What Comes Next In Iran? w/ Sen. Kennedy

Summary

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Ruthless Podcast – Episode Summary

"What Comes Next In Iran?" w/ Sen. Kennedy

Date: March 3, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, John Ashbrook
Guests: Senator John Kennedy, Brian Hook (Former Trump administration official on Iran)

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Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast dives deep into U.S. policy toward Iran in the wake of dramatic recent events, including the killing of Ayatollah Khamenei. The hosts welcome Senator John Kennedy for his signature candid, witty take on Washington and world affairs, followed by a detailed, insider analysis with Brian Hook, former Trump administration lead on Iran. Through sharp banter, the panel explores the current U.S. administration’s approach, shifts in global alliances, the future of the Iranian regime, and what the fallout could mean for security, politics, and nuclear proliferation.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Iran Policy and Khamenei’s Death (03:10–08:40)

• Senator Kennedy’s Take:
  • The administration took bold, unprecedented action by killing Khamenei; previous presidents hesitated (03:55).
  • “May he rest in pieces…this is all about one thing, nuclear warfare.” — Sen. Kennedy (03:55)
  • Warns of the domino effect of nuclear proliferation if Iran succeeds.
• Global Implications:
  • The move demonstrates to the world (and especially Iran’s partners China and Russia) that U.S. resolve is real (07:07).
  • "We haven't heard a peep [from China and Russia].” — Sen. Kennedy (07:07)

2. Political Fallout in Washington (08:40–15:04)

• Partisan Dynamics:
  • Democrats' opposition is more about hatred of Trump than foreign policy substance (09:38).
  • “If the President came out in favor of breathing to live, they would hold their breath.” — Sen. Kennedy (09:38)
• International Responses:
  • Disappointment in lukewarm or dismissive European reactions, particularly the UK and France (11:01).
  • UK’s debate over Diego Garcia base seen as “fear and cowardice” (12:12), and Starmer is “dead as fried chicken” (12:58).

3. The Interconnectedness of Global Conflicts (15:04–18:13)

• Europe’s Blind Spots:
  • Critique of European and some Democratic politicians who fail to connect energy policies, funding of Russia’s war, and Iran’s strategic roles (15:31).
  • “Your problem, Josh, is you're being rational.” — Sen. Kennedy (16:30)
• Domestic Political Ramifications:
  • The “Karen wing” of the Democratic Party drives the agenda, causing internal gridlock (16:44, 25:02).

4. Congress’s Anticipated Response & Security Issues (20:24–30:12)

• Senate Perspective:
  • War Powers vote likely to be partisan; few Democrats supportive except possibly Senator Fetterman (20:33).
  • “We’re in it, boys. Go ahead. We’re in it. This is serious. As an aneurysm.” — Sen. Kennedy (21:27)
• Homeland Security Funding:
  • Dems unlikely to help reopen DHS; Kennedy attributes this to “politics” and the influence of the party’s left wing (22:47, 25:02).

5. Democratic Party Dynamics & Leadership (25:26–32:27)

• Schumer, AOC, and Intra-party Fear:
  • Schumer is “scared to death” of AOC; true party leadership lies with the progressive wing (25:38).
  • “The wounded wing of their party is firmly in control.” — Sen. Kennedy (25:38)
• Gut Check for Politicians:
  • Kennedy argues it’s a “gut check” moment when politicians must put country over career (27:41).

6. Reflection on American and Middle Eastern Politics (32:27–37:09)

• On Leadership:
  • Praises McConnell’s backbone; contrasts with Schumer’s approach.
  • "If you polled Senator McConnell today, ... this man doesn't have just two oranges, he's got half a dozen." — Sen. Kennedy (29:47)

7. Lighter Side: Book Plug & Humor (32:27–36:36)

• Kennedy’s Book:
  • Promotes “How to Test Negative for Stupid”; jokingly claims it “will cure erectile dysfunction” and “grow hair” (32:38).
  • "This book will change your life ... this book will cure erectile dysfunction. Not that you need it." — Sen. Kennedy (32:38)
• Senate Anecdotes:
  • Humorous description of colleagues, e.g., Lindsey Graham: “You don’t know whether he’ll sit down for an intelligent conversation or get drunk and vomit in the fish tank” (35:13).

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Special Segment: Brian Hook on Iran – Deep Dive

Starts at (44:28)

1. Iran’s History and Threat Profile (44:46–48:38)

• Founding Violence:
  • Regime’s rise in 1979—hostage crisis deeply scarred U.S.-Iran relations.
  • Iran responsible for over 1,000 U.S. deaths via direct/indirect acts, notably through proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis (46:00–47:00).
• Proxy Warfare:
  • “Iran's power projection is always dependent on proxies that do the fighting and the dying for them.” — Brian Hook (47:07)

2. Trump vs. Previous Approaches (49:33–52:10)

• Why Now?
  • Trump took a hard line, refusing to “kick the can down the road” unlike prior administrations, and didn't fall for Iran’s “negotiating trap” (49:33, 57:45).
• Iran Nuclear Deal Flaws:
  • The Obama deal ignored missiles and proxies; didn’t solve uranium enrichment (51:03–52:24).
  • “Iran’s entire power projection is missiles and proxies...the missing card is a nuclear weapon.” — Brian Hook (51:35)

3. Strategic Opportunity and Isolation (54:06–55:23)

• China & Russia Absent:
  • Despite talk of alliance, neither China nor Russia aiding Iran at its moment of crisis.
  • “It’s an empty alliance.” — Brian Hook (54:06)
• Iran ‘Weaker Than Ever’:
  • Iran’s proxies largely neutralized; missile and drone stockpiles depleted (55:23).

4. Negotiations, Regime Change, and the Future (57:45–73:21)

• Diplomatic Dead Ends:
  • Iran typically stalls for more time and sanctions relief; Trump administration recognized and resisted this (58:58).
• Khamenei’s Death:
  • Loss of supreme leader and key generals cripples Iran’s command and control (60:25–62:04).
  • “For a country that has been on offense for 47 years ... to now be on defense and struggling to survive, it is of enormous historical import” — Brian Hook (60:58)
• Potential for Change:
  • Iran’s regime is expert at crushing dissent, but destabilization opens door for possible secular reform (62:25–63:40).
• Abraham Accords & Regional Outlook:
  • With Iran contained, possibility for expanded regional peace and prosperity (71:29).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Sometimes you have to do what you have to do because weakness invites the wolves."
  — Sen. John Kennedy (00:35, recurring theme)

• "If the President came out in favor of breathing to live, they would hold their breath."
  — Sen. John Kennedy (09:38)

• "I found it interesting the way the administration has carefully maneuvered around China and Russia. We haven't heard a peep."
  — Sen. John Kennedy (07:07, repeating earlier remark)

• "May he rest in pieces. He was a brutal dictator. This is all about one thing: nuclear warfare."
  — Sen. John Kennedy (03:55)

• "Iran's entire power projection is missiles and proxies. The missing card for them is a nuclear weapon."
  — Brian Hook (51:35)

• "For a country that has been on offense for 47 years, exporting revolution.. to now be on defense and struggling to survive, [this moment] is of enormous historical import."
  — Brian Hook (60:58)

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Important Timestamps

• 03:10 – Sen. Kennedy joins the panel, immediate Iran discussion.
• 03:55 – Kennedy praises action against Khamenei.
• 07:07 – First in-depth assessment of U.S. strategy toward China/Russia vis-a-vis Iran.
• 12:12–13:56 – Critique of the UK's handling of Diego Garcia.
• 15:04–15:31 – Holmes lays out tangled web of Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and global energy security.
• 25:26–26:30 – The power of AOC and progressive Dems over Senate leadership.
• 29:47 – Kennedy on McConnell's backbone vs. Schumer’s timidity.
• 32:38 – Book plug with signature Kennedy humor.
• 44:28 – Brian Hook segment begins: Iran deep dive.
• 49:33 – Why Trump acted now on Iran.
• 51:35 – Iran’s model: missiles, proxies, and nuclear ambitions.
• 54:06 – Absence of China & Russia during Iran’s crisis.
• 60:25 – Consequences of Khamenei’s death.
• 63:40 – Trump’s difference: “help is on the way”—and he means it.
• 71:29 – Abraham Accords and hope for a new regional order.

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains the irreverent, candid spirit Ruthless is known for. Senator Kennedy’s colorful metaphors (“dead as fried chicken”, “he doesn’t have just two oranges, he’s got half a dozen”), self-deprecating humor, and directness are balanced by Brian Hook’s sober, clear-eyed strategic analysis. Hosts keep the conversation lively with frequent wisecracks but circle relentlessly back to policy substance.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a comprehensive, accessible breakdown of a major foreign policy pivot, explained by both one of the Senate's most distinctive voices and a seasoned administration insider. The panel highlights the unprecedented nature of recent events, the risks of past diplomatic failures, the current fragility of both Iranian and European partners, and the possible dawn of a new era in Middle Eastern security.

Listeners are left with a clear understanding of both the stakes and the rare opportunity presented by recent U.S. actions, plus a fair dose of laughs along the way.

Listener Question of the Day:
Do you trust Trump’s plan for Iran?

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(End of Summary)

Transcript

[Senator John Kennedy]

We will never have a better opportunity to stop a rogue terrorist country from getting a nuclear weapon than now. And Trump took it. I found it interesting the way the administration has carefully maneuvered around China and Russia. We haven't heard a peep.

[Josh Holmes]

You are one of the only people in Washington, D.C. who can just cut through the bullshit, give us a story, humorous anecdote that just sort of summarizes what it is that you're up to day to day basis. More importantly, what the other people are up to.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do because weakness invites the wolves.

[Michael Duncan]

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[Matt Ashbrook]

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[Senator John Kennedy]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids.

[Unidentified Female Host]

It's time for our main event.

[Josh Holmes]

Good Tuesday to all of you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Variety Program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan. John Ashbrook, left right across your Radio dial, except we got somebody who's a little bit further down the dais that we're gonna need to work in here. One of our all time favorites, Senator John Kennedy. How are you, sir?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Josh? I'm well. Thank you for having me. In the words of Congresswoman Omar, I love you guys like a bro.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, with that you have residency here this Friday program. I appreciate that, Senator Kennedy. Listen, we got a very big program, obviously Iran on the minds of a lot given the events over the weekend, the continued operations there. We've got Brian Hook, former Trump administration official in charge with Iran later on in the program. But we wanted to start with you and get your overview on the events of the weekend, where we're at as it relates to Iran.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I, I think the president did the right thing. What six, seven presidents have talked about it. He did it. I would, we don't know what's going to happen, but I would call it a success if for no other reason but that Kamani is, is dead. He, the ayatollah won the coin toss and he elected to receive. And you know, my feeling is may he rest in pieces, he was a brutal dictator. To me, this is all about one thing, nuclear warfare. Now there are other issues. Ballistic missile capability, butchering his own people, but it's about nuclear warfare. It was clear and has been clear for some time that the leadership in Iran is not going to stop until they get a nuclear weapon. If they get a nuclear weapon, they will use it. We'll be in nuclear warfare. And even if they got a nuclear weapon and just threatened us, that would mean that every other country in the Middle east, plus South Korea, plus Japan, plus Australia go down the list would also feel the need to get a nuclear weapon. And when every country has a nuclear weapon, the chances that somebody is going to use it increases exponentially.

[Josh Holmes]

I wonder this is your large view of this because I mean, look, none of this intelligence is new as it relates to Iran. You mentioned that every president for the last four decades has been well aware of the ambitions of Iran, been well aware of the proxies that they've funded, well aware of the thousands of Americans that they have personally as a state killed. But there's always a reason not to do something. The interesting part is an outside observation. So I'm curious about yours is the same was true in a lower respect to Venezuela. Maduro was always a problem. Everybody talked about bipartisan, everybody agreed on it. Trump saw the problem, did something about it. This one feels similar to me, although, you know, the End result we can talk about and that it may not be as clean as it was in Venezuela, but it seems to me that this administration, when they have the opportunity, presented with the same set of facts that generations of presidents before him have been presented, decides, I'm not leaving this to the next. Yeah, we're going to do something about that. Is that your.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, it is. And I think what I observed looking at this from 35,000ft. Number one, I think it's clear President Trump has oranges

[Josh Holmes]

and I think I know what you mean by oranges.

[Senator John Kennedy]

He sees what has to be done, he sees the opportunity and he's willing to do it and take the risk. Number two, I see the hand of Secretary Rubio. It's hard to find somebody who knows more about world affairs. He served a long time with Marco. The president has been very opportunistic. I mean that in the best sense of the word. People say, well, why Venezuela? Well, Venezuela was selling its oil to China, buying weapons from Russia. I mean, same with Cuba, very strategic. Now Iran, I found it interesting the way the administration has carefully maneuvered around China and Russia. We haven't heard a peep that has ramifications other than just Iran that's telling other countries in the world that when the chips are down, you can't be depend on China and Russia. They're just going to let Iran go under their questions being asked, as they should be. Well, how's this going to end? We don't know yet. Will there be regime change? We don't know that. If you wait as have five or six or seven presidents, until you have all the answers, you end up doing nothing. We will never have a better opportunity to stop a rogue terrorist country from getting a nuclear weapon than now. And Trump took it. And I respect him for that, fellas.

[Michael Duncan]

So I wanted to ask you about the whole. How do you think all this is going to be received on Capitol Hill? Because we're in the middle now of like a DHS funding fight while we're in a war with the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

And just to plug your book, you know, it's. I think it's apt right now to talk about how Washington fails the test. To test negative for stupid.

[Josh Holmes]

That's. Yeah, that's how to test negative for stupid. Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This book, you mean? Yeah,

[Michael Duncan]

that's right. I just wonder as you're going to be talking to all your colleagues on Capitol Hill about, you know, you know, what they expect to hear from the administration on this. You Know, war with Iran. What are the contours of that debate?

[Senator John Kennedy]

I, we're going to have a briefing tomorrow and I wish you didn't have to say this. It's a very good question. It's all political.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

So many of my Democratic colleagues point of view is shaped by their, their hatred for Trump. It's just that simple. If, if the President came out in favor of breathing to live, they would hold their breath. And I think maybe, maybe that's something, maybe there's something there. And as we get closer to the midterms that's becoming more and more the case. So many of my colleagues are sitting around talking about the political ramifications. How will impact the midterms, you know, what will the Karen wing of the Democratic Party do if we actually try to cooperate? Those are all political questions. Those are not the main questions to be asking. The main questions to be asking are, okay, what does this mean for America? I don't want America to be the world's policeman. I don't want Khomeini to be the world's policeman either, or Xi Jinping or Russia. And sometimes you have to do what you have to do because weakness invites the wolves. If I've had any disappointment so far, it has been that many of our friends, they haven't opposed us, they just haven't supported us. Yeah, because I don't believe you're talking

[Josh Holmes]

about the Euros here.

[Senator John Kennedy]

The Euros in particular. Macron. Yeah, Starmer. Now, I realize pitting Starmer and Macron against each other would be like watching two feathers fighting. And what they say doesn't matter, but it would be important to know that they were something, what their opinion was other than critical. And I find that disappointing. And that to me is a statement about them more than it is about us. I've said repeatedly, America first does not have to be mean. America alone. Yeah, I want to have friends in the world. But Europe is, is, is failing the test here right now.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah. And you mentioned Starmer specifically. And of course there's this whole dust up where he and some of the Brits want to let go of this hard fought island space in a key area where Diego Garcia. An American base that matters an awful lot to our national security needs. The UK is talking about trying to give some of those islands back to.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah, they want to give away a military base to Mauritius which has never owned it because the UN passed a resolution saying that UK is a bunch of mean old colonialists. And so they want to not only give up, give away our military base. Then they want to pay Mauritius, which is very close to China, money every year to lease it. And I've been pounding on the President for about, I don't know, six months on that. One day he's for it, next day he's against it. Recently he's been against it. I think he knows it's a mistake, but he has some folks that go in and whisper in his ear, but it's a huge mistake. But in terms of the Prime Minister, look, he's desperate right now, frankly, politically, he's dead as fried chicken. I mean, I don't know how he. The only reason he's surviving as Prime Minister is because the backbenchers know they can get anything they want out of him.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But the UK is just. It breaks my heart, but the UK is just really, really, really.

[Josh Holmes]

It feels like you're profoundly disregarding the import of a sternly worded resolution.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Or every now and then, he sends out a tweet in all caps, you know, but. But what he Stormer does doesn't matter. But, you know, UK is supposed to be our. Our best friend in the world.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And they didn't have to say anything, but for him to say, we're not going to let the UK or the US use our military bases, and to declare to the world we had nothing to do with it. We had nothing to do with it.

[Matt Ashbrook]

It's unreal.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It is unreal. Smoke. It breaks my heart, but it is what it is.

[Matt Ashbrook]

That was, to me, perhaps one of the most shocking developments is that the response from Britain to this being like, hey, we want to let everyone know we had nothing to do with this, is that comes from a place of fear and cowardice. It doesn't come from a place of leadership. And then, like, a day later, you see Iranians have fired a drone and hit a British base.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And it's not for sure.

[Brian Hook]

They're going to pretend like that didn't happen.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, it's either cowardice or really strong drugs. But President Macron is just as bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. That's a long lineage, though, ignoring problems.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. And I know that they're weak as rainwater right now, and their countries are. They've run their countries into the ground. And that really breaks my heart, particularly for France, because Macron started in such a positive way making labor reforms, for example, that he needed to make. But, you know, we just have to deal with it.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Can I.

[Josh Holmes]

One of the things that's bothered me about the way that international affairs, conflict has been reported over the last 10 years that I feel like Trump has cut through the middle of it. But because of the lack of communication, at some level, people don't really understand at some level, which is you've got a Democratic Party that is all full on in and many Republicans on Ukraine.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And the war against Russia and Ukraine, which is now, what, four years in the making, and yet seemingly no understanding how it is that Russia funds said war or. Or how the resources, from an energy perspective gets to Russia to fuel said war. And all of a sudden, Trump comes in and we start talking about tariffs, we start talking about NATO spending. The two things have an interconnected effect on both the funding of the war and the security perimeters of Europe. And then you do something on Venezuela and you're like, oh, well, it turns out they can't refine the crude oil without Iran, so you take care of that, because that oil shipment all of a sudden stalls the fueling of that. And now Iran, which, again, is a direct pipeline to that. If you cared about Ukraine.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Wouldn't this be the greatest thing in the whole world for you?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Your problem, Josh, is you're being rational. But. No, you're absolutely right. That's a superb analysis. You're absolutely right. But. But that's why right now, with respect to my Democratic friends, they're not rational.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

The Karen wing of the party's in control. My Democratic colleagues are scared to death of them. They don't want to lose their seats,

[Josh Holmes]

and they're not interested in talking to him directly about any of this. It's not just fill another glass of chardonnay. Let's go.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Absolutely. And for example, the DHS budget. If ever there were a time, we need to come together on that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But I don't expect the Democrats to budge. They just want open borders. That's all there is to it. And an end to immigration, illegal immigration enforcement, if there's nothing you can do about it. And still to this day, our media is more diverse, but many members of the media are. Are still with them. But I'll tell you who's not with them. I think the American people. I think American people are slowly figuring all of this out. There are. How can I put this without ending up with a sombrero on my head? There are many people who don't hear President Trump's message because they can't get past President Trump's personnel. Yeah, that's true. And. And I regret that. And people ask me about it all the time, and I Tell them the truth. First of all, you know, to each his own. It's not going to change. The president is 80 years old. That's the way he is.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Senator John Kennedy]

The way he communicates. It's worked for him. I mean, he's been president twice.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Okay.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

He's going to talk about the drapes. He's going to do it. Like, it's fine. Like, you should hear the rest of it, because it does have immediate impact on your life. But if you're offended by the discussion of the traips, you should try to not be so offended by that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But at some point, I wish people would just would listen a little bit more. I've given up on telling the president. You know, stop growing anxious when you have an unexpressed thought, you know, you don't have to say everything that comes to his head because he's going to do that. Yes. And I know that about him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But. But everybody doesn't know him like I know him and like you gentlemen know him. And someday, some days, I think it does slow him down and hurt him. Hurts him, particularly with the independence.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I want to get to. We're going to take a quick break, but I want to come back on the back end. I want to talk to you about how you think Congress is going to respond to all this.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Okay.

[Josh Holmes]

Knowing that you're not. You know, you haven't talked to everybody yet, but you got some important meetings coming up right after this.

[Unidentified Female Host]

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[Josh Holmes]

America leads the world in medicine development. It matters we get new medicines first. Nearly three years. Faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home. And not relying on other countries keeps us safe. But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads, America cures. Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn [e-mail] paid for by pharma. Okay, so listen, you're just getting back into town. You probably haven't had a chance to talk.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I've talked to a lot of folks on the phone.

[Brian Hook]

Oh, have you?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so your colleagues in the Senate in particular, how are they reacting to what's happened in Iran?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, probably the best barometer will be the war powers Vote. All Democrats will vote against President Trump for reasons I just talked about. You can just write that down. Take it home to mama. We will lose some Republican votes. I don't know how many. We'll certainly lose Senator Ball. We may lose Senator Murkowski. I don't know about Senator Hawley. He's been sort of back and forth. Josh is in good faith, but he has reservations about all this. But will anything change in terms of what the president's doing? No, it will not. It will not. And this is one of those times where we're in it, boys. Go ahead. We're in it.

[Josh Holmes]

It's big boy stuff.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This is serious. As an aneurysm. We. We need to come together, and if you can't be positive, be quiet. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And let's get this over with. I don't think for a second the president is going to send in troops. I don't believe that. And I don't know what the end result is. None of us do. I just know where we are today is better than where we started in terms of the ability of a certified nut job to get a nuclear weapon.

[Unidentified Female Host]

You mentioned before the break that it's unlikely Democrats will come around and reopen the Department of Homeland Security, which they have shut down at this point. I saw over the weekend there was a mosque in Northern Virginia that put out a tweet on social media saying that they are mourning the death of the terrorist leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Right. So, you know, we all lived through the Biden years. We know that there are thousands and thousands of people who came into this country who mean to do us harm. Do you think there's any possible way that any of these Democrats could come to, you know, could. Could see reason and just reopen DHS so that we can protect regular people out there who are worried about the possibility?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, it's. Look, it breaks my heart, and I know in their hearts they know better. That's why I think almost all of this is political. Whether you think the president did the right thing or not, you can't possibly be unhappy that Khomeini's gone. I mean, the guy has blood of his own people under his fingernail. Well, and all of them are on the record. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, I mean, they've already said as much.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And the only vote we might get is Senator Fetterman. And look, John's.

[Josh Holmes]

Is that really it? That's a remarkable statement if he's probably the only one.

[Senator John Kennedy]

John. You know, John, I don't agree with him on everything. And he, he does dress like Happy Gilmore, but.

[Unidentified Female Host]

But seems like a reasonable guess.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But he's got oranges too.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And he calls it like he sees it and just really doesn't.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, he seems allergic to the hypocrisy of it. I mean, there's so much of the Democratic Party today that's a debating society. They talk about all the world's problems, but as soon as you do something about it, well, you've handled that in the wrong way. Yeah. Which has got to be incredibly frustrating. I mean, the epicenter of that, if there is one, is the United States Senate where you're presented every day with somebody. Oh, yeah, John, this is. You're right, that is a huge problem. And you're like, well, here's how we can solve it. And they're like, well, Trump has to sign that bill, so I'm not interested.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep, there's a lot of that. And it's. Unfortunately, it's going to get more the case as we get close to the midterms, but they'll be over soon. And there's a lot of. There's a lot of water coming down the stream between now and then.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, there is. It's just, it's eternally frustrating for those of us who grew up in a world with, you see, consequences whether they're economic or terrorist, national security in nature where it's almost like they don't understand what is possible. I mean, to Johnny's point, homeland Security being closed. Well, you have no idea whether 15 million people came here to do a job or to do a job.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

Right. And they're just comfortable with rolling the dice on that. It's a hell of a message to the American people.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's the Karen wing of their party. The Karen wing of their party believes that we should have open borders. It's just that simple.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Terrifying.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And as long as they're in charge, and they are, the Mamdanis, the Ocasio Cortez's, the Bernie Sanders. I mean, Senator Schumer only thinks he's in charge.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, that's the other thing.

[Matt Ashbrook]

That's what I wanted to ask you about is do you feel so much of this dysfunction from the Democrats, especially in the Senate, is because Schumer is terrified of facing AOC in a primary and terrified of losing power.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah. Chuck's scared to death of it and of her and most of my Democratic colleagues are. I mean, it's clear. I'm not saying Republicans are perfect But I've said this before. Republicans are not perfect, but the other side's crazy. And the wound wing of their party is firmly in control. Mamdani, I mean, those are the leaders of their party. Aoc, Bernie Sanders. It's not Jeffries, it's not Schumer. And they just live in fear. Chuck lives in fear of getting past this moment. He wants to be reelected. If Ocasio Cortez runs against him, she will be a formidable opponent. And so he takes his orders from the Cairn wing.

[Josh Holmes]

I find it so interesting, and you got to tell me how this has evolved because, I mean, look, 10, 15 years ago, when I was running around where you have to work every day, which I'm sure in and of itself is a great pleasure for you, you get somebody like Chuck Schumer, who has articulated his view of the threat the Ayatollah Khomeini possesses the funding of Hamas, Hezbollah, the attacks rampant throughout the 90s, 2000s, tens and today, and says definitively this is the worst threat that America faces. He said it over and over again. And then just simply to have President Trump be the person who does something that for 30 years you said was a problem, to eliminate that problem, is there not. Do you not detect, and he's just one of many in the Senate not detect just an ounce of like, maybe this is a good, maybe I shouldn't just be a straight hardcore partisan opposition on this stuff. Or is it just we've gotten to the point where they're like, it's not my problem, my job makes more sense.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I want to believe that, that in their hearts, they know that in their heart. But, but we all rationalize things in life. And I'm sure they're rationalizing it in terms of, well, if I'm not reelected, I can't. Won't be here to do all the good things that, that, that I'm, that I want to do. So I've got to do what I've got to do momentarily. I mean, you gentlemen know politicians. The thing they want most in the world is to be re elected. And I mean, that's true. And so I see it from their standpoint. But there are, there are times when you. It's gut check time right now.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And if I know Senator Schimmer well, I was in China with him when Hamas attacked Israel, but I know how he feels about supporting and that's kind of my point. And I know he knows that the leadership in Iran, they want to not only kill Americans, but first they want to kill the Jewish people and drink their blood out of a boot.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And you know, to me, it's one of those gut check times, and I've had gut check times when I took a vote on Ukraine one time that is very controversial in my party. But. And it got me in a lot of trouble with the members of my party who think we shouldn't be helping Ukraine. And so sometimes you just got to say, look, I try to vote the way you, my people want me to vote. If you had the information I have. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, that's the thing, is that you've always struck me as one of those

[Senator John Kennedy]

people who

[Josh Holmes]

exactly like, I'm going to do what I think is right here, what I think that you think if you had the information, as you said would do, but like, if things go sideways, like, man, I'm going to have a good time doing something else.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Exactly.

[Josh Holmes]

And it doesn't seem like they've got that.

[Senator John Kennedy]

That's one of the reasons that. And history will not, history will redeem him. But if you polled Senator McConnell today, you know, his, his poll numbers nationwide wouldn't be good. No, this man has, he doesn't have just two oranges, he's got half a dozen. Okay. I mean, this man is responsible for a conservative Supreme Court.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This, this man, I mean, and he's, he's feeling better. He's back. I'm not saying he's chasing Elaine around the House, but, but he's back and he's in the Senate.

[Matt Ashbrook]

And I talked visual of that, by the way. Really.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I talked to him, I talked to him the other day. And, and there's not, there are many things I don't agree with Mitch on. He doesn't agree with me. But, but, I mean it, the man just, but you contrast what you just

[Josh Holmes]

your description with what it is that Schumer's come up with there. And this man is in, whether he wants it or not, the twilight of his career, he's going to be run out one way or another. Wouldn't you think that just sort of believing in the thing that you've said you believed in for the last 30 years would be a good way to sort of profess yourself when you're on the top.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

If you're, if you're going to go out, go out swinging at least.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

It's like he, he's got none of that. But it appears, unfortunately, other than Fetterman, that they're all on board for this.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, and this is your book, basically, right. Chuck has been a surprise to him, I will tell you, because I know. I know him pretty well. I like him, I don't hate anybody. And I know how he feels about the Jewish religion and the Jewish people. And this is one of those times where I would go to the President and say, Look, Mr. President, what can I do here to help? We've got to have some common ground here. Because the truth is that this is going to sound strange when we're in the middle of a war, but the Middle east today is safer than it's been in the last 50 years because we've gotten rid of Hamas, we put down Hezbollah, we're in the process of getting rid of Iran. And that's. And we did that because we allowed the Jewish people to do what they had to do and we backed it up. Now, sometimes we had to use a cattle prod on President Biden to get him to go. You know, we got to do it. And that's been the reason. They're just people in this world. They're not mixed up, they're not sick, they're not bad. They're just mean people. And they understand one thing. Weakness invites the wolves. And you've got to hit them right square between the eyes.

[Josh Holmes]

Can we talk about your book for a minute?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, here it is.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Let me show it to you.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, let's put that thing up there.

[Senator John Kennedy]

This book, Smug. Let me tell you.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Please do.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Don't take this the wrong way. This book. See this book, guys, this book will change your life. I've heard nothing but good things about this book. Smug. This book will cure erectile dysfunction. Not that you need it.

[Matt Ashbrook]

What have you heard?

[Senator John Kennedy]

This book will grow hair. Okay. Anyway, I'll be sure to get a

[Matt Ashbrook]

copy from my baby boy who's doing too much.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Shameless plug.

[Josh Holmes]

He had to disavow the allegation there with this.

[Brian Hook]

I like that.

[Josh Holmes]

That was good. No, but listen. First of all, you are one of the only people in Washington D.C. who can just cut through the bullshit, give us a story, humorous anecdote that just sort of summarizes what it is that you're up to on a day to day basis. More importantly, what the other people are up to. And this book is funny. It's good. You ought to buy it.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Thanks, Josh. It's been a surprise. It has done well. We've been on the New York Times bestseller.

[Josh Holmes]

I know it is for you.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I was. Since this came out, it's like 14 weeks. And I gotta tell you, you know what? It's like, guys, you write it, you stick it out there. You never know what's going to happen. And, you know, it's. I've been. I've been obviously pleased, but honestly surprised. I'm not trying to be humble. I mean, I just never thought he'd do this well.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Well, it's funny that. I mean, we've experienced a little bit.

[Senator John Kennedy]

It's probably the erectile dysfunction.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it.

[Unidentified Female Host]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

That's anytime. You can wedge that in anytime.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Go ahead.

[Matt Ashbrook]

We haven't had the level of success that you have with this. But it's something about being rational and being fl. Funny that there's a huge demand for that. And everyone I know, when you talk about this book, like, at Fox, they've told us that, like, get him on. He's a hit. People love him. His book's doing great. I feel like that's the key is so much of politics that we see is polarizing people, trying to make people mad that if you just are honest with people, but you can also tell them a joke, that's.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I mean, people.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Long, hard day of work. That's what you want to come up with.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Well, the stories are true, and I had to leave some out, but we're together a lot. We know each other well. I'm trying to remember how I described Lindsay. I gave a couple of paragraphs to Lindsay. I said, oh, if you invite Lindsay for dinner, you don't know whether he'll sit down for an intelligent conversation or get drunk and vomit in the fish tank. And everybody, everybody who has read that says, that's Lindsay. You just never know. And it's what I like about the guy.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Senator Graham, like, why'd you tell him?

[Senator John Kennedy]

And I put something in there. And this is true, too. I said, if you really want to stump Lindsay, ask him to name one country that he wouldn't bomb.

[Josh Holmes]

I think he was last seen in South Florida with Total Prism this weekend.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And my friend Mark Wayne Mullen, you know, who's a cage. I said, let me put this. When Mark Wayne gets in the ocean, the sharks climb into Mark Wayne cages. He's always ready to fight.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Good fighter.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, he wants to fight. Oh, man. All right, so we. I assume people can get this. Absolutely.

[Brian Hook]

Anyway.

[Senator John Kennedy]

At the Amazon or Barnes and Noble or where. Wherever.

[Josh Holmes]

For everything else that you're up to, I mean, you. I know you got a website.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Just got all kind of bills. We're working. We're going to start on our housing bill next.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, that's Good.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I hope Democrats have supported it once. I hope they do it again. I've got a bunch of stuff in that bill, believe it or not, with Senator Elizabeth Warren, some housing things that'll really make a difference.

[Josh Holmes]

Hey, he's a legislator, guys. Understands how to make laws that make a difference.

[Senator John Kennedy]

We need to try to get that across the finish line. Senator Thune wants to do. He doesn't want to do another reconciliation. John is my friend, but I've told him to his face, John, you're wrong. Either. Either you're wrong or you're on crank. Okay. If you think we're going to get any Democratic votes, and I hope, but I hope we will. In the housing bill, they voted for it once, but they also voted for our DHS budget.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right, right.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And it's just going to get tougher and toug until we get past the midterms.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, you're a good man. Thank you for doing what you're doing.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I love y' all show, man.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, you're the best.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Love having you on.

[Senator John Kennedy]

And it's coming on. Making fun of all these knob heads, you know.

[Josh Holmes]

Always fun.

[Senator John Kennedy]

You're the man.

[Josh Holmes]

Senator Kennedy, thank you so much. Thanks for joining us,

[Unidentified Female Host]

man. I always love having that guy because not only is he the funniest person on the planet, he also provides the most sober analysis of what you can expect out of the United States Senate. Real treat to have him here today.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. He's always just a blast. He does have a way of cutting through the nonsense. Just having a laugh every once in a while, which, as we've found in the Ruthless Variety Program, quite effective.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Yeah, that's the way to do it. I mean, he always speaks the truth and cuts through all of the Washington bullshit because you'll hear so much spin from folks, you know, you're never getting it from him and you're having a good time.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's great. It leads us to our question of the day. You've heard what he has to say and we're going to add a little bit to it. So think about your question of the day. When you hear Brian Hook later, who's going to add some nuts and bolts to all of this, is do you trust Trump's plan for Iran? It's a big question and it's one that everybody's polling every single possible way to try to find a way to undercut our president on. But when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, we want to hear directly from you and so do all that Leave your question. We get back to the very next episode in this case on Thursday. Absolutely terrific discussion. Remember today, if you're in Texas, it's sort of a big day.

[Matt Ashbrook]

That's right. It's primary day.

[Josh Holmes]

Primary day. And you've got a bunch of things going on. I assume most of you are in the Republican category that are listening to us. A huge Senate primary. Although there's an AG primary, there's all kinds of stuff going on there. Congressional districts all over the place with important races. Get out and vote. And if you have any last minute sort of considerations, you gotta go to the ruthlesspodcast.com matt ruthlesspodcast.com/map. We have provided for you interviews with all three of the candidates vying for your vote in that Senate election. I think you're going to find it instructive. And honestly, I got a ton of feedback over the weekend from people across the country who were clicking on their little spots and looking at interviews and they're like, oh, man, this is actually really, really helpful. I'm like, yeah, that's kind of the point. That's kind of the point. And in Texas, it makes a big difference because you're going to want to hear directly from these guys in a way the mainstream media certainly can't provide. I hope you get out there and vote. I don't want to see any of that low turnout bullshit.

[Matt Ashbrook]

That's right.

[Josh Holmes]

If you're going to make a change, if you're going to make a choice, make sure you're doing it because everybody showed up and made their voice heard. So no regrets. Get out there and vote and deal with all of it. The next day could be a runoff and those interviews will probably add to. Yeah, even in Texas and well beyond. Whole calendar stuff on the primary coming up that we'll get into in our next episodes. One group of people that has been on the ground everywhere, not just for the primaries or general elections, but issues all over the place is afp. Oh, yeah, we did that big event with them where they kicked off their America250 campaign.

[Unidentified Female Host]

One small step.

[Josh Holmes]

One small step is exactly it. So they're now releasing toolkits that are coming out. Every so often they give you a little primer of things to think about, to try to engage, try to get people back to where they should be. When you're looking at this country 250 years in to just appreciate it, for God's sake, you wish it wasn't necessary. But thank God for operations like AFP for giving a primer on some of these things and this theme is pursuit of happiness. The question for all of us is what does the American dream mean for you? For me, it has always meant being born into circumstances obviously not in your control, but given the opportunity to be something beyond that.

[Matt Ashbrook]

That's the thing. It's like the only country in the world and it's worth defending. That opportunity is limitless. There's no country like this in the history of humanity where you can have someone from humble beginnings to achieve anything that they want, anything they can dream. And AFP gave us a list of some very accomplished Americans and asked us to bring up or highlight who has a lot of meaning for you. For me personally, I want to bring up the Wright brothers because one thing that they did first in flight for North Carolina because there's a lot of treachery from Ashbrooks, Ohio of them trying to have like stolen glory of stolen valor of first in flight. That was the Wright brothers. And they got it done in America because anything is possible in this wonderful country.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah, the Wright brothers aren't the only Ohioans on that list. Neil Armstrong is also on their list. So Ohio overrepresented in American history.

[Brian Hook]

Oh man.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, I mean, listen, there's a lot of people on these lists that resonate deeply, but I'm sure they're interested in your own stories. You gotta take one small step and share what the American dream means to you. Go to a250toolkit.com ruthless to learn more. Honestly, just put it all in. There is a time to celebrate our country. It's a good opportunity to do all of that. We come back, one of the most respected experts in the world in the history of our world on Iran and all things foreign policy. Brian Hook right after this.

[Brian Hook]

In America, parents call the shots for their families, not bureaucrats. But the so called App Store Accountability act puts your child at risk. This bill requires app stores to collect children's sensitive personal data while taking away power from parents over how their child's data is handled by tech companies. Parents should get to decide if their child's age is shared with apps, not politicians. Parents should attest to their kids ages, not turn over birth certificates to tech companies. Congress don't put kids at greater risk online and box parents out of making decisions for their families. Tell your lawmaker to put parents first. There are better ways to keep kids safe. NetChoice is dedicated to making the Internet safe for free expression and free enterprise. Learn [e-mail] keep app stores safe.

[Josh Holmes]

They closed President Trump's accounts.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Now the big banks want to destroy Trump's affordability agenda by putting tolls on your data. I have no hire priority than making America affordable again. That's what we're going to do.

[Michael Duncan]

The banks that went after Trump now want hidden fees on every transaction, making everything more expensive.

[Senator John Kennedy]

But President Trump can stop them.

[Michael Duncan]

Tell President Trump, keep big bank fees

[Senator John Kennedy]

out of the open banking rule.

[Josh Holmes]

So listen, Iran on everybody's mind, obviously, and the way we handle this on the ruthless variety program is to talk to people, people who know far more than we do about the ins and outs of all this. You've heard him here before at least twice. He's gonna get a jacket at some point. Brian Hook. How are you, sir?

[Brian Hook]

Great. Good to be you.

[Josh Holmes]

So you were in charge of Iran Iran policy during the first Trump administration. You clearly have a view not only about what's going on now, but what's led us to this point. And I think it would just take help to educate people about what you saw in the imminent threat that was Iran. That has proliferated now through many years and become even worse. It has led us to this action that we're at.

[Brian Hook]

Well, the Islamic Republic of Iran came to power in 1979. And the first thing they did was they took all of our diplomats hostage in the Iran, in our embassy in Tehran. And that was a, like, deeply scarring incident. And President Trump lived through that. I remember it as a kid. And Americans were tying ribbons around trees, and Walter Cronkite every night was announcing, you know, how many days they had been held hostage in Tehran. And so the first act of business that this regime that is in power today did was to take hundreds of Americans hostage, our diplomats, which is you're supposed to leave the diplomats alone. That's like one of the most basic sort of unwritten rules of international politics is you need diplomats in order to work through conflicts. And so that was the first thing that they did. And then under President Reagan, he got them out. In the last 47 years of the this regime, they have killed over 1,000Americans. And they've done it directly and they have done it indirectly. Qasem Soleimani in Iraq is responsible for the deaths of more than 600Americans. And then you think about the number of people who've been critically injured, who are today living with, like, life debilitating injuries because of Iranian violence and terrorism. Iran is the reason why Hamas exists and it's the reason why Hezbollah exists. It is the reason why the Houthis in Yemen are bombing commercial tankers on the Bab El Mandeb.

[Josh Holmes]

They're primary funders of these operations as a proxy, basically.

[Brian Hook]

Exactly, yeah. Iran's power projection is always dependent on proxies that do the fighting and the dying for them. And Iran organizes, trains, equips and funds them. So they were the first backers of Hamas, the first backers of Hezbollah. The Houthis were just this tribal militia in Yemen. But then Iran sends in its people to make them much better than they otherwise could be on their own. And then they then are fighting against the Saudis, the Emiratis, they're firing on US Navy ships. And so we've had a half century of this, and Iran really has been engaged in an endless war against the United States and Israel and our partners. And they have conducted assassination plots in every region of the world. Hundreds. And many of them have been against American targets, including President Trump. And so it is a incredibly dangerous regime. I think it, for now, 47 years, it is the biggest driver of instability in the Middle East. It's not the Israeli Palestinian conflict. It is the Iranian regime and its proxy networks who are committed to the destruction of Israel and to the elimination of the United States in the Middle east and anywhere else in the world where they want to have a sphere of influence.

[Josh Holmes]

So before we get to these fellows, questions, why now? It seems to me that having been around a little bit, every single administration, every single congressional leadership since I've been around has talked about Iran, its proxies, as a seminal danger to the Western way of life, life, let alone the United States or Israel or anything else. And yet there's always some kind of a negotiation, some kind of a discussion, some kind of a not quite now component to it, as we've seen with President Trump. Whether it was Soleimani, which you were in the middle of, or Venezuela that we saw last month, or now with Iran, he is committed to taking care of these problems when he's given an opportunity to do it. Why now, from your perspective?

[Brian Hook]

President Trump has, I think, shown real principle. In the case of Iran, he's very clear eyed about it, and he's also been very realistic about it. And he has approached it through the lens of this regime that has killed more Americans than most, possibly any other nation. They can't have a nuclear weapon. And just like you were saying, so many presidents, many of whom I've worked for, have said Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. They either kick the can down the road or they negotiate a really bad nuclear Deal that puts Iran on a pathway to becoming state the Obama palace of cash. Yeah. And originally they said no deal is better than a bad deal, but ultimately they decided on a bad deal. And President Trump left that deal in the first term because it was a temporary political commitment, a non proliferation agreement that was going to expire. And it didn't touch Iran's missile program, it didn't touch its proxies, it didn't touch its terrorism, and it didn't solve the threat of Iran's nuclear program. And if you think about the Middle east, the most volatile region in the world, and then if you think about the country that has been the driver of the violence, that country having a nuclear weapon changes the Middle east forever.

[Michael Duncan]

Doesn't it also just kind of tell you everything you need to know about the regime that Obama does this deal. And okay, it's for nuclear power or whatever. They just want to enrich a little bit. They have some medical needs here. But that discussion, you know, happens with the Obama administration. They sign this deal, but not on the table is the missiles. Not on the table is the funding of the proxies that murder Americans and people across the Middle East. It kind of tells you everything to know about what's important to this regime. Right. It's the most important thing. As you said in their power projection,

[Brian Hook]

Iran's entire power projection is missiles and proxies. And the missing card for them is a nuclear weapon. What President Trump is doing is what no president has done before, which is to comprehensively address once and for all these three threats. And under the Iran nuclear deal, even for those who were a fan of it, which I was not, and fully supported President Trump getting out of the the deal, that deal is silent on Iran's proxies and on Iran's missiles.

[Josh Holmes]

Like, how is that even possible? It seems to me that if there is any danger, why would you care about somebody's enrichment without a deliverability mechanism of which theirs is missiles and proxies.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah, well, are you going to set

[Josh Holmes]

it off in Tehran? I mean, it just doesn't make any sense.

[Brian Hook]

Well, there's nuclear bombs and then there's nuclear weapons. And if you have a missile program that is developing an intercontinental ballistic capability, you are then developing that so that you can put the nuclear bomb on the weapon and then get it to the United States. Brian, I just want to put a

[Josh Holmes]

fine point on this because I do think it's really important for people to understand. So every nuclear discussion with Iran, including the Obama deal, which we've been huge critics of was dealing with the enrichment capacity. It left out any discussion about deliverability, whether it be from intercontinental ballistic missiles or proxy discussion. All of that, none of that was touched in the larger discussion of these quote, unquote deals.

[Brian Hook]

They were. Yeah, it was completely left out.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it's just.

[Brian Hook]

And here's one more thing. Under the Iran nuclear deal, we were not allowed to sanction Iran's oil. And Iran's oil revenue is what they use funds, a proxy to fund proxies that kill Americans in the Middle east and beyond.

[Unidentified Female Host]

They were obviously selling oil to some of our, you know, global adversaries. And I just wonder if you can give us a sense for how significant it is that the Russians and the Chinese have yet to come in on behalf of Iran in this situation where some of their Gulf state neighbors are taking side with America here.

[Brian Hook]

Well, you've seen here there was so much press about this China, Iran alliance. Where are the Chinese? Yeah. Where are the Russians? It's an empty alliance. Anytime that, you know, you're in bed with these two countries, and if you think you're going in the right place, like, why Canada? Why Canada went to China, you know, after they were disappointed in discussions with Trump, I mean, that's just like inexplicably bad judgment. China will not be there for you. Russia will not be there for you. And we're seeing it right now in Iran also. Iran's proxies are not there for them because they're gone. The only one left at this point, thanks to Israel, the only one left are the Houthis. And Israel has worked through Hamas and Hezbollah. Assad is out of Syria. Iran has left Syria, and their proxies aren't even a fraction of what they used to be.

[Michael Duncan]

So this is sort of a unique, unique moment. And I think the President has sort of pointed to this as like, this might be our last best chance when Iran is at its weakest. And like you said, this alliance with China and Russia is really just an empty alliance that they could be, for the first time, really truly isolated in the Middle East.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah, I think they are. They've never been more isolated. And the President is right. But we just don't see opportunities like this very often. The opportunity for us to bomb three of Iran's nuclear sites back in June was an enormous opportunity because Israel had cleared the airspace. And so you're given largely a free option to take out Iran's nuclear program. So this is an incredibly important moment where the United States and Israel has have largely cleared the theater. And the President has put in place a force posture that is a huge imbalance of power. Iran has never been weaker. They worked through a lot of their missile stocks in April of 24 twice when they attacked Israel. During the war in Gaza, the Supreme leader ordered two attacks on Israel. Israel intercepted something like 98% percent of it. And then Israel counterattacked and took out Iran's missile defense systems at the nuclear sites. And this was a teaching moment for Israel that Iran turned out to be something of a paper tiger and that if they wanted to hit the nuclear facilities, they could. And so while they were working through Hamas and Hezbollah and Syria and Iraq and the Houthis, they really had an opportunity with President Trump to do the 12 day war. And then now, because Iran has been reconstituting its missile stocks and its drones and its rockets, and they have tried to restart nuclear production, I think what the President is doing is to comprehensively address the three threats of that Iran presents to America and our partners.

[Josh Holmes]

Tell me how. There's a lot of discussion about the talks over the last couple of weeks, and those broke down, obviously, at some point, not a ton of detail about why they broke down, But United States, to some chagrin of people who've been longtime watchers, were willing to have these discussions. Ultimately that didn't come to fruition. Do you have any idea why President

[Brian Hook]

Trump avoided the Iranian negotiating trap? And that doesn't mean that he didn't support a diplomatic outcome. He gave it. He gave the Iranians every opportunity to come to a deal, but he didn't fall into the negotiating trap, which is where Iran buys time in Vienna, in Geneva, in all of these places, they buy time. They get sanctions relief in order to produce, in order to create, like, a positive negotiating atmosphere. Then they use the sanctions relief to finance terrorism and to keep their nuclear program going. Because the most important thing you need on a nuclear program is time. And if you can stretch that out and get keep improving your uranium enrichment cycles, you get closer and closer and closer to a weather. And so President Trump sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to negotiate. Steve, before the 12 Day War, Steve was meeting with the Iranians on a regular basis. And Iran engaged in that usual pattern. And it's worked. I mean, they've had enormous success with it.

[Josh Holmes]

You might say it was the basis of their deal with Obama.

[Brian Hook]

It was. And so President Trump, I believe, was sincere in wanting to get to a deal. And this was even the most recent talks where the second Time in the second term where he has said to the Iranians, these are our red lines. If you'd like civilian nuclear power, there's a way we can do that, that. But you've got to knock it off with the, with the long range ballistic missiles. And you need to end this proxy warfare that's killing Americans and our partners. And they just said no. And so all credit to President Trump for not like, like he didn't repeat the Obama mistake of chasing the Iranians all over Vienna. And when the Iranians, you know, when you're calling them, you're losing. You want the Iranians to call you. And the President said the other day that the Iranians have called. I saw that Lairanjani denied it, but they also might be denying it publicly and saying yes privately. And that'll be an interesting question to see whether the Iranians decide, okay, we misread him for the 15th time. Why don't we sit down and actually talk about something in order to ensure the survival, our survival.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you talk about the significance of the fact that the Ayatollah is no longer.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah, I mean, it's been like 24 hours and our news cycles have already, like, moved past it.

[Josh Holmes]

But this is something you basically dedicated a huge portion of your career. Well, many of us examining the significance of his presence in Iran as it relates to the entire Middle east, but also the world and our own domestic policy towards the rest of the world. I feel like moving past it in 24 hours is not like, worthy of its significance in some ways.

[Brian Hook]

Iran has had exactly two leaders in 47 years. And so you cannot overstate the significance of the Supreme Leader and his entire inner circle eliminated. And so I think Iran has lost a lot of its command and control, not only now, but they were already degraded back in June because Israel took out dozens of IRGC commanders. And then now in this, the IRGC commander has been eliminated. The Supreme Leader's top military advisor was eliminated. The Supreme Leader is gone. Soleimani is gone. They have lost, I think, a lot of their command and control and they have completely lost their ability to project power. And for a country that has been on offense for 47 years, exporting revolution, usually through proxies, to now be on defense and struggling to survive, it is of enormous historical import that we're living through this.

[Unidentified Female Host]

So does that create the sort of power vacuum within that country that the people who have been dissatisfied for so long could rise up and change things, or are they still entrenched, you know, at the Lower level, still entrenched in power in a way that it's going to be difficult to overcome.

[Brian Hook]

The Iranian regime has been very successful at eliminating the earliest sign of opposition. And they have suppressed internal dissent in an incredible way. Everybody here remembers Tiananmen Square, and I feel like that's still being discussed. I mean, people still talk about Tiananmen Square and what a watershed moment that was. The Iranian regime in these recent protests killed triple the number of Tiananmen Square. And I thought that was vastly underreported.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, they shut down the Internet. It gets difficult.

[Brian Hook]

It does, right? Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

To get it real time information.

[Brian Hook]

Right, right. So I think the Iranian people, this is a country of 90 million people. A lot of people, brave people took to the streets, men and women, and the regime gunned them down 30,000 people. But this is a country of 90 million people, and that means about 89,500,000 people stayed home.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Yeah.

[Brian Hook]

And so I think the president, President Trump and Netanyahu have called on the Iranian people to be courageous. He said help was on the way. He has come, and I do think that's significant.

[Josh Holmes]

By the way, there's a lot of presidents and world leaders who've said this to a number of countries. Not just as complicated as Iran, that help is on the way. Just stand up, overthrow your regime, and all will be fine. Trump is kind of the first one, at least in my memory, certainly as it relates to Iran, but in a significant, high stakes situation, to draw that red line and actually execute against it.

[Brian Hook]

Yeah. He said that. That if you fire on the protesters, there will be consequences. And now the turns out. Yeah, the supreme Leader is gone.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Brian Hook]

The person that ordered the executions has been eliminated.

[Michael Duncan]

So stupid question here, but, like, who the heck are we even negotiating with at this point, you know, and what is most important? Is it like the military leadership and the irgc, is it the religious leadership? Those things often work in tandem in a country like Iran. Does anybody actually currently have the legitimacy to negotiate their position on their behalf? Or is this still something like we're dealing with in the fog of war and this is going to be a military exercise until they say uncle or we somehow lose the ability to control the situation?

[Brian Hook]

That's a very smart question.

[Michael Duncan]

Okay.

[Brian Hook]

It's a very good one. You have to have a counterparty in order to make a deal. The Iranian regime has always had this theatrical diplomacy where they send out all of these foreign ministers who look like a conventional diplomat and are often Western and speak flawless English. I've met with Them, but they actually are kind of the storefront. Oh, that's a good way. Nobody ever sees the back office. And as a consequence, you never quite know who you're talking to.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Brian Hook]

In this case, they still have a foreign minister, Abbas Arachi, but they don't have any head of government. They have a triumvirate now, which is a person who heads the judiciary, another person who's like intel, and then the president. But even the president of Iran who is elected is not anybody with real power. It's always all of the power. From the time of the Ayatollah, the. The first one is all vested in one man, the supreme leader. And so when you've got that on your business card, that's the one you want to negotiate with. And when you're with the foreign minister, you got to wonder who you're talking to. So they sent Abbas Arachi to negotiate with Steve Witkoff and with Jared Kushner. And those talks were inconclusive. It was clear that they weren't serious. And that's what President.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, for the reasons you outline, basically.

[Brian Hook]

They're not serious.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Brian Hook]

They wanted to keep thousands of centrifuges. And so for as long as Iran has centrifuges, you never know whether they're going to be denied from getting a nuclear weapon. If you end all enrichment, then you don't. This question of how close is Iran to a bomb, it's mooted. And 70% of the nations in the world that have civilian nuclear power do not enrich. They import the enriched fuel.

[Josh Holmes]

And I think, well, they also don't develop an intercontinental ballistic missiles program in tandem.

[Brian Hook]

And they're also not the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Like, if it were a normal country. Right. You could have this of kind conversation, but you can't overlook the fact, you know, with the most violent regime on earth. So when they say, we'd like to keep a few thousand centrifuges, and they have a history of lying to the iaea, the UN nuclear watchdog, I mean, they have a perfect record of mendacity with a good way of putting it with the un. And the inspectors are always like, oh, don't look here, don't look there. You could look here, but you can't look there. That's been going on for so long.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. How does this end? Is this. Look, in the era of Trump, we've had a respite from previous decades of long commitments for international troubles where we're in and out. Basically, we've worried on the variety program about the possibility of that with Iran because of the nature of the population, because of the length of time that the ayatollah has reigned over this population and what the second, third, fourth generation of leadership could look like about whether you can have anything close to an in and out experience. Clearly he has said the press conference today that in and out isn't we're going to do what we're going to do. We're going to make sure that we're doing that right. So even from Trump himself, it's not like a Venezuela deal. But I'm curious from your perspective, how does this end?

[Brian Hook]

I think under the best case scenario, there we are able to accomplish our national security objectives in a comprehensive way, just like we believe been discussing. And there are a number of ways that can happen in terms of whatever Iran decides to do internally, I'm hopeful that we will able we've already largely accomplished the proxy objectives. We need to take out the missiles and the drones and the rockets and

[Josh Holmes]

we need to so for doing this, we got to go take out all offensive capabilities.

[Brian Hook]

I think that's where the president is. It seems like that's where he is, that if we're going to do this, we're going to it's going to be a long term solution, not a short term solution, not a short term bad deal, not kick the can down the road. But we are going to remove this driver of violence and terrorism from the Middle East. And there's either there's going to be a new government that agrees to that or there is going to be a people that come together and the Iranian people then put in place a new government, a different government, a different structure of government that is not clerical, that is a secular government with a secular army. There is, Iran does have, there is an Iranian defense minister. You never hear about him because the IRGC is really the de facto military of Iran. But if you could have what is a pre1979 kind of system and if you go back to the early 1900s, Iran has had constitutional governments that represent the interests of the Iranian people. That money Iran is enormously rich in natural wealth. That money could be spent on them in the same way that we're seeing the Emiratis and the Saudis and others invest in their people and not in proxies and exporting this Shia revolution. And so you could have. I think I'm hopeful we'll see. It's very early innings. Instant analysis during a war is a

[Josh Holmes]

bad idea as we've come to fight.

[Brian Hook]

But you've asked me like what could be a very optimistic scenario and it could be that we accomplish our military objectives. A secular government in Iran that emerges, that is not this violent theocracy exporting revolution through proxies around the region. And the Middle east then moves into this decades long run of peace and prosperity and stability.

[Josh Holmes]

And that's because the other countries, the powers in the region would be enormously receptive.

[Brian Hook]

Oh my goodness. They're totally ready. Like if you look around the Gulf and you look at our Gulf partners, I think for the most part you are looking at people who are talking about joining the Abraham Accords. Right. You already have the Emiratis and you have Bahrain. You've got Sudan and Morocco. The Saudis have been in discussions about joining the Abraham Accords.

[Josh Holmes]

The hesitation has been been but for

[Brian Hook]

Iran, but for October 7th. Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Right.

[Brian Hook]

And then now Iran. Yeah, but I think now that the. Now that the Iranians have bombed directly Saudi again. They did it today.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah.

[Brian Hook]

This could end up putting back sort of a. Sort of restoring the pre October 7th dynamic of when, not if the Saudis joined the Abraham Accords. But the whole construct of the Abraham Accords is essentially around counterextremism, freedom of worship and economic opportunity. And I believe the Iranian people believe in that. That's the opportunity. The Iranian people do not believe that the great Satan is the United States and Israel. They want to be partners with the United States, but their government does not.

[Josh Holmes]

It probably takes time to convince them that saying that out loud doesn't get him killed though.

[Brian Hook]

That's exactly it. But there's a great opportunity here. And just as this regime had a 47 year run, you could have a decades long run. If we can get Iran into a new realignment where the Iranian people are part of a regional integration around economic opportunity, tolerance and counterextremism. The Middle east could be on an incredible footing.

[Josh Holmes]

We just got a doctorate level class from this guy. I can't thank you enough, Hook. I mean, listen, I know this is coming up a lot. You've been in here three times now. But let's keep this conversation going. Anytime you've got something you think is interesting, come back in. I feel like I learn an incredible amount from you each and every time you're on Ruthless.

[Brian Hook]

You ask smart questions. It's easy.

[Josh Holmes]

Brian, thank you very much.

[Brian Hook]

Thanks for having me on.

[Josh Holmes]

You got it.

[Brian Hook]

Thank you.

[Unidentified Female Host]

Okay. Every time Brian Hook comes in here and I think we. I think this is his third time, I feel like I Learned something.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Host]

And you know, there's so many questions. You read as many articles as you possibly can about the situation in Iran and yet you sit down and talk to him and you feel like you learned things that you never saw on the show.

[Michael Duncan]

And he can explain, explain it in a brass tax way that I think is totally lost in the conversation online or even on cable news or. It's why I love long form podcasts, because he can go in the nuts and bolts of like, where did Obama get it wrong in his nuke deal? Right. You know, what did Trump get right in this? He understood this Iranian negotiation two step of like buy time to reduce sanctions, to bring in the money to fund the terrorism, to build the nuclear program. That all of this was just a waited out thing that the Iranians were trying to do. And Donald Trump comes in and says, all right, cut the shit, here's what we're gonna try to do.

[Josh Holmes]

It's also so helpful when you don't have to hear it through the filter of whatever New York Times reporter is trying to do with their sources. From a guy who's actually sat down with the principals in Iran and had these conversations, like he's gonna give you the straight stuff that's like the, the direct smack to the vein.

[Michael Duncan]

But the thing that was really fascinating, I thought he said was, you know, to the, like, you don't really even know who you're negotiating.

[Unidentified Female Host]

That was a great question.

[Michael Duncan]

You know, the, the person is really just a storefront for this ayatollah who's a madman.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Nobody's seen the back office. I love the way he put that.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, it was great.

[Josh Holmes]

It was really, really good. Brian, Hook, thanks so much for joining all of us. You guys want a little variety before we go?

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, always a little palan.

[Josh Holmes]

A little variety. All right. So you know how much we love news bloopers.

[Brian Hook]

Yes.

[Josh Holmes]

And we've talked about this a little bit, but like, I can't get enough of it. I'm like algorithmically tuned to any time anybody has like a local news problem. And there's many of them that we've discussed. There was one that happened in Texas not too, too distant past that I thought was really great. Let's toss this up now from KFTX3,

[Senator John Kennedy]

Texoma's weather authority with chief meteorologist Michael Bowling.

[Unidentified Female Host]

We don't have any rain in our

[Senator John Kennedy]

forecast, but something that is in the not so distant future that we can forecast is a Midland Weather. You don't have any rain to forecast in the next Few days. But in the next few days, we have Midland Weather Radio days.

[Matt Ashbrook]

I just said a second ago we

[Senator John Kennedy]

have rain in the forecast. Wow. The day of the, the. The event.

[Josh Holmes]

I have rain.

[Senator John Kennedy]

I'm not talking. I'm talking like three or four days coming. Actually, the rain chase is coming before me. I'm trying to correct people. I just don't. Listen to me. Anyways, take a look. Okay, anyways.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Middleweather radio days.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh man, it's all I've ever wanted. Like a full breakdown on local news. An insurrection from within. You don't listen to me. Well, it's because you're boring.

[Michael Duncan]

I mean, so much happened so quickly. Basically, she mischaracterizes his weather report, he flips out. And then she's like, well, I wasn't paying attention, cuz you suck.

[Josh Holmes]

As you guys are talking about it. Can we put up the graphic that they put up over top of this back and forth? Because from a production standpoint, I can really appreciate the fact that they are like in a full no holds barred argument on set where they're like taking personal shots at one another and the production crew is like, just keep up. The first and one in Wichita Falls.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, put the graphic up. They're arguing.

[Josh Holmes]

It's ace hardware. Like, I know nobody cares about this,

[Matt Ashbrook]

but like, keep it up.

[Michael Duncan]

I love how it's like one step short of just pulling the plug on the thing and going to the standby. Technical difficulties.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Can I say something? So like, the lady, the anchor lady, I have to give her credit because if you ever find yourself in a situation where you're wrong, you should attack, right? So she was like, she was clearly not paying attention. 30 seconds ago. I said, there's gonna be rain. She should be like, well, you're boring. That's the right play. Always on offense.

[Josh Holmes]

Always on offense. She figured out a smug school of journalism right there.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Amazing.

[Josh Holmes]

No question about it.

[Matt Ashbrook]

I was shocked. How did that make. It's unbelievable.

[Josh Holmes]

Here's another thing that we're keeping our eye on, sort of of interest. And I'm actually, I'm not sure if this is the first one of these or if they've done them.

[Matt Ashbrook]

It feels like it's the first one

[Josh Holmes]

because I've never heard about this before, but it. It certainly could be very intriguing. Which is a Congressional football game. You remember they have the congressional baseball game. It's, you know, it's aired live on Fox. Like it's a. It's a very big deal. But the congressional football game is March 17th at NATS Park St. Paul Place. And it kicks off at 7pm the annual showdown. Listen to this, fellas. The annual showdown features members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and former NFL players versus members of the Capitol Police.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Wow.

[Josh Holmes]

So it's the mean machine is the members of Congress. The guards are the US Capitol. Please. Ryan Fitzpatrick Fitzmagic is going to be the special guest quarterback. If you go to congressional football.org you can learn more. I just think that this is going to get ugly.

[Unidentified Female Host]

I certainly hope so, buddy, because I can think of a handful of Democrats who I'd like to see Fitzmagic throw a highball over the middle too.

[Michael Duncan]

Ashbrook, be careful what you wish for. We have a. A very thin majority.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's true, actually, you're right. We don't want to lose a House member. Maybe bench the House members.

[Senator John Kennedy]

Okay.

[Michael Duncan]

Just put them in a knee brace. We don't need any torn ACLs.

[Josh Holmes]

Is Schmidt playing in this sucker?

[Senator John Kennedy]

Eric Schmidt?

[Unidentified Female Host]

You know, I'm not sure. I haven't seen the roster yet. But I mean that guy's an athlete. He was a free safety in.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what I'm saying. That guy could, he could make our majority larger on.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, he's trouble over the middle.

[Josh Holmes]

He's real trouble over.

[Matt Ashbrook]

Are they allowed substitutions? Bringing ringers have like Katie Britt sent her husband in.

[Michael Duncan]

Yeah, game over.

[Josh Holmes]

That would be good. That would be good. Brit just tags out her husband. She's locking it down at left now.

[Matt Ashbrook]

You guys got a problem?

[Brian Hook]

Yeah.

[Michael Duncan]

Be the first time Ryan Fitzpatrick had a little protection.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I'm not going to make any more jokes because I feel like I can go real off color when it comes to Congress in this, in the guards and all that. But anyway, so look out for all of that. That's congressionalfootball.org do you trust Trump's plan for Iran? That's our question of the day. When you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. We read all of your comments and we're gonna get more out of you now that we have provided everything we've got. You got the congressional perspective from a really knowledgeable, funny guy who's got good perspective on absolutely everything in a way that should resonate with with most people in the center right, center left and off your conservative edge of politics. But then, you know, Hook, who's just the best of the best at living inside of this stuff and actually living it and giving you real time details. Once we've given you all that, give us your thoughts and what you're hearing your community and your nerves and your aspirations and everything else. We read all of them. Get back to the very next episode with that, fellas. It's gonna be a big week. I think we did it.

[Matt Ashbrook]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen. Thank you so much, Senator Kennedy. And thank you so much, Brian Hook. And thank you to the listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit the subscribe because it's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless,

[Josh Holmes]

Sa.