We Were Always at War with Iran

[00:00:00] Foreign, the United States and Iran is looking imminently possible. [00:00:15] Should Catholics support this war? That's what we're going to talk about today on Christ Point. Hello, I'm Eric Simmons, your host. Aaron chief of Crisis magazine. As always, go ahead and smash that like button as Trump is threatening to smash Iran. And also subscribe to the channel. We really appreciate when you do that. [00:00:31] Okay, so I'll just be honest. [00:00:34] I did not want to talk about this in the podcast when I was thinking of topics for the podcast. [00:00:41] Usually I think I think about them over the weekend, then on Monday kind of make a decision. [00:00:45] I was leaning towards something, you know, nice and non controversial like how awful Detroit is for shutting down TLMs. There's or maybe even good news or something like that. But the fact is, is that I just felt like I couldn't avoid this. This topic, obviously the escalation between Israel and Iran and now America and Iran is just too much to ignore. It's too big of a topic to just kind of shove under the rug. So I am going to talk about it. And I also know that there are passionate, strong opinions held on various sides among the Crisis audience. I know not everybody agrees with me on this one and that's okay because I feel like. But if we don't talk about war and peace, I mean, what's the point? I mean that's one of the most important topics that we can discuss that we should address as Catholics, as just humans is the possibility of war. And so we need to talk about that. [00:01:43] I also know some people, they like to tell me stay in your lane. When I talk about things like this. I not quite sure what my lane is. I guess it's maybe theology or liturgy or I don't know, Bitcoin or something like that. But the truth is when it comes to war and peace, literally, that's everybody's lane. That's everybody's lane. We all should be able and willing to talk about this. Also, I think it's kind of silly, the whole staying your lane thing, considering the whole point of social media is you talk about wherever the heck you feel like you want to talk about. So I am going to talk about this. [00:02:17] I. I will say that these are just a lot of my thoughts on the matter. I'm not necessarily going to go into illogical or I was trying to put it together and I just realized I'm kind of all over the map on this. But I think this is something as Catholics we really do need to discuss and really talk about. So it all started really last week. Yes, I know it started a long time ago. I mean, we could go back to the founding of modern Israel in the 1940s. We could go to the CIA coup of the democratically elected leader of Iran in the, in the 1950s. We could go back to the, you know, Six Day War in the 1960s. We could go back to the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979. [00:02:57] I get, we can go back a long ways, but the immediate crisis right now really just dates back to last week when all of a sudden Israel and I think some American intelligence assets started to claim that Iran was just about to have nukes. [00:03:18] They were just about to have nukes. And so something must be done about this. [00:03:24] Now if this sounded like a rerun, then perhaps it is. [00:03:29] I want to read to you a list of times in which it was claimed that Iran was about to get nukes. [00:03:39] So in 1984, German, West German, sorry, West German intelligence sources claim that Iran's production of a bomb is entering its final stages. [00:03:49] US Senator Alan Cranston claims Iran is seven years away from making a weapon since 1984. That would put us in 1991, Iran would have a nuclear weapon in 1992. [00:04:01] Israeli parliamentarian Benjamin Netanyahu, we'll hear that name again, tells the. That says that Iran is three to five years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon. That's in 1992. So that would put us in 1995 to 1998. In 1995, the New York Times reports that U.S. and Israeli officials fear, quote, Iran is much closer to producing nuclear weapons than previously thought. End quote. Less than five years away. Netanyahu claims the time frame is three to five years. That's in 1995. [00:04:34] In 1996, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres claims Iran will have a nuclear weapon in four years. [00:04:41] In 1998, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claims Iran can build an ICBM capable of reaching the US within five years. [00:04:51] 1999, an Israeli military official claims that Iran will have a nuclear weapon within five years. [00:04:57] 2001, the Israeli minister of Defense claims that Iran will be ready to launch a nuclear weapon in less than four years. [00:05:04] 2002, the CIA warns that the danger of nuclear weapons from Iran is higher than during the Cold War because its missile capability has grown more quickly than expected since 2000, putting it on par with North Korea. [00:05:17] 2003, a high ranking Israeli military officer tells Kuznet that Iran will have the bomb by 2005. 2006 a State Department official claims Iran may be capable of building a nuclear weapon in 16 days. [00:05:32] 2008 An Israeli general tells the Cabinet that Iran is halfway to enriching enough uranium to build a nuclear weapon and will have a working weapon no later than the end of 2010. 2009 Israeli Defense Minister Barak Ehud, I think he pronounced his name Barak, estimates that Iran is 6 to 18 months away from building an operational nuclear weapon. 2010 Israeli decision makers believe that Iran is at most 1 to 3 years from being able to assemble a nuclear weapon. [00:06:02] 2011 An IAEA report indicates that Iran could build a nuclear weapon within months. 2013 Israeli intelligence officials claim that Iran could have a bomb by 2015 or 2016. [00:06:14] I'll stop there in 2013 simply because I'm getting an article from 2013. I'm sorry, in 2013, that's when the article is from, that I'm getting that from. [00:06:25] And I've double checked those dates and those claims and they're all true. And so the fact is that we have heard for at least 30 years, more than 30 years, that Iran is about to get a nuclear bomb that's only a couple years away, a few months away or whatever the case may be. And that's what we heard again last week. [00:06:45] And yet we also know that Iran does not have a nuclear bomb at this point. Obviously they don't know if they wouldn't be claiming they're about to get one. [00:06:52] So for 30 years we've been told Iran is about to get a nuclear bomb, yet we know for a fact that they do not have a nuclear bomb. Also an aside, it's well known that Israel does have a nuclear does have nuclear bombs. It's a secret. They don't have to abide by the Non Proliferation Treaty or anything like that. But yes they do. [00:07:13] The truth is this has always been about one thing. [00:07:17] America and Israel want regime change in Iran. That's what it comes down to. They've won that since the 1990s. This was written about, this was proclaimed by neocons in government and outside the government in the 1990s that basically they had a list of countries they wanted to overthrow the current leaders and Iran was one of them. In fact, Iran was probably the biggest of all them. [00:07:41] So really the idea that Iran is about to have nuclear weapons is really just code for we really want to implement regime change as soon as possible. [00:07:51] And so, and just to also be clear, just in March, Tulsi Gabbard, who is the head of National Institute national intelligence agencies. She said in Congress, she testified under oath that Iran is not currently attempting to build nuclear weapons and that they were not going back on their treaty that said they would not. [00:08:14] This is the highest level intelligence we have from the US Government just in March saying it's not happening. Remember this Tulsi? I know some people don't like Tulsi, but she was nominated by Trump. Trump spent a lot of political capital to make her in charge of the national intelligence agencies. And so she's testifying in front of Congress that Iran is not about to have a nuclear weapon. [00:08:40] So then all of a sudden it's claimed last week, yes, Iran's about to have a nuclear weapon and Israel bombs him days later. [00:08:49] And there's no proof has been given for this. There's never been any proof for this. [00:08:54] That's the whole thing is they've just said we're about, Iran's about to get nukes, yet they've never proven this. [00:09:01] Just time and time again they've said it's coming, it's coming soon. [00:09:06] And no, it's not like we've spent this time, we keep bombing their nuclear facilities or anything like that. [00:09:12] If they said 1995, that was just a few years out and it hasn't happened in 30 years, can't we reasonably conclude that they were full of crap back in 1995 and in 1996 and 1998, 1999 and 2001, 2002, all the way through last week, that they've been full of crap about whether or not Iran is about to build nuclear weapons. [00:09:36] Now, here's some truth in this. As far as this goes. [00:09:40] It's true that Iran has been enriching uranium more than they need for civilian needs, but they're not about to build a nuke. In fact, I would argue that they're probably just simply doing this to try to keep people from attacking them, saying, we could build a nuke potentially. [00:09:58] But the reality is this idea that it's an imminent threat, that they're about to build nukes and so we have to bomb them before they do because they're about to basically, I don't know, put in the last little screw on the nuke. [00:10:12] It's just, I'm sorry, I just don't believe it. I have no reason to believe it. We've been told this for decades, for decades, and it hasn't been true. It hasn't come to fruition. And we're being told that again. And so I don't think that is a justifiable reason, at the very least, for America to get involved in a conflict with Iran. This is the same playbook we know. This is the same playbook that we saw with Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. I know some of my audience wasn't alive for that. I was in my early 30s when this was happening. I remember it well. I followed it closely. And in fact, I fell for it somewhat. And I'm willing to admit that the Bush administration pushed hard that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or about to get them, and actually said they had them. And so we have to attack them before they attack us with their weapons of mass destruction. We know that was all lies now. It was all lies just to simply set up a war that the neocon Bush administrative administration wanted. And this gave them an excuse for it. [00:11:20] And the truth is, I just don't know how anybody can still trust the deep state. [00:11:26] How can you continue to trust a deep state when they've said this for decades and it hasn't been true? [00:11:32] It just simply boggles my mind to consider this now. Just to be clear, if Israel wants to attack Iran because they feel like an attack is imminent from Iran on Israel, I honestly am like, whatever. I'm not going to. I mean, I. I personally think the bombing they did last week was immoral, because I don't believe them. I think they're lying about the fact that Iran's about to have nukes, they're about to nuke Israel or something like that, but let's just grant them that that's not a lie. [00:12:06] Even if Israel wants to attack Iran, I still see no justification for America being involved in this. And this is the key point. And it's amazing how just in a few days this evolves. And the Orwellian twist on all this is crazy. And how literally just within a few days, the talking points can change. And everybody acts like it didn't change because the talking points when Israel first attacked Iran was, well, America's not going to get involved. [00:12:36] You know, we're just going to defend our interests. Marco Rubio came out with a statement saying, we're going to defend our interests. We had nothing to do with the bombing of Iran. Iran better not attack us. And we'll be. And we'll. Basically, that's all we care about. [00:12:49] Within days, we have Trump posting out that Tehran, which has about 10 million people in it, needs to evacuate immediately. [00:13:02] He. He tweeted out today, unconditional surrender in all caps, clearly talking about Iran. [00:13:10] And he talks about, we have air superiority over Iran. We? [00:13:15] Who's we? I thought you'd literally. Your people just said a couple days ago that this was an Israeli affair, that they're attacking Iran, and that as long as Iran leaves us alone, American interest, that is American troops and bases and things like that. We'll talk some other time about we shouldn't have so many bases over there, but as long as they leave that alone, it's kind of not our affair. Now all of a sudden, we're talking we. [00:13:40] We means we're at war. When you say unconditional surrender, that means you're at war. You don't tell somebody unconditional surrender that you're a third party for negotiations. [00:13:52] That's just simply not how it works. [00:13:55] And so I just feel like this whole thing has gotten completely out of hand so quickly. And it just is. Is distressing to me how quickly Americans buy the propaganda. [00:14:09] Now, I will say I'm heartened that there seems to be a lot more pushback among the political right to this than there was back in 2003 and 2002 in the build up to the war with Iraq. There's no question in 2002, 2003, there was little resistance among the right, among conservatives, to the buildup to the war. It was mostly among the left. [00:14:36] Now, however, we definitely see a much stronger argument, much stronger resistance from the right, from conservatives against this potential war with Iran. I think because so many conservatives have seen this playbook play out for decades where we gin up some controversy, we gin up some hatred for some country that we want to invade so that we can attack them. [00:15:04] Okay, Iraq is the latest enemy. Syria is the latest enemy. Libya is the latest enemy. Afghanistan's the latest enemy. Whatever the case may be, we just are like, what can we do to get the American people to basically support regime change where we want it? That's what this is all about. [00:15:20] And I'll be the first to say I'm incredibly disappointed in Trump, because Trump, I mean, it's hilarious watching people retweet his tweets from, like, 2013, where he's literally saying what we're saying now. He was saying then about Obama. Now he just wants to go to war with Iran because he failed negotiations or whatever the case may be. [00:15:42] I mean, Trump was elected very much on an anti war platform. I mean, the whole bragging point was he didn't start any new wars during his first term. He's the only president in my lifetime, basically, who hasn't done that. Maybe Jimmy Carr didn't as well. And now it looks like he's trying to start a war. [00:16:03] And so, I mean, the truth is, what is the actual threat of Iran to America, not to Israel? We could talk. That's a different topic. To America. [00:16:15] Do we? Okay. People say, oh, they've been chanting death to America for decades. Well, first I would say consider what America has done in the Middle east over the past how, maybe 40, 50 years. I mean, going back to the 50s, when we talk about overthrowing the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 1950s, we did that. [00:16:39] And so I can understand some animosity towards America. I know people don't like to hear this. Conservatives especially. America's great. We're the best. Go America. [00:16:47] But the fact is, is that our foreign policy, particularly in the Middle east, has engendered some legitimate hatred of us. I mean, try to just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes of somebody in a country like Iran or Iraq or Gaza or wherever. [00:17:06] Imagine what they, you know, what they see and how they see it. [00:17:11] Now, even if we want to grant that America has been immaculate in what we have done in the Middle east, we've never done anything wrong. But they're still chanting death to America just because they're those evil Muslims. And people who follow me long enough know I have no love lost for the Muslims. And I, you know, I is. Islam is a fake religion and it is evil and they should all convert to Catholicism in Iran and in Israel and in the whole world. [00:17:41] So I'm not, I'm not claiming Islam is a religion of peace. [00:17:46] I'm also not claiming that Iran's government is some great and holy government. [00:17:52] But here's the reality. [00:17:54] Iran is not a threat to America. [00:17:57] Iran is not a threat to America. Do we really think that Iran could develop a nuke, build it. [00:18:06] Build the capability to fire a nuclear missile at America, and we would be caught with our pants down and we wouldn't even know until after that bomb drops on DC or wherever. [00:18:20] I mean, I'm sorry, that is just fantasy land. That is just something the neocons just prop up, that Hollywood makes movies about things like that. But that's simply not reality. That's simply not what's going to happen. [00:18:32] It just won't. We're going to know when they get a nuke. We're going to be able to stop it at that point. But the fact is, is that they're not even attempting to get a nuke. And nobody who thinks they are is living in reality. We've been lied to for decades about this. It's just simply not true. [00:18:49] And so we just don't have a morally justifiable cause for America to go to war with Iran. Again, we could argue if Israel does. [00:19:04] I mean, people want to throw out, you know, Iran funds Hamas and I don't doubt that they fund, you know, organizations like Hamas. But at the same time that's just thrown out there as a, as a statement of fact without proof, like they're the number one state sponsor of terrorism. It's just thrown out there. [00:19:22] But nobody ever backs it up. Just like they don't back up that they're about to have nukes. They just say, oh, they support this, they support that. [00:19:30] And the truth is we just don't have the information that is being claimed by all the neocons. [00:19:38] And so Iran, I'm sorry, it's a country on the other side of the world that's, that is really not a threat to us. [00:19:46] Likewise, some people are like, well, I already see them cheering like we can defeat Iran like that, we can overthrow their government, their evil government and democracy will flourish, or something like that. The people of Iran want this to happen. They're begging us to do this. [00:20:03] That's exactly what I heard in 2002, 2003, excuse me, when we went into Iraq, that the people would welcome us as liberators. If you didn't live through that time, you might not realize how eerily similar this time is to that time. And again, let's be blunt. It's Israel behind all of this. [00:20:25] It's Israel behind all this. They want us to go to war with Iraq. They want us to go to war with Iran. This is something that they have been pushing forever. You could even argue they have legitimate reasons. [00:20:37] They want Iraq and Iran and other countries to be over overthrown. Okay, but again, that's not our, that's not American interest. That's Israeli interests, not ours, but their geniuses at getting America to go along and follow along with what they want. But that's not an America first agenda. I know that. [00:21:03] So even if we went in there and we defeated Iran quickly, the leadership and overthrew the government, put in a new leader, who's to say it's not going to end up just like Iraq, maybe even worse. A Civil War for 20 years. We're bogged down there for over a decade. [00:21:18] Millions die. [00:21:20] We create another generation of young Islamic men who hate us and want nothing more than to destroy us. I mean all these things are what we get into and Honestly, Trump tweeting out just earlier today, unconditional surrender. [00:21:39] That's insanity. That's simply insanity. I don't know any other way to look at it because, first of all, I mean, okay, I wanted to go off on a tangent about unconditional surrender. The fact is modern wars are much more geared towards unconditional surrender and than historical wars have been. And the reason is fiat money. [00:22:01] If you want to know more about that, get my book, Moral Money. But honestly, it's because we have, we don't have to. [00:22:08] The leaders of countries do not have to go to the people and get support from them for their, for their forever wars. And so they can demand unconditional surrender. And frankly, unconditional surrender typically is not really a moral position to take, but in this case, it really isn't. I mean, Iran poses, like I said, no imminent and significant threat to America. And we're calling for unconditional surrender. It just, it's, it's crazy. [00:22:39] Now, one thing I. Another topic kind of all connected this. There's a lot going on here, obviously, in that. There's a lot of different topics and threads that are all pulled together in this. [00:22:50] And then the next one I want to bring up is, of course, the charge of anti Semitism when somebody opposes Israel. [00:23:00] Honestly, the idea that we can't oppose politically oppose Israel is a sacred cow that needs to be killed. Frankly, it's a sacred cow that just needs to be killed. I get that any opposition to a Jewish state is going to inflame passions because of history. [00:23:22] I'm not one of these people who denies historic anti Semitism. I don't deny the Holocaust. I don't deny things of that nature. I do think that the Jewish people in her history have been terribly persecuted for many years. And I don't think it's like, well, why is it they kind of deserved it. I don't think that's the case either. [00:23:44] So I'm not one of these people who's going to debate you on whether the Holocaust really happened or whether or not what is really anti Semitism. [00:23:52] I actually have an article I wrote by year because people ask me this all the time, like, well, what really is anti Semitism? This is people who are coming from the view that there is no real anti Semitism. And so I explained it in editor's desk. I wrote last year about this, so I'm not going to go through again. You can just find that at Crisis magazine. [00:24:14] That being said, though, all that being said, it can't be that we're not allowed to criticize Israel without being called anti Semitic. That's insane. [00:24:25] That's simply insane to think that somebody can't criticize Israel without being called anti Semitic. But that is the state of the dialogue, the state of the conversation today. [00:24:36] I've been called anti Semitic numerous times for statements that were simply Catholic moral teachings about what a country can and cannot do, whether it's Israel or Iran or whoever. [00:24:49] We have to be able to criticize Israel without just falling into anti Semitism. The truth is, if you call somebody an anti Semite for criticizing Israel, you've lost the argument. You, you've clearly shown you do not have an argument. [00:25:04] I also don't think talking about this, I don't. I, I see this all the time on X, on social media, somehow post this quote from Pope Pius X. I always have a picture. It's always the exact same meme. It's a quote with picture of Pope Pius X and it's a letter he supposedly wrote to Theodore. Oh boy. I'm like a name Herzl. I think it is one of the, the founders of the Zionist movement where he basically says that Catholics cannot support the Zionist movement. They can't support a state of Israel, what have you. First of all, to my knowledge, that has never been confirmed to be something that Pope Pius X said. [00:25:44] My understanding is it's it that Theodore I want. I think it's Herzl. I apologize, I'm blanking on it. This is why I didn't criticize Bishop Barron when he couldn't remember the, the Michael prayer on Tucker Carlson, because I blank on things like this sometimes. And so I didn't have it written down. [00:26:01] So first of all, we're not 100% sure Pope Pius X said it, but even if we did, people act like that's some infallible statement and that no Catholic could support the political state of Israel. And that's stupid too. I do not support the modern current political state of Israel, but a Catholic can support it. Now, I don't think they can go into Zionism. I don't think they can act like it's a theological necessity for Catholics to support Israel. I think that would be that that's wrong as well. [00:26:32] But Catholics are free to disagree on whether or not the polit. The modern state of Israel is a good thing, if it should be set up the way it is, if its actions are okay, things like that. [00:26:44] So ultimately though, I would argue that Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the bad guys in this whole story. And he's been one of the bad guys for 30 plus years. [00:26:56] He has wanted America to fight Israel's wars for it for decades. He has wanted America to invade and attack Iran for decades. This isn't like a conspiracy theory. Just go look it up. He literally testified to Congress, I think it was like in 2002 or three or something like that, that basically we have to attack Iran. And it's always the same shtick. He literally said it again on Sunday night where it's like, if we do not defend Israel on this, America's next. First it'll be Jerusalem, next it'll be New York. [00:27:31] That is just inflammatory propaganda. And so honestly, in my opinion, I strongly believe Benjamin Netanyahu, he's one of the bad guys in this. [00:27:42] Saying that doesn't mean the leader of Hamas is a good guy or the leader of Iran is a good guy. [00:27:48] It's simply stating that Benjamin Netanyahu is not a good guy either. And we shouldn't be cozied up to him. America, that is, shouldn't be cozied up to him as much as we are. We should recognize he's manipulating us and he's doing everything he can to get America to fight Israel's battles for it. And I think that's just something that Catholics, I really think Catholics should be more aware of that and be more discerning and not so afraid of being called an anti Semite. I mean, I know I don't like it. I don't like when people call me anti Semite, but honestly, I've gotten the point where I'm jaded now to it because I know it's stupid. I know I'm not an anti semite. I'm 100 confident of that, because I know what my views are on Israel, what my views are on the Jewish people, what my views are on Judaism in general. And I know it's not anti Semitic. So somebody calls me that, fine. But I know the reason they do that is because they want to silence dissent. [00:28:42] They want to silence dissent. Anybody who calls you an anti Semite for just simply stating that you oppose the actions of the modern state of Israel, they simply aren't. They want you to shut up without arguing with you, without debating any points. And so you can ignore them and you should speak out, especially when Israel does something that is immoral, does something that we can't support. [00:29:06] And another thing I wanted to bring up about this whole issue is that people, sometimes they'll throw out, oh, I have military experience. You don't know you're talking about Eric. You know, have you ever been in the military? No, I have not. Make no claims to have been. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been to Israel? No, I have not. And I'm willing to bet most of you haven't either. But even if you have, that's not, that doesn't mean all of a sudden you win an argument. [00:29:32] Because what I like to, what I'm focusing on is simply the Catholic perspective and the moral perspective here. This is always my focus here because we have to remember we, we have this video game kind of America attitude. We've, we've not been attacked on our shores really. We had, you know, 9 11, of course, but since 1812, other than like 9 11. [00:29:56] And I do think people will excuse me if, oh, you sit back in your, you know, your air conditioned house on your couch talking about this. But the truth is that's the problem for the other side, for those who want to go to war, who want these attacks to happen, want these wars to happen is war is the ultimate failure of humanity. It causes death and destruction on scales that are just incomprehensible and we should be always fighting as much as we can for peace, for avoiding war, for negotiations. You cannot tell me that America has done everything in its power to prevent, to stop Iran from about to attack us when they're not even about to attack us. It just simply is not falling under the doctrine of just war and the Catholic view for America to go war with Iran, there's just simply no way you can justify, most people think that the doctrine of justice war is simply, oh, if you get attacked, you can attack back. That's actually not the fullness of the doctrine. I've talked about this before, I'm not going to go into in detail here, but that's not the fullness of the doctrine. There's a lot of different aspects to it. There has to be no other way that you can stop the aggressor other than a military response, for example. Also within a war you have to be, you have to still follow basic Catholic morality. Even if you're in a just war, somebody, you could still do immoral, unjust things during that war that should be condemned. So for example, even if you want to argue that America was justified in going to World War II, that does not then justify the firebombing of Dresden or the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Even if you want to claim that the war was just, you can't claim those actions were just. [00:31:50] And I also see people focus a lot on success, like, oh, if we don't do this, this will happen or whatever. [00:31:56] That is only part of the equation. [00:31:59] Killing, for example, targeting women and children is also evil. It's always wrong to target civilians in war. [00:32:06] Now civilians might die in war. Collateral damage that can be justified potentially if your target was military and it just happened to be that there were civilians who got caught in the blast, even though you tried that not to happen, that you couldn't prevent that from happening. [00:32:23] But Donald Trump literally said that Tehran needs to be evacuated. A city of 10 million people, he just said needs to be evacuated. Now I know people say that's just Trumpian bluster. Even if it is, it's deeply immoral to say that. It's deeply immoral to say that. You cannot threaten somebody like that. If, for example, my neighbor starts saying, hey, I'm going to start, I'm going to start coming into your house, I might even do, do something to, you know, steal your, steal some of the, the fruit off of your, your fruit trees or suffering regard and I might even break into your house and then you bomb his house, killing every single person in it. That's not morally justified. It just simply isn't. There's other actions you can take. And the idea of, of Trump, of America bombing Tehran, which is all that can mean when you say evacuate, obviously if you actually do it is incredibly immoral and a stain on human history. [00:33:22] If you're just threatening it, it's still immoral. There's just no justification for doing that. I don't care. Yes, you can write off as Trumpian bluster, but as Catholics, we can't write off immoral actions and act like they're no big deal. We have to call them out and say, no, this is immoral. [00:33:38] Morality also, let's remember, is not defined as it will help my side. [00:33:43] If America does it, it's okay. Or if Israel does it, it's okay. [00:33:47] Now a couple more things I just wanted to bring up about this. [00:33:51] One of the impacts of if we actually do go to war with Iran, have a real significant conflict with them, or even if Israel does, that has a huge impact on immigration. [00:34:03] Why do you think there's been a huge influx of immigration from the Middle east to Europe over the past 15 to 20 years? [00:34:11] Because of America and other countries foreign policy in the Middle East. They're fleeing from Libya, for example, because of what we did in Libya. [00:34:21] They're fleeing from Iran and the Middle east because of what we're doing, I'm sorry, Iraq and the Middle east, because what we're doing there. [00:34:28] So for all those who are pro Trump and anti immigration, you're just encouraging more illegal immigration. Mostly in Europe. Yes, but still, we shouldn't support that, and even in America as well. And speaking of immigration, Trump's decision to, to decide to pick a fight with Iran right now also very much harms his whole efforts of deportation, of, of, of securing the border. [00:34:55] I mean, I just literally. Last week's, Last week's podcast was on immigration and how what, you know, we need to crack down on immigration, we need to deport illegals, all that stuff. [00:35:08] We weren't even talking about Iran. Now a week later, we're literally talking about nuking Tehran or something like that, or at least bombing it. It's insane. And so what it does is it just takes away Trump's ability to get through true immigration reform and shutting down immigration. [00:35:28] And also another side of this is Trump is really threatening to tear apart the Trump coalition. [00:35:36] One of the unique things about 2024 was the unique coalition that Trump came together. The coalition he gathered in 2024 was not the same as 2016 or 2020. [00:35:48] And part of that coalition was very strongly his stance. I don't want to start any new wars. I want to get out of these conflicts in the Middle east and Ukraine. That's what he ran on. That's why people like Tulsi Gabbard endorsed him, why people like RFK supported him. [00:36:06] And, and what he's doing, though, is he's tearing that apart. I mean, he had this weird attack on Tucker Carlson where he called him kooky. [00:36:14] Now, okay, here's something funny. I actually think Tucker Carlson is a little kooky, but I mean that more affectionately than I think that Trump did. The fact is, is that he's gone after Elon, he's gone after Tucker. It seems like he's going to be replacing Tulsi before too long. [00:36:33] The coalition that he built, which was built upon anti war, anti immigration, pulling back the deep state, these were the key issues he ran on. [00:36:44] And yet he's going against all of that. I just don't understand it. I mean, he's really threatening to completely destroy his own presidency by these actions. I also thought it was weird when he was. It kind of honestly showed how I touched Trump is he was asked about Tucker Carlson. He said, oh, I haven't really heard what he said, and maybe he should get on TV network so people would hear him. [00:37:06] I mean, talk about a Boomerasm. [00:37:10] You really think Tucker Carlson is not heard or has heard less now that he's got his own podcast rather than being on Fox News? [00:37:19] I mean, what year are you living in? And what's crazy about this is Trump himself was, was elected because of podcasts. It was his willingness, J.D. vance's willingness to go on the podcast that really helped catapult him to victory and Kamala's inability to be on a long form podcast. And now he's like denigrating podcasts. I will give credit to J.D. vance. He still goes on the podcast. Good for him. [00:37:43] But you notice Trump doesn't. Ever since Trump got elected, he doesn't go on the podcast like he did during the campaign. [00:37:50] And so now he's like, he's just going after every aspect of his coalition. All for what? To cozy up with Lindsey Graham, to be best friends with Mark Levine, to be able to talk to Sean Hannity. I mean, this is just insane. [00:38:06] I just don't get it. I am. Okay, all that being said, I am still hopeful this all comes down to Trumpian bluster, which again, I'm not saying it's moral what he's doing, but I'm hoping this is all going to be resolved through peaceful means, through negotiation, that somehow we can step back from the brink, not listen to Benjamin Netanyahu and come to a peaceful resolution. I still do pray for that and I still think it's possible. [00:38:37] I just think the whole thing is just crazy that in less than a week we've gone from nobody in America caring about Iran to, to now we have to bomb and destroy Tehran. It just is insane. And we're supposed to go along with it like it's 1984. We've always been at war with Iran, even though last week we weren't, now we are. And we've always been at war with Iran. [00:38:59] So I would just encourage people, first of all, fast and pray. Fast and pray. You should be praying more about this and commenting on this. And so I have a lot of praying to do about it since I've commented a lot on it here and on social media. We should be fasting, doing penance. And I do believe our, our main intercessor here should be Blessed Carl. Blessed Carl of Austria. I also have the Blessed Carl statue right back here. [00:39:24] He was the Emperor of Peace. He was maligned and made fun of history, even maligns and makes fun of him for being so pro peace. But that's exactly what we need now. We need Blessed Carl's intercession that he would intercede for the leaders of these countries, particularly President Trump, also Benjamin Netanyahu and, and all the leaders, and he would work. And. And that they would work for peace. Also, I would encourage you to contact your congressman and senator, encourage them to oppose any military action against Iran. I know Thomas Massie is introducing an act in Congress to, to keep us out of this war. [00:40:04] And I. So I hope that that does very well. So contact. I'm very happy. My, My, My rep. My U.S. rep. [00:40:10] Warren Davidson is very. Is a Republican conservative, but he's completely against this and he's speaking out against it. So I'm very happy about that. So. Okay, I think that's what. I'm gonna stick with that. And I'm gonna. Let me go to the live chat real quick. Hold on a second. Let me get this set up here. [00:40:26] I have a new setup here, and so I can't always see it that great. So let me just look at, see if we have any comments on this very uncontroversial topic. Right. Okay. First one is Theodore Seabor says. Seabor, sorry, Trump does not want regime change anywhere. Trump would rather make deals for hotels. [00:40:43] I mean, I get what you're saying, Theodore. I get what you're saying, because that is Trump. He has said, he has campaigned on, we're not doing regime change. We're not the Bush administration. [00:40:53] But actions speak louder than words. And it seems like that he's being at least driven along by the people who do want regime change. And there are people talking about regime change. I mean, Lindsey Graham, remember, Trump has never spoken out against Lindsey Graham, but he has spoken out against Thomas Massie. And Lindsey Graham is talking about bombing Iran literally the day after October 7th. He said, we need to bomb Iran. And Lindsey Graham is talking about regime change. So. [00:41:23] And Trump doesn't say anything against him, but he does speak against Thomas Massie, who doesn't want us to bomb Iran. So I don't know. Okay. I don't know how to pronounce his name. Utbo Trump is now disputing Tulsi's testimony after being asked about. Yeah, I saw that. He basically, I think he said more like, I don't care what she said. [00:41:41] Well, then you got a problem in your own government. If you have your highest intelligence officer testifying in front of Congress just a few months ago that Iran is under oath, that Iran does not have nuclear weapons, not developing them, and now you're saying that she's wrong. [00:41:56] Okay. I mean, that. That's a problem, too. That means you don't know what's going on in your own government. [00:42:03] August TV123 says if Iran shouldn't have nukes, North Korea really shouldn't have them. But we let them get away. Get them. And the world has kept turning. I guess South Korea needs. South Korea needs, needs better lobbies in D.C. [00:42:15] i'm glad you brought this up because I actually thought about this. I think I wrote it down. I forgot to bring it up. North Korea has nukes. [00:42:22] Do we do anything to stop them? Because everybody says Iran gets nukes. It has the whole world hostage. The whole world. I just saw that today. Whole world's hostage. They will destroy America. All that. North Korea is crazier than Iran and it has nukes, and we're not doing anything about it. So sorry if I'm not joining your propaganda, your jihad, your. Your craziness against Iran. I just won't. I just won't buy it. [00:42:49] FEMALE Casey Rose fan from Nebraska is. China is who I'm concerned about. I mean, the truth is I, I personally think that China is. The threat for China is also overblown. [00:43:00] But I'd also. I agree in general, though, that China is definitely a greater threat to American hegemony than Iran is. I mean, there's no question about that. [00:43:11] Okay, let's see what else we got. Theodore says this would be the tail end of the war Carter started by offering the Shah refuge. Yeah, I mean, that's the one thing we need to realize is how far back these. These. [00:43:25] For some reason, I'm not seeing all my chats, so I apologize about this. [00:43:31] For some reason it Sundays. I have eight comments. Oh, here we go. Okay, now I got. Sorry about that. [00:43:36] Yeah, I mean, the history of Iran and American relations, really, you had to go back to the 1950s to understand it and. But of course, the typical discussions today are basically, when was the last time Israel was attacked? That's when history started. And we're going to ignore anything that happened before it. [00:43:56] Trisha Hammer says you can't possibly know whether Iran has nuclear weapons in five months or. Or whenever. Our Defense Department knows more than you, my friend, concerning the terrorist. The terrorist country. [00:44:06] Do they? [00:44:07] I mean, what about the fact that they literally said this 30 years ago that they would have nukes within a few years and they never did? [00:44:18] I mean, you're. You're right, by the way, Trisha, I don't know if Iran can have nuclear weapons in five months. I just don't believe our Defense Department. I don't believe the deep state when they say I don't believe Israel when they say they will, simply because I read the fable the Boy who Cried Wolf and I remembered what the lesson was from that, that simply somebody keeps on saying something that doesn't come true. [00:44:43] You can't believe him. And yes, eventually what happens, the wolf does come. [00:44:47] But in this case, we have no reason to believe this time, this time it really is happening. [00:44:53] There's nothing that. There's no reason to believe that. And I do think because of the lies of the past 30 years, they do need to provide better proof to the American people than what they are. Remember, they hadn't really even tried to prove it, they just stated it as a fact, which is what they've always done. You need to do more when you've lied over and over again. So if you're the Boy who Cried Wolf, you need to actually show a wolf coming or something like that before I'm going to believe you. [00:45:19] Timothy Michael Holden says I'm too busy finding the war in our church. Yeah, I mean, we got a lot going on in this, in, in the church as well as in the world, and I don't blame you for that. Focus John says true, the tide of displaced people from the fall of Iran would be a huge problem for European and Asian US allies. I don't think people connect all that, though. I really don't think people are always connecting that, that there's a reason there's been a flood of Middle Eastern immigrants in Europe over the past 20 years and it goes back to American foreign policy in that area. I mean, simply put, we have created the refugee crisis, whatever you want to call it, the immigration crisis in Europe at the very least. [00:46:01] Now our immigrants are a bit different because they come mostly from South America, from Mexico, places like that. [00:46:07] So, I mean, it's not, I don't, I wouldn't say that's exactly the reason, but if you look at the immigrants coming into Europe, you, you cannot but connect it to what Israel. I'm sorry, what Americans foreign policy, which is, you know, beholden to Israel often in the Middle east is so, okay, I'm going to end it there. Like I said at the beginning, I didn't really want to talk about this. [00:46:30] I know, honestly, the truth is I get a lot more views, a lot more clicks when I talk about things like the TLM being, being suppressed and things like that. But I just think this is a very important issue we have to discuss and I'm willing to, to discuss and debate and dialogue with people who really do see it differently. Categories see it differently from me on some of these issues. And I appreciate, for example, Trisha's comment in the live chat, which was disagreeing with me. I, I respect that. I just think that I'm not going to listen to people just call me an anti Semite or people who just kind of repeat the, the deep state talking points. Let's have a real discussion about it. And what is the real threat of Iran on America? Is there really a threat? [00:47:11] I don't think so. Ultimately. I don't think so. Not more than like, North Korea or something like that. [00:47:16] Okay, that's it for now. Again, Pray and fast. Pray and fast. Pray for the intercession of blessed Carl. Until next time, everybody. God love you.