LEMON DROP - John Bolton Warns Trump's "Crazy" Threat Could Backfire
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How did John Bolton react to Trump's threat to annihilate Iran at the UN?
John Bolton, you served as Donald Trump's national security advisor during his first administration. You have long supported a hardline approach toward Iran. I wanna get your reaction to when you heard the president on the world's largest stage, I believe, largest diplomatic stage, delivering one of the starkest warnings yet to Tehran. Here is what he said at the United Nations.
But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made? With Iran. that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it Ever was before. maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate? The Islamic Republic. and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again. Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope? of future greatness or generations. But I believe we'll make a deal. Right after the election. Because it doesn't make sense for them not to. They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don't realise is that I'm not running. I did That already And one in a landslide. We won in a giant landslide.
And I'll be here for two and a half years. The Republican Party is running. And I'll be helping them. But I am not running. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election. when it comes to Iran. It doesn't even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have А нуклея
вепвенне президент узевер анілайте. I wanna know your reaction to that, but what did you understand him to be doing? Threatening destruction of of the regime, its military capabilities, or did was it something broader here, mixed with politics as well?
Well, he said he would annihilate the country and uh that is broader than the government. There's a technical term for that. It's called crazy. Uh it's uh it it's it's uh it's uh number one, it's impossible. Number number two, uh it is self-defeating in the sense that people listening to that uh excerpt from the speech that you just played, walk away saying that this it's unbelievable this man's president of the United States. For for those of us who believe that peace and stability in the Middle East won't come until there's regime change in Tehran, this is to say the least, not helpful at all.
Did Trump's UN speech help end the Iran war or reveal a lack of strategy?
Well, the war is moving on in as we were taping this into its seventh month. People are gonna watch this, it's gonna live on the internet forever, but into its seventh month as we are here now. Do you think that this moved the needle uh in any direction, or at least to at the uh ending this conflict? Because as you know, the president said that he had a very constructive meeting with Iran, and then Iran says, I don't know what he's talking about. Did this speech help or hurt? The cause.
I I I doubt that it moved the needle at all. You know, Trump makes things up. Uh he you know, peop people talk to one another. He says when they're not, he says Iran really wants a deal when some of them don't. Uh so what he says has at best a tenuous relationship to reality. He he makes his own reality up and Sort of invites the rest of us to live in it. I think the way that he said, well, on the one hand, I could annihilate Iran or I could make a deal with them as if those are sort of uh two equally uh uh appealing alternatives shows that he doesn't know what he's doing. I think his focus, notwithstanding his comments uh uh in that clip, uh are exclusively on the effect uh on the November elections of the high price of gasoline at the pump for American consumers.
I think I think his focus uh doesn't extend beyond November the third. I don't think he knows what he'll do on November the fourth. Uh and it's uh it's a it's a terrible mistake for the United States. We we are are, I believe, notwithstanding all the mistakes Trump made. closer to regime change than people thought and and he may be on the verge of of not just kicking that away but but uh losing many of the other advantages that we've gained.
What m what do you mean by that?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did John Bolton react to Trump's threat to annihilate Iran at the UN?
0:00–2:39
2
Did Trump's UN speech help end the Iran war or reveal a lack of strategy?
2:39–5:25
3
Could Trump's annihilation rhetoric increase the risk of escalation with Iran?
5:25–8:17
4
Was Trump's Iran speech aimed at midterm voters rather than Tehran?
8:17–9:30
5
Why does Bolton say Iran's Revolutionary Guard makes a deal difficult?
9:30–10:45
6
What would a credible Iran nuclear deal require, and what alternatives exist?
10:45–14:19
7
How could poor war planning affect U.S. support and the prospects for regime change in Iran?
14:19–18:06
8
Why does Bolton say Trump's White House press restrictions threaten the First Amendment?
18:06–21:06
Speakers
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