The Michael Knowles Show
Friendly Fire: Iran War Debate, 2028 Presidential Buzz & Oscars Preview
13 Mar 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Who needs enemies?
I've been hot wifing for 50 years, man. No, I don't think you want to, I don't know if you want that clip.
It means something else. So I found out, it was in the New York Post, and there was a survey that 71% of kinky couples, so that's a subset, obviously, of couples, 71% say that it helped their marriage to pimp out their wife to other guys.
Okay, that's something different than I've been doing.
Yeah, it is.
What are the other 30% of kinky couples doing?
What's that? You know, the other 30% are very wholesome, actually.
I'd like to be a little kinky if I could.
Knowles, I'm just wondering, like, why are we doing the Piers Morgan show here? Like, why is that a thing that we're doing now?
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Chapter 2: What are the underlying issues in the Iran war debate?
If you do the thing that you actually don't think has to do With your poll numbers, you're just doing the thing that has to be done. What the president is doing right now is doing the thing that has to be done because, again, I think all four of us, regardless of where we are on the current conflict, agree.
If the Iranian regime were to fall, it would be a moment of such great geopolitical impact. It would be legitimately unbelievable, not just for the region, but for the world because you're talking about the linking factor between, for example, China and Russia. You're talking about the lead progenitor of terrorism on planet Earth.
If that regime were to fall because President Trump was the only one with the stones to actually just punch them in the face repeatedly until they gave up, if that were to happen or if this were to be, again, the predicate to some sort of uprising in Iran where you get something other than what is and that something is just anything other than an even harder line, a resurgent Iranian regime, then I don't know how you can count this as anything other than an act of tremendous political bravery
by the president. And so the political consideration for me is twofold. One is sort of like who gets elected. And that obviously is very important. The other is on a downside risk mitigation basis. I'm very worried that a Democrat gets elected in 2028. Do I want an Iran run by the ayatollahs with more ballistic missiles, more nuclear capacity and a bigger Navy with a Democratic president?
Or would I like for the president of the United States to stomp on around like a bug while he has a chance?
Sure, the issue is if missions were worse as beggars would ride. I think we all agree on the ifs here, but to get back to Drew's point on domestic politics, the New York Times was breathless. They were overjoyed to report that this is the least popular war at launch that we've ever had in American history.
Yeah, but it's gotten more popular as it's gone along. Exactly right.
World War II starts at 97%. Libya, even Libya was higher than this one. The Iraq war and the Afghanistan war were higher than this one. So you have a lot of people who had a lot of trepidation about this war. The domestic issue is going to get worse if the strait remains closed for a long time, if gas prices go up. That's going to cause food prices to go up even further.
You already have people feeling that the economy is precarious. This with all of the problems in the midterm elections. And so I totally agree, and this is where I think the isolationists or the pacifists are just not making anything resembling a serious argument here. But this is where people are getting a little bit too rosy. If we can swap out the Iranian regime, then wonderful.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the Iran war for U.S. foreign policy?
The Maduro raid is a perfect example of this in the sense that there was tons of skepticism about what we were doing in Venezuela in various poll questions leading up to that decision. And then after it happened, everybody basically said, oh yeah, I was always in favor of that.
And the reverse happens when you look back at the Iraq war, where there's tons of people who pretend that they were opposed to it. So I think that part of the thing that's going on here though, is that we are dealing with a president as Andrew said, that has different priorities. And I think that the number one thing that he assesses this on, I believe, is the loss of American life.
The loss of American life is not something that he wants to see. He has this very visceral attitude towards risking American life. And there have even been stories, not ones that I've been able to run down, though some other journalists have claimed that they have, that he kept going back to the Pentagon when it came to reworking that Maduro raid.
in order to get the number lower and lower and lower in terms of the risk to American lives because he didn't want to lose anybody. And so I think that when it comes to this war, people who are concerned about American troops having to go in on the ground, I think the president will be incredibly hesitant to do that. He is trying to do something with air power that isn't traditionally achieved.
And we will need additional work by the Israelis, I think, in order to achieve it in a real sustained way. But that fact gives me a lot of optimism about this moment and with this president when I am probably, you know, historically the most war skeptical of, you know, many of the people who are part of Daily Wire. And that is, you know, born again out of.
I believe, sort of a naivete that we had in the past. I don't think the president has that naivete. I think he wants to get this done. He wants to get it settled. And he does not want it to be the kind of thing that he has asked about after his presidency. Do you wish you had handled this differently?
Well, we'll get to more on this in one second. First, if you appreciate our live news coverage, head on over to dailywire.com slash subscribe. Become a member today because then we'll be your best friends. Let's be real about this, okay? Like, you guys, you're our acquaintances. We like you. That's fine. But you can't be best friends with us. And Knowles is a really, really strong friend.
I'm less so, as it turns out. But the Michael Knowles actually is very into the friendship. And you can be Michael's best friend. Drew is a pretty good friend. I think Dominic is a pretty good friend. You can be best friends with all of these people and more of our hosts, including Matt Walsh, who actually is shockingly friendly in person. He would not want me to say that, but...
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Chapter 4: How does the 2028 presidential speculation unfold?
That's unfair.
First of all, I absolutely can't. I'm just kidding you. I'm glad to hear that. I mean, okay, so first of all, just to be clear.
Hold on, wait, can I respond? He brought up the demon thing and whatever. I just want to make my point on this. You have exorcism. on your show now. Put them to use. I'd like to make a point in defense of not engaging in the podcaster wars. And my defense is this. One, I've been very clear about what I think about all of these issues.
Whether we're talking about Iran, whether we're talking about Erica Kirk, whether we're talking about anything in between, I've been very clear about what my point of view is. And I've said that people are wrong specifically when I think that they've been wrong. However... I think it is helpful, one, to engage with as much charity as one can possibly engage in and all of these things.
And two, I think that the podcaster wars are deeply counterproductive. I think even if you want to take friendship and personal affection, all that out of it, it seems to me that if the objective of the podcaster wars is to, you know, talk about how evil and terrible everybody is, the only meaningful objective to that, other than
and stating your own position, which everyone has clearly done, is to try to reduce their reach or get people to stop listening to them or get them to be less influential. None of that has worked. Everyone that has been named and many who have not been named are more influential than ever, more popular than ever.
And so it seems to me that the better strategy is to focus on the real politics rather than what I think is the vice of new media and independent podcasting, which is just to make it all about the podcast.
There's a serious aspect of this, and then there's one that is actually very fun. And I resent the idea that making fun of Piers Morgan is something that is out of balance because it's just too much fun to do. But here's the thing.
What you are getting at is something that I think is important, which is that we shouldn't allow these wars, which I believe are fun to fight and good to fight, arguments that are worth having, if only, by the way, to show that the other side of it often does not have any willingness to argue or debate.
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Chapter 5: What are the dynamics of a potential Vance vs. Rubio showdown?
And pretending that that is not a reality doesn't make it not enough. Maybe, I don't really buy it. I mean, I don't believe that you don't even buy it. I don't buy it. I think the wings are led by J.D.
Vance and Marco Rubio, if we're even going to call them wings.
I don't think it's the podcast. We've got to get an ejector seat on this guy. I mean, well, first of all, OK, that's fine. But then it does beg the question as to why the vice presidents of the United States keep ushering Tucker Carlson into the White House in quite visible fashion while Tucker Carlson is doing many of the things that he is doing.
The Vice President has plenty of friends. The idea that Tucker is his only friend, I think, is dishonest.
And this defense is not going to work for one second of one day. It is not going to. When Barack Obama was running for high office, everybody on the right correctly pointed out that his pastor was Jeremiah Wright. This notion that people's associations, close personal associations, people who help make them vice president, that that has no impact on how people see them is obviously untrue.
And when we talk about, you know, the sort of growth of particular ideas on the right, pretending that, for example, young Republicans, young conservatives are not being infected with some pretty bad ideas by the people online is ignoring both the poll data. and ignoring the actual viewing data of a lot of these folks. No, I agree about the young activists.
Right, and well, that makes a pretty big difference. And so the question becomes, not just, quote-unquote, what is the... Obviously, listen, I think that there is a purpose to calling out evil where it occurs, because calling out evil where it occurs is a good thing to do on a moral level.
And so if Candace Owens decides to slander the widow of Charlie Kirk, I think that people have a moral duty to say that this is a bad thing, even if they are, quote-unquote, friends with those people.
But what if... Let's take that further. So obviously one should state one's view and say, you know, Erica's great and attacks on her are not right.
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Chapter 6: How do the hosts critique the Oscars and Hollywood's influence?
I mean, many of our hosts have appeared and continue to appear on the shows of the very people that we are talking about, and at no point have I or anybody at The Daily Wire said that they should not do that. That is sort of beside the point as to what we're arguing here.
The only point that I'm making is that if what the commentary business is about is speaking to the audience, meaning a large audience of people who are making up their minds as to who they ought to listen to and the kind of ideas they ought to consider good and bad, then yes, it is worthwhile to say it is not worth your time to listen to people who argue that, for example, the Hazarian Jews are responsible
for the breakout of World War III, or that they're digging tunnels across America like rats, or that the Israelis worship Baal, if people like that have millions of viewers, and that viewership has crossover with the movement that I've grown up my entire life trying to build, and their numbers are going up, then I think that it's a good thing to say, hey, guys, you probably shouldn't watch this.
And in this case- Can I jump in here for a second? I just want to make something clear. Michael, I think that a lot of us feel like if you don't speak up and point these things out, you are effectively abandoning the field. You're basically treating it the way that a lot of Republicans used to treat an issue like abortion, where they just didn't want to talk about it. So what would happen?
What would happen is the Democrat would entirely talk about it. They would define the terms. They would determine what the debate was about. And they would attempt to reframe the issue. We saw this happen time and again, by the way, in Virginia.
And that's the kind of thing that leads to a false depiction of people who are trying to advocate for moral right as being extremists, when in reality, they're just saying, we want to stop killing babies. But just to take that to the Candace Owens situation, for example, I just don't think... You don't have to engage with every amount of crazy.
But I do think that one of the things that's really been important and worthwhile is that I used to love Tucker. I have known Tucker. I met him when I was 15 years old at the Mayflower. It was always very nice to me. We've never had any kind of personal clash.
But the simple fact is he lies to the people who pay him money for those lies repeatedly, and not just about things that are related to what we've been discussing, but about history, about Winston Churchill, about the nature of reality in the world, and particularly foreign policy and our national security. And those are lies that I think have to be confronted on occasion when they rise to that.
And if we're not going to confront them, who is?
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Chapter 7: How do the hosts perceive the impact of celebrity culture on politics?
Vance. So right now, I'm just a little bit concerned that Vance doesn't have what it takes to stick the ball, you know, to make it over the goal line.
You know, it's kind of interesting. You remember Selina Zito had that famous phrase about Trump, take him seriously but not literally, which I think remains the single best description of how to actually treat the president. Yep. When you think about that, I think there's a case to be made that Marco Rubio takes the president seriously and JD Vance takes him literally.
What I mean by this is that if you look at how the vice president sort of interprets the way that Trump ran in 2024, he interprets the way that Trump ran as he was the Joe Rogan candidate, right? He was the guy who was going on Theo Vaughn and Joe Rogan.
And so if you just sort of be the guy who goes on Theo Vaughn or Joe Rogan, that's the sort of swing vote that you need to appeal to is Theo Vaughn and Joe Rogan. The point that I've made, including to people on the vice president's staff, is that I do not actually think that that is an accurate depiction of where politics is going to be in 28.
I would be shocked if Joe Rogan votes Republican in 2028. I'd be shocked if Theo Vaughn votes Republican in 2028. You can already see them creating gaps between themselves and the administration in order to move away and back toward, quote unquote, the middle or back toward the other side, because they realize that in the polls,
you know, the popularity of the administration isn't exactly soaring right now. And so trying to program into that, you're not going to be able to outbid a Democrat when it comes to being anti-Israel. You're not going to be able to outbid a Democrat when it comes to being, you know, big government oriented and anti-capitalist and anti-business.
You're not going to be able to outbid them on any of that. And if the only thing you have is transgenderism, granted, that's a powerful issue for a lot of the podcast bros. But this is where, you know, Michael, to go back to sort of the broader podcast point, not having to do with, you know, any specific personality.
The reality is that we called the last election the podcast election for a reason. These people, their voices do matter. And pretending they don't matter is, of course, I think whistling past the graveyard. I think the vice president has all the talent in the world and all the intellectual capacity in the world. I think that he is actively misreading.
the nature of the American electorate if he thinks that the way to build a coalition is to find the Joe Rogan voter and then grab that Rogan voter and hold him by the hand all the way to the polls. I think that that is not going to work out well for him. And then you look at Rubio and you think, man, I've never seen more two dissimilar people than President Trump and Marco Rubio.
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