‘Iran Took Trump To The Cleaners!’

The Atlantic’s David Brooks said on the PBS Newshour on April 3rd

“We’ve had to go to the Middle East for almost every decade

1:10

for the last 50 years because of radical Islam, which the Iranian regime typifies,”

and their other Zionist falsehoods; but here is Larry Johnson saying nothing but truths (and this time I’ve not proof-read and corrected youtube’s transcript):

——

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdcAHhXgtgE

“SPECIAL REPORT ] Larry Johnson : Iran Took Trump to the Cleaners!”

8 April 2026

Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom

01:00

Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Npalitano here

01:02

for Judging Freedom. Welcome to this

01:05

special edition. Larry Johnson joins us

01:07

for the second time uh this week. Today

01:10

is of course Wednesday, April 8th, 2026.

01:15

Larry, who who sought who begged for a

01:20

cessation of violence in the Iran war?

01:24

Was it Israel? Was it the US? Was it

01:27

Iran?

01:28

>> Donald Trump. It was Donald Trump. The

01:31

United States. They started, you know,

01:33

the second week of the war, so about

01:36

mid-March, uh, sending intermediaries to

01:39

to the Iran. Hey, hey, let’s let’s get

01:41

together and talk. How can we settle

01:43

this? Iran says we we don’t have

01:44

anything to talk to you about. Period.

01:47

Uh I think what changed or what made

01:49

yesterday possible is the Chinese uh

01:53

intervened or the Chinese spoke to the

01:55

Iranians and said okay let’s you know

01:58

basically let’s let’s give these guy

01:59

these knuckleheads another chance but

02:02

it’s going to be on your terms and and

02:04

that and Iran was very clear that you

02:05

know these are these 10 these 10 items

02:08

these are our terms uh you know which

02:10

include we’re going to continue to

02:12

control the straight of Hormuz we’re not

02:14

giving that up uh And the United States,

02:17

at least to the Pakistanis and uh to the

02:20

Chinese said, “Okay.” Now, what Trump

02:24

and company have been saying in public,

02:25

it’s like they live in an alternate

02:27

universe. Uh I I just I couldn’t believe

02:30

the nonsense that was coming out of Heg

02:32

Seth and Ka’s mouth this morning at

02:34

their 8 a.m. press conference. It was

02:36

just it was one lie after another. But,

02:38

you know, that we’ve grown accustomed to

02:41

that. Uh our friend and colleague Scott

02:44

Ritterder believes that the two biggest

02:46

liars uh in this camp, those who

02:50

betrayed Trump by selling him a bill of

02:52

goods were Benjamin Netanyahu and Pete

02:56

Hegth. And that to the extent that Trump

02:59

can feel betrayal, he feels betrayed by

03:02

them, they both told him this would be

03:04

over in 24 to 48 hours. So here we are 6

03:07

weeks later. Regime change? No.

03:11

Uh, uranium enriched uranium seized. No

03:15

ballistic missiles neutralized. No.

03:18

Control of the straight of Hormus. Let’s

03:20

see. Nobody controlled it before the war

03:23

and now the Iranians have it.

03:25

>> Yeah.

03:25

>> What did Trump What did Trump

03:27

accomplish, Larry?

03:28

>> Um, awaking Iran from its slumber or

03:32

bringing it out of the wilderness. You

03:35

know, Iran over the last 46 years, I

03:38

suppose Iran could have at some point

03:40

tried to shut down the straight of

03:42

Hormuz, but that would have been seen as

03:44

a act of unilateral aggression. That

03:47

would have been seen as something

03:48

completely unjustified.

03:50

But when the United States and Israel

03:52

launched that surprise murderous attack

03:55

on Iran on February 28th, all of a

03:58

sudden now Iran was justified in

04:01

defending itself. and they they went for

04:04

the the economic juggler of the world

04:07

which is which we really didn’t realize

04:10

how important the straight of Hormuz is.

04:13

Now there are um the you know Trump is

04:17

involved with massive market

04:19

manipulation or people behind Trump and

04:23

uh so when he you know when he starts

04:25

talking oh you know this is we’ve got a

04:27

ceasefire this is going forward you saw

04:29

the dial in a $1,400 up and and the and

04:33

10 20% drop in the price of oil futures.

04:37

Well, that’s not going to last. Uh

04:40

because this ceasefire is not going to

04:42

last because the Iranians are not going

04:45

to back out. They are not defeated. Uh

04:48

they have uh they have won. It’s just

04:51

the United States doesn’t want to

04:53

concede that it is lost. And so they

04:55

continue to say, “Oh wow, we’ve

04:57

destroyed all their air force. We’ve

04:58

destroyed all their navy. They’re not

05:00

going to be bu they won’t be rebuilding

05:02

for centuries.” I have such abject

05:04

stupidity coming out of the White House

05:07

and it’s and it’s it’s compounded by

05:10

just the crazy the crazy tweets or the

05:13

true social messages that Trump

05:15

continues to post that are uh I mean

05:19

they’re like the ravings of a lunatic.

05:22

you know, two other people who talked

05:26

Trump into this disastrous war. One is

05:29

his former business partner and the

05:31

other is his son-in-law. I mean, would

05:33

why would the Iranians even allow those

05:36

two to be talking about Steve Whit and

05:39

Jared Kushner to be anywhere in the

05:42

process of negotiation after the

05:45

deception that they pulled back in June

05:47

of 25 and in February of this year?

05:51

>> Yeah. Well, it’s not clear that the

05:53

Iranians have agreed to meet with them.

05:55

Uh they’ve agreed to meet in Islamabad

05:58

starting this, I guess, Friday, April

06:00

10th. Um now, what we also don’t know,

06:04

uh and my my advice to the Iranians

06:07

would be to tell the United States, if

06:09

we’re going to meet, we’re going to meet

06:10

face to face and you know, the lead, you

06:12

know, we’ll we’ll meet with JD Vance,

06:14

but nobody else. uh if they go back to

06:17

this format where they are in separate

06:20

rooms and they talk to the Pakistanis

06:23

and then the Pakistanis walk next door

06:25

and talk to the Americans and then the

06:27

Pakistanis walk back and talk to the

06:29

Iranian. No, that’s ridiculous. You

06:32

know, that’s not even worthy of anyone’s

06:34

time for a genuine negotiation. But

06:37

Iran, those 10 points that Iran laid

06:40

out, those were not items that would be

06:43

negotiable. In other words, they’re not

06:46

saying, “Okay, well, we’re going to keep

06:48

control of the straight of Hormuz, but

06:50

we’ll negotiate about it instead of

06:52

we’ll release our control.” No, no.

06:55

They’re not giving up control. That’s

06:57

this, you know, the days that it’s like

07:00

there was a time when the nightclub

07:02

never had a dormant and you didn’t have

07:03

to pay a cover charge to get in. There’s

07:06

now a a dorman and a cover charge. You

07:08

want to get into the Persian Gulf, pay

07:10

the cover charge. You want to come out,

07:12

pay the cover charge. otherwise don’t

07:14

go. And I just saw a news flash that uh

07:17

Iran now has completely closed the

07:20

straight uh uh as we speak because of

07:23

Iran Israel’s continuing attacks on

07:25

Lebanon.

07:26

>> Well, precisely, Larry, I have the

07:28

statement from the Iranian Parliament’s

07:30

National Security and Foreign Policy

07:33

Committee. In response to the brutal

07:35

Zionist aggression against Lebanon,

07:37

maritime traffic in the straight of

07:39

Hormuz is halted immediately and a just

07:42

what you said and a strong and decisive

07:44

blow must be dealt to prevent this rogue

07:47

entity and cancerous tumor they’re

07:49

talking about Israel from destabilizing

07:51

the region. The Lebanese people

07:54

>> have made sacrifices for us and we must

07:57

not abandon them. Now listen to this.

07:59

The concluding line, either a ceasefire

08:02

on all fronts or no ceasefire at all.

08:06

>> Yeah.

08:06

>> That would include the Israeli efforts

08:10

to steal and seize and acquire southern

08:14

Lebanon.

08:15

>> Yeah. Yeah. Just, you know, I feel like

08:20

we’re in a deja vu situation or as Yogi

08:23

Barrow said, it’s deja vu all over

08:24

again. You remember back when there were

08:27

there were the discussions about

08:28

negotiations between Russia, the United

08:31

States, and Ukraine and and you and I

08:34

would keep saying, well, the the

08:36

Russians made their position very clear.

08:39

They haven’t deviated from that. And

08:41

yet, the West would keep coming up, oh,

08:42

they’re going to they’re going to make

08:43

this they’re going to declare ceasefire

08:45

here or they’re going to withdraw from

08:47

there or they’re g No. Read the damn

08:50

documents. Read what they say. They mean

08:53

what they say. They’re not like Donald

08:55

Trump and his, you know, group of clowns

08:57

that make stuff up. They actually, when

09:00

they write it down, they actually mean

09:02

what they say.

09:04

How um miserable do you think Netanyahu

09:09

and Smootri and Ben Gavier and his hard

09:13

rate and their hard rate colleagues were

09:16

when they woke up this morning?

09:17

>> Oh man. Well, I think they were they

09:20

were terrified last night. you know,

09:22

when when this happened, they realized

09:23

they had been cut out and Trump was uh

09:26

Trump was potentially distancing himself

09:29

from them. So, you know, they absolutely

09:31

saw this as holy smokes. Uh how could he

09:34

do this? Now that said, the uh

09:37

counterattack

09:39

is just beginning that the the Zionist

09:42

lobby is just going to, you know, be

09:44

going. They’re in a frenzy of putting

09:47

pressure on on Trump and and and Trump

09:51

is really in a he’s he’s caught between

09:53

the proverbial dog and the fire plug.

09:55

You know, there’s no place for him to

09:56

hide. He’s catching it from both sides.

09:59

You saw Tucker Carlson just did a

10:02

remarkable, amazing uh takedown of

10:06

Trump’s uh attack on Christianity and

10:09

his violation of fundamental Christian

10:12

tenants and and talking about destroying

10:14

Iran. And in response to that, Trump

10:18

viciously viciously attacked Tucker as

10:21

being low IQ and stupid. Yeah. Come on,

10:26

Trump. Look in the mirror, man. you’re

10:28

talking about yourself. Uh but when you

10:31

got people like Tucker Carlson now who,

10:34

you know, had been uh ardent campaigners

10:36

for Trump coming out like this, Trump’s

10:39

losing it. And and the the support among

10:42

the Zionists, while it’s financially

10:44

lucrative, uh it it is politically

10:47

toxic.

10:48

>> Yeah. I asked Chris to see if he could

10:51

find uh Mark Levin or Lindsey Graham

10:54

this morning. They’re nowhere to be

10:56

found.

10:57

>> Yeah. Well, the Levven Levin went on air

10:59

yesterday, shortly after this news came

11:01

out. He was in shock. You know, normally

11:03

he’s screaming and yelling and got this

11:05

obnoxious voice. He was really subdued

11:08

and, you know, he looked like he just

11:10

been hit upside the head with a 2×4 and

11:12

and sort of stunned. Now, they get a

11:15

good night’s sleep and then they’re

11:16

going to get up and start attacking with

11:19

in earnest against Trump. And here

11:21

here’s here’s Iran saying, “Hey, we

11:25

agreed to a total ceasefire. If if

11:29

you’re saying you’re going to allow the

11:31

the Zionists to continue to kill the

11:34

people of Lebanon, sorry, then we’re not

11:36

signing up for that and stand by for

11:38

more incoming.” The Houthies have

11:40

already said they’re going to continue

11:41

to fire missiles into Israel as long as

11:44

they’re attacking Lebanon. So yeah, this

11:46

this uh uh market manipulation play

11:50

where oh we got pieces at hand. So stock

11:53

market goes up, oil prices fall.

11:56

Again, there there are people behind the

11:58

scenes that are manipulate that are

12:00

making money off of this because they

12:02

have an idea of what’s coming. They know

12:04

they know that it’s not a real genuine

12:07

ceasefire.

12:09

>> Wow.

12:10

Well, how long will it be before, in

12:12

your view, before hostilities uh resume?

12:16

The Iranians have already said they will

12:18

not tolerate continued hostilities in

12:22

South Lebanon. I assume they also mean

12:25

in Gaza.

12:26

>> I was said, let’s see, what time is it?

12:27

11:30. Yeah, 2 hours. Look, uh within

12:32

within 12 hours, we could see the

12:34

missile barges start again. Uh I do know

12:38

that uh or looking at the flow of US uh

12:42

military air traffic to the region. It

12:44

hasn’t stopped. So you you’re getting

12:47

you got still what I’d call operational

12:49

buildup. So I again I think I think this

12:52

is just another ploy on the part of the

12:55

Trump administration trying to buy some

12:57

temporary time trying to get you know

13:00

halt the rise in the price of oil and

13:02

gas at at uh in the United States. and

13:05

it’s going to be a temporary relief, but

13:07

that’s all it’s just temporary. Uh, I

13:09

think what we’re going to see is the the

13:11

the war will continue and the the

13:15

economic strangle hold that Iran has on

13:18

the world will continue and and they’re

13:20

going to they’re going to use it to

13:21

their advantage to force other countries

13:24

to come around to isolate Israel to

13:28

finally put pressure on Israel that

13:29

Israel is going to be forced to stop the

13:32

these murderous attacks on its

13:34

neighbors.

13:36

Are they uh have the Iranians

13:39

effectively

13:41

chased the United States military from

13:43

its permanent bases in the Middle East

13:46

>> from at least uh I think there were like

13:49

13 and I think 10 of them are now

13:51

abandoned. So there’s still I I believe

13:54

there’s still a US uh significant

13:57

presence at Aluded Air Force Base in

13:59

Qatar and that’s a that’s attributable

14:02

large measure because the Qataris have

14:04

been uh they’ve been fairly consiliatory

14:07

with uh with Iran. So Qatar and Oman

14:12

those two are seen as uh willing to

14:15

maintain steady relationships with uh

14:18

with Iran. uh Emirates, the United Arab

14:21

Emirates, Kuwait, Saudis, and Bahrain.

14:26

Uh the base at Bahrain, it’s gone. Uh

14:29

Emirate, I don’t think there are any

14:31

active bases remaining in the Emirates

14:34

either. They’ve been attacked. The

14:36

United States still has some presence at

14:38

I believe at Prince Solid just outside

14:41

of Riad, but they have been shifting

14:43

more to a farther base. K. Uh uh

14:48

the what is it? King I forget the name

14:51

of them. It’s farther west in Saudi

14:54

Arabia. And then they’re still at Mwafik

14:56

Salty in Jordan. So you know this is

15:00

this thing could kick off again. Uh uh I

15:03

do believe uh you know I’m told that the

15:07

US senior US military leaders they’ve

15:10

been telling their people

15:12

uh this prepare for a long war and

15:16

they’re talking two years.

15:17

>> We’re talking through fiscal year 2028.

15:20

>> You you’ve uh seen the 10 points. I’ve

15:23

been on air almost continuously since

15:25

7:30 this morning. So I haven’t I

15:27

haven’t seen them. But there there must

15:30

be relief from sanctions and secondary

15:34

sanctions in there. That is absolutely

15:37

key to the revitalization of Iran, which

15:40

again, President Trump, puts them in

15:43

much better shape than before the war,

15:46

just like their now control over Hormuz

15:49

does. Am I right, Larry?

15:50

>> Yeah. No, you’re absolutely right. um

15:53

they’ve um you know the fir their first

15:56

one was uh that the the withdrawal of US

16:01

military the uh lifting of sanctions

16:05

immediately they’re going to retain

16:06

control of uh uh of the straight of

16:10

Hormuz. So

16:13

>> and control means imposing a toll and

16:15

collecting it. It’s still 2 million yuan

16:18

or the equivalent in real Chinese money,

16:22

Iranian money per tanker. Am I right?

16:26

>> Correct. Yeah. The the estimate is um

16:29

the that Iran will earn like $96 billion

16:34

a year from those fees.

16:38

So, um,

16:41

it’s

16:42

>> is there anything else in those 10

16:44

points that, uh, Trump doesn’t want to

16:46

talk about and the American people

16:48

should know about?

16:49

>> Well, what’s interesting is, uh, the at

16:52

least the version I saw said nothing

16:54

about the enrichment of uranium and said

16:57

nothing about

16:59

ballistic missiles. That that was all

17:02

off. Uh so though that was not even an

17:05

item for discussion according from from

17:08

the standpoint of Iran. Um so they they

17:11

the Iranians are content that you know

17:13

they they genuinely believe that they

17:15

have largely destroyed the US military

17:18

infrastructure in the region. That’s

17:19

true. U the you know we used to have the

17:22

fifth fleet there in Bahrain. It’s it’s

17:24

not going to be there anymore. Now the

17:26

US may try to negotiate with Oman to

17:28

establish a base on the Arabian Sea. So

17:33

outside of the the Persian Gulf, but um

17:38

for for right now, the United States

17:40

doesn’t have an effective naval base in

17:42

the region. U the uh some of the uh army

17:47

uh uh bases that were there that have

17:50

been used as assembly points,

17:52

particularly up in Kuwait, used assembly

17:55

points when we invaded Iraq back in

17:57

2003. Uh those are those are shut down.

18:00

So, I think I think the US military

18:02

planners are looking they’re going to

18:04

have to draw draw back to uh try to go

18:06

to Jordan, maybe some spots in Israel

18:08

and at Insurlic uh in uh Turkey.

18:12

>> Chris, can you put up uh again?

18:16

Now, here’s what uh the president said

18:18

just a few hours ago. I’m not going to

18:20

read the whole thing, but I’ll read the

18:21

part that’s highlighted because the

18:24

Iranians disagree with this. There will

18:26

be no enrichment of uranium and the

18:28

United States will working with Iran dig

18:31

up and remove all the deeply buried B2

18:34

bombers nuclear dust. I’m going to ask

18:36

you in a minute what that is, Larry. It

18:38

is now and has been under very exacting

18:42

satellite surveillance space force. What

18:44

is he talking about?

18:46

>> No idea.

18:51

>> You mean nobody proofreads these things

18:53

before he posts them? Yeah, it’s like,

18:55

you know, it’s like that uh cartoon that

18:58

came out with Donald Trump laying on a

18:59

couch, psychiatrist sitting there and

19:02

saying, “No, Mr. President, these these

19:04

two Iranians you’ve been talking to, are

19:06

they here in the room with us now?”

19:08

>> Yeah.

19:09

>> You know, he he he’s making stuff up

19:11

there. There’s there’s no commitment by

19:14

Iran on any of that whatsoever.

19:18

>> Wear your wear your military hat for me.

19:22

How poorly planned from a military

19:26

perspective was this? Isn’t it a basic

19:29

principle of warfare that you don’t

19:32

start a war unless you have clear

19:36

militarily achievable objectives?

19:41

Well, true. But now we’ve got 25 years

19:44

of history showing we do the exact

19:47

opposite. when we went into Afghanistan

19:51

in 2001 in the immediate aftermath of

19:53

the attacks on 911,

19:56

uh the sort of

19:59

immediate objective was to capture Bin

20:02

Laden, but then next thing you know,

20:03

we’re were involved and embroiled in

20:06

some sort of regime change for 20 20

20:09

years and failed. Um the same thing with

20:12

Iraq. When we invaded Iraq in 2003, it

20:16

was uh okay, we’re gonna get rid of

20:18

Saddam, then what? Oh, it will. And

20:21

believe me, this happened. It’ll take

20:23

care of itself. Don’t worry. Uh I I know

20:26

from a friend who was involved in 2006

20:29

when there were plans drawn up then to

20:32

invade Iran and to overthrow the regime,

20:36

the the uh the Islamic Republic in 2006.

20:41

And My friend again, he asked, “Okay, so

20:46

we take him out then what?” And the

20:47

answer was, “No, don’t worry about it.

20:49

It’ll work itself out.” That’s what

20:51

happened here. They were convinced that

20:53

all we got to do is we kill the top

20:55

level guys and then the people will rise

20:59

up and we’ll have a genuine re

21:02

democratic republic and uh we’ll put the

21:05

Shaw in.

21:06

>> Wow. And that I mean it really is uh the

21:10

lack of planning in that regard is

21:13

what’s uh there’s no strategic planning.

21:16

U the the military does a good job at

21:19

some of the tactical planning you know

21:21

and we and we saw that with the rescue

21:23

effort uh of that one pilot. But you

21:26

know sit down and calculate the cost of

21:28

that. We lost $480 million worth of

21:33

planes in trying to recover that one

21:36

man. And I’m not saying I’m not saying

21:38

he wasn’t worth it, but that is the

21:41

largest loss of aircraft in a single day

21:45

or in a let’s call it a 36-hour period

21:48

since the Vietnam War. Okay. So this

21:53

notion that boy, we’re kicking ass and

21:55

taking names and those Iranians are on

21:57

the run is just delusional. Completely

22:00

delusional gaslighting.

22:02

>> How much longer before

22:05

uh Heg Seth Now I could ask this in two

22:08

ways. Is gone is indicted indicted for

22:13

attempted insider trading. These trades

22:15

he’s been trying to make. His broker

22:17

stopped him from making one of them. is

22:20

gone because he sold Trump a bill of

22:22

goods that Trump now knows he shouldn’t

22:23

have bought.

22:25

>> Well, um they may blame Hegsth. I still

22:28

I I I don’t think this entire operation

22:31

was not jenned up by Heg Seth at all. He

22:33

was following orders and he and he was

22:36

trusting Trump. And boy, we’ve learn

22:39

we’ve learned much to our chagrin. You

22:41

don’t trust Donald Trump. Uh he is not a

22:46

man of integrity. He is uh uh the

22:50

consumate narcissist that will serve

22:53

only himself. He never accepts any

22:56

responsibility for any failure. He

22:58

always looks to blame someone else. And

23:01

so in in this case um then I I think the

23:05

likely

23:07

events that are going to unfold is um

23:10

probably by the end of the week we’ll be

23:11

back at a full-blown uh United States

23:14

bombing targets in Iran and Iran

23:17

continuing to destroy what’s left of US

23:19

military infrastructure in the Persian

23:22

Gulf. particularly uh if if the United

23:25

States starts attacking the power

23:26

centers in Iran, then they’re going to

23:29

turn the lights off in Saudi Arabia and

23:32

uh Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates

23:34

in particular. And

23:36

>> do

23:38

here’s the same old song

23:41

from the vice president earlier today in

23:43

Budapest. He’s in Budapest campaigning

23:45

for the reelection of Victor Orban.

23:47

Whatever you think of Orban, I don’t

23:48

know how an American vice president that

23:51

only speaks English can campaign for an

23:54

uh somebody in Eastern Europe, but

23:56

that’s what’s going on. Um, according to

23:59

the New York Times,

24:01

he steadfastly opposed the war, but said

24:04

to the president, “I’m your vice

24:05

president. If you do it, I’ll back you.”

24:07

Chris number 18. The final point that

24:09

I’ll say about this is the president of

24:11

the United States has told me and he’s

24:13

told the entire negotiating team, the

24:15

secretary of state, the special envoy,

24:17

Steve Whitoff, he said go and work in

24:20

good faith to come to an agreement. That

24:22

is what he has told us to do. If the

24:24

Iranians are willing in good faith to

24:27

work with us, I think we can make an

24:29

agreement. If they’re going to lie, if

24:31

they’re going to cheat, if they’re

24:32

trying going to try to um prevent even

24:36

the fragile truths that we’ve we’ve set

24:38

up from taking place, then they’re not

24:40

going to be happy because what the

24:42

president has also shown is that we

24:44

still have clear military, diplomatic,

24:47

and maybe most importantly, we have

24:48

extraordinary economic leverage. So, the

24:51

president has told us not to use those

24:52

tools. He’s told us to come to the

24:54

negotiating table. But if the Iranians

24:56

don’t do the exact same thing, they’re

24:58

going to find out that the president of

24:59

the United States is not one to mess

25:02

around. He’s impatient. He’s impatient

25:05

to make progress. He has told us to

25:07

negotiate in good faith. And I think if

25:08

they negotiate in good faith, we will be

25:10

able to find a deal. But that’s a big

25:11

if. And ultimately, it’s up to the

25:13

Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they

25:15

make the right decision.

25:18

>> How to interp interpret that.

25:20

>> Yeah. hearing hearing him talk about

25:22

good faith when the Iranians were the

25:24

ones ready to sit at the negotiating

25:26

table on March 2nd and the United States

25:29

launched a surprise attack that killed

25:33

not only upper upper leadership but

25:35

killed

25:37

175 young girls at a school targeted a

25:40

school murdering these young ladies

25:44

you know shame on shame on JD Vance I

25:47

I’ve I have lost all respect for the man

25:50

Yeah, he’s he’s not he’s not possessed

25:53

of the same bizarre personality

25:55

disorders that afflict Donald Trump, but

25:58

but he’s also not a a man with much

26:01

backbone, and he certainly is not a man

26:03

with some core ethical principles that

26:05

he stands up for.

26:07

>> You know, unless unless he’s running for

26:09

president uh in 2028 as the sitting

26:13

incumbent president,

26:15

I don’t see the Republicans even

26:17

nominating him. I think his political

26:18

career is over. Yeah. And I and this,

26:22

you know, that gets us into a whole

26:23

different, you know, level of the kind

26:25

of dynamics work in Washington. But but

26:28

this the notion that the United States

26:30

has enormous economic leverage over Iran

26:32

that we haven’t used. Are you kidding

26:34

me?

26:35

>> You know, seriously, the the economic

26:38

leverage is held right there at the

26:40

Straight of Hormuz, and it’s controlled

26:41

by Iran, not by us. And there’s and so

26:44

what the again what we’ve seen is this

26:47

entire misadventure that the United

26:49

States launched by choice has exposed

26:53

the weakness of the American military.

26:56

Uh we can’t get our ship we can’t let

26:58

our ships get too close to shore because

26:59

they get attacked. Just you know the uh

27:02

the uh the landing ship. It looks like a

27:06

little helicopter. I think it’s they

27:07

call a LH uh LHA uh landing landing

27:12

helicopter assault ship or amphibious

27:15

ship. Uh it got close to the Iranian

27:18

shore. It got attacked by missiles.

27:19

Their orders back off, back off. So we

27:22

can’t get our ships in close. uh we’ve

27:24

limited what we can do with air power

27:26

and the the Iranians uh I believe with

27:30

the assistance of Russia and China are

27:33

increasing their their uh ability to

27:36

shoot our planes down and so they’re the

27:39

the number of aircraft getting shot down

27:41

it’s increasing it’s not decreasing and

27:43

so that that’s we’ve we’ve lost probably

27:46

over close to$2 billion dollars worth of

27:48

aircraft in just the last uh six weeks

27:52

so

27:53

>> you know it just it’s exposed to the

27:54

limitations of what the United States

27:56

can do.

27:57

>> At the risk of uh interfering with your

28:00

appetite for lunch, here’s JD Vance

28:04

again. This time on Russia and Ukraine

28:06

in the same interview, Chris number 16.

28:08

>> We’ve been disappointed by a lot of the

28:09

political leadership in Europe because

28:11

they don’t seem particularly interested

28:12

in solving this this particular

28:14

conflict. And what the president has

28:16

said is we it’s the hardest war to

28:19

solve. In some ways, we thought it would

28:21

be the easiest, but it has been the

28:23

hardest. We’ve been at it for now 14

28:25

months, and we’re just going to keep on

28:26

working at it. Fundamentally, the war

28:28

has stopped making sense. What I would

28:30

say to both the Russians and the

28:31

Ukrainians is, you know, we’re talking

28:34

about haggling at this point over a few

28:37

square kilometers of territory in one

28:39

direction or another. Is that worth

28:42

losing hundreds of thousands of

28:44

additional Russian and Ukrainian young

28:46

men? Is that worth an additional months

28:48

or even years of higher energy prices

28:50

and economic devastation? We think the

28:53

answer is clearly no. But it takes, you

28:55

know, two to tango. So while Victor and

28:57

President Trump are going to continue to

28:59

work towards a peaceful settlement,

29:00

fundamentally we can only open the door.

29:02

The Russians and the Ukrainians have to

29:04

walk through it.

29:07

>> They have the buffoonery. Yeah,

29:10

>> you know the Russia’s Russia is in the

29:13

process of building up for uh I’ll call

29:16

it its final offensive. Uh Ukraine

29:19

Ukraine is uh in retreat all along the

29:22

front and this thousandm front I might

29:25

add. Uh the the United States refuses to

29:29

accept responsibility for its own role

29:32

in prolonging this conflict. you know,

29:35

pull the money, pull the pull the CIA,

29:37

stop sharing intelligence right now. Do

29:39

it today. The there are so many things

29:42

the United States could do to if they

29:44

were serious about negotiation and

29:46

getting a diplomatic process underway

29:48

that many things that Trump could do

29:50

that he’s refused to do. So, um, you

29:53

know, for starters, like say, hey, that

29:55

all that property that was illegally

29:57

seized in the United States by

30:00

Barack Obama back in December of 2016,

30:04

uh, 2016, we’re returning that

30:06

immediately. That is yours. You know,

30:09

that’s that’s we’re going on 10 years

30:10

almost. Uh, reopening direct flights

30:14

between US and Moscow, show that.

30:16

Unfreeze the assets, show that. But

30:19

United States has done none of that. And

30:20

so Russia can only conclude that the

30:23

United States is not serious about a

30:24

negotiated settlement and they’re going

30:26

to they’re going to win this militarily

30:28

and it’s further will further fragment.

30:32

You know, NATO is not going to survive

30:33

this. That that’s going to be one of the

30:35

ultimate casualties.

30:38

>> Oh, but according to General Petraeus,

30:41

Ukraine is outsmarting Russia. Watch

30:43

this. Number six, Chris. Over the last

30:45

two months, the Ukrainians have actually

30:47

made greater incremental gains than have

30:50

the Russians. And that’s really quite

30:52

remarkable. And it’s a tribute uh to

30:55

just not the sheer tenacity and

30:58

determination and expertise of the

31:01

soldiers on the front lines, although it

31:02

is very much that. It’s really a tribute

31:06

to the extraordinary innovation that has

31:09

characterized what’s going on in Ukraine

31:12

over the last two or three years in

31:14

particular uh when they’ve realized that

31:16

they cannot again outnumber or outgun uh

31:20

the Russians. So what they’ve done is is

31:24

outsmart them.

31:27

>> Surge work out general.

31:30

>> Yeah. having having David Petraeus use

31:34

words like smart is sort of a form of

31:37

comedy. Uh the irony that’s implicit in

31:40

it because you know yeah he he was so

31:43

smart he was banging one of his uh uh

31:47

his biographer at the CIA headquarters

31:50

and allowing her to walk off with

31:52

classified information. That’s that

31:54

listen with that kind of intelligence.

31:56

Holy smokes. You know that lights up the

31:59

world.

32:00

>> Yeah. Look, look, this again this is

32:03

part of the problem that people like

32:05

Petraeus by virtue of education and

32:08

experience should know better and and be

32:11

able to set back and provide an

32:13

objective a genuinely objective

32:16

assessment of saying okay how much

32:18

territory has uh Ukraine actually taken

32:20

back and the answer to that is none and

32:23

taken back and controlled none. Uh how

32:26

much territory have the Russians taken?

32:29

you know, they’re they’re advancing

32:30

hundreds of kilometers a week right now

32:33

across the front. Not inches, not not a

32:36

few meters, hundreds of kilometers ac

32:40

kilometers across the front. So it’s

32:43

just, you know, once a society divorces

32:47

itself from reality and and just not

32:50

only indulges in lies, but rewards liars

32:54

and and and puts the liars at the

32:56

forefront. Uh you know, our our

32:58

country’s lost at that point.

33:01

>> Larry, thank you very much. Uh you’re

33:03

doing triple uh duty this week. Uh much

33:07

appreciated. and I know you’re much in

33:09

demand today and anybody that’s been

33:10

watching knows why. We’ll look forward

33:12

to seeing you Friday on the intelligence

33:15

community roundt. All the best my dear

33:17

friend.

33:17

>> Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity

33:20

judge. See you Friday.

33:21

>> Of course. Uh a dear friend and a great

33:24

man, an expert on so many of these

33:27

things. Uh still to come at 1:00 today,

33:30

Pepe Escobar at 2:00 this afternoon.

33:34

Professor Glenn Diesen at 3:00 this

33:37

afternoon. the great Phil Gerald. They

33:39

judge Nalano for judging for you.