3/5/26: Newsom Calls Israel Apartheid, Saagar Humiliated On War, Lindsey Graham Holy War

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Summer is here. At orderly meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings. Whether you're celebrating the nice weather, starting a new chapter, planning a vacation, or simply looking ahead to what's next. This season can be the perfect time to invest in yourself and your health. If you've struggled with weight loss and are curious about GLP1 medications, orderly meds can help you learn about your options. Through a simple virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical professionals who can determine whether treatment may be appropriate for you. Getting started is fast, convenient, and happens online from the comfort of home. This summer, consider a new approach to feeling your best. Visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast to learn more. That's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Because every new season is an opportunity to take the next step forward. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details. Do you want to find a stress-free way to buy your next car? Start at CarMax and shop your way. And if you want to browse with confidence, get pre-qualified online with no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget. From luxury cars to family rides. CarMax has options for almost every price range. including more than 25,000 cars priced under $25,000. So, hey, want to get started? Just head to CarMax.com for details and get pre-qualified today. Want to drive CarMax? The future won't wait, and neither should you. That's why American Public University offers master's programs designed for momentum, affordable, high quality, and flexible so you keep moving forward. With career-relevant programs in business, health care, education, IT, and more, you can gain skills you can use right away and the confidence to power your next move. American Public University, made for what's next. Learn more at APU.apus.edu. Hey guys, Saga and Crystal here. Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election, and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to breakingpoints.com, become a member today, and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad-free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media, and we hope to see you at break- breakingpoints.com. Okay, let's get to the Democrats. All right. So you've got the elected Democrats in the Senate who are trying to figure out where to be, they oppose the war powers resolution except for John Fetterman and they, some of them are open to funding the war for some reason. Then you have the 2028 contenders and Greasy Gavin in particular, who has really been kind of a mess on the question of Israel and Palestine. And you'll recall when he got asked about APAC funding, he did that whole. That's very interesting. That's interesting. That's very interesting that you're asking this question. Well, he had an interesting response here with the Pod Save Bros. And now seems to be realizing that his previous positioning on Israel of just lockstep support is going to be anathema to a Democratic base.

now that is fully disgusted with the genocide in Gaza, fully disgusted with our complicity, and really looking for politicians to be very clear on what they think about this whole situation. So take a listen to what Gavin Newsom now has to say about the state of Israel. And a lot of Democrats have looked at the Benjamin Netanyahu. regime and felt like, you know what, we don't like the trajectory he's on. It's time to rethink the U.S. relationship with Israel, especially military support. Where do you stay? He's making that easy right now. Let's talk about that. But the issue of Benjamin Netanyahu's interesting because he's got his own domestic issues. He's trying to stay out of jail. He's got an election coming up. He's potentially on the ropes. He's got folks the hard line that want to annex the West Bank. I mean, Freeman and others are talking about it appropriately. They're sort of an apartheid state. They couldn't even, I mean, we're talking about regime change. For two years, they haven't even been able to solve the Hamas question in Israel. So this is, I mean, you know, I want to be careful here, but, you know, in so many ways, that influence in the context of the conversation of where Trump ultimately landed on this is pretty damn self-evident. And so Marco Rubio may have been saying something. else in the context of what he ultimately said in terms of being sort of pulled into some of these things. But I will say this, didn't surprise me in this context. Do you think looking down the road that the United States should consider maybe, you know, rethinking our military support for Israel? It breaks my heart because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don't think you have a choice but that consideration. I mean, to say this is an America's interest at a time when affordability's at crisis levels, where you had administration literally got elected saying this is exactly the opposite of what they would ever consider doing. The fact that we are in this now regional war, all these proxies, the fact that we, you know, and all the grift and the corruption that's also marks a huge part of this. And that's a real conversation we need to have, this Board of Peace. in the peace that the Steve Witkoff family's getting, and the peace that Jared Kushner is getting, and the piece that Donald Trump Jr. is getting. So two very noteworthy things there. Him calling Israel an apartheid state, or at least saying that it's appropriate to call an apartheid state, is number one. And number two, floating the idea of like, yeah, we may need to condition military aid. Now, of course, you listen to this statement, it's still mealy mouth and still, oh, it's all Benjamin Netanyahu's fault. When you look at the polling and, like, the public, if anything, is even further to the right. And they're all behind this, you know, and the faction that's running the government is in step with most of the public, et cetera. So he takes the liberal position there. of like, oh, it's just this government, that's the problem. But for Gavin Newsom to say those two things, five years ago, I would say absolutely, it will never happen. And it just shows you.

how much the country has moved, and specifically how much the base has moved and how important this is to be. They no longer thinks he can get away with it. And we've been seeing him in real time trying to land in a certain spot. And we continue to see him trying to figure out where to land because now we have his aides sort of walking all of this back. Our friend Zagelani highlighted these comments. Let's put this up on the screen. As to clarify Gavin Newsom's comments, Izzy Garden, a spokesman for Mr. Gavin Newsom said the governor, quote, in Israel's right to exist and its right to defend itself, period. He added, the governor is calling out a difficult truth, blaming Mr. Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu for taking Israel down a course that threatens the safety of Israel, a democracy, an America's closest Middle East ally as well as Israelis and American Jews. So the concern here is being framed in terms of, oh my goodness, what they're doing is actually very risky for Israel itself and, you know, reiterating his commitment that Israel has a right to defend. itself and right to exist, et cetera, et cetera. So clearly he's still trying to figure this one ounce. It's a little mealy-mouthed, et cetera, but I mean, if you look at the core of it, look. maybe just me, the result is the only thing that matters. It's not just about the rhetoric, which he's opening the Overton window, which says it's appropriate. You can call it apartheid. And two, military aid is really the only thing that matters because you could see a future centrist Democrat. Let's say like some centrist dem gets elected. They're going to say, I'm doing what's best for Israel. Israel's out of control. I'm going to restrain them. I'm going to force them to look out for their own people and not allow them to drag us or themselves into some major war. And I'm going to not going to enable their behavior. That's actually the way that the Bush administration and other. would talk to them whenever they would get upset and some squabble about the West Bank. So I could easily see them reverting to a more realist slash like normal relationship with Israel. Saying Israel has a right to exist is like the easiest box check in the world. We talked about this. It's like there's no right or whatever. It's like they exist. Okay, deal with it. So it's like, you know, it's like getting into who right to exist is it's like a pedantic, ridiculous conversation that Zionists like want to trap you into. It's like that's not the way that you want to talk about it. The way that you should talk about it is, okay, it exists. Now what? How do we deal with that reality? So I could very easily see him calibrating to something like that. But nonetheless, the most important thing is shattering. I would say... It is very similar to what happened to the Republican primary in 2016. Prior to 2016, nobody could say that the Iraq war was a disaster. You couldn't say it. There was nobody who was willing to say. Trump came in and he was like, no, it's a disaster. And that opened the floodgates for all of these new politicians and others to say what everybody privately thought, but which the donor class didn't want you to say. And the Bush mafia, they could say, no, actually it was a total disaster. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, all these guys were defending it. So you can think of. Zohran Mamdani and a few of these other guys as the vanguard, who are willing to just say the quiet part out loud, achieve extraordinary political success and open the door in addition to global events so that John Favros of the world, Pazave Americas, and others, it's a permission structure for everybody, for Gavin Newsom to say it in polite company without seeing them hinge, and that they're not going to face a political price. But they will face a donor price, and they're going to have to grapple with that. Well, you know what's interesting about that, I was saying about that, because this week,

Ryan and Emily covered, you had this primary, Democratic primary between Valerie Fushi and Nita alum. In Fushi, this was a rematch between these two. Previously, Fushi had been major A-PAC recipient, lockstep Israel supporter. She calculated that this was going to be a problem for her in the primary because she knew Nita was there. Nita almost beat her the last time around. And so what did she do? She changed her position. She decided she was a little critical of Israel. She signed on to the Block the Bombs Act. And she said she wasn't going to. to take any APAC funding. Now, they managed to funnel. A PAC aligned money into her race via a Hakeem Jeffries connected SuperPack. So she still did benefit from that money. But it was enough that she was able to hold on. And I think if she doesn't make those two moves, there's no way. Because it ended up being in close race. It's actually going to recount. But, you know, she's up by about 1,000 votes. Very close race. If she hadn't shifted her position like that, I think there's no way that she manages to hold on. But the other thing that's interesting about that saga is even though She backed the Block the Bombs Act. Even though she said, hey, no APAC funding, even though she came out and was somewhat critical of Israel and opened up the possibility of conditioning aid, et cetera, APAC still funneled her money. Now, previously, their line has been, you even hint, we even get a whiff of you may say anything critical about Israel. We are not only going to not support you, we're going to spend against you. We're going to do everything we can to defeat you. Now, they seem to have realized that is no longer a tenable position. within the Democratic Party. And so that actually, that creates more operating space for a Gavin Newsom. Yeah, I mean, this man is just a cynical weather vein, right? Like, that's how you should look at. He's finger in the wind. There's no principle here. It's just him trying to read the tea leaves and being a relatively skilled operator relatively of trying to figure out where he needs to be politically balancing the concerns of the base versus the donor class. And so I think that's part of what's going on here, too, is APAC has had to back down, and the Israel lobby more broadly, has had to back down from this absolute position because they recognize they have lost the ability to enforce to hold that line with the Democratic Party. So I think that is partly what's going on here as well, especially with regard to Gavin Newsom. But the other problem here, let's put D5 up on the screen. So this representative landsman, you know, honestly, he hadn't really come across my radar before. But suddenly this guy has emerged as like, you know, he's joining in with Jared Moskowitz and with Josh Gottheimer on this alternative war powers resolution meant to basically undercut, you know, the actual war power. resolution that Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie have offered. And so he decided, for some reason, to do this interview with Isaac Chotner. And it did not go very well for him. So Lansman says, let me be clear, I've never trusted Trump on this, meaning war, or on the economy, or on keeping us safe in general. And Chotner says, but you're trusting him on this, though, right? And Lansman says, no, Chottener, you aren't. I'm trusting the military and our generals. I'm trusting what I understand to be the operation and the people leading it, that is, the generals and our military and our allies. By the way, the generals in the military didn't want to do this, by the way. Chotner, you're trusting the people leading the operation who don't include the president? Well, I don't trust that guy. Yeah. He's the commander in chief, right?

Sure, yeah, but I can't trust him. And he's proven that over the past couple of days being all over the place, unlike everybody else involved in this. So you can see here with him, another problem for Democrats who want to, you know, at least tacitly support this war, vote for the funding or vote against the war powers resolution or whatever, is basically, you know, because, look, Trump is the commander in chief. So de facto... If you are going along with any aspect of this, you are trusting him. You are throwing in with Trump and saying, yes, I trust that he's going to execute this in a way that's going to be responsible and reasonable and with like appropriate goals in mind, blah, blah, blah. That is what you're signing up for. And that is going to be another massive issue for any democratic policy who goes along with any aspect of this that I do not think that they fully thought through. But Isaac Chattner, as he does, you know, really sort of brings to the floor. Yeah, I don't even know why people agree. I would never even agree to do an interview with him. About anything, considering what, considering how he's behaved. But like these people all, their level of hubris and being out of touch demonstrates their ideological commitment, I think, to this project. And I think that's what we should underscore to everybody is the level of what the bipartisan elite structure looks like in Washington. And even with Gavin Newsom, I mean, as you said, he doesn't believe anything, literally nothing. Yeah. In the beginning, he was pro-Israel with Ben Shapiro. Don't we have that clip, actually? Yeah, we do. We've got D3 guys. So this was Gavin Newsom. This is not in the beginning. This was just a few weeks ago. Gavin Newsom with Josh Shapiro. And Josh Shapiro, obviously, is very ideological and very forceful. And Gavin Newsom just sort of like, you know, capitulates to his view specifically on whether or not this is genocide. This is D3. Let's play that. This conversation. Some drag, some run with, you know, flags waving into the conversation. This notion of genocide. Yes. Yeah. I mean, look, Israel did not commit a genocide in Gaza. There is no standard by which Israel committed a genocide in Gaza just on a factual level. Just as a legal and factual level. Yes. Yeah. What is your opinion of this? My opinion is I understand the tendency for people to make that, to assert that. Why? On the basis of the images. and the proportionality. Doesn't mean genocide? No, no. And by the way, I agree with you. And international and I'm not, I'm not excused it doesn't mean that if you kill my child and I then kill seven criminals that I've been disproportionate. I'm not disagreeing with you. But I think the, but I understand that tendency on the basis of trying to reconcile the proportionate nature of how the war was ultimately conducted. I have a question. Why do you, why do you feel the need? to create a permission structure for that sort of stuff. I mean, meaning it's not true. Why not just say it's not true? Yeah, look, I don't know the definition or I don't know the legal threshold. That's not my opinion. So I don't share that opinion as relates to genocide. I do not agree with that. So, like this is a dog walk. It's embarrassing. I mean, this is not going to cut it. Right. It's not going to cut it. And so I don't know. I mean, sometimes I see. Gavin, like, that moment with Pod Saver, I'm like, oh, he's kind of figuring out where he needs to be. But then even in that moment, like, if they had pressed him further, he would have... He's got nothing. Yeah, because he's, this is, you know, he's a very... He has a more skilled Kamala Harris, basically. He's a slicker Kamala Harris. And at the end of the day, he doesn't believe anything. And that comes through, right? If you press him...

if he's caught between what the donors want and what the base. I mean, that's really the thing. In any issue, when he's caught between what the donors want and what the base wants, that's where Greasy Gavin comes out. And there's no squaring the circle, you know, on the billionaire tax thing. He's fighting against that in California. But that's going to be. Not in public. Well, it's document. Yeah, it's obvious. Right. So, I mean, that's going to be a problem for him. But then he says, oh, I will theoretically support some other wealth tax. There's not this one in particular. So I don't know. We'll see if he's able to navigate all this. I don't know. I don't have a lot of... At the same time, I could see it both ways. I could see him winning in a landslide, like in a primary where you have a bunch of challengers. Remember 20? How many challenges were there in 2016? 17. Something like that. It was a ton. It was like 17 Republican challengers. So each slice of the vote gets cut. Gavin is the centrist. He's got the money. Governor of a large state, he wins easily. I could see that. People like the Trump resistance. People love the Trump resistance. By the way, you know, one thing from Texas, because we haven't had a ton of time to talk about this. Did you notice the breakdown in the vote with James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett? So James Talarico wins all the upper middle class, white liberals and the Latinos. But she heavily won and young people. But who did she win? The black vote. Like, very much with the black boat. So if you have older black people in South Carolina, if that goes first, let's say, who knows what the calendar is going to look like, I'm bullish on Gavin because they'll get the momentum from there. You won't be able to like spin off a win like in Iowa or New Hampshire, which is a very different demographic or Michigan, any sort of battleground state. I could easily see those type of voters going for somebody more like Gavin Newsom. And that's where, you know, whoever goes first matters a ton and then the timing of, let's say, like Super Tuesday. Same thing. where you've got more older black voters and some of these southern states, which are all going to vote immediately. That's very bullish, I think, for somebody like Gavin Newsom. So I think the James Talarico primary is actually evidence still that there's still big splits within the traditional kind of Democrat. You know, the traditional base of a Texas Democrat was like Houston black people. And now, or Dallas, like suburban or urban. And now. The transformation of the state and a lot of the people who voted demonstrates, I think, like, a preview of what the new primary system will look like. And that's why, you know, the DNC is going to try to rig the hell out of that primary system like you have never seen before. So be on the lookout for that. I go back and forth with that. I can see that. I can see that. I can also see it being like a Ron DeSantis situation where everyone's like, oh my God, now, granted you and I never bought the Ron DeSantis type. We did not buy the DeSanza. We took a lot of incoming from people, including my own husband, who thought there was something there. But, you know, at the end of the day, people were like, no, this is not remotely what we want. I could see that too with Gavin. Like, I think Gavin is more skilled and charismatic than Ron DeSantis, but I could see it. So, yeah, we'll see how he's able to navigate these waters. I can see the other side, right? I could see it being, you know, some sort of Jimmy Carter situation.

where the country wants somebody who believes something who's totally opposite of the current political moment, a really earnest politician, like the opposite of Obama. So I honestly have no clue. I could see, you know, we could be dominated by a complete AI slop by that point, too, so we could be screwed. I mean, the other lesson from the Texas primary is that, you know, Jasmine Crockett with her Trump, like Trump resistance as being the core of her brand. It didn't sell outside of like she won black people overwhelmingly. And that was that was it. The rest of the coalition was all James Talarico. And so like most of the Democratic base is looking for more. So I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how it all pans out. Summer is here. At orderly meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings. Whether you're celebrating the nice weather, starting a new chapter, planning a vacation, or simply looking ahead to what's next. This season can be the perfect time to invest in yourself and your health. If you've struggled with weight loss and are curious about GLP1 medications, orderly meds can help you learn about your options. Through a simple virtual process, you can connect with licensed medical professionals who can determine whether treatment may be appropriate for you. Getting started is fast, convenient, and happens online from the comfort of home. This summer, consider a new approach to feeling your best. Visit orderlymeds.com slash podcast to learn more. That's orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Orderlymeds.com slash podcast. Because every new season is an opportunity to take the next step forward. Confounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details. This is Becca and Tanya from scrubbing in with Becca Tilly and Tanya Rad. Becca. Can I ask you a question? How do I convince myself I need something before I buy it? Oh, so we're doing that today. Well, I'll be shopping online and suddenly I'm like, well, technically, this counts as self-care. You're definitely not alone there. That's why Klarna stands out. It's about smarter tools that help you feel more confident with your money. Klarna brings payments, cashback, and money management together in one place with flexible ways to pay. It helps you make smarter money moves without the stress. That's the goal, right? Having tools that make your money work with you. Download the Klarna app today or visit clarna.com to learn more. California resident loans made or arranged pursuant to a California finance law license. NMLS number 1353190, Klarna balance account required to be eligible for cashback points. Limitations, terms, and conditions apply.

Online education is convenient, but sometimes it can be lonely. Sometimes the extra help you need can only come from someone else. At American Public University, they make online education personalized, affordable, and memorable. With 24-7 mental health support available in multiple languages, access to career coaches who are industry professionals and lifelong career services, you'll never feel alone on your path to success. APU, digital by nature, human by design. Learn more at APU.APUS.edu.edu. Turning now, hypocrisy, something very near and dear to my heart these days, looking back a little bit on what did all these people say who are currently in power about war with Iran whenever they had a chance to make their pitch to the American people? So we've super cut a few of the people who are currently in power and some of the things that they said in the past compared to what you see on your screens today. So without much more, let's take a listen. And I also know the cost on the American people. the trillions of dollars that we've spent since 9-11 alone on waging these wasteful regime change wars, how those wars have undermined our national security, and how they have strengthened terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda. So when we talk about a potential war with Iran, which is looking like we are walking very dangerously down that path, what I think is important for the American people to know is that a war with Iran would make the war in Iraq. look like a cakewalk. The devastation and the cost would be far greater than anything we've ever experienced before. Our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran, right? It would be huge distraction of resources. It would be massively expensive to our country. And again, I'm not saying we stick ourselves into the Middle East and start a war here, but like we recognize, okay, Israelis, Gulf Arab states don't like Iran. So let the Israelis and the Gulf Arab states provide the counterbalance to Iran. America doesn't have to constantly police every region of the world. We should empower people to police their own regions of the world, right? And one, we would save a lot of money. Two, we'd save a lot of focus. But unfortunately, I think Harris, she's got this weird thing where I actually think she kind of likes war. Maybe she feels like a tough guy about it. I don't know why it is. And they seem to be sort of sleepwalking us into war with Iran. It's like the dumbest of all possible world. I've been a recovering neocan for six years now, like the foolishness with which we ricocheted around the world, intervening, think it was in our best interest when really we just overturned the table and created something worse in almost every single scenario has led to almost, I mean, the hubris of the Pentagon is that they want to now tell other countries how to do counterinsurgency based on what we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Are you kidding me? So you really have learned nothing. Okay, nothing. So you're right. The trust there that our political leaders or our generals would have our best interests of mind is totally broken. It's totally broken. I will tell you, you're not going to have a war with me and you're not going to have a third world war with me. That I can tell you.

Yeah, I'm going to turn it into the Joker. He's off the wagon again. Neocon relapsed. He's out of recovery. He needs to start back into the 12. He needs to make amends first, right? Isn't that part of the 12 steps? A lot of amends to make. There's a lot of amends that are currently to make. But I think the most potent one, I mean, Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump, obviously, I mean, he's, look, Trump actually, I would not defend. He said various different things to many people at all time. But JD, Pete. Padji and Tulsi Gabbard to the most extent are the ones who are like, yeah, you're full of shit. And that is the one which honestly is so galling. Because, okay, I can say this in Tulsi Gabbard's case. How many times do we interview this woman? I mean, a lot, right? Sat across on the desk, looked in the eyes. What did she always talk about being a medic in Iraq, right? She talked about brothers and sisters. I believed it. It was maybe I'm super naive. I believed it when I looked her in the eyes and she would talk about that. I mean, she took a lot of shit. She went to Syria to meet with Bashar al-Assad. It was like, you know, basically I forced out of Congress, the whole donor machine. Hillary called her a traitor. Like, she suffered politically. And so to go from that, and then by the way, can we put E2 up on the screen here where she literally was selling T-shirts saying no war with Iran? You know, when we first started rising, I'll go around the country. I would meet a lot of Tulsi Gabbard people, right? She spoke to a lot of folks whenever it came to the no war, anti-war position. She went on Rogan, the No War with Iran teacher. This was a real constituency, and I remember meeting a lot of these people across the country. So now to have her as the director of national intelligence in the situation room while the war with Iran launches, it's unbelievable. Then let's take the vice president. I mean, did you hear what he said there about it would not be in our interest? I think he believed. I mean, I used to think he believed that. Who the hell knows now? But secondary was that whole thing about Kamala Harris who likes, that's literally how Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, they're acting right now. Pete Hegseth is literally acting like a movie character whenever he's like, we are winning and screw you media for reporting on the deaths of American soldiers. Donald Trump is like, Iran is two weeks away from a nuclear weapon. Clearly he loves the theater of limited military operations, which are now spiraling out of control. It's like, oh my God, I mean, look, again, you could say I told you so, and that's fair certainly at this point. But I don't know. I mean, are we just never supposed to believe any politician? Like, they really, they, I can tell you this. In Tulsi Gabbard's case, in JD's case, much more limited extent on Pete. I had been told by multiple people that he actually was scarred by his experiences with Iraq and Afghanistan and rethought a lot of stuff on Ukraine. I said, okay, I believe you. Don't believe it anymore. But. In a lot of these cases, and it's not just the public officials' names that you would know, I'm talking about deputies and other people all over the National Security Council. I've met these people for years. I knew, I mean, we were at conferences and other things were, no, Iran war was like anathema. That was like the one thing. We're like, we're not doing this. And so then to not only see them in power, but working behind the scenes to execute this, you're like, what the fuck? I mean, is this, so it was just all a joke. The whole thing was a joke. Or it's just a cult. Trump is in charge. And yeah, I mean, look, I mean, there's a lot of egg on a lot of face, mine included. I got to tell you, it has been one of the most serially radicalized things that has ever happened to me. Because I've read many times in books about politicians being liars and narcissists and all this. Okay. And so what do you do? You have it. I mean, I've lived here for a long time. I had an appropriate level of skepticism. A lot of the people who were working in this White House who said that they were against war with Iran took...

immense, immense, like, professional hits for being against a lot of the so-called neocon consensus. So what do you conclude by that? You're like, okay, you have a track record, you must believe it. And then they come into power, and it's the opposite. It's so crazy. I'll tell you that. You know, on a personal level and on a policy level. I mean, God, it's shocking. Like, I never, ever, ever, ever thought I would be sitting here watching this and watching these people defend it. Yeah. I mean, I, this is not to do when I told you so. No, it's fine. That's not the point. That's not the point. But it's fair. I deserve it. I'm being serious. We deserve it. We deserve egg on our fate. If we sat on the camera and we said, we don't think this is going to happen and it happens, we got to eat shit. That's how the world works. I'm sorry. And for all the people who want to move past it, we can't move past it. We have to sit. We have to grapple with reality. The people we defended and the people we thought we were going to come into power who were going to do something did not do it. Period. End of story. And that is genuinely the greatest professional disappointment of my entire life. I think the reason why I, you know, didn't buy into the peace candidate and all that stuff is because... I know Trump is a liar, and many politicians are. Trump does take it to an extreme degree, let's say. But I looked at the track record from the first term where they were very hawkish towards Iran. You had the maximum, he pulls down of the Iranian nuclear deal. You have the maximum pressure campaign. You have the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, which in and of itself risked a war with Iran. And so that was the track record I looked at. And then the other piece that I looked at is who he was getting money from, right? And since Mary Madel... was, you know, such a, one of the largest donors, $100 million into his campaign, you know, the combination of the track record and the money, and the fact that, you know, I mean, listen, I don't have a personal relationship with Shady Van, so I just see him as a cynical political operator. All of these, Tulsi Gabbard had already changed your stripes on any number of things, so I didn't take her seriously either, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. are kidding me what a joke. Like, obviously, he'd shape-shifted a million times. And so. The reason I'm saying this is just for the future for all of us as we evaluate, okay, candidates that we like and what they're saying versus what they're likely to do, the things to look at are what's the track record and where does the money come from? Because at the end of the day, those are going to be the things. And then you layer the Epstein files on top of that's another factor that I don't think I fully processed, you know, how potent that would be in terms of apparently getting us to this place. So that was, you know, that was how I was ultimately looking at it going in. But I have tons of empathy for people, especially like regular people who don't follow this stuff day in and day out, who were watching the Biden Harris ticket. commit genocide in Gaza. Liz Cheney. Kamala Harris's campaign with Liz Cheney. She, you know, went out of her way to do her whole, like, you know, most lethal military ever. And I, you know, went after transnational gangs or whatever. Like, she tried to do the whole, like, I'm hawkish too, posturing. And, you know, and you've got all this peace candidate rhetoric coming from the Trump campaign. It took looking, you know, back at knowing the track record and knowing where the money was coming from. And Trump, as to your point, soccer with, like, he was never consistent about what.

what he was going to do. Can I explain this? Yeah. Because this is important. So when you, we just talked about Soleimani and all this. Yeah. Here's, here was, here was the experiment. And this is what I believed? I always thought Trump is a retard. I'll be honest, okay? Literal retard. But what did I come away from the first Trump administration? The people around Trump, the staff made the decision, right? Basically, so John Bolton, Jim Mattis, Jim Kelly, all the, sorry, John Kelly, all these people. Okay, so the promise was, and this was the project, the project was we're going to replace those people, so we have better policy. And the idea is Trump is basically like this archetype who gives shits about the ballroom and not much else, and then the staff will run the show. That's what I thought was going to happen based on the first term, okay? And so what did I know? I knew the people working in the way. So yeah, money and all of that. Look, I always knew the Israel thing. You can go back and check what I said. I literally said, if you're pro-Israeli should vote for Trump. And I was like, if you're pro-Palestine, you should not vote for Trump. Go back and look at what I said, October of 2020. I remember that. I am, I, we were all very clear-eyed. But we were, we were believed, we had a belief in two things. Ukraine and definitely Iran. And the reason why was that the new cash people, the type of people, the vice president included, led a project in the United States Senate and behind the scenes for years specifically against Ukraine and Iran. Yes, I was there. I remember it. And so, there you go. That's the, where the belief, the belief came from. Well, You did this, this, and this. You took a lot of hits professionally, over the years, even picked fights, organized this entire group and staff of people who all told us over the years that you were going to do something. And then you came into office, and now you're doing the opposite, right? And look, let's be also fair in this regard. Trump is a big boy, and maybe he just wanted to do it. Maybe these people were against it. I'm not, I don't know. But at the very least, it's not just that you do. couldn't stop it. But then you have these people who were out there defending it. And the truth is, is that not only have we watched how people are so untethered from what they previously said in the past, but that they're willing to literally go and openly humiliate themselves on television. So do we have like the Stephen Miller, I think you were about to toss that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. E5. I mean, and this is too. I think Stephen Miller is actually an un... important character, we'll just call it, in all of this. But, I mean, he was as clear as he could be. Here, the first one, he's responding to Jank Yor. He says, I don't know how I can be more clear. Trump will end and prevent war in the Middle East. He wants peace. Harris and her neocon cabinet want war and more war. Another one, Kamala Harris will send your sons to war. Another one, if young men don't want to be drafted to fight in Kamala Harris's and Cheney's Third World War, they better get out and vote for Trump. Another one, Kamala Harris's top military... advisory advisor is Liz Cheney. If Kamala Harris wins, Liz and Dick are running foreign policy and they will invade the Middle East. Okay. Now, I think another thing, Stephen Miller is extremely influential, extremely influential. They call him the prime minister internally. We got a glimpse early on in those signal conversations when they're debating about the Yemen strikes. And Stephen Miller comes in and says, the boss wants this, so we're doing it. And it's end of story. No one says a word or a peep. There are no more objections raised. That's it. It's a done deal.

Trump doctrine inside isolationism. America first does not mean America alone. We're all, you know, our great, powerful military, Iran. To be honest, I mean, I actually think he was against some of the wars previously. I remember talking to the people who knew him. I mean, that's why it's so crazy. But what you have to do now is it's all about just pleasing Trump. And from that point, Trump, I guess, Trump has literally in many cases almost never inserted absolute and total control over any real foreign policy portfolio. He really was relatively blank slate, dealmaker, et cetera. Again, that's why I thought the staff would be highly, highly influential. But. Clearly on Iran, he was the primary mover here. I don't think he was push into this. I just want to be that very clear. He was the person who made the ultimate decision. And I'm still trying to figure out that story. I still don't know. I feel like he also has bought into some of the, like, messianic hype around him himself after surviving the assassination. Yeah, I think you're right. Especially after a nightmare two and Venezuela. It's like you said, I mean, he's a gambler who keeps, he's like on a hot roll on a craps table. Like he keeps getting, but ultimately, again, if you read enough history, it's like, oh my God, stunning success, stunning success, stunning success. And you start to believe all the hype. And then boom, you slam into a brick wall and then you invade Russia. Right? And what ends up happening? Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, it's, I think he talks about his own mortality a lot. Yeah, lately. He's thinking he apparently does not believe he'll be getting into heaven based on what he's said. I would say if there is a heaven, I think that's probably pretty accurate assessment. And he's thinking about his legacy. And so along with some stupid arch and freaking ballroom and the drapes, the other thing that he wants to establish as his legacy is like, these wars. That's what he's decided. That's his way to make his mark on the world. And so... So here we are. And that's a good transition to talking about some of the, I can't even call them religious undercurrents because at this point, it's such a dominant talking point. And I, for me, as someone who is, like, I'm not a religious person, totally secular person, I don't factor in when I'm thinking about geopolitics that you have these, like, fanatical religious zealots who are ideologically committed. to, you know, this like end times ideology, many of whom are in high positions of power here in Israel and also like Iran is literally a theocracy. And so we wanted to bring in Emily to, you know, to shed some light on the specifics of what this ideology is and just how influential it has been in bringing us to this place. Let's get to it. Summer is here. At orderly meds, we know this time is a reminder that life is full of new beginnings.

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So guys, increasingly American officials and military commanders are framing our war with Iran in religious holy war terms. You also obviously have the Israelis framing things in religious terms. You have the Iranians, which is literally a theocracy. So to help us understand what the hell is going on with all of this, we could think of no one better than our own co-host, Emily Jashinsky, who also is host of After Party with Emily. Great to see Emily. Good to see, Emily. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, of course. I need you to explain all of this to me because it's very disturbing and very confusing to me. So I'm just going to run through a bunch of things that have just happened on the American Christian nationalist side. And you can break down for me, you know, what they're thinking, how deep this ideology goes, et cetera. So let's go ahead and start here with Lindsey Graham, who has been a primary mover and shaker in terms of for years, but especially under this Trump administration pushing towards this war. And he is explicitly framing it as a religious war. Let's take a listen to that. This is a religious war. Who wins it at the end of the day? To the radical Islamic terrorists who want to kill all the Jews because God told them to? Who want to kill me because I'm an infidel? Who want to purify Islam to reject moderation and make everybody a jihadist? This is a big deal. I'll deal with Section 230. So what we're facing right now is a moment of decision that will set the course of the future of the Middle East for a thousand years. It's a religious war, and if that's not enough for you, here is Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, framing this also in terms of his problems with the Iranian's religion. They have been, and they say the quiet parts out loud. They wanted to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, and they'd like to take us out as well. We're the great Satan in their analogy and their misguided religion, and there was no way to appease them. Misguided religion. Okay, we've got Senator Kramer when confronted by Code Pink activist Medea Benjamin Netanyahu, also talking about our religious obligations to Israel. Let's listen to that. Does Israel have nuclear weapons? Listen, the United States and Israel are iron-clad partners. We need them in the Middle East. We need them to be strong. We have a biblical responsibility to them as well as an allied responsibility. Israel, we should never, we should never sever that relationship. Biblical responsibility to Israel, this United States Senator, obviously, just took a vote on war powers resolution. He says our responsibilities there are biblical. Let's take a look at F6. There's a report that military commanders, multiple of them, are telling troops that President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to Kara's Armageddon and mark his return. to earth. So you have a bunch of complaints coming in to a nonprofit organization saying that, you know, this whole separation of church and state thing is not being held true to as you have a number of military commanders framing this war as, you know, a biblical religious conflict. You have the... Let's do F5 next guys. This is Paula White. This is Trump's spiritual advisor to get a sense of the, you know, what's going on here behind the scenes, the type of, you know, spiritual guidance that the President of the United States is receiving. Let's listen to that.

Strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike and strike until you have victory. For every enemy that is aligned against you, let there be that we would strike the ground, for you will give us victory, God. I hear a sound of abundance of rain. I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of shouting and singing. I hear a sound of victory. Angels are being dispatched right now. Hamanda Akka. Ata Raka, da Bacassan da, Ata, Ambo Osa, Kata, Rique, Diyya Shata. For angels have even been dispatched from Africa right now. Africa right now, Africa right now, from Africa right now. And finally, the secretary... Have you seen the remix of that clip, by the way? I have not, but I would like to. Yeah, send it over. They're bangers. Finally, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who has the, you know, Crusader Cross, he was deemed an extremist and not allowed to participate in protection for the Biden inauguration because of his tattoos. Here he is talking about, you know, some of this biblical prophecy and including the miracle of... reconstructing the third temple of Solomon. He also reportedly at a bar previously was chanting kill all Muslims. So this is our secretary of War, Pete, Texas. And today, Jennifer and I and others had a chance to go see the western wall of the temple now, the western wall tunnels, so much of the old city. And as you stand there, you can't help but behold the miracle before you. And it got me thinking about another miracle that I hope all of you don't see too far away. Because 1917 was a miracle, 1948 was a miracle, 1967 was a miracle, 2017 was a miracle, 2017, the Declaration of Jerusalem at the Capitol was a miracle, and there's no reason why the miracle of the reestablishment of the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible.

I don't know how it would happen. You don't know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen. So, Emily, why is this increasingly being framed as a religious conflict holy war from the American side? Well, what's interesting about that last Pete Hegseth clip is that it was around the time where the embassy was moved officially by the first Trump administration to Jerusalem. And that's when we saw a lot of this flaring up as well, a lot of people speaking, just like Pete Hegseth did. And Pete Hegseth in that clip is somewhat careful. He doesn't say why there should be a third temple, which from the dispensationalist position. So if you're an evangelical Christian, there's a... sect. It's sort of informal. It's taught in some seminaries, but it's kind of a pop culture thing, too. There's a movement called dispensationalism, and it's been around a while. It's had waning popularity in America through different periods, but it's not just about the end times, but basically... prescribes different dispensations of history. And one of those dispensations would be the third temple getting rebuilt and that ushering in the end times. And one of the easiest ways to think about it is you substitute everywhere in scripture everywhere you see in scripture. Israel, you substitute that for the nation, the current nation of Israel, so political Israel. And if you read scripture that way, that the nation of Israel that was established in the last 100 years, you can see why people, especially when the embassy was being moved to Jerusalem, look at this in evangelical circles as being fulfillment of scripture. Now, I'm a non-denominational evangelical. I grew up Missouri-centered Lutheran, so we weren't dispensationalist, but it was a huge pop culture movement at the time in the 90s. And so a lot of people in conservative Christian circles grew up with like the left behind books, the movies. They were very popular at the time. And Pete Hegseth says church is not dispensationalist. I don't know where he was going to church in 2018. I think that's why he was careful with it. So some of this is flirting with people who are dispensationalist. The movement has kind of been waning since the 90s, since the early aughts. There aren't a ton of people, like even there aren't a ton of people I know in evangelical circles who are still dispensationalist my age. But it's a lot of boomers. A lot of people who... you know, that's how they've always seen Israel. The last thing I'll just add on this point, because there's a lot more to talk about, but the last thing I'll add on this point is if you grew up, you know, part of your, part of your life, there wasn't.

a country called Israel. Then again, you could see how it's easy to read into some of this, the fulfillment of scripture when suddenly there is a country called Israel that kept surviving after all of this conflict. So that's where some of this is coming from. I think it is theologically very misguided. But that's a little bit of the background on like the movement that fuels some of this. So let's get into the nitty-gritty. So Tucker Carlson did a whole episode about this today. which I also recommend people go and listen to. Why would the third, why do they even want the third temple to be built? Because as he was saying, it's actually kind of violates their own scripture about the way that they see Jesus as the coming of God. But it's very important in the Torah and to the rebuilding of the temple to like Jewish theology and that there's kind of basically an intersection. within the dispensationalist framework, about bringing about the end times and apocalypse and the return of Christ's earth. So get into some of that because, you know, obviously not exactly my area of expertise. No, that's exactly right, because that's part of this big debate in Christian circles about dispensations. So there's something called pre-millennial dispensationalism, there's something called post-millennial dispensationalism, and then there's a millennials. But what that means is you're reading into scripture, and a lot of these prophetic verses are, they're vague. And that's part of the, I think, theological problem with carving out dispensations is It's very clear in the Gospels, for instance, that you're not going to know. There will be signs, but you're not going to know. So if you're reading really specific things into the dispensations, I mean, my perspective on that is it's not prescribed in the Gospels. It's not the way that Christ talked about the end times. But there are different dispensation. So if you're a pre-millennial dispensationalist, you believe that this ushers in. a millenarian time where Christ returns and the Jews are, Ryan will say, you know, a lot of Christians, he'll say it's like using Jewish people as cannon fodder for the apocalypse. That's how Ryan's described it before. I think the charitable way that a lot of evangelicals would say is actually that they believed the Jewish people are going to be protected and are going to be. by when Christ returns are going to be ushered in to the true church with Jesus. And that's where this particular plot of land, which is Temple Mount, as you mentioned, Sager, if you have a third temple, then Christ returns. It's a sign of the return. And you can read into Daniel, you can read into the book of revelation, you can read into all kinds of different prophecies. I mean, that's why Numbers 19, the red heifer, which Ryan and I have covered before, that's why there's the temple.

Institute in Jerusalem that is preparing things like the Ark of the Covenant to exact biblical proportions, the red heifer to exact biblical proportions because they believe they want to reenter the temple and you can't without the red heifer for example. So that means that they're fully intent on building the third temple, which then brings us into conflict, obviously with Islam, where you have the dome of the rock, Al-Axa, on that exact same territory and people who are willing to fight to the death to protect that from being rebuilt. So a little bit of a tangent, but basically there are dispensations that people believe in, and part of it is the Jewish people rebuilding the Third Temple that ushering in the apocalyptic reign of Christ. Yeah. Well, and look, here's my thing. It's a free country. People can believe whatever they want to believe. It becomes my problem when policymakers are asserting that this ideology is being used to justify another endless war in the Middle East. And, you know, partly, I think all of us have been... trying to read the tea leaves and get whatever intel we can, read the reporting about like, what is going on here? Why, even though the political people and the military people and all our allies in the region and the Europeans are like, don't do this, why we still did this? And I'm curious for your view on how influential this religious, ideological view is. Like, how many people in high levels of the Trump administration are in favor of this war because they want to, like, precipitate the end times like these military commanders are telling our troops? You know, I wonder about that too. I think it's sort of less the dispensationalists and more the people who believe that you have to see. It's overlaps with dispensationalism, but people who believe that you have to literally interpret Israel as the modern nation state of Israel in scripture. So that's where I would look at a Pete Hegseth, for example, and say, I don't think that he's a dispensationalist. He goes to Doug Wilson's church. I don't think he believes that we have some moral obligation to usher in this dispensation of the end times. I do think he believes very strongly that everywhere we see Israel in scripture, we're not just talking about the lowercase and nation of the Jewish people. We are talking about the literal political nation state of modern Israel. And I do think there are a lot of people. Mike Huckabee, and Mike Huckabee has played very carefully with dispensationalist rhetoric. My strong guess is that Mike Huckabee is a dispensationalist. But he's also, like, I've gone back to when he ran for president in the 08 cycle to try and decouple. code and get him like explicitly saying, talking like a dispensationalist. He does talk like a dispensationalist, but he's been careful whether or not to like fully embrace that politically. But I'm pretty sure Mike Huckabee, you could probably put him in that vein. You can definitely put him in the vein of somebody who substitutes the nation of Israel in scripture for the modern political nation state of Israel. And I actually think that's probably even more powerfully driving the people in the Trump administration's policy. toward Israel. We know Donald Trump doesn't. I mean, Paula White could say whatever she wants to Donald Trump. He doesn't believe any of it. He thinks it's wacky. There's like no question of my mind. Yeah, it's like people around him. But I mean, the Speaker of the House, you know, you've got to senators, we just played for you. They believe this stuff. Inside Israel, too, wanted to flag this, like you said about the Temple Institute. Let's go ahead and put F7 up on the screen. So here you have soldiers of the IDF, and they're tweeting out the Temple Institute saying soldiers of the IDF are fighting with all their might, hearts and

souls for the land of Israel, the people of Israel, and the God of Israel. This soldier made that clear when he attached an arm patch depicting the Holy Temple and the word Devere, ancient Hebrew for the Holy of Holies. Can we show the patch guys? Please, just to show everybody what they have on their arm. And then you also had previously members of the IDF and others put, for example, like greater Israel patches on their uniform to signify what they are voting for. So can you explain why this is so significant, like you just said, to the Temple Institute? What is the Temple Institute? Why is it so powerful? Yeah, the Temple Institute is a really important aspect of all of this because it's this physical manifestation of the theology here, of people, I would argue, like a Itamar Ben-Gvir who goes and prays on the Temple Mount. So that's not, you're not supposed to do that, but has been pushing the limits, pushing the limits, pushing the limits. This is actually what was cited by Hamas when they talked about Operation what, Al-Ax flood. That is what they called October 7th. And part of their... justification for that awful, awful attack was that they saw encroachment on this area. And so that's where this gets really like politically and on a human level very scary because this is sacred ground obviously to three faiths and eschatologically significant for three faiths. So for people who are supportive of the Temple Institute, which is funded by billionaires, they have literally been going through the exact specific. and verses like Numbers 19, they have been, you know, you mentioned the holiest of holies. That's supposed to be in the temple. That's where God resides in the temple. That's where you have to build that place. This is throughout the Old Testament. You build that place for God. The Ark of the Covenant has been built to specifications by the Temple Institute. They have made preparations for Israel to take that ground, basically, and rebuild the third temple. So it's actually... not a crazy abstract thing. This is in motion. It is funded by politically significant billionaires. And people try to keep, my sense is that in Israel, far right politicians try to kind of keep a little bit of distance from it because it's such a hot, hot, hot, kinetic question from the Temple Institute itself. But this is happening. And there are people who are obviously supportive of it. And so if Israel were to get this ground, They would be rebuilding the third temple and expecting, in some cases, to be, like, operating with third temple Judaism, like, immediately. And I think a lot of far-right Jews absolutely would support that. Religious Jews would absolutely support that. I mean, it is in their scripture. So that's where this can come to a head very, very quickly in very, very ugly ways. And do those donors overlap with Republican Party or Donald Trump donors? My guess is probably the Washington posted a long story back in 2013 on who was funding the Temple Institute. And I would assume that some of the same people have since been active in the Trump world. One of the reasons I would assume that is because we saw, again, some of this overlap when he moved the embassy to Jerusalem. That was, and then obviously with Mike Huckabee now being the ambassador. He's not just an advisor. He's not just like Paula White. He's literally the ambassador to Israel, which is, yeah.

Yes, I would assume so. But it's... I think they try to be kind of low-key. So it's hard to know exactly. One person who hasn't been that low-key about certain of his views is Pete Hegseth, just to go back to him because he is the Secretary of War. Reportedly, I don't know, it's true or not, he's pushing for a ground invasion in Iran. He wrote a book in 2020 called American Crusade. In it, he argued that, quote, Christian Crusaders pushed back the Muslim hordes in the 12th century. American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage. against Islamists today. And so he's been quite explicit about his view for that he wants another like Crusades 2.0 and that he views it in explicitly religious terms. So talk to us about what we know about his ideology as he is clearly a key influential figure behind the scenes, making important decisions about how this all unfolds. And just by the way, while you were saying that, Crystal, I did look up some of the Temple Mount donors. Yes. The instinct that you had is correct. It's not entirely surprising. Overlap with Trump World. One of them actually quit the Columbia University Board of Directors over post-October 7th things on that campus. So, Pete Hegseth, I think, I mean, this is... Again, right now, post-October 7th, there are people who are actually in the bucket that are critical of Israel from a Christian perspective that might be more aligned with actually Tucker Carlson on this, but who are frustrated with Tucker Carlson for... urging more, I don't even know what the right word is, tolerance of Islam. Maybe that's the right way to put it. Because, you know, Rod Dreherer writes about this a lot. He's an Orthodox Christian, but he writes about how the civilizational conflict between Islam and Christianity is inevitably coming to a head in the 21st century. So Pete Hegseth is in that bucket. I think it's not necessarily an eschatological and times type thing, but it is definitely... Christianity has been too permissive of the spread of Islam would be the line for too long. And you need to sort of prepare for that fight because it's inevitably surging in the years ahead. That's how I would describe the perspective of people like Pete. I think that makes sense. Yeah. Well, crazy stuff, at least from my perspective, you know, like you says, free country. You can believe anything you would like. It is a little worrying whenever it starts to affect our foreign policy. Go ahead. Well, I was just going to say also, we didn't even cover the eschatological perspective of like the IRGC, which has in recent years been looking specifically at a lot of this as like the mattyism and the 12th imam. And we could have Muslim guests explain this better than I can. But that particular slice of land, which is in contest right now, is so...

tied up in some extremist eschatologies, some mainstream eschatologies around the world. So it's such a fragile situation. I think next week you have a guest on. I do want to ask you one question about that, though, because obviously we assassinated the Aisola, who was not only a political leader, but also a Shia religious leader. You know, I've seen some analysis that, you know, basically like, okay, you've now turned this guy. Who was an old man and probably dying within the year? You've now turned him into a martyr. And this is going to have significance. for Shia Muslims, not only in Iran, but across the region. You may see some signs of that already since we have riots in Bahrain, which is sort of a 50-50, roughly, Muslim, Shias Muslim country. So, you know, what do you make of that analysis and the significance of our assassination of the Ayatollah? Yeah, stuff about, like, Maziism is often... peddled by neoconservatives who are pushing for exactly what just happened, war with Iran and heightened conflict with Iran. I look at that as actually evidence to the contrary, which is that you are not going to bomb away this theology that is now deeply ingrained by your own arguments in the IRGC, which is, you know, it's not a hundred percent support of Iranians. Of course not. But it's not an insignificant portion of the country either. We've seen people weeping in the streets over the death of the Ayatollah. So it's not like, like you're bombing away an entire swaths of Iran that are supportive of the Ayatollah and this theology. So that to me is also, I mean, completely backwards, but it's, you end up again with potential for an ISIS to come out of a power vacuum where you have radicalized people who are even, because they feel like this just confirmed what the Ayatollah was saying about him being a martyr and him being a, a historic religious figure, which obviously he is, but in that kind of the sense as well. So it's so dangerous. It's so dangerous. And that has been used as evidence why we should act. I think it's scary that you would have anybody with nuclear weapons who has that eschatological claim on the land. There are many countries at this point who have people in their countries with those types of beliefs, United States, Israel. So. Missiles in the hands of people who believe that destruction of Jewish people helps bring about the Mazi, who helps bring about that. uh dispensation in islamic theology no it's not comfortable to the rest of the world either but did you just make that more potent serious question um obviously serious question yeah and what i had read is i mean look i don't know he's 80 he was 86 right when he died but he had multiple quotes on the record where he's like my greatest fear is it all like i don't have exactly but he was like my greatest fear is i'll die of old age and i won't get to be a martyr and so he was like a year left

He basically says something like that. He's like, my greatest fear I want him to die as a martyr. And he did. Right? And now he did. And so now what? And so you've got all these Shia Muslims in Iraq, in Bahrain and elsewhere. We're going to look at who knows who they're going to elect. There's some reporting now that his own son might be selected, even though the Ayatollah himself had put up, like he had said some things about how he didn't want like familial succession necessarily, but they might do it as a political statement. I mean, if you killed my father and what, didn't they kill his granddaughter and his daughter? And so my sister and his wife. her wife, daughter, and all that, yeah, what do you think my beliefs are going to be, right? It doesn't take a genius at a personal level, and then combine that with religious faith, one of the most important Shia leaders in the world, to say, oh, man, you know, this could have some serious consequences. Anyway, Emily, we've talked for a long time. Thank you. We appreciate it. You're our religion correspondent. Thank you guys so much for watching. We appreciate it. Great Friday show for everybody tomorrow. We will see you all then. As a reminder, we have our promo going on. Let's put it up there on the screen. BP326 at breaking points.com. Yep. And guys, so appreciate all of your support. Wanted to make sure that everybody who wants to have access to everything can have access to everything. So make sure and avail yourself of that free month trial. And we'll see you guys tomorrow. That's right. Summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A gLP1 may be right for you. Visit orderly meds.com to learn more about which gLP1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy, and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderly meds.com slash podcast. That's orderly meds. Taking care of yourself feels great. Compat of medications are not FDA-approved eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website. for details. This is Tony A.O. from The Real Report with Tony A.O. and Uncle Murder. You haven't noticed how everything keeps going up, rent, streaming, even extra salsa at your favorite burrito spot. But with Boost Mobile, you don't have to play the Willis Go Up soon game. Boost Mobile offers an unlimited talk, text, and data planned at a price that will never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that will never go up only at Boost Mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boots Unlimited. minute plan. Okay, laundry stinks, literally. I mean, you could just keep buying new underwear. Not that I've ever done that. Or maybe sort your clothes into piles based on how re-wearable or filthy they are.

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