Ceasefire in Iran, Ceasefire Among MAGA?

00:00:03 Speaker 1: My name is Charlie kirk I run the largest pro American student organization in the country, fighting for the future of our republic. 00:00:11 Speaker 2: My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth. 00:00:14 Speaker 1: If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're gonna end up miserable. But if the most important thing is doing good, you'll end up purposeful. College is a scam, everybody. You got to stop sending your kids to college. You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible. 00:00:31 Speaker 2: Go start at turning point you would say college chapter. Go start atturning point youould say high school chapter. Go find out how your church can get involved. Sign up and become an activist. 00:00:39 Speaker 1: I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade, most important decision I ever made in my life, and I encourage you to do the same. 00:00:45 Speaker 2: Here I am. 00:00:46 Speaker 3: Lord, Use me. 00:00:48 Speaker 1: Buckle up, everybody, Here we go. Noble Gold Investments is the official gold sponsor of the Charlie Kirkshaw, a company that specializes in gold iras and physical delivery of precious metals. Learn how you could protect your wealth with Noble Gold Investments at noblegold investments dot Com. That is Noblegoldinvestments dot com. 00:01:17 Speaker 4: Welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show. It is April eighth, twenty twenty six. We are here at the Yri Fi Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. Welcome Blake. Howdy, Blake's deep in thought. Already lots of news. I mean, I don't think that is a chakra for any of you in the audience. 00:01:35 Speaker 3: Tons of news. 00:01:36 Speaker 4: Obviously, we have a tentative, as Jade Vance says, a fragile piece that has been struck, a two week piece deal with Iran. But already we are seeing fractures and fissures. 00:01:50 Speaker 5: This might not last, This might not last till the end of this. 00:01:54 Speaker 4: So we're gonna see if this two week piece deal last through the ends of the show. We don't know, So let's just go through all the facts. So a peace deal was reached about ninety minutes before the eight pm Eastern deadline that President Trump had set where he was going to the famous truth now basically end a civilization. I personally didn't think that that ever meant nuclear weapons. We talked about that on the show yesterday. Nevertheless, it got through. The message got through. There was actually an interesting tweet by a friend of the show, Will Chamberlain, who basically said thank you to all of the people that were assuming the worst, because it actually may have helped convince Iran to come to the peace table, the peace negotiation table. There was obviously intermediation going on on behalf of Pakistan and the prime minister there, but I think it's important also to note that China played a huge role in this. China exerted a force at the last minute on behalf of I think by way of the Prime Minister of Pakistan. I think it's safe to say China is probably one of the beneficiaries of the cut rate oil that Iran was pumping out into the marketplace. So China wanted this deal to get done, probably also because China has an interest in the long term stability of the existing regime or the framework that still exists, and other reasons. So watch China in all of this. I just don't want to make that very clear. That was reported by the New York Times that China played a huge role at the end there. So we have this ten point plan. The White House is reporting that it is a different ten point plan than the one that we have been previously seen that. 00:03:40 Speaker 6: We have allegedly a ceasefire to negotiate based off of our frame fifteen point plan and their ten point plan that is allegedly different than the one they'd given us before. 00:03:50 Speaker 4: Yes, So what is also interesting here is what happens to the Strait of Hornmos Okay. So previously oil tankers were able to navigate the straight freely. That was what was the previous status quo. Now it looks like what could be the case is that there will be tolls exacted upon tankers that go through the strait. President Trump has told Jonathan Carl that that could be more of a joint venture. 00:04:18 Speaker 5: That sounds like something he'd get on board. 00:04:20 Speaker 3: It does sound like something he'd get on board with. Let's team up to do tariffs. Yeah, tariff. 00:04:24 Speaker 4: So why this is noteworthy is again the previous status quo, you go through freely. Now you got to pay a toll. Maybe it's a joint venture US and Iram partnering in that. Maybe Iran just charges them unilaterally. We're not sure how this is gonna shake out, but it is a massive new precedent to be set. Means there could be tolls exacted on straights and canals all through the world if this ends up taking place, So that's something that we need to keep a look out for in the future. It's relatively nominal. And if you get peace, and you get the straight back opened and you get tolls, I suppose that a deal a lot of people would probably be willing to make. 00:05:04 Speaker 3: All right. Well, where we're at now. 00:05:07 Speaker 6: Though, But the big problem now is we say this, there is a ceasefire. It is time to last for two weeks while they negotiate, But as we said, it might not last till the end of this program because it's not clear if it's going on right now. Well, there is still a lot of reports of explosions, missiles being fired at Israel, at Kuwait, at other targets. And then this is also a big one. There is a disagreement over the scope of the ceasefire. In addition to the air campaign and missile campaign against Iran and in the Gulf, there's also been an Israeli ground operation and bombing operation in Lebanon. In fact that I believe it has killed more people than the Iran missile exchanges, and Iran and Pakistan claim that that part of the conflict is covered by this ceasefire, but Israel claims it's not, and now just breaking in the last few minutes, the United States says it's not, and that's a pretty big point of disagreement. 00:06:08 Speaker 4: Well, and why this matters is because now Iran is reportedly threatening tankers that are trying to navigate the strait. So the strait is for all intents and purposes once again closed. Now a few tankers I believe got through earlier, but it is now halted. That movement has been halted because they are claiming Israel has violated the terms of the ceasefire. But we just don't know if Hesbela and Southern Lebanon was included at all. So there's disagreements on that. We got a lot to unpack here. There's I think a really important press conference. It's going to be had at one pm Caroline Levett White House Press Conference. So we are going to be throwing to that live later in the hour two because there's a lot of details that remain unclear. What are the details of the new ten point plan, how much does it reflect the previously reported ten point plan, what's gonna happen with the Strait of Horn Moose. Are we really seriously looking at charging tariffs and tolls to navigate the Strait. There's a lot to unpack here, but I think most importantly this is what's gonna happen. And Blake and I were talking about this right before the show started. Everybody's gonna declare victory, right, So we're seeing reports that they are waving Iranian flags in Tehran and that they are claiming victory. Pete Hegseth gave a press conference this morning claiming victory with a capital V. Sometimes in war there is not really a clear victor, and I think that's one of the this is one of those instances. Would Iran have preferred to not been bombed and have eighty to ninety percent of their military apparatus destroyed, their manufacturing apparatus destroyed, of course, But would could you make the argument that this was a bit of a pyrrhic victory on behalf of the United States, in the sense that yes, we had air have air superiority, we decimated much of their military industrial complex, but the Strait was open before and now that remains in question. And if we remove sanctions on a rany in oil and energy and other products that they make from its petroleum. Will Iran emerge stronger in the wake of this, and that's a huge potential here. 00:08:18 Speaker 6: I spoke with a friend of mine who's good on foreign policy stuff, and he says, the likely long term goal here probably to get a permanent peace deal might have to be you would agree, which Iran has been fighting for for Basically, the ideal deal we could make is they actually do back off from their nuclear deal, but in return we do fully regularize our relationship with them, which means you remove sanctions, you normalize trade, and yeah, you let them toll the straight. They're saying it might be one dollar per barrel for oil going through it, so that's not massive. That's about you maybe like a three four percent tax tariff on all oil going out. But I think you have to say we said it the outset. The best way to sell this war is if it is the last war of the US fights in the Middle East, and the only one that's going to happen is if we have a government in Iran we can treat as a normal country. 00:09:09 Speaker 4: Lots of news coming in, We're taking it all in. There's a new truth from President Trump that I want to get here, says, numerous agreements, lists and letters are being sent out by people that have absolutely nothing to do with the USA Roun negotiation. In many cases they are total fraudsters, Charlatan's and worse, They will be rapidly exposed after our federal investigation is completed. There is only one group of meaningful points, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these negotiations. These are the points that are the basis on which we agreed to a ceasefire. It is something that is reasonable and can easily be dispensed with. It is very much like fake new CNN last night headlining a source that had no power or authority to write a letter claiming great authority President Donald J. 00:09:53 Speaker 3: Trump. 00:09:54 Speaker 4: So a lot of back and forth about what the actual source is here, Blake who what the ten points are? Again, just to underscore the point, to make it extremely clear. They're calling it the foundation for a negotiation, not that the points have been agreed to. President Trump says, many of the points have already been sort of sorted out, but there remains some sticking points. Obviously, I think that it has to be a different deal than what was previously reported, because the previous. 00:10:22 Speaker 3: One was completely unworkable. 00:10:23 Speaker 4: There was things that we would never agree to in that previous ten point plan. So President Trump doing his best to clarify this. Okay, I want to get into this New York Times expos because everybody that I know was sending me this thing yesterday. It was going all around basically, and Blake Fill filling the gaps that I miss here. It explains that bb Netanyahu, in an extraordinary moment, was essentially presented his case in the intel behind his pitch to attack Iron, and he did it in the situation room. He did it in the situation room before obviously, all this happen in February, which, as far as I'm aware, is the first time a leader of a foreign government had done something like that inside the situation room. Gathered around the table was obviously President Trump, his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, jd Vance apparently couldn't make it back in time for this initial meeting. Who else am I missing? John Radcliffe from the CIA, Raisin Cain joint chiefs. So there it was an extraordinarily small meeting, but with all the firepower in the US military with bb net Yahoo doing a pitch in the situation room, and he presented four points basically that he thought that they could do a decapitation move take out the leadership, that they could essentially wipe out the military of Iran really successfully. But then points three and four were more controversial. Basically, Blake, I don't know if you want to. 00:11:57 Speaker 6: Quality, claimed it was a four point planet was takeing out, as you said, take the Ayatola to take out the military. But then he had this boulder claim that there would be able to launch uprisings within Iran, either invasions by Kurds or just dissidence. 00:12:09 Speaker 5: Within the country. 00:12:10 Speaker 6: And then point four there would be a full regime change to a secular leader who would be pro Western and friendly to the United States. 00:12:17 Speaker 4: This is where it gets really interesting. So gathered around that table where the characters I just mentioned, they meet afterwards. 00:12:26 Speaker 3: Then JD. 00:12:27 Speaker 4: Vance makes it back, gets a briefing. Now he's part of this discussion, and essentially John Radcliffe, Marco Rubio, and JD. Vance all called bs on zero, points three and four, and Raisin Kine made an observation that I think is one of those things that is going to linger in our collective consciousness for a long time. He said, the Israelis tend to overseell and underdeliver. Their intel is inflated. So what happened is they go around the table again, they meet. I think basically within that week. Jad Vance says, you know what I think, Sir. President trumb asked for ever his opinion. Jady Van says, you know what, I think, Sirruh's a bad idea, but if you do it, I'll support you for a number of reasons. Marco Rubio says, if you want to go in for points one and two, then I think you should do it. But if you think three and four are going to happen, you shouldn't. Because he called it BS, but he used the real world word raising. Kine is sort of described as this guy who's not offering his opinions necessarily on whether he thinks it's right or wrong, but he's gives the details to the question the president asks, and I think there's some reticence there. Susie Wiler said, you know it basically subscribed to seventy though not Yeah, what stands out here if you read it is, at least in this report by the New York Times, which is presumably based on all the people a bunch of the people involved in these conversations talking to the New York Times or their staff talking to the New York Times. 00:13:56 Speaker 6: No one is really willing to take ownership for launching the war other than the president himself. The narrative told in this story is almost everyone around the president is skeptical, but the President wants to go for it, right. 00:14:09 Speaker 5: That is the story they tell. 00:14:10 Speaker 4: So it's obvious to me that the story has been worked. But we have not seen much pushback from the administration saying it's not true. We haven't seen pushback from the staff saying it's not true. We haven't even seen, as far as I am aware, that any pushback from the Israelis. So I would say the basic structure of this agreement is true, and it reflects other things that I'd sort of heard privately about who was rushing in or who wasn't rushing into this thing. I think the takeaway for me is a couple things. But namely, there's been a lot of debate whether or not President Trump got quote unquote dog walked into this war. My conclusion, based on this report in the Sexpose, plus all of the footage that we've seen of President Trump throughout the years, is that no. I think maybe there was confirmation bias. You can make that argument, but President Trump seems to have basically made the decision that he wanted to do this. He's wanted to hit Iran for a long time. And I will say this, this is my last point, and they'll get your take, Blake, do not underestimate the significance of Iran attempting to assassinate President Trump, whether they actually did attempt it or signaled their intention to do it, that will leave an incredible, indelible imprint on anybody's psyche. And I think you take that back to the fact that the older Americans remember being insulted by Iran, the Iranian hostage crisis and the like, and it's been a thorn in the side of the United States for long enough that I think President Trump was the man who wanted to make the decision, Whereas you get younger generations like JD. Marco, they were less enthusiastic. 00:15:52 Speaker 6: Blake, your take, I think that's very possible, and you want to be careful with that or I am taken back to when we overthrew Saddam Hussein, which a lot of the argument from the left was Bush did this essentially for sentimental reasons that his dad hadn't taken out Saddam and that was why he'd lost reelection and he had to go back and finish the job. There was a lot of there was a big lobby to overthrow Saddam well before nine to eleven happened, like nine to eleven essentially just offered the excuse to do it. And if you're correct, that's kind of the feeling I get here. You are the president has thought about Ron for literally decades. He does remember the hostage crisis. Those are things that would all motivate him, but that's not necessarily the best reason to launch a war which was really expensive and risky. 00:16:42 Speaker 4: And I think there's a couple other takeaways here. I do think there is a possibility here with after Venezuela, maybe there was a sense that this would be a greater risk, but the glory would be even greater as well, and that we could get in and get out quickly. I think other people like Jdvan Chants, Marco Rubio Ratcliffe had a little bit more hesitancy because this is a lie. 00:17:05 Speaker 5: This is a line that's worth emphasizing. 00:17:07 Speaker 6: And it also reports in the same article that he called Tucker Carlson and he said it's going to be okay. Tucker asks why, and he says, because it always is. 00:17:16 Speaker 4: Talks in Islamabad begin on Friday. We'll see how those go. America is entering its two hundred and fiftieth year, and the direction of this country is being decided right now in our culture and our economy, and who we choose to support matters more than ever. Most wireless companies don't care who you are or what you believe. They just want your money. Patriot Mobile is different. 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Or call them at nine seven to two Patriot using the promo code Charlie and switch today. 00:18:35 Speaker 3: One of these. 00:18:36 Speaker 4: Folks out in our movement that I would love to have a barbecue with is Jonathan Keeperman. You might know him as lom As. He is a sage of wisdom and advice and just good insight. And we wanted to have him on because so much has been made about the MAGA fracturing over the conflict in Iran. In We're not through it yet, We're not through the straight of horn Moose yet. We're not through this yet, I don't think so. Jonathan, welcome back to the show. 00:19:02 Speaker 7: It's so good to have you man, Blake and Andrew, it's great to be here. I appreciate the praise I always love hearing that from you guys, So I could get used to hearing that every day. 00:19:09 Speaker 3: I try to you know. It's it's. 00:19:12 Speaker 6: So we've got a visual here running from left to right, like no hair, medium hair, extremely large amount of hair. 00:19:20 Speaker 2: This is after peptides. Okay, they have peptides for. 00:19:23 Speaker 3: This, So listen. I just got a haircut not long ago. 00:19:26 Speaker 5: Okay, whatever you say, Andrew. 00:19:29 Speaker 4: So Jonathan, let's just get your viewpoint first of all on where we're at with the ceasefire, and then we'll get into the way the movement has reacted to it. 00:19:39 Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, you know, just to set the table for for your listeners. You know, this is something I talk about quite a lot on the show with with Chris Ruffo. We have a show on the Blaze, and we've been talking about the Iran War, and I share I think your guys' perspective, not to speak for you both, which is that I was always skeptical of this as a military operation. It was unclear to me what the objectives were. It was a bit unclear to me how we were meant to achieve those objectives, and certainly what the day after was might look like. And I was also maybe primarily worried that this would distract from domestic priorities. There's a domestic agenda that we want to see this administration not just continue to pursue, but achieve it at a significant rate as we head into the midterm. 00:20:25 Speaker 2: So I want to see us refocus our efforts on that. 00:20:27 Speaker 7: But I will say I was never a doomer about this war, and I think, you know, like everybody today, I'm going to claim some kind of vindication, maybe prematurely, but that is just to say that I never bought the sort of catastrophe scenario that many people was selling. I think what we saw yesterday, even if this ceasefire doesn't hold permanently right now, even if these negotiations take several weeks to get going and start to produce results, that at least the markets prices took a nose dive yesterday after this was announced. The stock market is on a historic upward trend now after these announcements suggest to me that there was always a way out of this, that Trump at any moment could essentially fold the hand. Okay, And that might not sound well to the administration administrative boosters, but it's that's really what Taco means, I think, is a willingness when you know the cards aren't your favor, to just fold the hand. And so if that's what this means here, that Trump is going to hold fold the hand and we just cut our losses and can get out of this. While in the grand scheme of things, it might not be a high point for this term, it's not going to be I don't think the catastrophe that many have been selling online. 00:21:54 Speaker 2: So that's that's one part of it. 00:21:57 Speaker 7: And I think the other thing I learned or that we're learning, and that has been clear all along, but maybe certain people have neglected in this equation is that Iran as an a rational actor. Okay, we may not like them, we may not like what they do, we may not like their point of view and some of the geopolitical objectives that they pursue, but they are motivated by survival. And when you're dealing with a counterpart who is motivated by survival, you can predict what they want and what they will respond to. They will respond to certain kinds of incentives, and I think we are seeing that here with the ceasefire, as imperfect as it may be, and what this all redounds to, in my view, is that we actually have a lot of optionality here. We're in a situation where there's a lot of opportunity. 00:22:51 Speaker 2: To maneuver and negotiate. 00:22:53 Speaker 7: And this is really, of course, where Trump shines at the negotiation table. So I'm cautiously optimistic that this could resolve itself and more or less, from a domestic political standpoint, be forgotten by let's say mid June, which would be I think ideal and set us up for mid terms rather well. 00:23:15 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think I really agree with that. I was never a doomer on it. I've always been skeptical about this war. I you know, Blake likes to say, and I agree with it, that you can always start a war, you can't always decide when end it. But I would say that as far as ending a war, we had more, as you say, optionality here than a lot of other scenarios that you could imagine. And we kept saying like Trump could simply just declare victory and get out. Yeah, I mean essentially that's what he was kind of positioning, I believe, with the straight of hormus, saying hey, we don't get any of our energy from there. It's your guys' problem, NATO, if you guys want the straight open and I think we're gonna kind of see some of that when it comes to whether they're tariff or whether it's a joint venture, whether we allow Iran to, you know, put a toll on these tankers that go through. 00:23:58 Speaker 3: Not ideal. 00:23:59 Speaker 4: It sets a bad precedent I think for energy and trade throughout the world. But it's also not a doomsday scenario. 00:24:05 Speaker 6: I think if the president, I think the one thing he seems consistently fixated on is the nuclear weapon part. I think if you can credibly claim I have made it so this will never happen or it will take an extremely long time to happen. 00:24:17 Speaker 5: I agree he's ready to accept a lot of other things. 00:24:20 Speaker 3: I totally agree. 00:24:21 Speaker 4: I think what's going to happen out of this, and then I'll throw to you, Jonathan, is the negotiations that are going to go on in Islamabad. 00:24:27 Speaker 3: So apparently starting Friday. 00:24:28 Speaker 4: There's some question of whether or not security is such that Jade Vance can participate. But Jared Kushner Witkoff, I think they are going to demand that there are actual American forces or observers or whatever that goes on with this I EA or whatever. Maybe I got the acronym wrong. That goes in and actually removes it, physically removes it and observes the removal of that. If they can negotiate that in all of this, You're right, Blake. I think they're going to be willing to put up with a lot, including removing sanctions. This tolls through the straight Jonathan. 00:25:00 Speaker 7: Your take, Yeah, I just think that you know, Blake's right, and ending a war is difficult, But what you want in this situation is for everybody to be able to walk away. Both sides need to be able to walk away, saving face to their own people, their own constituency. Iran can tell their people that they made the Great Satan blink, okay, and that's all they need, and they survived. There was no regime change, so they're still standing. That is a win sort of, regardless of anything else that happens from their end. From Trump's point of view, the big headline item here, and I think really the thing that's motivating him, maybe even more so than the nuclear material their uranium, is that he got the ayatola. The iatola has existed as this sort of bogeyman for people Trump's age, going back to the Cold War. 00:25:47 Speaker 2: And you know, Trump. 00:25:49 Speaker 7: Got another notch on his belt. He got the Iyatola. Their military capacity is badly degraded. Obviously it can still do some stuff like control the straight of horror moves, but it's badly degraded. If he can get just some compromise, even rhetorical compromise on the uranium stuff, I think both sides can walk from this. And again, while it's not a win per se, it's not a huge w it's not the thing we're celebrating going into midterms. It's largely forgotten I think in several months. 00:26:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I just I do think that you could actually, you know, spike the football pretty largely in a big way, loudly, if you do get the concessions on the nuclear and I think because that that has been the one most consistent drum beat from President Trump when it comes to Iran. You can't let Iran have nuclear if we get if we get massive concessions there, but we have to give over, give concessions back, for example on sanctioning their oil, then that will that would be something that he could touch. 00:26:51 Speaker 6: I think to say, in the end, Iran getting nuclear weapons is the only thing that keeps us obsessed with them, even if they're an annoying government. Frankly, even if they're government that funds terrorist activities, it's the new It makes them evil. 00:27:04 Speaker 5: But there's a lot of evil government. 00:27:05 Speaker 3: I'm just saying. 00:27:05 Speaker 4: They killed upwards of fifty thousand of their own people during the protests. Yeah, And the question is, then, Jonathan, if we remove sanctions on their energy and their petrol chemicals and stuff like that, are we actually going to potentially create a monster out of our run? I think that would be the one question, because are they going to be stronger? One of the questions that we have remaining out of this is are they weakened? Will the people actually you know, topple the regime eventually? 00:27:31 Speaker 7: You know, this may run counter to you know, most people's preferences, but I think regularizing relationships with anyone. 00:27:38 Speaker 2: Is a good idea. 00:27:39 Speaker 7: And if we can regularize economic relationships with Iran, maybe there's some rough water that we have to pass through and they abuse that for a period of time, but I think in the long run that's the only way out of this. 00:27:50 Speaker 2: Okay, we need to have a sort. 00:27:52 Speaker 7: Of global landscape where these countries participate in the broader global economy. 00:27:58 Speaker 2: That is a win. 00:27:59 Speaker 7: And I think this larger narrative, the larger foreign policy narrative, the Iran specific story, gets captured by what's going on everywhere else. With Venezuela, We'll see what happens with Cuba, We'll see what we can strike a deal maybe with China, which I know is on the table and coming up soon. So I think this can all work itself out, and it isn't necessarily the case that removing sanctions is going to be some sort of catastrophic moment. 00:28:27 Speaker 4: Charlie had an absolutely relentless passion for learning. I saw it up close and personal in every waking moment, every spare moment that he could. He had a book open, he had a podcast open, he had a Hillsdale Online course open. He was always diving into new ideas, absorbing information, studying up and sharpening his skills. That's why I love doctor Arne at Hillsdale College. 00:28:51 Speaker 3: They shared a. 00:28:52 Speaker 4: Deep understanding that learning is the key to shaping your character, creating courage, and changing lives. Charlie never stopped learning, and neither should you through Hillsdale's online courses. He spent time studying the classics, the American founding, and the enduring truth of the Bible. Now it is your turn. With Hillsdale's free online courses, you can follow in his footsteps, learning from real professors and challenging yourself with rigorous coursework that's free and accessible to anybody who's willing to learn. A great place to start is their brand new course on logic and Rhetoric. Learn from Hillsdale professors how to speak masterfully, make a powerful point, and see how clear thinking leads to better decision making and more effective speech. Don't wait, go to Charlie for Hillsdale dot com to enroll today. It's completely free. This is a real good one. By the way, Logic and rhetoric, pick up the mic, carry it forward. Learn like Charlie. Start right now at Charlie for Hillsdale dot com. Jonathan Keeperman also known as Lomez. He's the founder of Passages Press and host of the Rufo and Lomesh with the Blaze. So check all of those things out. So I want to talk about the movement. There's a story out of Axios. We could throw the graphic up right now where it's talking about the Maga media, you know world that helped create Trump, Maga media's great unraveling. Of course, there's a picture of picture of Tucker, Alex Jones, Marjor Taylor Green, Matt. 00:30:19 Speaker 3: Walsh, and Cerno. Pretty sure, you know, you know. 00:30:25 Speaker 4: It is truth to say that this has caused a massive amount of consternation, handwringing, and actual attacks on the president. 00:30:33 Speaker 3: Where do we go from here? 00:30:34 Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, look, I saw this article earlier, and that's certainly an important and early faction that supported Trump. But this is a huge coalition, and it's a big tent. I'm a big tent guy, and we all have to accommodate ourselves to the fact that we are in a big tent coalition, and that consists of, you know, libertarians and people who are very strongly opposed to the Iran war and want to see us, from a foreign policy perspective, retrench and retreat back into America. There are immigration hawks, of which I count myself among. 00:31:10 Speaker 2: There's the culture warriors. 00:31:12 Speaker 7: You know, you have young people, old people, and there are a lot of just diverging interests here, and all of us are in some sense subservient to the interest and will of Donald Trump. He's the guy at the top, he's the guy that calls the shots. And sometimes when you're within that coalition, you're going to get a little bit of what you want. Sometimes you're going to get a lot of what you want, and sometimes you're going to have to compromise and give up on the things you want because other members of that coalition are going to win the argument on any given issue. And I think, regardless of what's happened here, and I would really strongly urge even those who are strongly opposed to what's going on Iran to consider that we'd be much worse off if the Democrats win, be much worse off if Kamala Harris was president, and if the Republicans lose office in the midterms. I don't believe in the acceleration thesis at all, which is that you have to lose in order to win at some point in the future. No, you win by winning, You win incrementally within that coalition. You make your argument, you try to win on the issues that matter to you the most, and be willing to compromise elsewhere. And remember that your ego just isn't very important in this equation. And so what I hope is as this starts to die down, as it becomes a less salient centerpiece of what's going on in the news every day, and it's the thing you see when you scroll that will start to coalesce around more shared objectives. We get back to this domestic agenda that I was referencing earlier. 00:32:51 Speaker 2: So that's my hope, that's what I think will happen. 00:32:53 Speaker 7: And I think you know, members of this coalition are just going to have to learn to get along. 00:32:59 Speaker 6: So I'm hopeful that you're right, Jonathan, But I guess I want to sound a note of concern, worry, caution. First of all, I think you and I both know this already was a super salient issue before the Iran War broke out. We've definitely got voices that are all Israel all the time, all the Jews all. 00:33:18 Speaker 5: The time, let's be frank. 00:33:20 Speaker 6: And on top of that, it's also some of it's going to be difficult to walk back. 00:33:24 Speaker 5: We have people it wasn't just people opposed to the war. 00:33:28 Speaker 6: We had people saying twenty fifth Amendment, use the twenty fifth Amendment, people saying there's our war crimes. We need a Nuremberg. We have people honestly sounding very liberal in their overall statements, I guess, yeah, and they're saying we shouldn't be criticizing Islam or whatever. But last Levault, there's a concern I'm seeing where I think there's a lot of voices on the bigger right that you say, we want to unite around these domestic goals, but. 00:33:54 Speaker 5: A lot of stuff is so not policy, not politically. 00:34:00 Speaker 6: Driven at all anymore. And that's something that really concerns me. It's when they're very centered on maybe their latest outrage stuff, but not as much on what are we actually doing on immigration for example. 00:34:13 Speaker 7: Yeah, look, I don't want to sound too Pollyannas here, and I recognize that some of this is sort of hopeful thinking and that there are real headwinds facing this coalition. And I think some of the impolitic and sort of imprudent things that people were saying online, well, a lot of that is just sort of siloed off in a This is my view. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I some of this is just siloed off in the online mill you that we operate in and we're highly responsive to, but doesn't necessarily translate into broader conservative GOP politics. 00:34:49 Speaker 2: That's one, and I think two. 00:34:51 Speaker 7: You know, I'm operating under the assumption, which is just I've seen over time that people have incredibly short memories, and a lot of the people who are now in Trump's face and are directing policy decisions, you know, six years ago or ten years ago or whenever it was, we're saying precisely the same things about Trump that some of his more recent allies are saying about him now with regards to Iran. So there's a lot of movement within the collisions. People say things that are regrettable. I hope cooler heads will prevail. I think there is time to subtly sort of walk back some of the inflammatory rhetoric that's been bandied about online over the last several months with regards to Iran. 00:35:33 Speaker 2: So, look, we have a. 00:35:35 Speaker 7: Long way to go. The mid terms really haven't ramped up yet. In terms of messaging. I think it's going to be really important for GOP strategists to take a very hard look of what's important to this coalition, what can be the shared interest, and just hammer that stuff. 00:35:50 Speaker 2: Over and over and over again. 00:35:53 Speaker 7: And try to recreate the sort of enthusiasm that if people again people don't remember. 00:35:57 Speaker 2: I mean, it was in January, the. 00:35:59 Speaker 7: State of the U Union speech that was maybe the high water mark of this first term. Everybody was really enthused. All of the right things were being said. There was this sense of coming together over a shared domestic agenda. I really do think we can get back to that. Maybe we lose some people, maybe this war and what's gone on creates some attrition within the coalition, but I don't think it has. 00:36:24 Speaker 2: To be a fatal blow. 00:36:25 Speaker 3: Jonathan. 00:36:26 Speaker 4: When I interpret what you're saying, and I hate to be this, you know, gruff with with the audience, with the movement, with the coalition, it just sounds like you're you're sort of compelling or begging people. Maybe not begging, I'm begging them to be grown ups, to behave like adults. You know, there's this speech that president or that Vice President Vance gave this morning. 00:36:48 Speaker 3: Where he's warning again he was just going to reference that. 00:36:51 Speaker 4: Yeah, so let's go ahead and play this clip and then we'll get you your take. 00:36:54 Speaker 3: Seventeen. 00:36:56 Speaker 8: Resist the temptation to think that victory is an im mediate or that we're going to win back our civilization through instant gratification. I think a lot of people this is particularly true in the United States of America. If they see something that the administration does they don't like, they say, oh, that's not what we voted for. 00:37:12 Speaker 2: We're going to check out a politics. 00:37:14 Speaker 8: No. No, no, that's the exact wrong response. If we do something you don't like, the response should be to get more involved, to make your voice heard, and to try to push things in the direction that you want them to be pushed. Our civilization was not built overnight. It's not going to be saved overnight. And so what I'd encourage you to do is stay involved, be patient, and don't let disappointment turn to checking out of the system entirely. 00:37:40 Speaker 2: There's way too much of that. We call that. 00:37:41 Speaker 8: Black pilling in the United States of America, and black pilling is how you give power to the forces that are trying to destroy what our ancestors built. 00:37:51 Speaker 4: Why I think this is so important, Jonathan, is because let's go back to this Maggie Haram and Jonathan Swampiece New York Times. 00:37:57 Speaker 9: Yeah. 00:37:58 Speaker 4: Jd Vance was the most anti Iran intervention voice in the administration. He did not get what he wanted. He did not that is very clear. And here he is saying, don't give in to cynicism. Stop demanding immediate gratification. You're not going to get everything you want. I just find it wild that we have so much of this like main player syndrome going on, where everybody expects their viewpoint to be expressed in the present. 00:38:26 Speaker 3: If you want that, go run for president. 00:38:27 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:38:28 Speaker 7: And look, man, I think it's egos. I think there's something about the media environment we're in that is hyper focused on whatever's happening right now to the exclusion of the longer timeline. And so there's two pieces of this jd Vance clip that I think are so important to take away, and I just I really love jd. 00:38:50 Speaker 3: Vance. 00:38:50 Speaker 2: I mean, he couldn't have articulated it better. 00:38:52 Speaker 7: One is what he said leaves room for the internal coalitional debate. It's not to say that you just have to be in lock step with everybody in your coalition at all times. There's room for disagreement, there's room for debate, and by the way, go out and win the argument. Try to do what you can to influence the administration to your side. That's fine as long as we're all on the same side at the end of it. Part two is this is a long game. We're not going to undo what's happened to this country over the last couple of decades in one year, in one term, in one policy decision. This is something that is going to take multiple administrations. 00:39:32 Speaker 2: This is going to be something that takes. 00:39:34 Speaker 7: Multiple generations of GOP coming together to figure out how to undo first of all, all of the bad things that were done previously, and then come up with better solutions and better alternatives so that, yeah, frankly, we can just live in a. 00:39:50 Speaker 2: Normal, insane society again. 00:39:52 Speaker 7: So I love this clip and I encourage everybody to take these words from Jdvance to heart. 00:39:57 Speaker 4: I think you're right. I think the timing of the clip is really important. So listen, we've only got a couple more minutes here with you. Jonathan Kieperman Lomez on X great follow, But tell us what's going on with Passages Press too, because yeah, there's so much happening. I've seen you pictures online with like stack of books next to you, and yeah, yeah. 00:40:18 Speaker 3: Give us the update. 00:40:20 Speaker 2: So yeah, Passage, we are right. 00:40:22 Speaker 7: Now, there's a huge sale, So go to passage dot Press buy all the books in our backlist up to fifty percent off on these bundles. We got books for kids, these great Hardy Boys books and other kids books. We got books for all interests, history books, war books, et cetera. We got forty over forty books coming out the rest of this year. We got a great new homeschool classic curriculum imprint coming out that's going to be launching next week that I'm really excited to get in people's hands. We are making American literature great again. Okay, that is our goal at passage dot Press, So please visit, please support the cause. Blake and Andrew, I got a big box sending you guys right now, so you'll have a bunch of stuff soon, Okay, a bunch of swag. 00:41:05 Speaker 3: Yeah. I love looking here. 00:41:07 Speaker 6: They've got They've got Hardy Boys, Robert Howard, that's Conan the Barbarian, HP Lovecraft master Works. Uh, there's a lot of stuff, and I really want to emphasize this point. People should check this out because we complain so much about rotten culture and one of the worst is books. There's a lot of trashy books out there. There's not enough good quality stuff that reflects our values, especially in high quality form. There, I will say passages books. They are good books. They are nice to have on your shelf, and I'd strongly encourage everyone to uh to buy some support Jonathan's business support. 00:41:42 Speaker 2: Thank you. I love this. Yeah, I'm coming back on. Okay, the next time you ask, I. 00:41:47 Speaker 3: Probably look it. I tell you, I'm trying to tell you. 00:41:49 Speaker 6: Man. 00:41:49 Speaker 4: You know, I'm always like it's thrown out invites to Jonah that he's like, I'm a little busy and busy. 00:41:55 Speaker 3: So finally was like, hey, you caught me on it off day, Like this is actually good. 00:41:59 Speaker 10: Uh. 00:41:59 Speaker 4: But and then last thing here, and then we're gonna we're gonna cut over and see if we can grab this press conference. 00:42:05 Speaker 3: You've got Rufo and Lomez. How do people watch that? 00:42:09 Speaker 2: Yeah, go to the Blaze Rufo and Lomez. 00:42:11 Speaker 7: It's on YouTube. It's on the Blaze site. Uh, it's a bi weekly show. It's me and Chris Rufo just chatting figuring out what's going on, trying to keep this coalition together, trying to make sense of all the complications in our current politics and culture and everything else. 00:42:25 Speaker 2: And then we also do an interview segment. 00:42:27 Speaker 7: Blake was recently on with Chris last week, so we got a lot going on there and please yes check it out. 00:42:34 Speaker 4: Awesome Jonathan, Keeperman and Keeperman. I think that's you're trying to keep the coalition together right now, you know what. 00:42:45 Speaker 3: I know. I view myself as about as far right as you. 00:42:47 Speaker 4: Can go on most issues, especially like immigration, and i'm you know, up and down the. 00:42:54 Speaker 5: Line far right as you can go, which is just a bit left of me. 00:42:57 Speaker 4: Yeah, I know this is our internal debate. Blake's like, you're are moderate, but this is my point. It's like, it's crazy to feel like we're these like moderate voices when you've got part of the former coalition. I don't know what's gonna merge as that's you know, calling to basically coup the president because they don't agree with his policies. So like all of a sudden, I have to be like a squish moderate and I hate it. 00:43:20 Speaker 3: I can't wait. Like, so all right, my friend, we'll see you soon. I hope. 00:43:23 Speaker 2: All right, guys, I really appreciate it. 00:43:25 Speaker 3: Take care for the time. Man, folks. 00:43:29 Speaker 4: Let me tell you something straight up. I'm extremely picky about what I put in my body in what companies we support. Here, Blackout Coffee checks every single box. This is a family run American company roasting fresh coffee in the USA, built by people who believe in hard work, freedom and America. No global corporations, no fake activism, no lectures, just darn good coffee made by Americans for Americans. 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This we don't take all of them on the show, but I think today is a truly important day because we're gonna define, We're gonna hopefully learn what the White. 00:44:57 Speaker 3: House is defining as victory. 00:44:59 Speaker 4: Again, you you can have war in the modern era where it doesn't it's not as clear as like you know, you know, World War two right where or civil war. We're used to these grandiose celebrations that theatrics of, you know, signing a surrender that doesn't happen in modern warfare nearly as much. Obviously, we saw it in Venezuela where Maduro was captured and taken back. 00:45:21 Speaker 3: I mean that was fairly clearcut. 00:45:22 Speaker 4: But it's not always clear cut, and so you have to define your objectives and you have to then, you know, get press conferences up and running into clear victory. This is why I think hegseeth you saw him out this morning and explaining why he defines this as a victory and obviously this is part of the pr spin both sides. I listen, I think, again to Blake's earlier point nine one, we may not see this ceasefire even hold through the end of the show. But I think that given the calculus of a current moment, I think the administration would be loath to reignite hostilities kinetic operations because I think there is an understanding that Iran is really willing to sort of wait out and take the barrage, take the punishment. But here's Pete hegseth st three. 00:46:08 Speaker 11: Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it. Operation Epic Fury was a historic and overwhelming victory on the battlefield, a capital v military victory. 00:46:23 Speaker 4: It was a little bit of defining though military victory. He didn't say it was a political victory. It's not regime change. I think what is going to be very interesting in this press conference as we a wait that you can see that at the bottom of your screen. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens specifically with nuclear right nuclear is I think if we can get that chess piece off the board, we can, I think objectively declare some semblance of a victory and say, listen, maybe the strait is it cleared out. Maybe we didn't get regime change. Maybe we remove sanctions and they are going to get more money flowing into the Iranian regime. But the Ietola is gone, most of their main leadership is gone. Maybe we'll have to lomz this point and the previous hour. We're going to establish regular relations, normalize relations with whatever is left intact in Iran. And that's not a bad thing, all right. So I think I'm waiting for clarity. I think the world is waiting for clarity. I don't know, Blake, what are you hoping to see? Because sometimes these press conferences you don't get much specific. I think today's going to be a bit different. 00:47:25 Speaker 6: Well, yeah, I think, as you say, we're going to see them define not just what victory is, but hopefully set terms for the ceasefire that can hold. I think they're probably going to get grilled over strikes still happening, over that disagreement over Lebanon, and that's probably going to be the most difficult answer they can give, because that's going to be what people on to break the ceasefire wide open again. We'll probably also have to see how aggressive their posture is on if the ceasefire starts breaking down, are they ready to fully resume everything. Are we back to the threats or do we think Trump is seizing an off ramp aggressively where if the ceasefire starts going south, he's still not inclined to raise back up all of America's military operations. 00:48:11 Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we know already reporting is that Israel, the leadership of Israel, is not happy with this ceasefire. They very much want to be able to continue operations in southern Lebanon to take out Hesbelah. I think it's also a like I mentioned before, it's a clear indication that Iran sees Hesbela as an extension of the regime. So you know, if there was any doubt, let there be no doubt that Hesbela is an extension of the regime in Lebanon. And Israel is not happy with this, but they're kind of Trump's got them cornered a little bit. So I think that's going to be another question here that Caroline Levit's going to have to navigate what are you going to do with Israel? Israel is a X factor question mark on the board. Obviously, their proximity to Iran is much closer than our own, so they want to see this regime toppled. There's no doubt in anybody's mind really, So we'll see how she handles that. But again, questions on the board nuclear straight o' her moves hesbilla, can this cease fire hold? Is Jade Vance going to be present in Islamabad for the Friday peace steal negotiations or is there some security concern? What is the security concern? So there's a thousand questions that she's going to be confronted with, and maybe it will be a grilling, but I think I'm most curious to see what is the ten point plan? Are we going to get any clarity on the ten point plan? The White House has already said it's a different ten point plan than has been reported and circulated. 00:49:38 Speaker 6: It is funny how I don't think there's been any public versions of the ten point plan. Yeah, there's all different places reporting les versions. 00:49:46 Speaker 4: I think that's why President Trump issued that truth today saying that they're all fake basically, So take it all with a grain of salt, keep your wits about you. This is all a litmus test all right, this is all litmus test. Are you going to catastrophize, are you going to doom and gloom? Or are you going to keep your wits about you. I'm very proud of us on the show that we've kept our wits about us and we're column balls and strikes. We're not rushing into war. We certainly are glad that this one could be on the precipice, on the threshold of being over. I think that's a good thing and we should celebrate that. But it is fragile. It is very fragile, and we've got to see right now, the strait is essentially halted. 00:50:24 Speaker 3: It's closed. 00:50:25 Speaker 4: So is there going to be immediate action taken by the administration to get that reopened. 00:50:31 Speaker 3: We don't know. 00:50:32 Speaker 4: And I think it's also very telling here we are. This was supposed to start at ten we one pm Eastern, this press conference, and we're already at one twelve pm Eastern, so it's already been delayed a bit. We kept this segment open for this press conference today and it's delayed, which means this is a very active and moving situation. And I bet we're working with wet Cement here. Wet cement. 00:50:58 Speaker 5: Indeed, Yeah, and then how quickly does it? But yeah, did you ever did you ever read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? 00:51:04 Speaker 12: No? 00:51:04 Speaker 3: I joined up. 00:51:05 Speaker 6: It's I don't know if maybe it would age badly, it might not be funny anymore, but it's what's funny about? 00:51:11 Speaker 3: Watch them? I watched them. 00:51:12 Speaker 5: Well, well, I'm just say with the black pilling thing, I just remember. 00:51:14 Speaker 6: The thing you'll remember is that the Hitchhiker's Guide of the of the title, it's this book, and it just says on the cover, don't panic. And I think that would be good to have on a lot of things in the right. Maybe we could add it to these pocket constitutions that we have. 00:51:29 Speaker 4: Just put don't panic on the article one, section one. Just to give you a quick market update, though. Oil is down eighteen dollars a barrel. It came down at about I think it was about one ten. It settled yesterday, so it's at ninety four dollars a barrel. It's down sixteen percent, which is good news. And then the markets are surged twelve hundred points. The Dow is up twelve hundred s and P five hundred is up two and a half points, up one hundred and sixty seven, and the Nasdaq is up three points at six hundred and seventy points. So the markets like what they're hearing, despite some of the uncertainty, despite the fragile, very fragile piece that we've reached, Let's hope that it continues on. Let's hope that Caroline Levitt has some updates for us that will lead us to have additional reason for optimism. But right now, I think, right now, I think a lot of the calls yesterday for the twenty fifth Amendment, a bunch of Democrats got together, what did the number get up to, like seventy eighty Democrats calling for President Trump's impeachment. A lot of that has settled, and that today is a new day. So I'm very very interested to see what is revealed in this press conference. 00:52:44 Speaker 3: All right, I want to while we're waiting on. 00:52:45 Speaker 4: This press conference to get started, it's important to realize what some of the rhinos in the House tried to do while we were all distracted by the war. Well, we weren't so distracted that we didn't notice. We had Nick Sorder on yesterday talking about it, and that's when I discovered that it wasn't, in fact, called the Dignity Act, It's called the God Act. They had the audacity, the shamelessness to put a Spanish word on an amnesty bill while we were all distracted with Iran. 00:53:14 Speaker 3: Let's hear Rep. Maria Salazar in her own words, twelve. 00:53:19 Speaker 13: We give them dignity. At some point in the future, another legislator will write another law to give them paths to citizenship. Right now, what we need to do is to buy peace for these people, allow them to stay, to continue working because they're needed. 00:53:35 Speaker 5: It's just insane. 00:53:36 Speaker 6: It's we actually want an election on saying we're going to enforce the border, we're going to do deportations. And every single time Congress comes up there like cockroaches or something, and they just come out and say, actually, what the people wanted was mass amnesty. 00:53:52 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the exact opposite. 00:53:53 Speaker 4: And what I've realized from this is that there will always be a push. It doesn't matter how much the base wants the money, interest in ag, hospitality, other sectors are going to continue pushing for amnesty because they want cheap labor. 00:54:09 Speaker 6: You literally just have to learn to tune them out. You just like they're going to say it. No matter what, they will always say it. So you just have to ignore them. You have to say thanks, you say that every time, we're ignoring you. 00:54:18 Speaker 3: So Rep. 00:54:19 Speaker 4: Maria Alvira Salazar, who should be primary, by the way, like this woman, I don't care who endorsed her. Okay, I guess she's got a Trump I don't care. She needs to be primary because you cannot represent the grassroots and the movement of the Republican Party if you're going to continue pushing garbage amnesty and try and you know, to quote Ron Desantist, don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. That's exactly what's happening here. Brandon Gill, who's gonna come on the show tomorrow, said this is an amnesty bill. She fires back said, read the bill before you open your mouth. Calling the Dignity Act amnesty isn't just wrong, it's a deliberate distortion. 00:54:58 Speaker 3: No, what you're trying to do. 00:55:00 Speaker 4: Calling it the Dignity Act is a deliberate distortion of an amnesty bill. 00:55:05 Speaker 3: And I love that. 00:55:05 Speaker 4: There's a community note on her x feed here it says it grants amnesty permanent residency Dream Act, Deferred Action in Legal Status, Dignity Program, halts deportations, wipes three to ten year bands, creates inspected and admitted loopholes, grants Attorney General power to terminate deportation for family hardship. 00:55:24 Speaker 3: Are you kidding it? Who they're all gonna claim cardship family? 00:55:27 Speaker 6: Yeah, they're always You can't really give in these flexible definitions of things. 00:55:32 Speaker 5: We've seen that with asylum. We've seen this with refugee status. We see it. 00:55:36 Speaker 6: I mean, that's also how all the fraud that works in all these blue states. You create a vague category that everyone can claim, and if it's not really aggressively enforced, it quickly breaks down. And we know it won't be You have these immigration judges, and if you install a sympathetic actor, you basically have the inmates running the asylum. 00:55:55 Speaker 5: Everyone's able to claim the benefit. 00:55:56 Speaker 3: Get this. 00:55:57 Speaker 4: It allows every illegal alien deported by Trump since January twenty seventeen to return to the USA. They can apply for their new dignity status Digny DODD from their home country and then return to the USA. It also ups caps on certain immigration visas it so it increases our immigration. Then it provides funding to lawyers that are going to argue on behalf of these illegals to get back into the country. This is a this is absolute resous behavior, betrayal of the American voters. Get this woman out of my party. And by the way, I'm gonna have Rich Barris joined maybe tomorrow if he's available, because he's got a backstory on some of this polling that's being circulated around the administration that is warning them against using the words mass deportation. I want to hear your your thoughts. Send us an email Freedom at Charlie Kirk right now. Do you like the term mass deportation? 00:56:57 Speaker 3: Do you not like it? 00:56:57 Speaker 4: Do you understand the rationale behind maybe not using it as much? Okay, I want to hear all your viewpoints. Do you think it's bad PR Listen, there is an argument to be made that we lost some of the PR wars right mass on ice agents. That's one of the things that I've heard actually does pull very badly. Okay, Well, like, maybe there's some room to maneuver here, but you are not going to convince me that mass deportations and the reclaiming of American culture and sovereignty is not popular across the board. It is one of the issues that has been I think under valued, underappreciated the most in American politics since Trump came down the Golden escalator. He saw it, he called it out, and it will and Caroline just walked out. And Trump deserves a massive amount of credit for changing the discourse on that topic alone. And we're gonna die on that hill. That's the hill you die on. It's mass deportations in our sovereignty. Let's go ahead and take the Caroline Levett press conference. 00:57:52 Speaker 14: Good afternoon, everybody. Good to see all of you here today. 00:57:57 Speaker 15: Before I discuss the ceasefire with a on I have a quick update from the First Lady of the United States. 00:58:04 Speaker 14: Yesterday marked the very first. 00:58:06 Speaker 15: Conviction under the Take It Down Act, landmark legislation that First Lady, Milania Trump, played an instrumental role in getting passed that protects victims from non consensual AI generated sexually explicit images, cyber stocking, and threats of violence. This is a huge achievement for the First Lady, and I know the President is very proud of his wife's efforts in getting this critical legislation passed to protect America's youth. So we thanked the First Lady for her efforts, and we hope that others will report on this historic conviction yesterday. With respect to the two week cease fire announced by President Trump last night, this is a victory for the United States of America that the presidents in our incredible military made happen. From the very beginning of Operation Epic Fury, President Trump stated this would be a four to six week military operation to dismantle the military threat posed by the radical Islamic Iranian regime. Thanks to the unbelievable capabilities of America's war fighters, the United States has achieved and exceeded those core military objectives. 00:59:12 Speaker 14: In just thirty eight days. 00:59:15 Speaker 15: The US military destroyed Iran's defense industrial base, crushing the regime's ability to manufacture weapons that they and their proxies used to maim and kill Americans and. 00:59:26 Speaker 14: Terrorize the world. 00:59:28 Speaker 15: Iran's ability to build in stockpile ballistic missiles and long range drones has also been set back by years compared to where it was six weeks ago prior to the launch of Operation Epic Fury. We destroyed the vast majority of Iran's ballistic missiles launcher vehicles and long range attack drones. Through more than four hundred and fifty strikes on ballistic missiles and approximately eight hundred strikes on Iran's drone launching units and storage facilities. In total, more than thirteen thousand targets of across Iran were struck. Again, this is in the matter of just thirty eight days. Meanwhile, the Iranian navy was completely annihilated. The United States destroyed more than one hundred and fifty naval vessels in total, including sixteen entire classes of Iranian warships. Despite once being the largest undersea force in the Middle East, Iran now has zero submarine vessels. Ninety seven percent of Iran's once massive inventory of more than five thousand naval mines has. 01:00:33 Speaker 14: Also been targeted and destroyed. 01:00:35 Speaker 15: Iran's air forces are functionally and operationally irrelevant at this point, after the United States maintained total air dominance over their country for weeks on end. To underscore the significance of this, before Operation Epic Fury, the Iranian Naval Air Force would fly between thirty to one hundred flights per day. Today that number is zero. Iran's ability to fund and so poor its terrorist proxies has been greatly reduced. At this point, Iran can no longer distribute weapons to its proxies in the region, and most importantly, Iran will not be able to acquire nuclear weapons. Prior to the start of this successful operation, Iran was aggressively expanding its short range ballistic missile arsenal. Through these weapons and its navy, Iran was attempting to build a military build up around their country that would pose an imminent and existential threat to the United States military assets in the Middle East, our allies in the region, and ultimately. 01:01:34 Speaker 14: The free world. 01:01:36 Speaker 15: Iran was pursuing this dangerous and aggressive strategy for one reason, to hold the entire world hostage to its terrorist ambitions. The Iranians aim to use their expanded military capabilities as a shields around their country to continue achieving their ultimate goal internally building nuclear bombs. But their murderous and evil plans have been blown up quite literally and figuratively. Along with their military, their nuclear program, and most of their senior leadership, including the former Supreme Leader Ayatola A La Camani, their command and control structures were also massively disrupted after being struck more than two thousand times. Many of their remaining leaders are paralyzed in fear and no longer enjoy the freedom to move around their country freely and meet openly. Thanks to the unmatched excellence of our warriors at the direction of the Commander in Chief, the world has just witnessed a historically swift and successful military triumph. 01:02:34 Speaker 14: President Trump started Operation Epic Fury with. 01:02:36 Speaker 15: Strategic military objectives in the United States has clearly achieved them. As we mark this progress, we also remember and honor the thirteen American heroes who laid down their lives in this noble effort. I know President Trump, in our grateful nation honors their ultimate sacrifice, and we will never forget them. 01:02:56 Speaker 14: May God bless their families. 01:02:58 Speaker 15: The valiant efforts of all of our our incredible service members created maximum leverage for the President of the United States, allowing he and his leadership team to engage in tough negotiations over the past couple of weeks that have now created an opening for a diplomatic solution in long term peace in the Middle East. The President's maximum pressure and the leverage created by the success of Operation Epic Fury led to the Iranian regime asking for and ultimately agreeing to a ceasefire proposal with the United States. Iran can no longer tolerate being bombed or taking the gamble of what was to come. Following President Trump's eight pm deadline last night, Iran has agreed to open the strait of her moose, and as the President said, we have received a proposal from the Iranians that has been determined to be a workable basis on which to negotiate. I've seen a lot of inaccurate coverage today from the media about these negotiations in these plans already, so let me be clear and correct the record. The Iranians originally put forward a ten point plan that was fundamentally unserious, unacceptable, and completely discarded. It was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump and his negotiating team. Many outlets in this room have falsely reported on that plan as being acceptable to the United States, and that is false. With the president's deadline fast approaching in the United States military completely decimating Iran with each passing hour, the regime acknowledged reality to the negotiating team. They put forward a more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the President and his team. President Trump and the team determined the new modified plan was a workable basis on which to negotiate and to align it with our own fifteen point proposal. 01:04:44 Speaker 14: The President's red. 01:04:45 Speaker 15: Lines, namely the end of Iranian enrichment in Iran, have not changed, and the idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wish. 01:04:54 Speaker 14: List as a deal is completely absurd. 01:04:57 Speaker 15: The President will only make a deal that serves in the best interests of the United States of America, and he is a negotiating team. 01:05:04 Speaker 14: We'll focus on this effort over the next two. 01:05:06 Speaker 15: Weeks so long as the strait of her moves remains open with no limitations or delays. These extraordinarily sensitive and complex negotiations will take place behind closed doors over the course of the next two weeks. I would strongly advise the media against running. 01:05:22 Speaker 14: With narratives that have no basis. 01:05:23 Speaker 15: In fact, what Iran says publicly or feeds to all of you in the press is much different than what they communicate to the United States. The President and his team privately never underestimate President Trump's ability to successfully advance America's interests and broker peace. President Trump has a proven track record of achieving good deals on behalf of the United States and the American people, and he will only accept one that puts America first. 01:05:52 Speaker 3: Listen. 01:05:52 Speaker 4: If faith and values are important to you, they should be a part of how you date. It's that simple, not something you figure out later when you, like three, four months down the road in a relationship. You see, most dating apps are built around casual connection, instant gratification, no long term vision, and that's just not what many of you are looking for. Thank goodness, That's why I like Upward. It's a dating app designed around faith and shared values. People who care about commitment, integrity, marriage and family, the things that we really value on this show. You're starting from common ground instead of trying to negotiate your core beliefs months into a relationship. That kind of clarity matters if faith is central to your life, or even if it's something that shaped how you were raised and how you see the world. Upward connects you with people who take that seriously. So if you're tired of the confusion and ready to date with intention, with marriage and family and mind, download Upward and start building on that right foundation. Because strong relationships start with shared values. Download the Upward app today. 01:06:55 Speaker 15: With that, I will take your questions today. I'm sure you have a lot of them. In our new media seat, we have Shaped Harris with the AMAC news line. Shane, thank you for being here. Why don't you kick us off? 01:07:03 Speaker 16: Yeah? 01:07:04 Speaker 17: Thanks for having me, Caroline. 01:07:05 Speaker 3: Two questions are you? 01:07:06 Speaker 7: First? 01:07:06 Speaker 18: Following the President's announcement of the ceasefire, If this is indeed the end of hostilities in Iran, what is the President's message to the American people about what was it achieved for our country through Operation Epic Fury. 01:07:17 Speaker 15: Sure, I think I just laid out a significant portion of that in my opening remarks six weeks ago. The President looked the American people in the eye directly, and he told them that he launched this operation to take out the imminent threat that was posed by Iran. And that threat has now been greatly destroyed. Their navy, their missiles, their defense industrial base, and their desire and their plan to build a nuclear bomb inside their country is no longer going to be allowed, can no longer happen thanks to the remarkable success of Operation Epic Fury over the course of the last thirty eight days, that has been absolutely achieved and now we're moving into the next phase of this, which is a negotiating period to put some fine points on this into hopefully broker an agreement that can achieve long term in the Middle East. 01:08:00 Speaker 18: Yeah, and then second, what is the President's message to American seniors who have a much higher voter participation rate and they're likely to key swing vote in the midterm elections. 01:08:09 Speaker 15: Well, the President loves our seniors across the country, and as you know, the President signed the one big, beautiful bill, the Working Families. 01:08:16 Speaker 14: Tax Cut, last year, which greatly reduced. 01:08:19 Speaker 15: Taxes on Social Security for our seniors. In fact, thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, nearly ninety percent of seniors will no longer pay tax on their Social Security. That's a huge win for our seniors and also for our middle class and working families across the country. With the no tax on tips provision and the no tax on overtime. Next week is tax Week, you'll hear a lot from the President about how his policies have benefited the American people. And I'm proud to report that the President will be traveling next week to the great states of Nevada and Arizona to tout this historic accomplishment over the course of the next week. Thank you for being here, Shane Gabe. 01:08:54 Speaker 7: Thank you. 01:08:54 Speaker 19: Calin stage, media is saying that Iron is now closed off the straight afore Moose today response to his rarely tax on Lebanon. What's the White House response to that? And just listed many military successes. I understand that, But strategically, how is the administration arguing that Iran does not have more economic leverage than now than it did before the story? 01:09:18 Speaker 15: Sure well, with respect to the first reporting out of Iranian state media, the President was made aware of those reports before I came to the podium. 01:09:26 Speaker 14: That is completely unacceptable. 01:09:27 Speaker 15: And again this is a case of what they're saying publicly is different privately. We have seen an uptick of traffic in the Strait today, and I will reiterate the President's expectation and demand that the Strait of Hermose is reopened immediately, quickly and safely. That is his expectation, and it has been relayed to him privately that that is what's taking place in These reports publicly are false. 01:09:50 Speaker 19: Here the Resident yesterday threatened that a whole civilization would die if a ceasefire deal wasn't reached understanding that Iranian leaders have previously set death to America. But Guy, is it appropriate for the president of the United States to use that kind of language when talking about civilian targets? And was a president Maki Islam by signing off his true social post over the weekend Praise be to Allah when that antagonized muscle anallies across the world. 01:10:16 Speaker 15: Well, I understand the questions about the president's rhetoric, but what the President cares most about is results, And in fact, his very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are. 01:10:29 Speaker 14: All witnessing today. 01:10:30 Speaker 15: Iran publicly acknowledging last night that they have agreed or that they wanted this cease fire with the United States because they no longer could tolerate being bombed by our very powerful and lethal military, and that they have committed to the reopening of the Strait of hermus which the President will hold them accountable for, and it's something the administration is closely monitoring in real time. Danny, should the world not take his word seriously, The world should take his word very seriously, and understanding that the President is always most interested in results, and it was the Iranians who backed down, not President Trump. He said that they would face very grave consequences, as you just laid out by the eight pm deadline if they did not agree to reopening the straighter for Moose. And what did they do last night? They agreed to reopen the straighter for Moose. 01:11:13 Speaker 14: Danny, Thanks, thanks. 01:11:16 Speaker 10: Would President Trump liked to see Lebanon included in this peace deal, says, you know that's been increased as way the strikes on Lebanon today with dozens of casualties. 01:11:24 Speaker 15: Then sure Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire that has been relayed to all parties involved in the ceasefire. As you know, Prime Minister net and Yahoo put out a statement last night in support of the cease fire, in support of the United States his efforts, and he's also assured to President Bill continue to be a helpful partner throughout the course of the next two weeks. 01:11:42 Speaker 10: Is there any thought though that the President might like to see Lebanon included in a future date given that it seems to be causing or potentially undermining the around cease fire. 01:11:52 Speaker 15: Again, this will continue to be discussed. I am sure between the President and Prime Minister net Yahoo, the United States and Israel and all of the parties involved, but at this point in time, they're not included in the Seaspire deal. 01:12:03 Speaker 14: Jeff, thank you, Caroline. 01:12:05 Speaker 20: Will the US take part in talks with Iran and Islamabad on Friday? 01:12:09 Speaker 15: I can announce that the President is dispatching his negotiating team, led by the Vice President of the United States J. D Vance, Special Envoy Witcoff, and mister Kushner to Islamabad for. 01:12:21 Speaker 14: Talks this weekend. 01:12:22 Speaker 15: The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning local time, and we know we look forward to those in person meetings. 01:12:28 Speaker 20: What role does the President see for the US in monitoring or helping with this rate of forms going forward? 01:12:35 Speaker 15: I think the President commented on that this morning. We're going to continue to monitor it very very closely. We will be helpful in any way that we can, but we fully expect Aroan to do this, and the President has made that quite clear as well. 01:12:46 Speaker 14: It's, again, as. 01:12:48 Speaker 15: His statement said last night, the ceasefires subject to the safe reopening of the strait of hermouse. 01:12:54 Speaker 14: Again, this was just determined last night. 01:12:56 Speaker 15: We understand things take time, but that's the president's expectation and he will hold everyone to it. 01:13:03 Speaker 14: Sure in the green blazer, thank you very sure, and then in front of you. But Andrew, you can go ahead. You're not wearing a green blazer. 01:13:11 Speaker 21: I am actually wearing it. 01:13:12 Speaker 14: Was a little brown to me, but go ahead. 01:13:16 Speaker 21: Fair enough. 01:13:17 Speaker 22: So. 01:13:18 Speaker 21: Regarding the president's rhetoric when the US invaded Iraq in two thousand and three, George W. Bush said in a message to the Iraqi people that the military campaign was directed quote against the lawless men who rule your country, and not against you. Yesterday, the President threatened to destroy Iran's civilization, the entire civilization, not the Iranian government, but the Iranian civilization, the Iranian people. 01:13:47 Speaker 23: The US has been a moral leader for most of its history by fighting wars against other governments, not against civilizations. How can the president and it claimed that America can never have the moral high ground if he's threatening to destroy civilizations and not casting wars as fights against other governments. 01:14:10 Speaker 15: Andrew, I think you should take a look at the actions of this president over the course of. 01:14:14 Speaker 14: The past six weeks and the actions. 01:14:16 Speaker 15: Of our brave men and women in our United States military who have taken out the essentially taken out the military of a rogue Islamic regime that has chanted death to America for forty seven years, that has killed and maimed thousands of American soldiers over the course of the last five decades. The President absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime, and for you to even suggest otherwise is frankly insulting. 01:14:42 Speaker 16: Respect. 01:14:43 Speaker 7: Go ahead, with all due respect, go ahead, there is just given what we've seen in Lebanon today and the increase attacks of israel organ is there. 01:14:52 Speaker 22: Any concern that met Yahoo is trying to kill the ceasefire. 01:14:57 Speaker 15: The President spoke with Prime Minister net Yahoo last night in that private conversation, Prime Minister Netya, who related exactly. 01:15:03 Speaker 14: What he said to the world publicly that he. 01:15:05 Speaker 15: Supports the president in Israel remains a key ally and partner to the United States. 01:15:10 Speaker 14: They've been a tremendous partner over the course of. 01:15:12 Speaker 15: The past six weeks, and we thank them for their heroic efforts as well. And the President had that conversation last night and that was relayed to the world publicly as well. 01:15:22 Speaker 14: Reagan, go ahead, Thank you. 01:15:23 Speaker 16: Carolyn, I have a question for you on Iran, A question on the Dignity Act. As show on Iran, it's been reported that the ceasefire was struck after the involvement of two unlikely factors, JD. Vance in China. What role did those parties play in striking a deal? 01:15:39 Speaker 15: Well, Vice President Vance has played a very significant, in a key role in this since the very beginning. Of course, he's the President's right hand band. He is the Vice President of the United States. He's been involved in all of these discussions and as I just announced, he'll be leading this new phase of negotiations in Islamabad later this week. With respect to China, there were conversations that took place between top levels of our government and China's government. The President has great respect for President She in a great working relationship with him and with that country, and he looks forward to visiting China in just a few weeks. 01:16:18 Speaker 16: On the Dignity Act, it's getting a fresh push through Congress. It would give some illegal immigrants in the country a path to citizenship. 01:16:26 Speaker 14: What's the White House his position. 01:16:27 Speaker 16: On this legislation and would the President sign it if it made it to his desk? 01:16:31 Speaker 15: Honestly, Reagan, I haven't spoken to the President about the legislation, but I will have that conversation and we'll get you our formal position on it as soon as we can. 01:16:38 Speaker 14: You're welcome, go ahead. 01:16:40 Speaker 20: The presidentation your name this point, and he was supported John us An. 01:16:44 Speaker 22: That's sure. 01:16:45 Speaker 19: The charge tolls for ships going through the street. 01:16:48 Speaker 12: Does the President believe that the US should horn revenue from the Strait of Romo's going forward. 01:16:54 Speaker 15: It's something it's an idea the President has floated, as you know, and it's something that will continue to be discussed over the course the next two weeks. But the immediate priority of the President is the reopening of the strait without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise the. 01:17:09 Speaker 18: Highly enriched uranium. 01:17:11 Speaker 20: Has Iran given the administration any indication that it would simply turn. 01:17:15 Speaker 14: Over the enriched uranium or is this an expectation that president has that he. 01:17:20 Speaker 18: Would have to send in ground troops. 01:17:22 Speaker 17: In order to do that. 01:17:23 Speaker 15: This is on the top of the priority list for the President and his negotiating team as they head into the next round of discussions. And as I said in my opener, that is a red line that the President is not going to back away from, and. 01:17:35 Speaker 14: He's committed to ensuring that takes place. 01:17:38 Speaker 15: We hope it will be through diplomacy. 01:17:41 Speaker 14: They would turn it over they have, Yes, Trever. 01:17:45 Speaker 12: The latest news out of Iran is that the air defenses have been activated in several cities, including Isfahan, and that explosions have been hurting his coon who is bombing Iran right now? 01:17:56 Speaker 15: Were those reports just as of a few minutes ago? Okay, so obvious. I'll have to go back and check with the National security team. I'm standing out here with all of you, but I will do that and we will get you an answer. 01:18:05 Speaker 12: Okay, tell us on the civilization question that we've been talking about. 01:18:10 Speaker 15: And I would just add to that point again, I haven't seen these reports. I'm not verifying them, not that I don't trust you, Trevor, but I want to go back and check with the experts here at the White House. I would just say, and I would echo what the Vice President said this morning. This is a fragile truce. Ceasefires are fragile by nature. We've seen this with respect to the twelve day war with Iran in Israel last year. It takes time sometimes for these seasfires to be fully effectuated, and one of the results of Operation Epic Fury was we completely dismantled Iran's command and control center, which makes it difficult for them to pass messages up and down the chain. And so we understand that I would caution a little bit of patience, but of course we want to see the ceasefire effectuated and abided by by all parties as quickly as possible. 01:18:53 Speaker 3: Thank you for residential administrations. 01:18:56 Speaker 12: Going back to Ron Reagan, have said this formulation about nuclear war, that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be thought. Is that still the view of this administration? Given the president's comments about civilization. 01:19:07 Speaker 14: I have no change in our view on that policy, Katie. 01:19:11 Speaker 16: I'm just given the gravity of what he said yesterday, what was your understanding of what he meant when he said. 01:19:19 Speaker 14: This civilization is going to be eliminated. I think it was a. 01:19:22 Speaker 15: Very very strong threat from the President of the United States that led the Iranian regime to cave to their knees and ask for a ceasefire and agree to reopening the Strait of hermos So it was a very strong threat that led to results and as the Secretary of War stated at the Pentagon this morning, it was not an empty threat by any means. The Pentagon had a target list that they were ready to hit go on at eight pm last night if the Iranian regime had not agreed to open the strait, which they did. 01:19:51 Speaker 14: And I think that's something we should all be grateful. 01:19:53 Speaker 16: For United States as a morale leader in the world, given that I. 01:19:56 Speaker 15: Was asked this exact same question by your colleague Andrew in the back. And I think again the insinuation by anyone in this room that Iran somehow has the moral high ground over the United States of America is insulting, considering the atrocities that they have, considering the atrocities that they have committed against our people and our military over the past five decades. 01:20:17 Speaker 14: John, John, thanks a lot, Caroline. Two questions for you. 01:20:21 Speaker 20: One has to deal with a statement, a joint statement put out this morning by some of America's European allies, our NATO allies, And in that joint statement they said, regarding the Strait of Formose, our governments will contribute to ensuring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Formuse. The administration's reaction to that joint statement is that smooth things over when the President meets with NATO's Secretary General a little bit later this afternoon. 01:20:47 Speaker 15: I have a direct quote from the President of the United States on NATO, and I will share it with all of you. They were tested and they failed, and I would add it's quite sad that NATO turned their backs on the American people over the course of the last six weeks when it's the American peace people who have been defunding their defense. As you know, President Trump will be meeting with Secretary Ruta in a couple of hours here at the White House, and I know he looks forward to having a very frank, in candid conversation with him. 01:21:11 Speaker 20: And the secondly, in regards to this conflict thirty eight days, as you pointed out, President Trump has said that there's been regime change. Has that regime change led to more freedoms for the Iranian people. 01:21:25 Speaker 15: I think that's a question that's being asked a little bit too early, John, and we hope that is the case, but it's something that has yet to be. 01:21:32 Speaker 17: Seen, Carolyn Tolling by the Iranians and the Strait of Formuz. I've heard you talk about a number of red lines that the President has in this negotiation, but I haven't heard you say that Iranian tolling in the straight up formos is a red line. Would it be acceptable to the United States at the end of all this if the Iranians are able to charge poles in the straight of moves? 01:21:55 Speaker 15: I think the President was very clear and simplistic in his language last night in his truth social post where he said that this ceasefire is subject too of the free, safe, and immediate reopening. 01:22:06 Speaker 14: Of the Strait of Hormuse. 01:22:08 Speaker 15: That's very plain language and it should be taken at face value. Carry Carrie go ahead without limitation including tolls. 01:22:16 Speaker 14: Yes, Harry could call up on ETNY. 01:22:18 Speaker 22: What would the uish to allow a rand to collect tolls from the. 01:22:22 Speaker 14: Straight up promise sects? And that's something that we've opposed for umber of years now. 01:22:27 Speaker 15: Again, that's not something we've said that we've definitively accepted. The joint venture is something that was proposed by the President, but he was very clear in his statement last night he wants to see the straight reopened immediately without limitation, and that's something we're going to hold. 01:22:40 Speaker 22: Them to only and friends in Iran. I myself an Iranian, and I've been talking to them through the blackout. One of my family members yesterday said goodbye to me. So what message should we be sending Iranians when they message me saying what should. 01:22:56 Speaker 14: They be doing right now? How could they stay safe? 01:22:59 Speaker 22: Because they really don't know what to do. 01:23:02 Speaker 15: I think the President's main priority, and my main priority as his spokeswoman, is to make sure that clear messages are sent to the American people, of course, which is my job today. With respect to the Iranian people, the President has taken out the imminent threat that was posed by their military to the United States, to our allies in the region, to our forces in the region, and of course, as the President has long said, he hopes that Iran will be a country of peace, of prosperity. 01:23:30 Speaker 14: And we're moving into this next round. 01:23:31 Speaker 15: Of negotiations to hopefully come to an agreement with this new regime that will create long term stability in the Middle East, so that they. 01:23:40 Speaker 22: Should stay inside of their homes and also take back their country. So how there's a contradiction there, So how do you address that? 01:23:48 Speaker 14: Again? 01:23:48 Speaker 15: We're moving into this next round of negotiations with the remnants of the regime and those that we are speaking with now to hopefully reach a place of peace long term for the region, and that includes the Iranian people as well. 01:24:01 Speaker 14: In the blue go Ahead. 01:24:03 Speaker 9: Thank you for the Way has issue posted the statement from the Iranian government that passage in the Strait will be coordinated with Iran's armed forces as of today, who controls the state of the. 01:24:14 Speaker 15: Straight up armies again this these statements were put out twelve hours ago. 01:24:19 Speaker 14: We expect that the Strait will be opened immediately. 01:24:22 Speaker 15: As I said earlier, we have seen an uptick in traffic in the Strait and it's something that we are monitoring minute by minute, hour by hour as the days go on. 01:24:33 Speaker 22: Straight questions one on the deportations of Iranian officials. 01:24:37 Speaker 14: And nine and up on the negotiations. 01:24:40 Speaker 15: Are there still security concerns about visprect demands. 01:24:43 Speaker 14: On being part of these pace. 01:24:45 Speaker 22: Talks on Stepway cob Chare Kushner And then two, given the ongoing deportation of General Solawani's niece, does the Trump administration plan. 01:24:53 Speaker 16: To deport more relatives or people in the families of Iranian. 01:24:57 Speaker 14: Officials that are in the US. Certainly anyone who is here fraudulently. 01:25:01 Speaker 15: I understand one of the individuals who their visa was revoked by Secretary of Rubio and they were deported by Ice. They had a fraudulent assilent claim. That's against the laws of the United States. So anyone who is here illegally or fraudulently is subject to our nation's immigration laws and will be removed from our country. 01:25:17 Speaker 14: And I know this continues to be. 01:25:19 Speaker 15: A top priority for the State Department, working in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security. With respect to the safety of the Vice President, we fully trust the United States Secret Service to do their job to keep the Vice President and the President's negotiating team safe. 01:25:33 Speaker 14: They do a tremendous job, and we fully trust them to do that. In the back go ahead President has sent to you by his guys. 01:25:42 Speaker 17: What's the message in the American people regarding Cuba and loo can Cubans expect in relations to this statement. 01:25:47 Speaker 15: Well, look, I think when President Trump said that, and he later clarified after making that statement, that he meant the Cuban regime is bound to fall. 01:25:56 Speaker 14: The country is very weak. 01:25:57 Speaker 15: They're in a very weak position economic obviously financially. The Cuban people are fed up with their government, as they should be, and these talks and discussions continue to happen at the highest level of our government. I don't have any updates or announcements for you with respect to Cuba policy today. 01:26:15 Speaker 14: Good to see, Thank you, Caroline. 01:26:16 Speaker 22: Secretary Heccess said this morning that US troops would be sticking around. 01:26:21 Speaker 14: Can you expound upon that what we. 01:26:23 Speaker 22: Should expect from US troops in theater for the next two weeks and beyond. 01:26:28 Speaker 15: I would defer you to the Pentagon for any specifics on assets that have been in place in the Middle East, but take the Secretary at his word, and also the President has reiterated this as well in his own words that we're not going to move anything immediately. 01:26:41 Speaker 14: Again, this is a two. 01:26:43 Speaker 15: Week seaspire where we hope at the end and we expect at the end we'll have a good agreement between the United States and Iran. But in the meantime, we're going to ensure that our military is always at the ready of the commander in chief. Take a couple more in the back, Thank you, thank you, thank you. On NATO, I'll take your question. 01:27:01 Speaker 13: Can you tell me the United States still considering withdrawing from NATO. 01:27:07 Speaker 15: It's something the President has discussed, and I think it's something the President will be discussing in a couple of hours with Secretary General Ruta, and perhaps you'll hear directly from the President following that meeting later this afternoon. 01:27:17 Speaker 14: Thank you everyone, all. 01:27:19 Speaker 3: Right, welcome back. 01:27:21 Speaker 4: At a lot of information there. We're told just to I think hit some of the high water marks here, that the straight up horn moose is open for all intents and purposes. The President continues demand that demand that the strait is open safely, securely and immediately. That was apparently the lynchpin to getting the sea fire two weeks ceasefire accomplished in the first place. We're told Lebanon is not a part of the current framework, so Israel's free apparently to continue attacking southern Lebanon and has Ballad there. We'll see if you're on, We'll see if we'll see if Ron agrees. We are told that JD. Vance is in fact going to be participating in the peace negotiations in Islamabad starting on Friday, along with Special Envoy wit Cough and mister Jared Kushner. I think those were the big points. There's a lot of questions about America's you know, the moral equivalency because of President Trump's truths. 01:28:18 Speaker 3: You know, are we any better than Iran? Of course we are. 01:28:21 Speaker 4: You know, we don't kill fifty thousand protesters on the streets when they're protesting the government. 01:28:27 Speaker 3: So a lot of insanity there. There was a reporter there going. 01:28:29 Speaker 4: Like my auntie from from Iran called me and asked, if you know, if she said goodbye, like listen, like it's so annoying. The press was very annoying there. She does a great job putting up with their garbage. But yeah, what were your main takeaways? 01:28:43 Speaker 6: I thought the most interesting thing is they did ask about NATO and the President did express, or I should say Levitt, she expressed a lot. 01:28:52 Speaker 5: Of disappointment with them. 01:28:53 Speaker 6: The line was like they had the chance to step up and they failed. I do wonder if we'll see more discussion of that. It could, of course be another play by the president. He's always wanted NATO to contribute more generally, step up for their own defense. 01:29:08 Speaker 4: Mark Ruta, the Secretary of General of NATO, as meeting with the President today, So he's at the White House, and he's been somebody that understands Trump, that seems to have embraced Trump more fully with all of his you know, quirks and idiosyncrasies. So you know, I happen to think that NATO will continue on, Our involvement in NATO will continue on. But yeah, this was a big blow to that alliance. I think, and again we could argue Trump calls it a paper tiger. I think it's yet to be seen if NATO is going to live up to its promise or not. 01:29:47 Speaker 11: For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to Charliekirk dot com