Did Israel Push Trump into War with Iran?

Pots of the world is brought to you by fast-growing trees.

Did you know that fast-growing trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery

with thousands of trees and plants and over two million happy customers?

They have all the plants you're yard or your home needs, including fruit trees,

privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs and houseplants all grown with care and guaranteed to

arrive healthy. It's like your local nursery, but anywhere you live with more plants,

then you'll find anywhere else. Whatever you're looking for, fast-growing trees helps you find

options that actually work for your climate, your space, and your lifestyle. That's growing

trees makes it easy to get your dream yard. Just click order and grow and get healthy thriving

plants delivered to your door. Their alive and thrive guarantee promises your plants will arrive

happy and healthy. No green thumb required. Just quality plants you can count on. Plus,

get ongoing support from trained plant experts who can help you plan your landscape. Choose

the right plants and learn how to care for them every step of the way. I got to say, the plant

experts, don't sleep on the plant experts here. Because I think we all want some greenery in our

homes or in our yards, but you don't know what to buy. Never know. You don't know what's going to

survive in New England versus California. Their plant experts will help you. They'll help you

choose the right plants. They'll help you figure out what you want. They'll make sure it looks

great. Most importantly, they'll help you keep them alive because that's easier said than done.

Right now, they have great deals on spring planting essentials up to half off on select plants.

Listeners to our show get 20% off their first purchase when using the code world at checkout.

That's an additional 20% off better plants and better growing at fastgrowingtrees.com using

the promo code world at checkout fastgrowingtrees.com code world. Now is the perfect time to plant.

Let's grow together. Use the code world to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time terms

and conditions apply.

Organizing your community for just trying to win the argument in your group chat.

So if you're listening to this hit pause go to your browser and head to crooked.com slash

yes we did because I have a special offer for crooked media fans. You will get 20% off a

message box from an entire year. So go to crooked.com slash yes we did

Welcome back to Pads Day of the World. I'm Tommy Vtor. I'm Ben Rhodes. Ben, Donald Trump has launched

a brand new regime change war of choice in Iran that is in Gulf of the Middle East.

Thank God the administration is finally taking this seriously and putting our best foot forward

to explain that mission to the world. Let's watch. Good afternoon.

The 10,113 meeting of the Security Council is called to order.

I wasn't ready for that. I was not mentally prepared for that. I don't know how I

like the strange mix of things happening inside me. Cassie? Oh my god.

Loaded. Embarrassment, anxiety. Something that just triggers anxiety. Like actually

because everything is making me anxious right now. Yeah that may be anxious. And she's not

calming. No. You would think that that kind of, you know, Balkan accent would kind of calm us

down. No, no, it didn't. That was, as you guys probably could tell Melania Trump, the first lady

who for some reason is presiding over a meeting of the UN Security Council and New York Times

pulled some key quotes from her speech. So Ben, she said she was there to promote these are her own

words, quote, piece to education, which of course this was just days after the U.S. or Israel bomb

the school and Iran, quote, empathy for others transcending geography, religion, race, gender,

because nothing says empathy like Trump administration. I don't know. I guess this is what they're

doing at the UN these days. Can you imagine, I mean, maybe she's on a role from the, you know,

blockbuster success of the money a documentary paid for by Jeff Bezos at the expense of the

Washington Post, but can you imagine being like some diplomat who has to sit in the chair,

you know, what your whole life for the whole life to be at the United Nations and used to

matter so much. You probably envisioned being in the Security Council as like the pinnacle of

your career. And now you're there to talk about like transcendental empathy with Lonnie Trump.

Yeah, or just, yeah, I just attacked some random minority group or whatever the hell she's

doing up there. I mean, trans people are something. It's terrible. That's the theme for today.

We're going to talk through all the latest on Iran. We're going to start with some excerpts from

Trump's first press conference since the war started on Saturday. The latest casually numbers in

the region, what we've learned about the stunning security failure that led to 60 U.S. service

members being killed in the administration's total lack of planning to help people or Americans.

I mean, stuck in the crossfire sitting overseas. We'll explain how a comment from

Marco Rubio has ignited a huge debate over the role Israel played in getting Trump to go to war.

What role vice president JD Vance played in the deliberations and then Trump's outreach to

Kurdish leaders and why that has increased our fear of a civil war in Iran big time.

Finally, we're going to talk about the role of the supreme leader in Iran in the process

to choose the next one. Then we'll update you on all things Cuba and end with some fun stuff

about Pods' Avalued fan favorite, Cash Betel and his girlfriend.

Need that update, please.

Love it at the end there.

Oh, God.

Awesome.

And then I, you did your interview.

Yeah, I talked to Yasmin Ansari, who was with us at Crooked Congress.

Absolutely.

Wonderful young member of Congress from Arizona, who's been a real progressive leader.

She's also the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress.

So she has a very unique vantage point on this.

We talked about the information being provided to Congress or complete lack thereof

and how Democrats are thinking about things and what their strategy is going forward.

We talked about her kind of conflicting feelings about obviously being

happy to see the demise of the supreme leader,

Hamine, her parents had to flee Iran.

But she has been strongly opposed to the war as a legal and unconstitutional and frankly,

the US not imposing a government by Donald Trump is probably not the best

solution here. So we kind of unpacked all that.

So it's a pretty powerful conversation.

It also kind of gives you the Congress view on things.

She's really smart and young and thoughtful and has a real connection that I asked for.

And so it did an important interview.

I'm glad you did it.

Also, thanks everybody for watching this episode and all the bonus episodes we've been doing.

We're trying to do a lot of coverage of this work because it really, really matters.

When you subscribe to Pod Save the World, it makes a big difference.

It helps people find us on YouTube.

It helps the show go up the charts on Apple podcasts.

And it means that listeners will hear from people who are smart and decent,

like Yasmeen and Sari, not John Bolton, or whoever is getting booked over on Fox News.

By the way, Fox News is all, it's like 2003, 100% propaganda for the war.

I have to say, and I'm not to say this because we're now fully partnered with MS.

But CNN's been pretty, their diversity of opinion seems to be having Dave Patreus

and Brett McGurk on.

It's not a lot of anti-war progressive voices popping up out there.

So please do help us get this kind of information in front of people

because we're seeing kind of like an American media just not really meet this moment.

Not meet the moment at all.

It feels like 2003 all over again.

I don't know if you caught.

There was someone tweeted out the list of guests on where the CBS News Sunday show

was Barry Weiss and it was like six war supporters, zero opponents.

What are we doing here?

Nothing good.

Learning nothing.

Learning nothing.

Okay, Ben.

So four days after launching this reckless, stupid war of choice with Iran,

President Trump finally took questions from the media.

Let's watch an excerpt.

This is him sitting with Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany.

Is real force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran?

Did that John Bolton United States get this war?

No, I might have forced their hand.

You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics.

And it was my opinion that they were going to attack first.

I guess the worst case would be we do this.

And then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person, right?

That could happen.

We don't want that to happen.

It would probably be the worst you go through this.

And then in five years you realize you put somebody and it was no better.

Most of the people we had in mind are dead.

So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is dead.

And now we have another group.

They may be dead also based on reports.

So I guess you have a third wave coming in.

Pretty sure we're not going to know anybody.

I guess he is some people like him.

We haven't been thinking about too much about that.

It would seem to me that somebody from within might maybe would be more appropriate.

I've said that some of the European like Spain has been terrible.

In fact, I told Scott to cut off all

dealings with Spain.

By the way, we have massive amounts of ammunition.

But we gave away a lot of high end, but we have plenty.

But we have unlimited middle and upper ammunition,

which is really what we're using in this war.

And we have really an unlimited supply.

I guess we're with Spain now.

So it does seem like that the worst case scenario kind of occurred to him for the first time in the moment there.

It doesn't give me a lot of hope in their day after planning.

If Israel keeps killing the people, Trump thought

might take over in Iran.

He's also lying about the unlimited ammunition.

Like there's tons of reporting that we're running low on interceptor missiles and T-lams and others.

Ben, let's carve off the Israel piece of this in a minute and get to that with the Rubio quote.

What were your takeaways from this little mini press conference besides

Resipology just getting crushed there?

He just keeps reinforcing the extent to which they have absolutely no plan

or even expectation of what's going to happen inside of Iran.

One possibility, which I always thought was insane and we've said this repeatedly,

was this Resipology idea that basically the diaspora goes back and helps run a transition.

Well, you know, he just got re-matchadoed by Trump.

I mean, the same way that he dismissed her, he dismissed Polavi.

Frankly, she had a lot more of a democratic claim on being in Venezuela, but put that aside.

Then, you know, I actually, that's not even the worst case scenario.

That's actually not in a weird way like just someone who's as bad.

Status quo, status quo.

He's not even contemplating and we'll get to this with the army.

Of course, you know, separatist.

He's not even contemplating.

Truly seems to not understand that this could.

I'm not saying it will, but this could become an Iraq's level civil war

that kills hundreds of thousands of people and is regional.

Only two millions and millions of refugees.

Like, that's something that is possible and he just doesn't seem to at all be

concerned about that or even to kind of aware of that possibility.

He also seems to not feel like we talk about this a bit yesterday.

There's nothing weighed on his shoulders.

Six Americans are dead.

The global economy is like taking huge hits.

There's all this uncertainty and he's just like, yeah, whatever.

He's kind of like Loki in it.

Like, it is weird.

I'm sort of the two minds of this.

His tone seems weird and excessively chill there, given the stakes of what he's just started,

like his entire presidency is at stake, but also he did hide from the media for like three days,

which he never does, especially in big moments.

So it doesn't seem like maybe they were worried about going out.

Yeah, that's true.

And, you know, he kind of had to go out with merchants and so I don't know.

There's just no clarity or confidence of what the hell they cannot and this will lead into

they can't agree on why they're at war.

They can't agree on what they're at war to do.

They can't agree on how long the war is going to last.

This is truly profoundly unnerving.

I mean, it's unnerving enough when the Trump administration is like that about some trade dispute.

This is about a major war they just started with one of the larger countries in the world

in the middle of the Middle East and they literally can't stay on message

over the course of a day.

And yeah, there's that still shooting back.

So if you just sort of like major updates to quickly tick through.

So on Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force bombed a meeting of Iran's so-called Council of Experts,

it's the 88-member council that is reportedly voting on who will take over the Supreme Leader's

place. You would think that many experts in one place would know not to like gather in big groups,

but here we are.

We're going to get to the Supreme Leader's Succession process later in a show,

but it seems to save to say this will delay it in quite possible.

You could lead to the like kind of chaos scenario you're talking about there if Iran is never like

has an opportunity to figure out leadership structure going forward.

Iranian state media now says that 175 people, most of them children, were killed by the US

or Israel in a strike that hit a girl's school. As a general matter, I'm like obviously a little

skeptical of Iranian state media as a source, but the images and the videos from the strike are

all over social media. The New York Times and much about visual investigations, they confirmed

this was a mass casualty incident of kids. In the school itself was adjacent to an IRGC

naval base. You can understand how it happened, but it is horrific.

The Iranian Red Crescent says the Iranian death toll from the war is now up to 787 people.

40 people are dead in Lebanon, 12 in Israel, three in the UAE, two in Iraq, and one in Oman.

The death toll for US service members is up to six, many more wounded. So these soldiers were

all killed by an Iranian drone that struck a base in Kuwait. But according to CNN, these soldiers

were working in a makeshift operations center that was described as a, quote, triple wide trailer

with office space inside. So this drone hit with no warning, no siren, nothing to alert these folks

to take cover. And Ben, the fact that like US service members were working in conditions like that,

like in the line of fire, it's just indefensible in my view. And also we should know that Pete Hegseth

on Monday lied and said the facility they were at was fortified as a fucking trailer. Yeah,

like it's crazy. Well, let's just focus on Pete Hegseth and how completely and over at his

head he is. First of all, in his effort to project his, you know, bottomless need to assert his

masculinity, you know, he keeps saying things like no more rules of engagement for wishes or something.

No more work wars. And again, that's how you get schools blown up, right? Like if we're going to

have a multi week bombing campaign, maybe periodically over years in Iran, the reason you have

rules of engagement is to not kill thousands of civilians. So fuck you, Pete Hegseth,

like just because you need to show off for people because, you know, I don't know what happened

you in high school, but put that aside. Then, yeah, the fortified comment, these, these were not

even though we've already fought, you know, not our first war with Iran in the Trump administration,

you would think that they'd have plans. They had better plans to like have civilians go to

shelters in Israel than they seemed to have for some of the guys on these bases, even though we

knew they were going to be targets. But the fortified comment too is so chilling Tommy because

he's going to lie to us over and over again. He doesn't care if it's just an outright lie.

And we're going to be looking to this man to tell us about US casualties about the cost of the war,

about the progress of the war. And you just know that he's just going to, he'll just say whatever

he feels like he needs to say, you know. And so that's, it's both horrible that they didn't, you know,

secure our troops as well as they should have. But it's also harrowing that just kind of reinforces it,

you know, we can't trust anything. I mean, I know the Pentagon's had some, you know,

moments in pass, but this is, this is a whole new ball. This is worse. Also, the fighting is escalated

between Hezbollah and Israel and Southern Lebanon, including in Beirut. Israel cats, the Israeli

defense minister says the IDF is going to seize more territory and Lebanon to deal with that threat.

So another coming attraction. Can you just stop there? Because again, like one of the things

you hear more and more of is that that Israel's creating this chaos and there's going to be territorial

expansion. And by that, it's the West Bank. It's Southern Lebanon and it's Southern Syria. So

people, you know, can call me names reporting this out. I'm just saying watch this. Like, let's watch

whether they try to take actual physical territory in Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank while this was.

And hold it. And then US embassies in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been shut down. The US Embassy in

Riyadh was hit by an Iranian drone on Monday. The American consulate in Dubai was hit by a drone

on Tuesday. It does make you worried that Iran might have found a hole in the air defenses.

Because that's, you know, pretty late in the game for that to start getting more and more effective.

State has also evacuated non-essential staff and their families from six countries in the

Middle East. And the State Department has advised Americans to immediately depart 14

Middle Eastern countries, but they are providing them no support. Here's Secretary of State

Marco Rubio addressing Americans stranded abroad earlier on Tuesday.

Here's the message I want to deliver Americans who are in the Middle East and in need of assistance.

It is very important. I ask this of the networks as well. It is important for you to please

put both the website and the phone numbers on your screens. Because we need people,

we need to know where you are. We need to know. We need to have contact information for Americans

that need assistance. So the plan is to beg the media to put a number up on the screen. When Trump

was asking why wasn't there an evacuation plan. Trump said, well, because it happened all very

quickly, we thought, and I thought maybe more so than most. I could ask Marco, but I thought we're

going to have a situation where we're going to be attacked. It's like gibberish from there. So

I don't know, Ben. These guys, like hypocrisy is what it is at this point, but these guys spend years

demagoguing Benghazi. They've like a right wing. Action porn movies about Benghazi because they love

reliving it. And now we got like embassy. I mean, this is shut down American diplomacy across

the entire region. People can't go to work because the embassies and consoles are getting bombed.

There are thousands upon thousands of people stranded in the region and the State Department

can't provide them any services because the State Department has been fucking broken and doged by

them and is run by a guy who's also the National Archivist and National Security Advisory

of the United States. I think he lost the archivist job. Oh, Shetty. Sorry. No, I'm sorry, Marco.

But the point is that like when you doge agencies, they can't perform basic services like helping

Americans who are stuck in a war zone because your idiot president started a war.

Yeah, Marco's like, we need the fake news media to report this. Delta dot com. That's how you're

getting home. That's your plan. United dot com with all the airports shut down. I mean,

this is a degree of incompetence that actually matter. Like people have family. I know plenty of

people who've got family that's stuck in places like Dubai or wherever people, you know, who just

terrified. Yeah. And the US government is doing nothing for them and the US government is the

reason they're terrified. It's because the US started a war while they were there without an

evacuation plan. And also in Pakistan, I think 22 people have been killed and protested over

the country. Thousands came out in support of the Iranian regime. They've stormed American

embassies and consulates and all across the country. So it's very scary. This is something we

went through during the year of spring. I mean, a lot of these could get worse. These these

diplomatic facilities in Pakistan in particular are hairy. Yeah. That's a hairy post. It's also

been it's like it's very hard to quantify the cost of these wars in real time financially. But

a few numbers to try to start that process. So there was a report put out by the Andaloo news

agency that estimated that just in the first day, Operation Epic Fury cost $779 million. So they

did this by trying to total up the cost of the weapons that were dropping on places with the

weapon systems where they cost to operate. For example, the USS Gerald Ford cost about 6.5 million

dollars per day to operate. Oil prices as of this recording are up about 10% since last Friday.

Obviously, a lot. It is still nothing compared to what will happen if Ron actually closes the

straight-of-hormouse. Along those lines, Trump posted this weird message saying he directed the

U.S. government to provide political risk insurance for all maritime trade through the person.

Oh, yeah. Really eye on the ball. If your mom is stuck in the Middle East, you're fucked. But you

know, let's get some political risk insurance to some hedge fund guy that has a trade on some

energy. Yeah. Well, he also said the U.S. will begin escorting tankers through the straight-of-hormouse.

So can you imagine the cost of escorting every tanker through the straight-of-hormouse?

And then again, as we mentioned yesterday, this has just been hugely disruptive to commerce all

across the Middle East, especially to buy. Amazon said that three of its facilities in the UAE

and Bahrain have been damaged by drone attacks. That is messed with AWS data centers, banks and

the Emirates are having to work around low staffing. So the economic fallout just begins.

Oh, it's going to be billions upon billions and billions of dollars. And look, again, the

Gulf is going to change their security paradigm. There's no way they won't do it tomorrow.

But this kind of reliance on the United States to be the shield around us so that we can have our

prosperous secure existence has been shattered by this war. The lack of regard that the United

States has for these countries that it's like, oh, we'll start the war. You're going to get bombed.

We're going to prioritize missile defense for Israel, not you.

I mean, it's reported that Qatar and the UAE are like, you know, have a week or less, yeah,

worth the interceptor missiles. And then what? What's the plan? I mean, I do just want to,

the pod started, you know, we've had highs and lows. Like, hello, people who voted for Donald Trump,

like, is this what the fuck you wanted? I mean, or go find some. This is insane. What is happening?

Put your phone on speaker or run down the street, find someone in red hat and play the phone.

It's insane. What is happening? And it's insane that like anyone would even try to kind of

say and wash this. Like, well, we took out the Supreme Leader. Like, what is going on here,

people? Did you, I saw Tom Cotton on TV saying that Iran has posed an imminent risk to the

United States for 47 years? That's, that's where we're at. That's where we're at. That's really

defensive. You can make it this.

Pots of the world is brought to you by Surfshark. You ever look up one mile,

the specific thing online and then suddenly you're bombarded with ads? Yes. All the time shoes

will follow me around to every website I've ever been to just because I happened to Google

something on Instagram on YouTube and your email. It's like the internet decided that one search

as your entire personality now. That's because everything you do online gets tracked when you search

when you watch and even where you're browsing from and using the internet without protection today.

That is basically announcing your business on a megaphone. Surfshark helps shut that down.

It encrypts your internet connection and hides your real IP address. So your activity stays private.

Whether you're at home or on public Wi-Fi at an airport hotel, your data is locked up tight.

Surfshark VPN also lets you change your virtual location with one click. So your physical location

doesn't limit what you can access online. Surfshark's clean web feature blocks ads,

trackers and malware before they even load, which means fewer creepy pop-ups and smoother browsing

overall. They've also got tools like an email breach checker and scam alerts to help you avoid

phishing attempts. Look guys, in 2026 you want a VPN. There are too many companies out there

tracking you. There's malware. There's crappy pop-ups. There's just a horrible experience on the

internet if you are not using a VPN. Surfshark will take care of you. We highly recommend it and

you only need one account for unlimited devices. That's your phone, your laptop, your tablet,

smart TV. Everything is covered. Go to surfshark.com slash PSTW or use code PSTW. Check out to get

four extra months of Surfshark VPN. That's surfshark.com slash PSTW code PSTW. There's a 30-day

money back guarantee. So there's no risk. Surfshark because your search history deserves boundaries.

Positive world is brought to you by Remi. I've been using Remi for years, long before their

response or long before you guys ever heard me talk about them. You have a night card, love it.

I don't. At one point along the way in my life, I realized I was waking up every morning with like

jaw pain and stress and tension like in my neck and in my head and I realized that doesn't sound like

you. And I realized it was because I was clenching my teeth the night and grinding my teeth too.

And when you go to the dentist to get a night guard, it's so expensive and it takes so long

and Remi, you can do it at home. And that's why I trust Remi to protect my teeth using their custom

night guard along with I think like 350,000 other Americans. What they do, they're clinically tested

in FDA clear to prevent teeth damage from grinding to reduce jaw tension and facial muscle strain

and improve your sleep quality. You get the same professional quality and comfort as a night guard

from the dentist at 80% less of the cost. You take the impression yourself at home. It's super easy.

So here's how it works. After a purchase, they send you an impression kit to your house.

You follow this very easy step-by-step instruction guide to make an impression. You send it back,

Remi then crafts and ships your custom fit night guard and you get it back and you start

protecting your teeth. It's super easy. It's fast. I have not only updated it when I've gotten

dental work, they also will send you a new one every six months if you just want a clean, fresh

night guard. So protect your teeth with Remi by using the code world to get 50% off your new night

guard. That's 50% off at shopremi.com slash world with code world. Thank you, Remi, for sponsoring this

episode.

Well, let's get into this sort of question of how this works out. So since you and I talked

yesterday, this clip of Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking about why the US went to war with

Iran has exploded onto the internet. This is like 10 tweets by me last night. Yeah, so let's

watch Rubio then let's sort of unpack and talk about it. I don't understand what the confusion is.

Let me explain it to you and I'll do it once again. It's clearly as possible. Perhaps you'll

report it that way. There's two reasons why now. The first is it was abundantly clear that if Iran

came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond

and respond against the United States. If we stood and waited for that attack to come first,

before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the president made the very

wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would

precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go

after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even

higher those killed. And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that

indeed. Alright, so I'm trying to unpack this in the kind of most charitable, like measured way I

can because I know this is like a very sensitive piece of this conversation. But so what Rubio is

trying to claim there is that the US new Israel was going to target Iran, which would lead to a

retaliation by the Iranians against US bases in the region. Therefore, the US had to strike Iran first

as a preemptive defensive effort, apparently telling Netanyahu not to start a war. It was not an

option, right? So this line of spin from Rubio evolved from an even more ridiculous claim that we

saw over the weekend that was made during a White House briefing call for reporters,

where an official said the war started because there was an imminent threat of a preemptive Iranian

attack on US bases in the Middle East that would have led to mass casualties. Rubio is clarifying

that that imminent threat was actually the Iranian response to an Israeli-Israeli's truck first,

right? Somehow the US and Israel are never the aggressor in these situations.

Rubio's quote is being widely taken as confirmation that the US went to war because of Israel. This is

not like a far left thing. It's not a far right thing. It is everywhere. And of course, you know,

the usual suspects are basically telling people who take Rubio's words at face value that that

makes you an anti-Semite. But I think we should look at the totality of the evidence.

So there's that quote we played from Rubio. Tom Cotton said something nearly identical on Fox.

Tom Cotton said Israel faced an existential risk and they were prepared to strike Iran alone.

If that happened, Iran was very likely to target our troops. That may address the question of why

now? So, you know, Cotton has definitely got the talking points there. The New York Times said

in February, Netanyahu spent three hours persuading Trump to go to war in like whatever is eighth

visit to the Oval Office since Trump took office. And then as we mentioned yesterday, Netanyahu

put out a statement after the war started bragging about how he's been waiting for this moment for

40 years in a partner like Donald Trump. So Ben, as I've said before, like I think there's...

Oh, you've forgotten Mike Johnson saying Israel was determined to act with us or without us.

So, ergo, we had to join because we would have gotten drawn on. So Mike Johnson,

speaker that also said the same thing as Rubio and Cotton.

Got it. Good addition. Thank you. So, again, like I get trying to be charitable here. Like I've

said before, I still believe that I think this about Trump's ego, right? He loves the

adulation. He loves to be told Lindsey Graham is, you know, fluffing up and like whatever, telling

him he's a historic figure. For the people not watching him on YouTube, there was a little...

Sorry, sorry, those are doing the 6-7 thing on his balls. But I do think like

it is two reasons in my mind. Ego and then like the pressure from Net and Yahoo because Rubio

conceded like the answer to why did this start on Saturday is because we knew the Israelis were

going to act. And like bigger picture, if you say, well, there's still this threat from the Iranians.

I just do think you have to be honest that there is no imminent nuclear threat. It's not one that's

that's months or even over a year away, right? It's buried under the ground. There is no imminent

threat to the U.S. from Iran's ballistic missiles. That is like a 2035 timeline,

including to the Defense Intelligence Agency. And the protesters Trump said that he was going to

save with a military strike are all dead and have been dead for a while now. As are the three people

he wanted to lead Iran. And then three after them and three after them. So like even this new spin

that Iran could produce so many conventional weapons that they created a conventional umbrella

to protect their nuclear program. Rubio says in that same press event that they were a year away

from that threshold. So again, like I'm trying to be charitable. I get this sensitivity. But like

this war started on Saturday because the Israelis wanted it to. Yes. Like I argue that I'm

this. Who else supported it too? I mean, we've talked about this. You cannot like Lindsey Graham

and is the Israeli government are kind of some of the only individuals like, you know, I don't know,

John Bolton. When do you buy this report? Do you see the Washington Post said that Mohammed bin Salman

was calling to lobby to go to war? I do not buy that report. Only they have reported it. I did not

hear that. I've been talking to people in the Gulf from before this war. Egypt was against this

publicly and they don't really do things without checking out the Saudis first. That felt like

somebody else wanting to kind of spread this around, right? And the Saudis denied it immediately

and pretty vocally too. I have anyone else's podcast knows. I'm not like some big fan of the Saudis.

But if you look at what Saudi Arabia has done in the last few years, Mohammed bin Salman did a

rapprochement with the Iranian government. He won its stability. Why would he do a rapprochement

with them, you know, brokered by China and then turned around and be like, you know what I want?

I want to like topple regime with no plan for what comes after and have my, you know, the

veneer of security that I've created in this country shattered by Iranian drones and have Aramco,

Saudi romco fields, overfields on fire. And no, I just don't believe that. So I'm not, say, I'm

not blaming Israel entirely at all. This is Donald Trump's fault. Nor is it absolving Iran

of the bullshit they did, right? Yeah. But like, and I actually want to be very clear about this,

because like, when he said this yesterday, first my reaction was, I can't believe he said that.

It's like the classic gaff where you say the truth. Like everybody else has been spending

in Rubio is actually telling the truth. And then I thought they'd clean it up, which they did today.

But yesterday they tweeted out Rubio's comment from the White House rapid response account.

Did you see that? No. Like, like, I mean, this was not something they were like hiding.

And it just, it's what everybody has been seeing. Like, why is the bibine now come to visit Donald

Trump seven times, right? He, he, he, the last time the 12-day war, he got Trump into that one.

By Israel actually started bombing. And then it was like, come along guys. Like, you better get

involved here, you know? So it's been very evident that Israel wants this. They have not

concealed the fact that they want to do it. And like, the thing that is so maddening is that

Trump can say no. Like absent from any of these comments by tough guys like Tom Cotton and Marco

Rubio is the notion that if BB comes to Trump or any President of the United States, because he came

to Obama wanted to bomb Iran. I'm sure he came to Biden wanted him to bomb Iran. Obama said no.

Biden said no. Like George W Bush said no to them. And this guy started the Iraq war. And, and,

and Donald Trump can say no. I'm not going to do this. No, by the way, I'm not going to support

you doing it either right now because it puts our people at risk. That is an option that is

available to them that has been taken by every U.S. President not named Donald Trump in the 21st

century. Yeah. And, and, and, and so it's not some fate accompli. And I just want to say like,

if you want to call us all anti-Semites for just pointing out the reality that this is at least a

part of what happened. It's not, again, not the whole reason. Then that term means nothing anymore.

Like it's, it's so dangerous to do that because like if people are like, I'm watching this and

I've got a video of the Prime Minister of Israel saying he's wanted to do this for four years

and finally got Donald Trump to do it. And then if I like repeat those words out loud,

I get called an anti-Semite, then the term means nothing. And also you should read the Israeli press

and how critical they are of, and yeah, I want things and like you realize how silly it is.

Yes, I like, again, I'm aware of the sensitivity. It matters. I get it. But like just the most cynical

people in Washington DC are lobbying this attack and calling people anti-Semites when you

just point out what Rubio said. And I think, look, I think what Rubio said was the truth

on some level. Certainly it's hard about the timing, right? And also is going to do extraordinary

and lasting damage to support for Israel within the Mago world. Because now it is going to be

taken as an article of faith that we are at war with Iran because of Israel and everything

the bad that comes after will be tagged with Iran. Also, one other thing I wonder why you've been.

So I have a really good friend who occasionally will geek out and like Ford articles me like,

what do you think of this? So he forwarded me this piece from the free press. I want to read you a

little bit that's sort of like talking about what the free press is arguing. This person in the free

press, this op-ed, is the real reason for the war? These are all quotes. America is in this fight

because of China. Specifically, it is about dismantling the most significant Chinese Ford-based

outside of East Asia. Then it goes on to talk about like Chinese weapons sales to Iran,

like Iranian adoption of Chinese technology. That is a little skeptical. The picture that

emerges from all of this is of a Chinese forward base, a linchpin of the country's naval architecture,

cyber efforts, and economic belt and wrote influence program every element of the Chinese power

projection and empire building, positioned at the throat of the global oil supply armed with

weapons designed to penetrate advanced American defenses and kill American sailors and embedded

in a strategic architecture whose explicit purpose is to constrain American military freedom

in any future conflict over Taiwan. I was like, what do you think of this article? And I was like,

like, first blush, like, if this if this war was about China, I think the administration would say

that because that would be like the most popular thing you could probably say politically, like

war with Iran to take out the Chinese, like that would be a winner. This criticism of Iran for

buying Chinese tech is probably because we've sanctioned them and refused to buy our tech.

And then finally, this idea that this is like a forward operate, like I think if anything,

those war with Iran is weakening our ability to fight a war with China pretty substantially,

as we've talked about with the, you know, dwindling supply of Tomahawk missiles and others,

but I was just I wanted to get your blind reaction to this article and I mean,

this is coming, bro, I literally I'd never heard this argument before. I was going to say,

first of all, like I've had to follow this Iran issue as of you, it's close to anything else in my life,

you know, for the last 12 years. And I've never heard that argument made like I mean, it's bonkers.

I mean, the two things I say about it are number one, this war is helping China immeasurably,

right? Because it's just further making the United States seem chaotic and an aggressor and

a source of instability in the world to every other country, you know, like some, you know,

as we talked about, some of these Europeans and like Mark Karnier are seemingly unable to find

a voice on this thing, but let's just take the actual swing regions of the world, the global south,

like I guarantee you that this world war is terrifying them and is going to drive them closer to China.

And then also the idea that the Chinese were going to like project power through Iran,

it's just not actually the people that are super apocalyptic about the spreading

influence of China, they focus more on this kind of belt road through the Indian ocean down to

Africa and then into Latin America. I could actually, I heard a lot more arguments that Chinese

presence and influence in Venezuela was dangerous than this. Do they sell, do they buy a bunch of

world from Iran? Yeah, do they sell their tech there? Yeah, because they're sanctioned,

where Iran's not going to sell anywhere else, but no, I think that's a garbage rationale.

Very surprising article. The other really interesting political story about the deliberations

around going to war with Iran is the role JD Vance played. So JD Vance is the vice president,

he famously wrote an op-ed with the headline, Trump's best foreign policy, not starting any wars,

that one age well, but the New York Times and now several other outlets have reported that Vance

actually pushed Trump to start a bigger war with Iran. So remember, there were reports that Trump

might order like a limited strike to pressure the Iranians into making a deal. Vance reportedly

convinced Trump to go, quote, go big and go fast. So that was remarkable to me, Ben. I mean,

it should not be, it should not surprise anyone that JD Vance is completely full of shit and he's

you know, kind of like upended all his beliefs. But I do think politically like he now owns whatever

disaster comes out of this just as much as Trump, as does Marco Rubio. And like, I don't know, like

if things in Iran go the way that I think they're going to go, it does open up a pretty big lane

for a like actually anti-war anti-interventionist Mago voice in 2028. I don't know who that would be,

it could be Thomas Massey or somebody. It could be Tucker Carlson. It could be Tucker Carlson,

yes. Now, yeah, because the point and one thing I'd say about this is that you saw the classic

great report. Someone close to the vice president told us that he was against this, you know,

but then said, go big, but he won't comment. But it was such a clearly sanctioned leak, you know,

you can tell these things everywhere. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. He can

precisely because he cannot publicly say anything bad about Trump or else he's going to be kneecapped.

You can leak all he won. He's going to own this just as much as Trump and the same is true of Rubio.

Because, you know, up to the moment that the next Republican nominee is nominated,

they have to kiss Trump's ass and can't say that the Trump did anything wrong.

So it's not like he can go out and say like, I was against this and this is a mistake. Like,

don't Trump would, you know, eviscerate him if he does that. So he owns this as he should.

And the far right of the Republican party is in revolts. It's not just Tucker Carlson,

who is apoplectic over the war. Nick Fuentes is going nuts, calling Trump a joke.

Meghan Kelly has been pretty critical. A lot of like kind of maggot influencer types. Like,

there is a, there is a very early body of concern about what's happening in Iran that you did not see

around Venezuela or at least not to this extent. No, no, no. And it's, and it's real because it's,

it's tapping into something that the mega, mega voters, like, like, we've talked about the

fact that they're anti-war. But some of them are veterans who fought multiple tours and felt

completely betrayed by their government, right? And so it's emotional too. It's not just, you know,

this is not just like a checklist. They're right to be pissed. They're a lot too. There's been a lot

of TikTok stories about how to work in together. Just for, for non nerds, a TikTok story is kind of

like when the White House press office brings you in and they do like a, a behind the scenes blow

by blow of how something happened. A couple little anecdotes from the financial times version that

I just jumped out of me. So the FT says that the traffic cameras in Tehran got hacked by the

Masad and those images were being transmitted to Israel and that's how they were tracking government

leaders, including knowing that the Supreme Leader was going to be like at that office when they

bombed it at the time. So it's sort of interesting to learn. They also apparently were able to

disable cell phone towers in the area, so no one could call in a warning. And then interestingly,

then, so the FT said the Israelis knew of how many of these movements via the SIGINT channel,

but that the CIA had a human source. So interesting, if true, also, you know, maybe don't leak that

while the war is in like day four, guys, but, you know, that's the thing I felt. I have to say,

look, it's interesting. You know, what a surprise. The Masad and the CIA have good intelligence.

But the, I mean, we were like, truckling about the fact that the CIA was doing this giant victory

lap over identifying the location of Hamine in his office. But it points to like a bigger point.

Trump clearly like loves this initial round of, you know, the way the American media chooses to

cover wars, which is like, I find these stories grow test to tell the truth. And I'm not criticizing

the journalists. Like they, like, you know, you have to, I'm kind of criticizing that the people

that went out to do these TikToks, you know, like it's two guys that did some TikToks back in the day.

I know, but like, I don't know that, but not like this. I mean, honestly, like we did on like

bin Laden operation. Afghanistan. A lot of it was just like, look, the TikTok story is

a first draft of history. Yeah. Just trying to explain your thinking, how you came to an argument.

I agree with you that there is a version of it that is like preening and like false heroism.

And I don't know. I guess what I'm getting at is that,

here's what I'm trying to say. So you're, I'll mend what I say. There's the TikTok stories are a

part of like just how you tell a story out of a communications office. I guess what I'm trying to

get at is that they seem to put more thought into the TikTok stories than about their strategy.

Oh, absolutely. That's, that's the thing that pissing me off is that like they have the time

to go out and be like, here are the intricate details of how we like turned off traffic lights and

had a human source and found the supreme leader and killed them. And then if you asked that same

spokesperson, what is the objective of this military operation? They can't answer the question.

And so like Trump loves this part of the war. You know, it seems like he's taken 19 calls

from random reporters, like including like some Rachel Bade's sub stack. He's so far down the

call. It seems like he doesn't get that this isn't working out. It's not helping. He's putting out

competing messages. He's sounding cohere and all over the place. They've completely abandoned

the like rise up, you know, the regime changed message over. Let's get to that. So we've talked about

how like we're concerned that this could, you know, spill into a civil war that Iran could split.

You could see like ethnic or sectarian fighting. You've mentioned the blue separatists who are

Sunni Muslims who primarily live on the border of Pakistan and have a separatist kind of like

violent wing. Then there's about 10% of the Iranian population is Kurdish, I believe. According

to Axios, Trump called several Kurdish leaders in Iraq either on Sunday or Monday. The Wall Street

journal confirmed that reporting and then said that Trump is willing to provide support

to groups in Iran who are willing to take up arms against the Iranian regime. I assume that

means weapons. Real support is not worth anything. And then an Israeli outlet called Israel Hayum,

which is owned by Miriam Adelson ran a piece with the headline quote, the American Israeli plan

chaos will push for a coup against revolutionary guards. So it seems like the Trump administration

and the Netanyahu gang, they're not just like kind of unconcerned about civil war in Iran,

but they might be actively contributing to it, starting by supporting these groups like the Kurds.

And then again, like so what they're asking is these little ethnic minority groups to go to battle

against the IRGC, which is according to the FT, about 190,000 strong and they're heavily armed.

They have their own intelligence component. They have their own navy. They have their own air force.

They have their own economic interests. They have their own relationship with terror groups like

Hezbollah. And then you have the Bastige militia, which is a civilian paramilitary force

that ranges from like hundreds of thousands of members in size to over a million. And depending

on which analyst you believe, you know, it's like they can look, they can they're controlled by

the IRGC, but more loosely. And so it's just it's hard to think of a worse scenario for

average Iranian civilians than like this faction of Kurds trying to do battle with the IRGC

and everybody else are just stuck in the middle. This is the single worst possible idea that you

could pursue. And I really mean that and that like I we're going to be wrong about some things we

predict that nobody knows everything that's going to happen. I do know that this is a bad idea.

You have, you know, like Persian, the obviously Persian is the biggest group in Iran, but you have

significant ethnic minorities. The Kurds have long standing ties to Israel and there've been plenty

of reports that the Israelis have used Kurds for, you know, certain operations inside of Iran in

the past. And in the blue, the, the Bluckistan separatists, that's a real separatist movement that

has clashed violently with Iranian security forces and that crosses the border in Pakistan. In

the same way, that the Kurds crossed the border into Iraq. And so what you could get is a situation.

If you are arming Kurdish and then potentially blue separatists, you are not just causing a potential

civil war like in Lebanon or in Syria or in Iraq where it became a sectarian conflict and you

know how violent those can get. You are potentially making it a regional sectarian war where all the

sudden the Iraqis and the Turks are like, do we have to go back into northern Iraq to fight

our, the Kurds in this country and then Pakistan comes in to fight the Bluck separatists and then

suddenly what Pakistan and Turkey are involved in the Iran civil war. This is a nightmare scenario

and it's not the way to do this. Yeah, it's, um, I could not believe when I read that.

Why is Donald Trump calling Kurdish leaders to run? It's crazy. But in less that strategy is chaos.

And again, like the cynical view of the Israeli strategy is make it violent chaos. Then we have

regional hegemony because everybody else is kind of consumed with their own problems as in Lebanon.

Ben, before we take a break, just two great ways to support progressive independent media.

First of all, everyone should subscribe to your sub-stack somewhere. Fine. I will be, and I'll

be releasing a new one tonight about Iran. So please check me out on sub-stack notes on the

stories we tell, the name of the sub-stack, but you can just look up in roads and sub-stacks.

You are prolific. You're also publishing stuff on the New York Times. I have a New York Times

piece that came out yesterday too. Then never sleeps. Also, please, if you really want to help

what we're doing here at Crooked Media and you want to support progressive independent media,

please consider becoming a friend of the pod and join our subscription community.

Yet lots of great stuff. You get Pots of America only friends, which is basically a bonus episode

of Pots of America every week. You get a newsletter from PSA editor Reed Chirlin,

Pots of America editor Reed Chirlin. We call it PSA, for sure, behind the scenes, you know,

it's out of zero. It's a kind of insight info, you guys. That's right. You get bonus content like

Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer. You add free episodes, and all of that money goes to supporting

progressive independent media. It helps us reduce our dependence on these shitty tech platforms.

And you get a great fun community of fellow Crooked listeners to talk with on Discord. So

Crooked.com slash friends. Stop, subscribe now. Crooked.com slash friends.

Pots of the world is brought to you by BetterHelp. International Women's Day is about

celebrating progress, but also a reminder to check in on the women behind that progress.

Women carry so much off and at the expense of their own piece. This March, let's shift the focus

back to you. Therapy offers a space you deserve to recharge, reflect, and reset. Better Helps

Quality Therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the U.S.

BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals.

A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and their 12 or more years

of experience in industry leading match fulfillment rate means they typically get it right the

first time. If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time

from their tailored recommendations. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's

largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. And it works with

an average of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. Guys,

it's 2026. You want to talk to somebody. There's a lot going on out there. Talk to a therapist.

It'll help you a lot. It'll make you a better person. It'll make life better. You will

wonder why didn't I do this earlier. Your emotional well-being matters. Find support and feel

lighter in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com slash CrookedWorld. That's BetterHelpHELP.com

slash CrookedWorld. Positive the world is brought to you by SimplySafe. If you're like me,

you're desensitized. The dozens of notifications on your phone each day. But what's the latest

thing is from your security camera, ignoring it could spell disaster. Picture this. Someone is

breaking in, but you're giving a huge presentation at work. You're at the movies. You're on a flight

at 30,000 feet. You'll see the footage in a couple hours, but by then it is too late. That's why

you need SimplySafe. SimplySafe is a customizable whole home security system,

backed 24-7 by monitoring agents that you can rely on to act even when you can't. I set up

as SimplySafe. Incredibly easy to do. You can customize it on the website, comes in the

million, install it in a minute and then the app, incredibly easy to use and reliable. The

customer's support was great and really reliable. So I recommend it. Traditional security systems

only act after someone has already broken in. That is too late. SimplySafe's active guard

outdoor protection can help prevent break-ins before they happen. While other security companies

lock you in, SimplySafe comes with no long-term contract. They earn your trust every day by

keeping you safe and satisfied. They're so confident in the protection they provide. They even back

it in with an anti theft guarantee. I'm not the only one SimplySafe protects over 4 million people.

They have 20 years of experience in home security. They were just named Best Home Security System

of 2026 by U.S. News and World Report. They have been named the Best Customer Service in Home

Security with industry leading customer satisfaction scores to prove it. Right now my listeners can

get 50% off their new SimplySafe system at SimplySafe.com slash CricketWorld. That's SimplySafe.com slash

CricketWorld. There's no safe like SimplySafe.

All right Ben, so the Supreme Leader is dead. As we mentioned at the top, Tuesday,

the Israelis bombed the meeting where they're supposed to be a vote to replace him. So there might

be a leadership vacuum for a bit. Although as we were recording, there's a bunch of like people

are tweeting about one report. There's reports about the Supreme Leader's son being named Supreme

Hamine's son being named Supreme Leader, which is something that is kind of one of the likely scenarios

because the perception for a long time with Hamine was trying to kind of grease the skids for his son

who is a hardliner who is very close to the RGC. So this would not be a reformist guy, but who knows

he could have been killed in that strike or we just don't know it's not confirmed yet. But if he is

the person, just that is a reinforcement of a hardline and he'll obviously be targeted for assassination

too. Yeah, and I think I already was targeted for assassination by these Israelis. So let's talk

from it about who I told Hamine was in a process to pick his replacement. So Hamine was 86 as we've

said. He had been in power for almost 37 years, but his legacy went back to 1979 in Islamic

Revolution because he came to power in 89, but it had served two terms as Iran's president.

So what comes next will be only the second leadership change in Iran's post-revolution

history, which is pretty incredible if you think about it. Hamine was a truly awful person,

and I think by every conceivable measure, a failure is a leader. I mean, he wasted billions of dollars

on a nuclear program that never got him a nuke. He wasted billions of dollars supporting proxy

forces like Hezbollah that did not keep him or his country safe. And I think the economist kind

of succinctly put it when they said he was a man who quote, kept Iranians isolated from the world

for more than three decades who ruined their economy and who when they dared to speak out against

his misrule ordered them slaughtered by the thousands, well said. But in Iran's system,

the Supreme Leader is everything. You're a representative from God, the commander of the armed

forces, the final decider in politics. So the next Supreme Leader will be chosen by a group called

the assembly of experts. That is that group of 88 clerics who apparently were meeting today

and bombed. So not sure what that means for the process going forward, but I guess we'll find out.

Again, you mentioned one option, the current Supreme Leader is sort of ex Supreme Leader's son.

There's a bunch of speculation out there. I was going to take through a bunch of names and then I

realized like no one knows who we're talking about. And also Trump seems to think they're all getting

killed. Yeah, he's dropping like Larry and Johnny's name. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That poor guy gets

you sort of, but Larry, Johnny's name gets pushed out there right. He started like taking out

people. Well, he's kind of like the guy who's like in his role is kind of like in that movie about

the selection of the Pope, the guy who's supposed to facilitate the process. It's like Dick Cheney.

Yeah. Yeah. Like selecting the VP. You know, so he's supposed to be, but I think the one point

about Kamene, you know, because a lot's been said about what a creepy is and you said it well,

is that there were alternatives in the sense that this was not a monolithic system. And periodically

at multiple points in the history of the Islamic Republic, there have been presidents even of

the Islamic Republic who wanted to move in a different direction. By the way, I used to get all this

shit people, but there's no such thing as a moderate. No, there are. There are people that are more

moderate than, you know, fucking Kamene, Kamene or Kossum Solimani, the head of the RGC. And

Kamene would not let them do that. You know, he'd always keep it on such a short lease that he couldn't

truly explore what it would be like to open things up a bit inside the country or to try to have a

more meaningful detent with the West. So I, I, you know, he was someone who had different alternatives

available to him, even within the system they constructed. The point is that, you know, I know most

Iranians who don't like their Islamic Republic just wanted to go away and I get that. But he could have

chosen to have a, like, a, like a less extreme version of the Islamic Republic and he wouldn't even

do that. Yeah. And now he's, you know, now he's met his end. Yeah, Twitter would get very offended if

you ever pointed out that there might be differing political views in Iran. It's, um, there's just a

different set of us to flatten a society. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's Rihani, the president that

Obama was doing with, but then there was the green movement, right? Which those were people,

Musavi, who was the green candidate in the 2009 election, was from within the system. Like,

you know, they, they weren't like coming, coming to overthrow the government. They were running

through the process, you know, and so there were these political figures available who could have

led to a different type of Islamic Republic. Yeah. He always wanted, he always chose the hardest line.

And then you have, uh, Ahmed did a job who I think these really just bombed him for sport. I mean,

I want to see if they, if they did kill him that's strange and kind of twisted because he's not

an active politician. Do you think it was possible concern that he could be a future leader and they

wanted to take him out or it's just like straight vengeance? I feel, and the guy defending that guy,

he was a creep in the Holocaust Center. But like, near as I can tell, he's been like, you know,

tweeting about American sports and like, I don't think he's an active politician. So I said to you,

it'd be like if someone did a regime change here and, and like, killed Dan quail.

So what, I don't really know, but it does, it does just make it feel like vengeance. And that's not

a good way to do these things. It does make it seem like, uh, blood sport. Um, although I always will

think of that SNL skit where they talk about him looking like a fly Jake Jones. Yeah.

You have to laugh at something. Anyway, uh, anything else on around for good Acuba?

No, I mean, we'll, we'll stay on top of this. Uh, I, I would just say that we'll try to do our best

to be as straight as we can without being like hyperbolic or negative, um, or, you know,

Rosie. And today's is one of the days where it just doesn't feel very good. Yeah, that could,

maybe we'd have a better day tomorrow. But like, honestly, just like, these are not good indicators.

It was pretty unsettling. Uh, and thank you for watching. And thank you again for subscribing

to pot state the world on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's turn to Cuba,

Ben, because um, for any of the show Lindy Graham kind of set the stage for our conversation today

in this brief excerpt from his Fox News interview. Let's watch. Cuba's next. They're gonna fall.

This communist dictatorship in Cuba. Their days are numbered. How many martinis you think you had

before that? I, I, I mean, it's just uh, extraordinary. Like the man's whole MO is to just get

seemingly completely hammered and just scream about bombing different countries.

The man regime change, uh, something's deeply wrong with that guy. So we have discussed, uh,

several times previously, the humanitarian situation in Cuba. It isn't just dire,

beyond dire. The US had blocked all foreign oil shipments to Cuba. Then last week,

they amended the policy to allow US companies to send fuel to businesses in Cuba.

It sounds like the idea is to help private companies will somehow end running the government to

promote capitalism or something, something I, I don't get how that would work in practice.

Is it expulsion? I, I, I, I talked to some experts about this and the thing is, is, is,

you know, the stated strategy, right, is that you're trying to help the private sector. But

how do you get it to them? The people who will be able to take advantage of this in Cuba

are the people who have some means and connections and connections. So the people that are starving

are not going to benefit from this at all. So this feels more like a messaging exercise,

than some actual rational policy to alleviate the humanitarian crisis that the United States is

creating. Yeah. Last week, Trump said the US is holding talks with Cuba and said, quote, maybe we'll

have a friendly takeover of Cuba. Uh, he also said, Cuba is to put it mildly, a failed nation.

It's really right now a nation in deep trouble and they want our help.

End quote. So Axios reported that Marco Rubio has been talking with Raoul Castro's grandson about

God knows what, I guess, transition. Um, but what brings us, uh, that all brings us to this crazy

story from last week about a boat battle between 10 would be liberators of Cuba and a Cuban border

patrol boat. Um, this went down last Wednesday. This is a speedboat with 10 guys on it of Cuban

descent to a Fumar American citizen, took off from Florida to Cuba. They reportedly brought with them

high powered rifles, nearly 13,000 rounds of ammo, Starlink satellite kits, a drone, and then

a bunch more combat gear. The Wall Street Journal says their goal was to quote, infiltrate the

island little by little in sparkle rebellion against a bankrupt regime. Uh, according to Cuban

authorities, the patrol boat approached a speedboat where upon the men on the speedboat opened fire.

And in the end, uh, three men were killed and seven were wounded when Cuban soldier was injured.

According to the, the journal, uh, quote, relatives of the men said the men lacked military training

and capabilities and that they had unrealistic expectations. And quote, uh, you don't say, um, so then

the cover to this like the kind of Timo Cuba regime change operation, um, makes it sound like

these guys were very naive. They did something very stupid and they probably did it on their own,

but you never know. It does bring back memories of like the Operation Mongoose CIA, you know,

executed paramilitary bullshit. We used to do like the CIA funded lots of efforts to fuck with

the Cubans that were short of the Bay of Pigs is the kind of like short answer here. Um,

and then there's some speculation in these articles that Cuban intelligence was onto these guys

because this patrol boat intercepted them like kind of in the middle of nowhere during the day with

the fuel shortage, et cetera. I don't know. Curious what you made of all that. And then second, like,

Rubio talking to Castro's grandson. Is that the right channel? So first of all, I entirely

believe all that these guys did this. Um, and look, you know, it's they're replicating. I mean,

Fidel and Raul Castro landed in a small boat, the grandma and Cubans, they were like seven guys.

Now they were a little bit more ideologically coherent than these people. Um, not saying I

agreed with that ideology, but they they had a plan. Um, there's a lot of this. There's a lot of

this kind of sabotage operations as a history of Operation Mongoose or a lot of groups, um,

Dan and Miami that would like to over throw the Cuban government. Uh, and I don't put it past

at Tommy. Some Trump associates kind of, you know, maybe saying, oh, great idea. I mean,

we had this in Venezuela. Funny on the side. There were, yeah, the guys at Mar-a-Lago were meeting

with like ex-special forces guys who tried to do a coup in Venezuela and got arrested. I,

at the Cuban intelligence is deeply embedded in these Miami networks. I, that was my sense when I,

I mean, I used to tell people in Miami like, you know, some of the Cubans would joke with me

that the US democracy funding was funding some of their intelligence because they'd so

thoroughly penetrated all these Miami dissident groups, you know, some of like these guys were talking

politics out of Versailles, which is like a thing. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I, and I believe that

the Cubans have these groups pretty penetrated too. In terms of the average, I negotiated for,

you know, three and a half years with Alejandro Castro, where Alejandro's son. I will say that

Raul Castro and his family are more pragmatic than the hardliners. And in fact, they got

sidelined in part because they did the opening with us and the Obama administration. The,

the Fidel had not really supported it that much. In fact, kind of opposed it in a lot of ways.

And that a lot of the hardliners after Trump yanked the rug on them said, oh, see what you did,

like, you know, we never should trust the Americans. And so you got much more hardline people

kind of running Cuba. And it's not Diaz Canal as a present. There's kind of like a collection of

hardliners. So the idea Raul still has a lot of power and he's still the ultimate kind of supreme

leader as it were. He's in deep in his 90s. So that's one destination to go. But what are you

negotiating? Because what Trump is totally wrong about is friendly takeover. This, this is a regime

deeply committed to its own survival. They're negotiating to try to survive, not to have a friendly

takeover. I mean, this guy's just the idea that we're talking about the regime change in

Venezuela, Cuba and Iran and within like the first quarter of this year is insane. And clearly

it's just Trump's ego wanting to be like, I finally slayed all these dragons. But man, it's going

to create a lot of instability. Yeah. And the person running the policy in every instance is Marco

and the people doing the negotiations in every instance. It's like, you know what, we gave

Kushner and Wycoff love for basically pressuring these railies to agree to a cease fire and

getting the hostages out. Like that was a good thing. That cease fire as we've discussed many times

is a joke. But like let's look at the rest of the Wycoff Kushner record. How's it going in Ukraine?

Right. Remember when we were in that war in 24 hours? It's not been well over a year.

The negotiations with Iran had not only been failures, but like halfway through these railies

end up bombing. Like maybe we should send some pros. Maybe some people who actually know about

Iran and its nuclear program or when I went to Cuba to negotiate, I was with Ricardo Zunigo

who was on this podcast last week. Look at all here yourself. Like guy had been deep. He'd lived

and served in Cuba as a human rights officer for the US. So I mean, you don't get a sense that

they are, I mean Marco Rubio, he's never been to Cuba. I mean, and this is something I think

people don't understand. Like he obviously comes from a Cuban family, but he's never been to Cuba,

right? I don't think he understands the dynamics as well as he thinks he does.

Well, also Trump, like Trump thinks that everyone thinks like him and negotiates like him.

And again, the dumbest bullshit we've all had to read for the last however many years is that like,

you got to think differently. You got to think, shake things up. You got to treat like a real

estate deal. What are they going to get? What are we going to get? And like these guys don't understand

the role of like beliefs and ideologies, something bigger than yourself, right? Because for Trump,

it's all transactional. It's all self is all about himself and not for these guys. All right,

then finally, we want to lighten it up a bit with some of the latest news about FBI director

Cash Betel and his country seeing sensation girlfriend Alexis Wilkins. You guys might remember

a coverage of Cash Betel's trip to the Olympics where Cash chugged beer with the men's hockey team.

It was a universally beloved segment as predicted. We've since learned that Trump was not happy

about Cash's behavior. According to NBC News, Trump told Patel that he did not like the images of him

chugging beer in that jersey, looking like a stupid goober, nor did he like Patel using a

government plane to fly to Milan. So feel free to fire the guy. And then our massacristic producer,

Michael spent an hour watching a Twitter Q&A that Alexis Wilkins did, where she, I don't,

she's like, that could be fun. I mean, that could actually be. Was it fun? No, it's not fun.

She just talks to herself and takes questions. Is it the gist? Yeah. She says, yeah.

She was asked about the Olympics trip and what happened here's Alexis's answer.

What do you think Elando's opinion would be on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars

in cash during beer with hockey players? So I really, I'm not going to dip too much into this

because this is kind of my whole point, but what I will say is the bureau has long been in charge

of providing security for the Olympics. And that's what was happening. So I think that we should be

probably more concerned with the fact that, you know, the Democrats were trying to spend millions

of dollars to see if mice can be transgender in the fact that that had stopped.

Clear's it up, right? You got it now. I just, I just, this is the dumbest fucking fascism in human

history people. Like, I mean, I knew that the American version of fascism was going to be stupid,

but between like from the spectrum of Melania Trump at the UN Security Council through the insane

management of this war to that person. Yeah. Like saying those words out loud. The FBI does not

provide the fucking security at the Olympics. Like, like, the cash pretends certainly doesn't.

I mean, they may be part of like a whole collective effort. The transgender mice,

the Philip Roth, the transgender mice could have imagined that who written some very different books.

Then look, we're not done with Alexis because the New York Times wrote this big profile of

Alexis Wilkins, Cash's girlfriend. The story is it's one of those pieces of reporting that is so

funny and just like a really dry way. So it describes her as, I love this. I love this. So this was

a master of the genre. It describes her as quote, one of the best protected country singers in the

United States because Cash has put an FBI SWAT team on duty to protect her at all times. Here's

a couple more lines from the story. This is all verbatim. Last April, agents and two SUVs stood guard

outside a senior center in Ronald Reagan's boyhood home of Dixon, Illinois while she sang for a few

dozen young conservatives. I like that one. This is a quote from someone. I would say she's an amateur

maybe an aspiring country music artist said the long time country music critic Kyle Cornelos

of savingcountrymusic.com. On the national anthem, I'd probably give her a 7.5 on a 10 scale. He said,

so she's a C. And this is my favorite part. Ben. So Miss Wilkins, the daughter of a financial

specialist in the aerospace industry, her mother, and a global consumer products executive for

Gillette, her father, have lived in London and Switzerland and for a time attended elementary

school at college Dulemon and Geneva. She's originally from the Boston suburb of Weymouth,

but likes to emphasize her time living in Arkansas. Quote, there are just some things the limousine

liberal will never understand from the coasts she recently wrote.

You know, the thing about this that drives me nuts is people may not know this about me, Tommy.

But my father is from Rosenberg, Texas and is one of like 42 first cousins. I think almost

all of whom are still in Texas. They live in, I'm not going to say because in this case, but they

live in like rural parts of Texas. So I was raised on like Willie Nelson, Whirlin Jennings,

like outlaw country, Jerry Jeff Walker, you know, like some fucking legends, all right?

Like some goddamn legends. And people that actually didn't have to be this kind of sanitized,

right wing version of country music. So in addition to her being kind of full of it and

being a ridiculous way for us to be spending tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money,

I'm offended by this version of country music that it's just this kind of soft, you know,

turning point USA like propaganda, you know, bullshit propaganda music. Like go listen to some

fucking Willie Nelson and Whirlin Jennings and then learn about some country music. I think I'm

back to me. I'd rather have, let's have some SWAT teams protecting Willie because he's still out there

doing it. He is. He's still out there on the road. We are. We got Willie Nelson. We can get

fucking high after the show. Willie Nelson was edible. That's the drink or whatever. I don't know.

I mean, let's do that, right? That because that's a way to celebrate this country.

Amen. Get in high with Willie Nelson. Amen. Like then rather than listening to this garbage.

Yeah, I don't think Willie Nelson was supporting everything the FBI director said.

And unless you think we're being too mean to Alexis Wilkins and she's just random civilian,

I just want to point out that beginning a day after Alex Predie's murder by ice up in Minnesota,

she called him a domestic hit terrorist and idiot and a vigilante. So this is a person who's

very much operating in the kind of like nasty, mega media space and is what it is.

Yeah, it is what it is, unfortunately. Anyway, so that's that we're going to take a quick break

when we come back. You're going to hear Ben's interview with Congresswoman Yezmi Nansari.

You're going to talk about Iran, the diaspora, possible war powers votes. What Congress can do to

actually stop this insane regime-chained war of choice. So stick around for that.

This episode is presented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America. No matter where you live or

how much money you make, you deserve to get the healthcare you need when you need it.

One in four people across the country have come to a Planned Parenthood Health Center for care.

But in a politically motivated attempt to block patients from using their Medicaid insurance,

to get essential care at Planned Parenthood, the Trump administration and its backers in Congress

passed a law to defund Planned Parenthood. As many as 200 Planned Parenthood Health Centers could close,

that means cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated, and patients won't get the

birth control or abortion care they need to plan their families and their futures. But Planned

Parenthood is not backing down. They're still showing up for patients, providing essential care,

and making sure that everyone can get the life-saving, life-changing services they need.

Alongside people like you and me, Planned Parenthood fights every day to build the future we deserve.

One where everyone can get the care they need, no matter who they are or where they live.

Planned Parenthood is an unbelievably important organization that is providing healthcare

to countless people in places where they otherwise should not be able to get it.

These politicized tax on Planned Parenthood means people are going to die, cancers will go undetected,

women will not be able to get the care they need. It is an outrage. So if you can support Planned Parenthood,

please do donate now to support Planned Parenthood at plannedparenthood.org slash defend.

If you love positive America and want more of my political analysis, you should subscribe to

my newsletter, The Message Box. I'm Dan Pfeiffer, former senior advisor to Brock Obama,

and in message box I break down what's actually happening in politics and what it's going to take

to beat Donald Trump mega. If you follow every poll and every twist in turn in the campaign,

message box is for you. This isn't just hot takes. Every addition delivers clear analysis

behind the scenes insight and practical strategy you can actually use whether you're working on a race

organizing your community or just trying to win the argument in your group chat.

So if you're listening to this hit pause go to your browser and head to crooked.com slash yes we

Dan because I have a special offer for crooked media fans. You will get 20% off of message box

from an entire year. So go to crooked.com slash yes we Dan.

All right we are very pleased to be joined again by congresswoman Yasmine Ansari who represents

Arizona's third district. She's also the only Iranian-American Democrat in congress and one of

the younger members of congress member the progressive caucus friend of the pod. Thank you so much

thanks for having me. All right I want to get to your reactions personally you know from

various vantage points but before even getting to that I'm just curious as a member of congress

how are you being kept informed about this war you know how did you learn about it have you

been briefed are there upcoming briefings do you feel like you're getting information you need?

We have not been briefed about this war at all today right after we are chatting today we will

have our very first you know classified briefing by secretary Rubio and hexath and others

the briefings you know this is these are open to every single member of congress they're typically

just one hour long in my experience when we've had them before always after the fact that was

the case in the Venezuela incident as well they do everything they can to run out the clock

leave very little time for questions and you'll have a line of members lined up to ask questions

I've tried to ask questions every single time and typically you know there's room for two people

and time is up so it's it's always insufficient and of course it's it's already an issue that

it happens days if not a week after an attack takes place and that's pretty much it I mean even

you know the most senior level officials in in the in congress including the gang of eight were

informed very last minute and I know we're unsatisfied with the level of briefing that they

got and have publicly said that there was no imminent threat to the united states as it pertains

to Iran that's pretty extraordinary actually I mean I I know you're relatively new there

but do you do any of the republicans grumble about this privately I mean it's just an incredible

disregard for the united states congress and hypothetically the republicans who control the house

could insist on more information there they are they just comfortable being completely

infantilized like this I don't know privately I have heard rumblings not just about this issue but

in general the way the trump administration operates and in general the way that they don't take

congress seriously I mean trump has openly made comments saying that you know congress is essentially

working for him and he knows that mike johnson is working for him he always has looked just in the

last couple of weeks we've had a number of days canceled with no explanation this is exactly what

happened last summer when debates around the Epstein files were taking place and mike johnson

shut down congress a week early before we already had a one month august you know recess it's been

happening this week as well we're only in session for two days last week a day was canceled and again

no explanation when we're talking about matters of war so you know it this continues to be a congress

led I will blame mike johnson you know to a massive extent here because he has just completely

abdicated his leadership abdicated the role of congress you know tells his members to act accordingly

and you see very few members speak up publicly about it because they still remain terrified

of the retaliation the donald trump shows those who do speak up and and we've seen that well

we're going to talk about the war now but what you just described is another reason why the midterm

elections are so absolutely essential because we essentially have a dictatorial government now that

is starting wars and not even telling the people's representatives about them so now I want to get

your reaction so you you have a total unique vantage point on this situation as a member of congress

you come from a family that had to flee this regime you you you've spoken out very powerfully

about the women life freedom movement and and when a homine was killed the supreme leader you know

you you were very strong and kind of condemning the evil legacy that he represented at the same time

you've taken and knowing you a very principled position that despite those feelings about the regime

you know the US and Israel bombing it kind of it with no plan is not the right course of action

and so you've been kind of strongly opposed to that course of action I know there's a lot there

what let's just begin with how are you personally tried to process this as both a you know member of

congress and obviously someone who cares deeply about this situation for for lots of reasons thank

you for the question you know for the audience you know I'll share my parents fled the regime in

the 70s and they were very very anti-Islamic revolution this is actually something that is relatively

rare at the time the revolution was very popular but my family was always against the Islamic

Republic before it became obvious that they were violent theocratic murderistic taters my grandfather

was a monarchist he served in elected leadership at the city council level in Iran he was imprisoned

when the revolution took place I got cousins who have been beheaded by the Islamic Republic so I

say all this information to say that I despise the Islamic Republic just like the vast majority of

Iranians inside and outside of the country for good reason they just slaughtered up to potentially

tens of thousands of people and it's true that they are left alone and that there's really you

know it's very difficult to overthrow a regime you know unarmed and again such a tyrannical

group of individuals who quite frankly will do whatever it takes to survive that being said I

think multiple things can be true at one time I'm a U.S. Congresswoman concerned about the

Constitution of the United States that Donald Trump has been shredding since he took office last year

Donald Trump did not have the constitutional authority to start a war with Iran without

coming to Congress first and without making a case to the American people it is wonderful that

harmony has been murdered and I understand the very complex feelings you'll see a lot of

Iranians celebrating that as it should be celebrated and all of these things have happened and now you

know what I think about a lot and what I've been talking to Iranians both inside and outside of the

country about is what is the plan for what comes next what my concern is is that Donald Trump

just as he's demonstrated here in the United States that he does not care about democracy that he

doesn't have a plan that he moves around from issue to issue that I'm concerned about the future

of Iran now you've taken out the supreme leader schools are being bombed now there's reporting

coming out and a piece soon in the Atlantic that hundreds of millions of dollars are being funneled

to Kurdish separatist groups in Iraq which could then cause a civil war in the country the

MEK which used to be a which is a cult terrorist group is part of that we're hearing also from

Donald Trump about you know making deals with somebody else in the regime I just worry that Donald

Trump based on everything he has said and exhibited so far does not have a real plan that will lead to

actual stability and democracy for the Iranian people which is which is honestly what I want at

the end of the day I don't want to see American troops harmed I'm worried about the Americans who are

in the Middle East right now I'm getting outreach from constituents whose family members are stuck

in Dubai and the State Department is telling them we have no way to help you or get you out I mean

this is a catastrophic situation that was clearly done with no plan for either the safety of Americans

or the safety of Iranian civilians as well that's a very powerful answer and I want to just

kind of follow up on this point about the lack of plan or and some of the concerning things we're

seeing because you know already you've seen Trump give these kind of shifting rationales like

this is for freedom and the Iranian people should rise up or I just want to do Venezuela and find

someone in the regime essentially and that's a mixed message right if you're an Iranian do you choose

to rise up but then what do you do to this Trump have your back or not and then this reporting I

mean it's kind of the worst possible strategy arming ethnic minority groups whether they be Kurdish

and that seems to be where it's starting there's a bull a blue separatist potentially Arab populations

I mean that we've got Syrian Lebanon right look at Iraq and I my question when you talk to

you mentioned maybe being in touch with people in the country or people who are very happy

that the Supreme leaders gone are they aware of these risks and how do they think they can be avoided

like if like do you have a sense of people particularly inside Iran but even some of the people

are very active outside have any have their own plan about how this is going to end well because I

honestly truly cannot find it you know I I don't mean to be so pessimistic but I just can't

see the pathway to something that is not either really violent or really repressive I think like

any population you know Iranians are in a monolith there's a wide range of views right now I think

there's the the most common thread that I have heard is a mix of hope for the first time ever you

know I guess you know there's no doubt that getting rid of the upper echelon of the Islamic Republic is

a massive wit a massive win and considered something to be hopeful about but I think that's coupled

with fear and a sense of anxiety about the future you know especially as bombs are falling especially

as news comes out about you know the arming of groups because a big fear that Iranians have and

something most Iranians do not want is the separation the end of interterritorial integrity of the

country people want to keep Iran as Iran as opposed to the country breaking up into different

factions and that's something that's very important to people from all backgrounds but that's a

real risk when you start arming different you know groups and you know but again I will just say

there's and this moment there's some people who are are happy about what Trump did

but my fear is that without a real plan that will shift and I have not seen that real plan I also

just want to speak to you know all the different factions at play there are you know during the

the protests a couple weeks ago you saw people chanting the name of the former king the crown prince

who does have a lot of support in Iran and outside of Iran but if you look to Donald Trump's

words every time he's been asked he does not back the crown prince just today he said I don't

I think he seems like a nice guy but you know there may be someone inside the country and so every

like piece of evidence that you look at and what he said Donald Trump is looking either at finding

someone within the current regime apparatus that he can work with that he can cut a deal with

and call it a win which is not what Iranians want or arm these different groups cause chaos and

essentially have state collapse which will lead to violence not just in Iran but in the region for

years to come oh yeah years and years and years I mean this if this goes bad it could go very bad

yeah and his words about Reza Paglavi kind of like you know how he talked about Maria Machado

after you know taking Amidro this is not someone who's gonna expand a lot of effort to try to

have a transition to some democratic entity or even monarchical entity led by Reza Paglavi as far

as I can see so I want to also just ask you about Congress and what are the next steps there so we

have these potential war power votes in the house you know Rokhan and Thomas Massey have this

resolution that is essentially about you know forcing a vote for a congressional authorization

what what are what are the chances of that passing and if not it seems like it might not

what are the other things that Congress can do to try to get some control over this try to

rain Trump in try to hold them at least accountable in terms of information what's kind of the

game plan as you see it now well in the conversations I've been a part of with our entire caucus I'm

pleased to see the democratic leadership is taking this vote very seriously they are you know

whipping on it and urging all members to vote for the war powers resolution because it's again

even for those individuals who may support certain parts of the operation and that's a whole

different debate what this is very clearly is support of the constitution and support of

raining in the president who has consistently shredded the constitution a lot of us take this

very seriously and so you know I'll just say from my personal experience even just from the

last year this is one of the top times I've seen a lot of alignment and a need a desire from

folks in our caucus to be united on this because we know there's already a couple Republicans

who will be joining us and feel strongly about this as well so I'm cautiously optimistic I also

think the situation is developing so rapidly yeah we've had more Americans die now absolute chaos

with the State Department and an American stuck in the Middle East I you know so I hope that those

Democrats who were saying we're thinking of not voting for it recognize that now and who knows

what will happen in the next 24 hours as well so there's that and then you know the the DHS

funding debate is still ongoing and how that relates is Republicans are trying to now make the

argument that because of the threats potentially to the homeland that they have caused with this

reckless war that they the Democrats need to get on board and fund DHS and so there's a bill now

to actually separate ice from everything else in DHS and we'll see if any Republicans support

that but there's leverage elsewhere but again I genuinely hope I'm wrong I really want when I'm

going to the briefing today I'm going to be asking about you know the plan especially as it

pertains to the reports of arming these groups because I think that's an absolutely horrific idea

and what the US actually should be doing if we're serious is working with a multilateral coalition

trying to have internationally monitored free and fair elections actually supporting civil

society groups on the ground like providing internet access actually creating the conditions

for the Iranian people to you know have the future that they want to have not one that the US

or Israel imposes to on them one more piece on Congress do you what about just getting basic

information about say the cost of this war we've heard nothing about the price tag I know a little

bit of something about this this is not cheap I mean these deployments the munitions that are

being spent they're very expensive missile defense systems being used do you feel like there's

any capacity to get transparent information about the cost of all this I absolutely think there is

and we have to do that I think in a world where people are seeing their health care ripped away

their food assistance ripped away housing costs are out of control there's a reason why only one

in four Americans have indicated support for what Donald Trump has done that is not surprising at all

but it's you know it's a blow to the president so I think we need to take that on more seriously

and take on the message of cost because billions of dollars are going to be spent on a war and

there's no plan to end that war no off ramp that we have heard of and meanwhile Americans continue

to struggle and be unable to afford anything really it's it's really shameful and I think that

it's going to cause real further racism of Americans against Iranians against people from the

Middle East I mean we haven't even gotten to talking about those unintended consequences that are

bound to happen especially as we're going into this in in a form that's not even popular I mean

people don't even want to do this so they're coming people Americans are not supporting this so

they're going to feel strongly about the individuals or whatever that they they they see as connected

to the deaths of Americans yeah boy I had not really wrapped my mind around that but we've

obviously seen that happen in the past oh well one more question before you go I just want to

because I know you have a briefing but I just want to give you the opportunity to to reflect on

you know your parents flee this country so you're obviously in this position where

you know you have their exile story and then you're a very American story obviously

but what do you when you think about because I know you were so passionate about the women

life-free movement you know you're in your 30s when you think about an Iranian woman in their 30s

who who's never known anything but the Islamic Republic and is now dealing with this you know

they're in Tehran they just you know wherever they are I mean what what what do you want I mean how

do you how do you kind of put into words like I just imagine yes I mean that this must have

just be such a wrenching time for you you're under all these competing kind of pressures obviously

but just more fundamentally on a human level what is kind of your message to that Iranian woman

about what we want for her yeah I think about this all the time you know the only difference between

me and in that woman that you're describing is that I was lucky enough to have been born in the

United States and lucky enough that's it I mean that's actually all it is the difference

and it is catastrophic what Iranian women in particular have had to face I mean there have been

over a decade now of pro-democracy movements that have been shut down over and over again by this

regime I wrote my college essay about the green movement in 2009 and a hopeful you know vision

for a future democratic Iran the most recent massacre you know it's estimated that over 20,000

people were murdered and so first I'll say I understand the the desperation and the calls for help

I do think that other countries should help Iranians I absolutely think that I mean I think there

needs to be on a multilateral coalition that has a real plan to help Iranian people with self-determination

and getting the future that they deserve because it's a country of 90 million people smart educated

you know talented individuals who could bring so much prosperity to the rest of the world

and so much you know just so many positive things and it would be a huge huge win for international

security overall so I you know I think for those women keep speaking up and speaking out and

if there's ways to you know communicate with us I think that our government what we actually

should be doing is supporting internet access making sure that you can get on the internet and

communicate to us making sure that your civil society groups and human rights groups are supported

right now there's also thousands of people in evying prison which is like the most notorious

prison in Iran some of the best and brightest minds those are the people that we need to get out

to help create the future of Iran I don't think it should be imposed from the outside um but I will do

you know anything I can look despite being opposed to this administration and its lawlessness

and its anti-democratic views here in the U.S if I can be productive and do anything to support

a plan to actually have a positive future for Iran I will work with anyone to do that and I

am committed to that so that's my message yeah well it's very powerful and it's a reminder

that we need to listen to those Iranians you know I mean I we didn't listen to Afghans we didn't

listen to Iraqis you know we didn't listen to Libyans in the country actually we mainly talking

to diaspora Libyans and not saying there's not a role for the diaspora but I mean the people in the

country know best what what might help and we have to find ways to get their voices to us so

that we're informed by them well look I know you have to run but thanks so much for joining us

today and and we'll keep in touch thanks so much

thanks the carters I'm sorry for joining the show and god knows when we'll talk to you guys next

yeah thanks to Michael for listening to the hour of the U.S. Lexus you know Patel

I love it whatever your name is what happened to list trust she was in L.A.

we couldn't book her we couldn't book her no you guys didn't seem excited excited

oh oh oh oh I guess word of lame yeah we are a list trust not being on the show this week I got it

okay good to know got it well talk to you we'll see you probably before next week yeah we'll

plot unfortunately

potsy of world is a crooked media production our senior producer is Alonam and Kofsky our producer

is Michael Goldsmith our associate producer is Anisha Bonnergy we get production support from

Saul Rubin our executive producers are me Tommy Vittor and Ben Rhodes the show is engineered mixed

and edited by Jordan Cantor audio support by Kyle Seglon and Charlotte Landis thank you to our

digital team Ben Heffkoat Mia Kelman William Jones David Tolls and Ryan Young Matt DeGroat

is our head of production Adrian Hill is our senior vice president of views and politics

if you want to listen to potsy of the world add free and get access to exclusive podcasts go to

crooked.com slash friends to subscribe on supercasts substac youtube or apple podcasts don't

forget to follow us at crooked media on instagram tiktok and twitter for more original content host

takeovers and other community events please subscribe to potsy of the world on youtube for access

to full episode bonus content and much more and if you're opinionated like us leave a review

our production staff is proudly unionized by the writers killed of america at east

if you guys like potsy of america please consider subscribing to our friends of the pod program

so friends of the pod get lots of stuff you get more potsy of america that includes our new show

which is called potsy of america only friends we're done gets naked we're dan gets full frontal

nudity but mostly it's a biweekly subscription exclusive podcast that is basically potsy of america

but behind a paywall so it's a little bit looser and more fun and it's love it and favaro and me

and fight for another crooked house we go deeper on the news and cover more stories we also get

open tabs which is a weekly behind the scenes newsletter from the show plus you get ad free episode

that your favorite crooked podcast and all kinds of other stuff dan will come to your house and

clean it once every quarter yet close dan is very busy clothes only but along with just getting great

content becoming a friend of the pod joining our subscription community is the number one thing

you can do to help us grow to help independent progressive media so if you're ever thought about

doing it if you ever wanted more potsy of america consider going to crooked comm slash friends

in becoming a friend of the part friends in becoming a friend of the part