Trump CAPITULATES To Wall Street & Backtracks On Tariffs!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Jimmy Dore Show – “Trump CAPITULATES To Wall Street & Backtracks On Tariffs!”

Released Date: April 11, 2025
Host: Jimmy Dore
Guest(s): Various (including references to public figures like Donald Trump, Scott Bessant, Richard Wolff, Charlie Gasparino, and experts like John Mearsheimer)

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1. Introduction

In this intense episode of The Jimmy Dore Show, host Jimmy Dore and his co-host delve deep into President Donald Trump's recent policy reversal on tariffs, analyzing the implications for both Wall Street and Main Street. The episode critically examines Trump's strategies, the influence of Wall Street, the lack of progressive alternatives within the Democratic Party, and the overarching impact on American workers and the economy.

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2. Trump’s Tariff Reversal and Wall Street Influence

Main Points:

• President Trump announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for all countries except China, leading to the NASDAQ experiencing its best day since 2001.
• This move has been interpreted as a capitulation to Wall Street pressures.

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Trump (01:19): “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippee. You know, they were getting a little bit yippee, a little bit afraid... No other president would have done what I did.”
• Co-host (02:13): Suggests Trump backed down due to unease from major Wall Street supporters like Bill Ackman and Elon Musk.
• Charlie Gasparino of Fox News (11:33): Attributes Trump’s reversal to turmoil in the bond market, specifically the spike in yields on the 10-year and 30-year bonds, indicating a loss of confidence in the US economy.

Analysis:

• Jimmy Dore and his co-host discuss how the initial tariff imposition aimed to protect Main Street by disadvantaging Wall Street, but the subsequent reversal suggests that Wall Street's influence remains paramount.
• The episode underscores the absence of viable progressive alternatives to Trump's tariff strategy, highlighting the Democratic Party's failure to present robust solutions for rebuilding the American manufacturing base.

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3. Critique of Democratic Policies and Lack of Alternatives

Main Points:

• The discussion emphasizes that the Democratic Party lacks comprehensive policies to address the hollowing out of the middle class and the decline of manufacturing jobs.
• References to prominent Democrats like Bernie Sanders, who advocates for public sector investment and infrastructure spending, but notes the party's inaction due to their ties to Wall Street.

Notable Quotes:

• Co-host (05:52): “Democrats don’t have a competing idea... The ultra-elite control and own most of Wall Street.”
• Richard Wolff (08:38): Critiques Trump’s tariff strategy as a means to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy rather than genuinely supporting Main Street.

Analysis:

• Jimmy and his co-host argue that without strong progressive policies, the protectionist measures under Trump inadvertently benefit the wealthy while failing to offer sustainable solutions for ordinary Americans.
• The reliance on tariffs is portrayed as a short-term fix that lacks strategic depth, potentially exacerbating economic disparities.

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4. Influence of AIPAC and Lobby Groups

Main Points:

• The episode explores the significant influence of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) on US foreign policy, particularly regarding Israel and Iran.
• Discussion on how AIPAC's lobbying efforts shape congressional actions and presidential decisions, often sidelining grassroots MAGA voters' interests.

Notable Quotes:

• Co-host (33:53): “If you’re lobbying our government on behalf of a foreign government, you’re by law supposed to register under the Farrah Act, correct?”
• Jimmy Dore (31:49): “AIPAC is a proxy that helps the US maintain control in the Middle East... They can buy off people in Congress.”

Analysis:

• The influence of AIPAC is critiqued as a form of modern imperialism, where special interest groups like AIPAC and evangelical communities drive policy agendas, often at the expense of the broader American populace.
• The lack of scrutiny from mainstream media regarding AIPAC's lobbying efforts is highlighted, pointing to a broader issue of media complacency in addressing foreign influence on US politics.

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5. Pentagon Budget and Betrayal of Anti-Interventionist Promises

Main Points:

• President Trump, initially advocating for reducing military involvement and cutting the Pentagon budget, has now announced a $1 trillion budget for military spending.
• This significant increase contradicts his earlier statements and anti-interventionist stance.

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Trump (52:24): “We have to build our military and we have to be strong because you got a lot of bad forces out there now.”
• Co-host (53:24): “Why does he keep increasing the Pentagon budget despite initial promises to reduce it?”

Analysis:

• The sudden reversal in military spending is portrayed as a betrayal of Trump's own promises to his base, aligning instead with entrenched interests within the military-industrial complex.
• Jimmy Dore criticizes this move as counterproductive, suggesting that funds could be better allocated to domestic infrastructure projects rather than military expansion.

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6. Israel and Iran Policy

Main Points:

• The episode examines the interplay between US policies, Israel’s influence, and the ongoing tensions with Iran.
• Discussion on the “Libya model” proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, advocating for Iran to relinquish its nuclear program in exchange for regime change.

Notable Quotes:

• Donald Trump (42:31): “If it requires military, we're going to have military. Israel will obviously be very much involved in that.”
• Jimmy Dore (43:38): “The Libya model means Iran gives up nuclear weapons and then gets regime changed... It’s as if Netanyahu is encouraging nuclear proliferation.”

Analysis:

• The Libya model is critically analyzed, drawing parallels to the US intervention in Libya which led to long-term instability despite initial successes.
• The episode argues that such policies not only undermine regional stability but also empower special interests that benefit from ongoing conflicts.

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7. Conclusion and Call to Action

Main Points:

• Jimmy Dore and his co-host express concern over Trump’s continued divergence from his initial promises, urging MAGA voters and the broader public to stand up against policies that favor Wall Street and special interests over American workers.
• Emphasis on the need for genuine progressive alternatives to address economic disparities and rebuild the manufacturing sector.

Notable Quotes:

• Co-host (55:07): “Trump is wrecking his mandate on free speech, being a non-interventionist, and reigning in the military-industrial complex.”
• Jimmy Dore (63:28): “Use your platform to call him out for his complete betrayal of what he ran on, for his complete betrayal of America first.”

Analysis:

• The episode serves as a crucial critique of current US economic and foreign policies, highlighting the dissonance between political promises and actions.
• It calls for increased awareness and activism among voters to demand accountability and advocate for policies that prioritize the well-being of Main Street over Wall Street and militaristic endeavors.

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Key Takeaways:

• Wall Street’s Dominance: The episode underscores the overwhelming influence of Wall Street on US policies, often sidelining the interests of everyday Americans.
• Lack of Progressive Solutions: There's a notable absence of robust progressive alternatives within the Democratic Party to effectively compete with Trump's protectionist measures.
• AIPAC's Influence: The influence of lobbying groups like AIPAC is critiqued for shaping foreign policy in ways that benefit special interests over national interests.
• Military Spending Contradictions: Trump's abrupt increase in Pentagon spending is highlighted as a betrayal of his initial anti-interventionist promises, aligning instead with military-industrial interests.
• Foreign Policy Critique: The adoption of the Libya model for Iran is analyzed as a potentially destabilizing strategy that favors regime change over stable diplomatic solutions.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Donald Trump (01:19): “No other president would have done what I did.”
• Charlie Gasparino (11:33): “It's because of the bond market... People are losing confidence in the US Economy.”
• Donald Trump (52:24): “We have to build our military and we have to be strong.”

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This episode of The Jimmy Dore Show offers a comprehensive critique of the Trump administration's recent policy shifts, emphasizing the need for transparent and accountable governance that truly serves the American populace over Wall Street and entrenched special interests. Listeners are encouraged to critically assess the impact of these policies and advocate for genuine progressive change.

Transcript

[Jimmy Dore]

Foreign.

[Unknown Co-host]

Come see us in Los Angeles, Bakersfield, San Jose, Buffalo, New York, Toledo, Ohio, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Belfast, London and a lot more. Go to jimmy dor.com for a link for the cheapest tickets establishment. Media sucks.

[Jimmy Dore]

August light and so good luck. We can't afford why he's fomenting this watch and see as his jack golf the medium speeds and jump medium and hit some head on.

[Unknown Co-host]

It's the chimney door show.

[Jimmy Dore]

Here's the headline. Trump announces pause in reciprocal tariffs for all countries but China. And as he did that, the NASDAQ soared its best day since 2001. After Trump pauses some tariffs and what he basically announces that while he's increasing tariffs on China, he's going to impose a 90 day pause on the tariffs for the rest of the world. And at the White House, this is how Trump explained his move. And a few hours later, there was a pause put in on the tariffs. Can you walk us through your thinking about why you decided to put a 90 day pause?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippee. You know, they were getting a little bit yippee, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did. No other president. I know the president. They wouldn't have done it.

[Unknown Co-host]

It's just fun. He can't help but be comical. He's like, he's just a comical figure. Everything he says is like a guy doing an impression of him, but it's actually him that's funny. I know the presidents. I know all of them. And yippee. People are getting yippee. So why do you think he did? Why do you think he did that? Is it because the. He was afraid that the stock market was going to crash and he didn't want that to happen under his watch.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's what he basically said. Let's go to this clip markets that.

[Unknown Co-host]

Persuaded you to reverse. I was watching the bond market.

[Donald Trump]

The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it. But if you look at it now, it's beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy. I think everything had. Well, the big move wasn't what I did today. The big move was what I did on Liberation Day. We had Liberation Day in America. We're liberated from all of the horrible deals that were made.

[Jimmy Dore]

So he talks about people getting queasy in the bond market. Who's he's talking about people Like Bill Ackman, the billionaire Trump supporter who was very against the tariffs. Elon Musk was also against these tariffs. And yeah, that's what I think it was. You know, he saw that some of his biggest supporters and wealthiest supporters were getting queasy and he backed down.

[Unknown Co-host]

So I find a couple of things interesting about this whole tariff conversation is that for my whole life, the left has said that Wall street is not the real economy and we're sick and tired of policies that just bump up the Wall street but leave Main street behind. And so the whole point of these tariffs was to help Main street at the detriment to Wall Street. And in fact, I had some economists DM me saying that when the stock market crashes, that's a transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor. And I haven't heard anybody else put it that way. And now I'm not an economist, Right. So I don't know if that's true or whatever, but I do know that the left has completely flipped on what they just like everything that if Trump's for it, they're against it. Right? And so they were. They were against open borders until Trump was against them, and then they were for them. Now they were. They were against free trade agreements, they were against nafta, they were against, against the Obama when he had the ttp. They're against all that stuff. And then Trump comes in and he actually does something and then they all flip. They all freaking out about the Wall street, they're freaking out about our one of the other, but other government's economy, who cares? So, and here's the thing that I think, no, I haven't heard anybody else make this point is that it's not like there's another competing idea to help rebuild the manufacturing base in the United States. There's not another. There's not another competing idea. If there was another idea out there that someone could put forth that was better than Trump's idea on tariffs, I would say, well, let's have it out. Let's have this discussion. And then I've seen other people who, like Jeffrey Sachs, who I'm a huge fan of, huge amount respect for him. But I saw him on with Judge Napolitano and he talked about what happened to the manufacturing base in the United States was that it was automation. Well, that's certainly a part of it, but he's overlooking nafta. He overlooked that. He's overlooking all the free trade agreements. He's overlooking what happened in Seattle in 1999. He's overlooking the tax breaks that corporations get for offshoring. Job. We've offshored all our job. That's the problem. And he didn't. I was kind of very disappointed that he didn't mention that. And people just seem to almost be rewriting history about how we got to this point economically with the hollowed out middle class and the manufacturing base of the United States. So have you heard anybody else having a competing plan to what Trump was offering?

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, that's the thing, right? I mean, I'd agree with most of what you said and especially your point that Democrats don't have a competing idea. I think that's true because they, like you said, they've railed against in recent years the hollowing out of the middle class, even though they presided over these policies. It was Bill Clinton that pushed through nafta. Barack Obama, after the financial crisis, what did he do? He bailed out the banks. He let people lose their homes. So what ideas have they brought the table? Pretty much nothing. But I guess in terms of, you know, actual progressives, if we had them, they've had ideas like let's invest in a public sector, let's actually spend government resources on building up infrastructure, like Bernie Sanders has talked about that. But he's found no takers among Democrats because they also serve Wall street as well. So I think if Trump listened to like the actual left rather than Democrats, I think there could be some real ideas to bring back manufacturing without the crisis that has just ensued. And with Wall street, it's true that the ultra elite control and own most of Wall street, but there are pensions tied up in the stock market as well. So there are some, I think, everyday people that have been impacted by these swings in the market. But look, listen, what you're saying about Wall street being favored and major Main street being sidelined, this is the rhetoric coming from the Trump administration. Listen to what Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, said just hours before Trump reversed himself on the tariffs. Four decades, basically, since I began my career in Wall Street. Wall street has grown wealthier than ever before and it can continue to grow and do well. But for the next four years, the Trump agenda is focused on mainstream Street. It's Main Street's turn. It's Main Street's turn to hire workers. It's Main Street's turn to drive investment, and it's Main Street's turn to restore the American dream. I mean, it sounds good, right? But the question is, do their policies advance that goal? Now, Richard Wolff, who you've had on the Show a lot. What he argues is this. He says the tariffs were basically, in theory, it's, it's a good idea to have some tariffs, but the way Trump did it was just without much logic. And what he thinks Trump is up to is basically the, Trump, through the tariffs, is trying to raise enough revenue that could justify him continuing to cut taxes for the ultra wealthy. So contrary to what Scott Bass says about helping Main street, he says Trump wants to basically help the ultra wealthy by continuing to cut their taxes and justify that by saying that he got some money through imposing these tariffs. That's Richard Wolf's analysis.

[Unknown Co-host]

Okay. Yeah. Again, I would like to hear Richard Wolf give a, an alternative and I, a plan. And I would, I, I'm, I'm thirsty to, to hear his plan. No one's, no one has another plan. And so I'd like to, and so I'm actually a little bummed that Trump has turned his heel like this and decided to boost Wall street and NASDAQ again. And, and kind of go back on what Scott Besson just said. I heard Scott Besson did an hour interview with Tucker Carlson and it was really intriguing to me. It's like I can hear it like, I believed him. Like, when I hear him say that, I believe him. And it's like some, I've never heard a politician in my life say, hey, yeah, we're good. Wall Street's gonna have to take some pain so we can give some attention to the working class. No one's ever said that in my lifetime. It's been the exact opposite.

[Jimmy Dore]

And they've all, Bernie Sanders, Bernie Sanders has said it. And he was, I agree with you, he was sounding a lot like Bernie. He said, also, you know, we have a lot of people taking luxury vacations while many Americans can't afford food and that's why they're going to food banks. We have to take care of them. But again, what, policy wise is Scott Besson and Trump proposing to take care of people who rely on food subsidies? If anything, what I'm hearing from the Trump camp, maybe this is Scott Besson, but certainly Elon Musk is we have to cut these benefits. So, like, what are they? What, like, I agree he's saying the right things, but policy wise, what, what are they doing for struggling people?

[Unknown Co-host]

So while their response I'm sure would be, well, these tariffs are what we're doing and this is going to, it's going to be a short term pain, long term gain, and they, so that, that, that's what they would Say, and that's gonna, hey, if you don't want to be tariffs, you don't want to have tariffs imposed on you, start your manufacturing in the United States. That's what they're, that's what their line is. Well, we'll see what happens. But he's keeping it on China. What, what, Any, any idea? I mean, I know neither of us are economists or why, why, you know, why he would choose to just leave it on China?

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, they're just, the US Is so reliant on China that I, I guess he feels he needs, he has to do something about it that, you know, so many products now rely on the Chinese market, Chinese workers. He feels as if that one, to save face, you know, he has to keep that one on and China's retaliated. And yeah, I don't have the economic expertise to say where that one's going and why. But look, just on the issue of why Trump reversed himself initially, here is Charlie Gasparino of Fox News, who's a Trump supporter. He also says that it's essentially because of Wall Street.

[Charlie Gasparino]

Oh, I mean, because of the mixed messaging. How can you, how can you doubt them? I mean, let's be clear. What happened, you know, who capitulated here and why? And you know, I don't want to say this because I'm a patriot, I'm an American, but it is the White House who capitulated based on everything I hear and all my sources. And the reason why is because of the bond market and what happened last night. You know, Bessant knows this better than anybody. When you have yields on the 10 year rising to 5%, stuff starts shutting down. When you had the lending markets screwed up, by the way, who was dumping the bonds? Somebody asked him if it was China, right? It wasn't. It was Japan. While he was negotiating with Japan, Japan, according to my sources, were running major money management firms that are involved in the bond market without giving up names. Japan was dumping bonds because they believed this was not a great place to do business. That forced their hands. Now, what you can say, I think legitimately here is Trump decided to take the win. And here's why. There was overwhelmingly, you know, deal potential here among the entire world, except for maybe China. Right. Everybody really wanted something. So he did take the win. But make sure, make make no mistake about it, Peter Navarro was talking as of yesterday about not taking the win, and now they did. And it's all because of the bond market. I want to point out.

[Jimmy Dore]

He says it's all because of the bond market. The Trump backed down. But he is also saying that Trump sees a win here because now I, aside from China, countries around the world are trying to negotiate new tariff deals that Trump hopes will be favorable to the US and that's why Trump is going to try to paint this as a win.

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, I saw Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank, we all know, and he said that Trump should have put a 400% tariff on China and that it's about time. And that we've had this unfair trade agreement. I mean, we all know that corporations get tax breaks for offshoring jobs, and that that's how much they perverted the legislation and the economy and that. And that if he said, well, what would happen if you put a 400% tariff on China? And he said they would immediately come to the negotiation table and we'd have a negotiation. And so in the absence of any other plan, I'm, I'm reluctantly for these tariffs. You know, no one else has had a plan in my entire goddamn lifetime, and nothing except more of the same and more. I mean, you know, how long can we keep saying half the country can't afford a $500 emergency? How long can we say that 80% of workers live paycheck to paycheck? 50% of wage earners earn less than $30,000? I mean, no one has a goddamn plan. Right? And so I, I was, I was, you know, cautiously optimistic about that someone is going to try something. And I saw the auto workers, which you covered were, were behind this idea, so. Or at least a big swath of them were, anyway. So it's. Well, we'll see what happens, I guess. I, But I, I do feel that poise, because Trump's not running again. That's what, you know, he's, he seemed to me like he's having a second term the way we hoped Barack Obama would have a second term, that he would actually get to do the things he wanted in his second term because he couldn't in his first term because he wanted to get reelected. And then he didn't. He was just even more horrible in his second term, Barack Obama. And so, but it looked like Trump was like, hey, screw it. I'm doing exactly what I want. I'm empowered. I've got a mandate and I'm not running again. And now it seems like he's going to knuckle under to, you know, to the Wall street class. We'll see. I hope not. I, I don't, I don't. I I hope they come up with a plan to help, you know, reinvigorate manufacturing in the United States, bring real jobs back. It's good that you know his border policy. You know, you have to have a rational immigration policy. Open borders are there to suppress wages. And the mistake people make is they get angry at the immigrants when they're doing exactly what anybody would do in their situation. If you find yourself angry at someone lower on the economic ladder than you, you're being manipulated by someone higher on the economic ladder than you. Keep that in mind. And your job didn't get taken by an immigrant. Your job was given to an immigrant by a corporatist who had somebody who found somebody he could exploit more than you. Hey, you know, here's another great way you can help support the show is you become a premium member. We give you a couple of hours of premium bonus content every week and it's a great way to help support the show. You can do it by going to jimmy door comedy.com Clicking on join Premium. It's the most affordable premium program in the business and it's a great way to help put your thumb back in the eye of the bastards. Thanks for everybody who was already a premium member. And if you haven't, you're missing out. We give you lots of bonus content. Thanks for your support Missions to Mars. Driverless cars, AI chatbots Feels like we're already living in the future. Well, Robinhood is built for the future of trading. Robinhood's intuitive design makes trading seamless spot opportunities and take control of your trades with tools like screeners, simulated returns and strategy builder on Robinhood, traders have access to hundreds of popular stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, five days a week so you can keep up with today's fast paced markets. You can now even trade stocks and crypto all in one place with the new desktop platform Robinhood Legend. The future of trading is fast, powerful and precise. Experience it now on Robinhood Investing is risky. Robinhood Financial LLC Member SIPC is a registered broker dealer. Trading during extended hours involves additional risks. Cryptocurrency services are offered through an account with Robinhood Crypto LLC. 170-2840 Robinhood Crypto is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

[Jimmy Dore]

After Donald Trump backed down on his global tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant said that this was the plan all along. Again, this was driven by the President's strategy. He and I had a long talk on Sunday and this was his strategy all along and that, you know, you might even say that he goaded China into a bad position. They responded. They have shown themselves to the world to be the bad actors. And we are willing to cooperate with our allies and with our trading partners who did not retaliate. It wasn't a hard message. Don't retaliate. Things will turn out well. So what he's saying here is that this was Trump's strategy all along. He imposed these global tariffs, and then after countries around the world said, hey, let's negotiate. Let's work out a better trade deal for the US Then Trump backed off the tariffs and mission accomplished. And the market is surging again. The losses are being reversed. And it's only China that stands out as being a bad actor because China announced a retaliation against the US and now Trump is having a trade war with China. So, according to Scott Bessant, this was the plan all along. Even though you're Trump and other people saying that we're not going to negotiate our tariffs, but now that he's walked that back, Trump is saying also that he's happy with how things are going. And look, the market is back up.

[Donald Trump]

I don't know if it's still there. You know, this is looked an hour ago, but we were up like close to 3,000 points. Nobody's ever seen a day like that. I think that's a record. Is it, fellow? Scott?

[Jimmy Dore]

Definitely.

[Donald Trump]

It's all right.

[Unknown Co-host]

Record.

[Donald Trump]

Who would have thought we're going to have a record like that after watching? But because the geniuses of the world, they get it.

[Jimmy Dore]

So Trump also saying there that, yeah, this all worked out great and now the market is rebounding and we've had the best day ever. Now, of course, the market still hasn't reached the level that it was before Trump announced his tariff policies, but Trump is saying that things are on the up and up because he's forced everyone to come to the table. So that's, that's the claim now, that this was a part of the strategy all along?

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, I don't know what to think until Sam Harris weighs in. And, and then whatever he says, the opposite is the case. So he's like, he's like the Jim Cramer of intellectuals, Sam Harris, he gets everything wrong. And whatever he says, the opposite is true. Well, hopefully that's the case. I mean, again, I'll just reiterate that nobody else has a plan. Nobody else has done anything. And I hope if it, if Trump's plan takes balls, that he has the balls to Stick to it. And again, he's not running for reelection. I mean, people, I think people either keep that in mind, he's not running for reelection. And so he, and he's only got until the midterms to do this to, to do whatever he wants to. So if he wants to leave a permanent mark, he's got, you know, just a little while and he's got to get on it. So, again, no, no other competing plans. The Democrats and Republicans have been complicit in the demise and the destruction of the working class in the United States. And this is the first time in my lifetime I've seen a president actually do something, try or try to do something about it. So I'm not, as my hair is not on fire over this. Like, like other people.

[Jimmy Dore]

Carolyn Levitt, the White House press secretary, she mocked the media because she said this was all part of the art of the deal. Media clearly missed the art of the deal. You clearly fail to see what President Trump is doing here. You tried to say that the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact, we've seen the opposite effect. The entire world is calling the United States of America, not China, because they need our markets, they need our consumers, and they need this president in the Oval Office to talk to them. And that's exactly why more than 75 countries have called, because the United States of America is the best place in the world to do business. And as the president has shown great courage, as the secretary has said, and choosing to retaliate against China even higher. So that's the White House line, that this is, you know, the art of the deal. This is Trump's move. He, yeah, he said he would not negotiate these tariffs, but that was just a bluff to get people to beg him for a negotiation and to offer more favorable trade deals to the U.S. except for China, where the tariffs are remaining. But again, as we talked about earlier, not everyone is buying that, including a Trump supporter, Charlie Gasparino of Fox News, who said again, it wasn't so much Trump pulling off some grand strategy here, it was Trump's Wall street friends being very upset with him.

[Charlie Gasparino]

Call what happened overnight. And from what I understand, and I'm getting this from people that are talking to the White House, the what happened in the bond market overnight, the spike in yields on the 30 year and the 10 year bond, which showed that people were dumping our bonds. And who were those people dumping our bonds? Japan, the biggest holder of bonds, was selling bonds. That's what I'm getting from some very big money managers, China maybe to some extent, but it was largely Japan and others. If you have a mass sale of bonds, that means people are losing confidence in the US Economy on the ability to do deals with us. And from what I understand, this is what forced the hand of this 90 day reprieve. Now, is it a good, you know, are people coming to the table? Yeah. But if, you know, if you read between the lines and not even what Scott Besant said, we have no deals, right. There's nobody that is really there saying this is what we're going to do. And they paused it anyway. So my thing said, well, I'll give you this, there is some art of the deal here and by the way, brilliant move by putting China in the corner. But that's a whole separate thing because remember, that's a very difficult negotiation. Everybody else is a lot easier. They really wanted, they do want to deal with us. Whether they want to be, you know, forced into really bad trade deals on their end is a whole other negotiating story. But make no mistake about it, you cannot divorce this decision right here from what happened last night, which was, you know, I people focus on the stock market all the time. It's the bond market and the sort of lending markets. That's the plumbing of the economy. And those markets were imploding last night and that's why we have a 90 day, 90 day freeze. Let's see if those markets improve. Someone told me we had a decent treasury auction today, but if you can't sell your Treasuries, guys, and people are unloading your Treasuries like Japan with is, I believe the largest foreign holder after, after China, just to be clear there.

[Jimmy Dore]

So that's Charlie Gasparo, Fox News, saying it was not, you know, Trump genius strategy, it was the bond market cratering and that's what forced him to act. But Jimmy, to your point that Trump is trying something new here that could possibly bear fruit, even Ro Khanna, Democratic member of Congress, he went on Fox News and he acknowledged that actually if this turns out that Trump ends up winning favorable trade deals for American workers, then he will deserve credit. This is real, Khanna.

[Donald Trump]

We end up with better trade deals.

[Jimmy Dore]

With many of these countries that are.

[Donald Trump]

More advantageous to us. Don't you think that was worth it?

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, the jury is still out right now.

[Jimmy Dore]

We've gotten worse trade deals.

[Donald Trump]

I mean, Europe has, has increased its.

[Unknown Co-host]

Tariffs on our goods. Canada has increased our tariffs. So if we end up in a situation where the tariffs are better, then.

[Donald Trump]

I would give the president credit on.

[Unknown Co-host]

Negotiation but he didn't have to put.

[Donald Trump]

The country through this.

[Unknown Co-host]

He didn't have to destroy markets are.

[Jimmy Dore]

Right back where they were when this.

[Donald Trump]

Announcement was made or pretty darn close. Well, you know, maybe what you have to do is shake up the chessboard a bit in order to reset these trade arrangements and it doesn't seem like.

[Jimmy Dore]

Anything prior to this by any prior.

[Donald Trump]

Administration sort of allowed that to to happen.

[Unknown Co-host]

Now I think it's interesting Rona says that since we all know he's being paid by the Russians but so that's, I just want to throw that out there. I I so you know I again, you are not an economist. I'm not an economist but it seems contradictory when they say that the bond yields are going up. So that does that mean like if you buy a U S Treasury that you're going to get a higher interest rate, you're going to get more money if you invest. That would seem to be a good thing but of course that signals that the bond market's cratering. I don't do you understand that?

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, this gets into territory that I just, I don't understand. According according to Fox News guy the bond market was cratering and that's what triggered the panic that led to Trump reversing course.

[Unknown Co-host]

And you know when I have on Ed, Ed Dowd he always makes the point that that guy on Fox News made that the bond markets will let you know if this is a good way to go or not. The bond markets are the, the bellwether and the canary in the coal mine and so apparently that was it that that's what made Trump reverse course was is the bond market so okay, more, even more important than the stock market. That's, that's we're all learning something I guess.

[Jimmy Dore]

Let's do some breaking news. Jimmy. The gray zone just got a hold of some audio of an APAC leader boasting that they have serious influence over members of the Trump administration. Let's watch this clip. I haven't even heard it yet but the graves on just put this out. So this is some breaking news but as we were talking about there was a discussion earlier about Congress being representative.

[Unknown Co-host]

To the people world the White House.

[Jimmy Dore]

Has to be responsive to common and.

[Unknown Co-host]

So it's working with the time our friends on the Democratic side of the.

[Jimmy Dore]

Aisle to apply pressure the way that they know how to an administration as it will be with this administration.

[Unknown Co-host]

Bob is talking about the people who.

[Jimmy Dore]

Will get appointed into some of these jobs. Look at the Top level. You talk about market review and sympathetic.

[Unknown Co-host]

I'm Michael Waltz.

[Jimmy Dore]

Those three people have something in common. They all serve in common.

[Unknown Co-host]

Step on relationships with TA leaders from their communities.

[Jimmy Dore]

So the lines of communication are good. Should there be something questionable or curious.

[Unknown Co-host]

That we need access on the conversation, you never doubt. One of the first candidates I ever.

[Jimmy Dore]

Met with as an APAC professional in my job seeing candidates for Congress was a guy named John Ratcliffe. He was challenging a longtime incumbent member of Congress in Dallas. This guy looks like he could win the race when we go talk him. You have good understanding of the issues.

[Unknown Co-host]

And a couple of weeks ago, you took the oath as the CIA director.

[Jimmy Dore]

For crying out loud. He was the guy that chance to speak to. So there are.

[Unknown Co-host]

There are a lot.

[Jimmy Dore]

I won't call them lifelines, but there are lifelines. So that's the CEO of APAC bragging.

[Unknown Co-host]

Can you. Yeah, go ahead. I just wanted you to check because I couldn't really hear it well enough.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's the CEO of APAC. That's the CEO of APac bragging that he has special access to several Trump administration officials. He mentions in particular Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz, and John Ratcliffe. And he says that these are. He says, I wouldn't call them lifelines, but they are lifelines. That's people he can call if he wants special access. That's him bragging in leaked audio that was just obtained by the Gray Zone.

[Unknown Co-host]

Wow. How did. How did the Gray Zone get their hands on that? Is that a secret?

[Jimmy Dore]

I don't know. I just saw this as we were. As we were talking about this issue, and it was. It was good timing.

[Unknown Co-host]

I look forward to that being released, as I look forward to Ryan Grimm releasing that as his own and pretending that he. He broke this story, because that's kind of what he does.

[Jimmy Dore]

Me, too. Me, too. All right, well, we can get.

[Unknown Co-host]

So. So go ahead. What. So is. That. Is so now. I mean, that just confirms everything we all. All thought. What. What do you think that's really going to be big news in America? Probably not, because the news media doesn't ever. So what. What do you mean? You think there's going to be any impact from this or.

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, no. And why? Because this is bipartisan. For all the access that APAC has in the Trump administration, they have the exact same access in the Biden administration or if Kamala Harris had won in the Kamala Harris administration. It's totally bipartisan. So, no, I don't think this will have.

[Unknown Co-host]

So. So, Aaron, what. What is the strange control that AIPAC has on our government if. If they spend less money lobbying than Japan and China, which I did. I didn't. I don't know. I can't speak to the veracity of that claim. But why. Why do. Why does such a tiny country have such a stranglehold on our legislators?

[Jimmy Dore]

It's a great question. The. Israel is a proxy. So Israel does things for the us. It basically helps us keep control of the. Of the Middle East. When the US Wants to do something that looks too bad, like, you know, funnel nuclear secrets to apartheid South Africa or armed death squads in Central America, Israel does its dirty work for it. There's also a heavy evangelical component here, the evangelical Christian community, people like Mike Huckabee, who really believe that basically there will be a rapture one day. Having this proxy in Palestine, in the birthplace of Jesus, is seen as an advancement of that goal. And, yeah, you have. You have this powerful. This powerful lobby, apac, that can buy off people in Congress and decide the who controls Congress, as they showed in the most recent election, when they spent millions of dollars to oust Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush. So it's a factor of imperialism, special interests like evangelicals, groups like apac, and also, I just think fidelity to another colonial, a European colonial state like we are.

[Unknown Co-host]

And so now AIPAC does not have to register under Farah, which is the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Right. And when I was in this interview yesterday, I. I brought that up, and he said that, yeah, the reason why they don't have to register is because they're American citizens. And I'm like, no, that's not true. Because they got Paul Manafort, Trump's original campaign manager, and they put him in jail because he was lobbying on behalf of a foreign government and he didn't declare himself, he didn't register with the Farah act, and that's what they got him for. So even the people, even if they're all Americans, doesn't matter if you're an American citizen or not. If you're lobbying our government on behalf of a foreign government, you're by law supposed to register under the Farah act, correct?

[Jimmy Dore]

Correct. And this is just what. Yet, like, another reason why Russiagate was just so pathetic is because while Democrats were hyperventilating about mythical Russian interference, Russian meddling in our pristine democracy, they're all on board with this foreign apartheid state constantly meddling in our democracy, literally buying off members of Congress, meddling in elections, and having unregistered foreign lobbyists acting with Free will with, with free reign. And did Rachel Maddow ever cover this on her show? Did any of these blue and on Democrats ever raise a peep about it? No, they're all on board with it.

[Unknown Co-host]

You know, he, you know who did cover it? IR was surpr, to my surprise, shock and awe actually was Ali Veshi covered this. Did you ever see that segment he did about the apex influence?

[Jimmy Dore]

I didn't, but he's not bad on Palestine. And of course he did that only recently. Right. Like this is probably after, you know, like after October 7th. I, I don't imagine like during the Russiagate era. He was not putting that on msnbc, I'm sure.

[Unknown Co-host]

No, I, but I was shocked that he was allowed to do that at all. That was because they, you know, they're getting rid of anybody who challenges Israel's power or, or anything. Right? We've seen, we've, they got, they, they got rid of all those people.

[Jimmy Dore]

They got rid of a lot of them. But also they have to respond to the fact that the majority of the Democratic base, the actual voters are turning away from Israel. And so I guess they need someone on MSNBC who can speak to their concerns so they don't totally lose that audience as well.

[Unknown Co-host]

You know, I, I, my experience now I travel the country. I was just, I just went out to, I was in Hartford, Connecticut, I was in Syracuse, New York, I was in Albany, co host Atlantic City, Long Island, Providence, Rhode Island. And I meet a lot of MAGA voters. They come to our show and we have all kind, we have hippies, we have maga, we have all types of people, libertarians. And none of those people are on board for Israel. None of them. I mean, is it just the people who watch my show or. It seems like even when I was at the Rescue the Republic rally, which a lot of people said that was a Trump rally, I didn't, I looked at it as a free speech rally. And I gave a big shout out to you have to support the free speech of Palestinian protesters in the United States. And they cheered. The audience there cheered. And I saw people who were MAGA holding hands, I mean, holding up signs saying, you know, pro Palestine protesters, things like that. What is your experience? What's your, do you think that MAGA is, I mean, I know a lot of them are, but do you think it's the majority or what would you, can you gauge?

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, that's my experience too, meeting everyday MAGA voters, you know, people like, who I've gotten to meet and be acquainted with Because I challenge Russiagate. Yeah. They're not on board with this. They don't want to see their tax dollars going to slaughtering children in Gaza. They don't feel any affinity with this foreign apartheid state. So it's the party elite and the people. And the people on Fox News. Yeah, there's, there's a certain level of Islamophobia that I find, like, they just don't like Muslims.

[Unknown Co-host]

Yes.

[Jimmy Dore]

And, and, and, but that, that to me is not. I don't encounter that, like when I meet everyday MAGA voters. I, I do encounter that when I meet maga. Some MAGA politicians, they just have this distrust of.

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, because they're all in the pocket of apec. That's, that's why they're paid to be that way.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah.

[Unknown Co-host]

And so, yeah, I mean, the politicians, but the grassroots, they're not. I can't believe that they're allowing Trump to be such a tool of such a small country like apac. It's, I mean, of Israel. It's just, it's, it's shocking to me. It really is.

[Jimmy Dore]

And we're going to cover some of this today. We're going to get into how Trump is just going against so many of the promises he made to his base and talking about cutting the Pentagon, abandoning endless wars. We're going to get into that today about how he's abandoning those promises just one after one of them.

[Unknown Co-host]

One of the biggest MAGA Congress people is Marjorie Taylor Greene. And when Trump, Tulsi Waltz, JD Vance, when they were all celebrating the, the illegal, the war crime of blowing up an apartment building to get one person, she tweeted out, no one voted for this.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yep. Yeah.

[Unknown Co-host]

And the reason why she's allowed to do that is because she's one of the few people in Congress who doesn't take APAC money.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yep. Yeah.

[Unknown Co-host]

So it's, there's a direct correlation between taking APAC money and being pro Israel and pro Benjamin Netanyahu and anti Muslim and anti Palestine. And the people who don't take APAC money, which is the MAGA voters, they're not on board for this. So I just don't understand what it the is in it for Trump to do. I mean, I know he took $100 million from Miriam Adelson. I get that. But he's not running again, you know, so why not? Just, if, if Obama could betray his voting base, why can't Trump? Why? Obama completely abandoned his.

[Jimmy Dore]

Of course he did. Of course he did. Of course he did.

[Unknown Co-host]

You know, he backed he backed Wall street over the Wall, over Occupy Wall Street. He backed. He backed the big pharma and health insurance companies over the public option. And then he went and did Libya and he did Syria. I mean, all the. He extended the Afghanistan war. He repealed habeas corpus. I mean, there wasn't a goddamn. Every move Barack Obama made was a betrayal of his base. So why doesn't Trump be. What. What is in it? Have you ever questioned. Have you thought about that?

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, I mean, listen, of course I thought about it. I just don't know the answer. I don't know what's in his head. I don't know what his calculation is. He did get $100 million from Marion Adelson. That's a lot of money. And I just don't think. Look, same thing with Obama. Obama used to speak to Edward Said, Rashid Khalidi, like, these major Palestinian figures. He knew the truth. He knew exactly what was up. But once he got into office, he's faced with this choice, like, do I do. Do I actually take a stand here? And. And this. Because he could if he wanted to. The US Government's so instrumental to Israel's occupation. It could make. It could make the difference. But Obama decided just wasn't worth it, you know, and he's probably thinking about not just his donors, but also just being called an anti Semite. All the ways they discredit you. Like, look at what they do to Tucker Carlson. As Tucker Carlson's been increasingly critical of Israel during the Gaza genocide, they've tried to destroy his career, including people inside the Trump camp. Trump former ambassador David Freeman, like, recently called him an anti Semite. Same thing as they're doing to Candace Owens. So people think about the reputational cost, the professional costs, and they all just decide it's not worth it.

[Unknown Co-host]

Okay. I mean, I saw. Are you going to cover this? The protest by the Hasidic Jews at the White House yesterday?

[Jimmy Dore]

I didn't get that. No, no.

[Unknown Co-host]

Oh, I wish I would have sent it to you. So there was a big protest. I saw it on Twitter. A video of Hasidic Jews that were protesting outside the White House against Trump's Gaza policy. Because didn't. Did he just again, reiterate his plan to send in US Soldiers to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians? Did that not happen?

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah. Well, I'm sorry I missed that protest because there is a component of Orthodox Jews who just don't believe that Israel represents their vision of Judaism and, you.

[Unknown Co-host]

Know, look at it as a blaspheme.

[Jimmy Dore]

They do they? Absolutely do. They absolutely do. And of course, they get viciously attacked by fellow Jews because. Yes, yeah, yeah. At the White House, Donald Trump talked about his upcoming peace talks with Iran, and that's happening. There will be indirect talks brokered by the country of Oman between Iran and the US But Trump also said that if he has to, he will use military force against Iran. And if he does that, then Israel will be a leader in those strikes.

[Donald Trump]

Yeah, if we, if it requires military, we're going to have military. Israel will obviously be very much involved in that. He'll be the leader of that. But nobody leads us. We do what we want to do.

[Jimmy Dore]

So Israel will be the leader of any US Strike on Iran. But then he says, no, no one leads us. So it's a little contradictory. He's acknowledging there that he's very much considering Israel's advice, which, of course, Israel wants to bomb Iran. That's what it's been pushing the US to do for a very, very long time. So he talks there about Israel being a leader, which means he's listening to Israel. And what does Benjamin Netanyahu want out of these talks between the US And Iran? Well, Netanyahu, when he met with Trump at the White House the other day, he laid out his vision. Of course, we also discussed Iran.

[Unknown Co-host]

Look, we're both united in the goal.

[Jimmy Dore]

That Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons. If it could be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing.

[Donald Trump]

But whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.

[Jimmy Dore]

So Netanyahu was talking about what he calls the Libya model. Okay, what is the Libya model? That's where Libya gives up its nuclear deterrent and then gets regime changed. Right. That's exactly what happened when Libya negotiated with the Bush administration. And then when Barack Obama came in, Barack Obama launched a regime change war that resulted in Gaddafi being sodomized. That's what Netanyahu is openly talking about, the Libyan model. And here's Michael Tracy. If the basis for these direct negotiations, that Iran must agree to allow the US to explode and dismantle their entire nuclear program, then it's not difficult to foresee how the negotiations could just be a pretextual tactic to pave the way for military action.

[Unknown Co-host]

So again, this is something no one voted for. Nobody want anybody. As Dave Smith says, if anybody advocates for bombing Iran, they're your enemy. And so Trump again, is betraying maga. He's betraying America first. And I think that if Iran actually did acquire nuclear weapons, it would be the single greatest thing to stabilize the Middle east and to end wars. It would be the exact opposite. So whatever Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump are saying, the exact opposite is true. So just keep that in mind. So Benjamin Netanyahu is the same guy who said if we took out Saddam Hussein, democracy would spread throughout the Middle East. Of course he was lying. He was wrong about that. And he wasn't wrong, he was lying. He said the same thing about taking out Gaddafi if democracy would spread. He said the same thing about Syria. Now Al Qaeda is in charge of Syria, of course. So whatever they say, the opposite is true. And they're not wrong, they're lying. And this is all about the Greater Israel Project. And so I, I'm all for why does Pakistan get to have nuclear weapons? North Korea has nuclear weapons. India, China, Russia, the United States. Israel has nuclear weapons. The point of nuclear weapons is to not use them. It's for deterrence to. So it would deter war. And so if Iran did acquire nuclear weapons, that would be, I would, I would posit that would be the single greatest thing to create stability in the Middle East. What do you say?

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, Jimmy, I, you know, I hear your argument, and John Mearsheimer says the same thing too, I believe. So There's a certain logic to it. I just can't support nuclear proliferation because I also worry that if Iran ever moved seriously close to a bomb, then that would trigger an attack, including a nuclear attack on Iran, that would kill so many people. But I listen, I understand the Libya model, especially the fact that Netanyahu is invoking the Libya model. It's like he wants Iran to get nuclear weapons because the Libya model means you give up your deterrent and then you get destroyed. So what else is Iran going to conclude from that? So it's almost as if Netanyahu is trying to encourage nuclear proliferation. Here's alone Mizrahi. He's an Israeli critical of Netanyahu. Milikovsky. And that's Netanyahu's original name. He changed it to sound more Middle Eastern. So Milikovsky now tells the Israelis in Hebrew, that Israel only allows the US And Iran to reach a Libyan model kind of agreement whereby all nuclear related labs in Iran will be physically destroyed by outside forces under American supervision. The whole purpose of that visit was to deliver Trump his orders on Iran moving forward. And, you know, Trump saying that Israel will be a leader if we strike Iran, that does not inspire confidence that Trump is acting on his own. And is not in fact following orders from Israel. Lindsey Graham is really excited about this Libyan model. He says, I totally support a diplomatic solution with Iran that would follow the model used by the international community in Libya. Of course he does because Lindsey Graham loves regime change. So of course he wants the Libya model. And the irony here is that Trump once criticized people invoking the Libya model. Okay, this is Trita Parsley pointing this out. This is what Trump said about John Bolton. When John Bolton pushed for a Libyan style solution which Netanyahu is now pushing for. Here's what Trump said. What would Bolton, one of the dumbest people in Washington know? Wasn't he the person who so stupidly said on television Libyan's solution when describing what the US Was going to do for North Korea? I've got plenty of other Bolton stupid stories. So that was Donald Trump in 2020 calling out John Bolton for proposing the Libyan solution, which is exactly the same solution that Benjamin Netanyahu, Lindsey Graham and other warmongers are proposing now again, I'll.

[Unknown Co-host]

Say it again, wouldn't it be great if that guy was president? That guy is not president. That's the guy people thought they were voting for and he's betraying maga. And I want to see MAGA stand up in mass and to oppose Donald Trump's Israel first policy which leads to more intervention, more war. Why the this whole. I've heard people say, well Iran has to be dealt with. No, just, just like the Yemen doesn't have to be dealt with. No, they don't. They're not our problem. They're not our problem at all. Iran is not threatening to attack us. They're not. That's not our problem. And if we weren't there threatening to bomb them, Israel would have to be become a good neighbor to their, to the other countries around them. But because they have the, the full force of the United States military, they, they're the terrorists. They're the terrorists. The United States is the terrorists. We're the terrorists in Iraq, we're the terrorists in Libya, we're the terrorists in Syria, we're the terrorists in Somalia. We're the terrorists in Yemen. Right now, the terrorists are us.

[Jimmy Dore]

Here is Iran's response to talk of the so called Libya model. This comes from the Iranian foreign minister. He says we will not allow Iran to reach the same fate as Libya in 2003. They can only dream of it. And again that's when Libya gave up its nuclear program and eight years later got itself bombed and regime changed and destroyed by the US under the Obama administration. And Iran is saying, no way that's happening again.

[Unknown Co-host]

So if Iran is able to get hypersonic missiles, which the United States doesn't have, they have hypersonic missiles that we don't have, why is it so hard for them to obtain a nuclear. North Korea has nuclear weapons. I don't understand why it's so hard for Iran to acquire these things.

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, they banned it. They have a fatwa against it. The Ayatollah issued a fatwa against having nuclear weapons. And according to the most recent US Intelligence assessment just came out a few weeks ago, they do not have a nuclear weapons program. But it's Israel and the US that are encouraging to change their, to reconsider that by constantly threatening them, including by now bringing up the prospect of being the next Libya.

[Unknown Co-host]

So that's the next war. So enjoy your. So all the people who say, oh, we gotta. The Houthis, we gotta do something that you enjoy your next war. If you're. If the whole point of Donald Trump's victory in 2016, a big part of it, was that he was an anti interventionist. He criticized the people for bringing us into the Iraq war. It was a blunder. We shouldn't be there. We should get out. And he just, it's just a complete betrayal. You should feel like a chump that you voted for Donald Trump. You should feel like a chump and you should stand up against it. I'm doing what I can. I'm using my platform to, to call him out for his complete betrayal of what he ran on, for his complete betrayal of America first, his complete betrayal of free speech, his complete betrayal of anti interventionism and, and the MAGA movement. So now it's up to MAGA to stand up. I know Charlie Kirk actually already has. Charlie Kirk gave a great statement about how this Iran fiasco is misguided and it's a big misstep and mistake. Tucker Carlson, same thing. Yep. And so the. I'm, I'm appreciative of those kind of people with those kind of voices. You know, what we need is someone like Tulsi Gabbard, Dan Bongino, Cash Patel, someone else inside the administration to break and say something. But I don't think that's ever going to happen.

[Jimmy Dore]

Donald Trump at the White House announcing his hopes for the Pentagon a $1 trillion budget. That's right, $1 trillion.

[Donald Trump]

Great things happening with our military. We also essentially approved a budget which is in the facility. You'll like to hear this of a trillion dollars. One trillion Dollars, and nobody has seen anything like it. We have to build our military and we're very cost conscious, but the military is something that we have to build and we have to be strong because you got a lot of bad forces out there now. So we're going to be approving a budget and I'm proud to say, actually the biggest one we've ever done for the military.

[Jimmy Dore]

We're very cost conscious, but we're gonna push through $1 trillion for a Pentagon that can't even pass an audit.

[Unknown Co-host]

So this is directly. Again, no one voted for this. People voted for the exact opposite. Trump ran it as an anti interventionist Trump. In fact, a few moments after he was sworn into office, he was floating the idea of cutting the military budget by 50% and continued.

[Jimmy Dore]

We got that clip, Jimmy. Let's listen to him say it. Just, just exactly as you said right after he took office. This is what Trump said.

[Donald Trump]

First meetings I want to have is with President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia, and I want to say let's cut our military budget in half. And we can do that. I think we, and I think we'll be able to do it.

[Unknown Co-host]

So what the, so what the f happened? So that was what. Why, why say that and then do the exact opposite? What is the, what is the point of what I, I honest. Again, a guy, for a guy who's not running for reelection to go down as the biggest military spender. What do you get out of that and this whole thing? We have to rebuild our military. No, we have to get rid of like I would say get rid of 800 of the 900 military bases we have scattered around the world. We still have military base in Japan. We still have huge giant, a city in, inside Germany. I've been there. They have their own hospitals, they have their own casinos. The military in Germany. We have, I mean, I've showed the, the video of all the, the points of the 800, 900 military bases the United States have scattered across the world. It's unbelievable. And so that's. If you want to rebuild the military, how about you stop overextending them? Which is the way all empires, this is the way all empires fail. So all that money they just saved through Doge, they're now putting it right back into the Pentagon, which is the exact opposite of what Maga thought they voted for. The exact opposite of what everybody thought they voted for. And he's, he's pulling an Obama, he's betraying his base and what he ran on. That's that's all. That's it. That this is 100%.

[Jimmy Dore]

And, you know, he's not just going back on what he said recently about cutting the Pentagon budget. He's also going back on what he said previously when he openly criticized the military industrial complex and called them out for profiting off of wars. Here's Trump back in 2020.

[Donald Trump]

I'm not saying the military is in love with me. The soldiers are the top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that.

[Unknown Co-host]

Make the bombs and make the planes.

[Donald Trump]

And make everything else stay happy. But we're getting out of the endless wars. You know how we're doing.

[Jimmy Dore]

No, we're not getting out of the endless wars. In fact, now we're spending a trillion dollars on the Pentagon that he just said there doesn't like him because he wants to end the wars and therefore cut off the profiteering from the weapons companies that make the bombs that the Pentagon uses.

[Unknown Co-host]

So that raises the budget somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 billion. Imagine if they took that $200 billion and invested it in infrastructure in the United States. Just imagine if they'd instead put $200 million into, I don't know, bullet trains or clean water schools. And, you know, how about I live in California. How about, I don't know, off the top of my head, how about 10,000 fire trucks? You ever think of that filled with water? Wouldn't that be amazing? Instead of, or are still renting planes that the big. I forget what they call them, but the ones that pick up scoop the water scoopers, we rent them from Canada. How about we buy a couple for ourselves here in California, you know, California, the fifth largest economy in the world. Yeah. Imagine if they just took that money. Imagine if they took, so, $200 billion. Imagine if they took 2, 200, 100 of the top cities in the United States and gave them each $2 billion to spend on their own cities. That would be to fight homelessness, to hire more firemen, hire more teachers. How about, you know, in Finland, they have three teachers in every classroom. Right. Which is why they're all always at the top of the list of academic achievers. Right. In the United states, they have 40 students per, per class. Right? In Finland, they have 20. And they have not only everybody, every one of those teachers has a master's. They have three teachers in each class. So we could, we could. There's, there's lots of things that. That'd be a Great jobs program, by the way. Lowering the class sizes, hiring more teachers. That'd be a great jobs program. So. But instead we're going to take it and put it right in. The least efficient way to boost the economy is war spending. That is the least. It's been studied over and over, is the least efficient way to boost the economy. And yet that's the only idea they seem to have. They never want to spend money on its people. And this is the way all empires end. We're, we're still building military bases. They just put three new ones over in the Philippines. It's, it's, they're not, they're not stopping. And then, plus, we, there's all the military bases that we don't know about that are secret. So it's, again, it's just a num. It's a betrayal of what he said again. Right? You just showed it. It's not. So. I, I just don't understand what happened to him from 2020 or even 2025, when he said he wanted to reduce at 50% to today. What, what happened? Who got to him? What, what, did somebody offer him stock at Raytheon? What happened? What happened?

[Jimmy Dore]

Here's another clip, Jimmy. This from 2019. And I believe that this comment from Trump made him the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to acknowledge the military industrial complex. This is when Trump is in the White House during his first term. Listen, what he said, reassure people you're.

[Unknown Co-host]

Not looking for some kind of conflict in Iran.

[Donald Trump]

Well, I'm the one that talks about these wars that are 19 years and people are just there. And don't kid yourself, you do have a military industrial complex. They do like war. You know, in Syria, you do have.

[Jimmy Dore]

A military industrial complex. They do like war. And here he gives an example of one such case with the caliphate.

[Donald Trump]

So I wipe out 100% of the caliphate. That doesn't mean you're not going to have these crazy people going around blowing up stores and blowing up things. These are seriously ill people. I don't want to say, oh, they wiped out, you know, ISIS, but I wiped out 100% of the caliphate. I say I want to bring our troops back home. The place went crazy. They want to keep. You have people here in Washington, they never want to leave. I said, you know what I'll do? I'll leave a couple of hundred soldiers behind. But if it was up to them, they'd bring thousands of soldiers in someday. People will explain it.

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, this is a.

[Donald Trump]

You do have, you do have a group and they call it the military industrial complex. They never want to leave. They always want to fight. No, I don't want to fight. But you do have situations like Iran. You can't let them have, have nuclear weapons. You just can't let that happen.

[Unknown Co-host]

So that's an example, I think, of what people liked in 2016 where you didn't come over. I haven't changed. Traditional Republican.

[Donald Trump]

No, but I haven't changed.

[Unknown Co-host]

Well, yeah, I wish that guy was president. Wouldn't it be great if that guy was president? That's the guy people thought they were voting for. That's not the President we got. So it's, he, you know, I saw Dave Smith talk about this and it's, Trump is wrecking, he has a mandate and he's wrecking it there. It's, he's wrecking his mandate on free speech at the behest of Israel. He's wrecking his, his mandate on being a non interventionist at the behest of Israel. And now he's wrecking his mandate on reigning in the military industrial complex by his own hand, increasing the, the, they can't pass an audit. They don't even know what they're doing. I mean, really, you're, you're. If you think it's bad about all the, the trans ballets that USAID was funding, imagine if we actually found out what they were doing at the Pentagon, which we'll never find out. So.

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, Jimmy, Jimmy, don't worry, don't, don't worry. Because Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says this in response to Trump's announcement. Thank you, Mr. President. Coming soon, the first trillion dollar Pentagon budget. President Trump is rebuilding our military and fast. And then parenthetical PS we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely on lethality and readiness. So don't worry. Every taxpayer dollar in that $1 trillion will be spent wisely, according to Defense Secretary.

[Unknown Co-host]

I wish someone would ask him, who is this enemy that you're rebuilding the military for? Who is this who? We don't have an enemy. No one's ever, no one's threatening to attack us. No one. The only people that ever attacked us are people we invented, which is Al Qaeda. And who said we invented them? Hillary Clinton. So it's, and it's also amazing that Al Qaeda and ISIS never attack Israel. That's another story. But who is the, who is the enemy that this is all about? Who is, is Canada, is Mexico. No one's threatening to invade us or bomb us. This is all just a money funneling operation. He used to talk about in 2019. Talked about it in 2020. He talked about the undue influence of the military industrial complex. They never want to leave. And here he is doing the exact same thing. It's a mental illness. Hey, Become a premium member. Go to jimmy dorcomedy.com sign up. It's the most affordable premium program in the business. All the voices performed today are by the one and only, the inimitable Mike McRae. He can be found at mikemcrae.com that's it for this week. You be the best you can be and I'll keep being me. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Do not do that. I'm not.

[Jimmy Dore]

I'm not.

[Unknown Co-host]

I'm not. I'm not.

[Jimmy Dore]

I'm not.

[Donald Trump]

I'm not.

[Unknown Co-host]

Freak out. Do not freak out. Hi, I'm Chris Gethard and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone. I tweet out a phone number. Thousands of people try to call.

[Charlie Gasparino]

You talk to one of them.

[Unknown Co-host]

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