Transcription
J.D. Vance's humiliation tour continues with this latest bit of news coming in just the course of 1 hour. So, this was Vance on Fox News this morning.
>> Fox, Jared and Steve have been on the ground now for a few hours dealing with some of the technical elements of this negotiation. As as you guys know, one of the things the president has set us out to do as a high priority is to open the straits. That's now happened. We actually got 16 million barrels of oil out of the Straits of Hormuz yesterday. That is a record going back to even before the conflict started. So, you're seeing those ships move.
>> The strait is open. Trump was right. He did it. Everybody else is wrong. And then, not even an hour later, this was the news. Quote, "Iranian officials said that they have closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing what they said was the US's failure to stop the fighting in Lebanon as required under the agreement signed by Trump."
So, if J.D. is saying that everything Trump is doing in Iran is justified because we got the Strait of Hormuz opened, then ipso facto, the fact that the strait has been closed now says that Trump's actions were nothing but a failure. Bravo, J.D. Bravo.
And look, of course this has been a failure. First of all, before we even get into the intricacies of the Iran wars deal, remember that Trump and Vance ran on never even getting into this war.
>> I'm not going to start a war. I'm going to stop wars. No more wars. No more disruptions. We will have prosperity and we will have peace. Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all. I am the candidate of peace. I am peace.
>> My honest guidance to those young men, and I think their concerns are very legitimate, but if you're worried about the world spinning out of control, if you're worried about a military draft, if you're worried about, God forbid, a world war, the best way to prevent it is to vote for Donald Trump. And I I really believe that.
And yet, they did it anyway. But then you get into the actual deal, the intricacies of the memo that was signed. First of all, since Obama struck up the Iran nuclear agreement, the JCPOA, Trump and Republicans have criticized it as a $1.7 billion giveaway to Iran. In fact, that's literally a comment that they made this week.
>> I mean, the JCPOA done by Obama, he handed them a billion seven in cash, gave them a hundreds of millions of dollars, hundreds of gave them billions and billions of dollars, but he gave them $1.7 billion in cash, green cash from banks into a Boeing 757 and flew it into Iran. And they stood at the plane. I have pictures of it like, "Oh my look at this money he's giving us." He tried to bribe his way out. I didn't do that.
And yet, now we find out that this deal gives Iran access to not 1.7 billion, but 300 billion. So, if you're looking for cognitive dissonance, it is Trump attacking Obama while simultaneously bragging about a deal where Iran gets access to 176 times more money.
Then you have Trump coming out and repeating that nothing else matters these days so long as Iran has uranium that can be enriched and made into a nuclear weapon. High gas prices are but a small price to pay to denuclearize Iran. And then suddenly, this is what Trump said on that point.
>> But to go get it is a big deal. Because they say only China and us have the equipment where you can even get the whole mountain is collapsed on to We have cameras on it. You could make the case why you're even bothering cuz it's not really valuable. It's you know, it's probably half a million dollars worth. It's not very valuable stuff.
Quote, it's not very valuable stuff. So, Trump was willing to let gas prices surge in the US to prevent Iran from enriching its uranium, and now that he's failed to doing so, suddenly it's not even very valuable.
Another point, Trump has repeated his insistence on regime change, getting rid of the hardline Ayatollah, which he did. But then he was replaced by his son, an even more hardline Ayatollah. So, the guy who's bragging about regime change oversaw Iran going from Khomeini to Khamenei. Bravo.
There's also the point that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, as I mentioned before, through which about a fifth of the global supply of oil and gas passes. Iran's closure of the strait has sent gas costs surging in the United States, which in turn has hurt our economy. And the US government hasn't been able to do anything to stop it, again, as evidenced by today's news, which means that Iran now knows that they can deploy that weapon at any time at their disposal, and the impacts on us will be cataclysmic. Not to mention, where our ships used to be able to pass through freely, now we can expect them to impose a toll, which will heap even more money onto Iran.
And finally, there is the point that this entire war has thus far, according to the White House, cost 30 billion. Now, I would bet my left leg that we are billions beyond that figure, but let's just grant them that. Let's say that it was just 30 billion. Shouldn't that money not go to the exact kind of foreign war that Trump swore he'd avoid on the campaign trail? Shouldn't that money go to, um, America in accordance with Donald Trump's own America First agenda? Wasn't it the whole theory of the case in Trump's election that we're tired of dumping billions and trillions into pointless wars in the Middle East, only for him to dump billions of dollars into a pointless war in the Middle East, one where the regime didn't actually change, where Iran didn't lose its enriched uranium, where Iran actually got access to more money than it had before? If anybody can tell me what we gained in all of this, I'm all ears.
And don't take my word for it. Listen to the Republicans.
>> This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder. Uh, Iran ends up stronger, our allies in the region are weaker, and Iran has learned that if they're willing to grab that Strait of Hormuz and choke it off, they can get the Western world to dance to their tune. I I it's a deep mistake.
>> It's a very bad deal for the United States. Uh, Trump isn't thinking about the geo-strategic implications of the deal. He's thinking of one thing. He wants the strait open. He wants Gulf oil on international markets. He wants the price of gasoline at the pump down. That's all he cares about. I think it's a mistake to give this brutal theocracy any of the assets. I'm happy to give the assets back to Iran when it's under a free government. That's not where we are now. The change of leadership is only because we've killed the top four or 500 people in the existing regime and you're down now to their seconds and deputies. So, yeah, it's different people, but it's the same fanatic regime. Trump is desperate for a deal. He's desperate for a deal and they have maneuvered him. They've played him like a violin. That's why they've got the deal that they want.
>> It doesn't make sense to me. I'm not too far away from where Pompeo is to be honest with you and I support what Chairman Wicker says. Look, we we were told about 11 weeks ago by Hegseth and and the Department of Defense that they had obliterated Iran's defenses and it was just a matter of time before we had the nuclear material. Now we're talking about a posture where we may accept the nuclear material remaining in Iran. How does that make sense at all? Also, a 60-day ceasefire and expecting that they're going to clear the Strait of Hormuz before the terms of the deal are are established also seems questionable to me. There are a lot of things that need to be explained and as I've said before, any agreement with Iran that isn't subject to ratification ratification by Congress is going I think going to be doomed to fail just like the the agreement we're trying to replace which was the failed agreement by Obama.
>> I believe the president is is getting very poor advice on this and and and history teaches a very simple proposition which is that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is a very very bad idea. This deal envisions funneling 300 billion dollars to the Ayatollah and the Islamic regime in Iran. I think that is that that would be a very serious mistake. I think if if the Ayatollah gets 300 billion dollars, that money will be used to fund terrorism and to murder Americans. And and so it is very much my hope that the administration goes down a different path. That they they choose not to send money to the Ayatollah. In my view, we shouldn't send a penny to the Ayatollah. And and sending 300 billion dollars would would be I think enormously dangerous.
Got to love Ted Cruz giving Trump the out. That it couldn't possibly be his fault, so he's simply getting bad advice. Yes, Donald Trump famously too susceptible to the ideas of other people. This guy.
>> I alone can fix it.
>> No other president would be willing to do what I'm doing or to even go through it.
>> And I am the only one that knows how to fix it.
>> You are fantastic. All right. I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I I'm the only one that matters.
>> No other president could do some of this I'm doing.
But hey, all the credit and none of the blame. That's how it goes with this president. And that only works if there are people like J.D. Vance sitting there and waiting to eat. And clearly, Vance has no problem doing exactly that.
Before you go, I'm very excited to announce that I've written a new book titled The Day After, How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World. The book explores what is, in my opinion, the single most important theme that we're dealing with in politics today and moving forward, power. Specifically, how Republicans abuse it and how Democrats refuse to wield it. This book explains how we got here and more importantly, how we should finally wield power if we're fortunate enough to get it back. It is the blueprint for progressives who want to do far more than just restore the status quo. Please pre-order today by visiting the link in the episode description or go to briantylercohen.com/book. You can grab yours from any of the major retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble or find an independent bookstore closest to you. That's also listed on that website. Thanks so much for supporting independent media.