The world erupted after the U.S. struck Iran and the regime of Ayatollah Khamenei collapsed.
Media outlets called it reckless. Critics screamed “World War III.” Activists claimed it was unconstitutional.
But what’s actually true?
In this episode of Stay in the Fray, Ryan cuts through the noise and breaks down what really happened — using facts, global reactions, and the voices that matter most: the Iranian people themselves.
From women celebrating in the streets to world leaders taking sides, this episode exposes the gap between media narratives and reality.
Inside this episode:
• The difference between targeted strikes and endless wars
• What the Iranian regime has done to its own people
• Why Iranians around the world are celebrating
• The nuclear threat and why it matters globally
• The geopolitical chessboard involving China and Russia
• The hypocrisy behind outrage from politicians and media
• The constitutional authority of U.S. military action
• What global leaders’ reactions reveal about the real divide
At the center of it all is one question:
Is America — and the world — better off without this regime?
Listen all the way through and decide for yourself.
👉 Follow the show so you don’t miss upcoming episodes
⭐ If this episode gave you a new perspective, drop a 5-star review — it helps push the truth past the noise
00:00:00
There's one group of people I'm paying a lot more attention to.
00:00:03
The Iranians is what activists in Western cities are screaming
00:00:08
about oppression and imperialism.
00:00:11
Many actual Iranian people are celebrating.
00:00:14
And if you want to understand the difference between the
00:00:16
Iranian regime and the Iranian people, you only need to look at
00:00:21
what's happened in the streets as all of this conflict began.
00:00:29
Imagine living like that, worrying every day that your
00:00:33
government may hurt your family simply because they spoke out
00:00:38
the absolute worldwide celebration.
00:00:41
These are Iranian celebrating all over the world, multiple
00:00:45
cities, multiple countries. These are the countries that
00:00:52
Obama bombed in his final year of office.
00:01:04
Welcome to Stay in the Fray podcast.
00:01:06
I'm your host, Ryan. This is where headlines get hit
00:01:08
hard, hypocracy gets shredded, and the absurd are laughed at.
00:01:13
If you want comfort, this isn't your place.
00:01:15
If you want blunt and unfiltered, I'm your guy.
00:01:18
Join me in the Fray, all you. Had to do is just listen.
00:01:25
Up All right. Hey, guys, welcome to the the
00:01:27
new digs. If you've been with me long
00:01:30
enough, you know that these are actually old digs.
00:01:33
This is an old office and I am back, so it's nice to be back in
00:01:37
here. It feels very much at home, so
00:01:41
hope everybody's well. I need to get to Iran because
00:01:45
right on cue, the usual suspects and a couple of bonus idiots
00:01:51
have absolutely lost their collective minds.
00:01:55
The misinformation, the fake outrage, the recycled talking
00:01:59
points, all the things that I always talk about.
00:02:02
It's like watching the I Hate Trump club gather for their
00:02:05
daily meetings. Except this time the topic is
00:02:09
geopolitics and apparently everybody suddenly has a PhD in
00:02:13
foreign policy. Funny thing though, these same
00:02:16
people didn't have much to say when Barack Obama launched these
00:02:19
types of strikes. Tons of them.
00:02:23
We'll get there. You didn't hear much when Biden
00:02:26
ordered military operations and Bush, well, that era alone
00:02:33
should have taught people the difference between a military
00:02:35
strike and a 20 year occupation. But now suddenly everybody have
00:02:42
a keyboard warrior with a Wi-Fi and a protest sign.
00:02:46
They think they understand that Middle East better than
00:02:49
intelligence agencies and military planners.
00:02:52
They even think that they think they know it better than the
00:02:54
Iranian people who have lived it.
00:02:57
So here's what we're going to do.
00:03:00
We're going to walk through this situation.
00:03:02
Every angle, the media narrative, the reality of the
00:03:06
Iranian regime, there's strategic reasons the US would
00:03:10
act and how leaders around the world are reacting to it.
00:03:16
At the end of this episode, I want you to ask yourself one
00:03:19
simple question. Is the world better and safer
00:03:25
with this Iranian regime in power or without it?
00:03:31
Because that is the only question that actually matters.
00:03:34
This is stay in the very podcast.
00:03:37
Let's roll. All right, the first thing that
00:03:39
happened after the initial strike, predictably, the
00:03:43
meltdown. You've heard the talking points
00:03:46
already. Trump, he campaigned on no more
00:03:49
wars. What's he doing?
00:03:51
This must be about oil. This must be about this or that.
00:03:54
We're getting dragged into another forever war.
00:03:57
But every time the United States does anything overseas, the same
00:04:01
script gets pulled out. Apparently every foreign policy
00:04:05
decision must now be compared to Iraq and Afghanistan, no matter
00:04:10
what actually happened. And that's where the
00:04:14
conversation immediately goes. Because there is a massive
00:04:18
difference between a targeted military action and a decades
00:04:23
long occupation. Those are not the same thing,
00:04:27
not even close. But nuance on the Internet isn't
00:04:32
exactly a booming industry. So the Trump ran on no More Wars
00:04:38
argument. Yes, Trump absolutely ran on
00:04:42
ending endless wars. And the wars he was talking
00:04:45
about look like this. The war in Afghanistan that
00:04:49
lasted 20 years, or the Iraq War, which turned into a massive
00:04:53
occupation effort that cost the United States trillions of
00:04:57
dollars and thousands of American lives.
00:04:59
Those wars involved hundreds of thousands of troops on the
00:05:03
ground and years of rebuilding foreign governments.
00:05:07
That is a completely different category of military action.
00:05:13
But according to the Internet, if America fires so much as a
00:05:16
missile somewhere on the planet, apparently that means we're
00:05:20
immediately invading another country for the next two
00:05:23
decades. Trump's campaign goals, his
00:05:26
goals are not a promise that the world will stop producing
00:05:31
threats. Presidents respond to events.
00:05:36
Intelligence changes. Threat levels change.
00:05:40
Situations evolve. The idea that a president should
00:05:44
just sit on his hands because of a campaign slogan is honestly
00:05:48
one of the laziest criticisms floating around right now.
00:05:52
Another thing I always find fascinating when something like
00:05:54
this happens, suddenly every random person online becomes an
00:05:58
expert on Middle Eastern politics.
00:06:02
Meanwhile, the reality is this. The President of the United
00:06:06
States receives intelligence briefings every single day.
00:06:11
Military leaders, intelligence agencies, diplomats, analysts,
00:06:16
thousands of professionals feeding information into those
00:06:20
decisions. And yet somehow Joe Schmo on
00:06:23
TikTok thinks he understands the situation better than they do.
00:06:28
Let's be honest, most of the loudest critics right now have
00:06:32
never even been to the Middle East.
00:06:34
They've never studied the region.
00:06:36
They've never spoken to people living under that regime.
00:06:39
They've never experienced the reality of life under
00:06:42
governments like that. But they're extremely confident
00:06:46
because confidence on the Internet costs absolutely
00:06:49
nothing. And of course, then you have the
00:06:53
oil argument. Apparently everything in the
00:06:55
United States, everything they do in the Middle East must be
00:06:58
about the oil. Yes, energy matters.
00:07:02
And we'll get to this. Iran actually holds some of the
00:07:05
largest oil reserves on the planet.
00:07:07
That is not it's not a secret. That absolutely makes it
00:07:11
geopolitically significant. But reducing the entire
00:07:14
situation to America wants the oil completely ignores something
00:07:19
else. The Iranian regime has been
00:07:22
openly hostile to the United States and Western countries for
00:07:26
more than 4 decades. Since the 1979 Islamic
00:07:30
Revolution, that government has built its identity around
00:07:34
opposition to America and Western influence.
00:07:38
It is also spent years funding proxy terrorist groups like
00:07:42
Hezbollah, Hamas groups that have been involved in attacks
00:07:46
throughout the region. Because of that support for
00:07:48
militant organizations, Iran has been officially designated by
00:07:53
the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.
00:07:57
This has been since 1984. This isn't this.
00:08:00
It's not exactly a new development.
00:08:02
This conflict didn't suddenly appear last week.
00:08:06
OK, To be fair, and I've mentioned this on another show
00:08:10
when we went and and took care of Maduro in Venezuela, to be
00:08:14
fair, there is a question I think is legitimate for debate.
00:08:19
I think it's OK to discuss this. Why does the US get to decide
00:08:24
which regime should have nuclear weapons?
00:08:26
Why does America influence what happens inside other countries?
00:08:30
That's a real debate. I'm OK with that.
00:08:32
Let's talk. But the blunt answer, power.
00:08:36
The most powerful countries in the world shape the global
00:08:39
rules. That's been true throughout
00:08:41
human history. It's just the way it is.
00:08:44
But there is another piece to this that people conveniently
00:08:48
ignore responsibility. Because when a regime fires
00:08:53
bullets into a crowd of its own citizens during protests, when
00:08:58
10s of thousands of people are killed simply for opposing the
00:09:02
government, when women are beaten or imprisoned for
00:09:06
refusing to follow strict religious mandates.
00:09:09
At some point the rest of the world has to decide whether it
00:09:13
just sits and watches or whether it believes those things
00:09:17
actually matter. You can debate the strategy, you
00:09:20
can debate the timing, you can debate all the methods.
00:09:24
But pretending these regimes are harmless victims of western
00:09:27
aggression is just intellectual laziness.
00:09:31
For all the noise coming from the virtue signalling anti Trump
00:09:34
crowd in the US right now, there's one group of people I'm
00:09:38
paying a lot more attention to. The Iranians.
00:09:42
Because while activists in Western cities are screaming
00:09:46
about oppression and imperialism, many actual Iranian
00:09:51
people are celebrating. And if you want to understand
00:09:54
the difference between the Iranian regime and the Iranian
00:09:58
people, you only need to look at what's happened in the streets
00:10:01
as all of this conflict began. Before we play this, I want you
00:10:06
to watch what freedom looks like when people have been denied it
00:10:11
for decades. These are Iranian women in the
00:10:15
streets after the regime was weakened.
00:10:18
Watch what they do the moment they feel safe enough to express
00:10:22
themselves. Roll it, boys.
00:10:45
So look at that. Something so basic, you guys
00:10:49
don't get it. Not any of you that have haven't
00:10:52
had to do that. You don't get it.
00:10:55
It meant so much. Women who have, they ripped
00:10:58
their hijabs off, throw them in the air, dancing in the streets
00:11:02
like they just got out of prison.
00:11:04
Because in many ways they did. For years under that regime,
00:11:09
women in Iran have been forced to follow strict religious
00:11:13
mandates, including mandatory head coverings enforced by
00:11:17
morality police. Refusing to comply can mean
00:11:21
arrest, beatings or worse. And yet somehow you have
00:11:25
activists here in the United States lecturing everybody about
00:11:29
how terrible it is that this regime is being challenged.
00:11:33
It's none of our business. And many of these people are the
00:11:37
same people who claim to be fucking feminists.
00:11:41
These same people have never been forced to cover their hair,
00:11:45
never been beaten by morality police, never been arrested for
00:11:49
walking outside dressed the way they want to be dressed.
00:11:53
So forgive me if I'm going to go ahead and take the reactions of
00:11:56
Iranian women themselves a little more seriously than a
00:12:00
protester blocking traffic in downtown Portland.
00:12:03
Here's another If women being free isn't enough for you,
00:12:09
here's another angle that you're not seeing much in the media.
00:12:12
The absolute worldwide celebration.
00:12:15
These are Iranian celebrating all over the world.
00:12:19
Multiple cities, multiple countries, all reacting to the
00:12:23
same news Roll this one guys. I mean, you get it.
00:12:46
All those were in a nice little bow for us.
00:12:49
I don't know if you saw closely enough.
00:12:51
Australia, Canada, Britain, Switzerland, Germany, France,
00:12:57
every one of those crowds filled with Iranians celebrating in the
00:13:01
streets. And that doesn't even include
00:13:03
the celebrations happening in the US and inside Iran and
00:13:08
across dozens of other cities in the world as well.
00:13:10
That was only 6. These are people who fled that
00:13:15
regime, families who escaped it, people who have watched friends
00:13:20
and relatives suffer under it for decades.
00:13:24
So when they see the regime weekend, they celebrate.
00:13:28
And honestly, if I'm trying to understand what life under that
00:13:32
government is really like, I'm probably going to listen to the
00:13:37
people who actually lived under it.
00:13:39
And I'll add something personal here, as I did with Venezuela.
00:13:44
I have friends from Iran, a couple in in particular, in
00:13:48
mind. One of them has spent years
00:13:50
terrified for her family members who still live in Iran.
00:13:54
She wakes up every every day terrified that something they
00:13:56
say, something they post, something they do could get them
00:13:59
arrested or killed. Imagine living like that,
00:14:04
worrying every day that your government may hurt your family
00:14:08
simply because they spoke out. And then imagine watching people
00:14:13
in the United States dismiss that reality just because they
00:14:17
dislike an American president. That is not principled.
00:14:24
It's not thoughtful. That's just political tribalism.
00:14:29
The truth is simple. Criticizing the Iranian regime
00:14:33
is not hatred toward the Iranian people.
00:14:37
It's the exact opposite. So let's zoom out for a second
00:14:41
and talk about something that somehow gets lost in these
00:14:44
conversations. What exactly is the Iranian
00:14:48
regime? Because the way some
00:14:50
commentators talk about it, you think we're discussing a normal
00:14:53
government that just happens to disagree with the United States.
00:15:00
That is not reality. The current regime took power
00:15:05
during the Iranian Revolution, replacing the previous
00:15:08
government with a theocratic system run by hardline clerics.
00:15:15
Since then, the leadership has ruled through a mix of religious
00:15:20
authority, political repression, violent crackdowns on dissent.
00:15:25
If you want proof that this isn't just ancient history, look
00:15:30
at what's happened recently. Over the past several years,
00:15:34
Iranians have taken to the streets repeatedly to protest
00:15:38
this regime. Helly, Even last month there
00:15:42
were more massive protests protesting corruption,
00:15:45
protesting economic conditions, protesting the treatment of
00:15:49
women and the response from the government.
00:15:52
Bullets, security forces firing into crowds, mass arrests.
00:15:58
Human rights organizations estimate that 10s of thousands
00:16:03
of protesters have been killed or imprisoned during those
00:16:06
crackdowns. I've heard almost 40, some
00:16:11
say even more. These aren't foreign enemies
00:16:15
that they're killing. These are their own citizens,
00:16:17
people asking for basic freedoms.
00:16:20
And the regime's response has been consistently to use force.
00:16:26
How can you defend that? This is the other part people
00:16:32
they seem determined to ignore. For decades, the Iranian
00:16:36
leadership has built its political identity around
00:16:39
hostility towards the United States and Western countries.
00:16:43
They literally chant about it. Before we play this clip, just
00:16:48
remember something. While some activists in the
00:16:50
United States are busy defending this regime online, this is how
00:16:56
those very people talk about them and America as a whole.
00:17:01
Roll it, boys. I mean, why wouldn't we be a
00:17:19
little bit uncomfortable with this regime?
00:17:21
It's not very subtle. That's not mistranslated, it's
00:17:27
not taken out of context. That is the leadership of a
00:17:30
country burning an American flag while chanting death to America.
00:17:35
Somehow the Americans defending that government are are out
00:17:41
here. Make it make sense, people.
00:17:46
And it goes deeper than chants from politicians.
00:17:49
This ideology gets passed down through the education system to
00:17:53
children. There are countless videos out
00:17:55
there. I didn't feel like grabbing any
00:17:58
for you. And they show Iranian
00:18:00
schoolchildren being taught to chant for death to the United
00:18:05
States and to Israel. Young kids, I'm talking 567
00:18:11
years old children, chanting about killing Americans and
00:18:16
Jews. That's not a spontaneous
00:18:19
cultural expression. That's straight up
00:18:22
indoctrination. That's a government deliberately
00:18:26
shaping the worldview of the next generation.
00:18:28
What do you think they're going to turn into?
00:18:31
And how about a credible media perspective from someone who
00:18:35
actually grew up inside that system?
00:18:39
You should listen to somebody like Rita Panahi.
00:18:44
She grew up in Tehran before eventually leaving the country
00:18:48
and now works as a commentator with Sky News in Australia.
00:18:52
This was a post of Rita's in response to the US aggressions
00:18:56
against Iran. Americans need to understand
00:18:59
that the Iranian regime's ultimate ambition is the
00:19:03
annihilation of the Great Satan. America.
00:19:07
When I was a kid in school in Tehran, we chant death to
00:19:10
America every morning. Trump's effort ending the
00:19:15
regime's nuclear ambition is America first.
00:19:20
And that's someone who actually lived under that system saying
00:19:22
this, not just someone out in the street yelling through a
00:19:27
megaphone. I saw an American politician
00:19:29
shouting, it's not a pundit. She experienced this first hand.
00:19:34
Why are we not listening to these people?
00:19:37
On her show, she often times makes another point that cuts
00:19:40
right through the noise. Efforts to stop the regime from
00:19:43
developing nuclear weapons aren't just foreign policy,
00:19:48
they're common sense. Because the last thing the world
00:19:52
needs is a government that openly calls for the destruction
00:19:56
of other countries gaining nuclear capability.
00:20:00
So when people try to frame this regime as some misunderstood
00:20:04
victim of Western aggression. Just remember what we're talking
00:20:07
about. A government that suppresses its
00:20:11
own citizens, indoctrinates its children with hatred, funds
00:20:15
militant terrorist groups across the region, and openly calls for
00:20:19
the destruction of other nations.
00:20:22
That's not a misunderstanding. Now that we've talked about what
00:20:27
the Iranian regime actually is, let's step back and look at the
00:20:31
strategic side of this. Because another thing you keep
00:20:34
hearing is this. Why does America have to be
00:20:37
involved? Or the classic line, this isn't
00:20:40
our problem. Well, if dethroning A regime
00:20:44
after all that I've made you aware of so far in this episode
00:20:48
isn't enough, if defending women and civilians of Iran isn't
00:20:53
enough, then perhaps our own interests will get your
00:20:58
attention. The reality is that what happens
00:21:01
in Iran effects far more than just Iran.
00:21:05
There are several reasons the United States, and frankly, the
00:21:09
rest of the world, pays very close attention to what happens
00:21:13
there. The biggest one, of course, is
00:21:16
nuclear capability. For years, the Iranian regime
00:21:20
has pursued nuclear technology that many intelligence agencies
00:21:24
believe could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
00:21:29
We all know this. Here's the part that makes the
00:21:31
situation dangerous. We're not talking about a
00:21:35
neutral country quietly building energy infrastructure.
00:21:39
We're talking about a government whose leaders have openly called
00:21:42
for the destruction of other nations.
00:21:46
Giving a regime like that nuclear capability would
00:21:49
fundamentally change the balance of power in the region.
00:21:54
And once a nuclear weapon exists, you don't get to rewind
00:21:58
that decision. That's why preventing nuclear
00:22:01
proliferation has been a major priority for decades across
00:22:07
multiple administrations, Republican and Democrat.
00:22:12
Because once that genie is out of the bottle, it doesn't go
00:22:16
back in. And then there's the regional
00:22:18
issue. Iran has spent decades
00:22:20
supporting proxy terrorist groups throughout the Middle
00:22:23
East, groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS, like the ones I've
00:22:28
mentioned, and others that have carried out attacks across that
00:22:32
region, funding, training, weapons.
00:22:36
Those networks don't appear out of thin air.
00:22:39
Whether you want to argue that the US helped create some of
00:22:42
those, that's fine. But what we know is that Iran is
00:22:45
keeping them rolling, and they've created many of their
00:22:48
own. They're supported by
00:22:51
governments, and when a government funds the militant
00:22:54
groups across multiple countries, it doesn't just
00:22:57
create loyal instability, it doesn't just create local
00:23:02
instability, it creates regional instability, which eventually
00:23:07
becomes a global problem. There's also the economic side.
00:23:12
Iran sits in one of the most strategically important regions
00:23:16
on the planet. The Persian Gulf is a major
00:23:18
artery for global energy and shipping routes.
00:23:21
Disruptions there affect oil markets, global trade and
00:23:25
economic stability far beyond the Middle East.
00:23:29
Iran also holds some of the largest oil reserves in the
00:23:33
world, which makes it a key player in global energy
00:23:36
politics. So when people dismiss the
00:23:39
region as someone else's problem, that's not how global
00:23:43
economics works. What happens there effects
00:23:47
energy prices, supply chains and international markets
00:23:50
everywhere. This is global.
00:23:54
This is a global chess board. Because this isn't just about
00:23:58
Iran. It's also about the broader
00:24:01
balance of power involving countries like China and Russia.
00:24:07
Iran has increasingly aligned itself with those governments
00:24:10
economically and politically. Discounted oil deals with China.
00:24:14
Military cooperation with Russia, shared opposition to
00:24:18
Western influence. So when people say this
00:24:21
situation has nothing to do with America, they're ignoring the
00:24:25
fact that global politics operates like a chess board.
00:24:29
Moves in one region affect leverage in another.
00:24:33
And if you want to understand why governments act the way that
00:24:36
they do, you have to look at the entire board.
00:24:39
And this is another point that people seem determined to
00:24:41
ignore. Multiple interests can exist at
00:24:44
the same time. Something like this can be in
00:24:47
America's interests while helping the Iranian people and
00:24:50
improving global stability. Those things are not mutually
00:24:55
exclusive. In fact, sometimes they overlap.
00:24:59
Often times they overlap. Countries look after their own
00:25:02
interests. That's how international
00:25:04
politics works. But occasionally, those
00:25:08
interests line up with broader global benefits, and when that
00:25:12
happens, the outcome can serve more than one purpose.
00:25:17
Because foreign policy isn't played on a checkers board.
00:25:21
It's chess, and every move sends a message to the rest of the
00:25:25
world. All of this, thus far, leads up
00:25:29
to some truly important things to think about.
00:25:32
First, our troops. You'll hear activists screaming
00:25:37
about how America is sending soldiers into danger and how
00:25:41
politicians are supposedly reckless with their lives.
00:25:45
First, let me say something very clearly.
00:25:49
Losing even one American life, one American service member, is
00:25:56
absolutely tragic. Every single time.
00:25:59
Every single one. But these are men and women who
00:26:02
volunteer to defend their country and protect the freedoms
00:26:06
the rest of us enjoy every day. That sacrifice deserves respect.
00:26:13
You know it always gets ignored in these conversations is when
00:26:16
someone joins the military. They understand the risks.
00:26:20
They train for it. They prepare for it.
00:26:23
They take an oath knowing that their mission may put them in
00:26:27
harm's way. So forgive me if I'm not going
00:26:30
to take lectures about military strategy from a bunch of
00:26:33
protesters waving cardboard signs in the street, because
00:26:36
here's a fun little thought experiment.
00:26:38
If you actually pulled the United States military, the
00:26:42
people who serve under the commander in chief, do you think
00:26:46
the majority would support actions aimed at neutralizing
00:26:49
hostile regimes, preventing larger wars?
00:26:52
I would bet my life that they would support, not only support
00:26:57
it, but it would be overwhelming support.
00:27:00
And frankly, if I'm going to listen to someone about national
00:27:03
security, I'll take the people actually wearing the uniform
00:27:07
over the loud minority yelling through megaphones.
00:27:10
And by the way, this isn't Vietnam people.
00:27:15
This isn't, this is some massive ground invasion.
00:27:19
They're they're not hundreds of thousands of American troops
00:27:21
being dropped into another country to occupy it for 20
00:27:25
years. That is not what's happening.
00:27:28
What we're seeing is targeted military action designed to
00:27:32
remove threats before they spiral into larger conflicts.
00:27:37
Ironically, that's often how you prevent wars because the
00:27:41
philosophy behind it is something that has guided
00:27:44
American foreign policy for generations.
00:27:47
Peace through strength. The idea that when adversaries
00:27:52
know you are willing and able to act, they think twice before
00:27:56
pushing further. And that matters in a world
00:28:00
where multiple conflicts are happening at the same time.
00:28:03
From tensions in the Middle East to long running conflicts across
00:28:07
Africa, Asia. Global stability doesn't happen
00:28:11
by accident. It happens when strong nations
00:28:14
enforce boundaries. I hate selective outrage.
00:28:19
I hate it and it's going on a lot.
00:28:22
It's so disgusting, so let's expose some more of it.
00:28:26
Presidents have ordered military strikes overseas for decades.
00:28:30
Republicans, Democrats, all of them.
00:28:34
And yet somehow the volume of protest seems to depend heavily
00:28:38
on who is sitting in the Oval Office when they happen.
00:28:42
Before we play this clip, just watch the numbers and understand
00:28:48
the capacity of them. Roll this, boys.
00:28:51
These are the countries that Obama bombed in his final year
00:28:54
of office. Syria 12 times, Iraq 12
00:29:00
times, Libya 496 times, Yemen 35 times, Somalia 14 times and
00:29:07
Pakistan 3 * 26 bombs for a total of 3 bombs every hour of
00:29:13
every day in only one year. Goodness, it's a lot of bombs.
00:29:20
One year. By the way, do I need to to, to
00:29:24
say the numbers again? I have them.
00:29:25
I have them here. I don't think I do.
00:29:27
I think you heard it pretty well.
00:29:29
All I know is 26 bombs were dropped in one year under Barack
00:29:33
Obama. Somehow this did not generate
00:29:38
weeks of nationwide protests or endless media hysteria.
00:29:43
Why? Because the outrage was never
00:29:46
really about military action. It's about politics.
00:29:51
Obama was the darling child for the media and the savior for the
00:29:55
virtue signaling and victim card crowd.
00:29:59
When he did it, it was fine because nobody gave a shit.
00:30:05
And finally, the last dumbass claim that keeps getting
00:30:08
recycled over and over again that this action is somehow
00:30:13
illegal or unconstitutional. Let me clear something up once
00:30:20
and for all. I just I I don't understand why
00:30:24
people keep saying this. Under United States
00:30:28
Constitution, the President is designated as Commander in Chief
00:30:34
of the armed forces. Under Article 2, that authority
00:30:39
allows the president direct military operations and response
00:30:44
to threats without a formal declaration of war from
00:30:49
Congress. Presidents from both parties
00:30:53
have exercised that authority for decades.
00:30:57
That is not a controversial or debatable fact.
00:31:01
It is a fact. That is how the system works.
00:31:04
But apparently this basic constitutional reality still
00:31:08
needs explaining to the professional cry babies and even
00:31:11
some television commentators. I had to do it.
00:31:14
I, I didn't want to do it. But the fucking view.
00:31:17
I just, they just won't stop cackling.
00:31:20
The little hens just cackle. You knew I was going to have a
00:31:23
good example of this for you. I know.
00:31:25
That's why I'm going to use The View.
00:31:27
Watch what happens when they bring Elizabeth Hasselbeck on.
00:31:32
She confronts Sunny, Sunny Hostin.
00:31:35
It's beautiful. But she confronts her about
00:31:38
calling this action unconstitutional.
00:31:40
Exactly what I'm saying. Check it out.
00:31:42
Roll it, boys. You keep calling this like an
00:31:44
undocumented attack that you don't agree with the war, an
00:31:47
illegal constitution. So did you believe it was
00:31:49
illegal in April of 2011 when the Office of Legal Counsel memo
00:31:53
stated from President Obama that the president has constitutional
00:31:56
authority to direct the use of military force in Libya?
00:31:58
Because you could reasonably determine that such use of force
00:32:01
was in the national interest prior a congressional approval
00:32:04
was not constitutionally required to use military force
00:32:07
in these operations. Where were you then complaining?
00:32:10
I agreed. Well, I wasn't on this show
00:32:12
then. No, but personally.
00:32:13
You have stood again. I was at home complaining, but I
00:32:16
wasn't complaining because the Office of Legal Counsel was
00:32:19
involved and the Office of Legal Counsel.
00:32:21
Came after. But the Office of Legal Counsel
00:32:23
is the office in the Department of Justice, because I worked at
00:32:25
the Department of Justice that reviews these things and makes
00:32:28
legal determinations. This president doesn't go
00:32:31
through the Office of Legal Counsel.
00:32:32
This president does not go to Congress.
00:32:34
Congress has the power to enact, to approve wars.
00:32:38
This Congress has the power of the purse.
00:32:40
This president is acting more like a king than anything else.
00:32:43
He's the commander. He's the commander in chief, but
00:32:46
he is not a king. And so I think that this should
00:32:49
have gone through Congress. I think that American, the
00:32:52
American embassies should have been notified so that American
00:32:55
citizens in the middle. East would have been.
00:32:57
Would have been able to get to safety.
00:33:00
I don't think that this was done appropriately.
00:33:02
I maintain that this is illegal and unconstitutional.
00:33:05
Do you like the result? But, but I Do you like the
00:33:06
result? No, I don't.
00:33:07
I don't. Rather the reason.
00:33:09
Because I don't. Because.
00:33:11
I think it's very. Easy to start a longer
00:33:13
conversation. Yeah, that's enough.
00:33:16
I think literally everything that came out of her mouth was
00:33:18
absolutely utter bullshit. It doesn't surprise me.
00:33:23
Sunny a host and I can't to tell which ones the the dumbest
00:33:28
person on that panel. I think three of the five
00:33:32
dumbest people in the world are on that panel, so it's always a
00:33:35
good competition between the ladies of the View.
00:33:38
This exchange pretty much sums up on the entire problem.
00:33:42
One side is pointing out historical precedent facts about
00:33:46
our Constitution, like the ones I just gave you.
00:33:49
The other side is repeating talking points based on feelings
00:33:54
and hatred for Trump. When Hasselbeck asks whether the
00:33:58
same outrage existed when previous administrations acted
00:34:01
unilaterally, the conversation suddenly got a lot quieter.
00:34:05
And when the response shifted to things like, well, the embassy
00:34:08
should have been notified first, Are you, are you kidding me?
00:34:15
That's when you realize that the criticism isn't about strategy,
00:34:20
because notifying a head of a strike would do one thing very
00:34:23
effectively. It would warn the target.
00:34:27
I mean, defeats the whole purpose of a surprise military
00:34:33
operation. And again, Sonny, as I just
00:34:38
mentioned, this is not an illegal war.
00:34:42
Trump did not have to go to Congress for permission, and he
00:34:46
is actually eliminating True authoritarian leaders who are
00:34:51
dictators acting like kings one more time.
00:34:57
Strength and clarity and foreign policy often prevents larger
00:35:04
conflicts. Weakness invites them.
00:35:09
For all the outrage, accusations and dramatic headlines, the real
00:35:13
question isn't whether critics are upset.
00:35:16
The real question is whether actions like this remove
00:35:19
dangerous actors from the board and make the world more stable,
00:35:24
because when threats disappear, wars often end before they begin
00:35:29
start wrapping up one. One of the fastest ways to
00:35:32
understand a major geopolitical event is to look at who supports
00:35:36
it and who condemns it, because reactions from world leaders
00:35:41
often tell you a lot about where the fault lines really are.
00:35:45
And in this case, the responses have been very revealing.
00:35:49
Several authoritarian leaders and governments immediately
00:35:53
condemned the action. You don't say.
00:35:55
Leaders like Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia,
00:36:01
and Kim Jong Un of North Korea were all quick to criticize the
00:36:06
United States and warn against escalation.
00:36:09
That reaction shouldn't surprise anyone.
00:36:11
These governments tend to align with one another strategically.
00:36:15
Iran has built economic and military relationships with both
00:36:18
Russia and China in recent years.
00:36:21
North Korea just wants to be a part of it all.
00:36:24
China has purchased large amounts of Iranian oil, often
00:36:28
bypassing sanctions. Russia has worked closely with
00:36:31
Iran and conflicts across the Middle East for a long time.
00:36:36
So when a regime that sits inside that geopolitical network
00:36:39
takes a hit, you're going to hear protests from the rest of
00:36:42
that network. But here's where the irony gets
00:36:46
pretty incredible. Many of the same people in the
00:36:49
US who constantly warn about an authoritarian government
00:36:53
suddenly find themselves echoing the same talking points as those
00:36:57
very governments. And at some point, you have to
00:37:00
pause and ask yourself a pretty simple question.
00:37:03
If you find yourself agreeing with Xi Jinping, Kim Jong Un and
00:37:08
Vladimir Putin, maybe you should rethink your position.
00:37:13
On the other side of the spectrum, a number of leaders in
00:37:16
governments have expressed support, or at the very least, a
00:37:19
clear understanding of the objective behind the action.
00:37:24
One of the strongest supporters, of course, has been Javier Malay
00:37:28
of Argentina, who has been outspoken about confronting the
00:37:31
Iranian regime and its militant networks.
00:37:34
That position is not surprising because guess what?
00:37:37
Argentina itself has suffered deadly terrorist attacks tied to
00:37:41
Iranian backed groups in the past, so Malay tends to view the
00:37:45
regime through a very direct lens.
00:37:48
Other governments have also expressed support or at least
00:37:52
alignment with the broader goal of stopping Iran's nuclear
00:37:56
ambitions, limiting its destabilizing influence in the
00:37:59
region. Countries including Australia,
00:38:02
Canada, Finland, Chechnya, which used to be the Czech Republic,
00:38:07
I'm not sure what they're doing with their names these days.
00:38:09
Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, New Zealand and so on, they've all
00:38:14
voiced support for the objective of preventing nuclear escalation
00:38:18
and countering the regime's regional activity.
00:38:21
Many of these countries are not rushing to put troops on the
00:38:24
ground. And and that's fine, frankly,
00:38:26
that's not the expectation. But they understand the goal,
00:38:31
they understand the threat, and they they're aligning with the
00:38:35
broader effort to prevent a regime that openly chance death
00:38:39
to America from gaining even more power.
00:38:43
Countries that sit closer to the consequences of Middle Eastern
00:38:48
instability, terrorism, refugee crises and energy disruptions
00:38:54
often view these situations very differently than commentators
00:38:58
sitting comfortably thousands of miles away.
00:39:01
For them, the stakes are not theatrical.
00:39:05
The stakes are not theoretical. They are immediate.
00:39:10
I have to mention the government's trying to walk the
00:39:13
diplomatic tightrope. Countries like France and
00:39:16
Germany, God have taken more cautious stance if you will,
00:39:22
acknowledging concerns about Iran while also calling for de
00:39:25
escalation. Now France taking a middle
00:39:29
position is partly shocking. They have historically been very
00:39:33
committed to diplomacy, if you will.
00:39:36
In fact, when the bombs hit Iran, they instinctively
00:39:38
surrendered before they even knew who they were surrendering
00:39:42
to. So naturally they're advocating
00:39:45
restraint. Germany has also taken a more
00:39:48
neutral tone, which, to be fair, might not be the worst instinct
00:39:52
given Germany's track record with large scale wars over the
00:39:56
last century. Sometimes the best contribution
00:39:59
is simply staying calm and letting other people handle the
00:40:03
heavy lifting. So thank you, Germany.
00:40:06
But beyond the specific reactions from individual
00:40:10
leaders, there's a broader message that moves like this.
00:40:14
Foreign policy decisions are never viewed in isolation.
00:40:18
They are watched carefully by other governments around the
00:40:22
world. Adversaries evaluate them.
00:40:24
Allies evaluate them. And they all ask the same
00:40:28
question. Is the United States willing to
00:40:31
act when threats escalate? Because when the answer to that
00:40:36
question is clearly yes, it changes calculations everywhere.
00:40:41
And sometimes the biggest impact of an action isn't the strike
00:40:44
itself, it's the signal it sends to everyone else watching.
00:40:49
Because in global politics, every move is a message, and the
00:40:54
reactions from around the world often tell you exactly who was
00:40:58
hoping that move would never happen.
00:41:01
So let's bring this all the way back to the question that we
00:41:04
started with. After everything we just talked
00:41:07
about, everything. We just walked through the
00:41:10
history of the regime, the way it treats its own people, the
00:41:14
chance of death to America, the indoctrination of their
00:41:17
children, the funding of militant groups, the protests
00:41:21
inside Iran, the celebrations from Iranians around the world,
00:41:26
and the strategic reality of what happens when hostile
00:41:29
regimes pursue nuclear capability.
00:41:33
Here's the question again. Is America, the Iranian people,
00:41:38
and the rest of the world better off with or without this regime?
00:41:45
It seems like a pretty straightforward answer to me.
00:41:48
The answer is yes, it is safer without the regime because when
00:41:55
a government suppresses its own citizens, threatens other
00:41:59
nations, and destabilizes entire regions, removing that threat
00:42:05
tends to make the world a safer place.
00:42:08
Now, if your answer to that question is somehow no, but then
00:42:12
I'm honestly not sure how you can possibly defend that
00:42:16
position unless you happen to be a communist dictatorship like
00:42:20
China, Russia, North Korea, Minnesota.
00:42:25
Yeah, I said it because those governments and systems like
00:42:29
them, they don't want their way of life disrupted.
00:42:33
They prefer a world where authoritarian regimes stick
00:42:36
together. So if you find yourself
00:42:39
consistently aligning with that crowd, you might want to ask
00:42:43
yourself why, and if that's really the team you want to be
00:42:47
on. Nobody's stopping you from
00:42:50
packing a bag and giving it a try over there.
00:42:53
Let me know how it works out. Meanwhile, the rest of us are
00:42:57
going to keep living in a country where we can have these
00:43:00
conversations openly, where you can criticize the leaders,
00:43:05
debate policy, and speak your mind without fear of the
00:43:08
government raining down bullets just for doing it.
00:43:13
It is something a lot of people around the world are still
00:43:16
fighting for those freedoms. And if you know someone who's
00:43:21
confused about what's actually happening here, or someone who's
00:43:25
repeating the headlines without understanding the facts, share
00:43:31
this episode. Because sometimes the loudest
00:43:34
narratives are also the least informed.
00:43:38
So that being said, stay informed, stay skeptical.
00:43:45
Stay fearless, stay in the fray. Love you guys, all you.
00:43:53
Had to do was just listen up.