not stockpiling enriched nuclear materials. And I got excited. I was like, oh, wow, looks like negotiations are moving forward. Donald Trump already has a talking point for a better deal. It seems to really vindicate that Iran is not interested in a nuclear bomb. And now that information was really just not being reported by mainstream media at all, that Iran has a decree against having a nuclear creating a nuclear bomb, and that they only went from 30 to 60 to basically have some negotiating leverage to get America to come back to the table. And so I got really excited. I was like, wow, this is gonna put pressure on Donald Trump because he's not gonna be able to sell that this was just about keeping them from getting nukes. And then I continue scrolling Twitter and I see, oh, we just attacked them. And I'm like, shit, I guess the war is going on. But then it was surprising to read the next day. I guess the CIA had tracked Khalmani and they knew exactly where he was meeting, along with a lot of the high ranking officials. So in terms of war, the fact that the first strike was directly against the leader and you managed to take the guy out, I guess that's the better way to conduct warfare. Once again, I don't endorse this war. I think it's a horrible mistake on behalf of Israel and that it's unnecessarily risky, but that's better than ground invasion or just recklessly bombing a country. And on the positive side, I think there's still a pathway to get out of this. And Donald Trump just declares we've got a regime change, but that includes Iran now agreeing to getting rid of its nuclear ambitions. But as we've explored the risk, I don't really even know how presentable of a case that is to them. Unless this thing escalates to the extent that they think they're going to get nuked off the planet and they realize that's their only option.
- [36:09]
Dave Smith
Well, look, I mean, as always with these things, you know, making, making predictions is tough and you know, the, you know, the side that was claiming that we've obliterated Iran's nuclear program and then said a few months later that we have to go to war because we can allow the number one state sponsor of terror to have a nuclear weapon. Like, I thought you already took care of that. But they'll, you know, they'll, they'll attack anyone if they get a prediction wrong. And who knows? These things are complicated. There's a lot of factors, but there, there's a couple things here that I look at that I think are very, very dangerous. Number one, and I just can't stress this enough, I'll probably make this point 10,000 more times in the next month on a bunch of different shows. As I said, in the 12 day war, that whole, for that thing to end the way it did, like where they brag, no Americans died. I mean, some Iranians died, some Israelis died, but, you know, no one cares about that when convenient. But, but that whole thing does not work without the piece of Iran showing this restraint, of Iran calling ahead, telling us to evacuate a base and intentionally hitting it where there will be no people and not killing anyone. So all those things that you're talking about, Rob, now like to de, escalate, to fucking, oh, we can end up with a stronger deal and not that many more people have to die. It needs that component, it needs that component of Iran not killing a whole bunch more people and then coming and making a deal. And who knows, dude? Like, maybe we put, I mean, look, who knows? Obviously there's a knife to their throat right now. And so you can get people to do some things when you got a knife to their throat. But at the same time it's quite possible that you've kind of changed the calculation here and that like, at the same time you could understand where Iran might come to the conclusion, well, we can never negotiate again with them. That's when we can't even sit down to talk about a nuclear agreement. That's when they bomb us. They bomb us when we sit down. When we sit down and say, hey, we'll give you everything you want, everything you've always asked for. That's when they attack us. By the way, Donald Trump is also, and I don't think people understand how bad this is, that Donald Trump is also like, how bad this precedent is. Donald Trump is also on record saying Maduro offered him everything he wanted and then he went and kidnapped him. It's probably going to end up being executed. So, like, I don't know That's a real disincentive to sit down and negotiate with somebody. And the other factor here is that we've never, in the, in the history of the terror wars, we've never had a real deal religious war with the Shiites before. But like, this is much bigger than just Iran. We just murdered in Ayatollah. Now, I heard there's the, like the Ayatollah, who I think is like religiously, like the highest ranking one in Iraq. He said something condemning the, the statement, but he didn't declare like a total religious war on the U.S. thank God. But there's been uprisings of Shiites in a few different countries already. Like, we'll see what happens with this. It is not, you know, it's funny because like all the guys, like all the, the idiots, the like fake intellectuals like Gad Sad and Sam Harris and all of them, they spend their whole career talking about how irrational the Muslims are and how, look, you can't even draw a cartoon of Muhammad or they want to kill people. And that's their argument for how they're incompatible with the West. Meanwhile, which might be an argument for strong immigration policy. It's not an argument to fucking spend $10 trillion on wars of choice. But okay, okay, Sam Harris, Gadsat, since you're so smart and we're so dumb, okay, explain this to me. If fucking criticizing Muhammad or drawing cartoons of Muhammad is likely to get you killed, what is murdering an ayatollah do? Is no one allowed to think, like, hey, there might be unintended consequences, There might be costs of doing something like that. None of them seem to really have much of a concern at all. I think that's something to be very concerned with. But, you know, it's. Donald Trump has made his bed like this really, Is it in a different way, even different than the 12 Day War, even different than covering up the Epstein stuff? It's like Donald Trump officially chose, you know, there's whatever it is in this, this game where there's Tucker Carlson and there's the majority of his base and there's Candace Owens and Megyn Kelly and, you know, whatever Donald Trump chose Mark Levin and Lindsey Graham and Benjamin Netanyahu, the most discredited evil laughing stocks on the planet, that's who he chose to go all in with. So he's made his bed, let him sleep in it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still find the Democrats and the Democratic establishment to be as evil as the Republican establishment. And I think they're a threat to the country. I hope the Republicans lose the midterms this year. They need to for the country. They need to be destroyed. And no one from this administration can be supported in 28. Fuck JD Vance. Fuck Marco Rubio. Fuck Tulsi Gabbard. Fucking. She hasn't resigned yet. Fuck Tulsi Gabbard, dude, The goddamn no war with Iran shirts that she was selling. How much money you make off those shirts, Tulsi? How can you not return that money? Go donate it to the families of the hundred little girls who this administration just got killed. They're fucking. She was cutting commercials in 2020 when she was running for president to be a Democrat, talking about how Donald Trump is going to take us into war with Iran. And that's why I'm running for president, to stop him. Now. I don't know, dude. I don't want to put him on the spot, but hopefully Thomas Massie runs for president in 2028, because everyone from this administration is done as far as I'm concerned. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Fume. Fume is a longtime sponsor of the show and I've always loved the product. It's a FL air device that's designed to help people quit vaping and smoking by breaking the hand to mouth pattern. It's simple, natural, and honestly, kind of genius. There's no nicotine, no batteries, no vapor. It's just a weighted, twisty, fidgety friendly tool that gives your hands something better to reach for when cravings show up. So a lot of people, I know this myself as a longtime smoker, when you quit smoking, it's not just about the nicotine. It's that kind of hand to mouth, just mechanical addiction. And you know, a lot of times people are anxious when they first quit, so just having something to fidget with really helps. Check it out. I'll tell you, I know a lot of people who Fume has already helped, and I only know a small percentage of them. They have helped over 700,000 people take steps toward better habits. And now it's your turn. Pick up a Journey Pack today and you'll also get a free gift just for using our promo code. The promo code is problem. You get a free gift when you buy the Journey Pack. When you go to try fume.com that's T R Y F U M.com promo code problem to claim your free gift today. All right, let's get back into the show. All right, let's get into a little bit more of the reaction to this, because this is something that's really got to be taken on here. Well, here, first, let's. Let's check in on Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro, Remember, never Trumper. Never Trumper. Ben Shapiro, who swore he would never vote for Donald Trump for deeply held moral reasons. His moral convictions would never allow him to vote for Donald Trump. Here's. Here's Ben Shapiro now. President Trump is the most courageous commander in chief in modern American history. There is no question about this. What he just did is the bravest move by a President of the United States of my lifetime, bar none. Without a doubt, President Trump is the most courageous commander in chief in modern. All right, well, see, there you go. There you go. From Ben Shapiro. That's all it takes. That's all it takes. And they'll worship you. He fought a war, launched a war of aggression on behalf of Israel. The bravest. Well, at least he said modern American history, right? He's not saying he's braver than George Washington or even Dwight Eisenhower, but he's up there. Up there. There's the bravery. That's what you describe it as, right, Rob? Bravery.
- [45:10]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
What's braver than getting along with the deep state after they shoot at you and have files on you? Nothing more courageous than not uprooting the machine and getting in line with the agenda of the real people with power and fighting war on their behalf. Very courageous.
- [45:24]
Dave Smith
Yeah. Isn't this something? So, like, abandoning your base.
- [45:27]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Very courageous.
- [45:29]
Dave Smith
It's just so Orwellian. Like, up is down. Yes. Being a total bitch and not having the backbone to stand up to the lobby and to the deep state and to Benjamin Netanyahu. That's courageous. Why? Why? Because it's so reckless and risky. Like, I guess, in a way, I get his point. Like, it is kind of brave, you know, like, if I walk in to a building of, like, a bunch of hostile people who are armed to the teeth with no weapon, and I call them all a bunch of faggots, I guess that's kind of brave. You might also refer to it as incredibly stupid. But that. But anyway, doesn't it just, like, kind of reveal everything here, man? Right. Like, look, it's what you always say. This is where we say you're a member of the Israel lobby. This is why some people call you an Israel Firster. Look, there just is no higher priority to Ben Shapiro than fighting a war on behalf of Israel. And so once you do that, you're the bravest ever. You're the greatest. That's all. Doesn't matter what else is going on in the country. Doesn't matter what else he does that Ben Shapiro might disagree with. Hey, you fought a war for Israel. There you go. Anyway, all, all the Hawks are out celebrating. It's really, it really is unbelievable, Rob, to watch the kind of, I mean, it's just the level of, like, how disingenuous, how stupid, all of the, the, like day one, day one of a war. It's totally unclear what's going to happen here. And they're all hoisting their Mission Accomplished banners. And there, there does seem to be like a mix to me. There seems to be. There's like the Ben Shapiro, the Mark Levins, the Lindsay Grahams. Like, there are the real, the, the Ted Cruzes, the, the Israel Firsters, you know, who, like, yeah, they're on board. They don't care. They don't care if it destroys our country. They don't care if it destroys Iran. They don't care if hundreds of thousands of people die. If it's good for the Greater Israel Project, then they're on board with that. And then there's like a different class of, of MAGA influencers, kind of like the Matt Walsh, more like Mike Cernovich types who, like, they kind of know, like, they're hedging their bets. They're like, well, you know, we were kind of against this and this sure could go bad. But they're like, not ready to not support Donald Trump because they're like, I don't know, Trump did this. I can't be the anti Trump guy. I got to be on his side. So I'm not sure which of those two groups I respect less, to be honest. It goes because there's, there's an argument of which one is actually more reprehensible. But let's just take on this thing for a second because I've seen so many of these, these accounts try. And there's something funny about it, right? Because there's an interesting dynamic where essentially, I mean, really, for, for much longer than this. Look, I mean, there's a reason by 2016, when Donald Trump was saying your brother lied us into war to Jeb Bush and how all these, you know, regime change wars are terrible. You know, after, you know, the war on terrorism had gone on, you know, at the very beginning of the war on terrorism, all the people with common sense and wisdom and principles who warned that this whole thing would be a catastrophe, they were mocked and ridiculed by the George Bush, Republicans, you love the terror. You know, all the stupid shit they, they say now was. But it was really, it was, it was a different time back then because we didn't have all the examples that we have now to point to. But, you know, you must love the terrorists, you know, the same way you must be a Hamas apologist. Well, back then it was a Saddam apologist instead of a Ayatollah apologist, whatever. So they mocked and ridiculed everyone. They turned out to be completely wrong. They got millions of people killed and bankrupted the country and all of this stuff. But so then they started losing the argument. And then after October 7th and with the corporate media being completely destroyed and the new media being, you know, right here on the Internet, the hawks kind of had to engage with us. They, they're not, they no longer can ignore us. It can't, it can't just be like, you know, like when David from wrote the unpatriotic conservative article in National Review and he trashed all the best right wingers in the country. All the best, yeah. Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul and Lou Rockwell and Justin Raimondo and few other people made the list, but so they could just like do one article and then ignore and then move forward. It's not like that anymore. They can't just like write one article about Tucker Carlson and then move on. There's got to be like a continued campaign against him. And, and now we have these things where we have, we have big debates, many of which I've participated in on Joe Rogan's show, on Pierce Morgan's show, and you know, Lex Friedman has debates on his show. And now it's like, that's just the thing. And so for two years now, the war hawks have consistently just been curb stomped, like just, just been destroyed in the debate in public opinion. Because, you know, I mean, it's, it's just so easy to do. I mean, I happen I, I'm the lucky one who gets to be one of the ones doing it, but it's easy to do. They have no case. They're all liars and they worship death. It's pretty easy to beat them in a debate. And so, you know, I mean, obviously there's lots of examples of this. I mean, you've seen all types of polling about how America is now a, a pro Palestinian country. It's, you can't even believe it. Americans have more sympathies toward the Palestinians than the Israelis. It used to be plus 50 points for Israel. They're, they're the support for Israel and the warfare state has collapsed. Okay, so these guys now the war hawks, they've been getting furious because they're just, they've been getting embarrassed for years now by our side. And you see this Rob. I mean you see Mark Levin's public meltdowns every fucking day. You little twerp. I can't believe this little Nazi Tucker Carlson and this Dave Smith and that's why he's just losing his mind. But while they're losing the argument, they've won over power. And so you see Rob, this kind of like it's a different level. Number one, they're very excited about the last couple days again because they worship death, they're of the devil and so they worship death. They get very excited when a mass murder campaign pops off because that's who these people are. And but then it's also this like energy of like oh, I've been so mad for years now because I've just been getting in bed embarrassed and beaten. But haha, we got our way. You guys lose. There's all these, you know, Dave Rubin and like it's really just. And really when you think about it, Rob, as we sit here and we say, even at this point we go hey I, I root for people to not die. I don't care if this comes out making me look good or making them look good, just hopefully this can wrap up with as few innocent people dying as possible. When you sit there and you root for you know, there to not be vaccine injuries, even when you warned everyone you know not to take the vaccine after they did, you go well I hope I'm wrong. I hope I look like an now. And they're all okay Dave Rubin and these guys, they, they, they're posting like images of, of like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson crying, you know, and being haha, you guys lost. We get our war. Like right at the moment that it's being reported that like 50 girls just died in an Iranian daycare, you know, like it's, they're laughing, haha, we get our war. I wanted to say to Dave Rubin, I was like have some respect. Like a bunch of children just died. Those could have been children that you and your gay partner bought someday, you know, but while they're, while they're celebrating all this, imagine this Rob there, this is their big talking point here is that Donald Trump defeated the non interventionist right? That oh everyone as JD Vance, as the pathetic coward JD Vance said the other day, we can't over learn the lessons of 9 11. That's what he said, right? Excuse me, of Iraq. We can't over learn the lesson of Iraq. You know, that would sure be, that would really be the worst thing about Iraq would be if we're hesitant to go on more killing sprees after that. But so they're all basically making this point that, look, dude, not every military action has to be a catastrophe like Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya. They don't all have to be like that. You know, sometimes you could do it smart, and that's what Donald Trump's proven, that you can do this smart. And what they're going to hang their, their hat on here is that, well, we got Maduro out of Venezuela and we got the ayatollah debt, and that didn't lead to a giant catastrophe so far. I mean, only some people died, but not like hundreds of thousands of people died and the country was destroyed. And so somehow this is supposed to prove that, like, oh, look, we can just fight wars of choice, you know, because like, sometimes they don't turn into a disaster.
- [54:44]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Sometimes you can do it right, Like Napoleon until he decided later in his career to go into Russia and freeze to death. So that's the point with war, is that it's real risky. And if you decide that you really like it and you think it's a winning game and you keep playing it, at some point you're going to lose. So even if Donald Trump manages to get this one right, if you want to walk away with the lesson of being, look, war is a winning activity, you're going to take a big loss somewhere. And it still is unnecessarily risky. So you might want to wait till you really have to do it or not engage in the behavior. I mean, it's, it's just such a dumb philosophy on life is like, oh, we can't overlearn. We don't want to get an A plus of learning from Iraq. Let's go for a C. You know, it's like there's just also, I mean, how much money do we spend in Iraq? We can't afford this shit.
- [55:32]
Dave Smith
Like trillions. Trillions? Yeah, I think it's over 2 trillion. Between 2 and 3 trillion somewhere, I believe is the exact number. Something like 8 or 9 trillion total for the war on terrorism. But look, Rob. No, look, of course you're absolutely right, but it's so much worse than that that they're, this is how idiotic this case is. Donald Trump hasn't proven any of this. They don't have one win on the board, they've done nothing. Yes, they've proved we can drop bombs and kill people. They prove we have good intelligence and good special ops and stuff like that. But we already knew that doesn't prove anything. We didn't do anything in, in Venezuela. We haven't liberated the people, we haven't taken over the government, we haven't taken over the oil. We kidnapped a guy. The regime is still standing. And in Iran, same case, you know, as, as I said to you, Rob, this, this is how crazy the fucking hawks are to even like try to have this. Let's just say, okay, hypothetically, let's say that, I don't know, maybe they, they keep up the bombing campaign for, for a couple weeks or something like that and they take out enough key, you know, members of the government, high ranking members of the Iranian government, and let's say the regime falls and let's say hypothetically that some, some liberal Iranians, you know, let's say the best, the, the Thomas Jeffersonian Party of Iran, which doesn't exist, let's say they take over the government and they institute like a bill of rights and laissez faire capitalism and women can wear mini skirts and the people are free. Like, let's say that works in Iran, okay? If that government were to rise up, then the appropriate reaction would be like, I hope this sticks. You know, I mean, I, you know, we, we did have regime change in Iran and installed the Shaw, and it lasted for like 25 years. Was it 53 to 79? 26 years. Okay. And then it fell and then it gave us 40 plus years of, of this regime. So like, is that worth, I don't know. But hey, let's, let's, but let's say they got that, let's say they got that and it took over the government. And let's say it's stuck. Let's say it's stuck for a year, two years, three years. Well, okay, then you would still go, okay, let me get this tally correct here. In the global war on terrorism, we're one for seven with six catastrophes. Millions of people dead, like $10 trillion or something down the tube. I'm saying, you know, years from now, if we look at the total number, okay, you'd still have nothing to brag about. You'd still be like, no, it was way, it would have been way more prudent to just avoid all of those and not have the catastrophes in there. But hey, I would have to admit, if any of that happened, you did get One out of seven. One of them did work out. You know, I'm not, I'm not saying I would approve of killing people and starting wars of aggression. I wouldn't. But I would admit from a consequentialist point of view, this one did work out. They don't have anything close to that, Rob. They don't have anything close to an example of one actually working out. None of that's happened. And yet day one, day one, they're celebrating. Now, I just want to just, I point this out just to, to point out how full of. You have to be like, literally for, for you guys listening to the show, just any person who's doing that, any person who's an influence of yours, maybe you respected some of their opinions before they're celebrating day one of a war, that this was a success, please never listen to that person again, but please just disregard their opinion for eternity. Because if you have not by this point, if you have not by 2026 learned the very basic lesson that, like, well, we got to see where this goes. We got to say the whole game is what comes next, not whether we can topple the government. It's, it's. Well, look, in terms of non nuclear armed countries, it's obviously always been known that the US can topple whatever government we want. That's not the question. And even Donald Trump, right in that, in that montage that we played at the beginning, he wasn't questioning whether we could overthrow regimes. No. Nobody ever said, hey, George W. Bush, I really don't think you should invade Iraq because I think Saddam's military might defeat ours. And I think Saddam will still be in power. And in fact, he'll drive the American military out. No one thought that fucking the mullahs could defeat the 82nd Airborne or something like that. The question wasn't like, really, can we do this? The question was always, ought we? What comes next? What's to prevent this from turning out to be a catastrophe? You know, in that event that, that I said, in the event that the government does fall, what is the likelihood that it's the liberal Jeffersonians who rise up and seize control of the government? Seems very, very low. And so any of those guys who are celebrating this are just, I mean, they're out of their minds, I think.
- [60:39]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
I know we're tight on time. I think it's really worth playing the Lindsey Graham clip because it's about what might replace this.
- [60:45]
Dave Smith
Let's do that. Let's pull up Lindsey Graham, who, by the way, let's Just be clear. What, what is Lindsey Graham's popularity nationally? How many people they go. I want, you know who I want to lead the MAGA movement is Lindsey Graham. That's who I. America First. That means Lindsey Graham to all you warhawks and to the entire Trump administration. This is the Lindsey Graham administration right now. And I just want to be clear on that. This is the. You know, Rob, as you mentioned before, I forget who you said that even John McCain couldn't get the war in Iran. Right? And that is what John McCain ran on. He said, remember that? Right. Okay. George W. Bush wanted this. Dick Cheney wanted this. John McCain wanted this. John Bolton wanted this. Lindsey Graham has wanted this for many years. This has been Benjamin Netanyahu's crowning achievement, what he's been working toward for 35 years. Donald Trump's the one who handed it to him. This is the Lindsey Graham presidency. And let me just say this, but by the way, because I do, and I know there's the people who give me whatever. I just, I can't even spend time responding to some of these retards. But the people giving me shit for voting for Donald Trump. I don't care about any of you. It's just incredibly stupid. I've never once, I just, I don't know, I've just never been as petty as any of these people. There was never one time when a leftist was against the, you know, Israel genociding the people of Gaza that I went. But you voted for John McCain and therefore you're responsible for this. So like, like all you guys giving me for that, you very much. I don't care. Voting is stupid and gay. It doesn't matter. It's goddamn. It's all a fake fucking thing. You know, I made a mistake. I thought, I kind of thought, you know, like, ah, given the calculation of everything, I think Trump's preferable to Kamala Harris. But I do want to be clear about this. I did always say this was the biggest concern was that Donald Trump would take us to war in Iran. And just to be very clear about this, because I've already said it before and I'm not planning on saying it much more, I was wrong to support Donald Trump. That was a big mistake. He's worse. We'd be better off with Kamala Harris. We'd be better off with Joe Biden. He's worse than the Democrats. And I say that as someone who prosecuted the case against the Democrats better than most who actually despite, you know, like they could. Someone like Ben Shapiro. Or something like that. You know what? He. He was telling you to get the jab. He was celebrating lockdowns. He wasn't us. He didn't actually oppose the Democrats in the way that we do. And Donald Trump's worse than them. Fuck. Yeah, fuck the Trump administration. But anyway, just wanted to get that out. Here is Lindsey Graham, the true spokesman for the Trump administration. Here are his thoughts.
- [63:21]
Interviewer
Iranian government isn't worse than the current regime.
- [63:27]
Rob
It's not our job to pick the next Iranian government. I don't remember being attacked by Iraq anytime, you know, in the past. Iraq is complicated, but, you know, we. We have a relationship with Iraq. It's up to Iran to pick your leader. It's not my job. It's not President Trump's job. We're not going to occupy the country. We're going to give the people of Iran a chance to do something they've never had before, chart their own destiny. We're going to take away from any future regime the ability, any future government the ability to have a ballistic missile program, a nuclear program, or support terrorism. That's what we're.
- [64:01]
Dave Smith
All right, so pause it right there already, Rob. No, you're. And you're. You're absolutely right, of course, on Meet the Press, this is who they go to again. This is the spokesman for the regime. And any of you guys, listen, I don't even care. Any of you guys who are, like, upset with me because I fucking am off the Trump train, which, listen, I've been off since fucking last summer at least. But any you guys who are upset with me, it's like, fine. No, you can. You can stay on being a Trump supporter. But just like, just let's be honest about it. You love Lindsey Graham and I don't. So that's. You're a Lindsey Graham supporter. And I'm still against Lindsey Graham. But just think about this, Rob, and I'm glad you brought this video, because that is really a startling admission. That's not our. Like, how do you know what comes next won't be worst? Oh, yeah. No, we don't. We don't. But remember Iraq, they never attacked us. What? Yeah. Was way worse. Right. And Iran also hasn't. So how do we know what comes next won't be a catastrophe? That's not our problem. But if the catastrophe up next wants to get intercontinental ballistic missiles, then Lindsey Graham is promising you more war. We'll have to go fight that regime also. That's it, Rob. That's what they've got here. That's what they're celebrating as a success. Day one before they've even taken the regime down. That's it.
- [65:22]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Continue. It gets good.
- [65:24]
Dave Smith
Yeah, let's keep playing.
- [65:26]
Rob
I'm a new government that we can do business with. Great. But having Iran no longer the state sponsor of terrorism opens up historic opportunities. It's the one irritant in the region. It's the one impediment to real peace. We'll never get to where we want to go as long as Iran is the state largest state sponsored terrorism. And I'm here to tell you the largest state sponsor of terrorism. The mothership of terrorism is sinking and the captain is dead. And a lot of good things are going to follow.
- [65:55]
Interviewer
Senator, let's talk about the strategy moving forward. In a social media post Sunday, President Trump wrote this quote, hopefully the IRGC and police will peacefully merge with the Iranian patriots and work together as a unit to bring back the country to the greatness it deserves. Is hope the plan for the future of Iran?
- [66:20]
Dave Smith
No.
- [66:20]
Rob
The future of Iran is going to be determined by the Iranian people. The new Iran, whatever it is, whether it's a cleric or a representative democracy, our goal is to make sure it cannot become again the largest state sponsor of terrorism. That's a win for us.
- [66:38]
Interviewer
But is there a plan to make sure that happens? Senator, is there a plan Plan? Does the president have a plan to guarantee that that happens?
- [66:47]
Rob
No. It's not his job or my job to do this. How many times I have to tell you is to make sure.
- [66:56]
Dave Smith
It's not our job. It's our job to start the wars. It's not our job to ensure that they don't end in catastrophe. That is really unbelievable.
- [67:04]
Guest/Co-host (possibly Matt)
Or with a worse outcome. It's just we'll bomb them more.
- [67:09]
Dave Smith
No. Is I like that. He goes, is hope the plan? No, we don't have a plan. I've been very clear. Hope isn't a plan. We don't have a plan. That's what you're hearing, guys. And yeah. And people are celebrating this day one. God damn, man. What a world we live in. All right, look, we do. We got to wrap up there. We'll be back tomorrow with a brand new episode. Hopefully. Hopefully not with bad developments, but we'll see. I mean the latest on this is that the the IRGC is claiming that they're about to unleash a response unlike anything in their history. Donald Trump put out a post and said, you better not do it. We will see. All right, catch you guys next time. Pe.
- [68:10]
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