The US Air Force just bought an unknown amount of drones from a company called uh PowerUs. The drones are said to be used to effectively counter enemy drones. And that obviously is relevant with Iran using drones so much in this conflict. And as of right now, we haven't [00:00:17] had the capability to easily and cheaply counter those drones. So that's, of course, what the company now selling us that capability is saying, specifically through Brett Velokovich, the company's co-founder and president. So that all sounds fine and good, I guess drones have [00:00:33] become a big part of modern warfare. We see it in Ukraine, we're seeing it in Iran as well. Here is the issue and perhaps the catch. That company is backed by President Donald Trump's two perhaps least favorite sons, Eric and Don Jr. Cenk, are you surprised? My God, [00:00:51] his own sons are making money off the government and the Pentagon gave them the contract instead of a qualified vendor? That is so surprising. You know what uh Hunter Biden is thinking right now? So what did I think of that? So what you're going to see in this story is massive [00:01:10] corruption. And I want to tell you about not just this project, but several different projects that Trump's kids are doing and how much they're robbing us blank. I thought the exact same thing. Remember when a president's son being on a board was scary and suspicious, but apparently [00:01:28] not so much anymore. So let's talk more about this deal. They apparently did a demonstration in Arizona. I guess it went well. I don't know anything about the technology not necessarily working. It's just suspicious that once again money is going to be going to Donald Trump's [00:01:44] family. The deal represents the first sale of this kind of weapon. Basically, it flies up into the air, blows up enemy drones. The first time that they've actually done this. The company declined to detail the terms of the deal or the size of the contract. But the military frequently enters into such deals as it weighs whether to adopt a new weapon [00:02:00] system. And why would we need to know the terms of the deal or how much is being spent? We're not Trump's family members. We don't need information or money. We should have been born a Trump if we wanted access to these things. In any event, the war has already cost a lot. We [00:02:16] have some inkling of how much I guess. But here is Pete Hegseth who's been testifying uh sort of throughout this week talking about the ongoing and ever increasing cost of this stupid war. How much it will cost Americans in terms of their increased cost in gas and [00:02:33] food over the next year because of the Iran war? I would simply ask you what the cost is of an Iranian nuclear bomb. I would simply ask you what the plane got your questions about domestic things. I'm not. You're asking you're saying it's a gotcha question to ask what it's [00:02:48] going to be in terms of the increase. Why won't you answer what it cost to do? Do stand by that statement you made on March 13th? We have untied the hands of our war fighters. We fight to win and we follow the law. Okay, so you're not clarifying. So you stand by that [00:03:05] statement. The question I would ask you and to others is what is the cost of a nuclear armed Iran? What is the cost to the American people if the world's most dangerous regime has a nuclear weapon? That's what I asked you. are disparaging me that I don't care about the passing of our troops. Nope, I asked you a thought in our lives. That's disparaging [00:03:21] and smearing in every way. Nobody cares more about the fate of our troops. Nobody cares about the health of our troops. Nobody wants to bring them all home. I understand, but he controls the time. He controls the time. So look, with allowances for the fact that [00:03:38] he's probably on cocaine during that hearing, I just want to remind everyone that this is not generally how Secretaries of Defense comport themselves in these sorts of hearings. These hearings, by the way, are routine and mandatory. Every year they come forward and they sort of explain, usually around the time that the uh military defense budget is put forward. [00:03:57] Sort of the situation, why they need the money. Bear in mind, we are in uh amazing times, not only that we're in a dumb war that nobody supports. But also that they're requesting a 50 % increase in the military budget. And that is the petulant whiny way that this guy who apparently is [00:04:15] even less qualified to be Secretary of Defense than he was to ride the couch on Fox mornings, comports himself when asked gotcha questions like how much is this costing people? So if you're MAGA, if you're a conservative out there and you've perhaps started to get a little bit uncomfortable, it's a little bit over how much this is costing you. Just understand [00:04:32] that anyone would extend empathy to you for that situation is playing gotcha politics. They're being unfair because they apparently don't understand how valuable it is for Iran to not have a nuclear weapon. Which is interesting because that's not how Fox approached it back [00:04:47] when the JCPOA was being passed. They were so angry that we unfroze some Iranian funds. didn't hear Sean Hannity saying, well, sure, we have to give them this money, but what does it cost to stop them from having a war? That sort of argument has never been given for single payer healthcare. What does it cost for people to go through their day without the assurance [00:05:05] that they'll have care when they need it? Is there ever an argument that I've ever heard of Republican except for dealing with the climate crisis? But in this particular case, Shut the hell up about the cost of the war, whether in treasure or in lives or civilians being killed or our national prestige being perhaps irreparably harmed or soft power fading away like Thanos [00:05:22] just snapped his fingers. Shut up about all of that because Donald Trump is terrified of Iran having a nuclear weapon. And Cenk, I'll throw to you, you already know that that $25 billion figure that's farcical. We blew through that in the first week, restocking all of [00:05:38] our missiles, which by the way, we're finding out more. Apparently, it's an even worse situation than we thought. We are going to be spending $100, $200, $300 billion on this. They're just lying to our faces. But what do you think? Yeah, so what Ro Khanna asked him was how much [00:05:54] extra is the war costing the average American through gas prices going up, inflation, etc. Have you calculated that? He's not saying that it's not worth it. Now, of course, he thinks it's not worth it. I think it's not worth it. But that's not what he's asking here. He's [00:06:10] just saying, Even if you think it's worth it, how much is it? Did the Pentagon calculate how much you need to spend on the war itself, and then the economic costs for the average American? And then go, okay, I did the cost benefit analysis, and it's cost this much, [00:06:26] but I'm okay with it. because of XYZ, because of the benefit we're going to get from the war. Look, one of the biggest problems with political media right now isn't just bias. It's how quickly the same story gets spun into two completely different realities depending on who's telling it. That's why I recommend ground news. It's a website and app that pulls [00:06:42] together reporting from across the political spectrum so you can compare how the same story is being covered, who's covering it, and what kind of narrative they're pushing. Take this story about Pete Hegseth refusing to rule out US troops on the ground in Iran. On ground news, you can immediately see how differently outlets frame that same development. The Daily [00:07:02] Signal downplays the danger by stressing that this isn't Iraq and that the war won't be endless. NBC meanwhile focuses on the key fact that Hegseth would not rule out American boots on the ground in Iran. Same story, two completely different realities. And ground news makes [00:07:19] that obvious right away. You can compare headlines side by side, see the bias distribution of the coverage, check the factuality ratings of the sources, and even see who owns the outlets behind the reporting. That matters because once you understand how stories are being framed, [00:07:35] you start to see how public consent gets manufactured. Ground news also has a blind spot feed that highlights stories that one side of the political spectrum is barely covering. So you're not just trapped inside the version of the world your algorithm wants to feed you. If you're [00:07:52] tired of being fed somebody else's narrative, I genuinely recommend ground news. Go to ground.news slash tyt or scan the QR code. Using our link gets you 40 % off ground news vantage plan and you can also gift a subscription directly through ground news. And the answer you got [00:08:11] back was, yeah, whatever rod nukes your ass. No brother, that wasn't the question. Okay, and the whole they're going to nuke us and it's juvenile and it's obvious propaganda. It's super embarrassing. The Condoleezza Rice said the same thing about Iraq. They're back to [00:08:30] the same weapons of mass destruction, fake evidence. And uh he says at the same time, oh Scott Jennings said he confessed earlier in a story we covered in. uh show about how yeah, the enriched [00:08:46] uranium is buried underneath the nuclear facilities that we destroyed. And they're about to have a nuke tomorrow? How? And besides which they've never weaponized it, they don't have the missiles to reach us. None of that makes any sense at all. It's just garbage propaganda, right? [00:09:04] And so for now that a bare minimum the cost of the war itself is $25 billion, but that doesn't include the weapons. the planes and the radar systems and all that we lost, doesn't include the men we lost. And it doesn't include at least $25 billion in extra costs that average [00:09:22] Americans have to pay. In fact, that's what Adam Mockler told Scott Jennings that kind of made Jennings blow up. And so at this point, John, 40 % of Americans report driving less to save money from the high gas prices. 30 % of Americans report canceling vacations because [00:09:43] of the price of the war, etc. And basically what Hegseth and Jennings are telling you is pounce in, we don't care. And by the way, we're also going to give away some of your money to Trump's family, whether they earned it or not, who cares? Remember, he said he's going [00:10:01] to fill the swamp and give us endless wars. Wait, I thought he said the opposite. Exactly, yeah, we're going have just a little bit more corruption. first, so you've now twice brought up that they're talking like they're Codaliza Rice. I noticed, did you see Rick Scott got [00:10:17] interviewed about the gas prices or whatever? And he said when he was asked about the prices, he says, uh and is there a cost right now? It's terrible that we have higher gas prices, but the trade off is we're going to live in freedom and democracy. What year is it? Did you get [00:10:34] your narrative mixed up? That's not what we're fighting for. Your cover story is security. Our constitution doesn't write on whether Tehran gets this weapon or whatever. They're not even trying to update the rhetoric and it's so frustrating in any event. going jump in for one quick second on that. The Israelis are so cocky now, they're like, got them by [00:10:53] the, right? So we don't have to do anything. Hey, just give me the same talking points from Iraq. It doesn't matter, there are dogs, there are servants. Scott Jennings will say it, Pete Hegseth will say it. Donald Trump will say it. Yeah, it's the same warmed over BS that the [00:11:09] American people absolutely despise. But who cares about the American people? They're not at all relevant. We already bought their entire government and their entire national media. Give them the same stupid talking points. It's irrelevant. And it turns out, in terms of actually [00:11:25] getting what they want, this disastrous war, the Israelis were right. The talking points being ridiculous and retread. is irrelevant because they own the powerful people in this country. What you don't understand, Cenk, is that there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns, [00:11:44] okay? Yeah, no, you know what, John, that's a good point because I know that the nuclear weapons are in the area south of Tehran, north of Tehran, east of Tehran, and west of Tehran, okay? Somewhere around there. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. [00:12:03] Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.