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The Jim Acosta Show
Trump Repeats Lies on Iran War - Our Discussion with Alex Marquardt and Elise Labott
00:34:02
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to a special edition of the Jim Acosta Show. We are coming to you live a little late here on this Wednesday evening, but we wanted to wrap up Donald Trump's speech to the nation on the war in Iran. This was billed as an update from the president. I guess to explain what this country's been doing over the last month, I'm joined by veteran national security correspondent Alex Marquardt and veteran global affairs correspondent Elise labet. My former colleagues, but my colleagues once again. Great to see you guys.
- [00:36]
B
Good to be with you.
- [00:37]
C
Good to see you, Jim. Thanks for having us.
- [00:39]
A
Yeah. And I mean, I'll just give you my takeaway from, from all of this. I don't think there was a whole lot of new information in this. It seems to me he was trying to repeat some of the same sometimes bonkers stuff that he says on his True Social feed, and even with the same threats that, you know, if Iran doesn't do what he wants, he's going to start bombing power plants. Elise. I mean, the last time I checked, I thought this was, these were war crimes that he was talking about here. He also, at one point was talking about how he believes the Strait of Hormuz will just open up naturally, which kind of reminded me of during COVID when Trump would say, you know, the virus is just going to magically disappear. You know, the street will just open up. It's just gonna. It's just gonna happen over time. Yes, I was between right now and the end of time of all humanity if it will open up again. But the point is, wasn't it open before all of this got started? But at least your thoughts on all this?
- [01:38]
B
Well, a couple of things here, Jim. First of all, he said, you know, on the Strait of Hormuz, and this was something that we didn't have before the war started, this kind of chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. He's basically saying, we don't need the Strait of Hormuz. We're not getting any oil. But what he's forgetting is we don't need any oil today, and gas prices are still as high as they are. Why? Because the oil market is global. So we may not be using oil from Saudi Arabia or wherever, but the availability of total oil on the whole market is setting the oil prices. So, in fact, we may not be using the oil, but we are paying for it. I thought what was interesting is this is the speech that I think he, you know, the nation was looking for about a month ago. Right. The the rationale for why we went to war, what we needed to do. And he went over the, you know, targets that they've hit and that they're doing well and that they're almost done. And, and why is a salesman.
- [02:40]
A
He didn't sell it that well. It didn't.
- [02:41]
B
Right. Well, he said, I want to say why it's necessary. And he said, I'll never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon because, you know. And why, you know, I don't think anybody, you know, really thinks that Iran would use a nuclear weapon against the United States. But the idea that they would have what he called a nuclear shield or a nuclear umbrella, the fact that a country would have nuclear weapons, kind of gives them the leverage in the Middle East. They call it. Alex will know, they call it wasta to, you know, do whatever they want. They have a free rein to do whatever they want because everyone's scared of them because of their nuclear weapons. And, and see, he said, you know, he kept talking about denying Iran the ability to have a nuclear weapon. What they've done so far, and they have done a lot in terms of decimating their missile capability, their navy, their air force, it hasn't gone after the nuclear. They've hit some nuclear facilities. But in order to really deny Iran the ability to make a nuclear bomb, you really have to go after that enriched uranium. And to be quite honest, he said, they have a few more weeks. I'm not convinced.
- [03:51]
A
Right.
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B
They're not going to go for it in the next few weeks. I'd be interested to see what Alex.
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A
Yeah.
- [03:56]
B
Thinks of that. But he said, we're nearing completion of the mission. And he kept talking about the nuclear threat. And so that's the one threat that hasn't really been attacked. Yeah. And on the straight of Hormuzis, just like Europe, you're on your own. But I am, I am relieved that he didn't go heavily after Naito in terms of threatening to get rid of, out of NATO. And I think that's like a.
- [04:20]
A
That's true. He did not repeat that during that speech, which.
- [04:22]
B
Yeah.
- [04:23]
A
And of course, Alex, I mean, we all know that, I mean, Trump can't unilaterally pull the U.S. out of NATO. He can't. He can't do that. But overall, you're, I mean, he could be, he could make it a pain in the ass for NATO.
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B
Right. He could deny funding. He could make it really miserable.
- [04:38]
A
Yeah. But Alex, what's been your, what's. What did you take away from this speech?
- [04:42]
C
Yeah. And by the way, he didn't give any NATO allies a heads up that this was, this was going to happen. And, you know, the US wasn't attacked. So there's no Article 5 to invoke that would demand these allies help defend the U.S. you know, I think a fact check on the nuclear stuff is really worthwhile. I mean, there's no evidence, no reporting, nothing from the intelligence community that indicated that, that Iran was actually going for the bomb. I mean, that, that is just. We heard that again from, from the intelligence officials a couple of weeks ago when it comes to the, to the nuclear material. And Trump didn't really get into this. We know that there's about a thousand pounds of enriched uranium at about 60%. To remind our viewers, it's got to go up to 90% to be weapons grade. And that's just weapons grade. And then it takes a long time, months, maybe a year to actually develop into a nuclear weapon. So this idea that there was any kind of imminent nuclear threat from Iran is just ridiculous. I completely agree with Elise that this is the speech that you give a month ago. I mean, remember on February 28th, overnight, we get this recorded message from Mar? A Lago, and we've talked about his communication strategy, giving individual reporters calls and obviously talking all the time on the tarmac. And, and I, I didn't hear anything new in here. And so, you know, all day long, I've been trying to figure out and, and talk to friends and colleagues about what actually might be new in this speech, and there really wasn't anything. I mean, he laid out the timeframe that we now expect two to three weeks. He says that they've been sent back to the Stone Age. But again, another big fact check is this claim of regime change. Yes, the Supreme Leader was killed. His hardline son is now in charge. The President is still there.
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B
It's a leadership change. It's not a regime change.
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C
Exactly. And there's no sign that the regime is going anywhere. He said that this wasn't about regime change from the beginning, but remember that very first recorded address he said to the Iranian people, we're going to give you the opportunity to help rise on the way, change the government. So, you know, the regime's going to persist. Hormuz is going to continue to be an absolute mess. You know, big, big question still about whether troops are going to go in. Probably, if he's talking about two to three weeks, that probably means not. But I didn't hear much in there that answered a lot of questions.
- [07:02]
A
Yeah, I mean, it seems like if it's nearing completion, then we're not going to achieve the objectives that he was talking about during the speech, which is completely eliminating the Iran nuclear threat. That doesn't sound like that's going to happen in two to three weeks. You're not going to get the Strait of Hormuz open in two to three weeks and the regime won't be completely changed. And to me, this was just sort of a recitation of the same lies that he's been telling since he was supposed to give a speech to the nation a month ago. He should have given a speech to the nation a month ago. And at least the other thing that, I mean, you know, he also repeated this idea that, that the US May go after Iranian civilian targets if he doesn't get what he wants. Let's play that sound. If we can play like that group
- [07:46]
D
is less radical and much more reasonable. Yet if during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If there is no deal, we are going to hit each and every one of their electric generating plants very hard and probably simultaneously. We have not hit their oil, even though that's the easiest target of all because it would not give them even a small chance of survival or rebuilding. But we could hit it and it would be gone and there's not a thing they could do about it. They have no anti aircraft equipment, their radar is 100% annihilated.
- [08:27]
A
Yeah, I mean, you know, of course the military has crippled a lot of their, you know, defense capabilities. There's no question. But, but when he talks about going after power plants, I mean, that's what Putin does in Ukraine. You know, this is why the allies are not running to Donald Trump's aid. And one of the things that I took away from this speech is that he's sort of saying, you know, I made a mess, you guys clean this up. Is sort of his message to, to the allies. And they're at least, they're basically saying, no, thank you.
- [08:58]
B
Well, you know, I'm kind of of two minds on this. First of all, on the electric plants. Yes. You can't go after civilian infrastructure. Let's talk about whether it's a war crime or not. If the military, and this is what, you know, military experts say, if the military is controlling this and using it for aims of the war, it's not technically a war crime. Okay. If these are civilian like desalination plants, that's against international law. But, but, you know, even if it's not technically a war crime or in violation of international law, it would still put an additional hardship on the Iranian people. And there are plenty of things you can do to the Iranian regime that, you know, doesn't necessarily put the whole country out of power. That's a B. On the allies, I'm of two minds on this. Yes, 100%. He did not consult with the allies. He made this, you know, started this war with Israel, didn't consult with them, and then is saying, okay, I need your help. I need you to clean it up for me. I need, I need your basing. And they're like, it's not our war. However, he does have a point that these countries do need the Strait of Hormuz. And so even, you know, even some of the President's biggest critics and some of, you know, our respected military, former generals and such are saying, listen, you're right, but do you want to be a friend of mine's? Mom always used to say to me, do you want to be right or do you want to be effective? They need the Strait of Hormuz. So you might want to think, they might want to think about finding some kind of coalition where they can help patrol the Strait, help, you know, these ships get through, because they do need the oil and they do need the gas. They do have a point there. You know, they have the moral high ground, but they would, you know, if they don't get the oil and gas, they're going to suffer. And so I was speaking to a Gulf ambassador and the ambassador said, listen, if you don't want to be on the offensive, that's fine, but you could help open the straight or Hormuz, or you could help defend the Gulf allies and leave the fighting and the offensive to us and Israel. I'm not saying I think that Trump's right. I'm saying that for their own self preservation, they're going to have to cooperate in some way.
- [11:27]
A
I see what you're saying. But Alex, I mean, my thinking on this is I just don't know why the allies, you know, why the, I mean, maybe these Gulf states need to insert themselves, but they don't have the same military capabilities that the United States has. And I don't know why they would rush into this. I mean, it just seems to me that Trump is trying to, he's trying to talk his way through this and yeah, it's not working.
- [11:53]
C
Yeah, the, the Gulf element of all this is really interesting. I mean, these are countries that have spent years, decades getting closer to the United States. You look at Qatar, for example, they gave Trump a plane like they, they have put all their chips on the U.S. they have the biggest base in the Middle east. And here you have all these countries that are, that are getting attacked. And so they're all asking themselves, what was the point of trying to curry favor with the United States, of buying all this weaponry from the United States and getting close to, you know, US Industry if we're going to get screwed when push comes to shove? And they know about, they know how short Trump's attention span is. And so, and they're going to have to deal with the consequences once Trump, you know, picks up and goes home and they're right across the waterway from, from the Iranians. You know, I think looking at the other objectives of this, this mission, remember, they're trying hard to not call it a war. It's kind of like Putin, it's a special military operation Excursion, which is, which is just so, it's so insulting. And, and, and you know, you, okay, let's talk about the air force. Iran never really had a formidable air force, so to say it's decimated. I mean, that's not that impressive. When it comes to the navy, yes. Have a powerful, or had a powerful navy with, you know, significant ships. But when you're talking about the Strait of Hormuz, for example, it is so narrow that even if you had, you know, this escorts and de mining operations, they've got all these tiny little fast boats that can swarm ships.
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A
Yes.
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C
They've got shahed drones that can bomb ships, they've got naval drones that can hit ships. It's, it would be an absolute nightmare. And I think it was really remarkable. And correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't hear anything about any diplomatic conversations. Not, we know, we, we know Trump has claimed, oh, they want to talk when we're talking. And the Iranians have, have kind of denied it. We know that, you know, the Pakistanis and others are trying to act as go betweens.
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B
But that channel,
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C
and we didn't hear
- [13:59]
B
anything, you're right, that channel, though, is serious and the Iranians are serious about talking. The question is what is for the Iranians, what is Trump willing to give them to end this right conditions? You know, they're not going to get reparations, they're not going to get total control over the Strait of Hormuz. They're not going to get some of the things like us is not going to get rid of all their bases or promise to never attack Them again.
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A
But at least the Iranians have any cards to play here.
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B
Exactly.
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A
In the face of what Trump just
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B
tried to say, 100%, they have more cards now. They have more cards now than they did before the war.
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C
Right.
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A
That's why this doesn't make any sense.
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B
Trump isn't saying this. I think he might have just kind of let it slip over the last couple of days. He said, when we leave, the strait will open. You know, look, it's possible that the Europeans who have had relationships with the Iranians over the years, you know, are like, we had nothing to do with this. You saw that we had nothing to do with this. We didn't. We denied them access to our bases, let us pass. And you know what? If they have control of the Strait of Hormuz, they can do it. And you know, you see that Iran now has this like toll booth, right? That they're charging countries, they may have to pay more.
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A
But if they've been so decimated, how can they run the Strait of Hormuz like a toll booth?
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B
Who are they? Well, as we said, they have these speedboats, they have these Shah drones, they have mining that actually the Europeans have bet. My understanding is that the Europeans have better anti mining equipment. However, I think that this is, I think that's gonna happen. I think that, you know, you see who's not getting through. Anybody that has any connection to this war. So Gulf allies, Israel, you know, obviously the U.S. israel, anybody that's associated with the U.S. but you know, they didn't give Trump 20 boats to go through. 20 countries paid to get their boats through.
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A
Yeah, but Alex, the other thing that Trump glosses over is, you know, he says that the rest of the world can come get oil from the US that's not how the global energy supply works. That's not. I mean, people are paying these high prices at the pump. And Trump tried to write that off as a short term fluctuation. I think that was the language that Caroline Levitt used the other day. And you don't just pull up at the USA gas station, at the Donald Trump gas station and say, fill her up. It doesn't work that way. And he's trying to, he's trying to simplify this in a way that it just makes you wonder, does he even get this?
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C
Yeah, there are different kinds of oil. I mean, I'm not going.
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B
And refineries, but.
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C
But yeah, exactly. And so the U.S. you know, may be the biggest oil producer in the world, but the US still imports millions of barrels of Oil every year to refine it for, for gas and for other products. And when these prices go up, it's not just gas prices that go up, it's anything that uses hydrocarbons and oil to, to produce it. You know, you've got fertilizer that goes through the Strait of Hormuz as well. So you have food prices that go up. It's just, it impacts everything. So the US Is not so closed off that, you know, he can just say, well, we'll let you know. Everybody else handle the Strait of Hormuz. The other thing to point out was, you know, he went after Barack Hussein Obama. He always uses his middle name for handing over $1.7 billion in cash after the JCPOA. The hypocrisy there is obviously astonishing because Trump has lifted sanctions on the Russians and on the Iranians to the tune of billions of dollars of oil revenue for the Iranians that 10 times as
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A
much as what they got out of the Obama administration.
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C
Exactly.
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A
And that was just unfrozen assets.
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C
And when you look at what the Russians are now earning, that is obviously just going to fuel the war in Ukraine. And so they're all these, there are all these knock on effects. And so.
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B
Yeah, sorry, finish the thought, Alex. No, no, go ahead and guess who, guess who's negotiating, trying to negotiate an end to this war. China. Like now China is the one, you know what I mean?
- [18:20]
A
Like, oh, do we have the economy? Did you guys see the COVID of the Economy? Yeah, hold on.
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C
Yeah.
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A
Sam and Matt, do we have the. Talking to my producers here? I, I sent this to them earlier today and I wanted to show it tonight. And I forgot to remind them if, if we, they don't have it. The COVID of the Economist is so great. Alex, were you just saying that you knew what I was talking.
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C
She's smiling in the background.
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A
That's it.
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B
Oh yeah.
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A
Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake.
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B
That's true.
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C
Absolutely. And remember, they've got a meeting coming up next month in a month and a half's time. So there has been this thinking that, that, you know, Trump wants to wrap this up before that meeting. That meeting was already delayed because of this war. And, and you know, obviously the, we know, we know that the Russians have been helping in terms of intelligence with the Iranians. There's been some reporting that perhaps the, the Chinese are as well. And so, you know, obviously the Chinese are loving this, this, this quagmire that the US Is now finding itself in. I do think it's worth pointing out and reminding everyone we do have thousands of Marines in the region, hundreds of US Special operations forces. Big questions about whether those forces are actually going to get used. And there was a terrific piece in the Washington Post today about everything it would take to go get that enriched uranium that I was talking about, the 60% again, 440 kilos, about a thousand pounds. And it would be extraordinarily difficult. It would take a lot longer than two or three weeks. So maybe that's an indication that, that he's not going to send them in or maybe it's just a head fake. But then you're really, really getting into a mess where you have a lot more, you know, blood treasure that is going to be, that is going to be consumed. It becomes a lot messier. So I still think that's a very large, outstanding question.
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A
Well, and the other thing too is, I mean, I, I mean I, maybe I'm just looking at the, some of the theatrics of this, but Trump seemed tired. He seemed like he was having trouble
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B
reading the teleprompter, holding on and holding on to the podium. Usually he's talking with his hands. He was really holding on.
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A
There was no accordion. It was holding on. And he just, he did not seem to be selling it the way, I mean, he can sell a hotel or a golf course or his new library or.
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B
Don't you notice that when he gives these scripted speeches that he's kind of either sounds medicated or he doesn't sound? I'm not saying that he is, but he's definitely low energy when he's reading
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A
from the prompter, no question about it. And he also sort of repeats the same sort of rally like bullshit talking points like we're the hottest country. Elise, you were saying we should listen to the hottest, we have the hottest countries down. But he actually said we're the hottest country right now as he's trying to explain this Iran thing.
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D
We've taken a dead and crippled country. I hate to say that, but we were a dead and crippled country after the last administration and made it the hottest country anywhere in the world by far. With no inflation record setting, investments coming into the United States over $18 trillion and the highest stock market ever with 53 all time record highs in just one year. It all positioned us to get rid of a cancer that has long simmered. It's known as the nuclear Iran. And they didn't know.
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A
Yeah, we're not the hottest country. He did not create zero inflation. You know, it's one lie after another. The stock market obviously has dropped precipitously over the last several weeks because he's driven up the price of oil on the global energy market and the price of gas. And, you know, it's. And Alex, if, if things were going so great, why are his poll numbers as low as they've been in either term? I mean, mo a lot of the polls right now from liable pollsters, he's, he's in the mid to low 30s. And so that's not so hot. That's not hot, that's cold.
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C
And it's not just, you know, his favorability, it's the popularity of this war. I mean, we've just seen this getting increasingly unpopular on both sides. It's only ever been a minority of Americans who, who support this war. And that kind of goes into the sort of NATO and European side of things as well, where obviously those countries are going to be insulted for not having been brought in from the beginning. But they have populations that are far more opposed to this war than, than Americans. And so why on earth would they actually get involved in this war, which, you know, in this country, you could argue it's, it's illegal because it was not approved by Congress. That's why they're not calling it a war and just calling it a military operation. This is, this is not, it's not like, you know, Democrats are coming out bashing this war and Republicans are completely fine with it. There are so many. Jim, I defer to you on this, but, you know, so many in the MAGA base and the broader Republican Party. Oh, yeah, who, who, who voted for him because he promised to end these wars. And then he, you know, he gets up there and claims that he's ended eight or nine wars. And then, you know, there seemed to be a turn when the Venezuela operation went well and he got all high on, on, on the military and thinks, all right, I'm. Now I'm going to go out and do this other thing. And this excursion is, as Elise reminded us, and it just, it hasn't gone nearly as well, and it's, it's pissing off a lot of Americans across the aisle.
- [23:47]
B
I mean, a couple of things. First of all, you know, you can't underestimate the extent to which Israel really wanted to do it. And I'm not saying he was dragged in. I don't believe that that's the case. But there was this kind of Israel factor who considers this like kind of the last hurrah on the post October 7th, you know, push to eliminate Iran and all of its proxies. So that's a B. I think one of the reasons, I'm not saying the war would be popular if he gave this great speech at the beginning, but I think one of the reasons that this war has been unpopular is because the lack of communication with the American people about what the aims were, what the objectives were. The messaging and the communication around this war has just been abysmal. And he keeps changing his mind. No one knew what the strategic objectives were. No one knew what the end game was. And so no one knew what the hell was going on. And they saw gas prices rising and he didn't, you know, as we've said, as presidents are want to do, make the case to the American people, trust the American people that if you make the case to them that they'll understand. I'm going to be interested to see what the kind of polls and what the kind of post game is on the speech now that he gave the speech.
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C
Jim, can I talk about the Israel of it all that Elise just mentioned? Because that's, that's really interesting. The Israelis wouldn't have done this without the Americans. And I agree with Elise. I mean, it's, it's too easy to say, you know, Israel and Netanyahu dragged Trump into this. Trump has agency, the US has agency. They made the decision to get involved in this war. You know, my, my instinct is, you know, Netanyahu doesn't want to wrap this up now. He wants to keep going. And they are a country that is less reliant on the Strait of Hormuz than the US or the Europeans are. They really would like to see regime change. You know, the top intelligence officials and many others have, have repeatedly said that the US And Israeli war aims have not been in sync this time. They really do want to go farther.
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B
They know they're not getting that, though.
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C
Exactly. If Trump, when Trump decides that this is over, the Israelis are going to go along with it. And you're actually hearing similar language out of Netanyahu now. He's saying the same things about, you know, we have, we've hit our objectives and this will be over soon. The timelines have kind of synced up in terms of a couple more weeks. Netanyahu needs to stay on the good side of the Trump administration. He's got elections that he's got to hold before October. But, you know, I'm not sure how much of the audience has heard this phrase mow the grass. But this is what the Israelis do. And they are doing it in Lebanon, they're doing it in Gaza, they're doing it in Syria, where even once there's a quote, unquote, ceasefire, they will continue to carry out these strikes. And so if the regime is, you know, remains in power and there's still, you know, a nuclear program of some kind or nuclear material, they start to rebuild the ballistic missile program in their military, are we going to continue seeing the US and or Israel continue to mow the grass in Iran? Yeah, as we've been saying all night, they have this veto card of they can shut down the Strait of Hormuz whenever they damn well please.
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A
That's right.
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C
And so even if this ends, ends, quote, unquote, in the next two or three weeks, you know, it may not be over for very long.
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A
And I don't think Netanyahu and the neocons are getting what they've wanted for a generation, which is to topple the Iranian religious regime.
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B
They're not gonna, they're not gonna get
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A
that going to happen.
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B
It's gonna happen at some point, Jim, but it's not gonna happen now.
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A
I, I've been hearing this pipe dream for 20 or 30 years.
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B
Look, you never thought Milosevic would fall, you never thought Gaddafi would fall, you never thought Mubarak. I mean, eventually it's gonna happen. However, it's not gonna happen now.
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A
But things happen from within and they're exactly successful when they happen.
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B
Look, I mean, it's going to. It's going to. I mean, I'm not saying it's going to happen anytime soon, but, you know, one day we'll be here. We might be old and gray, but.
- [27:58]
A
Well, I'm gray, but I hear what you're saying.
- [28:01]
B
But, you know, to Alex's point, I do think that, you know, the Israelis want to keep going, but, you know, this thing on mowing the grass, it's easy to mow the grass in Lebanon, it's easy to mow the grass in Syria. It's not going to be so easy to mow the grass in Iran, you know, because how many weeks did it take to get quote, unquote, air superiority or air dominance? You would have to do air dominance again.
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A
Yes.
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B
And make sure they're not rebuilding. That's right before you mow the grass. Like, you can't just go in there.
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A
They said they obliterated the nuclear program last year and it seems like they're having to mow the grass with greater frequency and they're still not realizing this Objective. And so it makes me wonder, you know, does, does Netanyahu and the, the hawks and the hard liners in Israel and the hawks and the hardliners, the Lindsey Grahams of the world, they, they probably just need to get their head, heads examined as to how to achieve this strategic objective. It just seems to me you're just, you know, gonna drag this country into this thing back and forth over, you know, several times over the next decade if this continues like this.
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C
And on the regime change question, I mean, we just saw these extraordinary protests, you know, some of the biggest in decades.
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A
Yeah.
- [29:22]
C
That resulted in Trump, I think, upped his Number tonight from 32,000 to 45,000 killed by, by the Iranian forces in response. And, you know, there was an Internet blackout and it was hard to get any kind of information. But even if the military power, the, the drones, the, the, the missiles etc, are taken out now, you know, the, the besieged militia, the Quds force, the, the various police forces, they still have the small arms, they still have the guns, and they're definitely going to crack down perhaps even harder against the Iranian population if they try to try to rise up again.
- [30:00]
B
I interviewed, I interviewed a historian, an Iranian author and historian. His name was Arash A. And he said, you know, look, it's not about the opposition having guns and, and all of that. It's about is the regime weakened enough and are there cracks in the regime that the people with the guns see a viable alternative that they can defect to?
- [30:29]
C
There have been no cracks that we've seen so far. Like, there's.
- [30:31]
A
Yeah.
- [30:32]
C
Nothing among those regimes.
- [30:33]
B
We don't know that there aren't any cracks, but we do know that there isn't a viable opposition that would be able to, you know, take advantage of those cracks. So those cracks, even if they exist, they don't matter.
- [30:47]
A
Well, guys, I, I feel like we're not going to resolve this tonight, but something tells me there'll be another Trump speech for us to analyze on all of this. And despite him saying he's nearing completion, I don't know if we're nearing completion. I, what I heard tonight was not nearing completion. It was. Oh, we'll let you know. I'll keep you posted. Yeah. But Elise and Alex, great to talk to both of you. Thanks for helping us break this down.
- [31:12]
C
Thanks for having us, Jim.
- [31:13]
A
And we'll mow the grass again soon. Thank you. Good to see you both. And I mean, I'll just close this out by saying that, you know, look at the, look at the Donald Trump that we saw in front of the American people tonight, holding on to the podium, slurring his words, having, having a lot of trouble getting the words out, repeating the same lies that we read every morning in his truth social posts saying things like we're nearing completion or the Strait of Hormuz will open naturally, which sounds a lot like when Trump was dealing with COVID that the, the virus would just go away. Remember that one? The virus would just go, it'll be like a miracle. It'll just go away. It seems to be that Trump is engaging in the same magical thinking about Iran and the mess that he's created in the Middle east, that it's just going to go away. It's just eventually going to magically go away and disappear. And I think that's what the rest of the world has to hope for right now, that somehow we don't, we don't think Donald Trump's going to talk his way out of this, but somehow we find our way out of this. And I don't see how Donald Trump does this without his tail between his legs. And he certainly seemed to, that's seemed to be the posture. He was behind it. He was behind a lectern, but it seemed like the tail was between the legs at the White House tonight, and we'll stay on top of it. Thanks, everybody, for tuning into this special edition of the Jim Acosta Show. My thanks to Alex Marquardt and Elise Labbitt for helping us explain this to all of you. Hope you got something out of this as well. Until next time, still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you tomorrow.