Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Operation Epic Fury: U.S.-Israel Strikes Iran, Retaliation Fears & The Left’s Weird Week

Transcript

Normally Podcast: Operation Epic Fury: U.S.-Israel Strikes Iran, Retaliation Fears & The Left’s Weird Week · Normally

0:07
Speaker 1: I'm back normally that Joe takes for whom this game weird.
0:11
Speaker 2: I am very kindly Jam and I'm Karen Marcowitz. How
0:14
Speaker 2: are you, Mary, Catherine.
0:16
Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm in Hillsdale, Michigan, up in Hillsdale College
0:19
Speaker 1: this week doing some teaching, so I look forward to that,
0:23
Speaker 1: and I love a lovely time in my twelve hours
0:25
Speaker 1: so far, I.
0:27
Speaker 2: Loved my time at Hillsdale. I have to send you
0:29
Speaker 2: some restaurant RECs. It was amazing. I thought the kids
0:32
Speaker 2: were just unbelievable.
0:34
Speaker 1: Yes, it's a it's a it's a smart group here,
0:37
Speaker 1: so I'm looking forward to it.
0:39
Speaker 2: I took my sixteen year old daughter to see the
0:43
Speaker 2: normally's favorite comedian, Nate Brigatzi last night. Yeah, super hilarious
0:48
Speaker 2: and you know, very very clean humor, really really funny.
0:52
Speaker 2: Kevin James did a surprise opening for him. There was
0:55
Speaker 2: three openers. They added Kevin James at the last minute.
0:58
Speaker 2: He basically told a joke and a half and we
1:01
Speaker 2: laughed our faces off like it was. It was a
1:04
Speaker 2: really quick Kevin James appearance, but it was so funny.
1:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, now that's a that's a normy night, right there.
1:11
Speaker 1: Kevin James and Napari so good.
1:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was like nothing that was questionable at all.
1:17
Speaker 2: It was really great and she had a great time.
1:19
Speaker 2: It was part of her sixteenth birthday present. And you
1:22
Speaker 2: know what, we did not take the boys because that
1:25
Speaker 2: we're allowed to do that. We didn't invite the boys.
1:28
Speaker 1: It might be time to cancel you or IMPS for
1:31
Speaker 1: that one.
1:32
Speaker 2: Oh my god, we're play hockey again.
1:36
Speaker 1: Well, the news is both weird and momentous this week. Yeah, Carol,
1:41
Speaker 1: I mean.
1:43
Speaker 2: We you know, we knew it was coming and then
1:45
Speaker 2: it came.
1:46
Speaker 1: Yeah. So there has been a US and Israel together
1:51
Speaker 1: attack on Iran over several days now. And you know,
1:56
Speaker 1: some have said in retrospect, perhaps the tell was that
1:59
Speaker 1: the entire military was at the doorstep of Iran, But
2:03
Speaker 1: it seems like the president for several weeks was weighing
2:08
Speaker 1: different plans and trying to decide and wasn't sure if
2:12
Speaker 1: they were going to go for it, and then they did,
2:16
Speaker 1: and then they did.
2:18
Speaker 2: It's called Operation Epic Fury. I saw some people mocking
2:21
Speaker 2: this online as being like too childish and simplistic, Like
2:24
Speaker 2: I love that, I love simple words describing things very
2:28
Speaker 2: clearly we are epically furious. Yeah, and we're going to
2:33
Speaker 2: launch an operation.
2:34
Speaker 1: I mean, Desert Storm is one of the great monikers
2:38
Speaker 1: of our time. There's nothing wrong with a boss operation name.
2:42
Speaker 1: You got to have a cool operation name, right, right,
2:46
Speaker 1: So that's what's happening. We, of course, this was, as
2:50
Speaker 1: some members of Congress are noting, not authorized by Congress,
2:53
Speaker 1: although some of them, it seems, were briefed in various
2:56
Speaker 1: ways and various degrees at different times. Has not addressed
3:01
Speaker 1: the American people about this yet, and I do think
3:03
Speaker 1: that he needs to do that at some point. But
3:07
Speaker 1: I am comfortable with the idea that presidents can do
3:09
Speaker 1: strikes without totally telegraphing exactly what they're going to do
3:15
Speaker 1: at any moment by even brief in Congress and then
3:18
Speaker 1: having it leaked, which is a real risk when you're
3:20
Speaker 1: in these situations.
3:21
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think Trump takes that risk extra, extra seriously.
3:25
Speaker 2: So we attacked Iran, and we hit over a thousand
3:31
Speaker 2: targets in just a few days. Israel and the US are,
3:35
Speaker 2: like you said, coordinating on this, and Iran has launched
3:38
Speaker 2: missile and drone attacks all across the Middle East. I'm
3:42
Speaker 2: talking Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, and a bunch of
3:46
Speaker 2: other Gulf states in response to this, and it's crazy.
3:50
Speaker 2: And you know, I tweeted the picture of the economists,
3:53
Speaker 2: you know, like last year, saying they had an Israeli flag,
3:56
Speaker 2: and it was like Israel alone, Like Israel's literally working
4:01
Speaker 2: with the rest of the Middle East against Iran, and
4:03
Speaker 2: no one is posting up Iran alone on their cover
4:07
Speaker 2: because you know, the idea that Israel should be sort
4:12
Speaker 2: of isolated is one that the left pushes. It's one
4:15
Speaker 2: that people on the right sometimes buy into. It's one
4:18
Speaker 2: that America largely rejects well.
4:21
Speaker 1: And the groundwork for this sort of amazing alliance was
4:24
Speaker 1: laid in Trump won with the Abraham Accords. But to
4:28
Speaker 1: see Iran, you know, there are costs in any military operation,
4:33
Speaker 1: and there are already four American troop members who we've
4:36
Speaker 1: lost in this operation, so that it's a very serious undertaking.
4:42
Speaker 1: And also the extent to which we are able to
4:46
Speaker 1: very specifically target very specific things with success thereby by
4:51
Speaker 1: the way sparing civilians in Iran to the greatest degree possible,
4:57
Speaker 1: and the way that Iran's response over and over again,
5:01
Speaker 1: by the way since Israel started taking out many of
5:05
Speaker 1: the their capabilities many months and you're in these various operations.
5:11
Speaker 1: Has been sort of like surprisingly sporadic and has led
5:16
Speaker 1: to them hitting all these other countries, and the reaction
5:19
Speaker 1: of those other countries has been to go, whoa, whoa, yeah,
5:22
Speaker 1: now we're with these guys. And by the way, for
5:25
Speaker 1: anybody watching, this should show why these guys cannot have
5:29
Speaker 1: nukes because the IRGC, the Republican Guard there is like,
5:34
Speaker 1: I think we should just hit the entire Middle East
5:37
Speaker 1: now and all of our sometime friends, any one we
5:40
Speaker 1: can reach. So it seems like a really good reason
5:43
Speaker 1: to keep them from having.
5:45
Speaker 2: Nukes absolutely, and that's such an important thing. Like I
5:48
Speaker 2: keep seeing people, I mean, I saw somebody say like,
5:50
Speaker 2: how come the US doesn't take on North Korea? And
5:53
Speaker 2: it's because they have nukes or it's because they're on
5:55
Speaker 2: their way, like they already have the weaponry that we
5:58
Speaker 2: don't want them to have. Yes, And once you have
6:01
Speaker 2: crazy people having that, it becomes a far larger risk.
6:05
Speaker 2: I'm devastated that four Americans were killed in this operation.
6:09
Speaker 2: Can you imagine how many would be killed if Iran
6:12
Speaker 2: did have nukes? And it just we need to be serious.
6:16
Speaker 2: And I have to say that again, is it surprising
6:20
Speaker 2: to me that Donald Trump is the growing up in
6:22
Speaker 2: the room. Yes, but he is the grown up in
6:25
Speaker 2: the room. It's marvelous, you know, amazing to watch it,
6:28
Speaker 2: and it's just a reality that I'm able to face,
6:34
Speaker 2: and people who didn't always like Trump should be able
6:36
Speaker 2: to face it as well.
6:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, and a lot of this again, we don't have
6:40
Speaker 1: the names of those troops, which we will give to
6:42
Speaker 1: you guys when we have them, but I want to
6:43
Speaker 1: be sensitive about that. The rationale for this is kind
6:48
Speaker 1: of all over the map because it's Donald Trump, which
6:51
Speaker 1: is why I think an address is warranted. And yet
6:54
Speaker 1: most of the reasons I am down with, right at
6:57
Speaker 1: least when it comes to a short op. When we
7:00
Speaker 1: get to more in depth stuff. You know, we need
7:02
Speaker 1: to think that through. But you have the threat that
7:07
Speaker 1: they could become nuclear and critics say, oh, but didn't
7:10
Speaker 1: we decimate or take, you know, completely ruin all of
7:13
Speaker 1: their nuclear capabilities. Well, they did a good job. And
7:18
Speaker 1: also they can rebuild, which.
7:19
Speaker 2: Was alway the other things, Yeah, which was despertty. Iran
7:23
Speaker 2: could build a dirty bomb, that's you know, a conversation
7:26
Speaker 2: that I'm seeing.
7:28
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, there are many of people who
7:31
Speaker 1: hang their hats on the JCPOA, which was the Obama
7:34
Speaker 1: negotiated deal with Iran, but it's limits. Many of them
7:38
Speaker 1: sunset it this year, right, so they pulling out of that,
7:41
Speaker 1: and by the way, they violated it the entire night
7:44
Speaker 1: it was enacted. And then also Obama just thought or
7:50
Speaker 1: said he thought that if they gave money to the
7:53
Speaker 1: Iranians and if they relaxed sanctions on the Iranians, that
7:57
Speaker 1: all that money would just go to making things better
8:00
Speaker 1: for the citizens of Iran. Because in an actual speech,
8:03
Speaker 1: Obama's like, you know, even in a dictatorship, you can't
8:06
Speaker 1: just ignore the concerns of yes, you can't. That's actually
8:09
Speaker 1: really can Yeah, dictatorship's work. So all that money did
8:12
Speaker 1: go to all these proxies who have been destroyed by
8:16
Speaker 1: Israel's incredible intelligence and military with some of our help.
8:20
Speaker 1: And Obama's philosophy was just wrong. Giving them pellets of
8:25
Speaker 1: cash is not ready to stop the badness, and perhaps
8:30
Speaker 1: bombing is the way to stop the badness.
8:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And I look, the fact is that Donald
8:37
Speaker 2: Trump is erratic. You don't know what he's going to do.
8:40
Speaker 2: You don't know what he's going to say, you don't
8:42
Speaker 2: know you know what the next step is going to be.
8:44
Speaker 2: And that has worked very much in his favor. I
8:48
Speaker 2: think that that has been just an amazing part of
8:51
Speaker 2: the Donald Trump second term here where the bad guys
8:55
Speaker 2: don't know what to expect. One day, Maduro's still the
8:57
Speaker 2: leader of Venezuela, the next day he's not. And the
9:00
Speaker 2: same thing here where on day one the US and
9:03
Speaker 2: Israel took out Ayatola Kamani and so many of his
9:07
Speaker 2: top people because and I love the way you worded
9:10
Speaker 2: it in a tweet. You know, somebody's gonna get in
9:12
Speaker 2: trouble if that meeting could have been an email me.
9:15
Speaker 2: But how do they meet knowing that the entire US
9:18
Speaker 2: military is poised and ready in the Middle East, Like, well,
9:23
Speaker 2: how do you guys have a face to face meeting
9:25
Speaker 2: and think that's going to be okay?
9:26
Speaker 1: Well, and I think what American intel in Israeli intel,
9:29
Speaker 1: by the way, just shout out to the Iranian people
9:32
Speaker 1: for a coming and being dead. That is a that's
9:35
Speaker 1: a huge thing in and of itself. And there was
9:37
Speaker 1: celebration in the streets in Iran. But I think American
9:40
Speaker 1: and an Israeli intelligence together have prevented the leaders of
9:46
Speaker 1: these proxy groups and Iran from having electronic or in
9:51
Speaker 1: person communication, like they can't do it, and they keep
9:54
Speaker 1: getting knocked off every time they replace someone as the
9:58
Speaker 1: head of Iran right now, which means that eventually, and
10:01
Speaker 1: I think some of the weird nature of these strikes
10:04
Speaker 1: from the IRGC is because they do not have a
10:07
Speaker 1: command structure. Because the command structure keeps getting collapsed.
10:11
Speaker 2: And that's amazing. It's also wild, it's crazy to think about.
10:16
Speaker 2: Somebody else posted a picture of the George W. Bush
10:19
Speaker 2: administration and said, you know, imagine telling these people that
10:23
Speaker 2: the guy on the Apprentice would be the ones to
10:25
Speaker 2: take out Iran. It's incredible. It's truly incredible. And then
10:30
Speaker 2: somebody else noted that this is like everything Bill Crystal
10:34
Speaker 2: has ever wanted in his entire life, and he can't
10:37
Speaker 2: be happy because it's the guy he hates more than
10:40
Speaker 2: anything else anybody else in the world delivering on the
10:42
Speaker 2: things that he wants.
10:43
Speaker 1: It's just I also want to note a couple other
10:47
Speaker 1: rationales for doing this. One, of course, that Trump said
10:50
Speaker 1: help is on the way to Iranians who put their
10:53
Speaker 1: lives on the line and many of them died coming
10:55
Speaker 1: out and protesting the regime. And I think beyond freedom
11:00
Speaker 1: for the Iranian people, which has been mentioned but also
11:02
Speaker 1: gets peoples, gets people nervous because it speaks to regime
11:07
Speaker 1: change and boots on the ground and being involved for
11:09
Speaker 1: a long periods of time. Even though freedom is mentioned,
11:13
Speaker 1: I think Trump's probably more interested in his threat credibility.
11:18
Speaker 1: And I think probably people were telling him if you
11:20
Speaker 1: say helps on the way and then you don't deliver
11:23
Speaker 1: in a very obvious way, you lose that with these
11:26
Speaker 1: other bad guys, and I think that's something he wanted
11:28
Speaker 1: to preserved. I should also mention, and I think it's
11:30
Speaker 1: important to mention that the Iranian regime has been trying
11:35
Speaker 1: to assassinate him for right not a small period of time.
11:39
Speaker 1: And he even said I got him before they got me.
11:41
Speaker 2: Him saying that I got them before they got me
11:44
Speaker 2: is just It's a glorious moment. It's also going back
11:47
Speaker 2: to something we've talked about. You could just do things.
11:50
Speaker 2: You could just do things, and Donald Trump is like
11:52
Speaker 2: watching me do those things. There also this great clip
11:55
Speaker 2: circulating of Donald Trump in nineteen eighty talking about what
11:59
Speaker 2: we need to do with Iran. And I know people
12:01
Speaker 2: think that he ran on never attacking anybody, and you know,
12:06
Speaker 2: sticking our head in our shell and never coming out.
12:08
Speaker 2: But I didn't see that at all as a Donald
12:10
Speaker 2: Trump campaign. I think people just imagine that. And so
12:14
Speaker 2: let's roll that clip of Donald Trump nineteen eighty talking
12:16
Speaker 2: about Iran.
12:19
Speaker 3: When you get the respect of the other countries, and
12:21
Speaker 3: the other countries tend to do a little bit as
12:23
Speaker 3: you do, and you can create the right attitudes. The
12:27
Speaker 3: Iranian situation is a case in point. That they hold
12:31
Speaker 3: our hostages is just absolutely and totally ridiculous. That this
12:38
Speaker 3: country sits back and allows a country such as Iran
12:41
Speaker 3: to hold out hostages, to my way of thinking, is
12:45
Speaker 3: a horror. And I don't think they do it with
12:48
Speaker 3: other countries. I honestly don't think they'll do it with
12:51
Speaker 3: other countries.
12:52
Speaker 2: Basically, you're advocating that we should have gone in there
12:54
Speaker 2: with troops, etc. And brought our boys out.
12:57
Speaker 3: I absolutely feel that. Yes, I don't think there's any question,
13:00
Speaker 3: and there's no question in my mind. I think right
13:02
Speaker 3: now would be an oil rich nation, and I believe
13:05
Speaker 3: that we should have done it, and I'm very disappointed
13:08
Speaker 3: that we didn't do it. And I don't think anybody
13:10
Speaker 3: would have held us in abeyance. I don't think anybody
13:14
Speaker 3: would have been angry with us, And we had every
13:16
Speaker 3: right to do it at the time. I think we've
13:18
Speaker 3: lost the opportunity.
13:20
Speaker 2: It's kind of an amazing clip, it really is. He
13:23
Speaker 2: still talks like that. He looks just like Baron, I mean,
13:26
Speaker 2: really looks like Baron there, and he's again I get
13:32
Speaker 2: all the reasons people don't like Donald Trump, I really do,
13:35
Speaker 2: but the fact is he's very frank and he's like,
13:39
Speaker 2: we could have just taken their oil, you know, whereas
13:41
Speaker 2: like George W. Bush went to war with Iraq and
13:45
Speaker 2: everybody was like, you're doing this for oil, and then
13:47
Speaker 2: we didn't take any of their oil.
13:48
Speaker 1: We didn't.
13:51
Speaker 2: He got criticized for that without actually doing it.
13:54
Speaker 4: I know.
13:54
Speaker 1: I think he's also just a He is a president
13:57
Speaker 1: who is very interested in and very informed about how
14:02
Speaker 1: he can wield American power. Yeah, and he's doing it
14:05
Speaker 1: in a way that says basically like, oh, we're going
14:07
Speaker 1: to lop the head off over and over again until
14:10
Speaker 1: you act right. And if you act right. You might
14:12
Speaker 1: not get bombed again, but you have to act right,
14:16
Speaker 1: whether it's Venezuela or rum right. And I don't know
14:19
Speaker 1: what that means at the top eventually, but it does
14:22
Speaker 1: mean that you've preserved the threat, which means people may
14:26
Speaker 1: act right, which is what he's attempting, without doing a
14:30
Speaker 1: whole enduring campaign.
14:32
Speaker 2: That's right, and I hope it's not an enduring campaign.
14:35
Speaker 2: The question now becomes what comes next and how does
14:38
Speaker 2: the US proceed from here. Of course, the question on
14:42
Speaker 2: everybody's mind is how long are we going to be
14:44
Speaker 2: in there? How involved are we going to be in
14:47
Speaker 2: the region. And today Pete Hegseth was asked about American
14:51
Speaker 2: boots on the ground, and I think he gave a
14:53
Speaker 2: stellar answer. We'll talk about it after we roll this clip.
14:56
Speaker 4: No, but we're not going to go into the exercise
14:58
Speaker 4: of what we will or will not. I think it's
15:01
Speaker 4: one of those fallacies for a long time that this
15:04
Speaker 4: Department or presidents or others should tell the American people
15:07
Speaker 4: and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do.
15:10
Speaker 4: Here's exactly how long we'll go, Here's exactly how far
15:13
Speaker 4: we'll go. Here's what we're willing to do and not
15:15
Speaker 4: do it's foolishness. And so President Trump ensures that our
15:18
Speaker 4: enemies understand, will go as far as we need to
15:21
Speaker 4: go to advanced American interest. But we're not dumb about it.
15:25
Speaker 4: You don't have to roll two hundred thousand people in
15:27
Speaker 4: there and stay for twenty years.
15:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know that clip is being shared as Pete
15:32
Speaker 2: hegg Seth won't rule out boots on the ground, and
15:35
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, he won't rule out anything. He will
15:37
Speaker 2: never ask him the question about like will we shoot
15:40
Speaker 2: at Iran with space lasers from Mars? And he'll be like,
15:43
Speaker 2: I don't know. Everything's on the table. It could be
15:45
Speaker 2: anything right now. And that's a very Trump orientated answer,
15:48
Speaker 2: where Trump is like, I'm not ruling out a single thing.
15:51
Speaker 2: I'm not telling you what we're going to do. I'm
15:53
Speaker 2: not telling you what we're not going to do. You're
15:55
Speaker 2: going to have to roll with it and see what
15:56
Speaker 2: happens and we'll take it from there. And that's Pete
15:59
Speaker 2: hagg Seth giving a very Trumpian response of like, all
16:03
Speaker 2: options are on the table.
16:05
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:05
Speaker 2: That means he has not ruled out putting American boots
16:08
Speaker 2: on the ground. I don't think that's going to happen,
16:10
Speaker 2: but we'll see well.
16:11
Speaker 1: And I think you're right, Carol, that the advertisement wasn't
16:15
Speaker 1: complete disengagement and never striking anyone, right. I understood that
16:20
Speaker 1: because I saw Trump one which included strategic strikes against
16:24
Speaker 1: Soul Money, among others. I called it like occasional belicosity,
16:28
Speaker 1: Like Americans aren't mad if you hit something very hard
16:31
Speaker 1: and it's effective and then we move on. Venezuela is
16:34
Speaker 1: another example. The fodoh bombing runs with the B two
16:38
Speaker 1: is another example. And people are very happy to see
16:40
Speaker 1: American might for the most part, other than the people
16:43
Speaker 1: who hate the West, but for the most part happy
16:47
Speaker 1: to see American might displayed and for it to be
16:49
Speaker 1: effective and for it to be competent, which it has
16:51
Speaker 1: been on all of these operations. And I would also
16:55
Speaker 1: add for anybody who knew anyone who was hurt during
17:00
Speaker 1: those many years that made Americans war weary and a
17:04
Speaker 1: global war on terror. I would also note that somebody
17:07
Speaker 1: Patrick Fox, who's a VET, notes as a global war
17:11
Speaker 1: on terror VET. It is difficult to fully explain to
17:13
Speaker 1: younger folks the satisfaction I take in watching the Islamic
17:16
Speaker 1: Republic be dismantled. The IERGYC armed and trained terrorists for decades,
17:20
Speaker 1: specifically supplying and training those groups on the EFPs that
17:24
Speaker 1: killed and maimed hundreds of my brothers and sisters in arms.
17:27
Speaker 1: They deserve everything they get, and that is an element
17:31
Speaker 1: of this that I think some if you're not paying attention,
17:34
Speaker 1: will miss, like this was the head of the snake
17:37
Speaker 1: that was supplying all these other things that hurt a
17:40
Speaker 1: bunch of American troops actively on purpose, frequently for many,
17:44
Speaker 1: many years. And if you can change that dynamic, it
17:48
Speaker 1: can lead to a safer Middle East and world.
17:51
Speaker 2: Absolutely. But speaking of a safer world, we had at
17:56
Speaker 2: least one home attack since the attack on Iran began,
18:02
Speaker 2: possibly two. We don't know exactly what happened with the
18:05
Speaker 2: second one quite yet, but the first one was in
18:08
Speaker 2: Austin where an American citizen who was born in Senegal.
18:13
Speaker 2: His name is Indaga Diagme. He was wearing a shirt
18:19
Speaker 2: that referred to Allah. Underneath it he had an Iranian
18:22
Speaker 2: shirt on. He killed three people in Austin at a
18:26
Speaker 2: bar randomly, and it's looking like this was a retaliatory attack.
18:32
Speaker 2: There was a second incident, which were not clear yet
18:35
Speaker 2: if this was related to anything going on in the
18:38
Speaker 2: Middle East or not. Stabbed several people on the I
18:43
Speaker 2: four ninety five in Virginia with a curved dagger resembling
18:49
Speaker 2: a meat cleaver, and we don't know what the situation
18:53
Speaker 2: there is quite yet.
18:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought that one. It was in northern Virginia.
18:59
Speaker 1: It was like one of those situations where it was
19:01
Speaker 1: in traffic. Could have been road rage, but I thought
19:03
Speaker 1: a dagger seems weird, A stabling seems odd for that situation.
19:08
Speaker 1: And at least one woman and her dog were killed
19:11
Speaker 1: in this interaction, and the trooper shot the suspect dead,
19:16
Speaker 1: so law enforcement intervened and probably saved some other lives.
19:18
Speaker 1: There are other people who are being treated at this point,
19:21
Speaker 1: I believe, But yeah, we don't know the motivations of
19:23
Speaker 1: that one yet, but it sure sounds weird right.
19:26
Speaker 2: Also, people like Meddi Hassan are quoting Scott Jennings saying
19:31
Speaker 2: that terrorism stops now because of Trump's attack on Iran,
19:34
Speaker 2: and Mehdi says, pretty sure he has just energized extremists
19:38
Speaker 2: and given them an excuse to attack Americans. Every president
19:41
Speaker 2: who starts wars in the Mid East, ends up becoming
19:43
Speaker 2: a recruiting sergeant for terror groups, and that just sounds
19:47
Speaker 2: like extortion. Do what we want, or we're going to
19:49
Speaker 2: kill you here. And I don't know how Meddi Hassan
19:52
Speaker 2: gets to have a role in American public life when
19:55
Speaker 2: he says things like that, you're a par America and
19:57
Speaker 2: that way you're rooting for attacks against America and against
20:00
Speaker 2: Americans because the ideology is not going your way. I just,
20:05
Speaker 2: at no point did I want Americans to die so
20:08
Speaker 2: that Biden could see the error of his ways and
20:11
Speaker 2: maybe close the border or something. I wasn't like rooting
20:14
Speaker 2: for that to happen in order for Biden to do
20:16
Speaker 2: my preferred policy. But people like medi are rooting for it,
20:19
Speaker 2: and it's really sick.
20:20
Speaker 1: Well, and he calls it, I think it called it
20:22
Speaker 1: at one point understandable or predictable terrorist blowback, yeah attacks,
20:28
Speaker 1: And I would just say it's weird that it wasn't
20:31
Speaker 1: predictable or understandable that we would have terrorists blowback attacks
20:35
Speaker 1: after like the Venezuela operation. Why is it different? Why
20:39
Speaker 1: are we not worried about a bunch of Venezuelan Americans
20:42
Speaker 1: coming and stabbing people or shooting people in bars like
20:44
Speaker 1: That's it seems like you're telling on yourself a little bit,
20:47
Speaker 1: and you are saying, yes, if you do what we
20:50
Speaker 1: do want you to do, then you don't get hurt.
20:54
Speaker 1: But Donald Trump certainly will not be operating that way.
20:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really great point about Venezuela. That's exactly right.
21:02
Speaker 1: And by the way, we should note also that the
21:04
Speaker 1: uh that the social media being once again flooded with
21:08
Speaker 1: expressions of joy by Iranians and Iranian Americans, just like
21:12
Speaker 1: that it was by Venezuela and Venezuelan Americans is very
21:15
Speaker 1: helpful for the affluent white American left that can can
21:20
Speaker 1: have these voices centered as opposed to their own feelings
21:23
Speaker 1: for a moment, so that they can understand that in
21:26
Speaker 1: many ways, people do see this as a liberation and
21:29
Speaker 1: an opportunity for this country that has been under the
21:32
Speaker 1: thumb of the exact people they say they hate, like
21:36
Speaker 1: religious extremists who kill gay people and want women to
21:39
Speaker 1: not drive. But you know whatever, Yeah, yeah, somehow you
21:46
Speaker 1: ended up on that side, and you're telling the Iranians
21:48
Speaker 1: to hush because Trump. I don't think that's a good idea,
21:50
Speaker 1: but it is so nice to see people out in
21:53
Speaker 1: the streets and so joyous. I walked nearby the big
21:56
Speaker 1: demonstration in Georgetown the other night and people were just
22:00
Speaker 1: screaming in the streets and you know, strangely no property
22:02
Speaker 1: destruction involved with these particular types of events, and waiving
22:07
Speaker 1: the real Iranian flag. So very nice to see, even
22:10
Speaker 1: though as always we hold out to see what the
22:13
Speaker 1: next days bring and what this means.
22:15
Speaker 2: That's right, We're going to take a short break and
22:18
Speaker 2: be right back on normally. We are back on normally
22:25
Speaker 2: with our semi regular series on what are the Democrats
22:29
Speaker 2: up to? Well, the guy running for Usenate from Maine,
22:35
Speaker 2: Graham Platner, who had previously had a Nazi tattoo which
22:40
Speaker 2: he had for decades but then he finally said he
22:42
Speaker 2: was getting it removed, has now been found to have
22:47
Speaker 2: an interview with an anti Semitic conspiracy theorist podcaster. I
22:53
Speaker 2: saw this. It was actually a liberal who posted it
22:55
Speaker 2: and I saw it. It's like Shaya Jane writes, an
22:58
Speaker 2: accidental Nazi test to an accidental repost of an antisemitic account,
23:03
Speaker 2: an accidental interview with an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. He was
23:06
Speaker 2: accidentally a longtime fan of Have Fun I'm out, which
23:10
Speaker 2: I'm proud of somebody who takes that route. That's what
23:13
Speaker 2: I would do if I found out that somebody I
23:16
Speaker 2: supported had a number of accidental Nazi leanings like that,
23:20
Speaker 2: That's the correct path here.
23:22
Speaker 1: It does seem weird. You would think somebody's anti Semitism
23:25
Speaker 1: would just be only relegated to the permanent body art
23:28
Speaker 1: they decided to have. And it's so strange that it
23:31
Speaker 1: would leak out into your actual beliefs. I mean, this
23:35
Speaker 1: is all not credible. He was actually asked about it
23:40
Speaker 1: on a call in show by actual voters the other day,
23:44
Speaker 1: and he's doing this thing like I didn't know what
23:46
Speaker 1: it meant. And that's not true according to friends of
23:49
Speaker 1: his who knew him at the time when he got
23:52
Speaker 1: this tattoo, which he considered edgy for these reasons. But
23:56
Speaker 1: he is running against in this primary, the established Democrat
24:02
Speaker 1: governor of Maine, but he is leading her. And Ruben Gaye,
24:06
Speaker 1: who is a young, sometimes interesting Democratic senator from Arizona,
24:12
Speaker 1: considered a moderate, yes, considered a moderate, has endorsed this guy.
24:16
Speaker 1: Despite the repeated illustrations of Nazi leanings not so great.
24:22
Speaker 1: And I think some of this is like Ruben Diegos
24:26
Speaker 1: is like a little bit more of a guy's guy,
24:28
Speaker 1: Like this is the masculinity that they're branding here, And
24:30
Speaker 1: I would just say that maybe the masculinity on either
24:33
Speaker 1: side should not be joined with these tendencies, which it
24:36
Speaker 1: seems to be too often.
24:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, you know, but going you know, we talk
24:41
Speaker 2: about this a lot on here, but can you imagine
24:45
Speaker 2: if a Republican accidentally got a Nazi tattoo and then
24:48
Speaker 2: accidentally reposted something anti semitic and the accidentally was a
24:53
Speaker 2: fan of an anti Semitic podcast that they then went on.
24:55
Speaker 2: What would be the reaction. Would we be learning about
24:58
Speaker 2: this from smaller Twitter accounts or would this be wall
25:01
Speaker 2: to wall news? And the fact that Graham Platner being
25:04
Speaker 2: a Nazi lover is sort of a side note in
25:07
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party because of their relationship with the mainstream
25:12
Speaker 2: media is kind of wild.
25:14
Speaker 1: The thing is, when our people go anti Semitic, they
25:16
Speaker 1: start praising them to use them as a wedge to
25:19
Speaker 1: split the rest of us. That's what happens, That's exactly right.
25:23
Speaker 1: They get better press. Yes, that's right.
25:27
Speaker 2: All right, what else are the Democrats up to? Bernie
25:30
Speaker 2: Sanders is unveiling a new mega tax. You could picture
25:34
Speaker 2: him saying that on America's billionaires. He says it would
25:38
Speaker 2: raise four point four trillion. Sure, yeah, Rocanna is introducing
25:46
Speaker 2: a House version of the bill. I mean, and I
25:48
Speaker 2: know it's so funny. So again, it's so nice to
25:51
Speaker 2: be a Democrat. The chief economics reporter for the Washington Post,
25:54
Speaker 2: he posts about this, and he writes the money would
25:58
Speaker 2: be directed to, and he gives me like a little
25:59
Speaker 2: list of what the fictional four point fourtullion would be
26:03
Speaker 2: directed to. Three thousand dollars stimulus checks per person, expand
26:07
Speaker 2: medicare to include dental vision and hearing for all seniors.
26:10
Speaker 2: And sure every public school teacher gets paid at least
26:12
Speaker 2: sixty thousand a year, eight hundred and fifty billion for
26:15
Speaker 2: affordable home construction. This, this list is like what my
26:18
Speaker 2: four year old would write and is like, you know,
26:20
Speaker 2: imaginary journal of what he wants for Christmas. I mean,
26:24
Speaker 2: this is like nonsense. This is such nonsense.
26:28
Speaker 1: It's just like a ron spend all that cash on
26:30
Speaker 1: making lives of its citizens better. We don't believe you, guys,
26:35
Speaker 1: insane things to say. This is an imaginary world you're
26:38
Speaker 1: living in. And also four point four jillian ain't gonna
26:41
Speaker 1: cut it, guys, it ain't gonna cut it.
26:44
Speaker 2: That's like even that's a that's yes, you're absolutely right,
26:47
Speaker 2: four point four jillion is not going to cut it.
26:49
Speaker 2: But they're also never going to get four point fourtullion
26:52
Speaker 2: that billionaires are not going to sit around being like, please,
26:55
Speaker 2: idiot people in Congress, take my money, I want you
26:58
Speaker 2: to spend it for me. I mean that. In California
27:01
Speaker 2: because of Rokana support for proposal there, it's literally happening
27:06
Speaker 2: where liberal billionaires. Billionaires on the left are leaving. These
27:11
Speaker 2: are not right wing billionaires. All the right wing billionaires
27:13
Speaker 2: will be out, you know, before this is anywhere near.
27:16
Speaker 2: But the ones on the left are also leaving. They've
27:18
Speaker 2: all bolted, so they're all living in Florida and they
27:21
Speaker 2: better be voting right.
27:22
Speaker 1: The thing that's always again, they don't understand incentives or
27:24
Speaker 1: how actual economics.
27:25
Speaker 2: They don't.
27:26
Speaker 1: If they did, they wouldn't be pitching this. But smart
27:31
Speaker 1: brave people don't have to do smart risk taking work.
27:35
Speaker 1: They could do much easier work, and once they're billionaires.
27:38
Speaker 1: They can just not work, and then you lose what
27:43
Speaker 1: they would have created if you hadn't turned them into
27:46
Speaker 1: non workers by stealing all of their money. Like just
27:51
Speaker 1: I know they don't understand where it comes from, because
27:52
Speaker 1: Bernie was asked by a constituent where wealth comes from,
27:56
Speaker 1: and he doesn't know. I should also note that a
27:59
Speaker 1: Senator Mark Way Mullen of Oklahoma went after Bernie on
28:02
Speaker 1: the hill last week and it was fantastic, and he
28:05
Speaker 1: said because he shaded him a little bit. Bernie did
28:07
Speaker 1: after he had done a little ramp about healthcare and help.
28:10
Speaker 1: Obamacare hadn't fixed anything, and Bernie shades him, and Mark
28:15
Speaker 1: Queen Mullen is like, you're the system. You've been here
28:18
Speaker 1: longer than I've been alive. You haven't fixed anything.
28:22
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
28:22
Speaker 1: And Bernie's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, had no come back
28:26
Speaker 1: for that's.
28:26
Speaker 2: True, it's true. Yeah, Oh, it's just yeah. It's unbelievable.
28:32
Speaker 2: And we're heading into this just Democrats becoming full on
28:36
Speaker 2: socialist moment. I think that the next presidential election is
28:40
Speaker 2: gonna be very illuminating the same way that they raised
28:43
Speaker 2: their hands for just ridiculous things. The last time around,
28:46
Speaker 2: whether or not the last time they raised their hands
28:49
Speaker 2: for things like should anybody be able to get free
28:51
Speaker 2: healthcare in America? And it literally could have meant anybody
28:55
Speaker 2: in the whole wide world comes to America and get
28:57
Speaker 2: free health care, and all of them raise their hands.
29:01
Speaker 2: And so we're going to have situations like that where
29:03
Speaker 2: they're raising their hands during these debates for just ridiculous
29:08
Speaker 2: stuff like do you think we should seize the wealth
29:10
Speaker 2: of all the billionaires? And they're going to largely raise
29:13
Speaker 2: their hands because they need to get through the Democratic primary,
29:16
Speaker 2: and then the American people are going to have to
29:17
Speaker 2: decide whether these crazy people should be elected president in
29:21
Speaker 2: the general despite what they said in the primary when
29:24
Speaker 2: they inevitably try to walk it back.
29:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, let me not one more crazy Democrat thing. In
29:29
Speaker 1: northern Virginia once again, there was a stabbing murder of
29:32
Speaker 1: a woman at a bus stop last week. The perpetrator
29:36
Speaker 1: of this, it turns out, is an illegal immigrant with
29:39
Speaker 1: thirty prior arrests and many of them extremely violent, including
29:44
Speaker 1: but not limited to, forcible rape and malicious wounding, which
29:49
Speaker 1: is another attempt to murder someone. And our Soros funded
29:54
Speaker 1: prosecutor doesn't prosecute crime. So this man has been on
29:58
Speaker 1: the loose and are Soros funded prosecutor and the area
30:03
Speaker 1: does not turn people into ice. So he's been allowed
30:06
Speaker 1: to stay here for fifteen years harding these crimes. And
30:10
Speaker 1: this was the end result. I wonder if he'll go
30:13
Speaker 1: home now we'll be punished.
30:15
Speaker 2: Still unclear, right and clear? All right, We're going to
30:18
Speaker 2: take a sharp break and come back with group chat insanity,
30:22
Speaker 2: not ours, not ours, other people's will be right back.
30:29
Speaker 1: We are back on normally with a story about people
30:32
Speaker 1: we will never be friends with, Carol. This is the
30:35
Speaker 1: story about how I politics. How politics came for a
30:39
Speaker 1: parenting group chat in Petworth in Washington, d C. Which
30:43
Speaker 1: is a very blue area, gentrified, exactly what you're imagining
30:50
Speaker 1: for parents in a an urban area having a group
30:53
Speaker 1: chat that goes political. So what happens is after October seventh,
30:58
Speaker 1: and during the Gaza War, people in this group chat,
31:01
Speaker 1: which had formerly just been like it started as fifteen
31:04
Speaker 1: moms with newborns just chatting about things they needed, and
31:06
Speaker 1: then it became very popular, so of course they made
31:08
Speaker 1: it into a whole nonprofit with a board, and it
31:11
Speaker 1: got very big and during the Gaza War, A bunch
31:15
Speaker 1: of people were like, hey, hey, though, where does Petworth
31:19
Speaker 1: Peanuts stand on the Israel Palestine conflict? And the group
31:27
Speaker 1: leadership is like, actually, we should probably not do that,
31:29
Speaker 1: which is the correct decision, right Everyone in this very
31:34
Speaker 1: lib group starts or not everyone, but many of them
31:36
Speaker 1: get so angry that they're not politicizing the group that
31:40
Speaker 1: they split off into a rival group, which they originally
31:44
Speaker 1: called free range. And I'm offended because that's my brain.
31:47
Speaker 2: I thought that was yeah. I thought free range would
31:50
Speaker 2: be like the parents who let their kids have a
31:52
Speaker 2: little freedom has nothing.
31:55
Speaker 1: You don't want anyone to have freedom. Actually, some of
32:00
Speaker 1: the contributions during this fight are so hilarious, but like
32:04
Speaker 1: a couple of them here from the reporter are not surprising.
32:07
Speaker 1: This chat has gone the same way, same path as
32:09
Speaker 1: the country. Stop with the lies. You're acting like the children.
32:12
Speaker 1: Will you come here to learn how to handle If
32:14
Speaker 1: this is not a parenting community but an escape a
32:16
Speaker 1: mirage of what parenting is, then I very sadly can
32:19
Speaker 1: no longer be a part of this group all because
32:23
Speaker 1: it won't overtly engage in politics. And by the way,
32:27
Speaker 1: training for activism that's what these parents wanted this formerly
32:31
Speaker 1: neutral parenting group to be. And it's miserable. It's miserable.
32:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's the thing is that these people need politics
32:42
Speaker 2: to be a part of every single thing they do.
32:44
Speaker 1: They do.
32:44
Speaker 2: You know when AOC once said no going back to brunch,
32:48
Speaker 2: what that meant was, you're not allowed to do anything
32:51
Speaker 2: anything without having it be a political action, without having
32:54
Speaker 2: a political point correct. So exhausting, it's so tiring. We
32:58
Speaker 2: would never stand for that. Imagine the conservative world is like,
33:01
Speaker 2: there's no going back to brunch. We have to just
33:03
Speaker 2: constantly be on guard and non alert and talking about
33:05
Speaker 2: this all the time. We'd be like, bro, stop it,
33:08
Speaker 2: we're going to brunch. We're going to waffle house. Actually.
33:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. To give you a taste another flavor of this.
33:14
Speaker 1: This is the letter from the objectors to Petworth Peanuts.
33:19
Speaker 1: We write as concerned members of Petworth Peanuts community, parents, caregivers,
33:24
Speaker 1: and neighbors who are deeply invested in safety, inclusion and solidarity.
33:29
Speaker 1: It requested a town hall for open dialogue about justice issues.
33:35
Speaker 2: This is a parent group.
33:39
Speaker 1: They said, the political moment requires acknowledging that silence is
33:43
Speaker 1: not neutral in moments of crisis. Silence is citing with power.
33:49
Speaker 1: I they're coming for everything, and they have since twenty twenty,
33:52
Speaker 1: and they want every part of your life to be
33:55
Speaker 1: twenty twenty again all the time. The leaders of this group,
33:58
Speaker 1: who certainly are not right leaning, they just wanted a
34:02
Speaker 1: parent's group. They eventually did the right thing and said,
34:05
Speaker 1: if you want to do this, you need to go elsewhere,
34:06
Speaker 1: and they rebooted the group chat and started to knew
34:09
Speaker 1: WhatsApp And you know what, it's been non toxic and
34:13
Speaker 1: pleasant ever since because if you put your foot down
34:16
Speaker 1: with these people, they won't ruin things like USA hockey
34:21
Speaker 1: and parent groups where you just want to do things
34:24
Speaker 1: that are needed in your life.
34:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, you have to fight them. Is the reality of it.
34:29
Speaker 2: And what we saw in the years after twenty twenty,
34:32
Speaker 2: I think that a lot of people learned very valuable
34:35
Speaker 2: lessons where if you give them an inch, they'll take
34:37
Speaker 2: the whole mile. I saw it happen on my super
34:41
Speaker 2: far left neighborhood groups back in Brooklyn, where you were
34:44
Speaker 2: not allowed. You know, the liberals were the ones targeted
34:47
Speaker 2: the most. Again, nobody cares what conservatives think or what
34:50
Speaker 2: we do or whatever, or non entities to them. But
34:54
Speaker 2: it's the liberals who are targeted by the leftists who
34:57
Speaker 2: are like, you're not doing enough, you're not far, you're
35:00
Speaker 2: not with us, and the liberals like, no, no, I'm
35:03
Speaker 2: with you. But then once you give them a little
35:05
Speaker 2: bit of that no, no, I'm with you, it's over
35:08
Speaker 2: for you.
35:08
Speaker 1: It's And this is what was good about the USA
35:11
Speaker 1: hockey thing, by the way, that none of those guys
35:13
Speaker 1: really gave an inch. And then by the way on
35:15
Speaker 1: SNL they had both the women and the men out
35:17
Speaker 1: and did a good nature joke about the whole thing.
35:19
Speaker 1: And it turns out that like people who are emotionally
35:22
Speaker 1: well regulated can just enjoy life and not make a
35:25
Speaker 1: huge deal out of everything. I do think at the
35:27
Speaker 1: end of this what you learn from this parenting group
35:30
Speaker 1: crack up is that even in a liberal group and
35:33
Speaker 1: Petworth in Washington, d C. There are there is a
35:36
Speaker 1: silent majority that just wants to enjoy the thing that
35:39
Speaker 1: you've created and doesn't like these people ruining it. But
35:42
Speaker 1: someone has to stand up and be the bad guy,
35:44
Speaker 1: and the leader of.
35:45
Speaker 2: Never was Yeah, yeah right, you got to stand up
35:48
Speaker 2: to him. That's the reality of it. And you have
35:50
Speaker 2: to be brave, and you have to not care about
35:52
Speaker 2: the shots and you if you're a liberal, you have
35:54
Speaker 2: to just be like, I'm still going to stay a
35:56
Speaker 2: liberal and I don't care what you say.
35:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're going to be super mean to you.
36:00
Speaker 1: But it turns out in this case, and this may
36:01
Speaker 1: be the vibe shift they did just go and form
36:04
Speaker 1: their other one and people who want to be insufferable
36:07
Speaker 1: or over there doing it. And then in the old
36:10
Speaker 1: one people are actually talking about parenting because one of
36:12
Speaker 1: the silent authority was like, yeah, I just want to know,
36:15
Speaker 1: like what activities to put my kid in.
36:20
Speaker 2: Going to Jimberree.
36:21
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's so ridiculous. There was a very funny,
36:25
Speaker 1: uh liberal, very liberal coded miss que here where one
36:32
Speaker 1: of the board members, some of them say, uh, you know,
36:36
Speaker 1: we need to show our support for immigrant families in
36:38
Speaker 1: direct ways and someone suggested maybe we should make appreciation
36:42
Speaker 1: posts for our nannies, which is how'd that go? Very
36:50
Speaker 1: liberal affluent messaging there. Yeah, she got criticized for that one.
36:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember when Kelly Osborne on I
36:59
Speaker 2: think it was on the You during the first Trump term.
37:02
Speaker 2: She was like, if Trump deports all the immigrants, who
37:04
Speaker 2: are going Who's going to clean our toilets? And it's like, yes,
37:07
Speaker 2: we thought she was being pro immigrant there, Oh my.
37:10
Speaker 1: Gosh, political when the schools were closed or right right,
37:17
Speaker 1: civil rights violation of daily activities in my living memory happened.
37:22
Speaker 1: But whatever, sure that now that Trump used the National
37:25
Speaker 1: Guard to, by the way, I checked it, bring crime
37:28
Speaker 1: down twenty percent in the Petworth neighborhood. They're like, well,
37:33
Speaker 1: now we're very angry right.
37:35
Speaker 2: Now, we have to do something. Yeah, oh crazy people, all.
37:40
Speaker 1: Right, banks, may those friendships not find me.
37:45
Speaker 2: They run after me, but I run faster.
37:47
Speaker 1: Yes.
37:48
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on normally normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,
37:52
Speaker 2: and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get
37:55
Speaker 2: in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail dot com.
37:58
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and when things get weird, you ask
38:01
Speaker 2: normally mhm.