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Everything feels more expensive right now. That's why this matters. TikTok shop has a huge selection of products with surprising deals. You don't expect affordable finds for everyday life. Download TikTok now. Did President Trump just start World War Three? That is a provocative idea, but I gotta tell you, it's not that far fetched. The big problem with what we're dealing with, with this campaign in Iran, this conflict, everything other than a war, even though that's exactly what he called, is that there are so many potential eventualities that you have to consider. They're not possibilities, they're probabilities. And that's why there's so much suspicion and concern around why the President did this, when he did, how he did and why he did. Because there are a few moves that, once you see them, and I'll lay them out for you, this is not just a slippery slope, this is a sheet of ice. Especially because of how it started. Especially because of what the President didn't do, that now is really coming home to roost in a way that you and I have never seen in our lifetime. What are those things? How could it go? That's not just some BS conspiracy. This is a connect the dots scenario based on facts and circumstances that are in play right now, have been in the past and threatened to in the future. The idea that you just get in and out in Iran, and it's as simple as that, on our timetable, when we say so, when he feels it in his gut, is foolishness. And I can prove it. Chris Cuomo here. Welcome to the Chris Cuomo Project. Thank you for subscribing and following. Checking us out on YouTube and looking for the subscription that works for you. Come on over from Substack. Substack's done for me. I'm not a writer, okay? I'm a visual guy. And there will be more opportunity for us to get together and do things together on YouTube. Check out the subscriber bases there. Okay? Now let me give you reason why it's worth subscribing. Let me give you some brain food as a critical thinker, because this is why I sell the merch, right? To brand yourself, to wear your independence, to show you are a free agent. And here's how it works. One, the obvious reason that doing what the President just did in Iran, and let's give him his best argument, by the way, okay, Iran is a threat. They were making missiles to defend their nukes. They're working on getting nukes because Obama's deal with all those other Countries that went into it, and all that negotiation that a big part of the world leaders thought was a good idea was actually a poo poo agreement that had Iran get a bunch of money and a bunch of opportunity to skirt any kind of safeguards. And even though we bombed and obliterated their program, as the President told us, turns it out, it was obliterated for a few months, which is, of course, puppycock. But I gotta tell you, bad in the inception, bad in the execution, bad in the eventualities. That's what we're dealing with. They didn't get it right the last time. But even if you want to say Obama screwed it up, had to be strong. Iran is playing games. They're exporting terror. They're behind Hamas, they're behind the Houthis, they're behind Hezbollah, they're behind domestic terror here in America. They've heard us before. They're killing us online. Had to do it. That's his best argument. Had to do it now. Doing it. Death from above. We'll keep the casualties really low, short in duration. Israel's doing a lot of it. They're gonna fight Hezbollah and Lebanon. And that's why I did it, because someone had to. And they're bad, Period. Okay. Is it true? A lot of that is true? Yeah. The regime is bad. Exporting terror, all those proxies bad online. Offline. True, true. So why now? Why didn't he do it last time? Why didn't he do it the last time he bombed? I don't know. That's a good question. Do I think there's only one reason that he did this? No. Then do I think if there were one reason, would it be that Israel made him? No. I don't buy it. And look, I have plenty of problems with how Israel has conducted itself in Gaza, what it's doing in Lebanon, which is an untold story that we are going to live in blood and circumstance for months to come. But that doesn't make me anti Zionist or anti Semitic. It makes me anti certain policy decisions. And that's fine. That's fine. Plenty of room for criticism of all sides. But the idea that Iran and what America is doing is just about them and not about us, not about distracting us from Epstein, from affordability, from all these different issues that are going on here domestically that the President can't seem to solve, this he can do by himself, without Congress. It looks strong in his mind and the base is rewarding him. Even though you voted for the opposite of this. Welcome to Stupid party. Politics and fringe politics and the battle to the bottom of this binary BS that we're stuck in with these parties. And it worked. We're not talking about Epstein. We're not talking about affordability. Little gas and groceries. He shoes it away. So it worked. For now. But where does it lead? First layer, you're provoking the Islamists, and that region is rife within stability. Look, we know this is true because as soon as you hit Iran, what happened? Hezbollah, which had really gotten crushed a year ago, much more than the Iranian nuclear program, they signed a deal to. To disarm America, was helping that be executed up until this. Now they have gone all in against Israel in a way we have not seen in many, many years. They ran away a year ago. Now they're running toward the border. Okay? They are dumping rockets right where I was standing, by the dozens. And they have a lot of munitions, and that can reach all of Israel. Unlike Hamas, Hezbollah is the largest terror organization in the region. And guess what else they do? They talk to the Brothers and Sisters of Terror in the stands. We don't know what's going to happen in Syria. New regime. America's being friendly to them, but they're a bunch of former jihadis. Indonesia, North Africa, the Sudan. There are all these Islamist pods in all of these places. Not sleeper cells. And by the way, sleeper cell, Not a thing to the intelligence community. It's some kind of media, political thing. It's not a thing for intelligence people. They don't deal with sleeper cells. They don't even believe in it. They don't even like the vernacular anyway. Little food for thought. But we see them speaking out, putting out videos, saying, that's it. You want jihad, let's do jihad. And now you've got the region showing its vulnerability to the jihadis, right? Because the Emirates, they got nothing. They're getting pelted with rockets from Iran. All they have to do is complain. What does that do to our alliance? So you're provoking those Islamists, you start taking them all on, what do you got? World War iii. That's what you've got. Okay. Why? You go after the Islamists and you think it's just about the war on terror again. Even though I don't know how you fight an idea, I gotta tell you, the only way you beat an idea is with a better idea, and we haven't seen that yet. Arab Spring, Afghanistan, Iraq, North Africa. Nobody's replacing it with something that is demonstrably better than what was there before. We spent all the Blood and treasure on it. So stability is like a relative term. Change is a relative term. Look at the choke points. The Strait of Hormuz has introduced a new front in the war on terror that could absolutely lead to escalation. How? Well, even if America says it had planned for this and it's not surprised by what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, sure has been effective. And if they're so degraded the regime, what does that tell you about how little it takes to do a lot of chaos? Not so much. Right. And by the way, I've seen the drones that they're using. Literally in my hand, they are crap. They are like weed whacker engines with like model airplanes, and they can drop a payload that we have to use munitions that are worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to shoot down one cheap drone. And they have a gazillion of them. And they can drop mines and other things. So they can do it cheap, they can do it with little and cause a lot of trouble. And now the Strait of Hormuz has opened up choke points that can be easily compromised in a way that will make trade hard and will make people like insurers and shippers skittish because of what happened in this trade of Hormuz. Like what? How many places are there like that? About half a dozen all over the world that can similarly be used as choke points of doing an outsized damage to commerce. Like what? Suez Canal. Suez canal. Main, main. 10% of global trade goes through the Suez Canal. Also just as easy to attack with pinch points in that region of the world, the Bab el Mandala, whatever they call it, which is linking the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal. That's another little choke point where terrorists could be very effective. You know, you, you got that point right along the Bosphorus where they feed into it. Again, small, the Panama Canal, another part of the globe, but same issue. And, well, that doesn't have anything to do with this. Chris, you're overextending it. Am I? Am I? Tell that to the pissed off people from the regime in Venezuela and the rebels down there, and the nascent Islamists, but more importantly, the anti American rebels that exist down there. The guerrillas. G U E R. Not the animal. They're war makers. La Guerra. G U E R R A. That's where gorilla comes from. It's not from the animal. It's another little piece of information there for you. But the Malacca Straits, all of those can be compromised the same way. The Strait of Hormuz is actually even more easily. Okay, so now you get escalation. Now you get this reverberating all over the world. You see what I'm saying? This is very easy mission creep here. Now you get to the next level. You're like, oh boy, that's a little tortured. I don't know. We've never seen that before. Really? Really. We never saw 911 before either. Hmm. Support comes from Shopify. You need them because they help you make your business better. Period. Okay. It is hard to make a business successful. And when I started my small business, there were a lot of questions I didn't know the answers to. And now with the merch, is it the right merch? Does it look the right way? Am I selling it the right way? Is the description the right thing? Am I drawing people to the site? Did the site work the right way? All of those answers come from Shopify. That's why they are responsible for 10% of all the e commerce in America. Amazing. You can get started with your own design studio. The product descriptions, your brand style. Shopify has tools for all of these things. They have expertise in everything from the concepts to design to managing the inventory to shipping to returns and everything. It's time to turn those what ifs into Cha Ching. Shopify sales sign up today and you will get a $1 per month trial. If you go to shopify.com Chris C. Use my name. Tell the folks at Shopify. Cuomo sent me that. Shopify.com Chris C. Support comes from Quince. A quince is a fruit. Okay? You don't know that because you're not me. But you know what else it is? Quince is a very cool designer line. Why? Fabrics, design essentials where feel price point. Quince has the things that you're going to be wearing on a regular basis and they hold up despite being worn on a regular basis. Lightweight cashmere sweater, short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polo. Yeah, that's right. Short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polo. All right, that's cool. Linen bottoms and shorts, tees and 100 Pima cotton European jersey linen. You know, all the things that really make up the ensemble that you want in your life. Quince does it directly with top factories. Cuts out the middlemen, makes it easy, makes it less expensive. The cashmere is 100% Mongolian. That's a good thing. I didn't know that Mongolia was a big cashmere place. But they're big with the worms. Apparently the same stuff that luxury brands use. The Pima cotton long staple means it stays soft, doesn't pill. Right? Right. That's the quality play. Everything is about quality, about lasting, about simplicity, about elegance and about affordability. Right now you can go to quint.com cuomo and you'll get free shipping and 365 day returns. I mean, how do you lose if you have a year to give it back if you don't like it and get a refund, That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it. And you will now available in Canada to my brothers and sisters. So don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to Quince Q U I n c e.com cuomo and you'll get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com cuomo. We're talking the World War iii. So what does that mean? Well, it's got to be bigger. How does it get bigger? Who does Iran cozy up to? They're not stupid. Okay, they're evil, the regime, but they're not stupid. They've been in power 47 years in a place where they don't belong. Okay, Russia and China. Now, Russia, we just gave ourselves a little bit of a break on in terms of making them part of what exacerbates, accelerates this situation. But boy, there's that going to come at a cost, which I'll explain in a moment. China buys up the overwhelming majority of Iran's oil. Now, by the way, Iran is not a huge oil producer. They're like 5% of the world output, but China buys 70% of it. So what does that mean? Well, China's got a vested interest in keeping this going. All right, well, fine. They'll get it going with the new regime, too. That's not a guarantee. They like what they have right now. They've given them a lot of money and resources and building to put infrastructure together for this regime. How do we know that China, if this goes on, doesn't want to flex? How do we know that China doesn't see this and say, look, enough. The guy does it in Venezuela, which, by the way, has a huge Chinese and Russian presence. By the way, they had security forces in Venezuela, not just diplomats. And we just blew through all of it. Now you could say yes. So they learned they can't mess or they learned that it's time to mess. Okay, Distinction with a difference. Now they hear it's not just Venezuela, it's Iran. Now they hear it's not just Iran, it may be Cuba. And guess who else is in Cuba. The Chinese now. Fair point. The Chinese are everywhere. But how long until they want to do one of their own with Taiwan and say, wait, what are you. What. What are you saying to me? You do Venezuela, you steal the guy, you do Iran, you flip up the regime whenever you want, you bomb all over the place, you go and take Cuba. You don't think we're going to do something? Who are you to tell us not to do Taiwan the way you're doing these other places now? What do you have? The Biden administration, the Trump administration, They've echoed the same language. You go at Taiwan, you go at us. Really? What does that look like? What does that look like? I would argue that's an impossibility for America. No way you can get into a situation with China like that. No way. No winners. World War Three. Russia, they could have been an equal antagonist and teamed up with China. Not far fetched. Not far fetched. North Korea, by the way, also could be an agitator here as a proxy for China. Not far fetched. Not far fetched. But what did we just do? We just loosened up the restraints on Russian oil. Why? To help offset what's happening in the world market. What does that mean about Ukraine? Exactly. What does it mean? What does it mean in terms of Russia's bravado to expand itself now? What do you have? World War Three. You see what I'm saying? It's not just about Iran. It's not just the regime. And that's why the President keeps stepping backwards. Keeps stepping backwards. Why is the administration suddenly having it both ways with Israel? We love Bibi. Mmm. Thank you. Bombir bb Bibi, the bomber. The BB Boo Boo Baby. Why? Because it's gibberish. Where are we with them? We're. We're allowing a dialogue to go on right now, specifically on the right. That Israel talked us into this, that Israel duped America into this, that it's good for them and they convinced Trump just like they did in Iraq. It's bullshit. It's demonstrably false. About those tropes, those mythologies about Iraq. I lived it, I studied it, I reported on it. We went in there because of hubris. We went in there because of stupid people around President Bush who were war hawks and thought they could just lie to the American people and get in there and everybody would celebrate. Yellow cake, weapons of mass destruction. Bullshit now. But you're having it the both both ways. Why? Because the President doesn't know where the power center is here, so he's letting Israel get blamed for this with a lot of his own voters. Why? Better than him. Why? Because he's worried about this. Why? Because it's not going the way they told him it would. Why? Because it's not Venezuela. Why? Because this is a very big place with a lot of people that's decades deep, with different infrastructure and different layers. And they have different capabilities. That's why. Where's the win? Well, we're pummeling the regime so that they won't rebuild like the last time. We obliterated them. No, no, no. This is much worse now. We're killing everybody, Crushing them down. What happens when you smother a fire and leave even a few embers? If the winds blow the right way, guess what happens? It relights. Right. He said he's not in regime change mode. Why? He said Iran is going to have to step up and do it for themselves, the people. Why? Because he doesn't know that he can get it done in a way that gives him a win. Why? Too many variables. We've already lost almost a dozen people here. And what, they're not even in direct engagement. And who knows what's happening on the ground in Tehran? Who knows what's going to happen in Lebanon? And who gets pulled in? These are zealots. They fight as a function of their faith. They are happy for a one to one exchange of life. We are not, we think it is worthy of criticism when the wrong people die at war. Okay. You talk about the power, the problems of privilege. You talk about rich people problems. You talk about first world problems. You think only the bad guys get killed in war. Boy, oh boy, you people are very lucky we didn't have these during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because you guys would have seen a lot of things out of context that show that war is hell. We. We stopped showing it to you because you couldn't take it anymore. We didn't even show you dead American troops couldn't take it. That's why you don't get into it. That's why the President arguably miscalculated how this goes. Why? Because he ain't 3, 4, 5. Dimensional chess. That is baloney. Never been accused of being a strategist. Never been accused of being a deep thinker, a planner, let alone a military tactic. Well, he has a Pentagon for that. Yeah, how's that working out? Mission Creep led by Hegseth. Whatever he knows or doesn't know. Changing the message all the time. This could get ugly early in a way that goes way beyond killing a school full of Kids, which was terrible. And if anybody else had done it, that's all MAGA would be talking about. But not everybody in the world plays by our rules, and we are extending ourselves. We have all of these different battlefronts, and at some point it could trigger regional, religious, or next level implications. Support comes from One Skin. If you're going to put something on your face, shouldn't it be the best? Seriously, the skin absorbs everything. It's the body's biggest organ. You got to make sure you're using quality. And one skin is known for quality. Their patented OS01 peptide is the first ingredient proven to target senescent cells. What are those? Those are the cells that drive wrinkles, lines, all the loss of elasticity. So what do you do? You gotta offset it. Certified safe for sensitive skin products are free from over 1500 harsh or irritating ingredients. And they are dermatologist tested and have been awarded the National Eczema association seal of Acceptance. Born from over a decade of longevity research. Okay. 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The biggest mistake that was made here by the President of the United States that could lead to World War three is going alone. Going alone. Never seen it before where you just gave the middle finger to NATO, gave the middle finger to your allies again, and you were wrong. You said, we don't need you, we're just going in. We're not going to tell you anything. We don't want to compromise it. I don't want to deal with you. You're a Pain in the ass. Just like Trump is with Congress, just like Trump is with everything. And he goes in by himself. And. And now what does he need help. And now he's threatening his allies. If you don't help me, we won't forget. Really? You just tariffed the out of him for no good reason. Right? That's unwinding. You're refusing to pay back the money and coming up with some process that's not done yet. All these small businesses hanging on by a thread. You're in no rush because you don't like to take the loss. You should have had the Allies. You needed a coalition of the willing. Why? That's how you avoid World War iii. Because it's all of us. So that makes the sum of us not want to mess with the all of us. That's why we always have these coalitions of all these countries where you're like, what are we? Australia and who and what in Belgium? Why do we need these people? Because you have numbers matter. Strength and numbers consensus. Now you got NATO, like, why'd you do this? You got the Allies. Now, I'm not. I'm not going to help you shut down the Strait of Hormuz. I'm not. I'm not going to help you open it up. No way. It's too dangerous. I'm not sending ships. Japan, we're not sending ships. What? What? Germany, U.K. we're not sending. No, no, we're not going to do this. France, no, no, no. We didn't start this war. Wow. Risky. And what does that make America look to Russia and China? Vulnerable. That's how it makes him look. Maybe the other guys won't step up. And if they do it, what cost? You don't think it's going to change the terror structure? You don't think it's going to cost us a shit ton of money to get their help in the Strait of Hormuz, which we should have anticipated in advance. That's how you get to World War 3. The mistakes in planning, strategy, execution and understanding the eventualities. Forget about winning the war, winning the peace. No, no, no. This is something very different than that. This is not anticipating that the war will be a breach of peace. That takes it to all of a new level. What if you don't wipe out the regime? What if they stay in there and they just cut a new deal? Now you have the frustrated Iranian people who now start to look at what you did to them on the ground differently. Now a school full of dead kids looks different because you didn't even get rid of the regime. You just get a new deal. Now what Syria? Now what Yemen? Now. Now what North Africa? Now what Central Africa? All of these offshoots of these extreme Islamists. Now who steps up? Look at Hezbollah. They had a deal to disarm, to do it the nice way after getting the shit kicked out of them. And they still went right into jihad mode. Who's next? What do we do about it? How many fronts can you fight? You were supposed to be the non interventionist. Oh yeah. But this one, we had to. Oh, really? What hypocrisy. Especially if you didn't plan it outright. You didn't even go in with a coalition of the willing. How important, how necessary could it have been if you couldn't even convince the people who are always by your side? How of a no brainer could it have been? How much if you didn't even think you could go to them and get it done? Why aren't you asking yourselves that? In maga, two things can be true. Tucker Carlson's probably full of caca about the CIA looking at him. Why would I say that? Because he's offered no proof. Oh, but the government should step out. They're not going to say anything. But even if they did, what makes you think it happened? Why would he lie? Why do you lie in 2021 when he said the NSA under Biden was looking at him? Oh, I don't. I don't really remember. Oh, really? Yeah, it happened. Internal review found nothing was going on. The Republicans in Congress thought they had high ground because they believed Tucker Carlson. So they do an investigation. What do they find? Nothing. He just made it up. Oh, I don't know. I don't know. That's just your opinion. Oh, really? Just like with what he just did at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, right? Being detained. And then I interview Ambassador Huckabee. What does he say? Boulder Dash. The guy's taking pictures. He's enjoying himself. He never told Huckabee anything else happened like that. And they were in contact the whole time. He just made it up. Why? I don't know. Why does he say he was attacked by a demon? I don't know. I don't want to believe he's a bad guy. Maybe he's a sick guy, I don't know. But I'll tell you what. Even his kooky ass is not wrong to question what we're doing in Iran and why it makes sense for the American people. Set against all of the Costs and all of what we're not dealing with here because of what we're dealing with there, perhaps as a distraction to what we're not dealing with here with the midterms coming. But it's going to affect the midterms. It may not be even over during the midterms. And even if it is over, mission accomplished, Dale. Or I say we're averaging. Thank God. Not for a minute, not for a second. But multiple terror attacks domestically each week that this has been going on. It's not a coincidence. They're not even affiliated. And we're at war with ourselves. So even those events wind up getting depicted by false narratives. The guy in Michigan. Oh, well, yeah, he bombed in. He ran into that synagogue with all those Jews. But, you know, his family had been bombed in Lebanon. I mean, what do you think's going to happen? Oh, his family? You mean his brother, the Hezbollah commander? The guy's a fricking terrorist. This guy's a terrorist. What kind of narrative is that to make him sympathetic for trying to kill a bunch of Jews? But Tucker Carlson is not crazy to be concerned about what's happening in Iran. I think blaming it on Israel is stupid. Looking for a boogeyman? Blame Trump. Blame Trump. Since when does he get led by the nose? Since when does he do what anybody tells him to do unless he thinks it's good for him? Mission creep. No eventualities. No alliance. Multiple choke points. Russia and China seeing it all happen and seeking advantage, wondering if this is their moment of destiny. World War Three. That's how easily it gets that fucked. It's tax season, and at LifeLock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's a big one you need to billions. That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it. Guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply now. Could I be wrong? Please, please let me be wrong. I don't want to cover it. I don't want to live it. I don't want to suffer it. But the idea that this is far fetched. I'm not Tucker Carlson. This is all 1, 2, 3 moves away based on the facts, not based on some conspiracy theory. This is what could happen. Regional conflict, buy in by Islamists, choke points. And seeing The Strait of Hormuz, as is a fast track to magnified relevance, magnified capability, choking trade. That's how you hurt America. That's how you hurt the world. Money. Look at how it's working for the regime in Iran, Russia and China looming over it all. Us with no allies on this and divided at home. It's a scary combination of things. Ingredients that could really create a shit stew. And I hope it doesn't. I'm Chris Cuomo. Food for thought. Be a critical thinker. Be a free agent. Show people that you are different, that you wear your independence proudly because that's what will get us through this. We gotta stop thinking party first. It can't just be that it's about right and left and advantage all the time. And that your answer to all these questions that I just teed up is, yeah, but Biden, yeah, but, you know, but Biden, yeah, but Obama, yeah, but it's got to be about right and wrong, not right and left. I'll see you on News Nation 8 p and midnight. I'll see you in the morning on SiriusXM 124 Potish Channel, where I put you at the center of the conversation. We use it as a feedback mechanism as you're getting where you gotta go 7 to 9 Eastern every weekday. And of course, the podcast is always here for you. And there are different levels of subscription that you can get on YouTube. Leave substack. 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