B (2:59)

So the other day I found out that the CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report to Department of Justice on the basis of a supposed crime I committed. What's that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war, they read my texts. So the crime under consideration apparently would be the Foreign Agent act or something like that, acting as an agent of a foreign power. And I don't expect this to go anywhere. I'm not too worried about an actual criminal case against me for a bunch of reasons. One, I'm not an agent of a foreign power.

A (3:38)

Before we get into the speculation, let's start with the obvious. We have no confirmation of this story from literally anyone. The CIA has not confirmed it. The DOJ has not confirmed it. The NSA has not confirmed it. In fact, the only source for this information is Tucker Carlson. And Tucker has a rich history of making such accusations absent supporting evidence. Back in 2021, he made the same accusation about the National Security Agency.

B (4:04)

Yesterday we heard from a whistleblower within the U.S. government who reached out to warn us that the NSA, the National Security Agency, is monitoring our electronic communications and is planning to leak them in an attempt to take this show off the air.

A (4:19)

The NSA at the time denied the accusation Saying, quote, this allegation is untrue. Tucker Carlson has never been an intelligence target of the agency and the and the NSA has never had any plans to try to take his program off the air. Tucker's story never led anywhere. It should be noted it's quite possible Tucker's texts or communications were caught up in surveillance that the NSA or CIA were doing of foreign agents. If Tucker was just negotiating to have on a foreign figure and aids to that figure were being surveilled, his emails or texts might crop up. That still would not mean that Tucker Carlson was being targeted. Let's also be clear on Tucker Carlson's rights. Tucker has the right to talk to people abroad. Of course, the Foreign Agents Registration act, that is the act Tucker pretends he doesn't know about, requires people to register as a foreign agent if they act at the quote, order, request or under the direction or control of a foreign principal. So Tucker talking with the Iranian government or kissing their asses or even spreading their propaganda at his own behest would fall under the protection of the First Amendment. In other words, it is highly unlikely that Tucker Carlson is about to be hit with a fair up prosecution. I believe him when he says he's not being paid by outside sources. I think that Tucker Carlson is being truly anti American all on his own. And now comes the speculation. There are a few possibilities worth examining here. And let me just say right now we see a lot of people make up news stories. DW remains committed to actually bringing you the truth and analyzing things based on the facts. Which is why you should subscribe at daily wire.com/subscribe. All right, so back to the possibilities. The first is that Tucker Carlson is saying something that isn't true. Tucker Carlson has a very, very long history of lying. He does it on nearly every show from openly accusing his own political opponents of being in the pay of foreign powers to linking Chabad again. Chabad. Chabad is this Jewish outreach organization that like raps filling on people at public events of facilitating World War iii from jabbering nonsensically about the supposed Khazarian roots of Jews to simply making up false flag Israeli attacks in Qatar. That last lie was so egregious it had to be formally rebutted by by his own friends in Qatar. They literally had to put out a statement saying that actually there were no Mossad cells arrested in Qatar. Now what's particularly incredible about this story is that in order to believe that Tucker is the victim, you need to believe two things. First, he's guilty of nothing. And second, the Trump administration. Again, Trump is the head of the administration. The Trump administration CIA, which again falls under the purview of Tulsi Gabbard as the dni. And again, President Trump. The Trump CIA is targeting him, not the Biden administration. The Trump administration CIA is targeting him. You have to believe. Not that his texts were incidentally caught up in a sweep of Iranian cell phone data. That, by the way, is what Mark Caputo of Axios is reporting this morning. You have to believe, no, that according to Tucker, he was targeted. That would make the Trump administration the people he constantly claims he loves, some of the most nefarious abusers of the law in American history. It would put President Trump at the head of a Nixonian conspiracy to silence Tucker Carlson. It would put Trump at the head of that conspiracy, not the Jews, not Chabad, not Mark Levin, not me, Donald J. Trump, who's the head of the executive branch. So why would Tucker lie about this? Well, because Tucker, like so many in the grievance party, enjoys playing the victim. See, here's the thing. Tucker is not a victim. He is worth tens of millions of dollars. At the very least. He. His show is very successful. He has the ear of the vice President of the United States and until recently, was a frequent guest at the White House. He may be again, his son is the vice president's deputy press secretary. He owns suite real estate in Florida and Maine and now, apparently in Qatar. Tucker Carlson is, by pretty much any available metric, one of the least victimized human beings in the history of all humankind. But claiming victimhood gives Tucker Carlson unearned sympathy. You see, he's not just a country club blue blood silver spoon who. Who went to school in Switzerland and is shocked at the ways of the peasants who shop at Aldi's. He is now the target of the nefarious United States government and in particular, the CIA. And victimhood, if you're a member of the grievance party, is heroism. So let's say that Tucker Carlson had his eye on something beyond merely cheap clicks from conspiratorially minded ex users. Let's say he wanted to build a movement against the Trump administration. Would that square with this accusation? It would, of course. Candace Owens, fresh off of finally solving the mystery of Jack the Ripper by uncovering Benjamin Netanyahu's time machine, a time machine Charlie Crook told her about in a dream, has signed into chat to explain, quote, if they come for Tucker, we ride at dawn. Really nothing else to say here. We're not doing the Gulags 2.0 with these Bolshevik descendants. By ride at dawn, she means she's gonna go on her podcast and say things. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the newest critic of the Trump administration, is openly saying it. Quote, if you're noticing Tucker Carlson being attacked from literally every direction of the political machine, it's because they are terrified of him running for president. I assume they hear is President Trump because he would win, and they know it. And that's why I'm deeply concerned for my friend Tucker Carlson and his family. These people are vicious and evil and will attempt to destroy anyone and everyone that reveals the truth.

C (9:19)

They

A (9:21)

so if Tucker were trying to initiate some sort of anti Trump movement for 2028, that's a possibility. And again, that possibility would be that Tucker Carlson is lying for political gain. That brings us to the second, not incompatible possibility, that he's actually trying to get ahead of a story that might break about his texts. So, again, let's assume Tucker is telling the truth about the CIA having his text messages. Not about the CIA targeting him, but about him being caught up in an incidental sweep of Iranian sources. By the way, it is literally the job of the CIA and and the NSA to monitor the communications of our enemies. And if Tucker was talking with those enemies, he might be incidentally caught up. That doesn't mean he's being targeted. And again, let's assume that Tucker didn't do anything criminal, because the only one telling us he's even under investigation for criminal activity is Tucker Carlson. And because I don't generally assume criminality unless there is evidence of a provable crime. So if in fact the CIA is reading Tucker's text, why is he talking about it? Well, as anyone in public relations knows, the general rationale for doing what Tucker just did is to get ahead of a story that might be bad. Blame the CIA, impugn the administration, anything, in order to avoid the consequences of texts you know are about to break. That's a possibility, too. We'll find out which one or both is true in short order. Or maybe we won't. Maybe this is yet another stupid cycle of Jussie Smollett victimhood from the same grievance party that always traffics in such faux victimhood. The same grievance party that plays host to Candace Owens, who claims the French were trying to kill her. The same grievance party that routinely burnishes low IQ randos on X who post things like just tweeting now to tell you I didn't kill myself or I'm not going to die for Israel. As though they're under true murder threat or are about to be drafted by the nefarious Zionist occupied government. Faux victimhood is the name of the game in the grievance party. Megyn Kelly, who has been claiming faux victimhood since her signal failure to defend Erica Kirk against the evil charges of Candace Owens, played that game over the weekend too. Upset that she'd been called out by Mark Levin, she lashed out claiming that Mark Levin had a micropenis A truly dazzling feat of intellectual sophistication from a woman who continues to devolve into a 14 year old mean girl in a 55 year old woman's body. This prompted President Trump to sign into Chad to defend Mark Levin. Quote, mark Levin, a truly great American patriot, is somewhat under siege by other people with far less intellect, capability and love for our country. Mark is tough, strong and brilliant. Hence the nickname the Great One conceived by our MAGA friend, the wonderful Sean Hannity. After years of dealing with Mark in legal, media and other capacities, Mark would often do Sean's show speaking as a lawyer. And Sean realized then, as did others, that he was special. Mark Levin was not looking to do television, radio or anything else. But he was drafted by very smart people who understood that there are few like him. When you hear others unfairly attack Mark, remember they are jealous and angry human beings who whose sway is much less than the public understands and will known now that they know where I stand rapidly diminish. Other than for his wonderful wife and family, Mark Levin only cares and wants one thing, greatness and success for America. Those that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do people whose ideas, policies and footings are not sound. They are not maga. I am. And MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a sick, demented and violent terrorist regime to have a nuclear weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle east and ultimately the rest of the world. MAGA is about stopping them cold and that is exactly what we are doing. So President Trump calling out some of the grifters. So what is the upshot of this Tucker Carlson claim likely to be? Well, probably the story just dies out in a couple of days and then everyone just forgets about it. And then Tucker will continue on to his next bizarro conspiracy theory, all while maintaining that his opponents work for the interests of foreign powers.

B (13:02)

There are a bunch of people in the US Government who do not put the United States before theaters of Israel, period. And you saw that very clearly with Mike Huckabee. We interviewed him last week.

A (13:09)

Week.

B (13:10)

And there was no sense at all that he represents the United States or has any interest in what happens to the United States. His party is in defending Israel. Now, Huckabee is not Jewish. Who knows what his religion is. Mike Huckabee's loyalty is to Israel over the United States.

A (13:25)

This is Tucker's shtick. Everybody except for Tucker is actually working for a foreign power. Not Tucker, apparent frequent correspondent with and sexter with the Ayatollahs. So if I'm gaming out the possibilities, that is, in fact the most likely possibility. Stupid conspiracy bullshit. Rinse and repeat. Let's be honest. Most of us have no idea what phytonutrients actually are. That's exactly why our sponsor, Balance of Nature, makes getting them in your diet so simple. So here is the thing about phytonutrients. They're these naturally occurring plant nutrients in whole foods that actually give fruits and veggies their color, taste and smell. And honestly, if you're eating something with vibrant color and real flavor, that's a pretty good sign you're getting genuine phytonutrients. Now, what Balance of Nature does is take all that produce and runs it through this specialized vacuum cold process that keeps everything stable. And then they powder it down without any binders, fillers, or flow agents. Just the real stuff. Their whole health system is essentially a value bundle that combines their fruits and veggies with their fiber and spice supplements. So you're getting 47 different ingredients, fruits, veggies, spices, fibers, along with all those naturally occurring phytonutrients. Every single day. Whenever I'm on the road, I'm bringing with me that Balance of Nature because it's convenient, it's easy, and it helps keep me healthy, even. Even though, I gotta tell you, like, I have a lot of kids and I'm constantly traveling, so that's a tough thing. So whether you've been on the fence for a long time or it's the first time you're hearing about them, I recommend you go to bounds of nature.com order the whole health System supplements as a preferred customer today. I think that's probably what's happening. Well, speaking of people who get paid money to play parts on screen, the Oscars were last night. I know you didn't watch. Nobody watched. The Oscars have been in a state of precipitous decline for decades, in part because nobody has seen the movies that are competing for the prestigious Academy Awards. But it's also because the ceremony has become a left wing agit prop fest. Last night, no exception, the big winner was One Battle after Another, a truly egregiously terrible film about the virtues of domestic terrorism against a white supremacist infrastructure. The other big winner was Sinners, a critical race theory remake of from dawn to Dusk. That's the Tarantino vampire movie. Meh. Conan o', Brien, formerly a human who was funny, told a bunch of stale jokes about how much Republicans suck.

D (15:31)

I should warn you, tonight could get political.

A (15:34)

Okay.

D (15:35)

And if that makes you uncomfortable, there's an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock. Yeah, it's at the Dave and Busters down the street. A lot of tickets for that.

A (15:47)

Wow. I mean, how much Hollywood loves Hollywood now? All those, all those people who don't agree with our politics, they're probably just, you know, the only thing they've got is Kid Rock and Dave and Busters and all the rest of the. Yes, guys, there's a reason your ratings are in precipitous decline. Well, Conan then went on to make some Epstein references, as per our usual arrangement.

D (16:08)

It's the first time since 2012, first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for best actor or best actress. Yeah. British spokesperson said, yeah, well, at least we arrested our pedophiles, so we got

C (16:25)

that going for you.

A (16:29)

Okay. To be fair, I mean, to the, you know, Trump Justice Department, the people arrested in Britain were not arrested for pedophile. But again, facts have no relationship with the truth when it comes to anything on the left, particularly the Oscars. Conan even made a clavicular reference. Yes, this is, this is how far we have descended in American life. The Oscars now featuring the idiotic lingo of a man who smashes himself in the face with a hammer, here's Conan o'. Brien.

D (16:56)

Welcome back. Of course, we here at the Oscars are always trying to figure out ways to reach a younger demographic. And I've been assured this next segment will do just that. When you're hostmasing the Oscars and low penunly trying to rizz up the younger demographic by going brain rot mode. And even though you're uncoated with a bunch of fame filled NPCs, you're still

A (17:19)

still S tier level aura farming.

D (17:21)

6, 7. Well, that's a message that the young people will definitely see watching broadcast television.

A (17:34)

Ew, that is some terrible writing. My goodness. All in all, it was a totally forgettable evening. But at least most of the Oscar winners stayed out of politics. To the disappointment of at least one author in the New York Times, a Daniel Kelman. Kelman is the author of a book called the Director. Honestly, it's a really, really good book. Like a really, really good book, but also the author of a pretty terrible column on the necessity for actors to say things Kelman wrote before the ceremony in the New York Times, quote, hollywood's great actors and directors are not merely well known, they are famous figures everywhere, even in dictatorships now closed to the world such as Russia and North Korea on Oscar night, not only will the eyes of the American public be fixed on them, so will the ears of the entire planet listening for the answer to the question, your country is being turned into a dictatorship. People are being arrested and shot in the streets. Your mad king is trampling your venerable constitution underfoot. What do you have to say about it? Yes, according to Daniel Kelman, we need to hear from our greatest artists actors about their geopolitical analysis. This, of course, is very silly. Kelman's book is about a director named G.W. pabst, who's a little known director from the 1920s and 30s who actually returned to Nazi Germany from the United States and in order to be allowed artistic resources by the regime. His book is about art's surrender to tyranny and the book Pabst is fully complicit with a genocidal Nazi regime. He even takes advantage of concentration camp victims as extras. So to equate America in 2026 with Nazi Germany is an act of extreme moral blindness, of course. But unfortunately that seems par for the course in much of the artistic community. That's why actress Charithra Chandran, who I'd never heard of, were a pin for the anti Israel ceasefire in Gaza where Hamas is currently murdering opponents in the streets, but had not a single actor or actress anywhere on the Oscar red carpet. They had nothing to say about the slaughter of 32,000 Iranians by the regime. The only truly overtly political moment from any winner came from Paul Thomas Anderson, who won a long overdue best Director Oscars for one of his worst films. Here's what he had to say.

E (19:31)

I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we're handing off to them, but also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency. My pearl, Lucy, Jack and Ida, I love you.

A (19:52)

Thank you very much. Paul Thomas Anderson is not saying sorry to his kids. He's saying, look at my virtue signaling while I earn millions of dollars for films that lose $100 million at the box office. But at least he'll sleep better at night with his gold statuette and $10,000 swag bag from the Academy. This episode is sponsored by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Let me paint you a picture. It's midnight. Sirens are blaring. You have only seconds to grab your children and run. Now imagine you're elderly and your legs don't work the way they used to. Getting downstairs feels impossible. After all that, you end up in a bomb shelter for hours or even days because you can't make that trek again. This is what's happening as Iran continues to launch missiles into Israel indiscriminately. Children are being traumatized, families exhausted. Homes have been destroyed. That's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is there on the ground, bringing food, emergency equipment, care for children and help for the elderly. And supplying bomb shelters and medical centers with critically needed essentials. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to stand with Israel for good against evil, this would be it. Please act now. Give 45 bucks right now to rush life saving essentials to the vulnerable under fire. Visit benforthefellowship.org to rush your life saving gift. That is one word, Ben, for the Fellowship again. The ongoing war in Israel has continued for essentially three years at this point, and so the necessity to help people out remains. Check out the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and help out right now. Alrighty, back to serious news. Speaking of manure merchants, the legacy media and Iranian government had themselves a ball this weekend promoting a series of propagandistic lies that would make Pinocchio blush. Last Thursday, a radical Muslim terrorist attempted to attack a synagogue and Jewish school in Michigan. That terrorist name was Ayman Ghazali, a Lebanese born US citizen from the radical Islamist hotbed of Dearborn, Michigan. Defenders of radical Islam immediately jumped into the fray, declaring that Ghazali's action was revenge for Israeli evil. Ryan Grimm of Dropsite News, a far left wing propaganda outfit, put out this tweet quote, the man who rammed his explosives laden truck into a Michigan synagogue today was named Ayman Ghazalih. According to a source familiar with the situation. Khazalei posted photos overnight of his family members, including young children who were killed in a recent Israeli attack on the town of Mashkara, Lebanon. This is a developing story now. You'll notice the framing here, that Israel randomly attacked Lebanese civilians and that the terror attack was a natural response. First of all that's totally crazy. Zero American Jews, zero went and randomly attacked mosques after October 7. But it also turns out that the two brothers of the terrorists were. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it. Terrorists for Hezbollah. As CBS News reports, Ghazali was originally from Makara, a town in southern Lebanon with a significant Hezbollah presence and influence. Apparently, a freelance journalist working for CBS News in Lebanon learned from sources on the ground that Ghazali's two brothers stayed in Lebanon and were members of a Hezbollah rocket unit in southern Lebanon. The two brothers were killed in a drone strike carried out by the IDF on March 5. According to the New York Post, one of those brothers, Ibrahim Mohammed Ghazali, was a weapons operations commander in Hezbollah's Badr unit. Whoops. But Grimm's tweet quickly rocketed around the Internet. Some, like Megyn Kelly, retweeted it only slightly better. Was the original New York Times headline, quote, the Michigan synagogue attacker was a quiet restaurant worker. Well, then, as long as he provided enough napkins to the shawarma customers, he worked at an actual shawarma shop. I guess the whole being a terrorist thing, not a big deal. But falsehood has become the order of the day when it comes to Middle east coverage, and Iran knows it. That's why they promote conspiratorial nonsense that taps directly into the toxic power plant that is X. Over the weekend, Iranian National Security Secretary Ali Larijani, who may in fact be the guy running Iran right now, tweeted, quote, I've heard that the remaining members of Epstein's network have devised a conspiracy to create an incident similar to 911 and blame Iran for it. Iran fundamentally opposes such terrorist schemes and has no war with the American people. The reason he is tweeting this is obvious. He knows it will be amplified by the Democratic Party, the Grievance Party, their acolytes on X. Which, of course, it has been. Again, there is a reason that Tucker Carlson parrots pretty much every Iranian conspiracy theory and did just a couple of weeks ago.

B (24:02)

Hasn't been reported. But it's a fact that last night in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, authorities arrested Mossad agents planning on committing bombings in those countries. Now, that's weird. It doesn't make any sense. Why would the Israelis be committing bombings in two Gulf countries which are also being attacked by Iran? Aren't they on the same side? No. No. Israel wants to hurt Iran. And Qatar and UAE and Saudi and Bahrain and Oman and Kuwait.

A (24:41)

Actually, none of it was true. Not a single word that he said was true. Qatar had to come out and deny it. All of this falsehood is minor league stuff, though, compared to the broader narrative being crafted by the legacy media and Democratic Party that America is currently suffering some sort of catastrophic military defeat. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal, whose news page is actually left of the New York Times, said this, quote, the joint US Military operation has killed Iran's supreme leader, targeted military headquarters, and damaged or destroyed more than 90 Iranian vessels. Yet the price has been steep. At least 13Americans have been killed, including six in a crash Thursday of an Air Force refueling plane, making the war in Iran the deadliest military operation of Trump's two terms. At least 140Americans have been wounded in the conflict. Well, it's true that this is the deadliest conflict of Trump's two terms because he didn't do any other conflicts. But can we be clear, just for purposes of historical clarity, this has not been a costly action comparatively. In fact, the Iran action ranks dead last since, since 1900 in terms of casualties incurred as a result of a major military operation, which is to say, in American history. But the idea from the legacy media continues to be that catastrophe is right around the corner. You can feel it permeate every aspect of coverage. In fact, if you were an alien landing on Earth and just reading the American news, you'd probably assume that America was somehow losing the war right now. And that is not true. Essentially, America and Israel have completely wrecked Iran's military and defense infrastructure. Iran has been reduced to lashing out with ballistic missile and drone attacks on every nearby country. Even those strikes are increasingly desultory given the reduced state of Iran's military capacity. Iran keeps shutting down its Internet because they are afraid that people will coordinate and rise up against the government. Here is Foreign Minister Abbas Araki trying to justify that move on American national television yesterday. The Iranian people don't have open Internet access, but you do. Why?

E (26:33)

Well, I'm the. Because I'm the voice of Iranians and I have to defend their right. So this is why I have access to Internet, to just, you know, have our voice being heard by the international community.

A (26:53)

Oh, you see? You see, he needs Internet because he speaks for all of Iran, which is why he has to, you know, shut down the Internet for all of the Iranians. Yes, that makes sense. And of course, as it turns out, the current supreme leader of Iran may not even be alive. We may be in a full weekend at Ayatollah Bernie's situation. In fact, even if he is alive, he's still a second rate tin pot dictator. His own father tried to block from leadership and apparently he's having some penis problems. Here's Bill Maher explicating over the weekend.

F (27:23)

It's a big tidbit. Four times he has traveled to a clinic in England to treat impotence. Yes, I love the Ayatollahs. They hate the infidel West. Until their dick doesn't work

A (27:38)

and then

F (27:38)

it's get me on the 2pm De Heathrow.

A (27:42)

Okay? Yeah.

F (27:44)

Four trips. Four trips to this clinic. This guy's got a real problem. I mean, when he gets to paradise, he's gonna say to the 72 virgins, can we just talk?

A (27:56)

That, by the way, is not the only scurrilous rumor about Mojtaba. According to the New York Post, US Intelligence believes that Mojtaba is. Wait for it, gay. I'm not kidding. They think he's an actual member of Queers for Palestine. They think he's the gay Atollah. No wonder the Post is now reporting, quote, President Trump was stunned to learn last week that US Intelligence indicates new Iranian Supreme Leader Moshtaba Khamenei may be gay and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, fearing his suitability to rule the Islamic public. For that reason, the Post can reveal, Trump couldn't contain his surprise and laughed aloud when he was briefed on the intel, according to sources. I mean, I'm not sure it's possible to love President Trump at this moment more than I love President Trump at this moment. Others in the room also found it hilarious and joined the President's reaction. I mean, I'm sorry, it is funny. While one senior official. Intelligence. Intelligence official has, quote, not stopped laughing about it for days, said one person familiar with the briefing. To be fair, it's the funniest thing in the entire world. Like, maybe in modern history. I mean, I guess we know why the Supreme Leader of Iran's nickname isn't the Straight of Hormuz. This does open up some new possibilities. Perhaps he will finally want to negotiate after all. Imagine how much Mojtaba wants to avoid an eternity of 72 women if we send him DVDs of Bridgerton. Is peace on the horizon? And we could be watching history in the making. Since Iran actually transes its gay men. That's a real thing. They hate gay people so much they would rather, quote, unquote, turn them into women. Since Iran transes all of its gay men, this could mean we are one surgical snip away from the first female supreme leader of Iran. Herstory in the making. So at this point, what does Iran have on its side? One geographic advantage. Weak Westerners too stupid and short sighted to grab victory when it's in hand. And the willingness of propagandists to do Iran's work. So let's talk about that actual real geographic advantage, the Strait of Hormuz. Again, that's not a nickname for Mojtaba. It would be inapposite. So as we've discussed for literally years on this program, see, here's the thing. If you listen to the show, you get smarter because I've been talking about things like the Strait of Hormuz or the Strait of Malacca or the Taiwan Straits and the importance of critical waterways for years on this program. Hey, so man, this is why you listen to the show. As we have literally discussed for years on this program, the Strait of Hormuz is a vital shipping waterway. 20% of global oil transits the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly 40% of it is actually headed for China. As Secretary of Energy Chris Wright pointed out this weekend, the Strait of Hormuz runs directly next to Iran. If you were prepared, why is the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed right now?

G (30:35)

Because it's right near the Iranian shoreline. The world is abundantly supplied with oil and energy. We knew there would be a short term disruption in energy flows. And to hear Chuck Schumer say that we didn't, it's just so he knows how foolish that is. And to say stuff to try to undermine the United States in the midst of a world changing conflict just boggles my mind.

A (31:02)

Now here is a map of the Strait of Hormuz. You can see it here. The straight is very, very difficult to transit. It's very, very narrow. According to the U.S. energy Information Administration and the International Maritime Organization, the strait is 24 miles wide at its narrowest point. The only actual navigable part of that 24 miles is where massive oil tankers can pass through deep enough water is only six miles wide. A highway of two miles going one way, two miles going the other way, and a median between the two of two miles. The outbourned export lane is the northernmost lane that places exporting tankers apparently about 15 miles from the Iranian coastline and anywhere between 3 to 10 miles from Iranian owned islands that are even closer. So Iran, in an attempt to stave off the end of its regime, has been mining the strait and firing ordnance from its shores and shipping through the strait. President Trump has struck back by Sinking basically the entire Iranian navy and moving to de mine the strait. They've been trying to put out mine layers in the strait and we're blowing them up. Weirdly, the country that is actually most endangered by the shutting of the strait is not the United States. It is China. 40 to 50%, as we've said, of China's oil transits the strait, which means that China actually has a pretty strong interest in keeping it open. That, by the way, is why Iran is still letting China use the strait without bombing its ships. Because if they didn't, China would probably have to work with the United States to keep the Straits of Hormuz open. And that is what President Trump has been counting on. Yesterday he explained his goal on Truth Social and on Air Force One. Here he was on Air Force One.

C (32:29)

Start immediately, but we'll take a little time to get here. Some of the countries have minesweepers.

A (32:35)

That's good.

C (32:36)

Some of the countries have a certain type of boat that could help us. Some of the countries would be, you know, help. Remember, it only takes a couple of people to screw up the strait, a couple of terrorists. You don't need their, their military is defeated, but all you need is a few people dropping mines here and there and, you know, you allow it up. So we need, I, I really, I'm demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory. It's, it's the place from which they get their energy and they should come and they should help us protect it. You could make the case that maybe we shouldn't even be there at all because we don't need it. We have a lot of oil. We were the number one producer anywhere in the world. Time soon, by double, at least double now, I think it's much higher than that, but we do it.

A (33:32)

So one of the tactics that President Trump is trying, he put this up on Truth Social media, is trying to get countries who benefit from the Strait of Hormuz to send warships to keep it open. He wrote, quote, many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran's attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending warships in conjunction with the United States of America to keep the strait open and safe. We've already destroyed 100% of Iran's military capability, but it's easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along or in this waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are. This, by the way, is why Iran has now been attempting to bomb outlets for Oil shipments in the UAE that are sort of on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz to stop them from relieving the pressure on the oil. Hopefully, says President Trump, China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK and others that are affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline and continually shooting Iranian boats and ships out of the water. One way or another, we'll soon get the Hormuz Strait open safe and free. See, here's the thing. President Trump is not the type of person who is just going to count on our erstwhile allies. After all, he knows that they are deeply, deeply unreliable. Just ask the useless namby Pambi Kema, the erstwhile Prime Minister of the uk he had this to say today.

H (34:50)

But ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the market. That is not a simple task. So we're working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible.

A (35:20)

Wow. He's going to work with his European allies to do nothing. Wow, that thumb with glasses is going to save us all. And the German defense Minister is taking a similarly prone posture. He explained, quote, what does Trump expect a handful of European frigates to do? The powerful US Navy cannot. This is not our war, and we did not start it. Well, actually, Iran kind of started it 47 years ago, and then they never stopped. But the Europeans, who want our help against Russia in their own backyard, suddenly go totally flaccid when it comes to confronting the leading terror sponsors on the planet who are currently shutting down the world's main oil waterway. But, hey, you know, probably the Europeans. I mean, Starmer said he's going to work with the Europeans and come up with some answers, right? Well, here is here Starmer's answer.

H (36:00)

This is a vital course because until we get ourselves off the roller coaster of international oil and gas markets and onto clean, homegrown British energy, tyrants like Putin and the ayatollahs will be free to attack our energy security. So we won't slow down on this. We will go faster.

A (36:26)

So unbelievably stupid. So he's going to make it harder for people to use oil and natural gas to get it shipped in from the United States or elsewhere in order to. 50 years from now, suddenly be able to be free of the need for these straight of Hormuz. Yep. The Brits want to fight the Iranians with solar panels and windmills. Good luck to them. And so the next step I believe is coming. The United States seizure of Kharg island, which again, if you've been listening to the show, you'll know we've been talking about for a while. Today's episode is sponsored by American Beverage. Think about those iconic drinks you grew up with and you still love today. Whether it's a soda, a sparkling water, a tea or sports drink, the companies behind those beverages, Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi products, they're always making them right here in America. So while there's a lot of talk about bringing jobs back, America's beverage companies never left in the first place. These are American companies making American products with American workers in America's hometowns, 275,000 men and women across all 50 states who show up every day, do the work, help keep this country moving. We're talking good paying jobs, the kind of jobs you can raise a family on. For more than 100 years, these companies have been part of the American story and they're still here, still investing and still building. Learn more about how they're keeping america strong@wedeliverforamerica.org that's wedeliver for america.org and America's beverage companies are ensuring that American jobs stay home. And they're providing you the drinks that you've always loved. Go check them out right now at wedeliver for America.org that's wedeliver for America.org to get more information. Consistent is what Alvin Platzinga says, and he's correct. Well, in preparation for that move on Kharg island, the Pentagon is moving additional Marines and warships to the Middle East. As the Wall Street Journal is currently reporting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a request from U.S. central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle east for an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit, typically consisting of several warships and 5,000 marines and sailors, according to those officials. Now, there could be a lot of reasons for this move. The most obvious possibility is the United States simply taking Kharg island, that is the coral island 15 miles off Iran's coast, the place from which 90% of all Iranian oil is refined and then shipped. Late on Friday, President Trump announced that already the United States had taken out the military resources on Karg Island. Quote, moments ago, at my direction, US CENTCOM executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle east and totally obliterated every military target in Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island. President Trump said our weapons are the most powerful and sophisticated that the world has ever known. But for reasons of decency, I have chosen not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on the island. However, should Iran or anyone else do anything to interfere with the free and safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision. During my first term and currently, I rebuilt our military into the most lethal, powerful, and effective force by far anywhere in the world. Iran has no ability to defend anything we want to attack. There is nothing they can do about it. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, nor will it have the ability to threaten the U.S. the Middle east, or, for that matter, the world. Iran's military and all others involved with this terrorist regime would be wise to lay down their arms and save what's left of their country, which isn't much. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Trump. Well, here is some of the footage of the United States striking Carg island is from centcom. You can see that's making things go boom. That is what the United States military is incredibly good at. Just busting up Iranian military facilities on Kharg island while leaving all of the oil infrastructure intact. And look at this sophisticated. I mean, you can see there's, like, a populated area right across the road, and we're hitting specific targets. We're hitting planes on the tarmac, blowing up the ability of the Iranians to actually fly their planes out. It's incredible, incredible stuff from the US Military, which, of course, is performing in extraordinary fashion. Well, I sort of doubt that the United States is going to stop here. It makes little sense to leave Kharga island totally intact and in the control of the Iranians. And if the Iranians are still threatening the Strait of Hormuz. And remember, when it comes to dictatorships, it is the flow of money that dictates power. If you cannot pay your IRGC members to murder dissidents, why would they continue to work for you? Right now, there are no working banks in Iran. Apparently, they shut down the rest of the banks. The ATMs aren't even working in Iran. There is no money. Soon there may be no oil flow. So what comes next? Well, Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi, he's the one who is the son of the Shah. And there's a big movement inside Iran to sort of bring him back as a figurehead. He announced his goals over the weekend. To free the economy from military control, to reclaim Iranian wealth abroad and return it to Iran, to cut off Iranian wealth going toward terrorism, to take anti corruption measures and to invest in human capital of Iran and connect it to the global economy. So what happens next? Well, it sort of depends. Everybody wants the regime to fall in the next five minutes. David Friedman, former US Ambassador to Israel, made a fantastic point online the other day. He said, listen, Ronald Reagan made the bring down this wall speech in 1987. It took a couple of years for the Soviet Union to fall. So everybody take a little bit of a breath. That doesn't mean unending conflict in Iran or years long conflict. But if the regime is so weakened that in six months it's gone, that is one of the great historic moves by any administration in American history. So here's the question. Where are Americans in terms of the polling? Well, despite the insanity of the grievance party and the panic ins and the Democrats, the American people are still ready to give President Trump time. In fact, the current conflict in Iran is more popular than it was when it began. According to a new Washington Post poll. While only 39% of Americans were in favor when it was initiated, versus 52% opposed today, 42% support it and 40% opposed. The share of Americans who say we ought to continue the strikes has now risen from 1/4 to 34%. Meanwhile, the share saying we need to stop has declined from 47% to 42%. Suffice it to say, Americans are pretty split on the war. They will make up their minds when we win it. And President Trump knows that. Here he was this morning, I have

C (42:28)

to do what's right. You know, political and sure, everybody is concerned. I have to do what's right. I can't say that, you know, gee, I don't want to have any impact on oil prices for three or four weeks or two months. And we're going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon and blow up the entire Middle east and beyond. Right, because you know, they were going to blow up the Middle east if I didn't terminate the Obama horrible deal. The Iran nuclear deal, it's called. If I didn't terminate that in my first term, they would have already had a nuclear weapon and they would have used it immediately upon getting it.

A (43:06)

Now, President Trump happens to be right and this is an act of moral courage. All of this is radically reshaping geopolitics in favor of the United States. At the same time, we are taking Iranian power Off the board, we are radically increasing our flow of oil to China's rivals. As Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum explained on Fox News, the United States has now inked a $56 billion energy deal with Asian Pacific allies. Here was Burgum explaining.

I (43:30)

It went from. I think we had one more after the conference closed. I think we went from 56 billion to 57 billion over 22 deals. We had over 630 attendees at this conference, the first ever Indo Pacific Energy Security conference led by the United States here. And of course, this is all of our Pacific allies from Australia, New South Zealand, all the way up to Japan. And this is a, this conference was planned months ago, completely independent of anything going on in the Middle east, because this is. President Trump's energy dominance policy is about the fact that we need to sell energy to our friends and allies so they don't have to buy from adversaries.

A (44:13)

He is right about this. And reportedly the Chinese are kind of freaking out. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Trump's use of military force in Venezuela and Iran reinforces a view long held in Beijing. The US Will use all means necessary to assert American dominance around the world, a posture that threatens China's core interests. Apparently, Xi is now concluding that the US Must be approached with toughness. That is really, really silly, he, that he ever supposed the US could be approached with weakness, like he was going to be, you know, moving forward with detente in the absence of American strength. The difference is that before there was somebody who was a pansy on the other end, and now there is someone tough on the other end. But representing the United States, other Chinese allies are also weakening. Cuba is in very serious existential trouble due to Trump administration's stranglehold on Venezuela. The oil that was holding up Cuba is gone now and the protests in the streets are growing. Here is some of the video. Here you can see major protests in the streets of Cuba. This is only going to continue, by the way. I mean, children, adults, women marching in the streets. Cubans were actually rioting outside the Communist Party headquarters. Things are getting very serious for the Cuban Communist regime. This regime is not long for this world, thank God. Peace through strength breeds victory. Weakness and appeasement breed only a stronger enemy. And stalling for time typically favors America's enemies. Meanwhile, on the home front, democratic states continue to alienate their producers by raising taxes. Zoran Mamdani, fresh from his week of soft peddling the threat of radical Islam, was back to soaking the rich over the weekend. Here was smarmi Mamdani Being in the

J (46:04)

wealthiest city and the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we already see an exodus of working and middle class New Yorkers. So I don't have a hesitation in asking those who make the most amount of money in the city or the most profits in the city to pay a little bit more so that everyone can actually stay in this city.

A (46:21)

Mm. Except that they're not going to stay in the city. Bloomberg is reporting that Mamdani now wants the New York estate tax, like the basis for it, cut to $750,000. And he wants to increase the confiscation rate to 50% from something like 16%. Like 250, meaning, let's say you inherited a $2 million home from your parents. You would now owe 50% on $1.25 million, thus losing about a third of your total inheritance. Listen, New Yorkers, you voted for this. Republican states, by contrast, are moving to lower taxes. States including Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Missouri are moving to decrease their income tax rates. The Wall Street Journal reports in 2006, 15 states had top income tax rates on wage income below 5%. Just one exceeded 10%, according to the Tax Foundation, a group that favors lower rates and fewer breaks. Now, more than half of the states have gone below 5%. Five others, plus D.C. are in double digits. Actually, I think this is great. Let the American people choose with their feet. Some of us already did, folks. So bottom line, when we look at the state of the world, President Trump continues to win. If you think he is going to allow the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed, you have another thing coming. And every day that the Iranians try to exert more and more and more pressure every single day, President Trump will push even harder on the other end. And the people who right now are trying to undermine the Trump administration with silly rumors, terrible rumors about the Trump administration coming after them, I'm just going to say right now, my belief, it's nonsense. Alrighty, folks. The show continues for our members now. There's more show. There is more show that you miss if you're not a subscriber, including hanging out with me, asking your questions. Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. And if you're not one, you have to become a member right now. Use code Shapiro at checkout. Try two months of free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.