B (19:03)

Okay, important update on the Save America act and the effort to get it passed. Look, I am guardedly optimistic. We've turned kind of a corner over the last few days. There's been some uncertainty about exactly what procedure we will be and will not be using in the end. We've been working closely with Leader Thune and his staff, and they've been great to work with. What we're coming up with is something that I think is best described as a hybrid version of the talking filibuster. But, look, let's not get mired down in nomenclature. What matters far more than what we call call it is what we do with it. We're going to bring it to the floor. We're going to debate it for an extended period of time before filing cloture. And in my view, at least, I don't want to speak for anyone else. This bill needs to remain on the Senate floor before we file cloture on the bill for as long as it takes to get it done. Now, the fact that Leader Thune and his office have been willing to work with us on this, and they appear open to a variation of that, is a good thing things. So let's. Let's keep up the momentum. Let's encourage them to continue to do this. Let's put the bill on the floor. Let's make those who want a filibuster speak and keep it on there as long as possible. Thanks so much.

A (20:14)

Basically, let's go the distance with this thing. Let's take this as far as we possibly can. No rapid conclusion to this. We need massive debate. And what does debate create? Not only does it create a moment where people are exposed for what they truly believe, like, you know, and this is why I've been saying, well, we don't need show votes for Democrats. We know they want an open border. That's not a surprise. But just remember the fact that we get these guys debating and talking and making their case for and against the Save America act will have political consequences for the country. It will expose the failures among the Republicans, it'll expose the callousness of of these Democrats. It'll show who the actual MAGA champions truly are. A lot will be exposed by this process. And when things are exposed, it creates political pressures, whether that means ejecting people who suck or actually changing votes among people who realize that the position they currently have is completely untenable. This debate needs to be as long as possible, stretched out as long as possible. And here's one more big reason for that. And we'll get into some more on the Save America act in a moment. But one more big reason for this. What you are doing right now is you are structuring this into the DNA of the Republican Party. And I don't just mean leadership, I don't just mean elected officials. I mean right now, you, the active thinking, engaged American, somebody who's following politics closely enough to know what the Save America act even is, what you've done is you've now made this conversation completely national that Republicans all across the country, regardless of how attentive they are to the day to day machinations of Washington, are now making this a part of their political cause. This is now hardwired into everybody. What do you want out of a legislator? What do you want out of an elected official? I want my elections safeguarded. This is priority one now for voters across the country. People who hadn't maybe spent a great deal of time thinking about it, all of a sudden thinking about it very sincerely. Wait a second. Photo id? Yeah, that's what I want. But American citizens should only be the ones registered to vote. They should prove it when they register. Yeah, that's what I want. Voting rolls should be clean. Yeah, that's what I want. Noncitizens shouldn't be on them. Dead people shouldn't be on them. The same people shouldn't be on duplicate voter rol across the country. Yeah, that's what I want. This is hardwired into the right now. And with each passing day of debate in the United States Senate, we are creating a stronger, I don't want to say Republican Party, just a stronger population that has common sense. The only way we can improve our country fundamentally is if the voters who ultimately control its destiny for now, know exactly what they want and pursue it with ferocity. And what we want right now is credible elections, which is why we have to stay in this fight. So whatever the result of the Save America act debate on the Senate floor over the next few weeks, whatever the result of that, and I'm not even beginning to promise that this thing is going to pass, I'm interested to see what happens next because as I said earlier, nobody can tell the future. But whatever the result here, we have trained an entire generation of activists to make this priority one. And if we stay in this fight, we can actually accomplish it. We can. More ahead on this edition of events. Let me talk to you about what's going on with Brickhouse Nutrition. This is a great sponsor of our program. You know, there's a lot of people who own the weight loss injections, the weight loss. You know about these weight loss injections? Of course you do. You probably know somebody who's on. And the results are very dramatic. And this is how they work. They lower blood sugar. They reduce appetite. But what if you want to lose the weight but you don't want the painful weekly injections? A lot of people concerned about those injections. You hear about some of those side effects. They're like, I'm not interested. This is exactly why doctors at Brickhouse Nutrition created Lean. Lean's awesome. Lean is a weight loss supplement. The results are remarkable. Lean helps lower your blood sugar. It helps burn fat by converting it into energy and helps curb your appetite and your cravings so you're less hungry. It's a great thing. But listen, lean is not for just random casual dieters. It's for serious people. It's for people who are ready to lose 10 or more pounds. If that is you, you should do this. Get 20% off. I'm going to help you with that. Get you 20% off. Free rush shipping. Just visit take lean.com and enter Vince for your discount. Vince promo code. Vince, take lean.com these statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease and is not a substitute or alternative for care from a health care provider. All right, let's continue on the Save America Act. Mike Lee says he's guardedly optimistic. Okay, I'll take it. J.D. vance is making the case for the Save America Act. He was just out in North Carolina on Friday, and here's what he had to say. The vice President, United States Cut to

C (25:30)

know anything about this legislation, what the Save America act does is that it makes it impossible for illegal aliens to vote in our elections. Pretty common sense. Now, I think that's pretty easy, right? We don't want illegal aliens voting in our elections. My favorite thing is, whenever I bring this up, you'll have some Democrat on TV who will say, well, we don't have to worry about that because illegal immigrants voting in our elections is very rare. Well, number one, how about we put it to zoom? Zero. Okay? Even if you're right, Number two, you're not right. It happens way more often than a lot of people appreciate. In fact, just this week, ICE arrested an illegal immigrant. I'm going to read this because I want to make sure I get it right. An illegal immigrant from Mauritania who's voted in seven federal elections since 2008. And I haven't got good authority that at every single election he voted for Don Davis. No, I don't know about that. I don't know where he voted. But I guarantee it wasn't for us, okay? It wasn't for America first policies. Now here's the thing, though. Even if you take the Democrats at their word, even if illegal aliens voting is very rare, then why don't we ban it anyway? It's not that complicated. It is one thing to say. I don't get it. The Democrats say this never happens, or it happens only very rarely. On the one hand, it. And on the other hand, we must not stop it. It doesn't make a damn bit of sense. We need to get all illegal aliens stopping from voting in our elections. It's very common sense stuff.

A (27:09)

Yeah, he's right about that. And the hysterics by the left is all the proof in the world that they're very aware that they're the beneficiaries of illegal votes. And no doubt many of them encourage that very thing. And the reason they don't want election integrity is to protect that scheme. Duh. This is why they're fighting. If this was nothing, if this was just a random thing, if this, you know, it would be like. This would be like naming a post office. They could pass it with unanimous consent. In the Senate, everyone yawns and moves on with their work. Yet here we are fighting for the basics. Yeah, that's because they're cheating. That's why. It's as simple as that. JD Vance indicating that smartly. By the way, I hear that J.D. vance and President Trump are set to do some media today together. An event to get together. So I'm looking forward to the two of them together, they have a lot to talk about. My guess is the Save America act is one of the things that'll come up and certainly the war in Iran, a lot to discuss on that subject. In fact, we'll be talking a little bit more about the war and what's going on with Buck Sexton here in just a moment. But finally, before we move on, one more on the Save America act for you two. Well, let's make it two. I say one more. Let's do two. Mike Lee is also addressing the myths that Democrats are spreading about it. The left keeps saying that Americans are going to be denied the ability to register to vote. If, you know, if they get, like, married and they change their last name or if they don't have the right documents, they don't have their documents. Oh, they won't be able to vote just because, you know, a fire burned up their document and now they can't vote. Mike Lee says no. We've thought of everything. Actually, we've fixed all of this. Watch a little bit of Mike Lee here.

D (28:51)

Cut three.

B (28:52)

We took great pains to go out of our way to make sure that no American, no American would be left in the dark. This will not cost them a dime and no one will be excluded if they can't find their documentation. All of us should be aware of

A (29:06)

the fact of what is required by

B (29:08)

this act when it comes to registering to vote. You have to present identification, correct. But your driver's license, which most people use in the course of business every single day, is not acceptable. What is acceptable is a passport. 50% of Americans do not have a passport.

A (29:27)

Those who want to obtain it so

B (29:28)

they can vote will pay $186 and wait three or four weeks for that to happen. Secondly, you can use a birth certificate, but any person who has changed their name as a result of a marriage

A (29:41)

or a hyphenate relationship has to find not only their birth certificate, but some

B (29:47)

correction of it ridiculous that they're eligible register to vote. I'm happy to report to my, my dear friend and colleague Senator Durbin from Illinois. You're in luck. We've taken care of that. When you read the bill, what you'll discover is that we've made special accommodation for those who don't have documentation, for those who can't find their birth certificate. Maybe their house burned down, maybe their dog ate it, whatever it is. When all else fails, if you don't have documentation establishing the information on your birth certificate or what would be in a passport or Otherwise, the bill contains a provision requiring each state to allow an alternative mechanism by which someone can buy attestation, issue a sworn statement establishing the critical facts underlying their citizenship. It then puts the onus on the state to follow up on that and to determine the authenticity of it. States have access to their own records. States have reciprocity with other states and are able to achieve verification of that. So we've taken care of that problem. And so I'm sure you'll be elated to hear that. And we look forward to having your affirmative.

A (30:58)

Thank you. That's perfect. Act. There's Mike Lee explaining really clearly. Look, we've created all sorts of mechanisms here to make sure that no American citizen is left out to dry, that they can, they will be able to vote, they will be able to register. We've got it all locked up. I don't know what your objections are. You are once again ridiculous. Ridiculous. Durbin finally on the Save America Act. And then we'll get to the great Buck Sexton. We've got 40 or 50 House Republicans right now, 40 or 50 houses, House Republicans who are refusing to take up any Senate legislation until the Save America act is passed. Here's Brandon Gill this weekend revealing this fascinating piece of information. Watch.

D (31:39)

You know, I would guess that right

A (31:40)

now there are probably 40 or 50

D (31:42)

Republicans that are not going to vote for any piece of legislation from the Senate. That's a large chunk of the Republican conference. And again, I think it's because we realize, we recognize that this is the political, political issue of the day right

A (31:56)

now, the 40 or 50 Republicans. So this is not typical. Normally House Republicans, House members stay out of the Senate's business. Here they are going, no, no, no, we're all up in your business now. You don't. We're not passing anything until you send us the Save America Act. The exception, I think, is DHS funding. That's the only thing that they'll pass through. Other than that, nothing. Save America act or nothing. That's a lot of people that they, the margins are hu. Are not that big. 40 or 50, that's a big deal. All right, let me thank great spot, our great sponsors, and we'll get to Buck here in just a moment. Everybody's talking about, you know, everybody's talking about what happens next. What happens next. Well, here's what happens next for you. What happens when you die? Whoa, Vince, that's heavy. Yeah, I know it's uncomfortable, but being prepared really matters. This is why you need to sit down and use trust and Will for your online estate planning. It's important. It's really important, especially things like naming a guardian and making decisions about your house. This is key if you didn't know where to start. Start with Trust and Will. You can create a complete estate plan in as little as 30 minutes. Their online platform provides a step by step guided process and offers optional one on one support from attorneys in your state. Trust and Will believes that estate planning should be accessible to everybody. So they're committed to making it very affordable today and valuable tomorrow. So don't wait until it's too late. Protect your loved ones. You have to do it and Trust and Will is going to help you do it. The most trusted name in online estate planning. Just go to Trust and Willcom slash Vince, get 20% off. That's trust and Willcom slash Vince for 20% off. Trust and Willcom slash Vince. Trust and Will is not a law firm. They don't provide legal advice. Their online forms are designed to help you create a valid estate plan but are not a substitute for for personalized legal counsel. And also want to thank today Shopify. Picture this. You're online shopping and suddenly you see the thing you've been wanting forever. And then you add it to your cart and then you hit checkout. That's when it really hits. You have no idea what your login is for the website and your wallet is nowhere near you. But then you spot it. That little purple pay button that has all your information saved, making checking out as simple as tapping your screen. Yes, that magic button comes from Shopify, the commerce platform helping power millions of businesses worldwide. 10% of all US E commerce actually. Shopify helps give brands everything they need. Hundreds of beautiful online store templates, powerful AI tools that write product descriptions and enhance photos. And an easy to run email and social campaign to reach customers wherever they are. And behind it all, world class expertise in inventory, shipping, analytics, returns, you name it. See less carts abandoned and more sales go. There it is with Shopify and their shop pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com Vince go to shopify.com Vince that's shopify.com Vince. Here's the sound effect. Where's the sound effect? I call. There it is. Thank you, Josh. Appreciate you man, very much. All right, no more. No more wasting time. Buck Sexton joins us now. You of course know him as the host of Clay and Buck. He does it all. Got a lot of great experience in the world. He's also got a great new book Manufacturing Delusion, how the Left Uses Brainwashing, Indoctrination and Propaganda against you. Buck, it's nice to see and talk to you again, sir.

D (35:29)

Thank you. Thank you, Vince, for letting me come on and tell everybody about this fabulous New York Times bestseller, which I hope that they will all get because it's actually a really good book. And unlike a lot of people in media, I wrote it. Like, I sat at a computer for countless hours after doing lots of research. I didn't pay some person to pretend to be me to write the book. And I think that this is something we should. We should normalize the writing of books when we actually day we've written them. And in this case, look, this comes out of a very straightforward question. Why are so many people going nuts? How are people believing all this crazy stuff? And I looked at the psychological, psychiatric, and even neurological roots of how you can abuse people's sense of reality to get them to believe what you want for the purposes of control, for the purposes of politics. I mean, so we're talking blm, Covid, climate change, men can be women, women can have penises, you name it. All this stuff, yeah, I get into in the book. Well, how does this happen? Like, no, but really, how does it happen? Where does it come from? Where does it start in the mind? What are the tactics they use? And I went to totalitarian societies which have done this more for more extreme ways and over a longer period of time than anywhere else in history, and looked at what they do. So this is basically a play by play of how to make people nuts so you can control them. As people are saying, wow, it's good to know this stuff.

A (37:04)

Why are people so resistant to breaking free? That's the. That's the big thing, you know, we always are talking about, like, well, how can we convince the holdouts, the people who are still believing that men can become women and vice versa, and who are convinced that they're guilty of something by virtue of their own skin color. Why is it that people. It's so difficult to break people free of these delusions?

D (37:25)

Well, for one thing, I think a lot of people prefer to be controlled. I think that that's something that we see. And this really even goes beyond the scope, I think, in some ways, of my book. But there's. We people who think that human freedom is a fundamental desire have a very hard time understanding. Well, hold on a second. What do you mean? You want to be told what to do? Why do you want to submit? But there is also. I don't know if it's an obedience gene. And like I said, this actually goes outside the scope of my book. But there are people quite clearly who don't want the responsibility of making decisions. They want to be told what to do. They want to be told what to, I mean, do is too much even. They want to be told what to think. But a manufacturing delusion, I get into. Well, how do you make someone so obedient that they won't really have to think very much for themselves? And it's not in vague, like general terms. I mean, I get into conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning. I get into something called menticide, which I explain in a whole chapter in the book, which is kind of destruction of the mind, and then thought reform, the rebuilding of the mind, as the Maoist Chinese did in a certain model, and then force phobia, something used in cults and using. And then identity construction used in radicalization processes. Isolation, the role of isolation, the role of false confession. I mean, all of these things I explained with a lot of history, by the way. So for your audience who just like to learn cool history, I mean, do you know where the idea for Stalin and Hitler's secret police came from? You gotta go back hundreds of years and you will learn that it actually comes from Ivan the Terrible in my book. I mean, there's so. There's a lot of really interesting stuff that I came across because I read about 20 books before I wrote the book. Just pure research. And I think that people will find that they'll learn a lot and they'll also be able to answer this question, Vince, if they buy manufacturing delusion, which I've been coached, I might add, because this is my first actual book that I've written because I wrote it, as I said. Did you have to say the name of the book, like every five seconds? I'm trying not to do it every five seconds. But. But in manufacturing delusion, people will pick up a lot of history and a lot of the sort of basic science of this stuff. But also, how is it possible that everyone during COVID Not everyone, but, you know, most people. A lot of people thought that masking up between bites on an airplane wasn't the craziest thing they had ever heard. How did you get airline attendants and airline executives to go along with. If you mask up in between the bites on the plane, you are protecting people around you. Pure obedience training. Pure Pavlovian conditioning. Pure mind control.

A (40:10)

Right? And getting everyone to ignore science in the pursuit of that ridiculousness. I mean, Even. Even when that first developed, when they first started forcing everybody to mask up on airplanes. I remember the early research on that. Buck instantly told us that that was horseshit because they were like, you know, that airplanes have, like, the best filtration systems imaginable. There's no way anybody's getting sick, even sitting somebody with COVID And it didn't matter. Every. Everybody was forced into this, like, bizarro struggle session anyway, to the point that people were being arrested and dragged off of airplanes for not wearing masks.

D (40:41)

Did you ever see that, by the way? I was on a plane where that happened, where people didn't ma. They wasn't. They were refusing to mask, but that they. They, like, had pulled them down too often for the. The Stalinist prison guard, airline attendants liking. And she was like, that's it. You're done. And they. They pulled them off, and they dragged them off the plane, too. It was two young women. They dragged them off the plane, the whole thing. So, yeah, I mean, and this is the stuff that was going on. And people. I just want to be so clear, because I know some people. I actually think the COVID is almost too uncomfortable for people to go back and look. I think it's like a trauma that people don't want to revisit. You know, Covid. Books on Covid or what happened, by the way, generally do very poorly. I know this because initially I wanted to focus even more on just the psychology of what happened to Covid. My publisher, to their credit, they were like, no, like, you got to make this broad or bigger, you got to make this about politics today. So a manufacturing delusion. Covid is like. Is like less than 5% of the book. It's a tiny little, little part of the book where I get into this stuff. But I also started to see it more and more in other things as well. I mean, the whole notion, for example, of land acknowledgments. You know, one of the ways that they break you down is to get you to confess, but not just to confess, but false confession, as in you have to admit to doing something wrong that you didn't do and you did nothing. But this is important because it undermines your sense of self. There's actually a reason why false confession existed in. In the most prominent ways. The Soviet Union, Maoist China, and now college campuses, and now land acknowledgments at city council meetings. They make you do this for reasons. They make you do this. It is a mechanism of control.

A (42:24)

Yes. It conditions you to surrender.

D (42:26)

Yeah.

A (42:26)

So did you find. I think a lot of people first became familiar with you. Now you have a wildly successful career in media, but people first became familiar with you oftentimes because you were called upon on cable television to comment on things that you had experienced in your own life or some expertise you had accrued as a CIA analyst. And did you find, as you wrote this book and you were thinking through these issues that you identified things in manufacturing delusion that you knew from the world of the CIA, like, in terms of the way people think and how they operate?

D (42:58)

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. They're. First of all, thank you for knowing about the rise of the Buckster and how that all happened. I used to go on Fox News. I'll tell you a quick story. They. They had someone on. I won't say what show and I won't say, but it was a prime. It was one of the primetime shows a long time ago, and they had invited me on because I am young looking like you, by the way. You are ageless. What is your regimen? How does your. Does your audience you. Are you selling skincare products?

A (43:26)

No, I'm holding out on the audience. My. I have an amazing skincare regimen. Yeah, no, that's the key.

D (43:31)

There's something going on here, buddy. You have not aged a day. I've known you over a decade. Okay, back to. But so they had me, and I was. I swear I was going to be on a youth panel. That's what they. It was like at the end of the show, and it was like, justin Bieber, shirtless, has been arrested. Like, what do you think? And I'd be like, hey, I'm like, hip and young. And I was sitting there and I was like, hey, the top of the show, you guys were just talking about a counterterrorism, a specific counterterrorism unit that operates with the nypd, but also the FBI and even has contact with the CIA. I was like, I was in that unit. Like, I was in the unit. Do you want me to talk about it at some point? Like, I mean, you could have the. The lawyer from, you know, the foundation for, you know, rights of the Constitution or whatever. You could have this guy talk about it. But I was actually in the unit doing this stuff. And they were like, really?

A (44:22)

And I was like, really?

D (44:24)

Sure enough, they had me back to their credit. And that was sort of the beginning of. Of me doing more.

A (44:28)

That stuff.

D (44:29)

Yeah, I mean, I was in the CIA 2005. 2011 or 2000. Yeah, 2005. 20. Yes. Sorry, I'm Trying to make sure I don't get my resume wrong. And the. The years that I was there mostly was counterterrorism center. I spent a year at the NYPD Intelligence division doing a rotation. The CIA basically set it up so I could go and help out there while still keeping my clearances active and everything else back at Langley. So one thing that I do get into in the book, but first of all, I had to clear it. I had to really clear the book because I talk about some CIA stuff,

A (45:00)

and I was surprised.

D (45:01)

Like, they let me. I can say it now. They let me. My first CIA mission, which is like the opening of the book, was to Nigeria. And you're like, buck, why would you be going to Nigeria? 20. This is 20 years ago. And it was because I had in my deep reading in my cubicle come across some early reporting that there's some really bad stuff happening in Nigeria and that there were some very ominous efforts, including from, like, Al Qaeda.

A (45:33)

Yep.

D (45:34)

To start to set up the beginnings of radicalization centers, identity construction, as I call it in the book. But basically radicalization, you know, using external money and external resources. And there was huge fighting over this because there always is in the government. And so they're like, you know what? Send the kid. Which is me. Like, send the kid. He'll, like, he'll bounce around there. It was like a training mission. They were like, yeah, you know, it was very back of hand, like, nonchalant. No one, really. And I got there, and I actually linked up with a very seasoned team of people. Yes, I can say about it, who ended up taking me all over the country and. And, like, figuring out the origins of Boko Haram. Like, I was there. I came back and I'm like, yeah, I think we got a real problem here, guys. By the way, of course, the government was like, ah, shut up. We're trying to find bin Laden. Like, go. Go back to West Africa, kid. No one cares.

A (46:28)

You know, by the way, when you arrive in Nigeria, everybody inspired instantly knew you were CIA. I just want to be clear. There's no.

D (46:34)

There was no blood.

A (46:35)

This is what. Like, that guy's not blending in. I'm.

D (46:38)

I'm there. I mean, in the book, it makes it very clear, like, I'm not. I'm obviously not like, undercover in the sense, you know, people. You know, people are like. They're like, who is this guy? Like, what government? All it is is, what government agency does this kid who's like 24 work for? Like, you know, it's not obvious.

A (46:55)

Right. So.

D (46:56)

And I wasn't. I wasn't trying to blend it. It was actually trying. The government there, actually, to the government's credit, was like, hey, I think we might have a problem here. Like, can you come take a look at. It wasn't. You know, it wasn't in this context of, like, I'm sneaking in with, like, a mustache and whatever. And so my point, though, is that in the. In the earliest days, in a manufacturing delusion, which I'm telling, you know what, the number one thing I get about the book is, Vince? People go, it's actually. It's actually really good. And I mean, on the one hand. On the one hand, I'm really happy to hear that. On the other hand, I'm like, You know, because I'm like a radio guy. I can't get. It's actually a really good book. It's really interesting. There's real research, there's real stories. But, yeah, so the CIA cleared the book, and so I could talk about Nigeria, talk about Iraq. I talk about Afghanistan, too. Some of my work in Iraq was, again, on the analytics side. But I got out and did, you know, when I went outside the wire and did meetings and things like that, too, because people forget, like, when you're in a war zone and you're not at Langley, you're not, like, under the thumb of all of the managerial class. You show up in a war zone and you're, like, in some house and there's sandbags around it, and there are some, you know, Kurdish guys with PKM who are, like, all that separating you from the next suicide bomber.

A (48:07)

Yeah.

D (48:08)

If you say, like, hey, I'll go do this. Like, let's go. That's what happens. It's very different. It's not like, oh, are you. You know, it's like, you have a gun. You've been trained. Let's go.

A (48:20)

Right.

D (48:20)

So there was opportunity to do things like that. Anyway, back to what I saw. So the suicide bomber pipeline in, and this is part of one of the chapters as well, bringing people, usually, that enter Syria and then come into Iraq from the Syria, Iraq border. But I mean, how do you convince people from some country, I mean, whether it's Chechnya or it's Birmingham in the uk, I mean, you know, or the US or wherever. How do you convince people to show up in a foreign country, strap a suicide vest on and blow up random people they've never met before they know nothing about?

A (48:51)

Yes.

D (48:52)

Tactics of mind control I get into. In the book,

A (48:56)

it's Amazing. And, and, but the difference, it seems, is with radical Islam, at least there's some sort of like, distorted picture of eternity that's built into it. Like, this is like to serve some higher power or whatever. But what is this on, like the American left? Like, what are they working for? Like, this radicalization pipeline? How is it that they become like, we have Buck, you know, this. We have an assassination culture on the American left. We've talked about it pretty extensively that. Remember Rutgers University did this survey. Up to 50% of the left thinks it would be totally legitimate for Donald Trump to be assassinated. And nearly as many think that Elon Musk deserves to be assassinated, or at least did when he was working closely with President Trump. There's something deeply wrong here. Those are crazy levels of radicalization and they have nothing to do with. I'm doing this for God.

D (49:46)

Well, this is an excellent series of observations and a tee up for what I wanted to say, which is that in manufacturing delusion, as you know, Vince, when you go to publish a book, it's about a year turnaround from submission of the manuscript to hard copy airports. And my only regret with this book really is that just based on the world around us, I went to press. I mean, I would have had to add chapters if I could have. I couldn't, obviously, but I went to press. This, this happened, or rather I handed it in before all the trans. You know, mass shootings that we've seen.

A (50:27)

Yes.

D (50:28)

You know, before the, A lot of the hardcore ideological violence of the left, the assassination attempts on Trump. I mean, really like these. I had already.

A (50:42)

The assassination of Charlie.

D (50:43)

Yeah, all of Charlie. Yeah, all of these things occurred after I had handed in the manuscript because that's just the timing of books. So now one, on the one hand, like, I kind of want to revisit this already, which is insane for somebody who just went through the whole book process and whatever. Like, I want to add to it because I feel like one of the primary theses of the book is that this completely degrades a society and that in manufacturing delusion, these delusions allow very bad people to achieve power. And it is intentional and there are steps, there are things that they are doing. I mean, I get into weaponized law. And I mean, a form of weaponized law is lawlessness from the people who are supposed to enforce the law, like prosecutors. Right. I mean, these are things that destroy the society all around you. But we've started to see just how far, for example, the radicalization of. From the trans ideology can go. Where we now we have trans. Multiple cases of mass murdering trans terrorists or trans. Motivated, you know, trans ideology motivated terrorists. And I mean, that just shows you that people are willing to murder for these delusions, which of course is also the case in the worst totalitarian dictatorships. But people within a free Western society like America are willing to murder for these delusions, which is why I think the book is so important for people to see.

A (52:08)

Yes, and. And I think the big theological point is that they make themselves God, that they can control everything, and anybody who gets in their way deserves to die. So the. Okay, so because you're so talented at promoting the book, you followed the advice very well. We started on that topic. But I do want to ask you a little bit about Iran, given just the very short time we have left.

D (52:28)

Yeah, of course.

A (52:30)

So. So this weekend we saw that we bombed Kharg Island. This is a key oil island for the Iranians. But wisely, I would say, and I'll get to get your assessment of this, President Trump went out of his way to say we didn't bomb the oil infrastructure. All works, all we're blowing up is the military. We're blowing up every military target we can. But we're taking pains not to destroy the oil infrastructure because we want the Iranian people to thrive. We want the oil operations to work there. What do you make of this strategy that the administration's using right now?

D (53:04)

Look, it's. It's the right move for them to make it clear that they're not trying to destroy the oil infrastructure. Because if you do that, you are massively punishing the civilian population because, I don't know, 60, 70% of the Iranian economy, effectively something like that is just the oil. And if you're talking about hard currency denominated in dollars, et cetera, Iran is an oil economy, as everybody knows. And you can't destroy that infrastructure and not create mass shortages. Much worse. Basically, no bread on the shelves, no. No olive oil in the store. So they recognize that. So that's good. But here's where I am on this, on this whole campaign so far. And it's been. I'm very sympathetic to the initial impulse of we can't allow the Iranians to continue to just play. The Iranians are never going to negotiate away their nuclear program. That's obvious, I think, to anybody who's being serious about this. So given that reality, what can you do? Well, you can. You can try to get more leverage, and destroying their entire military infrastructure gives you more leverage. The other piece of this, though, which is the regime change aspect, which I know for a lot of people it's like dirty. A dirty phrase or dirty words. There is no opposition there, and we would know. So this is where the Trump administration's in a tough spot because we're not going to do boots on the ground. That is a red line. Trump will not cross it, in my opinion. None of his advisors will cross it. Pete Hegseth, who was a Gwot guy himself in Baghdad, he's not going to do that. So you have that. I think there are limitations that everyone should just expect to self. Sort of self created in the moment. Arab Spring style, this case, Persian Spring style opposition, it's just not there. We would see it. The Kurds are not an option. I saw that reporting about it. We went through this in Iraq. The Kurds are great at controlling Kurdish areas. The Kurds are very valuable allies and fighters. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Kurdish people. Yes, but they're not going to be administering.

A (55:13)

So what do you predict? That we'll see Tehran be run by kind of a crippled mall of force going forward?

D (55:19)

Yeah. Trump's going to declare victory within the next couple of weeks and say we destroyed their whole military. There'll be some. We'll offer to them to have some continuation of negotiation in the future, but there is no. And I'm sad about this, I'm sad for the Iranian people, but there's no, you know, lighting the. Lighting the mullahs posters on fire in Tehran and saying we're going to have elections in six months or a year or something. That's not happening.

A (55:44)

I saw the reports that we're sending the 31st MU to the area. So a MU is a Marine Expeditionary Unit, big ship, that amphibious, that carries about 2,000 Marines. And I called my dad yesterday. My dad's a retired Marine general. He was one of the top logistics officers for A mu. And I said, what? You know, the media are just reporting this, like, we're gonna have some big Marine invasion. Like we're sending 2,000 Marines in. They're just gonna invade the island. Boots on the ground. Like, are there. I assume there's a lot of other things a MU would do, right? And he goes, yeah, no, there's a lot of. There's a lot of missions. In fact, if I'm centcom, I want a MEW in the area. I want. I want the Marines there. And then there could be a million reasons. Like, for instance, if things go south and you need a quick reaction Force to rescue people who are in a desperate situation. You want Marines on standby if you need to. If you need to interdict a ship or something, you want Marines who can fast rope onto it. I mean, there are going to be scenarios where you want Marines in the area. And so I'm asking about this, and I think it goes back to the point you just made, Buck, which is like, I'm not anticipating some sort of ground invasion. And in fact, anytime anybody at the White House is asked about this, they like, instantly try and get you off of that. They're like, no, that is not what's going on here.

D (56:55)

Then it would fracture the MAGA coalition. Honestly, it really. A ground invasion would. This will not. In my opinion, people that are freaking out about this, I think they're going too far. I think that Iran is a problem state that we needed to do something to change the game with.

A (57:12)

Yep.

D (57:13)

But that we're not gonna land. We're not landing a mew to try to take the streets of Isfahan. That's not happening.

A (57:20)

Let me get your reaction to one more piece of breaking news and then I'll let you go here, Buck. This came out this morning and I love it. And I love that you probably haven't seen it yet, although you probably have, but we'll see. Guys, can you take me full screen? This is the New York Post this morning. You ready for this? This is a hilarious piece on Iran. Trump briefed that Iran's new supreme Leader, Mashtaba Khamenei, is probably gay. And the President has a priceless reaction. This is Stephen Nelson at the New York Post this morning. President Trump was stunned to learn last week that US Intelligence indicates that new Iranian Supreme Leader Mashtaba Khamenei may be gay and that his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, feared his suitability to rule the Islamic Republic. For that reason, the Trump couldn't contain his surprise and laughed out loud when he was briefed on the intel, according to sources. Others in the room also found it hilarious and joined the President's reaction. While one senior intelligence official has, quote, not stopped laughing about it for days, said one person familiar with the brief with the briefing. The shocking claim described in the New York Post by two intelligence community officials and a third person close to the White House. All three sources saying the implausible allegation is viewed as credible by US Spy agencies rather than false information intended to undermine Khamenei. So. So here's the. I guess the big takeaway. This Morning Bucks accident. And I need you to react to this in. As a. In a very sensitive to LGBTQ issues as possible way. Apparently, Trump has been laughing his ass off for a week. That. That. That a gay guy may have just taken over as the Supreme Leader in Iran. Your thoughts?

D (59:06)

Wow. No, I actually hadn't seen. I feel like Trump, but he's like, no, no, I hadn't seen.

A (59:12)

Telling me for the first time.

D (59:13)

First time. That's, you know, it. The crazy world we live in, you don't know what to expect. And I am not surprised at all that Trump finds that very amusing. And I would just say that anything that can undermine the Iranian leadership in the eyes of their own people is probably very useful. And so true. Untrue. Who knows? If this story gets out there and catches on, it's going to be a problem for the Muslim clerics that want to continue to be running that country. But more of that kind of analysis. Manufacturing Delusion, my fine book that I highly recommend. You like that pivot to get me off the hot seat. Incredible. Incredible. Naughty man.

A (59:58)

I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. They said, by the way, that one of the reasons they know he's gay is because while he's recovering from his devastating injuries, he's apparently completely disfigured. He's been hitting on all of the male nurses.

D (60:10)

That really in there, or you just make this up?

A (60:12)

I'm not.

D (60:12)

I'm not making that up. Are you telling me that Mojtaba likes scented candles? I mean, like, what's going on here?

A (60:18)

It's. It's. Dude, it's. This is real stuff, man. The New York Post reported that. It's got to be real, actually. Stephen's a great reporter. Stephen Nelson's a legitimately great reporter. So this is. This is probably all totally authentic. Anyway, you're a great guy. You've got a great book. The book is Manufacturing Delusion. Thank you, Buck, for doing this today.

D (60:33)

Hang on. The Vince podcast. Anytime. This is fun. Your people. Your people are making a good choice by hanging out with you. I like it.

A (60:39)

Thanks, man. Good to see you today, brother.

D (60:41)

Thank you.

A (60:43)

It's. I. Look, I'm just telling you what the news tells me. That's all. That's all. That's it. I'll. I've got the big national radio show today. We're going to do that a little bit more. We'll have more coverage of what exactly is going on with Iran. President Trump's efforts to stabilize oil prices. He's doing everything's pulling out, all the stops. We've got the details on that today. You can join us there. Just go to your radio affiliates. The Vince Show.com we got hundreds of them all across the country. And if you'd like to watch us live, you can do that on rumble. Rumble.com Vince we start the video version of the show at 1pm it runs from 12 to 3 Eastern, the radio show, but it starts on video at 1pm Eastern. Rumble.com Vince Dan Bongino show today is hosted by the great Sean Farish, who I know is in studio in Florida right now. He's all ready to go. That's rumble.combongino 10am Eastern. And Haley Caronia. Haley with two Y's. Why? Because she's awesome. That's rumble.com Haley she's live at noon Eastern on Rumble. So many great options, so many great patriots, and you're just great. You're the best audience anywhere. Thank you. I'll be back with you tomorrow.