Don't Expect Pre-War Gas Prices Soon

Summary

The Find Out Podcast

Episode Title: Don't Expect Pre-War Gas Prices Soon
Release Date: April 2, 2026
Network: Find Out Media & Studio71
Summary by: [Your Name]

---

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode dives into the intersection of global conflict, energy markets, and political realities during Trump’s second term, focusing on the ongoing war with Iran, the resulting gas price spike, and the U.S. administration’s foreign and energy policy blunders. The hosts are joined by the creators of "American Power," a new Find Out Media podcast, whose unique blend of expertise and irreverence drives an honest, witty, and sharp discussion about geopolitics, oil, and the cost—both literal and figurative—of America's combative posture on the world stage.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing "American Power" and Its Hosts

• New Pod: "American Power" explores how U.S. military/economic policy shapes and is shaped by global energy and geopolitics ([01:00]).
• Host Lineup:
  • Nat Townsend (comedian/political writer)
  • Chad Scott (NATO and national security expert)
  • "Mr. Global" (oil & gas TikTok/Youtube educator)

Nat Townsend: "I'm the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about… The premise is, I ask the dumb questions" ([01:47]).

2. The Comedy & Absurdity of Trump-Era Geopolitics

• The hosts joke about how periods of political chaos create ample podcast content—"some would call the timing worse but better for podcasters" ([02:40]).
• They discuss Trump as a career goldmine for comedians and content creators; compare to Jon Stewart's "Bush era" ([03:18]).

3. Social Media Influence in Explaining Complex Topics

Mr. Global (oil & gas): Gained massive following by honestly breaking down complicated energy issues—"I just tell people what it is" ([07:16]). Chad Scott (NATO): His TikToks on the Russia-Ukraine war went viral for defusing fear-mongering and promoting fact-based optimism ([10:57]).

Mr. Global [08:01]: "My record of... honesty and integrity is what really holds up my media brand."

4. The Iran War’s Impact on Global Markets

What’s Driving Record-High Gas Prices?

• U.S.–Iran conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz are causing historic surges.
• President Trump’s unpredictability has destabilized market forecasting ([17:21]).

Mr. Global [17:21]: "It’s extremely hard to be predictive when Donald Trump is the president... The last month is the largest rise in prices in history."

China’s Outsized Role

• Iran's economy is essentially propped up by China; over 90% of Iranian oil goes to China at a discount ([20:16]).
• China can “snap its fingers” and open the strait if it gets too costly for its manufacturing base ([21:41]).

Gas Price Outlook

• Expect weeks (if not months) of continued high gas prices, with eventual gradual relief—if and when the strait reopens ([43:02]).

Mr. Global [44:39]: "We’re going to experience high prices at some level for quite a long time." Mr. Global [47:24]: "I don’t think we see pre-war level gas prices for the rest of the Trump administration."

5. Policy Confusion & Blunders

• Trump simultaneously lifts the embargo on Iranian oil but keeps the strait blocked—effectively benefiting China and undercutting U.S. objectives ([23:11]).
• U.S. allies are angry, confused, and refusing basing/flyover rights, undermining U.S. strategic interests ([26:17]).

Chad Scott [26:17]: "It is just a mix of emotions that are all negative... We are experiencing now... the blowback of this war, but it is going to start to hurt us more."

Market Manipulation and Political Theater

• Trump’s Iran "victory" speech is likely to be empty self-praise or a misleading de-escalation for political optics ([13:45], [32:34]).
• Market reactions may be sharp but temporary—policy substance is lacking ([16:20]).

6. Long-Term Consequences & Lessons

• U.S. is revealing a historical inability to endure "second and third order" consequences of using force—potentially teaching China and Russia to exploit U.S. economic pain for geopolitical gains ([32:34]).
• The show’s consensus: The U.S. administration is breaking more than it fixes and undermining American credibility for years to come.

Chad Scott [32:34]: "We achieved a net negative impact... The world is now learning... we are generally weak and inept in those second and third order effects in planning."

7. Renewable Energy: Setbacks & What-Ifs

• Trump’s rollback of EV credits, wind and solar investments, and clean energy initiatives has left the U.S. more vulnerable to energy shocks ([49:39], [55:14]).
• Hosts argue that, ironically, if EV/renewables support were maintained, oil demand and price shocks would be less severe now ([51:06]).

Mr. Global [51:06]: "If there were no EVs, we would be in a shitload of trouble."

8. America’s Self-Sabotage

• Trump’s meddling—if he had done “nothing,” he might have been a popular president.
• Instead, policy own goals are compounding the pain for average Americans ([55:14], [56:04]).

Host A [56:04]: "If he had done nothing... and just talked a bunch of stupid shit but didn’t touch anything, don’t break it... Instead he breaks everything he touches because he’s a fucking moron."

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump-era forecasting: "My record at predicting things before Donald Trump won... was the best on the planet... With Donald Trump, that's completely gone." – Mr. Global ([17:21])
• On China’s leverage: "China has the whole deck, Mr. President." – Mr. Global ([20:41])
• EMBEDDED HUMOR & SATIRE:
  • Running jokes about "thirst trap" oil experts and 65-70 year-old demographics, complete with fracking/renewable pick-up lines ([08:52]–[10:15])
  • Imagining Trump’s “victory speech” on an aircraft carrier, like a Mission Accomplished moment, but possibly with YMCA dancing ([46:30])
  • Host C: "If cancer had been benevolent, it could have been one of the most popular diseases you can get." ([56:04])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:00 – Introduction of "American Power" and host backgrounds
• 07:16 – The science (and comedy) of going viral with oil/NATO explainer content
• 12:24 – Setting the stage: U.S.–Iran war, Trump’s upcoming speech
• 17:19 – State of global oil/gas: why gas is $4+ and rising
• 20:16 – China's vital role in crisis; why they hold the keys
• 23:11 – Trump’s oil embargo reversal: who benefits? (Hint: not the U.S.)
• 26:17 – Allies' backlash and geostrategic isolation
• 32:34 – What counts as “victory”? Speech predictions and global lessons
• 43:02 – Timeline for relief at the pump if war de-escalates
• 47:24 – Why pre-war gas prices aren’t coming back soon
• 49:39 – The impact of lost renewables/EV policy support
• 51:06 – EVs’ invisible buffer on oil demand
• 56:04 – Trump as a self-sabotaging president
• 64:17 – Final reflections on Supreme Court drama, Trump’s alienation from all but autocrats

---

Overall Tone & Language

• Witty, biting, and irreverent, blending straight talk with improvisational, sometimes dark humor.
• Heavy use of “shoot the shit” banter, but always swinging back to sharp, at times scathing, realpolitik analysis.
• Spirited mockery of Trump’s governing style, with all hosts contributing comedic asides and running gags (but never at the expense of the episode’s factual rigor).

---

Bottom Line

If you’re wondering when you’ll see cheap gas again: Don’t count on it for years—no matter what this President claims.
For listeners seeking clarity amid chaos: The hosts cut through the noise, blending lefty outrage, expert knowledge, and cathartic laughter to deliver much-needed context for America’s current moment.

---

Listen for:

• Unfiltered explanations of global oil politics
• Candid, data-driven predictions
• Hilariously bleak takes on America’s self-inflicted wounds

---

New episodes of The Find Out Podcast and American Power drop weekly on Find Out Media.

Transcript

[A]

At vrbo, we understand that even the best of plans sometimes need a little support. So we plan for the plot twists. Every booking is automatically backed by our VRBO Care guarantee, giving you confidence from the very start. Whenever you need help, it's ready before your stay, through the moments in between and after your trip. Because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist. But we've got the peace of mind part covered. Hey everybody, welcome back to the Find out podcast. You are probably noticing we didn't say this before, but you're probably noticing that there are now ads on our show. So we just wanted to give you a heads up about that. And that's part of the way we get paid because this is not a cheap enterprise.

[B]

So I hope you.

[A]

I said we're not getting paid. Well, maybe we will be now that we're getting ads.

[B]

You know, get that, get that money flowing.

[A]

Oh yeah, that's our money. Besides that, we have Find Out Media has a brand new show that dropped. Well, we're recording on Wednesday. So it dropped today. You'll hear this tomorrow. But American Power is out. And we have the three hosts of American Power with us. And so we have Mr. Global, we have Chad Scott, and we have Nat Townsend with us today, who is a bit of the curveball in the show because he's actually a writer and comedian and we have paired him with one of the most foremost experts. I'm going to say that for you, Mr. Global. Experts on oil and gas and Chad Scott, who is an expert on NATO. So guys, who wants to give us a little color into what American Power is all about and what the first episode is all about?

[C]

Well, I'm the guy who doesn't know what he's talking about. So I would like to boldly steamroll everyone else and explain their jobs for them. My name is Nat Townsend. I'm a comedian. I'm a stand up comedian. I'm also a comedy writer and speech writer. I do work in the world of politics a little bit. Sorry to ruin the premise, but I am definitely not as informed as my co host experts here. And what we do on the podcast is we take a look at recent news and history in both the worlds of the military and oil and the energy sector. And we examine how they, how they affect power in America and how America exerts power on the rest of the world.

[A]

That is amazing. And the timing could not be any better because we are in the midst of a war of which I don't think any of Us know why we are really there.

[C]

Some would call that worse, but better for podcasters. Yes.

[A]

What's that?

[C]

I said, some would call the timing worse but better for podcasters.

[A]

And I think that the timing for us is great.

[C]

Right.

[A]

For everybody else, not so great.

[C]

You don't see enough analysis based on whether it's good for podcasters, humanitarian wise.

[A]

It's true.

[C]

But is it good for launching a podcast?

[A]

You know, I mean, to be perfectly honest, Donald Trump winning the same. I, I maybe have said this before, but when he won and we were all like, oh, my wife actually said to me, you know, this might. Is this, this is actually maybe good for your career. And I was like, yep, yep, I'm not ready to go there. But yep. This was before we did all of this and everything.

[B]

But yeah, I remember, like, 20 years ago, Jon Stewart talked about how he basically felt bad because George W. Bush at the time was the, the clownest of the clowns. And, and, and so they were like, well, he won reelection, so, like, at least we'll have great comedy material for the next four years. You know, it couldn't possibly get more absurd than this. And so they were just sort of embracing how, how easy it was to. To be funny, and they didn't know that 2016 was right around the corner.

[A]

So, yeah, he. He kind of left at the wrong time and then he came back a little too late. But, you know, we'll take, we'll take, we'll take the, we'll take the publicity. That's fine.

[B]

Now we're here to, to backfill for John Stewart.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I've noticed that this conversation has drifted away from me, and so I was hoping that we could talk more about American power and the podcast. Sorry, I was blanking out there for a second.

[A]

Wow. I. You know, we're. We're not used to having all these people in our network, but especially, I'm sure. Oh, my God, you know, the, the things that you guys have required, like the green M M's and all that stuff, like certain type of bottled water.

[C]

Serious riders going on here. Yeah, it's not a certain type of bottled bottle. It's the superior type of bottled water, too.

[A]

I gotcha. I got you.

[C]

Yeah, well, straight from the tap.

[D]

I Netflix.

[C]

So, yeah, pour it out, fill it with the tap. That's whatever I want.

[B]

If you want to talk about you for a second, tell me why.

[C]

I do.

[B]

First and your last name are both incomplete versions of other names. Shouldn't you be like Nathan Townsend or something?

[A]

Like that.

[C]

So interesting. What a. What a negative perspective on my efficiency and succinctness and SEO readiness. Wow.

[B]

You look like Donald.

[E]

Your.

[B]

Your name is like if Donald Trump tried to type your correct name and he only got out Nat House.

[C]

It's way more phonetic than that. If Donald Trump types by name, there would be a lot of consonants back to back. That cannot be pronoun in trip. Typical English. Romantic.

[A]

Did we trip into a roast? What is going on here?

[B]

Like, he asked for the attention.

[C]

I think the only way I know

[B]

how to give attention.

[C]

My ego is getting reflected back at me is what's happening.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[C]

My full name is Nathaniel Howard Avino Towson. My last name, T o w S E N is an mostly unique spelling. Except out of South Africa, there are thousands. I'm not related to them. My greatest great grandfather, I believe changed it from T o w S o n like the university in Maryland to en. No one knows why, but he SEO wise really did me search engine optimization for the listener. He did me a favor. I get my URL. I'm Nat Townsend on everything. You can find me on every social media. Thanks.

[A]

Wow, look at this. The promotion. Off to other stuff. Instead of the. Instead of the American power. Man, we are blowing you up.

[C]

I gotta follow America on socials. I don't know the handle.

[A]

I think it is actually America, right.

[C]

American power podcast. Everywhere you go.

[A]

American. Okay, that's easy. I do want to turn to the experts on the. On the show. And I want to start with Mr. Global.

[B]

All right, I'll start.

[A]

Who has amassed a tick tock following of like a million. Is that what you're at now?

[C]

I remember something like that.

[E]

1.4 on both channels.

[A]

Oh, damn.

[D]

So you notice it's plaque proudly. Oh, is it the back there?

[A]

Oh, is that the corner? Oh, well. So, Mr. Global, you are definitely the most followed oil and gas expert.

[B]

The Kardashian of the go.

[A]

Yeah, you are the. You are the Kim Kardashian of the oil and gas world on TikTok and YouTube. How did you do. How did you amass this. This large following, talking about a topic that pretty much nobody understands after the sex tape.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

Sex tape.

[C]

We know where the platform came from. But how'd you grow it?

[B]

Coming up.

[E]

What I'm told this is the feedback I get is that I have a unique ability to explain things in a way that people can understand them. Kind of like, you know, force Gump his mother and so. But the thing I. I've stuck to throughout the last four years or however long I've done, this is just integrity truth. Like I don't get flam. I don't, you know, use a lot of hyperbolic language. I don't like, try to scare people. I don't fear monger. I just tell people what it is. And I think that's why my followers just continue to stick with me because they know if I'm saying something, at the very least that I truly believe it's true.

[B]

Right.

[E]

So my record of that sort of honesty and integrity is I think, what really holds up my media brand, or whatever you want to call it.

[B]

I'm glad you agree. I think the thing that I love about you is that like me, your looks are working against you. And so you know that all of your supporters, all your followers, like they're there for all of the right reasons.

[E]

Absolutely.

[B]

It makes you feel really good when you scratch through that surface layer.

[A]

I don't, I don't know about you guys. I think people just follow me because of, because of eye candy. I think I'm just like, you know, all of the 0 comments I've ever gotten on my.

[B]

And so.

[C]

And I'm curious how Matt feels about having that assessment of his looks thrust upon him.

[A]

Yeah, I know, Rich. Kind of like, yeah, you kind of gotta kind of got a bow thrown at you.

[E]

May I retort and say that I am a bit of a thirst trap for women in the 65 to 70 year old demographic because, oh yes, they're the ones that email me constantly.

[C]

So this is a calm, confident, emotionally grounded man putting things into simple terms, calming down the panic. Father of four. Am I right? A family man. I mean, who wouldn't?

[E]

Six.

[C]

Six. All right, well, now I'm getting lusty as a mother, as a 65 year old mother with my children in college, I. There's something about this Mr. Global I just can't handle. Can we do it for me? He's so comforting.

[B]

Kinds of. Can we guess what kinds of thirst trap messages Mr. Global's getting? Like you. I'd like you to drill my well.

[C]

Okay. I'd like you to raise my children.

[D]

I have a gusher.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, God.

[B]

You can frack my world.

[C]

You guys are going way fossil fuels on this. All right, we got.

[A]

You need to.

[C]

You need a green energy transition to your joke material right now. You got. He's got to start be like, I'd like you to panel my solar. I know that doesn't mean anything, but, you know, you gotta, you know, reflect Sunlight into my concentrated solar power spire. Okay, if you knew what that looked like. It looks like it's a really good joke.

[B]

I agree.

[C]

But this seems like we got, we got to update the references for the, for the.

[A]

Are we going to have to put like a warning on this show? This is, this is an age restricted show.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

[A]

How about actually 65 plus, right.

[C]

I'm saying Mr. Global followers are horny for offshore wind and wind refine my oils. Fracking.

[D]

That's a lot of discharge.

[A]

Oh God.

[B]

See, I was hoping we could go the whole day without hearing the word discharge.

[C]

You could have put that show notes well.

[A]

Oh yeah, that's going in well, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, the other host, Chad Scott who just said that is, is with us. And, and Chad's got a big following on, on TikTok as well, talking about NATO and national security, foreign policy stuff. Right. So how did you, Chad, get your big following? What is your area of focus?

[D]

So it was, it's kind of interesting because I didn't start out just doing national security discussions, NATO foreign policy, things like that. Even though that's kind of my wheelhouse. I just was messing around doing history of Idaho, which is the state of I live in, just for fun. And one day I decided I was watching the convoys get stuck moving into Ukraine from Russia and I made a video, just said, hey, this is. Russia's going to lose this war and this is why. And it blew up. And a lot of people gravitated towards me for similar reason as Matt. Mr. Global. It, it was. I was not fear mongering. In fact, I would counter the fear that would be coming out like every. A lot of people at the time in the initial stages of the Ukraine war were talking about, oh, this is World War 3, nuclear weapons are going to be deployed, things like that. And I would make videos saying, no, tone it down. Everything's gonna be okay. We need to focus more on the, on the, the tangible things to support Ukraine, such as providing them defensive weapons, providing them intelligence, things like that. And overnight I went to bed and overnight I had like 25,000 followers suddenly. And I was like, hey, this might be a thing. And that is how it launched. It was like in early March of 2022 is when I was probably one of the first people to come out on TikTok. At least I know a couple of other experts that were like, Russia's not going to win this thing based on their, their capabilities. And I just was one of the first to put it out on, on social media and it blew up and the rest is history.

[A]

So now we're bringing you guys and all of your successes together to talk about how energy and global politics sort of merged together. And obviously right now this is kind of probably the most talked about topic, which is this war and Iran that we are in. And because this is Wednesday, tonight there will be some speech, I think I was saying earlier, some nonsense or bullshit speech from Trump. What do we think he's going to talk about? And then people listening tomorrow can see how good or how bad maybe this is a bad idea.

[C]

But first of all, I think it's going to be AI or pre recorded because did you see his schedule today? He didn't have a time. There's no nap time in there. He's, he's up from 8am to 9pm today. There is no way that that septuagenarian is making it that long. What if he has a second Coca Cola? It could be some, you know, chemical substances or like.

[A]

Yeah, we're getting some serious sundowning.

[C]

Right, Some serious Adderall going.

[A]

Okay, so what is the message that Chad, I want to start with you as the, as the sort of the NATO expert. What do we think he's going to, is he trying to get out? Because this morning he was posting about, on Truth Social about Iran, asked us for a ceasefire and the new regime, quote, unquote, new regime, I don't know how new they are. Are much more reasonable. Like is this a way to get out or is this a way to escalate?

[D]

Well, so first starting off is he's, before even the speech happens, he's already put out that the war is going to wind down in two to three weeks. And we all know his two to three week timelines. We all know how many times the two week timeline was something he adhered to, which is essentially never. I mean Russia, two weeks, every two weeks. And so when he says things like this, I just think what we're going to see is the speech going to be kind of a rah rah, Trump did it all. It's, look at me, I overthrew the Ayatollah, but not the regime. He's, it's going to be one of two extremes we're going to see either we won the war, look at us. It's going to, I mean, I'm surprised he's not going to stand on an aircraft carrier with mission accomplished behind him. He's, he's, it's going to be one of those we won or on the other end of the spectrum, he's going to try to sell an escalation. I don't think there's a middle ground in there. I'm leaning more towards based on what the markets are looking at, what everyone is telling him across the globe, hey, knock this shit off. I think it's going to be more of a, hey, we won. Huzzah. I'm the best president since ever and we're going to, and that's, there's going to be this wind down of, of what's going to happen over the two to three weeks. But my concern is our wind down is not the same timeline as Israel's wind down. And so what Trump says in this speech I would take with an extreme grain of salt. This might be another market manipulation. And myself and Mr. Global talked about this on the podcast Shameless Plug. American power that just dropped. We talk about, yeah, we talked about Shameless Plug.

[C]

You don't need to worry about that. Yeah, we just all be name that

[D]

the video going back to the thirst trap. We just be plugging each other.

[A]

But anyway, so we can't escape this.

[B]

You said discharge and now you're talking about plugging. Like trying to figure out how to

[D]

throw moist somewhere in this.

[C]

Oh no, my mic's cutting out. I'm not. The call's dropping.

[D]

But the but yeah, so it's, it's just going to be, I think a show and what he says today is not going to matter in a few days or a few weeks. So it'll be, it'll be a market manipulation. Iran might come back and say, yeah, none of that, what he said is true. And so like I said, I just don't think it's going to, it's going to be, as I say in a lot of times, it's going to be a big nothing burger of self aggrandizement with no real policy. We might see some reactions in the market and with our allies temporarily, but no long term outcomes.

[A]

Well, that's wonderful. I mean it's, it. I'm, I'm so shocked, I'm so shocked that you're saying we can't trust what he says tonight. That's a, that's a big, big one. But I, I, you know, I want to go over to Mr. Global here because obviously, you know, we have seen over the past two months gas prices going up tremendously. I think we just passed the national Average is over $4 now. Diesel is getting closer to 6 at least from the place I walked by this morning. What do you, you know, everybody's obviously like, everyone always talks about gas prices when they go up. Where do you see these going over the next few weeks? You know, with, with Trump both saying like, doing things to try to manipulate the markets, but also like the reality of like the oil, the, like the oil world doesn't get manipulated quite like that or so quickly because of how long it takes to get stuff from point A to point B. But what, what's, what's going to happen over the next few weeks? Are we, are we at a stable period? Are we still growing up? Like, what do you, what do you

[C]

think

[E]

over the next few weeks, we're going to see more shortages, more fuel shortages, not in the United States, but particularly in Asia. And we're going to see shipping fuel costs continue to skyrocket. It's, it's extremely hard to be predictive when Donald Trump is the president. So this Last year or 15 months, my record at predicting things before Donald Trump won this election was like the best on the planet. Like I could tell you what gas prices were going to be in six weeks in a certain town. Like I was, I really was dialed in with Donald Trump. That, that's completely gone. Like so. But assuming things continue, and I'm believe they will, they're going to continue to rise, but not as precipitously as they have to this point. Like, I don't know if you guys know, but the last month is the largest rise in prices in history. So we haven't gotten to those like 2022 levels yet, but we have gotten to where we've gotten faster than we have ever gotten. And that's a very concerning thing, right when, when they go up that fast, right? When you think of the Biden administration, it took what, 18 months for gas to slowly climb up to $5. That OPEC 2020 deal here, we've, we've increased gas prices, you know, by way over like a $30 a gallon in a matter of 30 days, which has just never been seen before. A lot of states around the country that have record high diesel prices, higher than they've ever had. Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, a lot of those west coast states, some of the east coast states are reach, but they're going to continue to rise until China says it's time to open the strait. So that's basically where we are. Want to make the most of your tax refund file with Turbotax on Intuit Credit Karma.

[A]

They help you get your biggest refund and then we help you do more with it with a personalized plan designed to help you hit your money goals. Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. @blinds.com We've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50,000 five star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals, free samples, zero pressure right now. Get up to 4. 45% off site wide plus get a free professional measure. At blinds.com rules and restrictions apply. So we were talking about that a little bit before we went on. So could you just talk a little like the relation. Can you just explain to the audience a little bit about the relationship between Iran and China and why they could basically snap their fingers and make this happen?

[E]

So China or Iran's whole existence is, existence is basically dependent on China. Like over 90% of their oil is sold to China at a discount. And China is sitting there right now just loving what they're seeing.

[B]

Right.

[E]

You have the president of the United States fighting with NATO because they won't bail him out. Why, why would they? I don't know. He's never been a friend to them.

[A]

Right.

[E]

And China is sitting there. You know, Donald Trump likes to say, you don't have the cards. Well, China has the whole deck, Mr. President. You don't understand this because you don't understand how foreign policy and geopolitics works. But anything. Iran's existence is dependent on China and the only reason the strait is still closed is because China is allowing it. The moment China says, okay, you've done too much damage to the global economy, it's time to open it now, because now you're hurting us. That's when it'll be open for sure. And they can open it with a phone call. The United States can't open it. A coalition can't open it. The only people that can open it or China, period.

[A]

And what, what do you, how bad do you think it would get before that would happen? Because obviously you're saying affects them, but like, you know, they stockpile a ton of oil. My understanding is, and so, you know, how long could they go? Is this like three, six months? Is it weeks? What's, what are we looking at here?

[E]

I think it really depends on how it starts impacting their manufacturing base and industrial base. You know, things outside of, of energy and, and that's what they'll say, okay, that's good, you know, but they're still getting all their oil, which means, you know, they can, they can, they can drag this out longer than, you know, other countries can. And that. I think that's also why they immediately stopped exports to move this thing along. You know, I think 15% of Australia is without gas right now with no gas in any gas stations. That's.

[A]

Oh, wow. Really?

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

Oh, yeah. Major fuel shortages on Australia. A lot of, you know, I believe it was the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, gas shortages. I think the Philippines declared a national emergency because they're, like, out of gas. So this is just going to spread throughout Asia and then it'll eventually creep and find its way to other parts of the world.

[A]

Well, that's. That's lovely. The other thing, the other thing that I saw and explained to this, and I, maybe both of you or anybody could chime in because I, like, I'm trying to understand the logic here, but Trump also lifted the oil embargo on Iran, correct? Yes, that, that was a thing that happened. So now we're in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz is closed, but Iran's oil embargo has been lifted, which allows them to sell oil.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

How?

[D]

They're making good money on it, too.

[A]

I'm sure they are. How does that help us to give it? Okay, why would we do that then?

[E]

And who are they selling it to?

[A]

China.

[E]

Right. They're selling it to Pakistan. Oh, the, the, the oil that's unembargoed is being sold to China's closest strategic partner and being delivered, or being delivered to a port that's owned by China.

[A]

Like, what.

[E]

When I look at Pakistan, I just, I just, like, my mind erases the word Pakistan on the map and just puts China on there. It's, it's literally China 2.0 is what Pakistan is like.

[A]

So why would we do that?

[E]

Why did we do that?

[A]

Why would we. Yeah, why? Like, that doesn't make any sense to me.

[E]

Scott, the genius that is Scott Besant, doesn't believe or has this belief that barrels on the water. Right. That are sanctioned aren't equivalent to barrels on the water that are unsanctioned. So he doesn't understand that if there's oil on the water, no matter what currency it's being traded in, it still counts. So it's one of the stupidest things our government has believed for a long time. If these, if this oil is sanctioned, then it's like it's not there. No, it's still there. So they thought if they just unsanction that oil, that would, like, flood the market with oil price and bring down oil prices and. And it would somehow hurt Iran. And their very first sale of oil netted them, like, $150 million more than it would have two days before. So it's.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

I. I don't understand the logic there, where. Just because the Arno. Is it being traded.

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

He wrote a whole book about it.

[A]

He didn't read the book.

[C]

Sorry.

[E]

Yeah, he didn't write or read. I don't.

[A]

He didn't write. No, I think the ghostwriter said. He wrote, like. The ghostwriter wrote the whole thing.

[C]

He did read the book because he is the voice of the audiobook. So he does listen to the audiobook.

[B]

Yeah, at least.

[A]

So we actually do know he can read because, like, the BRI could.

[C]

Someone could have said the words first and then he repeated them.

[A]

I'm not sure we had it in his ear yesterday.

[C]

He had a. At the White House, he was giving speech, or he was like. He had a thing, an email they printed out and wrote on the back of in Sharpie his talking points for his press release. That's when he was talking about how there's no way they can challenge my EO about banning mail in voting,

[A]

which, by the way, that EO is meaningless. Everyone should ignore it. It's nonsense. So we don't even need to talk more about that. But, Chad, on the geopolitical side, are we just. Are people laughing at us? Angry at us both? Like, what is the general feeling of the. I mean, I'm sure the. The Southeast Asian countries that Mr. Global just mentioned are furious, but, like, what's the general sense of our, quote, unquote, allies? I hope they're still our allies around the world right now, but what the

[D]

hell we're doing, A lot of it is. I would call it angry. Confusion. Yeah. And everything you just mentioned, all of the above. Trump continues to say that we have the highest levels of respect now because of his administration, and that couldn't be further for the truth. It's just. It's just a mix of emotions that are all negative. And unfortunately, it is leading to real geostrategic problems. Like, yes, we got ourselves in this war. This is a problem we created. And because of that, we have tried to use the. The leverage we used to have to say, hey, can we have flyover rights of certain countries? Or can we use basing rights? And all of them at this point, are saying no, like across the board. So it's not only just the general embarrassment of the American, of the American public, of our standing across the globe. It's starting to have geostrategic geopolitical implications that could have real negative consequences for us in the future. And it's just this consistent flooding of the zone of negative impacts for, I mean it started with things like the tariffs, then we moved on to, for some damn reason we're deciding that Greenland is now ours. And it just continues on in this effort to show that the, the world, that we don't need the world, we don't need the U. S or the, the, the NATO alliance, we don't need any of these trade deals, we're so star spangled awesome that we can just go it alone. And that is just fundamentally not true. It has never been true. And it is just as not true today as it was when the petrodollar was more strong or when World War II is happening. And so we are experiencing now we are insulated in the United States currently from those, the blowback of this, this war. But it is going to start to hurt us more. So outside of just oil prices, we're going to see all of our goods are going to rise. And I think that is kind of piggybacking off of what Mr. Global was saying is China's efforts are going to have their ceiling is when their trade in other goods I think is going to be impacted. So when the cost to, when Americans can't buy any Chinese stuff because we're paying $7 a gallon at the pump, that's when China's going to start getting upset and saying okay, enough of this. And I think that's starting to happen and I think that's why we're seeing a softening coming out of the Trump administration on the goals here. He's basically just thrown up his hands said everyone else deal with the Strait of Hormuz. I think we're seeing people that he unfortunately respects, which is Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin. They're coming to Trump and saying all right, you need to cut this out. This is starting to impact us in other negative ways. For Russia, it's equipment that they're having to ship to Iran rather than use it on Ukraine, although they are by far the biggest benefactor of this war in Iran. But that's a whole another dissertation. And then China right now, they're okay, insulated because they use a lot of coal more so than oil, but they, they also are going to start feeling it on their primary markets, which is the selling of their goods to countries that just can't afford it anymore. So right now, we are both the laughingstock, but also kind of the, the pity party where we, this is probably the worst part of it is we like Iran released a tweet saying, hey, we see you Americans. We see that you don't agree with this administration. We're with you. And I'm like, never would I have ever thought that I would have to make the decision to choose between the, for all intents and purposes, awful Islamic republic regime and my own government in whether who's telling the truth, who's doing the right thing here. And we have these warmongering borderline war criminal officials trump hegseth in our own government and our credibility is destroyed for probably at least a decade.

[C]

Yeah, you know, we're in a rough shape. When you have the internal thought, you know, that Iran state media propaganda has a pretty good point. It's got a good point. How many regime has a, has a. That's a fire take right there, bro.

[D]

Yeah, they no kings, right?

[C]

Yeah. We talked about this a little bit on our podcast, American Power from find out Media. And in episode one and two, I feel a little bit. But we don't purchase our oil from Iran, but we import virtually all of our goods outside of methamphetamines. We pretty much import everything else into America. So, you know, we are, we are. You know, I am, I am paraphrasing the experts and what we've talked about in our podcast, but we are not yet feeling the impact and the increase in the price of shipping oil that's going to hit, you know, outside of tariffs and all and all of the other ways that we've alienated the world, just the simple cost of. It's going to cost more to get goods to a country that doesn't make anything other than, like I said, meth and content and guns. Guns stand up comedy. Of course. Comic books. We still make comic books. Thank God. What else? Except we buy all the paper from Canada, so they're more expensive now.

[A]

So are you suggesting that the tariffs that Donald Trump told us would bring manufacturing back to the United States was a lie?

[C]

Well, it's only been a year or so, so I can't. He still can, like $300 trillion. He's bringing back 100 trillion those coal jobs. It just hasn't happened that he, he was going to bring back in 2015. It's just this, a long timeline.

[A]

Oh, well, Chad, I want to back to You. So you're talking about, like, there's, there's kind of two options here. That what we'll hear. Well, I guess there's three options tonight. One is just him spewing nonsense and everyone looks at each other and goes, what the hell did we just watch? One is an escalation and one and another is a deescalation. What it. Let's say he says we won. Like today we've won and we're gonna dial it back, yada, yada, yada. What did we actually achieve? If that is the case,

[D]

unfortunately, we achieved a net negative impact on the United States. The whole world is now learning that despite the vast military power that we have, we are generally weak and inept in those second and third order effects in planning. Like, we may be able to absolutely rock Iran when it comes to their air defenses, their navy, their ground forces, but we cannot affect the things that they do to us, such as closing the Strait of Hormuz. And eventually, if it becomes painful enough on us, not even militarily, but just economically, we will back down. Now, this doesn't just apply to Iran, unfortunately. This has much more dangerous and broader implications for other countries. Specifically, you look at countries like China and the Strait and the Taiwan Strait, very similar situation, much bigger strait, but they're now learning and watching and going, you know what, we can do the same thing in the Taiwan Strait to, to inflict some sort of outcome on the global order, to bring Taiwan back into our fold. And the United States will back down because it's just uncomfortable for them. Russia looks at that and goes, Baltic Sea. We can do the same thing. The United States will back down. And it's somewhat, I say that it's a bad thing, but not entirely. It's partly a feature of our system in that the United States, unlike autocratic societies like you see in Xi Jinping's China or Vladimir Putin's Russia, those guys don't give a crap what their people say. So what'll happen is they'll just do whatever they want, Ukraine a primary example, and they'll just tell the people to kick rocks. We're going to deal. You're just going to have to deal with it. But because of the US's system on political pressure, Trump still has to ebb and flow with that, despite the fact that he would love to be that type of autocrat. He has to in the speech. Either he has to have something that is an outcome. If it was Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping, there would be no speech. It'd be just like, deal with it. You're, I mean, where this is what we're doing. But because Trump is going to probably, I say probably. And again, you, as you said in the beginning, making these assumptions de. Escalate. And it's going to signal to the whole world that the US Will punch you in the face very hard up front. But as long as you can survive long over a few weeks to months, it's, it's a win for you. And this is something apparently we have never learned historically, because this is what the Korean, we happened in the Korean War, the Vietnam War happened in Afghanistan, the Taliban. It was just a campaign of outweighing the political will of the United States because they know that we will fold eventually. It just so happens that Trump happened to. Is probably going to fold within 60 days of, of his foolish war in Iran.

[C]

Yeah. And if I could jump in and just take a look at it from a rhetoric standpoint, I think, you know, from a speechwriter standpoint, it's kind of hard to analyze what Trump does because he's off script constantly. But if you look at the way that he was improvising his speeches and responses early on in the, even prior to bombing Tehran, it was very autocratic bully, pseudo patriotic. But, you know, he was riding high. When we've discussed this on American power again from find out media, he was riding high off of Venezuela. Oh, we're, you know, we are the bullies of the world. We can, we can just grab your dictator if we want. We can, we can do, we can pull your leader out of your country. Just be careful. You better do exactly what we want. Cuba, Venezuela, because we will just show up and the overwhelming power of the US Military will, you know, do whatever we want in the world. So you better listen to us. And the way he has started to talk about it since closing of the Strait of Hormuz is almost nihilistic. Like, if you listen to Trump, he, he's like, there are wars, people die. Some wars we start and we don't really finish. We say we're done, then they kind of just go on for years and years. That's a different kind of. And it's this, like, extremely fatalistic language. But because he's an improviser, because he is always trying to control the narrative, I actually don't expect to see that from him tonight. I feel like we are much more likely to see the claiming of a false victory because his other option for his, when he's on a national stage, when he's on like a bigger podium or lectern. He is inclined to return to ego and reframing the narrative as if he's succeeding. And I don't think, I think his two options in order of doing that are claiming it's succeeding or full troop surge in Iran, which I think he has hopefully learned is we don't have the resources for or is a incredibly foolish idea to get us involved in. And I actually don't believe he's going to escalate to that degree. So I'm guessing tonight we're going to see a victory. Maybe not the full aircraft carrier flight suit banner combo we were imagining. Maybe more of. Like an oil rig, you know, oil, oil worker outfit, maybe smear some.

[A]

I was going to say could even fit, you know, do they even have a flight, a flight jacket big enough for him? Big enough for him?

[B]

Big enough for him?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, he and I weigh the same amount.

[C]

That's basically whatever he does. He has never pretended to have been a soldier. You know, I feel like he'd be more like, I'm like these, I'm like these, you know, these work tough, working class, tough guys here.

[D]

But yeah, he's also going about everyone that didn't help him either, right? I said he was gonna, he's gonna about everyone that didn't help him. NATO, etc as well.

[C]

Oh yeah, for sure.

[B]

He'll probably use it, use it in his favor. Like despite the fact that all of our so so called allies refused to help, you know, we won. I think, I think it's like he's either gonna announce an invasion or he's gonna announce the war is over. And I love that those are the only two options I think that are really most polar opposites and we have no idea which. But I was just looking at the, the polling that's been done. 14% of Americans favor sending U.S. troops into Iran. In four different polls, they, they were all 4 to 1 against troops on the ground in Iran. So I'm guessing somebody who has a vested interest in not being unemployed in the near future got some, some way, you know, got through got to him somehow saying like listen dude, like this won't go well if you try to escalate. We got a Venezuela this thing and like leave something intact so we can get out and then you can call it a win and they'll be able to, you know, they'll continue to do their thing.

[C]

And I think you're totally right about the, when he went, we couldn't have known that, you know, China would get in the way. We couldn't have known that Iran would be so mean to us and wouldn't participate and negotiate. We couldn't, you know, he always will do this kind of thing. Nobody knew that they wouldn't do exactly what I said.

[B]

He just said the smartest experts didn't, wouldn't, didn't predict that they would attack the, that they would lash out against the region. I'm like

[C]

hurt for Chad and Matt here. I guess. You guys are not the smartest experts.

[A]

No.

[B]

Either that or Donald Trump's definition of a smart expert is not the same as the real definition of a smart expert.

[E]

One of the two.

[C]

His definition of expert is somebody who agrees with him. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Well, we've. Iran strategy.

[A]

We've heard that the, that the, his advisors are not giving him the, or at least at a certain point. Yeah, we're not giving him the full picture because they were afraid he was going to get mad. No, that is how this administration operates is like, we got to keep the big baby happy. Say, oh, Trump, big bomb, good job. And he's like happy, you know.

[B]

You know they showed him a highlight, 2 minute highlight reel of explosions.

[A]

They literally did that every morning.

[B]

Briefing.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

In our podcast. Someone's got to give him the Zoran Momdani treatment on Iran. Show up with a New York Post headline that says US Victory in Iran and just be like, pull everything out, we're done. And just like, look how good it would look if you were, if you were the winner. Just show him a photoshopped picture of him shaking hands with the country of Iran anthropomorphized and he'll, he'll be happy. Someone's got to give him the big

[B]

pacifier so he, so he can riding a tank down the middle of the Hormuz straight split like the Red Sea, you know, no time for full TV shows. TikTok has endless short dramas you can watch anytime. Fast paced, easy to follow and hard to stop. Download TikTok now and start watching

[C]

Chronic migraine.

[A]

Fifteen or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more can make me feel like a spectator in my own life.

[C]

Botox Anabachulinum toxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraines.

[A]

It's not for those with 14 or fewer headache days a month.

[C]

It's the number one prescribed branded chronic migraine preventive treatment.

[A]

Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor.

[C]

Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms.

[A]

Alert your doctor right away as difficulty

[C]

swallowing speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including als, Lou Gehrig's disease, Myasthenia gravis or Lambert Eaton syndrome and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor.

[A]

Visit botoxchronicmigraine.com or call 1-844botox to learn more.

[E]

Springfest is happening now at Lowe's. Keep the spotlight on your yard with stay green premium 2 cubic foot mulch. 5 bags for $10. Plus when you want more help indoors, get up to 40% off. Select major appliances that help you supercharge your chores. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's, valid to 422 while supplies last.

[A]

Selection varies by location.

[E]

See lowe's.com for details. Mulch offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

[A]

Well, let's say hypothetically, and this is going to go to Mr. Global hypothetically, Trump starts to de escalate in a real way. How soon would we see relief at

[E]

the pump to find relief?

[A]

Lower prices.

[E]

It's probably going to take three or four weeks once the straight is open for flows to get back to normal. Some people say four to six weeks ice, three to four weeks. Either way it's going to be some time, right? There's thousands of ships there. They're low on fuel, they're low on supplies, they're low on food, they're full of sailors that's been stuck in the middle of the water for over a month. There's only seven, which there's seven places right there on that end of the Persian Gulf where these ships can refuel. So you have thousands of ships. Many of them take 24 to 36 hours each to refuel. So just getting the ships that are sitting there stuck, that's going to take weeks and weeks, we know for sure. Just to resume that flow. Then you have probably six to eight weeks of oil production in the Persian Gulf that shut in because they had nowhere to put the oil because they were producing and filled up all their storage tanks and had to shut in fields. That's six to eight weeks. And then you got to consider once those tankers leave the Middle east, it's a good two to three weeks for them to get to their destination. So even if the straight was open today, you're still looking at probably a couple of months before physical deliveries of oil occur. Now just removing the risk premium with a massive de escalation and just knowing progress is being made would lower gas prices some. You know, you know, you might go from 407 to 380 or something.

[C]

Hooray, hooray.

[E]

But yeah, the higher gas prices are, you know, yesterday they came out, Trump came out and said that gas prices will be at multi year lows as soon as this is over, even though his own Department of Energy is still showing the national average above 320 at the end of 2027. So yeah, it's, it's what the EIA is saying, which is part of Trump's administration and what the administration itself is saying is completely detached from reality. So we're going to experience high prices at some level for quite a long time.

[C]

Well, I mean, I'm by far not the expert, but you're, but I would also point out that you're assuming that those sailors who have been hanging out on a boat for a month are suddenly going to want to start working again. And I just don't know what these hard bodies, men who've essentially been living in an Olympic village for a month are going to want to go back to work all of a sudden. I feel like that's going to be at least a few. They've been plugging on. Something's going on. They've been shipping.

[B]

They got, they just got videos of

[D]

the Yankee is what they want.

[C]

I'm just saying, look, it's going to be a rough emotional transition back to the hard scrabble life of a, of a shipping tanker after you've been sitting there, the month long vacation with all the most attractive men in the street, you know, in America.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

So not just in America.

[C]

This is an international, that's what I'm saying. Olympic village. This is like an international floating flotilla of, of men who.

[A]

Wait, are you suggesting this is like a Lake Havasu spring break scenario where

[C]

there's all the boats, like they've started putting bridges between the boats. Sort of like it's, they've got a, you know, like, like gangways. It's like all connected now. It's like big. Yeah, Gang. Yeah, gangways. Thank you. That's the phrase I was looking for. There might be swinging on ropes back and forth. I might be romanticizing this a little bit, but

[B]

so what, so what are the odds Then that Trump's victory speech is. Is him dancing to the YMCA on an aircraft carrier in the straight of Hormuz. This thing doing his.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know how high he can lift his arms these days, but that's true. That one's gonna fall off any day. Oh, yeah, Explanation for that. Sorry. Side top.

[A]

Oh, yeah, he's shaking too many hands.

[C]

No, he's trying to break apart a Horcrux. Yes, of course, yes. Yeah. It's just so about to, to go back. We're talking about the oil prices. I don't understand why that's turning. So what I want to go back.

[A]

I have lost control of all of this.

[C]

But.

[A]

Well, Mr. Global, what you are, what you just said to reiterate is high. The prices are not going to return to pre war levels for over a year. If you're saying into 2027, that's what

[E]

the E is saying.

[A]

Right, because you said Back to like 320. But gas prices were in the like mid twos before this.

[E]

I don't think we see pre war level gas prices for the rest of the Trump administration.

[B]

Like it was like 230. Right. That was like the low national average was like 230 a gallon or 240, something like that.

[E]

Yeah. We were in this sort of perfect scenario before the war. Like OPEC was producing more than we needed. The world was producing a couple of million barrels a day more than we were using. We were stacking it up in, in storage and supp. That's a very rare event. Right. So we're not, we're not getting back to that. This administrator. That's not a thing that's, that's gonna happen.

[B]

Right. So on that, I have two questions on that for you, Mr. Global, on that same topic. So first is, I read that once a well is shut off. What is it, what's the name for that? When they have to pause a well. What's the name for that? Well, there's a specific name. Yeah. Anyway, so, yeah, the shut in. So once a well is shut in, I've read that it's actually not always possible to get it back to its current flow. Like something changes in the physics of it. Is that accurate? Was like, we don't know that we can get production back from all of the same wells that have been shut in.

[E]

That's not really accurate. We'll get the production back. It'll just take quite a bit of time because they're shutting in entire fields. Right. And things sit and they corrode and all of the. The only way to maintain an oil field and all of the surface equipment is for it to be running right. It's. It's. Once you shut that down, then you shut down all maintenance of it, that that means you're no longer feeding it things to prevent corrosion and wear and, and all that. So you get a lot of buildup of waxes and paraffins and stuff in pipelines and separators. And so it's just a very long process to get it back going. But as far as shutting in a well and then just opening it, you know, it doesn't hurt the quality of the reservoir. It doesn't damage anything like that. I've heard that a lot too. I don't really know exactly where that comes from, really. It's not really a thing.

[A]

Like, I see a. I see a video in your future.

[B]

Nice. Yeah. So, second question. Has there been any analysis done on how much relief we would have if the EV credits and if all of the pressure on the energy grid hadn't been deleted all across all of 2025?

[A]

Do you mean, would we have sold more EVs if those credits had existed, which would have.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, Rivian had layoffs. Like, it's, it's a bloodbath in the EV sector right now. And, and it's because it's no longer really economically viable or at least economically advantageous to go and buy an ev, but it's not. It's also the wind farms. Like, there's been so much pressure put on oil and gas over the, you know, especially the last six months, and now it culminates with this, where we have no option. We have nowhere, you know, nowhere else to go.

[E]

Yeah, and that's a fair question. I just, I don't think it's. This has been in place long enough with, you know, the, the subsidies going away, and I don't think it's been in place long enough for it to. Would have had an impact on us right now. But you can't deny that the world would need roughly three to three and a half million more barrels of oil a day right now if it wasn't for EVs, that, that's how much global oil demand EVs have removed. So if there were no EVs, we would be in a shitload of trouble.

[A]

Like.

[B]

Yeah, so we can reverse engineer the math from that. I mean, even what you were saying earlier, saying, you know, we, we were at this sweet spot, we were producing millions more per day than we needed. That is that like, that's the EV difference. Right. We, we never would have even gotten to a place where oil price or where gas prices maybe would have been as low as they were, you know,

[C]

had it not been mistaken. Matt's right. In that like EVs built since the credits were removed would not necessarily have had as big an impact on the market right now. My personal feeling as a non expert, but is that yeah, it would be good if we had some sort of trajectory towards renewable energy transition while we're in this massive war that's messing up the oil markets.

[A]

Right.

[C]

Like, like had we been spending the last year creating the, the trajectory towards, you know, replacing our dependence on oil, it would be like, okay, well this is our projection for how much we're building. You know, I mean, like, you know, offshore wind and solar for example. And I'm, I'm coming from you from New York where we passed a bill to build, to move our state to 70% renewable energy by 2030. We passed it in a fully blue Democrat administration under a Democratic governor. And we are still getting Trump policy here in New York where our governor is now saying we can't even start building the renewables and all that the year after. They're supposed to be, we're supposed to be 70% by 2030, 100% renewable by 2040, and we are completely getting derailed from that. That.

[A]

Well, Trump, Trump gave a French wind company a billion dollars back to not build an offshore wind farm.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Instead to focus it on oil and gas development, which is madness. Those things can produce enough power to, I think, you know, power a few hundred thousand homes. Yeah. And it's, it's idiocy. I mean, the other thing. There is a reverse of this too though. As the gas prices go up, the interest from the consumer to buy an EV also goes up. It won't replace the, the tax credits that were there, but it does, it does start to make the math look a little bit better for people.

[C]

So I guess there is desire doesn't create income in an already struggling economy though. It's a problem there. Right. People are buying new cars right now. And if you're talking because they don't want them. Right. No, because they can't. That's what I'm saying. Like people are, people are clinging to gas burning clunkers that are lower efficiency and like, you know, other, other vehicles like that. Because investing in an EV does pay off, but over years, you know.

[B]

Well, the investment part that you alluded to Nat is so utterly critical because, yes, we're talking about we have to have consumer demand. But right now, if all of that, if Trump hadn't just deleted alternative energy from the face of the earth, which we know won't change before 2029, if this war in Iran would be a catalyst for investment in everything besides oil and gas, instead of this herky jerk bullshit where they're like, you know, insider trading, getting the short term spike, people would just be rapidly moving their money into solar investments, into EV companies, into battery technology, into wind farms. But that's a terrible use of your money right now if you're an investor, because there is no way any of that shit's going to pay off or you're not going to get reimbursed by the government. And it's not going to pay off. It's not even going to go online until, yeah, you know, really, realistically, four or five years from now.

[C]

To put a finer point on it, a few years ago, the argument for wind and solar was that it was better for the world and battery storage and solar have gotten so much cheaper that now they are the economically viable alternative. They are a, in many ways better investment than oil. And you know, what Trump is doing by removing the EV credits and so much other stuff to fight against clean energy is essentially giving an artificial boost to the oil industry. I mean, he's not, it's no longer about, oh yeah, we should do this, but oil's cheaper. That's the way the world runs. It's now we are propping up the oil industry because they're buddies with Trump. It would be cheaper do battery storage and solar in a lot of places.

[A]

I mean, I think it comes back to this thing that we've talked about before, which is like, Donald Trump probably could have been one of the most popular presidents in history if he had done nothing. If he had come into office and just talked a bunch of stupid like he does, but didn't touch anything, don't break it. You know, I think like, with the, the economy, the way it was going when he came in after Obama, yeah, the, the economy was staying on the same trajectory. He could have just like played golf, have been like America and like all these people would have like cheered and yelled. And then if he had like handled Covid, you know, as a like rallying the country moment, he would have been reelected, I think. And instead he breaks everything he touches because he's a fucking moron. And this is where we are. It's like trying to explain this Shit, it's like trying to explain a toddler like you. You can't.

[C]

I feel like you're like, if cancer had been benevolent, it could have been one of the most popular diseases that you can get. Like, that's just not Donald Trump. You're just. Had he. Had he. He handled Covid well, like, no, absolutely not.

[B]

But like, if cancer were benevolent, we wouldn't need a justice system. It was just naturally. Right.

[C]

But even in his business. I mean, I agree with you, but it was like. I'm having a hard time imagining.

[A]

But when. When. Well, right, but like, what? Even in his business career, when he, like, tried to do things, he it all up, Right.

[C]

And when he was a distant con man, figurehead was when it worked. Yeah.

[A]

All of a sudden he started licensing his name and doing it that way. It's like, okay, that works. But when he actually tries to do something, he it all up.

[C]

Right. He's brand than a businessman.

[A]

Yeah. He's a. I mean, how many times he gone bankrupt? 3.

[B]

I think more than his businesses because, like, all of his businesses have gone bankrupted.

[C]

Trump University diploma. They said they're sending it. I'm waiting on my Doge check, my tariff refund check. Oh, yeah. Did you get your Trump coin yet, Luke? No, I didn't get that. My Trump phone's not here yet and my Soros check isn't here either. I was at it. Oh.

[A]

For the protests. I haven't gotten a single check.

[C]

That's ridiculous. Yeah. I don't even know who to send my CIA checks.

[D]

I get accused of.

[C]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[A]

The Deep state.

[C]

Yeah. Do you guys know who's handling payroll for the Deep State right now? Because I keep trying to get paid for all these protests. I keep trying to get paid for all that.

[A]

He's. He's handwriting them all. So it's going to take you a

[C]

little bit, I guess for some reason.

[A]

He's got 8 to 10 million. Million. 8 to 10 million checks he's got to write for no kings. The largest protest in history. Right. So it's gonna take him a little bit of time.

[C]

Let the guy do a little coke. He needs the energy.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

His hand is gonna. After he signs all those checks.

[E]

Who's. Who's the guy in Donald Trump's life that's like the Jonah Hill and Moneyball, you know, he. He came up with the formula for. For, you know, Oakland to win the World Series. And like, he was the guy behind the scenes. Someone had to have that. Trump had to have someone in his life that did that or he would have just been, well, perpetually.

[A]

Wasn't it that guy? Well, there's a couple. Who's. Who was the guy that went to jail that ran the Trump Org, right? Wasn't this, like, financial guy Manafort? No, no, no, no. The guy who was with. With him for like 30 years.

[E]

He was the head of Trump. Yeah, yeah, the company.

[A]

Yeah, the org. And then he went to jail. Yeah, I think that was his guy. That was because it wasn't like Michael Cohen was just like the shakedown guy.

[C]

Yeah, he was a fixer and he wasn't the business.

[A]

Also, he's all gone running back to Trump too, after grifting off of the left for a little while. Oh, yeah, he's trying to get a part. He's trying to get a pardon for all his. Because he's.

[E]

He's doing a podcast with Laura Loomer.

[C]

Dude. Like what?

[E]

Yeah, they announced it on X.

[A]

Like an episode. An episode or. Or a. Or a show.

[E]

They said it was a whole podcast.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[E]

Michael Cohen and Laura Lou.

[A]

We don't need any more podcasts. There's two. There's too many other than the ones

[C]

that we do get them on the network.

[A]

Too many.

[C]

We do get to stay.

[A]

Find out media are the only ones you need to listen to, guys. Because now there's four find out podcasts. America Power, Nola Haynes is not a spy. And Luke. What's the other one?

[C]

Get Angry with Brian.

[A]

With. And. And was there. And was there a new episode that dropped this week?

[C]

Yes, it was yesterday. No today, but yesterday.

[A]

Wednesday.

[C]

I feel like Tim's asking a lot of leading questions.

[A]

Promote the out of this for whoever is left at the hour. Mark that's still listening to us.

[C]

Yes or no. More than just Trump. Just rage quit the Supreme Court.

[A]

It. What was.

[C]

He left. Oh, he left.

[D]

I.

[A]

So was that the whole deal was to throw a shit fit and, like,

[C]

go up and like.

[B]

Well, he had to sit quietly. Okay, I'm sorry, we didn't. This is not American power, but can you possibly imagine available now. He wanted to go and sit in the Supreme Court because he thought he could intimidate the people who served him. He's so angry. He just. I think yesterday on cnn, he said a lot of people would say that they're stupid. And he was talking about his appointees to the court who have ruled against him. And I'm like, dude, they're you. They haven't argued this yet. You're all. And now you're calling them still have a chance, buddy. You, you're fucking yourself because you're so dumb. So then he's like, well, if I go sit in the room and stare at them, they will have no choice but to comply. And now he's. He had to sit there quietly and, and just accept the fact that, that a bunch of people have more power than him and there's nothing he can fucking do about it. And that. That had to have been the hardest thing he's ever done in his entire life.

[C]

I think the ongoing. To a man for whom I have zero goodwill or empathy, but I think the ongoing, most entertaining Trump, maybe even endearing Trump personality trait is that he truly does not like anyone. And it's not funny to me about him. It is funny to me that anyone is. Because everyone's a craven opportunist in his orbit who thinks, oh, he won't eat me. He'll never turn on me. Or I can ride. Or I can handle this. I can ride this long enough that there's no way I'll get sucked into something bigger than I can handle before I realize it. And it's just time and time again, he will turn on everyone. I mean, I love when he shows up at a speech and he's like, we're here for whatever you're doing. Yeah, good luck with that. You know, he's clearly doesn't know where he is, but. And these people, like, worship him and they're like, I. I sol my children to and left my family for you. And he's like, yeah, good luck with whatever that is. But it's. There's no one who will ever gain his loyalty. That's what's so funny about it to me is just like he hates everyone. He's openly contemptuous of his own at point. Except that's true. You're right. I stand corrected. Autocrats. He does love autocrats too, right?

[A]

He likes him. Get out.

[D]

Xi Jinping.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, that's true. He. He's got like a. I think you can count on two hands. The people he respects, and all of them run.

[A]

Of course he wasn't going to be able to sit through that. He can't sit still for like, any amount of time. Like, what is he like? Oh, my God. Well, that seems.

[C]

Sorry, are they watching their phones in there? That's what I was wondering. Before we get. Before we get done, here's this. Here's a Supreme Court exchange today. Solicitor General.

[A]

It's a new world.

[C]

John Roberts. It's a new world. It's the same Constitution.

[A]

Well, as we were saying earlier, there is no world in which John Roberts was happy about Donald Trump showing up in his court today. None. And so, like, I. I don't know if somebody told him, you are going to lose this already, because this is the dumbest. And, like, this is a very obvious. Like, what you're asking for is a violation of the Constitution. Like, and he's like, well, I'm gonna go up there. And then, like, as Rich was saying earlier, there were. There were tough questions from everybody. Like, everybody. Even Alito was kind of like, you know, in one of those, like, help me get there. But, like, I'm not. Which for him is a big deal. Like, this thing's gonna get thrashed. Like, and Trump made it worse because also, those justices have egos as big as his. So they go into. He goes into their house, it's not gonna go well. So it's another stupid thing. Like, if he had just sat on his ass and done nothing, he would have had a better chance.

[C]

But instead, he intimidate the people with lifetime appointments whose job it is to determine correct from incorrect on a national, global scale even he can't get rid of.

[A]

Like, and I also love.

[C]

That is something even he is not ready to challenge in a strange way. Sorry, go ahead.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

You like their politics or not? They're all smarter than him by, like, an order of magnitude.

[A]

Oh, it's not even close. Although, I mean, I don't like Alito. Just, you know, I don't like any of those, Thomas. But they're not dumb people. They're bad people.

[C]

I mean, that's crazy. What's crazy is that I'm even going, well, at least Roberts has some respect. At least Roberts has some respect for that. You know, Like, I never would have that guy thought I'd find myself just defending him and much less Alito. But there's some traditionalism there to the procedure, at least.

[A]

And I. I am not a fan of any Amy Coney Barrett, but it brings me immense joy that she doesn't vote.

[E]

Vote.

[A]

Wow, there. That little Roe v. Wade kind of sealed it for me. But, like, she is not a lock. Vote for them the way that Trump, because he said I was holding her for. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, he had this, like, whole, like, snide, like, whatever. And at least luckily, like, she sometimes can be a swing voter. She really only cares about the religious, I think the rest of it, it's like, she doesn't care about. So that makes me a little bit less, you know, horrified. Who's on the court? But anyways, he's not going to win this one. So I think that's a great time to end this. Rich disappeared. I don't know where the hell he just went. He's off. He had to go for a meeting.

[D]

He put.

[A]

Oh, we had a meeting. Okay. So, but anyways, guys, American Power is available now. Wherever you get your podcast or if you watch on YouTube, you can get it there too. And I think episode one is there. And you guys are going to be coming out on Wednesdays, right?

[C]

That's correct.

[A]

All right, so everybody, everybody should go check that out. Go subscribe. I want to thank Nat, Nat, Chad and Mr. Global for being with us today and being part of this network. And guys, we still have more shows to go. I think we've got three more coming. So we're gonna have more news soon. But we're at four now, which is really awesome. So everybody go subscribe. Hopefully you're listening to this on a Thursday. And what we said about Trump's speech was spot on. Perfect. Everything we got right, even though we haven't seen it yet. So but with that, we will be back next week both with find out and with American Power. So until then, have a wonderful weekend, everybody, and we'll talk to you soon. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying.

[C]

It's not just for celebrities.

[A]

So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

[C]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month.

[A]

Required intro rate first three months only,

[C]

then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] you know what they say. Early bird gets the ultimate vacation home.

[A]

Book early and save over $120 with

[C]

VRBO because early gets you closer to

[A]

the action, whether it's waves lapping at the shore or snoozing in a hammock that overlooks, well, whatever you want it to so you can all enjoy the payoff come summer with Verpo's early booking deals. Rise and shine. Average savings $141. Select homes only.