All Episodes

June 24, 2025 22 mins

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.

Thanks for sharing the sixth script! This episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass (or a related segment) features a politically charged monologue, likely from Stephen A. Smith, reacting to a major geopolitical development: a U.S. military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, announced by former President Donald Trump.

Here’s a breakdown of the key themes and takeaways:


📰 Headline Event

  • U.S. Airstrikes on Iran:
    • President Trump announces precision strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz, and Asfarhan.
    • B-2 bombers deployed with bunker-buster bombs.
    • Trump claims the sites were “completely and totally obliterated.”
    • UN nuclear watchdog confirms “very significant damage.”

⚠️ Escalation & Fallout

  • Iran’s Response:
    • Iranian military officials vow retaliation.
    • Missiles fired at U.S. bases in Iraq and Qatar.
    • Trump hints at regime change in Iran via social media.
  • Global Tensions:
    • Iran’s “crown prince” in exile calls for Ayatollah Khamenei to step down.
    • Concerns about potential World War III and U.S. entanglement in another Middle East conflict.

🧠 Stephen A.’s Political Commentary

  • On Iran:

    • Acknowledges Iran as a long-standing threat to Israel and the U.S.
    • Believes Iran would use a nuclear weapon if they had one.
    • Supports the idea of preemptive action—if the intelligence is accurate.
  • On Trump’s Actions:

    • Questions the timing and transparency of the strike.
    • Criticizes Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and mocking of media figures.
    • Notes that even Trump’s MAGA allies (e.g., Bannon, Candace Owens, Matt Gaetz) are skeptical of the move.
  • On Democratic Response:

    • Criticizes Democrats for calling for impeachment during a global crisis.
    • Points out hypocrisy: Obama bombed Libya without congressional approval, yet faced no similar backlash.
    • Urges Democrats to acknowledge if Trump and Netanyahu were right about the Iranian threat.

🧩 Geopolitical Complexity

  • Russia’s Role:

    • Iran claims it will consult with Russia.
    • Trump praises Putin as “the boss,” raising eyebrows.
    • Concerns about a Russia-Iran alliance and broader destabilization.
  • North Korea Comparison:

    • Matt Gaetz argues North Korea is a greater nuclear threat than Iran.
    • Suggests diplomacy worked with North Korea and could work with Iran.

🗣️ Final Message

  • Stephen A. calls for:
    • Truth and transparency from both parties.
    • Accountability in government, regardless of political affiliation.
    • Focus on safety and global stability, not political point-scoring.

Support the show: http://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmith

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
A short time ago, the US military carried out massive
precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the
Iranian regime for Doau, Natance, and Esfahan. Everybody heard those
names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise.

(00:26):
Our objective was the destruction of irans nuclear enrichment capacity
and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the
world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can
report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular
military success. Iran's key nuclear and Richmond facilities have been

(00:49):
completely and totally obliterated. Rand the bully of the Middle
East must now make peace. If they do not, future
attacks would be far greater and a lot easier. For
forty years, Iran has been saying death to America, death
to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off
their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs, that

(01:13):
was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and
hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Have died as a direct result of their hate.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
In particular, so many were killed by their general Cassem Solmani.
I decided a long time ago that I would.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Not let this happen.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
It will not continue. I want to thank and congratulate
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like
perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone
a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I want to.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done.
And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American
patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of
the United States military on an operation the likes of
which the world has not seen in many, many decades.
Hopefully we will no longer need their services and this capacity.

(02:13):
I hope that's so. I also want to congratulate the
Chairman of the Joint chiefs of Staff, General Dan Raisin Kane,
spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved
in this attack. With all of that being said, this
cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will
be tragedy for a ran far greater than we have

(02:36):
witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many
targets left. The night's was the most difficult of them
all by far, and perhaps the most lethal, but if
peace does not come quickly, we will go after those
other targets with precision, speed, and skill. Most of them

(02:58):
can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There's
no military in the world that could have done what
we did tonight, not even close. There has never been
a military that could do what took place just a
little while ago. Tomorrow, General Kin, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,
we'll have a press conference at eight am at the Pentagon,

(03:19):
and I want to just thank everybody, and in particular God,
I want to just say, we love you God, and
we love our great military.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Protect them.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God
bless America.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Thank you very much, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
That was President Donald Trump late Saturday night, announcing the
United States had struck three nuclear sites in Iran. The
President sent B two bombers and dropped a number of
massive ordnance penetrate A bombs, also known as bunker busters,
during the mission over Iran. Earlier today, the United Nations
nuclear watchdogs said the bombing ray likely caused quote very

(04:01):
significant damage end quote to the underground parts of Iran's
Far Doh nuclear site. Meanwhile, Iranian military officials and members
of parliament vowed that the United States will pay a
price for the strikes, and today they fired missiles toward
US bases.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
In Iraq and Qatar.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
All this while President Trump alluded to the possibility of
regime change in Iran in a social media post Sunday.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
There has been no word yet from Iran Supreme.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Leader, but the exile quote Crown Prince end Quote of
Iran has called for the iotolic Commanie to step down
and face justice.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
This ugly situation, no doubt about.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
It, and those of us who are reticent about war
involving the United States, I can't blame them. But it
doesn't stop there, and we're not about to stop there.
On this show, I will preface my commons by saying
that I'm the novice of the crew compared to officionados
out there who cover politics for a living. But boo

(05:06):
boo to fool can see certain things. That's pretty damn obvious.
Number One, we have a situation where Iran has been
a threat to our ally in the Middle East Israel
for many, many years.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
We understand that they.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Have called for death to Israel, just like they've called
for death to the United States of America. When you
consider that, and you consider how determined they appear to
be to wipe Israel off the face of this earth,
we shouldn't be surprised that we're here today. I don't

(05:48):
like war. I don't like war evolving America. I get
that part. But I do believe that if Iran had
a nuclear weapon, that they would use it. And I
do agree that you can't allow an enemy of the
United States to have a nuclear weapon. It's that simple

(06:11):
to me. Having said that, I want to preface the
comment by saying I stand by everything that I say
if it's absolutely true, and let's not sit here and
act like they're an questions as to whether or not
that is true. You got to remember that since nineteen
ninety six, Benjamin and Yahoo, the leader of Israel, has

(06:37):
repeatedly stated that.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
He said it in nineteen ninety six, he said it
in two thousand, he said it in two thousand and five,
he said it in two thousand and eleven, he said
it in twenty and fourteen. He said it in twenty
and fifteen, he said it in twenty and eighteen. He
said it in twenty and twenty. He said it in
twenty and twenty four. Ladies and gentlemen, it's been almost

(07:03):
thirty years since nat Yahoo's been saying this. So forgive
folks in the world if there's some skeptics out there,
because we all know that.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
He doesn't play.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
He wants to eradicate Iran at all courts, at least
their ability to have a nuclear weapon. He wants to
completely disarmor because he considers them a threat to the
existence of Israel. Now here's where I get frustrated, because
once again, here's the novice, that's the centrist that comes
into play, and he's listening to all of this stuff.

(07:39):
And here's where I get infuriated. The Democrats are calling,
or at least some of them, are calling for the
impeachment of Donald Trump.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Same old song and dance. I thought we heard this before.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
I thought that was over and done with the minute
you lost the election with the popular voter in the
Electoral College, rold was an.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Every sweet States.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
I thought we were over that, but evidently not. Question
number one, No matter what you feel about the President
of the United.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
States, do you think that's the time.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
While we're in the middle of such strife to be
calling for the impeachment of the president of the United States,
particularly if you're a representative, you're an elected official in
the United States of America, I.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Don't think so. It's number one. Number two.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Were the Democrat saying that when Obama bamba Libya when
he was in office, we're making all of.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
This noise about how.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
The War Powers Act is utilized and how Donald Trump
didn't receive congressional approval. Well, this is not an act
of war. This is eradicating a threat. Civilians weren't targeted.
Nuclear sites were targeted. So if nuclear sites were targeted

(09:07):
but no civilians were targeted, then that's not a war,
at least not yet, which means that you can navigate
your way around the War Powers Act itself and you
don't have to concern yourself with receiving congressional approval.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
The Democrats know that because of Obama.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
So if you knew that because of Obama and you
didn't say it when it involved him in Libya, why
would you turn around and all of a sudden try
to make that case against Donald Trump. I'm not here
condoning what Trump did, because I don't know if he's
completely telling the truth. I'd like to believe he is.

(09:51):
I'd like to believe that he did it totally, because
Iran is that kind of existential threat.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
And we see him here.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
What does the president say the sites that we hit
in Iruna are totally destroyed and everyone knows it. Only
the fake news will say anything different in order to
try and to mean as much as possible, and.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Even they say they were pretty well destroyed.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Working especially hard on this falsehood is Alison Cooper of
fake news CNN.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Alison, you mean Anderson.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
It's very disrespectful, mister President. It's very disrespectful. We live
in a country where we embrace the LGBTQ plus community.
You don't have to mock Anderson Cooper that way. His
name is Anderson Cooper. Could you show some respect please,
that's all.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
Be a grown up. That shouldn't be too much to ask. Dumb.
Brian L.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
Roberts, chairman of Concast, So now it's not Comcast, it's Comcast.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Johnny Call of ABC fake news.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Really, if you're attacking the individual, why I attack the
whole network? Everybody for ABC or NBC, CBS and anybody
else ain't fake.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Could you please grow up.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
See this is the kind of stuff that I've spoken
against when it comes to this president.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
But I digress.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
This says here and always the losers of again, Comcast,
NBC fake news. It never ends with the sleeves bags
in the media, and that's why their ratings are at
an all time low, zero credibility for listen, I'm not
going to get into that. What I'm gonna say to you,
mister president, is that are we sure you're doing the

(11:40):
right thing? Because it's not just the left that's against you,
it's also the maga right. Steve Bannon says, You've got
to talk to the maga right because why did you
have to get involved. Candice Owns is on this show
last week saying the same thing, both big time supporters
of yours. Tucker cost As another person, and they all

(12:04):
look at that, and a whole bunch of people Marjory
Taylor Green, who is I think crazy but nevertheless is
a staunch supporter of yours.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Even she said we shouldn't be involved in all of this.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Now.

Speaker 3 (12:17):
Obviously that's different from cats on the right like Mark Levin,
conservative host Lindsey Graham and others.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
I get that Senator Lizzie Griminer. I get it.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
But the point is, it ain't just the left that's
going up against President Donald Trump on this.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
It's also the magga right. So who's right? Even former
Florida Rep.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Matt Gates had something to say, and by the way,
what he had to say was very very interesting.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Put this suff of the people to see. Please let
me read this to y'all.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Right now, North Korea's nuclear weapon is a far greater
threat to the United States than Iran. It's not even close.
Iran has neither the bomb, to the livery system, nor
the re entry vehicle you'd need for any intercominental ballistic
missile to launch and re enter orbit.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
North Korea has all three.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
North Korea could launch a nuclear weapon at the mainland
United States today. We probably have the ability to knock
it out of the sky. But Iran can't even get
their bird in the air. US cities like Los Angeles,
San Diego, and Seattle are on maps, and North Korea
openly discusses them. Of course, we aren't looking to drop
one hundred bunk of busters in the mountains of North Korea.

(13:26):
President Trump took other brilliant diplomatic steps to constrain North
Korea's hostilities, and the same could be done with Iran.
That is from former Rep. Matt Gates, who Trump was
very very fond of until the other Republicans said, hell, no,
we don't want him serving in your cabinet, and he
was booted up out of there, and now he's here

(13:47):
doing the podcast these days. Doesn't make him false, doesn't
make him wrong, doesn't make him ill informed. Considering like
he says on Foreign Relations Committee and all of this stuff,
the man kind of knows what he's talking about as
it pertains to this, because everybody body knows that North
Korea does have a weapon. North Korea could do considerably
more damage than Iran could do at this point or

(14:08):
at any point in recent memory.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Now. To be fair, North Korea.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
Is relatively isolated, so when you compare that to where
Iran is located and the damage it could potentially do,
I understand number two. There's nothing wrong with eradicating a
potential threat from developing and leaving it at that, as

(14:34):
long as we're not getting a bit more extensive, but
still at all that doesn't mean problems can't come from this.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
Remember, Iran said their friends with Russia, and they're.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Gonna have conversations with Russia, and who knows what that's
gonna materialize into.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Who knows what Putin, who's.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Ticked off that the United States was helping armed Ukraine
against him, is feeling right now what he's plotting to do.
Remember I told y'all before, this man wants to reclaim Europe,
most of Europe. Remember after World War Two? What the
goal was from Stalin and those boys. They wanted Europe.
They backstabbed in the United States, they went against the

(15:16):
agreement of developing democracies and stayed with communism.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
They want Europe. Well, you think Putin's after.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
So he can't trust anything he say in a lot
of people's eyes. But nevertheless, let's see what Trump had
to say about this. Did I hear former President Medvedev
from Russia casually throwing around the N word as in nuclear? Really,
that's what that's what we classifying as the N word
now nuclear instead of the other word. Really, Donald Trump, okay,
and saying that he and other countries would supply nuclear

(15:52):
warheads to Iran. Did he really say that or is
it just a figment of my imagination? If he did
say that and if confirmed, please let me know. The
N word should not be treated so casually. I guess
that's why Putin's the boss. By the way, if anyone
thinks our hardware was great over the weekend, far and away,
the strongest and best equipment we have twenty years advanced

(16:12):
over the pack is our nuclear submarines. They are the
most powerful and lead the weapons ever built and just
launched the thirty Tomahawks.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
All thirty hit their mark perfectly.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
So in addition to our great fighter Polits, thank you
to the captain and crew. So basically, in this particular
post on truth social essentially what Trump is saying that
you know, don't throw around the word nuclear casually, labeling
that the new N word. But he also took an

(16:43):
opportunity to praise Putin as the boss. Meanwhile, Iron is
talking about working with Russia. No doubt Russia would give
advice to their friend Iran on how to combat anything
that the United States is throwing in their direction. And Iran,

(17:04):
who obviously had Hamas and hesbealized proxies and the hoodies
to some degree until the United States dealt with them
in Yemen. We gotta look at all of this and
understand this problem is not going away and then taking
it back to the streets of America. You've got people

(17:26):
around here from the Jewish community walking around petrified of
the proliferation of anti Semitism that they feel is swelling
throughout the streets of America. In part it could be
because of what's been happening in Gaza since October seventh,
a couple of years ago. But the other thing is

(17:48):
that there are far too many American citizens asking themselves,
are we gonna get into yet another fight? And if so, why,
essentially implying let Israel handle their own business. Trump essentially
is saying no, we got their back. Some have been

(18:11):
speculating that he jumped in after Israel did marvelous work
in attacking some of Iran's facilities over the last week
to ten days or so, that chump jumped right in
because he saw how effective Israel is that he wanted
to move in do some.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Damage so he could take all the credit in the
world for it. Who knows, who cares? All we care
about it.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
This particular point is safety, not just in the streets
of America, but throughout this world. We don't want World
War three and we need to know that the people
in power don't want it just as much as the
rest of us don't want it. And right now we

(18:58):
don't know what the hell is going on. But I'll
tell you this, as much as I'm pointing the finger
at Trump, as much as I'm pointing the finger at
what's going on right now in terms of its discomfort
and whether or not we're making the right decisions, I
don't know. Even though I do consider Iran a threat
that needed to be dealt with. I will say this

(19:21):
the Democrats, first of all, all the representatives in Congress,
where the hell have you been? You didn't say much
until Trump dropped the bombs on the nuclear sites you
acquired at a mouse, you acquired as hell.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
We heard nothing. Where were you? That's number one.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Number two, I don't want to hear stuff about impeachment
because the president abused its power and a violated Article
two of the Constitution.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
I want to hear all of that.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Obama attacked Libya without congressional No one said anything, including you,
Chuck Schumer, You might say anything. And number three, if
indeed we do our research in our homework and we

(20:15):
find out that President Trump and Benjaminett and Yahoo were
correct in their assessment of the threat that Iron posed,
thereby fully justifying the actions that took place over this weekend.
If you're a Democrat, do you need to be quiet

(20:37):
about that? I would say no, you need to come
out and you need.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
To say they did the right thing.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
When we talk about building faith in our government, if
something walks like a duck and quacts like a duck,
it ain't a freaking mongols, it's a damn duck.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Say so.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Say so because by saying so, even if it's favorable
to the other side in the moment, at least you're
proven your trustworthy enough to call balls and strikes.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Figuratively speaking, you're trusted enough.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
You can be trusted enough to just tell the freaking truth,
assess the situation, use your powers on Capitol Hill to
find out how legitimate and potent the threat was, and
if President Trump was right, and if y'all was right,

(21:35):
say so. If you do that on the left, it'll
show your reasonable After all, that might help you in
twenty twenty six for the midterms, and they I say
twenty twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (21:55):
For the presidency. Just saying just then,
Advertise With Us

Host

Stephen A. Smith

Stephen A. Smith

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.