Frances Martel, Breitbart International News Editor Joins!
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Transcript
32 segmentsWhat is Toyota affordability? It's buying smart. Your local Toyota dealer has great deals available today on RAV-4, Grand Highlander, Camry, and Corolla, with the features and style you deserve. It means driving for less with hybrid and plug-in hybrid options across the lineup, delivering great MPGs. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles, meaning your car will hold its value for years to come. Shop Toyota.com to find out more. Toyota, let's go places. It's the Hammer and Nigel Show. My name is Nigel. Jason Hammer is here. We'll go straight to the hotline and bring on Breitbart World Editor, one of our favorite guests, Francis Martel, here to give us the big picture, the latest of what's going on with the war in Iran, the United States. What's... Israel's role in this whole thing. There's a big meeting this weekend. And Francis, I'm just curious as to your thoughts, you know, big picture, especially Donald Trump giving the ultimatum to Iran. Hey, like, yeah, we're going to take out your whole civilization that tweet a couple days ago. And he backed off that sense because there's negotiations going on now. What exactly is happening do you think, in your opinion? Well, I think the top priority right now of the Trump foreign policy is to get out of this war. Trump wants out of it. I think he was told this was going to be like Venezuela fast and easy. We find someone to continue the regime in like a toothless form that doesn't hurt us. And things got really complicated. I think part of that, not to go too long on that, but I think part of it is that Israel has its own military goals and national goals that do not align with ours. I think after October 7th... uh... the goal of the Israeli military is to completely destroy the Iranian state apparatus and make it no longer a threat uh... and for us because we're on the other side of the world all we need is for them to be neutralized right to be not a threat to us so that disconnect has created fronts in the war like in Lebanon that are completely like separate from what we're doing in terms of dismantling the leadership taking out the missile program taking out the drones And so that was what was really complicated. And it got to a point where the Iranians were so intransigent on the talks, I think, that Trump basically took their rhetoric and flipped it on them. You know, they've been saying death to America, which is an explicitly genocidal chant for 40 years now. And so he just flipped it on them. He's like, okay, you want to take out my civilization. I'm going to take out yours. But I don't think he ever, I don't think the intent was ever to really, you know, that was a bluff. Right. I cannot imagine. that that was ever something realistic. But it was, you know, Trump's just crazy enough, especially after the Maluro thing in Venezuela, that you've got to take him a little bit seriously. And I think that's what finally brought Iran to actually come to the negotiating table. I think parties like China and Pakistan came in and said, no, you have to take this seriously now, because we can't vouch for Trump being serious here or not. Is Trump frustrated with Israel at all? I remember a couple of months ago when Trump was trying to do some sort of ceasefire or temporary thing. He's famous for saying, they don't know what the F they're doing. You know, the idea that Donald Trump is being led by the nose by Israel, and it's being perpetuated by some podcasters, Tucker Carlson, Candice, Megan, we all know the names.
And I'm wondering what you think of that notion that Donald Trump is actually being fooled or led around by Israel. I definitely do not buy that. And I don't think that the frustration, there's definitely frustration in the White House. But I don't think it's directed at Israel because, again, we're all grown up here. We understand that Israel is not the United States. It's a different country with different national security needs. And sometimes those needs align and sometimes those don't. And it's very similar, I think, to the conflict that we had with Ukraine, where, you know, Ukraine is a... basically an allied state. We want them to thrive. But the national security interests of Ukraine, in many instances, do not align with our national security interests. And so that was a big frustration, even during Biden, from a lot of conservatives saying we're giving billions of dollars to support Ukraine in this war. And Volodymyr Zelensky keeps asking for more and more and more. And all this is like frustration with Volodymyr Zelensky. And he was just looking out for his country. He's not the President of the United States. He doesn't have to care about our interests. And I think it's the exact same thing with Benjamin Netanyahu. He doesn't have to care about American national security. He has to care about Israeli national security, which is defined by we cannot allow another October 7th. And so I think that's where it's coming from. I think a lot of people on the left and some names that were named. are trying to exploit that to make the president look bad. But it's, you know, it's basically the issue here is that we have two different leaders of two very different countries that have similar enemies, but different goals. So interesting that you mentioned Ukraine. And I want to just get off on a side note. We'll get back to the main point and the topic of this discussion. Is Russia and Ukraine still at war? Like, is that still a thing? I haven't heard anything about it in mainstream media lately. And as a matter of fact, I think you were the one that told me that Ukraine is part of the war in Iran. Yes, the Iranians sent a letter to the UN explicitly naming Ukraine as a belligerent in the war. Wow. These people are at war with us. And Volodymyr Zelensky just completed a tour last week of the Middle East. He went to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the three of the countries that Iran immediately started bombing as soon as Operation Epic Fury started. Ukraine is heavily involved because Iran involved itself in the Russian invasion. Iran was handing Shahid drones, these really cheap suits. suicide drones to the Russians that have been used for years against Ukraine. And so the Ukrainians have developed experience on how to take them down. So now they're going around the Middle East saying we're the only people that have fought against these Iranian drones in war. Please let us lend you your expertise. And there are a large number of Ukrainian drone experts on the ground in the Middle East helping Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Qatar. So they're involved. There was also a report last week that, or this week I should say,
that Ukraine has an active military presence in Libya, that it is using to strike at Russian interests in Africa. So that war is very much still happening. Ukraine is capitalizing on the Iran situation to essentially to expand its own military influence, to sell itself as, you know, we're not just a country that needs money. We have military expertise and we want partnerships where we can be helpful too. Boy, going back to your point. about how Iran has been saying death to America for 40 plus years. And Donald Trump puts out a tweet that says, okay, your civilization is going to end. It's so interesting to me. And the fact that people were calling Donald Trump a war criminal for putting out that social media post. But the next day, when it comes to a resolution when it comes to say, all right, we're back it off. We're going to negotiate those same mainstream media outlets. calling Donald Trump, what is it, taco or something like that? Something about a chick. Yeah, this was another really strange thing where they were like upset that he didn't end Persian civilization in one day. Why do they want that? No one wants this. Like, it's a good thing that that didn't happen. And yet you saw this disappointment on the left. Like, oh, yeah, he chickened out. Like, no, he didn't. He acted like a grownup. He didn't, you know, like it's. Very weird to me, the cheerleading for just like rampant civilization destruction on the left. So big picture here. We're speaking with Francis Martel. By the way, this is last minute. Thank you so much. I know this is your day off. You're in Jersey. You're in a park right now. What are you doing out there right now? I'm at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Newark actually has the largest collection of cherry blossom trees. So, you know, it's spring, yeah, and at peak right now, it's gorgeous here. So I apologize, if you're hearing any background noise, my kids running around and there's traffic. But I'm really happy to be able to check in with you as well. And from such a beautiful place, it is really nice here. People don't think about New Jersey as, like, a beautiful tree place. I've never been. We're the Garden State for a reason. Last thing before we let you go, big picture. I feel like Donald Trump wants this. thing, this conflict with Iran to end. I feel like he thought it was going to end much sooner than it has. Do you think that's a possibility? We've got JD Vance and Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner going to, I think, is it Pakistan this weekend? Like, they're going to negotiate some stuff. And Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have been a major part of like the, you know, the Abraham Accords and things that we thought would never happen ending several. different wars during Trump's second term. Any thoughts on what's going to happen this weekend? I think that there's going to be, it's always going to be a little bit difficult. There's going to be a rocky road to some resolution. But I think every new development makes an agreement a little clearer. We've agreed on, it seems like Iran and the United States have agreed on a lot of points. Lebanon is still the big. issue that needs to be resolved because we're not fighting in Lebanon. That's Israel, so that's an outside problem. But everything involving the United States, you know, it seems like our bombing has stopped. The Iranians have slowly, they've reduced the number of strikes on countries like Saudi Arabia.
And so I expect that we're going to see a little bit more resolution. I think the absence of a supreme leader is a big deal, because now you have people like Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, you have President Mazuz Pasechian, who was completely powerless when Khomeini was alive, and he was elected as a moderate. Like his entire reputation was he was the dialogue guy. Now there's no supreme leader to contain him. So I feel optimistic about it. I think that there's a way out. I don't think it's going to be a straight shot. I think it's going to be pretty tricky, but we're in a much better place than we were definitely even a few days ago with this conflict. And you said straight. That reminded me the straight of Hormuz is kind of what this whole thing is about. That's open right now. Are they letting people through as Iran, you know, playing ball on that? The last I checked, Trump was scolding around because they were letting countries ship through, but there were reports that they were tolling some people, like just asking for money to get through safely. I am not sure if those are verified reports. All I know is that, you know, Trump put a true social post out there saying, knock it off. And the traffic is definitely reduced, but it's not zero and it's bigger than it was at the beginning of the week, it seems. Enjoy your day up. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I just like, I feel bad like this is this is a last minute thing and I just want you to enjoy the festival you're at there in Jersey. Thank you. I'm having a lovely day, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk with you, too. It's great to have that kind of, you know, radio relationship. You've been calling this show for six, seven-plus years now. You make us better. You make us sound smart when it's actually all you that's actually doing it. No, no, no. It's a smart show. It's the facade of the sports and beer. That's just that's an attitude. That does not mean that there isn't a lot of sharp. commentary, a lot of sharp comedy going on. I love what you guys do. Find her work at brightbart.com. Francis Martel, thank you. It's a pleasure, as always. Enjoy your weekend. Thank you. You too. What is Toyota affordability? It's buying smart. Your local Toyota dealer has great deals available today on RAV-4, Grand Highlander, Camry, and Corolla, with the features and style you deserve. It means driving for less, with hybrid and plug-in hybrid options across the lineup, delivering great MPGs. And it means trading for more. Toyota is known for building long-lasting vehicles, meaning your car will hold its value for years to come. Shop Toyota.com to find out more. Toyota, let's go places.