Sham "Dignity" Amnesty Bill, and the Crucial Lebanon Factor, with Michael Knowles and Ana Kasparian | Ep. 1292

25:31I'm not saying that you have to totally ignore foreign affairs or ignore economic issues or any of the rest of it. You got to juggle a lot of different spinning plates. But you cannot neglect this issue. This is the issue. This is the issue when Trump came down the golden escalator in 2015. It was the issue that won the popular vote in 2024. And we cannot allow ourselves to put it on the back burner. Trump has endorsed this woman post her submission of this bill, but the White House says he is not pro-amnesty. And, you know, we have to hold him to that. That absolutely has to remain his position or there will be just a complete revolt.

26:11I mean, there'll be no Republicans left. There's no way he can sign this bill. Moving on. This guy was not an illegal, but he was front and center in the news for a month until Charlie Kirk's assassination knocked him off the front page. The man who's accused of butchering Irina Zarytska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on the Charlotte, North Carolina light rail, has been found incompetent to stand trial. Michael, this is the ultimate insult. he's obviously not mentally all there that's been clear for years he nonetheless has been allowed to reign terror down on the citizens of charlotte for years and these far left woke judges magistrate judges and district judges there have been sending him in and out of the courts like a revolving door with no thought for the safety of anyone, least of all Irina.

27:18And now that he takes out a knife and kills her on the light rail in a video that has haunted us all, now we have a judge declare him incompetent to face the charges. This is, I mean, it's truly the ultimate FU from a system that gave so many FUs and that is directly responsible for what happened to poor Irina on that train. Your thoughts on that? I wish we could just say that this were incompetence or an unfortunate flaw in our justice system. It's not. Now, obviously, the guy should be in prison for the rest of his life or executed by the state. If he can't be because he's not fit to stand trial, he needs to be permanently institutionalized.

28:06But we don't really do that so much anymore. so what do we do with criminals such as he we just we let them out on the street to go kill more people uh that would be an incompetence and a flaw that we would have to address but unfortunately it's more than that and we know it because we can couple this with the mural scandal that took place up in rhode island i think it was there was a mural that went up for irena zarutska this poor woman who was who was murdered in what appears to be a racially motivated crime It sounded like when he was leaving the train, he said, I got a white woman. And because of that, the mayor and a member of Congress up there said that the mural had to come down because it was divisive, divisive.

28:47Think about this, Megan. This woman, Irina Zarutska, checks virtually every box that the Democrats say they like. She's an immigrant. She's a woman. She's young. She's victimized. From Ukraine. They love Ukraine, too. They love Ukraine. She's Ukrainian. She's top of the list. But they don't like this woman. In fact, they want to do everything they can to defend her killer because she's a white woman. That's really what it comes down to. It's cliche and trite to say, but, you know, had the race has been reversed, of course, this would be an international news story. And so what the Democrats are doing is expressing overtly an antipathy for white people.

29:29and they're saying that if the crime doesn't match our racial criteria, we're going to let the criminals off the hook and we're not even going to let you talk about it. The aspect of the Irina Zarutska mural that has gone largely undiscussed, but it's the cherry on top of the irony sundae, is that the libs are the ones who tell us that we need free artistic expression. You can never limit art. Art is whatever we all feel and it needs to be everywhere. We need to fund the arts. Not this art, though. Not art that pays honor to a woman who was murdered in cold blood. No, no, no. The left is all for censorship of art when it comes to something that contradicts their narrative.

30:07So, look, they hate this woman. They hate what her death represents. They want to defend her murderer, and they're going to let her murder her off the hook. And her murderer is, statistically speaking, probably going to go victimize somebody else. This is so wrong. It is so hard, by the way, to get like a not guilty verdict at trial. Like if they would let him use an insanity defense, it's next to impossible to actually get a not guilty verdict. Like the instruction on it is next to impossible. And now this guy is going to get out of it altogether. I feel like these same woke judges understood that.

30:42So finally gave him the declaration he should have gotten long ago, the summer before he killed her. there was a question about whether he'd get tagged with this and they ordered a psych evaluation and it wasn't done. He was allowed. He was sent back out into Charlotte, North Carolina to kill again or to kill and to hurt another person. And he did. So now now that he's actually going to have to face potential accountability, they finally give him an evaluation to say, oh, he's incompetent to to stand trial, which means incapable to proceed is what they've said in the state courts, not competent, and to stand trial, that now a judge has to determine whether to accept the report's finding.

31:26Per North Carolina state law, a defendant is considered incapable to proceed if he cannot comprehend the nature of the charges, understand his role in the court proceedings, or assist in his defense. To restore capacity, a defendant is often treated with medication and other treatment in order to get him deemed competent. We'll see whether they do any of that. His mother told the New York Post that he is schizophrenic, saying she struggled to have him committed a long time ago and blamed the justice system. He'd been arrested 33 times, Michael. He'd been criminally charged on 14 of those occasions.

32:03He was free on cashless bail after a magistrate released him with a written promise to show up for court after placing a bogus 911 call. That's when he killed Arena. And you know what? I believe every word that she says that she did try to have him committed and that this system said, no, no, no. They had no interest. They don't create the beds. And this these blue run cities, the Democrat run cities, find institutionalization inhumane. They'd rather the arenas of the world get killed. And then this guy could wind up with his, you know, body in the electric chair, too. How's that humane. You know, like, you allow these people to run around murdering people, it doesn't end well for them either.

32:45Institutionalization is the kinder, gentler option. Of course it is. And yet, in recent decades, more than recent decades, we just refuse to do it. And so my confidence that society will actually, in the long run, be kept safe from this guy and guys like him is basically zero. You know, this harms everybody involved, which is true of most Democrat policies. I mean, just even getting back to the border, you know, when the Dems are promoting the open border, the first focus should be on our country and the American citizens who are victimized by mass migration. But it's worth pointing out as a side note that Amnesty International Infusion found that 60 to 80 percent of women and girls who cross the border illegally are sexually assaulted on the way.

33:28So it's not exactly great for them either. You know, this is completely deleterious to everybody involved, which is why it's a good hunch that the Democrats will support it. Unfortunately, in both cases, law and order and in mass migration, being followed by some squish Republicans as well. He was charged federally, in addition to at the state level, and there is some promising news in that the U.S. attorney for this district in Charlotte said that this man, DeCarlos Brown, is in federal custody on a federal indictment. The state proceedings, including any competency finding in the state proceedings, are completely separate.

34:07So it certainly sounds like the federal government is not going to just sit by and let this guy get any sort of a pass, though these same evaluations will have to happen at the federal level. He's been ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination as part of the federal court case that's just coming in. However, however, court filings from March 6th indicate the examination is not yet completed. The evaluation period has been extended. So we'll see. We'll see whether we can get a better result at the federal level. Like if this guy was fine to put back out on the streets after that bogus 911 call a year ago, not even a year ago, he should be fine to stand trial.

34:46I mean, come on. This is not somebody who was obviously incompetent to the place where like they had to lock him up immediately last summer. So what happened? Maybe we need to test the assertions of incompetence a little bit more robustly. It's another another important point here, Megan, on the federal level, as we say, well, thank goodness. At least there is a chance that justice will be served at the federal level. Well, this is a reminder for the people, especially the squish Republicans, who don't like it when the Trump administration, you know, goes in and actually exercises political power.

35:19Guys, that's our last option. You know, we don't live in a yeoman republic or some kind of confederacy here. This hands-off approach that so many Republicans have taken for political power in recent decades doesn't work. You know, the blue cities, the blue states have made clear they want these killers on the streets. They don't want to enforce the law. They're always going to take the side of the criminals over the innocent. And so the only option is for Republicans, one, to win elections and two, to actually wield the political power that they are happily given on some occasions. You know, I really hope that we can get the federal government to step in here and see justice be served.

35:57And that will be even more of an argument for the federal government to come in with a heavy hand and correct the problems that have festered at the state and local level for at least the happy time that we still have power. As I was saying, speaking of incompetent, that brings me to Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC. And to the point you were making about the racial dynamic, as we know, one of the reasons Republicans are in power now is because the left is obsessed with identity politics and the American electorate has had enough of that. I do think even many Democrats are over it. They're just over.

36:36They're overseeing their kids put through it, themselves put through it at work and so on. And yet their standard bearers, like the MSNBC primetime hosts, will let go of that stuff with their cold, dead hands. So Lawrence O'Donnell, in the midst of this war in Iran, in which there's plenty to discuss, debate, criticize. You could take your pick if you're a detractor of the presidents like Lawrence O'Donnell is. He went here. This is what he did. Take a listen to SOT 11. That brilliant rescue was described by the Secretary of Defense and by General Dan Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as a long-standing American military rule of never leaving anyone behind.

37:22We leave no man behind. That is, of course, the old-school version of the idea back when only men flew American military planes. General Dan Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it this way. We leave no one behind. The general knows, unlike Pete Hegseth, that that could have been a woman they were trying to rescue, and it might be a woman the next time. So, Michael Knoll, that was a woke chairman of the Joint Chiefs saying no one. And that was a sexist pig secretary of war saying no man left behind. That's the issue in the eyes of Lawrence O'Donnell. Lawrence O'Donnell has become that meme.

38:15You know the giant transvestite from the bodega? The bodega owner says, oh, come on up here, sir. He says, actually, it's ma 'am. Lawrence O'Donnell is that guy. He says, actually, Mr. Secretary, it's ma 'am. This is a really great mark for the U.S. military and for the Trump administration on this rescue mission. This rescue mission for the guy who goes down on Good Friday and he's rescued on Easter Sunday, this thing was pulled off so flawlessly in Iran, so improbably, that the only thing that the labels could find to criticize is leave no man behind, which I think most of us actually support.

38:57By the way, man is a gender neutral noun. It can be. In the beginning, God created man, both male and female created he them. So Lawrence O'Donnell seems to be flunking on mere English language as well. But on top of that, yes, you think if I were in the White House right now, I would be feeling very good about myself. Because when it comes to Iran, I argued against strikes on Iran before it happened. I am very much an Iran skeptic. if the New York Times reporting is to be believed, which of course is a big if, it seems like there were a lot of big figures, not just some of the advisors, but including the Secretary of State and the Vice President, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the CIA Director, who all urged a little caution on Iran.

39:40So I'm not coming out here as some belligerent war hawk or anything like that. But I think, all right, if this is the best the lives have to attack this mission five and a half weeks in, the White House must be feeling pretty good. And especially if they can wrap it up by week six or so, And the best they have is Lawrence O'Donnell saying, well, I just don't like the word that the Secretary of War used on the historically successful mission. You know, those are pretty good marks. And then we can move on to the issues that people are really focused on. Well, I mean, I wish it were that simple. The public does not approve of this war.

40:13The only 30 percent, the low 30s, approves of the war. And it includes a lot of Republicans who are against it, too. If only Lawrence O'Donnell were our biggest problem, that'd be fine. That'd be the good old days, Michael. I miss the good old days when we just had to worry about Lawrence O'Donnell's inane comments and not share some of the disdain for the war ourselves like I do for sure. This is, you know, the fear is if this continues into May, June, July, I mean, the Republicans certainly can kiss the House of Representatives goodbye, but they might kiss the Senate goodbye. I mean, it really could be pretty catastrophic.

40:51And so I think given that we're about five and a half weeks into this thing and all in all, it hasn't descended into a quagmire yet. We're not looking at a 10 year occupation, hopefully. I would just say this is a good opportunity. Assuming the negotiation team does a good job. Guys, let Lawrence O'Donnell be the coda. That's great. That's a win. I'll take because I agree with you, Megan, that the political risk involved in an ongoing military operation is very high. And I do fear that some of that support is soft. I fear that the 90 percent support, I don't think it'll drop 90 to 98 to or sorry, 90 to 88.

41:29Yeah, I think if this goes on two months, three months, four months, I think it would drop precipitously. Yeah, I agree. And that's one of the reasons why they need to get Israel in hand, because right now they're bombing the hell out of Lebanon. And Iran's claiming that was part of the deal. And Israel in the United States is claiming it wasn't. It's not in the deal. Yeah. There's no. Yeah. And there's no traffic going in the Strait of Hormuz and the ceasefire is sort of, I don't know. We're not sure if it's on or off because of this. So it's not great. We need to get them in hand because we do need a ceasefire.

41:59The ceasefire was a good negotiation. Like that, that was a very good development that we'd like to see hold. More on that coming up in just a bit. While we're on the subject of deranged leftists who will get some of us off the couch, even if we're feeling somewhat dejected. And let's go up to our evil top hat. That's a Michael Knowles creation. That's saying I always give you credit when I say it. Our evil top hat is once again up to evil, where the new Democratic Party up there, this MP, she's a member of parliament, Leah Gazzin, has added more letters to the LGBTQ acronym that already exists.

42:41And I'd never heard this before. There is a translation coming, but listen to this nutcase. When the budget was released, I was shocked to find out that Prime Minister Carney is cutting$7 billion between Indigenous Services Canada and Crown Indigenous Relations. They provided$0 to deal with the ongoing genocide of MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+. This is abhorrent. This is callous. This is callous because the very liberal government that has stripped organizations of life-sustaining funding has now promised, committed$13 billion,$13 billion on military spending. Who is paying for it? Indigenous women across this country, Indigenous women, girls 2SLGBTQQIA +, are not safe.

43:41In fact, rates of violence are increasing. And what is the prime minister doing? He is turning a blind eye on this violence. I wish we could turn a blind ear, a deaf ear here. Your colleague, Matt Walsh, gave us the explainer on X to quote him exactly. He writes, for those who don't speak woke retard, I looked it up and apparently MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA plus means missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual. sexual. He goes on. So apparently they've added murdered people into the LGBT community. Murdered is now a queer identity.

44:34This is the kind of innovation we get from Canada. It's the ultimate victimhood, for sure. I'm actually surprised it took this long. When the woman was speaking, I wondered if that was the liberal version of glossolalia. Is that like lib speak you know pentecostals have the glossolalia the the the tongue speaking but i think that was the lib version and so i my colleague matt is typically subtle and when he gave his definition i had to look up not just what the words meant but what the the letters literally meant but what was meant by even stating them. Why would you include murdered and missing women, girls, gay, two-spirit?

45:20Two-spirit, which, by the way, is a term that the left says was an ancient indigenous term to refer to people of multiple sexes. That's not true. It was actually coined by a lesbian in 1990 named Maya Laramie, who said it came to her in a dream at the indigenous lesbian conference. So even that is a product, I think of white liberal civilization in a kind of odd way in. But so I looked it up. I said, OK, well, how many of these people are missing and murdered? And more importantly, who's doing the murdering? If these people are being kidnapped, if they're being murdered, I think we got to focus on the murderers, don't we?

45:57So I looked it up and it turns out, according to multiple studies and data sets, that 80 to 86 % of the time, the people who are murdering and kidnapping the ha-ma-la-ma-la-la-la people are spouses, friends, relatives, acquaintances. In other words, the people who are murdering the LMNOP, et cetera, people are the LMNOP, et cetera, people. It's people from within their own communities. And so I say, well, that's bad. I don't want anybody to get - It's the second spirit. Yeah, I don't care how many spirits you got. I don't, I want you to be murdered for it. But if you want to solve the problem, then I would not blame, as this woman does, this MP in America's Evil Top Hat, I wouldn't blame the white, colonial, patriarchal.

46:42It's not their fault. You've got to blame the M. Night Shyamalan people. So when you focus on those people, you say, well, do you want to stop them from being murdered? No, they don't. They just want to invade against, I don't know, Western hegemony. It's amazing. Like, as if that little line of letters wasn't long enough. Now we've got to add in missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and two spirits. And by the way, somebody online was saying, best new password ever. Super secure. You'll never get into your email is the problem. But yeah, it would be good. No one's hacking you, that's for sure.

47:17True. Okay, while we're on the subject of bizarre leftists, one more story about the media, and this one is CNN. Now, this isn't a left-right thing, but every once in a while this happens, and it's always just so embarrassing. CNN has had to apologize, Michael, for publishing an article remembering the life of Michael J. Fox, who is alive and well and very much not deceased. How does this happen? They've now had to apologize to him after sharing a tribute to the Back to the Future star on Wednesday, prompting fears he had died at age 64. Yes, if you see remembering the life of, you are led to believe that life has ended.

48:02They later took the article down and a spokesperson told TMZ, which broke this news, the package was published in error. We have removed it from our platforms and sent our apologies to Michael J. Fox and his family. It came after Fox's own representative debunked the report telling TMZ he's doing great. He was at Paley Fest yesterday. He was on stage and was giving interviews, again, very much alive. So I don't know exactly. I truly don't know how this happens because it's happened so often. Like anybody responsible for pressing published on this, like in today's day and age, with somebody who's relatively young would know.

48:42Like, let's make sure. Twitter constantly leads us to believe this has happened when it has. Like, don't go off Twitter. As far as I know, he wasn't the subject of some hoax on Twitter. But how humiliating. Well, I'll tell you exactly how it happens, Megan. These people don't know anything. And I think a lot of us understand that at a deep level. But then we're fooled because we turn on the TV and the people are wearing suits and ties and they're speaking in a very serious voice. Or we open up the New York Times or the Washington Post, and they have really nice fonts, you know, really nice serif fonts with real commanding, authoritative lettering.

49:20I forget if it was the New York Times or the Washington Post just a week or so ago published a headline, a North American treaty organization, NATO, without America. It was the Times, wasn't it? And I said the North American, I don't know about any North American treaty organization. Are you referring to the North Atlantic treaty organization? Are you referring to the main Western military alliance for the last 70 years that you, the New York Times, you couldn't even the whole premise of publishing an article like that is to say that NATO would be incoherent without America because it's the American treaty organization.

49:58One, there's no evidence we're actually pulling out of NATO. So their their first premise is wrong. But then their second one, you couldn't even look up the acronym. You think, wow, these people and you know it. I mean, and the editors, how did it get past the editors? But you know this, Megan, because you read some story on one of these sites, and if it's about something you don't know anything about, so for me, I don't know, what do I know about what's going on in the Middle East or what's going on in some advanced sector of the economy? I don't know anything, so I'm inclined to take their word for it.

50:25But then I get to the New York Yankees, and I know a lot about the New York Yankees, or I get to a story about cigars or whatever I know about, ukuleles, something I know about, and I realize that what I'm reading is totally wrong. And yet somehow I still get duped into believing that these guys know what they're talking about on the other side. They don't know the most basic things. So I'm really pleased to see that they're still ignorant and Michael J. Fox is alive. Yeah, and he's still here. Good for him. Bad for CNN and bad on The New York Times for making that terrible error. How humiliating.

50:57Michael Knowles, a pleasure, my friend. Great to see you. Good to see you as always, Megan. Thank you for having me. All right. Up next, Anna Kasparian is here. You've been hearing me talk about Pure Talk a lot lately. Pure Talk is veteran-led, so helping veterans is their North Star. You gotta love that. They have donated over half a million bucks to America's Warrior Partnership, a fantastic organization that's on the front lines of preventing veteran suicide. And Pure Talk is creating American jobs with a US-only workforce. Good for them. Yes, it would be a lot cheaper to send jobs overseas like other companies, but they are committed to delivering the best experience possible for their customers.

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53:00Vice President J.D. Vance is headed to Pakistan this weekend, where he will have his work cut out for him. He has been charged by the president with getting a deal that gets the Iranians to permanently end this war. Mr. Trump and the Iranians agreeing to a ceasefire on Tuesday, and despite all the celebrations, it only lasts for two weeks. That is, if it kind of really fully gets started. I mean, there's still a lot of fighting going on involving Israel and Iran. The ceasefire is fragile. Well, that's a major understatement. The Iranians say they've now opened the Strait of Hormuz as part of the deal.

53:37You remember yesterday, they kind of said they were closing it. And that dovetails with what we saw reported. The New York Times reported that the waterway yesterday had its lowest ship traffic since the war started, zero oil or gas tankers made the crossing. So like, that's the main thing we wanted in the ceasefire. We were going to stop bombing them and they're going to open the strait, but then they didn't open the strait because our great, our super great and loyal partner, Israel kept bombing Lebanon. And the Iranians are like, hello, that's part of the deal. They say that was included. The Americans say, oh no, that was never part of the deal.

54:13Well, I'm not sure the Americans are telling the truth because the Pakistani prime minister who announced the deal said in his very first deal point that it included Lebanon. And that guy's talking points were clearly drafted for him by the Trump White House. That seemed obvious. They deny it. But his little draft of his talking points announcing the deal, he erroneously tweeted it out. And it said, like, from the Pakistani prime minister. Now, obviously, the Pakistani prime minister, his people wouldn't have said Pakistani prime minister. They would have just said, this is from our prime minister.

54:51And it looked very much like it had been generated by the Americans and the White House. So it seems clear to me, we did understand that Lebanon was part of the deal. That's why it wound up as the very first bullet point in the Pakistani prime minister's announcement of the ceasefire. But then our super great and most important allies, Israel started bombing or continued bombing Lebanon to the high heavens. And they just they got so excited that a ceasefire was happening. Like and I mean negatively excited that they just started a carpet bomb that Beirut. And Trump seems to have just kind of gone with, OK, that wasn't part of the deal because he couldn't get Bibi to back down from it.

55:37Like the bloodthirsty Netanyahu was like, oh, no, I'm doing it. I wasn't part of this and I didn't agree to it. And I'm bombing them to kingdom come. All right. So now we're kind of pretending this is my own view. The White House says it's official. I think it's not true. We're kind of pretending that we agreed Lebanon would not be part of the ceasefire. And Iran is on the other side. Like, screw you people. It was part of the deal. And the strait is closed. Or maybe it's open. Unclear. The ceasefire is not going beautifully. But look, it's a noble goal. We want it to take. We hope it's successful.

56:16And it's much, much better than eradicating a civilization for all time as the president was threatening Tuesday morning. this is what one day after Lebanon's health minister said more than 200 people had just been killed more than 1000 wounded by these Israeli strikes on Wednesday alone so yes we were very much like the bombing to stop Prime Minister Netanyahu I mean this guy it's truly like Mark Levin by another name he he today announced that Israel will now open direct negotiations with Lebanon over disarming Hezbollah. And, you know, look, Hezbollah hasn't always had the greatest control over Hezbollah, so we'll see how that goes.

56:59And establishing peaceful relations between Israel and Lebanon. Okay, that's not exactly how he sounded on camera 24 hours ago. He was really excited about the prospect to keep this thing going. just even despite announcing that they're going to talk with the Lebanese and Israeli officials telling Axios right now that Israel is not observing a ceasefire in Lebanon. So it's like, okay, we'll talk, but we're going to continue bombing you to smithereens. And here is what Netanyahu said yesterday. There's a voiceover so you can hear it in English. This is yesterday in Tel Aviv. Listen to this.

57:36Ana Kasparian:Iran is weaker than ever and Israel is stronger than ever. And that That is the bottom line of this operation until this point. And I'd like to stress, we still have some goals to accomplish, and we will achieve these goals, either through agreement and consensus or through renewal of the war, because we are ready to do so whenever necessary. Our finger is on the trigger. As you all know, a temporary ceasefire came into effect tonight, a two-week one between Iran and the U.S. in coordination with Israel. No, they did not surprise us at the last moment. And I would like to emphasize, this is not the end of the campaign.

58:21Ana Kasparian:It is merely a preparation on our way to achieve all of our goals. So he'll decide when the end comes, not our president. Joining us now is Anna Kasparian. She's executive producer and host of The Young Turks. Great to see you again, Anna. What do you make of this back and forth and his latest statements? Well, I think if Americans are serious about ending our involvement in these endless wars, we really have to rethink the U.S. alliance with Israel because Israel's goals, I think it's become very clear, are different, very different from the objectives of the United States. It's Israel wants to expand its borders.

59:04Ana Kasparian:That is precisely the reason why Israel invaded Lebanon days after they go to the United States to fight its war for them against Iran. Now, with the United States distracted fighting Iran, that allows for the IDF to go in under the false premise of disarming Hezbollah. The notion that Netanyahu is going to hold direct negotiations with the Lebanese, there's a little trick there that I want to decode for the audience because it's important. So in Lebanon right now, you have a government, the Lebanese government, which is incredibly weak and deferential to the Israelis. Right now, the only thing stopping the Israelis from encroaching into Lebanese territory and annexing more land, which by the way, Israel has been very clear that they plan on annexing southern Lebanon.

59:58Ana Kasparian:That's what this is really about. It's not really about Hezbollah. They want to annex southern Lebanon. If you look at Israel's history, you will see that Israel has carried out multiple invasions into Lebanon, including in the 1980s, which led to the formation of Hezbollah as a resistance group. So Hezbollah is really the only challenge to Israel when it comes to annexing land in Lebanon. So Hezbollah is different from the government, right? So they are not in cahoots at all. It's an established political party that has widespread support in southern Lebanon. I want to be clear about that. But they are willing to use, you know, force, right, any force necessary in order to push back against the IDF's attempts at annexing land.

1:00:46Ana Kasparian:So the Israelis can have as many conversations with the Lebanese government as they want, But the Lebanese government has no control over Hezbollah. And in fact, disarming Hezbollah would lead to a serious civil war in Lebanon. It's impossible. The Lebanese military is incredibly weak. Hezbollah is actually stronger than the Lebanese military, by the way, by design. So if you look at these Middle Eastern countries and how leadership has changed or how regime changes have taken place, it's always in an effort to install a puppet government or a puppet regime that will be deferential to Israel and its expansionist policies.

1:01:25Ana Kasparian:Or they will do regime change in an effort to destabilize a country, which is what happened in Lebanon. I'm sorry, in Libya and also Syria. I mean, I watch these maneuvers like we we did. Netanyahu's war for him. We did what he wanted us to do. And now, thank God, we're trying to end it. And he clearly doesn't like that. He's bombing the hell out of Lebanon, right as we say, we're trying to have a ceasefire here. And the first bullet point of the proposed deal is, includes Lebanon. So what does he do? He unleashes hell on Lebanon. He clearly is trying to clear the deal. And I think, how dare you?

1:02:07How dare you? I mean, why isn't this just one phone call from President Trump to him to say, no, we're not going to go along with the lie that Lebanon wasn't part of the deal. You are going to get your shit together and do what I tell you to, because you're the junior partner in the deal.

1:02:24Ana Kasparian:I think there are multiple factors to look at. And this is a big question that Tucker Carlson has been asking through his monologues. And I'm really important that we Americans live in a sovereign country where our elected leaders represent our best interests. What we've been seeing in regard to U.S. foreign policy is decisions being made that are not at all beneficial for the American people. And certainly starting this war with Iran is a perfect example of it. You know, first of all, let me just thank you for the interview you did yesterday with Piers Morgan, because you hit the nail on the head.

1:03:00Ana Kasparian:There's no question that Trump was honestly manipulated by the Israelis who put into his head this notion that a war against Iran would be easy. It would be simple, even though experts, and I'm not even talking about experts, just ordinary people in the media who are paying close attention could have told Trump that Iran is going to close the Strait of Hormuz. That is where their leverage is. But he did it anyway. And there is no easy military strategy to take control of the Strait of Hormuz. If you pay close attention. Just to interject, Israel reportedly told Trump, Netanyahu reportedly told Trump at that meeting that the Iranians would be so weakened by our initial strikes that they couldn't affect control over the Strait of Hormuz.

1:03:46Completely wrong. Keep going.

1:03:48Ana Kasparian:That is completely wrong. Exactly. And, you know, here's the here's the telling part of that entire conversation. OK, well, if Iran is so weakened, why don't you send the IDF in there? Why are you trying to get the United States to send their service members in there? Isn't that kind of strange? So and then after the war began, the Israelis were asked if they're going to send boots on the ground since they were urging the United States to send our service members on the ground. And they said, no, no, we're not. Just as was the case with Iraq. So look, I think that what we see with Israel is something very different than what we have in terms of our relationships with other countries on the globe.

1:04:33Ana Kasparian:Usually our lawmakers will make decisions questioning war and peace, questions of war and peace. They will make decisions that are taking into consideration what's in our best interest. But when it comes to Israel, it's a completely different story. And we have to ask ourselves, why? Why does Israel have that type of influence over our government? Because if they do, and if we have lawmakers and members of the executive branch looking out for a foreign country before they look out for us, we don't live in a sovereign country. And I do think that the Israel lobby is part of this. I do think that blackmail is part of this.

1:05:10Ana Kasparian:OK, as upset as people get when you say it. I mean, the Epstein cover up, I think it goes beyond just covering up for pedophiles. I think that there is an actual system in place to blackmail people in positions of power to carry out the best interests of Israel. I mean, you look at that's very interesting. You look at the Epstein files, Megan, please pay attention to the audience, you know, to drop sites reporting on this because drop site looked through all the documents that we have access to. And they went beyond like, oh, who's a pedophile? Who's doing this? No, no. They wanted to see who is Epstein working for.

1:05:47Ana Kasparian:And DropSight was able to draw direct links to the Israeli government. Epstein was working for the Israeli government. Now, was he, you know, you're an anti-Semite if you say that, Anna. You're an anti-Semite. You hate Jewish people if you say that. I guess the truth is anti-Semitic, but I'm going to keep speaking the truth because it's important for Americans to know what's going on. Yeah. Wait, this is you're kind of blowing my mind right now because I have heard some people suggest maybe there's some blackmail here. Like what got Trump to listen to Bibi Netanyahu to contradict his own campaign promises, repeated campaign promises was explicit about no no more Middle East wars, not not just no more war, no more Middle East wars.

1:06:32And yes, it said Iran can't get a nuclear weapon, but promised no wars and had already bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. So what, what was it that persuaded him to do this? And I heard Joe Kent tell Tucker, maybe there was some sort of a blackmail situation. It was like, he was maybe perhaps slightly less explicit about it, but he was clearly intimating. It's possible that the president was blackmailed or something was held over his head. Maybe there was something, I think you mentioned like Trump's family could be hurt. Something could happen. And it was speculation. It wasn't like, I know it, I've seen everything and it was there.

1:07:07So I kind of was like, oh, I guess who am I to rule it out? I don't know. But this is the first time I've had somebody tie it together with Epstein. Because Anna, what are the two biggest betrayals of the MAGA base since Trump took office? Or I guess now we need to talk about it as the America first base, because there's a split. It's been Epstein and this, like the two things that felt completely like a middle finger to the people who elected Trump, like the core Republicans who had elected Trump. They did not see Epstein as a nothing burger and they definitely held or intended to hold him to his promise of no more Middle East wars.

1:07:49And you're saying it's no accident that those are the two that he betrayed people on, that there may have been, there may be something that made him feel vulnerable on Epstein or somebody around him he's concerned about that was vulnerable on Epstein. And the people who maybe had that information wanted a payment in military blood and treasure.

1:08:11Ana Kasparian:Yeah, I mean, look, I do think that there is a connection with what happened or how the Epstein files were handled. But even if the Epstein files in no way implicate Donald Trump. There's one other factor that I want to bring up, and it's actually a factor that you yourself have experienced on a very personal level. There are, in my opinion, people within our country who are less interested in their American patriotism and more interested in serving as Israeli operatives. And I think Mark Levin happens to be one of those people. So these pressure campaigns, these threats, these efforts to literally destroy your life and your livelihood if you don't play ball, I do think that those intimidation tactics have been very successful in this country.

1:09:02Ana Kasparian:And it's about time we push back. And I'm happy to see that people like you are pushing back. I'm pushing back myself. I've lost jobs. I've lost opportunities as a result of how vocal I've been on this issue. But I care about my country more than I care about my pocketbook. And it's really important for us to live in a sovereign country. On top of that, when it comes to the manipulation tactics that were used against Trump, not to rob him of his agency. At the end of the day, he's the commander in chief and he made the decision. However, we can't deny the fact that Trump has an ego, as anyone who wants to be president very likely has.

1:09:37Ana Kasparian:And it's easy to manipulate him by stroking his ego. So telling him these like these magical stories about how he's going to be the world's hero by like demolishing the Iranian regime and freeing the Iranian people. And it's going to be so easy. You're going to get so much credit for it. I think those manipulation tactics are also very effective on someone like Donald Trump, who likes to see himself. I think that's all you need. Yeah, that's all you need. I don't think you need to go blackmail. I mean, I'm I'm open minded to the possibility of blackmail because honestly, my past nine months have proven to me that there's nothing.

1:10:12They will stop at nothing to get you to bend the knee, nothing. And I'm just a podcaster. I'm a journalist. Imagine if you're the president of the United States. I don't think they would stop at anything. And I mean, Israel and its emissaries, foreign and domestic. I actually believe that Mark Levin would like to have me killed. I do believe it. I think he'd be thrilled to see me taken out, like actually. That's so fucking crazy to me, Anna. There's no one, no one politically who I would ever wish that upon, ever. There's no one whose death I would celebrate. There's no one whom I would intentionally endanger with really crazy ass rhetoric.

1:10:55He knows what he says about Tucker, about me, about many others is actually endangering. You know, to over and over call somebody a neo-Nazi, to suggest that they want Jews killed because they say things like, young people no longer support Israel. It's so irresponsible. It's lunacy. It is. And so there's something wrong there. There's something wrong. There's something going on there.

1:11:23Ana Kasparian:Not only that, I mean, it's when you listen to the way that he talks about war and what should be considered, you know, as one of the many options, especially in this war against Iran. I mean, he's totally fine with using nukes against Iran, wiping out an entire population of innocent people who, you know, we were all told that the Israelis want to liberate from the regime. Right. This is why I just didn't buy the narrative from the very beginning. And people thought I was being cruel. People were thinking that I'm being supportive of the IRGC. I don't know if people realize this. I'm not, you know, I don't believe in living under a theocracy, number one.

1:12:07Ana Kasparian:And the rules that they have given their, you know, theocratic interpretation, I just I reject wholeheartedly. However, that doesn't mean I'm going to be stupid enough to believe for a second that that the current Israeli government gives a damn about the liberation of the Iranian people. And this idea that in order to liberate people, you have to bomb them and kill them is ridiculous. So, yeah, when it comes to people like Mark Levin, I think what you're kind of getting at is his demonstrable lack of concern for human life, for innocent human life. Yes. So that tells me that there are emissaries of Israel who will stop at nothing in order to get you to bend the knee.

1:12:54And that's like the thing that's so crazy. It's not about me at all, but my example is telling because I've been so pro-Israel and he started, he and his like little friends started coming for me so hard on the most mild comments about Israel that it was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's happening here? And I know that people who had already gone before me down that lane were kind of happy to see it happen to me just because they were like, you see, do you see now what they do? And I do see now, I see very clearly and I'm horrified. And it's really caused me to reevaluate the country, the country of Israel and how they manipulate people, AIPAC, the media, the ones they're giving the free tours of Israel to come now.

1:13:39You're like, you'll love it. At what price? Like, why? Why are both parties, why are the loudest people against this war, some podcasters in the independent lane, Anna, as opposed to where like the Democrats there, they haven't said anything. I can't think of one prominent Democrat has been like leading the fight against this. Nevermind Republicans, you know, it's podcasters. It's kind of crazy.

1:14:02Ana Kasparian:Well, it's interesting because, you know, historically the left has always been a little suspicious of the U.S.-Israeli alliance, has been far more critical of how Israel has prosecuted wars and especially what they carried out in Gaza. But here's what kind of changed as a result of how Israel prosecuted the war in Gaza, which I believe is a genocide based on now multiple organizations, including organizations within Israel who call it a genocide. But putting that aside, that whole situation started to wake others up, right? Conservative people up. And when Israel is starting to lose the support of American conservatives, they know that overall support for Israel from the United States is in jeopardy, which is why I think the campaigns against people like you, Charlie Kirk, before he was killed were far more vicious, far more vicious than even the campaigns against me.

1:15:05Ana Kasparian:The campaigns against me have been terrible. They've gone after family members of mine who aren't political at all, don't even know what's going on. They don't pay attention to international news, right? They're in a completely different world. And suddenly, their employers are calling them into the office to ask about my political views. That's how vicious these people are. That's how vicious they are. But I've seen them be far more vicious with you. I mean, you are and have been historically very supportive of Israel. I remember this whole thing with you began when you refused to denounce Candace Owens.

1:15:36Ana Kasparian:How about how about you're responsible for what you say and Candace is responsible for what she says, period, period, end of story. Right. And that started against me. Like now they want to pretend that it's all about I won't denounce Candace on Erica Kirk. And that's not where it started. And that, of course, I disagree with Candace about Erica and Candace knows that in the world knows I said it repeatedly. But the what they're really mad about is that I wouldn't denounce Candace asking questions about Israel in the wake of Charlie's death. And you hit on one of the reasons why Charlie and I bonded in this now famous conversation we had a month before he was murdered over the immense pressure being put on both of us to be, to remain very pro-Israel.

1:16:22And we both were annoyed, exasperated, and deeply offended by already the terms being used about us for the mildest of conversations we had had about Epstein. He, he had had it. He was also trying to give voice to young peoples, just the young people had already started turning on Israel, even within the Republican party. And he was trying to give voice to that. No, you're not allowed to. And that text message thread that ultimately came out that he was having behind the scenes saying he's had it with the Jewish donors who are threatening him. So they really wanted me to say how bad Candace was for even mentioning Israel in the wake of Charlie's death.

1:16:59And I wouldn't condemn her because I favored her asking those questions 100 percent, even though I think Tyler Robinson did it. I'm fine with asking questions about, was it only Tyler? Who else may have been involved? Was is that crazy for her to ask? absolutely not. And they couldn't, because I'm entitled to that belief and because Charlie and I had been going through the same thing, the same exact thing at the same exact time with the same evolution happening to both of us simultaneously, because they couldn't really get me on that. They just waited until they found something that they thought would be more persuasive, which is now she's saying these terrible things about Erica.

1:17:37Let's admit you, you will condemn her over Erica or you're a bad person. And I said, absolutely not. We're not playing that game. And some people still believe the lie that that's what it's about. And it's not what it's about. And I will never bend the knee to these bullies who tortured Charlie at a minimum. They tortured Charlie in his last two months on earth. That's a fact. I will never bend the knee to them. So that's where we are.

1:18:02Ana Kasparian:And in fact, you know, say what you will about, you know, any of the other commentary that Candace has done, you do have to give her credit for revealing the truth about what Charlie Kirk was experiencing in the final months of his life. It's important for people to know that, which they denied. Exactly. They called her a liar. She was right. Yeah. And you know, the other thing, just quickly going back to the Epstein files, which I found fascinating, the specific personalities in American media that seem to want to engage in the cover up, I think that's telling, right? The various members of U.S.

1:18:40Ana Kasparian:media that kept repeating over and over again that the American people don't really care about the Epstein files, the Epstein files don't matter. Oh, Americans are paying attention to other things that matter more to them. No, no, they cared about the Epstein files and they still care about the Epstein files, but they do care. But we should pay attention to the various media figures who downplayed it, who said it wasn't important, who, quite frankly, appeared to be part of this effort to cover up the Epstein files. Why? Why do those people engage in that type of commentary? What are they afraid of when it comes to the release of the Epstein files?

1:19:15Ana Kasparian:Just something to keep in mind. And now we've been misled on the Epstein files yet again, because we had this bill passed into law demanding these disclosures with huge exceptions that allowed the DOJ to remove really any problematic documents that they thought made this person or that look bad. So now we have, it's almost worse than had nothing been released because we have almost fake transparency where they can say like, oh, everything's been released. It's like, no, trust me, as a lawyer, I see the glaring loopholes in this law so clearly. It's like next to as good as doing nothing. And now we get now they can pretend that they've done full disclosure.

1:19:57The DOJ says it's done disclosing all documents. And there's some trove someplace that has who knows what in it. And I don't know whether we'll ever know the full truth.

1:20:07Ana Kasparian:What do you think? I mean, we still don't know the full truth about JFK's assassination. They didn't release all the JFK files, which I find a little questionable. Right. And I disagree a little bit in that I'm glad they released what they did release. I mean, you have to admit, I mean, the members of Trump's administration did not do a good job in covering up what they did actually end up releasing. Right. So thanks to what they did release, we were able to draw those direct links between Epstein and the Israeli government when it came to other deals. Like Epstein was very much involved in foreign policy and in striking deals between Israel and the UAE in striking deals with Israel and other countries as it pertains to cyber weapons.

1:20:52Ana Kasparian:And so those narratives aren't as sexy. You know, it's not as scandalous for Americans because it doesn't involve disgusting, you know, people in positions of power who happen to be disgusting pedophiles and freaks. However, I do think it's important to understand how Epstein was used as a tool by intelligence organizations. Right. And Mossad. But here. So we have to talk about this. We have to talk about this because that's the discussion I had with Charlie at the Turning Point event last July that kicked it all off. I went out on stage with him and Charlie wanted to make the whole thing about Pam Bondi, who had just stepped on a rake with that ridiculous DOJ memo.

1:21:35Right. Saying, we're not going to be releasing anything more about Epstein. And Charlie said to me backstage, he was like, let's do Bondi. And he was like, go for it. Like he said to Tucker infamously now, go Max famously, which we know because I have that moment on tape and I released it. But he said to me to like, go for it on Bondi. And he basically told me he can't do it because he's close with the administration and he didn't want to be seen in a position of like really attacking any of their top emissaries. And I was happy to do it because I'd been doing it on my show all week. It's not like I just did it for Charlie, but he wanted me to sort of repeat what I've been saying on stage at Turning Point.

1:22:13I'm like, great. I'm like, you take it where you want me to take it, because he was leading a Q &A with me. And we went to Epstein, right? We spent a fair amount of time on, that's really what it was all about, Pam Bondi and her multiple Fox appearances and how there's no there there and does the base care? Charlie did a shout out to the audience. Do you care about Epstein? And they were all like, yes, we care. And then he asked, do I think that Epstein worked for intelligence? And I said, you know, it seems like he did. Whose do you think it was? Well, it's probably Israeli. I'm like, I don't know.

1:22:41I'm not an expert, but that's what it seems to me. and that was the moment that got turned around on both of us as we're now anti-Semites too, like so pro-Israel, Anna, you know, the past few years, like ardently pro-Israel, defending everything. I didn't really follow the war, to be honest with you, like the days, ins and outs of what they were doing over there, but like anything that happened to an American Jewish person on campus, et cetera. And Charlie, same. And like official American, like Jewish organizations coming out and condemning the two of us as anti-Semites. And we were both like, what?

1:23:16But now it's starting to make sense. It wasn't accidental that the action was outsized. The reaction was outsized to the alleged sin because they couldn't have us go there. This is what you're saying. And this is starting to make perfect sense to me.

1:23:33Ana Kasparian:Iran has never posed an actual threat to the United States. They didn't have nuclear weapons and their missiles did not have the capacity to hit the United States. Iran has always been a challenge. Our own intelligence agency said that right before we launched this war. Exactly, exactly. But Iran has always posed a challenge to Israel's expansionist policy known as the Greater Israel Project. And you need to wipe Iran out if you want to be able to expand your borders. And that's exactly what they're doing right now in Lebanon. Yeah, because Iran is 10 times the size of Israel. and therefore actually could stop it and has been, you know, a potential threat to it.

1:24:12And yeah, if Iran is sown in chaos, great. Israel has zero problem with that. They'd love to leave it a complete quagmire mess and have us up to our necks in it. They don't care whether we're involved in that or whether Americans are dying on the, you know, whatever these, I'm trying to think of the name of the island, Karg Island. They couldn't care less. Nope. It's just as long as it's a distraction and Israel can't focus on or Iran can't focus on Israel. And that's why that is why I believe they refused to stop bombing Lebanon and got us to lie about it. Because it seems very clear to me, Anna, there's no we definitely drafted that prime minister statement.

1:24:55That definitely came from us. And the first bullet point said the ceasefire includes Lebanon. And then they kept bombing Lebanon, Israel did, queering our ceasefire. And it seems very clear to me that Netanyahu must have told Trump, I'm not going along with that. You know, it's fine. You can say what you want about Iran, but I'm not stopping on Hezbollah. And Trump had to accept it. And rather than look like we were weak, Trump just said, oh, it was never part of the deal. And by the way, it's also the case that at a minimum, the New York Times is reporting this today, we reviewed the prime minister's bullet points.

1:25:32So like, it looks like we drafted them. But the New York Times is reporting today that we actually approved them. We saw them before he released them. Of course we did. Pakistan had nothing to do with this. They just came in to broker a ceasefire, which they, quote unquote, did. I mean, that too was a lie. Clearly Trump wanted a ceasefire. He saved face by getting Pakistan involved and sort of made them be the ones to like ask for it and suggest it. This is how it's done. And then we wrote the guys talking points. We obviously approved the talking points. And then Netanyahu wouldn't go along. To me, it seems very, very clear.

1:26:04But once again, it's the Israelis doing whatever the hell they want. And the Americans left holding the bag.

1:26:11Ana Kasparian:Yes, that's exactly right. And one other thing that I'll say is, days before the war started, you had the mediator from Oman on one of the Sunday shows speaking with Margaret Brennan. And he had disclosed what the outcome of the negotiations were. These are the negotiations involving Iran, Steve Whitcoff, Jared Kushner, and Oman was mediating those negotiations. So the mediator goes on the Sunday show and basically says Iran is willing to give up their enriched uranium. They are willing to go further than the Iranians were willing to go in Obama's Iran nuclear deal known as the JCPOA. I remember watching that and seeing Margaret Brennan just shocked at how far Iran was willing to go in order to avoid war.

1:27:01Ana Kasparian:But it's really interesting because Steve Whitcoff, same weekend, also goes on the Sunday shows and he lies about what the Iranians were willing to sacrifice, to give up, to concede in order to prevent war. Why did he do that? Why did he sabotage piece. And so that makes me a little - We know why. It makes me very concerned. We know why, because Netanyahu was making the pitch to Trump that the Ayatollah and his top emissaries were going to be above ground on this certain date by the end of February. And it was the opportunity of a lifetime to take him out. You'll be hailed as a hero. And we heard my old pal Mark Thiessen on Fox News actually tell Mark Levin that this was going to be seen as like the greatest military battle since the American Revolution or victory since the I mean, like that sort of like huge soaring rhetoric about how Trump would be seen his place in history.

1:27:55And he got talked into it. And so, of course, you know, Whitcoff and Kushner were like, OK, fine. You know, like they didn't cave on all of our points. There was plenty of reason to be like, they suck. You know, forget them. We're going to do this thing that I want to do anyway. That's that seems to me how it went down. And that's what the reporting supports. And here we are. All right, stand by. I have to take a quick break. We're not done. We're gonna come back. Fascinating discussion. Great having you here. Don't go away. When it comes to your dogs, why does there often seem to be compromise on their food?

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1:32:06Anna Kasparian is back with me now. So where do we go from here? How do you see this going, right? Given all the relative concerns and goals of the players we've been discussing, how do you see it going from here?

1:32:18Ana Kasparian:I think that there is no stopping the very real awakening that's happening among Americans right now. And so I've noticed that there is a successful tactic that the Israelis use, I believe, in our own country, but certainly in their neighboring countries. What they like to do is pit people against each other. So they're so busy fighting each other that they're distracted from what Israel's up to. Right. And I think that that has happened to some extent here in the United States. There are Americans on the left and right who are aware of what's going on. But I do see some figures who are like terrified of like building coalitions or working with the other side on changing our system on this very issue, on this specific issue.

1:33:06Ana Kasparian:It doesn't mean you have to agree on everything else. It doesn't mean you have to start a family with someone on the opposite end of the political aisle. But I do think that Americans need to wake up from tribal thinking where they think like my side is perfect, their side is evil. No, no, there are areas of important agreement between the two sides. And so if there is an area where we can work together to maybe change some of the influences that are baked into our government that allow for our politicians to serve the best interests of a foreign country over our own, like we need to work together to change that immediately.

1:33:40I mean, it's happening organically, don't you think, with the approval rating of Israel going down so precipitously amongst Americans? That's going to happen naturally. AIPAC cannot spend its way out of that with these politicians, because I really think, like, next presidential election, the issue of Israel and being controlled by donations from AIPAC is going to be an issue we're going to hear about on both sides as we ferret out who the proper nominee should be.

1:34:10Ana Kasparian:Yeah, absolutely. In fact, just yesterday on The Young Turks, I made a point about how, you know, if you are a Democrat who's in a solidly red district, you don't have a chance in hell of getting a Democrat elected. Get active in the primaries for the Republican race. Right. Like what I would do if I were in that kind of position. I mean, I'm in California, So I'm not in that position. But if I were, I would look at the two Republican candidates in the primary and ask myself, do either one of them reject money from the Israel lobby? And if one of them does, I'm going to cast my ballot for that Republican.

1:34:50Right.

1:34:50Ana Kasparian:Because that you've got to think strategically about what you want our country to look like. And you're not going to improve it if you're so obsessed with your own party identity that you're unwilling to maybe hear out candidates on the other side of the aisle. That's kind of where I'm at on that issue. That's just one example of something that can be done. But in regard to what we do, Megan, for our careers, I have no problem collaborating with people on the right. I have no problem debating people on the right either in a simple way on other issues. But if Tucker Carlson wants to work with me, if you want to work with me, if we want to find a way to work together to get the message out to our audiences on this incredibly important issue, I am ready and willing to do it.

1:35:33Ana Kasparian:Knowing that there are people on my side, I'm going to deal with friendly fire from them because they think you should only talk to your own side. No, I'm not going to do that. And more importantly, I'm not going to condemn people based on what a mob demands of me. Right. So I get that same treatment. opposite. Exactly. Exactly. The timing of it. It's now official that all 18 to 25 year olds will automatically be registered for the draft here in America. They've made it super easy where it's like automatic now there. You're just as soon as you hit 18, you're automatically registered to go off and be drafted to fight Israel's wars.

1:36:11And so it's like now more than ever, we need to be paying attention to who we elect, because even somebody we trusted as much as Trump can wind up putting our young boys and women, our gals and guys at risk. You know, he can be bamboozled into launching a war that's in Israel's interest, not ours. And indeed, we have lost American service personnel as a result of this. And that's to say nothing of the hundreds injured. I really don't think we're getting the straight numbers on the numbers. I agree. And so it's like, and now, you know, my children are creeping up to that age. Automatically, they're going to be registered to go fight Israel's next war, unless we do work together, to stop this cycle.

1:36:59Ana Kasparian:Absolutely. And it goes beyond potential drafts and, you know, forcing Americans to fight a war on behalf of a foreign country, even if we were to sever the, I think, malignant relationship that we have with Israel right now, the fact of the matter is our economy is in a lot of trouble. We've lost a lot as a result of this war. So right now, Iran not only has control of the Strait of Hormuz, they've always had control of it. it's the fact that they're now charging tolls for, you know, oil tankers or anything that's being transported through the strait. So those costs will be passed down to Americans, no question about it.

1:37:40Ana Kasparian:But OK, even worse, even worse, they are not allowing the transactions using American dollars. They're doing with Chinese currency and crypto. No, Chinese currency. Oh, yeah. Well, that's so we are. The alleged talking points or the alleged 10 point plan that now we're told is not the right one had had wanted crypto. But yeah, I mean, the Chinese have had a huge opportunity this whole thing to come in as the new world leader and be the voice of reason. That's what we used to be. And on top of that, despite the fact that Israel had an economic surplus in 2021, 2022, we continue to fund their military adventures, their weaponry, their IDF.

1:38:21Ana Kasparian:We send them nearly four billion dollars a year. And then on top of that, we add supplemental funding whenever they get involved in one of their wars. Wait, why are we sending a country that had an economic surplus in 2021 our money, which, by the way, we're 40 trillion dollars in debt? We didn't have an economic surplus. So why were we going into more debt to hand over more resources to a foreign country? How did that benefit us? That makes no sense. And then we just spent 40 billion dollars at least on this war, which was exactly for their benefit. I mean, And it's like, and the president is back again, asking for billions and billions more from Congress to fund the military depletions that we suffered as a result.

1:39:02You know, all these interceptors and so on that now have to be replenished. Otherwise, we're sitting ducks. So it's just the whole thing is so frustrating and it's so exasperating. But look, it's also educational. It's illuminating. That's the upside. It's illuminating. Yes. And I do think it's going to unite the left and the right on this very important issue in a way they haven't been before. You know, I can speak from the perspective of somebody who is just ardently pro-Israel without questioning. I used to look at people like you as just sort of like, that's crazy. They just, they can't stand Israel.

1:39:32I don't know why. I knew enough to know, like, keep questioning because I would have like Glenn on my show all the time and he's always been this way. But I didn't listen. I wasn't open-minded. And I am now in a way that I think a lot of Republicans are starting to be and haven't been. So thank you for being a part of that. And thanks for being on the show today. And we'll do it again soon. Thank you. Lots of love. And thanks to all of you for listening as well. We'll be back tomorrow. In the meantime, go to MeganKelley.com and register there for our once a week email. It comes tomorrow on Friday, the American News Minute.

1:40:05It's all the week's news in one minute or less. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show. No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

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