So with that said, why is Trump doing this?

Uh, well, he's got, look, he's got competing interests, right? On one hand, America first, he worries about the price of gasoline, especially American farmers.

So diesel fuel is a big deal.

It's a major part of the budget of any farmer in America.

And so he wants to somehow try to figure out, well, what's...

There's a shortage of diesel fuel now.

It's gone up higher than even gas is percentage-wise, and so he wants to, how do we get more diesel fuel? How do we get it? How do we get, how to get it quickly? And that's why he did the, the conversation with the Russians, right? You release the diesel fuel.

Yes?

So with that said, why is Trump doing this?

Uh, well, he's got, look, he's got competing interests, right? On one hand, America first, he worries about the price of gasoline, especially American farmers, so diesel fuel is a big deal.

It's a major part of the budget of any farmer in America.

And so he wants to somehow try to figure out, well, what's...

There's a shortage of diesel fuel now.

It's gone up higher than even gas has percentage-wise, and so he wants to, how do we get more diesel fuel? How do we get it? How do we get, how to get it quickly? And that's why he did the, the conversation with the Russians, right? You release the diesel fuel, it'll help American farmers, and then let's go from there.

But on the other hand, the other competing interest is you give Russia more money, which you do by buying oil, and then Russia has more money to fight in Ukraine.

Yes?

ever send that aircraft carrier they promised three months ago? Yeah, that's a good question.

Well, I think they're more interested in the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia.

I mean, the irony of all this is that Iran, Iran's biggest nightmare was that Saudi Arabia would join with the Gulf Arabs and Israel and the United States and the Europeans.

against Iran.

So what did Iran do about it? When Saudi Arabia was about ready to join the Abraham Accords three years ago, they announced that they were going to join.

Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia is going to join any day now.

And that's when Iran unleashed Hamas three years ago to slaughter the Israeli children.

What kind of attack do you anticipate in the days after the election? Is it with Israel? Because Israel is the one country that Iran really fears because Israel knows where the IRGC leaders are and will take them out.

[laughs]

Well, I think they're more interested in the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia.

I mean, the, the irony of all of this is that Iran, its...

Iran's biggest nightmare was that Saudi Arabia would join with the Gulf Arabs and Israel and the United States and the Europeans against Iran.

So what did Iran do about it? W- when Saudi Arabia was about ready to join the Abraham Accords three years ago, they announced that they were gonna join.

Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia's gonna join any day now, and that's when Iran unleashed Hamas three years ago to slaughter the Israeli children.

And that's what started the whole thing unraveling.

Israel knows where the IRGC leaders are and will take them out.

[laughs]

[laughs] N- [laughs] Well, I think they're more interested in the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia.

I mean, the, the irony of all of this is that Iran, its, Iran's biggest nightmare was that Saudi Arabia would join with the Gulf Arabs, and Israel, and the United States, and the Europeans against Iran.

So what did Iran do about it? W- when Saudi Arabia was about ready to join the Abraham Accords three years ago, they announced that they were gonna join.

Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia's gonna join any day now, and that's when Iran unleashed Hamas three years ago to slaughter the Israeli children, and that's what started the whole thing unraveling.

So then Israel goes after the Hama- Hamas and Hezbollah, the Syrian airfields.

The United States joins in the fight.

Israel knows where the IRGC leaders are and will take them out.

Uh, is it a wise move to engage with Russia like this, especially considering the hostilities are still rather atrocious with Ukraine?

Yeah, yeah, look, it's, he's got two competing priorities.

One, he wants to make sure that the American consumer, the American, uh, farmer in this case, gets access to diesel that's not too expensive.

On the other hand, he wants to cut off Russia's war-making ability.

Now, how does Russia make war? Because it has a lot of money.

Where does it get the money? It gets the money from oil and gas exports.

So he's sort of doing... it's a, it's a balancing act that he wants to make.

It, it hasn't been very long, but can you give us a little, um, briefer here on who the Muslim Brotherhood is, and if what appears to be very clear connections with, uh, Abdul Sayed's family and that organization, why that's kind of a red flag for a US senator?

[laughs]

And so Trump's been to this movie before.

Impeachment was the predominant thing in the second, in the second half of his first term, so he knows what this looks like.

He knows how to handle it, and he's not gonna get spooked.

And so what happens if you're subpoenaed, you and I are subpoenaed? Well, we could always just say, "No, thank you.

We're not gonna show up." And then what happens? Well, the procedure is as follows.

The House of Representatives or the Senate, they can subpoena you.

Hmm.

Lot of stuff going on, and, uh, I'd love to hear what KT has to say.

Well, things are going on.

One, i- it's going on in Europe, and if the...

Has President Trump managed to get a ceasefire, energy ceasefire from Ukraine and Russia.

It looked like he did, but now it looks like that's off.

Um, but at the other hand, he's also getting...

He's lifting, it seems to be that he's temporarily lifting sanctions on Russia's diesel, gasoline sales that will help our farmers, um, whose, who've been facing really increased energy prices as they try to fill up their tanks with diesel.

Visit minkiecouture.com. That's Minkie, M-I-N-K-Y, Couture, C-O-U-T-U-R-E.com.

Yeah.

And so sold all the imported cheeses and olives from the old country.

So she was a, an, a businesswoman when there were not even...

I mean, most of her, her neighbors didn't even speak English.

They were still speaking Italian with a Sicilian dialect.

So she created a business for her family, raised her kids, as I said, all pa- patriotic Americans.

And then was elected president of the Working Man, Italian Working Man's Association-

Yeah.

A lot of stuff going on, and, uh, I'd love to hear what KT has to say

Well, things are going on.

One, it, it's going on in Europe, and if the, has President Trump managed to get a ceasefire, energy ceasefire from Ukraine and Russia? It looked like he did, but now it looks like that's off.

Um, but on the other hand, he's also getting, he's lifting, it seems to be that he's temporarily lifting sanctions on Russia's diesel gasoline sales that will help our farmers, um, who's, who've been facing really increased energy prices as they try to fill up their tanks with diesel.

So that's one thing.

But in the Middle East, the biggest development is that Iran keeps attacking the Saudis.

Americans have been killed.

What, what is, what is the hold on that they have on this one?

A lot of stuff going on, and, uh, I'd love to hear what KT has to say.

Well, things are going on.

One, i- it's going on in Europe, and if the, has President Trump managed to get a ceasefire, energy ceasefire from Ukraine and Russia.

It looked like he did, but now it looks like that's off.

Um, but on the other hand, he's also getting, he's lifting, it seems to be that he's temporarily lifting sanctions on Russia's diesel gasoline sales that will help our farmers, um, who's, who've been facing really increased energy prices as they try to fill up their tanks with diesel.

So that's one thing.

But in the Middle East, the biggest development is that Iran keeps attacking the Saudis.

What, what is, what is the hold on that they have on this one?

Everybody, I'm walking around, everybody's asking me.

Okay, so I've thought about this, John, and everybody's been, "Oh, if Trump loses the midterms, it's gonna be the end of the world.

It's gonna be terrible.

It's gonna be horrible for his policies.

It, it's gonna be impeachment." And so, but I've been thinking, "Okay, what are the component parts here? If he loses the House of Representatives, what happens?" Yeah, there will definitely be impeachment, impeachment, impeachment, impeachment.

That's all they'll do.

But Trump's been to this rodeo.

I mean, they almost bankrupted our country.

Everybody's asking me.

Okay, so I've thought about this, John, and everybody's been, oh, if Trump loses the midterms, it's going to be the end of the world.

It's going to be terrible.

It's going to be horrible for his policies.

It's going to be impeachment.

And so I've been thinking, okay, what are the component parts here? If he loses the House of Representatives, what happens? Yeah, there will definitely be impeachment, impeachment, impeachment, impeachment.

That's all they'll do.

I mean, they almost bankrupted our country.

What would that mean to President Trump's policies with Democratic-controlled Congress?

You know, I don't think it's going to make that big a difference.

Okay, so let's play out the scenario.

Trump loses the House.

What happens? Well, the House will have hearings and they'll introduce articles of impeachment and And they'll go on CNN and scream that Trump is an evil person.

He's going to be impeached.

So is everybody else going to be impeached? Yada, yada, yada.

Even if the Republicans lose in the midterms, you don't see that as a big problem for the Republican presidential candidate in 28? No.

But, you know, you mentioned Trump- And I believe yesterday, President Trump came out and he said, "Listen, I am not going to do anything major in Iran in the next 24 days before the midterms." KT McFarland, if you were still advising President Trump, and you did, along with three other presidents, would you agree with that? Or tell him, "Think twice"?

I think it was, it was a statement that he made for two reasons.

One, is there any chance of negotiation? There's not.

We know that.

But it's also done for a secondary reason, which is to calm down the world oil market.

Y- the last thing President Trump needs is for the oil, you know, oil to go above $100 a barrel right before the election, and the Democrats would use that as evidence of Trump screwing up this, that, or the other thing.

And the price of oil after President Trump said that, it started going down.

This is all about the strait and oil." What would your answer be to that?

This is all about the strait and oil." What would your answer be to that?

No.

President Trump, if, if, if anybody had been paying attention, I think President Trump would've let it go after he bombed the nuclear sites.

If Iran had just sort of, you know, made a few bold statements and then whimpered in silence, then I think President Trump would've called it a day, but they didn't.

They closed the strait.

So then what is our response? We opened, we have the armada already in place, having h- had it there for the military action, and then we imposed the blockade.

Now, even then, I think President Trump would've called it a day.

But if we, but if we lo- but if we lose the midterms, is it as easy as oil's up, gas is up, diesel's up, goods are up, it's because of Iran, or is there more to it, do you think, if we lose?

Bomb the IRGC, the evil empire.

You know, the IRGC, the military fanatics, and they're basically keeping 90 million people hostage, their own population hostage.

They don't care about their people.

They just want to survive.

But if President Trump does what you suggested, and I think you're absolutely right, kill them all.

I mean, that sounds so...

Hard, but we're now working with a third tier of the IRGC leadership.

Yes.

Bomb the IRGC, the evil empire.

You know, the IRGC, the military fanatics, and they're basically keeping 90 million people hostage, their own population hostage.

They don't care about their people.

They just want to survive.

But if President Trump does what you suggested, and I think you're absolutely right, kill them all.

I mean, that sounds so...

Hard, but we're now working with a third tier of the IRGC leadership.

Yes.

Bomb the IRGC, the evil empire.

You know, the IRGC, they're military fanatics, and they, they have, they're basically keeping 90 million people hostage, their own population hostage.

They don't care about their people.

They just wanna survive.

But if President Trump m- does what you suggested, and I think you're absolutely right, kill them all.

I mean, that sounds so hard, but, you know, we're now working with a third tier of the IRGC leadership.

We've gotten rid of the first and second tier.

Yes.

I- is he Lenin in this picture? [laughs] If I can just continue your analogy.

Um, Lenin, maybe Stalin.

Um, y- you know, Mamdani, the, uh, Mamdani's thing is to have promised...

I'm a, I'm a New Yorker, so what Mamdani did was promise everybody everything.

Free transportation, free, free childcare, free groceries, everything's gonna be free.

And he hasn't delivered on any of it.

He can't deliver on any of it, so what does he do? He, he distracts people by saying terrible things about Israel, and, "I'm gonna arrest Bibi Netanyahu if he comes to the United Nations." It's stuff that Mamdani can't do, but it distracts from the attention of his failed campaign promises.

Where have I heard this story before?

this cohort that is ascendant, that, I mean, that, this, these are the cause celebs of that, that party.

They're total idiots.

I mean, look at what Iran is willing to do with the Strait of Hormuz.

It's willing to collapse the world economy, it hopes, um, in order to get what it wants by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Well, it didn't work, right? We now have workarounds to the Strait of Hormuz, and anyway, the Strait of Hormuz is open.

Um, but secondly, look at what the Iranian leadership is willing to do to its own people.

90 million Iranians are now in extreme poverty.

Mm-hmm.

Do you, do you see, K.T. McFarland, any, any connection between those two things?

Yeah, and I think that this...

You know, to take the big picture, the reorientation of the global chessboard, um, especially from America's perspective, is gonna be Trump's lasting legacy.

So if you think about American foreign policy for the last, well, 200 years, we've been more Eurocentric, right? Our relationship with Europe has mattered a lot.

And then in the last 30, 40 years, our relationship with Asia has mattered more.

And now Trump is...

And we've kind of forgotten about South America, Latin America, the Western Hemisphere.

[laughs]

Are you?

Um, I, I guess I would look at the midterms and w- where is this going? You know, if Trump loses, the dire predictions, all right, if Trump loses the House, the Republicans lose the Senate, how does that affect the second two term, the second years of Trump's presidency? Not a lot.

Now, there definitely will be efforts by the Democrats and the House and the Senate for impeachment, impeachment, impeachment, but what does Trump need the Senate for, for example? To really confirm new choices for cabinet offices.

That's not gonna change.

The people who are in the cabinet offices are gonna remain.

And a number of the things that are already baked in to the Trump recover- recovery, particularly the economic things- You know, the investment in the United States, the manufacturing increase, the tariffs, all of that stuff, Trump is gonna be able to do whether he owns the midterms or he loses the midterms.

So if you, if you look sort of, and I keep thinking back on when I worked in the Reagan administration, the things that had happened by the midterm, Reagan lost the midterms in 1982 because the economy hadn't yet turned around, and the people were still pa- feeling the pain but hadn't felt the gain yet.

Mm.

Yeah.

I know the Bolsonaro family.

I know the two brothers, Flavio.

I, I know the brothers.

I know the, I met the father, the father who's now in, been in prison.

That was gonna happen in Brazil, and I do think that Brazil will be the next.

I think the elections are mid-late October.

Uh-huh

What are they missing?

They don't understand the economy.

You know, when Joe Biden boasted that he had economic growth and new jobs.

What jobs were they? They were fake jobs.

They were government jobs.

Government jobs cost the economy.

They don't contribute to the economy.

And what role is that playing here?