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Be Ready With Facts on Iran · Check with Chip

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Check with Chip, brought to you by Operation
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Blue Dot Red, turning the Blue Dot Red one podcast
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: at a time. We are moving into the seventh month
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of a conflict in Iran that President Trump initially said
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: would take five weeks. Trump has said, we haven't been
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  Speaker 1: engaged in actual war for all these months. There have
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: been long pauses for negotiations. True, but any way you
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: slice it, Trump initially gave the impression that this exercise
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in international statecraft would be wrapped up by now. It's
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: proving to be a political problem for Republicans as the
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  Speaker 1: midterm general election draws near. Don't run from it. Be
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: ready with the facts and the truth. An instructive exchange
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: occurred recently. This is a clip from a conversation involving
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  Speaker 1: Byron Donalds, a Republican and Florida congressman running for governor
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  Speaker 1: of the Sunshine State, leftist political commentator Molly Jong Fast,
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  Speaker 1: and Bill Maher. The Strait was open. Wasn't the Strait open?
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  Speaker 1: The Strait has always been the leverage point of the Iranians.
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  Speaker 1: But the Strait was open before Donald Trump went to
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  Speaker 1: war with Iran, never explaining to us why. In case
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: you had trouble hearing the audio, Jongfast begins the exchange
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  Speaker 1: by saying the Strait of Hormuz was open. Everything was
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  Speaker 1: fine before Trump messed things up by attacking Iran. Now
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  Speaker 1: keeping the Strait open is a contested issue. Yes, the
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  Speaker 1: Strait of Hormuz was open and Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.
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  Speaker 1: Donalds and Maher both noted that Trump clearly explained that
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  Speaker 1: the reason for attacking was to stop Iran from from
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  Speaker 1: pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran reacted by trying to close the strait,
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  Speaker 1: at times with some success. U.S. countermeasures have prevailed. Ships
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  Speaker 1: and cargo are moving through the strait, and Treasury Secretary
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  Speaker 1: Scott Besson said in two years the Strait of Hormuz
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  Speaker 1: will be a worthless waterway because America and its allies
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: in the region are are developing alternative channels for moving
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: oil and other goods between the Middle East and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the world. Marr went on to say it
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  Speaker 1: was a stupid talking point because everyone knows there can
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: be no peace in the Middle East as long as
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  Speaker 1: Iran is ruled by an extremist Islamic regime that generates
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  Speaker 1: terror and death in the region through its own actions
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  Speaker 1: and internationally through its proxies. When Donaldson Marr obliterated her
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  Speaker 1: contention that Trump, for no reason, unleashed on Iran, Jongfest
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  Speaker 1: switched to a new argument. We knew it was unwinnable.
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  Speaker 1: The Democrats keep telling themselves and everyone else that Iran
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: is winning, America is losing. By what measure? The military
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: power of Iran is virtually non-existent. The economic pressure has
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  Speaker 1: been ratcheted up to unprecedented levels. The only reason Trump
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: has not leveled the entire country is that he wants
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: there to be something upon which to build for whatever
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  Speaker 1: comes next in the leadership and political reorganization of Iran.
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  Speaker 1: Trump very likely could have defied history and cruised along
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: to a successful midterm election for his Republican Party. A
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: lot of Republican candidates probably wish he had done just that. Instead,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: he took on a problem that American presidents have said
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: for five decades needs to be solved, but none of
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: them were willing to do it. Trump is. It remains
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  Speaker 1: to be seen whether he will succeed or fail. And
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  Speaker 1: even if he succeeds, whether he and Republicans will be
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  Speaker 1: politically rewarded or punished for doing it, but he's doing it. So,
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  Speaker 1: if you find yourself in a conversation with someone saying,
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  Speaker 1: Trump went careening into a Middle East war with no purpose,
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  Speaker 1: no strategy, and no chance for success. Don't get upset.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Just deliver the facts. The purpose was to prevent Iran
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  Speaker 1: from developing nuclear weapons. The strategy was to first annihilate
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Iran's military capability and then apply economic pressures so crushing...
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  Speaker 1: that it causes the collapse of the regime and a
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  Speaker 1: popular uprising resulting in an Iran friendly to America and
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  Speaker 1: the West. We are winning, and the chance for ultimate
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  Speaker 1: success is good. Iran, Israel, the Middle East, America, and
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  Speaker 1: the world will be better off if Trump can pull
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  Speaker 1: this off. That's Check with Chip. I'm Chip Maxwell. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for listening.