Now, please, sir.

Well, you and I agree completely, but remember, turn your memory back to 2016.

If you remember, after the election, Donald Trump said, "Three million illegals voted in the California election," and that's the reason why he lost the state of California.

And then, people don't remember, he put Vice President Pence as chairman of a commission to investigate voter fraud.

Do you know how often that commission met? Once.

And did it ever turn anything up? No And this is the kind of bogus nonsense where I regret to say that I agree with you.

I think that Donald Trump and his administration are poised, uh, to challenge the results.

Uh, you know, John, I think that, uh, El Sayed speaks in a way that Michiganders will likely receive the message cleanly, and I wonder how you handicap this.

Now, please, sir.

Well, you and I agree completely, but remember, turn your memory back to 2016.

If you remember, after the election, Donald Trump said, three million illegals voted in the California election, and that's the reason why he lost the state of California.

And then, people don't remember, he put Vice President Pence as chairman of a commission to investigate voter fraud.

Do you know how often that commission met? once and did it ever turn anything up no and this is the kind of bogus nonsense where i regret to say that i agree with you i think that donald trump and his administration are poised to challenge the results when we meet again in three weeks we'll meet before then of course but the election results will be in and i want to remind you that the justice department is sending 1,000 inspectors across the country to identify voter fraud.

And although the military assures us they have no plans to put troops into action, the Department of Homeland Security seems poised to do just that.

This is not only the most corrupt administration in history, you must have listened to my podcast this morning, but it's also an administration like none other in threatening democracy.

May I assure you of

Uh, give me some general thoughts, and then I have a, a follow-up or two.

The trauma is tremendous.

Uh, all of Israel was affected by the attack.

Uh, and, uh, uh, Hamas continues to call for Israel's annihilation, destruction.

And so there is, in Israel, a sense of deep frustration.

Not only that, the demonization of Israel, the charge of genocide and apartheid continues to echo.

But fortunately, I believe a majority of the world understands Israel is fighting for its existence.

When I talk about reputational damage, the, uh, pariah nation status that Israel is quickly getting is associated with that response.

Give me some general thoughts, and then I have a follow-up or two.

The trauma is tremendous.

All of Israel was affected by the attack and Hamas continues to call for Israel's annihilation, destruction.

And so there is in Israel a sense of deep frustration.

Not only that, the demonization of Israel, the charge of genocide and apartheid continues to echo.

But fortunately, I believe a majority of the world understands Israel is fighting for its existence.

I would remind you, Mark, if Israel put down its arms Hamas would destroy them immediately.

But generally speaking, and this is I get when I talk about reputational damage, the pariah nation status that Israel is quickly getting is associated with that response.

Mm-hmm.

We will see, frankly, nominations to the United States Supreme Court that will be confirmed by a Republican Senate, uh, no matter how narrow the margin may be.

And so all efforts should be made to capture the United States Senate.

The House of Representatives also needs to be in Democratic hands.

And let me just say very clearly, what the Republicans are doing with this redistricting, not even in a 10-year cycle now, they're interrupting the 10-year cycle, is to me one of the most shocking things of all.

And we talked off the air about the fact that when you have an expression used like, "Get your rotten hands off Virginia, cotton-picking hands off Virginia," we got a problem.

And by the way, that was a statement made by a host.

How would you recommend going a- about that when it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with voting in November?

Isn't that right?

Well, not really, and I'll explain why I think that.

Donald Trump announced there would be negotiations, but if you listen to the Iranians, they said, no, we're not prepared to negotiate.

Not only that, the Iranians have said clearly they are not going to turn over their nuclear materials.

They have also said that the Strait of Hormuz is their possession.

They are going to continue to run it.

And all of Donald Trump's protestations, to the contrary, have done no good.

And this would seem to be a win for them.

You understand that.

So the whole thing is very disturbing all the way around.

And let me point out that it is not just the United States.

It is Europe, the Gulf states, and Ukraine.

Remember that now the argument is being made that we had to divert so much of our military equipment that Ukraine doesn't have the ability to fight the way it ought to.

And I mean, this is a whole other issue.

Talk to our NATO allies.

Speak to the way in which Israel has been hurt from the popularity standpoint here, and AIPAC has been showcased in a lot of negative ways, etc.? ?

But for now, I wanted to get your thoughts.

Well, we don't know what is happening behind the scenes.

What we do know is that the policy Donald Trump is pursuing is nuts.

I can only tell you as somebody who, and you characterize me as a presidential historian, we have never had a president of the United States act in such, I must say, horrific ways.

Now, the question is, can anything be done to control the president? And the answer is no.

And the reason is because the Republicans in the House and Senate are not prepared to be critical of Donald Trump.

As a result, what we're faced with is a government by whim of one man.

You're rubbish.

An

offense alliance.

It's a defensive alliance.

Article 5 is clear.

And I would remind you when you listen to Donald Trump tonight that NATO responded when we were attacked on September 11th.

It's the only time that Article 5 has been invoked.

But do you understand, the last thing that we want to see is the destruction of NATO.

I know we have a better lifestyle than a lot of countries, but it seems to me that that same dance is being done here.

We talked about that already.

Why do you think we're putting Marines, who, by the way, are trained to be dropped from the air to secure particular locations? I won't go into the details, but that's basically what this particular unit is supposed to do.

It has to do with the Straits of Hormuz.

The Straits of Hormuz has to be maintained in an open fashion.

By the way, you'll note that Donald Trump said, well, I, Donald Trump, and the Ayatollah can run the whole thing ourselves.

And of course, that is complete nonsense.

nonsense.

And it's a governor who's really pounded Democrats during his hold on the state of Florida.

I mean, what did you make of that exchange? Look,

This is an exchange where we have a president who speaks in a hyperbolic language.

It's not true.

Iran, if they were on the verge of a nuclear weapon, the Israelis would have prevented it from happening.

You know it and I know it.

Why do you think they don't have a weapon? Because the Israelis prevented it.

When Israel decided to hit Iran directly, then Donald Trump tagged along.

know,

Is there anything that the president is telling us in a way that we can glean, which is good news?

Let me explain that Donald Trump is the most dishonest man to ever sit in the presidency of the United States.

By the way, I listened to your monologue.

I agreed with most of it.

I want you to be aware that Donald Trump, to me, as someone who is known as a scholar of the American presidency, he is the most despicable man to ever sit in the White House.

And I think the reality is that it will take, unfortunately, some time, but eventually the American people will understand this is the biggest scam artist who's ever sat in the Oval Office.

Now, having said that, let me be clear.

What does that mean? What might that mean for unfinished business, collateral damage, consequences as far as coming back the United States way?

Go ahead.

I'm happy to.

The first thing is we should be grateful that the Grand Ayatollah is gone.

Nobody supported the Grand Ayatollah except the Islamic Republic itself.

But we have a bigger problem now, and that is this is an expanding war.

As you know, Iran, in what I can only call colossal miscalculation, has attacked fellow Muslim countries.

Now, you wanted me to define something, and I will do it.

negotiated, wasn't it?

I mean, the two things shouldn't seem to coexist.

No, you're exactly right.

We didn't obliterate it.

We did a damage to it.

But I also want to point out to you that that's Donald Trump.

He doesn't have to be consistent.

Listen, he said again last night, by the way, we may well, by the time I'm here next week, have attacked Iran.

The idea that the greatest fraudster in American history is assigning someone in his administration to ferret out fraud is comical were it not so serious.

Reza

Pahlavi.

Let me explain that I interviewed him twice on KGO, once when a book came out and once when I just was interested in talking to him.

Now they're saying, well, he could be the interim head of government.

And that's what he's saying.

He's saying, look, there needs to be regime change.

I'm willing to be that interim person.

That's ardentcommunities.com.

How would that happen?

The Democrats win the election in November.

They take control of the House in January.

And these guys are going to be in deep trouble.

And by the way, look at the polls.

By the way, did you hear the most shocking news of all? Do you know that the Gallup poll is not doing a rating starting now of the popularity of the president? That was at the direct behest of the White House.

This kind of pressure tactic is so appalling to me and again points out what you and I have talked about extensively, and that is the attempt to muzzle or liquidate a free press.

Lyons said that they've made 379,000 arrests during the first year of the Trump administration and removed over 475,000 people from the U.S. And then he said, we're only getting

Couldn't there still be some good that could come out of these crazies who have infiltrated this administration, people like RFK Jr.?

Not as long as RFK Jr. is Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Do you understand this man has inordinate power? He was able to dismiss the entire commission dealing with vaccines, able to stack it with his own people who do not favor vaccines.

This is, and I want to say this clearly, Mark, I don't want there to be any ambiguity.

This is the most corrupt, dishonest, incapable of dealing with real problems administration in American history.

And the problem is the president of the United States.

And as long as Donald Trump is president, as long as he backs Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as long as he backs this kind of hoax science, let me tell you something.

That is

The fact that he called it something that he claimed that she was doing it to herself and that she, you know, she she essentially staged this to to to gain attention.

Yes, and we should, because this whole thing with Alex Preddy has just been unfolding, and I know you've been covering it very effectively, but again, the White House distortions are unbelievable.

So let me cap it all off by saying, people ask, should Kristi Noem be impeached? Should there be changes in the White House, particularly with the deputy chief of staff? My answer is, the problem is Donald Trump.

It has nothing to do with subordinates who are simply doing what he wants.

The issue here is a president of the United States, and I want to be very clear about this, who is completely out of control and who is abusing power on a daily basis.

And what is shocking to me, having worked for Richard Nixon and having seen how quickly Nixon fell by just a few, one or two little things, and I say little things not to do anything more or less than compare them with Donald Trump.

When you look at what Donald Trump has done, the problems, the poor decisions, the abuse of power is so vast, so complete that it's mind boggling.

Have you heard today what he's doing

The mayor of Minneapolis, the

mayor of St. Paul, the governor of the state, this is...

the greatest abuse of power by a president of the United States that I can remember historically.

Now, here's the problem, Mark, and you and I have debated this, and I'm not going to admit you're right, although it appears at this point you are, and that is that everything that we are trying to accomplish, Donald Trump seems to have all the cards.

As long as he has a Republican majority, that is loyal to him.

Remember, Nixon was toppled by a Republican minority.

They were not the majority.

That's

feel the Democrats should address this ICE funding, John Rothmann?

They're not going to be able to reduce the funding unless they have votes in the Congress.

What has to happen is the courts have to intervene.

And I say this emphatically.

I want you to know I'm not in favor of the abolition of ICE.

What I am in favor of is the elimination of an administration that empowers ICE to break the law.

And I believe that is the key.

It's too dangerous and unpredictable.

And I wonder if you could give me your thoughts on Venezuela and again, this global strategy that seems to be very much a part of this administration.

First thing you have to know is it's not the administration, it's Donald Trump.

Donald Trump calls the shots.

Somebody emailed me and said, why do you always talk about Donald Trump? Because he has become the dominant force in world politics.

Whether you go to the American media, the European media, it doesn't matter where you go.

what Trump says makes a huge difference.

I am appalled by what happened in Venezuela.

I wonder if you can find a coherence in this broadening of what he's calling the Donro doctrine, just a basic American imperialism.

Look, Mark,

You can see the reaction, particularly in terms of Venezuela.

And somebody asked me the question, is there any restraint that can be applied? And the answer is no.

I've told you the story before, but when we were at KGO, I had the opportunity on several occasions to interview Senator Thomas Eagleton, who was the ill-fated 18-day running mate for vice president with George McGovern.

And Eagleton is the one who came up with the idea of a War Powers Act.

But when the final vote came, he voted against what he had himself proposed.

And when I asked him why, he said, John, the War Powers Act expands the power of a president to make war.

It was, this guy is about transactions, and we are going to work with him in what are clearly corrupt transactions, but transactions that serve our bottom line.

And even with 30,000 pages to go through, there's plenty more that we still haven't seen released.

Let's talk about redactions.

One of the things that was most interesting to me is the reaction of the survivors of Epstein's abuses who are furious at the fact that these redactions are taking place.

The Justice Department announced that over the holiday that there will be volunteers coming in to help with the redactions.

This, frankly, reminds me of Richard Nixon when the Watergate tapes were first revealed.

And I have a big blue book that was issued by the White House with their version of the tapes.

Well, you know, when the tapes came out, that version, well, was proved to be completely fallacious.

And that's a real intimidating factor on judges and on politicians as well.

On some level, he is representing people who feel and think the way John Wayne Mullen does.

He may represent certain people, but he doesn't represent the true face of the United States of America.

And what I'm upset about, what I'm furious about, is this real lack of silence.

Now, to be fair, Republicans, including chairs of major committees in the House and Senate, are now saying that there has to be a thorough investigation of what has happened under the leadership of Donald Trump and the Secretary of Defense.

This is something I'm waiting for.

And you know that the Admiral, let me tell you something about scapegoating somebody.

Talk about setting somebody else to be the blame for all of this.

I wonder if you can speak to this because, I mean, this really can KO or really cripple the SNAP program not to get that federal money.

And now I feel like it's open season on both at minimum.

Yep, we can get away with it.

And I have to tell you, that is scary as all get out.

When you listen to the phone conversation with the president and Raffensperger, who was then the secretary of state of Georgia, and you listen to what he was saying, it is absolutely election interference.

It is absolutely election corruption.

And I guess Sadly, Mark, the facts don't matter.

And I know you're going to ask me about Senator Mark Kelly.

But as John has just noted, their parliament has to approve it, and they likely will not.