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Chapter 1: What are the implications of Joe Kent's resignation on the Iran war narrative?
Steve, how big a deal is this that Joe can't resign? I mean, he's a MAGA loyalist. He has all the MAGA bona fides. He's a political extremist who represents one half of this mega civil war you see playing out, most pronouncedly, I suppose, between Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin.
So he blamed the war on a conspiracy, in essence, that it's Israel who has caused Donald Trump to do this, and he has resigned. He was certainly somebody who was not fit for the job. Somebody who is, you know, by any standard definition, a crank. Good riddance to him being gone. But I think the division you're looking at is a real thing. Yeah, I'm wondering what is, let me just read from it.
He's just, this is his letter of resignation. We saw, put the tweet up for me, guys. This is the tweet that he put out. And then I'll read from the letter of resignation. He said, after much reflection, I've decided to resign from my position as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center effective today.
Chapter 2: How does Steve Schmidt describe the divisions within the MAGA movement?
I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation. And it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. Then he goes on to talk about his pleasure. That's pretty damning for Donald Trump.
And for people who have been saying that there is no rationalization, there was no imminent threat for this war, he's sort of on the side of the non-Trumpers or the Democrats, and it is a direct contradiction of what the administration has been saying this whole time, even though they've had many, many excuses for this war. Right. Somebody saying there's no imminent threat.
And I think more importantly, is that Donald Trump was manipulated into doing something. And at the end of the day, Trump's brand has always been built on strength. And there's really nothing weaker than a leader easily manipulated. And so that allegation strikes at the foundation of the Trump brand politically. And it's a serious one.
And you'll see as this war goes on, you'll see that divide start to play out. And you see it already in the in the early maneuverings between Marco Rubio and J.D.
Chapter 3: What accusations are made against Donald Trump's handling of the Iran war?
Vance as Marco Rubio is ascendant. And J.D. Vance is on a path of decline within the donor class of the MAGA movement and the Republican Party, for example. This is what he said.
Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign, he's saying, Steve, that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and the same tactic the Israeli used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.
Now, I know you said that he is a quack and all of that, but he is, I mean, this could have been written by, you know, anyone who has never been MAGA, anti-Trump or any Democrat in Congress or the Senate. It could have been, but in his instance, it was written by somebody who's made a lot of anti-Semitic statements.
And I think we have to look very carefully at the context of this, that everything is a conspiracy of the Jews that has manipulated good Donald into this war on behalf of the Jews against this country, Iran, that. pose no threat to us whatsoever. And I think that that is a shallow assessment at best from him. And I think we have to contextualize where it's coming from.
I would say that there's no question that behind the scenes, for example, you had a lot of Saudi Arabian lobbying
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Chapter 4: How does the resignation letter challenge the administration's claims about Iran?
To go to war using using American forces that we don't talk about. I think that that Trump is routinely manipulated. He's easy to manipulate and he's been manipulated by all sorts of people here and he has no plan for this war whatsoever.
You have a fringe figure that for whatever reason at this moment felt enough pressure and enough empowerment to jump ship and to make a declaration of principle on something. And when you look at the sewer, that's the far right wing media, the world of Nick Fuentes and all of these people, that position. which is devouring J.D.
Vance, at least amongst that cohort of MAGA voters, that position is an ascended one. You see it playing out between Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin very, very lewdly. But this is just another front in an issue that is dividing MAGA because in the end, Trump said, that he was going to be a peace president. And it's turned out that he's a war president like all fascists always are.
And I don't think it's a surprise to us that we've gotten here, but it's a surprise to his supporters who will claim that they didn't vote for this. Well, of course, not only voting for it when we're talking about the people we're talking about it, but embracing it, emboldening it. and leading it to exactly this place in this moment in time.
Look, I think most of the people who are in this administration are pretty fringe, but you're right about this Kent being far right and with his ties to Nick Fuentes.
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Chapter 5: What role does media play in shaping public perception of the Iran conflict?
But, I mean, if you look at Megyn Kelly, she says outrageous things all the time. And you know Mark Levin. I don't have to explain those folks to you. You know who they are. But, you know, now you have Megyn Kelly who is, you know, she believes that We were pulled into a war. America was pulled into a war that's not ours.
You have Nick Fuentes saying the same thing, that Bibi Netanyahu is basically walking Donald Trump like a dog. And then you have her out there calling Mark Levin micropenis. I'm just wondering, you know... I mean, does this actually mean anything or is it just fun to watch on television? I'm hoping it means something.
At least it means that 2026, there might be some opportunity there hopefully for Democrats if they don't screw it up. Well, it means, I mean, the first thing it means is that there's a lot of rot in our society. just a lot of rot, a lot of corruption, a lot of indecency.
Chapter 6: How are MAGA supporters reacting to the current political landscape?
And all of these people are permanent residents of, or one seat removed, special guest status on predator patio at Mar-a-Lago. And we're in the 250th anniversary of our independence. And all of these people are attached to the coalition that's running the country, that's in charge, that has unified control of the government, a thin majority, and it's a summons.
to every normal person who looks at the micro penis discussion and is like, what the fuck? And we have to vote these people out, to vote them out. We have to take power away from them. And so across the board, you have a cohort of nitwits
venomous nitwits unprecedented by the way in the whole history of the country there's no comparable data points to measure their incompetencies against none they just don't just don't exist and as we've been idiotized, as the country's fallen into a type of stupor during these Trump years.
And these people, whether it's Pete Hegseth, whether it's Susie Wiles, Tulsi Gabbard, Joe Kent, all of these people, Pam Bondi, Greg Bovino, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst. In the end, they will all turn against one another while standing together for a really vile cause. And that's one of the features of all autocratic movements.
This Joe Kent, as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, handpicked by Tulsi Gabbard, her right hand person.
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Chapter 7: What does the discussion reveal about the future of the Republican Party?
So you would imagine that they're in lockstep on their views pretty much. So what does this mean for Tulsi Gabbard? Is she long for this world, meaning the position? She's an isolated figure within the administration. But again, this is a person who is as unfit as a person could conceivably be concocted in a laboratory of unfitness could be. Just utterly, absolutely unfit. She's a cult member.
She's a legitimate member of a cult. She's a weirdo in the extremists. Unanswered questions about her relationship to the Assad regime and her appearance suddenly in Damascus and a hundred other instances between then and today. And this is the National Director of Intelligence. This is her handpicked person.
And both are completely unfit in an administration where you can't trust anything that anybody says. And each incompetent is ringed by more layers of incompetence and rot as these institutions are brought low by their corruption and are run by, in some cases, outright imbeciles and conspiracy theorists.
Chapter 8: How does the episode conclude regarding the accountability of political figures?
And in this case, we have two at the top and now we have one less, but they're a dangerous example of what the government is under the Trump administration, which is inept and incompetent and extreme. Yeah. Were you surprised by this resignation?
I'm not surprised by it, except for that when you analyze all of these people and their constant calculations for power, is that you have somebody in the moment who jumped out of power, I think, because he views that there is an ascendant argument coming and he wants to be on the right side of it early.
And I think that should be taken into account is that the extreme he represents is not a majority of MAGA, but it's a big enough growling minority. with a lot of growth potential, and I think he's getting onto that bandwagon early. Steve Smith is the host of The Warning with Steve Smith SubSec, and check him out there and occasionally on this program. Thank you, Steve.
I appreciate you weighing in on this breaking news. You bet. Thank you, Don. Thanks so much for watching everybody. Your support means the world to us. Don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe so you never miss a show. We're live every weekday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time with new clips dropping at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
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