Less bread, more circuses - The Grayzone live

0:03Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome back to the Grey Zone.

0:08Here with Aaron Mate.

0:10As usual, sorry to get started a little bit late. I actually had Aaron's other co-host Katie Halper over here and she borrowed my studio and for some reason one of the lights doesn't work now.

0:24>> [sighs] >> So [snorts] maybe she, you know, her star power was just burning so bright.

0:29But I was trying to fix that for the last 5 minutes.

0:32And Yeah, we're back. Aaron, you're back from uh the NBA finals.

0:39>> I was at the NBA finals. Yes, I was. Uh and contrary to some >> There's some conspiracy theories about that.

0:46>> to conspiracy theories, you think I would pay for an NBA final? Like, come on people.

0:53I was lucky enough to get free tickets.

0:55I seized the opportunity uh to see for the first and last time in my life an NBA finals game and I was there. I was I was a witness to uh a historic night. But to be honest with you, >> [laughter] >> I have to Listen, I'm just a fan of basketball. I I've never been a fan of any particular team unless it's the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League, which is uh a throwback. But I I wanted the series to go longer uh cuz I think it's just a great series and and the Spurs are an exciting team. But hey, it was a next time and it was an amazing performance and I got to witness it.

1:27>> So you're not a member of the Epstein class.

1:29>> a member of I'm not a member [laughter] of the Epstein class. No.

1:33No. No. No.

1:35>> Yeah, I mean I thought, you know, I had no I I wasn't like a fan of either team, but I figured, you know, 53 years the Knicks should win and then I started watching the MSG games and seeing pretty much like the guest list of Zoro Ranch and Epstein Island appear on the appear court side along with some of the most odious bandwagon characters like Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters.

2:02It really kind of curdled the whole experience.

2:07And I think for a lot of people you know, it kind of made people sour on the whole Knicks uh Cinderella rise to uh championship status.

2:21Jerry Seinfeld did not declaring that uh >> It doesn't exist.

2:26>> doesn't exist.

2:28Yeah.

2:29Yeah.

2:30Yeah. Howard Lutnick being on the floor.

2:33>> [laughter] >> And of course Trump, the one game he went >> they're like, you know, him and DJ Khaled sing signaling to each other.

2:39Yeah, and Trump.

2:39>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, listen, it's exciting, you know, living in New York. It is pretty exciting to see and they're such a likable team. So, you know, like I'm definitely on the I am on the bandwagon, but I have to say also being in San Antonio you know, working class military town. I think more than half the arena were were like obnoxious Knicks fans.

2:58And there was something I thought really unfair about that, too. Like people in their own city can't afford to go and like this gentrified fan base comes in and like takes over takes over the arena. It It was quite something, but um yeah.

3:13Anyway, plenty more sport sporting action this summer with the World Cup going on, too, and Trump making sure to politicize that by like making the Iranian team not even stay in the country when they're playing games like they have to leave as soon as they're done playing.

3:28Um Yeah, the Iranian team has to cross the border every day from Tijuana to San Diego or El Centro and then uh they have to play in LA, which is the base of the monarchist lunatics who are out there like heckling them and waving Israeli flags at their bus. It feels deliberate. It's like making the Cuban national team play in Miami.

3:53>> Yeah. Yeah. I hope Iran inserted something about that into the memorandum of understanding that they just signed with Trump to like for him to like lay off the Iranian national team. It's ridiculous.

4:04Talk about like if you're trying to like, you know, establish diplomatic ties during the biggest sporting event in the world, you're going to force the Iranian team to leave the country because their government is one you're trying to overthrow. So, maybe the Trump administration will be walking that one back. And if they're not, that will speak to how unserious they are about a a peace deal with Iran, which they're now claiming to uh to be entering into.

4:28>> Yeah, 15 members of the team the the training staff were denied visas.

4:35There there were um you know, efforts to recruit the Iranian women's team in the past and and uh other Iranian teams have been kind of manipulated and messed with.

4:50Um I think there was like there were strange interrogations of the Iranian uh women's soccer team in um in the women's World Cup.

5:01So, uh you know, you know, this there's no way to remove politics from FIFA and then you have uh what's his name? Gi- Gianni Infantino, the the the head of FIFA, one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, is a member of Trump's board of board of peace, which is a obvious Trump corruption racket in which FIFA paid a billion dollars to be a part of it and signed off on the destruction or the the continued ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza a- after over 200 Palestinian athletes were killed in Gaza, including many footballers deliberately targeted.

5:45So, the corruption is so extreme, it's really hard to uh it's hard to enjoy.

5:52I want to talk later about UFC, but not because, you know, I want to talk about the sport, but because it's so it was such a significant event uh on Trump's 80th birthday and really provided a perfect microcosm of what MAGA has become at this point.

6:11But uh I think, you know, since you brought up the Iran deal, what with to the extent it's even a deal, and right now it's a memorandum of understanding, which is a very odd way of striking a ceasefire or moving towards a ceasefire, uh we should talk about that. So, I mean, what are your what what are your What's your initial reaction given that we know very little about the contents of the deal and are getting different narratives about its contents from the Iranian US sides?

6:42>> I think the only significance is that Trump is admitting that he lost his regime change war. This is him putting that in writing essentially. Because the war was launched in late February with Trump claiming that when we're done here to the people of Iran, you know, you will take over.

6:57And so, he was calling for regime change.

6:59And that failed. And when the kinetic part of the war failed, he then tried this oil blockade to prevent Iran from exporting any oil. And I think he was trying to wait out to see if Iran's economy would collapse under the combination of his blockade, the damage from his bombing, and of course his crippling sanctions. And that didn't work. And Iran's leverage over the Strait of Hormuz proved to be just too strong along with its uh striking of US military assets in the region and the threat it posed to Trump's Gulf allies because he basically put them on the front lines of his regime change war uh

7:33alongside Israel. So, he failed. And this memorandum of understanding essentially restore like restores the uh status quo from before he started bombing. So, essentially, he's admitting defeat of the regime change war, but is he opening a new chapter in US-Iran relations? Is he going to lift these crippling sanctions that are designed to destabilize Iran?

7:55Uh, no, and I think that's pretty clear even from listening to J.D. Vance today, who is like in- inside the cabinet, inside the Trump's circle, is, you know, widely considered to be the most, uh, anti- interventionist, but the way he's talking, the policy has not changed. That, you know, while Iran has willing has been willing to accept limits on its on its nuclear program for a long time. While Iran's been willing to accept limits on its nuclear program, the US won't accept Iran's resistance to Israeli, uh, dominance.

8:27And because Iran refuses to to capitulate on that front, Iran will continue to be targeted for regime change. And so, I just don't think that aspect is changing. So, it's a pause to Trump's war, Trump's regime change campaign, and it's an admission of defeat, but it's not peace.

8:43>> Yeah, kind of reminds me of the Korean War armistice, which was, uh, what, '53, '54, which didn't end the war. The war is still There has been no peace, no actual cessation of hostilities between the South and the North.

9:01Uh, actually, Trump attempted to end that, and that was sabotaged as well by the same elements that will seek to sabotage the Iran war, uh, an an actual ceasefire with Iran, an an actual durable peace with Iran.

9:15Many of the same elements, at least. And they're they were less powerful than the Israel lobby and the Zionist movement is.

9:22So, we're sort of there's we're sort of in a frozen conflict, and we it's very obvious who opposes this deal in the West, and in particularly in the United States.

9:35>> [cough] >> Sorry.

9:37The same elements that brought Trump into this war, the same elements that sat Trump down in the situation room and told him how this war was going to begin and lied to him, this doddering kind of bought off figure on how the war would be won instantly in a kind of Venezuela style triumph through decapitation strikes which it with when within two to four days would end the called regime and bring about mass opposition and the Iranian public rising up along with possibly the Kurdish proxies in order to basically dissolve the Islamic Republic of Iran. That was Benjamin Netanyahu and his proxies.

10:24Benjamin Netanyahu came here in DC in February and told Trump how it was going to be.

10:29Trump went along with it.

10:31No one within his cabinet or among his military intelligence principles actually stood up to him other than I think General Dan Cain, chairman of the Joint Chiefs who was leaking his opposition to the press, and knew that it would they would blow through interceptor stocks, THAADs, they'd have to reposition THAADs from South Korea, which South Korea got at great cost to its relations with China which cost it economically. THAADs and Patriot batteries, PAC-3s would have to go over from Ukraine to defend Israel.

11:09And it was all I said it at the beginning. It was a Zionist war.

11:14And it was going to fail.

11:17Everything that took place could have easily been predicted. And so this sort of consolidates the failure of Operation Epstein Fury.

11:25And now it's very clear once again who was responsible for this war. When you see Mark Levin fulminating, when you see Mark Thiessen fulminating, when you see Mark Dubowitz fulminating, these marks, what I don't know what Snoop Dogg might call Mark ass busters, are all out there actually trying to make marks of the American public, but we're not marks anymore or vics.

11:58Everyone can see that this was a failed and very economically destructive Zionist war, and there should be recriminations and repercussions and retribution against these characters.

12:10That's what we we would like to see.

12:12Unfortunately, I don't think Trump is going to be able to do that. You know, if I were the if I were Trump and I were in the war room right now, I don't even know if he has a real actual war room the way that, you know, that that that's based around his own thinking.

12:31I would be using every element in the media to humiliate these characters, denounce them, and I would I would even be launching investigations into FDD, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which was the main Israeli think tank planted in Washington, which devised this entire war from start to finish, starting with the decapitation strikes and moving into the so-called naval siege. They even through Jared Kushner had one of their staff members Nick, what's his name?

13:10>> [snorts] >> I'll think of it in a second.

13:12Nick Stewart placed on the negotiation team to oversee the naval siege, which was just was deepening this neo-Suez crisis.

13:25So, you know, you really want to punish these elements if you're Trump, but I think these elements will eventually along with figures in the Senate like Roger Wicker, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who had been pushing for a renewed like Epstein fury 2.0 as late as June 9th, the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, even elements in Fox News, obviously Mark Levin, they're going to come for Trump along with the Democrats and call him the Democrats will be calling him taco.

13:58You know, Trump always chickens out trying to paint him as weak for making this deal.

14:03And I don't think Trump will be strong enough to stand up against that or to do anything about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which is ongoing and has been used as a lever to sabotage this deal.

14:16>> Well, I just wonder if we even get to a point where there'll be anything for neocons to push back on because Trump says that this is a nuclear deal, but really it's the same thing if you listen to J.D. Vance today. So, he made what I think is um a contradictory statement talking about the conditions under which the US would lift sanctions on Iran, which for Iran is the biggest issue. For the US, the biggest issue is supposedly Iran's nuclear program, but we know Iran's already accepted constraints on that repeatedly under the JCPOA, in the talks that were brokered by Oman before the war, in the proposal since. So, that

14:51part can be addressed. The issue for Iran is will the US lift its crippling sanctions that are designed to prevent Iran from having a functioning economy.

15:00And if you listen to J.D. Vance today, he's already offered contradictory conditions on in terms of what Iran would have to do.

15:10So, first this is Iran this is Vance speaking to I think this is his first interview he did speaking to CBS News.

15:18>> They're going to get $24 billion dollars frozen funds if they hit certain benchmarks. Is that true?

15:26>> Well, again, Ed, we're open to a lot of things that are on the table, but that $24 billion just doesn't appear anywhere in any of the text that we've talked about with the Iranians. What we have said is that we're willing to talk about unfreezing assets, but a much, much bigger deal is unsanctioning their economy so long as they make the long-term commitments on the nuclear program. So, you know, again, one of the things these these hardliner elements in their country are going to do is misrepresent the deal so that they can sell it to certain elements of their domestic audience. But, I think again,

15:59the text is very clear. There's nothing about $24 billion.

16:03What there is clarity about though, Ed, is that if Iran gives up their nuclear program for the long haul, they allow a real inspections regime, and then, of course, we want them to have a lot of benefits. The president has said we want them to be a successful country. We want to turn over a new leaf with Iran, but that requires them to meet us in the middle.

16:23>> All right, so first of all, when he talks about $24 billion, what's not mentioned in in these discussions, that's $24 billion in Iranian money. It's not as if Iran's being given anything by the US. It's Iran's own stolen money that the US has held for decades. But, note there, the crucial thing he said there is the main condition, the the condition for sanctions relief from the US is Iran concerning its nuclear weapons program.

16:46But, Iran did that already under the JCPOA. But, Trump broke that. But, why did Trump break that? Because he wanted regime change. He wanted regime change because Iran resists US-Israeli hegemony.

16:56And so, he's been demanding Iran surrender on that front as well, that Iran stop supporting groups that resist US-Israeli hegemony, namely Hezbollah.

17:05And Iran hasn't budged on that. And here's J.D. Vance after just saying to CBS News that the only condition for sanctions relief is Iran's nuclear program, he then adds a second condition.

17:31>> Fundamentally sanctions relief. We're not giving them American money, not a single dollar of American money will go to Iran, but what we are saying George is we're willing to give significant sanctions relief if the Iranians make the kind of long-term commitments that are necessary to be a normal country, to give up their nuclear weapons program, to stop funding uh terrorist activities all over the Middle East. And one of the really interesting things in the agreement but what we >> So there you go. So you heard it there.

17:57So in the second clip he added the second condition. It's not just about the nuclear program. So if that's the case then forget it. There's not going to be a deal. So all this is And this is what I think I This is what ultimately will will blow up the peace talks. Trump will insist on this that Iran cut ties to Hezbollah.

18:14Iran won't. And so everyone will just walk away. So what we'll have is a status quo ante. Hooray for Trump. The Strait of Hormuz has been reopened. Uh maybe in the process there'll be some limited sanctions relief on like the export of some Iranian products.

18:28Maybe a token amount of unfro- unstolen assets. But in terms of an actual deal, if this is the condition as Vance just put it, and not it's not just about nuclear but it's also about Iran supporting its allies who resist US-Israeli hegemony, then then there's no peace deal.

18:44>> Yeah, and that was the I mean this is in the tradition of Steve Whitkoff, the envoy, constantly shifting the goal posts. He would go to Iran, they'd have or or he'd go to Oman, they'd have good talks, and then he would go back to Washington and say something entirely different.

19:00>> Yeah.

19:02>> For example, about Iran's alliances or ballistic missiles.

19:06And you know, he would say I remember Steve Whitkoff said early on in the war, "They're they're closing the Gulf of Hormuz. They can't do that. He didn't even know what the Strait of Hormuz was.

19:15There's a lack of understanding of the Iranian perspective and just the basic facts about the technical side of the Iran's nuclear program or about the region.

19:29And J.D. Vance is supposed to be the restrainer here who is in favor of the deal in favor of the deal and he can't seem to articulate any clear conditions. Everything's based on benchmarks. Reminds me of the Oslo Accords where nothing was set in stone.

19:44There were no borders.

19:47Everything is contingent on further talks.

19:50Then you have the fact that insurance companies aren't going to back shipping for the next 6 to 12 months unless there is stability, which means this deal has to be enforced by the US in Lebanon and elsewhere in order to open up the Strait of Hormuz and provide long-term stability.

20:11Uh the US is making everything contingent on Iran. It's actually contingent on the US and US leadership.

20:18And US the US has obviously been completely compromised by its relationship with Israel. So, there's another reason to believe this won't actually open up the Strait or provide economic relief. But obviously Trump is in in panic mode. He's he's becoming a panicking because the midterms are coming up.

20:39Uh the bottom has dropped out of his base.

20:42Young men are turning on Trump in record numbers. There's a new New York Times poll showing um he's lost 10% of young white male voters in the last month or so.

20:56Um the numbers are horrible on this war.

21:01So, he has good reason to want a deal.

21:04But he's not going to be able I don't think he's going to be able to enforce it and there will be some I mean I think we're looking at a frozen conflict. At the same time those [clears throat] who got Trump into this war as I said are they're not happy about what's going on.

21:19Mark Dubowitz You know, if you're suffering economically in any way, you know, cost too much to fill up your tank and you you drive for a living, you drive Uber, deliver food, whatever or you know, you have a long commute.

21:37If you're a farmer and you fertilizer costs are through the roof and you're at risk of losing your farm.

21:48Any any any working class American should thank Mark Dubowitz for that because there's no figure who is more influential outside of government than Mark Dubowitz in pushing for this war at the Foundation for the the defense of democracies which was launched as an Israel lobbying outfit. You know, look at the original foundation documents signed by Clifford May which show that it was inaugurated to advance Israel's interests in the in Washington.

22:19And here's Dubowitz freaking out. Refuel energy markets. Rest and rearm the military. Develop a plan to support Iranians to [ __ ] the regime. Enforce sanctions with relentless pressure.

22:29Don't get played at the negotiating table. Test Tehran early. Give little.

22:33Demand results. Walk away fast. Hit harder.

22:37These are all like orders he's giving to Trump.

22:40>> And daily and daily mantras that he says to himself to keep his spirits up >> Yeah.

22:45>> the threat of a truce. I don't I don't want to say peace because again they're just pausing a war to rebuild. So I think Mark Dubowitz will actually get a lot of what he wants. They're going to just you know, go back to the drawing board and figure out a new way to to destroy Iran Uh, you know, maybe trying to increase the chances of a civil war because a military campaign from from afar didn't work.

23:09And going back to Wycoff for a second, just before I forget, you know, he really illustrates how completely uh, captive this administration is to the the establishment uh, war lobby where initially he was talking about accepting the enrichment levels of the JCPOA which were like 3.67%.

23:26He accepted that publicly. And then all it took was like a one-day freakout from the Israel lobby and other uh, neocons and he backtracked immediately.

23:35And was now then claiming zero enrichment.

23:38You know, so that's how easily this administration caves to the slightest pressure from the war lobby. And there's no indication that despite Mark uh, despite all the Marks >> [laughter] >> uh, having their freakouts that that uh, much has changed.

23:56>> Yeah, I was watching him on Mario Nafal and he kept interrupting. He was all He was like all geeked out. It was wild to watch Dubowitz in the sort of like Hitler in his bunker. He really sees this as an apocalyptic moment.

24:10But really what it just means is it's it's it what it is for the Israel first lobby is a setback. A major setback.

24:22And there's going to be a recalibration of the US-Israel relationship. There will have to be because of this because of the deep unpopularity of themselves and of Israel in the United States.

24:35They're going to have to bury it behind [clears throat] opaque cooperation initiatives which we'll talk about later.

24:42But I do not see uh, this deal holding. Now, at the same time I don't see in the in the near term a major conflict restarting, but who's to say?

24:54It would be too politically crippling for Trump.

24:57>> Well, yeah, right? Because because what about Lebanon?

25:00>> Yeah.

25:01>> You know, uh Israel will do like now the question is what does the deal say about Lebanon?

25:08We've heard leaks from the Iranian side that it calls on Israel to withdraw. I I personally doubt that Trump will will agree to that. Uh but there must be something in there, some language addressing Lebanon because Iran would not make a deal without including Lebanon.

25:24And Israel now their path to blowing up peace and restarting war is through Lebanon where they have this goal of wiping out Hezbollah and its base of support, which is a lot of people. That's why they've displaced more than 1.5 million people and killed more than 3,000 since March because they're trying to destroy uh the popular base for Hezbollah.

25:44Uh and so that's the question that I have this week is like what is the what is the memorandum of understanding if anything say say about Lebanon and will Trump finally restrain Israel from its aggression there?

25:58>> Here's the UN ambassador and long-time Israel lobby plant Mike Waltz on Lebanon.

26:04Kind of setting the stage for what you're describing.

26:07>> is so critical for future generations and for global stability.

26:12>> Ambassador, what do you want to say about this most recent and biggest concern now that Lebanon could become the spoiler to this broader agreement between the US and Iranian diplomatic effort. We know that Hezbollah launched projectiles and drone attacks into northern Israel over the weekend. Israel responded with its own strikes in southern Lebanon and Beirut. Where do we stand here?

26:39>> Well, I I think two things, Maria.

26:40Number one, uh we will always um support Israel's right uh to defend itself. Uh and Hezbollah continues to attack neighborhoods, schools, and to launch rockets indiscriminately into Israel. But importantly, for the first time, and again, under under this president, his leadership, the Lebanese government is sitting down in the room with the Israelis and really taking important steps to finally rid Lebanon of the cancer that is Hezbollah. The Iranians are trying to link the two. We are delinking the two and trying to and and doing everything we can to support Israel's right to defend itself, but it also move forward

27:25with a diplomatic process so that we can hopefully see see peace in the region. And oh, by the way, Syria is a is an incredibly important component of this as well.

27:35And Iran is now out of Syria, too.

27:38>> That's right, because Al-Qaeda is in, which you helped install with your regime change work. But you know, there's some amazing comments in there.

27:45First of all, he says, "We're trying to delink Lebanon from the Iran deal." Well, you're the ones who've been insisting forever that Iran surrender by giving up its support for Hezbollah.

27:54So, now because Iran insists on Israel stopping attacks on Lebanon, now all of a sudden Lebanon and Iran have to be delinked when you're the ones who've been insisting that Iran can't support Hezbollah. So, Iran can't support Hezbollah, but also but by contrast, you have every right to support Israel destroying Lebanon where where Hezbollah is. I mean, you think Iran or Hezbollah are going to go for that? It's just it's the peak of hypocrisy. And then, of course, he refers to Hezbollah as a cancer. So, what is he saying there? He's not just talking about a a group of people with weapons. He's talking about a political

28:26movement that's a part of the largest political block in the Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah is a member of that coalition that has like, I don't know, 61 seats or something, 62 seats.

28:35Maybe even more. They'd have more if like the if the Lebanese vote like properly like reflected the population. But regardless, he's calling a huge portion of the country, half of it I don't know maybe less than half maybe more than half a cancer.

28:54I I you're muted Max.

28:58>> And that's to reinforce the Israeli policy which is [clears throat] ethnic cleansing to remove 1 million Shia Lebanese citizens from the south.

29:11Which is what they've been attempting to do.

29:16All the way since all since the ceasefire 2024.

29:22This is always left out.

29:24Thou over a thousand ceasefire violations by Israel before Hezbollah entered the fight after the start of operation Epstein fury attacking Iran.

29:38And then Israel's proceeding to impose a yellow line the same yellow line that it has imposed in the Gaza Strip where it has seized 60% of the entire Gaza Strip. And what does it do behind the yellow line?

29:53First of all no one's allowed to cross the yellow line you get shot if you try to go back to your home. Then they bring in D9 operators to demolish the homes.

30:02Each D9 operator gets paid per demolished home. They blow up entire villages.

30:08And so large parts of southern Lebanon which are the the sites of so much human civilizational heritage are being subjected to a mass demolition the city of Tyre which is a biblical era city is being bombarded and destroyed as we speak. 20 30 Lebanese people are killed every day.

30:35And the point is to uproot Shia Lebanese citizens just as Palestinians have been [clears throat] uprooted in Gaza and have been uprooted since the Nakba.

30:44That's why uh Waltz is referring to them as a cancer. And it is an attack on civilians because Israel cannot defeat Hezbollah on the battlefield and is suffering its own losses day after day, which are becoming a huge political problem for Netanyahu, but he has nothing else but this war.

31:03That's the other Here's the other issue.

31:06Netanyahu cannot cannot allow peace to take place because of his own legal problems.

31:17And if peace if if there I wouldn't call it peace, but if there is sort of an interregnum between wars because Israel is always in a state of permanent war, Netanyahu loses.

31:28And he will ultimately be unseated. His coalition will come apart. The country will start to focus on issues like the Haredi draft bill to draft ultra-Orthodox, you know, as before October 7th, Israel was in a sort of political civil war.

31:45And it'll go back to that state and Netanyahu will be unseated.

31:49>> [snorts] >> Netanyahu also has this problem where he needs Trump.

31:54He desperately needs Trump because of his own prosecution. Remember Trump sent Mike Huckabee to sit in the witness gallery supporting Benjamin Netanyahu when he was going to testify in one of his corruption trials. Trump has been putting pressure on the Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, which he refuses to do to this point. And so Netanyahu needs Trump. And if Netanyahu defies Trump too strongly, that's his ass.

32:26So the war is what is postponing the inevitable for Netanyahu and he needs this war.

32:32In Lebanon, just as Israel is the whole Israeli military intelligence apparatus is in support of this war and they believe they need to establish what they call a buffer zone, which is an ethnic cleansing zone, a kill zone.

32:45And here's the Lynch, one of the important linchpins of Netanyahu's coalition, Itamar Ben-Gvir, on the deal.

32:55He's saying He's addressing Netanyahu and he's saying, you know, the fighting is over.

33:02Not in Gaza, not in Lebanon.

33:05Not from Iran. The fighting's not over.

33:08And he demands that Netanyahu allows Israeli soldiers to continue defending themselves in the state of Israel.

33:17We must continue to demolish homes in southern Lebanon. I'm glad he admits it.

33:27You have to continue to displace residents in southern Lebanon. Again, I appreciate the candor.

33:37And we have to kill Hezbollah in Lebanon.

33:41>> [clears throat] >> So, Netanyahu's under, even if he wanted to abide by Trump's deal, I mean, he's under so much pressure from his own right and figures who are in his coalition from a party Otzma Yehudit, which is gaining strength among Jewish Israeli youth because they get more fascist with the passing of time.

34:01>> One of the rare countries, about the only country in the world where the younger generation gets more extreme than the older ones. It's uh uniquely Israeli.

34:10>> And so that's I mean, I think that's the direction we're going to continue to go in is the clash between the Israeli policy of desperately trying to establish itself as a regional hegemon by pushing regime change in Iran and waging war in the region.

34:33And the American public, the gulf is going to continue to grow. And it's not just the, you know, the fascists like Itamar Ben-Gvir. It's also the Israeli Zionist left. This is Yair Golan.

34:45He's from the He He comes out of the old Labor Party. And he calls the deal the memorandum of understanding a tough morning for Israel.

34:54Israeli citizens are waking up to an agreement between the US and Iran made over Israel's head.

35:01Well, how else are you going to make a deal?

35:04And he's you know, he's saying all of our achievements have been wiped out by this deal. And then he, of course, proceeds to blame Netanyahu. Netanyahu's good for Hamas. Netanyahu's good for Iran.

35:15Netanyahu's good for Hezbollah.

35:16Netanyahu is not good for Israel. So, Netanyahu is also being pushed from the Zionist left. They're calling him weak for making this deal. And presenting themselves as the stronger, more militaristic, actually more fascistic uh leaders of a future Israeli coalition.

35:39And it's the same thing we're going to see from Schumer and the Democrats or a similar thing, where they're going to accuse Trump of chickening out and then making a deal that's worse than than the JCPOA, at least from an Israeli perspective.

35:52Because, I mean, it will release lots of assets if it goes through.

35:57>> It's just mind-boggling that Democrats in the Senate are led by a guy, Chuck Schumer, who opposed Iran's JCPOA.

36:05And has lobbied against diplomacy with Iran ever since. And uh yeah, that was his main Remember he made that video of Trump, you know, Taco Trump.

36:13No side deals with Iran. You know, as if like he thought the American public would join him in being outraged at the prospect of diplomacy with Iran cuz people really want to ensure that Israel has the right to go kill as many people in the region as it wants to. They would join Chuck Schumer in outrage about that. Chuck Schumer recently marched with um who was it? Smotrich? Who was that?

36:35>> Yeah, I mean he I don't think he knew he was going to be marching with them, but that's what you get when you go to the Israel Day parade, which Mondaire boycotted.

36:44Uh it wasn't just him, it was also Mordecai Eliyahu, the heritage minister, who called for nuking Gaza and blowing up the Al-Aqsa compound was marching. I mean I I I I I lost track of all the fascists who were marching, but it's like what do you think you're going to get at the Israel Day parade? It's like if I if I went to a pride parade and I was suddenly outraged that they were like out and proud gay men dancing on floats to techno music.

37:08Like [laughter] I like oh no, I condemn this. This I condemn the rampant display of homosexuality at pride. And then, you know, all the Democrats come out and condemn Smotrich. It's like what what do you think this is? You're celebrating an ethno-supremacist project and you don't want racist mass murderers there who are wanted by the ICC.

37:28>> [gasps] >> Like all right, well I I condemn women taking off their tops at Mardi Gras with beads around their necks. This is not what I expected.

37:37>> [laughter] >> So, yeah.

37:41I'm glad you brought that up. That was like a big win for Mondaire at even though he he let the parade take place. Like I I would just like have the whole parade lead to like a giant series of paddy wagons or police wagons, I should say. No offense to the my Irish friends.

37:59Police wagons and everyone just gets like shepherded in and taken off to The Hague, but >> [gasps] >> that's I'm not in charge and I don't have to answer to Jessica Tish.

38:11>> [laughter] >> I don't know what that's like.

38:14It's like Kennedy and and J. Edgar Hoover is like Mondaire and Tish.

38:20>> [snorts] >> But back to the at hand, um, Lebanon, just before I think we move on.

38:29What's happening in Lebanon? I mean, it it's it's horrific. I was just in Dearborn, Michigan, which as everyone knows is a sort of center of Arab-American life and civic culture.

38:41And out just outside Detroit.

38:44And I gave a talk at a fundraiser for an independent media outlet called TMJ, which some young people are starting there. And I got to meet a lot of, um, local the local, um, Lebanese-American population. And what they would tell me was that there were memorials happening every day in Dearborn, or at least every week, for families, entire families that have been killed.

39:1310 people killed in one strike, 12 people, um, a couple that was giving me a ride to this to the, uh, banquet hall or the event hall.

39:23Um, I mentioned this to them and, you know, that I heard there were a lot of memorials.

39:29And the wife said to me, uh, "Yeah, my cousin was just killed by Israel while he was farming his land.

39:37They're just killing people and no one is no one is unscathed by Israel's campaign of mass murder and ethnic cleansing in Lebanon in that community."

39:48And what what Israel's doing is actually attacking the people that are closest to the land, which means they're attacking farmers, they're attacking conservationists, they're killing and and they're spraying farms with glyphosate. Uh, this is Steve Sweeney, who's a reporter on the ground in southern Lebanon.

40:08Lebanon files UN Security Council complaint accusing Israel of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention in the South. Lab tests from Iital Shab, Nakura, and Dahira confirmed catastrophic levels of glyphosate, a cancer-linked chemical produced by Monsanto, you know, Roundup, in agricultural soil.

40:29Uh basically like spraying Agent Orange.

40:32Normal farming levels would show 0.5 Well well, you get the point.

40:39Spraying They They were doing this in Gaza prior to October 7th.

40:43Uh with all the farmers in the so-called buffer zone.

40:48Um you know, another horrible thing they've done, as I said, they're actually deliberately attacking conservationists. This is uh someone named Mona Khalil, Mona El Khalil, who's been protecting sea turtles at a conservation center she established called the Orange House just south of Tyre.

41:09Here she is.

41:10And Israel uh last week, a week and a half ago, bombed the Orange House. Deliberate strike.

41:18Badly burning Mona El Khalil. She's Last I heard, in a hospital in Beirut.

41:25And this is deliberate. They want the people off the land.

41:30I remember in northern Gaza, to prevent people from being able to feed themselves, Israel would deliberately assassinate uh small farmers who were trying to feed people during the genocide by growing their teaching them to grow their own food.

41:45Here's uh These are some of the baby sea turtles released by Mona Khalil in 2018 to crawl into the sea in southern Lebanon.

41:54And this is deliberate. There's no question about this.

41:58And it's not really, of course, being covered adequately by our media, which consistently reports that Israel has struck Hezbollah targets. BBC, New York Times They They refer to Hezbollah targets.

42:10CBS, of course.

42:14The Hezbollah targets are an entire community, specifically Lebanese Shias, who are being subjected to ethnic cleansing.

42:24And that's what's happening in Lebanon.

42:27>> And in the West Bank, too, we got to mention. Like, what has just happened recently, which everyone just continues to ignore because, you know, the Iran aspect just takes over everything else in Lebanon, too. But what happened in in the West Bank, was it last week? I lost track, but Israeli settlers set fire to uh a mostly Christian village town of Taibeh.

42:50Uh >> Yeah.

42:51>> Set it ablaze. And then when Palestinians tried to put the fire out, they shot at the firefighters.

42:57Um this is, you know, this is supposed, you know, this is a major village, like a major Christian village in the West Bank. And, you know, these these types of attacks on the land in the West Bank happen every single day with in this partnership between Israeli settlers and the Israeli military, the occupying Israeli military.

43:16>> Yeah.

43:17Um the more double-tap strikes, double-tap, triple-tap strikes on rescuers, firefighters.

43:27Also, while I was in Dearborn, I'll put up video of this later today or tomorrow. I visited the the wall of tears, which is uh I think the first memorial in the United States for the children who were murdered by Israel during the Gaza genocide between October 7th and July 2025. And it's four long panels with just names, some photos of all the children that have been killed. It's really shocking to see it.

43:53Um It's a Holocaust memorial.

43:57And I >> It's at least 20,000 children, if I remember right. Like, it's it's got to be at least >> On this list, it's 18,500, but the list has grown since July 2025. I mean, Israel is violating the ceasefire in Gaza day after day after day with no pushback from this administration. The Board of Peace has done nothing uh except work uh to set up a joint US-Israeli military base in Kiryat Gat near the frontiers of Gaza to administer the concentration camp. They're even building a giant tower overlooking Gaza, like the towers that overlooked concentration camps and various other you know, internment centers throughout

44:42history.

44:44The the the MOU with Iran, I know it doesn't include any provisions about Gaza.

44:51It says nothing about Gaza, which is very unfortunate uh given how important Palestine is to the throughout the history of the Islamic Republic and to its base of support, which is why there are protests actually against the MOU in Iran in Tehran for the past several days. People chanting against Iran's chief the foreign minister and uh Mohammad Ghalibaf.

45:19And it's one reason is they feel Palestine has been left out and another reason is they don't trust the United States and why should they?

45:28So, Gaza and Lebanon remain theaters of conflict.

45:39Iran looks like a frozen conflict and I think there though though there could be like a momentary cessation.

45:47I don't know if the World Cup is a factor there.

45:50You know, that the that Trump wants to let the World Cup play out. He doesn't really seem to care how the US is perceived within the theater of the World Cup given, you know, how many deportations that the deportation of the Somali referee who was the African leagues referee of the year, so many other players kind of being mistreated.

46:13But maybe it's a factor and there's a it's a at this point it's just a 60-day freeze in hostilities.

46:21>> Yeah.

46:22Yeah.

46:22>> Um the Iran memorandum of understanding the memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran was signed on Trump's 80th birthday, which also brought Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf under some criticism in Iran for basically giving Trump a political win on his birthday.

46:49But I think it was an opportune moment because Israel had struck the Dahiya district that day or the day before and it irritated and rankled Trump and his team sufficiently enough to see Netanyahu attempting to undermine a potential diplomatic achievement for Trump on the world stage that this moment may not have returned and there was enough momentum there to get this deal that they wanted and let's not forget that Iran is under significant economic pressure not just because of the US naval siege but because of the destruction of its productive base during Operation Epstein Fury.

47:32So Trump was >> [snorts] >> celebrating this at his 80th birthday on the White House lawn for Freedom 250, which was the closest thing I've seen to the realization of the scenes from the movie Idiocracy in my lifetime.

47:56And it all culminated with a UFC mixed martial arts fight in the octagon on the White House lawn.

48:02And I think that this this spectacle provides like the perfect microcosm for what MAGA actually is at this point.

48:14Which is that it there's no movement left. The entire thing is AstroTurfed and desperate and forced and catering to billionaires at the expense of the American public.

48:28And of course, there is an element of crass Zionism embedded in the entire scenario along with the the cheapening of all of the symbols of the what what was once thought of as an American republic. And is now sort of like a late Roman Empire carcass.

48:48Yeah. It starts with the >> [snorts] >> 4,000 of the inner you know, 4,000 tickets being given out to basically Trump cronies including David Ellison who owns Paramount which was broadcasting the whole spectacle. Mark Zuckerberg who's been supporting Trump to get out of an SEC investigation.

49:16Uh Melania, Mike Johnson.

49:20All of these uh the all of these figures by the ringside. Very few actual fight fans and then soldiers brought in as props given free tickets to make the spectacle seem patriotic at a time when Trump has lost the support of mostly young white men.

49:40And there was one incident there are several incidents that just they say just so much about where MAGA is and also provide us with some insight into what's been happening throughout the Iran war. One was Daniel Cormier who was, you know, once a UFC champion and is now always ringside as the color commentator with Joe Rogan.

50:06He's, you know, under contract to appear at all these events exposing Eric Trump for apparent insider trading. I don't know if you saw this.

50:15But this is kind of like how the sausage is made.

50:21Danny It looks like Danny Cormier posted this and then immediately deleted it and there were records of his posting and deletion like video records online.

50:31I think it's undeniable that he posted this.

50:34And he said, you know, I refuse to say stay silent. Shame on anyone trying to ruin this beautiful event and he refers to uh you know, insider trading.

50:45He gets a DM from Eric Trump out of nowhere.

50:49Hey Daniel, I'm going to be attending UFC.

50:51And he's, you know, he greets him.

50:53Anything you can tell me about the fighters tomorrow? Who you got winning?

50:57And then you know, he says, I like to see Bo Nickal fight but I want to see I want to stay unbiased. You can see Cormier starting to get a little uncomfortable.

51:06You placing any bets? Eric Trump asks.

51:09No, I'm not allowed to bet on anything, he says. Are any of the fighters injured that you know of?

51:15He's This is insider trading stuff.

51:18I'm not sure why you're asking me this but I think they're all in good shape.

51:22I'll just cut to the chase. Are any of the fights tomorrow rigged? I'll be eyeing the Lopez fight and I think an upset wouldn't be too unrealistic.

51:29Money, money.

51:31No, none of our fights are rigged and honestly, I am appalled that you would even ask me something like that.

51:37>> It Max I Listen, I'm sorry to be a wet blanket but this looks fake to me.

51:42Uh like you know >> Okay.

51:45>> Yeah.

51:45>> I'm going to I'm going to >> Uh I think it's too good to be true. I mean listen we have the brazen corruption out in the open from the Trump family including I know that like their their cryptocurrency was like a sponsor of the event and like fighters were paid but yeah, sorry. This um >> [laughter] >> I think this sounds is too good to it's too on the nose. It's too too on the nose. Him writing like you know, are any fights rigged in a DM? I think it's too on the nose.

52:12That that's okay.

52:13>> Daniel Cormier has said he was hacked.

52:19>> Is that what he said?

52:21>> Yeah, he said I'm his hacked. Here we go.

52:24And Eric Trump got community noted for saying that this was fake.

52:32>> You see what happened with those posts were from Eric Trump.

52:34>> They're not real.

52:35>> They're not real.

52:36>> believe you guys believe that. Like who believes that?

52:39>> Everyone said it was posted on your account.

52:41>> I got hacked or something. Who believes stuff like that? That's crazy.

52:44>> So you didn't post it?

52:46>> Why would I do that?

52:47>> You see you're a [ __ ] legend.

52:51>> So he says he was hacked.

52:55Eric Trump uh said that uh I'm I'm trying to find the community note for Eric Trump cuz I don't have it up right now.

53:10Where is it?

53:12Uh I'm looking at Eric Trump's account.

53:14He may have deleted it.

53:20It looks like he deleted the post where he uh said he's aware of you know, AI images and he gets community noted with evidence that he posted it.

53:31Uh well, uh Sean O'Malley who's a UFC fighter even posted this and he posts this.

53:42Well, you know, I'm I'm sorry to be a wet blanket, but again, here's Eric Trump saying this is completely fake. I've never reached out to Daniel. In fact, you know, so >> This is This is on Cormier's account and then this is it being deleted.

53:57So, you know, I'll correct if I'm wrong, but >> Well, look, it's either true it's the the the Dave Cormier account did post this. He says he was hacked and Eric Trump says this is fake. So, >> Where is the Eric Trump statement saying it's fake?

54:13>> I I just put it up. Here, I'll I'll put it up again. Um it's uh here it is.

54:18It's if you just go to Yeah, I'm I'm I'm sorry to be a wet blanket and not to like not to like uh question the notion of the Trump family being corrupt cuz of course it's all Yeah, Eric Trump, this is completely fake. I never reached out to Daniel. In fact, this is scary. And I just like if if if he was going to try to like bet on a rigged match to do it over a Twitter DM, I don't think he's that dumb. I just don't like I don't think he's that that uh that brazen with their corruption.

54:47There's got to be a little bit more sophistication to the corruption than than and then in a Twitter >> I don't know I don't think there is, but you know, maybe I was wrong. Uh here's more the here's some more data on the deleted post URL, the root post.

55:03Um you know, readers are adding a lot of context to demonstrate that this did happen.

55:09>> He's saying he was hacked though. Like yeah, his account definitely >> Why would you say you were hacked if this never happened?

55:15>> He's saying someone hacked his account and posted those >> someone hack your I just don't get it.

55:19Like when people say they were hacked on it's like it reminds me of Anthony Weiner.

55:24>> People's people's accounts get hacked all Like I don't know about you, but I'm getting DMs from people saying please vote for me in this podcast competition, which is like a a bot thing. So, >> Okay, well, here's the >> Yeah.

55:34Yeah, again, I'm sorry to be a wet blanket and the this is not to say there's not corruption going on because again, their own cryptocurrency sponsoring this this White House event.

55:45>> Here are some community notes of Eric Trump and and uh Danny Cormier and I said you know the post he's referring to which he seemingly claim is claiming is fake was in fact a real post he made that he deleted deleted soon after.

56:05Um and we all know UFC is a corrupt sport, but we also know that uh when Trump would leak to Barack Ravid at Axios that a deal was close it would always be followed or it would be preceded with millions and millions of dollars of oil shorts with people who were somehow in the know and had connections with Donald Trump and were in his inner circle.

56:32>> And just And let me make a one point just to be fair to the narrative that you're putting forth which is that if you are hacked to then get control of your account back very quickly that is a little fishy. That That That doesn't happen so often. So maybe, you know again, I want to be fair here, but I that means so that is a data point in your favor there, but still I don't know.

56:56It's just It's hard to believe Eric Trump would be that dumb.

57:00>> Okay. Well, let's just leave that aside. You know, well in the in an with an abundance of caution you know, you you you are the you know the anti-conspiracy theory balance that we need for the gray zone.

57:21You got to stick to conspiracy facts. It seems like something that would completely be within the wheelhouse of the Trump mafia and helps provide insight into their Iran insider trading.

57:35I don't know how Barron Trump got to be worth $220 million. His father says he's a genius cuz he can turn his laptop on and off. Doesn't demonstrate any other skills.

57:45Um Eric Trump is, you know, involved with he he he he helped take public Power is drones, which is a company that's been testing it's Power is is a like a defense tech company that's been testing anti-drone technology in Iran. I mean, that they they are heavily invested in all these conflicts. And Dana White, who's the CEO of UFC, donated a million dollars to Donald Trump.

58:12Uh Dana White would be someone who would if this happened, tell Danny Cormier to delete that post and shut up and prevent and pretend the whole thing didn't happen.

58:24And then behind him is Ari Emanuel.

58:29You can't uh You can't go You can't really go against this program.

58:36And that's what there's no room for an independent voice in this program outside of Trump world.

58:41And that's what Sean Strickland found out when he made some issued some crude attacks on the US-Israeli relationship. Sean Strickland is the reigning UFC champion who has beaten fighters that many thought were uh invincible.

59:03And Sean Strickland, of course, this was a staged PR stunt, but it was to make a point, which is that he would be arrested. The reigning champion would be arrested for showing up because of what he said has said about Israel.

59:18And so this is >> We're going to go right to the stage and we're going to just [ __ ] rally this [ __ ] >> Relax. Relax. No, just watch.

59:29>> This is, you know, in front outside the White House.

59:33>> [cheering] >> US Park Police, this is federal police.

59:46You know, this this is SWAT. Like when there's a SWAT raid in DC or they do a no-knock raid and bring in helicopters, the park police come.

59:59>> [cheering] >> So, he just gets like he gets like a SWAT team a champion because he criticized Israel.

60:09And like millions and millions of young guys across America are seeing this.

60:16What are they to think?

60:24And like the park police are acting like Dana White's Praetorian Guard.

60:28It's an incredible scene.

60:31>> Remember when there was a controversy when Obama built like a basketball court at the White House?

60:37>> [laughter] >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean and and and if, you know, Biden had won or or whatever come if Kamala had won and she built a basketball court, the Trump and the Republicans would have been freaking out. They would have been having a meltdown.

60:50>> The desecration of the, you know, of the White House.

60:53And then they put on I mean it's pretty entertaining.

60:58It's pretty entertaining uh and it's pretty funny, but you know, especially with the corruption on display uh the Trump's crypto currency it being used to pay the fighters like being paid uh for the winner uh the Allisons the the presence of the Allisons there showing on their this being shown on their network.

61:22>> Yeah.

61:22>> Yeah.

61:23>> Uh As we'll talk about the merger in a second. But uh I mean Sean Strickland's like he's milking this.

61:36I mean he's he's mocking Trump and he's milking this.

61:41And I mean this is his tweet. Who did it better? He's mocking the whole like wall kissing ritual that presidential hopefuls have to undergo.

61:50And I guess like you know, mocking what has become of of Judaism against a backdrop of the Gaza genocide in the Iran war. And that's what you know.

62:01That's what we get I guess after he got arrested for criticizing Israel.

62:07This is a guy by the way who had said after October 7th he said he supported Israel, but he kind of understands which way the wind is blowing.

62:16This is a disaster for Trump.

62:19And Netanyahu.

62:20And if you're not paying attention like if you're not paying attention to the culture then you don't understand like how big the backlash is going to be.

62:31Um World Liberty Financial is another major Trump corruption conduit.

62:39It's run by the the Witkoff sons and the Trump sons. Alex Witkoff and Zach Witkoff.

62:49And much of the money is coming from the Gulf through crypto.

62:54Uh it's through crypto stablecoin. Then you you also have Howard Lutnick and his son running with a major stake in Tether which is the other stablecoin that they use for all of their and they're operating an office out of Bukele's El Salvador.

63:11So World Liberty Financial turns out to have played a major role in this money-losing event.

63:22I don't know if we're allowed to show this.

63:24We may get demonetized. Paramount is like removing all kinds of footage of this event. They don't want you to see what happened.

63:31>> Presented by World Liberty Financial, USD1 is a digital dollar. Send money faster >> Listen to this.

63:36>> and USD1 is presented by World Liberty Financial. USD1 is a digital dollar.

63:41Send money faster and cheaper available on leading exchanges.

63:45>> So the players are being paid performance bonuses through World Liberty Financial.

63:52>> [clears throat] >> Which is probably coming from like the UAE.

63:56>> Exactly, because they're they're the major stakeholder in that company. They they put in I forgot the figure, but a lot of money and right before I believe Trump's inauguration. I think after the election is when they made their investment if I have the timeline right. And now they get to pay off you know, the UFC fighters taking part in Trump's 80th birthday spectacle.

64:18Really, as you said, out of idiocracy.

64:21>> [laughter] >> It's It's It's Yeah.

64:24>> Yeah, like a fighter coming out with a 100-year-old Medal of Honor award winner from the Korean War and Marines saluting the fighter in his spandex shorts is, you know, a perfect symbol of the desecration of these American symbols. This is all happening on the White House lawn and it's really just what MAGA is and the whole thing is fake. It's astroturfed.

64:54And it's, you know, highly significant to have David Ellison on hand at this moment uh as the main conduit for this propaganda.

65:03If you watched it, by the way, like every ad had Dana White in it. Like every single ad was promoting Dana White, who is one of the top donors to the Trump super PAC has a role in the Trump administration, but then you have here David Ellison in the front row.

65:22Who's David Ellison?

65:24The son of Larry Ellison who is a top Trump donor and a close friend of Benjamin Netanyahu's Oracle data centers are seizing water and farmland across America.

65:35David Ellison oversaw the Skydance purchase of Paramount which was engineered by the Trump administration to give itself more power over the media and this is 48 hours after the Department of Justice antitrust division. I mean just saying that should make you laugh that there is an antitrust division at the DOJ which functions as Trump's personal law firm approved the merger of Paramount with Warner Brothers. Oh, there's Zuckerberg.

66:04There's Zuck.

66:05He was under all sorts of investigations before Trump got into office and remember he like changed his style?

66:13And then he was like wearing a baggy t-shirt with like a medallion and kind of Um so they're there for a reason.

66:23And that And and oh, it's important to mention Trump is a major shareholder in Paramount.

66:30Just to understand how corrupt this is.

66:32Of course the DOJ is going to approve the merger. It's going to make money for Trump and his family.

66:38And what does the merger mean?

66:41I mean we can just look at any mainstream media outlet. This is Politico.

66:46Um it paves the way for Paramount to combine with the entertainment and media company behind a vast film and television studio CNN and the HBO Max streaming service which would be combined with Paramount Plus to create a new offering boasting about 200 million subscribers.

67:02This would upend the Hollywood ecosystem by combining two historic rival studios and you know the entertainment is industries opposed because they're all going to lose their jobs mass layoffs and but looks like it's going to be rammed through what do you guys think?

67:17>> It's hard to imagine CNN which hosts former AIPAC lobbyist Wolf Blitzer open Israel first advocates Jake Tapper Dana Bash as anchors which reported on the air that Hamas beheaded babies on October 7th and their only source was the Israeli government telling them that it's hard to imagine CNN becoming even more Zionist but yet that's what we're about to see with uh the Ellisons taking it over and you know are they going to let Barry Weiss run CNN too? There were some reports last week saying yes then there was some pushback to that because Barry Weiss has become so embarrassing for them that and

67:53maybe they [clears throat] won't be so shameless as to do that but regardless whether it's Barry Weiss or not it will get more even more Zionist and CNN you know for all their Israel first activism from their anchors they have had some reporters doing some good stuff like um when it comes to Gaza I've seen it like >> or CNN international will >> Yeah exactly they they they've done there has been some decent stuff and I think if the Ellisons are now in control can we really expect any of that to be allowed on air I I strongly doubt it.

68:27>> Yeah.

68:30Dana Bash Jake Tapper those figures will be elevated at CNN that's what will happen.

68:35>> They already tried that they they tried to give Jake Tapper a primetime show uh it was a disaster he was like gone within a couple of weeks uh so good luck with that elevating your roster of Israel firsters to even bigger heights is just you know unfortunately there's still a thing called ratings and an audience and uh being an open advocate for Israel on a cable news network that's supposed to be fair and balanced it just doesn't land.

69:01>> Well really just shows how they're how ideological the entire project of corporate media always was. They're lifting the mask. That's sort of the thesis of Michael Parenti's Inventing Reality.

69:13And uh Yeah.

69:16Henry Luce, who kind of created American corporate media, was so ideological that he supported fascism. He was an admirer of Mussolini.

69:26But he would always he would try to conceal the ideology behind uh control over real like uh by upholding reality.

69:36>> [snorts] >> And advancing the American century.

69:40And and now we see it's it's it's it's not about ratings. It's they don't even necessarily care about ratings. They don't There there may not even be necessarily a profit motive in bringing Barry Weiss in.

69:52CBS is tanking. CBS is losing ratings.

69:56It's in the It's in the basement. Who's that guy, Tony Dokoupil, the guy who got circumcised at 40 so he could marry his Israeli wife?

70:05Uh That's the anchor. He's like the least popular anchor. He's, you know, anathema to American viewers.

70:14He's also extremely untalented. She brought in this guy Nick Bilton to run 60 Minutes. Barry Weiss did. He's unheard of, has no news experience.

70:22He was basically like a product and marketing manager. I actually know someone who who knew him in media and said he was just like this middleman kind of product manager who would who would organize like sort of corporate partnerships for media outlets. He comes in there and then he fires Scott Pelley, who was the biggest CIA tool at 60 Minutes. He's done like five pieces on promoting Havana syndrome in the past 2 years and only one on Gaza.

70:48And they're going to What are they going to replace him with? Like uh Olivia Rein Gold or someone from the free press? It's It's like I'm going to miss Scott Pelley with his fake little square-jawed, I care about my country performance. I love Zelensky.

71:04I give I anointed the sores on Zelensky's feet. Mr. Trump, what did you do?

71:10But, [laughter] you know, I'm not going to miss him.

71:14And in some ways it's good. Like let's show the American public how ideological and militantly Zionist the corporate media is. Let's really just show them that it's an enemy of the people and bring in these talentless rabid fanatics.

71:31And show them uh and and and and and show them the door.

71:38They will turn to independent media or alternative sources.

71:42So, I'm I'm here for Bari Weiss taking over.

71:46>> I had to stay quiet during the whole Scott Pelley thing because it was like, you know, because all the all the outrage was directed at Bari Weiss and the Allisons and, you know, uh for good reason. But, yet to elevate Scott Pelley as like uh an example of journalistic integrity when as you said he's every time there's a State Department or CIA propaganda campaign, he's been there to promote it. Uh everything, like all the things we cover, he's been pushing the propaganda that we debunk every single time.

72:14>> [laughter] >> So, but it's just a reflection of how uh how what a bad manager and how ideological Bari Weiss is and even alienated Scott Pelley who stood up and uh and did lose his job and I think I think deliberately and I do I do respect him for doing that, but it was just so I had to stay quiet as everyone was praising him knowing his actual journalistic record is just it's nothing to applaud.

72:39>> Yeah, everything he did was, you know, CIA approved. He He had three interviews with Zelensky that played out in four parts and the whole point of these interviews was just to convince Americans to support sending more billions of dollars to Ukraine to shovel more men into the meat grinder, to continue this war that continues now.

72:58Um I found I found like part of this interview that he did uh with uh what's that lady's name? Luz on a Lulu Navarro.

73:10And there's such a revealing I I think I got the right part bookmarked here. Um but there's such a revealing exchange about how the establishment sees journalism and what you know, what we're losing with Bari Weiss taking over 60 Minutes and starting to impose her agenda.

73:32>> at Bari Weiss.

73:34Did you talk to Anderson about why he did not renew his con >> Sorry.

73:38I think it's maybe at this point.

73:45>> to stay and do exactly that.

73:48>> Do you think though they can trust his assurances?

73:50>> No.

73:52All right, I'm not finding it. So, sorry for that. The part where he fake cries is what I'm trying to find.

74:00And she asks him Is this it?

74:04>> Uh Tanya was let >> All right, whatever. There's a part where she asks says Trump says you hate America and that you're surrounded by a bunch of talentless stupid clowns. And he you know, I'll try to reenact it as well as possible. He just Lulu I can accept being called stupid and a clown.

74:25All that All the above may be true.

74:28But one thing I cannot countenance is being told I don't love my country.

74:35>> [sighs and gasps] >> While I may not have worn the uniform I sat there in trenches in Iraq and Afghanistan with our soldiers.

74:48And I did that because I love my country. And I don't know if the president has done anything like that.

74:53You get into journalism because you love your country and because you believe in freedom of speech.

74:59That's why I did it. It's like so performative, but that just says it all to me about how they think. Like how that class of people that's being pushed out the door at 60 Minutes thinks.

75:09Which is that they actually think they're serving their country like they're going they're practically in uniform by embedding with the military and presenting the Pentagon's narrative of these evil imperialist invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

75:23Uh because they're risking their lives maybe by being in a tank.

75:27And that you go into journalism because you love your country.

75:30Like no, that's actually not why you're supposed to go into journalism. And that's why everybody hates you and nobody trusts you.

75:37You go into journalism because you want to expose your country's corrupt elite.

75:43Uh in some ways you're at war with the forces in control of your country.

75:47>> Or even even just even more modest, if you love facts, if you want to give people the truth, if you believe in fact gathering. I mean you know, that's the most basic thing.

75:57You just like the truth. And that's not his first priority. It's it's a it's to a nationalist ideal, not to a factional not to a factual one.

76:07>> And and so now we're entering a new era you know, against the backdrop of the UFC idiocracy on the White House lawn where those who are elevated to these places in the pantheon of journalistic institutions like 60 Minutes or CBS CNN will be promoting a mafia a very sectarian partisan mafia.

76:34I guess Scott Pelley represents the old mafia of like John McCain as the Republican and Obama as the Democrat, the post World War II order.

76:44And this is like the late Roman Trump Zionist mafia that hates Islam, which is why [snorts] this guy from Sky News, whose name I'm now forgetting, was just promoted by Bari Weiss, just because he was a black British anchor who denounced Muslims every day. That's pretty much all he had to do to get that job.

77:07And so they're just promoting and shamelessly nakedly promoting a deeply unpopular ideological and political point of view at these institutions that used to pose as objective. And I'm glad that the mask is off in that anyone with any critical faculties will now see that this is not a this is not objective and these aren't just the facts, ma'am.

77:31>> Yeah, you know, you know, I'm not an excelle- I'm not an excellerationist when it comes to politics, but I think in media I think actually I think what you're saying does make sense that Bari Weiss does fully lift the mask off and everyone now can see what ideological system we're living under when it comes to our media.

77:50And so as as bad as I feel for all the employees who have to work under her reign, I mean, imagine like being a professional journalist trying to take your job seriously and all of a sudden your new boss is like a Zionist activist with no real journalism experience who was an op-ed columnist who spent her life trying to get Palestinian voices canceled. I mean, I feel bad for them.

78:09But if we're going to live under this corporate-controlled ideological system, then I guess the the most brazen, extreme, incompetent elements, I I guess there's some utility in having them at the helm cuz it it shows us what we're really living under.

78:27>> Yeah, I mean, it it's it's agonizing and it will be agonizing to watch what they do.

78:32>> It's brutal. It's brutal.

78:34>> But it's not going to fall on fertile soil. And do I mean you just look at the Zionist influencers on X or Instagram, like are any of them remotely appealing?

78:47Uh or convincing? They just produce anger and division and make everybody want to vomit.

78:55Uh maybe the last one who had any credibility was Jerry Seinfeld.

79:00And you know, he's destroying his image.

79:04He could have just been like George Costanza or whatever Jason Alexander. He would always He was always out there like promoting a two-state solution.

79:12But, you know, Jerry can't resist being like, "Go IDF."

79:16"Palestine doesn't exist. What is the deal with Palestinian civilians?

79:22Why do they run to the bombs?"

79:26You know, the they're they're so it's just agonizing.

79:32It will be horrendous to watch.

79:37But, more and more people will turn to independent media and I think there's going to be a greater push to to censor these platforms that disseminate our work as we saw during the Biden era.

79:48>> [snorts] >> And you know, I made and I made comments earlier about this this yellow line that was imposed in Gaza to prevent people from returning to their homes and the yellow line that's being imposed by Israel and Lebanon.

80:02Like we know where the yellow line starts, but we don't know where it stops. And the yellow line is expanding into our own society. It's kind of like an invisible yellow line that delineates what's acceptable and what's not acceptable.

80:15And it's encircling now corporate media in a way that's undeniable. Whereas corporate I mean, obviously corporate media was always pro-Israel.

80:24But, now it's just being clearly delineated by Israel-first billionaires like David Ellison and their minions.

80:34And it we're just here to cross the yellow line. That's why independent media should exist.

80:39I mean, when someone says they're independent, they have to stand against that program.

80:44Independent doesn't just mean, you know, you're not sponsored by a state or a corporation. It means you stand against you presenting an alternative to that program. And by the way, going back to uh I thought I put I wanted to I thought I put it aside, but I couldn't resist. I mean, this is more >> [gasps] >> more Danny Cormier posting.

81:09Whoops. He deleted it.

81:16And then said he he said he was hacked.

81:19And then got a control of his account back right away. It just doesn't make sense. So, I hope we get some clarity uh so we can update on our next stream about what really happened. Because I think that was such an important I mean, it it it deserves it like real like real coverage.

81:38That Danny Cormier tweet about Eric Trump.

81:43And, you know, going forward, there there should be if if we had a real government after Trump, they would investigate all this insider trading and prosecute them.

81:55It's like we're not going to get that Obama. It's going to be like Obama not prosecuting one single banker after the financial crash.

82:04>> I mean, they were willing to investigate Trump for all these fake things like >> Exactly.

82:08>> Russian ties, which was a complete hoax.

82:12Uh they did and then they were willing to go after January 6th because, you know, January 6th was was an assault on the capital. But, yeah.

82:20Uh insider trading it's such a clear case for them to do.

82:26They should take that up. and politically I think that would even be popular cuz people, you know, want to see corruption held to account. Uh but um >> Except with Nancy Pelosi.

82:36>> Right, that's true. That's true. Yeah, exactly.

82:38>> much insider trading in Congress. It's kind of like But it's not it doesn't compare to what the Trumps are doing. So I got I got like a hard stop in 15 minutes. Do you want to cover the integration of the militaries or >> I totally up to you. I mean that's a huge topic that I think our audience would love to hear about how uh If you thought we were super tied to Israel at the hip, well, wait till you hear what people in Congress are trying to do to make us even more uh even [laughter] even more immersed.

83:14>> And this is Tom Cotton's initiative.

83:16Tom Cotton being, you know, our AIPAC, but he's also from Arkansas, a state that isn't one of the biggest job producers, has a large not very wealthy rural population, and he wants to basically bring is Israel's it bring it Israel into the American defense production base, which would create jobs in Arkansas.

83:47And make Israel and the US the relationship even more inextricable than it currently is.

83:57Because it would mean denying jobs to people who need them in Arkansas. It's even more dangerous possibly than the um $300 billion dollars of aid or so that's been sent to Israel since 1948.

84:15Responsible Statecraft has some of the best coverage of this initiative, which is part of the under the NDAA is known as section 224.

84:27Um in the how the house NDAA passed without this being stripped out, the AIPAC faction defeated an effort to strip it out, which I think Ro Khanna was leading.

84:40Buried in the house's version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act is the US-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative.

84:49Um it lays the groundwork for bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seem seemingly every manner of US-Israeli military industrial complex cooperation uh moving ahead. If fully enacted, this proposal would provide a higher level of military industrial integration than the US has with any other country in the world.

85:14It would fuse the US and Israeli defense sectors in multiple areas vital to battlefields of the future like autonomous systems and cyber. It would bring extraordinary Israeli influence to the US beyond what it already has through the Israel lobby and its robust network of social media influencers. It would give the Israeli government the opportunity to greatly expand one of the most powerful levers of influence in US politics, jobs in the US.

85:40By expanding or starting new co-production facility facilities like it has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on US soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie. And also it's it's completely opaque. I mean, it exists outside the realm of transparency can be concealed all these deals can be concealed behind national security initiatives.

86:13But I think that's the key point is jobs will be contingent on cooperation with Israel and suspending weapons to Israel or pulling back from the special relationship will be then tantamount to denying thousands and thousands of Americans jobs especially in poor red states.

86:34Which is the whole point. That's the point.

86:36>> It's basically taking US workers and their livelihoods hostage saying that if you want to have a district that survives economically, you have to be Israel first.

86:44>> Yep.

86:45>> Uh and it's a recognition that they've lost full public support.

86:49So the only way to keep US assistance to Israel going, to keep Israel's death machine running is to tie it to the livelihoods of American workers.

87:00Uh I guess this was inevitable and it also means that whereas now there's some performative votes every year to make, you know, the where Israel can only get assistance if it's, you know, meeting US obligations and US human rights laws, now that's forget it. That won't even be necessary anymore. Because Israel will basically be an official appendage of the US government.

87:21>> I mean, the the there's been this debate over the years who controls who.

87:27And I think I have since October 7th, it's increasingly clear that it's Israel and its various cutouts and proxies in the US that is in something so many ways occupying US government and US institutions.

87:45But I'm increasingly of the mind that you can't separate the two.

87:51That they've been integrated. The the power elite that controls the United States has been sort of integrated into this system of Zionist hegemony.

88:04And now this will be formalized through the NDAA in 2027 through section 224 and another section which hasn't been given in the same level of scrutiny which is section 662. Again, this is responsible statecraft.

88:24The bill This is section 662 of the NDAA put forward by Tom Cotton, you know, recipient of massive donations from Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer and the usual suspects who's also the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee would would prohibit any suspension, reduction or limitation of such sharing except on the basis of a specific and identifiable national security concern determined by the president.

88:50Any such exception would require report to Congress within 50 days detailing not only the reason for the change but also the categories of information involved.

88:59The same report would require an assessment of the anticipated impact on regional security and various other matters. So it's sort of like impossible to suspend the sharing of US intelligence with Israel.

89:13This proposal is one of several recent moves by those in Washington who carry the Israeli government's water to keep the US tied to Israel despite plummeting support.

89:23The most salient form of US support has been more than 300 billion in US aid.

89:28But Netanyahu's trying to get ahead of the declining public support and avoid avoid embarrassing losses by suggesting it would be fine with him to phase out the military aid and Aaron you've been hearing like likely Democratic presidential candidates like Rahm Emanuel or Josh Shapiro who are very closely tied to Israel saying, "Yeah, we should stop directly giving aid to Israel to make it seem like they're actually taking a sensible more critical view at least of Netanyahu.

89:55>> Yeah, well it didn't help their case to pretend that they're distancing themselves from Israel when Netanyahu said that this was his idea. That's what he told Major Garrett or like what do on him, Major Goyet?

90:07>> Major Goyet. [laughter] >> Major Goyet. And And the And the And the CBA And the 60 Minutes interview where Netanyahu handpicked Major to interview him. And Netanyahu said, "Yeah, this is great. I wanted I don't want US assistance. This is actually my idea."

90:20So, yeah, good luck marketing that as like some break from Israel when even Netanyahu is taking credit for it.

90:27>> So, the intelligence sharing bill is being introduced at a time when US intelligence, especially military intelligence, the DIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, but also various other three-letter agencies and US officials are running to the media, US officials in the White House, are running to the media complaining that Israel is spying on US officials and US troops and on the American public as a whole is at a critical level and that they're unhinged, according to language which was used by one source to the New York Times. Pentagon sees growing espionage threat from Israel. The Defense Department has increased the

91:13counterintelligence threat assessment to its highest level and Israel is believed to have eavesdropped on American negotiations with Iran.

91:20Steve Witkoff, Michael DeMino, who's one of the key White House advisors on Iran, and Elbridge Colby at the NSC are some of the figures that Israel has targeted. It's said that Israel has planted surveillance I guess malware like Pegasus in their in their phones to eavesdrop on them.

91:41And it's also reported that Israel has been eavesdropping on American troops who are stationed in Israel.

91:53Uh two senior Yeah, here it is.

91:56Two senior US military officials said that American personnel, particularly those serving in Israel or with Israeli counterparts were well aware of the counterintelligence risks before the new report. The officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments said US personnel employ a range of security measures to counter the threat of spying inside Israel.

92:20Cooperation between the two militaries is very close, but each side also needs to keep its most sensitive information secret. So, as the US deepens its military footprint in Israel, as I said earlier they're building a joint base in Kiryat Gat, and they also they they they operate on separate floors because of the fear of spying. Israel's stepping up its spying is the US is basically just handing Israel the military's sensitive data by bringing so many soldiers there to defend the apartheid colony.

92:52>> Max, the biggest takeaway for me from that story is it underscores to me how terrible you are at self-promotion.

93:00Because you haven't mentioned yet that that story confirmed something you put up on The Grayzone a long time ago, right? Which was that uh Israel was caught putting surveillance devices on like a Secret Service vehicle, didn't you have that a long time ago?

93:14>> You know, I buried that in one of my Charlie Kirk reports because there were just so many there was just so much there at that time that I was getting from White House sources.

93:24Um >> Yeah, and the time >> I had to get it all out there, but I I I highlighted it in my interview with Tim Dillon >> Uh-huh.

93:31>> in September 2025, which was right after Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

93:36And I mentioned that a White House source told me that it was I think during one of Netanyahu's many visits to Washington that Shin Bet agents placed a tracking device on a Secret Service emergency vehicle, which happened to be the vehicle that would have responded to an emergency involving the president, including a potential assassination attempt, an attempt on his life.

93:59Why would they do that? Well, also I think a lot of I think maybe people dismissed me for saying that or called me a conspiracy theorist or something.

94:08Uh the New York Times explicitly confirmed that >> Yeah.

94:11>> report.

94:12>> Yeah. Yeah.

94:13>> Which is shocking. I mean, why are they trying to track the vehicle that would respond to an assassination attempt? Why are they interested in you know, attempts on the president's life or the emergencies around the White House?

94:25>> Yeah. Uh the Times did confirm exactly what you reported a while ago, of course, without without uh acknowledging your reporting, but you know, you're not doing yourself any favors by even forgetting >> [laughter] >> to >> Yeah, true.

94:39>> But that just speaks to how uh you know, you're focused on the actual work of journalism itself and not promoting it.

94:44But congrats on that because that's a I mean, yeah, you I remember when you came out with that you know, I I would see people dismissing it, but now it's it's even confirmed by the New York Times, although many months later.

94:58>> Yeah, I I and uh I wonder I I was always wondering who else knew about that. But it looks like Trump knew at the time, which would color Trump's thinking on his relations with Israel. And one thing the source told me is that Trump is actually concerned about threats to his physical security, which could even come from elements, you know, in the Israel First world or you know, that that that that that that's something he thinks about.

95:36But of course, Mike Waltz, who, you know, we we played a clip of him earlier, the UN ambassador, when he was in um the House on the committee to investigate the Butler shooting, where supposedly a shooter nicked Trump's ear with a bullet nearly ended his life and campaign, Mike Waltz was attempting to push Trump into believing that the IRGC Iranian intelligence was behind Butler.

96:05So, those are the forces that have really been working on Trump psychologically. And at the same time, we have a report going back to, I think, 2018 from Politico, three former senior US officials say Israel has planted Stingray surveillance devices throughout the White House to spy on the president and his advisers. That was in the first Trump term. How did they get in the White House? Who can get into the White House?

96:30>> And meanwhile, what was actually happening in terms of like the public conversation and Democrats is they were freaking out because there was this fake >> Right.

96:37>> Russia gate thing about Russia planting surveillance devices in voter phones or something like that. Remember that it was a big Russia gate thing. I The Mueller team even even investigated it. So, just one more example of all this hysteria over fictional Russian surveillance and Russian interference uh was was happening just as actual Israeli surveillance, Israeli influence was going on and nobody cared because that infiltration, that influence is supported on a bipartisan basis.

97:08>> Definitely. And I mean, the scandals I think the scandal is titanic if you actually entertain my question to its logical conclusion. How did they get into the White House?

97:21You have to assume that it was some it were it was an Israeli who had come into the White House to meet with Donald Trump or his team that planted those devices. How else can you get in? It's not like you're like throwing them over the fence like uh You won't even get away with that.

97:38So, that could potentially be Netanyahu who was caught by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson planting a listening device in his personal toilet at his home.

97:50Boris Johnson wrote about that in his memoir.

97:53So, Netanyahu's it seems to be he that he's directing the spying on Donald Trump, if not planting devices. And that's something that you know, if these reporters have access to all of these figures in the White House and the DIA, it's hard it's definitely harder for me to get um sources these days.

98:13Uh but if they have access, they should be asking these questions about Netanyahu's personal role.

98:20And uh you know, with that I think we got to wrap. I don't know if there's anything you want to add.

98:27>> No, that's all I got.

98:29>> Well, call your um light up those switchboards, folks, against section 224 against integrating our country's military with Israel's.

98:43Can you believe it?

98:45Uh also, thank you to Jaime Francis, who's been a generous supporter through super chats of this show over the weeks.

98:53And to all of you who've supported us, uh you know, we continue to grow and expand our coverage.

99:00Wyatt Reed still covering the situation in southern Lebanon and Beirut.

99:05And we'll be back soon. Like this stream, subscribe to us on YouTube.

99:11And uh sign up on Substack if you haven't done so yet to get everything we publish free in your inbox or support us on Patreon.

99:21I put up some exclusive stuff there.

99:24And we will be back with you real soon. For now, we're out.

99:30Thanks a lot, Aaron, and peace, everybody.

99:32>> Peace.