WEBVTT - Trump Pulls Back Iran Strike 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:16.440 You are entering the freedom hunt. President Trump was on 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:21.160 the brink of a military action against Iran and decided 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.600 to bail at the very last moment. We will assess 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.680 whether this was the right move for our commander in chief, 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:30.160 and also all of the latest on the immigration fight, 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.879 including the possibility of some major raids by immigration and 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.839 customs enforcements starting in a matter of days. Look at 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:38.840 that and more coming up on The buck Sexton Show. 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.159 This is the buck Sexton Show, where the mission or 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:47.360 mission is to decode what really matters with actionable intelligence. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.240 Make no mistake American, You're a great American. Again. The 0:00:53.280 --> 0:01:03.520 buck Sexton Show begins as I said, how many people 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.600 are going to be killed? Sir? I'd like to get 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.959 back to in that great people, these generals, they said, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.360 came back, said sir, approximately one hundred and fifty. And 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:17.240 I thought about it for a second. I said, you 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:22.800 know what, They shot down an unmanned drone plane whatever 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.560 you want to call it. And here we are sitting 0:01:25.600 --> 0:01:29.240 with one hundred and fifty and dead people that would 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.720 have taken place probably within a half an hour after 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.520 I said go ahead. And I didn't like it. I 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.240 didn't think it was. I didn't think it was proportionate. 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.560 Welcome to the buck Sex and show everybody very close 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:47.520 to the edge there. Last night, as President Trump was 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:50.200 just on the brink of giving an order for retaliatory 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:56.040 strikes against targets in Iran. And here's what the President 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.480 tweeted about this. He said, on Monday, they shot down 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.120 an unmanned aerial drone flying the international waters. We were 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.640 cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on three different sites. 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.320 When I asked how many will die? One hundred and 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.799 fifty people, sir was the answer from a general ten 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.280 minutes before the strike. I stopped it not proportionate to 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.919 shooting down and on Mandrone, I'm in no hurry. Our 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.639 military is rebuilt, new and ready to go, by far 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.079 the best in the world. Sanctions are biting and more 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:32.440 were added last night. Iran can never have nuclear weapons, 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:41.520 not against the USA and not against the world. This 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:43.799 is the right decision as I see it. I think 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.160 the President made the right move. I think that we 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.720 are already squeezing the Iranians economically thanks to this administration. 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:59.079 The Iranians are flailing, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.919 and the Guardian Council and the Mullahs. They're looking for 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.359 some way to unite the people such as they can 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:14.480 be behind the regime. Remember, if we create a narrative 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.640 of the Iranian people lined up against the United States 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:20.560 because we're coming after them, that is to the benefit 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.880 of the Mullahs. If we were to blow up sites 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.600 and there were civilian casualties, and it's not clear how 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.680 many casualtis exactly there would be, and remember casualty estimate, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:32.240 it's just that it's an estimate. It could have been more, 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.960 could have been less. And President made the right move 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:41.560 in my opinion, It is fascinating to see the way 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.280 that many people are now responding to this. But I'll 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.360 get into that and then the media in just a 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:51.920 little bit. Here, the president understands the following his base 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.760 Trump voters. We did not give our votes to this 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.640 guy because we wanted him to go and invade another 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:04.400 country the Middle East. That's just that's just the truth. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:12.240 The Trump vote, the Trump movement wasn't about yet another 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:14.600 Mid East war. It was about you don't have to 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:16.159 have me tell you, but it was about making America 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:25.839 great again through a hugely growing and excellent economy, about 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.600 a strong southern border, about an end to overregulation, about 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.760 put an end into political correctness, and an end to 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.600 all the apologizing for America all the time. And there 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:41.080 were some very clear agenda items for President Trump fixing 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:42.960 our healthcare, which they have we have not done that. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:44.960 We got a little better on prescription drug prices, but 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.599 we are lagging right now on a better healthcare system. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:53.600 That is That is also just the truth. Now you 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.479 get into this back and forth, and I remember this. 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.240 I remember the debates from when I was in college 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.880 of the Iraq war. I remember the debates about esc 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.640 eating and the surge in Iraq. When I was at 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:08.239 the CIA's office on Iraq. I remember the decision to escalate, 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.159 or the early decision to do at a review in 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.560 the escalation in Afghanistan. I was working in the CIA's 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:19.680 Afghanistan desk when that happened. And these things do tend 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.800 to have a momentum of their own. So while it's 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:25.760 not it's not correct to say that the different the 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.680 options here are do nothing or all out war. Caution 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:34.960 in this process is necessary, and I just I deeply 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.640 wish for the American people, I wish for all of 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:42.280 us that we don't have another war in some other 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:46.920 country where we are sending just such amazing people, you know, 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:51.200 family members of ours, loved ones, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:57.600 sending them over there, husbands and spouses that husbands, wives 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.400 sending them over there, and generally for a population that 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.760 will be at least somewhat, if not entirely, ungrateful for 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.000 the effort. By the way, that's certainly that was the 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.880 case in Afghanistan, and certainly in the case in Iraq too. 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.520 There are a lot of people that don't really want 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.360 us in those countries. Maybe they want us to stay 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.880 because they know the other guys are worse, But there's 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.080 not a lot of gratitude. You haven't noticed a flowering 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.400 of love for America across the Middle East after these 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.040 wars we fought there. We did depose a tyrant in 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.400 Saddam Hussein. Do you feel like the Arab street has 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.480 decided that we are we are the good guys now? No? 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.159 If anything, I think that the anti American forces point 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.080 to US actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere as 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.279 evidence of US as a grave threat to the world. 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.400 We are a threat to world peace. Europeans think this, 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:49.760 South Americans think this. Countries that should be ideologically and 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:55.440 dare I even say spiritually aligned with US as nation states. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.920 They think that what we've done in many of these 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:05.440 conflict was foolish at best and you know, tyrannical at worst. 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.880 So no more wars in the Middle East for US. 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.880 I mean, if if we have to blow the you 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.760 know what out of the Mullahs by bombing some sights 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.200 here or there, if that's the if it goes to 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.840 that level, of course, I think that's that can be 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:25.640 the proper decision for President Trump right now, but we're 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:30.480 not there yet. The Iranians are claiming that they could 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:35.520 have shot down a manned US aircraft that was nearby 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:43.800 and instead shot down an unmanned aerial drone. Now, okay, 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.400 the Iranians are saying this because they want to see 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.640 them like they're they're being reasonable in this process. But 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.559 keep in mind, if they had shot down a plane 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.040 with thirty five US soldiers, there would be strikes and 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.840 retaliation that would kill hundreds, probably thousands of Iranians, and 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.920 I would support that you kill our people. We have 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.200 to make a very strong we have to have a 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.720 very strong response. They did not kill our people. It 0:08:10.920 --> 0:08:14.120 is significant that they did not kill our people, and 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:17.920 we always want to draw that line. So everybody going 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.000 forward knows, you mess with us, you mess with our stuff, 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.880 We're gonna get mad. We're gonna respond. You kill our people, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:24.680 we are going to rain hell fire down on you, 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:31.200 in some cases literally hell fire missiles. So I think 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.360 the Trump Administration's approach right now is the right one. 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:36.880 We don't have to rush on this. The Iranians are 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.160 the ones with the Our economy is doing great, are 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.520 military huge. The Iranians are the ones that are being 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.600 choked economically. The Iranians the ones that are running out 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.760 of options here. Their threat to shut down the straight 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.200 of hor moves that would that would agitate every major 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:53.560 power in the world. They'd have the Chinese turn on 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:55.520 the Russians turn on them, Everybody would turn on them, 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.680 because everybody's access to to that oil in the global 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.840 market matters to them. Every major power matters to them. 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.480 So we wouldn't be alone in that process. The Iranians 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:08.880 did their worst, and their worst would be terrorist attacks 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.600 through proxies and also through cells. The Iranian terror cells 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.680 spread all over the world. There would be ground fired 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:22.320 missiles at oil tankers, at other ships. I mean they 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:23.719 would be able to hit them and destroy them and 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.360 cause ecological disasters. I mean, the Iranians could could do 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:30.079 those things, and there's not all that much we'd be 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:31.560 able to do to stop them from doing all of 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:33.719 that in the meantime, but it would it would then 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.720 mean that we would lay waste to the Iranian state 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.880 of the Iranian military. Ah. But see this is where 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:43.960 things start to get more complicated. If we have to 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:50.040 respond with overwhelming force to a major Iranian provocation. That 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.520 overwhelming force is when we have to be very careful about, well, 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.680 what comes next? What are we responsible for If we 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:58.719 knock out the power grid in Iran, if we take 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:03.960 out their major military sites and the government is toppled, 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.840 what happens then who's in charge? What is our obligation 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:10.839 to the the Iranian state? And then you start to feel 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.640 like you're having Iraq and Afghanistan desja vou. We didn't 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.839 do into Afghanistan with the mission of we're going to 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.320 rebuild this country and now it was the Northern Alliance. 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.120 We helped them out kick out, the kick out al Qaida, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.400 and the Taliban, and I supposed to be all right, 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.040 good luck, guys, thanks for your help, here's your country back, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:29.760 see you later. That's not what happened. We've been there 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:38.000 now for nineteen years. And then Iraq. I don't have 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.000 time to relitigate the Iraq War right now. But was 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.560 that a good move? I originally was convinced that it 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:47.880 probably was the right move because I thought the outcome 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.560 would be very, very different from what it was. I 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:53.400 worked on the Iraq desk at the CIA. I could 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.120 tell you there were times when I wasn't sure. Just 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.040 in my own hat, I figured, I'm not even I 0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:59.560 don't even know if we're gonna be able to stay 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.840 if we want to stay. Casualties are mount think so high. 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.040 Insurgency was so out of control, and there were real 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:09.959 concerns in the US government that we were going to 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:11.439 have to just pull out and say, all right, well 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:13.360 this place is a mess, but you know it's on 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.640 you guys, have go to it. We're not dealing with 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:20.959 this anymore. I just desperately hope that we've learned those lessons. 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.280 I don't want people, I don't want our people over 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:26.600 there trying to fix someone else's country for them anymore. 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.960 We've done that, and we had a lot that we 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.000 took casualties. We spent a ton of our treasure. It's 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.280 your tax dollars, my tax dollars. Really, more so our 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.959 children and their children's tax dollars. Try to turn the 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.480 lights on in Cobble, try to have clean water in 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:47.600 Bakuba for what? For whom? People that want to tell 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:49.560 us to leave their country, that we shouldn't have been 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:53.160 there in the first place, that we're occupiers, Why should 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.760 we put ourselves in this position? Again, I agree with 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.760 Trump on this. I think his mindset is correct. Trump 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.800 is not a foreign details guy. I would never pretend 0:12:01.800 --> 0:12:05.600 that he is. But on the big issues of what 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.120 needs to be done, what needs to be confronted, or 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:09.959 where we need to show strength, where we need to 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.120 show you a closed hand or an open hand, he 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.160 gets it. Gets it a lot more than the foreign 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.200 policy group thinkers out there who believe that whatever was 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.920 done in the past by other people, that people said 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.920 we're smart, has to continue to be done even if 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:31.319 the results are bad. We don't want a war with 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.480 the Row. Nobody wants a war with they're on. Really, 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.120 I think maybe that might be a little too broad 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:37.559 of a statement. In this country, I think there is 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.200 unfortunately an element that really believes so strongly in regime 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.760 change that they would, if they had their way, push 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:47.240 us into a major war. And iron I think that 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.520 that exists. Unfortunately, there is an element in this country, 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.280 in the power structure, in the government that really would 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.520 like to see a major US and they're convinced I'm 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.880 sure that, oh no, this time will be different. This time, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.400 welcome us into the streets and they'll have, you know, 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:05.520 garlands of flowers for our soldiers, and everything will be great. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.240 And I'm here to tell you seeing this twice from 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:12.280 the from the perspective that I could in Iraq and Afghanistan, 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.720 it would be even worse. It would be even worse. 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.040 Iron is a much bigger country than Iraq. For example, 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:23.560 the just the sheer logistical challenges of dealing with the 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.760 population of seventy or seventy five million instead of twenty 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.800 to twenty five million would be there's just no way 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.760 we want to do this. A lot of Democrats right 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.040 now running around using this as an opportunity to demagogue. 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.000 I do wish that on an issue like this, after 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:41.800 we've seen what we've seen the Middle East, after we've 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.400 had so many years of heartbreak and casualties and taking 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:49.040 losses that we just all could put aside. But the 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:50.720 poll say for a moment and do what it's best 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.160 for the country. But I think that Democrats are so 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.520 deranged on this, and they're so deranged with Trump hatred, 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.720 that they will find a way to criticize. Just watch 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.280 this weekend. They'll criticize the President of the United States 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:14.199 for being thoughtful, for being prudent, and for taking the 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:19.320 path of less violence in this one instance with Iran, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:21.720 to see if there's a better way forward. They will 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:27.440 criticize him for it. Generally devish anti US intervention Democrats, 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.600 You'll hear them criticizing him for this, because doing the 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.160 right thing in Iran, even if it's a question of 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.280 whether our troops will be in a harm's way and 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:38.280 whether lives will be lost. Let's be honest, I've a 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.360 hundred fifty Irani lives. A lot of people would die 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:43.800 doing the right thing by our country and doing the 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.400 right thing when it comes to human life. Unfortunately, for 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.760 a lot of the left in this country, those are 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:57.080 secondary considerations to bashing Trump and that's what you're seeing 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.800 with their analysis of this Iran decision. That's how they 0:14:59.840 --> 0:15:01.720 will be talking about it. We have more coming up. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:09.520 Stay with me. Leron has been gradually escalating their nuclear 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:13.560 blackmail threats. Remember on May eighth, they threatened to enrich 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.520 uranium to weapons grade levels if they didn't receive sanctions 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:19.400 relief in two months. That deadline is July eighth. And 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:21.760 as we all know, they've been launching connectic attacks in 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.800 the Persian Gulf, and so I would expect Iran to 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:29.280 continue to launch increasingly escalatory attacks if we don't respond, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.600 that's the risk that we would run. But again, we 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.800 don't want to draw ourselves into run into a war 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:40.760 that neither of us wants. Launts it, nobody wants it. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.440 It's just a question of how we avoid it. I 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.760 keep saying nobody, I should say almost nobody. Well, what 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.840 is a that's you know Daniel Hoffman. He's a guy 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.160 who is pretty He's pretty good on the national security side. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:56.560 I enjoy I've done segments with him. He's a smart dude. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:15:59.040 A lot of people go on TV have no idea 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.200 what they're talking about with this Dolph Hoffman's not one 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.640 of them. He's solid and it's got a real background 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:09.200 and it shows on TV. But he spoke also about 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.400 what a a attack would be like in terms of 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:17.080 one that is commensurate with what has happened to us, 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:20.720 or what a response should look like. Here's what he 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.480 said in play for We haven't struck yet, but we 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.920 absolutely can. If we were not to strike, that would 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:30.240 also deliver a very serious message, I think, to Iran 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.440 and then other enemies we face around the world. As 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.960 far as the strike that we might be looking at targets, 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:40.920 missile sites, radar batteries which it runs IRGC, their Revolutionary 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.640 Guard Corps, which launched the attack on our r Q 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.160 four drone. Would we would hit those those sites as 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:49.680 a proportional response. I think that would probably make the 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.880 most sense. It doesn't mean that Iran wouldn't themselves then retaliate, 0:16:54.440 --> 0:17:01.360 but that would be a flexible proportional response. Flexible proportional response. 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.880 This really does remind me of the I think it's 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:07.199 one of the first episodes of the show. Oh no, 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.320 it's actually from the Not it's not from that, it's 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.080 from Don't They have a discussion about this in the 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.280 American President with Michael Douglas where it's about an airstrike 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:17.480 and he doesn't want to do what it's going to 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:19.960 kill some guys a night janitor? Or am I thinking 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:28.760 of President Bartlett from what's it called? What's that show 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:37.080 called the you know West Wing, Westwick? That's that's where 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.119 President Bartlett is and he says that he doesn't want 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.480 to just take their lunch money or something. Anyway, Look, 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:42.920 I think the President made the right move. That's the 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:44.720 bottom line. We'll see what ends up happening here from 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.399 the Iranians. We'll see if the Iranian response is going 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.520 to go even further. It's very possible. Although do they 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.119 really want to play chicken with Trump? I you know, 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:57.480 there are a lot of things you can say about 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.560 this guy. I don't think getting into a test of 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.920 will with him, a test of resolve for the iranience 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:05.560 of the mulas is a good idea. I don't believe 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:08.920 anybody should think that that's a good idea. That's why 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:13.119 Trump's willingness to Here's how I see it, Trump stepping 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:14.359 back and saying, you know what, I'm not going to 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:16.760 throw a punch. You know, you push me, but I'm 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.440 not gonna throw a punch yet. I think that's also 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.800 his way of saying, all right, Ran, if you push 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:24.719 me again, it's not just going to be a punch, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.320 it's going to be a lights out fly kick to 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.600 the face. That's what I see Trump doing here, which 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.119 you know, I hope it doesn't come to that. But 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:37.239 so far he's been good on this. The Democrats are 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:39.679 going to freak out, though, and say he's bad just 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:41.520 because he's Trump. We'll get into that in a moment. 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.560 Stay with me. I think the likelihood that this is 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:49.080 a mistake is remote. Iran knows how to provoke the 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.000 rest of the world. They know how to provoke us. 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.080 They are malevolent actors in that region. It is absolutely 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:59.160 the case, and it's the reason why I so much 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.640 regret how the President is approaching this recklessly. I mean, 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:04.760 he should never have torn up the Iran Deeal to 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.280 begin with, which was the nuclear agreement that President Obama 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.600 reached with Iran. It's now we're contending with both his 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.119 blowing up the Iran deal one day, threatening to strike 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.879 Iran the next day, saying that he doesn't want regime 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:22.000 change in a run, He's sending mix signals. Michael Bennett. 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.560 Who the heck is that guy? Most of you're probably asking, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:30.200 He's a Colorado senator, who is all about? Michael Bennett 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.520 twenty twenty. This guy thinks he's running for president. He 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.720 is as boring and milktoast and who is this guy? 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.359 As you're going to find the American politics today. But 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.280 he is doing the usual dance here. It's the one 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:47.440 the Democrats can be expected to do anytime the issue 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:51.560 of Iran comes up and the president's approach in national security, 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.320 and that is to say that Oh Obama had it right, 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:59.320 that the Obama deal was a good deal. There are 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:02.560 so many ways that is not true, but the one 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.440 that I think is the is the biggest. What should 0:20:06.440 --> 0:20:09.320 have been deal breaker is that there the deal was 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:11.240 going to end at some point and then you just 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.680 have to have a whole nother deal, And you would 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:15.359 have had to have a whole another deal. Within Iran 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:19.640 that was a lot richer and a lot more militarily advanced, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:22.359 working on its ballistic missiles. One of that in the treaty, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:26.880 spreading its proxy armies around the Middle East, bolstering them, 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:28.840 getting them to be stronger. None of that covered in 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:32.000 the treaty. It was really just to kick the can 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:33.720 down the roade maneuver. It was like, all right, Iran, 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.680 we're gonna let you get access to the international financial 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:41.200 financial system, let you get a lot wealthier, but in return, 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.440 you're gonna have to wait before you start testing news. 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:45.480 You're gonna have to wait before you start doing some 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:48.760 of these things. And that's just it's just it's not 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.880 good folks. It was not a good deal. It really wasn't. 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.119 I mean, and now it's we can look back at 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.560 it perhaps a little more clarity, because it wasn't. It's 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.320 not Obama who's in office, and we're all caught up 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.919 and how the media was always telling us how Obama 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.600 was some super genius move on foreign policy. His administration 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:10.200 was a disaster, and why would that be surprising. Look 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.120 at the people that he had in charge. You know, 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.000 say what you will about Mike Pompeo, and I think 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:19.080 he's a really impressive guy. He's a serious person. Though, 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.560 say what you will about John Bolton, and I will 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.040 say a lot, probably in the weeks ahead, I disagree 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.439 with them on some of his approaches. He's a serious person. 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:32.640 Hillary Clinton a secretary of state. What the heck does 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:36.520 she know about anything? Why would we have expected that 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.160 she would have been able to produce better foreign policy results? 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:46.240 John Carry, John Carry's a loser. Mary's rich, ladies. You 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.160 think you think he's going to be a great secretary 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:51.040 of state based on what? What does he know about 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:52.720 any of this? He's just trying to figure out what 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:55.760 you know when tea time is in the Nantucket golf 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.200 course or when he can hop on one of those windsurfers. Again, 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:01.240 he's not an impressive person. It's not a person that's 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:05.680 going to be able to outstrategize and outthink our enemies 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.840 and inspire our allies to rally to us on tough issues. 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:11.600 Anyone can handle, this is the thing. Anyone can handle 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:15.560 the easy stuff. And this is what's so important about 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.119 when you when you look at foreign policy and different administrations, 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:21.400 and you look at the negotiations that are going on. 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:23.840 I mean, anybody can sign their name to a climate 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:26.800 change agreement that has no enforcement mechanisms, doesn't mean anything 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:29.920 really in the long run. That's self and that's self enforced, 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.560 and that's self paced, and who cares anyone can sign that. 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:35.600 I feel like they're a big deal. Some of the 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:37.640 things that the Trump administration has taken on. This is hard. 0:22:38.640 --> 0:22:42.480 Putting tariffs on China and saying that the Chinese don't 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.719 change their behavior, they're gonna face even more tariffs. And 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:50.720 that's gonna have you reciprocation on our side. They're gonna 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.240 hurt us economically to the degree they can. That's hard. 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.160 That's a tough call to make. And it's on these 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.120 more difficult decisions that you see this democrats, I think 0:23:03.119 --> 0:23:05.119 failing and failing and failing over and over again. Look 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:08.800 where Probablyicans have failed on some of these stuff too. Ultimately, 0:23:08.800 --> 0:23:12.320 foreign policy does often boil down to the less bad, 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:14.800