No U.S. troops were killed in Iran's missile strike on the United States on Saturday night. President Trump has an opportunity to have an off-ramp, declare victory, and to consider this a major win. Mark Halperin of Tuition USA joins us to discuss the strike and what it means for the future of the relationship with Iran.
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00:02:07.000Yeah, we did a special report on Tuay, had a big audience.
00:02:10.000And I think it's, you know, we hear a lot of negative stuff about America, American people media.
00:02:16.000I think people are really engaged in this in a substantive way.
00:02:19.000I know you hear it when you talk to people.
00:02:22.000I know I regularly flatter you, but it's all heartfelt.
00:02:25.000I think you've been so thoughtful about this as an analyst, but also as someone who's a player involved here, because this can be treated superficially.
00:02:34.000It can be treated as a red-blue divide.
00:02:54.000And there are ways that history suggests aren't.
00:02:56.000And I think I applaud you and everyone else, including my colleagues on Tuway, who are treating this like a serious thing rather than a political thing or a frivolous thing.
00:04:06.000Number two, it sent Iran and Israel both a message that the United States is, as Israel is doing, is seizing this opportunity, an unprecedented opportunity where Iran is as weak as it's been in quite some time, to show that the United States is going to partner with Israel.
00:04:24.000And then, number three, it showed America's technological superiority over every military in the world.
00:04:29.000And that means that not just Iran, but the folks in Beijing and elsewhere can be reminded that if the United States decides to use its military power, it's going to bring it to bear in a way with a technological and human proficiency that's unmatched by everybody else on the planet.
00:04:45.000That's an asymmetrical advantage for the United States.
00:04:48.000None of that means, though, that anybody knows, including the New York Times, including the administration, just how far back this has set the program.
00:04:56.000And I think it's going to take a lot of human intelligence and electronic surveillance to try to figure it out.
00:05:03.000There's no doubt that Iran did not go from being able to build a nuclear device and deliver it to being unable, completely unable to deliver it.
00:05:12.000And we need to figure that out as a news story.
00:05:15.000But the policymakers need to understand because that goes to the next moves for both Israel and the United States, whose stated goal is to remove that capability, at least for the time being.
00:05:25.000Breaking news, by the way, Axios is saying, we could put this up on screen.
00:05:29.000Israeli official says that Iran has now fired towards Qatar and Iraq.
00:05:35.000Mark, what is the significance of this?
00:05:37.000We're going to know a lot very quickly of the payload and the intent of the Iranian military.
00:05:45.000A lot of our troops are sitting ducks in the region.
00:06:05.000I'm not saying it's the only possible outcome, but I think there's a good possibility that Iran will do something like what they've just reportedly done, tell their people it was a huge success and the full retaliation, and stand down.
00:06:18.000And I know there are people in the administration who are familiar with that possibility as well.
00:06:23.000They may also decide to activate whatever remaining forces they have, both on their own and through proxies, To try to harm the United States and United States allies.
00:06:33.000And that'll put a lot of pressure on President Trump to decide what he wants to do.
00:06:38.000His rhetoric suggests that if Iran does that, the U.S. will respond quite forcefully.
00:06:43.000But Israel's taking out a lot of targets now.
00:06:45.000So I'm not sure what's left for the U.S. to hit, but there's certainly ways to ratchet this up.
00:06:50.000So if a single American life is lost, I think the president will act quite in quite full force.
00:07:00.000Yeah, and so this has been a little bit telegraphed, though.
00:07:02.000We've kind of heard this for the last hour or two hours.
00:07:05.000I'm texting with a reporter right now who's just about, I'd say you're a better reporter, Mark, but he's almost at the Helperin League of Excellence.
00:07:13.000He says, quote, it sounds like based on what our reporting, this was telegraphed and designed to avoid casualties.
00:07:20.000Why would Iran telegraph and design a military attack to avoid casualties?
00:07:25.000Well, along the lines of what I said, they have to appease their people.
00:07:32.000Their whole premise of governance has been on the military front, the geopolitical front, we're going to stand up to the big Satan and the little Satan.
00:07:41.000And people in Iran know that the United States and Israel both have now attacked the Iranian assets.
00:07:48.000And I think, again, they've done this at least twice now, where they don't want to bring the full measure of the United States force upon them.
00:07:57.000But they need to tell their people they've done something.
00:07:59.000And they can tell the Iranian people they did respond.
00:08:02.000And they can exaggerate the degree of success and the tit for tat nature of the response.
00:08:08.000And that's what many people think they'll do.
00:08:15.000It's not like they get one chance to respond.
00:08:17.000They may respond that way and then respond a different way.
00:08:20.000Charlie, I think the biggest variable in all of this is the Iranian people and what the government feels they need to do to appease them or keep them from demanding a change in government or have a perception that they're a failed regime.
00:08:34.000And we don't know most of the reporting out of Iran, and I'm unfortunately not in a position to do much reporting there directly, but most of the reporting suggests that they're rallying around the government.
00:08:43.000They're reacting negatively to Israel and the United States.
00:08:48.000And that's good for the government because that means they've got more leeway in how they respond without having to worry about losing face with their own people.
00:08:55.000Okay, six missiles launched so far by Iran right now as we're here on air towards Qatar.
00:09:26.000If these missiles are successfully intercepted and no U.S. troops die, what does your reporting show, Mark, about how President Trump would respond?
00:09:34.000Do you think he will take an off-ramp and then kind of just put this thing, consider it done if no U.S. troops die?
00:09:42.000In the short term, I do think that's what the president would do if it's just some buildings hit.
00:09:47.000However, there's an ongoing issue, right?
00:09:50.000The president, you know, to the extent, and again, you've taken heat, as you said, both, you know, called an isolationist and called a warmonger.
00:09:59.000The president is committed to not letting Iran develop a nuclear capability or intercontinental ballistic capability.
00:10:06.000The Israelis seem to be on this and they continue to not only hit our targets in Iran, but with a great deal of confidence.
00:10:13.000But if there's another element of the mission, like we saw over the weekend, where the United States capability can get it done and Israel can't, they don't have the B-2s and the bunker busters, then I think the president would go back for more.
00:10:26.000But I think the goal is to say, deter Iran from striking American forces around the world, deter them from hitting American forces in the United States, and hope that Israel can do what both the United States and Israel say they want, which is to eliminate that missile capability and that nuclear capability.
00:10:44.000We're getting some of the video now that we're going to put up.
00:10:46.000Sorry, Mark, this is all just breaking news in real time here.
00:10:53.000So, and by the way, feel free to check your phone, Mark, if you're getting sources and you're getting information too live on air.
00:10:58.000The skies of Qatar are lighting up right now as interceptions seem to be occurring, and we're going to try to load up those videos.
00:11:06.000Mark, what does this say for the MAGA doctrine, for the Trump doctrine?
00:11:11.000If there is an off-ramp, President Trump has kind of created a third way.
00:11:15.000We've kind of always existed in, hey, either you're a dove or you're a hawk.
00:11:19.000President Trump has always existed kind of in between those two modalities.
00:11:25.000What does this mean for the Trump doctrine and the Trump foreign policy worldview?
00:11:31.000Speak loudly, carry a big stick, use it when necessary, and no boots on the ground.
00:11:38.000I find people who are surprised by how President Trump is handling this to be guilty of not paying attention.
00:11:44.000He's doing exactly what he said he would do.
00:11:47.000People say, well, this is a slippery slope.
00:11:50.000No, he's not going to put boots on the ground.
00:11:52.000They're not going to be American forces on the ground.
00:11:54.000There's going to be no nation building.
00:11:56.000There's going to be no attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Iranian people.
00:12:00.000There'll be a lot of rhetoric about how the Iranian people, as the president put on Truth Social yesterday, how the Iranian people should consider changing their government because their government has not performed in their best interest.
00:12:14.000And I think you'll continue to see overwhelming forced use to take out whatever needs to be taken out to make sure that Iran cannot be a nuclear power.
00:12:23.000Other than that, I think it's up to the Iranian government.
00:12:27.000If they kill an American, one single American, then I think you'll see massive retaliation.
00:12:32.000And the president made that clear to them.
00:12:34.000That doesn't mean boots on the ground.
00:12:38.000The Israelis have helped clear the way by making the Iranian Air Force and anti-air capacity quite limited.
00:12:47.000And so I think the president, as he said over the weekend, and the experts I talked to concur, the mission that was carried out over the weekend is the tough one.
00:12:55.000The ability of the United States to destroy government buildings, political things, bases, the Navy, that's fishing a barrel for the U.S. military.
00:13:10.000I just want to put this up on screen of some of the interceptions that are happening over Qatar.
00:13:14.000Now, remember, this is very ballsy for Iran to do because Qatar and Iran, I don't want to say they're allies, but there's definitely something that's been going on there with oil.
00:13:23.000And they're closer than Saudi Arabia and Iran.
00:13:25.000So this is quite a maneuver for Iran to do.
00:13:28.000But look at that, those interceptions happening over the skies of Qatar right now.
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00:15:04.000I don't know what your reporting is showing as well.
00:15:06.000But that could be another victory for President Trump to show the capacity for the U.S. military to intercept these missiles.
00:15:13.000There's also alarms that are ringing in Iraq and Bahrain.
00:15:17.000And the source of the interception is probably aerial interception and also Patriot missiles from the bases.
00:15:24.000Again, we need triple confirmation on that.
00:15:26.000So, Mark, really quick, what do you make of the politics of all this and kind of the response that you've seen from MAGA Faithful over the last couple of days?
00:15:35.000You're very uniquely positioned as a reporter to comment on this.
00:15:38.000As we get more information about this aerial attack against U.S. bases, what do you make of the politics of all this?
00:15:44.000Well, on the Republican side, I think the stories about MAGA meltdown are exaggerated.
00:15:52.000There's a few people like Marjorie Taylor Greene who are on principle opposed to this.
00:15:57.000I hear it on two-way from MAGA folks who say this is a violation of what the president has stood for.
00:16:04.000But most people, and I put you and Professor Bannon in this category, I think have participated in the debate in a responsible way.
00:16:12.000Most members of Republicans in Congress saying, let's make sure that this is done consistent, not with just American principles, but consistent with the principles learned over the last several decades, maybe from Vietnam onward, saying America cannot win these wars and America shouldn't get into wars that they can't win.
00:16:31.000But at the same time, using air power and superiority to achieve a specific objective, one that the president has talked about for such a long time, making sure they're not a nuclear power is a big one.
00:16:42.000I think the Democratic Party, perhaps not surprisingly, is just a mess on this.
00:16:48.000I've yet to hear any Democrat enunciate what seems to be the obvious position, which is support our troops, demand that the Iranian government not have nuclear capability or intercontinental ballistic missiles, and say that the president's obligated to work with Congress whenever he's going to put American forces in harm's way.
00:17:08.000That's like the easy, sensible position that's patriotic and rational and doesn't give Donald Trump everything he wants.
00:17:15.000And yet, like I said, I've heard almost no Democrat talk about it.
00:17:19.000I'll be super curious to see if the president's poll numbers go up because normally that would happen.
00:17:26.000It looks like there's more ballistic missiles right now launched at Bahrain.
00:17:30.000So it looks as if they're going after multiple targets.
00:17:32.000Based on reporting happening real time here on the program, it looks like the Qatar missile strikes were intercepted and all six headed to Doha were neutralized, intercepted.
00:17:42.000Huge victory for the U.S. military and for the Saudis and the Qataris and the British.
00:17:47.000So basically, how I, again, as a very layman understanding, but basically we fly a bunch of fighter jets and we try to send out a bunch of flares and disruptors that try to make the missiles explode in air.
00:18:03.000Bahrain and Kuwait and Iraq are probably the next three targets right here on the program as Iran looks to retaliate from the U.S. bombing on nuclear sites.
00:18:35.000You got to worry about Iraq, too, because there's a history there of not through the air, but just human assets on the ground who have the capacity to attack American forces.
00:18:47.000Those bases, of course, over years now have been fortified and they're pretty well secured.
00:18:53.000But you never know if this is a desperate time for the Iranians when they may start to activate long-held assets who are in a position to do harm to America.
00:19:02.000The air defenses, as Israel has shown in this part of the world, are very good.
00:19:07.000Israel shoots down a very high percentage of attacks on them from all quarters.
00:19:12.000And you mentioned a list of countries for whom this is a victory.
00:19:14.000I know you didn't do it on purpose, but just to live rattle, Israel, a big part of this as well, in terms of intelligence sharing, in terms of technology.
00:19:24.000So, Mark, right now, again, reports are showing French, British, and American fighter Jets are all over the Persian Gulf, just kind of going nuts.
00:19:33.000I want you to remind the audience, though, when we took out Soleimani, we were able to get out with zero U.S. troops.
00:19:38.000So, this would not be unprecedented where we do something with a lot of chutzpah, where we do something where President Trump really acts with decisiveness, with violence, but then we're able to get out without a single U.S. troop dead.
00:19:51.000To do that twice, Mark, would be a rather phenomenal accomplishment in the modern era, Mark Halprin.
00:19:58.000Well, it has to do with the extraordinary capabilities of the Pentagon, right?
00:20:02.000They're following the orders of the commander-in-chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the president puts a premium on that.
00:20:07.000He doesn't want a single casualty, but it also has to do with his attitude.
00:20:11.000His attitude is, again, speak loudly, carry a big stick, only use it when absolutely essential, and he doesn't want Americans to die.
00:20:20.000This continues to be the less failure to understand Donald Trump when they call him a warmonger.
00:20:26.000He's extremely aware of the cost, not just for American families, but for American prestige and the military's capacity when America suffers casualties.
00:20:37.000And that's why, again, I just, people who worry about him saying, well, we're going to go in and start building firehouses and parks and schools in Iran.
00:21:27.000In some ways, they were kind of sitting ducks.
00:21:29.000So it sounds like there might be a successful missile launch, successful in the worst possible way, to say those words, on a U.S. base in Iraq.
00:21:41.000Also, sirens at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia.
00:21:44.000This looks like they're doing a major volley here, Mark.
00:21:47.000And look, this is one of the many things that people worried about, people who did not think the U.S. attack on the nuclear program was a good idea for worried about just this.
00:21:57.000And now there's going to be a question of how long do they keep it up?
00:22:01.000And if they do, what is President Trump's response?
00:22:05.000There's also a possibility of force of communication and to say to the Iranians, okay, you got your measure of revenge.
00:22:12.000Now let's negotiate or we will reply in greater force.
00:22:18.000That will, I predict, be what the president does.
00:22:20.000I think he will make one more effort to get them to the table.
00:22:23.000And if they don't come promptly to the table in a realistic way, I think you will see, as he suggested over the weekend, overwhelming force.
00:22:34.000And Mark, just to repeat a point that we've made over the last couple of weeks, and this is not in any way, and I told you so, this was just a cautionary element.
00:22:43.000When we get into these situations, you don't know what's going to happen.
00:23:12.000And I know full well the president went into it asking questions about and knowing full well all the things that could go wrong and still decided it was worth it.
00:23:20.000And the American people are going to continue to debate no matter what happens, whether it was the right choice or not.
00:23:25.000And that's as it should be in a democracy of robust freedom.
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00:25:58.000So we'll be probably waiting for reports To come in.
00:26:01.000So, Mark, we have Mark Halperin with us.
00:26:03.000By the way, I want you guys to email us, freedom at charliekirk.com as we are monitoring this situation live as it is unfolding in front of us.
00:26:12.000Coalition of jets, this is breaking news, coalition of jets intercepting Iranian drones over Qatar, Iraq, Saudi, and UAE airspaces.
00:26:21.000So, looks, can we get the map break up again?
00:27:22.000So there's definitely the belief, the big worry is, if they hit us, are they going to actually try to cause as much damage as they can?
00:27:30.000Or is it they need to show that they're willing to fight, much like we did, you remember this in Trump's first term, where when we took out Soleimani, they shot missiles at us to sort of impress their own domestic political base, but they weren't really attempting to do as much damage as they could.
00:27:47.000They were not going to all-out war over this.
00:27:50.000And we might see a similar strategy here.
00:27:54.000On the other hand, it could also be they're testing it, probing it, seeing what might be vulnerable, or just trying to deplete our stockpile of interceptor missiles.
00:28:05.000Iran says it has now launched what is called Operation Bakarat Al-Fatah against the U.S.-led coalition of the air base in Al-Uyded in Qatar.
00:28:14.000The IRGC is to release a statement shortly, which means that this is probably coming to a conclusion, to an end.
00:28:46.000I just, this Kuwait is the most Middle Eastern picture.
00:28:48.000I'm sorry, this is the most Middle Eastern video ever.
00:28:50.000It literally shows missiles being intercepted and a bunch of yachts.
00:28:54.000No, no, no, you got to show the Kuwait one I just sent.
00:28:57.000It's literally a bunch of yachts and then a bunch of yachts on the bottoms part in water and then a bunch of missiles being intercepted above and a bunch of like four season like luxury condominiums.
00:29:09.000That is the most Middle Eastern video you'll ever see.
00:29:13.000You just need like a guy to be like going through with like an AK-47 that's gold plated or something that he just like sprays in the air.
00:29:41.000We're texting a lot of the stakeholders.
00:29:43.000Those that are not currently in skips right now, we're texting.
00:29:46.000We're getting information in real time.
00:29:48.000Okay, so Iranian missiles are being intercepted, but it looks as if, unfortunately, there have been three successful strikes in bases in Iraq.
00:29:56.000But we don't know if those are intercepted missiles that maybe made their way through.
00:30:05.000And so, by the way, this why every minute matters.
00:30:07.000The fact that there was almost an hour and a half or two hour heads up means that everybody could have gotten in vehicles and drove off base.
00:32:13.000If they do not kill an American and they just bomb a bunch of our equipment, take the W. Take the W. You will be able to say you did the most successful military operation in history, taking out a nuclear program with no U.S. troops dies.
00:32:27.000If that ends up bearing out, we do not know that is true.
00:32:33.000It would be by far the biggest win for, I think, the way trump sees his own military stuff of i will act decisively but without you know with a clear objective without any open-ended commitment if he's able to even you know even temporarily or significantly set back the nuclear program let alone destroy it if he can say i blew this 20-year threat to some marines and all they did was they shot some bottle rockets at us and killed nobody that is a big win for us and we don't we don't want to we don't want to get that americans
00:33:04.000might be dying right now so we want to say that with humility this is big breaking news the Qatari Ministry of Defense reports that Qatari air defenses intercepted a missile attack aimed at the Ayued airbase and so by the way thank you Qatar I know that there's been a lot of anti-Qatari language and we haven't really gotten into that but if it's true that Qatari air defenses intercepted a missile then they might have saved American lives so you have to there has to be definitely some moral clarity there and
00:33:34.000again there's a lot of language that okay Qatar funds the pro-Hamas crowd that seems to also be true but it might be a very complicated actor the Strait of Hormuz has not been closed down any reports that demonstrate that really quick Blake I'm going to test you in 30 seconds what is the Strait of Hormuz what would it mean if they close it so that's the Hormuz all right the Persian Gulf is that little body of water that you imagine going up to Iraq and then past that is the Arabian Sea that's the Indian Ocean the Strait of Hormuz is the narrow body of water that goes through it I believe it's named after
00:34:04.000an island that the Portuguese owned and that is the narrowest part so Iran could mine it they could shoot missiles at it and ships would not want to go in there because they don't want to get hit and price would go way up a huge amount of the world's oil passes through that strait on its way to global markets email us freedom at charliekirk.com I want to know what you are thinking about all this whyrefi.com private student loan debt in America totals about $300 billion whyRefi has been an amazing partner of us and it's only getting started they were a huge supporter
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00:35:05.000many clients are not able to even make the first monthly payment on their private student loans when they contact why refi go to yrefi.com again they don't care what your credit score is you got to check it out right now at yrefi.com whyrefi is not a debt settlement company and they work with each borrower individually tailoring each loan to each borrower's specific situation you will not be calling a faceless call center go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com alex marlow joins us editor-in-chief of breitbart news
00:35:36.000okay this we want to we want to proceed with a lot of humility and caution i do want to say though that i have a great deal of of relief that at least the attacks on qar seem to have not killed any americans that is the most target rich of all the targets it's the biggest base it's geographically one of the closest and if it's true that all those were intercepted that would be a major major victory cnn said that 10 missiles were fired into qatar one into iraq and
00:36:05.000we will now stay live here and analyze in real time alex marlow what are we seeing potentially alex marlow it looks like president trump could walk away with one of the most remarkable u.s foreign policy victories if all if all continues as it is right now which would be taking out the nuclear capability while also no u.s troops potentially being killed alex marlow again i put a major asterisk on that it's really important about what's happening with qatar because this is a point i wanted to make to you today is
00:36:36.000that the coalitions here around the world trump has brought in a broader coalition on his side and on america's side america is the alpha here absolutely and i know there's some misconceptions about that but trump is playing this perfectly and one of the things is qatar was seen as adversarial a few years ago now they're seen as largely cooperative and they want to get closer to us look what's happening on the other side with iran right now one of iran's biggest backers russia russia is trying everything they can not to help them why is this it's because of trump and they don't want to cause any more problems
00:37:06.000with trump right now and this is a big deal so who's going to come in on iran's behalf on behalf of this unpopular regime uh probably no one maybe the venezuelans which is what are they going to do there it's it's seriously the thinnest coalition imaginable which is i think why trump and israel moved the way they've moved but the qatar incident that you've highlighted is so crucial because it shows you the broadening coalition in the middle east for peace and against war that they think this is the quickest path to a path to a more peaceful region as led by trump two
00:37:36.000things number one i'm going to give aguila a shout out on telegram their reporting has been actually very very good the last couple days um and so thank you to aguila on telegram you guys give him a follow secondly um iran is now saying that they fired a missile at for every bomb that was dropped on us this seems very theatrical like again i don't want to laugh did they really say that yeah they did i do not want to laugh because americans actually might be dead right now we do not have the full casualty report but i just want to just take a big sigh
00:38:07.000of relief it looks like in qar the most target rich of all the targets the one that we were worried about the most because they fired 10 missiles at Qatar and one into Iraq that that looks to be no casualties so far and so we just want to kind of take a deep breath and say thank you Lord for protecting our U.S. troops in Qatar because that is the biggest U.S. base in the entire region and so Alex what do you make of this and Alex I apologize I might interrupt you at any moment here because there's so much breaking news here for
00:38:37.000example the Iranian National Security Council stated the missile strike on the American al-Uded base in Qatar does not pose a threat to the brotherly nation of Qatar whatever that means okay so but Alex is it possible that Iran was just kind of doing international theater here check the box kind of show their domestic strength while not trying to further provoke the American military might as I say that Buran has just urged all of its citizens to
00:39:07.000seek immediate shelter but Alex Marlowe comment on that.
00:39:11.000Yeah, they've taken a very aggressive rhetorical approach, and they're obviously trying to fight back with whatever they can, but their missile capabilities are drastically weakened, and they have almost no ability to quickly generate more because Israel has targeted a lot of the sites from where they fire the ballistic missiles.
00:39:30.000But also, no nation wants to come in on their behalf because they're in a losing proposition.
00:41:02.000Iran has filed 10 missiles at Qatar, one at Iraq, and it looks like something is happening towards Bahrain.
00:41:07.000I'm by no means a military expert, but here's my rule when it comes to all military things, is if you as an American citizen can't understand it, then they have not done a good enough job explaining it because that stuff's actually not as complicated.
00:43:37.000Okay, email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:43:40.000Again, there will be a time for a victory lap.
00:43:42.000I just want to say, if President Trump is able to come out of this with no U.S. troops, with a performative response, U.S. troops died, a performative response, with incredible display of U.S. military might against Fordeau and against Istafan, against Natans, this could be one of the most clear military victories that we've seen in quite some time.
00:44:05.000And by the way, keeping the entire Middle East coalition together.
00:44:09.000That would be another win for the MAGA Doctrine.
00:44:11.000I literally wrote the book, The MAGA Doctrine, a couple years ago, and keeping all these international and regional partners together.
00:44:17.000And we don't know what kind of drones these are, but it just seems right now, the indication so far is that this has been somewhat of a theatrical response on behalf of Iran.
00:44:28.000I'm not saying ballistic missiles aren't real, but they kind of gave us a two to three hour heads up, which, by the way, shows that President Trump is winning here and they fear America and they want America to kind of back off and everybody's kind of seeking an off-ramp here.
00:44:43.000Right now, breaking news, U.S. aircraft takes off from the Saudi Arabia airbase.
00:45:44.000They said, We just launched a very devastating and powerful missile attack.
00:45:47.000By the way, we should never trust anything the Iranian social media ever says again.
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00:46:55.000Iran is kind of saying this was devastating and powerful.
00:46:59.000It was devastating what President Trump did to you, just for the record.
00:47:04.000I want to just ask a question here really quick, Alex.
00:47:07.000If we are able to get this to a settlement, declare victory, which is legitimate, will this go a long way to making sure the MAGA coalition stays unified?
00:47:17.000Yeah, I think the timing of it for the MAGA coalition, Charlie, it's high stakes.
00:47:20.000I know you've been hyper-conscious of this, and it's really wise to be this way.
00:47:24.000This is one where if this is a clear, decisive victory, and it takes place in the next week or two, which I think that is exactly where we're on track, it could go wrong at any minute.
00:47:32.000But if this happens in the next week or two, a clear, decisive victory, where you've got a situation where Israel Netanyahu's been a fixture of public life for 30 years and his main goal has been to protect Israel from Iran.
00:47:43.000And Iran has done numerous devastating things to America, including shooting at our Navy fighters with the Houthis, et cetera, funding all sorts of terror proxies all around the world and pursuing the destruction of America.
00:47:56.000If Trump could devastate their nuclear facilities the way he's done apparently, from what we've been told, and he can pull out of the region without American casualties, without any further wars, without any ground troops going in, I think he could reassure the entire MAGA base that this is the way forward.
00:48:12.000This is the peace through strength approach.
00:48:14.000This is what America First is all about.
00:48:16.000There are many places where things can get fractured along the way.
00:48:19.000But if that happens clearly and decisively, I think he's going to start restoring trust in a lot of Americans who do not trust our leadership and our government.
00:48:26.000And it could be a huge moment for the future of the country.
00:48:29.000Very quick, Blake, just from a, it looks like some of the Jets are now returning.
00:48:34.000It seems as if the attack is simmering down.
00:48:36.000There could have been one impact in Iraq al-Assad airbase.
00:49:01.000We haven't had new reports of additional missiles coming in.
00:49:03.000And I feel like if this was going to get worse, it's basically early in the evening there.
00:49:08.000So in theory, this could be the opening wave, and you could see more stuff launched over the course of the night.
00:49:14.000They have many hours to do that before daylight arrives.
00:49:16.000But so far, it seems it might really just be one volley of missiles, declare victory, go home.
00:49:22.000Okay, so let me just kind of go to some of these reports here.
00:49:25.000It seems like there was a lot of talk from Iran.
00:49:29.000This seems to be largely a theatrical show.
00:49:32.000A lot of the parties, it seems like, knew the plot and the outcome in advance.
00:49:36.000And this was permitted largely to allow Iranians as a way to save face.
00:49:42.000So again, if that ends up being true and no Americans being killed, it is now an incredible victory.
00:49:50.000And we shouldn't have any focus on regime change or any of that, but we can now reconfigure our intent on the American homeland, on deportations, on the border.
00:49:59.000Again, we're looking at this right now.
00:50:02.000Israeli Jets are now moving into strike Iran.
00:50:04.000Okay, that's a whole separate dynamic here.
00:50:06.000But is it possible the American chapter of this might actually be closed?
00:50:13.000And I think the most likely and most favorable scenario, again, there's so many caveats I could add to this, but you guys will see where I'm going with this.
00:50:21.000Israel will continue to pummel Iran for the next week or two, continue to devastate them because they do not have any aerial defense right now, and Israel is going to take advantage.
00:50:31.000Both sides have said they want this war to end quickly, and we cannot be involved in any sort of regime change because regime change will go on and on and on.
00:50:38.000There's going to be a lot of people who are going to try to tempt us into some sort of regime change war.
00:50:42.000That is not our fight or that is not our fight.
00:51:42.000And he's always said that they are not going to be allowed to have nuclear capabilities.
00:51:45.000He's been saying this for a decade and a half.
00:51:47.000So obviously, if they're going to continue to flaunt him when he's in a position of deep power and they've been very much weakened by Israeli strikes over the last few weeks, of course, this was going to be something that Trump was going to do.
00:51:58.000He said he was going to wait two weeks, typical, Unpredictable Trump fashion.
00:52:01.000He only waited a couple days, dropped some devastating attacks, and now he's out.
00:52:05.000And the American public is on the side of aerial defense.
00:52:09.000They're not on the side of regime change.
00:52:10.000And my prediction is Trump will stick with that.
00:54:03.000Well, because when you think about like what were we hope, what are we hoping to get done here?
00:54:08.000The reason we got involved is hopefully to do as much damage to Iran's nuclear program as possible because that was what Trump's goal was.
00:54:15.000He says Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.
00:54:17.000And when we think, what are the bad outcomes that could happen here?
00:54:21.000The bad outcome is we get sucked into some sort of cycle of constant strike and retaliation and strike back.
00:54:28.000It would be a huge failure case if we end up with boots on the ground.
00:54:32.000And how do you end up in a situation with boots on the ground, even if you say you don't?
00:54:35.000If you're constantly having these strikes go back and forth, if, oh, we need to get back at them for something they did.
00:54:42.000And if this strike did in fact have no casualties, we kind of have the perfect excuse to go, all right, they made their response and it was totally impotent.
00:54:51.000We clearly don't even need to worry about what they have to shoot at us other than their nuclear program, which we just hit and did a bunch of damage to.
00:54:59.000It perfectly works out for us to be able to say, we win, we take our ball, we go home.
00:55:04.000No impacts at the Al-Uded air base in Qatar.
00:55:08.000And so that is from every source that we have as well.
00:55:11.000Okay, everybody, email us freedom at charliekirk.com.
00:55:15.000So right now, Iran coordinated attacks on the U.S. airbase in Qatar with Qatari officials, providing advance notice to minimize casualties.
00:55:48.000I mean, it almost makes this sound like pro wrestling or something.
00:55:51.000Like, you know, if you ever watch it, they have the whole like, you know, throw the punch, but the guy's ready for it and like pulls his head back.
00:55:58.000It's like, oh, we're going to strike at you guys to show we're serious, but we're going to announce it in advance.
00:56:04.000You're going to see everything coming and it's going to be aimed really badly.
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00:57:40.000Just to be clear, though, U.S. officials are now saying, this is the U.S. officials are now saying that Iran, that, I'm trying to find this here.
00:57:50.000U.S. officials are now saying that this was largely symbolic.
00:57:53.000Trump has no intention of retaliation against Iran after its failed retaliation attempt.
00:57:59.000Alex Marlow, if that's true, is this not a very powerful narrative to be able to present to the American people that, look, there was risk involved, but there ended up being no casualties and no death to American troops?
00:58:13.000Yeah, I think that what we've seen here is Trump basically executing a plan that is very straightforward.
00:58:20.000He's a man of his word, and Iran has not shown any willingness to be cooperative in the slightest.
00:58:26.000And I think that, you know, it's just not true.
00:58:28.000The facts are on Trump's side that he was not manipulated into This.
00:58:30.000I know there's a perception online that Israel somehow coaxed Trump into war.
00:58:34.000Israel was freaking out that Trump could throw them under the bus.
00:58:37.000We, of course, have a lot of sources in Israel, and there's a lot of people who are deeply concerned that Trump is not a fan of Netanyahu, does not want to fight wars on his behalf.
00:58:44.000But Iran went right after Trump by continuing to enrich and continuing to fund those proxies, despite him pleading with them, please stop.
00:59:01.000Soleimani, the taking out the Wagner troops in Syria, pro-arming, pro-actively arming Ukraine, cutting out Nord Stream 2 to affect the Russians.
00:59:11.000Trump has been highly aggressive when people are not cooperative with him.
00:59:14.000And then he does a one-off move, maybe two or three moves at the most, and then he backs off.
00:59:19.000He's a peacetime president, but he understands being unpredictable is the quickest way to peace.
00:59:23.000If he stops here where he's at now, that will be the narrative and it will be a winning narrative over time.
00:59:28.000And Alex, let's just kind of reiterate this point, though, that, hey, for low propensity voters, they don't like the foreign intervention and all this.
00:59:44.000We need to be deeply cautious of every political coalition in this country is tenuous, and it is very important that when you're in charge and you have to do stuff, there's nothing that's a hundred to zero issue.
00:59:55.000So every time Trump makes a move, there's always a risk that some of the base, some of the movement is not going to understand it.
01:00:00.000It's imperative on the messengers and on Trump himself and on his administration to make that case to the public in an effective way.
01:00:09.000But there are a lot of people who are new to the movement who do not understand why some of us like Israel so much and understand that deep history.
01:00:17.000And they don't want to feel like Trump got manipulated into war.
01:00:20.000I know for a fact that's not why Trump did this, but that is on the people who want to see this movement to be strong to make that case to the people who are skeptical of everything.
01:00:28.000Charlie, they're skeptical of everything for good reason.
01:00:30.000After all the COVID stuff and after all the lying, after the 2020 election, people are skeptical of the government, and it is imperative upon us to make that case to them.
01:00:38.000Blake, do you have a comment here on kind of news that we're seeing?
01:00:41.000Well, so, I mean, there's not much news right now.
01:00:43.000One of the funny things about this is just you get war has like long lulls in it, and then you just have these shows where you react.
01:00:50.000For now, nothing new is happening on the strikes front.
01:01:45.000And President Donald Trump is able to act in a decisive way.
01:01:52.000You don't have to agree with it, but I'm going to ask the question, though, okay, if no U.S. troops die, and this is the end of the chapter, hasn't he yet, again, earned your trust on this stuff?
01:02:04.000Syria, Soleimani, al-Baghdadi, American troops have not died in these situations.
01:02:50.000I want those maha moms reached out to.
01:02:53.000It is the Epstein files are not going to, no one's going to be happy about that stuff.
01:02:57.000And that continues to erode the trust in the people, the normal people, the new people in Trump's coalition.
01:03:04.000And those people need to be focused on starting with the immigration agenda, getting those tax cuts going, all the things that Trump had promised.
01:03:10.000That needs to get done next in order to solidify that he's a man of his word, which I think he is.
01:03:31.000If we get the successful off-ramp, this just becomes, I mean, how many details do you remember about the Soleimani thing?
01:03:37.000How many details do you remember about the Iran drone crisis?
01:03:41.000Can you remember the month either of those things happened?
01:03:44.000Probably at this point, some of us could, but I bet most people, they couldn't tell you the exact number of, you know, war crises we had with Iran in the first Trump term or when they happened.
01:03:54.000And I think the biggest win for Trump would be if in a year from now, people can't even quite remember exactly when this happened.
01:04:02.000President Donald Trump, this is breaking news from Axios, his administration was aware of the Iranian attack in advance.
01:05:08.000Well, if we get out of it, I think it's probably mostly positive.
01:05:12.000I think our adversaries, if they had a hope, you know, what could happen to America, they would be thinking, oh, could America get into another conflict that will deplete them and distract them?
01:05:23.000I imagine Russia would love it if we got in an Iranian quagmire because that would probably mean the end to any significant support to Ukraine.
01:05:30.000China might see, oh, this is going to slow down their pivot to Asia.
01:05:34.000Maybe that's our chance to go for Taiwan.
01:05:37.000If we get out of this quickly, I think that might make them think, well, one, they're not distracted.
01:05:42.000And two, we saw U.S. military hardware on display.
01:05:48.000It seems any talk about America's armed forces being, you know, a paper tiger might be overblown.
01:05:54.000And that could assist us in a lot of our international relations.
01:05:58.000And also, if we're able to successfully kind of put Iran in a corner, that can definitely improve the relationships we've been building in the Middle East.
01:09:22.000It could turn out maybe Iran did a minor response because they already know a lot of their nuclear material is fine.
01:09:28.000And so they just don't want to antagonize the U.S. because they can just get right back to getting that underway again.
01:09:35.000So I don't think we should overreact to things, but I think the reaction, to the extent it exists, is a mixture of cautious optimism and making fun of Iran.
01:09:47.000So the response seems to be largely theatrical, but it looks as if based on all reporting, and we're going to hear from the U.S. officials and the U.S. administration sometime soon, doesn't look like the United States is going to respond.
01:10:02.000Again, there's a lot of fog of war going on.
01:10:57.000And so from a diplomatic standpoint, and now a U.S. domestic one, what would you say, Blake, is the lesson or the takeaway if no U.S. troops die?
01:11:08.000If no U.S. troops die, I would actually like to caveat, there can be worries about that.
01:11:13.000A worry that you might have is if we're able to do this, blow up a lot of Iran's nuclear program and get out without any casualties, that could make us overconfident that that can be replicated.
01:11:27.000You might think, oh, well, we can apply the same lessons to this other country, and they'll probably not hit back at us either, and you make that mistake.
01:11:35.000I would like to caveat that that could happen.
01:11:37.000That said, I think a lesson we could take is President Trump has, at that point, a very clear track record of having good instincts on what he's able to do force-wise without causing things to spiral out of control.
01:11:54.000So it would be a strong win for President Trump's personal instincts in that realm.
01:11:59.000And it's a display that it is, in fact, possible to do limited war, that we can get America back to this attitude of we can do military ventures with clear objectives rather than open-ended nationbuilding.
01:12:14.000I think a reason so many of our wars became these nation-building fiascos is because there was a mental tendency in America, in Washington, that our interventions had to go that way, that we couldn't just say, we're going to beat up on this country.
01:12:29.000It was almost, we got too moralizing about our wars, that every war had to be to like rescue an entire country and bring them freedom and democracy.
01:12:39.000Whereas Trump, because he comes from a more realpolitic school of thought, he thinks I wage war for America's interests.
01:12:48.000And even if it'd be great if Iran was free, that is not why America goes to war.
01:12:53.000And it's just, so just we're clear, third verification now from a U.S. official, no casualties reported in Iran missile attack on U.S. base.
01:13:02.000Blake, some people in our audience are saying, still, we have to respond with force.
01:13:09.000I mean, they just did a whole theatrical response.
01:13:12.000You think our enemies are just going to not do something at least theatrical in response?
01:13:16.000It's like if you're like, if you have this annoying neighbor or something and he's doing, I don't know, if he's doing something, if he has something really aggravating on his property and you go over and you like smash it to bits or whatever because it's bad.
01:13:30.000And then he comes over and he's like, you're big and strong and he's this little twink and he like punches you right in the chest and like it doesn't even hurt you and you're completely unharmed.
01:13:39.000Do you then like respond by like grabbing him and breaking his arm?
01:13:42.000No, you just you laugh at him and you walk away.
01:13:45.000I want you guys to email us freedom at charliekirk.com.
01:13:48.000Someone says, some people say the chapter is not closed.
01:14:06.000And I fully anticipate President Donald Trump.
01:14:08.000Here's what President Trump should do, if you want to ask my two cents.
01:14:11.000President Donald Trump should do a primetime evening address tonight with more specificity about what we did, why it was in American interest to strike Iran, why it was not done lightly, the amazing military accomplishment, and how Iran responded and no American troops died.
01:14:28.000And then say that this, you know, we're going to stay engaged and involved.
01:14:33.000And if Iran dares perks up, we will respond even more.
01:14:38.000But for all intents and purposes, we don't have any further military action.
01:14:42.000I think that would be a great response.
01:14:53.00010 of them were launched at U.S. base in Qatar, one in Iraq, and no casualties reported.
01:15:00.000If this ends up being the case with this fast-moving breaking news day, President Donald Trump will have pulled off a phenomenal success, a legendary success, textbook, a masterclass, in a way that none of us could have ever potentially dreamed.
01:15:23.000We're very worried about escalation, as we should be.
01:15:25.000These things can still escalate from this point forward.
01:15:27.000These things can still go to levels that we do not anticipate and that we cannot always predict.
01:15:33.000But I could tell you right now that President Donald Trump is putting on a foreign policy masterclass.
01:15:41.000And I believe that President Trump will now exercise restraint.
01:15:45.000This is how strong nations exercise military power.
01:15:48.000You don't have to agree with it, but how could you be against the result, though?
01:15:52.000If the result ends up being a nuclear program that is severely put back and capability that is jeopardized and no U.S. troops and no foreign war, no regime change, how could you be against the result?
01:16:07.000So I encourage you to enter into this discussion with a fair amount of honesty and integrity.
01:16:14.000So the takeaway for me, and I think for a lot of people, is President Donald Trump has navigated this beautifully.
01:16:22.000Again, there's still a lot of situational awareness we must have here.
01:16:28.000There is still a lot of blowback that can still occur.
01:16:32.000But look, what Iran did here is very simple.
01:16:35.000Iran is very worried about what an American response would potentially be.
01:16:44.000You know, I think we talked about why we were worried about this at the outset, the ways it could spiral out of control.
01:16:50.000So far, it is not spiraling, and I think we would both agree it'd be great for us to seize that opportunity, take the win, say, we did what we came here to do, and we're getting out.
01:17:01.000We are setting a new template for U.S. military action.