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Did you see the story before we start about the the the the news of the day? Did you see the story of Roano?
Actually, let me send it to the team. >> Oh, the he was uh he was held >> detained. Yeah. Yeah. And they Yeah. >> How [ __ ] tell the audience what the story is cuz that's >> Yeah. So, basically Yeah. I just saw it before I logged on. Um, basically Roana was visiting Israel um on a kind of a fact-finding mission it sounds like and uh he and I think his staff were detained at gunpoint by two young IDF soldiers. They identified themselves as hey we're we're American congressmen and we're from Capitol Hill on an official you know trip and the two soldiers were holding guns in their faces and didn't care. uh and uh anytime row and his people tried to explain that they were there for the and then that the American embassy which was nearby was very concerned about their safety, the IDF troops were mocking them and uh you know basically they detained them and they knew this was a sitting US congressman. Um so our it's more greatest ally type stuff.
Mario, >> yeah, you could play it. I'm messaging him now if he wants to jump on the show to talk about. I've had him on the show a few times, but don't >> I've never met him before. I'm a big fan though. >> He's incredible. I love him. We could play with the audio, please. Uh uh Stephanie. So, this is There's no audio. This is him getting detained as he was uh wasn't really detained. I don't know if he was detained, but that's his team. Go to the next one. >> Is hold on. I got like an echo here. Oh, >> weird. Um but that's him being stopped there. You could uh remove it. Can you still hear the echo? Can you still hear an echo? >> I'm definitely Hold on. >> Can you turn off your audio, Stephanie? Maybe on your end. >> Hold on. Maybe it's on my end. Hold on. Try try talking now. >> Testing. Testing. >> Yeah, we got it. I don't know what just that was.
>> Beautiful. Beautiful. But that's a [ __ ] wild thing. What's happening? Really? That's really really crazy. >> Yeah. Look, listen. Um, if any other country did that, there would be severe consequences. whether it's a Democrat or a Republican, there would be serious consequences because uh who's boss here, right? Uh we are or we're supposed to be. And uh you know, Roana was there. He was there for a very specific reason. He was allowed to be there. Uh he was not causing any problems. He was doing what he was supposed to do. Uh and the Israelis wanted to give him a hard time. And uh I don't know who the hell these people think they are, but uh you know this this has got to stop because uh like this I tell you what, if they keep at it, what's going to happen is at some point soon the level of support that Israel has long enjoyed is going to diminish not just among ordinary Americans, but it will translate, I think, politically as well. And that's a big problem for Netanyahu.
>> Yeah, I've just hit him up, so hopefully he can come on. Um, all right. So, um, >> that guy's one of the last great American patriots when it comes to these issues. I think I I I'm not a Democrat, but I am a huge Roana fan. I think he's phenomenal. >> Yeah. Roana Massie, incredible. Incredible Congress members of Congress.
>> Um, >> all right. So, I want to ask you about I want to bring up one more topic before we talk about your Substack piece on Kag Island. um the assassination attempt uh the assassination plot against Trump. So I I I laughed when I first saw it as well. >> Yeah. >> But I'm starting to think maybe there's something there surprisingly. Do you want me to tell you why I think that? >> Yeah, I'd love to. I mean I'm open to and I mean it's not like I think Iran wouldn't try something like this. Go ahead, please.
>> Yeah, I'll tell you why. I'm starting to think I don't think it's a genuine plot by the leadership, but I have a feeling elements within the IRGC are seriously considering it. Number one, just conceptually, imagine killing the religious leader and dozens of officials. Imagine you go kill Trump and he's not even a religious leader, the Pope, Trump, and then all you know, Hex, Rubio, all these people, the US will just wipe out whatever country did that, that country would no longer exist. Um, so that's one. Number two is um so when the story first came out, Israeli sources blah blah blah. According to Israeli intelligence, I immediately dismissed it knowing that they've got >> exquisite intelligence. You have to use the terror Mario, it's exquisite intelligence, >> knowing that they have it um they have certain intentions with feeding the US administration um something that will drag them back into war. So I dismissed it. Then I saw Axio Barack Ravid put out a piece saying according to two US officials this is actually not a plot. This is just two officials talking about the issue. >> So this is Axios playing down the story. Usually they do the opposite. So they've played down the story and Barack reviewed out of all people and then the New York Times came out with a piece saying Trump was going to go on his Air Force One but then changed to the older one because it had better defense capabilities. >> Yes, >> you could easily dismiss it. Okay. The administration, the White House is feeding that to New York Times as a way to feed the narrative. >> That part is that part is very true. >> Yeah. Not only >> I know this for a fact. Yeah. >> True and genuine because then they what they did is they they subpoenaed the New York Time journalists that wrote the story. They were subpoenaed. They have to testify and before a federal grand jury. I don't know when that's going to be, but that so they were subp they subpoenaed the journalist that came out of the story. So obviously it's >> for I don't know. Um, the report has been ordered to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan with federal agents reportedly delivering some of the subpoenas directly to journalist's homes. The subpoenas provide few details referring only to an alleged violation of federal criminal law. So, so I'll add one more piece to it. The biggest one though, so so Trump is genuinely concerned for him to go to another to Air Force the new older Air Force One and to put out a poll saying we'll wipe you out if you try to kill me and to mention the comment because it's on his mind. Mention it in Anchora and for ax just to play it down is just bizarre if it's something the story they want to break blow it up and then you add to it the Mushtaba Kame statement today. I don't know if you saw it. >> I did not. >> No, >> I'll read it all out the whole writing my next book. So, I kind of >> Okay, I'm going to read it all. If anyone in the audience has heard me say it in previous interviews, I think it's good. I'll say I want to say it all anyway to Brandon because I want you to listen to everything he said. It's important. It's it's an exit part of a bigger statement. But listen to this because it's going viral. I say to our martyed leader, we pledge that we will avenge your pure blood and the blood of all martyrs of these two wars from the criminal and disgraced murderers. We will avenge. This revenge is the demand of our nation and it will certainly be carried out. These criminals whose names are known from top to bottom will carry to their graves the unfulfilled hope of a peaceful death in their own beds. They must know that this matter does not depend on my presence or that of any other officials. Whether we are here or not, this will be accomplished. And soon individuals from among the freedom loving people across the world will each carry out as part of this divine mission. It will each carry out a part of this divine mission. Like he's calling for revenge saying it will happen whether he's leader he's in the leadership or not. It will eventually happen. All everyone responsible for these murders will not will will not take a peaceful death will not die a peaceful death. And this will be carried out by peaceloving people around the world. And disclaimer, there's about 600,000 Shia Muslims in Iran, five to 15% of them are likely to be empathetic towards the Islamic Republic. Just asked Chad Gypty to make a random estimate. So putting all these pieces together, my assumption would be there's elements within the RGC having a genuine conversation um about this. And one last piece, the reason I started thinking about it being plausible was my last conversation with Professor Gibbs. He said something when he was when we were having the chat. He's like one consideration for the Iranians will be just thinking of it from a from a game theory perspective is killing they would be considering killing Trump as a way to deter any future president from striking Iran. So it could actually be a pragmatic thing to do for deterrence. So I don't know man I I don't know what you think but it's possible. I don't want to dismiss it dismiss it out.
>> No I don't dismiss it either. I mean, the Iran, like I said from the beginning, the Iranian regime are not a bunch of snuggy bears. They're not our friends. And so, like, you know, yeah, and we did assassinate their leaders. And you know, you know, what's good for the goose is good for the gander is the logic. Okay. But I don't think that's the case here. It might be some, you know, I I just the whole Air Force One situation was very odd. Um, it my understanding is it did come from Israeli intelligence that it was basically a um >> it did. It's confirmed by the New York Times. >> Yeah. Yeah. So how convenient. Um, they diverted to Mendal I think was the base in UK. um that that damn plane that Trump insisted on getting from the Qataris does not have the requisite defensive features on board, which is why they wanted to have him fly on the original Air Force One, the Baby Blue. Uh and then they switched him out as soon as he got to the safety of Jolly Old England, and then he hopped over to uh Washington on his jet. But but we don't actually know if this was a real threat. And I would just remind everybody because when I brought this up on another conversation earlier this week, somebody was like, well, that we know that they also tried to kill him in Butler and and that that that's actually I don't even think the case. I do not believe the Iranians tried to kill him at Butler or in Dural or Dural. Um, you know, a few weeks after the Butler attempt. I don't think that's what we are being told it is. I think there's something more going on. I'm not going to get into that. But with the Butler and the Dural assassinations and for the Israelis to conveniently uncover this plot via exquisite intelligence, it's possible they did. But it's also very conveniently timed because we know that Trump, at least publicly, was kind of one foot in, one foot out of the war. And for Israel, this war is everything for the leadership there. It's they need America fully on board. No questions asked. And right now it's it's been sort of, you know, one foot in, one foot out. And that's not what Netanyahu needs. Netanyahu needs decisive American leadership to, he thinks, rid himself of this problem. Uh, and so what better way? And Trump's been running around since these these revelations. Trump's been running around saying, "Well, they tried to kill me." Well, we know that Trump will respond according to that input in a certain way. And the way is I think he's now going to escalate. I think Trump is committed now to trying to invade Car Island. I am hearing all over the place now that not just Car, but they want to the US side, the Trump administration is has secretly still been arming up the Iraqi Kurds. They just blew open a bunch of those border uh facilities between Iran and northern Iraq, which means that they're probably getting ready to do something. And then I'm still hearing that there's some kakamimi scheme underway to arm up the uh mujahedini kulk mek and some of these other dissident factions within Iran so that it all kind of reaches this insane crescendo where we go after Kar, we take Kar offline from for the Iranians and then our proxies go in through northern Iran and then the MEK starts stuff elsewhere in Iran and the idea is to break the back of the Iranian regime. And I I just think this whole thing is crazy. But the reason that Trump is doing this, I think, is because he genuinely believes the Iranians are going to try to get get a shot off on him. I don't know if that's the case, though. I'm not sold the way that he is on this. And I'm not saying that Iran wouldn't try this. I they they have a history of assassinations, but so do we. Um, and so I I just to me I don't know if this is really accurate intelligence. And the whole Air Force One thing was very odd. And frankly, you know, Trump was a little ridiculous trying to fly around in that Qatar made Air Force One because they could not upgrade it to meet the specifications of the Air Force before Trump needed to use it, which should have been a non-starter from a security perspective. So, it's a failure of Trump himself to be flying around in an unsafe plane.
>> Uh, just came in now before we go on to your your statement about Kag Island, which is [ __ ] wild. An Iraqi source with close contacts in Gulf States told Israel's Khan News that the overnight attack in Iran between Thursday and Friday was carried out by a Gulf country. >> Yeah, I heard that the that's actually something they said within the last 24 hours. I don't know. said today. No, they said it on that night as well, but now it just came in again from an Iraqi source. But it's all Israel, just to be clear, it's mostly Israeli news outlet saying that. But I wouldn't be too surprised if if Bahrain and Kuwait wanted to. >> Yeah, maybe Bahrain. Well, I don't know if Bahrain, but Kuwait might um maybe even the UAE, they do have a very impressive drone, >> but the UAE is not being attacked. Why the UAE would attack? >> No, I'm just what I'm saying is what I'm getting to is Saudi Arabia would not have done this. And in fact, >> of course not. Why would they be? only Kuwait and Bahin were attacked and Jordan for the last few weeks. >> But I'm I'm leading into something here. The the Gulf states, there is a clear division now between the Gulf states that would want to attack Iran and the Gulf states that wouldn't. And the Gulf states that wouldn't, in my opinion, have a lot more heft and power. So, I don't know if any Gulf state really attacked. Uh I just don't I don't know if that's if that's accurate either. I don't know if a Gulf state would have I I don't see it. I don't see it. But I will say um with Saudi Arabia, apparently there was quite a contentious phone call between Trump and Muhammad bin Salman. Uh I think what was it last night? Uh and uh there was no greater details given, but I can read between the lines. Um, and I think this has to do with what I've been talking about, which is I think that NBS is letting Trump know this is crazy what you're considering to do uh with ground troops. But anyway,
>> can you go let's let's focus on on the Gulf thing. I think it's unlikely but possible, plausible. Um, it's just very bizarre because no indications it's the Americans. The Americans would own up to it. No indications. It's the Israelis. There's no one really left other than a Gulf country. So, I don't know if Bahrain and Kuwait are trying to create deterrence because they keep getting attacked every single time. So, they might be like, "All right, look, we need to try to create some sort of deterrence." That's my only guess, but it's I wouldn't be surprised if it's not them. It's just a bizarre thing. >> I don't think it's them. And and if it was them, it's not going to create deterrence. It's completely irrational that that's not going to restore deterrence at all. that the Iranians are not, like I said, if if the Gulf states were working as one, if they were all singing from the same song sheet, then yes, Iran might be deterred, but it's very clear there is division among the Gulf States about how best to proceed. Um, and uh, you know, I I don't know. I it's it's uh it's very odd that story. I don't I just don't buy it. I I wouldn't be surprised if Israel blew up something and then said, "Oh, it was the Gulf States to try to to >> You would usually usually would be able to tell if it's Israelis." It's still >> Agreed. Agreed. That's why Yeah. Yeah. But I'm just saying I don't believe I just I'll believe it when I see it. I don't believe that >> because I had I had I saw Olen sources talking about missiles flying out of Kuwait as well. Anyway, let's focus on the big story and that's your story on Substack where you believe Trump is planning to attack and invade K Island. It's a you know my stance. So for me this is pretty wild. There are just so many reasons not to do it. Why do you think this is poss What made you believe that? And why do you think he's finding it?
>> I think we'll start with what we were just talking about. I think the the the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will, was this supposed assassination attempt. I think Trump really believes they're trying to get him. So, he's got to do something to get them first. I think that's absolutely part of why he's doing this or or considering doing this. By the way, your audience should know president, my understanding is the president has now cleared the next three days of his schedule, which usually indicates to me they're getting ready to do something very big. They're gonna probably, if that's if it's what I think it is, they're going to be spending those three days briefing him up on everything that's going to happen, talking to him about every potential contingency. And so I think that there's something going on and it's big enough to clear his schedule for the next few days, and it ain't a family obligation. Um, so there's that. The other thing I think that's going on is I think that you and I both know that the president is dead set opposed to Iran exercising any semblance of control over the straight of Hormuz. The Iranians are not letting that one go and the Americans right now under current conditions don't have the leverage to get them to drop it. And so I think this might be part of some kakamimi theory that well if we go in and we knock card car out of their grasp and put it in our hands that allows for us to then gain leverage and we can basically renegotiate the whole scenario or we can collapse the regime because the regime 90% of the energy is coming out of the car for Iran. if you knock out that facility or knock out that island, basically the Iranians uh they have no economy anymore. This is the thinking. And so whether it's to just get a better negotiation or more likely to lead to regime collapse in their minds in DC, um this is why they would go for CR. This is why they would want to do that. Again, I think this is really bad assumptions on the part of the US and we've been really wrong in our assumptions from the very beginning of this conflict, which is the point I make in the Substack. Um, all of our assumptions about the war have been wrong. It was not a 96-hour war. It did not yield a massive revolution on the ground. It did not it did not collapse the Iranian economy or collapse the Iranian military. But something that was said to me was that the administration is gaming out that if they can take CarG, then the Iranians are stuck because they're not going to want to counterattack a US force sitting on CarG because it risks destroying their oil infrastructure and the deep water ports, etc. on Car Island. And therefore, we've deprived them of that essential component of their economy. And it gives us the ability to dictate terms. What I keep saying to people is for the Iranians, this is an existential struggle. And the Islamic Republic has never derived its legitimacy from the economy of Iran. It has derived its legitimacy from the religion, from the um the the fact that they have been a symbol of resistance to purported American imperialism in the region. And therefore their their source of legitimacy if you hit the economy is not necessarily going to destroy the regime. It'll weaken it, but the regime might very well destroy their own oil production capability on that island rather than allow for Trump to co-opt it as he's trying to do in Venezuela. And so we have a whole different sort of psychology we're dealing with in terms of our of our enemy and uh the American enemy in Iran. And the administration is getting it all wrong. And plus 2500 Marine Expeditionary Unit, plus maybe a thousand airborne rangers. They're not going to be able to hold that island. They just are not. The the Iranian missiles, the Iranian drones, we've not degraded that capability yet, and we're not going to because they're all underground, and we don't know where they all are. The Iranian heavy artillery just across the coastline. They have that place ranged. They've booby trapped the island. But the Trump administration, the president in particular, seems to be committed, obsessed even with the concept of taking car to both gain economic advantage and to gain leverage over the uh the regime in Tyrron. And I think this is a grave miscalculation as has much of the rest of the war.
back. >> Yeah, but you're you're there was just so many reasons why that they would never do this or it would take a lot. >> Never say never again 007. >> That's Yeah, I changed it to it would take a lot to do this. Just the most obvious example is the strategic reserves keep hitting new lows. They are still being drawn down >> and >> and yet Trump doesn't seem phased. >> He does seem phased. He literally mentioned it >> as the one of the reasons and he mentioned that Hoover he doesn't want to become the new >> Herbert. >> Yes. He said that 3 weeks ago and then he restarted the conflict over the straight over. >> He didn't restart the conflict I think. But we can't we can't consider limited strikes where everything's you know they strike a few targets Iran retaliates. We can't consider that to be the same during the peak of the war where it was daily bombardment massive bombardment 20 you know multiple times more than what we saw a few days ago. the entire Gulf getting struck and people talking about striking energy infrastructure, boots on the ground, um oil plants from refineries closed. The straight home was completely closed as 30 ships went through yesterday with AIS transponders turned on. So I think, you know, we are seeing >> it's not 140 ships. We've never gotten >> Yeah, but it's not Now I'm saying it's not zero. The war had zero. So, I'm saying 53, as of last night when I looked it up, a total of 513 ships since the war began that we know of. There might be more without their transponders on, I admit, but a total of 513 ships were allowed to go through since the reopening of the Straight Hormuse uh 18 or 19 days ago. That's it. That's it. and and not even close to what we need. >> But it's higher because you're saying that the war he wouldn't restart the war. I'm saying the war hasn't restarted. Just compare the facts now compared to the war. War was zero ships now 30 ships. >> War never ended. >> Yeah. But I'm saying if we compare now to four months ago, 5 months or whatever it is, February, March, March, um now now 30, 40 ships through the straight home was before zero. Back then hundreds of missiles a day being fired at Iran. now just a dozen or two over two days and that's it. Back then Iran would would be firing you know dozens of missiles and drones on a daily basis across the entire Gulf and Israel which was involved back then. Now Israel is not involved and all Gulf countries except Bahrain. >> Yeah. Um or according to them Trump hasn't authorized according to CNN Trump is not authorizing Israel to get involved. Um, but anyway, I'm just saying that we are, you know, we're definitely not at peace, but you know, war is there. What we were back in Feb, March is there, and we're barely there. If I told you back in February, would be here by now. That sounds like an incredible scenario. And back then, everyone's worried about the end of the world. >> I don't think there's anything incredible about this. I I I think that the war is still going on. And whether it's gradation, I I don't really care about the level. I The war is the war. And the fact is the strategic level which is what I concern would concern myself with the strategic level the facts are very clear. The Americans will not allow the Iranians to control the strait. The Iranians will not willingly give up the strait. So Trump who now thinks they're coming for him anyway. Trump is now trying to figure out how do I get better leverage because right now I don't have it. So his solution is Card. He's been fixated. He's been transfixed on KG for a long time and uh >> but you know what Iran would do in response. So I I agree with everything you said till the KG island part because so I've given you the idea the option of the strategic reserves will just the US would be screwed and I think Trump cares about the the markets. He cares about equities. He cares about oil price. He talks about it non-stop on a daily basis and tries to manipulate it. And also the Gulf would just be pummeled. the energy. >> That's why they had a very tense call last night. [laughter] I think that's why NBS kind of had it out with the president last night is what I think happened telling him you cannot effing do this. And Trump, like always, if it's not good news, Trump doesn't listen. It's just in one ear and out the other. This is how the guy operates. He when he makes a decision, it's like a neutral zone forms around his head to any counterveailing facts. and he's going to do what he's going to do and he he's going to learn the hard way when he makes a bad decision. And I think that's where we are right now.
>> When do you think uh it could happen? What when you worry? >> Look look look I this could happen. So they're going to want to do it on a weekend because remember this war isn't even governed by strategy. It's governed by the the media narrative. That's how far gone we are. Okay? This is not real strategy here. So, it's going to probably be on a weekend. It could be as early as the next couple weeks. I don't think it will be that early, but it could conceivably be this. >> Breaking news. Hold on. We got explosions on Kog Island as we speak. [laughter] Imagine starts off now. >> It's not going to be this week, but but also I have heard that the and this was something that I was keeping an eye on because it's not just going to be an um an MEU, Marine Expeditionary Unit. They're going to need they they think they're going to need airborne ranger. they need an airborne drop. Uh I have been told that the the Airborne Rangers have received some kind of order in the last 48 hours to prepare for executing this kind of a drop. Now I don't have that confirmed and I don't know if that's true, but this is what's but the person who said this to me is somebody I trust. Um this is what I'm starting to see line up. So this is going to be sooner than later because Trump wants to be able to say I got card. He is still fixated on the Maduro raid and he thinks that he was able to win the the Venezuela thing by taking their oil and he's going to do the same thing here. And the guy has not figured out that Venezuela is not Iran. And so that is why I think this is coming and that is why I think there is no talking him out of it. He's not going to be talked out of it. He thinks this is the way forward and this is the only way to again, to escalate to deescalate whether that's a deescalation in the form of I can now really negotiate because I've got the car canard or it's because he wants to implement this wider strategy of sending in the Iraqi Kurds and then getting the MEK and some of these other dissident groups which are not anywhere near the numbers they think they are uh you know kicked over and going crazy in Iran to kind of break the back. There's one other thing as well toward that I just want and I say this in the essay but I want to point this out here. Um there is a consistent disconnect among American policy makers and strategists. They think that once they've defeated a conventional enemy that that's the end of it. But as we've seen, we saw this in Iraq. We defeated the Ba'ist regime in very short order. And then what happened was years and years of proliferated decentralized terrorism, insurgency. That is precisely what will happen if Trump is really not only going to take car, but then leverage that to try to execute some insane regime change program in Iran. The Iranian regime is too decentralized. And furthermore, the IRGC alone, there's they have 600,000 volunteers at the ready to be called up. And I think their average force is about 190,000 regulars in the IRGC ranks. And they're all spread out in the country in these underground complexes. So if we actually did what I'm really afraid we're going to try to do, this is going to get us sucked in to some kind of massive counterinsurgency in Persia. It's going to be as bad as anything that happened under Cassus in Rome. It will end the same way.
>> No, I I agree. I think um yeah, I just don't I don't It will take a crazy administration and a crazy president, as in clinically crazy, to conduct such an operation. And I'm not in the camp that Trump is crazy. He's he's surrounded by idiots. I think [laughter] they're not they're not the they're not the you know, they've miscalculated with this war. Not the best of the and the brightest. We'll just leave it at that then. >> Yeah, but not clinically. I know. But not clinically insane. You know, everyone was up in arms about Trump using nukes a few months ago. Everyone forgot about that. >> Oh, no. That was a serious suggestion from him, by the way. I know that for a fact. >> He No, no, no. I know this for a fact that he very seriously contemplated it. The guy doesn't know. He doesn't He's in so far. Listen, this guy is in so far beyond his depth. He He's We did It's not even funny anymore. Nobody elected him to do any of this. We elected him to make America great again. He's a businessman. He knows how to do that. This he does not know how to do and he's surrounded himself with a bunch of grifters who have no idea what they're doing.
>> Yeah, I agree with you. I'm I'm not everything you said here. I agree. I'm just saying that I look at every decision um look at what incentive, what objective they're trying to achieve, etc. Like for example, clinically insane person would not care about the price of oil, would not care about equities, would not care about Ukraine. I think he cares about equities. I think he cares about his legacy. I think he cares about the price of oil. I think he cares about his wealth. There's a lot of considerations being taken >> um in in these um in these discussions. You remember he >> I think he's [snorts] >> Yeah, I [laughter] don't think I look we'll see if he ends up invading Kog, I'd go in that camp. Um, but so far I've been betting on he's not cuckoo. He's just making stupid decision. >> Well, I think most of the market is betting on that as well. But, um, you know, the fact that he's that he's not that he's not cuckoo that he's that he's not insane. >> Yeah. I I think Yeah, I just I just um >> I would just be careful because I think this guy is not like others. So, and that's not always a good thing. >> I hope I hope I hope it's not the case. Hope it's not the case. >> Well, me too. Listen, I'll be the first to tell you. I say it all the time. I'm very happy to be proven wrong. So, I hope I'm wrong on this, but somebody's got to say it because it's got to be out there so that we can have a conversation about it and maybe somebody in the administration actually sees the conversation and realizes maybe we should try to get the president to think differently about this because this is lunacy. Okay? This war should have been over weeks ago. We should have been negotiating in good faith by now and pulling our people out permanently. But we're not doing it. We're just hanging around. And in fact, we're still moving troops into the region, by the way. There's there's a much higher than usual number of US troops on the ground in the Middle East right now, and that's concerns the hell out of me.
>> Yeah, fingers crossed, man. Really hope it doesn't. >> Absolutely. >> Brandon, always a pleasure. Thank you so much. >> Bye-bye. >> Take care, my friend. All right, guys. We'll be live again in 14 minutes with Jeffrey Snyder, our last conversation of the day. Um, I'll see you in 14 minutes. Bye-bye.