MAGA's Iran War Apathy - Washington Insider

0:00Hi, this is Becca Moore from For The Girls and this podcast is sponsored by Aerie where you can find the right bra on 59 sizes, soft fabrics and good fits. If your bra strap is digging into your shoulder right now, it's the wrong bra. We get so used to being in pain as girls that we forget it doesn't have to be this way. Your clothes should not hurt. I got to the point where I stopped wearing bras altogether. And now my life has changed, you guys. The only bras I have in my dresser right now are Aerie, and I'm not kidding. Aerie's on a mission to make you feel good, and that starts with your bra.

0:27Your bra should hold you in, not back. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra for you. Hi, it's Paige from Giggly Squad, and this episode is sponsored by Experian Boost. Summer glow up? Check. Credit glow up? Even better. Boost your credit scores instantly by getting credit for bills you're already paying. Your phone, utilities, rent, and insurance. I wish dating kind of worked like that. Connect your bank account, add those on-time payments to your Experian credit file, and your FICO score updates right away. You could instantly raise your FICO score by an average of 14 points with Experian Boost.

1:01Download the Experian app for free today. Results will vary. Users who received a boost improved their FICO score 8 from Experian by an average of 14 points. See App Store or Experian.com for details. Results will vary. Not all payments are boost eligible. Users who received a boost improved their FICO score 8 from Experian by an average of 14 points. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian Boost. See Experian.com for details.

1:37I'm Katie Balls, and as well as my weekly chat with Jerry Baker, you can often hear me on Times Radio. Here's the latest conversation.

1:49Let's begin with the ongoing conflict in Iran. Talks for a peace agreement were scheduled to resume today, according to Donald Trump. But Iran has said that it has no plans to negotiate with the US, and it was talking to Oman instead. writing on True Social, the president said, the Iranian leadership is unbelievably duplicitous. They asked for a meeting, some would say beg, talks to begin. He added that nothing will get through, i.e. the Strait of Hormuz, unless a deal or total surrender is accomplished. I'm slightly exhausted, Katie, talking about the ongoing peace negotiations between Trump and Iran.

2:26What's the latest? Well, as you say, it does feel a little bit like we're going in circles here, in the sense that you have periods where Donald Trump will say that he is incredibly angry with Iran, and he can't negotiate, and they're awful people. And he'll threaten various things. So, for example, the latest over the weekend, we're hearing briefings from both sides about how the US could work with Israel for a large attack on Iran. And yet he many times seems to walk back from the brink and effectively say, actually, we're going to hold pause, hold fire here because we think there is progress.

3:05And I think listening to what's been said, and again, just as I think people are getting a little bit wary of what Donald Trump is saying, I also wouldn't take everything the Iranian side say as truth. proof um i don't think that we can take the iranian regime saying there are no negotiations as you know something that is definitely the case but clearly we're once again at the strait of humus and what's happening there and i think the thing is if there was a deal between iran and oman on how to navigate that that could be the beginnings of an agreement with the u.s so i think two things can be true at once if they agree something on the strait and then take that to the US, that could be progress.

3:44But I think the ultimate thing here is, it's just not clear every time that Donald Trump is angry at Iran, that he is willing to take the steps to escalate this, that some on his side think you need to do to take this war to a new place, whether that is escalation for a full scale war, or escalation in order to agree something, which means that you can make progress. I mean, I also saw that Trump sort of has lashed out at the oil companies, Because obviously, I mean, we just heard about BP's results. All the oil companies, the US ones, I assume, are reporting bumper profits. And he's basically saying, use your profits to bring gas prices down.

4:19That's the real sword of Damocles that's hanging over his head. Yes, and we know that when it comes to the midterm elections in November, and you hear various things, there are some around Trump who say, well, he doesn't actually really care about the midterms and how the Republicans could do very badly. And if anything, his team would like him to care more. But certainly, if you look at what Donald Trump said around the time that they agreed the Memorandum of Understanding, which is when it felt as though this was moving to a place where Iran the US worked together. And that now seems a long time ago.

4:50But when you look at it, one of the justifications he gave for signing a piece of paper that upset many of his own side, more of the Republican hawks, was effectively that he didn't want to go down in history as a US president who had sparked a depression. and therefore the economic factor here is clearly weighing on his mind and his advisor's minds. And I wonder, you know, we see all this at one remove. I mean, when you have a quiet coffee or drink with a MAGA sympathiser, in private, they sort of tear their hair out and just say, how long can we go on like this? Or are they just kind of blasé?

5:27So I think it's interesting in DC, quite a lot of the MAGA side on this, someone was switched off from the war. When it was first launched, you know, you would have, you know, many, obviously those who worked directly for Trump, there are those who are in his sphere, and some of those are MAGA influence who have their own shows. And they were covering this pretty closely. And obviously, step by step, they said the audience are very interested in the war, even if they didn't like it. Now, I think a lot of people have just switched off, they are almost acting like the war is not happening. But where that is being felt is, of course, in people's pockets.

6:01But I would say some megasympathisers are almost just trying to look the other way when it comes to the Iran war at the moment. Now, it's a fascinating kind of rouse going on within the administration. There's the US attorney Janine Pirro, who dropped vandalism charges, which were originally pressed against a former Olympic athlete for vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In fact, it's worth hearing what Trump had to say about her. I was disappointed with Janine Pirro, really disappointed with Janine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella and people get away with things. It's a disgrace.

6:41So, I mean, really strong words there. There's also the ongoing saga of nominating a new attorney general, a man called Todd Blanche. But let's start with Janine Pirro. I mean, Trump has left her swinging in the wind. Yeah, and I think there's actually a link on both of them because Because Jean Perio's role obviously crosses into law and order, and then you have the Attorney General. And one of the areas where Trump has the strongest opinions is ultimately retribution, vengeance, when it comes to those who thinks have wronged him. And that was one of the reasons Pam Bondi, the former Attorney General, was pushed out.

7:15There was a frustration that she wasn't doing enough to get at Trump's enemies, and he was impatient at the lack of progress before Todd Blanche come in. And then you get Janine Pirro, who you mentioned. And the rub here gets back to the reflecting pool. It's one of Donald Trump's many vanity projects, whereby he is trying to change the appearance to make DC beautiful again. But each project becomes very controversial. There were all these vandalism issues because it became a Trump project, and therefore his foes, his enemies, stepped in. And Janine Pirro dropped the cases, the pool vandalism cases.

7:51And this has really angered Donald Trump, who did not know that she was going to do this, he claims. And therefore, in Washington at the moment, there's questions of how long does she have in the job? Will she be sacked? Will she choose to move on? And yet he hired her to create a claim, you know, I think less than a year ago, you know, as one of his close friends. So I think it shows you how in Trump world, even though second term is a little bit more functional than first term. And, you know, if you if you don't please the master, you can go from being one of his favourite colleagues or people who work for him to one that is on the edge of being pushed out.

8:24I was at least pleased to see that Janine Pirro was prepared to follow the law. There was a sort of bleak moment of light there. With all this, you know, this should be absolute field day for the Democrats. You've written about democratic socialism. The Democrats are having their own revolution, the poster person being Zoran Mdani, the new New York mayor. My instinct is they've sort of formed a circular firing squad and are pulling chunks out of each other. Is that right? Or is there something in democratic socialism that will give the Democrats a route back to power? So I would say probably the jury is out a little bit on where exactly some of the things are going.

9:06But certainly, as you say, the Republicans are doing very badly when it comes to Donald Trump's polling, when it comes to voters views on the economy and the Iran war is not making that helpful. So it should, in a way, be an open goal for the Democrats when it comes to the midterms in November. There are some who think that on a good day, the Democrats could take back both the House and the Senate. that would completely change Donald Trump's final two years of his term. Think about investigations into his family, into spending, possible impeachment trial, but there are lots of Democrats who think that would be a bad idea, it's worth pointing out.

9:43But the question here is, you have all these DSA candidates and you have some key primaries. There's the Michigan primary today, Tuesday, and the DSA candidates tend to be to the left. The actual candidates themselves tend to focus more on domestic policies. So Medicaid for all, private healthcare being against, obviously, trying to crack down on it and to expand the benefit. And also things like, for example, I was just in Wisconsin, where there is a candidate, Francesca Hull, and she's talking about public grocery stores for all and this type of thing. The actual DSA manifesto has things like abolish the Senate, defund the police, end most prisons in it.

10:25You hear that less when these candidates are trying to campaign to win. But if you have enough DSA candidates picked as the official Democratic Party candidates, it does raise a question of, first off, does it make it harder for the Democrats to win some of these key races in November? That's the fear of some centrist Democrats. And secondly, if those Democrats are wrong and these DSA candidates are selected and then they win as the official candidate, what flavour does that mean you have in Congress if the Democrats take back control? Do you have a new version of the squad, which is what AOC, the congresswoman led, whereby a faction to the left of the consensus pushes the party into certain places on positions and also influences who the candidate is in 2028?

11:10So it's a really interesting story at the moment in terms of the direction the party is going to go in. Absolutely. Well, thanks so much for joining us. That's Katie Ball's Washington editor at The Times and Sunday Times. This is Ed Vasey on Times Radio.

11:40digging into your shoulder right now, it's the wrong bra. We get so used to being in pain as girls that we forget it doesn't have to be this way. Your clothes should not hurt. I got to the point where I stopped wearing bras altogether. And now my life has changed, you guys. The only bras I have in my dresser right now are Aerie, and I'm not kidding. Aerie's on a mission to make you feel good, and that starts with your bra. Your bra should hold you in, not back. Visit aerie.com to find the right bra for you. You stopped waiting for permission and started building yourself, your dreams, your credit.

12:09Experian Boost could turn your on-time payments into instant FICO score gains. Every bill you paid could become proof of your power. Self-made? Absolutely. Self-funded? Experian could help you get there. Download the Experian app today. Results will vary. Not all payments are Boost eligible. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use credit information impacted by Experian Boost. See Experian.com for details. Experian.