I spoke with President Trump for 20 minutes about the situation with Iran. He talked about Project Freedom and the US efforts to guide vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, issuing a new warning to the Iranian regime, saying if the Iranians try to target US ships in this [00:00:15] area, they will be, quote, blown off the face of the Earth. They should do the smart thing, they should do the smart thing. Because we don't wanna go in and kill people, really, I don't want to, I don't want to, it's too tough. It appears that President Trump is [00:00:32] under the impression that his rhetoric could potentially uh pressure Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. I don't really understand what's going on here. Now to be fair, Trump speaks from both sides of his mouth. He talks about how he's going to obliterate Iran and then he turns around and says that they're making progress with peace negotiations. In that [00:00:51] last clip that you watched, he is asking Iran to do the right thing. And Iran has done the right thing on multiple occasions, including offering ah a proposal to the US that would end their uranium enrichment program, which is what Trump purports to care so much about. [00:01:06] Yet we are still involved in this war. The Iran war is officially passed the two month mark. And I'm going to tell you how this is impacting Trump's approval rating and domestic politics here in the United States. But before I do, Cenk, what's your read? Yeah, so one is I want you guys to stick around to see the reaction of Americans and how badly it's hurting [00:01:25] us. And number two is the reaction of the Iranians. A quick preview of that is they're so confused. They're like, wait, I don't understand. Trump keeps saying things that aren't at all true. It just kind of confuses to how to respond to this guy living in an alternate reality. [00:01:44] Exactly. Now, escalation is something that Trump purportedly does not want. He doesn't want to reenter a hot war where the US is bombing Iran again. At least that is what is being alleged. Now, prior to Project Freedom's launch, and for those who are unfamiliar with that, [00:02:02] Project Freedom is basically a mission where the US would help guide cargo vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, striking down Iranian drones and things like that to uh create a clear path. We don't have enough interceptors to be able to do that for a long period of [00:02:20] time. So what's next? What's going to happen? That's the real question. And despite all of the efforts at defending our involvement in this war, despite all the lies we've heard from the Trump administration, the American people ain't buying it. And it's reflected in Trump's approval ratings. So let's talk about the latest poll from Washington Post, [00:02:40] ABC Ipsos. This was released last Friday and it revealed that a large majority of Americans disagree with Trump and his handling. uh in Iran, handling of Iran. So the poll shows that 61 % of respondents believe the use of military force against Iran was a mistake with just [00:02:58] 36 % saying it was the right decision. Polling from Sunday night, so this is after Operation Freedom was, Project Freedom was launched. The poll didn't do much better for Trump actually. [00:03:15] Sunday's Washington Post, ABC News, Ipsos poll shows Trump underwater on several key issues. On the Iran war, 66 % disapprove of his handling compared to 33 % who approve. And it didn't end there. So 76 % of Americans disapprove of how he has dealt with rising prices. Remember, [00:03:38] the main reason why he got elected and actually achieved the popular vote in 2024 was because he kept driving home the point that he was going to do something about affordability. He's done nothing about affordability other than make prices worse through entering this war at the behest of Israel. Roughly 72 % disapprove of how he has handled inflation and roughly 65 [00:03:58] % disapprove of how he has handled the economy overall. Now Trump seems to realize that he's made a mistake by listening to the Israelis and going to war for them. um But he's unable to do anything about it because as you're about to hear from Tim Dillon. He's not a general, [00:04:16] he's a politician. You can feel it. You can feel that it's not going our way. You can feel that it's not working. You can feel that Trump wants out of it. You can feel it. This is [00:04:32] not what he does. He's not a real fighter. He's like a sh-talker. He's a casino kingpin. He's a reality star. He's very comfortable in that game. Late night, firing off tweets at Elizabeth [00:04:48] Warren, that's his game. Talking with Mika and Joe, morning Joe, he's comfortable doing that all day long. No, a rally? Forget it. Standing there for three hours talking extemporaneously [00:05:04] off the cuff, he's all in, and that's what he does. This is not where he shines and he feels uncomfortable. You can tell he's not happy about this because this is not what he does. This is also further reason you can feel that he was really pushed into this. Tim Dillon [00:05:25] is absolutely right. And uh honestly, his show has some of the best political commentary in the country. But I just want to turn to the real negative impact that Americans are already facing as a result of this war. Let's go to graphic three here, farmer forced to raise prices as a result of rising costs. Quote, as much as we don't want to up our prices, [00:05:45] we have to because of everything that's going on. Now what's everything that's going on? uh shortage in fertilizer, a third of which is transported through the Strait of Hormuz, which is blocked right now thanks to the war against Iran. Let's go to another headline [00:06:01] here. Everything is pretty much high now, so you've got to kind of play monopoly with a lot of stuff. uh Consumers are struggling with rising gas prices, again caused by the war against Iran. CBS Chicago details how- rising gas prices are causing issues for rideshare [00:06:19] drivers and passengers. So guys, the domino effect of this war on our economy is becoming clear by the day. Yet there is no indication that Trump is going to end this war, really [00:06:35] end this war and take one of Iran's offers, which he claims he wants to end their uranium enrichment program. They've offered to do that. So why didn't he take the deal? Because it was never about nuclear weapons. It was never about uranium. It was never about ballistic [00:06:53] missiles. It was always about the country that dog walks our government, that's Israel, wanting regime change in Iran. That's what this is about. Okay, so first on Tim Dillon, my way of saying that is Trump is kind of a slappy fighter. That's a word I made up. so sometimes I'll [00:07:12] see guys growing up talking tough. And well, this now we're going to show you and then they get into a fight. And I'm curious how it's going to go and then they do this. I'm like, that's not fighting. That's really sad. And that's Trump, right? Okay, so he talks a big game, [00:07:33] but he's a coward internally and doesn't, yeah, it's easy to fight Rosie O'Donnell with mean tweets. But as the Iranian said, the battle is not one with tweets, it is one on the battlefield. They're Indian, I didn't know they were Indian. I can't do a person- do a pretty good person [00:07:51] accent, but I'm not going to. We are waiting for you. Okay, anyway, so now let's get to the Arrhenius because uh they so people go to them and ask them, okay, so is Donald Trump right? Is the war almost over? And so there's the parliament speaker, there's Arachi, who's their foreign minister, and a couple different people who comment. And they're perplexed, [00:08:10] their comments are hilarious because they're like, wait, Donald Trump says that this Strait of Hormuz is open, but it isn't open. We just hit a US warship trying to get through. We are waiting for you. So they're like, I don't know what you mean, right? And then he says, [00:08:27] we're going to go through a straight of Hormuz in a humanitarian mission. We're in the middle of a war, what humanitarian mission are you talking about? No, no, it's okay. It's okay, we're going through because it's a humanitarian mission. They're like, we don't care what you call it. That's not okay, you know what? US is blocking Iranian ports right now. It's okay [00:08:46] though, we're going to go through a new humanitarian mission. It's not a thing, right? It's not a thing if they ask to it or we asked to do it. And he says, uh no, now you're attacking us, you have invaded us. And they're like, what are you talking about, man? You're insane. [00:09:02] And then they offered up this really good peace deal over the weekend. As Anna pointed out to you, the zero stockpile of enrichment, they would even take the enrichment out of their own country for several years. They're like, And then Trump comes back and goes, they won't end their enrichment program. like, we just offered it to you. So at this point, [00:09:21] they've kind of given up. They said there's zero trust. We can't figure out what the hell America even wants. It's so embarrassing. And look, on top of that, our alliances are falling [00:09:37] apart, our global trade alliances, which are incredibly important. We don't manufacture much here in the United States. They're falling apart. In fact, I was reading about Saudi Arabia specifically and how they're like, maybe after this war we make deals with Iran. Yeah, [00:09:57] of course, and bricks. Please make it stop, make it stop. Later in the show, we're going to show you some clips of me on Sean Ryan's show. One of the things that Sean said he was most concerned about. is they're going to go to bricks. Instead of us. the petrodollar [00:10:13] is going to be gone. Dollar is the reserve currency of the world is going to be gone. And then our economy is going to be devastated. And we're inches away from that because everybody's like, America is an unstable clownish country now. That is like Lenny from mice and men. We like rabbit. We're for rabbit and freedom. No. Totally, totally. That is such a great [00:10:35] analogy. You're absolutely right. And look, Does Trump care at all about his low approval rating? I don't know, why don't we hear from the horse's mouth? Let's go to last video. They give me fake polls, they tell me about polls and this, it's interesting, they did [00:10:52] a poll on the war with Iran. And they said only 32 % of the people like it. Well, I don't like it, and I don't like war at all, but. And we're equipped better than we have the greatest military in the world. You saw what happened with Venezuela, you see what happens with everything. But they [00:11:09] said 32 % of the people are against President Trump. Well, when you explain it, is it okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon? It wouldn't be 32%. But even if you said that, there'd be a 32 % because the polls are fake. I mean, they're totally fake. They're not totally fake. [00:11:28] And to answer his question, yes. Yes, I wish Pakistan would just give Iran a nuke so we could end this. Not because I think Iran is gonna use the nuke, because it'll end the BS cover story about how we're so worried about Iran's nuclear capabilities in the future that [00:11:45] don't exist at all. Yeah, I mean, look, everything's a lie. they always, and racism is baked into it, hear me out on why. because they say, well, if Iran ever gets a new they'll launch it immediately and they were willing to have everyone in Iran die from the counterstrike. [00:12:01] Because they're all religious, zealot savages, right? That's not remotely true. Pakistan has nukes, all these different countries have nukes and nobody uses them. because they're not lunatics. But they make it seem like, oh they're Muslim, they're all lunatics and they [00:12:17] would immediately use the bomb. And they don't care about getting 90 million of their own people killed, right? None of that is true. By the way, the UAE got hit in this last barrage of last couple of days. is saying, Iran is brags about who they hit and how they them all the time, right? They make Lego videos about how they hit you and so they're like. [00:12:36] We didn't fire anything into UAE. Gee, I wonder who did it. Yeah, but mainstream press, shh, don't talk about it. Don't talk about it. might be anti-Semitic to say that- It was Israel. Yeah, it's almost certainly. All right, and by the way, early on in the fight, Iran's [00:12:53] like, hit the Gulf countries, we hit this, we hit that, and they're like. The bombs to Turkey and Cyprus, that wasn't us at all. No, I don't believe for second that that was Iran. But again, our press is like Iran said that, they're liars, Israel's telling the truth. Israel's the greatest country in world. Anyway, last thing, so on the polls, 76 % of Americans have [00:13:13] a disapproval of Trump on rising prices. Guys, 76 % disapproval on the economy is good night, Irene. I'm not sure I've ever seen a number that bad. So that he can complain about the [00:13:28] polls all day long, but there's a poll coming up in November, it's called the election, okay? And then we're going to see what really happens. 66 % of Americans disapprove of how he's handled the war, and 59 % of Americans disapprove of how he's handled immigration. When he first [00:13:44] started, that was his big win, close the border, brag about it. Now, 6 out of 10 Americans go, no, he's a total loser in every category, including immigration. We can't stand this guy. And especially on the prices, they're furious as they should be. Gas has gone up [00:14:04] 50%. He can lie about it day in and day out. But when we go to get our gas, we see with our own eyes that it's gone up 50 % and we're super mad about it. 42 % of Americans have started driving less. 30 % of Americans taking less vacations and that list goes on and [00:14:21] on and on. And every day this buffoon comes in, into their living room and lies to them and says, no prices are lower and you guys love me. And now we're getting to a point where we're a little sick of hearing that and it's going from annoyance, disapproval to anger. [00:14:38] And so if he keeps going in this direction, none of this is going to end well for anyone. uh