🚨 Trump's FINAL NAIL in the COFFIN as Approval Ratings Hit ROCK BOTTOM! Iran DESTROYS HIM!

Joining me today on IHIP News is Ben. Rhodess. He is a former deputy national. security adviser for President Obama and. the author of the book All We Say: The. Battle for American Identity. Ben, how. are you today? >> I'm doing good. So far, so good. >> All right. Trump's lies about the Iran. war have gotten so bad that he's getting. fact checked by Fox News. Let's play. this clip. President Trump claiming. total control over the strait. Traffic. has slowed really to a trickle. If you.

look at this, before the conflict, more. than 100 vessels a day were crossing. Monday, eight vessels crossed. Yesterday, 14. Now, those are. constraints and that's changing uh the. government's energy out. >> Okay, I've heard enough, Ben. Yeah, >> these these just the pathological lies. coming from this man that even his own. propaganda channel has to fact check. fact check him. Um it's just it's.

staggering to watch that the Republicans. will not step in and stop this liar. >> It is staggering and and I think the. thing is he's lying about a war now, right? So, it's one thing when he's. lying about, you know, the Russia hoax. from however many years ago or some. media scandal that he's at the center. of. There's a war that he. started. >> and there's physical reality to that. war. Like, there are people who are dead. who would have otherwise been alive. There's Iranian nuclear material that.

still exists in the physical world. You. can call it obliterated. You can call it. dust. It's still there in Iran. There is. a waterway, the straightfor. 20% of the world's fossil fuel goes. and. it's closed and people know that because. there's less stuff in the world, right? Gas prices are higher here. There's. shortages to countries around the world. And so when he lies and says over and. over that we won the war or we. obliterated the nuclear program or the. straight is open or we control the. straight, like there there is there's. actually like a world in which people.

can see that that is completely false. and and and the stakes are so high that. I think even Fox at a certain point has. to acknowledge we can't just keep. regurgitating the idea that that the war. is over. We won. The straight's open. Everything's great. [snorts]. >> Yeah. Don't you think? I mean, the. Republican party is has gotten away with. lying about certain things that the. public just assumes because they. propagandized it for so long. One of. them is that they're so into national. security and they're so into supporting. the troops just like they're so into.

trickle down economics and it's such. It every Republican president. of my lifetime starts some chicken. cockami war. >> Um look at George W. Bush. Um all the. while championing I'm a I'm a national. security conservative and a. compassionate conservative. They killed. a million Iraqis. you know, um, >> yeah, >> American foreign policy has has been, by the way, more about, um, funding the.

oligarchs, you know, the. military-industrial complex, than it. really has ever been about securing our. country. What's your take on that as. somebody who worked as a national. security adviser, Americans, America's. foreign policy across different. administrations? Yeah, I guess like the very quick. summary I give because I agree with. everything you said is, you know, the. Republicans forever presented as the. tough guys on national security and. there's Reagan and you would think that. the the Cold War ended just cuz he gave.

a speech saying tear down this wall and. Bush after 9/11 like reinvents himself. as this tough guy starting wars all over. the place. Um, and they all end in. complete and utter catastrophe. Um Trump. tries to represent himself as a guy who. doesn't like dumb wars and he just keeps. starting even dumber wars. Um that the. Republican party uh like the the one. common thread is they serve the their. own self-interest politically and the. interest of their friends, the oligarchs. um who I'll come back to in a second.

because let's not spare the Democratic. party. [snorts] Democratic party, talk. about chicken Like part of the. reason the Republicans get away with. this is Democrats are so afraid of their. own shadow on things like foreign. policy. so afraid of upsetting the. feelings of some donors at APAC. Like so. afraid of being called weak by some, you. know, columnist for for a legacy. newspaper that nobody reads anymore. I. could go on. Like so just terrified to. engage in actual debate about whether we. should have a diplomatic deal with Iran.

instead of a war, right? Like I almost. got like I I literally got chased out of. Washington because of my involvement in. the Iran nuclear deal. Um which now. looks great. Everybody would take that. right now. Um, and and I I I will tell. you, you're right, that if if you want. to look at what is constant, who. benefits, who profits, defense contractors profit, oil. companies profit, their profits are way. up because of the war in Iran. Now, we. have a whole new class of tech oligarchs. who people may not know are in the. defense business. Like, they're the ones.

that are selling hundreds of billions of. dollars of stuff to the Pentagon that we. don't need now. They're like trying to. take the place. So, so the same people. that f finance so much in our. politics. And yes, I I've talked a lot. about Apac. They're just one of the. special interest groups, right? It's a. it's APAC, it's defense contractors, it's fossil fuel companies, and it's. tech companies. That's who benefits from. American foreign policy. And and most. Americans get totally screwed by it. >> Okay, let's talk about Israel because. even Marco Rubio said that we went to.

war with Iran because of Benjamin. Netanyahu. even though there's. conflicting reports within this. incompetent regime. Uh Marco Rubio's. office has said that and. with this propaganda that Republicans. pedal that we're such badasses, right? And then we have this president that is. such pardon my language here, but he's. such a right? Like Benjamin. Netanyahu can dogwalk him to do. anything. the same we saw him in Alaska.

for Vladimir Putin roll out the red. carpet and then he's standing there. clapping like a seal as he walks up and. [laughter] you know it's just pathetic. It's just pathetic. And it pisses me off. that the Democrats have such a hard time. penetrating what is just such an easy. layup of dismantling this faux. masculinity, this faux competence that. these people have. And I think a lot of. it has to do with the Democrats. um a. lot of them being bought by Apac as. well. It was a real eye openener for me.

when after Kamla loss which was really. devastating um to go through for all of. us um to find out that Apac gave Trump. almost as much money as um Elon Musk did. and that they preferred. Trump to be president while lecturing. everybody else that they're this great. democracy. And I'm like, oh, like you. can lecture us about democracy when you. want the insurrectionist to win. Talk. about how corrupted establishment.

Democrats are when they take money from. the same packs, whether it be AP pack, big oil, uh, big tech that is funding. fascism right now. >> Uh, I I think it's it's central like to. what's happening. Um, and not just APEC, like all these interests, but I'll I'll. I'll focus on APEC in a second. But the. the thing is, if I could do one thing, if I could snap my finger and do one. thing to fix everything, it would be. just get money out of politics, right?

Because these are all distorted. outcomes. Like these are all outcomes. that are benefiting a smaller number of. special interests that can afford to. play in this space at the scale that. they play at. Um, because other. otherwise these things don't make any. sense. Like let's so we just take the. Apac example. Um I mentioned the Iran. nuclear deal fight. It's a it's a good. example because a first of all it was. harder to get a peace deal through. Congress than a war, right? Like.

Congress doesn't do anything to stop a. war as we've recently experienced yet. again. Like there's a insane war. happening that nobody understands why. it's happening and Congress which is. supposed to have the power to authorize. the use of military force in this. country like won't even take it up. not. going to go there. But you you have a. nuclear deal, a peace deal with Iran. It's not even just peace deal is the. wrong way to say it. It's a nuclear deal. that prevented them from getting a. nuclear weapon. Whoa. We got to vote on. that. We have to have a debate on that. And we had to work like tooth and nail.

to get the Democratic senators to just. hold on that. And we didn't hold them. all. By the way, we lost some including. Chuck Schumer who's a Democratic leader. opposed the signature foreign policy. effort of a Democratic president. Now, why did that happen? Uh, well, Apex. spent $30 million against the deal. They. they they were doing ads in people's. districts. They're just pounding people. and and and and look, after that, they. lost that fight. Then what they started. doing is, well, we're going to go into.

your primaries and we're going to we're. just going to drown you in money if you. oppose us. And the money is not, at. least in the nuclear deal, they were. actually putting ads up about how. terrible this deal was. Now they don't. even mention Israel. Like they they they. attack people on thing. You. know, they'll say like he wants they. they support ICE. Like they'll act like. they're progressives. Or we just went. through this whole primary in Michigan. where most of their ads were trying to. create the false impression that Barack. Obama had endorsed one of the. candidates, Haley Stevens, because they. he he said something nicely about her on.

camera like 10 years ago, and they just. played that in a loop, right? I mean, how cynical is that? And and so a lot of. it is just the incentive structure for. these politicians. I is it's expensive. to run for office and so they and this. is the easiest people to raise money. from like this and not just Apac but the. special interest groups like because. that's easy like you go to one law firm. and you know everybody writes a check. and you walk out of there with hundreds. of thousands of dollars you know you. don't have to sit around calling. everybody but then the second is they're. afraid of the other side of the coin. which is that if I don't do what they.

want um you know all this money is going. to come down on my head and like that is. so obvious anybody can see this but if. you raise if talk about it. It's like, oh, you know, you can't talk about that. Don't go there. You know, what what. planet are we living on that we're this. is an organization like Apac that has. financed all these insurrectionist. Republicans that has poured money. Miriam Maden is who's been like the ads. have been among the biggest donors to. APAC, among the biggest donors to Trump. that Sheldon Adlesen her husband like.

did you know that when they moved the US. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem they. gave the old ambassador's residence to. the to Sheldon Adlesen like this is not. subtle like how tight Trump is with. these people and yet Democrats still. think that these are friends of ours. when they've like financed like three. Trump campaigns give me a break. >> okay why do you think it is that the. Israel lobby um goes to seek refuge and. support in the Republican party. And.

this is the same party that the real. anti-semitism, the Nazi group chats, right, that um JD Vance refuses to. condemn that are just blatantly racist. despite him being married to a woman of. Indian descent and having mixed race. children. He will not condemn these Nazi. chats um on I go viral on right-wing um. sites, as you can imagine, quite a bit. [snorts] And they think I'm Jewish. I'm. not. I'm an atheist. Not that I mean I'm.

just a you know European mut, but it. will say like uh crazy Jew, all of the. stuff on these right-wing sites about me. and all of it kind of lives over in this. rightwing world. Is this the same thing. as like, you know, Clarence Thomas. seeking refuge with these people? I. mean, what what is the psychology? I'm. just curious about this. like that they. seek refuge with the people where I grew. up in a red city. I lived in Oklahoma. City for 50 years. The most anti-semitic.

people I know are Republicans. They. think the Jews need to be in Israel for. the rapture. >> Yeah, [sighs]. it is. You know, I think it's it's I I. think it's pretty dark because look, I. get why they do it. If you're looking at. like the, you know, APEC and other. organizations that that that are. basically single issue organizations, like we all we care about is that the. United States, you know, agrees with. Israel. And by the way, that without.

even a point of whatever the Israeli. government supports, that's what Apac. supports, right? So part of what's. happened, and I think that's important. for people to understand, it's not like. Apac has independent positions on what. should happen in the Middle East. It's. whatever the Israeli government's. position is, um, APEC is going to. support that position, you know, whether. it's a arm sale or whether it's a policy. in Gaza or whatever or war in Iran. And. so, as the Israeli government has moved. like furiously to the right, and I'd say. the far right over the course of, you.

know, I don't know when we can start the. clock, let's just say the 21st century, particularly since Netanyahu got back in. there. Um, they've just followed him. there, right? Because that's what they. see as their role. then um you know it's. utilitarian. Well, they notice and this. is an important point you made. Well, they notice that like the Republicans. are going to the right on Israel too. because of these Christian evangelicals. who've gone nuts about you know the need. to you know have total Israeli control. of the Holy Land so that the rapture can.

come and you know kill all the. Palestinians. Meanwhile, a lot of. Islamophobia on the right too. So that's. that's useful too, right? Like yeah we. all hate we all hate the Muslims too. over here. So there there there these. other pools that they can swim in in the. Republican party that over the course of. the last 10 or 15 years they've gotten. super comfortable doing that. They're. partnering with like anti-semitic. Christian evangelical Christian Zionists. essentially, you know, um at times, right? It's weird actually. It's. really weird. Um. >> and what bothers me, I'm a secular.

person, but I'm Jewish by background. My. mother's Jewish. Um, the anti-semitism. that scares the out of me is the. anti-semitism that killed my family, right? Like I I had family members who. died in the Holocaust. It wasn't. Palestinians. >> who did that. It was right-wing. Nazis, right, in Europe. And and and so. when we're talking about anti-semitism. and we all have to sit here and we have. to issue statements about Hassan. said what said on the ninth hour of his.

stream like three years ago while JD. Vance flew to Europe and gave a speech. lecturing Germans that they needed to. let their neo-Nazi party back into. politics. Like that's a thing that. happened in the world. And everybody's. like well you know that's interesting. They have like right-wing like they all. don't like immigrants. What do we am I. going insane? Sometimes I look at stuff. I'm like, am I going insane that that. hey the these people you think are your. friends? Like I tell you there like. Nazis are not my friends. Like and and I. think we should any conversation about.

anti-semitism that kind of leaves out. the the the European origin far right to. focus on like college kids chanting. river to the sea is to me a cynical. conversation. >> Yeah. Not to mention um Elon Musk who's. getting you more and more into his um. psychotic state. But do you think that. it's it's so insidious that Benjamin. Netanyahu and the powers that be that. want to expand Israel that want to.

banize Iran, that want to displace. southern Lebanon, do you think they are. weaponizing anti-semitism to rile up. people? They they were welcoming. anti-semitism to say see we're under. attack. See we need to do this. So. they're they are assisting it in a way. because it's valuable to them to get. support in creating this fear that. Jewish people are not safe when and the. way I view this the person who is making.

people Jewish people less safe and is. Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli. government. And when when you get into. the statements of Smootrich and Ben. Gavir, it's so evil. It it it's so. unbelievable to read it that it's. current, that it's present, that it's. present tense, and that we're allies. with them. It's just it it really shocks. the conscience when you really dive into. this story more and how manipulative um.

the Israeli government is with their. foreign policy. Yeah, I I I I think that this is um this. is a really dangerous uh way to like for. them to approach this issue because it. happens on several levels. >> Um one is, you know, they just try to. shut down discourse, right? You can't. talk about this. So like I if I and I. I've been called an anti-semite, I've. been called a self-hating, you know, all.

these things. If you point out, if you. just say Apac spends a lot of money to. influence American politics, like they. will come out and say that was. anti-semit, like I wrote a piece, you. know, for the New York Times that that. had like a couple paragraphs on this and. and part of their push back and I don't. have in front of me, so but was. essentially like I'm engaging in an. anti-Semitic trope by suggesting that. that they use money to try to influence. politics. What else are they using money. for? Like I by the way, the NRA does. too. Like we're what what planet are we.

on? But guess what? It makes people. pissed if they feel like you're, you. know, someone's going around like. whack-a-ole calling everybody, you know, names um that are, you know, incredibly. potentially damaging to people, especially when it's not true. I'm many. things. I'm not that. Um the second. thing to your point, you know, because. there is obviously there's anti-semitism. like there's horrible anti-semitism on. the right and the left. What bothers me. is when I you get a sense and this.

happened. Let's go back to the late. Biden administration like in 2024 when. you had those encampments on on campus. and there was almost like a a hunger to. find like let's find the the the single, you know, most offensive sign in a sea. of people and stick a camera in front of. that person and try to get them to say. something that will be the mo, you know, because the point is let's have the. conversation not be about Israel's. conduct in Gaza, >> right? Let let's have the conversation.

be about like some 19-year-old kid that. phrased things the wrong way or maybe is. like said something that is. anti-Semitic, but that that person is. not and let's make that the main story, you know, like let's make that let's. point the camera at that um so that the. camera is not on the moonscape that is. Gaza and the tens of thousands of of. killed kids. And and I think people see. that like people aren't dumb. They're. like, "Yeah,

>> hey, you seem to just be charging. everybody with anti-semitism. You seem. to to be wanting to actually platform. anti-semitism because you want to. elevate it, right? Um and and when and. when I say they, I'm talking. specifically about the Israeli. government like because they they they. are behind a lot of this stuff. And I I. think it it has the opposite of the. intended effect [snorts] because if you. look at the polling numbers on support. for Israel in this country, I think. they're falling in part chiefly because.

of what happened in Gaza and what's. happening in Lebanon and Iran, but also. because people are sick of this stuff. They're they're sick of like getting. lectured about like democracy and and. and you BB Netanyahu is going to lecture. us on like on on respect for different. religions and and and and and ethnic. groups while while massacring, you know, Palestinian kids and while he's got. people in in his own government, Smootri. and Bengavir that that that say. genocidal stuff like all the time. Like.

if if I often think if I just read out. loud the statements I was like the. Israeli government wants to do these. things and just recited what Smidge and. Ben said, I'd be called any semite. They'd be like you how can you're trying. to cast them in a certain way. No, these. are their own words, you know. >> Yeah. To the uh point about the college. campus protests, I couldn't believe the. hysteria surrounding that because to me. it's like it wasn't a news flash. college kids have famously protested.

wars forever. That's where you were so. idealistic and you organized together. for a uh to make the world better. And I. couldn't believe. um that they were trying to, you know, all these kids are getting shot. The one. thing that that I couldn't get over, it. was a real eye openening moment for me. was this BBC report that's been. confirmed by lots of others that the. Israeli government assassinated. children, Palestinian children, and they. had their bodies where they were shot in.

the head and in the heart. And their. argument to that was, "Oh, these college. kids are the assholes." And I'm just. like, oh my god, they're standing up. for, >> you know, universal human rights. And. the sad thing about that is now the. fascist project, Trump and his. sickopanic idiots are using this as a. means to get universities to capitulate, as all fascist projects do. They want to. dismantle education. Um, but to me, it.

was like it was like a as big of a news. flash as college kids smoke weed. Of. course, they're protesting a war. That's. what they do. >> Um, >> all right. Let's let's shift gears out. of that and I want to gossip a little. bit with you about. um Donald Trump slinking into the. catering cart and getting into a. different plane and then using American. citizens, his cabinet members and. members of the press, which we know know. he doesn't care about, but also the.

pilots who are military um as a decoy to. get shot down potentially by Iran. And. whether that was a credible claim or not. is another podcast for another day, but. let's just assume here that it was. >> Um, what do you think would happen? You. worked with Obama. >> Do you think there are enough ERS in the. United States that could receive Fox. News employees if Obama did some chicken. move like this? No, I mean this this is a man Barack.

Obama that like I I remember one time he. like saluted someone while holding a you. know coffee cup of. >> coffee cup and we had like a several. week implosion [laughter] on Fox like. people were like fanning other people in. air as they were passing out from like. the revulsion at his conduct and there's. so many things that converge here. It's. such a Trump story, right? Because it's. all a grift. Like none of this would. have happened if there wasn't a Qatari. superjet that had become the new Air. Force One that didn't have the defense. So, so let's not forget the only reason.

that we're ever even having this. conversation is because he decided to. change the whole Air Force One to this. like goldplated interior design jet. Um, then secondly, like the the I mean it. well, you know, not to dwell on it, but. the report in the Washington Post is. that this is Israeli intelligence. Yeah. That was not not with the the CIA had. low confidence. I I I when they tell you. you have they have low confidence, they're telling you that they don't. believe something like because moderate. confidence, high confidence, like they. like there, this is the lowest of the.

low. So the reason that's import. interesting to me is that the Trump it. didn't matter. He's, you know, so. selfobsessed that even when his own. people are like, I we don't really. believe this. He's like, I I need a. plan. I need extra layers of safety, right? And so for this guy to to. to I mean we when we would fly to. Afghanistan, we'd tell the press like. we'd leave in the middle of the night. and we wouldn't, you know, release. publicly and we'd like land with the. windows down and it was super secret, but we'd call in the press and be like, "Hey, this is what's happening and have.

your people ready to be there at this. appointed time and like like the the. need to go to this length, it's just so. clearly unnecessary, you know. Um, and. and and and just the the the image of of. the commander-in-chief of the United. States military in like a catering dumb. waiter elevator or something just to get. himself somewhere else while sending off. not just like the press but like I think. Marco Rubio and Pete Hexath were on that. plane like.

>> Yeah. So clearly Trump thought that the. threat was interesting enough to him. that he needed to go somewhere else, but. these people were just going to send up. in the in the plane, you know, like it. it's Yeah, it I I I allowed myself one. time a day to imagine what would happen. if Obama did X because if you tried to. do it more than once a day, you'd go. completely insane. Once a day is. probably already unhealthy. And this one. is very high in the list. >> Very, very high. Okay. Trump has. alienated so many of our allies and I.

would imagine with your previous job. with President Obama that you know you. know the relationships in an intimate. level that that a layman like me doesn't. know [gasps]. this whole idea of our allies kind of um. trying to plate to Trump the same way. the oligarchs do. I feel like it's. somewhat kind of dangerous instead of. them just standing up to him and saying, "No, you're not getting Greenland. Quit.

around. No, you're not getting. Canada. We're not doing this shit." I. feel like everybody just tiptoes around. this fragile ego where it's whether it's. um uh oligarchs, really powerful. companies, um and really powerful. countries. like when uh the king of. England, King Charles, had the big. dinner for him, I was just like, why are. they enabling this? >> Yeah. >> I think as we as we get to the other. side of this, because it will end. This. is going to end at some point.

>> Yes. >> That's not going to look very good on. these people, this this soft. acquiescence to fascism. What's your. take on all of that? It's been very. troublesome for me to see the most. powerful people capitulate first. I I've. said this to European leaders directly. on multiple occasions because I do know. some of these people and especially. after Trump came back the the second. time that the o for your own interest. the only way to deal with this man is to. stand up to him that he is a bully and.

if you give him your school lunch he's. going to come back for more but if you. kick him in the shins like he's more. likely to go away and if you look at the. countries that get what they want from. Trump it's usually the ones that stand. up to him or the ones that resist him. and by the way no fan of this. government, but the Iranians are showing. when you, you know, like their. negotiating style is basically, "Fuck. you. We want everything because you. started this dumb war and and and we. we're not going to you pretend to to. chase you to the to the negotiating. table." Now, if you look at the.

Europeans, when they do it, they get. some result, right? So when he, you. know, when he on Greenland before Davos. was, you know, issuing threats, they. finally like put out joint statements. They said that they're going to send. troops to to Greenland. And you know. what? He backed off like right away. But. then they go right back to this flattery. game and the the you know, I'll just to. focus on one like the secretary general. of NATO, this guy, you know, Mark Rut, who I I kind.

>> he the one that was calling him daddy. >> Daddy. He said, and here's here's what's. so insane about this. After the first. dumb Trump Iran war, like the so-called. 12-day war, he had all these texts that. became public that he didn't, you know, disavow at all that he daddy sometimes, you know, daddy needs to come home and. spank us or something. And I mean, just. psychotic right? This is a grown. man who's like supposed to be running. NATO and he's just like, I mean, on, you. know, just the ass kissing doesn't even.

describe it. Well, guess what? Then. Trump gets in his head. Well, yeah, like. I I got I get keep getting told what a. great thing my Iran war is. Maybe I'll. do that again. And guess who's suffering. more in this war than Americans? Europeans because they get a lot of. their oil and gas from uh the Middle. East through the straight of Hormuz. Like some of them like like rely on it. for like you know home heating oil. It's. going to be a cold winter. Like so. if you look at like by contrast like a. Mark Carney like he's made his entire.

the prime minister of Canada he's made. his entire prime ministership kind of. basically off like I'm not going to. let you push us around. And guess what? It's been good for Mark Carney. politically at home. It's been good for. Canada substantively that like they've. managed to weather this erratic tariffs. here and there. Um and it's elevated him. on the world stage. And and so my. message to Europeans is you if you stand. up to him together. like you will be in a much stronger. position to defend your interest. And by. the way, that'd be good for us. I know. it sounds strange telling other.

countries to stand up to our president. I would like them to because I would. like there to not be a war over. Greenland like, you know, I'd like to. not destroy like the global order in the. next two and a half years. Um, so. whether it's universities, media. companies, law firms, or European. governments, like it's time everybody. learned the lesson that standing up to. this guy and doing it collectively is. how you deal with him, not by calling. him daddy. >> Do you think that guy, uh, Rudy, do you. think behind the scenes he says Trump is.

a nut, or do you think he is is buying. into all of this? M, some people get. kind of intoxicated by all of this. >> I think there's different levels. There's a lot of Europeans that behind. the scenes are like this guy's nuts and. you know we're just trying to manage him. and we're try it this way and that way. you know but then there are two other. kinds of people that I've encountered. One is people that do get seduced by, you know, they get invited to Mara Lago. and and Trump calls them a lot, you. know, like he's, you know, always on the.

phone and and so they chatty Kathy like. they feel like they're getting the goss, you know, like Trump's calling. What. should I do? And, you know, and and and. then there's these other people that are. actually the worst and and because they. rationalize it. They're like, "No, no, no. This is this is working. Like, this. is and and and and Trump has some good. points. You know, I hear this all the. time, you know, like Trump, you know, he's right. We do need to spend more on. defense. And I always like, you know, okay, fine. Like, spend some more money. on defense, but like NATO doesn't work.

The United States is not committed to. the defense of NATO allies and might. invade one of them. So, like, while. we're trying to, you know, give Trump. credit for like demanding that we spend. more money on defense, let's consider. the fact that like none of this works if. if if you don't have allies that are. supporting one another. you have allies. that are like attacking one another. >> Okay, last question. I have been. thinking for a long time like what is. going to be the final nail? His approval. rating is down in the low30s. Um it's.

lower now than it was after January 6. This is great news, but I think we can. do better. I think it needs to be lower. And I think the final nail is going to. be the stock market, which I think is. being artificially kept alive because. you have these magnificent seven AI. stock companies that know in order to. keep the country club Republicans happy, >> they will be fine with all of this crazy. that he he does, as long as their. 401ks are and their stock price are. fine. I I think as you know, as all.

Republican presidencies do, they all. lead to neocon policies, foreign. policy-wise, regardless if they say. they're anti-war. They they cannot. help themselves. They always do. this and they always wreck the. economy, deregulate, u lower taxes on. the rich, wealth never trickles down, and the stock market crashes out, and. Democrat has to come in and save it. I. think this could be the final thing that. maybe maybe might get some of these. Republican people in Congress to stand. up to him. But then I look at Cassidy.

who like Trump ruined his li his. political career basically and he still. won't stand up to him. Do you think. that's just me reaching in these five. stages of grief that's like a bargaining. stage that I'm going through in my head? Do you think if the stock market crashed. that the Republican party might actually. stand up to him and not crashed but you. know started declining? >> Well, it might because I share your. concern that there's kind of a pyramid. scheme feel to the whole AI bubble.

because you know wealth is being. generated without people knowing what. it's for. Like. we're building trillions of dollars. worth of stuff and we're not sure what. we're going to do with it. So that's a. whole conversation. But this thing feels. pretty wobbly, you know, and and Trump. is adding strains to it, right? Tariffs, wars, like so the idea that we're going. to get through two and a half years. without there being some kind of. collapse. Um I I think that that's. coming sooner rather than later. Now, I. I think the way because I've had the. same stages of maybe this is a time and.

um and there's been plenty of evidence. for uh um Trump things up and. Republicans going along with him. However, I I think the way I put it is. why do they act so chicken Well, it's because they care mostly about. their political survival and they. believe that crossing Trump is dangerous. to their political survival and so. they'll just, you know, grin and bear. it. Now, these people like, you know, uh, like Cassidy who've already been.

politically killed. That seems weird. But maybe he's thinking like, I want to. become a Republican lobbyist, and, you. know, I don't want to piss off Trump too. much. Right now, here's the thing, though. >> That calculus could shift right quick if. like they lose the midterm elections, the stock market's falling, Trump's a. lame duck. suddenly your political. survival might be advantaged by getting. a little distance from this guy, you. know, um or trying to end the war in. Iran or you know, whatever the thing is. Uh, and so I kind of I do feel like you.

I agree that the stock and because the. stock market is tied to political. survival too because of donors like. people start calling being like you got. to reign this guy in like you know I'm. sick of these tariffs like I'm. sick of this war and and so I I think. that the stock market is the kind of the. piece that will get the most attention. Um, and the other piece will be like. when the conversation just starts to. move past him. Like, hey, the. conversation's the 2028 presidential. election, the conversation's not about.

him anymore. Like, Fox is going to at. some point have to imagine a ratings. future. >> without Donald Trump as the opioid that. it is feeding its masses. >> Um, to quote JD Vance. >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, so I want to. have you on again and I want to talk. about I'll have you on next month, but I. want to talk about the people who have. already described exactly what you just. said and that's Marjgery Taylor Green, um, Tucker Carlson, Massie, and Kent.

>> They have already decided on. self-preservation. They already see that. this is a dementia duck president and. the curtains are closing and they are. positioning themselves as being the. populist um new voice of the Republican. party and I think it's pretty clever. I. think it's I think they're all dangerous. as. >> but they're a lot smarter than these. other ones. And so I'm out of time. today, but Ben, I could talk to you. forever. I just think your uh take on. everything. I've just so so so enjoyed. this. I cannot thank you enough for.

joining. >> No, I love the two. There's great. tagging.