I'm watching this a few days late. I still want to thank you Joe for bringing up the fact that the Ayatollah was also a religious leader. Trump and his cronies may be stupid enough not to have known that killing him during Ramadan would anger even Iranians who didn't hate Americans before this began. Guarantee frigging Netanyahu knew it would anger and worse killing him during their holiest times. How can any country trust us when not once but twice attacked/bombed a country while they were supposed to be in negations'!! Trump and the GOP have screwed us, Ukraine, our allies and the world with this deadly "excursion". Incompetence, narcissism and back-room deals don't come close describing this group of juveniles, war mongers' ignorance and shortsighted jerks who are lining Putin's coffers, the oil companies and most likely some of their pockets too! This is all at a cost to our service people and others lives! Great podcast guys!!
Arming the Kurds is one thing, but Kurds want an independent country. The Kurds are not going to form a new Iranian regime. So an independent Kurdistan is fine but I don’t see how this solves the Iranian problem. Turkey I would expect opposes a Kurdish country. We really don’t want Turkey to get involved here.
Mr. Talarico sounded like , President Obama. Yet I was hoping for Representative Crockett! I couldn’t believe the cheating that took place In Texas! Especially considering Dallas County. Let’s hope those Republican voters come over to vote for Mr. Talarico.
earlier this week Washington Post interviewed 1000 folks. The folks identifying as republican/MAGA were solidly behind trump, BIBI and hegseth in this incursion to stop 'nuclear weapons' and take over the Middle East by Iran. Last August 2025, trump and hegseth claimed to have permanently wiped out Iran's nuclear capabilities.
There is no MAGA mutiny, no matter how hard you promote it. Listen to the interviews of folks in Texas, North Carolina, Louisianna, Florida, most red states and these folks who are proudly MAGA are not backing away and becoming even more fervent in accepting the savior, trump, actions.
Oh, how I wished there are members of the inner workings of Cabinet, Joint Chiefs and other TRUE CONSTITUTIONAL LOYALISTS to pull an Ides of March. If an Ides of March happens it will be conducted by Peter Thiel, Russell Vought, Elon Musk, AI billionaires, and others who will place Vance on the throne and dismantle the Constitution and there will be no mid-term elections.
The true MAGA cult will never leave him. If Trump told them to drink the Kool-Aid (it was really Flavor-Aid) they would buy the cup of poison from him (because he'd be making a buck) then they'd go back to pay for seconds.
They're beyond hope. But they're only 25 - 30%. We're talking about the MAGA adjacent.
We only need to peel off 5 to 10% of those folks who were part of his support and that crashes his ambitions and ends the rest of the MAGA Republican's election prospects.
- The donald 🇺🇸/bibi 🇮🇱 war with Iran 🇮🇷 has a very high probability of begetting a campaign of terrorist attacks across the globe 🌎🌏🌍 by radicalized people, particularly by right wing Shia Muslims targeting Americans.
- The USA’s terrorist detection and deterrent capabilities have been seriously eroded by the djt maga administration. And, our country’s cooperative, coordinated efforts in this regard with its heretofore allies have been severely damaged.
My final statement on our conversation re. the now Iran 🇮🇷 vs USA 🇺🇸/Israel 🇮🇱 war. There has been no information presented by djt and his administration that the USA 🇺🇸 was under an imminent threat from Iran 🇮🇷. Conversely, there’s an abundance of information indicating that Iran 🇮🇷 was depleted and, consequently, wanted the negotiation initiative to continue (the apparent most significant difficulty of the negotiations was that the USA 🇺🇸 kept moving the goal line). As I said the other day, djt and his administration sound like teenage kids 🧑🦱👩🦱 answering their parents' question ~ why did you endanger the family and its residence doing what you knew wasn't permitted? Blah, blah, blah ....... as they throw everything against the wall to see if anything sticks.
The Constitution and laws of the USA 🇺🇸 require the POTUS to seek the approval of Congress to engage in war against another sovereign nation. If there was sound reason to enter a state of war with Iran, the administration through the National Security Council (which has been MIA) should have built the case and brought it to Congress for authorization. My God, the USA 🇺🇸 is still recovering ❤️🩹 from 20 years of war (authorized by the Congress based on false claims) to destroy Iraq’s 🇮🇶 WMDs (which did not exist), and to change the government there and in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 ~ when all we should have done after 9/11 was decimate al-Qaeda (many members of which were from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦).
The only conclusion that I can reach is the obvious one ~ our ‘supreme leader’ started his war with Iran to change the subject from Epstein and the leader’s other publicly detestable domestic initiatives.
The only hope that I now have for the preservation of our beloved USA 🇺🇸 is that the free & fair voting 🗳️ capabilities of ‘We the People’ are preserved. This hope is far from certain.
Joe was talking about the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump made him a martyr.
The Ayatollah was a major Spiritual Leader for the 260 million Shiite Muslims in the world.
I have two words: Salman Rushdie.
The Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Salman Rushdie in 1989 right before he died and his successor was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was 33 years later that Rushdie was brutally attacked with a knife in New York City.
Muslims have a long memory.
What do you think the Shiite faithful will do to avenge the killing and martyrdom of their Spiritual Leader by Trump at the behest of Israel and "Bibi" Netanyahu?
Cheeto And Ritual Humiliation: Understanding Fascist Leaders
In a wonderful conversation between two historians and heroes of mine, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Tim Snyder(https://bit.ly/4lcOvUc) take a look at past fascistic regimes and compare it to the current regime
The common theme of fascist leaders is that they are all malignant narcissists which means they are social psychopaths that don’t care at all for the people they represent as the leader of their societal governments As Snyder points out, the people of the electorate are treated not as humans but as objects to be used and discarded at the psychopaths whim
Which then led to the theme of ritual humiliation The sociopath is not satisfied in just firing people but in humiliating them on the way out Take Noem for example She learns about her firing on Truth Social after she gave a speech to a group of MAGA supporters Or the military in general Treated as objects who gave their lives for the country only now to have GI benefits pulled away from them It’s the ultimate fuck you And in a show of humiliating loyalty the recipient says on the way out “Thank you dear leader"
Cheeto hates Americans because WE the People are a constant threat to his power Figuratively he will end up like Mussolini hanging dead upside down at a gas station in Milan That’s what Cheeto is scared of And he should be
I'm watching this a few days late. I still want to thank you Joe for bringing up the fact that the Ayatollah was also a religious leader. Trump and his cronies may be stupid enough not to have known that killing him during Ramadan would anger even Iranians who didn't hate Americans before this began. Guarantee frigging Netanyahu knew it would anger and worse killing him during their holiest times. How can any country trust us when not once but twice attacked/bombed a country while they were supposed to be in negations'!! Trump and the GOP have screwed us, Ukraine, our allies and the world with this deadly "excursion". Incompetence, narcissism and back-room deals don't come close describing this group of juveniles, war mongers' ignorance and shortsighted jerks who are lining Putin's coffers, the oil companies and most likely some of their pockets too! This is all at a cost to our service people and others lives! Great podcast guys!!
Arming the Kurds is one thing, but Kurds want an independent country. The Kurds are not going to form a new Iranian regime. So an independent Kurdistan is fine but I don’t see how this solves the Iranian problem. Turkey I would expect opposes a Kurdish country. We really don’t want Turkey to get involved here.
President Portly Bello needs to keep Kristi from writing a book. Some people read books.
Mr. Talarico sounded like , President Obama. Yet I was hoping for Representative Crockett! I couldn’t believe the cheating that took place In Texas! Especially considering Dallas County. Let’s hope those Republican voters come over to vote for Mr. Talarico.
Every time I drive down the street, gas is higher. Loyalty will only get you so far.
No, Joe, it’s not great that we killed the Ayatollah. It’s a counterproductive means of conducting foreign policy.
I thought higher gas prices could help sink trump, I didn't know that he would be so directly the one to make the price soar.
Too bad that didn't happen in N.Y. with the mayor race
Thank you! Great conversation.
earlier this week Washington Post interviewed 1000 folks. The folks identifying as republican/MAGA were solidly behind trump, BIBI and hegseth in this incursion to stop 'nuclear weapons' and take over the Middle East by Iran. Last August 2025, trump and hegseth claimed to have permanently wiped out Iran's nuclear capabilities.
There is no MAGA mutiny, no matter how hard you promote it. Listen to the interviews of folks in Texas, North Carolina, Louisianna, Florida, most red states and these folks who are proudly MAGA are not backing away and becoming even more fervent in accepting the savior, trump, actions.
Oh, how I wished there are members of the inner workings of Cabinet, Joint Chiefs and other TRUE CONSTITUTIONAL LOYALISTS to pull an Ides of March. If an Ides of March happens it will be conducted by Peter Thiel, Russell Vought, Elon Musk, AI billionaires, and others who will place Vance on the throne and dismantle the Constitution and there will be no mid-term elections.
You've got a point.
The true MAGA cult will never leave him. If Trump told them to drink the Kool-Aid (it was really Flavor-Aid) they would buy the cup of poison from him (because he'd be making a buck) then they'd go back to pay for seconds.
They're beyond hope. But they're only 25 - 30%. We're talking about the MAGA adjacent.
We only need to peel off 5 to 10% of those folks who were part of his support and that crashes his ambitions and ends the rest of the MAGA Republican's election prospects.
Add to all that ~
- The donald 🇺🇸/bibi 🇮🇱 war with Iran 🇮🇷 has a very high probability of begetting a campaign of terrorist attacks across the globe 🌎🌏🌍 by radicalized people, particularly by right wing Shia Muslims targeting Americans.
- The USA’s terrorist detection and deterrent capabilities have been seriously eroded by the djt maga administration. And, our country’s cooperative, coordinated efforts in this regard with its heretofore allies have been severely damaged.
🤞🙏❤️🩹🇺🇸🌎🌍🌏
A conversation with a friend:
My final statement on our conversation re. the now Iran 🇮🇷 vs USA 🇺🇸/Israel 🇮🇱 war. There has been no information presented by djt and his administration that the USA 🇺🇸 was under an imminent threat from Iran 🇮🇷. Conversely, there’s an abundance of information indicating that Iran 🇮🇷 was depleted and, consequently, wanted the negotiation initiative to continue (the apparent most significant difficulty of the negotiations was that the USA 🇺🇸 kept moving the goal line). As I said the other day, djt and his administration sound like teenage kids 🧑🦱👩🦱 answering their parents' question ~ why did you endanger the family and its residence doing what you knew wasn't permitted? Blah, blah, blah ....... as they throw everything against the wall to see if anything sticks.
The Constitution and laws of the USA 🇺🇸 require the POTUS to seek the approval of Congress to engage in war against another sovereign nation. If there was sound reason to enter a state of war with Iran, the administration through the National Security Council (which has been MIA) should have built the case and brought it to Congress for authorization. My God, the USA 🇺🇸 is still recovering ❤️🩹 from 20 years of war (authorized by the Congress based on false claims) to destroy Iraq’s 🇮🇶 WMDs (which did not exist), and to change the government there and in Afghanistan 🇦🇫 ~ when all we should have done after 9/11 was decimate al-Qaeda (many members of which were from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦).
The only conclusion that I can reach is the obvious one ~ our ‘supreme leader’ started his war with Iran to change the subject from Epstein and the leader’s other publicly detestable domestic initiatives.
The only hope that I now have for the preservation of our beloved USA 🇺🇸 is that the free & fair voting 🗳️ capabilities of ‘We the People’ are preserved. This hope is far from certain.
🤞🙏❤️🩹🇺🇸🌎🌍🌏
No boots on the ground...yet.
Joe was talking about the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump made him a martyr.
The Ayatollah was a major Spiritual Leader for the 260 million Shiite Muslims in the world.
I have two words: Salman Rushdie.
The Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa on Salman Rushdie in 1989 right before he died and his successor was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was 33 years later that Rushdie was brutally attacked with a knife in New York City.
Muslims have a long memory.
What do you think the Shiite faithful will do to avenge the killing and martyrdom of their Spiritual Leader by Trump at the behest of Israel and "Bibi" Netanyahu?
Joe, can we say "these guys [the convicted felon & company] just "Mr. Magoo'd their way into this quagmire?
Cheeto And Ritual Humiliation: Understanding Fascist Leaders
In a wonderful conversation between two historians and heroes of mine, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Tim Snyder(https://bit.ly/4lcOvUc) take a look at past fascistic regimes and compare it to the current regime
The common theme of fascist leaders is that they are all malignant narcissists which means they are social psychopaths that don’t care at all for the people they represent as the leader of their societal governments As Snyder points out, the people of the electorate are treated not as humans but as objects to be used and discarded at the psychopaths whim
Which then led to the theme of ritual humiliation The sociopath is not satisfied in just firing people but in humiliating them on the way out Take Noem for example She learns about her firing on Truth Social after she gave a speech to a group of MAGA supporters Or the military in general Treated as objects who gave their lives for the country only now to have GI benefits pulled away from them It’s the ultimate fuck you And in a show of humiliating loyalty the recipient says on the way out “Thank you dear leader"
Cheeto hates Americans because WE the People are a constant threat to his power Figuratively he will end up like Mussolini hanging dead upside down at a gas station in Milan That’s what Cheeto is scared of And he should be
Dark Triad Personality…