August 22, 2025 • 35 mins
The stark divide between diplomatic theater and human suffering takes center stage in this powerful episode of The Darrell Mcclain Show. As global leaders exchange handshakes and pose for photographs, we pull back the curtain on what these performances truly reveal about power, principles, and moral responsibility in our fractured world.
Trump's diplomatic summit provides a troubling window into America's shifting approach to international relations. Meeting with Putin, Trump offered legitimacy to a leader responsible for Ukraine's invasion, treating him not as an adversary but as a respected counterpart. This transactional approach continued with Zelensky, who arrived desperate for support but found himself treated as a client rather than a partner in crisis. When European leaders entered the room, they received criticism for defense spending shortfalls while NATO itself was framed as a protection racket rather than a vital alliance. These interactions reveal a worldview where alliances are business deals rather than commitments founded on shared values—potentially fulfilling Putin's long-term strategy of fracturing Western unity.
Meanwhile, as these diplomatic games unfold, we confront the horrifying reality of famine in Gaza, where over 500,000 people face starvation not from natural causes but from deliberate policy choices. The UN's declaration makes it official: this is a man-made catastrophe. Jewish voices including prominent actors speak out powerfully against Netanyahu's government, arguing these actions not only harm Palestinians but endanger Jewish communities worldwide. Bernie Sanders delivers an unflinching assessment, naming Netanyahu a war criminal responsible for this humanitarian disaster.
What does America stand for if not the defense of human dignity? When principles become negotiable and suffering becomes acceptable, we lose more than our moral standing—we lose our very identity as a nation. Join us as we examine this critical moment and ask what it demands of us all.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jerome Clayton Show.
Independent media that won'treinforce tribalism.
We have one planet.
Nobody is leaving, so let usreason together.
We are now coming to episode472.
Let's get into some of the news.
Zelensky and then the Europeanleaders.
(00:22):
So if you thought politics wasmessy before, I just have to
tell you you have to buckle upwith this one, because this week
it gave us a spectacle thatcould have been written by a
cynical playwright.
President Donald Trump sat downwith the Russian president,
(00:43):
vladimir Putin, then turnedaround to meet with Ukraine's
Vladimir Zelensky, and afterthat he walked into a room full
of European leaders who alreadylooked like they wanted to call
their travel agents and go home.
There it was.
It was a big deal.
These weren't polite handshakesacross the champagne table.
(01:06):
These were confrontations,calculations and power moves,
each one telling us more aboutwhere the world stands right now
, mind clamoring to figure outwhat it all meant.
So let's start with the Trumpand Putin meeting.
(01:26):
You have the leader of theUnited States of America sitting
down with a man whosefingerprints are still fresh on
the invasion of Ukraine, oncyber attacks against the West
and on political interferenceacross the globe, and yet Trump
treated Putin not like a pariah,but like an estranged business
(01:49):
partner, someone you don'tentirely trust but you still
can't resist admiring.
Now I read the officialsummaries.
They're vague, as you'd expect.
Did Trump confront Putin aboutUkraine?
No evidence of that.
Did Trump raise a fuss overelection meddling?
(02:10):
No evidence of that.
Doesn't look like it.
But what we did see was bodylanguage, optics and tone,
because that's the coin of the.
I would just say that's thecoin that counts the most in the
realm that we're in, in Trumpworld, and in those terms, putin
(02:33):
seemed to have walked away thevictor, and that is the simple
fact that the summit happened atall is a gift to Moscow.
Putin gets the photo op, hegets the legitimacy, he gets to
stand beside the president ofthe United States and look like
(02:54):
he's an equal, and that's worthmore to Vladimir Putin than any
sanction relief or anybattlefield concession.
Now for President Trump, the winis domestic.
He shows his base that he's aman who gets along with strong
leaders.
But let's not kid ourselves,that kind of strength often
(03:16):
looks like submission to strongmen around the world around the
world when it comes to trump andzielinski.
They came, the meeting, um, thepicture, the scene, etc.
Was was a, was a better thanthe first time.
But um, ukraine is, um isdesperate, bleeding russian
(03:44):
missiles fall on the citieswhile soldiers dig trenches in
freezing mud.
Zelinski arrives needing morethan words.
Um, he needs weapons, funding,guarantees.
And what do you think he got?
A transactional president ofthe United States.
(04:05):
Trump's instincts is neversolidarity, it's negotiation,
and because of that, Trumptreated Zelensky not as a
partner in a crisis but as aclient at a negotiation.
Table Reports say Trumpemphasized accountability for
aid.
Table Reports say Trumpemphasized accountability for
(04:29):
aid, almost as if Ukraine's verysurvival is a line item to be
justified like any normal budgetrequest.
Now, I'm not againstaccountability, but let's be
clear when you're fighting foryour nation's survival, what you
need from your supposed alliesis a commitment, not a bill of
sale.
And here lies the danger.
(04:50):
The message Galinsky is goingto take back home is that
American support is conditional,american support is temporary,
american support istransactional, and that's not
solidarity, that's bargainingwhen it's someone else's blood.
Now, when it came to Trump inEurope, and then, because the
(05:16):
show must go on, trump had tomeet with the European leaders
France, germany, eu leaders whowalked in bracing for a scolding
they knew was coming.
And sure enough, trumpdelivered NATO spending defense
budgets.
Trade deals he laid into themfor not paying their fair share.
(05:39):
And you know what?
On the raw numbers, trump isright.
Some countries do fall short ofthe two percent defense budget.
But here's the problem.
The president trump has alwayshad a way of turning truth into
poison.
Instead of building unity, heframes allies as freeloaders.
(05:59):
Instead of reassuring them thatamerica is committed to
collective defense, he makes itsound like NATO is a protection
racket.
You either pay up or you're onyour own.
So European leaders walk awayuneasy.
Can America still be trusted?
Will the United Statescommitments survive another
election cycle, or will NATOitself become just another
(06:23):
bargaining chip in Trump'sendless transactional worldview?
If Putin's strategy is tofracture the Western allies, he
must have left these meetingssmiling, because he doesn't have
to take a break from bombingUkraine because there was no
ceasefire deal made, and hedoesn't have to break NATO
(06:48):
himself.
He can just sit back and watchas it unravels from within.
The big picture is this Stepback for a moment and look at
the entire summit session.
What do you see?
Step back for a moment and lookat the entire summit session.
What do you see?
(07:08):
You see a president who viewsthe world not through the lens
of principle or morality, butthrough the lens of business
deals.
To President Trump, loyalty isnegotiable.
Alliances are nothing more thancontracts.
Dictators aren't villains,they're competitors that he
(07:29):
actually respects.
And what happens when yougovern like that?
Smaller nations get leftexposed, alliances weaken,
adversaries get emboldened, andthen the democratic world begins
to doubt itself.
(07:49):
Putin leaves stronger, zelenskyleaves anxious, european
leaders leave skeptical, andAmerica America leaves looking
like.
I would say they look less likethe leader of the free world
and more like a landlordhaggling over rent with a very,
(08:12):
very desperate tenant.
And that, my friends, is thestory.
The Putin handshake, theZelensky negotiations, the
European lecture, it all adds upto a pattern, a pattern where
America doesn't stand onprinciple but on deal making,
(08:33):
and deals, by their very nature,expire.
History is very cruel to greatpowers that forget what they
stand for.
Rome didn't fall because of onebattle.
It fell because the alliances,the trusts, the glue that held
it all together, it rotted away.
If America is to stand foranything, it's supposed to stand
(08:57):
for freedom.
And if America isn't standingfor freedom, if America isn't
standing for democracy, ifAmerica isn't standing for the
rule of law, then what exactlyis America standing for?
That's the question with thesummit that looms around us in
this season, after the photo opsmade and long after it all
(09:24):
fades away, is what did Americastand for?
Stay tuned, we have to staysharp and we always have to pay
attention because in high stakes, things like this, the details
definitely are what is going tomatter.
(09:46):
Now we're going to go tosomething kind of ridiculous and
we're going to talk aboutde-weaponizing federal law
enforcement.
So the FBI just swooped intoJohn Bolton's Batista home at 7
(10:07):
am today.
Because early raids aredramatic raids in a classified
document investigation, becauseif your former national security
advisor turned Trump critic,apparently that's warrant worthy
in today's America.
(10:27):
So what happened?
Let's just try to lay out thefacts here and while I'm doing
this, try not to roll your eyes.
So here's the quick rundownAgents raided Bolton's house and
later his DC office, armed withcourt authorized search
warrants.
No arrest, no charges, just alot of rummaging.
(10:49):
The FBI director, kash Patel,posted no one is above the law
on X.
Attorney General Pam Bondiechoed the tough talk and Vice
President JD Vance said it's allabout the law, not politics.
Trump was busy calling Bolton alowlife, a sleazebag, and
(11:10):
insisted he didn't know anythingabout the raid.
He saw it on TV.
Like the rest of us, then pointout the tension between
enforcing the law and enforcingthe law and enforcing political
theater.
So Bolton and Trump go way back.
(11:35):
Bolton served as NationalSecurity Advisor from 2018 to
2019 before falling outspectacularly with the current
president.
He then wrote a book called theRoom when it Happened.
Trump tried to block it.
He lost.
Biden then shut down earlyinvestigations in 2021.
(11:55):
And now here we are back in theinvestigation hot seat and, yes
, the FBI is now digging intomore than just the book.
You know how this goes right.
Fbi raids are either aboutnational security or political
(12:15):
payback.
Patel tried to deny it.
It said he didn't have enemieslist when his book was released
in January.
Now Bolton is apparently numberfive on that enemies list,
after Comey, brennan, taylor andBidman.
(12:36):
What are the odds?
It's almost like a mean girlslist, but with search warrants
and the FBI raids.
So Bolton was at home duringthe raid, because where else
would a man be, with the FBIvans parked outside.
(12:59):
He later popped up at hisoffice talking with agents.
Meanwhile, he posted on X aboutUkraine, russia and Nobel Prize
.
Talks Priorities, no publicstatement, otherwise, because
silence is the new mic drop.
Let's step back.
(13:28):
We have a former advisor turnedcritic, now rated for documents
, documents nobody specified.
Yet this pattern of raids oncritics isn't just chaotic, it's
supposed to be chilling.
What message does it send?
Speak truth, get a warrant.
Does it sin?
(13:48):
Speak truth, get a warrant.
Question power, get a warrant.
Don't exactly screamindependent justice, does it?
So that's today's politicaltheater Dawn, raids, memos and
every official insisting it'sabout the law.
Meanwhile, we're left wonderingif due process now means
(14:09):
processes.
You have to do Keep watching,Because if sanity doesn't make
its comeback soon, at least wewill have the drama to stare at
it.
We will have the drama to stareat it Now.
This is where theater, thetheater of politics, falls
(14:32):
silent because somewhere in Gaza, half a million people, yes,
500,000 souls, are experiencingfamine,000 souls Are
experiencing famine, starvation,famine A word so heavy it
(14:52):
becomes shameful that it stillexists In the 21st century.
The United Nations, through theintegrated Food security phase
Classification, officiallydeclared famine.
The United Nations, through theIntegrated Food Security Phase
classification, officiallydeclared famine in Gaza's
northern reaches Over 500,000people in catastrophic food
(15:17):
insecurity.
And it gets worse.
They went on to say that numbercould climb past 640,000 people
by the end of September.
By any measure.
That's not a statistics, it's amoral wound on humanity.
(15:38):
Famine it's called entirely manmade by experts and leaders.
Yes, man made.
One quarter of Gaza'spopulation is starving, deprived
not by drought or nature, butby blockade, by war, by
(16:01):
punishing policy.
This isn't fate, it's politicswith teeth.
Among those reporting, the UNSecretary General called it a
failure of humanity itself, aphrase that should haunt every
one of us.
The British Foreign Secretarycalled it a moral outwage.
(16:25):
Well, call it whatever you wantto, what it is is preventable.
What it is is a preventabletragedy Because this famine
isn't happening in thewilderness or in some forgotten
(16:45):
corner or the world.
It's happening in Gaza City,once vibrant, now haunted, and
the collapse is spreading intoDelaa and Khan Yunus,
territories turning into gravesfor bodies that could still be
alive.
We are talking about motherswho no longer have milk to feed
(17:09):
their babies, children so weakthat they can't even cry,
families who scavenge, whobarter and who do things that
would break your heart to evenhear, that would break your
heart to even hear.
This is not some distant newsitem, this is moral rot.
Let me be clear Famine is notthe side effect of war.
(17:33):
Famine is a weapon.
Destroying food, destroyingfood infrastructure, blocking
aid, turning survival itselfinto a target this is starvation
by design and this is a crime.
And yet, and yet, in the flickerof darkness, there are still
(17:57):
people lighting candles.
There's a grassroots resilienceyou'd only notice if you were
paying attention Like the Gazasoup kitchen started by two
brothers feeding thousands everyday, cooking over wood fires
when they can, even after losingone of them to a drone strike.
(18:18):
That's faith when all of reasonhas given up.
So let's end the show tonightnot with more talk about the
theater, but with a seed,because that that's the hard
truth, because the truth is aseed and action is rain.
(18:43):
The world has failed Gaza, it isfailing Gaza right now, and
that failure is on all of us,but it doesn't have to be the
end.
So, as I end the show tonight,let's remember them, every one
of the 500,000 people whosenames we do not know.
(19:07):
Let's remember that starvationis not a quirk of war.
Starvation is a human choice.
Let's remember that caring isnot an option.
Caring is the bare minimum.
I'm your host, darrell McLean,and if humanity doesn't find
(19:30):
better words, better ways, thensilence.
Then all of our shows andsummits and hand-wringing will
just be noise, and noise hasnever starved any feeding person
.
See you on the next episode.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Israel was constructed on the ruins of
another society and by the massdispossession of another, people
who remain unacknowledged asjust sort of obscure natives in
the background.
Back to the desert.
Let them go to one of the otherArab countries.
That's been the position and webear no.
The Oslo Accords sayspecifically that Israel bears
no responsibility for the costsof the occupation.
(20:13):
This after 20 years, 26 yearsof military occupation.
No responsibility, as anIsraeli journalist said.
He said we took over the countryin 1948 from the British.
The British left us the port ofHaifa, a road system, an
electrical system, a largenumber of municipal buildings
and lots of prisons, and wecould build Israel.
(20:34):
Without that there would be nostate today.
If we had taken Palestine in1948 the way we left Gaza for
the Palestinians, there would beno Israel.
We destroyed the economy, wedeported most of the capable
people, we forced the people tolive in hovels and refugee camps
(20:54):
over a period.
I mean anybody who's been toGaza.
It's one of the most criminalplaces on earth because of
Israeli policy of occupation andthey bear no responsibility for
it.
I mean that's simplyunacceptable, even for the
Jewish people who have sufferedso much.
It's unacceptable.
You cannot continue tovictimize somebody else just
because you yourself were avictim once.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Continue to victimize somebody else just because you
yourself were a victim once.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Are you thinking or?
Speaker 5 (21:24):
feeling any differently about what it means
for you to be Jewish in thismoment?
Yes, I am.
I'll let them go first.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
I hate the way some people are using anti-Semitism
as a claim for anybody that iscritical about a certain policy.
You know, as far as I amconcerned, compassion for every
person in Gaza, you know, isvery Jewish, and the fact that I
(21:49):
abhor the policies of theleader of that country does not
mean I'm a self-hating Jew orI'm anti-Semitic.
You mean Netanyahu when you saythe leader yes, yes, yes, I feel
this is the behavior, thepolitics of what he's doing is
(22:10):
the worst thing for Jewishpeople.
It's like lighting a candle foranybody that has any
anti-Semitic feelings.
It's like lighting a candle foranybody that has any
anti-Semitic feelings.
It's creating a generation ofwounded and hurt kids who will
understandably be very angry.
So that is how I feel and Ifeel I really feel deeply
(22:31):
troubled and horrified by whatis happening in my name.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
10, 15 years ago I was in Philadelphia and I go up
to the hotel room.
Catherine was in the hotel roomand the movie was out.
She was watching the PrincessBride.
And just as I walked in theroom is that final scene in the
movie where Inigo is sitting bythe window with the man in black
and the man in black asks Inigowould he like to be the next
(22:55):
Red Pirate Robertson?
And the Inigo would he like tobe the next Red Pirate Robertson
?
And the Inigo Montoya actor, whowas me, said these words, which
I did not really know what theymeant, that William Goldman
wrote, which I think are thesingular, greatest words I've
ever read.
You know, I have been in therevenge business so long.
(23:15):
Now that it's over.
I do not know what to do withthe rest of my life and I ask
Jews all over the world toconsider what this man, benjamin
Netanyahu, and his right-winggovernment, is doing to the
Jewish people all over the world.
(23:36):
They are endangering not onlythe state of Israel, which I
care deeply about and want toexist, but they are endangering
the Jewish population all overthe world.
He is the most dangerous thing.
Not just since October 7th, ithas been a deeply troubled
situation and endangering theJews by endangering those in
(23:59):
Gaza and to watch what ishappening.
For the Jewish people, to allowthis to happen to children and
civilians of all ages in Gaza,for whatever reason, is
unconscionable and unthinkable,and I ask you, jews everywhere
(24:19):
all over the world, to spendsome time alone and think is
this acceptable and sustainable?
How could it be done to you andyour ancestors?
And you turn around and you doit to someone else Israel.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Yes, israel Security Cabinet approved a plan to take
control of Gaza City.
Your response, look, israel hada right, of course, to defend
itself from the terribleterrorist attack from Hamas.
But what they have done sincethen?
Speaker 7 (25:00):
What does Bernie mean by that?
If you want to say Israel andthis is important to scrutinize
On October 7th, if you havemilitants shooting at your
civilians, you have the right toprotect your people On October
7th.
But after October 7th, afterthat attack is repelled, where
(25:22):
did that attack come from?
It came from occupied territory.
Gaza is occupied territory.
It's under a cruel, illegalsiege, so at that point, there's
no right to defend yourselfagainst Hamas.
Okay, there's only theobligation to end the occupation
and then negotiate an exchangeof hostages and captives, which
Hamas was willing to do.
So Bernie, though, kept sayingafter October 7th, israel has a
(25:43):
right to defend itself, and heeven opposed a permanent
ceasefire with Hamas.
He said how can you broker aceasefire with Hamas, given what
they just did?
Well, actually, that was theonly solution was to immediately
have a ceasefire and broker arelease of hostages both the
Palestinian hostages by thethousands that are in Israeli
(26:04):
prisons and the few hundredIsraeli hostages and should have
been called for, but Bernie,despite having some good stances
and being better than prettymuch everybody else in
Washington, kept expressing hisfidelity to Israel's nonexistent
(26:28):
right to defend itself from anoccupied people.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I'd say better than anyone else in the Senate,
because Rashid is a lot betterthan he is.
Speaker 7 (26:35):
Sure, yeah, yeah yeah , fair enough, certainly in the
Senate.
Yes, anyway, that's Bernie.
I think that's the flaw in hisrhetoric, which he keeps
repeating.
But so be it.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
He's gone to war against the entire Palestinian
people.
There are now some 60,000 whoare dead, most of whom are women
, children and the elderly.
You've got 18,000 kids, kidswho have been killed, 3,000
children who have had one oranother limb amputated.
(27:14):
And now, on top of all of thedestruction, human destruction,
human destruction, incredibledestruction of their housing, of
their schools, of theiruniversities, of their health
care systems.
On top of all that, whatNetanyahu does is impose a
blockade preventing food to comein and people are starving to
(27:34):
death.
So I think the good news isthat we're making some progress.
I offered a resolution, as youknow, a couple of weeks ago.
We got 27 votes from Democratsto stop military weapons going
to Gaza.
No Republican support.
But you know what I think?
I think Republicans at agrassroots level are also
(27:58):
catching on that it is not agreat idea to provide billions
to a government that starveschildren.
Would you say?
Hamas has some culpability inpeople starving?
No, when they spend so muchmoney building tunnels and
everything under.
So right now, right now, whatis going on is a slur.
All right, and right now,israel is, with few exceptions,
(28:22):
is in control of the militarysituation.
It is not Hamas.
Hamas is a terrible terroristorganization, all right, and I
certainly hope they have nofuture in a new Gaza or
Palestine, in a new Gaza orPalestine.
But the fault right now is 100%on a Netanyahu government who
(28:45):
has waged an all-out war,committed just— I mean there's
war crimes.
They are war crimes.
Netanyahu is a war criminal,just as the guy who was head of
Hamas is a war criminal, and theUnited States taxpayers should
not be funding them now.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Can you imagine being down a bash and being like I'm
talking to a senator about thisstarvation campaign that he's
calling out and the reallyimportant question is not just
to ask him in a very leading wayif Hamas is culpable, but then
say why not when he says they'renot culpable, and then give
some ridiculous talking pointsabout why they're responsible,
(29:21):
which makes it's not?
It doesn't even make sense.
I guess it's better saying thatthey've built tunnels.
That's better than saying theystole aid.
And she probably would havesaid that they stole aid, but
sadly for her and all the othergenocide propagandists, the New
York Times debunked that andeven two Israeli officials
debunked that.
But can you imagine like?
This is your question, dana.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
Yeah, it's like it's the same.
Can you condemn Hamas thing onloop?
And let's not talk about yearsof decades of ethnic cleansing,
occupation, siege, mass murder.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But this is like real time, not even a conceptual
thing.
You know what I mean.
Like they're literally, as wespeak, children dying and Israel
is starving them.
I got to say I know that Bernieleaves a lot to be desired when
it comes to Israel, but I was,I have to say I was impressed
that he was so unequivocal aboutwhose fault it is.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I would have expected him
to say, yes, Hamas is part of itall, but he didn't, he didn't,
he didn't take that bash bait.
So you know, good for Bernie.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And he bashed back.
He bashed back while she wastrying to put in more talking
points.
He's like right now.
He was responsible.
Yeah, so good on him.
And Dan Abash.
You know Craig McIver wrote agreat piece, the great human
rights lawyer who resigned fromthe UN over its failure to do
anything meaningful with Gaza.
He says that journalists can beheld accountable for incitement
(30:44):
to genocide and there isprecedent for that.
We saw that with Rwanda.
And Dana Bash I really hope youknow she's a woman and I'm a
feminist and I want to make surethat she gets credit.
It doesn't all go to JakeTapper, we need to recognize a
female journalist.
So big shout out to Dana and Ireally hope that she's
recognized for her work as agenocidal cheerleader.
(31:06):
And yeah, that's.
I don't know how she can sleepat night.
Welcome to the Jerome Clayton Show.
Independent media that won'treinforce tribalism.
We have one planet.
Nobody is leaving, so let usreason together.
We are now coming to episode472.
Let's get into some of the news.
Zelensky and then the Europeanleaders.
(00:22):
So if you thought politics wasmessy before, I just have to
tell you you have to buckle upwith this one, because this week
it gave us a spectacle thatcould have been written by a
cynical playwright.
President Donald Trump sat downwith the Russian president,
(00:43):
vladimir Putin, then turnedaround to meet with Ukraine's
Vladimir Zelensky, and afterthat he walked into a room full
of European leaders who alreadylooked like they wanted to call
their travel agents and go home.
There it was.
It was a big deal.
These weren't polite handshakesacross the champagne table.
(01:06):
These were confrontations,calculations and power moves,
each one telling us more aboutwhere the world stands right now
, mind clamoring to figure outwhat it all meant.
So let's start with the Trumpand Putin meeting.
(01:26):
You have the leader of theUnited States of America sitting
down with a man whosefingerprints are still fresh on
the invasion of Ukraine, oncyber attacks against the West
and on political interferenceacross the globe, and yet Trump
treated Putin not like a pariah,but like an estranged business
(01:49):
partner, someone you don'tentirely trust but you still
can't resist admiring.
Now I read the officialsummaries.
They're vague, as you'd expect.
Did Trump confront Putin aboutUkraine?
No evidence of that.
Did Trump raise a fuss overelection meddling?
(02:10):
No evidence of that.
Doesn't look like it.
But what we did see was bodylanguage, optics and tone,
because that's the coin of the.
I would just say that's thecoin that counts the most in the
realm that we're in, in Trumpworld, and in those terms, putin
(02:33):
seemed to have walked away thevictor, and that is the simple
fact that the summit happened atall is a gift to Moscow.
Putin gets the photo op, hegets the legitimacy, he gets to
stand beside the president ofthe United States and look like
(02:54):
he's an equal, and that's worthmore to Vladimir Putin than any
sanction relief or anybattlefield concession.
Now for President Trump, the winis domestic.
He shows his base that he's aman who gets along with strong
leaders.
But let's not kid ourselves,that kind of strength often
(03:16):
looks like submission to strongmen around the world around the
world when it comes to trump andzielinski.
They came, the meeting, um, thepicture, the scene, etc.
Was was a, was a better thanthe first time.
But um, ukraine is, um isdesperate, bleeding russian
(03:44):
missiles fall on the citieswhile soldiers dig trenches in
freezing mud.
Zelinski arrives needing morethan words.
Um, he needs weapons, funding,guarantees.
And what do you think he got?
A transactional president ofthe United States.
(04:05):
Trump's instincts is neversolidarity, it's negotiation,
and because of that, Trumptreated Zelensky not as a
partner in a crisis but as aclient at a negotiation.
Table Reports say Trumpemphasized accountability for
aid.
Table Reports say Trumpemphasized accountability for
(04:29):
aid, almost as if Ukraine's verysurvival is a line item to be
justified like any normal budgetrequest.
Now, I'm not againstaccountability, but let's be
clear when you're fighting foryour nation's survival, what you
need from your supposed alliesis a commitment, not a bill of
sale.
And here lies the danger.
(04:50):
The message Galinsky is goingto take back home is that
American support is conditional,american support is temporary,
american support istransactional, and that's not
solidarity, that's bargainingwhen it's someone else's blood.
Now, when it came to Trump inEurope, and then, because the
(05:16):
show must go on, trump had tomeet with the European leaders
France, germany, eu leaders whowalked in bracing for a scolding
they knew was coming.
And sure enough, trumpdelivered NATO spending defense
budgets.
Trade deals he laid into themfor not paying their fair share.
(05:39):
And you know what?
On the raw numbers, trump isright.
Some countries do fall short ofthe two percent defense budget.
But here's the problem.
The president trump has alwayshad a way of turning truth into
poison.
Instead of building unity, heframes allies as freeloaders.
(05:59):
Instead of reassuring them thatamerica is committed to
collective defense, he makes itsound like NATO is a protection
racket.
You either pay up or you're onyour own.
So European leaders walk awayuneasy.
Can America still be trusted?
Will the United Statescommitments survive another
election cycle, or will NATOitself become just another
(06:23):
bargaining chip in Trump'sendless transactional worldview?
If Putin's strategy is tofracture the Western allies, he
must have left these meetingssmiling, because he doesn't have
to take a break from bombingUkraine because there was no
ceasefire deal made, and hedoesn't have to break NATO
(06:48):
himself.
He can just sit back and watchas it unravels from within.
The big picture is this Stepback for a moment and look at
the entire summit session.
What do you see?
Step back for a moment and lookat the entire summit session.
What do you see?
(07:08):
You see a president who viewsthe world not through the lens
of principle or morality, butthrough the lens of business
deals.
To President Trump, loyalty isnegotiable.
Alliances are nothing more thancontracts.
Dictators aren't villains,they're competitors that he
(07:29):
actually respects.
And what happens when yougovern like that?
Smaller nations get leftexposed, alliances weaken,
adversaries get emboldened, andthen the democratic world begins
to doubt itself.
(07:49):
Putin leaves stronger, zelenskyleaves anxious, european
leaders leave skeptical, andAmerica America leaves looking
like.
I would say they look less likethe leader of the free world
and more like a landlordhaggling over rent with a very,
(08:12):
very desperate tenant.
And that, my friends, is thestory.
The Putin handshake, theZelensky negotiations, the
European lecture, it all adds upto a pattern, a pattern where
America doesn't stand onprinciple but on deal making,
(08:33):
and deals, by their very nature,expire.
History is very cruel to greatpowers that forget what they
stand for.
Rome didn't fall because of onebattle.
It fell because the alliances,the trusts, the glue that held
it all together, it rotted away.
If America is to stand foranything, it's supposed to stand
(08:57):
for freedom.
And if America isn't standingfor freedom, if America isn't
standing for democracy, ifAmerica isn't standing for the
rule of law, then what exactlyis America standing for?
That's the question with thesummit that looms around us in
this season, after the photo opsmade and long after it all
(09:24):
fades away, is what did Americastand for?
Stay tuned, we have to staysharp and we always have to pay
attention because in high stakes, things like this, the details
definitely are what is going tomatter.
(09:46):
Now we're going to go tosomething kind of ridiculous and
we're going to talk aboutde-weaponizing federal law
enforcement.
So the FBI just swooped intoJohn Bolton's Batista home at 7
(10:07):
am today.
Because early raids aredramatic raids in a classified
document investigation, becauseif your former national security
advisor turned Trump critic,apparently that's warrant worthy
in today's America.
(10:27):
So what happened?
Let's just try to lay out thefacts here and while I'm doing
this, try not to roll your eyes.
So here's the quick rundownAgents raided Bolton's house and
later his DC office, armed withcourt authorized search
warrants.
No arrest, no charges, just alot of rummaging.
(10:49):
The FBI director, kash Patel,posted no one is above the law
on X.
Attorney General Pam Bondiechoed the tough talk and Vice
President JD Vance said it's allabout the law, not politics.
Trump was busy calling Bolton alowlife, a sleazebag, and
(11:10):
insisted he didn't know anythingabout the raid.
He saw it on TV.
Like the rest of us, then pointout the tension between
enforcing the law and enforcingthe law and enforcing political
theater.
So Bolton and Trump go way back.
(11:35):
Bolton served as NationalSecurity Advisor from 2018 to
2019 before falling outspectacularly with the current
president.
He then wrote a book called theRoom when it Happened.
Trump tried to block it.
He lost.
Biden then shut down earlyinvestigations in 2021.
(11:55):
And now here we are back in theinvestigation hot seat and, yes
, the FBI is now digging intomore than just the book.
You know how this goes right.
Fbi raids are either aboutnational security or political
(12:15):
payback.
Patel tried to deny it.
It said he didn't have enemieslist when his book was released
in January.
Now Bolton is apparently numberfive on that enemies list,
after Comey, brennan, taylor andBidman.
(12:36):
What are the odds?
It's almost like a mean girlslist, but with search warrants
and the FBI raids.
So Bolton was at home duringthe raid, because where else
would a man be, with the FBIvans parked outside.
(12:59):
He later popped up at hisoffice talking with agents.
Meanwhile, he posted on X aboutUkraine, russia and Nobel Prize
.
Talks Priorities, no publicstatement, otherwise, because
silence is the new mic drop.
Let's step back.
(13:28):
We have a former advisor turnedcritic, now rated for documents
, documents nobody specified.
Yet this pattern of raids oncritics isn't just chaotic, it's
supposed to be chilling.
What message does it send?
Speak truth, get a warrant.
Does it sin?
(13:48):
Speak truth, get a warrant.
Question power, get a warrant.
Don't exactly screamindependent justice, does it?
So that's today's politicaltheater Dawn, raids, memos and
every official insisting it'sabout the law.
Meanwhile, we're left wonderingif due process now means
(14:09):
processes.
You have to do Keep watching,Because if sanity doesn't make
its comeback soon, at least wewill have the drama to stare at
it.
We will have the drama to stareat it Now.
This is where theater, thetheater of politics, falls
(14:32):
silent because somewhere in Gaza, half a million people, yes,
500,000 souls, are experiencingfamine,000 souls Are
experiencing famine, starvation,famine A word so heavy it
(14:52):
becomes shameful that it stillexists In the 21st century.
The United Nations, through theintegrated Food security phase
Classification, officiallydeclared famine.
The United Nations, through theIntegrated Food Security Phase
classification, officiallydeclared famine in Gaza's
northern reaches Over 500,000people in catastrophic food
(15:17):
insecurity.
And it gets worse.
They went on to say that numbercould climb past 640,000 people
by the end of September.
By any measure.
That's not a statistics, it's amoral wound on humanity.
(15:38):
Famine it's called entirely manmade by experts and leaders.
Yes, man made.
One quarter of Gaza'spopulation is starving, deprived
not by drought or nature, butby blockade, by war, by
(16:01):
punishing policy.
This isn't fate, it's politicswith teeth.
Among those reporting, the UNSecretary General called it a
failure of humanity itself, aphrase that should haunt every
one of us.
The British Foreign Secretarycalled it a moral outwage.
(16:25):
Well, call it whatever you wantto, what it is is preventable.
What it is is a preventabletragedy Because this famine
isn't happening in thewilderness or in some forgotten
(16:45):
corner or the world.
It's happening in Gaza City,once vibrant, now haunted, and
the collapse is spreading intoDelaa and Khan Yunus,
territories turning into gravesfor bodies that could still be
alive.
We are talking about motherswho no longer have milk to feed
(17:09):
their babies, children so weakthat they can't even cry,
families who scavenge, whobarter and who do things that
would break your heart to evenhear, that would break your
heart to even hear.
This is not some distant newsitem, this is moral rot.
Let me be clear Famine is notthe side effect of war.
(17:33):
Famine is a weapon.
Destroying food, destroyingfood infrastructure, blocking
aid, turning survival itselfinto a target this is starvation
by design and this is a crime.
And yet, and yet, in the flickerof darkness, there are still
(17:57):
people lighting candles.
There's a grassroots resilienceyou'd only notice if you were
paying attention Like the Gazasoup kitchen started by two
brothers feeding thousands everyday, cooking over wood fires
when they can, even after losingone of them to a drone strike.
(18:18):
That's faith when all of reasonhas given up.
So let's end the show tonightnot with more talk about the
theater, but with a seed,because that that's the hard
truth, because the truth is aseed and action is rain.
(18:43):
The world has failed Gaza, it isfailing Gaza right now, and
that failure is on all of us,but it doesn't have to be the
end.
So, as I end the show tonight,let's remember them, every one
of the 500,000 people whosenames we do not know.
(19:07):
Let's remember that starvationis not a quirk of war.
Starvation is a human choice.
Let's remember that caring isnot an option.
Caring is the bare minimum.
I'm your host, darrell McLean,and if humanity doesn't find
(19:30):
better words, better ways, thensilence.
Then all of our shows andsummits and hand-wringing will
just be noise, and noise hasnever starved any feeding person
.
See you on the next episode.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
Israel was constructed on the ruins of
another society and by the massdispossession of another, people
who remain unacknowledged asjust sort of obscure natives in
the background.
Back to the desert.
Let them go to one of the otherArab countries.
That's been the position and webear no.
The Oslo Accords sayspecifically that Israel bears
no responsibility for the costsof the occupation.
(20:13):
This after 20 years, 26 yearsof military occupation.
No responsibility, as anIsraeli journalist said.
He said we took over the countryin 1948 from the British.
The British left us the port ofHaifa, a road system, an
electrical system, a largenumber of municipal buildings
and lots of prisons, and wecould build Israel.
(20:34):
Without that there would be nostate today.
If we had taken Palestine in1948 the way we left Gaza for
the Palestinians, there would beno Israel.
We destroyed the economy, wedeported most of the capable
people, we forced the people tolive in hovels and refugee camps
(20:54):
over a period.
I mean anybody who's been toGaza.
It's one of the most criminalplaces on earth because of
Israeli policy of occupation andthey bear no responsibility for
it.
I mean that's simplyunacceptable, even for the
Jewish people who have sufferedso much.
It's unacceptable.
You cannot continue tovictimize somebody else just
because you yourself were avictim once.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Continue to victimize somebody else just because you
yourself were a victim once.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Are you thinking or?
Speaker 5 (21:24):
feeling any differently about what it means
for you to be Jewish in thismoment?
Yes, I am.
I'll let them go first.
Speaker 6 (21:28):
I hate the way some people are using anti-Semitism
as a claim for anybody that iscritical about a certain policy.
You know, as far as I amconcerned, compassion for every
person in Gaza, you know, isvery Jewish, and the fact that I
(21:49):
abhor the policies of theleader of that country does not
mean I'm a self-hating Jew orI'm anti-Semitic.
You mean Netanyahu when you saythe leader yes, yes, yes, I feel
this is the behavior, thepolitics of what he's doing is
(22:10):
the worst thing for Jewishpeople.
It's like lighting a candle foranybody that has any
anti-Semitic feelings.
It's like lighting a candle foranybody that has any
anti-Semitic feelings.
It's creating a generation ofwounded and hurt kids who will
understandably be very angry.
So that is how I feel and Ifeel I really feel deeply
(22:31):
troubled and horrified by whatis happening in my name.
Speaker 5 (22:34):
10, 15 years ago I was in Philadelphia and I go up
to the hotel room.
Catherine was in the hotel roomand the movie was out.
She was watching the PrincessBride.
And just as I walked in theroom is that final scene in the
movie where Inigo is sitting bythe window with the man in black
and the man in black asks Inigowould he like to be the next
(22:55):
Red Pirate Robertson?
And the Inigo would he like tobe the next Red Pirate Robertson
?
And the Inigo Montoya actor, whowas me, said these words, which
I did not really know what theymeant, that William Goldman
wrote, which I think are thesingular, greatest words I've
ever read.
You know, I have been in therevenge business so long.
(23:15):
Now that it's over.
I do not know what to do withthe rest of my life and I ask
Jews all over the world toconsider what this man, benjamin
Netanyahu, and his right-winggovernment, is doing to the
Jewish people all over the world.
(23:36):
They are endangering not onlythe state of Israel, which I
care deeply about and want toexist, but they are endangering
the Jewish population all overthe world.
He is the most dangerous thing.
Not just since October 7th, ithas been a deeply troubled
situation and endangering theJews by endangering those in
(23:59):
Gaza and to watch what ishappening.
For the Jewish people, to allowthis to happen to children and
civilians of all ages in Gaza,for whatever reason, is
unconscionable and unthinkable,and I ask you, jews everywhere
(24:19):
all over the world, to spendsome time alone and think is
this acceptable and sustainable?
How could it be done to you andyour ancestors?
And you turn around and you doit to someone else Israel.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Yes, israel Security Cabinet approved a plan to take
control of Gaza City.
Your response, look, israel hada right, of course, to defend
itself from the terribleterrorist attack from Hamas.
But what they have done sincethen?
Speaker 7 (25:00):
What does Bernie mean by that?
If you want to say Israel andthis is important to scrutinize
On October 7th, if you havemilitants shooting at your
civilians, you have the right toprotect your people On October
7th.
But after October 7th, afterthat attack is repelled, where
(25:22):
did that attack come from?
It came from occupied territory.
Gaza is occupied territory.
It's under a cruel, illegalsiege, so at that point, there's
no right to defend yourselfagainst Hamas.
Okay, there's only theobligation to end the occupation
and then negotiate an exchangeof hostages and captives, which
Hamas was willing to do.
So Bernie, though, kept sayingafter October 7th, israel has a
(25:43):
right to defend itself, and heeven opposed a permanent
ceasefire with Hamas.
He said how can you broker aceasefire with Hamas, given what
they just did?
Well, actually, that was theonly solution was to immediately
have a ceasefire and broker arelease of hostages both the
Palestinian hostages by thethousands that are in Israeli
(26:04):
prisons and the few hundredIsraeli hostages and should have
been called for, but Bernie,despite having some good stances
and being better than prettymuch everybody else in
Washington, kept expressing hisfidelity to Israel's nonexistent
(26:28):
right to defend itself from anoccupied people.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
I'd say better than anyone else in the Senate,
because Rashid is a lot betterthan he is.
Speaker 7 (26:35):
Sure, yeah, yeah yeah , fair enough, certainly in the
Senate.
Yes, anyway, that's Bernie.
I think that's the flaw in hisrhetoric, which he keeps
repeating.
But so be it.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
He's gone to war against the entire Palestinian
people.
There are now some 60,000 whoare dead, most of whom are women
, children and the elderly.
You've got 18,000 kids, kidswho have been killed, 3,000
children who have had one oranother limb amputated.
(27:14):
And now, on top of all of thedestruction, human destruction,
human destruction, incredibledestruction of their housing, of
their schools, of theiruniversities, of their health
care systems.
On top of all that, whatNetanyahu does is impose a
blockade preventing food to comein and people are starving to
(27:34):
death.
So I think the good news isthat we're making some progress.
I offered a resolution, as youknow, a couple of weeks ago.
We got 27 votes from Democratsto stop military weapons going
to Gaza.
No Republican support.
But you know what I think?
I think Republicans at agrassroots level are also
(27:58):
catching on that it is not agreat idea to provide billions
to a government that starveschildren.
Would you say?
Hamas has some culpability inpeople starving?
No, when they spend so muchmoney building tunnels and
everything under.
So right now, right now, whatis going on is a slur.
All right, and right now,israel is, with few exceptions,
(28:22):
is in control of the militarysituation.
It is not Hamas.
Hamas is a terrible terroristorganization, all right, and I
certainly hope they have nofuture in a new Gaza or
Palestine, in a new Gaza orPalestine.
But the fault right now is 100%on a Netanyahu government who
(28:45):
has waged an all-out war,committed just— I mean there's
war crimes.
They are war crimes.
Netanyahu is a war criminal,just as the guy who was head of
Hamas is a war criminal, and theUnited States taxpayers should
not be funding them now.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Can you imagine being down a bash and being like I'm
talking to a senator about thisstarvation campaign that he's
calling out and the reallyimportant question is not just
to ask him in a very leading wayif Hamas is culpable, but then
say why not when he says they'renot culpable, and then give
some ridiculous talking pointsabout why they're responsible,
(29:21):
which makes it's not?
It doesn't even make sense.
I guess it's better saying thatthey've built tunnels.
That's better than saying theystole aid.
And she probably would havesaid that they stole aid, but
sadly for her and all the othergenocide propagandists, the New
York Times debunked that andeven two Israeli officials
debunked that.
But can you imagine like?
This is your question, dana.
Speaker 7 (29:43):
Yeah, it's like it's the same.
Can you condemn Hamas thing onloop?
And let's not talk about yearsof decades of ethnic cleansing,
occupation, siege, mass murder.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
But this is like real time, not even a conceptual
thing.
You know what I mean.
Like they're literally, as wespeak, children dying and Israel
is starving them.
I got to say I know that Bernieleaves a lot to be desired when
it comes to Israel, but I was,I have to say I was impressed
that he was so unequivocal aboutwhose fault it is.
Speaker 7 (30:12):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I would have expected him
to say, yes, Hamas is part of itall, but he didn't, he didn't,
he didn't take that bash bait.
So you know, good for Bernie.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
And he bashed back.
He bashed back while she wastrying to put in more talking
points.
He's like right now.
He was responsible.
Yeah, so good on him.
And Dan Abash.
You know Craig McIver wrote agreat piece, the great human
rights lawyer who resigned fromthe UN over its failure to do
anything meaningful with Gaza.
He says that journalists can beheld accountable for incitement
(30:44):
to genocide and there isprecedent for that.
We saw that with Rwanda.
And Dana Bash I really hope youknow she's a woman and I'm a
feminist and I want to make surethat she gets credit.
It doesn't all go to JakeTapper, we need to recognize a
female journalist.
So big shout out to Dana and Ireally hope that she's
recognized for her work as agenocidal cheerleader.
(31:06):
And yeah, that's.
I don't know how she can sleepat night.
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