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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Subscribe on YouTubeCharlie Kirk and Sean Davis Question the Push to Bomb Iran's Fordow Nuclear Site
Charlie Kirk addresses the escalating Israel-Iran conflict and growing calls from lawmakers including Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, and Tom Tillis for the United States to bomb Iran's Fordow nuclear facility or pursue regime change outright. Kirk argues that while he trusts President Trump's instincts on foreign policy, the intelligence community has a poor recent track record on issues like the Hunter Biden laptop and Joe Biden's health, and he lays out a detailed list of unanswered questions the public deserves before any strike, including whether a bunker buster could permanently destroy Iran's nuclear program, how many American troops might die in retaliatory strikes, and what regime change could mean for refugee flows and internal stability. He proposes reviving a Reagan-era practice of an independent Team B intelligence review, and is joined by Federalist co-founder Sean Davis to discuss.
Trusting Trump on Foreign Policy
Charlie Kirk opens by addressing the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and whether the United States will get involved, expressing confidence in President Trump's foreign policy instincts based on his past record of taking out Qasem Soleimani, defeating ISIS territorially, and striking the Houthis, while emphasizing that Trump is not interested in prolonged nation-building conflicts.
Calls for Regime Change
Kirk notes that senators including Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, and Tom Tillis are calling for regime change in Iran, while much of the media class is separately calling for the United States to bomb Iran's Fordow nuclear facility, and argues the public deserves clear answers before either course of action is taken.
Questioning the Intelligence Community's Track Record
Kirk argues that the same intelligence community now pushing for action on Iran previously mischaracterized the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation and downplayed concerns about Joe Biden's mental decline, arguing this track record means its current assessments should be carefully scrutinized rather than blindly trusted.
Proposing a Team B Review
Kirk proposes reviving a Reagan-era practice, which he credits learning about from Steve Bannon, in which an independent Team B intelligence group double-checked the assessments coming from the primary intelligence agencies, suggesting JD Vance could help lead such an effort for the Trump administration.
A List of Unanswered Questions
Kirk lays out a detailed list of questions he believes the public deserves answers to, including whether a bunker buster strike on Fordow would permanently destroy Iran's nuclear capability, what percentage chance experts assign to that outcome, how many American troops might die in Iranian retaliatory strikes given the roughly 40,000 troops within range of Iranian ballistic missiles, what number of American casualties would be considered acceptable, what refugee flows might result from regime change, and who would likely succeed Iran's Supreme Leader if he were removed.
Sean Davis on Parallels to the Iraq War
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis joins Kirk and compares the current moment to the lead-up to the Iraq War, arguing that officials have asserted claims about Iran's nuclear timeline without providing the public verifiable evidence, and that wars touted as quick fixes have historically produced long-term instability, mass refugee displacement, and unresolved consequences for the region and the world.
The Case for Restraint and Transparency
Davis and Kirk argue that reducing the American military footprint in the region would itself reduce the risk to American troops, and both call on government officials and intelligence agencies to rebuild public trust by being transparent about what is and is not actually known, rather than simply asking the public to trust assurances after a long pattern of past misinformation.
Closing Thoughts
Kirk closes by reiterating his central questions and noting he has been informally gathering firsthand sentiment from people inside Iran via social media, saying responses suggest bombing may be consolidating public support behind the regime rather than encouraging an uprising against it, while cautioning that such reports could also be propaganda.
Video Transcript
Okay, everybody, radio stations across the country. Honored to be with you as always. We are here live at the Bitcoin.com studio here in back in mission control here in Phoenix, Arizona. I was out on assignment in Washington DC. And one day, a month, a year, 10 years from now, I will tell you where I was and what I was doing. So, you'll just have to infer and guess what I was doing. More importantly though, we have this ever growing conflict in front of us, the Israel Iran conflict. Will the United States get involved? Will the United States decide to use bunker busting bombs? As I've said once and I'll say again, President Trump has beyond earned our trust on all foreign affair issues. He took out Solommani. He took out ISIS. He has bombed the Houthis. President Donald Trump has been a leader who is willing to use American military might where necessary, but not for prolonged conflicts. He's not a nation builder guy. He's not a let's change the population sentiment guy. There's only one nation that Donald Trump wants to build and that is America. He wants to rebuild this country with infrastructure, a border, rising wages to get rid of inflation, mass deportations. President Donald Trump is focused on pouring money back into America. He's focused like a laser beam on that. And President Trump has earned our trust on all things foreign affairs. So right now, you have Lindsey Graham, you have James Langford, you have Tom Tillis. They're calling for regime change. They're calling for regime change. But a step before that, almost the entire the entire industrial media class right now is calling for a bombing of Fordo. Sounds good. But I think it's time that we get a couple answers. And we, the American people, deserve answers to this. How about Joe Biden's mental decline? Joe Biden's perfectly fine. He's perfectly fit. It's a deep fake. You're wrong. He's never been sharper. How about the Hunter Biden laptop? that is Russian disinformation that our own intel community signed a letter saying that it was Russian disinformation. Our own intel community did that. Well, I'm sorry. That very same intel community should probably be questioned and challenged because they're the ones that are now pushing to bomb Fordo. And the very same intel community that is telling us that was Russia, Russia, Russia was the biggest threat ever. You're gonna have to earn our trust. You might be right, but you're going to have to earn our trust on this one. We are not going to blindly trust the intel community based on the track record of the last 5 years. So, before we commit to another military operation in the Middle East, which might be the best decision, here are some questions that I'm curious about that I think that we need to have answered. Do you know that Ronald Reagan had team B? He had team A and team B. Team B, I learned this from Steve Mannon. Team B was a totally independent intel group that would analyze the intel the president was getting to double check to make sure the president wasn't being crosswired by team A. All of the the intel experts. This is necessary. I think President Trump needs team B immediately. Team B could be led by JD Vance. You could have Amarillis Kennedy. You could have these incredible people that would double check what the intel agencies are saying to make sure that the President Trump's information flow is robust. And by the way, the president has such good instincts here. Phenomenal instincts. I have no idea why the president all of a sudden is saying two weeks. Could it be that maybe he's just doing a little of a double beat? Maybe he just wants to make sure he gets all sides, no blind spots because these very same intel agencies. Even though that we have great people now running them, we have not rooted out all of the cockroaches. These are the very same intel agencies that targeted him and did Russia gate and went and did a foreign dossier funded by the Democrat National Committee while they were lying about it to go get a warrant against Donald Trump to displace him from becoming president. And President Trump hasn't forgotten that. That's why we must trust President Trump. But I have put together a list here and it's a working list of some things that we, the American people, deserve to know. And if you get angry as I go through this list, I'm really suspicious as to why we deserve answers to this. And maybe some of these things we don't know. Maybe the answers are there's a high risk. We don't know. And that's fine. That is an acceptable answer. Just be honest and tell us the truth. Because there were lies about the invasion of Afghanistan. There were lies about the Iraq war. There were lies about the Libya civil war. There were lies about the Syrian civil war. There were lies about what's happening in Ukraine. And so before we involve America in another military operation in the Middle East, which might be the right decision because Iran should not get a nuclear weapon, here are some answers to some questions. If Fordo is hit with an American bunker buster, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability? What it is an approximation chance that it will? Will the bunker buster actually work? And secondly, what percentage chance that it will take out the entire nuclear program of Iran? I was talking to some people and they said, "Oh, this will be the death blow of the nuclear program of Iran." Is that right? Because I actually don't think that's true because we're told right now that Iran is 15 days out from a nuke if they want it. Even after the Israeli strikes, even after the strikes that Israel has had a week later, they're still 15 days out. Can we play that from the US ambassador to the UN? Can we play that piece of tape, please, that we had? It's very powerful. I I I don't know what cut it is. 400 have avoided this conflict had they agreed to a deal that would have prevented them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. But they refuse to do so, choosing instead to delay and deny. We can no longer ignore that Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All it needs is a decision from their supreme leader. That is unacceptable. and this council must urge them to change course. This is today. They're saying that to the UN 15 days after Israeli air strikes. Has anything changed since the air strikes? I know that there was uranium en enrichment facilities that were bombed. I know that nuclear scientists were taken out. The New York Times is reporting today that the 15-day timeline from Israeli intelligence shows that even after all these air strikes, they still might be able to get a nuclear weapon. So, I will repeat, if Fordo is hit, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability? And what is the percentage chance that it will? And if it doesn't work, what is the plan? Here's another very heavy question. How many American troops might die in Iranian retaliatory strikes? You know, I was talking to somebody that was, you know, watching cable news a lot and they're very on board for Ford. I said, you know, American troops might die in response. They said, "No, no, no. We Iran doesn't have any missiles left." I said, "Well, no, that's that's not true. Actually, they have 2,000 hypersonic ballistic missiles that are still reigning terror over Israel, and we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem as Iran strikes hospitals." And there are over 40,000 American troops within ballistic missile range of Iran. So, how what are the estimates? Because you better believe the American military and the intel community, they run war games and estimates. What are the estimates of how many American troops will die if Iran responds after we bomb Fordo? So imagine a scenario where we bomb Fordo. It doesn't work. We tick off the Iranians. They then launch a ballistic missile at an American base, killing a 100 Americans. How do we respond? Do we respond then with more bombing? I thought this is about a nuclear program. That's a very important question. If American troops were to die in the response of the Iranian ballistic missile attack, what then would our response be? More escalation, troops on the ground. And how many Americans would potentially die in such a strike? With new tariffs rolling in, families everywhere are bracing for yet another jump in grocery prices. But good ranchers.com is tariff proof thanks to their 100% American supply chain. While others scramble to adjust, Good Ranchers delivers consistent prices and unbeatable quality, all from farms right here in America. Good Ranchers is also giving you your pick of free meat for life when you subscribe. That's free ground beef, wild caught salmon, seed oil free chicken nuggets, or bacon in every box for life of your subscription. That's $300 of free meat your first year, second year, and every year for as long as you stay. And you're going to want to stay. Not only are the cuts of beef, chicken, pork, and seafood delicious, but the service and value they delivers unmatched. Tariff proof your meals with Good Ranchers. Visit goodranchers.com. Unlock your free meat for life. $40 off with promo code Kirk. That's good.com. Promo code kirk. Good ranchers. American meat delivered. God forbid a single American troop dies. God forbid. However, it is likely that the Iranians will retaliate if we bomb Ford with ballistic missiles at American bases. For those of you in the audience that want us to bomb Ford, what would be an acceptable number? If a thousand Marines die, would that have you second guess? Now, that is a very high estimate, but no one is being honest with us about estimates. Would a hundred be acceptable? If a hundred Marines died, do we just kind of say no more? By the way, that's not unprecedented. Remember Ronald Reagan had the barracks bombing in Lebanon and over 280 Marines died and Reagan pulled out. He was mocked by the neocons, but Reagan said there is no good option after this. 280 Marines die and we're pulling out. Somalia, another option, another example. Blackhawk down. Sometimes when a lot of American service members die, you back out. Now, it doesn't make you look overly strong, but it might actually be the prudent decision. What assurances can we have that bombing such a facility will result in no nukes for Iran? Will that end the program permanently? If not, what will? If that won't end the nuclear program, how long would it take to undo the damage? How long would it take for a country like Iran to build a nuclear program if they really truly wanted to? According to the US ambassador to the UN, they could get it in nearly 6 weeks, 15 days. They have not been sprinting towards a nuclear bomb recently. So, let's say that you bomb Fordo, the Ayatollah is still alive. the country is in a very weak position. But because they're being bombed relentlessly, what if a more charismatic, younger leader says the number one priority is that we are going to want to bomb to buy to build a nuclear bomb? What does that timeline look like? Does this eliminate the program for good or does this just buy us time? Because I could tell you right now a lot of the rank and file that I'm talking to, they said, "Oh, this gets rid of the nuclear program for good." Pure annihilation. I don't think that's right. And if it just buys us time, what does it buy us time for? Exactly. And of course, we're clear. We don't want Iran to get a nuclear weapon. Nobody wants that. But is this a permanent death blow or is this a hey we're going to purchase you guys two years and if it again if it buys you two years is a 100 troops worth two years I don't know if Iran moved at max speed what is the timeline to get a nuclear weapon another question have the Israeli air strikes done anything to actually prevent their nuclear program if so What? Because it sounds like it hasn't. It sounds like they're all saying, "Well, they're still very close to a nuclear bomb." They've been bombing them for a week. They took out the nuclear scientists. They are bombing oil fields. They're bombing uranium enrichment. Has it derailed the nuclear program? And if not, what has the objective of this mission been? If this is a big if, if bombing Fordo can't permanently destroy the nuclear program, will advocates of a limited intervention pivot pivot to immediately demanding a full regime change war? Because a lot of people are calling for regime change right now. Lindsey Graham, James Langford, Tom Tillis. What does that even look like? Here's a big one because you better believe the intel community has done this. They run these war games. One of the most important questions that we deserve an answer to. What are the refugee estimates of such regime change? A million, 5 million? It was 6 million in Syria. And Iran is nearly, I think, triple the size of Syria. So what? 18 million refugees. Well, that's nice. Where are they going to go? Pittsburgh. Springfield, Ohio. You break it, you bought it. They're not going to go to Tel Aviv. I can tell you right now, Israel, nor should they, will they accept a single refugee? Where will they go? Berlin, Denver. Who is most likely to take power next? If the Ayatollah is taken out, who's the frontr runner? Who's the Kelshi poly market odds on favorite for being the successor to the Ayatollah? What do we know about him? Is he more moderate? Is he younger? Is he more religious? Is he more radical? It's Moshabi Kagamini Mo Chaba Kamini. Okay, fine. The son. Is he more moderate? Is he more radical? And if we take out that guy, who comes after him? What is the line of succession here? This is an ideological regime. Boy, I have so many other questions here. And no one's saying this. Why? Guys, learn the lesson from COVID. Learn the lesson from the 2020 election. Learn the lesson from Hunter Biden laptop. Learn the lesson from Biden's health decline. You can always bomb tomorrow. Today, it's measure twice and cut once. And President Trump, he understands this. We have the great Shawn Davis here. Sean, welcome. You went very viral yesterday on X. And thank you for your courageous moral clarity on all of this. Not I don't like people, oh, what side are you on? It's not a matter of what side. I'm on America's side. I'm on see civilization. I can't stand Iran. I hate the mullas. I'm profusely pro Israel. So, I'm going through a list of questions here, Sean, and I just want to have you kind of go through this with me. So, the other one I I asked this because I'm saying like here's things we deserve answers to. By the way, President Trump's handling this beautifully because I think this one who knows why he's pausing. This could be one of the main reasons. What are the chances of a civil war if there's regime change in Iran? says, "The same people who pushed for Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, regime change, are doing it again. What have they done to reearn our trust? Is this about nukes, or is it about removing a regime?" Sean, in the last week, it's gone from very interestingly, this is Israel's war and let Israel finish it. Great. To America needs to do bunker busters to now some people are saying we need to do regime change. What exactly is the goal here? Yeah, we don't know. And that's what I find so frustrating because I lived through and watched the Iraq war runup. You know, they spent a year and a half telling us about all this intel. They sent Powell to the UN. Congress, at least to its credit, uh, you know, mistakenly in my view, obviously in hindsight, actually authorized it, which is apparently something we don't do anymore is is have Congress authorize or declare wars. Um, but they spent a year and a half kind of working the public, telling us all this stuff. Well, let's ignore that most of it was false. I feel like they're speed running through that propaganda campaign in the span of like a week right now. And I guess what I what bothers me, I want to go back to the beginning. I I absolutely don't want our enemies uh people who want to kill us to have nuclear weapons that they can use against us. But I want to go right back to the beginning. What is the evidence that they are one about to get nuclear weapons? Where does it come from? What's the veracity? And then number two, what ability do they have to attack us? So I think even before we get to regime change, which a lot of people have wanted for 40 years, let's just talk about like that baseline question. What's the evidence? And I don't feel like we've been given any at all. Just like in the Iraq war, it's being asserted. And and you know, it's not that I disbelieve everything that we're told. it's that I don't believe any of it rather than just assuming, oh yeah, it's coming from, you know, people uh who who obviously wouldn't get stuff wrong. Um I just don't believe it anymore. Like convince me, show me, don't tell me. And I don't feel like any of that's happening. And I find it really frustrating having seen in the past where that leads. Well, so let's just take one of these piece. So that that's a phenomenal analysis. So somebody just emailed us. They said, Charlie, we have to Bob Ford because it will totally eliminate Iran's nuclear program. Actually, that's not true. Okay. And by the way, if it is true, then someone prove it to me because we just had someone in front of the UN say they're still 15 days out. They're still six weeks out from a bomb. So, by the way, if Fordo is like a death blow and that's it, they'll never get a nuke like you have just eliminated it. Then go make that case. But if that was the case, then why are they also simultaneously calling for regime change and the Israeli government is doing that. And so again, we have been so misled the last 20 years. misled on Iraq, misled on Afghanistan, misled on Joe Biden's, you know, Joe Biden's perfectly fine. It's a bunch of deep fakes. So, you and I are trained as outsiders to look at kind of this narrative war and say, "Whoa, whoa, it's been a crazy week. Let's take a pause. Let's take a breath. And we just need to make sure we're morally clear. Israel is a moral civilization. Iran is controlled by crazy ayatollas. No one has any moral confusion on this program. We're America first. We love America. We we we grieve when any innocents are dying." Okay, we get all those moral parameters there, but but Sean, I can't help but think that there's so many different components here. Like, for example, if Fordo is hit with an American bunker buster, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability? And what is the percentage chance that it will? Yeah, that that's a great fundamental question. And again, I I completely trust President Trump and his judgment. And I'm so thankful that he is president right now doing all this and not all the other people, you know, in the past or who've tried to run for that job in there because I don't think they would have withstood any of the hysteria or the pressure. I think they would have gone right in, tried to do regime change, and were right back in the mire that we were in in Iraq. Um, so I'm thankful he's in charge. The problem is that, you know, a lot of these agencies, they're still run by the the same kind of permanent bureaucracy, the deep state, whatever you call it. They've not exactly filled me with a lot of confidence. You know, for example, uh we had Bin Laden who who was the architect of 9/11, killed thousands of American people. It took us what 10 years to find that guy. He was living in Pakistan, like next door to their the equivalent of their West Point Military Academy. We had no idea he was there. So, I'm a little skeptical when I'm told that Fordo is the only, you know, source of uranium enrichment there. That's the only thing they have to worry about. They're 100% certain that if they take that out, there's no more nuclear threat. Okay, but what if that's not correct? What if there's somewhere we don't know about? What if they have other facilities? Um, what if the bunker busters don't work? And and I'm reminded of the the timeless uh quote from foreign policy sage Mike Tyson. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. And we seem to think that, you know, as long as we're the ones throwing punches, no one else is gonna counterattack or counteract. And I'm really concerned if we go and do this and it's not immediately 100% successful, there are some really, really serious ramifications at that point. What if we don't take out the nuclear program? What if that causes them to race into producing something that they maybe hadn't thought of? That creates a really really dangerous, completely unstable, chaotic situation that will probably make us far more uh endangered than we are now. And it bothers me that nobody's actually talking about uh what we know and what we don't know and with what certainty we know or don't know anything. So, so Sean, let's go through another one of these questions. How many American troops might die in an Iranian retaliatory strike? That's a great question. And you know, I' I've seen some stuff from uh maybe might have been the Pentagon or some other sources and they said, "Well, yes, obviously uh Iran can't hit the US mainland. They just don't have the ballistic missile capability as far as we know. We could be wrong on that, but they're able to endanger troops in the area." And so I think, well, obviously that that's intolerable. My generally baseline kind of operating assumption is if if something's not directly in our interest, if we're not directly threatened, I I really don't want to be accepting any American casualties, but the best way to make sure crazy regimes or evil regimes can't target people around them is, you know, maybe we don't have troops everywhere around there. It becomes a lot harder to target our troops around the world if we don't have them everywhere around the world. And again, it's us having to relearn the lessons of Iraq. If if we hadn't gone in there and blown it up and created a disaster of the whole thing, leading to ISIS and all kinds of horriles, there wouldn't be people over there to be getting harassed or shot at. And and that's something that I don't think is discussed nearly enough. We kind of just take it as a given as if we have no control over where our people are and how close they are to being targeted. I I think President Trump deserves enormous credit here that he's not getting from the media because the clamoring from Capitol Hill. Let's play some of these piece of tape here. Do we do we have Lindsey Graham or Tom Tillis? I'm sure we do. We have endless clips here. And President Trump, he's not an isolationist. He's not an interventionist. He's something completely different. He's willing to use American force where necessary. Here we have dozens of these. Okay, how about this one? Tom Tillis, rockstar play 380. It's time for regime change. And I believe that this president should be given a fair amount of leeway to affect that regime change. How about this one? 331. Do you think the United States should assassinate the Supreme Leader if they can? The assassination of individual, any foreign dignitary or leader on this, but we most certainly need to have regime change in Iran. Uh this is the same regime that's threatened America and Americans. This is the same regime that oppresses their own people. That they use the money that they get from oil money to be able to put towards terrorism to be able to kill us and our allies. They chant death to America in the streets. We definitely need a new regime there. So basically his answer is yes, we should assassinate the Supreme Leader. So let me kind of go through my questions again. What are the refugee estimates of such a regime change and what are the chances of a civil war? Sean, what did the quagmires of the Middle East tell you about when DC is calling? By the way, they have like they're saying of no shame. They haven't like gone to a PR agency and come up with like a new term than regime change. They're just using the exact same term as if nobody's learned and nobody cares. Shawn Davis. Yeah, it it's it's really actually kind of sad and discouraging to see how many DC politicians on on both sides have never found a war they're not willing to send other people's kids to die in. And you I'm of the generation the the war on terror um Iraq war generation. I have friends who were over there who were injured, you know, spiritually, mentally, physically. You talk to a lot of them now and they say, "Well, I look back now and what what did we accomplish? we would go and and pour out our blood and sweat and tears to take one little hamlet or village and then a month later we'd be pulled out and it would be back to where it was at the beginning. And that's not even getting into the issue that you brought up of of refugees, you know, as as our government was pushing Syrian civil war. Where did all those people go? They they flee. They flee to Europe. They flee to the US. when we had the the fall of Afghanistan, a place that we, you know, should have been out of 15 years ago, if not longer, uh we had all kinds of uh people, not good people by the way, a lot of them terrorists, flooding into here claiming asylum or refugee status. This always happens. And it's you look back through history, whether it's the Middle East or whether it's through Africa, these wars have massive, massive consequences. And as Americans, we we seem to just think that if we say or or wave a magic wand of regime change that will have western liberal democrats in there who will, you know, say all the things we have and they'll have a thriving democratic republic like we do. And what actually happens is you end up displacing millions, if not tens of millions of people. You have refugee camps around the world. You have people coming in here by the millions, many of whom are impossible to vet and often mean us harm. It creates utter utter chaos. And it is shocking to me given what we've lived through. We're not even talking about having to go read a history book to learn its lessons. We all lived through the last 25 years. We see so many people not learn a single thing from it. It's insane. We just hit 37 trillion in debt yesterday. Okay. And and and some people in DC are clamoring for yet another regime change war. So, by the way, put uh 386 up on screen. That is the national debt clock. We're here at the Bitcoin.com studio. Bitcoin.com studio. The complexity of this is enormous, Sean, and I think the president has been incredibly prudent and restrained with high rhetoric, but also understanding that once you involve yourself in Fordo, the the the on-ramp for escalation uh is uh is rather significant. So Sean, of all these questions that you and I have, what is then the process and the best way for the American people to get answers? And should we trust Lindsey Graham and the people associated with when it comes to all things Iran? Yeah, I think the only thing we can trust Lindsey Graham to do is push wars that he's not going to have to uh bear the burdens or consequences of. Um, I think as American people, we have to do the thing that we always do, which is uh help our government and our representatives understand you represent us. You represent uh our needs and our concerns, and you have to level with us and be honest with us. You can't just come out there and say, "Trust me, we've got the intel. It's right this time. We got to go." Because the thing is, the American people, like, we're we're a pretty trusting people. We're pretty open. We we have uh zero appetite for being threatened or attacked by anyone. I I think your average American is far more jonian in in their foreign out policy outlook than anything. Um they don't really want to be inshed or entangled in foreign affairs or with foreign countries. But when it comes to defending ourselves, they want to be able to do it. And so I think our government just needs to to be very cleareyed and honest with the people. Here's what we know. Here's what we don't know. Here's what we think the best course of action is. and then listen. And and one of the things I love about Donald Trump is he's got his own internal instincts. He's got his own political compass and radar, but the man listens like minuteto minute, daytoday, he listens probably better than any politician we've had in in modern memory. And and I know that if people start telling him what they want, what they believe, what they think they need, he listens. Yes, he does. And he is acutely aware of all the dynamics at play here. He's a phenomenal listener. And it's one of the main reasons why he has he has developed such great instincts over his entire career. In closing here, Sean, you and I both have seen nothing but lies and deception and misleading. Isn't it important for the audience to reconsider the premise of what they are being told? I encourage everybody here. And by the way, the premise might be right, but let's try to go down to first principles, right? Go back down to first principles. And please understand the very same people that have been lying to you for last 5 years about all the other stuff very well might be lying to you again. How does someone get back to first principles here, Sean? Yeah, that I think the best thing to do is start at the very bottom. What do we know? What do we not know? Are we at risk? Are we not at risk? What are the likely consequences of doing things? What are the consequences of not doing things? I think this is a conversation we need to be having with our representatives both in Congress uh and in the White House. And the best way for these institutions to get their trust back, which they've destroyed uh over the last 25 years, is to level with us. Tell us what you know, tell you tell us how you know it. A and just be honest and level with us as opposed to this tell don't show thing that is still going on now, which I personally find maddening. Like we don't trust these institutions. It's not that we always assume they're lying. It's not that we disbelieve them. It's that we don't believe you automatically. And that is a major major problem when we're discussing things as way is war and life and death. Sean, excellent work. Everyone check out the Federalist. He's been great on X. Thank you so much. Thank you. Email us as always freedomkirk.com and subscribe to the Charlie Show podcast page where all this content can be found 247 on demand. I want to just repeat some of these because I think it's very important. If bombing Fordo can't permanently destroy the nuclear program, will there be a pivot towards full regime change? What is the plan and the process for that? Is this clearly about nukes or removing a regime? What role do the Iranian people play here? Oh, here's another really good one. Can we get third-party analysis, not from talking points on the media, what is the best on the ground sentimentality of the Persian people right now? Cuz it's mixed. I opened up a whole TikTok where I said, "Hey, if you're in Persia, send me a message." Now, some of it could be fake. Some of it looked very real based on IP addresses, but a lot of the people emailing said that sentiment has turned more against America and that people actually are less likely to rebel because they're tired of being bombed. It's actually creating consolidation. That could be propaganda, of course, but we should also let mist as well, right?
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