David Rutherford Show: Iran War Threat, Mexico Pops Off, Trump Tariffs, & US Olympic Victory

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show: David Rutherford Show – Iran War Threat, Mexico Pops Off, Trump Tariffs, & US Olympic Victory

Date: February 25, 2026
Host: David Rutherford
Episode Theme:
David Rutherford delivers a high-energy breakdown of the latest—and most critical—news stories in geopolitics, US policy, and American culture. In this episode, he takes listeners through the Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s tariffs, the escalating military tensions with Iran, the eruption of cartel violence in Mexico, and the pride of America’s Winter Olympic victories.

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Main Topics

1. Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs

Segment Start: [02:47]

Key Points:

• Supreme Court ruling (Feb 20): In Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump, the Court struck down Trump-era tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

  • Majority (6-3): Held that the IEEPA does not allow for tariff authority—it's meant for importation regulation in emergencies, but tariffs are considered distinct as a revenue tool.
  • Notable Justices (Majority): Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Barrett, Jackson
  • Dissent: Kavanaugh, Thomas, Alito – argued that historically, prior presidents (e.g., Nixon, Ford) did use tariffs in similar contexts.

• Trump’s reaction: “That’s a horrible decision. You’re basically stripping our ability to increase the economic power prowess of America.” ([05:30])

• Trump’s workaround: Immediately imposed a 10% (later 15%) global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows for temporary tariffs (up to 150 days) without congressional approval.

  • Announced intent to find other statutory methods for tariffs: referencing Sections 201, 232, and 301.

• CBP (Customs and Border Protection): Announced it would stop collecting tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court as of February 21—$200B collected since inception. There’s no clear plan for refunding.

• David’s Analysis: Praises “checks and balances,” but says US has “been getting hosed… on tariffs. We’re literally subsidizing the rest of the world, whether it’s pharmaceuticals, cars...” ([09:03])

Memorable Quote:

“There’s a part of me that says, you know what, checks and balances of power, I dig that. I like that a lot... However, the flip side of that is we have been getting hosed for as long as I can remember on tariffs...” – David Rutherford [09:03]

Notable Moment:

• Expresses frustration with both deficit spending and lack of congressional action, even under unified GOP control. Trump increased defense spending to $1.5 trillion, “you’ve bankrupt me, you bankrupt my kids.” ([10:00])
• Warns about US reserve currency status and fears of digital currency adoption.

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2. Massive US Military Buildup Against Iran

Segment Start: [17:12]

Key Points:

• Unprecedented US military buildup in the Middle East—biggest since Iraq War.

  • Multiple carrier strike groups, extensive air assets (F35s, F15s), regional tankers, and regional allies mobilized.

• Context:

  • Reason for buildup: Iran’s threats, Israel’s ongoing security concerns, Iran’s support for Hamas & Hezbollah.
  • US dropped 15 JDAMs on Iranian nuclear sites (Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan) on June 22 after the 12-day Israel-Iran war—impact was partial, not total.
  • Civil unrest: Iranian government killed thousands of protesters since December; reports range between 2,000 and 20,000 killed.

• Diplomatic efforts:

  • Trump admin initiated indirect talks with Iran in Oman (Feb 6, Feb 17, and Feb 3).
  • Sticking points: Ballistic missile reduction, uranium enrichment—no major breakthroughs.
  • US warning: “This is the last chance for you clowns to agree... Otherwise, stand by. To stand by.” ([25:00])

Memorable Quotes:

• On the risk of war:

  “To Trump's restraint, which... could be the greatest oxymoron I’ve ever said... we have not gone to war. And we reinitiated talks.” ([23:45])

• On the US stance:

  “My impression is I think there’s probably a 75% chance there’s going to be some strikes on Iran. I think whether we’re going to do it or Israel’s going to do it, I think that’s inevitable.” ([29:48])

Notable Moments:

• Critiques the complexity of Middle East diplomacy and the interplay between US, Israel, Iran, and Arab nations.
• Discusses the viral Tucker Carlson/Ambassador Huckabee interview (“Greater Israel Project”) and its impact on the region. ([27:33])
  • Quote from Tucker:

    “It is entirely fair for me... to ask what land are you talking about? ... That land [...] from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is once again basically the entire Middle East.” ([27:33])

• Rutherford’s hope: for a peaceful agreement—no appetite for another war (“I don’t believe [Iran is] an existential threat to America at all in any way, shape or form…” [32:08]).

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3. Mexico: Cartel Wars Erupt, US Involvement

Segment Start: [36:28]

Key Points:

• Guadalajara erupts after Mexican special forces, aided by US intelligence, killed Nemesio “El Mencho” Osegura Cervantes, leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
• Cartel response: Citywide arson, burning vehicles, supermarkets, gas stations, and violent gun battles with authorities.
• US-Mexico cooperation at new heights—joint tactical intervention signals major escalation.
• Speculates increased risk of drug, arms, and human trafficking violence spilling into the US, as well as internal cartel power struggles (“Game of Thrones, think Vikings... Breaking Bad…” [37:50]).
• US border response: Trump administration shut down southern border, further squeezing cartel finances.
• Danger highlighted:
  • US-supplied weapons (missile systems) ending up in cartel hands.
  • Possible alliances between cartels and terrorist groups (per intelligence reports).
  • ~600,000 US deaths from fentanyl and drug overdoses since COVID—cartels’ reach into the US is direct and deadly.

Memorable Quote:

“Is this good for American citizens, Mexican citizens? Hell no. Is it good for stemming the flow of illegal activity... yet to be seen. I do know these people are ruthless, coldblooded killers who don’t care.” – David Rutherford [39:43]

Notable Moments:

• Mixes gravity and humor by sharing popular memes about the situation, including Senator Marco Rubio in a mariachi suit replacing El Mencho (“At very least, the Trump administration has given us the best memes we've ever seen.” [41:15])

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4. US Winter Olympic Triumphs

Segment Start: [41:36]

Key Points:

• Praises US athletes for the greatest winter showing in history: 33 medals total (12 gold, 12 silver, 9 bronze).

• US men's hockey team wins gold over Canada—first since the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, echoing national pride.

  • “This has been the greatest winter showing we’ve ever seen... the winning goal of the US Hockey team... the same day as the 1980 gold medal. The Miracle on Ice.” ([42:20])

• Detailed rundown of US medalists in skiing, bobsled, figure skating, hockey, and speed skating.

• Criticisms of politicization of Olympic athletes—calls for celebration rather than criticism.

  • “Just let these kids... compete where they want to compete, who they want to compete for. Does it really chap your ass?” ([45:00])
  • “If you haven’t done that [the Olympic grind], then shut the fuck up.” ([46:00])

• Emphasizes the positive, unifying power of sport.

Memorable Quote:

“Just let them go compete. Praise the fact that they have worked hard to represent it… let that American pride hit you and sink in.” – David Rutherford [47:40]

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Notable Quotes & Moments ([Timestamps])

• [05:30] David Rutherford as Trump: “That’s a horrible decision. You’re basically stripping our ability to increase the economic power prowess of America.”
• [09:03] On tariffs: “There’s a part of me that says, you know what, checks and balances of power, I dig that… However, the flip side… we have been getting hosed for as long as I can remember.”
• [23:45] On Trump’s restraint: “Could be the greatest oxymoron I’ve ever said… we have not gone to war.”
• [27:33] Tucker Carlson to Huckabee: “I just read Genesis 15… from the Nile to the Euphrates... once again basically the entire Middle East.”
• [29:48] Forecast: “I think there’s probably a 75% chance there’s going to be some strikes on Iran.”
• [39:43] On cartel violence: “I do know these people are ruthless, coldblooded killers who don’t care.”
• [45:00] On Olympic criticism: “Does it really chap your ass? ... Just shut the fuck up.”
• [47:40] “Just let them go compete... let that American pride hit you and sink in.”

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Conclusion

David Rutherford’s rapid-fire analysis rips through some of the week’s heaviest news—tariff disputes, the threat of a new Middle East war, surging cartel violence, and a rare outpouring of national pride in US Olympic athletes. He blends personal commentary, a patriotic tone, and doses of humor, but does not shy away from blunt language on political and criminal realities.
If you missed the episode: Expect a mix of sharp political commentary, support for US strength (economic & military), warnings about complacency, and full-throated praise for American achievement.

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For More:

• Follow @David Rutherford on X and Instagram (@TeamFrogLogic), or visit davidrutherford.com for more content and updates.

Transcript

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[David Rutherford]

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[David Rutherford]

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[David Rutherford]

Trump's tariffs get knocked down by the Supreme Court. Iran looks like it's going to pop off. The cartel decides to finally start the war we've been waiting for. And God bless United State's Olympic team cuz they kicked ass in this year's Winter Olympics. All today on the David Rutherford Show. All right, welcome back to the show, everybody. I'm your host David Rut Rutherford and I am stoked to be with you today. We've got a full show, so let's just get right into it. All right. Recently the Supreme Court came out with a rule ruling on February 20th in the case, which is Learning Resources Inc. Versus Trump and Trump versus Vos Selections Inc. Right. And in this case, basically what they were arguing is that Trump's tariffs, which he enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers act was defeated by a vote of of 6 to 3. Right. In the main ruling or whatever you want to call it, we call it the majority opinion, if you will. I want to make sure my old man's happy with me. He's a 50 plus year lawyer and if I got that wrong, he's gonna beat me. And so in his ruling, he basically came out and said that, and this was supported by the way, by Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorich, Barrett and Jackson. And they were at the emphasis that the IEEPA's language allowing the president to regulate importation during national emergencies is broad but does not encompass tariffs, which are distinct as a revenue raising measure on domestic importers. Right. And there was also dissent that was in there by Kavanaugh, top Justice and Alito. Now there were two dissensions, one written by the main, one written by Kavanaugh and the second was the independent also was by Judge Thomas. And basically what they're they were arguing is that regulate the, the concept of regulating importation underneath that fits the idea of tariffs as well too. And that there were two examples in the past where Nixon 71 tariffs and then also Ford had some actions too, had set a precedent for Trump being able to do this right. Now what of course does Trump do after this comes out? And he comes and he goes That's a, that's a horrible decision. You're basically stripping our ability to increase the economic power prowess of America. And the big thing was that it would lead to a mess of unwinding all the trade deals that have done worth trillions of dollars and then also potentially requiring the refunding of billions right in collected duties. Now, there's also a concept that this could also hurt or make an impact on existing companies that are integrated in this, these tariffs that have been taking place. But there's, you know, the other side is that it's going to give relief to a lot of companies out there that said these unconstitutional tariffs have been very difficult on their business models and businesses. You know, right after they basically the, the Trump White House came out and said, hey, guess what, whatever you say, we're going to go around this. And they immediately imposed a 10% global tariff on all imports, later raised to 15. So old Trump comes out and goes, you know what? I wish I could do the Trump voice, man, it'd be like, it'd be so key if I could do it. But he basically comes out and goes, oh, yeah, all right, I'm gonna make it 10. Just blanket tariffs, because I can do that. In this other subsection of this law over here, I can do. You know what? To hell with 10%. I'm going to make it 15. Right? Just as a, an F you to everybody who thought they had them. And check. And this was under Section 122 of the Trade act of 1974, which allows such measures for up to 150 days without congressional approval. He's referenced other methods and practices, statutes and authority that have recognized by the Court and Congress, including potential use of sections 201, 232 and 301 of various trade laws for targeted and broader duties, and stated that he would, in quotations, figure something else out as a push back on the Supreme Court. Now, there are some ideas. Within U.S. customs and Border Protection announced that it would cease collecting the invalidated IEEPA terrorists effective February 21 for the estimated 200 billion already collected since the tariff. There is no plan for how this money is going to be distributed. So you got the Supreme Court justices that went against the tariffs. Right. Six, three, led by Chief Justice Roberts, who basically said, well, that's not our problem. There was no mention in any of the, the writings or rulings or anything like that that said, oh, by the way, of all the money that you did, this will be the best way to re to repay this or or, or make all the investors whole again. Right? Or, or the tariff people, countries whole again. Now, when I look at this whole thing, man, what I see is

[PennyMac Sponsor]

a

[David Rutherford]

pretty good backstop by the Supreme Court right now. They're not saying you can't do tariffs, but they're saying you can't do tariffs under this particular section of the law. And there's a part of me that says, you know what, checks and balances of power, I dig that. I like that a lot. And I think that's critical and I think it's, it's good to check some of, some of the powers that's coming out of the executive branch in Trump's office there. I think it's a good thing to apply a little checks and balances. However, the flip side of that is we have been getting hosed for as long as I can remember on tariffs, right? We're literally subsidizing the rest of the world, whether it's pharmaceuticals, cars, or we've destroyed our own car industry, the steel industry, rare earth minerals, we've allowed get away from us. I mean, China runs what, 92% of the rare earth minerals. All the critical things that we need for national security as well as our industrial might. Right. There's a group of people that are responsible for the current situation we're in. And then on top of that being 38, they're talking maybe by the end of this year we might hit 40. Certainly by the beginning of Q1 next year, we'll be at $40 trillion in debt. And so, and it doesn't look like, no, it's not going to happen that this Congress, which is controlled by the gop, Right, Because Trump has the Congress, Trump has the House, has the Senate, has the judicial, right, has pretty much everything under his wing, and they haven't done shit in order to gain control of the spending, other than basically subdue Doge and really kind of push it off to the side, right? We don't see any other reeling in of spending. In fact, what's kind of ironic is Trump, you know, a few months ago, just came out and said, you know what, we're going to push the defense spending up to 1.5 trillion annually. So when you think about all this as a, as pure knuckle dragger, my whole thing is like, all right, you've bankrupt me, you bankrupt my kids. How are we going to make my kids kids get back to a place where there's some fiscal sense taking place in the world? And are we going to be able to do that and maintain the reserve currency of the US Dollar by making sure people still want to us have the strongest economic engine of the world. Because as soon as we're no longer the superpower of purchasing, right, and that our, our, our markets are the strongest and the dollar is still the strongest around the world. As soon as one of those three legs gets pulled out from us, guess what's going to happen? All right, we're all, we're going to lose that prowess and then the impact of that is going to be catastrophic. Now, that's all. Unless they get to digital currencies, which they're trying to do anyways in a race. All kind of what. How we've been running with money for the last, I don't know, couple thousand years, right? Certainly we've gotten away with coin, gotten away from coins, gold, silver, that whole thing. Now we're moving Bitcoin. Doesn't look like it's stable. So, you know, they're going to tokenize the Federal Reserve and all other. The European Union. They're, they're like, some people are saying months away from a digital currency. So my whole point is tariff the shit out of other countries, get the money back that we've let go because of our offshoring of our middle class and the industrialization of America. Because we buy all the most stuff, why don't we get the best prices? It seems a little odd to me, right? So if I were having a company and I were going to sell to Walmart, I wanted to get into Walmart because they have the greatest vast numbers of customers. And they come to me and they're gonna say, all right, Rut, I need your price to be in this section right here for it to be suitable for a customer. I'm like, all right, well, then I'm gonna charge you more and I'm gonna put it out. And they're gonna be like, no, you're not. You're gonna pick the price we tell you and you're gonna sell there just like Amazon does, just like all these other. So why can't America do that too? Well, as you go back and you begin to dive in, how this all lays out, right, these are most likely political things that are taking place to reduce the strength and the ability of the Trump administration to project US Dominant economic power. At least that's my belief. And, and in the future, we're talk. Jordy and I are working on a potential show that digs in to the justice system and its relationship to people like Norm Eisen. Mark Elias and the other Democratic political legal machine that is working around the clock 24 sovereign to subvert the Trump administration, the MAGA movement and conservatives in general. So you know, my thing is let's tariff the shit out of them. All right.

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[Tara Davis Woodhull]

this is US Olympic gold medalist Tara

[David Rutherford]

Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

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[David Rutherford]

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[David Rutherford]

There is, if you're not aware and Jordy, can you build up, pull up the images of the, that I sent you with the description of the build up in Iran. Obviously, everybody knows there is a massive buildup of American military might and power, which don't get me wrong, I mean, I love the flex of, of what we're seeing out there for sure. And it makes me proud of the US Military. Our capabilities, our mobilization abilities are the efforts that we have, the types of aircraft carriers, right? And so when you look at US centcom, eucom, Indo Paycom, and all the naval and air assets that are in the region right now, it's the biggest build up that we've had since the Iraq war. And I was a, I was in and around Kuwait when this was taking place. I'll never forget when I left for Afghanistan out of Kuwait in May of, of 2002. I got back to Kuwait by, in Bahrain at the end of September of 2002. And, and there were tanks as far as the eye could see. There were new units and troops and airborne and everybody. I mean, it was Marines everywhere, vehicles everywhere. And I was like, whoa, someone's gonna get whoop ass coming here for sure. Right? You don't mobilize, you know, two carrier strike groups, all of these air assets that are in the air, right, you got what, nine squadrons of on the carrier air wing that include Tomcats, F3F, FA37s, FA87s, Black Lions, Rawhides. I like that one. Bear Aces. The VAW124. Right. The, the amount of aircraft and then the U.S. air assets in CENTCOM, right. 54 F35s, 36 F15s, right. You have all these regional support tankers. All this stuff. It's just like, it's massive. This is an absolute massive buildup. So what does this tell me? This tells me that if Iran doesn't stipulate to what we are proposing, and I'll get into that In a second that we're going to drop some bombs, right? We're going to drop a lot of bombs. Now everybody automatically actually let me just wind up, because you, if, if you're living under, in a van down by the river, you know, you got to understand why we're here, right? So essentially we're here because multiple reasons, right? And, and many people wanted to just say that this is Israel's war, right? This is the final stage of Israel's influence on American foreign policy, the whole thing. And, and I'm, I'm, there's a, I'm 100% sure that Netanyahu and the Israeli government definitely wants Iran out of the way. Especially after years and years and years of them waging war against Israel through their proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, the terrorist acts against them from October 7 to all the other times that missile strikes. And you know, so there's no doubt that Israel wants Iran to be made infertile, if you will, with their military abilities, right? But there's also, there is a, a lot to be said about dismantling Iran's capability regionally, right? And to keep them destabilized and not being able to be a substantial influence or power broker in the region in particular. And think about this. All of the work that's been taking place with our foreign policy, our State Department and our foreign advisors going out that have been striking these multi, multi billion dollar deals with Qatar, uae, Saudi Arabia, right? All these Middle Easterns, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan. You've got all these Middle Eastern countries that have basically said, yeah, we want to work with the President, we want to reinforce those relationships, we want to open up economic trade and we want stability in the Middle East. So that's a reality too. Now on June 22nd this past summer, right, there was a massive strike. And this is after the 12 day Israel, Iran war. Remember, they were just launching missiles at each other. Israel was getting waylaid with missiles. You know, they were doing targeted strikes against Iranian headshed. And then on June 22nd, the US came in and we dropped what, 15 JDAMs on, on, on three main nuclear sites, which was the Ford Out, Natanz and Isfron nuclear sites. And originally we were all fired up because it was like, yo, we just annihilated, annihilated them and crushed their entire nuclear. And then it was like, well, maybe we didn't get all of it. Then it came out and it was like, you know what, you had an impact. You set them back maybe a couple months, a couple years at Most, but you didn't destroy everything, Right? And. And that was kind of the interesting reality, based on what the White House spokespeople and they're. They were telling us that, oh, they're done, they're gone, we've destroyed it all. And then, you know, Israel's like, you didn't destroy them all. And then Iran's like, you didn't destroy us all. And. And so there was, I think, a false impression. And a lot of pundits were like, oh, now we're going to war with Iran. This is horrible. You saw Trump's numbers be affected by it. And. And then recently, you had a bunch of protests that started in December in Iran, which led to anywhere from low numbers are 2,000. Some people are saying it's 6,000. Iranian protesters were massacred by Iranian government soldiers and strike teams. They estimate, they say that about 200 of their fighters were killed, about 3,000 civilians. Some people, some civil rights groups have it as high as 6,800. There's one Amnesty International in the UN special reporter on Iran estimate that are 5,000 to kill, with figures possibly soaring to 20,000. So that happened for and is still ongoing. They're still putting down these protests. And when that popped, there were a ton of people within our, let's say, international foreign affairs pundits, different governments were saying, yeah, let's go. Israel in particular was saying, yeah, let's go in and let's get rid of them. Lindsey Graham was saying, they're a definite threat. You have a lot of other people in Congress and in the Senate are saying, yeah, they're. They're an existential threat. We gotta do it. But to. To Trump's restraint, which I. I don't even know what that is. I mean, that could be the greatest oxymoron I've ever said. My entire existent within Trump's restraint, we have not gone to war. And we reinitiated talks because before those talks broke down. And so we've been in talks. We had our first round, which started on February 6th in Oman. And the whole idea with air was ballistic missiles would be reduced, support of Hamas and Hezbollah would be reduced, and we would essentially have to really discuss about uranium enrichment and their nuclear program. Those fail. Second round, February 17, led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragachi, and he met indirectly with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Now, although the Iranians said we were encouraged by the communication, the US Said there was no major progress. And this big stall was that essentially they wanted them to end any and all uranium enrichment, which Iran says we have every right to do it as long as we adhere to the IAEA. And then the last round starts on the 3rd of February. There's been a couple proposals supposedly administered that are going to be dropped tomorrow and, and on, on Wednesday. And, and America has come out and said, all right, this is the last chance for you clowns to agree to these stipulations. Otherwise, stand by. To stand by. And Trump was quoted recently in an interview where he's like, you know, I've stopped eight war, soon to be nine, probably. And everybody's like, what, what did he just say? You know, wait, what? And then the other thing that's gaining, you know, crazy attention this weekend as there was a Tucker Carlson interview with Ambassador Huckabee where Tucker Carlson presented Ambassador Huckabee with a biblical, some type of biblical question about, you know, the expansion of the Greater Israel Project and taking over the Middle East. So would you play that for me real quick?

[PennyMac Sponsor]

Israel is a land that God gave through Abraham to a people that he chose. And so it is entirely fair for me, with respect, to ask what land are you talking about? Because I just read Genesis 15, as I have many times, and that land, I think it says from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is once again, basically the entire Middle East. So God gave that land to his people, the Jews, or he didn't. You're saying he did. What does that mean? Does Israel have the right to that land? Because you're appealing to Genesis, you're saying that's the original deed. It would be fine if they took it all.

[David Rutherford]

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. So this, this interview, like, stirred up all kinds of things. Tucker was attacking them for biblical references and what was the chosen people? And again, Huckabee was pushing back, like, dude, and he was hitting them on the Epstein files, which I thought was interesting. And he's like, I haven't read the Epstein files, you know, and, but it was, I think, the, the biggest thing and that has resulted out of this, whatever place you stand on. The biggest comment that came out of this was one that Huckabee made a comment saying that he would be okay if Israel were to get the biblical borders that it's, it's seeking in, in, you know, allegedly seeking in the Greater Israel Project, right. Which, you know, goes some of Egypt, all a big chunk of Saudi Arabia, all Lebanon, all Jordan, all the way up to what, the Euphrates river up in Iraq, Right? So this massive Swath of, of land. And then what that did is that prompted, guess what, all these Middle Eastern countries that are part of this to snap back and go what are you talking about? Like what does that even mean? How can the ambassador to Israel say that, you know, he's okay with the Greater Israel Project, Right. So what I think you're going to have this week is you're going to have this build up take place. My impression is I think there's probably a 75% chance there's going to be some strikes on Iran. I think whether we're going to do it or, or Israel's going to do it, I think that's inevitable. The question is to what degree, to what level is it gonna, you know, really impede. Right. Because the greater context I believe, of this whole thing is to get to that peace in the Middle east, which is peace with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Right. Which has been tentatively holding because you have all these Middle Eastern countries that are coming in and supporting the rebuilding of Gaza to create these new economic hubs on the Mediterranean that have these integrated components of all these different economies and that would build the Palestinians back up into a way where they could become more self sufficient and, and, and, and, and prosper more. And that's all based on these security, these security guarantees obviously that have to do with Iranians funding of Hamas and Hezbollah and all this. So this is an incredibly complicated situation. My hope is that we can get to a deal, right. That's by far that there are no bombs dropped. This doesn't escalate. No, because I don't know anybody that actually wants to go to war, especially none of my friends. G. What people? No, I don't want to send any young people, Jordy's age and younger. I don't want to send any young boys over to Iran to fight Iran. I don't believe they're an existential threat to America at all in any way, shape or form. I think there's other countries that represent a bigger threat for sure and I think it would really destroy the rest of, of of Trump's term. I think he's already battling some issues within the MAGA base as well. The MAGA base pretty strong. But those coalition of other people that attached onto the Maga base so he could win categorically in 2024. So this is an incredibly hot issue. I'll be paying close attention. I hopefully you will too. And hopefully we can get out of this with a good agreement with them. All right. Patriotism isn't a marketing trend for Black Rifle Coffee company. It's the foundation of the company. Black Rifle Coffee Company has been built on it since day one. Their American American Roasted coffee not only fuels your day, but gives back to veterans, first responders and their families with every single purchase. Last year they eliminated medical debt, helped build homes, provided for natural disaster response teams, funded education for children of fallen warriors, and so, so much more. So as America hits its 250th year, BRCC is kicking off 2026 with killer new products and the same great mission that they've had from the start. Just go grab a bag of tactisquatch, walking the neighbors or the spirit of 76 roast for people who get up early, train hard and don't quit. Oh yeah, I love that one. And to fuel the new year, they're dropping cold brew coffee cans in just black and vanilla. No fluff, no excuses, just clean caffeine. You gotta know I love that. Need something with ever more horsepower. Grapex brings 200 milligrams of caffeine, zero sugar and a grape blast that hits harder than the door charge. All right, if you're looking for BRCC coffee, find it at Walmart, Target Kroger, your local Black Rifle coffee shop or blackrifflecoffee.com Black Rifle Coffee veteran founded American Roasted this is America's Coffee. Oh yeah.

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[David Rutherford]

well, guess what, Jordy, what's up? The cartel wars have officially begun, right? They're popping off, dude. They are popping off, right? It's, it's interesting. I, I, there's a, my wife has a couple people she knows that just went down to Guadalajara, right? Like left this weekend and now are down there and struggling to try and get out. If you're not familiar, if you haven't paid attention, Guadalajara is the second biggest city in Mexico. And this past weekend, the senior member of the Jalisco New generation cartel. Go ahead and pull up that. You can just play it while I'm talking. The senior member, the, the leader whose name was Nemesis Nemesio Osegura Cervantes or El Mencho, right? El Mancho. I love that name. El Mencho was killed apparently by Mexican special forces in conjunction. Get with this and I I looked at a couple different reports to make sure this was accurate in conjunction with u. S. Intelligence. Now that's critical because if, if we're making sure, if we're interacting with the Mexican national government and coordinating strikes now, that is a significant escalation of what's taking place. Now you also gotta do a little research and understand I've done this before in the show is the impact that the cartels have in every region, with every politician in every industry. The cartels play that big of a role in Mexico. And so if you have targeted and you know, targeted killings or, or snatches that are taking place, man, and that were involved, this is going to escalate. So what happened? Well, that cartel responded accordingly and lit Guadalajara on fire. Literally. Cars were burning all over, as you saw in the video, they lit some supermarkets, bus stops, gas stations. That led to a bunch of gunfights with the cartels and the Mexican national guard and local police forces who were getting lit up. Because what the cartels, man, cartels have been making buku money for the last, you know, you could probably argue the last 20 years. And if you want, you can go back and check out in the Obama administration, the little fiasco of, of we were running, we were allowing guns to be sold to the cartels to track them to see where they ended up, and kind of a bunch disappeared. Ended up a border patrol guy, ended up getting shot with one of them. But, you know, the cartels have been building their arsenal for years and years and years. Now, I don't know about you, but when I look at a cartel and they're better equipped than your, your local law enforcement in Guadalajara, I don't think there's much of a match there. Now, thankfully, Mexico responded in kind and there's a couple cool videos of blackhawk gunships doing gun runs on them. And now you're going to balance this out. And there was also some insertion videos of Mexican like marines getting inserted to fight these battles as well too. Now, what does this mean for us, Mexican relations? I think on our side, it's awesome. On their side, it's potentially catastrophic. Right, because what already happened, well, oh, Trump shut down that border. And if the border shut down, what does that mean for the cartels? Right? How many billions of dollars in drug trade, human trafficking and just other. They sell illegal oil, they sell illegal products, they sell rare earth minerals, they. All this stuff that's going back and forth, well, that's been pretty much shut down. Well, more so than it ever has. And so what Happens if you're a cartel. Excuse me, what happens if you're a cartel and the grand majority of what you're making is coming from these illegal activity? It goes away. Well, now you start to get pinched, right? So what happens? There's usually a power shift. So what do you do? If you're an intelligence agency, you exacerbate that power structure. So what do you do? You kill the head guy. And now all your little underling minions are like, well, this is my opportunity, right? Think Game of Thrones, think Vikings. Think whatever TV show you've ever seen, Breaking Bad, right? Think of all those. Like, that's what's going to play out. You're going to have a power vacuum, and that's going to create an internal war. Now, they're already seeing some of this take place, and if you follow some, there's some great journalists out there who cover the cartels, and they've been covering kind of the internal civil wars that are emerging. So cartels are definitely vulnerable financially, but man, they, they've been built up so dramatically. Their, their groups are so strong and have so many weapons. I mean, they've got drones, night vision, 50 cows, tons of ammunition, rockets. Right. Sean did some interviews with reporters that said there are, you know, you know, missile systems that were supposedly to be over in Ukraine that have wound up in Mexico and even near our border. There's reports of those types of things. Sarah Adams talks about, you know, a ton of. Of ordinance or, or undetectable suicide vests that have been integrated with terrorist organizations that may be partnered with the cartels to bring them in the United States. So they possibly have some of their technology. So what this does is this takes the dial where we were at, which was probably like a 5, and puts us at an 8 right? Now. What does that mean for us? Does that mean that violence will break out into the United States? It could for sure. But what it certainly means is that Mexico is. Got itself a problem. So how long does the President Sheinbaum go before she looks at President Trump and says, Mr. President, would you give us some operational help? Right? And that's when the discombobulator comes out again, right? The machine that, when zapped, you bleed through your nose and your eyes and you got a migraine headache, you can't function. She poop your pants, the whole thing, and then a bunch of delta dogs come in and canoe your head in 50 seconds or less, right? So again, is this good for American citizens, Mexican citizens? Hell no. Is it good for stemming the Flow of illegal activity or shutting down people that have control of the southern border in the country. Boas, it's yet to be seen. I don't know. I'm kind of on the fence with it. I do know that these people are ruthless, coldblooded killers who don't care. When you look at how many fentanyl deaths we've had year over year since COVID it's something like coming up on 600,000 people have died from fentanyl overdoses and drug overdoses. That's directly correlated to the cartels. So if you disrupt these bands, these gangs, these murderous bastards, I'm pretty okay with that. Like, I'm all right if. If some of these guys get killed. What I'm not okay is if American tourists or civilians get taken hostage and killed, and that's all very much a possibility. Or they start running assaults into the United States. Or guess what? They use their networks and they activate the terrorists that they're friends with. And now we get Sarah Adams predictions start and true. So that's all something to think about across the spanner spectrum of what this means. All right, we'll certainly pay attention to you. We'll maybe. We'll update you for Friday this week. But, yeah, cartel wars are on, boy. Getting up. It's not all bad news, though, because we are also getting fantastic memes from this already, such as this one. Marco Rubio realizing he has to go undercover to replace Element show. There's a. There's another one where he's in a mariachi suit and he's got a bunch of. And he's got a bunch of money. Pull up the. Try and find the mariachi one. I posted that. I posted that on my page the other day. And. And he's got the gold AK next to him. No. Oh, God, it's so, so good. I'll find it. I'll try to put it in if I can find it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, see, you know, again, you can't beat. You know, at very least the Trump administration has given us the best memes we've ever seen. Right? All time. Of all time. Of all time. And. And that leads me into my. My next segment of. Of phenomenal. Just a phenomenal sense of America, which is what the U.S. winter Olympic performance right over in Italy. And this, if you're not familiar, this has been the greatest winner showing we've ever seen. That right there is the. The winning goal of the US Hockey team. Just absolutely phenomenal performance by all those young people. So you know, you see this guy, Hughes, he scores the winning goal. Kind of the irony of it is that it was the same day, February 26, as the 1980 gold medal, the Miracle on Ice, right? You know, and what the other crazy thing is, this is only the third gold medal in hockey, US men's hockey, we've ever won. It was, you know, 2026, 1980 and 1960. So we have not been a dominant force. But I'll tell you what, beating Canada sure felt good. Everybody remembers in the World Championships, there was the brawl in the first five seconds. That the thing, man, nothing better than watching dudes kick the shit out of each other on the ice. That's what makes hockey the funnest sport to watch, right? But to back it out, right? Like, the one thing that really kind of made me crazy is there's so many people that want to make hockey politics, or, I mean, sports politics in particular. Particular U.S. olympics. You know, my whole thing on that is, you know, give it a break. Take a breath, man. Just let these kids. Let them compete where they want to compete, who they want to compete for. Does it really chap your ass? I mean, I understand you get some young kid who gets on, and they're asked a political question. They're being prepped, they're, you know, prompted. They're being hit up by these reporters who want to get a sound bite. And these poor kids, they don't know what to answer. And, you know, some kid answered about ice. There's the girl who competed for China because one of her parents was from China, you know, and everybody's dogging her out, makes her Olympics shit. And I just. My whole thing is like, man, lay off these kids. I mean, it's ridiculous. Just let them go compete. And. And by the way, what have you done in your life? Have you ever rogered up and put in the. The hundred thousand hours of competition and training and all the sacrifice, all the birthdays, all the late nights, the weekends you haven't had all the grind that you've put in to become a part of an elite, an elite athlete that competes in the greatest thing there is in the world, the US Olympics. If you haven't done that, then shut the fuck up, right? I just. It drives me nuts. It really drives me nuts. We should be supporting these kids, getting behind them. If they want to go compete for Italy or Serbia or whatever, man, God bless them. Go support whatever country you want. A lot of times, it's the only way they can go and compete, because it's so Hyper competitive at the US Level. So, you know, take a breath, relax, get fired up about a cartel war, Iranian war, or, or something over here, but leave these poor, beautiful Olympic athletes alone and just praise the fact that they have worked hard to represent it. And by the way, if you, if you, if you, if you can't deal with the other stuff, just. Just flip on, right? You know, hey, pull up that beautiful video where Hughes says how proud he is to be an American, how honored he is to represent America. And then there's the most iconic photo of the whole thing. He's draped in the flag and he's got his giant front tooth knocked out because he took a stick in the face earlier in the third period. But you know what? He didn't quit. He kept coming back and playing. You know, let that sink in. Let that American pride hit you and sink in. Now, there's also a lot of other pride you could feel, too. Like, I, I love watching the Olympics, right? So the United States won a total of 33 medals. 12 gold, 12 solar, and 9 bronze, right? Making it the best ever gold medal haul in the Winter Games. So I'm going to go through some of the gold medal because I want to give these young people props, because God bless them and God bless America, right? So, women's downhill gold. Breezy Johnson. Women's solemn gold. Michaela Schreffen. All right, Bobsled. Women's monobob gold. Elena Myers. Taylor, right, cross country skiing. No silver there. Silver there. Figure skating, women's singles. Alyssa Lou, Gold team event. Amber Glenn. Alyssa Lou, Ilia Malin. Malin Madison. Chalk, Evan Bates, Ellie Cam, Danny o', Shea, gold, right, God bless him, man. Freestyle skiing, women's mogul, Elizabeth Lemley, Gold. Right, mixed team areas. Connor. Connor Curran, Kalia Kuhn, Christopher Lillis. Gold. All right, men's half pipe. Alex Ferraria, gold. Right, Killing it. Women's hockey team, gold. Right, Pull up, pull up. Their. Their winning goal for me, too. This is also incredible. These girls are out there grinding away, you know, checking in the boards, getting hit, hitting in pads, and there's. They're winning gold medals and making their parents proud, their. Their. Their travel teams proud, their college teams proud, the teams they are high school teams proud. Anybody who've ever played with them, proud. Their communities proud. They're making America their states proud, their cities proud. I mean, are you kidding me? This is absolutely, like, the thing that should bring us together all the time. All right, last few. Speed skating, men's 500 meter. Jordan Stoltz.

[Bethenny Frankel]

Gold.

[David Rutherford]

Men's 1,000 meter, Jordan Stoltz, Gold. Hell, Jordan Stoltz won a silver and silver in that too. Right? So again, I just want to just say thank you so much to all the Olympians for giving me and my family such a wonderful sense of pride, such a wonderful sense of, of showmanship, of effort, hard work and, and dreams. Right? That's what you gotta understand comes from these types of things. There are literally thousands or millions of kids all around the world that watch these athletes compete at the highest level performance and win gold, silver, bronze or come in last place, but they still gave it their all. And that's going to inspire some young person out there, boys and girls, to get off their ass, put on their, their snowboard, put on their skates, put on their skis, whatever it might be, you know, and get out there and work their asses off and compete and become Olympic champions. That's what takes place when this happens. So in all the other misery that I talked about before, let's take a breath, let's praise our Olympic athletes and let's be proud that we're Americans.

[Podcast Host]

Who.

[David Rutherford]

Yah. All right everybody, I can't thank you enough. Please follow and share and like and spread the good word that you dig the show, you dig how we're doing. Let send us a note. If you want to see a show, just drop it in or want us to interview, drop it in on one of our social media Eve on on the show. They're on Tick Tock, Instagram, Facebook, X and it's at David Rutherford on X. It's at D Rutherford show. You can follow me. I'm on X and Instagram at Team Frog Logic. Go to the website Sign up for our newsletter. We've got some great new things coming on. That's@david rutherford.com if you want to take my online motivational training courses, I've got three great courses available for you. And yeah man, we're having a ball doing it. Thank you Jordyn. Congratulations on not being sick and your new move and everything else, brother. And thank Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior for loving on me, forgiving me my sins and inspiring me. We want to be a better man every day. Thank you too huya. Love you.

[Bethenny Frankel]

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