Cartel on Fire: Mexico’s Civil War Threat, Iranian Nukes, & Huckabee’s Middle East Blunder | Tom Bilyeu Show Live

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Cartel on Fire: Mexico’s Civil War Threat, Iranian Nukes, & Huckabee’s Middle East Blunder

Podcast: Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory
Air Date: February 25, 2026
Host: Tom Bilyeu
Panel: Drew, Tucker Carlson, Mike Huckabee

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Overview

This live episode of Impact Theory dives deep into the tumultuous state of world affairs, focusing on several explosive headlines:

• The fallout from the killing of Mexico’s top cartel leader and ensuing chaos,
• Iran’s accelerating nuclear ambitions and the muscular US response,
• Mike Huckabee’s controversial comments on Israel and the Middle East,
• A critique of bureaucratic absurdity in New York City.

Through expert breakdowns, panel debates, and audience engagement, Tom Bilyeu dissects the stories behind the headlines to question prevailing narratives and illuminate the complex realities shaping our world.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mexico’s Cartel Crisis: On the Brink of Civil War

• Cartel Rampage After El Mencho’s Death
  • El Mencho, CJNG leader, was killed in a government raid with substantial US intelligence and military support ([03:13]).
  • Within hours, the CJNG cartel launched massive, coordinated revenge attacks across a dozen Mexican states.
    • Methods: Burning vehicles into roadblocks, arson at businesses and public infrastructure, storming airports, attacks on security forces, and threats of terrorism against US border states ([03:50]).
    • Many tourists and locals stranded, escalating fears of a Mexico-wide civil conflict.
  • “They are a paramilitary group operating inside of Mexico. I’ve seen a ton of footage of them showing off their weapons, showing how organized they are, their uniforms. I mean, this is crazy.” – Tom Bilyeu ([10:14])
• US Involvement & Speculation
  • Recent creation of a US Counter Cartel Task Force played a central role ([06:05]).
  • Navy SEAL Team 2 arrived days before raid to train and support Mexican special forces.
  • Training included confiscation of soldiers’ phones due to widespread suspicion of cartel infiltration ([08:08]).
• Debate: How to Respond?
  • Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum’s reluctance for violent crackdowns drew sharp criticism.
    • “If you’re wielding a flamethrower… and I tell you to drop it and you don’t, you get shot. Not because you’re a narco terrorist, but because you’re actively dangerous right now.” – Tom Bilyeu ([13:25])
  • Comparison to Bukele’s aggressive takedown of gangs in El Salvador sparked debate on crime, human rights, and the risk of government overreach.
    • Drew: “Her hesitation makes sense, but at the same time, you can’t empower them by just hoping this blows over.” ([18:33])

Key Quote

“They are under siege from one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels ever… Mexico is now on the verge of civil war as CJNG goes on a rampage.” – Tom Bilyeu ([03:13])

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2. Iran: Nuclear Showdown and Global Game-Playing

• Iran on the Nuclear Threshold
  • Iran reportedly just a week away from enough enriched uranium for a bomb—though skepticism abounds since “Iran has been a week away since 1993” ([44:09]).
  • US Special Envoy meeting with both Iranian officials and exiled opposition figures points to a regime change angle ([29:52]).
• Trump’s Aggressive Posturing
  • Massive US carrier group deployment, public threats demanding Iranian “capitulation” ([29:52]).
  • “Trump is known for striking long before deadlines… If that powder keg blows up…” – Tom Bilyeu ([00:30])
• Risk of Escalation
  • Domestic unrest grows inside Iran; students protest despite brutal government crackdowns ([35:56]).
  • Most observers, including Tom, believe the US will stick to surgical strikes, avoiding boots on the ground, seeking to pressure from within for regime change ([41:21], [42:23]).
• The China Factor
  • China believed to be supporting Iran with live satellite imagery, revealing the sharper contours of a new Cold War alignment (China, Russia, Iran vs. US & allies) ([39:41]).

Notable Insight

“We are in a Cold War with China. Let there be no mistake about that. They are your adversary. They are no longer just your rival.” – Tom Bilyeu ([40:56])

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3. Middle East: Huckabee’s Blunder and the Limits of Scriptural Politics

• Mike Huckabee’s Israel Comments
  • Huckabee, serving as US ambassador to Israel, claimed biblical grounds for Israel’s right to claim vast stretches of the Middle East ([58:36]).
  • When pressed by Tucker Carlson, Huckabee doubled down: “It would be fine if they took it all, yo.” ([60:25])
    • This statement triggered diplomatic outrage across the Arab world and was roundly critiqued on the show.
• Debate Over Religion and Policy
  • Tom and Drew highlighted dangers of using religious texts as foreign policy justification.
    • “When you look at whether there is a DNA tie to the region or not, to me that’s really of little consequence. It’s completely irrelev. They are there. If you want to take it, you’re going to have to fight for it.” – Tom Bilyeu ([66:42])
  • Discussion of the importance of separating church and state, referencing historic pitfalls when policy is dictated by ancient scripture ([63:42]).
• Religion's Use in Power and War
  • Tom: “One of the ways that religion is actually really useful is if you’re trying to get your people to go attack another country—make it about religion.” ([66:42])

Memorable Exchange

“This is one of those exchanges… remember you’re in a frame of reference. Step into the other shoe for a minute… What does this sound like if I don’t believe?” – Tom Bilyeu ([59:24])

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4. Other Notable Segments

• NYC Bureaucracy: The Voter ID Snow Shoveling Debacle
  • Mayor Mamdani mandated two forms of ID to shovel snow for pay, but none to vote.
    • “You do need to bring two forms of ID, fill out the paperwork and your Social Security card. But to vote in an election, you don’t need any of that, because that’s racist.” – Tom Bilyeu ([72:10])
  • Drew: “When you start to realize like, okay… this is not just a one for one thing, there’s something else here. So it’s bigger than what we think it is.” ([74:47])
  • Tom points out the contradiction and links it to debates over voter integrity, the census, and political incentives ([75:31]).

Sharp One-Liner

“Let them shovel the snow. Like hand them cash and jot down the name. Jesus, man. Like, this is so crazy.” – Tom Bilyeu ([73:06])

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Timestamps for Key Moments

• 03:13–10:14: Mexico’s cartel crisis detailed; US involvement in the raid.
• 13:14–19:06: Moral and policy debate on how Mexico should respond, comparison to El Salvador.
• 29:44–39:56: Iran: US military build-up, regime change, China’s involvement.
• 54:20–66:27: Huckabee’s Israel comments, debate on use of scripture in statecraft, Arab world backlash.
• 72:08–75:31: NYC snow shoveling vs. voter ID policy, deeper implications for democracy.
• Rest of the Episode: Audience Q&A, brief discussions on economic motivations in Middle East policy and wealth disparities.

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Notable Quotes

• On Cartels:
  “They are a paramilitary group operating inside of Mexico… If you’re wielding a flamethrower… and I tell you to drop it and you don’t, you get shot.”
  — Tom Bilyeu ([10:14], [13:25])

• On Iran:
  “Both sides are talking tough… basically told the world that they’re ready for war if the other side does not blink.”
  — Tom Bilyeu ([29:52])

• On Religion and Policy:
  “When you look at whether there is a DNA tie to the region or not, to me that’s really of little consequence. You live in a world where naked power rules the day.”
  — Tom Bilyeu ([66:42])

• On Bureaucracy and Voting:
  “You do need to bring two forms of ID, fill out the paperwork and your Social Security card. But to vote in an election, you don’t need any of that, because that’s racist.”
  — Tom Bilyeu ([72:10])

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Tone & Style

Tom maintains a blend of passionate pragmatism, cutting through ideology to focus on real-world outcomes. The tone is urgent, irreverent at times, and always skeptical of official narratives. Co-host Drew brings grounded nuance, often balancing Tom’s aggressive clarity with broader, empathic context.

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Summary for the Uninitiated

This packed episode of Impact Theory unpacks the real stakes behind today’s wildest headlines—from cartel warfare in Mexico to nuclear brinkmanship with Iran to biblical justification in foreign policy—challenging familiar memes and dissecting policy with ruthless logic. The hosts cut through the noise, pressing for moral clarity, practical solutions, and a deeper understanding of power in the 21st century. If you want clear-eyed commentary that’s neither left nor right, but fiercely reality-based, this episode delivers.

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Transcript

[Tom Bilyeu]

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[Mike Huckabee]

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[Tom Bilyeu]

Yep. On Carvana. Just put in the license plate, answered a few questions, got an offer in minutes. Easier than setting up that new digital picture frame. You don't say. Yeah, they're even picking it up tomorrow. Talk about fast.

[Tucker Carlson]

Wow.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Way to go. So, about that picture frame. Ah, forget about it. Until Carvana makes one, I'm not interested.

[Care.com Announcer]

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[Tom Bilyeu]

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Tom Bilyeu show, live. We had a wild weekend. If you were at all paying attention to international affairs. Things got very crazy as Mexico is now under siege after the leader of one of the largest cartels in Mexico was killed in a raid by the Mexican government. They were operating on US Intelligence, so there's all kinds of drama that's still playing out there. Iran, also the center of massive drama, is apparently one week away from having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. We've heard this story before, but Trump is giving them two weeks. I don't know. Trump is certainly known for striking long before deadlines conclude, so we'll see exactly how this plays out. And if that powder keg blows up. New York City Mayor Mamdani says you need two forms of ID to shovel snow, but zero to vote. That's fun. America's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, says it's cool if Israel wants to take over the Middle East. No worries. That did not go over well with, well, the Middle East. And so they are clapping back. Plenty of things happening in the world today. Drew turning on the TV and seeing Mexico smoldering was pretty wild.

[Drew]

Sicario 3 is crazy. Like, the practical effects they're using is wild. That is. I'm gonna see Benzio del Toro come out that it was. It was bad. I just seen the gas station footage, and I was like, oh, this is not real. This is. This is AI. I was waiting for, like, the community note. I was like, where's the community? Guys, guys, seriously, where's the community note? Please let there be a community note right now.

[Tom Bilyeu]

That's how I felt when it was old footage. But nonetheless, they were showing footage of they had a traitor or something to the organization tied to a tree, and then they lit him on fire with a flamethrower. And there was something so jarring about watching the guy. He's, like, trying to light the flamethrower, and it won't light, and so he has to, like, reach forward and fiddle with something, and then it like sprays a bunch of flame on the ground. Then he's like, oh, I got it. And he like, dude, it. It's like humans are capable of such horrors. It's really insane. So again, that footage was old for anybody. I'm not confused. I understand that. But just seeing all of the super cuts put together of people, things burning, gas stations being lit on fire, Costco's burning down. I mean, it's really, really crazy. If you guys haven't been watching, this one is worth paying attention to. They really are under siege from one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels ever. After their leader El Mencho was killed by the Mexican government and he had a little bit of help from the US or they had a little bit of help from the U.S. many analysts are saying that Mexico is now on the verge of civil war as the CJNG cartel is going on a rampage around the country. Within hours of his death yesterday, CJNG unleashed massive coordinated revenge attacks across more than a dozen Mexican states, including Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit, Tamaulipas, Guero, Baja California and Tijuana. And there's a bunch more. Here are just some of the insane things that they've done so far. This. They've set up hundreds, hundreds of roadblocks by burning hijacked civilian cars, buses, trucks, semis. Gunmen have forced people out of their cars at gunpoint before then just torching everything to paralyze highways and major routes. They're digging up roads with backhoes. It's crazy. Like this is not your average run of the mill. Like we're putting up a blockade. They're actually destroying the roads and making it impossible for people to drive. There's been mass arson as they've set fire at a car, buses, gas stations, convenience stores, bank branches, supermarkets, random ass businesses, even full on structures. In cities like Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, smoke plumes are visible over beaches and skylines alike. And tons of places just flat out look like war zones. Armed men have stormed into airport terminals at Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, causing panic everywhere. There's mass evacuations, flight cancellations. Many tourists are just stranded, sheltering and place in fact just off camera, we have a young man whose father in law is stuck and trapped. Just absolutely wild. There have been attacks on security forces, sporadic shootouts, clashes with the National Guard and the army, and one reported explosive attack on a National Guard base in San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco. Some security personnel have been killed or injured in the follow up confrontations. Exact numbers on injured and dead are still emerging, so we'll hold tight. But so far there hasn't been any confirmations of mass civilian deaths. Thank God. Unverified leak messages alleging allegedly coming from cjng warned of all out war, including storming hotels and homes, targeting civilians unless the killers are handed over. They've made similar warnings here to the US Saying if you're a border state who you can get ready for some acts of terror in your cities as well. So we'll see. Public transport has been suspended, schools have been closed and stay at home. Orders are in place in Jalisco. El Mencho was one of the most wanted drug lords on the planet. He had a $15 million bounty on his head and from my understanding that actually got collected. His cartel was responsible for a massive share of the fentanyl, meth and cocaine that had been flooding into the United States. And this is the biggest cartel takedown since El Chapo was captured in 2016. Now, one of the weird things about how this is all shaken down. In the firefight, four cartel members were killed. El Mencho was seriously wounded and died while being airlifted to a hospital in Mexico City. Now, I don't know if the footage is real, but there was supposed footage of El Mencho being airlifted. He didn't look injured. Now, that doesn't mean he wasn't, but I certainly didn't see blood anywhere. So pretty wild. We'll see if this was he was actually wounded in the firefight or if he was killed in custody. Now that's tinfoil hat city. We don't know. The official reports are all just that he was mortally wounded in the raid and did not make it to the hospital. So we'll see. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt said the US Provided intelligence support to the Mexican government for the operation. And Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau called El Mencho one of the bloodiest and most ruthless drug kingpins and said his death was a quote, great development for Mexico, the U.S. latin America and the world. According to Reuters, a brand new US Military led task force called the Joint Interagency Task Force Counter Cartel, very catchy name, played a direct role in the raid. This task task force was launched just weeks ago, run by U.S. northern Command out of Tucson, Arizona. Its entire purpose is to map out cartel networks on both sides of the border. It involves multiple US Government agencies and according to a US Defense official, it contributed to the operation that killed el Mencho. Just one week before the raid on February 15, 19 members of US Navy Navy SEAL Team 2 arrived in Mexico. They came with a direct invitation of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, despite all kinds of accusations that she's actually in bed with the Mexican cartels. And we'll show a clip here in a minute for saying that she doesn't want to violate the. Oh, God, what does she call it? I don't. I can't remember if she actually says a word like there are humanitarian rights. But it's pretty wild saying that she doesn't want to be violent towards the cartels. Hard to square with what just happened, but more on that later. The Mexican Senate voted to authorize the US's entry to help their state. Admission was a train Mexican special forces. Multiple reports now indicate that the Mexican army team that actually carried out the raid received specialized training from those SEAL instruments instructors. And according to sources cited by Breitbart's Cartel chronicles team, the SEALs confiscated the phones and communication devices of the Mexican soldiers that they were training because so many of them are suspected to have connections to the cartels, which is how El Mencho was able to avoid capture for 30 years. Okay, let's just play connect the dots for a second. February 2025. The Trump administration designates CJNG, a foreign terrorist organization. Late 2025, the Pentagon launches a brand new Counter Cartel intelligence task force. February 15th of this year. So just very recently, nail seals. Navy seals arrive in Mexico to train special forces on February 22nd. So what? Yesterday, El Mencho is dead. The war on cartels just got really real for me. This is narcos. Whatever. Season four. Uh, so hit that subscribe button, boys and girls, to stay abreast as things unfold. This is crazy. We'll see how fast it settles down. But I'm not super optimistic, given Claudia Sheinbaum's words of like, oh, huh, we don't want to be violent. We don't want to hurt their feelings. Like, it's crazy, man, if your country is. They are a paramilitary group operating inside of Mexico. I've seen a ton of footage of them showing off their weapons, showing how organized they are, their uniforms. 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[Tom Bilyeu]

Thanks for sticking around. Let's get right back into the action.

[Drew]

Yeah, let's jump into her comments now. The narco is not an option. It is not an option. To kill without.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Why not arrest them like the war doesn't have to be.

[Drew]

They're lighting gas stations on fire. I don't think.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yes.

[Drew]

Get on your hands and knees. Put your hands up.

[Tom Bilyeu]

If you're. If you're wielding a flamethrower or whatever and doing the act and I tell you to drop it and you don't drop it, you get shot. Not because you're a narco terrorist and because we don't want to have rule of law, but because you're actively dangerous right now. And that's how we deal with dangerous threats. But this, this is how I feel like when Mom Donnie's like We don't have any other choice other than to raise taxes. And you're like, wait a second, how about lowering your spending? What are we talking about? There's no other choice. She's making it sound like to interrupt them. The only option is to shoot them in the face. What? Like, look at, look at what, what's his name did Bukele did in El Salvador. Now those jails are pretty full, so they obviously just, just didn't go shooting people in the face like you're incarcerating people. And I get it. There is all kinds of interconnected people that are linked to the cartels that are actually running the government. And so there is very problematic things to deal with there. But yeah, when people let politicians get away with like the absolute just bullshit of they're trying to narrow your options and make it, make it seem like they're being completely reasonable. And look, they all do it. They all do it. But

[Drew]

I'm split because on one side, yes, Bukele arrested a bunch of criminals, but I think the cartel in Mexico is in the most notorious cartel in like the Americas. And as we can see, they're emboldened to do whatever they want. So her I understand. And if through the American lens, we could just do a raid on the house like training day and surround the house and hey, everybody, get your hands on your knees. But from the cartel's perspective, there's no jail. There's no other. There's. I'm like kill, like shoot, kill or be killed, like period. There is no negotiations. This is a war with them.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So I feel like, say you're torn. What do you mean that she might be right.

[Drew]

Because on her side, yes, there is no arrest. I'll just go in there and kill everybody. And then if I could go and designate one organization, a terrorist organization, I could just go in there and kill everybody. Then who's to stop the next president to say civil rights organization that might have a bunch of guns. We just go in there and kill them and it just makes a bad precedent. So I understand the hesitation and not the I watch this movie. We should just go over there and bomb that house. There has to be a line. But to your point, yes, if somebody's walking down the street with the AK47, yes, those people should get taken off. I don't know if you should go into the dens and hunt.

[Tom Bilyeu]

That is interesting. So I don't live in Mexico, so full disclosure, I am an outsider looking in. But if I put myself in the shoes of this is happening in the US and we have gangs, full blown cartels, whatever state this gets to. And they are doing some of the most horrific things, including at one point they had decapitated people. I think some politicians put their heads on spikes. They were killing kids. That's where I'm like, yep, we're gonna have an ultra violent task force and they are going to come to your hideout and they are going to say, put your guns down, put your hands up. And if you don't, they're going to shoot you dead in the face. Like at the end of the Tarantino movie where they get Hitler and they just like unload a clip in his face. Yes, a thousand percent. If you're putting people's heads on spikes, bro, you cannot let that play out in your country. That is some wild shit. And so listen, starting to commentate on politics, I do realize, like, we all have a moral framework, a mental map of how the world is, how the world ought to be. And it is utterly fascinating to have to articulate mine, but you absolutely cannot let this kind of violence go where they know we can do whatever the fuck we want because people are going to back down. That. That's pure insanity. So now I don't know enough about the gun laws in Mexico, but what little I know, it does seem like they have ultra restrictive gun laws. And so that has led to the people who just completely flout the law, who can afford to pay politicians off or police off to be the only ones with guns. And so now you create a scenario where you've got a populace that can't be armed going up against paramilitary groups that are not governmental. They are drug and sex trafficking kingpins who are extraordinarily well funded and they're more than happy to go to war using modern military tactics, from drones to high caliber weapons. These guys, there was footage and assuming that this is an AI of them using backhoes, like, imagine how fast they did this using backhoes to tear up roads so that it's like they're just isolating parts of the country. And so, yeah, I'm like, cool, where's your bukele? Like, you've got to get somebody in who's just like, we're, this is absolutely something we are not going to tolerate and we're going to go Hamilton. And yeah, if you, if you go in with that level of force, there is no doubt that it's going to create some peripheral problems. But nothing near my mental map of the world. Nothing near what allowing narco Terrorists to run your country does that is way worse for my money.

[Drew]

Yeah. This is also the country that last political election, 37 politicians were murdered by the cartel. To your point of the when the Mexican crime lord, that call, he knows people's families and things like that. So again, I think what she's saying is coded through civil rights, but is it worth. My entire family gets decimated, but I stopped the narco terrorist or hopefully they could just blow off some steam and this will like blow over. And I feel like she's going to the blow over that is to be 100% honest. I feel like that's the human reaction that.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's. Okay. So you read Claudia Sheinbaum as very well intentioned. I'm only thinking of my people. And she just knows the knock on effect of what that kind of ultra violent kickback will be. That look, they're gonna kill a few people, they're gonna burn some things down, but then it's gonna restabilize. Yeah. Wow. That's clear. That's clear again.

[Drew]

37. Like imagine like we said, we brought it to America. So imagine if half the house was killed and then it's just like nothing happened. They got away with it. Like that would be.

[Tom Bilyeu]

You have been very clear. I respect that. Neither of us are inside of Claudia Sheinbaum's mind. I will say, if that is her read on the world, she is a moron of such unprecedented levels, I don't know how to make sense of that. And when you've got somebody who's like, I will cut people's heads off and put them on spikes, and who the fuck do you think you're dealing with? Like these are. They're not animals. They're humans. Humans are far, far more deadly than animals. So humans, when they break bad, they break so bad that you have to have a strategy for stopping this immediately. I am utterly shocked that anybody gets to her position in power and does not understand that a bully will continue to ratchet up their paramilitary arm if they see that there is a gap they can exploit. And this is why I say you need the left and the right. The left and the right are evolutionary functions. They are not political functions. The political manifestation is born of architecture of the human mind. To have a society that can go to extraordinarily large numbers, you have to have this balancing mechanism. And what the left absolutely is apparently blind to is they will compassion spiral into death and suicidal empathy. And the right obviously has their own pathology over here. And they become draconian, and it's all bootsteps, goose stepping, Heil Hitlering, all of that. So I'm not saying that you can get away with one or the other. You need them both. So just as we need people that are compassionate as you bukele your way to victory so that you do restabilize. It is insane to me that somebody looks at this and goes, we just. We. We have to be careful. We don't want to, like, violate any of their rights. Like, Jesus Christ. Yes, you should do your best not to violate their rights, for sure. But nobody has a right to torch everything, to indiscriminately take over freeways. This is so crazy. Like, I do not understand people that don't look at that and go, oh, okay, well, cool. We tried that. And we've had however many decades of narco terrorism in our country, it's not working. We need to do something new.

[Drew]

Just do a poll up in the chat. Should Mexico go to war with the cartel? Some people are in there. Somebody said, drew, you stand for nothing. I feel like it's not a stand for nothing. There's two ways to approach this situation when we're looking at something like the cartel. Historically, they have political figures, they have cops. You don't even have an army because half of the army that you would rile up to go get the cartels are parts of the cartel. So it's one of those things that I can understand her pause now. If Drew was president of Mexico, oof, that is a tough pill to swallow. I think you would have to do it just because as a leader, you can't say, I can't do anything, because to your point, then you empower them. But at the same time, I can understand why she's not going full Trump of like, yep, get the drones, let's blow everybody up. Let's get it back. Let's push back right now. You have to be strategic. You have to be surgical with this. Because one leak, one wrong move can lead to a blowback and political prisoners, it can lead to occupations of territories. To your point, the populace, the actual citizens of Mexico, can't own guns or anything like that. So while we can be tough guy in boots, in our ivory tower saying, yeah, let's send the army to go get them, their pushback can be okay. Now, I'm confiscating this entire state now. And now we're negotiating with ransom, and you have a thousand hostages. There's all these other things we have to think about. As opposed to like, yes, bad guy, let's go bomb them. I think that it's not as a straight yes or no.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah, I mean, this is definitely worldview. And my worldview is that if you have somebody that is doing something as grotesque as what the cartels are doing. So, hey, if I can't get, if I can't win you over by saying that drugs are bad, me try to win you guys over with sex trafficking is bad. And the whole Jeffrey Epstein thing is, is a, a failure of imagination on my part. I just could not have fathomed that this is all playing out right now in real time. But if you start doing a deep dive on some of the way that women are trafficked, like how they get sucked into it and then what happens to them afterwards? Absolutely horrifying. And so, yeah, if I have an escalatory battle with a group that is willing to do that and they hunker down and they start arming themselves and going crazy, I'm going to be totally in support of a massive military push on my own soil to obliterate them. It would be horrifying. But you. That, that is a tumor. Just like if somebody actually had a cancerous tumor that was going to take their life, I would say you got to do chemo, even though chemo is devastating for the body, but better than just giving up, tapping out, letting cancer run its course. And that feels directly analogous to what's happening here. They have to absolutely smash these guys into oblivion. And yeah, we've become very uncomfortable with state sponsored violence. We're right to be paranoid that it can spill over into being a problem for sure, but you can't be so paranoid about that that you let the people who are actively doing the thing you're afraid that the government will do, they're actively doing it. Fucking wild, man. Like, this is where trust that if this comes to the US I will bang the drum for you. Got to root that out. And if it gets violent, it gets violent.

[Drew]

Oh, I must say, yeah, US Wouldn't play that. But US Is a different animal. Should she call the US should she be like, hey, Trump, my hands are tied. I can't trust none of these people. Come drone bomb these people. Afghanistan, this a little bit.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Dear, dear President Trump, as the President of Mexico, I would like your help. I want a deeper economic relationship than we've ever had and I want the kinds of military protections that you have provided the world over since World War II. It clearly works. It's absolutely incredible. And I would like you to come into Mexico and help me clean all of this up. We will work closely with you in a way that our Congress is totally supportive of. That may be information only. Great. But please lend us your. Your technology at a minimum, if. If possible. Like, we just sent Navy SEALs, apparently, down to train them. Some training would be wonderful, all of that, but help us do right by the millions and millions and millions and millions. The vast majority of people in Mexico that want to raise their family and want to fall in love and they want to do rad shit, and they don't want to be looking over their shoulder because they might get killed. So, yes, law and order is necessary if we're going to economically continue to climb the ladder. Now, I've spent a reasonable amount of time in Mexico. It's awesome. So I don't know if people have, like, a mental map of this, like some, like, crazy backwater. This is not. But they have a problem, and if we want to help them keep climbing out, if Mexico wants to keep climbing out of that, yes. Asking for the US alliance would be wonderful. We share a border with them. That would be amazing.

[Drew]

Chat said Trump will be like, yeah, I hope you'll just become the 51st state.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Listen, Trump is unhinged, and so I certainly understand that take at the same time, you've got somebody who is pliable. So whenever you're doing a negotiation, always look at your point of leverage. And if you have a point of leverage with Trump that, you know, he wants a legacy, he wants to be the peacemaker, but he wants specifically a legacy of peace through strength. This is a guy. Look at what he's doing in Iran. This is. What's happening in Iran is some of the craziest global politics I've ever seen in my life. This is wild, but this is exactly what he does. He sends all of these carrier groups off your shore. He builds up the military presence in the most mahusive way possible. And then he sits across from you at a negotiating table and is like. I mean, he doesn't literally do this, but it's pretty close. He just, like, while he sits down, he puts his pens and pencils there, and he reaches over and he pulls out of his bag this big red button. It's really fucking heavy, and it's metallic. So when he sets it on the table, it makes this really loud, like, thumping sound. Clicks it open, like, super dramatically. And then the button just sits there. And, like, another guy comes and leans over Trump's shoulder and like, polishes the red button. Trump's like, ooh, be careful. Don't put too much pressure. Pressure on it. And that's how he negotiates. Okay, so you've got this guy who, you know, gets down like that and he is very eager to help you just to show that America's the big swinging dick. And so, yeah, do you leverage that to get what you need politically? Thousand percent. So that would be the wise strategy. Leverage his desire for that, that legacy, however bizarre it may be, to get the help that you need and want, for sure. And then you just say, hahaha. It's so cute that he says it'll be the 51st state. Obviously, we'd never do that. But we do love being an ally. We do love. By the way, Mexicans are North Americans. They're not Central, they're not south, they are North Americans. And so for them to be like, let's be a strong, united North America, fuck, yeah, that would be dope.

[Drew]

Or you could just name a resort after him, you know, Trump Tulum, he'll send you a couple drones for that. Like, that's all it takes.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Taking a short break, but there's more impact theory after. Stay tuned. Thanks for staying tuned. Now let's get back to it.

[Drew]

Speaking of Iran, though, let's jump over there. Cause we sent everybody over there. We sent everybody over there, man. What is happening?

[Tom Bilyeu]

The US Is clearly poised for a massive attack on Iran if negotiations don't go the way that our beloved Trump wants. Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff claimed Iran is roughly a week away from having enough enriched uranium to build a bomb. Now, I'm a little skeptical, I won't lie, since we've been down this road before, this is exactly what caused the bombings that we did. What? Last summer. But Witkoff confirmed on camera that he met also with Reza Pahlavi, who's the exiled son of the former Shah of Iran, at Trump's personal direction. Now, for context, Pahlavi has been publicly calling for regime change and positioning himself as a transitional leader if the current government falls. Why might that be? So the same envoy that's negotiating a nuclear deal is also meeting with the man who wants to replace the government that Wyckoff is negotiating with. Now, Wyckoff also said on Fox News that the President, the President Trump is curious as to why Iran hasn't, and this is a quote, capitulated. Now, that's not exactly the kind of talk you expect when two sides are supposedly negotiating, but welcome to the world when it is governed nakedly by pure power politics. And that's the era that we're living in right now. Everybody is realizing that, oh, that's right, there is no parent there. There's no adult in the room. It, it's literally just all of us. It's Russia, it's China, it's the U.S. it's Mexican drug cartels. It's just a bunch of people with a whole lot of weapons holding each other at bay with the threat of ultra violence. Now both sides are talking tough. And each went on national television within hours of each other and basically told the world that they're ready for war if the other side does not blink. Okay, that's the negotiation that's going on. These massive carrier strike groups, Iran talking big, supposedly days away from having nuclear weapons. Now, Iran's foreign Minister went on CBS's Face the Nation and said Iran's nuclear enrichment program is a matter of national dignity and pride. He said Iran developed this technology on their own, which, by the way, is true. Paid for it with 20 years of sanctions. Also true. They lost scientists to assassinations and survived a war over it. And he made it very clear that they're not giving it up. This is a red line now. He also went on to say a diplomatic solution is still within reach. We'll see about that. He said Iran is finalizing a draft counter proposal that could be ready in days. He said there are elements of a potential deal that could be better than the original Obama era jcpoa. And he announced that he expects to meet Witkoff again this Thursday in Geneva for a third round of talks, which Oman's foreign minister confirmed just hours later is true. So you've got one side publicly using the word capitulate, basically surrender, give up and meeting with exiled opposition leaders. And the other side saying, this is about national dignity and they're not going to bow down. Those are the words Iran's president used on Saturday. But also saying, well, a deal is achievable. And putting. We're going to be putting a counter proposal on the table now to really make this an unstable situation. The pressure inside of Iran is building from every direction. You've got university students in Tehran that are now holding fresh protests over the weekend. These are the first significant demonstrations since the government's brutal crackdown in January that killed three thousands of students or thousands of protesters. It's unknown exactly how many, but nobody seems to be claiming that it's under thousands at this point. Students at Sharif University were reportedly chanting for the supreme Leader's removal once again, which is so Ballsy. Can we take a second to be very impressed? They just saw the slaughter of thousands of civilians that happened during the last protest, and now they're back out there protesting again. I'll just say God bless the young. It's wild. I'm at this weird stage in my life where I am. I'm not really young anymore, but I still. I can still feel it. I still remember what it was like. And it really is a young man. The young are just not for play. So you need them, you want them. You celebrate when you see it. And so shout out to all of the Iranian students that are protesting for a better life. Axios reported on February 18 that there are no signs of a break through in negotiations. Not what we want to hear. And so that's making military action look like the most likely outcome. Boo. Senator Lindsey Graham, fresh off meetings in Israel, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is publicly urging Trump, get ready to press ahead with strikes, warning that voices counseling restraint are getting louder and that this is a narrow window for historic change. I actually don't agree. I don't disagree with that. I think this is a narrow window for historic change. But I do think when you're talking blocking this kind of military buildup, that restraint is always wise and that you want to be very prudent before you launch the attack. Now, if they really are a week away from having a nuclear weapon, you can't back off that. I will say I'm totally on board with the idea that Iran having nuclear weapons is just a hard line. And whatever you've got to do to stop that from happening, you've got to do. Thursday's talks in Geneva will be the most consequential diplomatic meeting of 2026 so far. That is for sure, maybe, and even longer. So we're going to be watching this closely to see how it plays out, boys and girls. So definitely tune in. Yeah, this is important. How this one plays out, I think is going to echo for quite a while. There's the China connection. If we can actually get China. Sorry. If we can get Iran to flip their regime by offering the kind of support and pressure that we're clearly doing so that the country can change from within. I think that that would be a huge deal for the Iranians in terms of being able to pull their country into the 21st century and then also stability in the Middle east, it would just be radically different. I wasn't able to verify enough of this ahead of time. So it's rumor at this point, but it's Rumored that there are countries within the Middle east that fully support regime change, that they actively want to see it happen. That they can feel an economically motivated Middle east on the other side of the current religiously destabilized Middle east that we have right now. And I don't expect everybody to agree with me on this, but I have said forever since I first started talking about what was going on in Gaza. The only solution is economic. And we don't think of economics as something placed on people from the top down. This is the most fundamental thing to the way that humans operate for hundreds of thousands of years, if you want to understand it. God, this is going to be a weird example. I hope you can look past the sort of salaciousness of this and get to. What I'm trying to point out is it's architecture buried in the human mind. If you teach monkeys that grapes are a currency that can be exchanged, one of the first things that they exchange it for is sex. Like they just immediately. It is so deeply ingrained in us to go, oh, this thing is valuable.

[Drew]

Cool.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I'm going to trade it for something.

[Drew]

I got these red grapes, girl, come through.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I'm telling you, that's literally how it plays out. It's wild. It is wild. But I, I'm trying to, I say that because it ties how deeply embedded that structure is in the human mind to say, oh, I can turn my time into a thing of value that I will exchange for another thing of value. That that is how our minds are built. And so once you understand that, you realize we've got these two competing architectural elements. You've got religion, which is how we organize in larger and larger groups, how we can bump into somebody that we've never met before. They show the same symbols, they believe in the same things. We can just immediately a value system super rapidly. So incredibly potent thing that has allowed humans to become humans. And then you have the other, which is we are economic units and we are constantly figuring out how to turn our time into an abstract thing of value that can then be used as a currency to facilitate deep specialization in life. This other incredibly deep, incredibly foundational thing. And Iran is like this perfect collision. And what we have seen over and over and over is religion tends to lead to tribalism, whereas economics creates a system that now it facilitates inequality. That is absolutely the point. Let's be very clear about that. It only becomes a problem when that becomes what we'll call toxic inequality, which is a real thing that has. You have to do something to bastardize your system in order to get to toxic inequality and. But nonetheless, if you can keep that in check, you create a system where people are maximally incentivized to innovate, to push, to work hard, to build things that the world wants so that they can capture more economic returns for their time. It's the only thing that's pulled people out of poverty, boys and girls. So again, look at China, the most communistic country on planet Earth. How did they pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty? They did it by realizing, ah, we're economic units, and, yes, we must lean on an economy. And so my hope is that we can help Iran get to that. But I really do think that that needs to come from within. We're there to run support, and I really hope that we don't have to drop a whole bunch of bombs on them because they are headed towards nuclear weapons. We'll see.

[Drew]

The China of it all is interesting because we have reports that China is actually providing Tehran with, like, live satellite images and stuff like that. So it seems like, like, China's not at war with us, but they're giving intel to the person at war with us. So you're kind of at war with us. Yeah, like, there's.

[Tom Bilyeu]

There's not even a kind of. We're in a cold war with China. This is Russia 2.0. This is what a cold war looks like. They have chosen sides. They are very. I mean, this is. It's very interesting to see how people map this kind of stuff. So you've got China, Russia, Iran all teamed up. Not sure North Korea feels a little bit like a hanging chad. But also they're a little too friendly. Friendly with them. China said many times that they don't want humanitarian things on the table with, like, the UN and stuff like that, and they'll constantly veto things that they believe basically passes judgment on anybody's culture. So it's like, who are you to say that we can't put people in concentration camps? How dare you? So they then don't say that they have any beef with. With. You know, if Tehran wants to rule by an iron fist, then, you know, it is what it is. So seeing them group up is not too surprising, but it's certainly revelatory in terms of their moral standards and what they believe is right.

[Tucker Carlson]

So.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah, but we. We are in a cold war with China. Let there be no mistake about that.

[Tucker Carlson]

They.

[Tom Bilyeu]

They are your adversary. They are no longer just your rival.

[Drew]

I'm gonna get to the markets next, but what do you think. Do you think we actually. Bombs on the ground attack. I'm not talking Venezuela in the heat of the night moment. Like, do you think we actually have boots on the ground? Some type of, like, no bombing or anything? You think this is just.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So you're saying if you're taking Venezuela off the table. I'm saying we don't do it if you're leaving Venezuela on the table, which is exactly what I think they're going to do some Venezuela, they're gonna go blow some stuff up if they know where Khomeini is, I think go in and try to snatch him up. I think part of why Trump has been so slow is I think he is absolutely, rightly terrified about putting boots on the ground, doing something that then fucks up and then he really does just look unhinged. It's hard to attack him when he goes in. Like, think about how little scandal there really has been that he went in and kidnapped the president of a sovereign nation. That's wild. But it works so well and there were no American casualties. Everyone's like, well, it's hard to get people mad.

[Drew]

Yeah.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So it's like, wait, are you saying my gas prices are going to go down and no Americans died and they use some cool technology that, like, sort of liquefied people's brain? Yeah, I'm cool.

[Drew]

Yeah, let's go kill. Let's go grab some other guys.

[Tom Bilyeu]

A hundred percent.

[Drew]

Get this thing down to 199 by the summer.

[Tucker Carlson]

Let's go.

[Tom Bilyeu]

True. That is so cynical and accurate. I love everything about it. Yes, that is exactly. I think, what he's thinking. So he's. Obviously. I'm not a mind reader, but I love reading minds nonetheless. I think that Trump's math goes something like this. We want the people to rise up. We would rather they do this. I am going to get what I want out of Iran. I'm going to send. We've got more hardware there in the Middle east since we first launched an attack on Iraq, like in 2002 or whatever. So this is massive. He is ready to go and he has shown. Yeah, I don't do this stuff for a bluff, man. Like, bluffs only work and people also know that you're willing to play that card. And so, yeah, I think he's ready to play the card, but he's not going to put boots on the ground. That would be insanity, as you can get sucked in. And the drumbeat going into the midterms would just be, this is Iraq 2.0. So if you've got boots on the ground, that is all they're going to say over and over and over and over and over and over and over that this is expensive. We're money printing. He this is their version of socialism and they wouldn't be wrong. And so it's like, yeah, this would be. That would be a catastrophic mistake. It'd be way too risky.

[Drew]

Poly market is heating up right now. The Highest volume is 37 million. Says we're going to have a strike by February 28th. 19% chance. And then the one with the greatest percent chance, 73% of people saying it's going to happen at least before December 31st, 67% saying before June 30th.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Wow.

[Drew]

But look at that.

[Tom Bilyeu]

June 30th, when the volume is crazy.

[Drew]

Volume on that March 31st is at 14 as well. So that's heating up too. So they're there. People are speculating. People are speculating.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah.

[Drew]

I don't know, it makes sense on paper, but again, Iran been a nuclear bomb way for a nuclear bomb. A week away from a nuclear bomb since 1993. And we just did a victory lap like, yeah, B52. We killed a whole nuclear program. They don't have to start over. They're going back to the Stone Ages. Trump was high five. And Higset, they were doing push ups. And then now it's like, oh, yeah, they're back a week away. We need to go bomb them again. So it's. I just feel like, I don't know, here's it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So Iran is making it clear that they are pursuing nuclear enrichment. So there's no reason to believe that part is a lie. Now, the week away from. I think Iran is in a weird position because if their own people believe that they're a week away, they're gonna like, button it up, tuck it in. They're gonna be way less, like, cocky that we can overthrow these guys. So that if you say you are, then you invite the attack, but if you say you're not, then you are weak and you're now poised to have a whole bunch of people coming after you, You. So that's tough. Now, I think that the, that politicians will say whatever they think will catch fire in your mind. And truth be damned, like, I live through the weapons of mass destruction thing. And that clearly was just. It's a lie. We're just going to repeat it enough that people know what to say at a cocktail party when someone's coming at them. And so it's like that Feels like the week away from nuclear weapons is just that, just repeat it enough. What are they really? Are they months, are they a week, whatever. But like if we did all that we did in the summer and it didn't, I mean, it took them from being a week away to being whatever, eight months away and now we're just right back in the same position. And so if we're constantly in the position of we've got to do all this stuff and it only ever sets them back like six to eight months, that's pretty crazy. That means that you have a, a far more systemic problem and therefore doing the things that we're doing may not, it is not a long term solution. So how we work that out in the end, I don't know. But it seems like you have to break their will to do it. And I think the only way to do that is regime change. But that really, really needs to come from within because if we're applying that pressure from the outside, it won't take. We've seen this go awry way too many times.

[Drew]

I have to shout out David in the chat, David, I, I don't think that's your screen name. He's saying it's all, they just don't have a central bank. That's why they want us to go after them. Is this the bankers? Let me go get my temple.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I think so. So listen, do I think that central banks are the primary evil that allows for a lot of bad things? Yes, for sure. But if I think about, okay, I'm going to put all of this at risk, risk getting sucked into a war. Also that we can install a central bank, it's far more compelling if they are trying to get the oil. Like that seems like a way more believable thing if you're doing this as a play to turn the Middle east into an economic hub. Because imagine a world where you take another chip away from China in terms of cheap oil, you stabilize the Middle east, where, I mean, even if you just need to believe that Trump is selfish, he's got a ton of business interests in the Middle east and even just his son in law. Like if you look at that like, okay, I've got my son in law placed in the Middle east, if we can make the whole Middle east stable, if we can turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle east, if the UAE basically in cooperation with Saudi Arabia can run the table and it's just all now about economics, economics, economics. I don't like going to the uae, going to Saudi Arabia. I have been. I have boots on the ground in both Saudi Arabia, uae, and oh, God, who is invaded? Oh, I cannot believe I'm blanking on a third country. And you. You feel the wealth. In a way, it honestly was. It was a gut punch being an American to be like, oh, this is what wealth looks like. It was wild. And so, like, Beverly Hills is the backwater. Like, shame things didn't work out for you. Compared to, like, the uae, when, dude, when you go through the airport in Dubai, it's like, holy bejesus. This is. It's unreal. I was taking photos of the airport just like, whoa, whoa. It was pretty crazy.

[Drew]

Crazy.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And so if you're Trump and you're thinking, cool, I've got my installed base and Jared Kushner in there, they are like, I forget the number. It's something like seven out of the 10 largest private equity firms are in the UAE. So coming out of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, unreal. So in terms of the accumulation of the world's wealth, people just have their eye there. And so if you're like, man, Iran, will you stop everything up? And so you're just like, all right, let's. Let's get their oil. Let's get somebody in there that will turn these guys into an investment hub. Let's get this whole place going. Forget all this theocracy. Like, let's just. This is going to be the place

[Drew]

and colonize it, in fact.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Okay, so, Drew, let me. Let me paint a picture for you. This. This is meant to be horrifying, but just honest. This is going to get clipped out of context. I'm going to say it. Okay, so what was Hitler's pitch? Hitler's pitch was, Ukraine becomes our wild West. America is doing as well as it is because it's just expanding west, and there's so many resources and all that. And plus, just land, like, people can go effectively for free. Get a homestead. Incredible. It's given the Americans, like, this spirit about them that's incredible. There's so much hope, and it just. They're. They're a revived nation. We're going to do the same for Germany. We're just going to take over Russia, Ukraine, and the Germans are going to be able to spill over and get their homesteads and all of that in Ukraine. It's going to be amazing. Middle east, if you can take it from just dry desert and you just pour wealth, irrigation, grab all the. The oil, and you go, okay, here's what we're going to do with the oil. We're going to transform this whole place into this gigantic economic tourism hub. If you don't believe me, look at some of the bets that Saudi Arabia is making. So many of them are based on tourism and getting people there.

[Drew]

Mr. Beast Amusement Park.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I'm definitely out of my debt depth in terms of I don't know how real desalination is. And so maybe this part of what I'm saying is, is a bit far fetched, but Elon just keeps banging the drum. Desalinization is cheap as shit. And it's like, once you get the right amount of energy going, you're good solar. So you create safety in the region so they don't have to worry about terrorism. You are. The capital's already being pumped into there. You just have this one destabilizing agent. You get that under control and you now build out the region and you turn it into this hub of tourism, all eyes on us. And they become the like, capital expansionary zone that we've been looking for. And they're a little like, okay with slave labor light. And so it's like you just import a bunch of people from other countries who, by the way, like, when you talk to, there are a ton of Filipinos there. And you just ask them like, hey, what are you doing here? Why'd you come here? It's a long way away from home. And they're just like, the opportunities here are incredible. And so I can make so much money here and send it back. So they're like, yeah, this is great. Like, I'll do this all day long. And so you're able to get. You want to talk K shaped like, like you've got the people at the tippy top, ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra wealthy. And then you've got people who are like, for them, it's way better than where they were. And so they go there. But they're at the bottom of the K shape. They're perfectly happy to be there sending

[Drew]

that because now they're in the upper K of their respective economies.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Correct. So it is again, this is not me going to bat for this. I'm sure people are going to say that that's what it is. And, and it is. You get why, oh, this isn't about a central bank. This is about maybe something more crazy.

[Drew]

The bankers are still getting their cut, though. We can't act like the bankers aren't.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Bankers run the world full stop.

[Drew]

So they're getting their cut. But to your point, Trump is like, all right, I'll get the oil, and Kushner's gonna have all his name on the paperwork. I'm gonna get that money anyway. It's coming back to the house. So Trump's gonna get paid on both sides. America's gonna love him, and his coffers are gonna get stuffed. And then the central bank now is like, oh, you got guys. You guys need a loan. I can help you. Like, yes, yes. Like, come on.

[Tom Bilyeu]

And let me give one more piece of this puzzle to see if I can bring this all home. I think if you map Trump as doing that which enriches him, you are directionally correct, but you're missing a piece. There's a world that he wants to live in, and he's trying to make that world come true. And that world is stable, safe America first and real economic prosperity. And so, like, it's not just kleptocratic. I won't say that there isn't some kleptocracy in the mix, but isn't just kleptocratic? So, I mean, we'll see. But he's clearly planting trees under whose shade, he will never know. Right? I mean, this is a guy in his 80s. Yeah, so. Or almost. So. Yeah, that's.

[Drew]

Wow, you did bring up Mike Huckleby. So let's jump into that story. He was sitting down with Tucker Carlson, and the America first agenda is slightly slipping. Let's jump into it.

[Mike Huckabee]

Like, how much does it matter what Americans think?

[Tucker Carlson]

Well, it matters every bit what Americans think. That's why Americans vote. It's why Americans have the opportunity to have free speech. We want them to have that.

[Mike Huckabee]

Okay, so what percentage of Americans support report a war with Iran?

[Tucker Carlson]

I don't know. Do you know?

[Mike Huckabee]

I do.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's.

[Mike Huckabee]

I think it's around. I saw the numbers yesterday. I think it was, like, 21%. Okay, is that enough to have a war with Iran?

[Tucker Carlson]

We don't live in a world where you have wacky a poll taken to find out whether our policy should be a particular direction.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Because I thought.

[Mike Huckabee]

I thought you just said that.

[Tucker Carlson]

No, we care deeply about it. But on the other hand, do we make the decisions of foreign policy and even domestic policy based on we care deeply about it?

[Mike Huckabee]

In what sense? If we're ignoring it, then in what sense do we, quote, care deeply about it?

[Drew]

To your point, he, like, acts like he doesn't know anything, and he's, like, slowly walking into it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's like, if you go on Tucker. Tucker has a trap for you. Like, either you fit his narrative or he's got a trap for you. And so if you're going to go on a show, bro, you better be ready. Mike Huckabee was not ready, as you will see.

[Tucker Carlson]

Well, I think we care deeply when we see this.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Wow. Is that the end of the clip?

[Mike Huckabee]

No, but about Americans.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Oh, no way.

[Mike Huckabee]

There's way better.

[Tom Bilyeu]

350 million Americans. Oh, God.

[Mike Huckabee]

They vote. They voted in this last election on the basis in part of the promise, no more wars. Okay, so now we're about to have a war. Looks like 80% of people are against it in that range. Let's say it's 70%, but nowhere near majority support for this war. And it's not direct democracy, but it is a form of democracy. It's representative democracy, the ultimate form of

[Tucker Carlson]

democracy in our system, in a republic, because we're not a true democracy.

[Tom Bilyeu]

We're a Republican. Right.

[Mike Huckabee]

It's a mediated democracy.

[Tucker Carlson]

It'll be an opportunity for Americans to vote if they think that we've made the wrong policy decisions. I personally think the President is making the right policy decisions, but I guess.

[Mike Huckabee]

But you just said it matters deeply what Americans think, and if the overall majority are against it, it. In what sense does it matter? Because what I hear is it matters what they think, but it really doesn't matter what they think, because, no, you

[Tucker Carlson]

take it in, you certainly ingest that.

[Mike Huckabee]

And then what do you do once you ingest it?

[Tucker Carlson]

Then you make.

[Tom Bilyeu]

That, oh, this is not the clip that we want. So there's another clip. I don't know if you can find it quickly, but where he presses Mike Huckabee on, like, hold on. Like, why. Why do you think that they have a right to Israel? And how much of Israel's land do you think or how much of land in the Middle east do you think they have a right to. Because in the Bible, it says something like, from the Nephrates to the Jordan or something like that. Oh, here we go. You got to hear this. This was the one that I was

[Mike Huckabee]

like, yo to Genesis. Genesis 15 says, It's Abram. It's pre Abraham. It's Abram receives from God the news that his descendants will inherit the land. And you tell me, as the. As the theologian, if I'm getting this wrong.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Pause.

[Drew]

But from.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So, Drew, I imagine you and I are going to feel very differently about this in terms of. This is a classic example of two people looking at the same thing. And we're going to see something very different. For me, because I believe these are books not inspired By God at all. God does not exist. That this is just guys wrote some shit down and the way that. That echoes through history. So I just interviewed Raymond Ibrahim about Islam and had a very similar sense of like, yo. The number of things that people do in the name of a God that Tom Bilyeu does not believe exists. Crazy town. And this is one of those exchanges. Now, these two both believe in God, which is interesting to see them collide. But as people watch this, remember you're in a frame of reference. You either believe God exists and that the book is revelatory of what God wants, or you don't. But just like step into the other shoe for a minute as you hear it. Or at least like go back and forth of, okay, what does this sound like if I don't believe? And then what does it sound like if I do believe? Believe, because this, this is. Yeah, wildly different depending on which one of those two camps you're in. Okay, with that.

[Mike Huckabee]

The Euphrates to the Nile. I think. I think that's right. And that would include like, basically the entire Middle East. That would be the Levant. So that would be Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon. It would also be big parts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

[Tucker Carlson]

It would be.

[Mike Huckabee]

I mean, not sure it would go that far.

[Tucker Carlson]

I mean, it would be a big piece of land. But here's the point.

[Mike Huckabee]

It would be a lot of. Of places that are now countries.

[Tucker Carlson]

But this particular area that we're talking about now, Israel, is a land that God gave through Abraham to a people that he chose. It was a people, a place and a purpose. We can look at it that way. Christian Zionism. I want to go back because that's where we started.

[Mike Huckabee]

I'm not going to let you off on that.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I feel about this the way that I would expect people to feel about if a thousand years from now or 2,000 years from now, people were like, okay, remember what Voldemort did and Hogwarts was given to. And you're like, what is happening?

[Drew]

People already threw London train stations into the wall trying to find the secret.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yes. So, all right, sorry, keep going. Because he says something outrageous here coming

[Mike Huckabee]

up, because you have said it three times, that God gave this land to this people. And so it is entirely fair for me, with respect, to ask, what land are you talking about? Because I just read Genesis 15, as I have many times.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's a good line of questions.

[Mike Huckabee]

And that land, I think it says from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is once again basically the entire Middle East. So God Gave that land to his people, the Jews, or he didn't. You're saying he did. What does that mean? Does Israel have the right to. To that land? Because you're appealing to Genesis, you're saying that's the original deed.

[Tucker Carlson]

It would be fine if they took it all, yo.

[Tom Bilyeu]

God damn. I mean, hey, he said it, yo.

[Drew]

That delivery was wild.

[Tom Bilyeu]

He said the shit like. Cause he knew. He was like, oh, we got walked into the trap. And now, to be consistent with my beliefs, like, am I, Mike Huckabee, gonna go against God? Like, if God said it's theirs, it's theirs. What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do? That is wild. I really. Yeah, I watched that clip and was like, okay. Damn.

[Drew]

It's hilarious to me, though, because everybody wants to quote Genesis, but they don't want to quote anything else in the Old Testament. And right after Genesis is Deuteronomy. And through Deuteronomy, I'm sorry, Exodus, and then Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, that's where guy comes down and tells all the laws of the Jewish people. People. And one of the laws is you can't wear mixed clothing. So you can't wear like a polyester shirt. Right. You can't eat bottom feeders. You're not supposed to eat pork. That's why a lot. That's where a lot of the Jewish customs come for kosher and stuff like that. So it's. It's interesting to me that we say, well, in Genesis, God said this, so this must be true. But let's skip the rest of the Old Testament and the New Testament in the other part of the Bible, where he talks about all the other things that would invalidate that notion.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yup.

[Drew]

And I think so as a person that believes in God, I know the one thing that I have to deal with is there are a lot of people who read sections of the Bible, use it to control a sector of people, and they use that to operate and live off of. And they profit off of them. And they make a fantastic living overusing this Bible to manipulate these groups of people. That's my North Star. I have to deal with that. But just like we go to any other political institution, there's people in the Senate, White House, wherever that uses the Constitution, a small part of the Constitution, to go to the secular people and do the same thing. They're trying to enrich themselves. They use their information to insider trade themselves into millions. I've never seen a broke president, no president in the history of America has gone into the White House and left poorer.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's actually not true. But in the modern era, it is absolutely true. But yeah, they did. Somebody did a breakdown of like, the number of presidents that like, went broke after spending their own money. And it's pretty crazy.

[Drew]

Okay, but I'll give you that in

[Tom Bilyeu]

the last, say, 50 years.

[Drew]

Yeah, I'll continue like, yeah, I'm going Back to Bush 1. I've seen, like, everybody comes out and they get a bag, no doubt. And yes, there are Catholic priests who are pedos and they get, they got covered up because of sin. And there's people who have talked to pulpits and they were touching little girls and there's a whole bunch of dirty ickiness in all of this. So by no means am I saying because this is wrong or just because it's about Israel, Bible people are wrong or atheists were right or nothing like that. There is a spectrum of thought that we should have around this topic. However, to bring it back to Mike Huckabee, again, it's very interesting that you start at the beginning. That's like, if I were to say the Constitution says I get a second Amendment so I should be able to shoot everybody and then I don't read anything else. I don't care about voting rights, I don't care about women. I don't care about nothing else. It's just you said I have a gun, right? So I can militia some stuff. So I want a militia this office right now. Time I need a raise. Give me a gun. I'm going a to take, take, like, it's just going to keep happening that way. We would say, this is stupid. You have to go through the whole document. You have to. But when somehow when it comes to the Bible, it's like, oh, okay, you read that one part at the very beginning. You're right. We don't need to read the rest. We trust you. And that's the part that, like, bothers me also.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It just needs to make contact with reality. So if you're saying that, hey, God gave us this land and now we're just going to knock, knock and take it back, it's like, well, hold on, what do you mean by that? Are you saying that they have the right that God actively wants them to wage an offensive war to get it back? And should America be helping them build that arsenal so that they can take it back? Because that is the will of God. Like, really get people to say what they think. And I think you will find them and that was already an absurd trap. I think you will find them walking deeper and deeper into just outlandish levels of absurdity that I, as a non religious person, want them to go. And this is why there is a separation of church and state that even the founding fathers hundreds of years ago understood. Yeah, we should probably keep these two things separate. Like, you can believe what you believe. Love it. More power to you. That's amazing. But here on Earth, in the here and now, we need a structure that is congruent with the universal laws of man, if you will. Because first of all, there are many readings of a single religion. Plus there are a lot of other religions that just whole cloth, like, throw this idea out. And so let's just keep these two things separate. And so when I see somebody in the government leading with the religious stuff, I'm just like, man, this is. This is no bueno.

[Drew]

And I think that's why I like James Tellarico so much. In Texas, where he's a practicing Christian, he goes to church and all these things. But he was one of the members in the Texas Senate that voted against putting the Ten Commandments in every classroom because he was like, if I'm pushing my religion off you, that's not love. That's the exact opposite of what I'm taught to do. So again, when we're saying, I'm religious, so let me go bomb that country, you're skipped. That doesn't make sense. Those are incompatible thoughts. You're skipping over some things in order to get to that. And I think, to your point, we're just using it to manipulate or like, trying to. We're trying to use it to control the state. When it was never enacted to control the state. God never. Jesus didn't come down and say, all right, Caesar, watch out. I'm gonna take over this thing. Like, he didn't interact with the government at all when he was actually standing trial. He didn't even say anything. Anything. So that's kind of the thing that we need to kind of focus on versus this other manipulation that's happening. In the greater scheme of things, though, Mike Huckabee definitely got his. His foot in his mouth. I want to start with the other nations because this was hilarious, because when he said, I guess they can take it all. Jordan, uae, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, Pakistan, Bayran, Oman, Palestine, and Syria. These are all the countries that he said they could just take it. Plus the OIC Arab Lib in the Gulf states, they all wrote a joint statement against condemning what Mike Hugby said. And they kind of went like, he's receiving well deserved backlash for it. Because you can't just say, Israel could just take my country and shrug your shoulders like, that was wild.

[Tom Bilyeu]

So crazy. And by the way, Kuwait was the other country in the Middle east that I've been to.

[Drew]

Oh, got it. And then this was his statement. I feel like I wanted Thomas Massie and be like, congratulations or I'm sorry, but I'm not reading all that.

[Tom Bilyeu]

The punchline line is actually pretty interesting, so I'll summarize it. It goes something like Tucker, because one of the things we haven't shown yet, which is really what his tweet goes to, is that Tucker came on the attack talking about the DNA connection that Jews in Israel have to the native land, and that he was putting forth the hypothesis that there are basically Jews are European and that they have no right to that land whatsoever. And Mike Huckabee is saying, well, one thing that I didn't think to say that I should have said is that the Ashkenazi Jews, which I do believe are of European descent, make up 30 to 40% of the population. And the sporadic and Sephardic. Sephardic Jews make up the. And Mizrahi make up the majority. And they do have ancestry that tracks back. And what I will say to that is, you cannot trace back back Tom Bilyeu's ancestry to America. And yet I shan't be giving up this land. And this is where people need to understand that this is all. This is all a distraction. This is not how the world works. So however they came to be, and then people can debate this as much as they want, to me, it is just completely irrelevant. However they came to be in possession of that land, they are now in possession of that land. And if you want to take it, you're going to have to fight for. For it. It's just really that fucking simple. You live in a world where naked power rules the day. Now, people will use power of all sorts. They will use economic, they will use military, they will use political, they'll use everything at their disposal. And if you want to supplant them, you're going to have to win in that fight. And just that is what it is. And so all of the messaging bullshit is like a totally different form of warfare that is really being waged to control the minds of the people, to either demoralize or to get them riled up and ready to fight. One of the things I didn't say when we were talking in the last segment is that one of the ways that religion is actually really useful is if you're trying to get your people to go attack another country, make it about religion. There is a reason that our current Secretary of War has some big ass Christian tattoos on him. And whether it's just he just is really a believer and is like, this is exactly what God wants me to do. He wants me to be strong, he wants me to be aggressive, et cetera, et cetera, etc. It is a great way to get somebody to work up, wake up, be disciplined, work hard, become strong, all of that, become militant, to go out to, you know, proselytize with or without the sword. And so people have been using religion to carry that water for a very, very long time. And so, yeah, let us not lose sight of all of that. And so when you look at whether there is a DNA tie to the region or not, to me that's really of little consequence. It's completely irrelev. They are there. If you look, by the way, at the history of how Jews ended up taking over the land that is now Israel, it is a masterclass on how to go in and go, ah, we've got a weekly organized group here. We're going to come in first with immigration and we're just going to immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, and go from not mattering at all politically to being the dominant political class. This is exactly what you see with Islam right now all over the place and Islam is running the same playbook. And it's like, okay, well a lot of people seem to be pretty unhappy that the Jews ran this strategy in Israel. And so how do those same people feel about any group going into any other area and running a very similar playbook where first we don't matter at all politically and then we immigrate, Immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, immigrate, immigrate. Look at the UK if you think I'm crazy. And we just start getting elected to political office, we become politically impossible to ignore and then you can basically just run the table. And so it's like, man, I'm not passing judgment one way or the other. I'm saying this just is what happens. It is a very high utility strategy. And then whether people decide that they're going to push back or not, but once people get in control now it's a game of power. And if they've got a military, you got to be able to beat Them. So I don't give a. Like, if somebody can trace back their lineage. It's not like they're going to go, oh yeah, B.B. netanyahu, fake name. That's a stage name. His real name is a super European sounding. I think it's Polish if I'm not mistaken. And so it's like, he doesn't belong here. Now what? It's like, you really think they'd be like, oh, dude, guys, sorry, our bad. We're just going to peace out that they're going to be like, come and take it if you can. So. Well, actually what they're going to do is they're going to talk about how there's a bunch of of Sephardic Jews that do belong in the region, which is just a dumb argument. You just say, we are Israel, we're here and this is what we stand for, this is what we're going to do. But it's so mixed in with religion it gets tough.

[Drew]

Nice. You brought mom Donnie up, so we have to pull this up. I'm not going to lie. I thought when I seen this headline I was like, oh, this is not real. This is.

[Tom Bilyeu]

There's no way.

[Drew]

Again, like, I was like, okay, AI like, where's the community note? Where's the Miku? And it just, it didn't come come. So yeah, yeah, this is, this is it.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Where they're needed faster. And for those who want to do more to help your neighbors and earn

[Drew]

some extra cash, you too can become

[Tom Bilyeu]

an emergency snow shoveler.

[Drew]

Just show up at your local sanitation

[Tom Bilyeu]

garage between 8am and 1pm tomorrow with your paperwork, which is accessible [e-mail] snow and you can get started right away here with that paperwork. Work is refined shovel. You do need to bring two forms of id, fill out the paperwork and your Social Security card. But to vote in election, you don't need any of that because that's racist. Where they're needed. That is so hilarious. I really like, how did nobody in his crew go, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We're going to get trolls for this so hard. Like, bro, let them shovel the snow. Like hand them cash and jot down the name. Something like, Jesus, man. Like, this is so crazy. And to them it's like, whoa. But we've got to make sure that you know they're legitimate because we're going to be paying them money. It's like exactly. When you let somebody do something important, you want to know that they are who they say they are.

[Drew]

They're legitimate.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Like, I just I'm never going to understand the voter ID thing. That's.

[Drew]

So somebody in the chat said it's different because it's a job up.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Huh?

[Drew]

I try.

[Tom Bilyeu]

It's. Yeah, man, that's it to me is so jarring that somebody's like, like, think about it this way. Let's say that the. The government says this is an emergency. We want every worker we can get, including illegal aliens. We're going to pay them cash. We're not going to tax anybody. I would rather be in that position and them just own. Listen, this isn't important. Voting is important. And so let just pay these guys cash. It could be a Chinese foreign spy and we're going to pay him the 19 bucks an hour to shovel snow because it's got to get done.

[Tucker Carlson]

Cool.

[Tom Bilyeu]

I get it. I get where you're at. Like, this is a historic blizzard. You want to help make sure that New Yorkers are safe and that things are functioning and you will do whatever. You just gave me your priorities in rank order. So like, listen, people paying their taxes, absolute must. It's not my highest priority. The safety of New Yorkers is my highest priority. Word. I'm with you, bro. Like, yes, more. And then over here it's like, hey, election integrity matters. Not putting undue friction on people also matters. But in election integrity matters more. We've looked at the stats. It's like 3 to 4% of people that would ever be impacted anyway. And so we're not going to put everybody at risk for the 3 to 4%. Okay, cool. Like rank order your values, but it's not the game that people want to play.

[Drew]

Yeah, it's interesting that when I kind of started digging into the save act after your deep dive, go check that out on the channel, everybody that you really do start to see the pieces breaking where there's people on the left who are breaking against it. I found out Mitch McConnell was against it. He voted it down like twice. So you start to be like, wait, like it's not even like a party line break. Like there's different people. So it's clearly this is not about the thing that we think it is. There's definitely something else there. And when we go back to this show, Shoveler, it's very interesting. It's very like, oh, okay, yeah, somebody needs a job. They just need a former ID and the Social Security. Cool. But it's like, so how come you don't need that for voting? Well, and when you start to realize like, okay, this is not just a one for one thing, there's something else here. So. So it's bigger than what we think it is.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Yeah. And watch the deep dive that I did on this. I go into the. Connect the dots. How aliens, illegal or otherwise, impact the census, how census impacts political power in Washington, on and on and on. So there is a. The most absurd argument that I've ever heard is that, well, there'll be no illegal voting. And so hopefully we can put that to right. Arrest. I went through a litany of people that have done, like, ballot harvesting and things for the most absurd stuff, like winning homecoming queen. And so it's like, not only do we see reports coming out of states where people are getting fake driver's licenses, people are going to facilities to write that they want to sign up for an election, and they're just. They're outright telling the person, I'm not a citizen. Can I still fill this out? And they're like, well, you're gonna have to check a box that says that you are a citizen. But that's it. You're not going to report me? No, I'm not going to report you. Okay. So it's like, at what. At what point do people think that no one has an incentive to vote? If no one has an incentive to vote, why do we vote in the first place? Obviously, there's an incentive to vote. And if we know that, like, at every chain that we detect this, there are people that are doing fraudulent things. And the only thing that we haven't found is, like, the. The systemic fraud actually happening. It's like, okay, is that proof that it doesn't happen, or is it proof that we haven't found something yet that does indeed happen? And for that, I'll say, hey, we don't know. We'll see it play out in. In the fullness of time. But I would say until recently, we didn't know that there was, like, billions of dollars in fraud happening in Minnesota. So it's like, just because we didn't see it before doesn't mean that it wasn't happening.

[Drew]

All right, smash that, like, button on your way out. Love you guys.

[Tom Bilyeu]

Indeed. Guys, make sure you subscribe, please. It helps. And by the way, today was an awesome day. Thank you guys for being here. It was rad. You guys have helped this channel grow. Cannot thank you enough. All right, be legendary. Take care. Peace. Let's talk about a pattern that is guaranteed to be killing your progress. You know what you need to do? You need consistent nutrition. We all do. You need vitamins, probiotics greens. We all know that we should be doing more of it. When your morning gets chaotic, you skip it. When you travel, you skip it. When your routine breaks, everything tends to break, and that inconsistency compounds against you every single day. AG1 is designed to solve the execution problem. One scoop 8 ounces of water and you're done. You're getting 75 plus ingredients, vitamins and minerals, pre and probiotics, nutrient dense superfoods. Everything that used to require six, seven different supplements and perfect planning now happens in one drink that takes about 30 seconds to make. Right now, AG1 is giving you $87 worth of free gifts with your first subscription. You get a welcome kit, travel packs, vitamin D3 plus, K2, and flavor samples. Click the link in the show notes or visit drinkag1.comimpact to claim this offer.