Verdict with Ted Cruz - Iran Revolution-Why this is Different...Trump is not Obama

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.620 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.540 Welcome. It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.

00:00:07.760 It is so nice to have you with us.

00:00:09.320 And Senator, we've got a big show today.

00:00:11.320 First off, Iran and President Trump speaking out in a very bold way.

00:00:15.840 Well, this week is momentous in that millions of Iranians continue to stand up and fight

00:00:20.960 to overthrow the Ayatollah, to overthrow the Mullahs, the radical Islamists 1.00

00:00:25.000 who have dominated that country for five decades.

00:00:28.020 And President Trump has come out unequivocally in support of the protesters.

00:00:32.280 And just this week, he came out and said,

00:00:34.600 it is time for a new government in Iran.

00:00:37.100 The Ayatollah needs to go.

00:00:39.040 That is enormously consequential.

00:00:41.080 We're going to break down why he said what he did,

00:00:43.820 what it means, and what's going to happen next.

00:00:46.260 Yeah, it really is an important story.

00:00:48.680 I want to also remind you about an incredible organization,

00:00:51.560 our friends at Compassion International.

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00:01:09.860 Maybe they've asked you about your family,

00:01:12.300 your favorite color, what makes you laugh.

00:01:14.900 They're wondering who you are,

00:01:16.540 this person who cares enough to be part of their story.

00:01:20.320 And you, you're not just sending money,

00:01:22.440 you're writing back, you're showing up month after month,

00:01:26.580 letter after letter, you're celebrating their victories,

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00:02:04.260 That's Compassion.com.

00:02:06.960 All right, so Senator, Sunday morning,

00:02:09.160 I was watching CBS, like Sunday morning, their show,

00:02:12.160 it was Jane Pauley,

00:02:13.500 and they were reminding people that Tuesday is one year

00:02:16.420 since President Trump will be in office.

00:02:19.620 And they were talking about this,

00:02:21.580 and they were also comparing it,

00:02:23.740 saying that Donald Trump has gone so rogue

00:02:26.480 on the world stage now,

00:02:27.800 and they had a historian on to say,

00:02:29.800 well, most countries don't make it to 250 years

00:02:34.280 with a democracy and freedom.

00:02:37.060 And so they were clearly implying

00:02:38.980 that this is that 250-year anniversary,

00:02:41.380 and we probably won't make it there by July

00:02:43.140 because Donald Trump's gone so rogue.

00:02:45.500 And I laugh because I'm like,

00:02:46.680 this guy is so clearly transparent

00:02:49.520 in what he wants to do

00:02:51.380 and what the voters told him to do.

00:02:53.540 Iran is another example of that. 1.00

00:02:54.900 You don't have to guess.

00:02:56.040 He has said what our stated mission is.

00:02:59.260 Well, I got to say,

00:03:00.380 your first mistake is,

00:03:01.600 what on earth were you doing watching CBS this morning?

00:03:05.100 I was on Fox.

00:03:06.120 I was very bored.

00:03:07.000 I was on Maria Bartiromo,

00:03:08.700 but apparently I'm chopped liver,

00:03:10.340 and so you weren't interested in watching me.

00:03:13.840 I was watching the commies.

00:03:15.400 I wanted to know what the commies were peddling out there.

00:03:18.220 Look, you wanted to listen to commie historians lie

00:03:21.560 and say democracy died

00:03:23.160 the day the American people elected Donald Trump.

00:03:25.800 By the way, they think democracy died

00:03:27.920 any time the voters don't elect left-wing radical Democrats.

00:03:32.920 You know, it reminds me of Adigo Montoya

00:03:35.160 in The Princess Bride.

00:03:36.320 When it comes to democracy,

00:03:37.720 you keep on using that word.

00:03:39.180 I do not think it means what you think it means.

00:03:41.400 Like, their definition of democracy

00:03:43.900 is not what you actually would get

00:03:46.780 looking in the dictionary,

00:03:48.000 which is the people voting.

00:03:50.160 And actually, pure democracy is the people voting

00:03:52.500 and choosing the policies that will govern their country.

00:03:55.300 We don't have a pure democracy.

00:03:56.660 We have a republic.

00:03:57.580 What is a republic?

00:03:58.920 A republic is where the people vote

00:04:01.320 to elect their representatives.

00:04:03.440 So the people are not voting on,

00:04:05.320 should our top marginal tax rate be 36% or 50% or 10%?

00:04:12.040 That would be direct democracy.

00:04:14.260 But instead, we have,

00:04:16.380 you could call it a democratic republic

00:04:18.120 because it is a republic where democracy operates

00:04:21.220 to elect our representatives.

00:04:22.520 But when people use democracy, capital D,

00:04:27.340 they usually mean that the voters get to decide.

00:04:32.040 But that's not how Democrats use it.

00:04:34.560 That's not how the media use it.

00:04:36.340 Instead, what they mean by democracy

00:04:38.500 is socialists and Marxists are in power.

00:04:42.040 And by the way,

00:04:42.560 they're perfectly happy to ignore the voters

00:04:45.240 if it keeps them in power.

00:04:46.920 However, let's focus on Iran for a moment

00:04:49.840 because, listen,

00:04:52.600 and we've talked about this on the pod

00:04:54.060 in the last couple of weeks.

00:04:55.460 I really do think we're in a momentous moment,

00:04:58.900 like unlike anything we have seen

00:05:02.620 since the late 1980s, the early 1990s.

00:05:06.420 Yeah.

00:05:06.820 We're in a moment

00:05:07.660 where three of the most viciously anti-American regimes

00:05:12.920 across the planet, Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba,

00:05:17.840 in the next six months,

00:05:19.160 we could see all three of those regimes fall.

00:05:22.160 Yep.

00:05:22.360 And we could also see free and fair elections

00:05:25.640 in all three of them.

00:05:27.100 And if that happens,

00:05:28.660 I think there is a real possibility

00:05:30.200 that they will elect,

00:05:31.760 democratically elect,

00:05:32.860 going back to big D democracy, 0.90

00:05:34.920 the voters,

00:05:35.680 I believe there's a real possibility,

00:05:37.760 will elect leaders who will defend free markets,

00:05:41.280 defend freedom,

00:05:41.960 and critically stop waging war on America

00:05:45.740 and make the choice to be friends with America.

00:05:48.720 If that happens,

00:05:50.700 it will be the most consequential change

00:05:53.580 on the global stage

00:05:54.960 since the fall of the Berlin Wall,

00:05:57.600 since Ronald Reagan and America won the Cold War.

00:06:01.080 And we did that without firing a shot.

00:06:02.640 That changed the entire globe.

00:06:05.220 And we could see in 2026

00:06:07.020 a change every bit as significant.

00:06:09.440 Now, let me be clear.

00:06:10.920 There are a thousand ways for things to go wrong

00:06:14.960 in Iran,

00:06:16.520 in Venezuela,

00:06:17.500 in Cuba.

00:06:18.540 So,

00:06:19.080 and what we do know for certainty

00:06:20.740 is it will not be smooth

00:06:22.240 and without challenges.

00:06:23.420 We know that to an absolute certainty.

00:06:26.080 Expect the unexpected.

00:06:28.180 That being said,

00:06:30.160 President Trump came out this week

00:06:31.960 and he explicitly said

00:06:33.320 it is time for a new government in Iran.

00:06:36.340 And he had never said that before

00:06:37.740 throughout the first term,

00:06:39.100 throughout this term,

00:06:40.360 until right now.

00:06:41.500 He had explicitly not gone so far

00:06:44.420 as to embrace, quote,

00:06:45.900 regime change.

00:06:47.340 Now, Ben, you'll remember,

00:06:49.280 what was it,

00:06:49.720 six, seven months ago

00:06:50.720 when I did Tucker Carlson's show,

00:06:52.880 he started by

00:06:54.360 peripatetically freaking out

00:06:56.000 and saying,

00:06:56.440 my God,

00:06:57.460 Cruz,

00:06:57.880 you're for regime change

00:06:59.420 in Iran.

00:07:00.280 And he like had a heart attack

00:07:01.500 and then he began laughing maniacally,

00:07:03.500 which he does a lot.

00:07:05.900 Yeah.

00:07:06.520 The odd thing is,

00:07:07.680 I think any rational American

00:07:09.840 should be,

00:07:12.100 want to see regime change.

00:07:14.020 If you ask yourself,

00:07:15.640 is America better off

00:07:17.260 if the leader of Iran

00:07:19.440 is not a crazy religious nut,

00:07:23.280 an Islamist radical

00:07:24.900 who chants death to America,

00:07:27.580 to kill people, 0.83

00:07:28.320 yeah,

00:07:28.480 who chants death to America,

00:07:31.360 who murders and tortures

00:07:32.680 his own people,

00:07:33.520 who is the biggest funder

00:07:34.760 of terrorism on planet Earth,

00:07:36.380 who provides more than 90%

00:07:38.280 of the funding to Hamas,

00:07:39.540 who provides more than 90%

00:07:40.860 of the funding to Hezbollah,

00:07:42.560 who is responsible

00:07:43.740 for killing hundreds,

00:07:45.360 if not thousands,

00:07:46.480 of Americans.

00:07:47.660 Like, unequivocally,

00:07:49.620 America would be better off 0.64

00:07:51.760 if the Ayatollah

00:07:53.480 was no longer the leader of Iran.

00:07:55.520 Now,

00:07:56.800 part of the reason

00:07:57.700 why the words regime change

00:07:59.340 have a stigma connected to them

00:08:00.840 is many remember the Iraq war.

00:08:04.340 They remember

00:08:04.820 the George W. Bush administration

00:08:06.280 where regime change justified

00:08:08.300 sending hundreds of thousands

00:08:10.300 of American troops

00:08:11.300 to spend years fighting

00:08:12.900 in a distant war,

00:08:13.960 and they don't want to see that.

00:08:14.960 And by the way,

00:08:15.620 I don't want to see that.

00:08:17.040 I think the Iraq war 0.94

00:08:18.120 was a mistake.

00:08:19.420 I have said that

00:08:20.040 for a long,

00:08:21.240 long time.

00:08:22.440 So when I say

00:08:23.220 I support regime change, 1.00

00:08:24.320 it doesn't mean

00:08:24.900 I want to send hundreds

00:08:25.760 of thousands of American troops

00:08:27.020 onto the ground in Iran.

00:08:29.260 What it means

00:08:30.360 is it is unequivocally

00:08:32.780 in our interest

00:08:33.460 to see the Ayatollah fall.

00:08:35.380 I think the Ayatollah's fall 1.00

00:08:37.120 ought to be driven primarily

00:08:38.800 by the Iranian people,

00:08:40.700 and it's why this uprising

00:08:42.100 is so consequential,

00:08:43.680 because it is Iranians 0.95

00:08:44.820 who are risking their lives

00:08:46.600 to overturn

00:08:47.420 this regime,

00:08:49.960 this dictatorship.

00:08:50.800 But President Trump,

00:08:52.780 I think,

00:08:53.240 is doing a good job

00:08:54.460 of, number one,

00:08:56.320 making clear

00:08:57.460 that America

00:08:58.140 stands with the people,

00:08:59.840 stands with the protesters,

00:09:01.380 and threatening accountability.

00:09:03.280 And what does accountability

00:09:04.200 look like?

00:09:04.980 He has made clear

00:09:06.060 to the government of Iran,

00:09:07.560 if you just sit there

00:09:08.720 and begin massacring 0.67

00:09:10.020 the protesters,

00:09:11.620 there will be

00:09:12.420 real consequences.

00:09:13.660 He hasn't specified

00:09:14.420 what they are,

00:09:15.240 but the clear implication

00:09:16.100 is the consequences

00:09:17.300 will be military in nature.

00:09:18.680 That deterrence,

00:09:20.940 by the way,

00:09:21.400 military in nature

00:09:22.340 is not

00:09:23.080 send hundreds of thousands

00:09:25.240 of troops to the ground,

00:09:26.300 but it may well be

00:09:27.780 bomb the crap out of something. 0.91

00:09:29.400 Like, there is,

00:09:30.820 and hopefully,

00:09:32.680 that is a...

00:09:33.600 They are remembering

00:09:34.440 the Iran nuclear sites

00:09:36.040 that we just hit,

00:09:36.960 doing the impossible mission.

00:09:38.640 Yep.

00:09:38.920 And I do think

00:09:39.600 that's part of Trump's calculus.

00:09:40.900 Like, if you don't believe me,

00:09:42.240 just go look

00:09:43.000 at your nuclear sites.

00:09:44.320 Don't test me here.

00:09:46.300 Don't think I won't do this.

00:09:48.800 Right.

00:09:49.400 And look,

00:09:49.860 you combine

00:09:50.640 President Trump

00:09:52.340 taking out

00:09:52.940 the Iranian nuclear facilities

00:09:54.480 and you combine it

00:09:55.440 with the raid

00:09:56.440 and arrest on Maduro.

00:09:58.460 Two incredibly audacious

00:10:00.540 national security steps

00:10:01.920 massively improved

00:10:03.120 the national security

00:10:03.880 of America.

00:10:04.840 Both were incredible successes.

00:10:07.040 And in Iran,

00:10:08.140 Israel's already taken out 1.00

00:10:09.420 their air defenses.

00:10:10.300 Their air defenses

00:10:11.060 are essentially non-existence.

00:10:12.740 Now,

00:10:13.440 anytime you engage

00:10:14.460 in military action,

00:10:15.540 there is a risk.

00:10:16.240 I mean,

00:10:16.580 we could have casualties.

00:10:19.280 But Iran is in a markedly 0.97

00:10:21.520 weakened position.

00:10:24.060 And so that threat

00:10:25.380 is consequential.

00:10:26.380 I also hope

00:10:27.260 and I believe

00:10:27.880 and I don't have

00:10:28.700 any classified information

00:10:29.900 on this,

00:10:30.420 so I'm not revealing anything.

00:10:31.940 But I hope

00:10:32.760 and believe

00:10:33.300 there's quite a bit

00:10:34.240 that is happening

00:10:34.980 under the surface

00:10:36.480 that we're not seeing

00:10:37.620 in terms of covert activities.

00:10:39.440 I hope we're doing

00:10:40.040 everything humanly possible

00:10:41.240 to help and support

00:10:43.200 the protesters

00:10:43.940 so that they can overthrow 0.96

00:10:45.520 the government.

00:10:46.120 Not us,

00:10:46.580 but them.

00:10:47.300 But we can be

00:10:48.620 contrasted

00:10:50.360 to what happened

00:10:53.260 when Barack Obama

00:10:55.220 was president.

00:10:56.540 And I want to actually,

00:10:58.000 I want to compare the two

00:10:59.400 and give you that contrast.

00:11:02.040 So there was an article

00:11:03.000 in Tablet Magazine

00:11:04.120 several days ago

00:11:06.080 and it's called

00:11:07.900 Is This Time Different

00:11:09.860 in Iran?

00:11:10.520 It's by an author

00:11:11.540 named Peter Thoreau.

00:11:13.160 And here's what he said.

00:11:14.060 I want to read this

00:11:15.020 at some length

00:11:15.640 because I think it's really

00:11:16.440 quite interesting

00:11:17.300 and profound.

00:11:18.880 In 2009,

00:11:20.360 what shocked me

00:11:21.160 about President Barack Obama's

00:11:22.640 lack of support

00:11:23.320 for the Green Movement

00:11:24.180 protesters in Iran

00:11:25.340 was the failure

00:11:26.780 to launch

00:11:27.380 of the commander-in-chief's

00:11:28.740 colossal ego.

00:11:30.500 Here were thousands

00:11:31.400 of young Iranians

00:11:32.320 filling the streets

00:11:33.080 of Tehran

00:11:33.700 to appeal to him,

00:11:35.280 even with a wistful

00:11:36.740 pawn on his name.

00:11:38.980 Obama,

00:11:40.120 Obama Bashid.

00:11:41.880 Obama,

00:11:42.300 be with us.

00:11:44.020 Anyone in government

00:11:44.860 at the time

00:11:45.360 knew that the Chicagoan

00:11:46.460 lacked nothing

00:11:47.520 in the way of ruthlessness,

00:11:49.100 though he tended

00:11:49.720 to save it for Republicans

00:11:50.940 of the non-Islamic variety.

00:11:53.500 He applied the word

00:11:54.660 enemy

00:11:55.240 to the GOP,

00:11:57.460 but never to the Mullahs.

00:11:59.300 If righteous anger

00:12:00.760 at the regime's

00:12:01.580 murder of dissidents

00:12:02.380 didn't meet the threshold

00:12:03.480 for Chicago rules,

00:12:04.560 I thought,

00:12:05.320 surely vanity 0.50

00:12:06.180 might do the job.

00:12:07.720 But opening to Iran

00:12:09.180 had been an early theme

00:12:10.500 of his presidency

00:12:11.300 that same year

00:12:12.260 with a mushy

00:12:13.180 Persian New Year message

00:12:14.720 and a secret letter

00:12:16.220 to Supreme Leader

00:12:17.740 Ali Khamenei,

00:12:19.060 of whom he knew little.

00:12:21.140 Quote,

00:12:21.800 Despite his title

00:12:22.860 as Supreme Leader,

00:12:23.780 Khamenei's authority

00:12:24.540 wasn't absolute,

00:12:25.900 Obama preposterously

00:12:27.220 intoned in his memoir

00:12:28.540 A Promised Land

00:12:29.420 in 2020.

00:12:30.840 Quote,

00:12:31.180 He had to confer

00:12:32.260 with a powerful

00:12:33.120 council of clerics,

00:12:34.280 the Guardian's Council.

00:12:36.140 Referring to the clerics,

00:12:37.480 journalist Kareem

00:12:38.540 Sajjapur observed

00:12:40.580 that their average age

00:12:42.200 is deceased.

00:12:44.680 Obama continued.

00:12:45.780 That's pretty funny.

00:12:47.420 Obama continued,

00:12:48.280 Quote,

00:12:48.860 My first impulse

00:12:49.960 was to express

00:12:51.280 strong support

00:12:52.180 for the demonstrators.

00:12:53.340 Obama records

00:12:54.240 further in that memoir.

00:12:56.220 But when I gathered

00:12:57.100 my national security team,

00:12:58.500 are Iran experts advised

00:13:00.760 against such a move?

00:13:03.120 According to them,

00:13:04.040 any statement from me

00:13:04.980 would likely backfire.

00:13:06.260 Activists inside Iran

00:13:07.440 feared that

00:13:08.060 supportive statements

00:13:08.820 from the U.S. government

00:13:09.780 would be seized upon

00:13:11.540 to discredit their movement.

00:13:13.900 That's amazing.

00:13:15.320 The latter statement

00:13:16.380 was ridiculous on its face

00:13:17.900 as the demonstrators

00:13:18.680 were openly pleading

00:13:20.300 for outside support

00:13:21.420 and from him specifically.

00:13:23.680 He may have been ignorant

00:13:24.820 about how Ronald Reagan's

00:13:26.180 harsh anti-Moscow rhetoric

00:13:28.020 boosted the morale

00:13:29.080 of imprisoned dissidents

00:13:30.860 like Natan Sharansky.

00:13:32.860 But what of that

00:13:33.900 national security team?

00:13:36.060 Obama does not name them,

00:13:37.400 but his administration

00:13:38.220 would become known

00:13:39.160 for high-level

00:13:40.300 sentimentalists

00:13:41.280 towards Iran.

00:13:42.100 Rob Malley,

00:13:43.280 Samantha Power,

00:13:44.100 Philip Gordon,

00:13:45.160 Sahir Nawazadeh,

00:13:47.680 and the diplomatic weaklings

00:13:49.560 who would negotiate

00:13:50.360 the nuclear deal.

00:13:52.040 So Obama issued

00:13:53.560 a series of statements

00:13:54.880 that he himself

00:13:55.860 would describe as,

00:13:56.800 quote, bland,

00:13:58.980 bureaucratic,

00:14:00.400 and passive,

00:14:02.520 bitter that,

00:14:03.720 quote,

00:14:03.780 I had to listen

00:14:04.560 to Republicans howl

00:14:05.820 that I was coddling

00:14:06.900 a murderous regime.

00:14:09.320 Actually,

00:14:09.860 he was six years away

00:14:10.820 from truly coddling it.

00:14:12.580 Our cerebral leader

00:14:13.980 lamented that as president,

00:14:15.460 quote,

00:14:15.760 my heart was now chained

00:14:17.120 to strategic considerations

00:14:18.580 and tactical analysis,

00:14:20.300 my conviction subject

00:14:21.500 to counterintuitive arguments,

00:14:23.700 that in the most powerful

00:14:24.740 office on earth,

00:14:26.120 I had less freedom

00:14:27.240 to say what I meant

00:14:28.180 and act on what I felt

00:14:29.500 than I had as a senator.

00:14:31.980 In other words,

00:14:33.260 what passed for his convictions

00:14:34.700 were easily defeated

00:14:35.940 by an America-bad briefing

00:14:39.360 from his subordinates.

00:14:41.400 Now,

00:14:42.380 it goes on to say,

00:14:44.120 numbers are still inexact,

00:14:45.520 but Tehran's thugs

00:14:46.560 made about 4,000 arrests

00:14:48.140 and killed hundreds

00:14:49.600 to quell the 2009 demonstration.

00:14:52.100 The Green Movement's leaders

00:14:53.920 were jailed,

00:14:54.640 globally dissidents

00:14:55.500 of all stripes,

00:14:56.340 and even Madonna and U2

00:14:57.560 spoke out in favor

00:14:59.320 of Iranian democracy.

00:15:00.600 By the way,

00:15:01.080 where are Madonna and U2

00:15:02.040 right now?

00:15:02.520 That's an interesting question.

00:15:04.700 Was it a bitter pill

00:15:05.840 for a cool cat like Obama

00:15:08.540 not to be in that club?

00:15:10.500 I suspect not,

00:15:11.500 as he harbored

00:15:12.020 some sentimentality

00:15:13.300 towards the Islamic Republic,

00:15:15.640 having stated

00:15:16.320 in his first letter

00:15:17.160 to its leader,

00:15:17.920 as well as in his taped video message

00:15:20.100 on the occasion of Norahs,

00:15:22.560 the Persian New Year,

00:15:23.880 that he sought normalization

00:15:25.720 with the state sponsor of terror,

00:15:27.380 a long step beyond

00:15:29.480 hoping for better relations

00:15:31.620 with Iran someday,

00:15:33.080 as you might do

00:15:33.920 in a holiday greeting.

00:15:35.520 Canadian women

00:15:36.400 are looking for more,

00:15:37.700 more out of themselves,

00:15:38.780 their businesses,

00:15:39.720 their elected leaders,

00:15:40.680 and the world around them.

00:15:41.860 And that's why we're thrilled

00:15:42.860 to introduce

00:15:43.520 the Honest Talk podcast.

00:15:45.580 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:15:46.760 And I'm Catherine Clark.

00:15:47.760 And in this podcast,

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00:15:51.660 entrepreneurs,

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00:16:00.780 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast

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00:16:04.120 to your podcasts.

00:16:06.600 Senator,

00:16:07.160 I just got to stop.

00:16:08.100 And I do love

00:16:09.080 the revisionist history

00:16:10.040 from Barack Obama.

00:16:11.100 He's like,

00:16:11.560 hey,

00:16:11.840 I wanted to stay

00:16:13.080 with the people in Iran,

00:16:14.140 but my team

00:16:15.300 told me not to.

00:16:16.260 So therefore,

00:16:17.180 that's why I didn't do it.

00:16:18.980 Leaders lead.

00:16:19.940 Like,

00:16:20.180 straight up,

00:16:20.840 leaders lead.

00:16:22.020 You lead the,

00:16:23.060 you're at the front of the ship.

00:16:24.220 You're in charge.

00:16:25.520 It's supposed to be

00:16:26.460 your foreign policy.

00:16:27.880 And then you look at

00:16:28.900 what he actually did

00:16:29.780 with Iran,

00:16:30.300 and you understand

00:16:31.080 he was aiding and abetting

00:16:32.960 and helping them stay

00:16:34.320 on top in Iran.

00:16:36.240 Like,

00:16:36.420 let's just be clear.

00:16:37.480 We sent them money.

00:16:39.420 Yeah,

00:16:39.580 yeah,

00:16:39.740 look,

00:16:40.340 to understand,

00:16:42.800 leaders lead,

00:16:43.760 and by the way,

00:16:44.240 Obama was leading.

00:16:45.260 Obama was leading.

00:16:46.480 There is,

00:16:46.880 there's practically

00:16:47.800 not an Islamist 0.99

00:16:48.760 on planet Earth

00:16:49.500 that he didn't coddle,

00:16:50.620 embrace,

00:16:51.120 and send money to.

00:16:52.480 Yeah,

00:16:52.760 it was,

00:16:53.060 right when he got elected,

00:16:54.440 remember,

00:16:54.840 it was all about

00:16:55.560 the Muslim world

00:16:56.220 and a reset.

00:16:57.300 And by the way,

00:16:58.260 when he was brand new

00:16:59.140 in office,

00:16:59.760 he flew to,

00:17:00.760 as president,

00:17:01.380 he flew to Cairo,

00:17:02.260 to the University of Cairo,

00:17:03.240 and he gave a speech

00:17:03.920 where he said,

00:17:04.420 Iran has a right,

00:17:06.360 and he used the word

00:17:07.180 right to nuclear weapons,

00:17:08.860 nuclear technology.

00:17:09.620 He actually didn't say weapons,

00:17:10.580 he said nuclear technology.

00:17:12.240 That was absurd,

00:17:13.740 and so his claiming

00:17:15.340 to be reluctant,

00:17:16.500 I think,

00:17:17.020 is a brazen lie.

00:17:18.380 This is his ideology,

00:17:19.920 and by the way,

00:17:20.640 it came to full flower

00:17:22.200 under the Biden White House.

00:17:23.940 And I think the history

00:17:24.780 for a lot of folks

00:17:25.720 that may not remember

00:17:27.100 what was happening,

00:17:27.960 look,

00:17:28.140 2009 was 16,

00:17:30.940 17 years ago.

00:17:31.680 It was a long time ago.

00:17:33.040 Yeah.

00:17:33.480 Let me jump forward

00:17:34.700 because the question then is,

00:17:36.380 okay,

00:17:36.580 what's different now?

00:17:38.360 And let me jump forward

00:17:39.400 to this article.

00:17:39.940 I think it's a really

00:17:40.660 insightful article.

00:17:42.580 So,

00:17:43.340 after two weeks

00:17:44.140 of the largest nationwide

00:17:45.260 demonstrations in Iran

00:17:46.540 since the Islamic Revolution,

00:17:48.840 what has changed

00:17:49.680 and why?

00:17:50.940 It has nothing to do

00:17:52.160 with negotiating tables

00:17:53.320 and lots to do

00:17:54.300 with battle space.

00:17:56.320 First,

00:17:57.080 let's note that this month's

00:17:58.540 huge anti-regime demonstrations

00:18:00.320 in more than

00:18:01.280 100 Iranian cities

00:18:03.340 were not ignited

00:18:05.080 by a single

00:18:06.200 big domestic event

00:18:07.280 like a blatantly

00:18:08.280 stolen election

00:18:09.140 or the murder

00:18:09.760 of an innocent young woman.

00:18:11.640 The Iranian real

00:18:12.420 has been crashing

00:18:13.500 past a million

00:18:14.740 to the dollar.

00:18:16.220 Let me say that again.

00:18:18.080 One past

00:18:19.100 one million

00:18:20.060 to a dollar.

00:18:20.780 That's their exchange rate

00:18:21.900 for weeks.

00:18:24.020 And inflation

00:18:24.660 reached the point

00:18:25.680 where the Tehran Bazaar

00:18:27.320 was losing money

00:18:29.240 on every transaction

00:18:31.200 so it closed.

00:18:33.820 Every transaction.

00:18:35.180 Every transaction.

00:18:36.200 Just imagine having a story

00:18:37.620 and everything you're selling

00:18:38.720 you're losing money on.

00:18:39.780 How would you stay in business?

00:18:40.800 That's why they closed down.

00:18:41.860 It's incredible.

00:18:43.000 Because hyperinflation,

00:18:44.380 if the value of the real

00:18:45.900 falls day after day after day,

00:18:48.700 you sell something

00:18:49.680 for five million real

00:18:50.820 and then the next day

00:18:51.920 that five million real

00:18:52.760 is worth a fraction

00:18:53.780 of what it was worth

00:18:54.400 the day before.

00:18:55.300 That's why they closed.

00:18:57.140 Something else drove

00:18:58.240 the following events

00:18:59.180 such as the South Par's

00:19:00.480 energy strike

00:19:01.280 and reported military defections.

00:19:02.920 The battle space

00:19:05.020 started shaping up

00:19:06.400 six years ago

00:19:07.300 this month

00:19:07.880 under Trump

00:19:08.520 with the U.S. killing

00:19:10.340 of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

00:19:12.700 Quds Force Commander

00:19:14.020 Qasem Soleimani,

00:19:15.740 the second most powerful man

00:19:17.480 in Iran

00:19:17.980 by U.S. drones

00:19:19.720 at Baghdad Airport.

00:19:21.060 He had just arrived

00:19:22.360 from Damascus

00:19:23.120 where he was briefing

00:19:24.420 former Syrian President

00:19:25.680 Bashar al-Assad

00:19:26.680 on a plan

00:19:27.880 to attack

00:19:28.700 the U.S. embassy

00:19:30.000 in Baghdad

00:19:31.000 as it had been done

00:19:32.660 in Tehran in 1979.

00:19:35.360 Iran's Iraqi 0.73

00:19:36.620 catspaw

00:19:37.580 Abu-Madi al-Mahandis

00:19:40.840 and 10 senior

00:19:41.840 Iranian briefers

00:19:42.860 and bodyguards

00:19:44.060 were also killed

00:19:45.300 in the strike.

00:19:46.820 After 20 years

00:19:48.400 of Bush,

00:19:49.900 Obama,

00:19:50.780 and Biden

00:19:51.520 kid gloves,

00:19:53.240 Tehran

00:19:53.860 was legitimately

00:19:55.140 frightened.

00:19:56.760 And then

00:19:57.380 after the Tehran 0.71

00:19:59.140 directed atrocity

00:20:00.180 against Israel 0.70

00:20:00.940 in October 2023,

00:20:03.180 Israel killed 0.99

00:20:04.160 Yahasinwar,

00:20:05.580 Muhammad Deef,

00:20:06.940 Hasran Nasrallah,

00:20:08.560 Ibrahim Akil,

00:20:10.240 Hashim

00:20:11.140 Safedine,

00:20:13.460 and Ismail

00:20:14.260 Haniyeh

00:20:15.020 at an IRGC

00:20:16.980 safe house

00:20:17.580 in Tehran

00:20:18.240 and almost

00:20:19.340 100 more

00:20:20.060 in Lebanon

00:20:20.540 and Gaza.

00:20:22.720 Deprived

00:20:23.480 of its

00:20:23.820 decapitated

00:20:24.780 Hezbollah

00:20:25.820 Praetorian Guard,

00:20:27.660 the Syrian

00:20:28.280 Ba'ath Party

00:20:29.060 didn't trust

00:20:29.760 its own

00:20:30.260 people

00:20:30.840 any more

00:20:32.540 than the

00:20:33.300 Bolivarian 1.00

00:20:34.140 Maduro

00:20:34.860 trusted

00:20:35.900 Venezuelans

00:20:36.840 more than

00:20:37.300 Cubans.

00:20:38.880 The criminal

00:20:39.500 Assad family

00:20:40.440 fled to Moscow.

00:20:42.260 Then last summer,

00:20:43.800 the Israeli

00:20:44.280 and U.S.

00:20:44.800 air forces

00:20:45.360 wiped out

00:20:46.020 much of

00:20:46.640 the Iranian

00:20:47.120 military's

00:20:47.920 general staff

00:20:48.700 and key

00:20:49.080 nuclear sites.

00:20:50.800 The pro-Tehran,

00:20:52.500 Moscow,

00:20:53.180 and Beijing

00:20:53.760 dominoes

00:20:54.380 continue to fall

00:20:55.260 with the capture

00:20:56.440 of Nicholas

00:20:57.000 Maduro,

00:20:57.960 the massacre

00:20:58.760 of his

00:20:59.220 Cuban

00:20:59.560 protection

00:21:00.060 detail,

00:21:00.600 the seizure

00:21:01.760 of Russian

00:21:02.320 ghost ships,

00:21:03.260 and the spread 0.81

00:21:04.260 of Starlink

00:21:05.000 terminals in

00:21:05.780 Iran.

00:21:07.340 Iranians have 1.00

00:21:08.120 seen the regime

00:21:08.860 and its backers

00:21:09.540 exposed and

00:21:10.720 humiliated by

00:21:12.040 an American

00:21:12.520 administration,

00:21:13.220 and they

00:21:14.120 were quick to

00:21:14.780 exploit this

00:21:15.560 roll of the

00:21:16.040 dice.

00:21:17.380 Unlike

00:21:17.900 pro-Hamas 0.85

00:21:18.840 nihilists

00:21:19.680 from Berkeley

00:21:20.820 to Dublin,

00:21:22.580 they have

00:21:23.120 hit their

00:21:23.560 streets in

00:21:24.280 millions

00:21:24.920 without a

00:21:26.120 single

00:21:26.500 keffia

00:21:27.140 or

00:21:28.040 aluha

00:21:28.840 akbar

00:21:29.540 motivated

00:21:31.100 by American

00:21:32.940 successes

00:21:33.680 against their

00:21:34.800 regime

00:21:35.340 and its

00:21:36.360 feckless 1.00

00:21:36.900 backers.

00:21:38.260 At the time

00:21:39.320 of writing,

00:21:40.640 the regime

00:21:41.200 has turned

00:21:41.620 off the

00:21:42.000 internet

00:21:42.340 and all

00:21:42.980 landlines,

00:21:44.360 and Khamenei

00:21:45.060 has emerged

00:21:46.020 from a

00:21:47.240 two-day

00:21:47.600 silence

00:21:48.100 to express

00:21:48.780 defiance.

00:21:50.460 This is no

00:21:50.920 surprise to

00:21:51.600 anyone who

00:21:52.080 knows that

00:21:52.680 Khamenei's 0.73

00:21:53.340 greatest fear

00:21:54.120 is moderation

00:21:55.640 that causes 0.52

00:21:57.000 the regime

00:21:57.660 to bend

00:21:58.220 and then

00:21:58.960 break.

00:21:59.960 As expressed

00:22:01.000 in Alex

00:22:01.800 Vatanka's

00:22:03.100 The Battle

00:22:03.620 of the

00:22:03.920 Ayatollahs 0.98

00:22:04.520 in Iran,

00:22:05.900 Khamenei

00:22:06.500 became obsessed

00:22:07.760 with the

00:22:09.000 prospect of

00:22:09.800 an Iranian

00:22:10.400 Gorbachev

00:22:11.500 who would

00:22:12.620 impose

00:22:13.080 reforms

00:22:13.760 and usher

00:22:14.380 in a

00:22:14.840 USSR-style

00:22:16.080 collapse.

00:22:17.380 The more

00:22:18.060 so because

00:22:18.660 this was

00:22:19.160 addressed

00:22:19.640 by Tom

00:22:20.260 Friedman,

00:22:20.780 a Jewish

00:22:21.160 American

00:22:21.540 journalist,

00:22:22.520 in a

00:22:22.800 1996

00:22:23.460 column

00:22:24.120 titled

00:22:25.120 Waiting

00:22:26.100 for

00:22:27.320 Ayatollah

00:22:27.880 Gorbachev

00:22:28.620 after he

00:22:29.860 visited

00:22:30.180 Iran.

00:22:31.220 That pressed

00:22:32.180 all of the

00:22:32.960 leaders'

00:22:33.400 buttons.

00:22:34.440 Expect

00:22:35.240 his defiance

00:22:36.220 to continue

00:22:36.960 as long

00:22:38.360 as he

00:22:38.800 is alive

00:22:39.480 or in

00:22:39.880 power,

00:22:40.900 which may

00:22:41.620 not be

00:22:42.020 long.

00:22:42.980 And listen

00:22:43.380 to this,

00:22:44.200 because he

00:22:44.880 faces two

00:22:46.160 threats.

00:22:47.080 The one

00:22:47.760 in front

00:22:48.080 of him

00:22:48.340 is the

00:22:49.320 unpredictable

00:22:49.900 Donald Trump

00:22:50.660 who has

00:22:50.940 already shed

00:22:51.640 Iranian

00:22:52.000 blood and

00:22:52.920 has promised

00:22:53.420 to rescue

00:22:54.260 the Iranian

00:22:54.820 people.

00:22:55.920 The one

00:22:56.600 behind him

00:22:57.560 is the

00:22:58.500 IRGC,

00:22:59.760 which holds

00:23:00.720 all the

00:23:01.360 firepower

00:23:01.960 in Iran

00:23:02.540 and which

00:23:03.480 knows,

00:23:04.100 as Mohammed 0.50

00:23:04.600 Ahmadinejad

00:23:06.020 knew,

00:23:07.000 that the

00:23:07.420 mullahs are 1.00

00:23:08.420 despised

00:23:09.720 by nearly

00:23:10.840 the entire

00:23:11.400 population.

00:23:13.000 They are

00:23:13.400 unlikely to

00:23:14.100 lay down

00:23:14.480 their guns

00:23:15.020 or give

00:23:15.420 up the

00:23:16.060 40% of

00:23:16.740 the Iranian

00:23:17.140 economy

00:23:17.640 they control.

00:23:18.860 They are

00:23:19.220 led by

00:23:20.140 Ahmed

00:23:20.620 Vahidi,

00:23:21.920 an

00:23:22.020 internationally

00:23:22.620 sanctioned

00:23:23.320 terrorist.

00:23:24.600 Quote,

00:23:25.520 terrorists

00:23:26.460 are a*****s 1.00

00:23:27.620 was a wise

00:23:29.100 saying of

00:23:29.920 one of my

00:23:30.320 counter-terrorist

00:23:31.040 colleagues at

00:23:31.580 the CIA.

00:23:32.920 She didn't

00:23:33.300 just mean

00:23:33.820 that terror

00:23:34.360 plots ruined

00:23:35.280 our weekends

00:23:35.880 and sleep

00:23:36.300 schedules.

00:23:37.280 She meant

00:23:37.880 that terrorists

00:23:38.620 are psychopathic,

00:23:40.040 disloyal,

00:23:40.940 and venal

00:23:41.460 creatures who

00:23:42.760 could and did

00:23:43.540 mistreat each

00:23:44.520 other and turn

00:23:45.080 against each

00:23:45.660 other.

00:23:46.560 The top

00:23:47.200 ranks of

00:23:47.820 the IRGC

00:23:48.860 are full of

00:23:50.060 them.

00:23:50.600 And this is

00:23:50.960 the final

00:23:51.320 point.

00:23:52.500 What might

00:23:53.220 lead the

00:23:53.840 IRGC to

00:23:54.800 sideline or

00:23:56.040 overthrow

00:23:56.660 Khamenei and

00:23:57.520 his weak

00:23:57.920 president,

00:23:58.980 Massoud

00:23:59.640 Pazeshkin,

00:24:02.580 two kinds

00:24:03.120 of strike.

00:24:04.680 An

00:24:04.900 anti-regime

00:24:05.840 blow from

00:24:06.420 the United

00:24:06.820 States or

00:24:08.280 the labor

00:24:08.740 variety that

00:24:09.520 would shut

00:24:09.980 down Iran's 0.99

00:24:12.840 energy sector.

00:24:14.400 If both

00:24:15.280 occur,

00:24:16.560 my money

00:24:17.040 is on a

00:24:18.000 coup and

00:24:19.740 goodbye

00:24:20.340 mullahs.

00:24:21.900 And this

00:24:22.220 is from

00:24:22.560 Peter Thoreau,

00:24:23.620 spent 20

00:24:24.340 years in the

00:24:25.200 U.S.

00:24:25.520 government and

00:24:25.960 the CIA.

00:24:26.420 I got to

00:24:27.720 say, look,

00:24:28.220 I appreciated

00:24:28.940 that article

00:24:30.080 because it

00:24:30.680 provides a

00:24:31.420 level of

00:24:31.840 context and

00:24:32.740 detail.

00:24:33.820 Yeah.

00:24:35.400 Drawing a

00:24:36.100 real difference

00:24:36.820 between what

00:24:37.640 happens when

00:24:38.440 you have a

00:24:39.000 weak pro-Islamist

00:24:40.400 president like

00:24:41.080 Barack Obama,

00:24:41.860 or for that

00:24:42.300 matter, Joe

00:24:42.760 Biden in the

00:24:43.320 White House,

00:24:44.280 versus a

00:24:44.840 strong pro-America

00:24:46.160 president like

00:24:46.840 Donald Trump.

00:24:47.800 And I think

00:24:48.480 the terrain is

00:24:49.540 totally different,

00:24:50.580 which is why,

00:24:51.180 by the way,

00:24:52.080 Trump is saying

00:24:52.980 to the

00:24:53.340 protesters,

00:24:54.600 keep a list

00:24:55.280 of the names

00:24:56.100 of any

00:24:56.500 soldiers who

00:24:57.120 are committing

00:24:57.540 atrocities because

00:24:58.600 there is going

00:24:59.300 to be

00:24:59.580 accountability,

00:25:00.800 that carrot

00:25:01.360 and stick is

00:25:01.900 really powerful

00:25:02.700 for deterring

00:25:03.500 that kind

00:25:03.980 of horrific

00:25:04.440 action.

00:25:05.440 You know,

00:25:06.040 there's part

00:25:06.420 of this

00:25:06.640 article,

00:25:07.180 and I think

00:25:08.080 we should

00:25:08.640 talk about

00:25:09.080 this for a

00:25:09.580 moment,

00:25:09.920 because I

00:25:11.780 had dinner

00:25:12.420 the other

00:25:12.680 night with

00:25:13.040 some oil

00:25:13.640 executives,

00:25:14.240 and they

00:25:14.400 were frustrated

00:25:15.140 a little bit

00:25:15.740 because the

00:25:16.160 price of oil

00:25:16.660 has come

00:25:16.980 down.

00:25:18.020 And one

00:25:18.900 of the people

00:25:19.160 at the table

00:25:19.600 was also

00:25:20.360 White House,

00:25:21.200 and they

00:25:21.620 said,

00:25:22.040 what you

00:25:22.360 don't

00:25:22.700 understand is

00:25:24.100 that our

00:25:24.960 energy

00:25:25.340 independence

00:25:25.840 policy is

00:25:26.700 also a

00:25:27.140 national security

00:25:27.820 policy,

00:25:28.380 because when

00:25:29.280 you take

00:25:29.780 away the

00:25:30.300 money that

00:25:31.260 is to the

00:25:31.760 leadership in

00:25:32.320 Iran,

00:25:33.100 to Vladimir

00:25:33.680 Putin in

00:25:34.600 Russia,

00:25:35.700 Venezuela is

00:25:36.560 another example

00:25:37.400 of this,

00:25:38.020 right?

00:25:38.640 Then the

00:25:39.340 money that

00:25:41.140 they need to

00:25:41.640 survive and

00:25:42.740 to hold on

00:25:43.400 to power and

00:25:44.340 to pay their

00:25:45.000 forces to keep

00:25:45.800 them in power

00:25:46.480 and to go

00:25:47.480 after their

00:25:47.980 citizens just 0.84

00:25:49.380 completely

00:25:50.340 disappears.

00:25:51.700 That is part

00:25:52.400 of, I think,

00:25:52.920 what Donald Trump,

00:25:53.580 and it was

00:25:53.900 very interesting

00:25:54.340 to hear this

00:25:54.880 kind of back

00:25:55.420 and forth.

00:25:55.920 It was like,

00:25:56.180 hey, I'm

00:25:56.620 sorry that the

00:25:57.580 price per barrel

00:25:58.520 is not where

00:25:58.940 you want it,

00:25:59.720 but it's helping

00:26:00.320 American families

00:26:01.060 to lower gas

00:26:01.700 prices, and it's

00:26:03.240 a national security

00:26:04.100 thing for us as

00:26:04.980 well, and it's

00:26:05.980 allowing some of

00:26:06.860 these horrible

00:26:07.760 people in the

00:26:08.220 world to start

00:26:08.880 teetering a little

00:26:09.640 bit because they

00:26:10.360 don't have the

00:26:10.920 cash flow they

00:26:11.520 had two, three,

00:26:12.700 four years ago

00:26:13.340 under Democratic

00:26:14.360 leadership.

00:26:15.760 I think that's

00:26:16.800 right.

00:26:17.140 There's also a

00:26:17.880 balance that

00:26:18.520 President Trump

00:26:19.180 and the Trump

00:26:19.560 administration are

00:26:20.320 trying to strike,

00:26:21.360 which is we've

00:26:22.060 seen the price

00:26:22.900 of oil drop

00:26:23.720 dramatically from

00:26:24.720 100 bucks a

00:26:25.700 barrel to down

00:26:26.640 just around 60

00:26:27.940 bucks a barrel,

00:26:28.640 a little bit

00:26:28.960 lower.

00:26:30.240 That has weakened

00:26:31.500 almost every bad

00:26:32.440 guy in the world.

00:26:33.580 That has weakened

00:26:34.240 Russia, that has 0.99

00:26:35.260 weakened Iran, 0.96

00:26:36.080 that has weakened

00:26:36.540 Venezuela and

00:26:37.280 Maduro because

00:26:38.120 it is, I guess,

00:26:40.860 God has a sense

00:26:41.600 of humor in that

00:26:42.400 many of the worst

00:26:43.340 players on planet

00:26:44.360 Earth depend upon

00:26:45.880 oil revenues.

00:26:47.480 They're in many

00:26:47.860 ways petro-tyrants.

00:26:49.060 Maduro is not.

00:26:50.560 Maduro is inmate

00:26:51.940 number 257-whatever.

00:26:55.440 But he used to be.

00:26:56.380 Hanging out with

00:26:56.680 P. Diddy.

00:26:57.480 Yeah.

00:26:58.400 But I'll say this.

00:26:59.640 Look, there is a

00:27:00.660 balance because from

00:27:02.500 a U.S. national

00:27:03.460 security interest,

00:27:04.500 look, oil and gas

00:27:06.080 and energy are

00:27:06.820 powerful weapons

00:27:08.120 against our enemies

00:27:09.220 and to buttress

00:27:10.380 America.

00:27:11.120 But you don't want

00:27:12.600 to slash the price

00:27:13.800 of oil so

00:27:14.520 dramatically that you

00:27:16.420 devastate U.S.

00:27:17.700 producers.

00:27:18.480 And as you know,

00:27:19.200 I talk to, I represent

00:27:20.440 Texas.

00:27:21.000 I talk to a lot of

00:27:21.840 U.S. producers.

00:27:23.220 And I will say,

00:27:24.640 at down around

00:27:25.740 $60, $70 a barrel,

00:27:28.340 you see what we've

00:27:29.180 got now, which is

00:27:30.080 gas prices at about

00:27:31.280 two, three bucks a

00:27:32.060 gallon, depending on

00:27:32.820 what part of the

00:27:33.440 country you're in.

00:27:34.160 Now, if you're in

00:27:34.840 California, there's

00:27:35.620 still four or five

00:27:36.300 bucks a gallon.

00:27:37.480 That's on you for

00:27:38.260 living in California

00:27:38.920 voting for those

00:27:39.560 nut jobs.

00:27:40.200 But yeah, that's

00:27:40.840 Gavin Newsom and

00:27:41.520 the Democrats' fault.

00:27:42.540 But here in Texas,

00:27:44.000 you fill up your

00:27:44.540 tank.

00:27:44.940 It's somewhere

00:27:45.540 between two and

00:27:46.160 three bucks typically

00:27:46.900 is what you're

00:27:47.340 paying right now.

00:27:49.260 I think that's a

00:27:50.400 sweet spot is $60 to

00:27:51.780 $70 where it lowers.

00:27:53.960 Under Biden, when we

00:27:55.260 had $100 oil, you

00:27:56.280 were seeing $4, $5,

00:27:57.460 $6, $7 a gallon of

00:27:59.560 gasoline.

00:28:00.160 That really hurts

00:28:00.820 consumers.

00:28:02.020 Yeah, crushing

00:28:02.580 middle and lower

00:28:03.660 class families even

00:28:04.500 more than anybody

00:28:05.000 else.

00:28:06.000 I will say this.

00:28:07.140 If you see oil

00:28:08.180 prices plummet, so

00:28:09.480 let's say they drop

00:28:10.360 from the 60s down to

00:28:12.280 say the 40s or

00:28:13.260 below.

00:28:14.240 It hurts a lot of

00:28:15.020 people.

00:28:15.640 That's when it

00:28:16.260 starts doing real

00:28:17.280 damage, in particular

00:28:18.420 to the independent

00:28:19.760 producers.

00:28:21.460 The small guys in

00:28:23.500 West Texas and the

00:28:24.400 Permian, that's when 0.97

00:28:25.560 you see drilling

00:28:26.360 basically stop.

00:28:27.780 And by the way, the

00:28:28.540 majors will be fine.

00:28:29.860 The ExxonMobil's, the

00:28:30.920 Chevron's, I mean,

00:28:32.220 look, those are

00:28:33.080 companies that

00:28:33.760 literally have more

00:28:34.780 revenue and assets

00:28:35.860 than most countries

00:28:37.340 on planet Earth.

00:28:38.280 They're that massive.

00:28:39.120 So the majors will

00:28:40.960 survive a drop, but

00:28:42.900 what happens, if we

00:28:44.140 see $40 oil, you'll

00:28:46.480 see bankruptcies

00:28:47.740 throughout the

00:28:49.620 Permian Basin of the

00:28:50.880 small producers.

00:28:52.240 And when those guys

00:28:53.180 go away, those are 1.00

00:28:54.160 the guys driving

00:28:54.980 production.

00:28:56.240 And what it does is

00:28:58.380 it weakens America's

00:28:59.700 ability to produce

00:29:00.720 oil and makes us

00:29:02.120 more dependent on

00:29:03.140 foreign adversaries.

00:29:04.100 So I think what

00:29:05.180 President Trump and

00:29:06.160 the administration is

00:29:07.000 trying to do is

00:29:07.740 stay in a sweet spot,

00:29:08.860 where oil is low

00:29:10.300 enough that our

00:29:10.880 enemies are weakened,

00:29:11.880 but not so low that

00:29:13.940 we're devastating U.S.

00:29:15.400 small businesses.

00:29:16.160 And I think they're

00:29:16.560 doing a pretty good

00:29:17.640 job of trying to

00:29:19.000 balance those two

00:29:20.180 factors.

00:29:20.980 Well, and I was

00:29:21.500 talking to some

00:29:22.000 small refineries, and

00:29:23.320 that was exactly their

00:29:24.380 concern, Senator, was,

00:29:25.600 hey, these small

00:29:26.720 refineries that keep

00:29:27.800 these small towns

00:29:28.580 going, that employ a

00:29:29.840 lot of people, they

00:29:31.080 want to make sure that

00:29:31.840 they're okay as well.

00:29:32.980 And like you said,

00:29:33.880 that's where this

00:29:34.400 administration kind of

00:29:35.420 has to weigh both

00:29:36.140 ends of this, because

00:29:37.280 you don't want to

00:29:38.340 hurt mom and pops,

00:29:39.320 you don't want to

00:29:39.780 hurt the smaller

00:29:40.400 ones.

00:29:40.540 Like you said, the

00:29:41.000 big ones will be

00:29:41.680 okay.

00:29:42.520 But these small

00:29:43.320 refineries that

00:29:44.760 literally power these

00:29:46.000 small towns where

00:29:46.860 they are, you don't

00:29:48.180 want them to get

00:29:48.800 hurt either.

00:29:49.880 Yeah, and look, in

00:29:51.080 the last several

00:29:51.780 weeks with everything

00:29:52.500 happening in Iran,

00:29:53.380 everything happening

00:29:53.980 in Venezuela, I've

00:29:54.860 been reaching out to

00:29:55.800 energy leaders,

00:29:56.620 primarily in Texas.

00:29:58.140 So I've had

00:29:58.680 conversations with

00:29:59.620 the CEO of

00:30:00.340 Chevron and the

00:30:01.140 CEO of Valero, the

00:30:03.240 biggest refiner in

00:30:04.120 America, and I've

00:30:04.840 had conversations with

00:30:05.740 a number of

00:30:06.420 smaller E&P

00:30:08.220 exploration and

00:30:08.980 production

00:30:09.400 independents in

00:30:12.320 West Texas, and

00:30:14.280 they've expressed

00:30:16.000 optimism, number

00:30:17.160 one, in terms of

00:30:18.000 Venezuela.

00:30:19.380 Venezuela, as we've

00:30:20.400 talked about, has the

00:30:21.360 highest proven

00:30:22.060 reserves of oil in

00:30:23.420 the world.

00:30:24.080 No country has

00:30:24.740 more.

00:30:25.800 But the

00:30:26.180 Venezuelan

00:30:27.120 infrastructure is

00:30:28.060 completely collapsed.

00:30:29.520 Communism is not

00:30:30.560 capable of producing

00:30:31.760 what they should.

00:30:32.680 And so Venezuela

00:30:34.840 right now is

00:30:35.660 producing about a

00:30:36.680 million barrels a

00:30:37.480 day, which is a

00:30:38.100 fraction of what

00:30:38.820 their capacity is.

00:30:40.460 I will say, I

00:30:41.620 asked one of the

00:30:42.860 major CEOs, I

00:30:43.880 said, okay, what

00:30:45.440 would the time frame

00:30:46.660 be to take

00:30:47.420 Venezuela from one

00:30:48.840 million barrels a

00:30:49.700 day to three

00:30:50.880 million barrels a

00:30:51.640 day?

00:30:52.260 And the response

00:30:53.400 was ten years.

00:30:55.260 Wow.

00:30:55.460 That it doesn't

00:30:56.680 happen overnight.

00:30:57.820 It would take

00:30:58.620 tens of billions

00:31:00.300 of dollars of

00:31:01.000 investment and

00:31:01.700 perhaps north of

00:31:02.660 a hundred billion

00:31:03.420 dollars.

00:31:03.860 Now, you would

00:31:04.700 recoup that, but

00:31:06.040 the infrastructure

00:31:06.760 has so degraded.

00:31:08.320 And I said, all

00:31:08.780 right, so ten

00:31:10.100 years to go from

00:31:10.940 one million a day

00:31:11.760 to three million a

00:31:12.500 day.

00:31:12.660 How about just

00:31:13.140 from one to two?

00:31:14.480 And the answer

00:31:15.400 was five to seven

00:31:16.960 years.

00:31:17.460 So the first

00:31:18.740 million you add

00:31:19.640 would take longer.

00:31:20.800 It's an

00:31:20.980 infrastructure.

00:31:21.740 It's just straight

00:31:22.280 up infrastructure.

00:31:22.940 Right.

00:31:23.260 Right.

00:31:23.560 And you could

00:31:24.240 keep going up

00:31:24.940 from there.

00:31:25.460 I also am

00:31:26.000 talking to

00:31:26.460 refiners.

00:31:28.160 So Venezuela

00:31:29.520 produces what

00:31:31.520 is called

00:31:32.300 heavy sour

00:31:33.200 crude, which

00:31:34.580 is a different

00:31:35.340 sort of crude

00:31:36.440 than in West

00:31:37.200 Texas.

00:31:37.560 They produce

00:31:38.140 what's called

00:31:38.540 light sweet

00:31:39.180 crude.

00:31:39.900 You refine

00:31:40.960 them very,

00:31:41.620 very differently.

00:31:42.280 Now, it so

00:31:42.680 happens that

00:31:44.120 the refineries

00:31:45.040 that were built

00:31:45.700 to handle heavy

00:31:46.680 sour crude are

00:31:47.960 along the Gulf

00:31:48.660 Coast.

00:31:49.060 They're in Texas

00:31:49.520 and Louisiana.

00:31:50.720 And so we've

00:31:51.460 got the capacity.

00:31:52.420 I've been told

00:31:53.160 that the Gulf

00:31:54.340 Coast refineries

00:31:55.360 could almost

00:31:56.020 overnight refine

00:31:58.220 and an additional

00:31:58.860 250,000 barrels

00:32:00.420 of the heavy

00:32:01.400 crude from

00:32:01.920 Venezuela.

00:32:03.120 Now, interestingly

00:32:04.040 enough, when I've

00:32:04.660 asked the refiners,

00:32:05.620 OK, what would

00:32:06.120 the trade-off be?

00:32:06.880 What would the

00:32:07.260 impact be, say,

00:32:08.280 for West Texas

00:32:08.900 producers?

00:32:10.020 The refiners, at

00:32:11.460 least, were not

00:32:12.100 that concerned

00:32:12.700 about it.

00:32:13.040 And they said,

00:32:13.480 look, the other

00:32:14.340 producers of heavy

00:32:15.840 crude are Canada.

00:32:18.500 And so the tar

00:32:19.240 sands in Alberta

00:32:20.160 and I said, look,

00:32:20.940 more Venezuelan

00:32:21.800 crude would impact

00:32:22.620 Canada.

00:32:23.500 And actually,

00:32:24.720 Mexico.

00:32:25.220 Mexico also

00:32:26.220 produces similar

00:32:27.240 crude to what

00:32:29.200 Venezuela and

00:32:30.020 Canada produce.

00:32:30.960 And so that,

00:32:32.860 in terms of the

00:32:33.520 impact, those are

00:32:34.280 the trade-offs.

00:32:35.020 And that's the

00:32:35.560 kind of decision

00:32:37.000 making the Trump

00:32:38.160 administration is

00:32:38.960 engaged in right

00:32:39.660 now.

00:32:40.200 It's a new year,

00:32:41.420 2026.

00:32:42.580 You probably heard

00:32:43.240 the name Bitcoin

00:32:44.100 and cryptocurrency.

00:32:45.740 So the question

00:32:46.420 so many people

00:32:46.980 have is, is it

00:32:48.540 safe and is it

00:32:49.880 something that I

00:32:50.420 should be invested

00:32:51.280 in?

00:32:51.840 It's a question I

00:32:52.820 want to get

00:32:53.200 answered for you

00:32:54.060 today.

00:32:54.440 And joining me

00:32:55.160 now to talk

00:32:55.680 about that is

00:32:56.160 the co-founder

00:32:56.780 of Bitcoin

00:32:57.520 IRA, Chris

00:32:58.480 Klein.

00:32:59.360 Chris, I

00:32:59.820 appreciate you

00:33:00.460 being here.

00:33:01.560 And it is

00:33:02.380 pretty cool to

00:33:03.060 see what's

00:33:03.520 happening in the

00:33:03.980 crypto space.

00:33:04.880 It has become

00:33:05.800 normal.

00:33:06.460 It now can be a

00:33:07.340 part of your

00:33:07.880 IRA.

00:33:08.500 The federal

00:33:09.020 government has

00:33:09.820 changed the

00:33:10.360 rules.

00:33:11.080 They're accepting

00:33:12.060 cryptocurrency like

00:33:13.260 it's a stock.

00:33:14.040 Yes, absolutely.

00:33:15.000 And it's really

00:33:15.860 driven itself into

00:33:16.740 a mainstream space.

00:33:17.900 I remember a

00:33:18.640 decade ago when

00:33:19.340 we first started

00:33:20.060 Bitcoin IRA and

00:33:21.440 everybody was like,

00:33:22.380 are you crazy,

00:33:23.220 kid?

00:33:23.440 You're putting

00:33:23.920 Bitcoin in

00:33:24.580 retirement accounts.

00:33:25.780 Is this even

00:33:26.300 possible?

00:33:26.860 And you fast

00:33:27.420 forward to where

00:33:27.940 we're at today

00:33:28.600 where countries are

00:33:29.660 building stockpiles,

00:33:30.540 corporations are

00:33:31.260 building stockpiles.

00:33:32.480 Strategy, for

00:33:33.040 example, is pretty

00:33:33.820 much its entire

00:33:34.400 business models around

00:33:35.400 this.

00:33:35.880 It's a piece of

00:33:36.880 diversification that

00:33:38.100 every major player in

00:33:39.600 the space and

00:33:40.140 economics is looking

00:33:40.920 at and so should

00:33:41.960 too the individual

00:33:42.740 sovereignty of the

00:33:43.640 average American

00:33:44.200 looking to put it

00:33:44.860 inside of their

00:33:45.280 retirement.

00:33:45.640 You guys actually

00:33:46.740 have a really cool

00:33:47.520 stat that you told

00:33:48.320 me about at

00:33:48.960 dinner and that

00:33:49.640 is that your

00:33:50.780 clients, 75% were

00:33:52.880 born before 1976.

00:33:55.400 So the idea that

00:33:56.680 you maybe missed out

00:33:57.580 on this or if

00:33:58.280 you're a little

00:33:58.560 older, it's a

00:33:59.480 young man's game

00:34:00.260 in crypto, that is

00:34:01.540 also just not true.

00:34:03.060 That's definitely one

00:34:03.780 of the myths I

00:34:04.340 wanted to come

00:34:04.780 debunk with you and

00:34:05.540 your audience is

00:34:06.160 this isn't our

00:34:07.640 grandfather's economy

00:34:08.580 and grandfathers are

00:34:10.180 buying Bitcoin and

00:34:11.140 putting it inside of

00:34:11.880 their retirement for

00:34:12.480 long-term holdings,

00:34:13.520 especially now that

00:34:14.180 they're thinking

00:34:14.520 about inheritance

00:34:15.160 and handing some

00:34:15.740 of these things

00:34:16.200 down.

00:34:16.820 But yeah, that was

00:34:17.440 actually shocking to

00:34:18.300 me.

00:34:18.500 We've discovered

00:34:19.020 that in 2018 that

00:34:20.680 75% of them were

00:34:22.300 older than my

00:34:23.300 parents' generation.

00:34:24.960 And what we found

00:34:25.800 from surveying all of

00:34:26.880 them was this is

00:34:27.880 something that they

00:34:28.420 think is new age and

00:34:29.380 that I think almost

00:34:30.580 every American,

00:34:31.480 especially older ones,

00:34:32.320 has a genuine

00:34:33.060 concern of watching

00:34:34.100 what's happened to

00:34:34.760 the U.S. dollar over

00:34:35.720 the last four or five

00:34:36.560 decades.

00:34:37.420 And there's always

00:34:37.880 been gold and silver

00:34:38.700 as a potential hedge,

00:34:39.660 land, real estate,

00:34:40.760 these scarce assets.

00:34:42.040 And Bitcoin, while it

00:34:42.880 may seem, oh, that's

00:34:44.060 digital and it's

00:34:45.060 different, it's

00:34:46.000 scarce.

00:34:46.540 There's only 21

00:34:47.240 million assets of

00:34:48.320 Bitcoin that will

00:34:48.820 ever be mined.

00:34:49.800 19 and a half million

00:34:50.640 have been mined so

00:34:51.540 far.

00:34:52.460 And you and I

00:34:53.360 actually won't live.

00:34:54.040 Our kids will

00:34:54.540 probably live to see

00:34:55.180 the last one get

00:34:55.880 mined.

00:34:56.520 This is something,

00:34:57.200 you know, we're in a

00:34:57.640 world of abundance

00:34:58.220 since I was born in

00:34:58.980 1985.

00:34:59.760 It's abundance.

00:35:00.280 We just printed and

00:35:00.920 printed and printed

00:35:01.560 more.

00:35:02.240 This is a moment in

00:35:02.980 time where we may be

00:35:03.580 able to revert back to

00:35:04.500 scarcity.

00:35:05.300 And there'll be a day

00:35:06.060 where just saying, I

00:35:06.860 have one Bitcoin,

00:35:07.860 will be life-changing.

00:35:08.900 Chris, I hope a lot of

00:35:09.820 people that are

00:35:10.200 watching this, you guys

00:35:11.460 will go and find out

00:35:12.280 more.

00:35:12.920 It is amazing what you

00:35:14.120 can do in your

00:35:15.140 retirement account now

00:35:16.220 just like your other

00:35:17.260 investments with

00:35:18.400 Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

00:35:20.180 Find out more right

00:35:21.220 now at

00:35:21.780 BitcoinIRA.com

00:35:23.820 slash Ben.

00:35:24.740 That's

00:35:25.020 BitcoinIRA.com

00:35:27.700 slash Ben

00:35:28.460 and see what

00:35:29.360 cryptocurrency can do

00:35:30.640 for your portfolio.

00:35:32.180 I want to ask you one

00:35:33.280 final question before

00:35:34.180 we wrap here.

00:35:35.320 We talked a lot about

00:35:36.640 Venezuela in the last

00:35:37.440 couple of shows.

00:35:38.060 We kind of know the

00:35:38.740 state of play there.

00:35:39.680 We talked a lot about

00:35:42.040 Iran today.

00:35:43.300 Can you give us, for

00:35:44.440 everyone listening, just

00:35:45.580 a quick update on what's

00:35:47.080 happening in Cuba?

00:35:48.240 We've mentioned it several

00:35:49.320 times of how things could

00:35:51.580 be teetering there.

00:35:52.860 Give a little bit of an

00:35:53.680 update for people so they

00:35:55.100 understand what's

00:35:55.840 happening on the ground

00:35:56.620 there as we wrap things

00:35:57.500 up.

00:35:58.120 So look, the Cuban 1.00

00:35:59.060 regime has been a

00:36:00.100 communist dictatorship since

00:36:01.560 1959.

00:36:03.680 As you know, that for me

00:36:05.100 is not some abstract

00:36:06.460 statement because my

00:36:07.640 family was directly

00:36:08.560 involved in it.

00:36:09.260 My dad was a kid.

00:36:10.380 He was 14 when he

00:36:12.540 began fighting in the

00:36:13.600 Cuban Revolution.

00:36:14.820 And to this day, my dad

00:36:16.560 turns 87 in March.

00:36:18.660 And he told me, he said,

00:36:19.820 look, the revolution, he

00:36:22.060 said it was 14 and 15

00:36:23.600 year old boys who he

00:36:25.460 said were too stupid to

00:36:26.680 know any better.

00:36:28.180 And as you know, you

00:36:29.400 know my dad well, but

00:36:30.360 when I want to give my

00:36:31.860 father grief, I'll call my

00:36:33.800 dad a communist

00:36:34.620 guerrilla.

00:36:36.480 He gets very mad.

00:36:38.180 I have a feeling that's

00:36:39.460 during game night when

00:36:40.540 you guys are playing

00:36:41.220 games.

00:36:41.660 I just, I feel like

00:36:42.540 that's when that's going

00:36:43.340 to get used the most.

00:36:44.520 Yeah.

00:36:44.700 And he will say, I was

00:36:45.840 not a communist.

00:36:46.900 I was never a

00:36:47.980 communist.

00:36:48.900 He was a kid and they

00:36:50.280 were fighting against

00:36:51.140 Batista who was, who

00:36:52.200 was a dictator.

00:36:54.000 He was corrupt.

00:36:55.000 And, and Batista's, uh,

00:36:57.280 thugs threw my father

00:36:58.700 in prison and they

00:36:59.520 tortured him.

00:37:00.240 And so when my dad came

00:37:01.540 to America, he was

00:37:02.360 fleeing Batista and he

00:37:03.440 came to Texas at 18 with

00:37:05.180 nothing and he couldn't

00:37:06.700 speak English.

00:37:07.240 He came seeking freedom.

00:37:09.920 His younger sister is my

00:37:11.660 Tia Sonia and my Tia

00:37:12.720 Sonia, I adore my Tia

00:37:14.160 Sonia.

00:37:14.580 I call her my Tia

00:37:15.380 Loca.

00:37:15.820 She's my crazy aunt.

00:37:17.480 She is a fireball. 1.00

00:37:19.580 She was there in 59 when 0.84

00:37:22.080 Castro took over and, and

00:37:23.700 the, the young people,

00:37:25.760 the Cubans didn't realize 0.95

00:37:26.960 Castro was a communist.

00:37:28.000 They just thought it was a

00:37:29.500 people's revolution against

00:37:30.780 Batista.

00:37:31.280 He took over and he

00:37:32.760 declared he was a

00:37:33.360 communist.

00:37:33.920 He began firing squads.

00:37:36.620 He began executing anyone

00:37:37.900 who disagreed with him.

00:37:38.840 He began seizing people's

00:37:40.060 lands.

00:37:41.120 And, and my Tia Sonia fought

00:37:43.020 in the counter-revolution.

00:37:44.220 She was, there were, there

00:37:45.920 was a whole counter-revolution

00:37:47.100 of the people trying to

00:37:47.960 fight back and, and my

00:37:49.060 Tia Sonia ended up being

00:37:50.180 thrown in prison and

00:37:51.940 tortured by Castro's goons.

00:37:54.400 Wow.

00:37:54.560 So, so I take it very

00:37:56.320 personally when it comes to

00:37:57.500 communism, it, it, it

00:37:58.680 strikes very close to home.

00:37:59.860 If you look at the

00:38:01.600 history of Cuba, starting

00:38:02.820 early on from when Castro

00:38:04.660 took over and made Cuba a 0.99

00:38:06.340 communist dictatorship, for

00:38:08.540 decades, Cuba was

00:38:09.880 effectively a satellite state

00:38:12.680 of the Soviet Union.

00:38:13.540 Remember the whole Cuban 1.00

00:38:14.380 missile, missile crisis under

00:38:15.580 JFK.

00:38:16.600 And the Soviets provided 0.80

00:38:18.540 them a financial lifeline.

00:38:19.920 Look, if you're a 0.86

00:38:21.020 communist, you destroy the

00:38:23.200 economy.

00:38:23.560 That happens all across the

00:38:25.700 world.

00:38:26.140 Communism is a great way to

00:38:27.580 destroy jobs and make your

00:38:28.900 people incredibly poor.

00:38:30.720 Cuba went from, it was the

00:38:32.520 number one sugar producer in

00:38:34.300 all of Latin America.

00:38:35.580 They just destroyed the

00:38:37.140 sugar industry and everything

00:38:38.220 else and brought massive

00:38:39.620 poverty to Cuba.

00:38:41.480 They survived because the

00:38:43.240 Soviet Union sent them money

00:38:44.640 and they sent them money

00:38:45.560 because the Soviets wanted a

00:38:47.000 military satellite just 90

00:38:49.060 miles off the coast of

00:38:50.080 America.

00:38:51.280 Now, when we won the Cold

00:38:53.900 War, when the Soviet Union

00:38:55.020 collapsed, suddenly that

00:38:57.180 financial lifeline disappeared.

00:38:59.460 And what happened was

00:39:00.940 Venezuela stepped into the 0.91

00:39:02.300 breach.

00:39:03.300 And you had Hugo Chavez and

00:39:04.840 then later Maduro, both

00:39:06.260 communist dictators, who

00:39:07.780 destroyed the economy in

00:39:09.900 Venezuela, just like Castro 0.84

00:39:11.280 had in Cuba.

00:39:12.840 Chavez and Maduro did the

00:39:14.300 same thing in Venezuela.

00:39:16.240 And Venezuela had a corrupt

00:39:18.080 bargain where they would

00:39:19.160 send oil, which they had a

00:39:20.760 ton of, and they would send

00:39:22.360 money, which they had a lot of

00:39:23.860 in exchange for selling the

00:39:25.120 oil, and what they would get

00:39:27.220 back is enforcers and thugs.

00:39:29.740 There was a reason Maduro's

00:39:31.240 entire protection detail were

00:39:33.240 Cuban guards.

00:39:34.400 And, you know, in the article

00:39:35.340 I just read, it talked about

00:39:36.660 how one of the reasons is

00:39:38.820 Maduro didn't trust

00:39:39.800 Venezuelans because he was 0.98

00:39:40.880 such a terrible leader that he

00:39:42.140 was afraid Venezuelans would

00:39:43.360 turn on him, which is why he

00:39:45.040 used Cuban enforcers instead.

00:39:47.680 Well, with Venezuela, with 0.76

00:39:50.740 Maduro having been arrested no

00:39:52.520 longer in power, Venezuela is no

00:39:54.200 longer sending oil and no

00:39:56.200 longer sending money to Cuba.

00:39:57.600 And the Cuban economy is in

00:39:58.860 free fall, just like the

00:39:59.920 Iranian economy is in free 1.00

00:40:01.200 fall.

00:40:01.940 The regime is incredibly

00:40:03.700 precarious.

00:40:04.360 And I'll tell you what's

00:40:05.080 keeping it alive right now,

00:40:06.700 which is Mexico is still

00:40:08.420 sending oil to Cuba.

00:40:09.880 And my hope is the Trump

00:40:11.800 administration is going to

00:40:12.940 lean on Mexico to stop that 0.98

00:40:15.220 oil going to Cuba.

00:40:16.700 I think that may be the

00:40:18.500 single most important piece

00:40:20.140 to nudge Cuba beyond the 0.99

00:40:23.280 tipping point, much like Iran 0.98

00:40:24.780 is.

00:40:25.680 And I think the communist

00:40:27.000 dictatorship is terrified

00:40:28.620 that they will lose control.

00:40:31.640 Now, the counterbalance to

00:40:33.880 that is the Cuban regime has a

00:40:37.440 massive oppressive machinery that

00:40:40.680 has been in place for decades.

00:40:43.820 And that machinery can be

00:40:46.160 really brutal.

00:40:47.240 And so I think the vulnerability

00:40:50.540 right now is is that when

00:40:52.600 people face a collapsing

00:40:54.600 economy, they get angry and

00:40:56.660 they can turn on their

00:40:57.560 leaders.

00:40:58.160 And so I think the Trump

00:40:59.920 administration, I think

00:41:00.800 President Trump is

00:41:01.600 encouraging that.

00:41:03.340 But but it is the economic

00:41:04.480 factor more than anything

00:41:05.700 that I think is is is putting

00:41:07.380 the regime in a massively

00:41:08.940 fragile position.

00:41:10.540 It's going to be very

00:41:11.100 interesting to see what

00:41:11.680 happens in the days and

00:41:12.860 weeks ahead on this, because

00:41:14.100 like you said, it's teetering

00:41:15.440 at the moment.

00:41:16.140 How long can you teeter

00:41:17.360 before the people also rise

00:41:19.520 up, which is what we've

00:41:20.420 seen in Venezuela?

00:41:21.180 It's also what we've seen

00:41:22.460 certainly day to day in

00:41:24.140 Iran.

00:41:24.920 And the question is, what

00:41:26.240 happens next in Cuba?

00:41:27.280 We're going to cover it all

00:41:28.320 here.

00:41:29.200 Don't forget, we do the show

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - January 19, 2026

Iran Revolution-Why this is Different...Trump is not Obama

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