6/4/26: Pratt Slips In LA Mayors Race, Lebanon Ceasefire Falls Apart, US Oil Reserves 22 Year Low

23:27You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you read me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine! For freedom! Let's get out! Freedom for Vietnam! Run! Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

24:11Turning now to Bibi and Donald Trump with the latest updates on the ceasefire. He was asked about it yesterday in the Oval Office and definitely described what ceasefire means in the Middle Eastern context. Let's take a listen. This latest attack on Kuwait, is the ceasefire with Iran still on? Well, you know, there's a reason for everything. and we hit them pretty hard the night before and actually last night. And when it was explained to me, I said, all right, so we'll do that. But we've been hitting them pretty hard. How do you define ceasefire? Pretty much the way it is. It's a different part of the world.

24:49You're not saying that part of the world ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner. Well, if you define it that way, yeah, I mean, technically true. It's the Israeli definition of ceasefire where you cease and they fire, right? It's just, I guess, though, in this case, the Iranians also get to continue firing. And, you know, I mean, look, I laugh. It's not funny. A person was killed in that Kuwait International Airport attack. It's not a joke. I mean, people, you've got ships in the Straits of Hormuz, which are being hit. You know, we didn't have this in the show, but I was reading about it this morning.

25:21Marco Rubio, literally, when he testified before Congress, I think they might have covered it yesterday, he testified that a large portion of the Straits of Hormuz has been mined. And then Trump was asked about it. He's like, oh, there's no mines. I'm like, well, your secretary of state just said that there were. As we all know, demining the strait will take literally months because even if Iran knows where they are, it's not that easy to go and get. U.S. minesweepers, not that simple to go and to get them out. So I'm just highlighting here where we're stuck totally in stasis. There's a new Wall Street Journal story again out very, very late last night where Alex Ward reported that Trump's current positioning is that unless an American soldier dies, that there will not be a resumption of full-on war.

26:00Well, I mean, that's not exactly like that's not comforting in the sense where there's no pressure for a deal necessarily other than oil prices. They don't seem to care where it is all right now. And then at the same time, you have Trump basically desperate to maintain this current status quo without having to admit a complete failure in the war itself. And that's why you have him brushing off. I mean, it would be unthinkable to live in a world. Trump has become the archetype of what I remember all the neocons. I'm ashamed to say I was even part of this crowd back in the day where, you know, Obama, you know, remember the Iranians like kidnapped all those sailors that drifted into water.

26:39It was like an international humiliation. John McCain, all these people were like, oh, we're the laughingstock of the world. We have Iran here firing ballistic missiles at Kuwaiti, at Kuwaitis, at US air bases, shooting in the Strait of Hormuz. The entire Strait of Hormuz is closed and he sits there and he's like, oh, it's not that big of a deal. The negotiations are proceeding carefully. I'm like, dude, Obama didn't even allow this level of humiliation, especially now after a war where you sought to destroy the entire regime. I mean, it's just such a disaster. I know, and I'm sorry it's repetitive, but it really is.

27:11You have to marvel at it where the American president is like, yep, that just means we're shooting in a more moderate manner. It's like, wow, this is really bad for the continuation of this entire conflict. The JCPOA is, in my opinion, the best thing that Obama accomplished in office and Trump immediately ripped it up. And it's been, you know, he's been a catastrophe on Iran policy ever since and especially and obviously with this all out war. But, yeah, I mean, I guess I'm glad that he at least has this line of someone, an American service member has to get killed before I go back to all out war.

27:43Although, you know, what Iran is saying is they're not going to just tolerate this status quo where the U.S. can, you know, send a hellfire missile at a cargo ship, an oil tanker, and or, you know, attack on Keshem Island or do whatever they want to do. And Iran is just going to escalate in kind. They're saying, no, if you hit us, we are going to hit back quite a lot harder. And so, of course, there's significant risk for American servicemen. It's very easy to imagine. In fact, it's rather miraculous that more American service members have not been killed that we know of in this war since its beginning.

28:20So hardly a comforting statement there from Trump. And it just shows you how much of a knife's edge this whole thing hangs on and how unsustainable the current status quo is, which is a good setup for Netanyahu's call with Trump and what he's saying about it. So Netanyahu was asked yesterday by CNBC, is it true that Trump cursed you out, said I saved you from jail, that everybody hates Israel and said, what the fuck do you think you're doing? He basically confirms it. Let's take a listen. Let's talk about the call that you had with him this week, which is getting a lot of attention. The president confirmed that he said, you're effing crazy.

28:55How did you react to that? What really happened in that call? Well, I'm not going to get into details of our conversations. We've had thousands, well, a lot, a lot of them. And if you think this is a crisis, you should be in some other conversations. But we've always found a way. We have so many agreements. We agree on the main things. We want to get Iran, the nuclear program in Iran, finished. We want to make sure that Iran doesn't pose a threat to Israel, to the Middle East, to America, that it doesn't develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them not only to Israel and to every capital in Europe, but to every city in the United States.

29:28That's our common goal. That's what we set out to do, and to expand the circle of peace, as the president and I did in the Abraham Accords together. So we have common goals. Sometimes we have, as in the best of families, you have these tactical disagreements. We always find a way to work them out. And we do so as great friends. We can disagree in the morning and by the afternoon we have common action. So there you go. Just like a family that argues sometimes. Trump also, by the way, just confirmed it outright when asked by the New York Post. Let's take a listen. Did you speak to him in those terms?

30:03I did. I don't want to say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon. You know, at some point I said, maybe we've got to stop this. We've got to stop it. But I have a very good relationship. We've done well together. He always says we could never have done it, but everybody knows that we could have never done it without the United States. But I've worked very well together. I like Bibi a lot. And I've worked very well with him. We had a, you know, I'm a wartime president. He's a wartime prime minister. Very important part of the world. And I think we've done very well.

30:44We've gotten along very well together. She's like, yeah, I'm getting a little frustrated with Lebanon. And yes, I talked to him a little bit like that. The only question, I mean, this is where the Biden stuff starts to become too clear where, oh, Biden, you know, cursed him out behind the scenes. But the bear hug strategy. He hung up on him. He was so mad. When we hold a weapons delay to Israel, call me. All right? Call me when something like that actually happens. Until then, it's like the weapons flows continue. The Israel lobby remains incredibly powerful here in the US. You know, you found this story, which I really found shocking.

31:19Let's put B3 up there on the screen. This is from Haaretz, from Israeli media, which aggregated actually Lebanese sources. And they say Israel has evaded six or seven ceasefire proposals that have been put forth in their talks between the U.S., Israel, and the government of Lebanon. The Three Sides Party to talks discuss their views regarding the end of the United Nations interim force in Lebanon's peacekeeping operations. But they say specifically negotiators avoided committing to a comprehensive and immediate ceasefire after six or seven proposals were put together during Tuesday's U.S.-mediated talks.

31:52That was as of yesterday. Now, this does come on the heels of a new report actually out from the Lebanese government where they are claiming that a ceasefire has been reached between Hezbollah and Israel. But the details, you know, they're very, very sketchy. Like, for example, they say that Hezbollah has agreed not to attack Israel and also not to attack Israeli forces south of the Latani River. You're effectively saying there that they're acquiescing to the de facto occupation of half of their country and a significant portion of their territory. If true, I don't really know how Hezbollah could ever be a credible fighting force in the future if you were to agree to that diplomatically.

32:33Well, and Haaretz this morning saying that the Hezbollah chief has rejected the ceasefire in Lebanon in a letter that was sent out to their followers. So, yeah, you know, whatever negotiations have happened. And I mean, and this is where to go back to this alleged phone call and whatever was said between Trump and Netanyahu, which really doesn't matter if there aren't corresponding actions. Like we have been in this place before where Trump told Israel and posted on true social that you must stop now. You must stop attacking in Lebanon. And that'll hold for a couple days. And then Israel go, oh, well, they're attacking.

33:09We have to respond. And then they just escalate and escalate. So, you know, until you see, OK, there's an actual ceasefire that's agreed to and is actually holding and Trump is willing to, you know, commit to putting the pressure on applying the pressure that is required and keeping his focus on to continue to stop Israel attacking in Lebanon. You know, until we see that, I think everyone should be very, very skeptical. Yeah, I completely agree. Continuing here with what happened, let's put B4 up there on the screen. Not a lot of the Western press paid attention, but Arachi, the foreign minister of Iran, sat for a long interview with Al Arabiya English that came out yesterday.

33:47I'm going to read some of the details here, which were released in English by the state Iran media. Our country's foreign minister. If Israeli aggression against Beirut continues, our armed forces are fully prepared to resume the war and target targets inside of Israel. So that's big news. They're basically saying if they bomb Beirut, then we're going to bomb Israel. Second, communication with the Americans has not been cut off. messages continuing to be exchanged regarding the need to stop the aggression against Beirut. But no tangible progress has been made in the negotiations process. I mean, that's a huge headline, which again, the Western press is really ignoring.

34:19The foreign minister is saying, no tangible progress has been made despite all of these protestations by Donald Trump, including this morning in reaction to a war powers vote where he said that we're actually near the finish line. Then return to the negotiating table is conditional on securing the rights of the Iranian people, an end to the war in Lebanon, an end to tensions in the region. And then finally, in the last 40 days, the Americans have clearly seen Iran's power and capability in this war. So no tangible progress is by far the most important part of that. Number one hits, millions of records sold, awards, sold out tours.

34:51You think the Jonas brothers are satisfied? Nope. It's podcast time. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey, Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at The Office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly, I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us.

35:24The United States will not stand by and allow any power, however great, take over another country From iHeart Podcast, Saigon. Please allow me to introduce Joseph Sherman. You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? I should stop talking so much. I like hearing you talk. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you read me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For freedom. Let's get out. Freedom for Vietnam. Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict.

36:05Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

36:31talk the entire internet. I'm Sanjana Basker. I'm Tyler McCall. And this is Radio 831, a romance podcast. The books, the tropes, the adaptations, the drama, the discourse. And what all of it says about how we actually love, yearn, and obsess. We're going to Wuthering Heights. Which, for the record, is not a romance novel. And yet it has haunted the romance genre for 200 years. We're We're getting into dark romance, age gaps, certain Russian hockey players. And sentient objects in love, which is a thing. That's the kind of conversation we're having every episode. Listen to the Radio 831 podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

37:20We do have this War Powers Resolution passage. Let's put B9 up there on the screen. Trump reacting to the House of Representatives passing the war powers resolution. What he says is, Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted four bad Republicans and all Democrats to limit my war powers right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the war with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Who would do such an unpatriotic thing? They know where the negotiations stand. The Democrats are—what is this? Whatever. He keeps spelling it differently. Are fueled by Trump derangement syndrome. They would rather have our country fail than give me another of my many victories.

37:55The four Republicans, that's a whole other story. They're grandstanders. They should be ashamed of themselves, MAGA President DJT. And this came, as I said, P8 up there, just to show you, the first time that Congress actually just voted to circumvent Trump and to end the Iran war. In the process, it would create conditions for a big legal battle if the Senate Democrats actually were to pass it along with some of the Republicans also to move it past the filibuster. As David says, it really is a big deal if we could actually get somebody in the Senate to vote for it. But thanks to John Fetterman, who previously had a chance earlier, didn't pass.

38:29So there you go. Yeah. Well, you do have a number of Republican senators who either like Tom Tillis is going to be out of there. Susan Collins under a lot of pressure in Maine. So, you know, and you've got a Rand Paul who's sort of skeptical of these things to begin with. So there are a number of them. What, Cassidy, who lost down in Louisiana. I don't know what. I mean, I think he is probably a neocon and ideologically aligned with this. I think he might have voted for it. Anyway, one of the risks of Trump's strategy of taking out some of the incumbent Republicans is then you have these lame duck Republicans who have nothing to lose, who are hanging out in there.

39:03And now there are a few of them. So it's not crazy to imagine you could have enough Republicans cross over in the Senate to to make up for the fact that John Fetterman is, you know, constantly horny for war, apparently. So in any case, the fact that it even got through the House is a significant message. and if it were to pass through the Senate, then this is not something that Trump can veto. This is because of the way the War Powers Act is structured. They just have to pass it through the House and the Senate. And what David Soder there at the lever is pointing to is the fact that that would then set up this gigantic legal battle because the process for this has never really been fully litigated through the courts and certainly it would be challenged.

39:47And then whether or not, And that will take forever. And we all know that in the meantime, Trump will just continue to go and do whatever he wants to do. But in any case, it's more important as sort of a political message and a sign of the discomfort, increasing discomfort even of Republicans who see the gas prices and see the upset and see their own polls tanking that this was able to pass the House and have a shot in the Senate. No question. And last thing, let's put B7 up here just as a final reminder. Look, everybody knows this, but I read this with great interest. War games and warnings on the Strait of Hormuz went unheeded by Trump.

40:22So one of the long-held talking points by the administration was that they were fully prepared for what was going to happen. Everybody knows that that's not true, but it very clearly says in here that the war games that were conducted routinely by the Pentagon had always predicted that the Strait of Hormuz would be closed by Iran. They concluded they would respond to a major American attack by closing the Strait of Hormuz. They flagged it for the top leadership over at the Pentagon. Everybody knew it. It was definitely told to Trump before the war happened, and they just thought it wouldn't happen.

40:57A quote, a look back makes clear Trump underestimated Iran's ability to shut down the Strait and overestimated America's ability to reopen it if necessary. While the White House has not disclosed the details of its planning, experts and former officials say they publicly available evidence suggests several likely culprits. I would say number one is just their general lack of faith that the Iranians could mount any real military defense. But two is just drones. I think drones changed everything. And what is so unforgivable about the drone, what happened with the drones, is that we literally all watch this every day on the battlefield in Ukraine.

41:34Every single day. I log onto Telegram every day. But you know why? To stay abreast of exactly things like this. I mean, these new drone killers at the Russians, it's craziness. Drones flying on the sky. Russian guys, but, you know, some sort of anti-drone killer, which just shoots up. And I mean, it's like science fiction, which is out there. Do you see what happened in St. Petersburg yesterday? The Ukrainians bombed St. I mean, literally St. Petersburg, like one of the crown jewel cities of Russia and a major oil refinery, you know, totally on fire. So first of all, that's nuts, you know, just from a, you know, dangerous game we're playing.

42:05Right, exactly. When you're attacking a nuclear armed power. But two, I mean, just look, like Russia, not exactly like a third-rate military power. You know, clearly like a second world country at best, a decent amount of investment, now five years to think about drones. They can't protect their flagship cities from Ukrainian drones. So this, it's very obvious. And it's one of the reasons why our forces have to stay so far away from Iran, has all these logistical problems. It's part of the reason that the bases have all been under attack. The Kuwaiti International Airport, we have a video of that, actually.

42:38Can we put B5 here on the screen? Just to show you, again, like, this is really scary. We have the VO. This is the Kuwaiti Airport, which was damaged. All of this is drones. To be clear, the Iranians are saying that it was a misfired Patriot interceptor that caused this damage. CENTCOM says that's not true. You believe who you want. But, I mean, regardless, You know, you look inside of this, this is an international airport terminal. The fires, people are, somebody died. And several people were injured. Eight people were injured and flights were suspended, I think, for about 24 hours or so. Just to show you, again, the drone threat.

43:13But, I mean, that is what terrifies me more than anything, watching the battlefield in Ukraine. It's just the amount. And then even these FPV footage that Ryan and Emily played from Hezbollah. You know, I don't want to see that. I really don't. Yeah. Think about it from our old guys. fiber optic cables, you know, drones that are, and that way they can't be jammed. And it's this little, you know, tiny wire that they're connected to. And then you've got a drone operator who's able to, you know, just, they're like one way attack drones. And Hezbollah has been able to mess Israel up pretty good in terms of this fight.

43:45And obviously Israel is one of the top militaries. We give them everything that we have, et cetera, or almost everything that we have. And, and it's been really quite deadly and damaging for them. They're sort of bogged down. Okay, let's get to Econ.

44:26I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, hey, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

45:25of it says about how we actually love, yearn, and obsess. We're going to Wuthering Heights, which, for the record, is not a romance novel. And yet it has haunted the romance genre for 200 years. We're getting into dark romance, age gaps, certain Russian hockey players, and sentient objects in love, which is a thing. That's the kind of conversation we're having every episode. Listen to the Radio 831 podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

46:25This is for Vietnam. I've taken a hit from Japanese ground fire. Do you read me? They're pouring petrol all over him. He's holding matches. I'm on a landmine. For freedom. Let's get out. Freedom from Vietnam. Run. Saigon, starring Kelly Marie Tran and Rob Benedict. Sting, here's madness. The world should hear about this. There's a fire coming to this country, and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turning now to the economy, the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before Congress yesterday, assuring Americans that inflation is just a slight blip.

47:10He was also asked about Trump's infamous comments about how he doesn't care about Americans' financial situation. Let's take a listen. Secretary Besson, in May, the president said that he does not think about Americans' financial situations. Do you think about the financial situation of the American people? I do. And as the ranking member distorted my statement, as he often does, I had prefaced my statement with we understand that these are challenging times for the American people, that we will get over this. and that at present, the average household has paid about$200 more in gasoline. And we think about this every day.

47:49Well, I'm glad that you do. Do you think your boss should too? I believe his remarks were taken out of context. No, look, here's what he said. He said, quote, I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. So I'm asking you, that's the direct quote. Do you think about how the American people are paying more for gas, groceries and utilities since the president clearly said he didn't? And you speak with the president regularly. Are you trying to tell him the truth about how much costs have increased for the American people? Well, Senator, I'm going to have to disagree with you on some of that because I have groceries are going down.

48:28And to be clear, since President Trump took office, food prices, or as many people like to call them groceries, food at home in the statistical data, is up 2.5%. When's the last time you were in a grocery store? Because my husband and I were just in one. And look, the average granite stater is paid. Let me be clear. The average granite stater has paid$3 ,000 more since Donald Trump took office for basic goods and services. Meanwhile, the country lost 100 ,000 manufacturing jobs in 2025. So do you tell the president this information or not? Again, except for inflation, which is, I believe, going to be a short-term blip, the economic data is very strong.

49:13Except for inflation, the data is very strong. Economic data is very strong. I believe that's Maggie Hassan, right? Granite State is New Hampshire, so they don't even have sales tax. So those people are actually doing even better than the rest of us. But, yeah, man, this is—I just don't know how they can possibly think they could get away with this talking point, except for inflation. Imagine if Biden said that. They would destroy them. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's like they've recreated all of the problems of Bidenomics, except this time it's genuinely entirely their fault whenever it comes to the Iran war.

49:45And they won't acknowledge it. They're like, nope, everything is perfectly okay on the oil front. And the numbers are worse, too, just to be clear. I mean, because we have the inflation, but also during the Biden, partly, you know, we're coming out of the COVID recovery and there was a lot of stimulus spending. But job growth was going bananas. You know, I mean, this is now we have this anemic job growth. Yeah, wages are now back behind inflation. We turned that corner during the Biden administration. And to your point, it's all because of Trump's own economic decision making, which, by the way, he's got a new tariff scheme that he's implementing.

50:21implementing as well at this same time because that's based on human rights and protecting against forced labor, which we all know is something he really deeply cares about. It's very committed to. It's only because forced labor is one of those provisions in the law which they pass, which is they're able to implement tariffs. My wife actually used to work exclusively on this, and I was asking her about this. She's like, yeah, this is insane. We can put C7 up there on the screen. Trump to impose tariffs on dozens of nations, citing claims of forced labor, a total of 60 trading partners, including the EU, China, Japan, and Britain, would be affected.

50:55So yeah, I'm sure they have a lot of forced labor in Japan or in Britain. But what do I know? Clearly, it's just a simple workaround. It will almost certainly not survive. Significant court challenge. But the one thing I really wanted to flag was oil because we've been a broken record, I'm sure, on oil. Some people are like, oh, a lot of these prognostications haven't worked out. So the reasons for that are actually fascinating. I'll get to in a second. But let's put C3, please, up on the screen. Yesterday, the Iran war has now drained U.S. oil stocks to the lowest level since 2004. Total stocks of crude and petroleum products fell by 10.6 million barrels last week to 1.57 billion barrels.

51:39That is the lowest level since 2004. The sharp fall has triggered new warnings from industry analysts that oil prices are poised to move sharply higher again within weeks. The U.S. oil price rose 2.6 percent in afternoon trading on Wednesday to some$96 per barrel. Now, Bob McNally, he's the president of a rapid end group, former White House advisor, said the prices will reach$200 a barrel this summer unless the Strait of Hormuz was reopened to tanker traffic. Quote, you start to raise the risk of spillover into other sectors. And what they're pointing to is that the petroleum inventory has hit a 22-year low.

52:13But you also have the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which I believe is at the lowest level since the 1980s. And obviously, even if we had to refill it, would be a bit of a problem. The combination of low oil inventory and a low amount of reserve in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve basically just means there's no more like slush, like extra oil to fulfill demand. Now, the reason why this has not actually happened earlier, and this is so interesting, I've been spending a lot of time reading about it, is that China, as of this morning, has now plunged their oil imports by 40 % compared to 2025.

52:50And nobody knows why. The Chinese government has not issued any explanation. And so I can come up with only three answers. Number one, it's a way to basically get a significant amount of soft power with Japan and South Korea. And be like, listen, you guys are heavily relying on LNG. So as a gift to you, and perhaps for some future deals, we are going to import way less oil. They have a massive strategic petroleum reserve. And so we're going to draw that down. We're going to ban our jet fuel and other exports. And we're just going to use what we have here. So that's one. That's bad for the U.S.

53:23Number two is that they did it at the behest of the U.S., which basically means Trump, perhaps in some sort of deal with Xi, said, look, man, you guys drive down your SPR and you buy me a lot more time in Iran so that I don't have to face a significant crisis. Because the current analysis is that if China was just importing at normal levels, that it would put the price around$130,$140. So that's a very different landscape here in the U.S. where maybe, what,$6 a gallon,$5.50, something like that, the historic price, right? Much more so than normal. The third answer is basically they're just showing it as a flex to say we're massively energy independent.

54:01We can do whatever we want. We filled up our SPR when the price of oil was very, very low. Might as well use it. We'll let the rest of you suckers pay the premium at$100 a barrel. All three, I think, are signs of weakness. And, you know, you could criticize me for saying that, but, like, if China's using it as a soft power gift to the critical U.S. allies of Japan, South Korea, and the rest of Southeast Asia, that dramatically undermines. So they're helping. We're hurting. Number two, the idea that we have to do it at the behest of the U.S. basically means what? It means that we have to go to them hat in hand and say, please bail us out of this problem.

54:35Number three is a flex just to say, huh, you're a joke. Your inventory is down to 2004 levels. Your price of oil is very, very high. You're exporting all your oil. to the rest of the world, which is great for Chevron. Chinese consumers, they're doing okay, a lot better than the rest of you. All of them, I think, undermine our image. And it really, it also just demonstrates where this talking point about net oil exporter has come back to bite us in the ass. Because who cares if you're exporting a ton of oil if the price is still damn high? It only matters in their context where they just banned a bunch of exports and are basically keeping the price generally low for Chinese consumers relative to Japan, and to South Korea and the rest of Southeast Asia.

55:14Well, the other thing is China has invested massively in renewable energy. They're the global leader in renewable energy. And by the way, their exports of solar panels have skyrocketed as not just China, but other countries around the world seek to replace some of their fossil fuel infrastructure and fossil fuel energy generation with renewable energy. Because, yeah, I mean, that is the real lesson of all of this, is it doesn't matter if you're a net energy exporter, If you're participating in the global oil markets, you are also going to be subject, your consumers are also going to be subject to those price pressures.

55:47The only real energy independence is from renewable energy. That is quite the opposite, though, of what the message has been coming from Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who is saying that actually the high energy prices are not because of the Iran war at all. No, no, no. They're somehow because Democrats wanted green energy. Let's go ahead and take a listen to that. We're in the middle of solving a 47-year-old problem that's a growing problem about a nuclear-armed Iran. I've never met anyone, not even a Democrat, who's comfortable with a nuclear-armed Iran. But the bigger problem, the even bigger problem with gasoline prices, electricity prices, heating prices, is Democrat green policies.

56:32They've done everything they can for 20 years to drive energy prices up. And now they're upset about high energy prices. I'm glad. I hope they keep that attitude going forward and will work with us to drive energy prices back down. So you can understand how an explanation of that would be necessary. The president told Miranda Devine that prices will come down in the not-too-distant future. He's referred to that recently. They'll come down when the conflict ends. Average gas today is$4.26. A week ago it was$4.45. so it's come down in a week. But here's from a New York Times piece now. They went out and talked to Trump voters in the state of Michigan and state of Maine, and here's how they feel about high gas prices.

57:18Here we go now. Last time I filled up, I was like, oh, this hurts. It's affecting me in a lot of ways. It's been rough for the last couple of months. Those are the quotes. To them, you say what, Mr. Secretary? Oh, we feel your pain. We absolutely want to drive energy prices down. We feel their pain. I mean, this is just the polar opposite of reality. In fact, if there had been more investment in renewables and you had more Americans driving EVs and you had more renewables who were fueling the electricity grid, we would be in a better position than we are right now. And the American Prospect did a good piece on exactly what we've been talking about, all of the reasons why the gas price crisis has not been even worse than it is right now.

58:02We can put C5 up on the screen here. Something is going to snap. So far, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has not led to a major economic disaster, but that won't last forever. And the factors that he identifies, Ryan Cooper here, who's the journalist behind this piece, are, as Sagar was saying, the fact that you have a lot of nations who are drawing down on their strategic petroleum reserves. So you have levels in those reserves reaching the proverbial bottom of the barrel. So that is not something that can be kept up indefinitely. Another factor that he does identify is the incomplete but significant transition to green energy, which has helped to serve as a buffer.

58:43Chinese exports, the rights of solar and EVs are soaring. Even very poor countries buying in bulk for a nation like Egypt, whose oil imports have been a crushing burden on a struggling economy. Renewable energy is not about hippy-dippy environmentalism. It's a matter of life and death. Same thing happening in Cuba, by the way, right now because of our blocking of oil imports there. And then the other thing that he points to is the fact that you have had a lot of countries, in particular in Asia, multiple, like several dozen countries around the world that have cut back their consumption already through rationing and other controls.

59:13So they already concede the writing on the wall. They're already implementing these restrictions so that you can, you know, help to stave off the worst of the price hikes. Obviously, here in the U.S., we haven't taken any such measures. were just relying on the market prices getting so high that demand destruction, as it calls, happens naturally. Yeah. I mean, look, even, you know, still$4.24 a gallon, about$5.97 in California, which means something six bucks or so in the major metropolitan areas. It really is just so bad for so many. Let's put C6 up there on the screen. This is actually quite interesting.

59:52The OECD just released a new report saying even if oil prices peak soon, the global economy will stall this year. The conflict is significantly disrupting the world's supply of energy and critical moderates, slow economic growth, and raise inflation through 2027. Global economic growth will slow to 2.8 % this year from 3.4 % before recovering to 3.1 % next year. Projections assume energy prices have peaked and then will gradually fall. So this is the assumption that you will have a slowing of economic growth worldwide, even if oil prices have peaked right now, which is in no way a guarantee. As we said earlier, I just want to confirm your point about Hezbollah.

1:00:30They have officially come out and said, absolutely not. We're not doing those ceasefire terms, which means if those ceasefire terms are not locked in, that means that no ceasefire terms with Iran can be locked in either. I always found it hard to believe. How could you sign on to a ceasefire? We said, yeah, half of our country will be occupied effectively in perpetuity. That would be nuts. Well, and a lot of times what seems to be happening, I'd be curious to hear Jeremy's reporting on all of this, is like the U.S. and Israel will talk to the official government of Lebanon. And then Hezbollah will be like, we didn't agree to this.

1:01:02You know, no, we're not withdrawing and the IDF can stay in southern Lebanon. That's not happening. So it certainly appears something of that nature occurred here. Actually, literally as we were talking, sirens sounding in northern Israel amid a Hezbollah rocket drone attack. Oh, boy. Okay. All right, so price of oil, I wouldn't hold my breath anytime soon. Let's get to Trump.

1:01:46We're sick and tired of being asked questions. Hey Jonas is available now and their first guest is a big one. Paul Rudd. You know, Steve Carell is a great singer. Can you tell you not to audition at the office or something? I told him. Whoa. We were filming Anchorman. Clearly I was the idiot. Thank God he didn't listen to me, right? Listen to Hey Jonas on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, this is Teddy Mellencamp. And Tamara Judge from Two T's in a Pod. There's been one scandal that's consumed our lives these last couple of months. We're recapping the three-part Summer House reunion.

1:02:19And as always, we're being brutally honest. We're dissecting timelines, receipts, blind items, and previous episodes. Amanda and Wes, watch out. We're not going to be easy on you. Listen to Two T's in a Pod on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. June is Black Music Month and on the Drink Champs podcast we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture like Sway Lee Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that I be seeing it but I'm like man I still got like so much more to do like Prince he dropped like 30 albums we dropped like 5 right now that's the rate we gotta be going yep that's a good attitude No matter the era Drink Champs brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations Listen to Drink Champs from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:03:11This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.