So that's the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan uh arm in arm with Donald Trump and directing him to the right place. uh They're at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, the capital. uh And it looks like Trump is gonna sell some F-35s to Turkey, and Israel's not happy about it. [00:00:18] So there's a lot of drama going on in the NATO meeting. uh tell us all about it. I would love to, Cenk. uh first, let me just say that warm embrace there. Right, that physical touch, very nice. More than he gets from Melania. True, true, very true. But no, in all seriousness, [00:00:38] this is the NATO summit, so it wasn't just a meeting between Donald Trump and the leader of Turkey. However, the news out of their meeting and what Trump has agreed to do for Turkey is what's getting a lot of attention. So while Benjamin Netanyahu went on a Fox News tour [00:00:55] to urge the Trump administration to uh avoid selling F-35s to Turkey, uh Trump did have other things in mind. uh during President Trump's first uh term, was actually thrown out, I talked about this yesterday. Turkey was thrown out of the F-35 program because it actually [00:01:15] bought some weaponry from Russia and that really upset the United States, which of course had sanctioned Russia. To be specific, Turkey had bought S-400 anti-aircraft systems from Russia. Now on Tuesday, when asked about those S-400s, Trump said that he had no concerns at all [00:01:35] about anything. Which was kind of surprising since his administration sanctioned Turkey during his first term. But okay, he also said this, take a look. Well, it's a decision we're [00:01:52] going to make. uh We have a very good relationship. I would think that many people, can tell you many people, including the people sitting right here thinks, why wouldn't we do that? We have a better relationship with Turkey and Turkey's been in many ways much more loyal than other [00:02:11] countries that we think would be loyal. So yeah, it's something certainly we would consider. It's a great plane. It's the best currently, the best plane by far. And it's certainly something we will consider. Yeah. Now in addition to that, Trump also noted that he does intend [00:02:31] to plan to do something else for Turkey. And that has to do with sanctions. Take a look at this. I can tell you, we're gonna be taking the sanctions off. Okay? We're gonna be taking the sanctions off. It's time. We don't wanna sanction friends. We don't wanna sanction friends, [00:02:50] which really upset Benjamin Netanyahu, who was given a platform over at CNN, to speak with Dana Bash and warn Americans about how terrible this is. Take a look. Well, as I [00:03:10] said, it destroy the power balance in the Middle East because Turkey, uh think, has uh aggressive aspirations. I mean, they openly say that they want to restore the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire not only included Turkey, it included many other countries, included- uh Syria and [00:03:30] included pieces of Jordan included all of present-day Israel included some Gulf countries So this is this is not a force for peace and stability and if you give uh You know this kind of uh radical regime that admittedly smiles to America when it is necessary What smiles to the President [00:03:49] of the United States when is necessary when you given that power? You're going to see aggression in its wake. I wouldn't do that real quick. When's the last time you actually check your Medicare plan? Can't remember? That's what I thought. But the costs creep up, the plans change every year, and they're counting on you not noticing. It's another rigged system. [00:04:08] So please check, check with Chapter, the only Medicare advisors that compare every plan nationwide. They're independent, they're honest, they advocate for you, not the insurance companies. A listener of ours out in California was skeptical when he first dialed Chapter, but in just one call, [00:04:26] they found him coverage he'd been missing for months. And he's not alone. People who switch the chapter save more than $1,000 a year on average. And if you're already on the best plan, they'll just tell you. Free help in under 20 minutes, call 805-201-2275. Worst case, [00:04:47] you'll be certain that you have the best coverage. Best case, you stop overpaying and get the coverage you need at the lowest possible price. That's 805-201-2275. 2275. I have no love [00:05:02] for the Turkish government. I love the Turkish people, have no ill will against them whatsoever. But I do wanna just be very clear about something. There's been no indication that Turkey is looking to uh pursue the Ottoman Empire. But there is a lot of indication, including from Benjamin [00:05:19] Netanyahu himself, who told I24 News that the Greater Israel Project is near and dear to his heart. So all of the territories and countries that he listed there. are territories and countries that he would like Israel to expand to. Yeah, I mean, everything he said there was every [00:05:36] Israeli accusations a confession. Sometimes they'll smile in your face, but they're actually a radical regime. You're exactly describing Israel. And now comes your guy, yeah, we're such great allies. Now, give me money and a military to destroy all my neighbors. You're [00:05:54] talking about regional peace and security. Brother, Turkey didn't attack Lebanon, you did. Turkey didn't do a genocide in Gaza, you did. Turkey didn't kill 1,000 people in the West Bank and uh rip it to shreds, you did. Turkey didn't uh invade Iran, you did. In Syria, they both [00:06:11] did. Okay. That's true, that's true, yes. So now, uh so he says this would destroy the balance of power in the Middle East. No, it would actually bring a balance of power in the Middle East. Cuz right now, since uh Israel has all the power, they have nukes, they have [00:06:30] Iron Dome, they have the US military behind them. They're attacking all of their neighbors, and because there's no balance, there's no one to push back. There's a bunch of ragtag guys in Gaza throwing rocks, and they're like, my God, we're in danger. Now that's preposterous, [00:06:46] right? And there's Hezbollah who, half of them got blown up by pagers. These are not giant militaries. So Iran has a real military and Israel just found out about it. Turkey has a real military, so they're concerned about it. And partly because Israeli officials have [00:07:03] said they wanna attack Turkey next. So they're not worried about a balance of power. They want all of the power in the Middle East so they can attack any country they want and those countries cannot defend themselves. So now they're like, just because Turkey's been a reliable [00:07:20] ally in NATO. And they have the second largest military in NATO and they're arguably one of the allies that have stuck up for you more than any other ally in our lifetimes. But they're in our way, we told you we wanna attack them, you are to give them nothing to defend themselves. [00:07:38] So let me explain what's also happening behind the scenes that you might not know about. And I'm so curious to see how this clash is gonna play out, Cenk. Because our European NATO allies are basically preparing to go to war with Russia. I know that sounds crazy, but [00:07:55] that's literally what they're doing and they say it out loud. And one of the things that developed over the weekend is that our European NATO allies are viewing Turkey as an important part of that war, of that fight on behalf of NATO. So if you have Israel on one hand, [00:08:17] that's like, We wanna be the dominant ones in the region, means we want, if Israel could have its way, they would literally disarm every country in the region. And in fact, they've succeeded to a large extent with some of these countries. Why do you think the Lebanese military is so flaccid and can't do a damn thing about Hezbollah? Why do you think? Or Israel. Or [00:08:35] Israel? I mean, it's by design. The only line of defense that the Lebanese people have in regard to maintaining their borders, whether they like it or not happens to be Hezbollah. But okay, putting that aside entirely. So with Israel wanting to weaken Turkey because they [00:08:53] must be the dominant ones who control everything in the region. And with the European allies of the United States saying that Turkey is an important part of their impending war against Russia, what's gonna happen? Well, they're worried about an impending war. So we'll see [00:09:10] how that goes. But- They're agitating for it. So no, no, no, this shows uh how much leverage Turkey has. Because since they're situated right in the middle of all this mess, they could, they're in a situation where they're part of NATO, right? But they did buy those [00:09:26] S-400s from Russia, and part of that is to keep everyone guessing and to build leverage against uh the different forces at play. And before they used to be against Iran because Turkey's one of the epicenters of Sunni Islam, and Iran is epicenter of Shiite Islam. They're opposed [00:09:43] to each other, but now they're closer to each other because of Israel. Israel's uniting a lot of folks. But either way, Turkey's in a pivotal situation there. So normally, Israel can just steamroll any other country. They tell us to attack Iran, we attack Iran. They tell us, look the other way, we're gonna butcher Lebanon and take southern Lebanon. We look [00:10:02] the other way. But when it comes to Turkey, that's where America and the Europeans are like, that one's a harder ask, guys. Cuz those guys are pivotal in our defense. And if we're in trouble, we need the Turks. So now you want us to sacrifice all of the Middle East and [00:10:19] Turkey? And why do you want that? See, again, every accusation is a confession from the Israelis. Netanyahu's like, they're trying to reconstitute the Ottoman Empire. And by the way, you notice some Republican puppets in this country regurgitating that in their town halls. Those guys don't [00:10:35] even know what the Ottoman Empire is. So those talking points are written for them by the Israeli government. I mean, those are. assets. They should be investigated legally for where they're getting their talking points from. Cuz there's no way some of those guys have any idea what the Ottoman Empire is. Anyways, so Ottoman Empire is not being reconstituted [00:10:55] as fantasy and totally made up by the Israelis. On the other hand, as Ana pointed out, greater Israel is the empire trying to take over the Middle East right now. We can see it with our own eyes. They're in all of those countries. So for people who are like, that's anti-Semitic. [00:11:13] Is it anti-Semitic to just repeat what Israeli politicians say on the record, what their actual agenda is? I know we're supposed to just regurgitate US media, which lies to us about what Israel's up to. I would prefer to listen to the Israelis when they tell us straight up what they intend [00:11:30] to do. Yeah, so and then Trump's a funny guy as always, accidentally. So they're more loyal than people you would expect to be loyal. I don't know who he means by that, if he means Europe and NATO. means Europe and NATO. He's super salty that our European allies weren't [00:11:50] moronic enough to enter a stupid war against Iran on behalf of Israel. Only the US was stupid enough to do that. And when I say the US was stupid enough, I'm obviously talking about our government, which uses our service members uh as cannon fodder on behalf of their [00:12:07] precious ally. So that's the reality of the situation. I would be surprised if Trump and Erdogan don't have some deal that we don't know about. Like a financial deal? Yeah. 100%, I thought the same thing. We don't know for sure, we're speculating. But Trump will throw [00:12:23] anyone under the bus for his own enrichment. what stood out to me was how bold he was in kind of ignoring, just basically to Netanyahu when it comes to this. And the only thing that would convince him to do it is if there's something to sweeten the pot for himself. Let me just [00:12:41] put it this way. I've never seen Trump look at uh American interests and go, wow, this is really important to American interests. Okay, that's why I'm supporting them. No, I've seen him go, Jared, did you make a deal with them? Couple of billion dollars, good. Hey, you guys, [00:12:57] you got the deal from Kazakhstan, Don Jr and Eric, and you guys got the deal, and Qatar's giving me a jet. Donald Trump is very famous for looking out for his own interest and not anyone else's. Let me give you a specific example. Remember, when he had his visit to China fairly [00:13:13] recently, he brought a bunch of corporate executives with him. Well, they happen to be corporate executives representing companies that he had just heavily invested in. So he took this gaggle of corporate executives with him to China in an effort to make deals between them and [00:13:30] China. Because he's literally part owner of those companies now that he's bought so many shares in them. Okay, so that's Donald Trump. And Erdogan has not been known for being so moral that he wouldn't make a secret deal. Right. Right, to say the least. But he has [00:13:50] played this foreign policy brilliantly. uh Whether you like it or you don't like it, he is the only country that I have ever seen stand up to Israel. And for the moment being, win strategically with the Western powers. Because he has the military for it. Lebanon doesn't. And the [00:14:08] geography and the population and the fighting spirit. Yeah. So I mean, and last thing is it shows you how mental the Israelis are. You're gonna go pick a fight with a NATO ally and a military that loves to fight as 80 to 90 million people in it now. and can't wait to [00:14:30] get in the fight and has all of Europe and America behind it. You would have to be insane to talk about taking them on next. Not if you can get your cattle to fight the war. They're out of control. They're totally out of control. But hey, look, in this case, Trump siding [00:14:48] with the Turks. uh