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Good afternoon everyone. Lots of news to cover. I'm on a train so excuse any audio issues, but there is still a lot to break down from 8,647 being carved on a National Mall as Donald Trump's UFC fight is possibly in jeopardy because it may rain this Sunday to the Iran war, which now is targeting Elon Musk. As Iran says Elon Musk's business interests in the region are legitimate targets in Elon Musk was trolled today in Times Square with a giant inflatable ahead of an IPO that can make him the first trillionaire in the world. Screwworm Disaster Emergency response has been declared by the CDC and well, when it comes to the war in Iran, Trump says a deal is close and has called off strikes again, but this is now the 39th time in doing so. Make sure to like comment share and if you can't subscribe to support my work, my substack below today just today TikTok nuked a TikTok video about Epstein. Instagram started restricting some of my content as well. So censorship is alive and well. If you can subscribe to my substack to support my work and let's fight back. This is what the National Mall looked like today. As you can see, this photo was taken by Reuters. Authorities quickly responded as you can kind of make out, someone was trying to carve 8647 on the white House or sorry, near the White House on the National Mall right by the Washington Monument. And it comes as Donald Trump's UFC fight now has some Bud Light logos on it. The octagon has been fully built and constructed right outside of the White House on the South Lawn. This effort costs $60 million. Not your money, UFC money, but your money is going to protect it. Dhs, faa, A seven Federal Agency Response Task Force has essentially been empaneled to do the job that's gonna cost a lot of money. But the problem is we now have a nearly 80% chance of rain on Sunday when the fight is supposed to happen and so the fight may not actually go to plan. At the same time, Donald Trump today decided to call off strikes on Iran, saying based on the fact that discussions with Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved. I have as President of the United States of America, canceled the scheduled strikes and bombing against Iran this evening. Discussions and final points have been in both concept and great deal approved by all parties involved. But here's the problem he said this
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before comes as President Trump declares the war with Iran could be over within days as the two sides come closer to an agreement. But President Trump has also made similar declarations about the war at least 37 times before. So let's go live now to CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. So is this time any different, Kristen? I think that's the bottom line question here. Yeah. And I'm really glad somebody finally took the time to count out how many times because it felt like we were saying it every single day. And now I know it was at least 37 times in the last two months since this cease fire began.
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At least 37 times. And well, came today after Iran said, you know what, we may want to strike Elon Musk's business interests, saying that it has updated its bank of targets for further military operation, expanding it to all interests associated with economic holdings managed by Elon Musk in West Asia, including those located in Arab countries in the occupied territories. I spoke with Rebecca Bennett, who is a former Navy fighter pilot running for Congress In New Jersey, 7th congressional district, about it. Take a listen.
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Excited to be here with Rebecca Bennett, New Jersey 7th congressional district. If people don't know who Rebecca Bennett is and why she's running, what do you tell them?
D
Well, first of all, thanks for having me on. So I'm a former Navy helicopter pilot. I've been working in healthcare for the last few years. I'm a mom of two. And so what I tell them is that I've led in some of the most challenging environments that exist on this earth. I've led missions in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night, where there's no margin for error. I'm also a mom raising my two girls in the district. And I understand the challenges that we're facing because my family's dealing with them, too. And so it's about, you know, we have real problems in this country we need to solve and we need to actually go get things done. And so that's what I tell them.
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Navy FIGHTER pilot How do you feel about seeing our troops right now overseas in what could be another forever war?
D
Yeah, this one's really personal for me. You know, I deployed to the Middle east in support of the Afghanistan war, which is Operation Enduring Freedom. I personally flew and led missions through the Strait of Hormones where it was my helicopter in between the Iranian ships and the U.S. navy. And anytime we're going to go put service members in harm's way, there needs to be a clear motivation, clear objective and a clear exit strategy. And we're not seeing any of that from this administration. And they've been so incredibly cavalier about the loss of American life. It's just honestly disgusting. And you know, this is another point of Donald Trump ran on no more forever wars and lowering cost of living. He's doing the exact opposite right now. And so it's about making sure we're holding them accountable. And ultimately it's about, if you are the commander in chief, are you willing to look those family members in the eye and say that the loss of your loved one was worth it?
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What do you say to someone who says Iran can never have a nuclear weapon and that's why we have to be there right now?
D
I would say that we don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but this is why our allies are so incredibly important and we should have brought them to the table in the first place. And also, you can't just launch a war. There needs to be. There needs to be discussion. There needs to be buy in from the American people. And so to me, it's about, this is why we need our allies at the table. We should have used every single diplomatic resource available before deciding to use military force.
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If you are elected come November, come next year, would you support investigations into the President's lack of congressional authority in going to war with Iran?
D
I definitely would. I think that we are seeing broadly just this administration, the corruption and the lawlessness of it is honestly just breathtaking and on display. I mean, we just saw this morning that there's a fundraiser that's like what, a million dollars a person to. It's like just pay to play. I mean, it's just gross. They're just taking money, putting it straight into their pockets. And so we absolutely need to make sure that we are holding them accountable.
C
Now, your Republican opponent hasn't been seen publicly in a few months. Now, what are you hearing from constituents on the ground right now about his whereabouts and really what they're looking for in a member of Congress?
D
So we have not seen him in over three months. We don't know where he is. I do sincerely wish him well. I hope he's okay. He has a terrible record. I mean, he was the deciding vote on the one big beautiful bill, which is why tens of thousands of people in our district are losing access to their health insurance. He was nowhere to be found when DHS tried to put an ICE detention facility into our district. He was nowhere to be found when Trump held up the funding for the Gateway Tunnel, which is a critical infrastructure project for us. And he was actually not present in the district even before he disappeared. And he actually moved his district office to a part of the district that was more remote because people were going and protesting outside of his office. And so he has not showed up. He has not been there, he's not been present. And, you know, contrast that with me. I talk about my leadership as deck plate leadership because I show up and I listen. And it's how I was trained to lead in the military, is that you have to show up and listen and hear what the issues are so you can actually solve them. And so that's my commitment to everybody in the district, is that I will be there, I will show up, I will listen, I will fight for you as hard as I fight for my own kids.
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Rebecca Bennett, thanks so much.
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Thank you.
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Now, what Rebecca Bennett says is that this war is illegal, that she would not want to send her fellow service members into war. And, well, now it's impacting folks like Elon Musk. But that's not the only issue Elon Musk is facing today. Today, Elon Musk also faced massive protests in Times Square where a large inflatable statue appeared in the middle of Times Square. Take a look at this. It shows Elon Musk overweight, shirtless, several feet tall, in the middle of Times Square. This comes ahead of an IPO meeting tomorrow where Elon Musk may become the world's 4 first trillionaire. It even has a little tattoo referring to ketamine use, which Elon Musk frequents on his left shoulder. So Elon Musk didn't have that great of the day. So between Elon Musk and Donald Trump's stuff on the White House lawn, with the UFC fight, the 8647, and the likely failures of the upcoming next several weeks, there was a lot of news to cover today. We're going to do our paid subscriber live tonight as long as WiFi approves. As always, if you can, make sure to like, comment, share and subscribe to my substack link below. I also have another interview for you tonight with Chaz Mulder, who's running for Congress in Tennessee's 5th congressional district against Andy Ogles. So with that, here's my conversation with Chaz Mulder.
C
Excited to be here with Chas Mulder running for Congress in Tennessee's 5th congressional district. I gotta ask you, if people have never heard of Chas Mulder, what do you tell them?
E
Well, I would tell them a few things. One is I'm a husband of 20 years. I have three kids, age 16, 13 and 10. I'm the product of our local public school system in Columbia. It's a community where I'm born and raised or I'm currently the two term incumbent mayor, where I actually was elected in 2018 as the youngest mayor in our city's history. At the time, I was the youngest mayor in the state. I defeated a two term incumbent with 60% of the vote and incumbent community that voted for Donald Trump by 44 percentage points. And so we've won tough races and we win tough races because we try to bring people together. There's so much divisiveness in our politics today. I try to take the approach that my kids are watching and I want to make my kids proud. As a dad, that's what you want to do. And I don't think making my kids proud includes being so divisive and tearing people down. And so I've decided that I'm going to run a campaign that's going to try to build people up and focus on the issues that matter.
C
Well, as mayor, you're one of one. You're kind of leading the ship. Why would you want to go to Congress where you're one of 435 and good luck getting something passed?
E
Well, that's a good question. I do think that there will be an adjustment. I think mayors focus on solving problems. You know, I say all the time that potholes don't have partisan labels. When someone calls me at City hall about an issue that they have, I want to solve that issue for them. I don't look at the politics of it. I don't look to see if they're for me or against me. I look to try to say, okay, they came to me expecting a solution. I want to provide that for them. We don't see a lot of that in D.C. but to your point about, you know, being one of 435, I truly believe that one congressman does not have the ability to change the world. But if they treat the job seriously and if they love the place they represent, then they do have the ability to help make the place that they represent a little better. I want to make my community the best it can be to live and to work and to raise a family. And I think going to Congress will allow me to do that for my community on a little bit of a bigger scale.
C
So let's say you get to Congress tomorrow. What's day one look like? What are you focusing on?
E
Well, first I'm going to focus on just bringing a little decency to Washington, D.C. i mentioned I'm from Columbia, Tennessee. It's a small town just south of Nashville. I go to the same church today that I grew up in, where my wife and I are raising our three kids now. And I just think we need some folks that are willing to have important conversations, being adults in the room and recognizing what Howard Baker from Tennessee once said, that you listen to the other side because the other side may be right. I think right now we're too focused on being in trouble, entrenched with what a party should say or do, instead of focusing on recognizing that we can do better when we bring people together and bring different ideas to the table to solve problems. So that's the first thing I'm going to set the tone in that way. The second thing is I think we need to recognize that right now our farmers are struggling. Fertilizer costs continue to go up. All of their costs go up in the farming industry. I'm the mayor of a community where the Tennessee Farm Bureau headquarters is located, and I hear and see their concerns on a daily basis. Next week we're going to a forum, an agricultural forum. It's very important to our state, our state's economy. There are a number of counties in this district that are very rural and rely heavily on agriculture. And I think that we need to have some serious conversations about what policies Andy Ogles are supporting that are having a hurtful impact on farmers, on small businesses, and on a lot of people in between.
C
I gotta ask you about the decency part of things, because I think a lot of folks have heard this pitch of, let's bring it back to normal. Let's have decent conversation again. And then they look at the White House and then they see a president berating reporters. They see members of Congress like Andy Ogles introducing some of the wildest pieces of legislation you would ever see or think think of. And they say, I don't really want decency. I want a fighter. What do you say to that?
E
Well, I say that you can define a fighter in a number of different ways. And I think fighting for decency, first of all, is a noble fight to make. But a fight doesn't have to be hurtful words and harmful rhetoric. A fight can be sticking up for what's right and having conversations in a way that can be meaningful and that can bring people together to understand that it's okay to have differences. And, you know, look, it's not going to be just one person that's going to do this. I think it has to be a collective of people. And what I've been learning over the course of this week here and, you know, over the time running for office, is that a lot of people are really wanting that to return. Normal. What is normal? Will there ever be a normal? I think normal is an evolving term and it's. It's okay that we're not always in a normal state because perhaps, you know, it's good to progress as a country and in our conversation, but we have to have a good foundation for that progression. I do think that decency is still something that is worth fighting for. And, you know, there's a bunch of people that would handle things in different ways, and that's a good thing, too.
C
What does accountability look like to you?
E
Accountability looks like telling the voter what you believe should be the way that you are going to vote on an issue, for example, and understanding that even if they don't agree on that, they're going to understand where I'm coming from on a position I'm going to take. I'm not a big proponent of making promises. I don't believe in making a lot of promises because I believe that too many politicians make too many promises, which has led to a just lack of trust in our political system. When I was in high school, I ran for student body president and I promised that I was going to install bathroom stalls in the boys bathroom gym. Boys gym bathroom. Every day my mom, when I would go out the back door to go to school, would say, have you gotten the bathroom stalls installed yet? I didn't really know what she meant, but actually she was teaching me a lesson that you can't make a promise that you don't keep. And so sure enough, we ended up getting bathroom stalls installed. It was a little lesson I learned as the student body president of my high school. And it's a lesson that I've taken with me all the way. Voters don't necessarily have to agree with you on everything, but voters want to know why you're taking positions. They want to see you out in the communities. You know, Andy Huggles has not had any town halls since he's been in Congress. He's not explaining to the voter what's happening in the Middle East. Why are gas prices continuing to rise? Why? Why is inflation continuing to go out of control and costs continue to rise? Wages are remaining stagnant. Our veterans are not getting access to health care that they deserve and need. They're not able to afford their first home or second home. We should be doing more to protect those constituencies. And we just don't see a lot of that right now.
C
Before I let you go, I got to ask you. Tennessee Ruby Red State, Tennessee's fifth conservative district, Conservative leading district. Why should someone who has maybe 100 bucks to donate to your campaign versus say Virginia's second, which may be a little closer and voter breakdown?
E
Well, I think if someone believes that you have an opportunity to do something good by sending someone good to Congress, first of all, second of all, I think that this is a race that can be won because we are the right campaign at the right time for the right district. We've won tough races. As I mentioned, we defeated our two term incumbent Republican mayor with 60% of the vote because we brought people together. We focused on everybody. We wanted all of our community to succeed. We brought young people together, old people together. A community came together and united behind a cause because they knew that we could win and that we would do good things. That's what's happening here. We are building a coalition of a lot of different people, young and old, black and white, rich and poor, that are coming together to unite behind a campaign that has the potential to do something special by defeating someone who doesn't belong in Congress and sending someone who's going to work really hard to make things a little bit better.
C
Chas Mulder, thanks so much.
E
Thank you. Appreciate you.
B
Awesome.
C
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Episode Date: June 11, 2026
Title: Iran Threatens Elon Musk as Trump Caves Again
Host: Aaron Parnas
Main Guests: Rebecca Bennett (NJ-7 Congressional Candidate), Chaz Mulder (TN-5 Congressional Candidate)
In this fast-moving episode, Aaron Parnas unpacks a whirlwind of political, legal, and social news at the nation's intersection of war, business, and campaign politics. Amid ongoing tensions with Iran, the Trump administration’s ever-changing stance on military action, a viral protest targeting Elon Musk, and Congressional candidates weighing in on questions of war, legality, and American accountability, Aaron brings insider-informed clarity to an eventful news day.
[03:38–07:02]
[08:26–16:40]
In typical brisk, incisive style, Aaron Parnas spotlights the week’s biggest political and legal stories: the ever-spinning cycle of Trump’s war brinkmanship, the novel threats facing business titans like Musk from state actors, and how new voices like Rebecca Bennett and Chaz Mulder hope to restore accountability and common sense to Congress. The show distills a chaotic news environment into urgent, human terms—reminding listeners of the real stakes behind the headlines.
For listeners short on time, the interviews with Bennett (03:38–07:02) and Mulder (08:26–16:40) offer in-depth looks at the dangers of unchecked executive power, the risks of endless wars, and the enduring importance of local leadership rooted in service and accountability.