Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 12, 2026


A Message to the Iranian Peopleļ¼š You can Change the World Right NOW, plus WHY it Matters so much for the Safety of Americans


Episode Stats

Length

43 minutes

Words per Minute

173.25713

Word Count

7,488

Sentence Count

369

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

58


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.660 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.560 Welcome.
00:00:06.180 It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.060 We've got a lot to discuss on today's show,
00:00:11.380 including what is happening in Iran right now.
00:00:14.580 It is like a total blackout in that country
00:00:16.920 as the leadership is trying to hold on to control
00:00:19.860 by shutting the rest of the world out
00:00:21.820 to what they're doing on the ground,
00:00:23.380 and that is killing their own citizens.
00:00:25.700 We are living in times of extraordinary consequence.
00:00:28.220 Right now, as you noted, there are over a million people
00:00:30.820 rising up on the streets of Iran.
00:00:32.900 The Iranian regime is teetering.
00:00:35.160 It is a very real possibility.
00:00:36.940 We will see the Iranian Ayatollah, the Mullahs,
00:00:40.460 see that regime fall, see them collapse.
00:00:43.520 That could happen this month.
00:00:45.320 It could happen this week.
00:00:46.760 It could happen in the next 24 hours.
00:00:49.340 It is that potentially imminent.
00:00:51.680 If that occurs, it would be utterly transformational
00:00:54.520 for the people of Iran,
00:00:55.680 utterly transformational for the Middle East,
00:00:58.220 and utterly transformational
00:00:59.640 for U.S. national security interests.
00:01:02.180 We're going to break it all down, what to expect.
00:01:04.280 Of course, this is happening in the broader context
00:01:07.400 where the United States, just less than two weeks ago,
00:01:11.700 has arrested Nicolas Maduro, the dictator of Venezuela.
00:01:15.340 That is having a profound and, I think,
00:01:17.740 very positive effect in the Western Hemisphere.
00:01:20.420 These are historic times.
00:01:22.240 These are times of consequence,
00:01:23.880 and we're going to help you think through
00:01:26.100 what the United States' response to all of this should be,
00:01:29.740 what it means for you, what it means for America,
00:01:32.040 what it means for your kids.
00:01:33.900 Yeah, we've got a lot to talk about with that as well.
00:01:36.220 I want to take a moment, though,
00:01:37.320 and talk to you about our friends at Compassion International.
00:01:39.840 Right now, somewhere in the world,
00:01:42.340 a kid you've never met is writing you a letter.
00:01:45.300 They're telling you about their day,
00:01:47.300 their dreams,
00:01:48.420 the goal they scored,
00:01:50.260 the test they passed,
00:01:51.820 the new friend they made at school.
00:01:53.720 Maybe they're drawing you even a picture.
00:01:55.840 Maybe they've asked you about your family,
00:01:58.280 your favorite color,
00:01:59.600 what makes you laugh.
00:02:00.880 They're wondering who you are,
00:02:02.500 this person who cares enough to be part of their story.
00:02:06.100 And you, you're not just sending money,
00:02:08.740 you're writing back.
00:02:10.060 You're showing up month after month,
00:02:12.520 letter after letter.
00:02:13.840 You're celebrating their victories,
00:02:15.920 encouraging them through challenges,
00:02:18.320 and reminding them that they truly matter.
00:02:21.120 Now, this isn't a transaction.
00:02:23.320 It's an incredible relationship that spans continents
00:02:26.120 and changes everything for both of you.
00:02:29.300 That is where Compassion International
00:02:31.280 connects you directly with one child.
00:02:34.020 Real letters, real relationships,
00:02:36.780 and real change.
00:02:37.980 Because poverty isn't solved with donations alone.
00:02:41.500 It's solved by showing up,
00:02:43.560 impact the world,
00:02:44.700 one child at a time,
00:02:46.480 and learn how at Compassion.com.
00:02:50.240 That's Compassion.com.
00:02:53.180 So let's paint the picture
00:02:54.960 as we're recording this now.
00:02:57.180 The leadership in Iran has made it clear,
00:03:00.060 Senator,
00:03:00.680 they feel like they're losing control.
00:03:02.520 They've shut off the internet.
00:03:04.200 They've shut off phones.
00:03:05.660 They've shut down much of the TV
00:03:08.480 and the outside world that's been in that country,
00:03:11.120 and they're trying to black out what they're doing,
00:03:13.440 which is now they're killing their own citizens.
00:03:16.180 Well, they are,
00:03:17.260 and this often happens at the end of tyrannical regimes,
00:03:20.600 which is they stay in force by military force,
00:03:24.280 and in their gasping breaths,
00:03:26.320 they use that military force
00:03:27.960 to try to snuff out the opposition.
00:03:31.420 You know, I got to say,
00:03:32.580 if you go back to 1979,
00:03:35.880 1979 is when the Islamic Revolution happened in Iran.
00:03:40.740 So Jimmy Carter was president.
00:03:42.400 Jimmy Carter was a weak and ineffectual president.
00:03:45.360 He really,
00:03:45.800 if you look at Jimmy Carter's foreign policy,
00:03:48.060 he set the model for what Barack Obama imitated,
00:03:51.560 and then what Joe Biden imitated.
00:03:53.200 Jimmy Carter showed what happens to the world
00:03:56.100 when the American president
00:03:57.440 will not stand up for America,
00:03:59.240 when the American president
00:04:00.320 will not stand up for our allies,
00:04:02.060 when the American president is weak and dithering,
00:04:05.600 and to cut to the chase,
00:04:07.140 what happens is the bad guys get more aggressive,
00:04:10.040 and they end up becoming stronger,
00:04:14.340 and American lives are lost.
00:04:16.280 During the Islamic Revolution,
00:04:19.420 the Islamists took over the nation.
00:04:22.020 They toppled the Shah of Iran.
00:04:23.660 The Shah of Iran was a ruler who had been cruel,
00:04:26.900 who had been despotic,
00:04:28.080 but also was allied with the United States.
00:04:31.360 When the Islamists took over Iran,
00:04:34.300 they toppled the Shah.
00:04:35.520 They also captured the American embassy there.
00:04:37.900 They captured the American embassy,
00:04:39.120 and they took the American staff
00:04:42.160 in the embassy hostage.
00:04:44.240 Those hostages,
00:04:45.400 that happened in 1979,
00:04:49.040 those hostages would remain hostages
00:04:51.320 for 444 days.
00:04:54.220 And it was during that time,
00:04:58.540 Jimmy Carter did order a rescue mission,
00:05:02.180 and tragically,
00:05:03.320 that rescue mission,
00:05:04.440 two helicopters crashed into each other
00:05:06.300 in the desert.
00:05:07.320 There was no opposing fire.
00:05:09.480 And it became,
00:05:11.860 I actually think,
00:05:12.820 that the incident that most encapsulated
00:05:15.420 the weakness of the Jimmy Carter presidency,
00:05:18.020 it played a major part
00:05:19.280 in Ronald Reagan's being elected in 1980.
00:05:22.740 And then I do not think
00:05:23.820 this was an accident at all.
00:05:25.920 Iran released the American hostages.
00:05:28.220 Do you know what day they released him?
00:05:29.580 The day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in.
00:05:31.460 It was literally moments after Reagan
00:05:35.500 put his hand on the Bible,
00:05:36.960 raised his hand,
00:05:37.780 and took the oath of office,
00:05:39.300 Iran released the hostages.
00:05:41.020 And I'll tell you,
00:05:41.580 I believe the reason they did
00:05:43.380 is they understood that with Reagan,
00:05:46.060 a new sheriff was in town.
00:05:47.520 And we were not going to have a president
00:05:49.200 who would allow them
00:05:50.460 to keep American hostages.
00:05:51.880 They were going to face
00:05:52.620 the full wrath of the United States
00:05:54.320 if they did not release those hostages.
00:05:57.400 Fast forward,
00:05:58.300 I think there's a very similar dynamic playing
00:06:00.480 when we went from Joe Biden to Donald Trump.
00:06:03.960 Under Joe Biden,
00:06:05.220 American foreign policy,
00:06:06.560 like Jimmy Carter,
00:06:07.480 was weak, it was inept,
00:06:08.860 and it encouraged the bad guys.
00:06:11.240 But one of the things to understand, Ben,
00:06:14.240 between 1979 and today,
00:06:16.600 Iran's influence has grown dramatically.
00:06:20.480 Iran, the leaders of Iran,
00:06:22.860 the so-called supreme leader,
00:06:24.200 I don't call him that.
00:06:25.000 He's an Ayatollah.
00:06:25.740 He calls himself the supreme leader,
00:06:27.240 but we're seeing just how ineffective
00:06:29.060 and weak he is right now.
00:06:30.940 The Ayatollah and the mullahs,
00:06:33.420 the religious clerics who run Iran,
00:06:36.140 they have grown in power immensely
00:06:38.780 and understand they hate America.
00:06:42.020 The Ayatollah routinely will lead mobs
00:06:44.780 in chanting death to Israel
00:06:46.460 and death to America.
00:06:48.420 And by the way,
00:06:48.980 for all the folks online who say,
00:06:51.700 oh, Iran is all about Israel,
00:06:53.880 understand this also.
00:06:55.740 The Ayatollah calls Israel
00:06:57.680 the little Satan.
00:06:59.600 He calls America the great Satan.
00:07:03.260 And at the end of the day,
00:07:04.580 the targets of the Ayatollah's murder
00:07:07.520 and hate are us.
00:07:11.140 It is the United States of America.
00:07:12.980 The reason the Ayatollah
00:07:14.660 had a nuclear program
00:07:16.100 is they wanted to develop nuclear weapons
00:07:18.040 to be able to use them
00:07:19.560 against the great Satan.
00:07:21.360 What has Iran done
00:07:23.280 for the last several decades?
00:07:24.720 They have funded radical Islamic terrorism
00:07:26.760 all over the world.
00:07:28.100 Hamas, which carried out October 7th.
00:07:31.020 Do you know what percent
00:07:31.780 of Hamas's budget comes from Iran?
00:07:33.980 I would assume 80 plus percent.
00:07:36.680 More than 90 percent.
00:07:38.100 How about Hezbollah?
00:07:39.100 Hezbollah, different terrorist group
00:07:40.800 in the north.
00:07:42.500 Do you know what percentage
00:07:43.500 of Hezbollah's budget comes from Iran?
00:07:46.360 I'm going to say it's even more than 90
00:07:47.760 based on what you just told me.
00:07:49.380 It is north of 90 as well.
00:07:52.220 Iran, in a very real sense,
00:07:54.120 funded October 7th.
00:07:55.580 By the way, Joe Biden,
00:07:56.900 the Democrats,
00:07:57.700 flowed over $100 million
00:07:59.900 to the Ayatollah and Iran.
00:08:03.260 So the Democrat weakness,
00:08:04.500 in a very real sense,
00:08:05.900 funded October 7th.
00:08:07.320 By the way, the Ayatollah also
00:08:09.320 has hired hitmen
00:08:11.620 trying to murder President Trump.
00:08:14.700 They are not our friends.
00:08:15.700 By the way, that's not like a far,
00:08:17.540 that's not like some
00:08:18.260 like random thing on the internet.
00:08:19.920 That is a fact.
00:08:21.160 It is an undisputed fact.
00:08:22.860 And by the way,
00:08:23.620 we are prosecuting hitmen
00:08:25.480 that have been arrested
00:08:26.340 in connection with that plot.
00:08:29.280 And Iran bragged about it.
00:08:31.040 The IRGC actually put out
00:08:32.760 an animated video
00:08:34.160 detailing they're using a drone
00:08:36.740 to go to Mar-a-Lago
00:08:37.940 and murder Donald Trump
00:08:39.440 on the golf course.
00:08:40.400 Like, they're not hiding from this.
00:08:43.100 They openly embrace it.
00:08:45.080 By the way,
00:08:45.580 can we just remind people
00:08:46.540 of one other thing about Iran
00:08:47.560 just so you understand
00:08:48.300 how much they hit America?
00:08:49.600 They are responsible
00:08:50.940 for a significant number
00:08:52.780 of American casualties.
00:08:54.640 Yes.
00:08:55.040 In Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:08:56.840 They gave safe haven
00:08:58.040 to the terrorists
00:08:58.740 when they would come in and out
00:09:00.340 to attack American soldiers.
00:09:02.460 They gave them
00:09:03.500 what they needed
00:09:04.640 for those roadside bombs.
00:09:06.520 Actually,
00:09:06.940 a lot of them
00:09:07.380 were made in Iran.
00:09:08.480 Iran and they allowed
00:09:10.180 them safe passage
00:09:11.120 even coming through Syria,
00:09:12.460 Iran, back and forth.
00:09:13.740 Like, that is all
00:09:14.380 well documented.
00:09:15.600 If you think Iran
00:09:16.540 wasn't at war
00:09:17.200 with the United States of America
00:09:18.120 when we were in Iraq
00:09:18.880 and Afghanistan,
00:09:19.640 you'd have to live
00:09:20.520 under a rock.
00:09:21.560 And I think that's
00:09:22.140 an important point
00:09:22.780 that people need to realize
00:09:23.640 how much they're willing
00:09:24.760 to do to kill
00:09:25.720 American soldiers.
00:09:26.760 And they did a lot
00:09:27.640 and they killed
00:09:28.160 a lot of Americans.
00:09:29.360 Yeah, Iran is responsible.
00:09:31.180 The IRGC is responsible
00:09:32.780 for a minimum
00:09:33.560 of 593 murders
00:09:36.320 of American servicemen
00:09:37.540 and women.
00:09:38.400 The IEDs,
00:09:39.300 they manufactured
00:09:40.080 many of the IEDs
00:09:41.440 that in Iraq
00:09:42.020 were used against
00:09:42.740 our servicemen and women.
00:09:44.240 If you have friends
00:09:45.340 that served in combat
00:09:46.680 in Iraq,
00:09:47.320 if you know people
00:09:48.120 that lost limbs to IEDs,
00:09:49.980 that lost legs,
00:09:50.820 that lost arms,
00:09:51.600 that lost eyes,
00:09:53.100 the odds are overwhelming
00:09:55.240 that the IED
00:09:56.600 they encountered
00:09:57.460 was manufactured
00:09:59.020 in Iran.
00:10:00.360 Iran was providing
00:10:01.660 much of that material.
00:10:03.000 Many of the drones,
00:10:04.440 many of the drones
00:10:05.100 used against American forces
00:10:06.520 are manufactured in Iran.
00:10:07.800 Many of the drones
00:10:08.700 being used,
00:10:09.500 by the way,
00:10:10.100 also by Russia
00:10:11.880 against the Ukrainian forces
00:10:13.460 in Ukraine
00:10:13.980 are manufactured in Iran.
00:10:15.600 It's one of the crazy things
00:10:17.160 the Biden administration
00:10:18.140 claimed that
00:10:19.240 their number one priority
00:10:20.720 was for Ukraine
00:10:21.880 to win the Ukraine war
00:10:23.400 and yet they were flooding
00:10:24.540 billions of dollars
00:10:25.840 to Iran
00:10:26.480 and Iran was using
00:10:27.380 that money
00:10:27.780 to build drones
00:10:28.620 and the drones
00:10:29.560 were being used
00:10:30.320 by the Russian army
00:10:31.680 to murder
00:10:32.260 Ukrainian soldiers.
00:10:33.360 It was asinine.
00:10:34.880 But what is happening
00:10:36.360 right now?
00:10:37.820 Right now as we speak,
00:10:39.220 more than one million
00:10:40.060 Iranians are rising up
00:10:41.420 in every major city
00:10:42.320 across Iran.
00:10:43.400 They are fighting
00:10:44.360 against the regime.
00:10:46.040 They have had it.
00:10:47.260 We are seeing protests.
00:10:48.460 We're seeing images
00:10:49.320 of government buildings
00:10:51.000 burning.
00:10:51.620 We saw in London
00:10:53.200 an incredible protester
00:10:55.400 scale the outside
00:10:56.620 of the Iranian embassy,
00:10:58.240 climb up the outside.
00:10:59.160 He looked like Spider-Man.
00:11:00.040 So cool, by the way.
00:11:01.140 I want people to understand
00:11:02.420 if you didn't see this,
00:11:03.660 watch the video.
00:11:05.600 Watch the video.
00:11:06.280 It looked like a spider monkey
00:11:07.960 climbing the side
00:11:09.240 of the Iranian embassy
00:11:10.920 and people were running
00:11:12.260 after him.
00:11:12.680 He climbed up,
00:11:13.380 got up there,
00:11:13.940 yanked,
00:11:14.400 pulled back the Iranian flag
00:11:16.100 and put up what they're saying
00:11:17.740 is the new freedom flag
00:11:18.660 of Iran.
00:11:19.280 It was unbelievable
00:11:20.420 to see people doing that.
00:11:21.840 Something you would have
00:11:22.280 never imagined
00:11:23.020 even weeks ago.
00:11:24.400 Yeah, look,
00:11:24.740 it was incredible.
00:11:25.480 He easily could have been shot.
00:11:26.880 He was not.
00:11:28.180 It's those acts of bravery
00:11:29.740 that can inspire others.
00:11:31.560 And I want to take
00:11:33.000 an opportunity right now.
00:11:34.280 I want to speak directly
00:11:35.920 to the people of Iran.
00:11:38.100 And I want to say
00:11:39.220 now is your moment.
00:11:40.880 If you are standing up
00:11:42.260 right now,
00:11:42.680 if you're going out
00:11:43.420 in the street,
00:11:43.860 if you are standing
00:11:44.580 against the Ayatollah,
00:11:45.600 if you are standing
00:11:46.240 with the Mullahs,
00:11:47.320 know that America
00:11:48.740 is with you.
00:11:49.520 Know that the American
00:11:50.220 people are with you.
00:11:51.180 Know that you are
00:11:52.140 in my prayers
00:11:52.960 and know that Joe Biden
00:11:55.300 is not in the White House
00:11:56.120 anymore.
00:11:56.900 Barack Obama
00:11:57.600 is not in the White House
00:11:58.660 anymore.
00:11:59.320 Donald J. Trump
00:12:00.260 is in the White House.
00:12:01.560 And if you topple
00:12:03.000 this cruel,
00:12:04.800 vicious,
00:12:05.540 theocratic,
00:12:06.540 homicidal,
00:12:07.540 genocidal regime,
00:12:08.720 you will bring freedom
00:12:11.440 to Iran
00:12:12.220 and you will make
00:12:14.260 major steps
00:12:15.520 to bringing peace
00:12:16.440 to the Middle East.
00:12:17.400 And listen,
00:12:18.340 the Iranian people
00:12:19.340 and the American people
00:12:20.400 have decades
00:12:21.580 of history
00:12:22.340 of being friends,
00:12:23.420 of engaging
00:12:24.180 and peaceful commerce
00:12:25.500 and understand
00:12:26.940 that America's
00:12:27.900 foreign policy dispute
00:12:28.940 is not with the people
00:12:29.780 of Iran.
00:12:30.820 It is instead
00:12:31.760 with the tyrants
00:12:33.480 who are torturing
00:12:35.440 and murdering
00:12:36.680 and oppressing Iran
00:12:37.880 and who are exporting
00:12:39.140 terror across the globe
00:12:40.580 and they want
00:12:41.440 to murder Americans
00:12:42.320 just like they want
00:12:43.200 to murder Iranians.
00:12:44.460 And so,
00:12:45.140 President Trump
00:12:46.500 has publicly called
00:12:47.960 on you
00:12:49.100 to stand up
00:12:49.960 for freedom.
00:12:50.540 and, you know,
00:12:52.320 I want to say
00:12:52.780 something amazing
00:12:53.540 which is to everyone
00:12:55.760 in the United States
00:12:56.780 who's listening
00:12:57.280 to this podcast,
00:12:58.080 who's watching
00:12:58.500 this podcast,
00:12:59.320 you may think,
00:13:00.340 well, why is Ted
00:13:01.380 talking directly
00:13:02.360 to the people of Iran?
00:13:03.840 And one of the reasons
00:13:05.740 we do this podcast
00:13:06.680 is it's an opportunity
00:13:08.080 to communicate
00:13:08.840 and so,
00:13:10.180 the Verdict podcast,
00:13:11.340 we have roughly
00:13:12.340 a million unique listeners
00:13:13.900 to the podcast
00:13:14.660 all across the country.
00:13:16.760 Yeah.
00:13:16.940 We have several million more
00:13:18.600 who listen on radio.
00:13:20.520 We're on now
00:13:21.220 242 radio stations
00:13:23.000 all over the country
00:13:23.800 so we're reaching
00:13:24.520 several million people
00:13:25.860 each and every week.
00:13:27.600 But here's an amazing thing,
00:13:29.180 the people we reach,
00:13:30.100 the vast majority,
00:13:31.060 of course,
00:13:31.400 are Americans.
00:13:32.440 But what is amazing
00:13:33.480 is we have people
00:13:34.320 all over the world
00:13:35.220 listening to this podcast
00:13:37.020 and yesterday,
00:13:38.060 Ben,
00:13:38.220 you were looking
00:13:38.680 at the downloads
00:13:39.580 and Iran,
00:13:40.880 the people in Iran
00:13:42.160 had surged
00:13:43.180 to they were
00:13:43.960 in the top 20 countries
00:13:47.000 downloading
00:13:47.820 the Verdict podcast
00:13:48.840 and that is
00:13:49.740 in the face
00:13:50.840 of having internet
00:13:51.560 shut down
00:13:52.200 in the face
00:13:52.800 of having
00:13:53.260 the Iranian regime
00:13:54.760 try to black out.
00:13:56.520 Elon Link
00:13:57.220 has put Starlink
00:13:58.240 up for free
00:13:59.100 for the people of Iran
00:14:00.280 and so this podcast,
00:14:01.900 there are people
00:14:02.440 who are right now
00:14:03.160 protesting
00:14:03.820 and by the way,
00:14:05.260 protesting is not
00:14:06.360 like you're some
00:14:07.200 leftist protesting
00:14:08.100 at Columbia University.
00:14:10.620 Protesting is taking
00:14:11.560 your life
00:14:12.160 in your own hands
00:14:13.740 because the regime
00:14:14.760 is murdering protesters
00:14:16.640 as we speak
00:14:17.520 and so when I take
00:14:19.040 the opportunity
00:14:19.620 to speak to the people
00:14:20.980 of Iran,
00:14:21.580 I'm doing so
00:14:22.420 because this is a voice
00:14:23.600 that is being heard
00:14:24.760 and there are very few
00:14:26.700 things on planet Earth
00:14:27.940 that could move
00:14:29.520 the entire world
00:14:30.720 security situation
00:14:31.980 in a positive direction
00:14:33.700 more consequential
00:14:35.740 than seeing
00:14:36.620 the Ayatollah
00:14:37.720 and this regime fall.
00:14:38.980 You know,
00:14:39.240 it's interesting to see
00:14:40.040 the emotion
00:14:40.920 and there's two stories
00:14:41.840 that connect here.
00:14:42.660 I have actually
00:14:43.780 a good friend
00:14:44.740 whose family fled
00:14:47.080 after the Chauvin
00:14:48.480 in the fall in 1979.
00:14:50.580 They've never gone back
00:14:52.040 to go see
00:14:53.000 some of their family members.
00:14:54.780 They have limited communication
00:14:56.800 depending on,
00:14:57.580 you know,
00:14:57.860 what's going on
00:14:58.660 and the blackouts
00:14:59.640 and things that happen
00:15:00.500 but I did,
00:15:01.800 I was able to talk to them
00:15:02.860 over the weekend
00:15:03.560 and just the,
00:15:05.020 the excitement
00:15:06.440 at the possibility
00:15:07.700 of two things.
00:15:08.920 One,
00:15:09.320 getting to actually
00:15:10.200 see their family members again
00:15:11.800 who they've not been able
00:15:12.660 to see
00:15:13.100 is a lot kind of like
00:15:15.020 you here in Venezuela
00:15:15.820 the same kind of thing
00:15:16.700 that we saw with Cuba
00:15:17.620 after,
00:15:18.820 after the Castro regime there
00:15:20.340 and there seems to be
00:15:21.900 this real moment
00:15:23.160 where they believe
00:15:23.880 this could be
00:15:24.880 an opportunity
00:15:25.640 for them to be able
00:15:27.060 to go back
00:15:27.720 and to see their family members
00:15:29.020 and to watch this fall happen
00:15:30.740 and the bravery too
00:15:32.320 like the women today
00:15:33.400 and the videos
00:15:33.880 that were coming out
00:15:34.580 were incredible
00:15:35.280 that were showing the women
00:15:37.000 pulling off their coverings
00:15:38.680 and burning them
00:15:39.640 in the streets
00:15:40.220 and multiple cities
00:15:41.580 that are considered
00:15:43.040 strongholds
00:15:44.060 for the religious leadership
00:15:45.320 that has had a grip
00:15:46.800 on that country
00:15:47.460 since 1979
00:15:48.560 and they're doing it
00:15:50.080 in the face.
00:15:50.600 Now,
00:15:50.760 if this doesn't happen
00:15:51.520 these videos will come back
00:15:52.860 to haunt them.
00:15:53.440 They will go and find them.
00:15:55.000 They know they're risking
00:15:56.020 their lives.
00:15:57.000 The people that are out there
00:15:58.280 in the streets
00:15:58.780 they know that this is being recorded
00:16:00.340 and if it doesn't go well
00:16:01.500 they are risking their lives
00:16:03.060 being put into jail
00:16:04.400 or being one of the
00:16:05.380 disappeared ones
00:16:06.180 as they are described.
00:16:07.260 That is something for me
00:16:08.380 that is just incredible
00:16:09.320 to see the risk
00:16:10.680 that people are willing
00:16:11.660 to take.
00:16:12.740 Look,
00:16:13.440 there's one image
00:16:14.200 that is online
00:16:15.040 of a young Iranian woman
00:16:16.440 who is lighting her cigarette
00:16:18.640 and she's lighting
00:16:20.200 her cigarette
00:16:20.800 by lighting on fire
00:16:22.160 a picture of the Ayatollah
00:16:23.780 and using the burning picture
00:16:25.740 of the Ayatollah
00:16:26.560 to light her cigarette.
00:16:28.240 And I got to say
00:16:29.260 that image
00:16:29.880 it reminds me
00:16:31.480 of the image
00:16:33.000 of the man
00:16:34.180 standing in front
00:16:35.020 of the tank
00:16:35.500 in Tiananmen Square.
00:16:36.920 It's that kind of
00:16:38.140 bold courage
00:16:40.420 and life-risking courage.
00:16:42.960 That image,
00:16:43.720 you're right,
00:16:44.240 if the Ayatollah
00:16:45.400 stays in power
00:16:46.380 the odds are overwhelming
00:16:48.000 the mullahs
00:16:48.660 will track her down
00:16:49.800 and torture her
00:16:50.540 and kill her.
00:16:51.220 She knows that.
00:16:52.020 She knows exactly
00:16:52.860 what she's doing.
00:16:54.880 But it is
00:16:56.120 women and men
00:16:57.340 across Iran
00:16:58.060 are watching that
00:16:59.080 and being inspired by it.
00:17:01.220 And look,
00:17:01.560 I got to say
00:17:02.080 I have a lot of friends
00:17:03.660 in the Iranian-American community
00:17:05.380 in the United States,
00:17:06.280 a lot of the Persian community
00:17:08.280 that fled,
00:17:09.460 many of them fled
00:17:10.320 starting in 1979
00:17:11.560 when the Islamic Revolution happened.
00:17:14.460 You know,
00:17:14.720 prior to 1979,
00:17:17.080 Iran was not
00:17:18.260 a theocratic state.
00:17:19.520 It was a secular state.
00:17:21.280 It had a booming
00:17:22.100 commercial sector.
00:17:23.580 It has vast oil reserves.
00:17:26.620 It had a very,
00:17:29.080 very educated population.
00:17:30.960 And it was very successful.
00:17:33.660 And the Islamists,
00:17:36.000 they're Luddites.
00:17:37.120 They're going back
00:17:37.720 to the 5th century.
00:17:39.360 And their approach
00:17:40.740 is to stay in power,
00:17:42.340 number one,
00:17:42.860 by stifling women
00:17:43.780 throughout the country,
00:17:44.580 but number two,
00:17:45.500 by just brutal repression.
00:17:47.560 And I will say,
00:17:49.020 when I meet
00:17:50.000 with Persian Americans
00:17:51.260 and I hear their stories,
00:17:53.120 one of the reasons
00:17:53.840 that their stories
00:17:55.880 moved me so much
00:17:57.000 is, as you know,
00:17:57.920 my family was imprisoned
00:18:00.000 and tortured in Cuba.
00:18:01.900 Yeah.
00:18:02.120 My father was imprisoned
00:18:03.800 and tortured by Batista.
00:18:05.240 My tia Sonia,
00:18:07.040 my father's younger sister,
00:18:08.840 was imprisoned
00:18:09.400 and tortured by Castro.
00:18:10.840 And so,
00:18:11.920 when I,
00:18:13.060 I've sat down
00:18:14.260 and looked at books
00:18:17.000 that are compiled
00:18:17.980 of Iranians
00:18:20.240 who were tortured,
00:18:21.120 who had horrific torture,
00:18:22.400 had, you know,
00:18:23.180 nails driven
00:18:24.080 through their eyes,
00:18:24.960 had clothes irons,
00:18:27.420 just burned them
00:18:28.520 horrifically,
00:18:29.820 I mean,
00:18:30.280 just horrible,
00:18:31.680 horrible tortures.
00:18:33.140 And there's something powerful.
00:18:34.800 It's one of the things
00:18:35.640 in the wake of communism,
00:18:37.280 there is a value
00:18:38.680 to cataloging
00:18:39.920 the horrors.
00:18:41.440 You look at Solzhenitsyn's
00:18:43.140 Gulag Archipelago,
00:18:44.900 just cataloging
00:18:46.740 the oppression
00:18:47.940 of a tyrannical regime
00:18:49.340 is part of how
00:18:50.100 you tear it down.
00:18:52.020 Amen.
00:18:52.100 And what is happening
00:18:53.780 in Iran,
00:18:55.420 look,
00:18:55.840 to understand
00:18:56.460 why this is so
00:18:57.260 transformational,
00:18:58.020 I actually think
00:18:58.640 the seeds
00:18:59.120 for what's happening
00:18:59.880 now
00:19:00.700 were laid
00:19:02.340 several months ago
00:19:03.280 and they were laid
00:19:04.920 during the 12-day war.
00:19:06.680 And this is something
00:19:07.260 you and I talked about
00:19:08.260 on Verdict at the time,
00:19:09.720 which is
00:19:10.760 there are real-world
00:19:11.920 consequences
00:19:12.680 to losing a war.
00:19:15.640 You know,
00:19:15.820 not everything in life
00:19:17.140 is a communications endeavor.
00:19:18.740 Not everything
00:19:19.260 is political.
00:19:20.640 There are just
00:19:21.380 real consequences.
00:19:22.640 And what happened
00:19:23.380 in the 12-day war
00:19:24.280 is, number one,
00:19:25.880 Iran completely
00:19:26.900 and totally lost.
00:19:28.060 There was no ambiguity.
00:19:29.720 They were just defeated.
00:19:31.300 They fought a war.
00:19:32.520 They lost a war.
00:19:33.920 Now,
00:19:34.320 even worse,
00:19:35.700 if you're an Islamist dictator,
00:19:37.280 if there's anything
00:19:38.060 on earth worse
00:19:38.880 than losing a war,
00:19:40.640 it is losing a war
00:19:41.800 to Israel.
00:19:43.480 Yeah.
00:19:43.660 And Israel
00:19:45.020 systematically
00:19:46.420 decapitated
00:19:47.660 the Iranian military.
00:19:49.220 They took out
00:19:49.740 all their air defenses.
00:19:50.920 They took out
00:19:51.600 all their senior military leaders.
00:19:53.080 They took out
00:19:53.500 the senior leaders
00:19:54.300 of the IRGC.
00:19:55.340 They took out
00:19:55.720 their nuclear scientists.
00:19:57.620 If you remember
00:19:58.680 the IRGC,
00:19:59.820 day after day,
00:20:01.240 they would appoint
00:20:01.800 someone new to lead it.
00:20:03.560 And within 24 hours...
00:20:04.760 And day after day,
00:20:04.780 they kept getting taken out.
00:20:06.240 Within 24 hours,
00:20:07.620 they'd be taken out.
00:20:08.520 I've joked
00:20:09.280 by the fifth or sixth day,
00:20:11.000 if the Ayatollah
00:20:11.820 comes to you and says,
00:20:13.140 hey, Ben,
00:20:13.840 you want to be head
00:20:14.340 of the IRGC?
00:20:15.260 You're looking around
00:20:15.820 going, no, no, no.
00:20:16.320 I think Bob
00:20:16.940 would be much better.
00:20:17.700 Go with Bob.
00:20:18.200 Go with Bob.
00:20:18.700 Yeah.
00:20:18.980 Go with Bob over there.
00:20:20.080 He's a great guy.
00:20:21.440 And why is that
00:20:22.520 so consequential?
00:20:24.340 Because tyrannies,
00:20:25.900 whether you're
00:20:26.380 the Soviet Union
00:20:27.300 or whether you're
00:20:28.420 communist China
00:20:29.200 or whether you're
00:20:30.440 North Korea or Venezuela
00:20:31.640 or whether you're Iran,
00:20:34.220 tyrannies exist
00:20:35.420 in large part
00:20:36.360 by conveying
00:20:37.140 the impression
00:20:37.820 that they are
00:20:38.600 unbeatable,
00:20:39.640 that resistance
00:20:40.380 is futile,
00:20:41.300 that it is hopeless.
00:20:43.920 You know,
00:20:44.820 you look at
00:20:46.320 Paradise Lost
00:20:47.680 and what are the words
00:20:49.200 above the gates of hell?
00:20:51.140 Abandon hope,
00:20:52.420 all ye who enter here.
00:20:54.400 That is,
00:20:55.760 if there were a motto,
00:20:57.820 a slogan
00:20:58.480 of tyrannical regimes,
00:21:00.020 that's what it would be.
00:21:01.600 Abandon hope,
00:21:02.800 all ye who enter here.
00:21:03.880 They stay in power
00:21:04.960 because,
00:21:06.380 look,
00:21:06.680 they're always
00:21:07.740 vastly outnumbered
00:21:08.800 by the people,
00:21:10.060 but they stay in power
00:21:11.240 because the people
00:21:11.920 say it's hopeless.
00:21:12.800 We can't defeat them.
00:21:14.200 And after losing
00:21:15.420 unambiguously,
00:21:17.420 decisively,
00:21:18.340 crushingly to Israel
00:21:19.740 in a way that you
00:21:20.620 couldn't spin,
00:21:21.320 you couldn't say,
00:21:21.840 no, no, no,
00:21:22.300 it was a victory for us.
00:21:23.820 Like,
00:21:24.000 they lost in every respect.
00:21:26.080 The people say,
00:21:27.180 wait a second,
00:21:28.680 these guys aren't
00:21:29.520 nearly as powerful
00:21:30.740 as they said they were.
00:21:32.340 And then the coup de grace
00:21:33.540 was President Trump
00:21:35.720 ordering B-2s
00:21:37.120 to fly from the middle
00:21:38.360 of the United States
00:21:39.340 all the way around the world
00:21:40.860 to drop bunker buster bombs
00:21:43.920 on Iran's nuclear facilities.
00:21:47.220 We dropped the equivalent
00:21:49.220 of one third
00:21:50.520 of a nuclear weapon
00:21:51.620 on those three nuclear facilities,
00:21:54.580 utterly destroyed them
00:21:55.780 and flew all the way
00:21:56.560 around the world
00:21:57.240 and came back home
00:21:58.200 with zero American casualties.
00:22:00.260 It was a flawlessly executed
00:22:02.440 military attack
00:22:04.180 and again,
00:22:06.100 it made clear
00:22:07.120 that if you're looking
00:22:07.960 at a contest
00:22:08.640 between Iran
00:22:09.740 and what he calls
00:22:11.820 the great Satan,
00:22:12.700 what the Ayatollah
00:22:13.360 calls the great Satan,
00:22:14.880 it is not a close contest
00:22:16.580 and I'll tell you
00:22:17.420 that is a major reason
00:22:18.740 I think the people
00:22:19.400 of Iran are rising up.
00:22:21.140 Canadian women
00:22:21.920 are looking for more,
00:22:23.240 more out of themselves,
00:22:24.300 their businesses,
00:22:25.240 their elected leaders
00:22:26.020 and the world are open.
00:22:27.400 And that's why
00:22:27.880 we're thrilled to introduce
00:22:29.040 the Honest Talk
00:22:30.080 Podcast.
00:22:31.100 I'm Jennifer Stewart
00:22:32.060 and I'm Catherine Clark
00:22:33.300 and in this podcast
00:22:34.480 we interview Canada's
00:22:35.680 most inspiring women,
00:22:37.180 entrepreneurs,
00:22:38.020 artists,
00:22:38.680 athletes,
00:22:39.280 politicians
00:22:39.720 and newsmakers
00:22:40.620 all at different stages
00:22:41.920 of their journey.
00:22:43.080 So if you're looking
00:22:44.080 to connect,
00:22:44.880 then we hope you'll join us.
00:22:46.300 Listen to the Honest Talk
00:22:47.140 podcast on iHeartRadio
00:22:48.660 or wherever you listen
00:22:49.640 to your podcasts.
00:22:52.180 Senator,
00:22:52.800 you talk about inspiring.
00:22:54.620 I was actually speaking
00:22:56.140 with some people
00:22:56.620 this weekend.
00:22:57.100 You and I were both
00:22:57.720 at conservative events.
00:22:59.520 This was a topic
00:23:00.340 of conversation
00:23:01.140 and I had someone
00:23:02.380 walk up and they're like,
00:23:03.240 this is a hard subject
00:23:04.420 to explain to our kids
00:23:05.520 or grandkids.
00:23:06.140 What's your message?
00:23:06.900 And I said,
00:23:07.480 you're going to laugh,
00:23:08.500 but I'm a movie guy.
00:23:09.580 You love movies.
00:23:10.580 I said,
00:23:11.000 show your kids
00:23:12.120 if they're a little bit older,
00:23:13.040 Argo.
00:23:13.580 It will get you
00:23:14.580 to where this all happened
00:23:16.460 and the fall
00:23:17.880 and the Chauverin,
00:23:18.960 all of it
00:23:19.520 and go back
00:23:20.180 and watch that movie.
00:23:20.920 It's a great movie
00:23:21.820 and it'll catch you
00:23:23.140 kind of up to date
00:23:23.800 of where we were then
00:23:25.040 and how we got
00:23:25.900 to where we are now
00:23:26.800 in a sense
00:23:27.300 and it's a very easy way
00:23:28.920 to do that.
00:23:29.760 So if you're listening right now
00:23:30.660 and you've never watched Argo
00:23:31.620 or maybe you watched it
00:23:32.420 a long time ago,
00:23:33.140 it's a Ben Affleck movie.
00:23:33.980 It's a great movie
00:23:34.580 based on a true story
00:23:35.620 of us getting people out
00:23:36.620 that were in Canada's embassy there.
00:23:39.080 It's an awesome victory story
00:23:41.280 for me as I describe it,
00:23:42.960 but make sure you do it.
00:23:43.860 But they were also talking,
00:23:45.620 I was talking to a couple guys,
00:23:46.740 good friends of mine,
00:23:47.600 they're still in the military
00:23:48.340 and they said,
00:23:50.140 I wish President Trump
00:23:51.600 got more credit
00:23:53.220 for what he did
00:23:54.100 over the last couple days
00:23:55.600 going after ISIS
00:23:57.160 right next to Iran
00:23:59.100 and it was clearly
00:24:00.500 sending a message
00:24:01.640 to the people of Iran
00:24:03.120 that when we said
00:24:04.500 we have your back
00:24:05.480 if they start coming in
00:24:06.440 and killing you,
00:24:07.600 we mean it
00:24:08.860 and we are here
00:24:10.060 and that is when
00:24:11.340 they said within hours
00:24:12.440 you saw the explosion
00:24:13.440 of people going
00:24:14.120 to the streets
00:24:14.760 because it was
00:24:15.960 obviously the president
00:24:17.480 doing two things at once.
00:24:18.540 Once we were holding ISIS
00:24:19.640 accountable for killing
00:24:20.560 American soldiers
00:24:21.620 and that happened recently
00:24:23.480 but also I think
00:24:25.400 he was sending
00:24:26.540 a clear mental message
00:24:28.060 to the Iranian people
00:24:29.640 that we are here,
00:24:31.240 we are right next to you,
00:24:32.960 I mean it when I say
00:24:34.300 we are standing with you
00:24:35.380 and if they come to kill you,
00:24:37.060 we will help protect
00:24:38.720 and defend you.
00:24:39.860 That was a very important moment
00:24:41.560 I think as well
00:24:42.180 and again,
00:24:43.080 that was coming from
00:24:43.820 people in the military
00:24:44.440 saying that should be
00:24:45.580 something that should be
00:24:46.180 talked about,
00:24:46.720 the media is not covering it.
00:24:48.380 Look,
00:24:48.700 that is absolutely right
00:24:50.240 and it is peace
00:24:51.520 through strength
00:24:52.280 that when you have
00:24:53.400 a strong American president
00:24:54.840 our enemies are weaker.
00:24:56.680 I'll tell you,
00:24:57.000 President Trump put out
00:24:57.840 the following truth social.
00:25:00.300 Iran is looking at freedom,
00:25:02.940 freedom in all caps,
00:25:04.180 perhaps like never before.
00:25:07.060 The USA stands ready to help,
00:25:09.920 signed President Donald J. Trump
00:25:11.780 and you and my friend
00:25:13.580 Clay Travis,
00:25:14.280 he tweeted on top of that
00:25:15.360 and said Iran is the biggest story
00:25:16.880 in the world right now.
00:25:18.700 Nothing else is close.
00:25:21.280 This could be the modern day fall
00:25:23.380 of the Berlin Wall moment.
00:25:25.280 The Ayatollah is on the ropes
00:25:27.080 and I'll tell you,
00:25:28.080 look, Argo is great
00:25:28.760 to get some history
00:25:29.560 but the analogy I would use
00:25:31.440 is the collapse
00:25:32.040 of the Soviet Union
00:25:32.960 because Iran falling,
00:25:34.940 the Soviet Union
00:25:35.720 had a broader reach than Iran
00:25:37.120 but Iran is so toxic,
00:25:39.020 they literally fund
00:25:39.920 every enemy who hates America
00:25:41.480 and their body count
00:25:43.500 of Americans they have killed
00:25:44.920 has been massive.
00:25:45.900 They are like a poison
00:25:47.700 and I have to say
00:25:49.860 in the midst of that,
00:25:52.780 when we're looking at a moment
00:25:54.420 to see American national security
00:25:58.560 shift dramatically in our favor,
00:26:00.200 it is striking.
00:26:00.900 Right now, the Iranian regime,
00:26:02.520 it shut down the internet,
00:26:04.100 it has a TV blackout,
00:26:05.300 it's doing everything they can
00:26:06.520 to keep their citizenry in silence.
00:26:09.300 But do you know what they're airing
00:26:11.680 statewide on Iranian TV?
00:26:14.380 Yeah, it's sad
00:26:15.560 but it's Tucker Carlson.
00:26:17.720 They are literally airing
00:26:20.000 Tucker Carlson's podcast
00:26:22.080 in Persian.
00:26:23.920 So dubbed and translated
00:26:25.840 so that you can listen here.
00:26:26.960 I want you to listen to this one
00:26:28.280 story reporting on this.
00:26:30.420 So the Islamic regime right now
00:26:33.600 is literally broadcasting
00:26:35.320 Tucker Carlson interviews
00:26:37.280 in Persian
00:26:38.980 on their 24-hour news channel.
00:26:42.200 The country is in a state of chaos
00:26:44.260 and yet for some reason
00:26:45.440 the Islamic regime
00:26:46.700 is choosing to play
00:26:48.580 Tucker Carlson interviews
00:26:49.840 because this is like,
00:26:50.980 you know,
00:26:51.380 it's Islamist propaganda.
00:26:53.740 I'm just filming this right now
00:26:55.300 because if I didn't do this,
00:26:57.080 no one would believe,
00:26:58.020 this is literally
00:26:58.680 what's going on
00:27:00.100 in occupied Iran right now.
00:27:01.920 Ben, I want to say
00:27:02.940 something very serious.
00:27:03.860 Yeah.
00:27:04.000 Which is, listen,
00:27:05.660 Tucker and I have had
00:27:07.500 a serious dispute
00:27:09.560 for quite some time.
00:27:10.960 Yeah.
00:27:11.520 I went on his podcast,
00:27:13.120 he went after me,
00:27:14.000 he attacked me,
00:27:15.040 he has publicly said things
00:27:16.760 like there is no one
00:27:17.720 he hates more
00:27:18.540 than Christian Zionists
00:27:19.920 and he singled out
00:27:20.720 me and Mike Huckabee
00:27:21.720 as the two people
00:27:22.900 he hates worse,
00:27:24.020 I get,
00:27:24.540 the most on planet Earth.
00:27:26.660 We just had
00:27:27.520 the Turning Points
00:27:28.460 America Fest
00:27:29.940 where Ben Shapiro
00:27:30.820 stood up
00:27:31.460 and called out
00:27:32.500 many of the voices
00:27:33.860 who have been
00:27:35.100 spreading anti-Semitism
00:27:36.980 on the right,
00:27:37.920 including Tucker Carlson
00:27:39.180 and then the rest
00:27:40.260 of the Turning Point event
00:27:41.220 was a whole series
00:27:41.960 of people standing up
00:27:42.960 and blasting Ben Shapiro
00:27:44.340 and it's easy to say
00:27:46.400 there are lots of people
00:27:47.200 saying no division
00:27:48.320 on the right,
00:27:48.980 let's stop fighting.
00:27:50.380 Listen,
00:27:51.400 this is not
00:27:52.540 an episode
00:27:54.520 of Celebrity Family Feud.
00:27:56.720 This is not
00:27:57.700 one influencer
00:27:58.580 getting all upset
00:27:59.500 and yelling at the other
00:28:00.380 influencer and back and forth.
00:28:01.640 Who cares?
00:28:02.980 Yeah.
00:28:03.280 I want to speak
00:28:04.260 for a minute.
00:28:04.980 Listen,
00:28:05.260 I don't know why
00:28:06.140 Tucker has gone down
00:28:07.000 the road he has.
00:28:07.760 I wish he had not.
00:28:09.520 But Tucker has spent
00:28:10.980 most of his life,
00:28:12.120 I think,
00:28:12.660 being someone
00:28:13.260 who loves America
00:28:14.240 and at least saying
00:28:15.540 he loves America.
00:28:17.060 And I just want to say
00:28:18.700 in all seriousness,
00:28:20.000 Tucker,
00:28:21.280 what does it say
00:28:22.360 to you
00:28:22.860 that the Ayatollah Khamenei,
00:28:25.520 someone who unequivocally
00:28:26.820 hates America,
00:28:27.680 who has murdered Americans,
00:28:28.800 who tortures
00:28:29.560 and murders people,
00:28:31.360 views what you're saying
00:28:33.140 as the propaganda
00:28:34.720 he wants to use
00:28:36.280 to suppress his people
00:28:37.900 and to silence
00:28:38.880 a revolution.
00:28:40.020 I got to tell you,
00:28:41.000 if it were me,
00:28:42.200 I would be sick
00:28:43.420 to my stomach.
00:28:44.740 And the fact
00:28:45.780 that the Iranian people
00:28:46.920 are downloading verdict
00:28:48.220 and listening
00:28:48.640 to what we're saying
00:28:49.680 while the Ayatollah
00:28:50.860 is pumping out
00:28:51.560 Tucker's show,
00:28:52.280 look,
00:28:52.560 here's what I actually
00:28:53.400 hope will happen.
00:28:54.700 Listen,
00:28:55.040 I think what Tucker
00:28:55.700 has been spreading
00:28:56.400 has been really harmful,
00:28:57.580 but I am hoping
00:28:59.440 and praying
00:28:59.920 there'll be a moment
00:29:00.760 where he says,
00:29:02.120 you know,
00:29:02.560 dear God,
00:29:03.380 whatever I did wrong,
00:29:05.740 if the Ayatollah views
00:29:07.400 what I'm saying
00:29:08.700 as his message,
00:29:10.920 clearly we made
00:29:12.120 a mistake here,
00:29:13.040 let's change course.
00:29:14.400 I can't imagine
00:29:16.220 anything more
00:29:17.360 crushing.
00:29:18.400 I will say this
00:29:19.960 because I've known
00:29:20.720 Tucker for a long time.
00:29:21.780 We've done TV together
00:29:22.420 and I know you've seen
00:29:23.500 each other.
00:29:24.020 As have I,
00:29:24.660 I've known Tucker
00:29:25.160 20, 25 years.
00:29:26.300 At Charlie's funeral,
00:29:27.420 I just,
00:29:28.020 the part that sickens me
00:29:29.800 the most is when you
00:29:30.700 go down a road
00:29:32.180 because you're so
00:29:33.380 hell-bent on being right
00:29:34.520 and then the proof
00:29:36.500 that you're wrong
00:29:37.160 is that as they're
00:29:38.480 clinging to power,
00:29:39.660 they're like,
00:29:40.140 let's use the American
00:29:41.260 Tucker Carlson on TV
00:29:42.940 to maybe stop
00:29:44.700 this yearning
00:29:47.400 for freedom
00:29:48.100 in this country.
00:29:49.760 It was like
00:29:50.320 when I watched Tucker
00:29:51.120 in the grocery stores
00:29:51.940 after he interviewed
00:29:53.120 Vladimir Putin
00:29:53.940 and I was like,
00:29:54.800 what is happening
00:29:55.520 when he was saying
00:29:56.080 it's amazing over here
00:29:57.620 and I'm like,
00:29:58.100 go outside the city
00:29:58.920 of Moscow,
00:29:59.320 it's not amazing
00:30:00.320 and you'll see people
00:30:01.180 that are suffering.
00:30:01.980 Like,
00:30:02.140 you should know better
00:30:03.120 than to put out
00:30:04.100 this type of propaganda.
00:30:05.240 I agree with you.
00:30:06.020 I hope this is a wake-up call
00:30:07.620 and he comes back
00:30:09.600 to sanity
00:30:10.460 because he has
00:30:12.340 a huge microphone
00:30:13.860 and a huge voice
00:30:14.820 and he's genuinely
00:30:16.720 influencing a younger
00:30:17.780 generation of conservatives
00:30:19.060 who are now
00:30:20.320 anti-Israel
00:30:21.540 and don't understand
00:30:23.100 that the fall
00:30:25.540 of the Ayatollah
00:30:26.320 is a good thing
00:30:27.360 in Iran.
00:30:28.340 Yeah,
00:30:28.700 and I want to talk
00:30:29.420 about that for a minute
00:30:30.120 because there are
00:30:31.220 a lot of people
00:30:31.800 if you read X
00:30:32.880 and social media
00:30:33.700 that you just get
00:30:34.440 little slogans
00:30:35.220 that are tossed
00:30:35.800 and we're kind of tribal.
00:30:37.040 We're like on one team
00:30:37.900 or the other
00:30:38.420 and so you're either
00:30:40.380 a neocon warmonger
00:30:42.760 or you're an isolationist
00:30:45.080 like Tucker
00:30:45.820 and his followers
00:30:46.700 and I actually think
00:30:48.540 most Americans
00:30:49.280 don't fall into
00:30:50.080 either category.
00:30:51.920 Most Americans
00:30:53.080 I think agree
00:30:54.360 with President Donald Trump
00:30:56.040 and agreed
00:30:56.940 with President Ronald Reagan.
00:30:58.700 Neither one of them
00:30:59.940 were to use
00:31:01.720 the insult of the day
00:31:03.300 neocon warmongers.
00:31:04.640 You know,
00:31:04.800 in eight years
00:31:05.600 the biggest country
00:31:06.840 Reagan ever invaded
00:31:07.780 Grenada.
00:31:09.740 Yeah.
00:31:10.000 He was not interested
00:31:11.340 in invading
00:31:11.960 foreign countries
00:31:12.860 and sending our soldiers
00:31:14.040 to die abroad
00:31:14.940 but he understood
00:31:17.360 peace through strength.
00:31:18.560 He rebuilt our military.
00:31:19.900 He developed SDI
00:31:20.760 Strategic Defense Initiative.
00:31:22.140 It was called
00:31:22.500 Star Wars
00:31:23.140 Laser Missile Defense
00:31:24.860 from Space
00:31:25.440 and he bankrupted
00:31:26.300 the Soviet Union
00:31:27.060 and won the Cold War
00:31:28.400 without firing a shot.
00:31:31.440 Donald Trump likewise
00:31:32.720 has had incredible
00:31:34.620 foreign policy victories
00:31:36.080 but he's not sending
00:31:37.520 our soldiers
00:31:38.200 to be boots on the ground
00:31:39.740 and to die
00:31:40.780 for years on end.
00:31:41.940 And I want to take
00:31:43.520 a related term
00:31:44.360 that on social media
00:31:45.940 gets thrown around
00:31:46.840 as an epithet
00:31:47.940 which is regime change.
00:31:50.540 Yeah.
00:31:50.660 And you'll have people
00:31:51.260 I'm not for regime change.
00:31:53.480 Well let me be clear.
00:31:56.060 Should you be for regime change
00:31:58.560 when the Soviet Union fell
00:32:00.020 and the Berlin Wall
00:32:00.840 fell to the ground?
00:32:01.700 I will submit the answer
00:32:02.680 as unambiguously yes.
00:32:04.740 The world is better off
00:32:06.200 when a cruel tyrannical
00:32:07.420 communist regime falls.
00:32:09.240 Should you be for regime change
00:32:12.220 today in communist China?
00:32:13.960 I think unambiguously yes.
00:32:15.400 The world would be better off
00:32:16.740 if China were no longer
00:32:17.760 a communist country.
00:32:18.980 Should you be for regime change
00:32:20.900 in Iran?
00:32:22.360 I would suggest
00:32:23.600 unambiguously yes.
00:32:25.400 The world would be
00:32:26.400 a better place
00:32:27.160 if Iran was not governed
00:32:28.400 by a theocratic
00:32:29.340 murderous
00:32:30.200 religious zealot
00:32:32.240 who has killed
00:32:33.960 hundreds if not thousands
00:32:35.740 of Americans.
00:32:36.340 Now, what is the consequence
00:32:39.000 of saying you're
00:32:39.940 for regime change?
00:32:41.020 If it is
00:32:41.820 that you're going to send
00:32:43.500 hundreds of thousands
00:32:44.300 of American troops
00:32:45.140 to invade the country
00:32:46.140 and be on the ground
00:32:47.000 for years on end
00:32:48.020 and die in IEDs
00:32:49.680 and be killed
00:32:50.440 then I don't support that.
00:32:52.760 That is wrong.
00:32:54.160 And part of the reason
00:32:55.180 regime change
00:32:56.160 has become an insult
00:32:58.160 is people hear it
00:33:00.060 and they immediately think
00:33:01.360 the Iraq war.
00:33:02.260 Remember, I've opposed
00:33:03.100 the Iraq war for decades.
00:33:04.480 By the way,
00:33:05.000 when Tucker Carlson
00:33:06.620 was an interventionist
00:33:08.880 cheerleader
00:33:09.560 with pom-poms
00:33:11.380 cheering on the Iraq war
00:33:12.960 which he did for years
00:33:14.280 with his bow tie
00:33:15.080 I've said for years
00:33:17.300 the Iraq war
00:33:18.000 was clearly a mistake.
00:33:19.320 Why?
00:33:19.660 Because it did not advance
00:33:20.840 U.S. national security interest.
00:33:22.940 Saddam Hussein
00:33:23.600 was a cruel
00:33:24.220 and oppressive dictator.
00:33:25.880 He was killing terrorists
00:33:27.380 who hated America.
00:33:28.940 We came in
00:33:29.660 we toppled Saddam Hussein
00:33:30.960 and the terrorists
00:33:32.700 who hated America
00:33:33.480 took over
00:33:34.040 and began killing Americans.
00:33:35.200 By the way,
00:33:35.680 we did the same thing
00:33:36.720 in Libya with Gaddafi.
00:33:38.000 Gaddafi was cruel
00:33:39.120 and oppressive
00:33:39.760 but he was killing terrorists
00:33:41.180 who hate Americans.
00:33:42.140 We toppled Gaddafi
00:33:43.120 and the terrorists
00:33:44.060 who hate Americans
00:33:44.780 took over.
00:33:45.860 I believe we should be
00:33:47.240 America first
00:33:48.040 which means we should put
00:33:48.980 America's national security
00:33:50.180 interests first
00:33:50.900 but just because
00:33:53.120 you don't want to
00:33:54.780 commit boots on the ground
00:33:56.140 and have hundreds
00:33:56.940 or thousands of Americans
00:33:58.120 die in protracted
00:33:59.560 ground combat
00:34:00.620 does not mean
00:34:02.460 that you should support
00:34:04.640 every tyrannical enemy
00:34:06.160 of America.
00:34:07.500 We should want
00:34:08.560 regime change in Iran
00:34:10.540 and are there ways
00:34:12.140 to promote regime change
00:34:13.740 other than
00:34:15.040 boots on the ground
00:34:16.420 and yes
00:34:17.560 and I would say
00:34:18.120 one of them
00:34:18.620 is what Donald J. Trump said.
00:34:20.420 I want to read his tweet again.
00:34:22.380 Iran is looking at freedom
00:34:23.860 perhaps like never before.
00:34:25.600 The USA stands ready to help.
00:34:27.600 President Donald J. Trump.
00:34:28.960 I agree with President Trump
00:34:30.260 and Tucker and everyone else
00:34:32.620 who is blasting
00:34:33.480 that we should have
00:34:34.140 nothing to do with Iran
00:34:35.240 they're disagreeing
00:34:36.720 with the president
00:34:37.300 and they are wrong.
00:34:38.500 We should use our voice.
00:34:39.920 That's why this podcast
00:34:40.980 is a message
00:34:42.400 to the people of Iran.
00:34:44.400 Freedom matters.
00:34:46.020 You're the ones in charge
00:34:47.260 of fighting for your revolution
00:34:48.600 but know
00:34:49.580 that America stands with you
00:34:52.920 and a free and peaceful Iran
00:34:54.800 is better for Iran
00:34:55.740 and it's better for America.
00:34:57.100 Yeah, it really is.
00:34:58.220 It's an important show.
00:34:59.260 I hope the people in Iran
00:35:00.960 especially using Starlink
00:35:02.300 get this podcast
00:35:03.620 they're able to listen to it
00:35:04.760 that we're standing with you
00:35:05.620 we're supporting you
00:35:06.460 we're advocating for you
00:35:07.760 and we want you guys
00:35:09.200 to succeed in what you're doing
00:35:10.460 right now.
00:35:11.000 It's going to be very interesting
00:35:11.820 to see because
00:35:12.400 things are changing so quickly.
00:35:14.480 There was a video
00:35:15.020 that was put out
00:35:15.680 and it was also
00:35:16.960 just one of those moments
00:35:18.100 when you're
00:35:18.520 I love the internet
00:35:19.260 and it shows a Russian jet
00:35:21.200 and a Russian support plane
00:35:22.880 from their military
00:35:23.540 on the tarmac
00:35:24.320 on the military side
00:35:25.400 at the Tehran airport.
00:35:26.720 It's interesting
00:35:27.940 because people are speculating
00:35:28.940 that plane is sitting there
00:35:29.960 ready to take out
00:35:30.960 the leaders
00:35:31.380 if they need to.
00:35:32.260 Ben, I got to say
00:35:33.160 what was there
00:35:33.940 in the windshield
00:35:34.720 the little Uber logo?
00:35:36.300 I'm just curious.
00:35:37.220 Yeah, it said Russian lift.
00:35:39.140 It was Russian, yeah.
00:35:40.160 Yeah, Russian lift.
00:35:41.580 Did they at least bring
00:35:43.120 some like, you know
00:35:44.020 Domino's pizza or something?
00:35:45.480 Yeah, yeah.
00:35:45.860 It's the same plane
00:35:46.660 I think that they got
00:35:47.440 when they grabbed Assad, right?
00:35:48.680 You know, it's like
00:35:49.380 oh, come on down
00:35:50.120 we'll let you be an eye doctor.
00:35:51.320 It's fine.
00:35:51.700 You're one of our bad guys.
00:35:52.720 It's the dictator extraction plane.
00:35:55.360 Yeah, exactly.
00:35:56.420 It's those two
00:35:57.120 and who knows
00:35:57.600 maybe Tucker will be on it one day
00:35:58.960 he can go hang out there
00:35:59.740 he's already bought a house
00:36:00.580 in Qatar
00:36:01.320 so you never know
00:36:02.360 but you see it
00:36:04.020 and it's just one of those moments
00:36:05.400 where I love the internet
00:36:06.460 it's like
00:36:07.420 that's how close we are
00:36:08.780 to seeing genuine freedom
00:36:10.460 back there
00:36:11.120 that they haven't seen
00:36:12.120 since 1979
00:36:13.460 that is amazing
00:36:15.220 and inspiring
00:36:15.960 I hope for the best
00:36:17.400 and I hope that
00:36:18.060 very few lives
00:36:18.840 or any lives
00:36:19.420 are lost in this fight.
00:36:21.160 Let me say something also, Ben
00:36:22.420 you're right
00:36:22.940 let me also acknowledge
00:36:25.180 I'm not Pollyannish
00:36:26.800 about what comes next
00:36:28.560 so if there's a revolution in Iran
00:36:31.660 if the Ayatollah is toppled
00:36:33.440 it doesn't mean that tomorrow
00:36:35.700 it's suddenly utopia
00:36:37.300 and peace and harmony
00:36:38.840 there could be real conflict
00:36:41.100 there could be warring sides
00:36:43.660 anytime you have a revolution
00:36:45.960 there is uncertainty
00:36:47.080 and the outcome can be good or bad
00:36:49.880 I don't have a stake
00:36:52.580 I don't have a preferred favorite
00:36:55.780 for who the next leader of Iran is
00:36:58.120 I don't think that's my place
00:36:59.160 I'm not a voter in Iran
00:37:01.900 unlike Tucker
00:37:02.840 I'm not buying a home
00:37:04.300 in the Middle East
00:37:05.040 To be clear
00:37:07.460 you're not buying real estate there
00:37:08.940 okay
00:37:09.240 I thought you guys
00:37:10.580 were going to be neighbors
00:37:11.240 but okay
00:37:11.800 look
00:37:12.480 if the people of Iran
00:37:13.940 topple the Ayatollah
00:37:15.400 and the Mullahs
00:37:16.160 my hope is
00:37:17.240 that we see free
00:37:18.060 and democratic elections
00:37:19.180 and they elect a leader
00:37:20.460 who's a good leader
00:37:21.900 who treats his people well
00:37:23.220 and who wants to be friends
00:37:24.620 with America
00:37:25.120 instead of enemies
00:37:25.760 by the way
00:37:26.260 that's the exact same outcome
00:37:28.020 I want in Venezuela
00:37:28.880 I want them not to have
00:37:30.160 a communist dictator
00:37:31.100 now
00:37:31.460 Donald Trump has taken care of that
00:37:33.320 by arresting him
00:37:34.060 and arresting him
00:37:34.780 and prosecuting him
00:37:35.660 but I want to see
00:37:36.920 free and fair elections
00:37:37.960 in Venezuela
00:37:38.660 where they elect someone
00:37:39.720 I hope
00:37:40.300 who embraces freedom
00:37:41.260 and free enterprise
00:37:41.980 and wants to be friends
00:37:43.900 with America
00:37:44.400 the lens I look through
00:37:45.460 all of this
00:37:45.980 is how does it impact America
00:37:47.320 it's America first
00:37:48.220 but I'm not diminishing
00:37:50.420 could there be bad outcomes
00:37:53.100 could there be a civil war
00:37:54.900 yes
00:37:55.240 that's a possibility
00:37:56.300 when you have revolution
00:37:57.080 you could have a divided country
00:37:57.920 like we saw in Iraq
00:37:58.980 as well
00:37:59.580 I mean you see this
00:38:00.320 where there's different
00:38:00.880 there's many different
00:38:01.720 religious thoughts
00:38:02.760 and backgrounds
00:38:03.620 and different towns
00:38:04.600 that believe different things
00:38:05.580 and let me draw a distinction
00:38:07.080 on this also
00:38:07.940 which is
00:38:09.100 there's a real difference
00:38:11.360 between Saddam Hussein
00:38:12.500 and Iran
00:38:13.380 in that Saddam Hussein
00:38:15.080 was a cruel dictator
00:38:16.280 but he wasn't actively
00:38:17.700 waging war on America
00:38:19.080 the Ayatollah
00:38:20.420 is actively waging war
00:38:22.100 on America
00:38:22.560 he's spending money today
00:38:24.100 funding terrorists
00:38:26.380 that are trying to kill Americans
00:38:27.660 and there's a real difference
00:38:29.420 there are regimes
00:38:30.640 across this country
00:38:31.780 across the world rather
00:38:32.940 that are cruel
00:38:33.780 and oppressive
00:38:34.340 but they're not trying
00:38:36.000 to kill us
00:38:37.000 the Ayatollah is
00:38:39.120 and so look
00:38:40.080 obviously
00:38:40.760 if the regime falls
00:38:42.660 you could end up
00:38:43.260 with a bad outcome
00:38:44.160 but in my view
00:38:45.480 there are very few outcomes
00:38:46.640 that could be worse
00:38:47.600 than the Ayatollah
00:38:48.420 at this point
00:38:49.100 they are unmitigatedly
00:38:50.940 our enemies
00:38:51.540 and I am hopeful
00:38:53.660 I think we should be
00:38:54.680 a voice of encouragement
00:38:56.400 towards better leadership
00:38:58.760 but I want to close
00:38:59.680 with this story
00:39:00.320 so about a decade ago
00:39:02.640 I was in Jerusalem
00:39:04.420 and I had the opportunity
00:39:05.780 to meet Natan Sharansky
00:39:07.180 now Natan Sharansky
00:39:08.260 is the famed
00:39:10.460 Soviet dissident
00:39:11.740 he was in the Soviet gulag
00:39:13.360 and he told me the story
00:39:15.900 about how
00:39:16.520 when they were in the gulag
00:39:17.580 and Reagan was president
00:39:19.400 that the prisoners
00:39:21.280 would pass
00:39:22.200 from cell to cell
00:39:23.320 notes
00:39:23.960 and they would be notes
00:39:26.060 saying
00:39:26.580 did you hear
00:39:27.500 what Reagan said
00:39:28.600 Reagan called the Soviet Union
00:39:30.040 an evil empire
00:39:30.920 they passed notes
00:39:32.220 evil empire
00:39:32.820 evil empire
00:39:33.440 evil empire
00:39:34.120 Reagan was asked
00:39:36.460 what is your strategy
00:39:38.500 on the Cold War
00:39:39.280 he said
00:39:39.620 very simple
00:39:40.320 we win
00:39:41.140 they lose
00:39:42.420 before that
00:39:43.560 everyone said
00:39:44.020 oh we're going to have detente
00:39:44.960 we're just going to do nothing
00:39:45.880 and he's like
00:39:46.240 we win
00:39:46.640 they lose
00:39:47.080 that's the strategy
00:39:47.920 when he talked about
00:39:49.660 Marxism-Leninism
00:39:50.600 he said
00:39:51.020 Marxism-Leninism
00:39:52.060 will end up
00:39:52.600 on the ash heap
00:39:53.740 of history
00:39:54.440 and then
00:39:55.880 the most significant words
00:39:57.500 any leader
00:39:57.980 has uttered
00:39:59.000 in modern times
00:39:59.760 he stood in front
00:40:00.440 of the Brandenburg Gate
00:40:01.360 in Germany
00:40:01.980 and said
00:40:03.060 Mr. Gorbachev
00:40:04.140 tear down
00:40:05.160 this wall
00:40:06.100 which by the way
00:40:07.340 I love that part of the story
00:40:08.680 if you haven't looked at it
00:40:09.640 please go and look at it
00:40:11.120 he was told by his staff
00:40:13.620 and speechwriters
00:40:14.660 to not say it
00:40:16.400 and he
00:40:16.820 added it back in
00:40:18.020 after the State Department
00:40:19.360 had taken it out
00:40:20.260 three times
00:40:21.200 the State Department
00:40:21.940 deleted that
00:40:22.640 three times
00:40:23.220 Reagan wrote it back in
00:40:24.220 and by the way
00:40:25.600 the State Department
00:40:26.420 argued at the time
00:40:27.240 of his speech
00:40:27.740 he said
00:40:28.100 you cannot say this
00:40:29.180 it is too aggressive
00:40:30.040 it's too bellicose
00:40:31.000 and here was their
00:40:31.960 killer argument
00:40:32.540 it's too unrealistic
00:40:34.580 it will never
00:40:35.480 ever ever happen
00:40:36.720 and Reagan laughed
00:40:38.840 and said
00:40:39.240 this is the whole point
00:40:40.100 of the speech
00:40:40.640 and it was less than
00:40:42.220 three years
00:40:42.860 from giving that speech
00:40:43.880 that the Berlin Wall
00:40:44.640 was torn to the ground
00:40:45.620 and by the way
00:40:46.300 Berlin Wall
00:40:48.060 did not come down
00:40:49.260 because Reagan
00:40:49.980 ordered in the Marines
00:40:51.080 we sent in
00:40:51.860 tanks to knock down
00:40:53.260 the wall
00:40:53.720 it was the power
00:40:55.200 of the bully pulpit
00:40:56.420 of the voice
00:40:57.340 for freedom
00:40:58.120 of the president
00:40:58.800 and one of the things
00:41:00.100 Ben you've seen
00:41:00.860 that is in my office
00:41:02.440 it's actually in one
00:41:03.120 of the offices
00:41:03.580 of my staff
00:41:04.500 I love it
00:41:05.480 is my first couple
00:41:07.000 of years
00:41:07.380 that I was in the Senate
00:41:08.160 someone came to the office
00:41:10.220 and gave me something
00:41:11.100 and it's a silk painting
00:41:13.040 of myself
00:41:13.940 which I don't
00:41:15.600 generally hang paintings
00:41:16.560 of myself on the wall
00:41:17.360 yeah
00:41:18.160 but the reason
00:41:19.620 that I kept this one
00:41:20.960 is the story behind it
00:41:22.700 this was apparently
00:41:23.500 made by a dissident
00:41:25.940 a prisoner
00:41:26.840 in North Korea
00:41:28.680 and I've been
00:41:30.540 from the very first days
00:41:31.620 I arrived in the Senate
00:41:32.480 I've been speaking out
00:41:33.480 against tyrants
00:41:34.820 and communist oppression
00:41:36.220 whether in China
00:41:37.960 or North Korea
00:41:39.300 or Venezuela
00:41:40.900 or Cuba
00:41:41.620 or Iran
00:41:43.280 and much like
00:41:44.920 Natan Sharansky
00:41:45.800 apparently the words
00:41:46.960 that I had said
00:41:47.820 here in the United States
00:41:49.160 had somehow
00:41:50.600 made their way
00:41:51.700 into a dark prison cell
00:41:53.200 in North Korea
00:41:53.880 and I don't know
00:41:54.640 the name
00:41:55.200 of this North Korean
00:41:56.780 who made this
00:41:57.660 I don't know his story
00:41:59.040 I just know
00:42:00.100 that it was smuggled out
00:42:01.280 and they delivered it
00:42:02.820 to my office
00:42:03.440 and I periodically
00:42:04.180 look at that
00:42:04.840 and say okay
00:42:05.540 like there's a responsibility
00:42:07.680 this podcast
00:42:09.200 there may be someone
00:42:12.140 who is risking their life
00:42:15.020 or even God forbid
00:42:15.960 loses their life
00:42:17.180 because they hear our words
00:42:19.180 are inspired
00:42:19.980 to fight against tyranny
00:42:21.340 and so I think
00:42:21.780 we have a responsibility
00:42:22.920 to speak truth
00:42:26.040 to speak for justice
00:42:27.200 and that's what I hope
00:42:28.960 this podcast
00:42:30.100 is doing every week
00:42:31.260 but especially today
00:42:32.160 yeah
00:42:32.700 I couldn't agree
00:42:33.500 with you more
00:42:33.980 don't forget
00:42:34.800 we do this show
00:42:35.520 Monday, Wednesday, Friday
00:42:36.520 hit that subscribe
00:42:37.540 or auto download button
00:42:38.760 you can also watch
00:42:39.820 this podcast
00:42:40.780 if you want to watch
00:42:41.720 on video on YouTube
00:42:42.820 we also put it up
00:42:44.100 on Facebook as well
00:42:45.200 so you can watch it there
00:42:46.100 if you're on Facebook
00:42:46.900 so make sure
00:42:47.840 you do that as well
00:42:48.560 and please share it
00:42:49.460 like I said
00:42:49.960 with your family and friends
00:42:50.880 that's how we get
00:42:51.460 new people to hear this show
00:42:52.720 it's the whole reason
00:42:53.360 why we do this show
00:42:54.140 is to reach as many people
00:42:55.100 as possible
00:42:55.640 without you guys
00:42:57.140 sharing it on social media
00:42:58.620 or texting it to your friends
00:43:00.140 that doesn't happen
00:43:01.240 so thank you for doing it
00:43:02.420 and continuing to do it
00:43:03.580 and the center and I
00:43:04.360 will see you back here
00:43:05.260 in a couple of days
00:43:06.100 this is an iHeart Podcast
00:43:08.660 Guaranteed Human
00:43:10.660 and I'll see you next time
00:43:12.240 and I'll see you next time
00:43:13.040 and I'll see you next time