3639 - Saudis Turn on Trump; DCCC Meddles in California w/ Mohammad Ali Shabani, Randy Villegas

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Majority Report with Sam Seder

Episode 3639 | "Saudis Turn on Trump; DCCC Meddles in California"
Airdate: May 7, 2026
Guest: Mohammad Ali Shabani (Amwaj Media), Randy Villegas (CA-22 Congressional Candidate)
Host: Emma Vigeland (in for Sam Seder), with Matt Binder, Brian, Brandon

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Episode Overview

This episode features in-depth political analysis centered on two major topics:

1. Shifts in Middle Eastern geopolitics following Saudi Arabia’s reported refusal to support Trump’s military ambitions in Iran, with journalist Mohammad Ali Shabani providing expert insights.
2. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s controversial intervention in a California House primary, discussed with progressive candidate Randy Villegas. Additionally, the episode opens with commentary on UK politics—specifically the rise of the Green Party and persistent centrist failures, along with a discussion on media narratives around anti-Semitism.

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Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. UK Political Landscape, Media, and Antisemitism (02:41–28:37)

Mass Dissatisfaction with Centrist Parties

• Labour and the Tories face rising public dissatisfaction as the UK grapples with ongoing cost of living crises.
• The far-right Reform Party and the resurging Green Party are gaining traction, highlighted by “the biggest test” for Labour since 2024.

The Greens, Zionism, and Media Smears

• Zach Polanski, Jewish leader of the UK Green Party, addresses media accusations conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

• Media manipulation: Host Emma and panel dissect Sky News’ Trevor Phillips’ framing after a violent incident in Golders Green.

  “He's accusing him of claiming that the nature of the attacks is all in their head.” – Emma Vigeland (12:56)

  “You will not hear about the Muslim man at all in the framing of this horrible, violent incident.” – Emma Vigeland (12:56)

• Discussion on shifting definitions of hate crimes and the erasure of anti-Zionist Jews from mainstream Jewish narratives.

  “Why is my Jewish identity being erased from this conversation?” – Zach Polanski (16:06)

Media’s Double Standards and Antisemitic Caricatures

• Emma highlights actual antisemitic depictions of Polanski in the British press while criticizing their silence when directed at anti-Zionist Jews.

  “Look at these anti-Semitic caricatures of him. The Mail, the Telegraph, the Sun… they literally photoshopped his nose larger.” – Emma Vigeland (19:12)

Broader Implications

• The panel equates the deliberate media conflation of Judaism with Zionism as itself an antisemitic act and calls for solidarity with the UK Greens.
• Parallels are drawn between UK and US discourse, particularly the weaponization of accusations of antisemitism to suppress dissent against Israeli policy.

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2. Main Interview: Mohammad Ali Shabani on Saudi Arabia, Trump, and Shifting Alliances (29:04–59:47)

Saudis Block Trump’s War Plans

• Bombshell: NBC and independent reports suggest Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have blocked US access to airbases supporting Trump’s “Project Freedom” in the Strait of Hormuz.

  “The Saudis are becoming more positive on diplomacy with Iran and they're trying to help facilitate that.” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (30:12)

• Saudi leadership feels US security commitments have proven unreliable—Trump’s interests are perceived as focused on Israel, not Gulf allies.

  “Frankly, he doesn’t really put Gulf Arab interest very high on his agenda.” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (31:53)

Saudi-UAE Rift and Regional Strategy

• Explanation of the differing strategies: UAE leverages substate actors and seeks to be a global financial “playground,” while Saudi Arabia pursues traditional state alliances and territorial integrity.

  “UAE wants to be a place where foreign capital can park itself… Saudi Arabia is vast and more interested in formal relationships to preserve their territorial integrity.” – Emma Vigeland (41:17)

• The Abraham Accords, ongoing competition for business (e.g., multinational headquarters), and the impact of the Gaza conflict have all pushed Saudi Arabia to reconsider its support for US military action.

Israeli Prioritization and Trump’s Inner Circle

• Discussion of Jared Kushner’s influential (and controversial) proximity to Netanyahu and the appointment of Foundation for Defense of Democracies figures to US-Iran negotiation teams.

  “We have an actual card-carrying member of FDD supposedly negotiating with Iran. It's not just Kushner…” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (43:06)

Strategic Implications of Base Closures

• If confirmed, Saudi closure of airspace/bases means the US will rely more on Israel and the UAE, raising new logistical and security concerns for the region.

  “If you have a setup where the Saudis are seeing that… they’re not really providing the security dividend, they may even invite attack… maybe that’s not a terrible idea.” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (49:16)

• Possible long-term result: US military presence consolidates in Israel, further eroding Arab confidence in the relationship.

China’s Emerging Role

• China increasingly asserts itself in the region, refusing to honor US sanctions on Iranian oil and wielding its Security Council veto power to block interventions.

• Prospective roles include mediating nuclear negotiations, supporting regional trade, and brokering security arrangements.

  “The Gulf is a big, big trading partner of China… Gulf energy doesn’t go to America — it goes to China and India.” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (53:10)

• The panel contemplates whether the region will realign around new axes, with China rising as a counterweight to US influence.

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3. Interview: Randy Villegas – DCCC, Corporate Power, and Progressive Politics (59:49–75:10)

DCCC Meddling and Local Outrage

• Randy Villegas, progressive Democratic congressional candidate, details frustration with DCCC backing his opponent despite his grassroots momentum and working-class platform.

  “This is just a perfect example of how DC elites and insiders are so out of touch with people who are actually on the ground.” – Randy Villegas (61:18)

• Villegas positions himself against corporate PAC money, citing his opponents’ funding from major corporations and AIPAC.

  “Tell me who you’re taking money from and I’ll tell you who you’re taking orders from.” – Randy Villegas (62:42)

• Specific instances of opponent’s flip-flop positions on Palestine and voting records that align more with Republicans.

Grassroots Policy and Values

• Villegas, a college professor and son of immigrants, leans into his experience as an educator—advocates free K–12 and college education, universal pre-K, and child care.

  “I tell my students on day one, if you feel comfortable, bring your kids to class. I’ve literally held toddlers and lectured at the same time so that my students could continue taking notes.” – Randy Villegas (68:10)

• Strong support for Medicare for All, emphasizing its critical impact in the Central Valley and criticizing “half measure” alternatives.

  “Every year 66,000 people die because they don’t have health insurance or because they were underinsured… and that is why I unapologetically support Medicare for All.” – Randy Villegas (70:39)

Housing and Infrastructure Policies

• Supports high-speed rail with accountability and proactive mitigation for gentrification; calls for action against corporate landlords and private equity in housing.

Call to Action

• Villegas directs listeners to his site (Randy.vote/majority) to volunteer or donate, affirming his campaign’s small-donor model.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Centrists can't govern. They might be able to win an election. They can't govern." – Brian (08:23)
• “The erasure of anti-Zionist Jews from the perspective of Jewish people as it relates to the state of Israel is infinitely more anti-Semitic than anything coming out of pro-Palestine protests.” – Emma Vigeland (20:07)
• “If you remove targets from our soil, maybe that’s not a terrible idea… What they’re getting is to be a second-rate ally. That’s problematic for them.” – Mohammad Ali Shabani (49:16; 46:03)
• “You can’t allow DC elites to establish what’s good for our own communities.” – Randy Villegas (74:08)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:41 – Emma Vigeland opens with UK election analysis and Green Party discussion
• 11:23 – Sky News–Zach Polanski anti-Semitism interview dissected
• 19:12 – Exposé of antisemitic caricatures in UK media
• 29:04 – Interview with Mohammad Ali Shabani on Saudi-Gulf geopolitics
• 31:53 – Critique of Trump’s Gulf policies and shifting alliances
• 43:06 – Kushner, FDD, and US negotiating team composition explored
• 49:16 – Strategic impact of Gulf bases’ closure, US military posture
• 53:10 – China’s emerging regional role, oil security, and the UN
• 59:49 – Interview with Randy Villegas: DCCC interference in CA-22
• 62:42 – On corporate money in politics
• 68:10 – Villegas on the educator’s struggle and policy priorities
• 70:39 – Medicare for All: local and moral imperatives
• 74:08 – Campaign call to action

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Tone and Language

• Critical, irreverent, and passionate—consistent with Majority Report’s independent, progressive stance.
• Guests bring expertise (Shabani) and grassroots activism (Villegas).
• Conversations are pointed, fact-driven, and openly skeptical of centrist or establishment narratives.

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Summary Takeaways

• Middle East Turmoil: Trump’s impulsive military maneuvers have eroded Gulf Arab confidence, driving a wedge between the US and historical allies. Saudi Arabia’s refusal to support further strikes on Iran symbolizes a possible regional reorientation—with China’s influence mounting.
• Media Manipulation: Mainstream British (and by extension, US) media’s weaponization of antisemitism charges against critics of Israel—and their erasure of anti-Zionist Jewish voices—is called out as deeply dishonest and, itself, antisemitic.
• Progressive Primary Battles: The DCCC’s continued preference for establishment-aligned, corporate-backed candidates over grassroots progressives reflects ongoing rifts within the Democratic Party, even when local support clearly favors the latter.
• Policy Focus: The episode spotlights deeper progressive priorities—healthcare, education, housing—illuminating their concrete impact on communities and exposing corporate and establishment obstacles to genuine reform.

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Further Information

• Mohammad Ali Shabani’s journalism at Amwaj Media (link in show notes)
• Randy Villegas’ campaign at randy.vote/majority

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Transcript

[Emma Vigeland]

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[Matt Binder]

the

[Emma Vigeland]

Majority Report with Sam Cedar. It is Thursday, May 7, 2026. My name is Emma Vigeland in for Sam Cedar and this is the five time award winning Majority Report. We are broadcasting live steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America, downtown Brooklyn, usa. On the program today, Mohammed Ali Shabani will be back with us, journalist and editor of Amwaj Media to talk about the latest on Iran and some Gulf state allies turning on Trump. And later in the show, Randy Villegas, candidate for Congress in California's 22nd district, will be with us. Also on the program, the Saudis spank Trump, forcing him to suspend Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz by reportedly cutting off access to their bases. Trump's negotiating team is now pushing him to accept a deal he already rejected because it was too similar to Obama's nuclear deal. A supposed Epstein suicide note has been released, found by his cellmate, the former cop. Serving life. Commerce Secretary, New York cop. By the way, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admits extensive ties to Epstein in a closed door house oversight testimony. Democrats described him as sweaty and nervous. I would have liked to see it. Trump's former ICE deputy director loses her congressional primary in Ohio, a sign that immigration may not be the motivating issue the GOP wishes it were in 2026.

[Matt Binder]

Affordability.

[Brian]

Whoa, whoa, sorry, I mixed that one too loud.

[Emma Vigeland]

Portability. Don't look up old videos of his mom talking because it sounds exactly like that. But anyway, sing songy thing. Tennessee is the latest state to push gerrymandered maps that carve up their lone majority black district. John Roberts relatedly says the public is wrong to view Supreme Court priests, I mean justices, as political actors. Thank you. Okay, Trump's DOJ sues UCLA for reverse racism against white and Asian students. And the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is now suing the New York Times because a white man didn't get a promotion. RFK Jr pushes to deregulate tanning beds, removing the skin cancer warning so teenagers can use them. This could have red pilled me at 16 years old in New Jersey when I very much enjoyed that. Maybe, maybe use the fake, fake ID to go to tanning beds. Allegedly, Trump's new Surgeon general pick has some deleted posts criticizing Maha's junk medical guidance. Kamala Harris tells donors that the DNC should release the buried at 2024 autopsy. And lastly, the FBI is investigating the Atlantic journalist who reported on Cash Patel's party habits. All this and more on today's majority report, also known as an Emmajority report. It is Thursday. Hello everybody. Hello Matt. Hello, Brian. We've got a great show for you today. Let's get going because we do have a lot to get to. Today is election day in the uk. There's going to be a lot of local, mayoral. Local elections, mayoral elections, parliamentary elections across the country. This is the biggest test. And it seems like labor is going to fail for them since. For labor, for Keir Starmer, for that coalition since the general election in 2024. The theme really in the UK right now is mass dissatisfaction with the centrist parties, labor, the Tories. It's over the continued cost of living crisis which is being felt in the UK as well. But you see the rise of the far right Reform Party led by Nigel Farage, but also the resurgence of the Green Party, apparently. I didn't know that there was only one Member of Parliament who represented the Green Party for 14 years before this last election. And now they have four seats in Parliament and they're looking to build on that momentum. And that momentum is being recognized by a lot of these same forces in the UK that launched a smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and resulted in the expulsion of Corbyn and other anti Zionist voices from the Labour Party. So the.

[Brian]

Not just like anti Zionist, but basically the entire labor left. And so the centrists got their party and then you see what happens. They can't govern, Centrists can't govern. That's the real problem. They might be able to win an election. They can't govern.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. And so the Greens, the Green Party have. They have a new leader elected late last year, Zach Polanski. He's an anti Zionist Jew. And the Greens are vocal about things like, you know, anti austerity politics, taxing the rich, also environmental issues issues. But the Gaza genocide in particular has been a real standout issue for them, filling that void that was left by the expulsion of the left from Labor. And because the Greens are having success, I mean, it's actually astonishing what they're attempting to try here with a Jewish man who leads the Green Party. So there was a horrible incident, attack in Golders Green. It's an area of the. Of the uk. There's that there, there's a large Jewish population there. Two Jewish men were stabbed by this man who is from Somalia, but has a documented history of severe mental health issues and was recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. He's also suspected of stabbing a Muslim man that he knew earlier in the day. Keep that in mind because you will not hear about the Muslim man at all in the framing of this horrible, violent incident. Now, you're going to see this exchange here between the leader of the Greens, Polanski, and Sky News, Trevor Phillips. So Sky News, the presenter here Trevor Phillips. Fun fact about him, he's extremely close friends with one Lord Peter Mandelson. Apparently, Phillips was the best man at his wedding.

[Brian]

Oh, Jesus.

[Emma Vigeland]

People may remember Mandelson as the British official recently in the news because he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in his office because he was allegedly funneling sense. Well, we saw it in the files for funneling sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein while he was serving as business secretary in 2009 and 2010. So just to give you a sense of who this presenter is and the tone of how he's speaking to Zach

[Brian]

Polanski, last year, Keir Starmer putting him in charge of being ambassador to the US because he understands the dark arts. What did we think those were? And it turns out that when this Epstein stuff blew up last summer, those dark arts were actually embarrassing to Starmer. And he eventually had to say, well, maybe I shouldn't have put this guy exactly where I put him for the reasons, exact reasons I put him there.

[Trevor Phillips]

Let me put a thought experiment to you. Imagine you are talking to Shlomi Rand or Norman Shiner, two men who were stabbed in Golda's green. How do you persuade them that. That what happened to them was somehow kind of in their imaginations? I mean, what. You've got to be clear about this. You can't have it both ways. Either there is something real here, or you're saying that some Jewish people are not making it up, but they're imagining something that is real, that isn't real.

[Zach Polanski]

Trevor, that's an outrageous distortion of what I just said.

[Trevor Phillips]

No, I'm kind of repeating what you've just said, what you said earlier in the week and what you've just said to me.

[Zach Polanski]

Actually, if people are stabbed, then that is clearly unsafe. It's beyond unsafe. It's outrageous and it's horrific. The attack that happened, we should not and must not pit people facing physical violence against people's freedom of speech and ability to march in relation to a genocide in Palestine. The person who is conflating anti Semitism we have the Israeli government is Benjamin Netanyahu.

[Trevor Phillips]

No, no, no, no, let's not get onto that. I asked you about the feelings of the Jewish community in this country, of which I'm one of them, almost nothing to do with what you just started.

[Brian]

Okay, so I'm sorry for folks just listening. Trevor Phillips is not, as far as I know, Jewish. Looks like a black man from Great Britain. Polanski is a Jewish man. What are we doing with this entire conversation?

[Emma Vigeland]

He's saying that Polanski he's accusing him of claiming that the nature of the attacks is all in their head. I just listed the facts and circumstances of the attack on these two men. And I would argue that it's a lot more indicative of the framing, the dishonest framing that Phillips is trying to push here, that he excludes the alleged, the attack on the Muslim man that was associated with this mentally ill individual earlier that day.

[Brian]

I think Trevor Phillips knows that he's lying on exactly that point that you point out, because you look at the term skip here and how he said it. Imagine you were talking to Shlomi Rand or Normie Shine. Two men. He doesn't say the two men because the, you know, put that. That up. He doesn't say the two men because that would be a lie.

[Emma Vigeland]

He just says two men.

[Brian]

Trevor Phillips is a liar.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yep. It gets worse.

[Trevor Phillips]

And you seem still unsure whether you believe Jews in Britain are unsafe or whether you think actually it's not as bad as Trump people are making it out.

[Zach Polanski]

That's not what I said at all. And that's not what I said last week. I said there are people who are unsafe Jewish people. And that's clearly true. There are also people who feel like the marches are hate marches. I'm saying, as a Jewish person who marches with many Jewish people against the occupation in Palestine, when people that makes them feel unsafe, that's a distortion of what the march is.

[Trevor Phillips]

Okay, so you would reject the McPhersonquiry Stephen Lawrence inquiry definition of a hate crime as a crime. An incident where either the victim or anybody else who happens to be there perceives it to be crime motivated by hatred. Because there are thousands and thousands of Jews in this city, London, who think that those marches that you are saying you don't feel intimidated by, they think these are hate marches.

[Emma Vigeland]

Can you pause it for just a quick second? That is a real shift in the legal definition of a hate crime. Apparently all it takes is the perception of a hate crime for that to be proven. Now, given the distortion that we've seen when it comes to Zionism and Judaism being conflated, one should not use that as the standard because of the McCarthyite tactics of Zionists that are trying to make God protest to genocide equivalent to hatred. But just notice that subtlety there and we'll continue to play the clip.

[Trevor Phillips]

This is infantile from Trevor Phelps that feel intimidated by. They think these are hate marchers. So you're saying that the McPherson inquiry, the McPherson definition, which is what the government stands behind and which police operate Today that's wrong.

[Zach Polanski]

Well, as I repeat, as a Jewish person, I march with many Jewish people on those marches. Now there are already laws to deal.

[Trevor Phillips]

You're not all Jews. I'm just saying that currently the policy is.

[Zach Polanski]

But why is my Jewish identity being erased from this conversation? I'm not erasing so many people on those mosques.

[Trevor Phillips]

Don't try that one on me. My point is that currently the policy is that if somebody believes that an incident is a hate crime, whether they are a victim or not, it is recorded as such by the police.

[Emma Vigeland]

Investigated as such. Investigated as such. Okay, keep. I mean when he's. Don't try that on me. The gall.

[Brian]

The gall, yeah. The sense of condescension. It's going to come tumbling down for

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

people like this by the court.

[Trevor Phillips]

What you are saying is because you don't think it's a hate crime, it shouldn't be.

[Zach Polanski]

If hate crimes are being committed on the marches, then those should be dealt with and there's already laws for those. As I said, on those marches, I've not seen hate crimes and I think it's an outrageous slur on many, many people who are marching for peace. The world is actually upset and others

[Trevor Phillips]

who think it is.

[Zach Polanski]

What's wrong with them? Those are not hate marches.

[Trevor Phillips]

It's in their minds.

[Zach Polanski]

Well, I think if they've not seen evidence of them being hate marches, then I think yes, that is a yes.

[Trevor Phillips]

Okay.

[Emma Vigeland]

All right. So there you go. I mean the idea that we have to treat the hysterical pearl clutching of some of the most privileged people in the world who call these attacks living in the UK and the United States oftentimes in complete comfort because treating the idea that there are protests against the Israeli government in the streets as some sort of, I guess, example of their own victimhood. The fact that we have to treat the fragility of those people as equivalent to the victims of real hate crimes and actual anti Semitic hate crimes, let alone the countless Islamophobic hate crimes that we're seeing in the west and the daily slaughter of Palestinians and Lebanese people by the Israeli government as something of moral equivalence is an actual like it's, it's psychosis.

[Brian]

A lunatic with a like knife some people on the street. And you're using that to smear people who protest Israel's genocide in Gaza. Grow up.

[Emma Vigeland]

And I would argue there that Phillips is engaging in much more anti Semitism than any of the protests that include the many anti Zionist Jews who are consistently silenced both in the United States and in the UK when they speak out against Israel's genocide. Just around a few miles away in New York, there were protests outside of a synagogue in upper Manhattan that was hosting an illegal land sale in the west bank. And it was led by many Jewish New Yorkers protesting outside. And our press consistently frames it as an anti Semitic hate crime because that is the shield that is used by Zionists. They hold these events in synagogues in particular as a way to conflate opposition to political policy and nationalism.

[Brian]

Oh, you hate me for my religion with religion conquest.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yes. And so here's an example of actual anti Semitism in the uk. These same papers that are going after the Greens and that are going after Polanski here, you don't want to show this. Okay, here it goes. The Times. Look at these. Look at these anti Semitic caricatures of him. The Mail, the Telegraph, the Sun.

[Randy Villegas]

You can't argue that's slimer from Ghostbusters

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

either, because the forked tongue, I mean

[Emma Vigeland]

literally a forked tongue. They're exaggerating his nose.

[Brian]

The one in the top right is like photo. It's not even like a cartoon caricature. They literally photoshopped his nose larger.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah, yeah. So it's it.

[Brian]

The Brit needs to wake up from this foolishness and not let this happen to Polanski like it happened to Corbyn.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right. The erasure of anti Zionist Jews from the perspective of Jewish people as it relates to the state of Israel is infinitely more anti Semitic than anything coming out of pro Palestine protests. Because you hear Israeli nationalists speak in this way. We're not the Jews that are going to get walked all over. We're going to be the Jews that fight back. And you've heard tales of anti Semitism towards literal Holocaust survivors within Israel because they are accused of being the weak kind of Jew that allowed that to happen to them.

[Randy Villegas]

They called them soap.

[Emma Vigeland]

So if you are in wholesale favor of slaughtering Palestinian children, the implication from Zionists is that you are the kind of Jew that would be the victim of the genocide that we're perpetrating currently under the Nazi regime. And anybody that doesn't recognize the rich tapestry of, of. Of Jewish perspective, perspectives on Zionism, which has been like the history of Palestine, erased from the conversation in almost equal measure. You are funneling a. You are pointing a spotlight on Jews more broadly because the public is going to associate then just the people who you say are the only true Jewish people with one of the worst crimes in the history of humanity that we're seeing currently.

[Brian]

It's very simple. It doesn't matter what the polling is. Anti Zionist Jews are correct and Zionist Jews, which is to say ethno nationalist Jews, are wrong. And that has been true for the last 75 years and it will be true for the next 75, regardless of what actually happens on the ground.

[Emma Vigeland]

And so we'll see. I mean, Polanski himself, this is having an impact on him. Hopefully this does not necessarily hold. But this is from YouGov that since this Golder's Green attack in the smear campaign against him, his unfavorables have increased by 8 points. However, the Greens are still expected to gain many seats today, so we will see what happens when polls close. But solidarity with the Greens over in the UK and what they're trying to do, given the. Yeah, just the immense ability to coordinate on this as well, is shocking and it's almost jarring to see how. I do feel like America might even be further along right now than the UK is. Like they're still stuck in. They're a few years behind here.

[Brian]

I mean, you still have some Americans, even on ostensibly independent left media that do like to focus on the street level crime issue and use it as propaganda for politics. But it's crazy to see the effect that it has in the UK and

[Emma Vigeland]

because there's a history of anti Semitism in Europe that makes it more fertile ground here. I mean, like the Balfour Declaration coming out of the UK and the fact that they didn't want Jews there, so let's ship them off to Palestine and we'll create Israel is very much a part of that cultural memory.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

So

[Emma Vigeland]

who's the true anti Semite there? Certainly seemed like it was Phillips in that exchange.

[Brian]

He's a fascist.

[Emma Vigeland]

In a moment we're going to be talking to Muhammad Ali Shabani about the latest on the Iran war. But first, a word from our sponsors. We all know that health issues do not follow a 9 to 5 schedule. So you may have some after hours kind of health concern. You want to book a doctor, you want to do it ASAP. Well, with ZocDoc, having no time to book a doctor's appointment is actually no problem. Because when you don't have time for yourself and you're working until 11pm or something like that, or you cut your finger making a midnight snack, or you have a late night heart to heart with a friend who pushes you to finally see that doctor, well, you can go to Zocdoc anytime 247 and find a doctor. You love to make your health plan happen. Yes, even if it's way after hours. Zoc Talk is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality in network doctors so you can find someone you love. We're talking about booking in network appointments with more than 150,000 providers across all 50 states. You can do video visits, you can see your doctor in person when you're ready, you can see their real time availability and click to book instantly. No phone tag, no waiting around. That is the worst part honestly of booking a doctor's appointment is the phone tag. I just can't even believe how easy it is to book on zocdoc. This is how I found my dentist who I love continuously going to the dentist actually, instead of avoiding it. I know Matt, you found somebody through zocdoc as well and I know Sam when he was traveling and he had an issue with one of his crowns. He found the dentist easily on zocdoc. So it's great in a pinch and it's great to find somebody who you can see regularly. Appointments made through Zocdoc happen fast, typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. And as I mentioned, you can even score same day appointments. I'd like to thank zocdoc for sponsoring today's episode. Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com majority to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. That's Zocdoc.com Majority Z O C D O C.com Zocdoc.com Majority thanks to Zocdoc for sponsoring this message and you can find the link in the video and episode description and at Majority fm. And lastly, as we mentioned, Mother's Day is right around the corner. I got this for my mom I guess a few years ago at this point and it's perfect because Mother's Day gifts are about maybe one moment sometimes, but Storyworth makes it about so much more. Storyworth gives your mom a year long experience and gives your family a book filled with the stories only she can tell. Thanks to Storyworth for sponsoring the Majority report. Save up to $20 at storyworth.com majority here is how Storyworth works. Each week Storyworth sends your mom the mom in your life, your grandma, your wife sends her a question about her life. She responds however she wants, writing back over email or web voice recording or new this year, a guided phone call so you've got no apps, logins or tech hassle. Storyworth makes it easy for her so she can focus on the joy of remembering and reflecting. You get each story she tells as she tells it. And after a year, Story Worth compiles everything, her words, her photos, her life into a beautiful hardcover book. It's a wonderful memento for her and for the family. And new this year is Storyworth's unlimited plan. Buy it once and you'll be able to give Storyworth Memoirs to friends and family all year. Plus it comes with their newest features and multiple full color book copies. That means you can get all your Mother's Day gifts for your mom, grandma and any mom figures in your life. Plus you can take care of the Father's Day gifts while you're at it. Storyworth has been it's great. It's the kind of nostalgia gift that is perfect. And plus, you don't want to think like, oh, I wish I asked my mom this. I didn't know this about her history. Storyworth puts it all together and it's a wonderful way for the whole family to celebrate each other and your mom. This year, give mom a gift that helps her reflect on her life with a fresh perspective and and gives your whole family the gift of her stories. Mother's day is Sunday, May 10th. Order right now and save up to $20 at StoryWorth.com Majority StoryWorth.com Majority Thanks StoryWorth. Get up to $20 off at StoryWorth.com Majority link down below in the video and episode descriptions and at Majority fm. Quick break and when we come back, we'll be joined by Muhammad Ali Shab.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Sam Live.

[Emma Vigeland]

We are back and we are joined once again by Muhammad Ali Shabani, journalist and editor of Amwaj Media, a platform focusing on Iran, Iraq and the GCC countries. Mohamed, welcome back to the show.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Thank you for having me.

[Emma Vigeland]

Thanks for coming back so soon. But needed your expertise today because there were some bombshell reporting from NBC News yesterday. Trump was purportedly kind of forced to reverse course on Project Freedom, which was how he branded their attempt to blockade the blockade. The Saudis then, according to NBC News, cut off access to their air bases because Trump announced so called Project Freedom on Truth Social on Sunday, did not consult Gulf state allies, according to this reporting. And then Ryan Grim of Dropsite News confirmed this and reported that Kuwait did the same, cutting off American access to their airspace for logistical support. What are you hearing on that front?

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

So we've seen a number of developments in recent days indicating essentially that the Saudis are becoming more positive on diplomacy with Iran and they're trying to help facilitate that. And there's another big sign of this for instance, the Iranian foreign minister a couple of days ago tweeted that thanks to Pakistan's efforts, Iran wants to continue diplomacy with Trump. And then he went out and the foreign minister tweeted that Project Freedom equals Project Deadlock. And then we saw President Trump go out with this tweet, essentially reversing himself from Project Freedom and also referring to Pakistan. And then we saw the Pakistani Prime Minister thanking Trump for taking that step, and incidentally, also thanking Saudi Arabia. So the Pakistani Prime Minister was the first kind of head of state or foreign minister who went out and said something like that, indicating that the Saudis really are making an effort to avoid a return to war. This is what we see in the public realm privately. What I'm hearing about the Saudis is that they think that Iran has a shot at avoiding a return to war. They say that they do not have any interest in return to chaos. They have no interest in state collapse in Iran. So this is a Saudi position. Now, why have they kind of adopted this position? I think that's the key question. I think at the outset of this war, or at least in the weeks prior to it, what we saw was essentially Saudi Arabia trying to have it both ways. I think there are many reports going out there saying that, you know, you should hold Iran to account, you should attack them, but probably not go all out, probably don't have an all out war. And I think probably at that time, they didn't expect Iran to lash out the way it did. And here we are two months later, they've taken massive damage. They're seeing the dynamic whereby President Trump, frankly, he doesn't really put Gulf Arab interest very high on his agenda. He's shown that he's willing to take action with little thought about how that impacts kind of his Arab allies. Right. So I think he's shown he's quite sensitive to Israeli interests. Whereas if you're a Gulf Arab ally, if you're, say, Saudi Arabia, who's shown over the years since Trump's first term that you have a very special relationship with him, you keep hosting him, you have this sword dance for this guy, you promised him hundreds of billions of dollars in investment in arms deals. And then when push comes to shove, when there's an actual war, there's little that President Trump will do to protect you. And I think this is their number one concern right now, that if he is to launch an operation like this, that they're covered because they see Iran again lashing out, even though Iran has denied that it was behind the attacks on the UAE in recent days, we saw that almost immediately. When the US Tried to blockade the blockade, there were drones and missiles immediately hitting the uae. And again, UAE is another Arab ally of the United States. And I think what they're seeing essentially, again, is this kind of fragility or rather unreliability of US Security commitments, at least under Trump. So I think zooming out and seeing the big picture, I think the reason for Saudi Arabia ostensibly, again, I think this isn't confirmed, but it would be in line with what I'm hearing about them adopting a more pragmatic line in the absence of real kind of US Security commitments, that if we're going to go behind you and permit another operation, another major phase of this war by allowing you to use our facilities, our airspace, et cetera, to attack Iran, obviously Iran is going to respond, and then we would need some kind of real commitment from you.

[Emma Vigeland]

Right.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

And if that commitment is not really there, which we're seeing in the uae, that's a problem for the king.

[Emma Vigeland]

You mentioned the uae, and I'm wondering if I know that your site has a piece on Waj Media on the Saudi Emirati rift, and the UAE did announce that it was leaving opec, which, you know, they're annoyed by. The limitations that OPEC puts on them is, I guess, their stated reason for that in terms of their oil production. But they also take every single opportunity available to them to cozy up to Israel and the United States states as the state that is closest to the west in the region. And so we've seen in the past that Yemen has been at the center of the Saudi Emirati rift and the proxy battle there. But now Sudan has also moved to the center of that rift. Could you speak a little bit about the different approaches that the UAE and Saudi Arabia are taking when it comes to the United States and how they may be positioning themselves differently within the region, given the fact that both of them have taken hits because of the lack of will from Trump to defend the Gulf allies in the way that he does Israel.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

So I think broad terms the difference, the main difference between Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the way they approach regional affairs in country and conflict zones such as Yemen, such as Sudan, such as Libya. Even I think scholars, they basically say that the Emiratis prefer working with substate actors, and they're content with that. They see that kind of relationship as fulfilling their interests without having to take the full responsibility of a state. And so I'll give you an example of that. For instance, in southern Yemen, something called the Southern Transitional Council, the stc, these are rebels who essentially wanted to have a separate state in the south of Yemen, which was the state before 1991. And obviously Saudi Arabia, I think, is much more intent on having a unified state in Yemen. Similarly in Sudan, the main support, allegedly for the rapid support forces RSF has come from the Emiratis as well. Kind of similar dynamic in Libya. And what you see from all of this is that the UAE strategically is looking a lot at stuff like port access. So that's where the STC in Yemen makes sense to have port access, not just on the Yemeni mainland, but also on the island of Socotra, etc. And I think also with Sudan, they were looking at something like that down the line, obviously Libya, on the Mediterranean as well. So they see this kind of geostrategic image of themselves as kind of, I don't know, trading nation, if you want to look back in history. I don't know, something. They call themselves Little Sparta, but combine Little Sparta with the Phoenicians, so to speak. Right. So you have this kind of image as of their vision for how they want to get involved. Saudi Arabia is very much intent on territorial integrity, working with central governments. And you're seeing this in Yemen, you're seeing this in Sudan where they work with the Sudanese armed forces, et cetera. So I think they have a fundamentally different approach in how they work with substate actors or in how they look at things like territorial integrity. So that's with reference to their approach to the region in general. When you look at the alliance networks that they also kind of see for themselves in the future. Clearly there's been a huge shift since 2020 when Bahrain and the UAE went ahead and signed what's called the Emirati, sorry, the Abraham Accords, which is the normalization deals with Israel. We've seen other nations also kind of hang on to that, which also includes Morocco. Incidentally, there are some claims that elements of Sudan, the Sudanese authority wanted to maybe join, that they never, I think, really came out of that in a confirmed manner. So I think they're looking at a kind of Abrahamic axis. They're seeing themselves again as a node in a bigger transit network connecting India to Europe via UAE Israel. And they wanted Saudi Arabia in that vision as this kind of overland connection. Right. So this is geo strategy, if you kind of zoom out quite a lot. And I think Saudi Arabia a couple of years ago at least, wasn't really opposed to that prior to the Gaza war. I Think it saw itself on a trajectory in the medium term normalized with Israel having its flagship NEOM project on the Red Sea, part of his Vision 2030 economic diversification program being part of this kind of vision of connectivity, non oil renewable energy in regional integration, connecting the Middle east closer to Europe, et cetera. But then Gaza happened, right? And just, you know, their kind of line on Palestinian statehood and with Israel has been quite consistent over the past couple of decades. It essentially said, you know, land for peace or something to that effect. And I think what Israelis came up with is this essence that, you know what, we don't have to give land for peace. We can just tell the Arabs make peace with us. And the Abrahamic courts kind of gave them that impression. I think that kind of after Gaza made it impossible, I think for the Saudis to proceed on the trajectory they were. And now with the eruption of the Iran war and we're seeing what I mentioned about the undermining of US Security commitments. And again, this is not a something that happened in the past couple of months. I think equally important are the events of 2019 when Saudi oil facilities were struck in an attack claimed by the Yemeni Houthi movement. However, Iran was blamed for that. The main thing is not who attacked this oil facilities. The main thing is that the United States, the Trump administration during his first term, did nothing. It didn't attack Yemen, it didn't attack Iran. So again, it showed the Saudis that the security commitments that they were counting on weren't really there, right? And right now what you're seeing is this kind of emergence geostrategically of a kind of a Pakistani, Saudi bilateral security pact, defense pact, and trying to peg that to other actors in the region, such as Turkey, such as Egypt. And again, if you kind of zoom out and you look at Iran and its allies in the region, in Lebanon, in Iraq, et cetera, as one kind of actors. Second axis would be kind of Saudi, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt. Then the third one would be the uae, Israel and other kind of substate actors such as Somaliland in the horn of Africa, etc. So when you zoom out and you see these patterns, you're seeing that the reason Saudis and Iraqis are clashing right now is because they just have different visions for where they see themselves in the future, regional alliance networks in the region, how they approach different actors, whether it's substate actors, whether it's central governments, how they approach things like territorial integrity, and then finally, without being long winded, basically going to the United States and positioning all of this within. How does the Trump administration view all of this? Right, so this is a big question. I think there's a lot of layers to it.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, I mean, so if we're kind of the big theme here is the UAE wants to be a place where foreign capital can park itself, where you can have substate actors operating and funneling money through, and Dubai can be the play, the playground for the international elite. And given the size of the uae, that makes sense. And that it is. That's its role in the region. And. But Saudi Arabia is vast in its territory, in its territory, and that they are more interested in, in more formal relationships to preserve their territorial integrity. It would make sense that perhaps they're hedging their bets with the United States right Now because the U.S. despite Trump's multiple corrupt deals with the Saudis, despite Kushner's multiple corrupt deals with the Saudis, the Israeli relationship is taking priority. And you can see this within the context of the negotiations. We spoke to Jeremy Scahill last week and his impression from the Iranian negotiators, they basically say that they think that Kushner, when they're talking, is going to Netanyahu and funneling information and is basically his de facto representative. People will remember that Benjamin Netanyahu slept in Jared Kushner's childhood bed, and their families are immensely close. So does this accelerate? I guess a. I don't know does. Are the Saudis essentially saying, like, we've done so many damn corrupt deals with this family, what is it getting us?

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

I mean, that's a good and sensitive question you raise. I think one other data point to conclude in all of that is that two days ago, reports emerged that the foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank very close to Israel, apparently is seconding. I mean, sending somebody to the negotiating team to Witkoff's office. So now you have an actual card carrying member of FTD supposedly negotiating with Iran. It's not just Kushner, it's not just Witkoff. They also have an actual member through ftd. So, I mean, the composition of the US Negotiating team, it's quite clear, I think, in terms of how they view the region. I think Kushner and FTD alike are in favor of war with Iran, at least so far. And we've seen other kind of policies they kind of adopt. For instance, the Israeli attack on Hezbollah, the killing of Nasrallah in 2024. Kushner kind of won out ecstatically on Twitter, writing publicly that you know, this is a great day for the region. This is game changing. We took out basically Iran's ability to hit Israel. This is great. And essentially paving the way for an actual attack on Iran. So I think from the Saudi perspective, another element to the relationship with the uae, talking about business. So what you said, I think, is correct about how the UAE views itself in terms of being kind of this platform or, or playground for capital, for human. Human, human capital as well. To move all this talent, all this money to pool in one place, that business model relies on its ability to attract money and people. Right. So to do that, you need not just security. You can't have missiles and drones being fired at you. That's Number one. Number two, right now, as part of the Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia under MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince, you know, they're very keen on attracting business that's non oil. And one of the steps that they've taken in recent years has essentially been to tell multinationals, if you want to do business in our country, in the Kingdom, we need you to move your headquarters, your regional headquarters to Riyadh. Right. So this puts them in direct opposition with the uae. They're going after the Emirati business model. And Saudi economy is much bigger and much more resources, bigger country as well. Right. So there are so many layers to how Saudi Arabia views itself and its relationship with the United States. We have to put all of that, I think, within the context of this rivalry with the UAE and understand why do they have this rivalry, apart from all the geostrategic stuff I explained? Obviously there's a business side to it. It's about the economic model. They understand they're not going to have oil forever. So if they're not going to have oil forever, then what are they going to survive on?

[Brian]

Right.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

They need to have a non oil economy. And what MBS Saudi Crown Prince is trying to do is to attract all this business that currently is concentrated in the uae. So there is that element to it. And then of course, you have people like Kushner. There are people sitting in Washington and kind of, you know, obviously, I think they all try to game out for themselves the best possible deal they can get. And they don't limit themselves to any one actor. I think the Kushner family has been doing business with most of the GCC states during the time they were out of office. This is quite clear, this is on the record, this is public knowledge. I don't know about the precise scale of that business or how it may impact US Government policy. But what I can tell you is that from the Saudi perspective, when they look at relations with the United States, it's about security commitments first and foremost, that all this kind of goodwill that they're showing, their willingness to work with the US in the region at great risk. They need to see something at the end of this tunnel, some kind of light if they feel that they are, despite this massive investment they've made in relationship with the United States and also their personal relationships, which you mentioned, which individuals like Jared Kushner, Right. At the end of all of that, what they're getting out of it is to be a second rate ally, not a first rate ally like Israel, but a second rate ally. That's problematic for them from their perspective. You see, they're not getting the kind of bargain that they were hoping for or maybe even expect.

[Emma Vigeland]

So that is, I guess it brings us back to the beginning of our conversation why this is so significant, the reporting about them cutting off access to their air bases so the United States couldn't use their airspace for logistical support. Can you explain why that is so significant and if there is precedent for the Saudis making that kind of gesture towards the Americans?

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

So there's several things to keep in mind about. First and foremost, I want to say that I don't think this report hasn't been fully confirmed yet. Until it's been fully confirmed, I think we should treat it like a report. I think it's a credible report, but we need to see data. There are flight trackers out there that claim so far that in the aerial operations related to Project Freedom that there have been two main kind of countries used as air bases for US Operations? Number one is Israel and number 2 is the UAE. Now, what is the significance of Saudi Arabia telling, for instance, President Trump that you can't use our soil, our territory for offensive operations against Iran? Number one, it, as I mentioned, it concentrates US Options elsewhere. So most likely we're going to see US Forces being concentrated in countries like the uae, which is going to put UAE in a very vulnerable position, even more so than now, potentially. Number two is that we're seeing during this war, since the beginning of the war with Iran, we've seen a lot of concentration of US Firepower in Israel. We're also seeing more and more talk from Israel about an openness to just having a US Base in Israel officially rather than just kind of having them.

[Emma Vigeland]

It seems really redundant. It seems a little redundant, but okay,

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

you know, but no, but it matters. Why does it matter because in the talks with Iran and they have those negotiations about the nuclear program, about the region, one of the Iranian asks is, for instance, we want you to withdraw your forces from our vicinity, not just at sea, but potentially also in neighboring countries. Right. This is on the Iranian agenda. I don't know how successful the Iranians are going to be with that demand. But if you have a setup again where the Saudis are seeing that, hey, these US bases we've been hosting for a couple of decades, paying all this money, investing all this kind of stuff, they're not really providing the security dividend we were counting on that we were expecting. In fact, they may even invite attack because they're targets. So if you remove targets from our soil, maybe that's not a terrible idea. Right? So this is one way of looking at it. If you then have a situation where the US has to rely on other countries in the region, other allies. So let's say that there are Arab allies such as the uae. How do you connect the UAE in kind of Israel? If they're going to have the Israeli node as well, then obviously they have to use Iraqi airspace, Kuwait airspace. How are they going to physically move between? If Saudi Arabia tells them you can't use our airspace, what are they going to do? That's a logistical problem. But beyond all of that, if you zoom out even more, you kind of say, okay, the U.S. relationship, security and military relationship with all the GCC countries, after all these decades, it's going to fundamentally change that. They're going to start to shut down or significantly reduce US spaces in these countries. Just the other day Washington Post came out and said that the damage to these US bases is in the billions. Several sites are even questioning whether it's even worth rebuilding them. So, right, we have all this infrastructure that's actually destroyed right now. So it's not like US forces tomorrow are going to go back to all these countries and kind of go back to business as usual. There's going to have to be massive investment. So the question arises here is, you know what, maybe just leave it as is, at least at some of these places. And then if you have a relationship where you say, okay, well the United States is going to maintain a military presence, but we're going to actually shift some of that away from the Arabian Peninsula towards Israel and they set up an actual military base, major military base within Israel that's more easier to defend, that may be further away from Iran, but then still makes Iran reachable, etc. It can fulfill several different criteria for the US but where does that leave the Gulf Arabs? Where does that leave Arab allies of the United States? Does this actually make them more confident about US Commitments or less confident? And if it's even less confident, again, it feeds into this kind of dynamic we have where they promise investment in the US Promise to buy US Weapons. Was these relationships, as you mentioned, with US Decision makers, at least people in circles of power in Washington. Right. All of this is so kind of, it's so convoluted, all of it. But I think if you really look at the big picture, there's a lot of shifts going on and we're going to see all of this, I think, play out in the next couple of months.

[Emma Vigeland]

Lastly, the shift that you're speaking about, I feel like we can't leave our conversation without talking about this upcoming meeting with Xi Jinping that Trump has in a week or two. You know, Trump had wanted to go into these China talks with a very strong negotiating position. And given the obvious humiliation in Iran and the fact that Trump is forced into a position where he's effectively having to surrender here, at least based on what we know as of today, May 7, you know, over the weekend, China told its refiners to ignore US Sanctions on Iranian oil buyers. This is after the US Sanctioned a Chinese oil firm in April. What does this mean for China's position in the region? And what is your sense of their relationships with the Gulf states as the one? I mean, the United States one is on shaky ground.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

So the Gulf states, you know, they've invested quite a lot in their relationship with the US over the decades. I mentioned that they have options when it comes to the military side of things. But at the end of the day, all of their hardware, all of their gear is American, It's Western. So it's all hardwired deep into their system. It's not set up in a way that can pick up the phone and call China next week and just dump their current supplier. Right. This is a long term kind of process. And they've already begun the shift of diversifying. The Gulf is a big, big trading partner of China. China relies on the Gulf Arab states very much for its energy security. So this is a factor that I think a number of US Administrations have brought up in a kind of negative way in the sense that they're saying the United States military is providing security in the Gulf so China can safely get energy from the Gulf. Gulf energy doesn't go to America. It goes to China and India. Those are the main customers Right. So the previous administrations call this kind of Chinese freeloading, etc. And then now you're looking at, okay, what potential role can China play in the region if the US Is to not fully withdraw or reconfigure kind of its posture in the region? I think this is a major question, and some of the conversations I've been hearing in recent weeks have been interesting. For instance, about how Iran approaches this issue of charging tolls for ships that traverse the strategic Strait of Hormuz. So I think if you kind of Iran has managed to brand this toll system that they have in mind that they envision for the future, there's a kind of fee of sorts to maintain security, making sure that all these ships can safely get out of the region, get to China if they kind of frame it in the right way, potentially as kind of environmental cleanup or what have you, something that's politically palatable. I think the Chinese will actually probably be open to that. And I think that's probably among the things that the Iranian foreign minister discussed with the Chinese during his recent visit to China. Another thing that China could do, I think potentially on Iran and the regional track, is a role in the nuclear side of things. So one of the main sticking points in Iran US Negotiations is the fate of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. And the Trump administration wants Iran to hand that over, and Iran's not going to do that. So the question is, what can Iran actually realistically do? They've offered to blend it down to a rate to a kind of grade that's less dangerous, so to speak. Another potential middle way that could maybe satisfy both sides is if Yuan were to transfer this kind of stockpile to a third country, it could be the Russia, it could be maybe China. And it needs to be a big enough country that can provide some kind of guarantee that if Trump is to renege on any deal that may be signed, that China can actually return this material back to Iran or make sure that Iran doesn't lose its leverage entirely. So I think on the nuclear side, on the trade side, on the security side, there's many big roles for China to potentially play. I think, finally, the number one, I think, at least so far, since February 28, since the launch of the Israeli US war on Iran, the most important role that China has played has, in fact, been in the UN Security Council. A couple of weeks ago, Bahrain, with the support of other GCC states, really pushed for a UN Security Council resolution which would have provided a mandate for essentially the United States to Take a lot of military action within the Gulf in the name of supporting energy security and those kinds of things, protecting shipping. And China went in and vetoed that. And I think they were driven by a number of kind of considerations. Number one, I think the one is put a lot of pressure on the Chinese to actually do something because China has been, frankly, not very active, proactive since this outbreak of this conflict. Number two, I think together with Russia, they saw what happened in Libya more than a decade ago. There was a mandate to have intervention there, and they saw it as being abused by Western powers to oust an authoritarian leader that the west didn't like. And they're concerned about repetition of that, that if such a mandate is granted by the UN Security Council and it's got the stamp of China and Russia and hold on, they may be actually abused by hostile powers, Western powers, to go out and take out an ally of ours in the region. And this comes to the third point. I think, for the Chinese, one of the major geopolitical developments in the world over the past year or so has been the ousting of Nicolas Maduro. In fact, the seizure of Maduro physically by the United States. And since he was physically taken to New York, put into a prison. One of the things that the Trump administration did was to tell the Venezuelan government, tell Delsey, you can't have Chinese investment in your oil sector, and we don't want you to sell any oil to China. Venezuelan oil exports to China are zero right now. All that stuff, I think it was about, if not a plurality, maybe even a majority of Venezuelan, well, until last year, used to go to China. All that stuff is now going to Europe and the U.S. so if there's a situation where China is not really practically taking action to protect its, its partner in the form of Iran, what is there to say that, let's say tomorrow, if Iran falls for whatever reason, and then you have a situation where Trump administration tells the next Iranian government, the next Iranian state, and not just the next Iranian state, but also the GCC allies, it's Arab allies, you can't sell oil to China, what happens then? I think for China, this is a massive, massive problem. So I think the way China is looking at the region right now, when it comes to the Gulf Arabs, when it comes to Iran, it sees a kind of multidimensional chess game. So in the legal realm, in US Security Council, where there is still US Pressure to have some kind of mandate to restrict Iran and what it can do in the Gulf, I think it looks geostrategically in terms of energy security, how is oil moved out of the region? How is it going to ensure the security of that in an environment where the US May have less appetite to continue what it's been doing for the past couple of decades, which is again, what previous US Administration called Chinese freeloading, that the US Military is spending all this kind of blood and treasure and making sure that Chinese companies can have safe oil. That in itself, I mean, it's crazy in some ways if you think about it. So again, there's there's just so many layers to it, but I think China can definitely play a bigger role in the region.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, always informative. Mohamed Ali Shabani Amwage Media Journalist and Editor of AMWAJ Media. You can find a link to Mohammad's work in the video and episode descriptions. Thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Thanks.

[Emma Vigeland]

Of course. So quick break, folks, and then we're going to be speaking to Randy Villegas, running in California's 22nd district in the Democratic primary for Congress. Be right back. We are back. And we are joined now by Randy Villegas, candidate for Congress in California's 22nd district. Randy, thanks so much for coming on the show today.

[Randy Villegas]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Emma Vigeland]

Of course. So your race has recently made its way into the news because the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the dccc, has decided to weigh into your primary. You have been endorsed by Bernie Sanders and other unions like the uaw, and you've got a good shot. But interestingly, the Democratic Party, or at least the Congressional Campaign Committee, its official arm, has endorsed your opponent. What do you make of that outcome?

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, I think this is just a perfect example about how D.C. elites and insiders are so out of touch with people who are actually on the ground. This was a decision that came as a bit of a shock to me, considering by all metrics we are beating my opponent, despite the fact that I launched this campaign on day one saying we weren't going to take a dime of corporate PAC money. Unlike my opponents, we have actually been the top fundraising Democrat in the race. And we're knocking on doors or pounding the pavement. We're meeting folks where they're at. We're the only candidate who's had town halls in the district, the only candidate that's actually accepted invitations to debate and to be a part of political forums. And meanwhile, my opponents are nowhere to be found. And so for the DCCC, for D.C. elites to put their thumb on the scale or their entire hand on the scale A month before ballots drop, I think, tells you everything you need to know about how these insiders are out of touch. And clearly they wouldn't be doing this if they thought that my opponent could win outright on her own. But they want somebody who's going to be bending the knee to party leadership, someone who's going to be bending the knee to corporate interests. And they know that we will be a strong independent voice for the Valley.

[Emma Vigeland]

What are some of those corporate interests that are funneling money, your opponent's coffers, or at the very least, to spend on behalf of your opponents? I know that there's been some shady APAC money that's tried to enter into the race.

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah. And, you know, this is something I talk about all the time on the campaign trail. My mom always taught me growing up, vime con quienandas y teire qui neres, which translates to English, means, tell me who you're with and I'll tell you who you are. And I think the same thing can be said about politics. Tell me who you're taking money from and I'll tell you who you're taking orders from. So that's why I'm proud to say I've never touched a corporate pack check and I never will, because I want to be accountable to our communities and not corporate interests. And meanwhile, both of my opponents in this race have taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same corporations that are ripping us off. They've taken money from PG and E, from SoCal Edison, from Amazon, Walmart, some of the biggest union busters in the country. They both took money from UnitedHealth, a corporation using AI algorithms to deny elderly people's claims so that they could continue to profit while our families suffer. And that's another reason I support Medicare for all. But there's a total of, I think, 53 corporate PACs that I've given to both my Democratic and Republican opponent in this race, Jasmy Baines and David Baladao. And it's clear who they're working for. Right. And is why they are afraid to actually show up to any debates or to show up to any forums because they know that they can't answer questions and they're afraid to answer questions. How is it that they have time to meet with corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors but don't have time to actually meet with the people they still claim they want to represent? And similarly, Valadao has been AIPAC's puppet since day one. Jasmee Bains has also sought support from Democratic Majority for Israel. And I don't know if you're aware, she flip flopped on this issue. When we were at a political forum for an endorsement, I think it was the president of Young Democrats, somebody asked us point blank, do you consider what is going on in Gaza a genocide? Yes or no? And I immediately of course, answered yes, as I've always been outspoken about this issue. And to my surprise, she answered yes. And I say to my surprise because she co sponsored a bill in the assembly that the CTA was against and many educators were against that was essentially trying to censor teaching about Palestine. And then now, after getting endorsed by Democratic Majority for Israel in an interview with Politico, she says she misunderstood the question and doesn't consider what's going on at genocide.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah. And Juniper Jay writes in to say, to correct me, it's not a Democratic primary, it's a jungle primary. I misspoke. Apologies about that. Cuz in California you're all bunched together in a primary. And so it's right for you to mention both your Republican opponent here and Baines, who is the candidate that the DCCC is backing. Now I just want to touch on this more because as you mentioned, she flip flopped on the issue of the Gaza genocide, but. Or this. I'm sorry if I don't know the exact gender. I'm not Baines's gender. But Baines is a woman.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Yes.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yes. Okay. I wanted to make sure that was correct. Baines was also, I read, the only Democrat to vote against Prop 50.

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, that's correct. And sometimes I wonder if I'm running against a Democrat or Republican or two Republicans because, you know, during the last Trump administration, I think she donated almost 1000 bucks to current Congressman Vince Fong, who's a Republican in the neighboring district when there was a bill in the assembly to have stronger reporting requirements where pesticides are sprayed near schools, you know, where our children learn and play. She refused to support that bill. As ICE agents are terrorizing our communities and separating our families here in the valley and across the country, there was a bill to actually unmask those ICE agents and she also refused to support that bill. And to your point, when it came to Prop 50, our way against fighting back against this administration's gerrymandering in Texas and all across the country, she was the only Democrat to vote no on Prop 50. And so we're here to say that we need Democrats who are going to fight and not fold against this administration.

[Emma Vigeland]

What was her reasoning to vote against Prop 50? It feels like, that's like every single Democrat in the country is in favor of fighting back against Republican gerrymandering.

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, not my opponent. She, I think, said some statement about an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. But this isn't the time for political platitudes. This isn't the time to be countering out when we have democracy on the line for our entire country. And how is it that she's happy to show up when it's time to protect real estate and corporate interests from owning single family homes? She's there to show up when it's there to protect corporate interests, but she's not there to show up for our own communities.

[Emma Vigeland]

You just to talk a little bit about your history, you're an educator, you're a son of immigrants, you were born and raised in California and you understand what your community needs. But I guess I would love for you to touch on your background as an educator because we've seen the gutting of public education in this country and unfortunately it has been somewhat of a bipartisan issue over the 21st century, including like the promulgation of charter schools in certain parts of blue states and the funneling of public funds to private institutions. What's your experience been as an educator on that front? And where do you stand on improving public education K through 12? And then you can even touch on your stance on college for all, for example.

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, education was a life changing issue for me. You know, as I got older, I learned to love school both because I was hungry for knowledge, but also because I was hungry for food. And in a working class family, that's one of the places where I knew I would have a warm, fresh meal every day. And now you have Republicans trying to cut school meal programs all across this country. They want to cut billions over the next decade. You know, I went to Bakersfield College, CSU Bakersfield, and then by the grace of God, got a full ride scholarship to get my PhD. But I knew my heart was always back here in the Central Valley, in the place that had given my family and I so many opportunities. So I came back. I became a professor at the age of 25, didn't have to drop out of my PhD program. Covid was going on and worked on it simultaneously. And then I got elected to the school board in 2022 and reelected in 2024. And I've been on the front lines of these issues both as a student and now as an educator, seeing the struggles that my students encounter every single they, for example, the college that I teach at doesn't have a child care center. And I tell my students on day one, if you feel comfortable, bring your kids to class. I've literally held toddlers and lectured at the same time so that my students could continue taking notes. And, you know, why is it that my students don't have those resources? Why is it my students are terrified about transferring to a four year public university? Can't afford it. And, you know, we used to have tuition free education here in California and across the country. And politicians like my opponent, Jasmine Baines in Sacramento, decided to shift that burden onto working families as opposed to having the state invest into our youth and invest into our future. And so we need to make sure that we are stopping these attacks that we're seeing on education, you know, from the abolishment of the Department of Education, which has funds for, you know, special education and for Title 1 schools. But we need to go further. We should be talking about tuition free public education at all public universities, colleges and trade schools. We should be talking about universal TK across this country. We should be talking about actually investing into our communities so that our students have what they need to succeed.

[Emma Vigeland]

Talk about your proposal for health care. You've been a strong supporter of Medicare for All. There are a lot of people that want some sort of half measure and are proposing Medicare for all who want it, or Medicare for y', all, which is an unfortunate proposal by Talarico in Texas. Why is it so important for you to stand as a strong supporter of Medicare for All?

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, because here in the Central Valley, we're already on the front lines of these health care cuts, right? This big bullshit bill is going to cut $880 billion to go give $1.1 trillion of tax cuts to billionaires to the richest people in this country. So not only are we going to reverse these tax cuts, but we need to do more. Right? And I'll say Valada voted for this in a district where two out of every three of our constituents relies on it. And the ironic part is that he has a health care plan as a member of Congress, and I think he needs to use that plan to schedule a physical because he needs to look for that spine that he's been missing these last few years. But to that point, you know, let's talk about where we are right now. Right? 2 out of every 3 bankruptcies in this country are tied to medical debt. It's not avocado toast or millennials overspending on coffee. It's health care. Right? Every year, 66,000 people die because they don't have health insurance or because they were underinsured, not because we couldn't treat them, not because we couldn't save them, but because of a system that denied them care. And that is why I unapologetically support Medicare for All, because I believe health care is a human right. The people in my district here in the Central Valley will drive seven to eight hours to Tijuana to go get cheaper dental work done or cheaper prescription drugs or cheaper health care. And that shouldn't be happening in the richest country in the history of the world. But you know, I'll tell you, these solutions are not going to come from my opponents who are bought and paid for by Big Pharma and by these health insurance companies that want to continue to rip us off.

[Emma Vigeland]

Lastly, here you we have someone writing in cranky in California says, does Randy have any thoughts on California high speed rail, a large chunk of what is under construction run through his district. Do you have any thoughts about high speed rail, how you would balance your constituents needs with the desire to build out more infrastructure?

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, I do support high speed rail, but with stronger accountability. I mean, we've seen the cost of this project explode over the last couple of years, in the last decade or so. But more so, I also want to make sure that we're being proactive when it comes to the issues. I really appreciate that high speed rail is focused here in the Central Valley to start, but I also know that, you know, when we begin connecting to other parts of the states, how can we be proactive on these issues so that we can address issues that we're seeing in the Bay Area and la, issues like gentrification and people being priced out of their own homes. How can we guarantee that people who live here in the Central Valley, who work here in the Central Valley can continue to afford their homes? And so that's why I'm a strong proponent of also making sure that we get, you know, private corporations out of buying single family homes. We've got Wall street buying up entire neighborhoods trying to force people into becoming renters. And those should be homes that should be allowed for our families, not for corporate interest. And you know who agrees and disagrees with me on this issue? President Trump actually agrees with me on this issue right when he truth or tweeted out a couple of months ago about getting private equity out of housing, whether he'll actually do something about it. Of course we haven't seen much. But you know, who disagrees with me on this issue, my corporate backed Democratic opponent when there was a bill in the legislature to only allow corporations to own it up to a thousand single family homes, she voted against that bill.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Right.

[Randy Villegas]

And this is another clear demonstration about, you know, this vote Blue no matter who isn't actually true. We need to have Democrats who are actually going to have the spine to stand up to corporate interests and to, you know, be a voice for our people.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, Randy, where can people learn more about your candidacy and support you in your race in California's 20 seconds,

[Brian]

of

[Randy Villegas]

course you can actually head over to Randy Vote slash majority if you want to contribute to our campaign. I'm proud to share that. You know, despite the fact that we're not taking any corporate PAC money, we are the top fundraising Democrat in this race. We've raised over $1.5 million corporate free, an average contribution of just about 50 bucks. And so I greatly appreciate your support. You can head to our website, Randy Vote and there are opportunities to volunteer for our campaign, including if you want to phone bank. You know, we're doing phone banking I think every Wednesday and Thursday. And for any of you here in California or the nearby areas, you can come down and knock doors with us. There's a couple organizations I think like See the Vote and Common Power who are going to be on the ground in the next few weeks and they're even, you know, offering to help folks with like hotels and rental cars. So come and support us. We need you in this fight and we can't allow DC elites to establish what's good for our own communities.

[Emma Vigeland]

Randy Villegas, running in California's 22nd district. We'll put a link to that down below wherever people are listening to or watching this. Thanks so much for your time today. Really appreciate it.

[Randy Villegas]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Emma Vigeland]

Thank you. All right folks, with that we're going to wrap up the free part of this program, head into the fun half where we will read your IMs, maybe take your calls. We shall see see Matt, what's happening on Left Reckoning.

[Brian]

Left Reckoning. We had a very high performing episode this week with Emma Viglund of the Majority Report on the show talking about a number of things. What do we talk about? We didn't talk about the movie.

[Emma Vigeland]

We didn't. Even though I prepared for it.

[Brian]

I feel sorry that you've prepared for it but I felt self conscious about it and it didn't feel like we could. Maybe it wasn't just you, it was like Dan White, why am I programming this for my politics show in 2026.

[Emma Vigeland]

It's because you have special interests and that's okay.

[Brian]

Yeah, it's my special interest. But yeah, we talked about a lot of things, including NBA players watching their franchises explode in value as they are salary capped by the owners and getting conscious about that fact for a little bit. And as well as Zionist suppression of free speech. Em and I talked about Zionist suppression, free speech. Believe it.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Brian]

So I checked that out. And also thank Emma for including me in an Instagram post this morning because I am faster approaching now. My 10,000 follows because I woke up to like a. Like an 80 new ones. I'm like, oh, what happened? And it was because included me in.

[Emma Vigeland]

In the post with Abdul Al Said, which I'd posted before. But not a grid post.

[Brian]

Right. I got on the grid.

[Emma Vigeland]

You got on the grid. Yeah.

[Brian]

So yeah. Follow me on Instagram atla.

[Emma Vigeland]

All right. Hello, Brandon.

[Brandon]

Hello.

[Emma Vigeland]

Hello. And binder. But Brandon, what's happening on the Discourse?

[Brandon]

Well, I guess this week I'm coming to you live from the void.

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Brandon]

AKA as a cruise director on the Hantavirus cruise ship. Recently evacuated Hantavirus cruise ship, as you can tell by my headset. But I mean, we've just been really chopping it up, I think this week. The thing that I'm most excited for right now, as I make the thumbnail in the background of this conversation, is the PBD video I have coming out later today where they dissect the cause of the Daily Wire. Many people are calling it the failing Daily Wire. Why they are now the failing Daily Wire. And personally, I don't think there's any better group of people to discuss why a business failed than the business boys, as I like to call them.

[Emma Vigeland]

Okay, well, check out Discourse. Matt, what's happening? Matt Binder, I should say what's happening on your shows?

[Randy Villegas]

Yeah, sure.

[Emma Vigeland]

Just you could subscribe to YouTube.com mattbinder

[Brian]

to make sure you always know what's

[Matt Binder]

going on with my shows.

[Randy Villegas]

Like, for example, tonight you could tune in at 8:30pm Eastern time and check out Leftist Mafia.

[Emma Vigeland]

All right, do so. Do it. Do it, folks. All right, we are gonna head into the fun half. See you there.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Okay, Emma, please.

[Emma Vigeland]

Well, I just. I feel that my voice is sorely lacking on the Majority Report.

[Randy Villegas]

Wait, whoa, look, Sam is unpopular.

[Matt Binder]

I do deserve a vacation at Disney World. So, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome Emma to the show.

[Emma Vigeland]

It is Thursday. I think you need to take over for Sam. Yes, please.

[Matt Binder]

No, no, no, I'm gonna pause. You Right there. Wait, what? You can't encourage Emma to live like this, and I'll tell you why. So was offered a tour. Sushi and poker with the boys. Tour, sushi and poker with the boys. Who was offered a tour?

[Emma Vigeland]

Yeah.

[Matt Binder]

Sushi and poker with boys. What? Twerk, sushi and poker.

[Emma Vigeland]

Had Tim's upset.

[Matt Binder]

Twerk, sushi and poker with the boys. It was offered with twerk, sushi and that's what we call biz. Twerk sushi and poker would do. Boy sushi and we're gonna get demonetized. I just think that what you did to Tim Pool was mean.

[Emma Vigeland]

Free speech.

[Matt Binder]

That's not what we're about here. Look at how sad he's become now. You shouldn't even talk about it. I think you're responsible.

[Emma Vigeland]

I probably am in a certain way. But let's get to the meltdown here.

[Matt Binder]

Sushi and poker with the boys. Oh, my God.

[Brian]

Wow.

[Matt Binder]

Sushi. I'm sorry. I'm losing my mind. Someone's offered twerk, sushi and poker with the boys. Logic. Sushi and poker with the boys. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a kid. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a little kid. Had this debate 7,000 times. A little kid. I think I'm like a little kid. Think I'm like a dick. I'm losing my mind. So I'm not trying to be a dick right now, but, like, I absolutely think the US should be colliding on me with a wife and kids.

[Emma Vigeland]

That's not what we're talking about here.

[Randy Villegas]

Is not a fun job tour.

[Matt Binder]

That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Real thing. Willy Wonka. That's a real thing. That's that real thing. That's a real thing. That's a real thing. Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Rogan has done it again. That's a real thing.

[Emma Vigeland]

Oh, I think he might be blowing

[Randy Villegas]

it out of proportion.

[Matt Binder]

Real thing. That's a real thing. That's poker. Let's go, Joey. Sushi and poker. Take it easy. Sushi and poker. Things have really gotten out of hand. Sushi and poker with the boys. Sushi. You don't have a clue as to what's going on. Live YouTube.

[Emma Vigeland]

Sam has, like, the weight of the

[Randy Villegas]

world on his shoulders.

[Emma Vigeland]

Don't want to do this show anymore.

[Matt Binder]

Anymore.

[Emma Vigeland]

It was so much easier when the majority report was just you. You're happy.

[Matt Binder]

Let's change the subject.

[Randy Villegas]

Drew Rangers and Knicks are doing great.

[Emma Vigeland]

Now shut it up. You don't want people saying reckless things on your program.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

That's one of the most difficult parts about this show.

[Emma Vigeland]

This is a pro killing podcast.

[Matt Binder]

I'm thinking maybe it's time we bury the hatchet.

[Emma Vigeland]

Left his best it to work.

[Matt Binder]

Don't be foolish and don't tweet at me. And don't the way Emma has all of these people love it.

[Emma Vigeland]

That's for my heart is so. I wrote my honors thesis about it.

[Matt Binder]

She wrote an honest thesis.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

I guess I should hand the main

[Matt Binder]

mic to you now. You are to the right of the unformed policy.

[Emma Vigeland]

We already fund Israel.

[Matt Binder]

Dude.

[Emma Vigeland]

Are you against us?

[Matt Binder]

That's a tougher question I have an answer to. Incredible theme song.

[Emma Vigeland]

Hi, bumbler.

[Matt Binder]

Emma Viglin.

[Mohammad Ali Shabani]

Absolutely one of my favorite people, actually.

[Matt Binder]

Not just in the game like period.