Erick Erickson Show HR 1 with guest host Dan Mandis 7-10-26

I always appreciate the opportunity to fill in and appreciate you being here on the Eric Erickson show. You can find out more about me on the socials at Dan Manda Show. I'm on Facebook. I'm on X. And again, glad to be here for Eric. There's a lot going on. Let's get right to it. So you've no doubt heard what is going on with President Trump and this. Big story where the Iranians are saying now they want to assassinate Donald Trump. This is blowing up. We'll continue to talk about this story throughout the afternoon as it does continue to develop. I do find this interesting, though, because if you know anything about Donald Trump and his history with Iran, You know that they wanted to assassinate our president for quite some time. And so this really doesn't come as much of a surprise. The president earlier today actually had a few things to say about this story where Israel, in case you're unfamiliar with the story. Israel letting the Trump administration know that they have uncovered intelligence that shows that the Iranians have a fresh new plan to assassinate President Donald Trump. This is what he said, just a few hours ago. You know what a race car driver is? One-tenth of one percent. A bull rider, that looks pretty dangerous to me. It's one-tenth of one percent. No, it's 5.2 percent is you don't make it. You should have told me you're an excellent reporter. You should have told me that years ago, maybe it wouldn't have run. It's a very dangerous profession. No, I'm number one on the kill list for Iran. They're lovely people. I'm number one. So I don't know. I can't tell you that. But I don't really care because I'm doing my job and I'm doing it. I hope better than anybody's ever done it because we have a country that's hot and really, really successful. But I mentioned it only because it's on the list. I mean, it came out. There was another list came out yesterday. And I'm number one on. I like being number one on TikTok better. But I'm number one on the list for... for killing. So President Trump, and you can tell that although I'm sure that he's got some concerns. Again, as I said, it's really nothing new, but this is something for the president that he is certainly used to at this point with Iran. Remember, President Trump has been talking about Iran for years and years and years. And really no American president has taken the tact that Donald Trump has regarding, of course, the bombs and really putting his foot down and saying that the Iranians simply cannot have a nuclear weapon. Now they're going after, of course, the Trump. Trump administration, again, going after Iran's economy. Now, this headline from the Daily Mail, Donald Trump, has left instructions detailing the severe military retaliation that should occur if Iran successfully assassinates him. So I got to tell you, this is really interesting.

I don't know how concerned President Trump really is. The president seems to me to be the kind of guy, as I've been watching him for years and years, of course, never let him see a sweat. And I don't think that the president, I'm sure that he is concerned, but he's also to the point now where he's survived a couple of different assassination attempts. And I think that he has... As he looks at his future and he looks at life beyond the presidency, I think the president does want to... have a nice life after the presidency. I think that he would like to at some point live in peace. But I also know that he understands, as you just heard in that soundbite, the president understands that it is a tough gig and that when you are the president of the United States, especially a president that is as controversial as him, these are the kinds of things that you have to deal with. But I do find it interesting. The president has left instructions. detailing the severe military retaliation that should occur if they are able to take him out. This is the quote. I've been on their list for a long time. That's what we're dealing with. He says that the only thing is I've left instructions if anything happens to literally just bomb them at levels they've never seen before. asked about the recent intelligence reports indicating that Israel had flagged an active plot targeting him this week. President Trump dismissed the idea of a newly surfaced threat, emphasizing instead that Tehran's lethal intentions have been going on for years. And that is true. You know, when this whole thing came out, I read this early this morning and last night, and I thought, well, Honestly, what's new here? I mean, what's different? The Iranians have wanted to take out Donald Trump for a long time. The article goes on to say Donald Trump's, as he is talking about all this, he says, I've been number one for a long time. It's the way life is. And we know that back in 2020, President Trump took out Iranian general Kasim Soleimani. And he has also taken out, if you've been following the Iran War, you know that he's taken out a couple of different layers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard in Iran. And the funeral that they held over the weekend for their Supreme Leader, I think he was like a five or six day funeral. But on the last day, they were unfurling flags that said something to the effect of, we will kill Donald Trump. So I think for President Trump is just another day in the life. The article goes on to say the threat environments surrounding the president has intensified recently, marked by several disrupted assassination plots following the July 13th, 2024 campaign rally in but...

Butler, Pennsylvania. Of course, we know what happened there. We know what happened at the White House Correspondence Dinner. And so the president and his administration, they know what they're dealing with. And so now the question is, what's next for the president? I don't believe that this is going to impact Donald Trump one way or another. Oh, and by the way, I would also remind you, there's a lot of people on the conservative side that... They're not necessarily trusting of this intelligence coming from Israel because, and even one of the articles that I read this morning does point out, there are some people that are cynical. We know that Israel... They want to go after Iran militarily. They want to do everything they can to continue the military aspect of this war. They're not really fond of diplomacy as it relates to Iran. And the reason why, of course, and if you've been following this, you know that Iran does not feel like Israel has a right to exist. And so Israel wants this job done. They want to take care of Iran once and for all. And they do see this real. as I think probably maybe a last-ditch attempt to do what they want to do with Iran, which is get them to the point, knock them to the point where they are unable to attack them any longer. And so the problems, the fighting between Iran and Israel, that has been going on for a long time. So the cynics are saying, the Israeli critics are saying, and there's a lot that are on the right. They're saying, listen, we can't trust Israel. What Israel is really trying to do with this intelligence is they are trying to provoke or manipulate Donald Trump to continue with the bombing. They don't want to have anything to do with diplomacy. Because Israel knows, as I know and you probably know, that Iran, they can't be trusted. And so they have made, you know, agreement after agreement with the Trump administration, apparently. And then they've just come back and they've said, no, no, no, we never agreed to that. We never agreed to that. This is a country, Iran, simply put, cannot be trusted. And once Donald Trump leaves office... Well, Israel's not sure if they're going to get another chance to do the damage that they want to do to Iran. So you do have people that are out there, and they're saying that Iran is using this intelligence. You can put the word intelligence in air quotes. They're using this intelligence to try to, as I said, manipulate Donald Trump to start attacking Iran militarily because Israel knows that... Once Donald Trump is out of office, whoever the next president is, it's not a guarantee. It's not a slam dunk that they'll be as aggressive against Iran as Donald Trump is and has been. So they may be thinking that this is their last chance to partner with America to take out the Iranians militarily.

We'll have to see where this whole thing plays out. Obviously, Donald Trump understands that he is not a popular guy across the world and especially when it comes to the Iranians in the Middle East. My name is Dan Mandis and for Eric Erickson. Got a lot more straight ahead. And appreciate you being here and you can always find me on the socials at Dan Mandis Show. And just to put a final cap on what is going on with Iran. One of the things the president has said is that the ceasefire is over. The bombing will continue. However, he is still saying that if they want to continue talks, then we can continue to talk. But I think the president... He knows that one of the things that Iran is known for is trying to, you know, play the long game and do everything they can to sort of string you along and say, oh, yeah, we're having negotiations. We're having negotiations. But then they'll come out and they'll try to, essentially, as the president has said, they'll try to waste time. And they're trying to do everything they can to embarrass. President Trump on the world stage. And I think the president is absolutely tired of it. And case in point, how many times, and it actually became a thing in the media where President Trump, and this is on the president, by the way, where he would say, we're close to a deal, we're close to a deal, we're close to a deal. And the president would give some sort of an update. And the Iranians would come back and they would say, That was not agreed to. That was not agreed to. That was not agreed to. Really embarrassing the president on the world stage. And I think that, you know, Donald Trump, and I think it's interesting, actually, because remember when the president first ran for office way, way back when? And you had all of these people on the left saying that Donald Trump is a blowhard and he's a bull in a China shop and we're going to end up in World War III. Well, the president. I think to his credit, has really been trying to use diplomacy to try to end this war in Iran. Now, I don't know about you, but I was cynical of the whole Iran war to begin with because I don't believe that you can negotiate with terrorists. And really, if you think about it, we have tried everything. related to Iran. We have tried bombing the living, you know what, out of them. We have done everything we can to destroy their economy. We've taken out a couple of layers of their leadership, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, and on it goes. And still... They survive. Still, they're taking over or trying to take over the Strait of Hormuz. And so the president has been very specific, very direct in the last couple of days where the bombing is going to continue. And I think the president has done everything he can to utilize diplomacy. Nobody can say whatever happens from this point forward.

Nobody can say that the president has not tried the route of diplomacy. He has, and it clearly has not worked. I do feel that just to let you know where I'm at with the whole war on Iran, it's been a minute since I filled in for Eric. I'm always thrilled to fill in on his mighty network. But what I would say is that... I understood why the president was doing what he was doing. Nobody wants Iran with a nuclear weapon. But I also feel like the president has sort of painted himself into a corner, unfortunately, in the sense that, and I'm a Donald Trump supporter. But when this whole thing started, and I'm not the guy that's ever going to say, you know, I told you so because I'm just not that guy. But when this whole thing started? I knew, and a lot of people knew, that dealing with Iran in this kind of a situation was going to be really difficult for the president and his administration for a number of different reasons. Number one, and we are seeing this all play out in real time. Who are you negotiating with? Are you negotiating with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard? Are you... negotiating with Iran's other more mainline government, if you will, or who? Who is it that you're talking to? And who is the real decision maker? Also, you take out all of these various leaders, then you could end up with a civil war in Iran. So you have all of those things that you have to deal with. You also know that Iran, they don't. tell the truth. You cannot trust them. As a nation, their government, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, they are perpetual and professional liars. So any agreement would have to come back with how do you trust that they are complying with whatever agreement you have come up with? Because they are incredibly secretive. You can't trust them. And so for the president now, I don't know where he goes from here. because it's obvious that the memorandum of understanding that is clearly not been working. The Iranians taking out or trying to take out, but bombing three ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Now the Strait of Hormuz once again is compromised. Gasoline prices are going back up. So the president is going to, it would appear, he's going to just keep bombing and bombing. And the Iranians, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Common perception is, and I tend to agree, that all they really have to do is survive. That's all they have to do. Donald Trump needs to figure out a way, because I do believe that he wants desperately to get out of this war. I mean, that is clear. He needs to figure out a way to be able to declare victory and get out of Iran.

I think that the president has made a lot of progress in taking out their nuclear capabilities. So one way or another, the president is looking for a way to get out of this war. He wants to be able to declare a victory, pull out our troops, get things back to normal here in America as far as the economy, gas prices, and so forth. And if he can do that, it's going to take some time for gasoline prices to get back to where they were pre- war, but that is ultimately what the president wants to do. The Republican Party heading into the midterm elections definitely want to see that as well. Again, the challenge is it's going to take a minute for gas prices to get back to pre-war levels. And there's a lot of people, obviously, on the side of the Democrats, but some in the Republican Party as well, that do want to see the president fail. So this is going to be fascinating to watch how this whole thing continues to play out. My name is Dan Mandus in for Eric Erickson. The article talks about how... JD Vance will more than likely announce his intentions to run right after the midterms in November. But what about Marco Rubio? We'll talk about that in a second. But J.D., I think you would agree that he has done some amazing work. I will tell you this. You know, I have not... I have not met one person within the Republican Party that has anything negative to say about JD Vance. As a matter of fact, during my morning show in Nashville, we like to take, you know, silly little polls, and this is far from a scientific poll. But the other day, I had a poll grade Donald Trump, and we had A, B, C, or F, and it was very mixed. I mean, it was like, you know, 35, 45 percent gave Donald Trump an A. You had about 20, 22 percent that gave the president a B. You had about the same for C. And we also had a pretty good number of people that gave the president an F. And just so you know, I have a very conservative audience. We did it this morning with JD Vance. And I want to say that it was like 70 to 75% of my audience gave JD Vance an A. And the rest of them gave the vice president a B. In other words, The president, there's a lot of Republicans now. They're upset for a number of different reasons. Maybe it's because of the war in Iran. It's maybe because of the president's relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. Maybe it's the economy. Maybe they feel like the president has lost focus because the war in Iran is not necessarily America first. I mean, that's a whole conversation.

But the point that I'm making is that even if President Trump is losing some support, I don't think that that is turning into lack of support for JD Vance. I don't think that's translating into falling support for JD Vance, the vice president. I think that the MAGA movement and Republicans are looking at Donald Trump. There is some frustrations, but those frustrations are not spilling over into his vice president. I mean, J.D., think about this. He's an effective communicator. He's done his best with this impossible situation in Iran. He is genuinely, genuinely speaking, not only a likable guy, but he's really smart. And from a political standpoint, he knows what he's doing. He's accomplished a lot. And by and large, people in Republican circles, not only do they like him, but they're also donating to his upcoming presidential campaign if he runs. So I just told you about my poll that I had on my little show in Nashville. But the Daily Mail also did a poll. Do you know what that poll shows? JD Vance versus Marco Rubio? JD Vance is now at 51% and up four percentage points from last month. And Marco Rubio has been slumping. He is now in second place at 15%. Down three. You heard that right. JD Vance, 51% and going up and Marco Rubio at 15% and going down. By the way, rounding out a couple of other names, Ron DeSantis, 9%. Ted Cruz is at 6%. Now, in a head-to-head matchup, they say that JD Vance would win against Marco Rubio 65 to 26%. So of those four names, You've got JD Vance well ahead of everyone else. Now, more numbers, just real quick. Navigator research, which is apparently a Democrat-aligned firm, showing JD Vance also ahead of Marco Rubio in net favorability, 62 to 51 percent over Marco Rubio. Now, all that to say, there's a lot of people who look at these two and they say, you know, JD Vance may be really popular within the conservative movement and within the MAGA movement, but generally speaking, Marco Rubio is more trusted and more well-liked within the general population. Marco Rubio has been around a long time. And people would also say that Marco Rubio, like it or not, he's more bipartisan. At least he has been in the past with his time in the Senate. So ultimately, one of the reasons why JD Vance and his popularity, his awareness, if you will, in the public is rising, is because he has been out there promoting his book.

And these appearances, they were just incredible appearances. Remember, he's been going right into the lion's den of these leftist shows. He appeared with Bill Maher. He was on, of course, the view. And that's always an adventure. But the thing is, it wasn't a knock-down, drag-out fight. I've got an example. Because I thought, you remember just a few moments ago, I said that JD Vance, he's incredibly likable. He's not in it to, you know, get into a knockdown, dragout fight, even if he's on the view dealing with Whoopi Goldberg. There was a moment, I'm going to play this for you, there is a moment where, as he's on there with the view and Whoopi Goldberg and the rest of him, where Whoopi accused the Trump administration of being hostile. towards minorities. Do you say that we're anti-minority or anti-black? No, I didn't say that I asked. See? Okay, okay, fine. Be fair, fair. Don't start any stuff with me, man. Don't give me a job. I misinterpreted your question, but let me answer your actual question there. What I'm saying, I think, okay, look at Washington, D.C. One of the most democratic and one of the blackest, by a share of population, blackest cities in the United States of America, has seen a radical decrease in violent crimes and sexual assaults and in murders. We have tried to take the crime issue seriously, in part because we believe everybody, whether you're black or white or rich or poor, deserves to live in a safe neighborhood. Yeah. I mean, it was a great moment. I thought for JD, you know, when you're in a situation where you're on a show like The View and they're throwing, they're hurling all of these accusations at you. And it's like, what about this? What about this? What about this? What about this? Well, oftentimes the things that they were, you know, throwing at JD, the things that they were saying to JD were either, you know, half-truths taken out of context. And he was very gracious. He was very smart. He was very gracious. He came off as incredibly likable. And in this article in The Daily Mail, as they talk about Donald Trump sort of putting together this scenario in the White House where they have an apprentice-style contest, if you will, where JD Vance and Marco Rubio are battling it out for the nomination. I think that JD Vance is looking really good. The president has been watching him on his book tour, and he's been really impressed. Now, some people are saying, and then I'm going to move on, but some people are saying, but wait a minute, hasn't JD Vance been the face of a very unpopular Iran war? Well, yes and no. He has been the face in the sense that he's been negotiating with Iran. But remember the J.D. has been a little side eye on this war with Iran. He's not real happy with the war in Iran. So if he ultimately became the nominee and then the left to try to paint him in that sort of corner where he is, you know, the face of the Iran war and it was very unpopular and gas prices went up, he can come back and he can say, listen.

From day one, I was a skeptic on this whole war in Iran. And all I was trying to do was be a good soldier for President Trump. And also, I was trying to de-escalate the war with the Iranians by negotiating with the Iranians to try to end it. And it is a perfect way out. Marco Rubio, on the other hand, he's been pretty much all in on the war. Here's the other thing. is that JD Vance has now the infrastructure, and it is all in place. And again, they say that he is going to announce that he is running for the presidency right after the midterm elections. Now, ask me about Marco Rubio. Ask me what Marco Rubio has done to prepare his run for the presidency. Absolutely nothing. He's got no infrastructure. He doesn't have a staff. He doesn't have, you know, some sort of an apparatus to bring in donations for a future presidential campaign. Marco Rubio has done none of that. And so there's a lot of folks that are saying that it's going to be JD Vance at the top, Marco Rubio as the running mate, which is going to be interesting because it's my opinion that Marco Rubio has done an excellent job as Secretary of State. My name is Dan Mandus, in for Eric Erickson. Got a lot more straight ahead. I guess, tagged me in a post on Twitter. And in talking about Donald Trump, he says, why does Donald Trump just absolutely refuse to finish the job in Iran? Why? Sick of all his bluster. And I do understand what he's saying. One of the comments that I made as Donald Trump, and one of the previous segments I was talking about the situation in Iran where, you know, President Trump has been, in my opinion, the president has been embarrassed time and time again. As he has said, time and time again, we are very close to a resolution with Iran, only to have Iran to come back in and say, no, no, no. And it got to be kind of a, I'm not going to say it was a joke, but it got to be kind of a story. where the president had said it, I don't know, dozens of times. And I remember saying when I was hosting my morning show in Nashville, somebody needs to get to the president and just tell him to stop talking because you got to the point where it was just kind of ridiculous and you didn't want to hear it anymore. That's what this guy on X is saying. It has to do with bluster. But here's the thing. I do believe that Donald Trump's heart is in the right place. And I think that there's a lot of conservatives who are looking at the president now. And even though he may not be doing all the right things related to Iran, and this is going to be something where we're not even going to know whether or not the president made the right decision on going into Iran for years from now. You know, it's kind of like there's this.

this conversation that historians have, the really important conversations that these, you know, college professors and historians have, where they'll say that you don't really know the success of a president's term or time in office for, you know, sometimes even, you know, 20, 25, 50 years, 100 years down the, you know, down the road from when that president leaves office. And so we'll never really know. I think. you know, Donald Trump is going to be, you know, well retired and, you know, perhaps, you know, had moved on in life by the time we're able to, you know, really look at the president's administration and say, yeah, you know what, that really worked or that really did not work. And so, you know, I'm not one of those guys that will sit here every single day and just, you know, make a snap judgment on everything the president is doing. Because a lot of this, as far as the war in Iran, it depends on what they want to do. This is a country. They thrive on death. They don't care about their own people. They don't care about, you know, polling and that kind of thing. The only thing they care about, it seems, is to be able to manufacture nuclear weapons and do whatever it is that they can do to fund terrorism across the world. You know, one of the things, just talking about JD Vance, and I realize I'm kind of going back and forth on some stuff. But, you know, JD Vance, in the previous segment, I was talking about how the vice president is going to more than likely announce his run for the... presidency coming up after the midterm elections. One of the things that I think the vice president is really good at. is storytelling. And I think that that's one of his strengths is the fact that, you know, he had the movie Hild Billy Elegie from his book. I saw the movie. It is a really, really compelling story. And it does tell you a lot about what JD Vance has overcome. After he had to move in with his grandmother, I love how he talks about his grandmother and his upbringing. man, she was just, she was so non-conventional, right? She was not like a sit-at-home and knit you a sweater kind of grandmother. She was a woman of very devout Christian faith. She loved the F-bomb. And I, you know, when she died, we discovered 19 loaded handguns in her house. Wow. I know you're a second amendment guy. But. But 19? But not just 19, but 19 spread randomly all over her house. And we're thinking ourselves, you know, obviously we can't ask her because she had died. What the hell did she need with a loaded handgun in the silverware drawer? And we realized, why take chances? It's because she couldn't get around that well towards the end of her life. It sort of hit us. And she wanted to make sure that no matter where she was, if somebody walked into her house in Middletown, Ohio, she had a loaded handgun within arms reeds because she couldn't move around that well. I mean, that's the thing. And that was, by the way, on.

a podcast with Micro. So you look at JD fans and again, he's so darn likable and then you look at somebody like, oh, I don't know, Gavin Newsom. Is Gavin Newsom likable? Do you think that Gavin Newsom is a likable person? No. Gavin Newsom is not a likable person. And Kamala Harris, to be perfectly honest, she is a national joke. And so when you compare just the personalities of a JD Vance and Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris heading into 2028, I think it's obvious, says the conservative, that JD Vance comes out on top as you look at personality types. By the way, a couple of other names that are being banteed about as far as people running for the presidency for the GOP, Ted Cruz. His name is out there. Also, Rand Paul is more than likely going to run as well. But many are saying that neither have much of a chance. I wonder if that's why President Trump has been dropping Ted Cruz's name as a possible Supreme Court justice. My name is Dan Mandus and for Eric Erickson. Got a lot more straight ahead. Stay close.