Episode 4461: Tony Katz Today Hour 2 - 03/18/26

Why from the heartland and the crossroads of America?

It's Tony Katz today.

I was not a guy familiar with Joe Kent at all.

It's OK.

I don't have to be familiar with everybody.

That I remembered that he was a nominee to be in charge

of counterterrorism.

Sure, after that, I don't recall a thinking of his name.

Now, discussions of Tulsi Gabbard as the Director

of National Intelligence, yes.

Whether Tulsi Gabbard was going to be able to provide full,

full reporting, full details, full analysis in Intel

was a real question about whether or not she

could be trusted in this capacity based on her past.

Tony Katz, Tony Katz today, good to be here, good to be

with you, find everything at Tony Katz.com.

Phone number 833 got Tony 833 4688669.

And those conversations we had, and what we have seen

from Tulsi Gabbard is that she's kind of been pushed to the side.

Is this because she isn't somebody who

sees the threat the way we do?

Is it because she's somebody who wants to play in the space of,

well, we don't want to be the regime change people

in thinking that any kind of action is regime change based

on if the president had all of the data and all of the Intel

needed to make a comprehensive decision.

There's a host of back and forth on the subject.

That's kind of where we left it.

We noted that in the first bombing raid that took place

of Isfahan Fordot and Atons, the Iranian nuclear facilities,

she wasn't part of that.

How much was she a part of what took place in this latest hit?

How much was she involved in that?

And the answer is no idea.

But we know now that Joe Kent, who led the National Counterterrorism Center,

a top aide to Tulsi Gabbard, was left out

of those conversations completely.

We know that he was not consulted.

We know that he didn't get a set.

And he puts out a statement yesterday, quote,

I cannot in good conscience.

Support the ongoing war in Iran.

Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.

And it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel

and its powerful American lobby.

This is the same guy who in repeated statements

on social media over the years.

And in podcasts said that the Iranians were a threat.

He said it repeatedly, repeatedly.

And now this is absolutely untenable.

How does someone make this switch?

Well, you first have to accept the fact

that Joe Kent's wife, Heather Kaiser, writes for an outlet called Greyzone.

And Greyzone is a very left-leaning publication, critical of the US, critical of Israel.

Now you also have to know, because some people say,

wait, didn't Joe Kent's wife wasn't she killed by ISIS?

Yes.

It's first wife.

It's a really awful story.

And Joe Kent's got a history.

And Joe Kent is not a guy who I would have said anything about except this is a guy

who has been through some things.

I could see how he would have worked his way up into this level of position.

That's where I would have left it, not having an expertise and not having consultant

experts on who we look at in the intelligence operations and what are some of the things

that people look for who know what to look for.

As the layman, that's where we would have left it based on part of this dude's history.

But oh, Heather Kaiser, a solid, serious anti-Israel activist.

It's a lot of pillow talk to not pick up a thing or two about a thing or two.

I have no idea if that's true, by the way, certainly possible, certainly possible.

The statement though that I, here's what he wrote, I cannot in good conscience support

the ongoing war in Iran, Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation and it is clear

that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

First, that last part is unbelievably world-class stupid.

We'll get to that.

I just want to make sure that I was clear about it.

And when Carolyn Levitt was asked about this today and she was speaking to the press,

she was very, very clear that nobody is leading Donald Trump around.

President spoke on this a little bit yesterday in the Oval Office.

He said he always thought Joe Kent was a good guy.

Obviously, it has a commendable military record and experience.

However, he was not someone who was involved in the presidential daily brief, part of

the president's intelligence briefings over the last several months, have not seen him

here at the White House for quite some time.

And the president feels it's deeply disappointing that after the president gave him an opportunity

in this administration to serve the American people that he would resign with a letter filled

with falsehoods, accusing the president of the United States by being controlled by a

foreign country.

That's both insulting and laughable all at the same time.

The president is the leader of the most powerful country and military in the world.

Nobody tells him what to do.

Which is the correct answer.

But it doesn't satisfy the woke right.

Which needs this to be the case.

Israel is guilty.

Israel is the problem.

Israel, Israel, dear Lord, it's some obsessed stuff.

But when you've built an identity around it, when you have pushed that lie enough, when

the standardized juice scapegoating can now be applied to Israel.

And of course, you've had two years of building the sub-zone, the almost three years, since

2023 and October 7th.

Why pay attention to what Hamas did, why pay attention to what a terrorist organization

did, the terrorists, of course, funded by the Iranian regime.

Why pay attention to 1200, murdered Israelis, raped women, children, set on fire, people

taking hostage.

No, no, no, blame the Israelis for going too far.

And this has been years of this, and now this is just the standard scapegoating.

But I think presented in a much more dangerous way.

I don't think people should just leave this as standard scapegoating.

Joe Kent statement reads again that I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war

in Iran.

Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due

to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

The only thing clear, Joe, is that you are a Tucker puppet.

Now what is a Tucker puppet?

I've brought it up a couple times.

If you follow me on Facebook, Tony Katz radio, if you see things, if you follow me on Twitter

X, Tony Katz, there are people who will tell me that I only believe what I believe because

I'm Jewish and therefore I'm a puppet of Israel.

They are unabashed about this insanity.

I'm paid by Masad.

I haven't gotten a check yet.

Was it worth the 7,000 Tony?

I don't know.

Is that what they pay?

Is that the going Masad rate?

I don't know.

They don't care that it's true or not true.

It doesn't matter.

Attack, denigrate, destroy.

Guys, I've been through this and so have you.

These people out there on the Twitter, they're all Tucker puppets.

They're being used by Tucker, used by Candace, used by Megan Kelly.

They're being used for clicks and likes and maybe dollars.

One of the things that we have to ask ourselves is, how did this happen to these people?

And maybe the answer is, this is where they think the audience is.

This is where the audience is.

This is where the audience is going.

It's so easy to blame.

Israel put you ahead of the curve.

It shows you're really a true American looking out for Americans.

You don't want any soldier going to war.

Soldiers do go to war.

You know, it doesn't mean you should send them just willy nilly.

It means sometimes you have to send them.

And I don't think any of these people would actually want to protect the United States.

They want soldiers to look good in uniforms and hang around on bases.

Maybe do a push up.

Maybe not.

I'm not so sure.

Maybe that's too rough and too masculine for them.

It's very weird.

Very, very, very weird.

Dangerous, ugly.

Needs to be pushed back against.

Well the people are just willing to follow this.

I mean, they're Tucker puppets.

They are puppets to Tucker.

The only thing I haven't figured out yet is are they Marionettes or is there a hand right

up the sock?

I don't know.

I don't know.

I think that Joe Kent is a Tucker puppet because I've read the statement a few times.

How is it possible that after 18 days, after 18 days, that's when you decided you could

no longer in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.

What the hell is that?

What is that?

Israel posed no imminent threat to our nation.

Hey, producer Landon, picking our own 21 and 20.

Pick it up.

Number six, okay, November 1979, U.S. Embassy seizure, Iranian students backed by

the regime seized the U.S. Embassy in Toronto taking 66 American hostages in a 444 day standoff.

The foundation for a state-sponsored terrorism by the Iranian regime.

What the hell are you talking about?

No imminent threat.

I've got nothing but attacks on Americans.

You want me to pick another number there, producer Landon, pick another number.

We do want a 20.

Let's go with 19.

Let's go with number 19.

Drive-by shooting, West Bank, Hamas Terrace killed an American citizen and his wife in a

drive-by shooting in the West Bank, October of 2015.

There's non-stop examples of them supporting terrorism, continuing to support terrorism.

Of course, they're an imminent threat.

All Tony, Israel was saying they're always two weeks away from a nuclear weapon, always

two weeks away from a nuclear weapon.

They bragged about being 60% enriched uranium, proving that the Iran nuclear deal, the joint

copper heads of plan of action, was never going to stop the Iranians from getting a nuclear

weapon.

And all of those no good, ridiculous Obama bros lied.

They lied, was not imminent, was no imminent threat to our nation.

Again, the child of nature of imminent, it's a term utilized without any meeting.

If they were planning to do harm to the United States, isn't that imminent?

Or does the bomb have to be right above your house before you say, hey, you should do

something about boom, two lights.

And that interested in children being in charge, not.

And if Joe Kent, for all of his history, his answer is imminent, that's not a guy I would

want around any type of leadership.

He then says, it's about pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

Well, if you're angry that the lobbyists are successful, if you want to do a way with

lobbying, go right ahead, but we're going to do a way with all lobbying.

That includes Qatar, they're millions of dollars no longer welcome.

Let's see what Tucker has to say about that.

But it was that line that made you say, I thought you didn't like what the U.S.

position is.

Now you're saying that the U.S. is being led.

That is exactly what the Tucker puppets say.

And then what happened next?

Less than 24 hours later, we find out that Joe Kent, great American, he is booked on

Kansas Owens podcast, he is booked on Tucker Carlson's podcast.

So yeah, I'm going to stand on conviction, but maybe there's an opportunity to build a

nice base here and I could be a real part of this conversation that seems to get viewership

and maybe some dollars, maybe some opportunity.

I believe this is the moment that the woke right jumped the shark.

Because now it's obvious to see that Joe Kent wasn't involved in planning, Joe Kent

was pushed to the side, Joe Kent was not somebody who was taken seriously, Joe Kent decided

to wait 18 days before standing on principle.

Did he think things would be over in 16 days?

Oh, I totally disagree, but as long as it's over quick, I'm fine.

Or was he trying to set up his next gig?

You see, if you oppose it, you oppose it, you walk.

He didn't walk, he waited.

We did it, take him 18 days to figure out the statement.

Was that when everybody was available to do the podcast?

Was there something else going on in a play?

Do you, I think you believe this?

I have no idea what you believe or what you don't, but what does it look like?

What it looks like is you quit, Joe Kent, in a way that would bring you the most woke

right people to your side.

You quit in a way to make yourself popular, not in a way that you have a real objection

to what's happening.

You damaged your own credibility, just like a Tucker puppet.

That's what it looks like.

That's what we're calling it.

And my God, don't ever let these people near power for a second.

You can't be safe with these people around.

I'm Tony Katz.

So we were talking about the Save Act.

And the Democrats opposition to it and the screaming and the yelling and the catter

walling and the anger, the anger about having a voter ID, how dare you?

How dare you think we have to have voter ID and they're having these events in there.

They're gathering everybody together, everybody.

And they're like, this is, this is just so terrible.

This Save Act, which requires ID to register, it's the worst thing that ever happened in

the history of mankind.

In this tooth and nail, we are fighting this tooth and nail.

It is so despicable.

It is so outrageous.

And we need your help, not only to stand here, but to let all America know what this really

is.

We're letting all America know what this really is.

You, Chuck Schumer and you, the Democratic Party, want it to be okay for illegal immigrants

to vote.

That's why you're opposed to voter ID and registration and voter ID when you vote.

Now you say to me, Tony, that's not true.

This is Senator Jeff Merckley of Oregon.

His words on the floor in the well of the Senate, not mine.

This bill is about stopping groups from voting who tend to vote for Democrats.

This is again about rigging the next election.

If rigging means stopping illegal immigrants from voting, then yes.

If rigging means stopping fraud, absolutely.

The argument made by the Senator from Oregon Democrat is that this bill will stop those

who engage in the possibility of fraud or those who shouldn't be voting from voting and

he's upset about it.

You know the whole thing about the quiet part out loud?

This was the not quiet part, quite literally screamed of the floor in the well of the

country.

Unbelievable.

The same facts matters.

This is Tony Katz.

Three more things, stories that might not be making the front page, but should.

First story, I think I may have gotten bitten on the neck.

I don't know what's going on there.

Second story, I need a haircut.

I'm sorry, these are things I'm just writing in my diary.

Good Trump saying 200,000 truck drivers could lose their license.

What was that?

It's like a little ding that went off of my computer right there freaked me out.

I don't know what that was.

We're talking about those who are here in the country illegally, those who do not actually

meet the requirements of understanding the language.

The regulations would bar most immigrants from holding licenses, the only exceptions being

people in the U.S. on an H2A visa, which is temporary agricultural workers, H2B, which

is temporary non-agricultural worker, or an E2, which is a treaty investors visa.

The ban would be on those who are asylum seekers, deferred action for childhood arrivals,

DACA recipients, or TPS, temporary protected status.

Our issue is that you have people who are completely unqualified to be driving these big

rigs, and they're on the roads, and they're doing great damage.

They're doing incredible, incredible, incredible damage to Americans.

Americans are getting killed, and still the political left wants to provide protection.

Why would you want to provide protection for such a thing?

There are constant examples, we're talking about, the SAV Act, for example, now there

are constantly in a place where they put their own power ahead of the lives of American

citizens.

They don't care what happens to you as long as they are in charge, not because I say so,

not because it's some kind of road or hyperbole, I'm utilizing the examples of what it is

they favor, what it is they oppose, and it tells a story.

How dare somebody be angry with us for noticing?

They should not be allowed, people here are legally commercial drivers licenses.

Those who cannot speak English, should not be allowed commercial drivers licenses, not

for a second, and if it means the cost of shipping goes up, okay, but people are going

to be alive on the roadways, that's all, that's all there is.

If you think somebody doesn't speak the language, you'll be allowed on the roadway, your nuts,

and this should lead us to the part two, all government forums should be in English, every

single one of them, that's our language, English is the language of freedom, that's our language,

that's what we do here.

We should celebrate the concept of culture in the home and outside the home.

We should celebrate people who open up restaurants or shops or cater to this, cater to that,

zero issue whatsoever.

The speaking of Spanish, Japanese or Tagalog, or any other language, right on, I mean,

as long as it's not French because we get it, you surrender.

We don't need that in our lives.

Good.

You think it's a problem that people speak a foreign language outside the home?

Of course not.

This is not California where you had two guys attacked by three other guys because they

were speaking Hebrew.

You know that happened where you now have arrests that took place.

They found the three guys who did this.

Two guys going into a restaurant, speaking Hebrew to each other, they're American and

three guys attacked them.

It's a very, very unsafe place as America, I'm going to be told, for Jews actually, I'm

never told that.

I'm told it's unsafe somehow for Muslims because it's Islamophobia.

It's not even a real word.

It's not.

I would laugh at you, fear of Islam, no, no, fear of Islamists, sure, unquestionable.

The test should be in English and you have to know English in order to have a commercial

driver's license.

You have to be fluent, didn't say you couldn't have an accent.

You have to be fluent and you have to know idioms, little slang things that Americans use.

You've got to be able to know that.

This is the right move from the president.

Smart move from the president.

I would love to know from truckers where they're at with this because will it mean more

work for you because you've got already truckers have really weird regulations they have to

follow about when they can be on the road and the amount of time they have to take off

and if it's traffic, it's still counts towards towards road time and it's it's all really weird.

So along with this, what are we doing in the regulatory world that's affecting negatively

truckers to zero benefit to anybody else?

Just we're claiming safety and it doesn't actually come.

I would love to know that answer, feel free to reach out.

A lot of years of Lensky, we're talking about the leader of Ukraine, has made many, many, many mistakes.

He's made mistakes in how to go about trying to get people on his side.

He has made mistakes in speaking to the president in the Oval Office.

He has made mistakes by saying, I am the serious leader of Ukraine and we're going to fight

these Russians, but first let me partake in this photo shoot with Annie Leibowitz.

He's made many mistakes, but when his country got attacked, he didn't run.

I respect it. His country has got a fair number of problems.

This is not a place where everybody is perfect.

There is a fair amount of corruption and there's been a fair amount of waste.

There's been a fair amount of waste of our money and our help.

And I like you, don't like it at all.

What I've always stated was I want to send them bullets and guns and hardware to take on the

Russians and keep the Russians at bay. They don't deserve this. They've never, ever deserved this.

But where Zalensky has made his biggest error is that Zalensky couldn't figure out

how to make this about something bigger than the Russians invading Ukraine.

He made the arguments. We're being invaded by these Russians. Don't you know these

Russians are terrible? Don't you know they're going to come for you next? Help us.

Why are you helping us more? Is that all you're giving us? Help us more. What's wrong with you?

Why are we getting more help? He made it about him. He never asked the question, well,

these people are going to want to know what's in it for them. Whether you agree or disagree,

that somehow that should be the question. What does that say about a society? That is the question.

You're going to ask for millions, sorry, billions of dollars. What's in it for them?

Never mind where anybody is on the Israelis. One of the things that they are able to do very well,

they've done very well from the beginning is these Islamists are threat, these terrorists are threat.

We are fighting this fight for all of Western civilization. We are willing to take on this fight.

We will be the tip of the spear to this fight. We will lose blood and treasure for this fight to

keep the world safe. The only thing we ask is for a little help. That is the way they have

gone about phrasing these things and it has had, of course, very, very good success.

So Zelensky, as the war starts, the United States hitting Iran,

Zelensky says, you know what we're ready to help. I'm sorry, what are you going to help with? Well,

we got some experience with drones and you got to admit, you got to admit that the Ukrainians

have done an unbelievably good job utilizing drones to attack the Russians and dealing with drones

coming towards them. The drones are Tehran-designed Shahid drones. That's what the Russians have been

using a bunch of. And so he puts out to the United States that whenever it is possible for us to

help defend civilians or US nationals, without second thought we sent our teams.

We knew immediately we had to help. And then he followed it up with on Twitter X quote,

I would like the US not to perceive Ukraine as a country that merely asks for help. That is not

the case. Ukraine is defending interests and values. My God, he learned. He learned.

We could build the world's biggest drone factory. The United States will provide production

of financing. Ukraine would provide the technology and experience. We could use it to defend

American soldiers on bases. Now you might say to me, I don't trust you,

Ukrainians for a second. You just talked about a level of corruption and others. I hear you.

But let's not deny that that is not the correct way to approach Donald Trump and to approach the situation.

And there is something very interesting about the idea of drone production.

Hey, Donald Trump, we know how to do this. You would be the beneficiary of it. It would also help

us a little bit. Let's make a deal. What gets Donald Trump more excited than let's make a deal?

Aside from, hey, honey, got some new diacokes in the fridge for you. Aside from that, I have no idea

if Donald Trump has ever made that sound in my life. In his life, I have no clue. I have no

clue if he's done that, whatever. That's a weird, that's a weird way to think that the man would laugh.

I apologize. This is smart. Very, very, very smart. But there is no bigger story than the

story of the Pucks. Oh, yeah. This is the third thing and three more things. I will have that

coming up. Keep it here. I'm Tony Katz. This is Tony Katz today.

I've heard some analysts say that Iran could have had a functioning intercontinental missile to

threaten the United States in his fewest six months. Would you agree with that assessment?

If left unimpeded, yes, Senator, they would have the ability to range missiles to the continental

U.S. It's one of the reasons why degrading Iran's missile production capabilities that is

taking place right now in the Operation Epic Fury is so important to our national security.

That's Sean Rackliffe speaking today on the hill. Two senators, Tony Katz. Tony Katz today.

Good to be with you. Funny thing about the CIA.

If we are to engage just recent history, we're just talking the last 30, 40 years.

The CIA has gotten a hell of a lot wrong.

I take, when I discuss the conversation of Iran, you notice I'm always coming from the terrorism

point of view. The funding there, the harm there. I don't disagree that they bragged that they had

uranium enriched to 60 percent. You need 90 percent for weapons. Great. They were bragging about it.

The JCPOA was a mess, a failure. Obama failed. What he said was a value, of course, was not.

I'm not saying that Iran wasn't trying to pursue this. They absolutely were. They're terrorists.

Why not have the biggest weapon to engage the fear mongering?

But I'm not going to pretend that the CIA is some perfect organization. They've gotten a lot

wrong. A ton. Check, double check, recheck, absolutely. But the long history of Iranian terrorism

by this regime, well, that's just fact. It's not really a denyable thing and ending that is good.

Tony Katz, Tony Katz today. The pucks. Jack Hughes is angry. He is the hero of team USA, men's hockey,

Olympics, gold medal. Why is he angry? Because it turns out his puck is in Canada.

The game-winning puck from the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team to win the gold medal over the

Canadians is that the hockey hall of fame, which is in Toronto. And so is the women's winning puck.

That was a shot from Megan Keller. So the pucks that the U.S. utilized to win over Canada

is in the hall of fame in Toronto. And Jack Hughes is like, what is this crap? This is BS, his words.

He wants it back. Now me, what I favor is taking the winning puck of the US men's team, the U.S.

women's team and the Paralympic team, which beat Canada to win the gold medal.

And first of all, put it on a traveling exhibit across the country. People will show up to take

pictures with that and get a story of hockey of men's women's and Paralympic. It'd be very cool.

You could set that up. I don't think it would cost you too much. People would go. Do it as a fun

razor for local hockey rinks in your town. People would show up. I would show up you would too.

But he's got a really good point. What the hell are these things doing in Canada?

He's outraged by it. And he's correct. This is a terrible idea.

Now he's making a different argument. He thinks he should have his puck and

make it should have hers. Maybe. Maybe they belong to the team. In any case, they belong to America,

right? It should at least be on American soil. I'm Tony Katz. This is Tony Katz today.