June 18, 2025 • 30 mins
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Israel-Iran Conflict:
- Israel has reportedly conducted highly effective military operations against Iran, targeting military leadership and nuclear facilities.
- Iran is retaliating with ballistic missile attacks aimed at Israeli civilians.
- The discussion emphasizes Israel’s precision and success in degrading Iran’s military capabilities.
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U.S. Involvement and Trump’s Role:
- The podcast speculates on whether the U.S., under former President Donald Trump, will assist Israel by deploying bunker-busting bombs to destroy Iran’s underground Fordow nuclear facility.
- Trump’s long-standing position against Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is highlighted through a montage of his past statements.
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Tucker Carlson Interview:
- Cruz recounts a contentious interview with Tucker Carlson, criticizing Carlson’s isolationist stance and his recent attacks on Trump.
- The conversation touches on Carlson’s views on AIPAC and his skepticism about Iran’s threat to Trump.
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Foreign Policy Philosophy:
- Cruz outlines his stance as a “non-interventionist hawk,” advocating for strong defense and selective military action to protect U.S. interests.
- He contrasts this with both interventionist and isolationist extremes.
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Public Sentiment and Political Unity:
- The hosts argue that the majority of Americans support strong action against Iran to prevent nuclear proliferation.
- They downplay the idea of a major rift within the MAGA movement over foreign policy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in his Verdicus Center.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Ted Kruz Ben Ferguson with you, and We've got a
lot to unpack on the show, especially when it deals
with the issue of Iran and where we are right now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Well, Israel is winning massive victories in Iran that they
have decimated Iran's military leadership. We've seen one chief of
staff after another after another of Iran's military taken out
by Israel. We have seen nuclear facilities across Iran taken
out by Israel. The attacks have been incredibly effective. Iran
(00:33):
is striking back. They are firing ballistic missiles into Israel,
trying to kill civilians. Israel is attacking military targets, Iran
is attacking civilian targets. So far, the degree of success
has been spectacular.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
But yet the question remains, what is America's role? What
do we do?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Is America as the Trump administration, going to be directly
involved in taking out the Ford Oh nuclear facility in Iran.
We're going to break that down in this podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I want to also just talk to you real quickly
about what you can do to help the people in Israel.
And we've been talking for a long time about an
organization called the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And
right now, after you're witnessing what is happening, you may say,
you know what, I want to stand with the people
in Israel and what we're saying it is disturbing Anti
Semitism on the rise, not just in the Middle East, but.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Even here in America.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We're seeing Jewish schools, they are being targeted, synagogues, they
are being threatened, Families that are living in fear, and
it's a whole nother level of pain that we're witnessing
in Israel. And that's why I want you to get
involved with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They're
on the front lines and they're giving food and shelter
to so many displaced Jewish families that are under threat.
(01:51):
They're also literally as we speak, building bomb shelters just
for children to be able to save more children with
all of the rockets that are coming in. They're helping
survivors of hate rebuild their lives and their homes. And
they don't just respond to this crisis, they work every
day to prevent future crisis from even happening. Now, how
(02:13):
can you help, Well, you can have a simple gift
of just forty five dollars that will help support their
life saving work by providing food and sheltering so much
more so, if you want to stand with the people
in Israel, you can do it right now by getting
involved with IFCJ. You can call to make a donation
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight
(02:34):
eight four eight eight four three two five. You can
also give securely at IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org.
Every dollar helps. Don't wait. Be the difference IFCJ dot
org or eight at eight four eight eight IFCJ. All right,
So Center, you started your day very early dealing with
(02:55):
this issue of Iran.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
First off, well I did.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I spent two hours in my office first thing this
morning doing an interview with Tucker Carlson. Now, you and
I both know Tucker well, we like Tucker. I agree
with Tucker on eighty percent of the issues. I think
he's been fantastic on a ton of issues. He's been
fantastic on securing the border. He's been fantastic on standing
up to COVID lockdowns, to standing up to COVID vaccine mandates.
(03:22):
He's been great on free speech. He's been great on
the Second Amendment. We agree, and in fact, I will
say during the idiotic COVID lockdowns, Tucker's monologue every night
on Fox was the single best thing on television, which
I told him at the time, and I agree with him.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I will say.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
On foreign policy, Tucker has gone back crap crazy. He's
gone off the rails. He is suddenly a hardcore isolationist.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And so he asked.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He asked about a month ago, Hey, I'd like to
come interview, and I knew he was coming in to
interview me, and it was not going to be pleasant.
He disagrees with me on foreign policy, so we were
going to have in a rough and tumble fight. We
agreed to this interview a month ago. And yet it
ended up happening today, right when Israel and Iran are
in a war and Tucker has spent the last several
(04:14):
days attacking Donald Trump and saying Donald Trump was.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It was just really odd. Can we talk about that.
There's a lot of people that are shell shocked right now, saying, like,
what is happening? Tucker Carlson, who's usually hanging out with
Donald Trump during the campaign and up on stage, is
now attacking Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
This is not what anyone was expecting.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yes, he's blasted Trump as complicit in this horrible attack,
and he keeps saying World War three is gonna happen.
And he's been just over the top. And I will
tell you we sat down, we did it in my office,
and it started off. Look, I did not intend to
get combative, but it started off his first question. He
was throwing haymakers at me, and he was coming at me.
(04:53):
And it was a two hour interview. The interview will
come out Wednesday at one pm, and so you can
watch the whole two hour interview. And he attacks Trump,
he blasts what he calls the APAC lobby, and he
spends twenty minutes focused on how he thinks the APAC
lobby is dominating American foreign policy. And I will tell
(05:16):
you it gets pretty rough.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And because I for people that, by the way, don't
know APAC, can you explain what that is?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So APAK is the American Israel Political Action Committee and
it is a group of Americans who care about standing
with Israel. And Tucker argued, they are a foreign lobby
working for the government of Israel that should register and
should be prosecuted for not being registered. And it was
just unhinged. And I get like their conspiracy sections of
(05:45):
the Internet that that that are worried that like Apak
is running the world.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It's just not reality.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And and and he didn't like like it when I
called him out on it, and and I did.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
He also that there's.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
A completely surreal portion where I pointed out that Iran
is actively trying to murder Donald J. Trump has hired hitman.
And he just said, that's not true. I've never heard
anything about it. I don't know anything about it. Well,
it happens to be a fact. It happens to be.
Do oj is indicted Iranian hitman for trying to murder
Donald Trump?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
And and so that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
You know that. By the way, when you brought that up,
or was he refusing to accept.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
He insisted I was lying. He was just like, that's
not true. So I'll say this Today's podcast is on Wednesday,
Friday's podcast. We're going to break down in depth this
interview because it's it's important that the foreign policy divide.
I think isolationists those who oppose And by the way,
(06:45):
I went back at Tucker and I said, Okay, is
there any military intervention that that that Trump has done
that you agreed with, and he wouldn't agree with anything.
And it's just in my view. And I lay this
out at length and listen Friday podcast, we're going to
do a deep dive. But traditionally there have been two
polls in Republican foreign policy analysis, interventionists and isolationists. I
(07:09):
think they're both wrong. I consider myself a third point
on the triangle. I am a non interventionist hawk. I
am very reluctant to engage in military conflict, just like
Trump is. But I also believe in peace through strength.
The best way you avoid war is being strong enough
your enemies don't want to stand up to you. And
I gotta say Donald Trump the first term. In the
(07:31):
second term, I am very hard pressed to think of
a single foreign policy decision that I disagree with. And
that's not accidental. I spend a lot of time talking
with the President, and on foreign policy, he has agreed
with me overwhelmingly. We're on the same page. Tucker is not.
He thinks Trump is wrong and if you listen to
the rhetoric, and he's right now as we're sitting there,
(07:54):
it is twelve twenty five am Tuesday night. He's putting
out little snippets like blast me and his views. Anyone
who wants to stand with Israel and stand up to
Iran is a crazy warmonger. I just I think that's wrong.
I don't think Trump is a crazy warmonger. I think
he's a strong commander in chief. I think he is
(08:15):
defending America. I think he's defending Israel, and I think
he's standing up to a theocratic zealot who wants to
murder as many Americans as he can and as many
Israelis as he can.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
By the way, I will say that quote all day
that's been going through my head with this is your
my one of my favorite quotes of yours. When you
say we live in interesting times, and it is an
interesting day. When you and Donald Trump are together and
Tucker Carlson is against the two of you, we are
living in interesting times.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
It's actually it's a quote. It's an old Chinese curse.
And so the Chinese curse is, may you live in
interesting times, and it's meant to be that that's going
to be a real problem. And I say all the time,
we do, we live in interesting times, and it means
the challenges facing America in the world are massive, but
also the opportunities are massive. And I got to say, I.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Love living where we are right now.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I think America, you know, President Trump has said we're
in a golden age. I think there's an enormous amount
of truth to that. We have a strong president who's
fighting for America, who's defeating our enemies, who's fighting for freedom,
who's fighting for free enterprise. We've got Republican majorities in
the House and Senate. It's an exciting time right.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now, it really is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So let's give an update, and obviously we're going to
deal with that interview on Friday, but let's get into
the matasa of what's happened in the last forty eight hours.
And a lot of it comes down to some news
that has obviously caught the world by surprise. Number one,
we know that the President said, where the leader of
Iran is, we could have taken out if you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
We've decided not to.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
However, we may also be engaging and standing with Israel
in some sort of attack on Iran, and that would
specifically be on their nuclear program.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And let's break all that down as well.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
So if you look at what Israel is doing, they
have been surgical in their precision. They have taken out
senior military leaders. And by the way, if you didn't
listen to Monday's podcast, you should listen to Monday's pod.
We break down, we list all of the senior military
leaders they've taken out, one after the other after the other.
I mean, it is the leaders of the IRGC, it
(10:24):
is the chief of staff of the military.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It is.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's at the point with where if you're an Iranian
military officer and they say, hey, Ben, you want to
be head of the Iranian military, your answer should be.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Hell, no, no, I'll pass on that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, because I'm dying in twenty four hours. Because Israel
has been so effective, they literally promote someone boom they're dead.
Promote someone, Boom, they're dead. And it's a little bit
it reminds me of when Israel did the pager operation
against Hesbla and the pager operation against Hesbla. Hesbela leadership
gave pagers to terrorists and an israel planet a little
(10:59):
bomb the pagers, they detonated them and it was the
most accurately targeted military attack I think in history. Yeah,
because hesbel leadership decided who gets the pagers only the
people who were backcrap crazy enough that we want terrorists
able to page at a moment's notice to go kill people.
So they gave the pagers to them. They blew up
(11:22):
and they they either killed or wounded a ton of
hesbel A terrorists. The next day, Israel had a second
operation where they had walkie talkies that Hesbela was using,
and the walkie talkies had bombs in them and they
started exploding. And the beauty of it is hesbel A terrorists.
I think those guys were terrified at phone rings and
they jump and run screaming like. It was incredibly effective.
(11:46):
And I actually think what Israel is doing against the
military leadership is similar, where if you're an Iranian soldier,
you're looking around going wait, every time someone gets promoted
to run this thing, they die the next day. That
is fantastically effective in terms of limiting Iran's ability to
(12:07):
wage war, limiting Iran's ability to wage war against Israel,
limiting Iran's ability to wage war against America, limiting their
ability to sponsor terrorism. So that has been incredibly effective.
They're also taking out Iran's nuclear scientist. And so this
is all about you have a crazy iatola who is
a religious zealot who routinely chants death to America and
(12:29):
death to Israel, and he's trying to build nuclear weapons,
and he's trying to build ICBMs. And here's an important point,
ben on ICBM stands for an intercontinental ballistic missile. You
don't need an ICBM to get to Israel. Iran is
attacking Israel with ballistic missiles. On ICBM, the intercontinental aspect
(12:50):
of it is entirely to take a missile to America.
The reason Iran is building ICBMs is they want to
be able to carry a nuclear war head to the
United States of America and detonate it in the skies
of New York or Los Angeles or Washington, DC and
murder as many Americans as possible. And so President Trump
(13:11):
has been incredibly consistent saying Iran will not get a
nuclear weapon, period the end. And in fact, I want
to play a montage of a couple of minutes of
President Trump's saying this over the years. For more than
a decade he has said this line. And yet some observers,
including Tucker are acting shocked that President Trump is saying
(13:34):
Iran can't get a nuclear weapon. He has said this
without deviation for more than ten years.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Give a listen.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You cannot
let it happen because bad things will happen if that happens.
But everybody stopped. They were ready to make a deal.
We would have made a deal. It was great for everybody.
No nuclear weapons. You can't give them nuclear weapons. Now
they're gonna have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Don't let Iran have nuclear weapons.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
That's my only thing I have to tell you today.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Don't let them have it.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
They would have never had them, including around we would
have They can't have a nuclear weapon, that's all. They
can't have nuclear weapons. It's too too destructive, too powerful.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They can't have it.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
But I wanted to make a deal with them. No
nuclear weapons. You can't have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are
the single greatest threat to this world, to the whole world,
and Victor Orban understands that, and some others do too.
I just don't want them to have a nuclear weapon,
and they weren't going to have one, and they cannot.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Have a nuclear weapon. That was the only thing, the
one thing I said you cannot have.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
I just didn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
I said, you know, we're going to make a great deal.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Everybody's going to be happy, You're going to be rich
as hell again, everything's going to be great. But you
cannot have a nuclear weapon. You can't let Iran have
nuclear weapons.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They cannot
have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Instead, we have a very hostile country that wants nuclear weapons.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Can't let that happen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The main thing is Iran can't have a nuclear weapon.
That was my main thing. The deal was a simple deal.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
Iran can't have a nuclear you know, it can't have
a missile, can't have a nuclear missile. It cannot have
that nuclear capability.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You listen to president.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
By the way, we've got another nine and a half minute,
so the President saying this over and over again.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, the ship is sixteen minutes long.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
So we literally cut it short.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I was like, look, we can't play a sixteen minute
clip on the podcast. But that is President Trump for
more than a decade. I'll tell you a story. So
back in the twenty sixteen presidential election, Trump and I
are running against each other. And I organized a rally
on Capitol Hill against the Obama Iran nuclear deal, and
(15:49):
we had thousands of people come out against it, and
I was saying, this is a terrible deal.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
It will result in.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Iran getting a nuclear weapon. And I invited Donald Trump
to come to the rally, and Trump, look key and
I were running against each other. We were friends, but
we were opponents in that race. And so I remember
Trump showed up and he's like, Ted, why the hell
did you invite me to your rally? Like I don't understand,
Like we're running against each other, and you invited me
(16:15):
to your rally, And I said, I said, Donald, it's
real simple. When you show up, you bring a crap
ton of TV cameras and the press all covers it.
And I care about this issue, and if we do
not stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, we are
endangering the lives of millions of Americans. And so Trump
and I together, in the middle of the campaign where
(16:37):
we're campaigning against each other, we stood on the stage
together and said we agree, Iran cannot get a nuclear
weapon and America must do whatever is necessary to stop
Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. We were unified a
decade ago in that that has been Trump's consistent position.
So I've got to say it's remarkable watching the Tucker
(16:58):
Carlsons of the world react with shock. Why the hell
does Trump want to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?
The reason is simple, and this is where look in
foreign policy. People think in a very binary sense. Either
you're an interventionist who wants to invade every country on Earth,
or your an isolationist who never wants to engage in
military force.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Both views are wrong.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
The touchstone for military action should be protecting the vital
national security interests of the United States. The reason President
Trump is standing with Israel, Israel is doing a massive
favor to us. Every one of us should stop and
say thank you to the tiny nation of Israel. It
is the size of the state of New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, it's not big. A lot of people don't realize.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
That it is tiny, and they are actively taking out
Iran's nuclear capability right now. And listen, those nuclear weapons.
If Iran developed them, there's a real possibility that would
be used against Israel, but there is at least an
equal possibility they would be used against America. To murder
(18:03):
millions of Americans. And so it's not America. Also, it's Israel.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
It's taking this out.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, and let's bring in this new aspect because this
is some of the breaking news that President Trump has
called for Rand's unconditional surrender and also called the Supreme
Leader out, saying, look, we know where you are. You're
an easy target. You might want to hurry up and
get a deal done here. Clearly, the President's not advocating
for regime change. What he is advocating for is making
(18:29):
sure that they never get a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Well, and I will tell you on the point that
he said we know where you are. He said it
in reference to protecting American servicemen and women. And when
this war broke out, we did a podcast that night
and we said, listen, every one of us should pray
for the people of Israel because we're going to see
a massive ballistic missile onslaught of Israel and we're going
(18:54):
to see a lot of Israelis killed.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I talked on Sunday night to a good friend of
mine whose mother is in Jerusalem right now now, and
he said, his mom, since this war started, he said,
she hasn't slept a night because every night they wake
up at two or three in the morning and they
rush the air raid sirens are going off. They rush
to a bomb shelter because they're facing incoming missiles constantly.
That's a hard circumstance. And so I will say to
(19:18):
all of our listeners, pray for the people of Israel.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
That is hard.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
They are doing this because the risk of an Iranian
nuclear weapon is a massive murder of Israelis, potentially on
the order of magnitude of the millions. So it is
the right thing for them to do. But Israelis are dying.
They're dying every day from because Iran is targeting civilians.
But secondly, old, let me make this other point, Ben Iran,
(19:47):
there is a real threat of Iran targeting American servicemen
and women. And we've got thousands upon thousands of servicemen
and women in the Middle East.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
And I will tell you.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I called on Sunday, I called President try and I said, hey,
I just want to tell you thank.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
You for what you're doing on Iran. In Israel.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
You are doing an incredible job. In the last few days,
these have been some of the best days you have
had as president, because President Trump is standing unshakably with Israel,
which is where we should be. But he's also made
absolutely clear to Iran, if you attack American servicemen and women,
(20:26):
you will face a devastating response. And as you noted
the tweety scent, he said directly the Ietola, we know
where you are. And the point is clear if you
kill American servicemen and women. To be clear, Iran could
kill some of our soldiers. I mean they could fire
enough missiles that we would have active duty military killed.
And what Trump has said as the commander in chief
(20:48):
is if you do that, you are going to regret
it because we are going to strike back. You cannot
attack American active duty military. And thank god Trump is
being a strong commander in chief. Joe Biden could never
get that sentence out of his mouth. But President Trump
is protecting our servicemen and women. And I so I
called him on Sunday and just said, hey, thank you.
(21:10):
It's making a real difference protecting our servicemen and women.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, let's also talk about what's happened with the air
superiority or the lack of security that Iran actually had
over their own country. Yes, and and that could also
spell trouble for the leadership in Iran because now the
people may realize, wow, we may have been played by
these these these horrible leaders. And there is total air
(21:38):
superiority now by Israel or anybody that wants to to
go after Iran.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So Israel and potentially America have complete air superiority over Iran.
And Israel has taken out Iran's air defenses, so they're
not able to stop Israeli jets in the air, and
and and and the bombers are bombing the hell out
of As of two days days ago, there had been
over seven dred and twenty military strikes in Iran. The
(22:04):
numbers substantially higher now I don't have the current number,
but it was seven hundred and twenty two days ago.
And Iran is not able to do any thing about
it because their air defenses have been destroyed, and so
they're just sitting ducks. They're just and I will tell
you the dynamics. So there's a delicate question. Israel has
been able to and it actually has succeeded in taking
(22:25):
out a massive amount of the military leadership of Iran.
They have also succeeded in pounding the hell out of
Iran's nuclear facilities, like the Natan's facility, which is where
they do much of the nuclear enrichment. Israel has bombed
the living crap out of The one exception that Israel
(22:47):
is not able to take out is the four Doh
Nuclear Research Facility. Now four Doah is built literally in
the base of a mountain, and it was built into
a mountain particularly to withstand a bombing attack. And Israel
does not have the military hardware to take out FORIDA.
(23:08):
Their bombs are not big enough. America does we have
bunker buster bombs that are thirty thousand pounds, that are
massive bombs that can take out on underground, under mountain
nuclear facility like FIDA. Israel also does not have bombers
that are big enough to carry a thirty thousand pound bomb.
(23:29):
That's a big ass bomb. And so the B two
bomber which America has is big enough to carry that bomb.
Israel doesn't have bombers that big. And so one of
the open questions Israel is asked, America, will you fly
in the B two bombers and drop your bunker busters
on fourd Oh and take it out as you and
(23:50):
I sit here at twelve what is it, twelve forty
three am on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. I do not
know if President Trump's going to do that. This is
being actively debated. It could by the time this podcast
comes out, it is possible that America will drop those
bunker busters. I think that is a real possibility in
(24:13):
the next few hours, in the next few days. And
and in my view.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
With that being said, then I got to ask this
questions that people understand. I I said this earlier night
on Chris Cuomo's show, and I said on Pierce Morgan's show,
and I said, I'm Fox the same thing.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I am not in favor, but Ben, you're a lot
of lefty shows, peer, I'm fighting the commis every day.
You know, is like does Bernie Sanders have a show AOC,
like like are you going on with with She of China?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Trying to go on with Tucker next?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You know, and just see if I can, I can,
I can explain them what my foreign policy is. But
it's I'm not in favor of putting troops on the ground.
Donald Trump's on in favor of putting troops around.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Absolutely no, no, no, no troops on the ground.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So what we're advocating for is simply this. If America
gets involved, it would be to do exactly what you
just said. It would be to do what Israel can't do,
to take out a nuclear drop.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
A couple of bombs.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Threat, Yes, to drop a couple of bombs, to drop
a couple of bombs that Israel can't like their bombs
are not big enough to take out Florida. And I
will say this from a perspective, my overwhelming touchstone is
what protects American national security interest, what keeps American safer.
It's America first. It's President Trump's foreign policy. That is
(25:32):
my foreign policy. And I will say when he and
I talked on Sunday, his comment when I was telling him,
you're doing a great job. What you're doing is fantastic.
As comment is, He said, Ted on foreign policy, you
and I are twins. And that's right. I agree with
him on foreign policy. The reason there is I think
(25:54):
a compelling argument for America to take out FIDAH is Florida.
They are doing research on nuclear weapons technology, they're trying
to develop nuclear bombs. They're not doing it because the
Iyatola thinks climate change is a problem and he wants
to create civilian nuclear power generation. It is entirely creating
(26:14):
a bomb that could murder millions of Americans or millions
of Israelis. They put it in the basement of a
mountain because they didn't want to be bombed. Only America
can take them out. And I got to say, I
think dropping those bombs, I have zero interest. We will
not send boots on the ground. We are not going
to invade Iran, and I have zero interest in coming
(26:35):
into the country and trying to turn it in into
a democratic utopia.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
We don't. Look it would be.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Wonderful if Iran woke up tomorrow and it was Switzerland.
But I'm not willing to risk your children or my
children to go in and fight a war to make
that happen. It is a very different calculus to say,
should we drop a couple of bombs and take out
a lab and fasciacility where they're developing nuclear weapons to
(27:02):
murder Americans? And I think that's a compelling argument. And
I got to say, I think there's a real possibility
in the next few hours or days that's exactly what's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Final question on this, if Donald Trump does in fact
make this decision. I actually don't think this is a
tough decision or a hard decision. I think it's a
simple decision, as you described it. If we must protect
the homeland and we must protect our allies at the
same time, and we're both a target, and we know
what a RAM would do if they got a nuclear weapon,
and we know that even if they didn't do it,
they might give it to their proxies to do it
(27:33):
as well. You add all that up, I think this
decision is actually pretty clear. If the President does that
and we move forward. There's also this big obsession in
the media out there's some massive divide in the MAGA world,
and this is going to split the Republican Party. I
actually think that's going to be a blip and we're
going to move back on to all the issues that
we do agree on.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I'm not taking the bait on that. I want your
take on it as well.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Look, so I did Sean Hannity this evening, and Hannity
had a poll that came out that showed seventy five
percent of Americans agree with President Trump that we should
act against Iran to prevent them from getting a nuclear
weapons using, and the question in the poll was whatever
means necessary seventy five percent. I don't know that seventy
(28:17):
five percent of Americans agree on butterflies or rainbows or
peanut butter and jelly like, that's a big percentage in
today's divided world, and so it is frankly a handful
of people who are disagreeing. Tucker is really an outlier
on this. And I made the point, and we're going
(28:39):
to talk about this. Friday's pot is going.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
To be all about this.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
But Tucker used to be twenty years ago. Tucker was
a neo Khan interventionist who was a cheerleader for the
Iraq War, and he practically had on a short skirt
and pomp pumps. I think the Iraq War was a
catastrophic mistake, and so I think he was far too
intervention and Tucker does too. He thinks he was wrong,
(29:02):
and I respect that. Look, look, intelligent people will assess
change circumstances and be willing to change their position based
on the facts, and so I respect that he changes views.
But the point I made is he went from being
an interventionist far too eager to send in the Marines
to being an isolationist who says we should never ever
(29:24):
use the military, even when we've got a lunatic, theocratic
zealot who is trying to murder Americans and has murdered
hundreds of Americans, and and and so I actually think
that view is a really fringe view in America. It's
a fringe view in Maga, uh, and it's a fringe
view across the country. And and and I think the
(29:45):
American people want a president who's going to say we
will protect ourselves against people who want to kill us.
That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, well, don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
We will be doing another show on Friday, and that
will be a big show in response to the interview
with Tiger Carlson.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So make sure you join us for that. Hit that subscriber.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Auto download button as well, and make sure that you
don't miss a single episode. We do this Monday, Wednesday Friday.
We're also up on YouTube now as well, so if
you listen to shows on YouTube, you can do that
also in the center and I will see you back
here Friday morning.
Welcome in his Verdicus Center.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Ted Kruz Ben Ferguson with you, and We've got a
lot to unpack on the show, especially when it deals
with the issue of Iran and where we are right now.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Well, Israel is winning massive victories in Iran that they
have decimated Iran's military leadership. We've seen one chief of
staff after another after another of Iran's military taken out
by Israel. We have seen nuclear facilities across Iran taken
out by Israel. The attacks have been incredibly effective. Iran
(00:33):
is striking back. They are firing ballistic missiles into Israel,
trying to kill civilians. Israel is attacking military targets, Iran
is attacking civilian targets. So far, the degree of success
has been spectacular.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
But yet the question remains, what is America's role? What
do we do?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Is America as the Trump administration, going to be directly
involved in taking out the Ford Oh nuclear facility in Iran.
We're going to break that down in this podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I want to also just talk to you real quickly
about what you can do to help the people in Israel.
And we've been talking for a long time about an
organization called the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And
right now, after you're witnessing what is happening, you may say,
you know what, I want to stand with the people
in Israel and what we're saying it is disturbing Anti
Semitism on the rise, not just in the Middle East, but.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Even here in America.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We're seeing Jewish schools, they are being targeted, synagogues, they
are being threatened, Families that are living in fear, and
it's a whole nother level of pain that we're witnessing
in Israel. And that's why I want you to get
involved with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. They're
on the front lines and they're giving food and shelter
to so many displaced Jewish families that are under threat.
(01:51):
They're also literally as we speak, building bomb shelters just
for children to be able to save more children with
all of the rockets that are coming in. They're helping
survivors of hate rebuild their lives and their homes. And
they don't just respond to this crisis, they work every
day to prevent future crisis from even happening. Now, how
(02:13):
can you help, Well, you can have a simple gift
of just forty five dollars that will help support their
life saving work by providing food and sheltering so much
more so, if you want to stand with the people
in Israel, you can do it right now by getting
involved with IFCJ. You can call to make a donation
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ. That's eight eight
(02:34):
eight four eight eight four three two five. You can
also give securely at IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org.
Every dollar helps. Don't wait. Be the difference IFCJ dot
org or eight at eight four eight eight IFCJ. All right,
So Center, you started your day very early dealing with
(02:55):
this issue of Iran.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
First off, well I did.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
I spent two hours in my office first thing this
morning doing an interview with Tucker Carlson. Now, you and
I both know Tucker well, we like Tucker. I agree
with Tucker on eighty percent of the issues. I think
he's been fantastic on a ton of issues. He's been
fantastic on securing the border. He's been fantastic on standing
up to COVID lockdowns, to standing up to COVID vaccine mandates.
(03:22):
He's been great on free speech. He's been great on
the Second Amendment. We agree, and in fact, I will
say during the idiotic COVID lockdowns, Tucker's monologue every night
on Fox was the single best thing on television, which
I told him at the time, and I agree with him.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I will say.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
On foreign policy, Tucker has gone back crap crazy. He's
gone off the rails. He is suddenly a hardcore isolationist.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And so he asked.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He asked about a month ago, Hey, I'd like to
come interview, and I knew he was coming in to
interview me, and it was not going to be pleasant.
He disagrees with me on foreign policy, so we were
going to have in a rough and tumble fight. We
agreed to this interview a month ago. And yet it
ended up happening today, right when Israel and Iran are
in a war and Tucker has spent the last several
(04:14):
days attacking Donald Trump and saying Donald Trump was.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
It was just really odd. Can we talk about that.
There's a lot of people that are shell shocked right now, saying, like,
what is happening? Tucker Carlson, who's usually hanging out with
Donald Trump during the campaign and up on stage, is
now attacking Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
This is not what anyone was expecting.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yes, he's blasted Trump as complicit in this horrible attack,
and he keeps saying World War three is gonna happen.
And he's been just over the top. And I will
tell you we sat down, we did it in my office,
and it started off. Look, I did not intend to
get combative, but it started off his first question. He
was throwing haymakers at me, and he was coming at me.
(04:53):
And it was a two hour interview. The interview will
come out Wednesday at one pm, and so you can
watch the whole two hour interview. And he attacks Trump,
he blasts what he calls the APAC lobby, and he
spends twenty minutes focused on how he thinks the APAC
lobby is dominating American foreign policy. And I will tell
(05:16):
you it gets pretty rough.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
And because I for people that, by the way, don't
know APAC, can you explain what that is?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
So APAK is the American Israel Political Action Committee and
it is a group of Americans who care about standing
with Israel. And Tucker argued, they are a foreign lobby
working for the government of Israel that should register and
should be prosecuted for not being registered. And it was
just unhinged. And I get like their conspiracy sections of
(05:45):
the Internet that that that are worried that like Apak
is running the world.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
It's just not reality.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
And and and he didn't like like it when I
called him out on it, and and I did.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
He also that there's.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
A completely surreal portion where I pointed out that Iran
is actively trying to murder Donald J. Trump has hired hitman.
And he just said, that's not true. I've never heard
anything about it. I don't know anything about it. Well,
it happens to be a fact. It happens to be.
Do oj is indicted Iranian hitman for trying to murder
Donald Trump?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
And and so that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
You know that. By the way, when you brought that up,
or was he refusing to accept.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
He insisted I was lying. He was just like, that's
not true. So I'll say this Today's podcast is on Wednesday,
Friday's podcast. We're going to break down in depth this
interview because it's it's important that the foreign policy divide.
I think isolationists those who oppose And by the way,
(06:45):
I went back at Tucker and I said, Okay, is
there any military intervention that that that Trump has done
that you agreed with, and he wouldn't agree with anything.
And it's just in my view. And I lay this
out at length and listen Friday podcast, we're going to
do a deep dive. But traditionally there have been two
polls in Republican foreign policy analysis, interventionists and isolationists. I
(07:09):
think they're both wrong. I consider myself a third point
on the triangle. I am a non interventionist hawk. I
am very reluctant to engage in military conflict, just like
Trump is. But I also believe in peace through strength.
The best way you avoid war is being strong enough
your enemies don't want to stand up to you. And
I gotta say Donald Trump the first term. In the
(07:31):
second term, I am very hard pressed to think of
a single foreign policy decision that I disagree with. And
that's not accidental. I spend a lot of time talking
with the President, and on foreign policy, he has agreed
with me overwhelmingly. We're on the same page. Tucker is not.
He thinks Trump is wrong and if you listen to
the rhetoric, and he's right now as we're sitting there,
(07:54):
it is twelve twenty five am Tuesday night. He's putting
out little snippets like blast me and his views. Anyone
who wants to stand with Israel and stand up to
Iran is a crazy warmonger. I just I think that's wrong.
I don't think Trump is a crazy warmonger. I think
he's a strong commander in chief. I think he is
(08:15):
defending America. I think he's defending Israel, and I think
he's standing up to a theocratic zealot who wants to
murder as many Americans as he can and as many
Israelis as he can.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
By the way, I will say that quote all day
that's been going through my head with this is your
my one of my favorite quotes of yours. When you
say we live in interesting times, and it is an
interesting day. When you and Donald Trump are together and
Tucker Carlson is against the two of you, we are
living in interesting times.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
It's actually it's a quote. It's an old Chinese curse.
And so the Chinese curse is, may you live in
interesting times, and it's meant to be that that's going
to be a real problem. And I say all the time,
we do, we live in interesting times, and it means
the challenges facing America in the world are massive, but
also the opportunities are massive. And I got to say, I.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Love living where we are right now.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I think America, you know, President Trump has said we're
in a golden age. I think there's an enormous amount
of truth to that. We have a strong president who's
fighting for America, who's defeating our enemies, who's fighting for freedom,
who's fighting for free enterprise. We've got Republican majorities in
the House and Senate. It's an exciting time right.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Now, it really is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
So let's give an update, and obviously we're going to
deal with that interview on Friday, but let's get into
the matasa of what's happened in the last forty eight hours.
And a lot of it comes down to some news
that has obviously caught the world by surprise. Number one,
we know that the President said, where the leader of
Iran is, we could have taken out if you wanted to.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
We've decided not to.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
However, we may also be engaging and standing with Israel
in some sort of attack on Iran, and that would
specifically be on their nuclear program.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And let's break all that down as well.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
So if you look at what Israel is doing, they
have been surgical in their precision. They have taken out
senior military leaders. And by the way, if you didn't
listen to Monday's podcast, you should listen to Monday's pod.
We break down, we list all of the senior military
leaders they've taken out, one after the other after the other.
I mean, it is the leaders of the IRGC, it
(10:24):
is the chief of staff of the military.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It is.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
It's at the point with where if you're an Iranian
military officer and they say, hey, Ben, you want to
be head of the Iranian military, your answer should be.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Hell, no, no, I'll pass on that.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Yeah, because I'm dying in twenty four hours. Because Israel
has been so effective, they literally promote someone boom they're dead.
Promote someone, Boom, they're dead. And it's a little bit
it reminds me of when Israel did the pager operation
against Hesbla and the pager operation against Hesbla. Hesbela leadership
gave pagers to terrorists and an israel planet a little
(10:59):
bomb the pagers, they detonated them and it was the
most accurately targeted military attack I think in history. Yeah,
because hesbel leadership decided who gets the pagers only the
people who were backcrap crazy enough that we want terrorists
able to page at a moment's notice to go kill people.
So they gave the pagers to them. They blew up
(11:22):
and they they either killed or wounded a ton of
hesbel A terrorists. The next day, Israel had a second
operation where they had walkie talkies that Hesbela was using,
and the walkie talkies had bombs in them and they
started exploding. And the beauty of it is hesbel A terrorists.
I think those guys were terrified at phone rings and
they jump and run screaming like. It was incredibly effective.
(11:46):
And I actually think what Israel is doing against the
military leadership is similar, where if you're an Iranian soldier,
you're looking around going wait, every time someone gets promoted
to run this thing, they die the next day. That
is fantastically effective in terms of limiting Iran's ability to
(12:07):
wage war, limiting Iran's ability to wage war against Israel,
limiting Iran's ability to wage war against America, limiting their
ability to sponsor terrorism. So that has been incredibly effective.
They're also taking out Iran's nuclear scientist. And so this
is all about you have a crazy iatola who is
a religious zealot who routinely chants death to America and
(12:29):
death to Israel, and he's trying to build nuclear weapons,
and he's trying to build ICBMs. And here's an important point,
ben on ICBM stands for an intercontinental ballistic missile. You
don't need an ICBM to get to Israel. Iran is
attacking Israel with ballistic missiles. On ICBM, the intercontinental aspect
(12:50):
of it is entirely to take a missile to America.
The reason Iran is building ICBMs is they want to
be able to carry a nuclear war head to the
United States of America and detonate it in the skies
of New York or Los Angeles or Washington, DC and
murder as many Americans as possible. And so President Trump
(13:11):
has been incredibly consistent saying Iran will not get a
nuclear weapon, period the end. And in fact, I want
to play a montage of a couple of minutes of
President Trump's saying this over the years. For more than
a decade he has said this line. And yet some observers,
including Tucker are acting shocked that President Trump is saying
(13:34):
Iran can't get a nuclear weapon. He has said this
without deviation for more than ten years.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Give a listen.
Speaker 5 (13:41):
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You cannot
let it happen because bad things will happen if that happens.
But everybody stopped. They were ready to make a deal.
We would have made a deal. It was great for everybody.
No nuclear weapons. You can't give them nuclear weapons. Now
they're gonna have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Don't let Iran have nuclear weapons.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
That's my only thing I have to tell you today.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Don't let them have it.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
They would have never had them, including around we would
have They can't have a nuclear weapon, that's all. They
can't have nuclear weapons. It's too too destructive, too powerful.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They can't have it.
Speaker 5 (14:16):
But I wanted to make a deal with them. No
nuclear weapons. You can't have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are
the single greatest threat to this world, to the whole world,
and Victor Orban understands that, and some others do too.
I just don't want them to have a nuclear weapon,
and they weren't going to have one, and they cannot.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Have a nuclear weapon. That was the only thing, the
one thing I said you cannot have.
Speaker 5 (14:37):
I just didn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
I said, you know, we're going to make a great deal.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Everybody's going to be happy, You're going to be rich
as hell again, everything's going to be great. But you
cannot have a nuclear weapon. You can't let Iran have
nuclear weapons.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They cannot
have a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Instead, we have a very hostile country that wants nuclear weapons.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Can't let that happen.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The main thing is Iran can't have a nuclear weapon.
That was my main thing. The deal was a simple deal.
Speaker 5 (15:10):
Iran can't have a nuclear you know, it can't have
a missile, can't have a nuclear missile. It cannot have
that nuclear capability.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You listen to president.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
By the way, we've got another nine and a half minute,
so the President saying this over and over again.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, the ship is sixteen minutes long.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
So we literally cut it short.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
I was like, look, we can't play a sixteen minute
clip on the podcast. But that is President Trump for
more than a decade. I'll tell you a story. So
back in the twenty sixteen presidential election, Trump and I
are running against each other. And I organized a rally
on Capitol Hill against the Obama Iran nuclear deal, and
(15:49):
we had thousands of people come out against it, and
I was saying, this is a terrible deal.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
It will result in.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Iran getting a nuclear weapon. And I invited Donald Trump
to come to the rally, and Trump, look key and
I were running against each other. We were friends, but
we were opponents in that race. And so I remember
Trump showed up and he's like, Ted, why the hell
did you invite me to your rally? Like I don't understand,
Like we're running against each other, and you invited me
(16:15):
to your rally, And I said, I said, Donald, it's
real simple. When you show up, you bring a crap
ton of TV cameras and the press all covers it.
And I care about this issue, and if we do
not stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, we are
endangering the lives of millions of Americans. And so Trump
and I together, in the middle of the campaign where
(16:37):
we're campaigning against each other, we stood on the stage
together and said we agree, Iran cannot get a nuclear
weapon and America must do whatever is necessary to stop
Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. We were unified a
decade ago in that that has been Trump's consistent position.
So I've got to say it's remarkable watching the Tucker
(16:58):
Carlsons of the world react with shock. Why the hell
does Trump want to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?
The reason is simple, and this is where look in
foreign policy. People think in a very binary sense. Either
you're an interventionist who wants to invade every country on Earth,
or your an isolationist who never wants to engage in
military force.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Both views are wrong.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
The touchstone for military action should be protecting the vital
national security interests of the United States. The reason President
Trump is standing with Israel, Israel is doing a massive
favor to us. Every one of us should stop and
say thank you to the tiny nation of Israel. It
is the size of the state of New Jersey.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Yeah, it's not big. A lot of people don't realize.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
That it is tiny, and they are actively taking out
Iran's nuclear capability right now. And listen, those nuclear weapons.
If Iran developed them, there's a real possibility that would
be used against Israel, but there is at least an
equal possibility they would be used against America. To murder
(18:03):
millions of Americans. And so it's not America. Also, it's Israel.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
It's taking this out.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, and let's bring in this new aspect because this
is some of the breaking news that President Trump has
called for Rand's unconditional surrender and also called the Supreme
Leader out, saying, look, we know where you are. You're
an easy target. You might want to hurry up and
get a deal done here. Clearly, the President's not advocating
for regime change. What he is advocating for is making
(18:29):
sure that they never get a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Well, and I will tell you on the point that
he said we know where you are. He said it
in reference to protecting American servicemen and women. And when
this war broke out, we did a podcast that night
and we said, listen, every one of us should pray
for the people of Israel because we're going to see
a massive ballistic missile onslaught of Israel and we're going
(18:54):
to see a lot of Israelis killed.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I talked on Sunday night to a good friend of
mine whose mother is in Jerusalem right now now, and
he said, his mom, since this war started, he said,
she hasn't slept a night because every night they wake
up at two or three in the morning and they
rush the air raid sirens are going off. They rush
to a bomb shelter because they're facing incoming missiles constantly.
That's a hard circumstance. And so I will say to
(19:18):
all of our listeners, pray for the people of Israel.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
That is hard.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
They are doing this because the risk of an Iranian
nuclear weapon is a massive murder of Israelis, potentially on
the order of magnitude of the millions. So it is
the right thing for them to do. But Israelis are dying.
They're dying every day from because Iran is targeting civilians.
But secondly, old, let me make this other point, Ben Iran,
(19:47):
there is a real threat of Iran targeting American servicemen
and women. And we've got thousands upon thousands of servicemen
and women in the Middle East.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
And I will tell you.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I called on Sunday, I called President try and I said, hey,
I just want to tell you thank.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
You for what you're doing on Iran. In Israel.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
You are doing an incredible job. In the last few days,
these have been some of the best days you have
had as president, because President Trump is standing unshakably with Israel,
which is where we should be. But he's also made
absolutely clear to Iran, if you attack American servicemen and women,
(20:26):
you will face a devastating response. And as you noted
the tweety scent, he said directly the Ietola, we know
where you are. And the point is clear if you
kill American servicemen and women. To be clear, Iran could
kill some of our soldiers. I mean they could fire
enough missiles that we would have active duty military killed.
And what Trump has said as the commander in chief
(20:48):
is if you do that, you are going to regret
it because we are going to strike back. You cannot
attack American active duty military. And thank god Trump is
being a strong commander in chief. Joe Biden could never
get that sentence out of his mouth. But President Trump
is protecting our servicemen and women. And I so I
called him on Sunday and just said, hey, thank you.
(21:10):
It's making a real difference protecting our servicemen and women.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, let's also talk about what's happened with the air
superiority or the lack of security that Iran actually had
over their own country. Yes, and and that could also
spell trouble for the leadership in Iran because now the
people may realize, wow, we may have been played by
these these these horrible leaders. And there is total air
(21:38):
superiority now by Israel or anybody that wants to to
go after Iran.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
So Israel and potentially America have complete air superiority over Iran.
And Israel has taken out Iran's air defenses, so they're
not able to stop Israeli jets in the air, and
and and and the bombers are bombing the hell out
of As of two days days ago, there had been
over seven dred and twenty military strikes in Iran. The
(22:04):
numbers substantially higher now I don't have the current number,
but it was seven hundred and twenty two days ago.
And Iran is not able to do any thing about
it because their air defenses have been destroyed, and so
they're just sitting ducks. They're just and I will tell
you the dynamics. So there's a delicate question. Israel has
been able to and it actually has succeeded in taking
(22:25):
out a massive amount of the military leadership of Iran.
They have also succeeded in pounding the hell out of
Iran's nuclear facilities, like the Natan's facility, which is where
they do much of the nuclear enrichment. Israel has bombed
the living crap out of The one exception that Israel
(22:47):
is not able to take out is the four Doh
Nuclear Research Facility. Now four Doah is built literally in
the base of a mountain, and it was built into
a mountain particularly to withstand a bombing attack. And Israel
does not have the military hardware to take out FORIDA.
(23:08):
Their bombs are not big enough. America does we have
bunker buster bombs that are thirty thousand pounds, that are
massive bombs that can take out on underground, under mountain
nuclear facility like FIDA. Israel also does not have bombers
that are big enough to carry a thirty thousand pound bomb.
(23:29):
That's a big ass bomb. And so the B two
bomber which America has is big enough to carry that bomb.
Israel doesn't have bombers that big. And so one of
the open questions Israel is asked, America, will you fly
in the B two bombers and drop your bunker busters
on fourd Oh and take it out as you and
(23:50):
I sit here at twelve what is it, twelve forty
three am on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning. I do not
know if President Trump's going to do that. This is
being actively debated. It could by the time this podcast
comes out, it is possible that America will drop those
bunker busters. I think that is a real possibility in
(24:13):
the next few hours, in the next few days. And
and in my view.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
With that being said, then I got to ask this
questions that people understand. I I said this earlier night
on Chris Cuomo's show, and I said on Pierce Morgan's show,
and I said, I'm Fox the same thing.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I am not in favor, but Ben, you're a lot
of lefty shows, peer, I'm fighting the commis every day.
You know, is like does Bernie Sanders have a show AOC,
like like are you going on with with She of China?
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Trying to go on with Tucker next?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
You know, and just see if I can, I can,
I can explain them what my foreign policy is. But
it's I'm not in favor of putting troops on the ground.
Donald Trump's on in favor of putting troops around.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Absolutely no, no, no, no troops on the ground.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
So what we're advocating for is simply this. If America
gets involved, it would be to do exactly what you
just said. It would be to do what Israel can't do,
to take out a nuclear drop.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
A couple of bombs.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Threat, Yes, to drop a couple of bombs, to drop
a couple of bombs that Israel can't like their bombs
are not big enough to take out Florida. And I
will say this from a perspective, my overwhelming touchstone is
what protects American national security interest, what keeps American safer.
It's America first. It's President Trump's foreign policy. That is
(25:32):
my foreign policy. And I will say when he and
I talked on Sunday, his comment when I was telling him,
you're doing a great job. What you're doing is fantastic.
As comment is, He said, Ted on foreign policy, you
and I are twins. And that's right. I agree with
him on foreign policy. The reason there is I think
(25:54):
a compelling argument for America to take out FIDAH is Florida.
They are doing research on nuclear weapons technology, they're trying
to develop nuclear bombs. They're not doing it because the
Iyatola thinks climate change is a problem and he wants
to create civilian nuclear power generation. It is entirely creating
(26:14):
a bomb that could murder millions of Americans or millions
of Israelis. They put it in the basement of a
mountain because they didn't want to be bombed. Only America
can take them out. And I got to say, I
think dropping those bombs, I have zero interest. We will
not send boots on the ground. We are not going
to invade Iran, and I have zero interest in coming
(26:35):
into the country and trying to turn it in into
a democratic utopia.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
We don't. Look it would be.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Wonderful if Iran woke up tomorrow and it was Switzerland.
But I'm not willing to risk your children or my
children to go in and fight a war to make
that happen. It is a very different calculus to say,
should we drop a couple of bombs and take out
a lab and fasciacility where they're developing nuclear weapons to
(27:02):
murder Americans? And I think that's a compelling argument. And
I got to say, I think there's a real possibility
in the next few hours or days that's exactly what's
going to happen.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Final question on this, if Donald Trump does in fact
make this decision. I actually don't think this is a
tough decision or a hard decision. I think it's a
simple decision, as you described it. If we must protect
the homeland and we must protect our allies at the
same time, and we're both a target, and we know
what a RAM would do if they got a nuclear weapon,
and we know that even if they didn't do it,
they might give it to their proxies to do it
(27:33):
as well. You add all that up, I think this
decision is actually pretty clear. If the President does that
and we move forward. There's also this big obsession in
the media out there's some massive divide in the MAGA world,
and this is going to split the Republican Party. I
actually think that's going to be a blip and we're
going to move back on to all the issues that
we do agree on.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I'm not taking the bait on that. I want your
take on it as well.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Look, so I did Sean Hannity this evening, and Hannity
had a poll that came out that showed seventy five
percent of Americans agree with President Trump that we should
act against Iran to prevent them from getting a nuclear
weapons using, and the question in the poll was whatever
means necessary seventy five percent. I don't know that seventy
(28:17):
five percent of Americans agree on butterflies or rainbows or
peanut butter and jelly like, that's a big percentage in
today's divided world, and so it is frankly a handful
of people who are disagreeing. Tucker is really an outlier
on this. And I made the point, and we're going
(28:39):
to talk about this. Friday's pot is going.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
To be all about this.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
But Tucker used to be twenty years ago. Tucker was
a neo Khan interventionist who was a cheerleader for the
Iraq War, and he practically had on a short skirt
and pomp pumps. I think the Iraq War was a
catastrophic mistake, and so I think he was far too
intervention and Tucker does too. He thinks he was wrong,
(29:02):
and I respect that. Look, look, intelligent people will assess
change circumstances and be willing to change their position based
on the facts, and so I respect that he changes views.
But the point I made is he went from being
an interventionist far too eager to send in the Marines
to being an isolationist who says we should never ever
(29:24):
use the military, even when we've got a lunatic, theocratic
zealot who is trying to murder Americans and has murdered
hundreds of Americans, and and and so I actually think
that view is a really fringe view in America. It's
a fringe view in Maga, uh, and it's a fringe
view across the country. And and and I think the
(29:45):
American people want a president who's going to say we
will protect ourselves against people who want to kill us.
That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Yeah, well, don't forget that.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
We will be doing another show on Friday, and that
will be a big show in response to the interview
with Tiger Carlson.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
So make sure you join us for that. Hit that subscriber.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Auto download button as well, and make sure that you
don't miss a single episode. We do this Monday, Wednesday Friday.
We're also up on YouTube now as well, so if
you listen to shows on YouTube, you can do that
also in the center and I will see you back
here Friday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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