In short
Episode topic: Debate on Trump-era immigration and foreign-policy moves, centered on a proposed $100,000 H-1B sponsorship fee (and its rollout confusion), plus U.S. military actions tied to Venezuela and drug interdiction, and a controversial U.S. intelligence/terrorism optics moment involving Syria’s new leadership.
Guest backgrounds
The transcript is mostly a two-host discussion (Ryan and another speaker). It also references public figures and interviews, including former CIA director David Petraeus and Syria’s Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Jolani). No clear, named “guests” are formally introduced in the provided text.
Key claims
H-1B is exploitative because employers control workers via visa leverage and wage pressure; reform should give visa freedom to workers (worker-held visa/O-1-like model). The $100,000 fee was announced as chaotic “per year” then clarified as one-time, new-petition-only, non-retroactive. Venezuela operations may be regime-change rather than purely anti-drug, with a $50M bounty and claims of militia training. Petraeus praised al-Sharaa, described as an al-Qaeda-linked figure, which the hosts call “blackpilling” and hypocritical.
Notable examples
730,000 H-1B holders (plus dependents) cited; 65% of approved H-1Bs are computer-related; healthcare cited as ~4–5% with possible fee reprieve. Caribbean ship strikes with alleged cocaine recovery; Dominican Republic portrayed as a U.S. client. Fentanyl sourcing stats cited (Mexico/China) and Venezuela’s alleged role in cocaine routes.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOIndependent Media's Role
1:20 to 1:59
Discussion on the significance of independent media in elections.
“If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now.”
Understanding H-1B Visas
2:18 to 4:24
An explanation of H-1B visas and the controversial aspects surrounding them.
“The precursor for being able to get an H-1B visa for your worker is that no American can do this job.”
Trump Administration's H-1B Fee Announcement
4:24 to 6:32
Analysis of Trump's proposed $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications and its implications.
“Well, it's worth it because you're on fast track to a green card, right?”
H-1B Visa Program Breakdown
6:32 to 9:26
Detailed discussion about the demographics and industries involved with H-1B visas.
“One of the most abused visa systems in our current immigration system has been the H-1B non-immigrant visa program.”
Critique of H-1B Visa System
9:26 to 14:00
Exploration of the exploitation of H-1B visa holders and the need for reform.
“The problem here, I think, is the remedy here.”
The Complexities of H-1B Visas
14:00 to 23:50
Explore the nuanced arguments surrounding the H-1B visa system and its implications.
“Like, I want you to say good things about me.”
Venezuela's Political Crisis
24:50 to 28:00
Analyzing the potential for regime change in Venezuela and the implications of U.S. actions.
“The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can.”
U.S. Military Actions and Venezuela's Response
28:00 to 32:20
Explore the implications of U.S. military actions against Venezuela and drug trafficking.
“Maduro has been on heightened alert and has organized tens of thousands of Venezuelans into militias and is also preparing the Venezuelan military for a potential invasion.”
The Political Stakes of Regime Change
32:20 to 38:45
Discuss the motivations behind U.S. regime change efforts in Venezuela.
“So if we can actually for a second jump, jump to E5.”
Venezuelan Expatriates and U.S. Policy
38:45 to 39:55
Examine how Venezuelan expatriates influence U.S. foreign policy decisions.
“Because a bunch of rich Venezuelan ex-patriots who live in Miami are all voting for - Yeah, they're mad.”
Show all 13 chapters
The Political Stakes of Regime Change
42:07 to 42:30
Discuss the motivations behind U.S. regime change efforts in Venezuela.
“Mom's wisdom has served you well, but now it may be your turn to guide her.”
UN Event: A Surreal Encounter
42:37 to 46:33
Discussion on a notable event at the UN involving a former Al-Qaeda member.
“There was an event at the United Nations, yes sir, that almost defies description.”
The Complex Legacy of US Intervention
46:33 to 55:19
Analysis of the implications of US actions in Syria and the Middle East.
“an al-Qaeda terrorist operative in New York City.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. When the day is over, your bed shouldn't make things harder. Karaloja bed sheets are crafted from organic bamboo to deliver naturally breathable, moisture-wicking, and irresistibly soft comfort, helping you stay cooler and comfier throughout the night. It's comfort that's gentle on skin and designed for better rest. Healthier qualities we're proud to highlight through our partnership with the National Eczema Association. Tonight, discover what Cariloja bamboo comfort feels like. Shop Cariloja now at cariloja.com. That's C-A-R-I-L-O-H-A dot com. Cariloja.
0:41Sleeping better starts here. I'm Mungesha Tikalur and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive. This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast, is unlike any one you've ever heard.
1:21If you're looking for strong opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now. This kid Jafar Jackson should absolutely positively get nominated for his portrayal as Michael Jackson. Listen to I Am Rap Report on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, Sagar 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.
1:59So 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 breakingpoints.com.
2:18turning now to h1b it's been a hot topic uh on the internet and with the trump administration now for some time uh before we even get into it some of you may not even know what an h1b visa is it's kind of an interesting uh setup here ryan and uh for many critics it's what's wrong with the u.s immigration system for the pro business folks they say it's what's great about the u.s immigration system but the effective way it's designed and please correct me if you I think I'm not contextualizing it properly, is that companies will have jobs which require a certain set of skills. The precursor for being able to get an H-1B visa for your worker is that no American can do this job.
2:59So I need somebody with a specific set of skills. It's not like the O-1 visa, which is like a talent visa, but I need somebody to be able to come here, the so-called best and the brightest, people who are better educated, let's say they're in a general population, to be able to come in and take this job. It's a win-win. They get a fast track to a green card. They get a job. While they're here, though, there are certain things like, oh, you can't leave the job. You actually don't have the rights. Because they control the visa. Because they control your visa. Right. So there's some downsides there for the employee.
3:27They're willing to take a lower wage, largely. Why? Because it's a very easy way to get residency in America. And if you're still here for a certain amount of time, you get here on the H-1B visa. And then you get to the green card. And then you can go and do whatever you want. So the benefit that the companies say is the H-1B visa allows the best and the brightest of the whole world to come to America and to do all these great jobs and make our country better, to make our economy better, and it's a win-win for everybody. The critics of that, both left and right, by the way, Bernie Sanders and the hard right would say, well, it actually is exploitative because of what I just laid out.
4:04The company controls your wage. But second, you know, baked into the contract, not only of your lack of competition by being able to go somewhere else, which obviously is going to reflect in the wage. But part of the wage that you accept and potentially less wage is let's say you take$15 ,000 less than an American. Well, it's worth it because you're on fast track to a green card, right? And so the argument is that it crowds out American workers, people who are native-born American citizens or just American citizens in general who have labor rights. They have the ability to contest a non-compete.
4:43They can leave whenever they want. They can accept whatever they want. They can accept whatever they want. Right, exactly. You can tell it on your box. Right, so that's kind of like the left-right kind of consensus from Bernie Sanders and let's say the more Trump wing of the GOP on here. The argument from the Silicon Valley guys is this is the bread and butter of the U.S. technology industry. Regardless, it became a massive culture war issue over the last nine months. And the Trump administration has really had to try to split the difference because they both want to be very pro-big business, but they don't want to be seen as open borders or pro-mass immigration or exploitative types of immigration.
5:22So they settled upon this new strategy where they're going to try and charge H-1B visa holders a one-time$100 ,000 application fee. So the theory behind it is that if somebody is so worth it to bring in, the company is going to have to pay for it. And that means that by raising the cost, that it would make it so that any American worker would now be, of course, as competitive, let's say, over the long term with that person. and it would reduce any competitive advantage that a foreign worker might be able to bring to the table. Conceptually, I think that's great. I think it's a good idea. However, let's just say that the way this was rolled out was very confusing.
6:04And so I will play it out for all of you that Trump announced a$100 ,000 fee. He actually announced it by Howard Lutnick as well that it would be a rolling$100 ,000 fee, that it would apply retroactively to a bunch of people, that nobody would be allowed to reenter the country if they hadn't paid their$100 ,000 fee, potentially applying to the hundreds of thousands of people or whoever who are already here on an H-1B visa. And it was just a general chaos you can accept from this administration. So here was a rollout. One of the most abused visa systems in our current immigration system has been the H-1B non-immigrant visa program.
6:40This is supposed to allow highly skilled laborers who work in fields that Americans don't work in to come into the United States of America. What this proclamation will do is raise the fee that companies pay to sponsor H-1B applicants to$100 ,000. This will ensure that the people they're bringing in are actually very highly skilled and that they're not replaceable by American workers. So it'll protect American workers, but ensure that companies have a pathway to hire truly extraordinary people and bring them to the United States. We need workers. We need workers. We need great workers. And this pretty much ensures that that's what's going to happen.
7:19I think, Sean, you agree with that? Well, they're one hundred thousand dollars per year. So the whole idea is no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. $100 ,000 per year. I don't know a single employer who would pay that. It would basically end the H-1B visa system, which I'd be actually okay with. But that's not what ended up happening because immediately big business freaked out and called the Trump White House, who immediately issued this clarification. Let's put this up here on the screen from Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. To be clear, this is not an annual fee.
7:57It's a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. Do you remember what Howard Lutnick just said? He said per year. That's what annual means. Just so I want to be clear on my terms. Annual means for a year. Okay. Second, those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will not be charged$100 ,000 to reenter. The way that it was originally announced, they would have been. H-1B visa holders can leave and reenter the country to the same extent as they normally would, whatever ability they have to do that that is not impacted by yesterday's proclamation. Three, this applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders.
8:38It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle. So currently, there are, according to ChatGPT, which is probably, OpenAI is probably a big H-1B recipient. So yeah, I'm just laying it out there. There are 730 ,000 people currently in the United States who hold an H-1B visa. plus an additional$550 ,000 dependents, spouses, and children for a rough total of 1.28 to 1.3 million residents in the United States with H-1B status. The vast majority of these people work in the technology industry. This is like the bread and butter, really, of the way that they've crafted their business. Does it say how many in healthcare?
9:21Oh, I'll look. While you talk, I will look that up. Yeah, so I think you're sketching out of the H-1B program is pretty accurate. The problem here, I think, is the remedy here. I think it is absolutely fair to say, and it is correct, that H-1B visa holders are exploited because of the leverage that their employers have over them. and that it allows companies then to downward pressure wages against American workers. That has to be balanced. So this needs to be reformed. The reform I would suggest is that the H-1B visa would be held by the worker himself or herself. Right. And so – Yeah, I think that's like the O-1 visa, like the talent visa.
10:13Right. And yes, it's called this outstanding is what people call it. If you get an O-1 visa, then you can go work anywhere. And that's how it should be because then those workers can organize with other American workers. If they don't like the job that they're in, they can go try to get a higher salary on another job. That pushes up wages for everybody. Then the counterargument would be, well, no, screw them. Like we have enough American workers to do everything. What that does not understand is that we are a, and this is where I kind of separate from some left-wing nationalist types. Like we are in a global economy.
10:50The thing, and I see this from two perspectives. One, as an American. Two, as just a person in the world. Sure. As just a person in the world. Global citizen. Global citizen. It's probably better that the U.S. commits this suicide and stops being this magnet for brains around the world. because we do undermine a lot of other countries by pulling. Oh, you're talking about the brain drain theory. The brain drain. Yeah, right. By pulling in the best doctors from Pakistan, the best engineers from India, the best engineers and software talent from China and scientists. In a lot of different programs, 100 % of the PhDs are foreign-born.
11:29Yes. Overall, something like 50 % of the PhDs are foreign-born. They then create companies here in the United States, which gives us our competitive advantage against the rest of the world. Because this is where I differ with them. This is where the big tech guys are like, well, they come here and they form companies. I'm like, yeah, doing what? Doing NFTs? I'm like, wow, great. Thank you for increasing American GDP, all right? So you become filthy rich, you can buy a house in Santa Monica? All right. A lot of them work in hospitals in Kentucky. No, you're not wrong. Listen, and that's the reality of the balance.
12:01And that's why – so I have the breakdown here. In recent years, 65 % of approved H-1Bs are for computer-related occupation. A large majority are in software engineering, systems analysis, programming. After that, the industry sector by sector kind of breaks down. But healthcare, medicine, and health is like 4 % to 5%. The reason why that's important is that we have the healthcare exception where they immediately started putting exclusions, where the White House says that doctors may win a reprieve from the H-1B visa fee. They're like, well, if you're a doc, we can make things work a little bit here.
12:36The issue also is this is very rife for corruption because the executive order says that the fees can be waived if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that the hiring of workers on an individual basis is, quote, in the national interest. Totally nebulous, which means if you're Google or OpenAI or Mark Zuckerberg or any of these other people and you're like, listen, we're in the global race on China. We got to have these H-1Bs and it would just kill our trillion dollar bottom line to pay a measly$100 ,000, which we probably, you know, give in stock options to each one of our staff like every other day.
13:14But that would just murder our bottom line, you know, if we were forced to do that. And God forbid that we were to have to hire somebody who could leave if they wanted to. So it's in the national interest. And they would be like, oh, of course it's in the national interest. Right. And so that's how you could very easily see this become like a corporate bonanza, which it already is. That's my critique. Or what will immediately develop and what I guarantee you is already developing. If you have connections with DHS. 100%. You set up a lobbying slash consulting shop. And you just pump them. You pay me and I will bribe or pay and do my whole swamp thing with DHS.
13:54And I will like you need a waiver. Yeah. I got you. I got you. I got your waiver. And it also sets up more of this, what Trump loves, which is unilateral leverage over the economy and over specific companies. Like, I want you to say good things about me. I want you to fire this reporter. I want you to buy my Bitcoin. And if you don't, then you're paying the full freight on these. Yeah, it's undeniable. I also think there is a big systems question here. And I know a lot of Indian H-1B visas will be mad at me. But, you know, newsflash, I'm not actually from India. You know, you are. And that's, you know, we have different interests, the two of us.
14:40The thing is, is that at a system-wide level, starting with H-1B ignores how we got here. So, like, what happened? STEM education. All right. So why is there a – because the argument is, well, there's not enough people who graduate from STEM. Why is that? You just said, well, we have a college debt crisis. We have a lack of emphasis in math, science, and there's a whole argument about how we got there and magnet schools versus public education, whatever. But the point is, is that we are where we are, where we have a talent shortage according to the market, if you will. Maybe that's true or not, but as you just noted, the PhD programs and all that are overrun by foreigners.
15:20Now, there's a lot of questions as to how we got there. A lot of it is that they pay full freight. You can jack up education costs. The whole visa system is easily gamed by this. There's a lot of financial benefits to a university, which also allows them to continue to massively raise prices. Now, in some cases, don't get me wrong, PhDs and others, the argument they give me is, what are you talking about, you idiot? They don't pay us. We pay them because they come and they tutor and work as a graduate assistant or whatever. I think it's multifaceted is all I'm saying. I do think there's a major financial component to foreign PhD and graduate students because it's not always working that way.
15:58So that's part of the issue is number one, we have a supply kind of problem. Number two is about this entire scheme of brain drain, like you said. And I think that was true in a bipolar world and in a unipolar world, as in when it was US versus Soviet Union and U.S. versus the rest of the world. It's not really true anymore in a multi-polar world. And so, look, undeniable, a ton of Indians still want to come to America. Look at the number of visa applications. But also, it's kind of a selection bias because India's a billion people, 1.4 billion people. So, 0.1 % of a billion is still a shitload of people, right?
16:40Even if they all wanted to come over. But here's the thing, guys. The last time I went to India, a lot of these people, they don't want to come here anymore. All right. Um, now a lot do, so don't get me wrong, but a lot of them are like, yeah, you know, Silicon Valley bank or whatever has got an office here. I'm living a pretty good life on a hundred thousand dollars a year. If I go to San Diego or Sam, you know, whatever, uh, Santa Monica or, um, I'm trying to think of Northern Cali, San Jose, a hundred thousand, I'm living in a shack for a hundred thousand dollars a year. Why would I do that?
17:08Right. You know, we have the internet. Sometimes I have to work nights. Yeah, it sucks, but whatever. That's part of living in a global economy. A lot of the new Indian graduates and kind of like my parents of today, I don't know if they would come here. Quality of life is not bad. They have widespread 5G internet access. They're a rising nation with their own hopes and dreams. It's not like the communist problems of the 1970s and stagflation. I'm just saying, all right? So for them, they're like, look, we have this new nation. We have this new national project. And I'm just laying out India, which is a huge part of the H-1B process.
17:45Again, still a lot of them still want to come here. I don't want to diminish that. But I don't think if you just stop the average Indian, highly educated Indian on the street today, all of them, maybe in the 1970s, all of them would have said, I want to come to the West. Now, maybe it's 50-50, but that's a lot. Then China is another part of the story. First of all, the Chinese government doesn't want these people to leave anymore. They're like, you're not going anywhere. It's like 10 to 15%. Right. It's like 10 to 15%. But my point is just that the Chinese government now, it's not 1990s China, right?
18:13It's 2025 China. They have plenty of jobs. In fact, you're going to live a great quality of life. We'll give you the best car. You're going to get a great salary. You have all the – your quality of life is good. Yeah, you can't say anything about Tiananmen Square or whatever, but who cares, right? We're living a good life here. Here you just can't say anything about Charlie Carr. There you go. Okay. But the point is just that if you look at it in all of these different countries, Brazil, I'm trying to think I wouldn't put Russia on the list considering what's happening here but South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Nigeria is a bit different I still think a lot of them last time I checked the immigration stats and all that were a little bit different but you have rising economies and in a more multipolar world the attractiveness of coming to the it's not the dream that it once was is really the way I would put it and in fact I mean especially in Asia the infrastructure there is 10 times better than it is over here.
19:07So you're kind of like, really? Like, I want to give up quality of life for this? I mean, yeah, you make a lot of money on paper, but you kind of live like shit, you know, compared to anybody who's in Singapore, for example. I just think that that part of the brain drain conversation also has to be acknowledged here. And look, it's tough because, you know, entering into multipolarity, what you really want is competitiveness in and of itself. But you also want like a strong nation. And I think part of the H-1B system as it is, is kind of the worst of 1990s theories of most favored nation status and, oh, it's just all about GDP, GDP, GDP.
19:43And I think it's great for business. It's great for stocks. I don't think it's all that great for workers. I definitely don't think it's good for Americans. I broadly think it's largely exploitive. Yeah. No, that's why I think it changes everything if you let the worker have the visa, let the worker actually have freedom when they're here. But despite how well things are going in a lot of these other countries, we still do have, despite the Trump administration's best efforts, a university system that is at the envy of the world. And if you are one of the best and brightest high school students around the world, like for a lot of those people, if they can get into an American college, they want to do it.
20:24And then as much as I trash this country, a lot of people love it. There's a lot of cool things about it. People get here and they're like, Like this is actually like, this is a pretty nice place to live. And it is just undeniable that if you are a country where the smart people from around the world want to move to and make a home here, overall, whether, you know, some of them are going to do stupid NFT stuff and rip off dumb Americans. Overall, they're going to make a more competitive and richer country. That's still the GDP argument. That's where I fall on it is that that – we have shown that it could be true, let's say, in the 1950s, right, where you bring the best and the brightest of Germany and use it to build a great industry.
21:13But you also have some redistributive and more of a balanced economy. Built a nice plant in Omaha making combines. Right. Build some combines and some nice rockets. Who cares where the research came from? Took us to the moon, right? It's just not talking about that little part there. But my point is just that it can be done in a better structured economy. I don't see the evidence for that today. I mean we just covered that story about bottom-tier workers,$100 ,000 or less, basically spending – the top 10 % are spending 50 % of all consumer spending. And we can have that story on the very same day that I was just looking yesterday.
21:50This is the story of the US stock market. NVIDIA announced a$100 billion investment into OpenAI. NVIDIA's stock then went up by$150 billion. So what's going on here? It's like circular money. It's like this. Yes, that goes to my other argument, that the whole world would be better off if we just collapsed. This whole thing is just utterly ridiculous. And you're thinking, it reminded me, have you heard that poem? It's something like Werner Von Braun, he sends the rockets up. doesn't know where they come down. Definitely not in London. That's right. Who's to say? And yeah, but my point about the NVIDIA, the GDP, you know, the whole competitiveness thing, I really did used to believe that.
22:35And of course, it's still true to a certain extent. But we can't pretend that in a world where 50 % of consumer spending is in the top 10%, that any of this S &P 500 nonsense matters to 90 % of the consuming public, right? It's about the basic electricity costs and all that. And for them, I'm not so sure I see the H-1B benefit. And so it should be reformed, but definitely not in the Trumpian fashion. But just because our political system can't figure out how to get our oligarchs in control doesn't mean that we don't need smart people in this country. Totally. I agree. I'm not saying to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
23:13This gets to my point, though, is that is it really the best and the brightest? The O-1 visa exists for that purpose. Sometimes it is just like entry-level software engineer, which, look, I'm not diminishing that. It's a very difficult job. And there have been a ton of Silicon Valley layoffs. Right, exactly. Which cuts the other way. It's like, wait a minute, why do you need all these H-1Bs? Yeah, that recently happened at Microsoft. All of these companies are firing all of these. Did you see that at Microsoft? They recently fired thousands of workers, and then in their lottery, they're applying for thousands.
23:38So you're like, okay, this is about stocks, all right? And you're a$2 trillion market cap or something like that. So I think we can all kind of figure out what's happening. Hey, guys, Paul Verzi here, and I want to talk to you about Paul's best podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio. I sit down each week with a special guest, and we discuss the absolute best of things. Pete Davidson. It's that, and then there's everything else. He would just shout one line, and it would murder. Marie! Lunch! Bill Burr. Let's talk about the best moments that we had on the road. I would love a cocktail.
24:13Dude, Joe could get last row middle seat on a Southwest Airlines flight. Joe, how was your flight? It was great. The guy on Penn State, we were on the field, and the player thought Joe was his former coach. And he hugged him? He hugged him, and Joe just went with it. And the guy goes, what are you doing here, coach? And Joe just goes, man. And you walk in, and it is bananas. I mean, it's a feast for the eyes. And I was like, it's not my thing either, but we're here. When in Rome. Top athletes, chefs, musicians, everybody. Listen to Paul's Best Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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25:53Hey, everybody. I'm Tarika Foster-Brasby. What's up, y 'all? I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops. When you tune in to a new episode of our podcast, Levels to This, you're definitely going to get some spicy WNBA analysis. I see a lot of men who get into the space because now it's a hot product. And that grinds my gears to dust. But then the conversation goes on and levels up beyond basketball. It's been really, really cool seeing kind of these women just really step into their power off the court and understand that they are basketball, right? And they're not asking for permission. Because on levels to this, the game is always the starting point.
26:36But we're more than just hoops. And the real conversation is what we actually bring. This is Levels to This, the podcast about all the levels of stuff that women go through. Listen to Levels to This with Cheryl Swoops and Tariqa Foster-Brasby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's get to Venezuela. Ryan, this is a Ryan special. Drop some knowledge on us. What's happening? OK, this situation is deadly serious and could be heading towards a regime change effort in Venezuela. Trump, at the same time as ratcheting up the tensions and putting everything on red alert and also at the same time making a giant mockery of it.
27:23He went to Truth Social and said, top secret, let's roll this VO here, top secret, we caught the Venezuelan militia in training. A very serious threat. He posted that on Truth Social showing this. And what this is is Nicholas Maduro in the wake of having a$50 million bounty put on his head, in the wake of at least three ships being blown out of the water in the Caribbean by the United States and all of the passengers burned alive, and in the wake of Israel's assassination campaign around the world, Maduro has been on heightened alert and has organized tens of thousands of Venezuelans into militias and is also preparing the Venezuelan military for a potential invasion.
28:20Although it seems to me what could be more likely is just what they clinically call a decapitation strike. Yeah, destabilization strikes. I worry that Trump has been hanging out in the Oval Office watching Netanyahu assassinate whoever he wants in Yemen or Lebanon or Iran or in Syria. And it's like, wait a minute, you can just do that. You can just kill civilian leaders that you don't like. And then by kind of breaking the seal of just killing civilian people in the Caribbean, he calls them drug traffickers. But there's no congressional authorization to kill drug traffickers in the Caribbean. There's no international law that would say that if you think that somebody has cocaine on a boat, you can send a drone over top of it and burn them alive.
29:11That's just not a thing. But he's doing it. So Trump has done that to at least three ships yesterday. He said again that he had done it. But reporters are not clear whether he was referring to the same one that he announced previously or whether this is a fourth one. But we can put up E2 on the screen here. This is Trump's video that another of the videos that they released. There is Trump burning people alive in the Caribbean. He's claiming to have discovered that they were trafficking drugs. It's ironic that you would have, you know, special forces involved in this, given as the as the new book, the Fort Bragg cartel.
30:04Right. Shows us. Nobody is more involved in drug trafficking than special forces operators. So, well, at least according to those select group. Yeah, we got we got a lot of. Yes. Turns out the U.S. military and intelligence agencies have a lot of intel on which ships are moving around with with with product. I won't put them all down. Some, I assume, are good. I'm joking, Ari. I think a lot are great people. But obviously, Seth's book was pretty extraordinary. We did see this. I was actually curious for your take on this from the Dominican Republic. Can we put E3 up here on the screen? They say they recovered cocaine from the boat that was struck.
30:43It was the first time it had carried out a joint operation, they said, against narco-terrorism in the Caribbean with the United States. What are our relations with the Dominican Republic? They're a client. Okay, so are they going along with this? Is this something they wanted to do? In terms of U.S. power projection in the Caribbean, is this something that they welcome? Are they anti-Venezuela? That's what made me curious about this announcement. Because obviously they're backing it up big time. Yeah, it was full of drugs. There was 1 ,000 kilos or whatever that was on the boat. Yeah, I mean, Dominican Republic doesn't have any agency when it comes to the United States.
31:18We tell them which way is up and which way is down. And also, if they push back remotely, then we're going to look at what involvement various Dominican Republic officials have in the drug trade. The drug trade penetrates every level of government in every government, including our government. And so it would not be surprising to me at all if we had actually reliable intelligence about which boats have cocaine on them and which boats don't. We've got people everywhere all over the place here. The question I think is about is this any of this about drugs? And that's kind of what I was getting at with the Dominican Republic and kind of backing up and legitimizing this operation.
32:04Like what are their relations with Maduro? would they want to like who wants regime change in Venezuela other than the neocons in Miami? Right. Yeah. Well, unfortunately, that's all you need because the lead neocon in Miami happens to be the secretary of state. So if we can actually for a second jump, jump to E5. What really is going on here, and this is according to senior level people that I've spoken to. So this is The Washington Post had this big story saying DEA faced pushback at the White House, Pentagon, after urging Mexico strikes. So early on in the Trump administration, the acting DEA head urged the Trump administration to carry out Trump's promise to bomb, to basically to assassinate cartel leaders and to bomb production facilities in Mexico.
32:58We promised we're going to do it. Let's go ahead and do it. They got pushed back because, A, Scheinbaum was like, don't do this. Do not bomb Mexico. And, B, a lot of the lawyers in the early days were like, you absolutely cannot do this. And, C, the chance that you're going to kill Americans is pretty high if you do this. And so they backed off of this. But Trump, and I think one of the few things that Trump has genuine sentiments about is his hostility to drug use. Like, just he personally finds it messy. His brother had an addiction issue. It's always something he has hated. You can just see it in him.
33:40It's one of the things I love most about him. There you go. And so Rubio, and this is my understanding of what went on in turn. Rubio very effectively picked that up. Rubio has been boxed out of Ukraine, boxed out of the Middle East. his real thing that he wants to do is you know go after cuba go after nicaragua go after venezuela this is the the fever dream of the of the south florida elite uh trump doesn't really want to do that yeah i mean even though he had to basically did that in his first term it's it's not his thing yeah like he's like what are we getting involved in all of this stuff here like you you don't like cuba you don't like venezuela that's that's not our problem he's more he i think he instinctually is more in the Rick Grinnell camp, which is like, look, Sitco wants to sell us oil.
34:25They got oil. Who cares? Let's figure it out. You did like eight coups. It's not working. Let's just do this. Let's do business. So what Rubio cleverly did is he shoehorned his agenda of regime change into Trump's agenda of blowing up cartel guys by saying, look, Venezuela is actually he's not a communist well yeah he is a communist he's terrible for that but what he really is is a narco terrorist and so then they put this 50 million dollar bounty out they went out and they said he runs Trendy Aragua which is not actually like it's not primarily a drug trafficking gang we had one David Rojas on to talk about that I mean I've said this from the day one so they fixed all the intelligence to make it it's like guys 99 % of fentanyl is Mexico and China.
35:20From China. 99%. 99 % of it comes from Mexico and China. If you want to bomb somebody, that's where you would bomb. We're not going to do that because of NAFTA and because of the U.S. economy. Literally, it would shut down overnight, right? And in my opinion, you'd correct me if I'm wrong, it would probably cause mass populist backlash inside of Mexico and collapse relations with the Cheinbun government, which broadly are actually not bad right now, which is really all Trump cares about, right? So there's that. And then, yeah, go ahead. Here's the other annoying thing about this. Theo Vaughn, when he had J.D.
35:50Vance on, had one of the funniest lines. What did he say? He was like, are you really a country if you can't even get decent cocaine anymore? He's like, you know, he's sober now. You should be happy. The Wall Street Journal now reports that cocaine is more plentiful than ever, all right? So the cocaine is doing great. And this was what Theo Vaughn was complaining about, and he's sober now, so not complaining for himself, but, you know, for a friend. Right, for a friend. there's such a high risk of there being fentanyl laced into your cocaine that you might die for just a little bump on a Saturday night.
36:21And his point is like, what kind of country is that? That's not a real country, JD. You need to fix this. You need to fix the fentanyl problem so that people can get high on Saturday. The coke that is least likely to have fentanyl in it is the stuff that's coming straight from the jungle on the boats. Oh, from Venezuela. Okay, I like where you're going. So what is Trump doing? Taking the cleanest coke. Yeah. It's like clean coal. They take it out. Blowing it up. And they clean it. And so what are we going to be left with? This dirty Mexican stuff that's intermingled with fentanyl, which is only going to lead to more people dying.
36:51You're killing me, Rob. You're killing me. I don't know. That's so funny. What kind of country is this? I mean, it's a better country where people do less cocaine. But that's the problem. People are doing more cocaine apparently than ever. People are tired, man. Whatever. That's a whole other thing. People are like, oh, I use it for productivity. Oh, yeah, really? productivity to drink more. Okay. So let's stick, though, with the regime change, because I think this is very important, what you're saying. The stats bear out 99 % of fentanyl comes from Mexico. 93%, according to DEA's most recent figures, cocaine comes from Colombia, transits through Mexico to the United States.
37:307 % comes through all different routes, including these boats. For some reason, Venezuela is now at the top of that list. But what's scary to me is this military posture. E4, please, let's put this up here on the screen. New York Times writes, U.S. military buildup in Caribbean signals broader campaign against Venezuela. Trump officials say the mission aims to disrupt the drug trade, but military officials and analysts say the real goal might be driving Venezuela's president from power. I don't think it's a might be when you put a$50 million bounty on a guy's head. Yeah, might be. It's not might be.
38:06The only question is how far it goes. Right, exactly. But here's the thing I've wondered. Like, okay, the Chavistas, whether it's Hugo Chavez or Maduro, have been in power going on 27 years. Yes. Why do we care? I'm with you. I don't care at all. Yeah, you people do whatever you want to do. As long as you don't send a boatload of migrants over here, I don't care what you do. All right? I mean, it's one of those things. And the sanctions. Who cares? The sanctions are what are sending the boatload of migrants. because that's the other deal that is on the table. Lift sanctions, U.S. gets oil, Venezuela takes a bunch of migrants back.
38:43Like that deal is - Well, okay, let's answer the question honestly, why do we care? Because a bunch of rich Venezuelan ex-patriots who live in Miami are all voting for - Yeah, they're mad. Which I get it. I get it too. Yeah, I mean, I would be mad too. That's my family. Yeah, if my family was kicked out or whatever, I totally understand. I'm not diminishing your experience, But, you know, it would be a little bit the equivalent of like my family coming over here and then voting solely on the issue of like being, I don't know, anti some political party. Beating up the Congress party or whatever.
39:15Yeah, beating up the Congress party in India. Be like, who cares about that? Be like, that's between y 'all. Yeah, exactly. It's like, you guys figure that out, all right? You elect whoever you want to elect and, you know, we'll meet with whoever it is. I saw Juan actually sent me this great tweet from some Venezuelan expatriate who was just after the first bombing. It was like, I voted for this. My abuelita voted for this. My abuelita voted for this. So good. And it's true they did. No, yeah, they did. You're right. You're absolutely right. They unironically did vote for this. So, you know, who amongst us should not be beholden to South Florida abuelitas so they can get their villas in Caracas back?
39:55I mean, it's just a national security priority for the United States of America.
40:25I would love a cocktail. Dude, Joe could get last row middle seat on a Southwest Airlines flight. Joe, how was your flight? It was great. The guy on Penn State, we were on the field, and the player thought Joe was his former coach. And he hugged him? He hugged him, and Joe just went with it. And the guy goes, what are you doing here, coach? And Joe just goes, man. And you walk in, and it is bananas. I mean, it's a feast for the eyes. And I was like, it's not my thing either, but we're here. When in Rome. Top athletes, chefs, musicians, everybody. Listen to Paul's Best Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
41:02Hi, it's Alec Baldwin. This season on my podcast, here's the thing I'm speaking with more artists, policymakers, and performers, like composer Mark Shaman. Once you've established that you have the talent, it's about the hang. It's the pleasure of hanging out with the people that you're with. You know, Rob and I was always a great hang. We would sit in kibitz for hours and then eventually get around to the music. That's what I mostly think of when I think of him, the time together laughing. Lawyer Robbie Kaplan. The great gift of being a lawyer is the ability to actually change things in our society in a way that very few people can.
41:39You can really make a difference to causes in the United States if you bring the right case at the right time. Marriage equality. Yeah, Windsor's the perfect example. Director Morgan Neville. Film school teaches you all the wrong things about making documentary. What do you want to say? Documentary is all about your ear. What do you hear? I feel like my job is listening really, really hard. Listen to Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, always be generous with the nutmeg. Just eyeball it. Okay. Mom's wisdom has served you well, but now it may be your turn to guide her.
42:17Hey, I'm worried about mom. She keeps forgetting her famous sweet potato pie recipe. Some things come with age, sis. And some don't. Knowing the early signs of Alzheimer's in a loved one will help you make the best decisions for your family. Visit 10signs.org to learn the signs. Brought to you by the Alzheimer's Association and the Ad Council. There was an event at the United Nations, yes sir, that almost defies description. Let's roll. You have to see this to believe it. See if you can figure out who these gentlemen are rolling out on stage together.
43:00As you know, Mr. President, I spent over 37 years in the U.S. Army, and I was a soldier, not a diplomat. So I hope you'll forgive me if I speak with the directness of the old soldier that I am as I get the first question out of the way. Because the fact is that we were on different sides when I was commanding the surge in Iraq. You were, of course, detained by U.S. forces for some five years, including, again, when I was the four-star there. And here you are now as the president of Syria, which your forces liberated from the murderous Bashar al-Assad regime, to participate in your first UN General Assembly as the president of your country.
43:46Earlier this year you met the President of the United States among many other world leaders. Please help us understand how you got from Al-Qaeda in Iraq 20 years ago to where you are today, Syria's head of state on stage in New York City.
44:08I welcome you. It is good that at a time we were in the combat and then we now move to the discourse. We move from war to discourse. Yes, sir. Someone who went through war is one who knows most the importance of peace. Perhaps there were some mistakes. Sometimes in a person's journey, there are some mistakes. But what's important is to focus on defending people from the threats that they face, especially from the instability that could take place in any region. So, yeah, that Ahmad Al-Shara. Just imagine you are an American soldier or service member and you served in Iraq in the height of the surge when a couple hundred Americans were getting killed or wounded every month under David Petraeus to hunt down to kill Al-Qaeda and Iraq.
45:06And for that commander and then the former CIA director to be sitting across smiley and googly-eyed at a literal terrorist marked by the U.S. government, complicit in God knows how many horrific crimes, attacks on our soldiers, all because, let's be honest, because the guy is willing to play ball with who, Ryan? Israel. And so because of that, oh, it's such a great victory for the world that Bashar al-Assad is gone. Really? bring him back. If this is the alternative, like, what are we doing here? You know? And it's, I got it. For me, it's especially blackpilling. My whole initial career was spent on these issues.
45:48ISIS, Al Qaeda. I was a true believer. You know, I didn't want to believe the conspiracy theory about or what I thought was that the U S was funding, that the U S was funding. I said, no, that's ridiculous. I know these people are fighting, you know, they, they really believe in, uh, you know, in a better democracy for Syria and for all. No, we turned it into a playground for the entire world. We facilitated along, but not just us, Russians, Qataris, Saudis, everybody, Turks, everybody got in on the action. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Millions were displaced, all for it to end in the result of thousands of Americans died.
46:27Thousands to prevent Al Qaeda and also to respond to the 9-11 attacks only to have the CIA director glaze an al-Qaeda terrorist operative in New York City. It's too much for me. But that's what makes me so cynical about the state of the world. It's like, actually, that shit, apparently that was the point the whole time. We gotta get rid of Assad. He's a murderous dictator. So we gotta replace him with a new murderous one because he's good with Israel. Oh, great. Okay, great. Awesome. Good for the people of Syria, I guess. If you're a Christian, good luck to you. You might just get blown up in a church or something like that.
47:06There were a couple other psychedelic moments that we can roll through before we finish. Put F2 up here. How are you holding up under all this pressure? Are you getting time to do some thinking? Are you getting enough sleep at night? Again, I've been there. And it is so very, very hard. And you're many fans, and I am one of them. We do have worries. We're nationalists, certainly. Yes, a degree of political Islam. But frankly, what you have done since toppling the Bashar al-Assad regime has validated what it is that I assessed it. And I was criticized, by the way, quite considerably. I just want to tell you, really on behalf of all the people who are here, that this conversation has truly filled me with enormous hope.
48:11It has been very, very heartening and illuminating. Your vision is powerful and clear. Your demeanor itself is very impressive as well. And so again, on behalf of all here and all those that are watching virtually and so forth, we thank you for sharing your vision today. We wish you strength and wisdom in the difficult work ahead. We obviously hope for your success, inshallah, because at the end of the day, your success is our success. Your success is our success. I don't even have words for this. Again, like, and he's like, we've, he's comparing his experience as an American soldier to the Al Qaeda terrorist who he was trying to kill 20 years ago.
48:58At other points in that he said, can you talk a little bit about how you obtained your weapons? I mean, you know how he got the weapons. What are you talking about? You sold it to him. All right. And he's like, what about leadership training? Yeah. He was literally asking what kind of leadership training Al Qaeda was doing. Yeah. Because of how, and hey, look, credit where it's due. All the critics who were screaming into the void on the internet, they were all right, every single one of them, all right, about Al-Qaeda, about the CIA, including, by the way, the current DNI who at one point had a very different take on this.
49:30She was 100 percent correct. I can't even believe my eyes in front of us. And I just want to underscore again, none of this has anything to do with American interests because nobody ever particularly cared about Bashar al-Assad. But to the extent that it was a problem, it was about the migrant crisis, which if that was it, then you would want a quick war. That came from the Civil War. Right, exactly. It came from the Civil War. You would want the war to end. Israel had a problem. Turn it into a Russian. Right, exactly. Israel is the only people who had a problem with Bashar al-Assad. And now since then, what's been happening?
50:00Oh, well, you know, there's been a bunch of strikes in Israel. And in fact, even though this guy has been playing ball with Israel, that they still struck the presidential palace. Are you sleeping? Not so well. Just so you know, we will kill you. You have to play ball with us completely. Let's go ahead and put F4 up there on the screen. Just a couple of days ago, he said that a border deal with Israel could come within days. That deal, by the way, would basically expand greater Israel even further into Syria beyond the borders, even that they used to fight with Assad about. He was, to be fair, asked about it by Petraeus.
50:37He's like, we're not there yet, but obviously they're keeping communication lines open. There were specifically also calls for him to join the Abraham Accord. So that's what our grand experiment in Syria, which again, if you're me, I've covered this almost since day one of the Civil War. So to be here 14 years later or 11 years later and to see this, never in my wildest dreams. And what he kept asking for in the Petraeus interview, and we put up F3 on the screen here, is for the U.S. and the world to complete the lifting of sanctions, which, frankly, they should. Like, what's the point? Like, you got your guy?
51:15It doesn't matter anymore. I mean, the damage is all done, right? So at this point, like, yeah, I guess. Although, I mean, if we're going to maintain any – it's just like, well, what is this all about then? We spent 24 years fighting the war on terror. for this to be the end. Like it just, it's sick. It's really asking the U.S. public to just swallow an enormous amount. Yeah, but how many people do you know about this? 99 %? 99.9 % of people pay attention. Part of it is. Yeah. Yeah, I mean. If you're an American soldier though, I hope you pay attention. I really do. You were used disgustingly.
51:51Some people, very courageous people, not me. I wish I had said it at the time. They were 100 % right. They really were. Meanwhile, I don't know if you saw this. contemporary ISIS, which those same critics now say is basically propped up by Israel and the United States. Just the other day, as all these European capitals are now recognizing Palestinian statehood, ISIS put out a statement saying that they wanted people to attack Europe. This is an interesting timing. Just as Europe is recognizing, it's like, guys, if you're trying to make it look like you are a proxy of Israel, you couldn't pick a better time to threaten European capitals with terrorist attacks just as they're recognizing a Palestinian state.
52:46They said it's like to do it in solidarity with whatever. Like, it is, Black Pill is good, is a good phrase for it because we are, we remember 9-11. The ISIS beheadings and grotesque displays of violence are seared into our memories. If you're a Zoomer, you don't even understand what that moment was. I'm not even talking about 9-11. I'm talking about, what was his name? James Foley. Foley and Stephen, I forget his name. Stephen Sotloff, I think. Sotlov, that's what it is. I mean, we've watched their deaths. It's equivalent to the Kirk thing. We all experienced that collectively on the original, on the early internet.
53:29Or you remember the Jordanian pilot being burned alive in the cage? They burned a guy alive in a cage. In a cage. They lined up 20 Egyptians. Right. Remember the fall of Mosul? And executed them. Yeah. And then all those Yazidi women who were raped and held as sex slaves. Like to live through that and then the righteous indignation of the American people, of some people like how could we let this happen? We have to go back. We have to do something about this. And the fact is is that all of the naysayers who were like this is all a deep state cover to go after Assad and to prop up al-Qaeda, they were 100 % correct because look at the end state of where it all came about.
54:06Yeah, and the U.S. was doing this ever since World War II. We were funding these death squads throughout Central and South America, Indonesia, funding the worst butchers around the world. And so it makes sense that we would continue funding butchers. Yeah, but during the Cold War, it was under the guise of stopping communism, which is more honest. But that's more honest. This was about these monsters are playing games in the Middle East. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And great. I'm happy that Israel's security and borders can expand and that we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and wasted American lives or whatever.
54:48So, to be sure. And actually, lift the sanctions, and I'm rooting for Shara now. I'm rooting for him. I just want stability. These people deserve peace at this point, but I mean, unfortunately, probably not. And Israel's probably not going to be here. For the love of God. They're gonna keep bombing them. Yeah, but by the way, the Christian population in there, you know, it's gonna be dark. I feel for them. I really do. All right. Thank you, Ryan. That was a great show. I enjoyed it. I'll be at the UN tomorrow. Oh, you will? Yeah, Chris will be here for me. So Chris will be in for Ryan tomorrow.
55:15I will be out for the rest of the week, but Ryan will be in for me on Thursday. And I know you guys have some interesting guests and all of that lined up. We will see you all later. Oh, and stay tuned for my Tucker Carlson interview for our premium subscribers.
55:39The Sherwin-Williams Summer Sale is here. Get 30 % off select paints and stains or 35 % off our newest product, Emerald Symmetry, July 17th through the 27th. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only. Some exclusions apply. See store for details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. I'm Mangesh Hachigular and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive.
56:13This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us. And I get into a bit of trouble along the way. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
57:07Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.
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