How Trump Is About To Make the Middle East A LOT WORSE | Useful Idiots

Summary

In the latest episode of Useful Idiots, Katie Halper and Aaron Maté delve into the complex geopolitical landscape of the Middle East, focusing on the Trump administration's role in escalating tensions. Critically examining the U.S. support for Israel amidst its controversial actions in Gaza, they unpack the humanitarian crises, political hypocrisy, and the media's complicity in shaping narratives. The episode also highlights ineffective diplomatic efforts regarding Russia-Ukraine tensions and reflects on the domestic political consequences of Biden's leadership, touching on the Democratic Party's tactics and Joe Biden's recent health revelations.

Highlights

• Israel's bombings in Gaza, including hospitals, lead to accusations of war crimes supported by the U.S. 🇮🇱
• Trump's envoy, Steve Wickoff, admits no discrepancies between U.S. and Israeli policies. 🤝
• Media narratives often repeat government stances, failing to critically address humanitarian concerns. 📡
• Criticism of the U.S. backing a genocide in Gaza while decrying fictional genocides elsewhere reveals double standards. 🎭
• In discussions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, U.S. geopolitical strategies appear inconsistent and sometimes hypocritical. ⚔️

Key Takeaways

• The Trump administration's support for Israel's actions intensifies the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, drawing widespread criticism. 🌍
• Diplomatic efforts in the Middle East are undermined by geopolitical interests, external pressures, and media bias. 🎤
• The U.S. media is criticized for complicity and failing to hold politicians accountable for foreign policy decisions. 📺
• Joe Biden's health rumors and Democratic Party strategies come under scrutiny, revealing political vulnerabilities. 🤔
• Global geopolitics, including Russia-Ukraine and Middle Eastern dynamics, continue to be mired in complexity and strategic maneuvering. 🌐

Overview

In the latest developments, the Trump administration's alignment with Israeli military actions in Gaza brings the humanitarian crisis into sharp focus. With reports of bombings on hospitals and accusations of genocide, the video dissects the rhetoric from officials and highlights the broader implications of U.S. foreign policy. The administration is critiqued for supporting actions that lead to severe civilian casualties, juxtaposed with its silence on critical humanitarian needs.

As the video unfolds, Katie and Aaron explore how the media perpetuates government narratives, often sidelining the dire realities on the ground in Gaza. There's a scathing take on media's failure to question political leaders adequately, thereby allowing unchecked government narratives to dominate public discourse. Furthermore, efforts to depict Gaza's plight as 'complex' are criticized as obfuscation tactics to divert from the Israeli military's atrocities.

Domestically, the episode shifts gears to examine Joe Biden's presidency, particularly focusing on recent health disclosures and the Democratic Party's strategic maneuvers during election periods. The contrast between Biden's administration's stance on Israel and the ongoing challenges in addressing domestic issues is laid bare, with broader reflections on how these dynamics affect the global political landscape and party credibility in the U.S.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 02:00: Introduction and Live Show Discussion The hosts, Katie Halper and Aaron Mate, introduce the show 'Youthful Idiots Monday morning,' which provides commentary on Sunday morning news shows. They encourage listeners to visit their website for support and bonus content and hint at future events in Oslo and Wales that will be discussed later on in the show.
• 02:00 - 05:00: Fundraising for MECCA and Situation in Gaza The chapter centers on a discussion about the possibility of hosting a live show for the Useful Idiots podcast, with co-host Katie challenging co-host Aaron to consider the idea despite his reservations. Aaron explains his view on podcasts as a medium typically consumed while listeners are engaged in daily activities like walking or doing errands. The chapter touches on the influence of their audience and the potential impact of peer pressure in shaping the podcast's direction.
• 05:00 - 09:00: US-Israel Relations and Media Complicity The chapter opens with a discussion on the value of attending live podcasts as a form of entertainment compared to other activities like concerts or political talks. The participants express skepticism about the appeal of live podcasts, suggesting they might not be worth spending an evening on. One participant shares their personal experience of attending live podcasts and finding them uninteresting, while another shows curiosity about the specific events that were attended. The conversation invites viewers to share their opinions on live podcast events.
• 09:00 - 14:00: Pressuring Israel and US Media Role The chapter discusses ideas for fundraising efforts. It mentions a successful fundraising event held in New York City featuring Gabbor Mate and Chris Hedges, which supported the Middle Eastern Children's Alliance (MECCA).
• 14:00 - 20:00: Middle East Diplomacy and US Interventions In this chapter, the focus is on the diplomatic efforts and interventions by the United States in the Middle East, specifically highlighting a fundraising initiative by someone named Wilson. The initiative was aimed at supporting important work in Gaza, Palestine, and neighboring areas, successfully raising over $5,000 for the cause. The chapter emphasizes gratitude towards those who supported the fundraising efforts.
• 20:00 - 25:00: US Domestic Politics and Biden's Health Disclosure The chapter discusses the anticipation and reception of a live podcast show, emphasizing community support and engagement. It begins by thanking contributors and encouraging participation through likes and positive comments. During a brief interactive segment, the audience expresses unanimous support for doing a live podcast show. The chapter suggests a departure from the usual Sunday show recap by not covering 'Meet the Press' this week, leaving the reason for this unexplained.
• 25:00 - 27:00: Conclusion and Upcoming Events The chapter discusses the severe and ongoing conflict in Gaza, highlighting recent attacks by Israel on local hospitals including the Indonesian hospital. The chaotic situation is described as 'impossible to put into words' due to the sheer number of atrocities, indicating a very grim and volatile environment.

How Trump Is About To Make the Middle East A LOT WORSE | Useful Idiots Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hello and welcome to Youthful Idiots Monday morning where we watch the Sunday morning news show so that you do not have to. I'm Katie Halper. I'm Aaron Mate. Thanks so much for being here. Great to start the week with you. Our website is usefulidiotsspodcast.com. Go there to support the show and get bonus content. Stay tuned for the end of the show and I'm going to plug some upcoming events that I'm doing uh on the European continent in Oslo and Wales. So stay tuned for that. That's coming up at the end of the show. Very excited. I'm
• 00:30 - 01:00 excited. Yeah. And that's a reminder, Aaron. People are demanding a Useful idiots live show. We'll get We'll talk about that behind the scenes, but I'm putting you on notice to hold you accountable and uh get the whole uh useful idiots audience to help me bully you into it. Peer pressure. Well, listen. I mean, let let's have this convo out loud. I mean, my the live podcast format, I just like for me, a podcast is about like, you know, it's what you put on when you're walking, you're doing errands. So, all the things
• 01:00 - 01:30 you can go see in person, a concert, you know, a movie, uh a uh a talk, a political talk, does the podcast, like is the podcast worth the seat, you know, is it worth someone's evening? The live podcast, I'm just I've never I've never been sold on it, but I'm Have you ever attended one? I have and I found it really boring to be honest with you. Really? All right. Behind the scenes I'll ask you which ones it is because uh Yeah. But I'd love to hear in the chat. Yeah. Yeah. Let us know guys. Live podcast event. I mean because uh you
• 01:30 - 02:00 know Yeah. Would you come and we would uh we could do like a um you know a fundraiser that we could do. Yeah. Definitely. Speaking of fundraising, that's what we're doing right now. Exactly. Yeah. Um, as people know, um, Aaron, uh, mentioned this amazing event that Gabbor Mate and Chris Hedges did, uh, in New York City. And what they did is they turned it into a fundraiser for Mecca, Middle Eastern Children's Alliance. And
• 02:00 - 02:30 so Wilson being the, um, amazing person that he is, decided, hey, we have an audience. Uh, we can fund raise. And we are doing the same thing. And we've made, I believe, over $5,000 for this great organization which does really important work in uh Gaza and in in uh Palestine and uh neighboring areas. So, and that link is still active. Yeah. Yeah. And and thank you to everyone who's uh supported so far. Uh we've raised almost $5,000 and very grateful
• 02:30 - 03:00 to everyone who's pitched in. And uh you can't pitch in, no worries. We're glad you're here. And uh don't forget to also like this stream and uh send us positive cards. And here is Cindy Bagby saying, "Yes, please do a live podcast show." Okay, there we go. That means 100% of our voters have decided yes, have endorsed it. Yes. Yes. Um Okay. Well, let's get to uh our Sunday show recap. So, we're skipping Meet to the Press this week, right? We're not Because
• 03:00 - 03:30 there's like there's just nothing there because they did Yeah, there wasn't anything there. All right. Well, let's turn to Gaza. Um, it's hard to put into words, it's impossible to put into words how horrific it is right now. Um, some of the latest atrocities and again, we can't keep track of all of them because there's so many. Uh, Israel attacked the Indonesian hospital. It attacked people as they were fleeing the Indonesian hospital. Israel also attacked another hospital that is specifically serving
• 03:30 - 04:00 people uh with um who are amputees. So, it's the Hammad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics. Um, Israel attacked that hospital as well. That's at least two hospital attacks by Israel in recent days on top of all the regular routine massacres that are occurring. People dying in by the hundreds um every single day in these Israeli attacks with full US support alongside the current starvation siege which the Netanyahu government has just
• 04:00 - 04:30 announced they're going to let in a bit of food into Gaza, just a little bit to avoid a full-blown famine. That's the Israeli government responding to criticism of it imposing a starvation siege of Gaz is allowing in a token amount of food and claiming they will allow allow in a token right who knows right and it's just a good time to remember that um remember Israel and all of its defenders claimed that Israel does not bomb hospitals remember at the beginning of this when they said that they didn't do that and now uh of course um now it's an issue of oh Hamas was in
• 04:30 - 05:00 there I mean they just lie and lie and lie but it's just shameful everyone someone who said that Israel would never um never bomb a hospital should uh apologize or know that they were lying or totally incorrect and there is no bottom like you said Aaron like it just there's nothing they won't do it seems like no because they have a full impunity from the Trump administration and there there was an effort in recent days by people in the Trump camp to pretend as
• 05:00 - 05:30 if there's some sort of rift between Trump and Net and Yahoo but there's not and In fact, we're going to see very clearly from today's clips that there's not because Steve Wickoff, who was Trump's envoy for so many things, including uh brokering an end to the Gaza war, which Steve Wickoff has been pretending to do, but really not. Um he recently brokered, for example, the release of Israeli American soldier Adon Alexander, who was captured by Hamas on October 7th. And reportedly Steve Wickoff promised Hamas that in exchange
• 05:30 - 06:00 for Idan Alexander's release that Trump would call for an end to the siege of Gaza and for negotiations into a ceasefire which the US completely ignored, flouted. So that's the accusation for Hamas that basically Wickoff played them and completely offered something that he did not fulfill at all. And so now we're in the midst of an, you know, ongoing massacres. Steve Wickoff was on ABC's this week and he was asked about the current situation in Gaza.
• 06:00 - 06:30 And another thing that the president had said on this trip, he was very uh direct in his statement about the people of Gaza, Palestinians in Gaza, who we said are starving and about getting uh aid and support. We have to help the Palestinians, he said. Is the president, are you pushing the Israelis to allow that aid to come in um and and to hold back on some of the uh the offensive operations that continue to be ongoing in Gaza?
• 06:30 - 07:00 That's not the question. He knows they're not doing that. So, the question is, you know, are you pressuring Israel to allow an aid? The question should be, why aren't you demanding Israel let in food that it's blocking and cease its attacks? So he's just like he's creating this impression that it's an open question as to whether or not Israel is full impunity. But Steve Woff is going to basically make very clear Israel does have the full blessing of the Trump administration to commit mass murder and a starvation siege. And uh they're not
• 07:00 - 07:30 even bothering to pretend otherwise. Right. And it's also a good example of how complicit the media is, right? I mean, Carl is basically uh repeating Israeli talking points that you don't really have to be an expert in Israeli policy to know that they won't be doing what they're saying. And so he's just acting as a stenographer by through the very premise of the question. The President John is a humanitarian and
• 07:30 - 08:00 uh I think that uh any everyone is concerned about the humanitarian uh conditions in Gaza. That said, it is a very complicated situation there. Logistically, uh we are I don't Why is it complicated? Sorry. Why is it complicated logistically? Because they're not letting in aid. I mean because the siege the siege starv the starvation ste siege but even within this terrible um not humanitarian situation uh that
• 08:00 - 08:30 they've created. I mean it's almost ridiculous to to talk about it in this context because they're the ones who are creating this. But even let's just say for argument's sake that um they wanted to help them right now. You don't uh block trucks of aid. Yeah. And according to the UN it's not complicated at all. They have hundreds of trucks waiting to get in. They they have a plan to distribute the aid. So there's nothing all this talk about logistics complications and no what they're actually the US is trying to do is
• 08:30 - 09:00 create a new mechanism controlled by the US run by you know uh spooks and US military veterans and just shady actors tied to the US to take over Gaza aid so that they can control it and actually further Israel's agenda of depriving the people of Gaza of the basics that they need to live to replace the UN. And they hate the UN because the UN keeps Palestinians alive and keeps right um yeah keeps the population inside of Gaza which is against Israel's goal of ethnic cleansing. So I mean saying it's complicated when the issue is only a
• 09:00 - 09:30 starvation siege. There's nothing complicated about that whatsoever. It's nothing logistical to work out there. The only logistics is picking up the phone and calling Netanyahu and telling them stop doing this. But they won't do that. That's really upsetting. And by the way, um, uh, it's fascinating or not fascinating, but it really gives away the game. Uh, Smootrich, uh, actually admitted admitted that, uh, what will come in the coming days, speaking of aid, what will come in the coming days
• 09:30 - 10:00 is very little. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Of course. And they're just doing this to to cover their asses, right? Because because Smok also said if we continue like this the world will force us to stop the war. Exactly. So yeah. So he's admitting it just token window dressing. We are exactly be able to continue carrying out mass murder. All right, let's try to get through this Wickoff Cliff. a any talk of Gaza today will be impossible to not stop every two seconds because it's just lie after lie after
• 10:00 - 10:30 lie between President Trump's position and Prime Minister Netanyahu's position. Wait, let's rewind that. Sorry, because that's a very important thing that he said. Hold on. Very complicated situation there. Logistically, uh, we are I don't think there's any daylight between President Trump's position and Prime Minister Netanyahu's position. The issue now is I think the issue now is how do we logistically get
• 10:30 - 11:00 all of those trucks? So, there's no daylight between Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister who is imposing a starvation siege on Gaza. That's what Steve Wickoff just admitted. How can you call it complicated and challenging when you're admitting that you're fully on board with the Israeli policy of the starvation siege? Right. Um it's basically an admission. He's basically admitting to like being complicit in a war crime. There's no daylight between us and the leader of the country imposing a starvation siege of a defenseless death camp. That's what Steve Wickoff has admitted. And right
• 11:00 - 11:30 no and Trump himself has said the people in Gaza are starving. Yeah, exactly. He's saying the people in Gaza are starving. and Wickoff, his envoy, is saying that there's no daylight between us and the people who are starving the people of Gaza uh into Gaza. How do we set up the aid stations? There are many thing uh initiatives that we're working on to address this there. There are going to be um uh mobile kitchens that are going
• 11:30 - 12:00 to be sent in there. The flower, we have trucks with flour waiting at the border. The Israelis have uh indicated that Oh, and maybe they can shoot the people as they try to get the flower as happened before. Yes. Yeah. The flower massacre. They're going to begin to allow a lot more um of these um trucks to get in, but it is complicated. It is logistically complicated and the conditions on the ground are dangerous. There are still many unexlo exploded shells all over the place. So, we have
• 12:00 - 12:30 to be mindful of that. But that said, we do not want to see a humanitarian crisis and we will not allow it to occur on President Trump's watch. Uh well, it's a little late because there is a humanitarian crisis and it has been occurring on President Trump's watch. I mean, imagine someone saying like during the Nazi Holocaust like we don't want to see a holocaust happen and this will not be happening on our watch. I mean, can he look at the I mean, he's been to Gaza actually. He visited Gaza actually uh
• 12:30 - 13:00 during one of his trips. So he saw for himself it's the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Def two million people who are trapped in a defenseless death camp being bombarded, being denied food, being starved. That's a humanitarian crisis. It's just how you can go on television and of course how does the uh Jonathan Carl not correct them and say what are what are you talking about? Right? you like you're talking about a humanitarian crisis as if it's a process happening. It's been happening for o well over a year.
• 13:00 - 13:30 Yeah, it really is I mean un uh unreal how much and that this is why we do the show, right? But it is unreal how complicit the media is. I mean it sometimes I feel like it's you almost forget what the media could be doing. I mean, that's why we showed that um Iman clip, right, where he where he did a great summary of what was happening because reminder that the media could actually be telling the truth and be responsible and holding people's feet to
• 13:30 - 14:00 the fire and it really just helps our politicians do what they're doing when they know that they uh won't be asked about it. Although, to be fair, I don't think that would really affect the Trump uh administration, but at least they'd be documenting uh the truth. All right? You know, we have so many um offensive clips today uh that we're not going to get to all of them. So, just what like what we're giving you is just a small sample of the deceit and sadism
• 14:00 - 14:30 that is being broadcast to US audiences and it's just uh it's quite uh it's very jarring and we'll just we'll do what we can. So, let's go to Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State. He sort of takes a backseat to Steve Wickoff who is responsible for so many different portfolios, not just Gaza, Israel, but also Iran and Russia, Ukraine. So Marco Rubio, I don't know what he exactly does with his time, but he's very happy, of course, with Israel's mass murder campaign in Gaza. And here he is being asked about it.
• 14:30 - 15:00 Says he wants to end wars, but Israel's prime minister has uh said he is expanding this ground operation inside of Gaza, the IDF. Well, let's make sure that we we start this these clips from the beginning because sometimes there's something very important beginning. So, listen to this. Ready? The president says he wants to end wars, but Israel's prime minister has uh said he is expanding this ground operation inside of Gaza. The IDF says is to seize strategic areas. Does the US So, by the way, that's just a reminder that and Aaron and I talked about this with our
• 15:00 - 15:30 excellent guest son uh last week, but you know, don't be fooled and I can even be fooled by this sometimes. I'm going to cop to that. Don't be fooled by Trump's uh anti-war rhetoric. Uh because he he does like to pay lip service to that. Um and uh at the same time, as we're going to see, uh he likes to enable she she's calling it war, but I would say genocide. Um I didn't think that he was going to be anti-war. I thought he would do some stuff to piss off Israel more than he did. But anyway, US fully support expanding this war. The
• 15:30 - 16:00 US fully support expanding this war. We support a future for the people of Gaza that is free of Hamas and full of opportunity. That's what we support. We are actively engaged in trying to figure out if there is a way to get more hostages out. The the question was, do you support Israel expanding the war? And it should not be called a war. It's a mass murder campaign. There's no war when there's only one army and no air defenses or tanks on the other side. Gaza is just defenseless. That's why
• 16:00 - 16:30 tens of thousands of people have been killed. and the whole territory has been bombed to rubble. But the question is, do you support Israel expanding this campaign? And he doesn't answer the question. He just says we we support uh a future without Hamas. So that means a future without Palestinians in Gaza because that's Israel's actual goal is to make Gaza livable so that you know most of the residents of got the leave and they continue the ethnic cleansing campaign that is started in 1948. So that's what he's saying he's supporting
• 16:30 - 17:00 is ethnic cleansing. And also um it's important to to remind people that go that Hamas has said they'll seize control. Yeah. The issue for them is they don't want to lay down their weapons. Yeah. You know, and Right. But but they're saying, right, I guess they're saying a world without Hamas. But if they really cared about uh if that was really important to just not have Kamas in control, that would be significant. It's true. Yeah, it's true. Hamas does not has said they don't want to continue controlling the Gaza strip. So they'll
• 17:00 - 17:30 be open to a new government. Um but that's not enough for Israel and the US because they would just again Netanyahu's goal is to make Gaza unlivable, commit ethnic cleansing and that job is not finished yet. Yeah. And also imagine demanding that they um totally disarm when uh Israel is massacring so many people. I mean it's just like how could you possibly ask for that? the hypocrisy is just so rank through some ceasefire type mechanism. Um we're not going to do anything to undermine Israel and its security. But
• 17:30 - 18:00 by the same token, if there is a possibility here to find a way forward that frees more hostages, including those who are alive, but also the bodies to their relatives, and potentially bring about an end to this war in a way that puts the people of Gaza on a on a pathway of peace and prosperity and being free of Hamas. We're going to explore that. Yeah, everything's all about a pathway like uh which is a really, you know, it's a fancy way of saying we're going to do absolutely nothing for the people
• 18:00 - 18:30 of God. We're going to let them die. We'll put them on a pathway so maybe one day they'll they might have some peace and security. It means absolutely nothing. That pathway is such a common term. It's a way to avoid actually giving them anything, any minimal rights, any minimal rights to freedom, to life, to self-determination. It's all about a pathway going in some direction that we're never going to actually define. Yeah. And by the way, uh we are at over uh 1,300 viewers and we have 553 likes. Unacceptable. Get those likes up
• 18:30 - 19:00 there. Uh you are liking of course the uh this show. You are disliking mainstream media. So don't let those guys win. You let them win every time you don't like. Yeah. But I want to say something because I want to be faithful to uh and true to the friends I have who are still in Gaza uh in my small sample size, they would love it if Hamas surrendered and stopped all this and let all the remaining captives go because they're living through hell and they didn't sign up for
• 19:00 - 19:30 this. You know, they didn't. And um what is it ultimately achieving? It's achieving the continued obliteration of Gaza. And people are after a year and a half of this understandably um want it to stop, you know, and unfortunately Israel is so sadistic that it still is on this killing spree just to like show the Palestinians that you cannot dare resist us. You can't resist our occupation. And if you do, we're going to inflict the world's worst
• 19:30 - 20:00 crisis on you. Make Gaza the worst place on earth. And that's what they're currently doing. But people in Gaza have going going through it just want it to stop in any way that it can. At least the ones that I speak to. But do you think Israel would stop after that happened? Uh that's a great question. Uh probably not. But um probably not. But I'm just saying is you're just you're you're saying what your friends have been saying. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I
• 20:00 - 20:30 mean imagine the position you're in living through that. Okay. Uh let's uh hear more from Marco Rubio uh because he's going to respond to a claim made about the captives, the hostages that are still in Gaza and how little Israel cares about them. Asking Israel to slow down this military push. And the Qatari prime minister told
• 20:30 - 21:00 Fox News that there was a deal being put together for all hostages or many hostages to be released after Idan Alexander that American Israeli was released recently. But then the Israeli military bombed a hospital killing 70 civilians and everything went sideways. No, I the way I would characterize it is that this war could end immediately and Israel's made that clear. It could end immediately if Hamas surrenders and gives up their weapons and demilitarizes and releases all the hostages, including
• 21:00 - 21:30 the deceased ones. They did that, this conflict would end. That's been true from the very beginning. It's been true for months now. They're the So, you know, I had actually hadn't heard that allegation, but so the Qatari prime minister is saying that there was a deal to release Yeah. all the remaining captives and then Israel chose to bomb one of the last functioning hospitals in Gaza, the Indonesian hospital, and that's what killed the deal. So that speaks to your point Katie that like no matter what um Israel will continue attacking but then on the other hand that could be an argument that they want to undermine any possible freedom of the
• 21:30 - 22:00 hostages like of the captives because they want a pretext to continue bombing. So right when they certainly got in by attacking a hospital and killing people as they tried to flee because their blood lust is much uh larger than their desire to save the lives of hostages. You know, like Israel's whole stick is that they are a safe haven for Jews and that they do anything and everything to protect Jews and prevent another Holocaust. And what do we see here? I mean, and I I say this to anyone who
• 22:00 - 22:30 happens to be watching who still thinks that Israel is uh good for the Jews. And of course, the main problem with Israel, overwhelming problem is that they are massacring and genociding Palestinians. It's just worth remembering that again their desire to kill Palestinians is much larger than their desire to save the lives of Jews. And uh in fact uh they are fine with with uh having Jews die if it helps them kill more Palestinians.
• 22:30 - 23:00 Uh okay, let's move on to uh Adam Bowler. We had him we didn't have mom. We featured him uh about a month or two ago uh back in March. He held some extensive talks with Hamas officials in Doha and they got somewhere. They basically reached or almost reached a deal to free Adon Alexander who was recently ultimately freed. But then Israel got word of that and sabotaged it. Um they were through leaks and Adam Bowler got basically pulled back from this beat of being a hostage envoy
• 23:00 - 23:30 because he made the mistake of going on CNN and telling Jake Tapper that yeah, I know Israel's upset that I'm talking Hamas, but sorry, like we're the United States. We're not an agent of Israel and we have our own interest to look out for and you can't say that in Washington because being in Washington you actually have to be a de facto agent of Israel. So Adam Bowler's back and now I think he's learned his lesson because he's no longer talking about uh defying Israel in any way. And in fact he's talking about coordinating with Israel on pretty much every issue of importance in the Middle East despite claims recently that
• 23:30 - 24:00 Trump and Netanyahu are in conflict. So here's Adam Buller start here. The president has got some surprising supporters of some of the things that he got done the trip. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But here's how Axio summed up some of the criticism. Says Trump has met with the leader the US officially considers a terrorist. Announced he'll lift all sanctions on Syria and cut a truth with the Houthis plus a hostage deal with Hamas. Both of which excluded Israel. So let's start with Syria's leader at this point. He remains on the US terror list.
• 24:00 - 24:30 Um in large part because of past associations with al-Qaeda and other things. Israel has concerns about him as do many others. So why do we trust him? Should we now? Well, I think we've looked over the past number of months since he's moved in. Uh and I think there is some reason and that's why the president is withholding sanctions. Keep in mind those sanctions were put on a country led by a different individual. Um and so uh continuing something where you have a new leader, you've got to refresh and look at it.
• 24:30 - 25:00 The other thing I'll Yeah, that's right. Before Syria was led by Bashar al-Assad, uh the US wanted to overthrow him, not because he was repressive and uh an authoritarian because of torture. That was no reason. The reason was because he was part of the axis of resistance which deterred Israeli US. So the US spent billions of dollars in a dirty war, imposed murderous sanctions that hurt the Syrian people. And now that he's gone and replaced by the former leader of al-Qaeda in Syria, now the sanctions can can be lifted. And as we talked about last week, it's great the sanctions are being lifted, but they
• 25:00 - 25:30 never should have been imposed in the first place because what right do we have to further impoverish suffering people and destroy their economy even more simply because we want to overthrow their government largely in the service of Israeli interests as well. And now that you know it's like he talks about now he has a new leader, it's time for a fresh start. Yeah, I mean, sure, but the new leader also, we, if we're being honest, is a former leader of al-Qaeda in Syria, and we have we we have to overlook that because we don't care about terrorism, al-Qaeda. We just care about overthrowing people who deter
• 25:30 - 26:00 US-Israeli hijgemony. So, mission accomplished. Let's shake hands with the former al-Qaeda guy and start have a fresh start. Yeah, I mean like you said, it's good that there are not uh sanctions, but it is telling that what when they suspend them is when al-Qaeda buddy is in power who Trump, as we talked about last week on the Thursday throwdown, is Trump praised as a very attractive young guy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. He like he likes a makeover from an Israel perspective is
• 26:00 - 26:30 just because the president isn't in in person with Netanyahu doesn't mean there's not massive coordination. So the Israelis knew about the meeting in Syria. The Israelis knew they're an ally of us. So we're going back and forth all the time. Um even if uh the president is not in person with Netanyahu at the moment. Okay. Isn't that so funny? He goes from saying and getting like sort of pulled back by Trump for saying on TV, "We're not an agent of Israel." He comes back like two months later or whatever and says, "Don't worry everyone. We're coordinating with Israel. They're totally readin. They knew about our meeting with the al-Qaeda
• 26:30 - 27:00 guy. They're fine with it." Of course they are. Cuz by the way, Israel was a part of the coalition that took part in the dirty war. That's why Netanyahu after Assad was overthrown said we deserve credit for this and he was right about that because you know the US because Israel and US both helped arm the insurgency that the the former al-Qaeda leader was the leader of and is not the leader of Syria. So that's Adam Bowler coming for saying that we're not an agent of Israel. Yeah. Yeah. And I wonder, you know, because Trump is uh I
• 27:00 - 27:30 think trying to confuse people and, you know, didn't visit Israel, even though obviously, as we just said, uh they're they're saying that that doesn't mean that there's any like uh rift between them. I I wonder if it's also because uh they they wanted Buller back on the stage because that also suggests, oh, look, we have this guy who's been critical of Israel before. Just an idea. Yeah. As Trump attempts to trick people. Yeah. Le uh let's skip a little bit ahead. Let's go to Senator Chris von Holland uh who's been decent
• 27:30 - 28:00 on Gaza. He's a Democrat. He's been relative I mean I shouldn't say decent blanketly but relatively decent inside the Senate in terms of calling out right in terms of rhetoric, right? He did vote he did vote still for weaponry to Israel, which is kind of like how do you vote for weaponry to a country when you're calling out its flagrant crimes, which he has done. But anyway, um that's Washington for you. So, here is Chris Van Holland uh with his comments on the
• 28:00 - 28:30 US role in Gaza. Showed um some reporting from our colleague Deborah Paddle with incredible pictures from our uh our shooter inside of Gaza. Marwan, it's hard to look at pictures of children in that level of starvation. Um, you have said the Israeli government is starving civilians and the US is complicit in the gross violation of international law. Um, the UN's begging to go in. The Israeli government says they don't want to work
• 28:30 - 29:00 with the UN here. They want to work with this Gaza humanitarian foundation that's just being set up. What do you know about this? Should there be US support for it? So, Margaret, you're right. It's very hard to look at those uh pictures and the United States has been uh complicit. Um, President Trump was in the region and really did nothing. Said virtually nothing about what's happening in Gaza, which is on on fire. Uh, we're in 77th day of a full blockade. Um, 2
• 29:00 - 29:30 million Palestinians are starving. Uh, this is collective punishment that is clearly illegal under international law. And this other idea that's been cooked up either by the Israelis or by the Trump administration is clearly not fit for purpose when it comes to trying to address uh this burgeoning famine. And all it will do is further allow food to be used as a weapon of war. So I hope
• 29:30 - 30:00 the United States will back off this plan. None of the credible international organizations have said that they will participate because it violates, you know, international norms and how it's structured. And so I hope the United States will back off and immediately call today to allow the trucks right now that have food to be able to come provide food to starving people. These are provided by international aid organizations. I is there anything that
• 30:00 - 30:30 the United States can do in terms of leverage? You were you've been bipartisan in your criticism. You said that what happened in Gaza is a black stain on Joe Biden's legacy as president. You are criticizing the current administration for not doing more here. What leverage is there? I mean, is what you're saying falling on any ears that want to listen? Well, I've had conversations with some people um in in the Trump administration and made clear that they need to do more. One of the very obvious things they could do is President Trump today could call upon
• 30:30 - 31:00 the Netanyahu government to let aid in. I mean, the the president acknowledged there are people starving in Gaza the other day. He said so. But why hasn't he called on, you know, Netanyahu to let the aid in? Let's just start with that. Not bad. I mean, you know, there's obviously a lot more you could cut off the weaponry that sustains the Israeli uh mass murder campaign. Uh, and I guess some people like Chris are still uncomfortable explicitly calling for that. Although his votes I think have been I think he recently voted for
• 31:00 - 31:30 Bernie's bill to block US weaponry. So that's some progress on his part. But look, this is the best you can basically get inside the Senate when it comes to opposition to the genocide. It's still I mean it's it's pretty milktoast, but at the same time it's like I guess it's better than nothing but the bar is so low. Yeah. Yeah. Um but uh you know Van Holland mentioned Trump's visit to the Middle East. You know he went to Saudi Arabia, Qatar the UAE and all those countries you know announced these fancy
• 31:30 - 32:00 new deals with Trump to invest in the US and Cutter gave Trump a $400 million jet and uh Max Blumthal made a very good point about you know after Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream interrupted a congressional hearing where RFK Jr. who's a hardcore supporter of Israel was testifying. Ben Cohen interrupted the hearing and talked about the US complicity and genocide. And so this is what Max Blumenthal said. Um he said Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's did more to challenge the Trump administration's
• 32:00 - 32:30 support of the Gaza Holocaust than all of the Gulf monarchies combined this week. And that's right. I mean, they could have used this moment of Trump visiting the region to like say, you know, we're not going to make deals with you. We're not going to even give you a lavish welcome until you stop the genocide in Gaza. But they didn't. Um even though they even though hospitals that they fund in Gaza are being blown up, you know, like um one of the hospitals that cutter funds was just attacked in Gaza, the hospital for
• 32:30 - 33:00 amputees. So that's the state of the some of the regional actors just totally bowing to Trump and not doing anything for Palestine. Can you just imagine like the hospital for amputees like that? That that exists is so atrocious and then that that was blown up is so atrocious. Hospital for amputes. Yeah. Well, Katie, let's uh turn to a cause that's I know it's close to your heart, which is the plight of white Africer
• 33:00 - 33:30 refugees to the US, upper class, as I understand that have come uh at the invitation of the Trump administration to protect white people from South Africa. Um yes, it's so it's so incredibly important and um you know it's it's good it's important to point out that uh while we are not calling out uh genocide in the United States, we I mean the US, sorry, while while the United States is not calling out the genocide in uh Gaza, a genocide that has
• 33:30 - 34:00 been documented by several uh human rights organizations and figures and genocide experts. Uh maybe actually Aaron I just realized the reason that the US can't call out the genocide in uh Gaza is because they're so focused on the real genocide happening in South Africa to white uh farmers. So let's take a listen to Marco Rubio. The administration has prioritized bringing some white South Africans, Africconers to the United States despite
• 34:00 - 34:30 the increased restrictions on refugees. President Trump claims there's a genocide underway in South Africa. That's a legal determination. The State Department would make it. Are you trying to determine that now? I will determine that these people are having their properties taken from them. You can they can call it whatever they want, but these are people that on the basis of their race are having their properties taken away from them and their lives being threatened and in some cases killed. These are people that applied and made these claims in their
• 34:30 - 35:00 applications and seek to come to the United States and in search of of refuge. I we've often been lectured by people all over the place about how the United States needs to continue to be a beacon for those who are oppressed abroad. Well, here's an example where we're doing that. So, I don't understand why people are criticizing it. I think people should be celebrating it and I think people should be supporting it. In fact, is there evidence of a genocide that you have? They are in favor. I think there's evidence absolutely that people have been murdered that people have been forcibly removed from their properties both by
• 35:00 - 35:30 the government and wait just qu question if this if the definition of uh genocide for Rubio is um being murdered and having their property taken I wonder where else that's happening and actually happening on a massive scale some cases because of a law they passed but also because of independent groups encouraged by political parties inside of inside of South Africa. So listen, to move here from half a world away and leave behind the only only homeland you've ever known, that's not something people do
• 35:30 - 36:00 lightly. These people are doing it for a reason. So we welcome them to the United States. And I think there may be more coming soon. Well, you know what's interesting, Aaron, is it's it's really moving that the United States is estab a genocide because not one single party in South Africa uh not even that of the Africconers have said that there's a genocide. And if anyone's gonna say that, it that would be uh there. Yeah. You know, I wonder sometimes if when Marco Rubio and Trump
• 36:00 - 36:30 when they talk if they're laughing because what they're saying is so ridiculous. Like they're funding and arming a genocide in Gaza while publicly crying about a fake genocide in of white people in South Africa. They're talking about how much they love free speech and they're lecturing Europe about free speech while they're literally detaining and kidnapping and deporting people for writing opeds uh protesting mass murder by Israel in Gaza. It's like they're constantly just doing a bit and they keep heightening it like this is like the next level now. They're going to
• 36:30 - 37:00 like let in uh privileged white Africaners and complain about a genocide while they're actively supporting a genocide of Palestinians um inside of Gaza. And I haven't looked into what's happening South Africa but what I do know is that I mean one of the problems with the end of the apartheid system is that like yes formerly apartheid was abolished but the economic inequality remained exactly the same. So uh the political the economic power remained concentrated in the whites. So apartheid continued
• 37:00 - 37:30 uh under the guise of um you know at least ending racial ba based uh supremacy but in terms of like racial-based economic supremacy that apartheid system has prevailed and if there's steps to I suspect what's happening is there's maybe sometimes some steps to address that and that's what Marco Rubio and Donald Trump are so offensive by daring to try to like make uh the legacy of apartheid uh the to sort of um to undo that even more they can't do that you know the victim of genocide, the victim of murder has been
• 37:30 - 38:00 I guess the real victim is the official apartheid system. That's right. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. It's just it's it's it's such a joke. I mean, you can't make it up. And there's no there's nothing there's no comparison. There's been murders, but people get murdered in South Africa. There's a fairly high murder rate. Um but comparing it to the attempt to exterminate an entire people is just such a joke. Let's go back to Steve Wickoff. He is again a good friend of Trump's. He's a real estate guy and Trump has given him
• 38:00 - 38:30 like multiple extremely consequential portfolios. Israel, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine and also Iran. Why not, right? Usually in these negotiations, usually in these talks you have like a lot different teams like a lot of experts, but it's basically Steve Wickoff flying from city to city. No, no wonder the world's on fire because how can you possibly solve anything just with like when you're he doesn't even have really an official title. He's not like an ambassador or a um he's just like an envoy for whatever for the for the Middle East. Anyway, so he's now in
• 38:30 - 39:00 charge of Iran negotiations and after initially saying that the US would let Iran enrich uranium which Iran has the right to do under the uh under international treaties and uh and which the Iran nuclear deal allowed Iran to do. Now the Trump administration is changing its tune and saying sorry no enrichment at all whatsoever. So here's D Wickoff laying that out. The president has been very clear. He wants to solve this uh this conflict diplomatically and
• 39:00 - 39:30 with dialogue and he's given he's given all the signals. He's directly sent letters to the supreme leader. Uh I have been dispatched to deliver that message as well and I've delivered it. And but on the other hand, we have one very very clear red line and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability. We've delivered a proposal to the Iranians that we think addresses
• 39:30 - 40:00 some of this without disrespecting them. And so that's important. We we we we we want to um we want to get to a solution here and uh and and we think that we will be able to. But everything begins for our from our uh uh standpoint, John, with a um a deal that does not include enrichment. We cannot have that because enrichment enables weaponization and we will not allow a bomb to um to get here.
• 40:00 - 40:30 Well, the whole point of the deal is to for Iran to agree to never build a bomb. But what Iran has said, a red line for Iran is they want the right to enrich to enrichment because they have that right under the uh non-prololiferation treaty and Iran developed its enrichment program and doesn't want to give it up because they they have the right to it under the treaties that they signed. So basically the Trump administration is putting forward as its own red line a uh a demand that Iran has always
• 40:30 - 41:00 said for a long time is it is its red line. So basically the Trump administration in taking the stance is basically dooming these talks to fail and like maybe this is some negotiating tactic or something to make this demand so publicly. But if that's the case, like why would you do it in public? Because it makes it that much harder to reach an agreement because Iran's going to dig in now and get more uh defensive rather than trying to work this out behind the scenes. So for all the talk and I honestly of all the people in the Trump administration, I thought that this guy was at least like relatively speaking, I'm not talking about like
• 41:00 - 41:30 objectively, but relatively speaking, somewhat fair-minded and somewhat like rational. He's now adopting the Netanyahu line. And if that's really what they're going to stick to, then we're not going to have an agreement. And if we're not going to have agreement, that means we're probably going to have a war, which Trump keeps keeps threatening. So, right, we can look forward to that possibility. Yeah, anti-war Trump, guys. Okay. Uh we can skip ahead to uh so let's go back to Marco Rubia because meanwhile also we have the whole uh Russia Ukraine
• 41:30 - 42:00 thing which uh Trump is talking about ending and there were some meetings in Istanbul last week between Ukrainian and Russian officials. lasted about two hours. Zalinsky made a big show of like saying that unless Putin shows up then these talks then the Russians are not serious and like there's no point in talking to them because Putin didn't come. Well, like what's funny about that is Putin sent the exact same people that he sent the last time there were peace talks between Ukraine and Russia three years ago also in a stumble and that's when they reached an agreement or almost reached an agreement until the US and UK
• 42:00 - 42:30 intervened and told him not to take it. So meanwhile, Lensky has also signed a decree saying that he can't negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is power. Now he's saying, "I'll only negotiate with Russia if Putin shows up in Istanbul." But anyway, there were some talks. They lasted two hours. They agreed on a prisoner exchange and we'll see from there. Russia's sticking to its maximalist demands and uh the US is just saying, "Hey, this has got to end, but they're it doesn't seem like they've moved the needle in either direction." I
• 42:30 - 43:00 I think what ultimately Trump just doesn't know what he wants to do. So he's just like letting this continue to uh to play out as things are. So that's that strategic uh unpredictability that Hexith praised. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So here's Marco Rubio on that said repeatedly it's just a matter of days though in terms of the waning patience that the US has for this diplomacy to succeed. So are are they just tapping you along as President Trump has said?
• 43:00 - 43:30 Are they just seeking to continue to talk to buy time? Are they tapping us along? Well, that's what we're trying to find out. We'll find out pretty soon. They met last yesterday or the day before in Turkey. Um, from that they agreed they're going to exchange paper on ideas that get to a ceasefire. If those papers have ideas on them that are realistic and rational, then I think we know we've made progress. If those papers, on the other hand, have requirements in them that we know are unrealistic, then we'll have a different assessment. On the one hand, we're
• 43:30 - 44:00 trying to achieve peace and end a very bloody, costly, and destructive war. So there's some element of patience that is required. On the other hand, we don't have time to waste. So we don't want to be involved in this process of just endless talks. There has to be some progress, some movement forward. Ultimately, one of the things that could help break this long jam, perhaps the only thing that can is a direct confront uh direct conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin. And that's happening today as we're broadcasting. there's going to be a Trump Putin phone call. But look, unless
• 44:00 - 44:30 Trump makes up his mind what he wants to do, I just don't see where any progress is going to made and ultimately this will continue to be decided on the battlefield where Russia has the advantage. So, and I don't see how this is in Ukraine's interest because especially if Trump doesn't come through with more US weaponry, which is what kept Ukraine going, they're going to run out of weapons eventually and possibly months. So, if I were Ukraine, I'd make a deal now. And it's going to be painful. there was it's gonna be a lot worse than the one they had on the table three years ago in Istanbul that they
• 44:30 - 45:00 walked away from which I think was a disaster. I think the US on top of refusing to back up Zilinsky convinced him that he could win which right obviously hasn't happened but look it's just um and Russia's getting more Russia's getting more uh sort of maximalist and expansionist because now they're arrogant and they've they've lost a lot of people and now they want more. They're demanding even more Ukrainian territory and they'll take it by force unless Ukraine gives it up now. So, it's it's bleak. Uh, and it's we're possibly looking at this conflict, this
• 45:00 - 45:30 war dragging on for even longer rather than the peace that Trump promised when he came in. Yeah. So, it's all so it's it's so dystopian the entire thing. Well, for a contrary point of view, let's hear from uh Bridget Brink. uh she recently resigned as US ambassador to Ukraine because she doesn't like the fact that we're basically talking about a peace deal with Russia and and putting pressure on on Ukraine and she says we
• 45:30 - 46:00 should be doing something basically she says basically we should be doing what Joe Biden did which is uh prolong the war, send weapons, impose new sanctions and see how it plays out as if we haven't done that already for you know three years. But here's Bridget uh here's Bridget Brink that President Trump and President Putin have plans to speak on Monday. Um when you were still in Kev, President Zalinsky called out the US embassy for what he called a disappointingly weak reaction from
• 46:00 - 46:30 America following a missile attack that killed small children. He said, "You must not be afraid to call things by their names." And the US is afraid to even say the word Russian when speaking about the missile that murdered children. Do you feel American officials are being censored from saying things frankly and honestly? I mean our job as diplomats is to reflect and represent the policy of the the president and the administration. That's our job. That's
• 46:30 - 47:00 that's what we do as professionals. and having worked for five different It's interesting that uh the job description for uh diplomats does not include diplomacy and they're definitely not no like to be a diplomat an American diplomat in Ukraine for the last like more than 10 years means like backing a coup which is what Victoria Nuland did she was a top state department official she was heavily involved in backing the coup that began this whole thing and then undermining subsequent peace opportunities like the men courts that's what US diplomats in Ukraine are used to
• 47:00 - 47:30 doing not actually diplomacy presidents that requires uh reflecting that policy that's made constitutionally by the president. So um to me the real question is how are we going to help to end this war in a way that's in the interest of the United States? And to do that it can't be peace at any price. It has to be a piece that does things that
• 47:30 - 48:00 advance our own interests. And those are really simple. It's how to keep Ukraine free, how to deter Russia, and how to send the right signal to China. And this is what we should be doing. And every I must imagine like like a signing ceremony between Putin and Zilinsky. Finally, they've reached peace and then like all of a sudden a US diplomat phones in. Wait a second. Hold on. Did we make sure that the message like the peace treaty sends the right message to China? It's very, very important. Everybody, hold on. Everyone stop. Everyone, stop. Put down the pins. We got to proofread this to make sure that
• 48:00 - 48:30 China is getting the right message in a Russia Ukraine peace document, which it speaks to how this war is not about Ukraine. Exactly. It's about advancing USy so to weaken adversaries like Russia and China as well. China somehow has to learn something from a war going on in Ukraine. At least they're saying it out loud while still claiming to care about Ukraine. Like, what does China have to do with Ukraine? And why should someone from Ukraine die to send a message to China? Um, well, Erin, if you can't if you don't get that, there's no reaching
• 48:30 - 49:00 you because it's just so obvious and so important. Yes. Yes. But we can move on now to uh domestic matters. Uh, Joe Biden, Joe Biden just announced he is a serious form of prostate cancer. Um, and this comes just as a book is coming out of how basically Democratic Party elites covered up Joe Biden's cognitive decline. and uh this happened to be announced, his cancer announcement happened to be announced just as his book is coming out. Um, so anyway, Jim
• 49:00 - 49:30 Klyurn is among the Democratic and that's I think important by the way to to I mean not to sound like a conspiracy theorist and obviously this I'm sure the cancer is real but it is a very useful it's very useful timing I'll just say for uh Biden to come out about um a very aggressive form of prostate cancer right when this book that's kind of exposing him as uh totally uh illquipped and
• 49:30 - 50:00 unprepared to run for president and that and exposing the kind of cover up uh is is coming out. The speculation that's out there and of course we're not advancing this theory because we have no way of knowing but this is what people are speculating that this cancer diagnosis actually was made earlier and that they've kept it secret to blunt the impact of the book or because they didn't want to admit it when Joe Biden was campaigning. uh you know, again, no evidence for that, but people are so mistrustful now of the Democratic Party elites and Joe Biden that people
• 50:00 - 50:30 understandably raise questions and um I mean, when I think of Joe Biden and um you know, cancer, I think about the fact that he supported an Israeli mass murder campaign that destroyed uh hospitals in Gaza, including ones that treated people for cancer. So, this is a this is a headline from November of 2023. Gaza's only cancer hospital goes out of service. That's,
• 50:30 - 51:00 you know, back then. And I wonder how it went why it went out of service. Yeah. Yeah. And this is a more recent headline. Gaza's last hospital for 10,000 cancer patients shuts down due to repeated Israeli uh strikes. And that was Israel's on, you know, recent attacks on the European hospital. So, how many cancer patients has Joe Biden helped uh make even, you know, even more sick and even help kill because of his support for his early mass murder?
• 51:00 - 51:30 That's what I think when I think about Joe Biden and cancer. Yeah. Well, I think about that and I also think about his saying that he would veto uh Medicare for all. Yeah. Yeah. Right. He's so proud of that, too. He didn't even hesitate to say, right, he would veto it. Uh, okay. So, here's Jim. Just a reminder, just I still can't get over the way the headlines cover Israel bombing cancer hospitals is that they have to shut down. Yeah. Sorry, we we have to close up shop, but uh it's tough times around here for this cancer hospital. We're uh you know, we're a
• 51:30 - 52:00 lowbudget operation. We couldn't make it. Uh it didn't help that we were being bombarded and under siege. Anyway, yeah. Uh okay. So, Jim Klyber, Democratic Cong Congress member of South Carolina. He was a major Biden booster. Oh, yeah. They actually, one of the things that this new book about Joe Biden's decline in the cover-up reveals was that they actually made sure to hold the South Carolina primary in two uh uh first to to give Joe Biden a boost, right? Like in the primary. So, they
• 52:00 - 52:30 actually once as they did with Hillary Clinton and Bernie, they once again rigged the primary to like give Biden the advantage by holding a state that they knew he would win early. And Jim Kly was all over that. And Jim Klyurn was a also an opponent for of Medicare for all by the way. Klyber shocker shocker and big recipient of uh big farmer donations. Shocker. Total total shocker. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that he said it, you know, they took part in sabotaging Bernie Sanders. So Jim Clabber after being a big Biden booster, now he's being asked by Jake Tapper, one of the co-authors of
• 52:30 - 53:00 this new book, who by the way also covered up for Biden's comment at the but that's another story. Do you think that Joe Biden really would have been able to perform as president all the way through J? Do you think that Joe Biden really would have been able to perform as president all the way through January 2029 when he would have been when he would be 86? Yes, I thought that back then. Uh I
• 53:00 - 53:30 still think that. Uh but I don't know that. uh when people ask me did I know this or did I know the other and the fact of the matter is no I didn't. Uh and that's you make my point here. So it's not all about age. I love that. I still think it but I don't know it. Right. So yeah. All right. Well then you can basically never be wrong. Um right. If you still think something that's demonstrabably false but you can say well I don't know for sure. Okay great. So, like don't take a position on
• 53:30 - 54:00 anything and just don't don't ever be accountable for anything you've ever advocated because you think it, you just don't know it. All right. Right. It sounds like he's like in a philosophy class or something. Yeah. Can we ever know? Can we ever really know? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Uh yeah. Uh I've seen uh people develop Alzheimer's uh when they're in their 30s and 40s. Okay. That he should write a paper about that because that's pretty rare. Alzheimer's in your 30s and 40s by Jim by Congress
• 54:00 - 54:30 member Jim Clber. Yeah. And I'm sorry, what is the relevance of this? Like, so you're saying that because someone else may have developed Alzheimer's in the 30s and 40s, it's okay to cover up for Joe Biden's cognitive decline in his 80s. Is that is that what I'm hear? Yeah. Yeah. So, it's not about age, it's about uh the ability to do the job. And I never saw anything that allowed me to think that that Joe Biden was not able to do the job. Just that simple.
• 54:30 - 55:00 So what I'm hearing from Jim Klyurn is uh age ain't nothing but a number. That's that's the message I'm hearing from Jim Clyurn, which is right. Exactly. A song by Aaliyah, you know, written by R. Kelly. It's a little Yeah. Which is really I mean, no wonder he said that. But that's the argument. Agent nothing but a number. Right. I was thinking the same thing actually. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay. Um, let's go to Van Jones. Uh, okay. Yeah, you better like the stream because we're going over time, guys. Yeah, and we can skip to just the Van
• 55:00 - 55:30 Jones part. We don't have to hear the axle rod part. Okay. So, yes. So, Wilson, please skip to where I can help find it if you want. Let's skip over Dave Axel Rod, the axe. Continue. Uh, book is extraordinary. Uh um first this this book is this is amazing by the way. It's it's it's so great that Jake Tapper
• 55:30 - 56:00 has the show because he's hawking his book so hard. Um in fact in another clip he's like you won't believe what we found. He does like a fiveminute promo for his own book. Okay Van I remember how emotional you were in the immediate moments after the June Jake. Can we can we like, you know, tone down the uh He just sounds so van. Van, he just sounds he's so aggressively obnoxious. I I have a bias against Jake Tapper because of his, you know, support for Joel mass murder and, you know, whitewashing of it. So, I'm a little
• 56:00 - 56:30 triggered when he talks, but come on, Jake. Let's let's speak with more I don't know. Let's just like tone it down a little bit. Yeah. You're hurting Erin's ears. Yeah. 27th 2024 debate because of what you saw. That's more hush, right? He starts, you know, hi van. It's almost like he's hearing you right now in real time. Exactly. Like I'm we're in dialogue. Tap it down, says Danny. Good one. On the stage. Um, and with all this new reporting coming out, and I should
• 56:30 - 57:00 disclose that I gave both of you copies of the book so you would have a little bit more information. Uh, so you would pimp it out for me. Yeah. I I should disclose that the book I've just authored is on sale now buy Amazon Barnes & Noble. I did give them copies to help promote the book, which I'm doing right now. And again, I'm not going to mention that I covered up the very cognitive decline that I now claim I'm exposing. Well, Erin, as we said last week, I don't remember if it was in Thursday throwdown or the regular show, but it isn't it is in some ways very appropriate for Tapper to write a book
• 57:00 - 57:30 about a conspiracy because he participated in it. So, he is quite the expert. A cover up. Yeah. Do you feel like you were duped, Van? Like what? How do you feel? Um, first, oh, and by the way, shout out to Van for wearing a uh a hostage pin. Nothing for Palestinians, but this this book is extraordinary. Um, uh, Van Jones, like a former like revolutionary activist, you know, prison abolitionist and who literally has since compared
• 57:30 - 58:00 wearing a kafia in a Jewish neighborhood to showing up in Harlem with a Confederate flag. Well, I just showed you everybody. If you're looking for inspiration, you know, you can always reinvent yourself. you can go from being a, you know, like revolutionary activist uh to uh wearing an Israeli uh pin and um basically being a tool of the Israel lobby um right and going on CNN and you know that's Van Jones every well I should disclose as Jake Tapper just
• 58:00 - 58:30 disclosed that he had sent them his copies of his book I should disclose that um I'm a little bit impartial because uh Van Jones in a green room when we were both getting ready to go on TV not on the same segment ment, but each of us were going on TV. He did compliment my hair. Okay. Well, that's that's nice. That's which makes my criticism of him actually all the more uh brave. I'm going to pat myself on the back for being able to get over my vanity. And despite the fact that he has very good uh impeccable taste when it
• 58:30 - 59:00 comes to hair, I'm still going to call him out. I saw Van Jones in a restaurant few years ago and um I was looking at him very brie I was I was looking at him and to the extent I was displaying any emotion it was contempt right it was just contempt but he didn't he's you know either he missed it or he didn't want to see it but he looked at me and gave me a nod back as if I was looking at him with fondness and I right I wanted to say Van no I'm not being like I'm not sending you positive vibes but anyway I decided you should have gone like this
• 59:00 - 59:30 yeah I should then you would have known yeah lost opportunity Well, I'm I'm sending the bad vibes out now. Yeah. I don't care who you are, left, right, or otherwise, anybody who cares about this country and about just the dynamics of of power, this is the emperor's new clothes playing itself out in real time. Everybody knew, but everyone was afraid to say, except for David Axelrod for two years, that something was wrong here. And so, um, you know, yeah, I was
• 59:30 - 60:00 shocked. I love Joe Biden. And I don't like him. I love him. I got a chance to work with him uh uh when I was a part of the Obama administration and loved him more every day. I was shocked to see Yeah. They actually I forgot they actually threw Van Jones under the bus. Oh yeah. Yeah. After some conservatives complained about him because I forgot what he did. I think he signed a letter asking for an investigation into 9/11. I believe that was what it was. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, don't quote me 100%, but I'm think it's true. Yeah. But again, I
• 60:00 - 60:30 don't know, Aaron, because I'm I feel like James Clyburn. I think that, but I can't say I know. His condition when he came out and so was the world. And that wasn't shocked. I love But everyone was afraid to say, except for David Axelrod for two years, that something was wrong here. And so, um, you know, yeah, I was shocked. I love Joe Biden. I don't like him. I love him. I got a chance to work with him. uh uh when I was a part of the Obama
• 60:30 - 61:00 administration and loved him more every day. I was shocked to see his condition when he came out and so was the world. And that wasn't the first time he was in that condition. The book makes it very very clear. There are people who knew and said nothing. And that is a crime against this uh republic. Uh and I think the Democrats are going to pay for a long time for being a part of what is now being revealed to be a massive cover up. Okay. Do you hear what he just said? He literally said that everybody knew.
• 61:00 - 61:30 It was the emperor's clothes. Emperor's new clothes, right? Everybody knew and no one said anything. And seconds after saying that, he said he was shocked. So, which is it? Did you know and not say anything or were you shocked? You actually can't have those two things at the same time. I think they're still figuring it out. And yeah, you know, they're still processing it. My problem is they're only indignant because it made them look bad and it hurt their own girl chances. like it it hurt their brand and that's a no no. Like this is our brand. This is our Democratic party brand and Joe Biden hurt it and that's
• 61:30 - 62:00 bad. They don't care that Joe Biden and his declining state presided over two major geopolitical disasters. The proxy war in Ukraine and you know even more criminal Israel's mass murder campaign in Gaza, which he fueled with all his might because he's a career Israel apologist and I think a bigot. Like I I think Joe Biden's a bigot. It's pretty obvious the way he talks about Palestinians. Oh yeah. He just has racist contempt for them and there's no out there's no sanctimonyy or outrage about that. It's all about because Joe Biden to hurt their brand and so now
• 62:00 - 62:30 it's time for like for some complaining about that, right? Yeah. And you know it's it's Van calls it a crime against the republic. Uh is it a crime against uh international humanitarian law to be funding and enabling a genocide which he did? Yes, he did. And he's a stickler for criminality. Yeah. Yeah. And all these people are talking about accountability now, but they don't want any accountability for that, for the Biden's support for genocide because they were equally complicit in it. I just saw a great clip the other day. You know, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security
• 62:30 - 63:00 adviser. He's now he's got like a fancy position at Harvard Kennedy School. Yeah. Somebody in the audience stood up like I think she either a student there. Alum. She's an alum. Yeah. Annne Thompson and she said to like the Harvard uh faculty member like or dean Yeah. Why? like why are you hiring this guy? Like what he supported a genocide and then Jake Sullivan gave this really disingenuous answer like I hear your concern. I'm glad thanks for raising your concern but we did the best we could. We right in anyway all the people
• 63:00 - 63:30 and the and the dean Erica Chennowith was like I'm not prepared to give a because because Chennowith was basically asked why they hired him and the response was I'm not prepared to to respond at this moment. Um, but you know to she actually didn't call it genocide. I think she called it a horrible massacre. But uh uh uh an anyway, no, I get it, Katie. You want to be
• 63:30 - 64:00 diligent with the facts and uh I I don't want to misre misrepresent anybody. But anyway, it was a great question and thank you. Uh you know, I'm very grateful that Jake Sullivan was called out for what he did and he deserved that especially if he was going to go and try to lecture young people on how to uh be in government and like how to conduct diplomacy, which he never did. He undermined at every turn. Anyway, so many people to criticize and be mad at. And uh we try to give you a good sample size today on today's Monday morning. And I wasn't I wasn't trying to be a stickler. I mean, well, no, I the reason I mentioned this that that she didn't call it genocide is just because even
• 64:00 - 64:30 that was kind of like I mean, I I think it's great that she said what she said, but they barely even had to face, you know, that was even a a softball for them and they still couldn't say anything about it. Yeah. But um I think we we can save the rest of the clips because we've gone over uh we may we we'll have some great clips for you for Thursday throwdown. But Aaron, you want to give people a uh a uh a preview, right, to your uh travels? Uh yeah, I want to plug two events I'm
• 64:30 - 65:00 doing. Uh, if you're in Europe and you happen to be in Oslo and London, I'm doing an event in Oslo uh on Wednesday, May 21st. Wilson, do we have the uh the event page? If so, we could show it. Um, if not, it's okay. Anyway, I'll be speaking Wednesday in Oslo and we'll put links to uh for tickets in the show notes. And then on Saturday and Sunday,
• 65:00 - 65:30 if you're in the UK, I'll be in Wales at a festival called How the Light Gets In. Other great people are going to be there, uh, including Jeremy Corbin and, uh, many others, and I'll be speaking there in various topics. Oh, look at that beautiful page. Yeah. Anyway, sorry. That that's where you can buy tickets if you're in Oslo. We don't have to show that. I'm sorry. That's a I think I put in the wrong link, but anyway, we'll put the links for both those. So, Wednesday, May 21st in Oslo and Saturday and Sunday in
• 65:30 - 66:00 Wales. Hey on is what it's called. Uh that's May 24th and 25th. And uh if you're there, I'd love to meet you. Come to either of those events. And uh I will be in Vienna uh June 13th to 15th. Uh people should definitely check out this event. It is the first uh Jewish anti-Zionist Congress. Uh so that's in Vienna. Um from uh June 13 to 15th I'll be speaking there and great a bunch of
• 66:00 - 66:30 great people will be there including uh Him Brashit Zabner who we've had on the show um who is the author of an army like no other about the IDF. Uh also um uh God Carmy who is a brilliant um woman physician Palestinian who's written about the one-state solution. Uh yeah, it'll it'll be a great event and a historic event. You know, Katie, I'm seeing a great opportunity for a classic Katy Helper acronym there, which is jazz. You know, Jewish anti-Zionist.
• 66:30 - 67:00 You're right. Jazz. Yeah, I like that. Jazz hands. Yeah, brand it. Let's brand it. Let's brand it. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. All right. Uh that's our show. Uh please, uh support useful at usefulpodcast.com. Uh we really appreciate you being here with us and uh supporting the show. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next time.