Lemon LIVE at 5 | The Clock Is Ticking on Trump's Iran Demands: What Happens Next?!

Welcome everybody to lemon live at five. We appreciate you being here. And boy, look, hit

the like in the thumbs up as usual. I'll have to tell you this. But this is a very sobering

day, I think, and an alarming day. And I don't like to be an alarmist. I don't like

to cause panic for no reason. But since Easter Sunday, the tone in our conflict with Iran

has gotten very, very different. So if you're not following the latest news, I'm sure that

you are. If you're here, you might have missed it, though. And I just want to tell you

that yesterday, Donald Trump issued an 8 p.m. deadline to Iran, which is three hours from

now to run tonight to make a deal to reopen the straight of harm's. And as he said in

the tweet, Andy, if you have it, he said that he was going to really just annihilate the

entire country. He said he was going to blow the entire country to smithereens. A whole

civilization will die tonight. Never to be brought back again. I don't want that to

happen. But it probably will. I want to bring in Tom Nichols, staff writer for the Atlantic

and just all around good guy and expert on all of this time. Thank you for joining us.

I want to get your expertise on this. Where the hell are we right now?

Hard to say, Don, I think the president is panicking. He never expected this to go on

this long. You had a great story today in New York Times, kind of a TikTok of how this

decision was made. It's very clear that he bought into a lot of bullshit and believed

it. And you know, engage in a lot of wishful thinking. And five weeks later, he doesn't

know what else to do. So now he's making really crazy threats, whether he'll carry them out.

I don't know. I just put a piece in the Atlantic about an hour and a half, two hours ago where

I said that this threat is you said it was threat to annihilate the country. I say it's a genit,

it's literally a threat to commit genocide. And that the US military, it's an illegal

order and the US military shouldn't obey it. Now, whether he's going to do that, I don't know,

you know, part of the problem here is we've all gotten, excuse me, we've all gotten really used

to not taking Donald Trump seriously, right? We treat him like, you know, the crazy old guy at the

end of the bar and Queens who's always yelling at the TV. But, you know, the problem is that

this is still a democracy and this is still a government where if the president says something,

it's policy. And right now, the policy of the president, as he wrote down, is if the Iranians don't

comply with whatever he wants him to do, he will literally end their civilization, their civilization

will die tonight. So I think we've gotten used to taking him not seriously. He's gotten used to

being able to kind of bullshit his way through everything. So maybe even he doesn't realize the

impact of saying something like a whole civilization will die tonight. But until proven otherwise,

this is currently the policy of the government of the United States. And I think it's, you know,

it implies the use of nuclear weapons, which again, I don't think he's going to do, but he's clearly

toying with that kind of rhetoric. And my hope is that if he actually talks about this over the

next three hours, that nobody in the cabinet's going to resign, the only one that would matter is

Marco Rubio. That might be the one that would give him positive Rubio threat to walk out because

Rubio is kind of his last fig leaf of responsibility, his last potential adult in the room. But it's

certainly not something that the military should agree to do because it would entail a whole slew

of war crimes. And you know, just following orders isn't going to cut it one day.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that just following orders because a couple of important things that

you discussed here, as we wait on this deadline, I personally believe that nothing is going to

happen. I don't think that he's, look, I don't know. Maybe he is that stupid to blow up the world

because I think if he does that, this goes way far beyond Iran. But you said, if such an order comes

to pass, the military can and must refuse. This is Tom Nichols's article in the Atlantic did Trump

just threaten to use nuclear weapons in Iran. And I think Tom, you know, if I believe that he did,

the president of the United States is losing his head. And that means the rest of us must keep hours

that 8 o' 6 a.m. Eastern daylight time. Donald Trump posted this on his truth social site,

and the whole civilization thing that you said, the world unfortunately has gotten used to Trump's

overheated rhetoric. And to dismissing the commander in chief as something of a crank who,

as the French president recently advised, should perhaps keep more of his thoughts to himself.

That certainly is true. Tom, no matter what, he has backed himself into a corner. And this is a

problem or problems of his own making. Yeah, he, this is the first time I think he's really encountered

something where he can't just say, I told you to do it. So you're going to do it because that's

how his whole life has been lived, right? He runs the Trump organization. He ran the first White House

that way. You know, if I give you an order, you know, people do what I tell them to do. How dare

anyone, you know, tell me, tell me no. And this is really the first situation I think we've ever

really seen him get into where he's just lost control of everything where he has a country of, you

know, 92 million people run by religious fanatics who are saying they're not going to do what he's

ordering them to do. And he doesn't know how to deal with that. And it's becoming on top of it,

never rule out the problem of the domestic content context because for him, this is embarrassing,

which is even worse. He can take a lot of things. He can't take being embarrassed. He can't take

being humiliated. And after five weeks of this war, he's humiliated. I mean, this, we have had

victory after victory at the operational level. And by the operational level, I mean, you know,

go in, destroy that target, come out safely. U.S. military is great at that.

But you know, as my friend Dan Dresner at Tufts pointed out, Professor Tufts, he said,

operational victories, but a strategic defeat for the United States. We've accomplished,

we didn't accomplish regime change. We haven't gotten the nuclear materials that we've proven

basically that the Iranians now kind of own the straight of our moves. The moas have dug in.

And Trump doesn't know how to deal with that. He doesn't know how to deal that when things just

won't go his way. And he's tried to put lipstick on this pig by saying, we got regime change.

They're doing what we want. They're begging for a deal. But nobody believes that. And so I think

what you're seeing is a guy who has clearly, I mean, look, we don't talk about it enough.

This is a guy clearly with all kinds of cognitive problems, clearly with all sorts of emotional,

you know, issues going on. And he just doesn't know what else to say. So now he's issued this crazy

threat. And as you said, done, he paints himself into these corners that he didn't need to be in.

There was nothing, there's no forcing function that says that 8 p.m. today, which is 330 in the

morning, Tehran time, nothing, nothing's happening that, you know, required this kind of

ultimatum or deadline. This isn't the Cuban missile crisis. He's created this situation.

And once again, he doesn't know how to get out of it because he is so addicted to the idea that

if he just says things, they just happen. And everybody in the world is not an employee of the

Trump organization. He seems to be constantly flummoxed by that realization.

I, you know, there are people who are asking for the 25th amendment and all of that. We can,

you know, have a couple of them. Yeah, that's not going to happen. But you also brought up

something very important that I want to talk about it. And if I can go through this New York Times

article and I want to get what you think about it, you said that the, the, he bought into the rhetoric

or the BS, right? The BS is my, that's my language, not Tom's. The black issue of be caring prime

minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House just before 11 a.m. on February 11th. The

Israeli leader who had been pressing for months for the United States, so agreed to a major

assault on Iran was whisked and whisked inside with little ceremony out of view of reporters

primed for one of the most high stakes moments in his long career. And then I just want to set this

up for you. US and Israeli officials gathered first in the cabinet room adjacent to the Oval Office,

then Mr. Netanyahu headed downstairs for the main event, a high-to-classified presentation

on Iran for President Trump and his team in the White House situation room with Israeli

use, which is rarely used for in-person meetings with foreign leaders. Unusual, rarely used, okay? Mr.

Trump sat down, but not in his usual position at the head of the rooms, Mahogany conference

table. Instead, the president took a seat on one side facing the large screens mounted along the

wall. Mr. Netanyahu sat on the other side directly opposite the president. What on earth

is going on here and why is Benjamin Netanyahu in the situation room and deciding foreign policy

in America, helping to decide foreign policy in America? Let's not let Donald Trump off the

hook. Netanyahu came here and made a case to a president who already wanted to go to war. He's

been itching to go to war with the Iranians because he thinks, and again, this is all part of his

kind of narcissistic disorder. He thought that the regime was going to collapse in a few days,

and they'd be building statues of Donald Trump in the middle of Tehran. He's been totally

frustrated by everything happening at home. The Epstein files, inflation, the economy, the

looming disaster of the midterms. So like a lot of authoritarians, he went looking for foreign

adventures to soothe his ego and he thought this was going to work out for him. And so Netanyahu,

I think given their previous discussions, remember, they've already had these talks about this kind

of stuff going all the way back to June when we joined in the Israeli strike on Iran back in June.

And I think they've been talking ever since. And I think Netanyahu has been pushing him to

pushing something Trump already believes, which is you'll be the hero of a world historical

hero. You'll be the guy who liberated Iran. You know, they'll be singing songs about you in

Farsi for 100 years. And I think he really just bought into all that BS, I will keep my language,

PG-13 here. I think he really bought into all that, but because he wanted to. So, you know,

we really have to let go of this idea that he was dragged into war or goaded into war. He's a

grown man, the government of the United States, the most powerful country in the world. He made

this decision, and this is on him. Here's the thing, Tom. You can, by the way, I'm not encouraging

you too, but you can say whatever you want here, this is streaming. Remember, you know, we're not

corporate media. You're on the big shows all the time. But look, I, and you're, you know,

it's still Easter week for us Greek Orthodox people. So, I'm going to try and, you know, keep my

language right. It's this coming weekend, right? What does this mean globally if Trump does decide

to do this? And what, because what he is, what he is suggesting here are really just saying that

he's going to do are war crimes. If he does that, does he end up in an international court?

No, no, I'm sorry to constantly be Dr. Buzzkill here.

No, there's not going to be a 25th amendment, and he's not going to end up in the Hague,

you know, because that's just not how the world works. You know, if he does this,

and somehow, you know, stumbles on work to the end of his term, he'll retire,

and they're, you know, the ICC, which the International Criminal Court, which we are not

signatories, by the way, will issue whatever it wants to issue, and we'll say, well,

that's great. You've made these decisions. God didn't enforce them. Now, it could mean that in his

goadage and his old age, Trump will find their country. He can't go to because they'll

threaten to arrest him, but that's not, that's not going to matter. And none of those considerations

are really going to solve the problem we're facing right now, which is that a president of the

United States has committed this country to an ultimatum that involves genocide.

And that's the craziest part. The people that need to stop this are the American people on

their representatives, and instead, the Senate Republicans are already lining up behind Trump.

You know, Ron Johnson of all people, one of the most cram and Trump supporters there is,

has actually said he's not comfortable with this, and thinks this would be a grave mistake,

but you know, this is, that puts everybody in kind of Susan Collins territory. They're very concerned,

they're worried. They have issues, you know, but nobody is stepping up to stop this. And so,

as I say in my piece, the only thing that can put a stop to this, if he gives this order,

is either that some, some people in the cabinet walk out, but that military officers throw their

stars on the desk and say, you know, I'm not going to do it. I resign, and you'll have to,

you'll have to promote the next guy to do it. And the way I put it in the pieces,

everyone who gets a sort of should refuse to do it until Trump has a mountain of stars and

eagles on his desk. But if he wants to do it, and the Republican majority in this Congress

are behind him, you can do it. Yeah. This is the same, by the way, it's interesting that you have

some Republicans who are, and, and, and very staunch MAGA Republicans, far-right conservatives

who are agreeing with you like Tucker Carlson. Tucker Carlson is also saying that troops should

do, as remember, Donald Trump tried to arrest the members of Congress, who many of them were,

were, were service had, were veterans and had, you know, served their country. He tried to

have them arrested for telling troops to do the same thing. Here's Tucker Carlson.

It is vile on every level. It begins with a promise to use the US military, our military,

to destroy civilian infrastructure in another country, which is to say to commit a war crime,

a moral crime against the people of the country. Those people who are in direct contact with the

president need to say, no, I'll resign. I'll do whatever I can do legally to stop this because

this is insane. And if given the order, I'm not carrying it out. Wow. I can't tell you how much

it squicks me out to be on the same side of an argument as Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor,

Green, Alex Jones, Alex freaking Jones of all people. But, you know, they, they have their own

agenda, which is America first. And the humiliation of having believed Trump when he said,

I'm not going to do any new wars. But you know what? If people are on the right side of an issue,

they're on the right side of an issue. I've also seen other people more serious Trump supporters,

people like Professor Robert George, Princeton, who's been pretty, he's obviously a very,

what's the word I'm looking for? He's a very kind of rational and centered guy, even though he's

very much supported a lot of what Trump did. And he has come right out and said, this is genocide,

it would be war crimes, military shouldn't do it. When you're getting people like that across

the spectrum from the most extreme mega people to, you know, pro mega Princeton professors saying

this would be a bad idea. It's a bad idea. But, you know, Trump, Trump's an overgrown child. I mean,

the more you tell him he can't do something, the more he says, I'll do it just to prove I can.

Now, he may, as I said in the piece on, this may have been just some, you know, 8 a.m.

tweet, 8 a.m. post that just got out into the wild before, you know, somebody could pull

his phone out of his hand. And now everybody's kind of walking around going, well, you know,

I guess we have to say that we're in favor of it, even though none of this is going to happen.

But as I keep trying to point out, President of the United States says something, it's policy.

You can't keep, and especially Mag world, can't keep just saying, oh, the president says a lot of

things. Well, you know, that, that's as insulting to the authority of the presidency as anything

else. So I think for now, we do him a courtesy and the responsible thing of saying when the president

talks, we take him seriously. And if you're going to take him seriously, then you have to think

seriously about the policy he's just put out there. So I want to bring in now, if you will,

because we just got him, Tom, and I know that you have a time, Chris, if you have to leave,

but I would love for you to help me out with this guest. And that's Congressman Rokana from

California's 17th district joining us now. Congressman, thank you. I've been watching you. You've

been on all all over. You've been went into enemy territory today to try to convince him.

Got a little scolding, but I think you did a great job. Do you think that this good evening and

welcome Tom Nichols from the Atlantic is right now? Congressman, all right. Good to see you.

Is he going to do this, Congressman? What do you think? I hope not, and I don't think he will,

but that's not the point. I mean, that's what Martha McCollum and Fox was saying. Well, it's just

words. Well, no, it's values. I mean, America is threatening evil. We're threatening genocide.

We're doing something that contradicts everything we were founded on. That human life doesn't matter.

And the point I made to her is I mean, even FDR didn't do that when we were fighting Nazism.

We weren't out there saying, let's just annihilate the German people. It's the difference between

believing power makes right and anything is justified in having moral principles. And the president,

by saying this, is saying we don't wear a nation without moral principle. We're a nation where

right makes, might makes right. And fine, for a real estate developer, maybe it works, but who cares?

That's not the job of leading the free, the free world or the American people.

Congressman Tom wrote a piece in the Atlantic saying that if he does indeed do this,

and he was just talked about it here, he said that the, the military brass who are in his

cabinet should resign and that service members should refuse to carry out these unlawful orders.

Where do you stand on that? Right. I saw Tom's piece. I haven't read it, but I saw it and I

grew with him completely. I mean, the, everyone swears an oath first and foremost to the Constitution.

And the, this would be a total violation of the Constitution because there's no need for it.

There's no self-defense. Obviously, it doesn't have the authority of Congress. It doesn't have

the authority of any consultation with allies. And you know, you hope that the military would

be willing to stand up for the Constitution. But I think it's important because if Tom doesn't do

this and the deadline passes, he's the whole group's going to say, oh, this is just the art of the

deal. This is a man-man theory is trying to get negotiation. But he is destroying American credibility,

American principles in the world. And he's destroying it for what young people in this country

are, are thinking about what America is for. And you know, Don, it's not lost on me.

The implication for brown lives and for black lives in what he's doing. I mean,

the sense that he's calling Iranians animals. I mean, that's what Galant called the people in Gaza.

The sense that he's saying, okay, we're going to have a fuel blockade for people in Cuba and Cubans

are going to starve. You know, I'm all for us taking care of our nation's needs first. But I do

not believe that a human life in Iran or Cuba or Gaza is somehow less worthy of dignity in the

eyes of the God or in the sense of human rights. And that's really what Trump is saying that these

lives don't really matter. And it's shocking. Tom, do you have a question for the congressman?

No, but I want to put stop a point. He just made a behind him here because this is about values.

This is about there are some things that you just don't threaten. And Congressman Connor

brought up the madman theory. You know, as I say in my piece, even Richard Nixon, the author of

the madman theory, the guy who came up with it, never did this, never made threats like this. Nixon

wanted our opponents, particularly in Vietnam. And even to some extent, the Soviet Union to say,

you know, don't push me. I might be a little irrational. You never know what could happen.

But Nixon did not believe in that. I mean, I'm here defending Richard Nixon, who never threatened

genocide against Vietnam. And I try to get people to think about how much we've fallen

that the president of the United States says this stuff. And we don't hold him to the same

standard that we would hold any other public leader too. If Richard Nixon had come out and said,

we're going to destroy Vietnamese civilization so that it never recovers. He would have been impeached.

Barry Goldwater said a kind of a tenth of that, which is, well, maybe we should use nuclear weapons.

And he suffered this smashing defeat at the hands of Lyndon Johnson.

So it just, it shows you how Trump has kind of worn down our moral sense and numb us to the point

where we have to keep saying these things out loud as Congressman Connid just did. It's just

unacceptable even to say it. And yet he, you know, he'll say it again. I mean, I'm, I think I agree

with both of you that he's probably not going to that's at 759. He's going to say they beg me for

a deal. It's a greatest deal ever. I'm the smartest negotiator in the world, you know, but

And now that we're close to a deal, let's we're going to put it off and give them. Maybe he's going

to do. I'm sorry. Let's see with the the Pakistani president, right? Is it the Pakistani president?

Is it who said who asked for an additional two weeks?

On Twitter, by the way, which made me wonder, don't everybody in the world seems to have Donald Trump's

phone number? Why are the Pakistanis putting this on Twitter? Almost try to reach the White House.

Yeah, diplomatic diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of ongoing war in the Middle East

are progressing steadily strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead the two substantive

results and then to allow that he's asking for an extended deadline for two weeks. That's Pakistan.

Congressman, thanks to me, like he's not talking that they're putting it out on Twitter.

The world is pleading with Trump, because even though it may be that we think he's not going to

do it, I mean, imagine if you're an Iranian national, imagine if you are in that part of the

world. And so they we are the world superpower and they're basically pleading with him not to do

something irrational or crazy. But you know, when I was growing up, I grew up in a Bucks County

Pennsylvania and I had you would have buddies that attend the Lemp's grade playing pool be like,

oh, we're why don't we just wipe them off the face of the earth? Why don't we just bomb them,

right? And you never thought that the chatter at a pool hall or at a Eagles game would become

our governing philosophy that there was always some sense that yeah, that may be the American

in, but we've got a conscience and we've got values. And the question I think the deeper question

maybe not for today, but a longer time is why was it that was as a managed decline or a frustration

or some sapping of the American energy that we felt this need that we've elected this guy twice?

And what is it going to take to restore a conviction based politics that can inspire and move

people again? And I really think it's a it's a question for all of us that we've got a president

acting like, you know, school kids talk about foreign policy. I don't know if you have another

hand you got to go. Yeah, yeah, I figured Tom, thank you very much. Tom Nichols from the Atlantic.

Tom has another appearance. Congressman, I'm sure that you let me know when you have to go as well

because I know that you're very busy right now. I just can I I want to play something for you and

I want to get your response. This is David Road, formerly of the New Yorker now, MS now,

an investigative reporter. This is what he is saying about the possibility of an agreement being

reached by eight o'clock. So I spoke recently with two Persian Gulf diplomats. They say the

chances of an agreement being reached before President Trump's deadline at 8 p.m. Eastern

tonight. They say the chances are very low. There hasn't been significant progress in the talks

that they've heard of. And one flag for them is that Vice President JD Vance, who's supposed to be

part of these negotiations, carried out a trip. It was previously planned, but he carried out a

trip to Hungary. He's part of that negotiations with Steve Woodcoff and Jared Kushner,

but the fact that the Vice President is traveling on this day adds to a sense that little progress

is being made in the talks. And so it looks like at 8 o'clock tonight, President Trump will have

to decide whether to carry out his threat to bomb all these sites in Iran.

And just real quickly, just I want to get this is the President from Brett Baer over on Fox News.

Roll it.

But I just got off the phone with the President and he called and I said, listen, if you were to put

odds on it, what were the odds that this is going to end up being a negotiated deal? He said

he wasn't going to put odds on it, but he said APM is happening. That's what he said. He said,

it is, if we get to that point, there is going to be an attack like they have not seen.

Now he's sticking to that at this point. Now he said if negotiations move forward today,

and there is something concrete, that could change. But at this hour, he didn't want to put odds

on it, but he said it is moving forward with the plans that we have. That's a huge deal.

And obviously we all think that it's a thing that he's putting out there to say, don't do this.

He says he doesn't want to do it, but he is at this hour sticking to it and saying,

it might be likely if they don't come to the table.

Okay, so Congress is to both of those. So David Rowe is saying he's spoken to officials

are saying not likely. Trump is saying similar to what you said that he's going to do at 759

and say that the talks are too, but he's going to do it. But right now, the talks are moving,

and I don't want to commit to anything.

I'm chilling. I mean, the fact that you can't rule this out to 0% and that we may be

a force for such a destruction in the world is just absolutely morally depraved and chilling.

That's why I've called for both as removal and as impeachment. And we need Democrats out there

saying that. We need some Republicans out there saying that. You know, I mean, Congress is just

all scattered all over the place. We're not doing anything. Talking about it, it was

teaming like a washed up institution. If the press AI states threatening genocide to 91 million

people and half of Congress, some of the Congress is like congratulating Michigan on their

basketball. We're not a great win, but how about like the job that we're supposed to do?

So I am very, very concerned, but all I can say is that he has set us up in a lose-lose situation.

He's compromised our moral integrity. And if he then extends the timeline as I hope he will,

then people are going to say, well, it's all bluster. And he's, you know, for someone who criticized

Obama for drawing false red lines in Syria, he's certainly not one-tenth of the statesman as Obama

was. Congressman Rokana, thank you. One more thing. Are you hearing from any Republicans behind

the scenes who are saying this is you are? I am. I don't want to out them because, you know,

they'll get primary challenges, but not just Thomas Massey. Obviously, Massey has been there.

But there are a number of others. Some of the people who have worked with me on Epstein

and others saying, you know, this is going too far. I think they're waiting, you know,

candidly, I think some of them are waiting till eight o'clock. But after eight o'clock passes,

hopefully we haven't done anything catastrophic. You may start to see more Republicans speaking out

and even joining a war powers resolution to end this thing. They don't like what the

president's doing. They just are afraid to speak out publicly. Look, I look, I'm not denying what

you're saying. And I'm not refuting what you're saying. I just, I wouldn't hold my breath with these

Republicans. Thank you, Congressman. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Congressman Rokana and Tom Nichols, thank you. We're not done yet. I'm going to take you through

what could happen next, what's happening right now in Iran. People are forming human chains around

infrastructure and nuclear plants. First of word from our sponsors.

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You know dogs. So let's get back to it. Thank you for joining us today this evening. Again,

this is very serious. We are, I want to say counting down, but the clock is ticking on an eight

o'clock deadline just under two and a half hours for Donald Trump says he's just going to basically

blow around to smithereens. That's what he's saying. He said he's going to get rid of the entire

civilization there. And so I think that you know this. And yesterday, Donald Trump issued an

8 p.m. deadline to Iran for tonight. 8 p.m. Eastern to make a deal to reopen the straight of

harmus. Iran is fighting back as we have been talking to our guests about now. This is Donald

Trump just yesterday. This is how he's sounding reiterating his threat to take them back to the

Stone Ages tonight. But we're giving them, we're giving them to tomorrow, eight o'clock,

Eastern time. And after that, they're going to have no bridges. They're going to have no power

plants. Stone ages, yeah. And that is, he's proposing war crimes right there. And so as I said,

we're counting, I didn't count down, but that's what everyone is doing. We're on the clock. One

Israeli TV show has a countdown clock until Trump's 8 p.m. threat as if it's New Year's Eve

or something like that. And of course, we've had a lot of false alarms. Taco Trump has pushed back

his deadline for Iran many, many times. But this is Israeli television. Watch this.

So that's it. So, I mean, that, wow, countdown. Also, Pope Leo is weighing in on this war

with much more urgency than he has before saying that Trump's threats amount to war crimes as we've

been saying and urging people to call their members of Congress and urging, urging world leaders

to get together and come back to the negotiating table. Here's the Pope.

Since I don't mind in English, I would simply say, once again, what I said in the

would be, or be message on Sunday, asking all people of goodwill to search always for peace

and not violence to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war,

which is continuing to escalate, which is not resolving anything. In fact, we have a worldwide

economic crisis, energy crisis situation, the Middle East of great instability, which is only

provoking more hatred throughout the world. So, come back to the table. Let's talk. Let's look

for solutions in a peaceful way. And let's remember especially the innocent children.

The elderly, sick, so many people who have already become or will become victims of this

continued warfare and to remind all that attacks on civilian infrastructure is against international

law, but that it is also a sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction, the human being

is capable of, and we all want to work for peace. People want peace. I would invite the citizens

of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen,

to ask them, tell them, to work for peace and to reject war always. Thank you very much.

So, I like the Pope, a Pope that speaks English that fluently, usually it's sort of broken,

but you get the message. You get the message. I just think about this. Think about the moment

that we're in right now. And I've been coming on here saying to you guys, we're in a very pivotal

moment. This is a critical moment for our country. And this is what I meant by this, for this very

moment that we're experiencing right now and could experience later. When we say this president is

going to get us all unalived, he could. Now, think about that, the Pope, right? We have the Pope

urging Americans to dial their Republican members of Congress right now.

I don't know if I've ever heard a Pope do that ever as long as I had been

on this earth or covering this stuff as a journalist. The way members of Congress are talking

about Trump's 8 p.m. threat and the action that we should be taking right now is not giving

the any peace of mind as well. Watch. On those mechanisms that you just mentioned, you've called

for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against the president after that expletive-filled Sunday post

where he talked about bombing and taking out all of the infrastructure, including civilian

infrastructure, but it's unlikely that Congress is going to take up the 25th Amendment.

So where are the checks and balances? And do you see anything changing amongst your colleagues

in Congress? I mean, I just hope it doesn't have to take committing genocide against a country

of 90 million people for Republicans to speak up. If you look at non-elected Republicans, people

like former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Candace Owens,

people I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would agree with on anything are reasonable

and are sounding the alarm at the appropriate levels given the gravity of this moment.

They are calling for the 25th Amendment. I'm thinking to myself, why does Vice President

JD Vance, who has presidential aspirations in 2028, who always campaigned on ending forever wars?

Why is he not trying to orchestrate the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump

from office? He has mentally deranged and threatening crimes of this magnitude are going

to get Americans killed. So that is my focus today. I think every single person in this country needs

to be calling the phones of Republican members of Congress and senators of relentlessly today,

of all of the issues that have come up over the last year, all have been devastating,

but we are talking about the potential for a nuclear war here. That is the language that Donald

Trump is using and we should not pretend that it's not. That's representative, I'm sorry, there.

I'm sounding the alarm. Now, so far, more than 50 Democrats have called to invoke the 25th

Amendment. There's a list of them right there on your screen. Congresswoman, former Congresswoman

Marjorie Taylor Green is one of them, as Representative Ansari said, but it seems congressional Democrats,

and especially Congresswoman Ansari, who had on this morning, they're doing everything in their

power to tell people, we only have a few hours to take action. Now, are we putting too much into

what Donald Trump is saying? Because I think the thing is, is that if we go this far, what is next?

If he does this to Iran, what does he do to us? If he allows so far his personal police force,

which was ICE, to brutalize people in broad daylight with impunity, what's next?

According to multiple outlets, negotiations are still going on. You heard what Brett

Bear said moments ago on this program. Those are, and he's from Fox News, changing by the

minute. And then moments ago, again, on Fox News, Trump told them that he's in the middle of,

quote, heated negotiations. Don't call with President Trump. He declined to say how he's

feeling about the talks with Iran, but he said that, you know, I can't tell you right now, we're in

heated negotiations. So that at least shows us that the president, as he always has been, is open

to discussion on all of this. He wants that straight open. He says the regime has already changed

to a certain extent. With that, we bring in Wilkane. Okay, no, Wilkane, we don't need that.

So the president has always been open to these negotiations. What is she talking? What are you

talking about? They were in negotiations. And Donald Trump bombed them.

All of this comes after the Pakistani prime minister, as Tom and I talked about, and the

representative, Rokana, the Pakistani prime minister asked President Trump to extend his

Iran deadline by two weeks and asking Iran to reopen the state of Hamuz by that time. Yeah,

I don't think that's going to happen. And then Sky News is reporting on this peace deal offer

from Pakistan. Here it is. A whole civilization will die tonight. Those are words of Donald Trump

this afternoon, James. And you and I were discussing how he could row back on that if he didn't want

to go through with what he said. And he might have been provided with an option by the prime minister

of Pakistan, it seems. Yeah, that's right, sir. And much talk about the president being a man

in desperate search of an off ramp. Maybe just maybe he has been provided with one by the prime

minister of Pakistan. He has tweeted the following, sir, and I will read it out. It's quite a bit

to it. But he says this, Shabbat Sharif, diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the

ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential

to lead to substantive results in near future. To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly

request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity,

requests the Iranian brothers to open straight off Hamuz for a corresponding period of two weeks.

As a goodwill gesture, we also urge all-waring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two

weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war in the interests of long-term

peace and stability in the region. So there you go, sir, James. That's from Shabbat Sharif,

prime minister of Pakistan. You'll remember the Pakistanis have been acting as a middleman

in discussions or in communications between Iran and the United States.

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So back now to the program. Of course, as we heard in yesterday's press conference,

President Trump has practically done all that he came to Thorda Ron's capacity for negotiations.

And that's why I said, what is Martha McCallum talking about? That Donald Trump is open to

negotiations. And she thinks she must think he's watching her and is going to, I don't know.

Trump says Iran has no method of communication for peace talks. Here he is.

The biggest problem we have in our negotiation is that they can't communicate.

I said, Steve, what are they saying? Sir, they can't communicate. They have no method of communication.

So we're doing, we're communicating like they used to communicate 2,000 years ago with children,

bringing a note back and forth. They have no communication.

Do they not have communication or maybe they don't want to use their electronics so that

they can be tracked to where they are? Perhaps that may be it. According to him,

they're using little children to pass messages back and forth. And that is the only thing

we have between us and all-out war at 8 p.m. And this is Axios' Barack Ravid.

Says that President Trump has been made aware of that proposal and will issue a response.

And while all of that is happening at the top level, I want you to look at what we're seeing

on the ground right now in Iran. The people of Iran are forming human chains around power plants

and across bridges to protest Trump's threat of power plant day and bridge day.

Iranians are forming the human chains there and more people are forming human chains are all

around the infrastructure. Some of it is there audio on it Andy, so we can we hear some of it?

There are even there's a musician that's sitting in front of an Iranian power plant hoping for peace as well.

So you can get the point, I don't know if the music Andy was going to even though it's not US,

but Iranians seem to be taking to the streets in support of their government. You can see it there.

And imagine because you think about power plants and infrastructure and all of that and you think

it is just structure, just objects, but these are people who are involved in this. People will die

in this. A lot of innocent people will die if Donald Trump carries out his promises of war crimes.

There are pro-reging demonstrations in Iran.

And then you can see more demonstrations. Andy, I believe there is a multi-box of demonstrations there,

but they are demonstrating and they're taking to the streets in Iran.

Now, you know, there are other players involved in this and we'll talk about it. Israel is one of them

that I think we should discuss, but first the word from our sponsors. Support comes from 120 life.

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Now, one of the ways Israel sold this war to Donald Trump was that they told him

regime change would be easy. If you've read the New York Times piece that we mentioned earlier,

you will hear all about that. How Donald Trump came to this decision. How he was in the situation

room with Benjamin Netanyahu sitting there with him, helping him to make the decision to strike

Iran. The people would rise up. They say an overthrow the Shah of Iran as soon as the US took action

that they were over they would overtake the itola. Instead, we're seeing civilians forming

human chains around power plants, around bridges, physically putting their bodies between

infrastructure and the threat of US strikes, even as our

erratic and unstable president and defense secretary have shown that they are more than willing

to end civilians lives. And as of right now, the United States and Israel are following through

with their threat to strike railways. US and Israel following through with it. Watch this.

Thanks so much to her. That's her to study for us there in Tehran. I just want to bring your

attention to some of the pictures that we've just received into our newsroom. These rescue workers,

search and rescue workers in Karaj Iran. We understand there have been multiple attacks on

railway lines, which is exactly what Israel in the United States had threatened earlier in the

day. It certainly appears like they are following through now on those threats. As I mentioned,

these rescue workers taking away the injured from an attack on railway lines in Karaj and Iran.

Also a strike on Iranian civilian airports. Meanwhile, strikes on Iran intensified throughout

the day. Rescuers in Tehran were seen searching through rubble and large fires and plumes of smoke

rose from Mehrabat International Airport. The semi-official mayor and news agency reported that

multiple targets, including the airport, were struck in Tehran early on Tuesday.

Iran responded to Trump's deadline by declaring it would no longer hold back from hitting US

allies in the Gulf. Video verified by Reuters showed a fire blazing near Saudi Arabia's

Jubail Petrochemical Complex, where Western oil firms operate multi-billion dollar ventures.

So look, I'm not trying to be an alarmist tonight as I told you for the very beginning of this

show. I'm not trying to be an alarmist tonight, but we are almost two hours away.

I'm trying to be very, very clear to you. We are closer to a major escalation than we have been

at any point in this conflict, to a major escalation with anyone that we have been in for quite some

time in this country. The signals are louder right now. The timelines are shorter right now,

about two hours away. And the margin for error is basically gone. Now, Donald Trump is negotiating

with some one imaginary friends who knows. Iran is telling us that they are not negotiating with him.

They had no idea what he's talking about. Even if this is a bluff from Donald Trump, even if a

deal comes together, the way we're behaving on the world stage, I mean, this feels like something

the United States will never be able to come back from. How could another country trust us again? And

as I have been hearing the general's talk, military officials, the experts on this talk,

they're saying that America is becoming and after this will become the bad guys.

Imagine being the bad guys in comparison to Iran. We have more than half the country willing to

vote for and support this genocidal war mongering. Tom Nichols called it that. Others have called it

a genocide is what he is proposing. If we don't use a nuke, the rules of warcraft, which have been

in place since the Geneva Convention have changed. If we do use a nuke, wow, we've made civilian

infrastructure a ready target right now. There will no longer be any pretense of civilian death being

wrong or a pretense that we should be focused on military targets. And if we come back from this,

it's going to be a very, very, very high bar to overcome. How do we get back to normalcy?

How do we get back to the world respecting America as America's democratic superpower?

We were the envy of the world in many ways. And now we are the last I think in many ways.

For the pity stock in many ways. And guess what? It is not just Democrats as I've been saying

doing it. It is not just people who you you deem to be liberal. It's a lot of them.

Tom Nichols mentioned Alex Jones earlier. Alex Jones of all people slamming Donald Trump for the

conflict and said Democrats are doing nothing. I am in the twilight zone right now.

I am officially in the twilight zone right now. And I'm sitting there watching Trump

rec maga, rec the Republicans, rec the world economy, maybe wreck the planet physically.

And then I'm just looking over at the Democrats, smiling and giggling and everything else when they

did nothing in Congress to block this. Plan with fire gambling again. There should be a coalition

of Republicans and Democrats and they should vote in on the war powers and say you don't have it

and they should cut the damn funding of this. My God, what's it going to take Trump ending the world?

Oh my God. Alex Jones sounds like me.

Where are we right now? I was talking to my team earlier and I saw some of the

newscasters this morning. I said, you know, I had the news on it. I flipped it on for a second to see

what's going on. And I said, this certain newscaster said, man, she looks like she's hanging on by a

thread. And everybody in the call said, we're all hanging on by a thread. Are you hanging on by a

thread? Is that how you're feeling right now? I know the American people are because even

Trump supporters, even people in America who you think would not be paying attention to this,

they are paying attention and they are calling this war crimes. Watch.

Sorry, which clip is this? The Georgia voter.

It's giving war crime. You can't do that. We don't just annihilate people because we can. And

you know, make a grab for the money and the old. And that's what we've done in Venezuela.

And that's what we're doing in Iran.

And no matter what he does, no matter how they try to change the narrative by

making the press conference yesterday about an American war hero, no matter.

Americans know they're not falling for this. And Donald Trump knows because the polls show it and

he is running scared. He is afraid. One more Andy. Is this another voter?

No, it's just the last frame of that clip. Last frame. Okay. If you want to know anything about our

show, go to Don Lemon.com. And we are going to be watching tonight to see what happens. And if

something breaks, you can get it right here on the channel. So just be ready for our alert

for us to go live and discuss this. But if you go there, make sure you vote for

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thank you today for our substacres for our subscribers. Only show was really great. I appreciate

you guys were very candid. Lots of questions, lots of comments. And so thank you for that.

So be informed without being inundated. Don't be afraid. I don't. Look, I think it's dangerous.

I am concerned for the people of Iran because of the stress that they're going through right now.

Do I think that they're going to open the straight of harm's? I don't. Do I think Donald Trump is

going to blow them off of the face of the earth? I don't. I certainly hope not. You never know

with him. I think at the very minute he's going to come up with something saying we the

negotiations are going really, really well. They just can't get it together. A couple of things. We

got to cross our teeth and dot our eyes. And so we're going to give two weeks, two weeks.

Be informed without being inundated until I see you back here either tonight. If there's

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