Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 20 | The war in Iran cont...
Transcript
- Derek Peterson: What's up y'all? Welcome back to the Before You Speak podcast. I am your host Derek Peterson just processing the fire hose of my newsfeed with this guy. I'm gonna go this direction today over here. Elwyn: Here we go. Yeah, hi everybody, I am Elwin and you know the thing about the fire hose of a newsfeed is fire hoses are relentless and have a ton of pressure. It's why they're used as crowd suppression tools. And this week man, the fire hose of my newsfeed has got me pinned up against the wall waiting to be arrested and taken away somewhere. Derek Peterson: That sounds about right. There's so much going on and so much to unpack with going on. And you know, the best part about this podcast is, ⁓ you know, we can ⁓ kind of say whatever we want to say and no one can do anything about it. you know, I've never been a conspiracy theorist until as of late when just about every damn thing we say ends up coming to fruition. And I'm like, it's like behavioral science 101 is what it feels like. It's like, watching everybody that has been calling exactly what's going to happen next for the last few months and be like pinpoint accurate on this like the war and I like all of this stuff but you know we'll jump into the news first and I wanted to talk briefly like ⁓ this is just interesting and I think a good step in the right direction and maybe fodder for us lefties trying to to just latch on to something with Epstein right now, but ⁓ New Mexico prosecutors have launched a search into Jeffrey Epstein's Zorro Ranch, know, seven years, probably too late. This is where a lot of the victims have reported some of the worst stuff happened ⁓ with all of this. And there were, I've read people that have been following and unpacking the Epstein files ⁓ pretty closely that there's a lot of people that really believe that there are bodies buried on this problem or property or were that there were girls that were killed ⁓ for ⁓ whatever intents and purposes it was. ⁓ And that's why those investigations were killed. This stuff just doesn't make sense. know, like Epstein dies 2018, 2019. Yeah. New Mexico launches an investigation into it. Federal government takes over and squashes all of it. Basically just says, man, nothing to see. And we never hear from them again. So this to me is like insanely concerning that this has just been squashed and they've had seven years to deal with anything that, any loose ends that may have been there. ⁓ The flip side of that is my only hope in all of this is that they made a mistake. Criminals often make mistakes and my hope is that there's a big enough mistake here that if the stuff that we think was happening there was happening, hopefully there's evidence of it. Thoughts? Elwyn: Yeah, that ranch now owned by a future Texas state comptroller, Don Huffines, by the way, won his primary against a Greg Abbott ally, public official, closely tied to an Epstein property, solid move, a big Trump guy too, Don Huffines. So, we can draw whatever conclusions we want at this point, because I think your core point is exactly right, like, they're just getting around to searching this shit six years, seven years after. Epstein ceased living. We'll get to the word choice there in a moment. ⁓ Derek Peterson: That's even still debatable on some levels, with some people. Elwyn: So I was watching this movie last night that I'd never seen before on Netflix. It's called Scoop and it's about the BBC program that first, that had the big huge interview with Prince Andrew, you know, right before, right after Epstein was arrested, the one that basically sunk Prince Andrew, right? It's just a fucking disaster for him. And, you know, what was notable in it, and it's a decent, decent enough movie, He was photographed with Epstein in 2010 for the first time and it never went away and his people all knew it. the movie's taking place in 2018, 2019 and his people all know this Epstein shit is hanging out there. It's never ever ever going away and eventually the chickens came home to roost for Prince Andrew and eventually, hopefully, and maybe it's the New Mexico property. something comes up that becomes incontrovertible. You know, but I don't know, I don't even know like what incontrovertible means anymore. I also don't know what it means to be a conspiracy theory anymore because you have the allegations from the 13 year old that were the woman who was interviewed I think four times by the FBI in 2019 making credible sexual assault allegations against Trump. There's apparently still 37 or 38 pages redacted from that. The noose is tighter and tighter and tighter around him and nobody seems to give a shit, probably because he has no problem bombing entire countries to divert our attention. But yeah, like when it comes to conspiracy and Epstein, like in the news this week are interviews with the prisons at the Manhattan Correctional Facility where Epstein was found hanging. And I'm not gonna say hung himself because... Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: They're all talking, these guards are on tape talking about like, ⁓ wow, you guys killed that guy. Wow, you killed him. And there's weird deposits into the guard who was supposed to be on duty at the time that he was found dead, or the time he was ruled to have died, of like $5,000 the week before for a prison guard who had never made a deposit like that in the past. And all the video evidence is a little bit tweaked. And there's weird stories of people carrying up orange jumpsuits. Nobody was ever allowed to see his body. In any other case, this would not be a conspiracy theory. This would be everybody going, yep, the guy did it. And if it were any other guy, if it were Obama or Biden or George W. Bush or Dick Cheney, everybody would be like, yep, he did it. But with Trump and Trump's DOJ, the MAGA crowd, ⁓ to the extent that they're represented by the grandparents on the necessary conversation pod, they're just like, I need more. No matter what it is, it's I need more, I need more. Where's the video? They need video of Trump sexually assaulting a 13-year-old. And they need that person to come up, it might be out there, and they need that person to come forward, give their name, sue him in court. Derek Peterson: It might be out there. Elwyn: take all of the heat and all of the life consequences that doing so would entail before they'll even consider the fact that the chosen one for them is involved in all this and that's despite reams of evidence that he is. So yeah, I hope that this, I hope that the New Mexico Ranch turns something up, but I don't even know anymore like what it would take. Derek Peterson: I think you're correct. mean, like at this point and then for beyond that too, like this is where it gets shady, right? Like even if something does come up, the process of actually getting him out is ⁓ is pretty extensive. Like the Senate has to convict him. He has to be impeached. Then he has to be arrested. So like the odds of that happening are slim to none. And there's still like, what do you do if he pardons himself? And, you know, like it's there's a good likelihood that it's going to take the next administration. And honestly, the next president really needs to basically do away with the pardon system. Like, I don't think that it's that there needs to be some kind of change to make this that it's ⁓ different than what it is. Just pardoning your family, because you know, he's going to do the same thing that Biden did now and justify it on his way out. And, you know, as far as Crimes go, Donald Jr. and Eric are just as complicit. I mean, they're just openly committing fraud at this point. I think they have just started a company now that they are ⁓ basically helping other companies get government contracts. They're not even hiding it anymore. It's basically like... Elwyn: Well that's what took down Kristi Noem ultimately, So we can jump to that. ⁓ She was fired because when she testified, I think she was fired, because when she testified in front of the Capitol Hill last week, it was awful. I I watched some of that. She was completely out of her depth and the standard sort of... Derek Peterson: Yeah, that's. Elwyn: MAGA Trump official Fox News host strategy of just yelling over everybody ⁓ wasn't working. It quite clearly wasn't working and she was catching heat from both sides. And really she was catching a ton of heat for just nakedly corrupt contracts around her commercials urging people self-deport and around ⁓ cars for ICE. Hundreds of millions of dollars given to companies that had only started existing. eight to ten days before the contract was awarded and had nobody with any experience regarding that contract's duties and the people in charge of the company were all her friends. And I think it just got, she made the cardinal mistake of kind of throwing Trump under the bus by saying that he approved, I think the commercials were the big one, though she spent $220 million on commercials urging people to self-deport. And he was I think he was like, ⁓ that's a red line. You never ever, ever bring the big guy into this in that way. ⁓ You know, so that was. Derek Peterson: That's in the NDA you signed when you started this job. Elwyn: Yep. And now, mean, like, to sort of tie into the pardons, Tim Walz, like, I guess she's still a government official because they made up some bullshit organization for her to, you know, shield of the Americas, whatever. is fucking... This is just like a landing place for ⁓ Trump-fired officials. We'll probably see multiple other people there. But she can be arrested for Minnesota state crimes. He can't pardon her for that. And the minute she is out of government... Fucking Tim Walz should be arresting her. They should be building a case against her right now. ⁓ Because he can't pardon that away. And yeah, we need to be willing to arrest public officials who have committed crimes in furtherance of their duties. This should not be controversial, but it is. Derek Peterson: I agree. you want to talk a little bit about Mark Wayne Mullen here Elwyn: yeah, so Mark Wayne Mullin ⁓ the guy who was appointed to replace her. And I'm pulling up my phone because I want to read a tweet from this guy in a second. ⁓ So Mark Wayne Mullin, first term senator from Oklahoma, ⁓ plumber by trade, no experience in homeland security, never served in the military. ⁓ believe he holds an associate degree, which he got after stopping from community college. And if it sounds like I'm calling him stupid, well, I've seen enough interviews. I've seen enough interviews. Yeah, he's fucking, I don't know if him or Tommy Toberville is more stupid. you know, so he gets appointed and he sends out this tweet that reads, I will lead the breach. I will lay down cover fire. I will take the high ground. I'll expose myself to enemy fire to communicate. Derek Peterson: We are. Elwyn: will lead the breach. ⁓ I lay down cover fire. I will take the ground. I'll expose myself to enemy fire to communicate. We must bring back integrity, focus, and put the warfighter first inside DOD. What the fuck kind of tweet is that? We must bring back integrity, focus, and put the warfighter first inside DOD. What the fuck kind of tweet is that? Right? And like, it's funny to read. Derek Peterson: I'm just confused listening to you read it. I'm like I have no idea what any of that really means. Elwyn: I will lead the breach. Like bro, you're the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Okay, you're not William Wallace commanding an army in the Scottish plains. And by the way, you're supposed to be protecting us, defending us, right? And that's not what Homeland Security has been doing. And they are not an army. Homeland Security is not an army. They have law enforcement personnel under them in the form of border. Border Patrol and ICE, but that's not an army. That is a very specific, narrow form of law enforcement. So what the fuck are you leading the breach into? Who are you laying down cover fire for? Now, if you remember when Charlie Kirk was shot, Cash Patel got up and gave a press conference and he finished it with, I'll see you in Valhalla, brother. The language these clowns use... when speaking from the pulpit of very, important and high up US government officials is like some sort of Game of Thrones, Call of Duty meets Braveheart and Gladiator bullshit, right? it's, you know, people have said this before, they are all cosplaying. They're completely unqualified for the roles that they have. Mark Wayne Mullin has zero Zero reason to be the head of the Department of Homeland Security. There's not one thing in his resume besides You know glazing Trump whenever he can that qualifies him for this role So he gets the role and all of a sudden, you know, it's like American flag lining inside your suits and Valhalla and leading into the breach But there's no seriousness. There's no experience. There's no Guarantee or conflict about guarantee. There's no confidence that we should have that they're gonna do a good job. Why is he gonna be better than Kristi Noem, who also had zero qualifications? Derek Peterson: He's not, he's not going to be better than her at all. The irony of all of this was just, you know, the DEI stuff and how they attacked that and went after, ⁓ going to a all of this crap, only to, for the entire ⁓ administration to be the unqualified grouping. that we've had in the history of our government. The irony of all of this is just like, it blows my mind constantly that we are here. And this leads us into our topic for today, the war. Every day I wake up and I'm like, why? Why did 150 school girls have to die? ⁓ ironically enough, likely because a bunch of other young girls were killed before this. This all covers all that up. But man, am just I'm just in a place where I'm like, dude, are people really this bad? Like, are we really like are there people that are just really this evil? Because like, you know, and I'll get into some of this stuff that I'm feeling around this in a minute. But why don't you take a second and catch us up on like, logistically, like where where are we at with the war in Iran? And, you know, what things, what's transpired since we last podcast and we'll, I guess we'll start from there. Elwyn: Yeah, mean, we're beating the hell out of Iran. Their missile strikes have gone down something like 90%. There are concerns about our munitions, but the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and that's where most of the world's oil is shipped through. That's also where a ton of goods come through from Asia. ⁓ The Strait of Hormuz being closed has dramatic, dramatic effects on the world economy, not just oil prices, but just the flow of goods. So other countries are starting to pitch in for that, which is a short-term band-aid, I think, on the oil problem. But gas, I don't need to mention it, everybody knows gas shot up right away. We still don't have really any understanding of why we started this war and what it is that we're fighting for. Okay, is it regime change? Well, they're not, Trump and his people are not exactly saying that. If it is that, then we're doing a really bad job because the new Ayatollah is the son of the old Ayatollah, and there's no reason to believe that the new Ayatollah, who just saw his father, mother, wife, kid, son, and you know, bunch of cousins blown up by the United States and Israel, there's no reason to believe that he's gonna be conciliatory or wanna stop fighting at all, right? Is it to free? Is it to liberate? Well, you know, we just had them install a guy who's probably going to be worse than his father, who's probably going to be more authoritarian than the guy that came to Haman before him. So no one's liberated, at least not yet. Right? People are asking, why aren't protesters in the streets? Because the last time the protesters were in the streets, 30,000 of them got shot, got killed, and the next thing that happened is their capital city started getting blown up. So it's not regime change. It's not the nuclear weapons. We're not even really saying that anymore because it doesn't make sense. I thought we did that in last June. Is it oil? Well, it can't be oil. We're not, you know, we're fucking up oil. We're not trying to, we're blowing up oil tankers. It's literally raining oil and there's actual video of oil on fire flowing through gutters down the streets of Tehran. It's like out of a fucking Michael Bay movie. ⁓ So why are we there? Like what actually are we doing? And I'll try and take off the I really don't like Trump hat for a second and ask the same question. Why are we there? They're not telling us. There's no answer that they're trying to give that makes any sense. They're stumbling around with it's not a war, it is a war, it's a foreign excursion, now they're settling on it's... Derek Peterson: you Elwyn: Prices are going to be high, we have to bear ⁓ short-term pain for long-term gain, but what's the long-term gain? So, I mean, guess the war is going well in that we are killing more of them than they are killing of ours, but, you know, it's, we're not in charge of when we end it, it seems, because Trump said that'll be a decision between him and Netanyahu, but Trump could also end it at any time and declare victory, right? He tried, I think he almost did that the other day. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Elwyn: You know, I would expect in the next week to 10 days he's just going be like, yep, we won. The problem with that is, well, we're not the only one that gets to decide that it's over, are we? You know, why does Iran say that it's over? Derek Peterson: Yeah, exactly. this, know, Iran's about to get Gazaed. And that's the scariest part about all this is that, you know, and I think that a lot of people see this coming. the prime example of that is the schoolgirls. You know, like we shot a missile that was we are the only ones that have that kind of missiles. the Tomahawk missiles that are waged in this war. I guess the UK and Australia have some, but they're not involved in this at the moment. you know, it's clearly our missile that hit the school, which just shows the ineptitude of the leadership of our military at the moment. But the scary part about this for me is just that, you know, you know, Israel and Gaza have been in conflict for, or in Palestine have been in conflict for, you know, ever for a very, very long time that precedes my existence in this world. The U.S. and Iran have not been in that kind of conflict and we're about to engage in it. this, when you do these kind of things to another country and you start, you know, killing innocent people and then just and not owning it, not. taking no accountability, taking no, you know, trying to blame it on another, you know, it was Iran's missile. Like they shot their own, they blew up their own school. Like, dude, they're like, this is going to get ugly. It's going to get ugly and it's going to get ugly potentially for the future of Americans. I posted this on threads the other day. I'm Yeah, if somebody blew up a school that my kids were going to and there was no justice and there was no, were blaming our country for blowing up the school, there's a good chance I spend the rest of my life seeking justice. And I don't know if I'm the kind of person that could kill innocent people, but there's a good chance, like whatever the ramifications are, this isn't something that I'm just dropping and letting go of, Like these are my kids. the most important thing in the world to me. And so, and I know other cultures see things differently. It's just, I feel like we're building, are, and this is something the US has historically, felt like been, even with Iraq, right? Iraq, it felt like we went in and there was, even though as it went, it felt like there was clear intention behind what we were trying to do. And the intention overall was actually relatively good. Like even though later we found out it was mostly about oil and mostly about all the other, like, you know, and we wanted to get out of them, get out of there. It, it never felt like we were there to just, you know, deflect from something else or that we didn't have a, we didn't really fully understand why, you know, nine 11 kind of united our country and going to war at that time. But, know, one, we're not there. And two, ⁓ I'll get into this a little bit later because I want you to be able to respond to that. If there's an attack on US soil, I think US allowed it. Elwyn: Yeah, I think, yeah, sure, yes, unqualified, yes. There's a couple things in there. Iraq, we now have the lens of history with which to view Iraq and Afghanistan, ⁓ and they should be viewed as separate conflicts, and I think through the lens of history, we now see we were lied to about Iraq from the beginning, but at least they took the time to lie to us. At least they took like six months. to build a lie and lie to the United Nations Security Council and lie, lie, lie until enough people believed the lie. At least they tried. mean, it's a pretty fucking low bar, but at least we were, as a society, able to listen in on a conversation. And we did a bad job of critically thinking about what we were listening to. And I think we can view Iraq through that lens if we want. I don't think it's... It's unfair, it's not to absolve ourselves. But you always have to kind of remember what was going on at the time. In Iraq, right, we had the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal. You know, where the soldiers were caught abusing some of the Iraqi prisoners. That was a weeks long front page of every newspaper scandal that led to people being arrested and charged. You know, that is not as bad as the school that we blew up. The school is way worse and it's struggling to stay in the news. And you can see sort of a pattern coming up and a couple of patterns that have already existed playing out again. If you look at what happened in Gaza, there were a number of times, and this is just factually true, this is not anti-Israel or anything, this is just history. There were a number of times where Israel blew up the World Chef's Kitchen, right? Vehicles from aid agencies. And every time they said, well, there will be an investigation. We don't know exactly what happened. There will be an investigation. And they said that for 48, 72 hours, and then people stopped asking because something else happened in the war. It's literally what's going on right now, right? Only it's capped. Derek Peterson: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: by Trump like setting this incredibly low standard for being the President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the United States Army in the time of a war he started where he's saying, well, you know, don't know what happened. I don't know. You know, I think it might have been one of our missiles from someone else or maybe Iran got one of our missiles and Hexeth is standing right behind him on the plane saying, no, we're investigating it. He's doing the investigate line. Hexeth is doing the investigate line. Trump is saying, oh, I don't really know what happened. And we're just kind of like, yeah, that guy from the Miami Heat scored 83 last night. You know, like, and we're not, that's overstating it, but all of the... Derek Peterson: Hahaha No, you're a thousand percent right on that because, and this is, it's similar to the Epstein files in that, like, when something like this, it's truly an atrocity. Like, we need to keep it in the news cycle because they know exactly what fucking happened. You don't launch a bomb not knowing where it's going or tracking where it went. There's no investigation that needs to be done. We all are very aware of We all are very aware that every single one of these bombs can be tracked to the pinpoint of where it started and where it finished. And everything in these days is recorded. like the only thing that needs to be investigated and it doesn't even need to be investigated. They know, they know who gave the order and who pulled the trigger. that's the... Elwyn: Yeah, the only thing that needs to be investigated, no they don't, and that's what needs to be investigated. Here's why. ⁓ Because I think you're right. Well, yes, we know that it's our missile, right? Military intelligence has already come out and said that, it's been reported by the Times, Reuters, NPR, everybody. So we know that it's our missile, that our administration doesn't want to admit it is awful, but we know it. Derek Peterson: We don't know, they know. I assume. Yes. Elwyn: The thing we don't know is was this AI, right? Like there was an IRGC barracks right next to, or headquarters right next to that school. And apparently what is now the school used to be a part of that same headquarters. So was this like an AI using an old map targeting coordinates? Like did the AI think Derek Peterson: Okay. Elwyn: ⁓ this is not a school. This is still the old headquarters. This is still part of the headquarters complex. I've got the coordinates. Launch. Boom. Right? We're incredibly accurate with these missiles. We can blow up fucking 22 foot long boats in the middle of Caribbean sea at night. We can hit a building. Right? So I think we don't know is, was this AI? You know, was there a human involved in this order at all? Or were there just kind of buildings and targets built into some computer system that was allowed to go and run itself? And this is the result because the data was bad. Derek Peterson: that's and that's what's frustrating about all this is that we don't we're not getting the story they know exactly what happened and if it was AI yeah that's a story that's a and the American people should know that like and the world should know that the world should know that if if this is if these type of things are happening like look it's always been interesting to me that the world to some degree has created a rule set around war like that like you know what I mean Elwyn: Yeah, I agree. There's laws of war? What the hell? ⁓ Derek Peterson: Like, ⁓ that's a step too far. Like, we know you're killing a bunch of our people, but interrogating them fiercely is like a step too far. It's just a weird thing for me to know that we all got together at some point and we're like, look, we do some pretty messed up stuff, but let's draw the boundary lines. Like, we know it's going to happen again. How about we just don't go to war? That might be. Elwyn: Yeah, crazier than the idea that there's a set of laws of war is the idea that in war they're going to be followed. Derek Peterson: Yeah, correct. Elwyn: It's fucking war, right? The minute a drone blows up your house, you really don't give a shit about the Geneva Convention all that much anymore. Why would we think that these are gonna be followed? And that's born true in Gaza, and that's bearing true in Iran. Yeah, you can target civilian places, because nothing's gonna happen. Nobody gives a shit. Derek Peterson: But this is the thing that just baffles me about all of this is that, in general, we're likely living in the most golden of ages of our times, like when you think about it. We have medicine, we are educated, we have the most powerful educational tool now that we've ever seen at our fingertips in an instant, right? I want to learn something or know something about just about anything I can literally type it in and get a relatively qualified answered rep pretty quickly. ⁓ You know it was it was a little more than a hundred years ago that you know people just accepted that it was okay to enslave other people. It was okay to oppress an entire gender. was okay it was okay to do and these concepts were widely accepted to some degree right. And we've been fighting those, you know, for the last hundred years. And we've gotten to a place where we're relatively like that we're moving in a, in a, in a direction we were, or hopefully still are where peace is actually a real possibility, like acceptance of one another and who we are and cultures. Like we are probably closer to that than we may have ever seen before in human history. Um, and that's a beautiful thing. Like this terrifies me because it feels like eight steps backwards, right? just, feels like what, everything that's going on right now is just so barbaric and so, ⁓ so like old, like stuff that should have been happening in the middle, know, medieval times, but it's happening now. And it's like, man, we are, that's not, we've intellectually grown out of this and it's, there is this, war inside of like what it feels like humanity of a lot of people that don't want to leave that system and then the people that are already convinced we're out of it and it's been challenging for me to wrestle with it because like yeah like I I don't understand it I don't understand how people can cheer this on I just don't Elwyn: I am a little darker. I don't think that we're in a golden age of humanity. I think we're in a golden age of information. I think we're in a golden age of consumerism. I think that, of course, science, every era of science should be better than the previous one because it necessarily builds on itself. But I think it... we're going to talk about being in a golden age of humanity, then we must have humanity. And I don't think that we have humanity. And I think that's very evident here. It's just that the veil is being ripped off of our lack of humanity. We are okay killing people in Iran as a country. We really don't care. We don't like the war. It's polling 40 % approval, 60 % disapprove. We don't like it, but we're not outraged by it. You know, the same things don't outrage us that used to outrage us, and we're certainly much more tribal and we're willing to defend it. But, you know, people say ⁓ in favor of this war, you know, we've been at war with Iran for 47 years. And I sort of, understand the thesis behind that, right? Like ever since the Ayatollah, ever since 1980 and the hostage and the revolution that overthrew the Shah. and you had this, this, uh, you know, harsh Islamic theocracy come into, come into power there. Sure. It's been a form of a cold war, uh, in the same way that we were in a form of a cold, in a cold war with Russia. And yes, there were times when it got hot. There were times when, you know, the USS Cole got bombed and there were times when it escalated. But I don't believe that this was a war that for the United States needed to be fought and won in a decisive manner. There was a certain ⁓ status quo to our relationship with Iran that a little bit worked. It was imperfect, but if we're going to be in the golden age of humanity, then we have to recognize that not all humans think and feel the same way. You know, I feel I'm making no comment at all again about Israel. They have to be brought up all the time. But their relationship with Iran, very, different than ours. I'm only talking about ours. You know, so... Derek Peterson: Well, they've been and Israel has been attacked by Iran, Iran, like, and Iran has hosted terrorists for like, nobody is claiming that Iran is like that there wasn't this, that some of these things that are happening don't have potential positive outcomes. That's not the that's not, I think, the argument that's that's any that I've seen anybody making. It's that why are we Elwyn: Yeah. But I'll say, like, what is the positive outcome to this? Like, I actually don't know what the positive outcome is to this. Derek Peterson: Well, that's what saying. don't right at the moment. We don't have well. So like if you had gone back before this and there was like, OK, clear, we want to make sure they're fully nukes are disarmed and regime change. We're going to get the ayatollah and then we're going to try to put somebody else in power. You know, whatever democracy pushing that the U.S. decides to try to do again that never works. Sure. The concept is. correct. The implementation always fails and we all know that, at least there's some nobility in the attempt. and no. Okay. Elwyn: No, nope, nope, I disagree. know, I think that everything that you said, and everything that you said there is fantasy. Right, like you're not wrong, right, you're not wrong to say is there a better world where the people of Iran are not under the thumb of the Ayatollah and Israel's not worried about Iran having nukes and the whole region isn't worried about Iran having nukes and Iran is what it was, you know, in the mid- 20th century where sure yes that is a that that is a pleasant fiction okay but nothing more and we should know better by now right regime change never works it never ever ever works didn't work in Vietnam it didn't work in Afghanistan for the Soviet Union it didn't work for us in Iraq it didn't work for us in Afghanistan where you have the Taliban back in in power it's not probably not going to work in Syria where you have a former ISIS fighter in charge in Syria now. Like, it just doesn't work. So this idea that we were in tension with Iran for 47 years, maybe the reason that no other president did what Trump has done is because they all talked about it with their cabinet and with their generals and they were like, yeah, well, the first thing that's going to happen is the price of oil is they're going to close the Strait of Hormuz. They're going to fucking stop selling us oil. The price of oil, the price of gas is going to shoot up 30 % in a week. and our economy is going to start to go into a tailspin. And is that worth it? Is the benefit to us of having no ayatollah in Iran worth the cost to American citizens? I personally don't, like there's marginal benefit to not having the ayatollah in Iran. I'm 51 years old. I've been alive, for as long as I've been alive and conscious, this has been the status quo between us and Iran. And it worked. We were able to thrive and survive and grow and become the world's superpower and win the Cold War. While every now and then the Ayatollah says some crazy bullshit about death to the great Satan, right? Like the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement with Iran, it worked. You can see the graph. It shows up on social media all the time about the amount of enriched uranium that Iran had, how it goes down to zero after that. was signed and it skyrockets up after Trump ⁓ ripped it up. Like if they really wanted a nuclear weapon, I believe a credible argument could be made that they would have gotten one. I think that they always played with the threat of it, right? The threat of it was good enough for them to be successful, to get what they needed. Well now we've given them a reason to go ahead and get one, right? Now we've made them all really mad. So like, No, I don't think we're in a golden age of humanity because I don't think we have any humanity. I don't think that we respect cultures that look like, that don't look like us and that don't think like us. And we can decide that our culture that being an American, like look, I'm a white guy in America. We both won the cosmic lottery. I'm not ignorant of that fact, but that doesn't mean that the people of Iran want what we want. And it's just colonialism in a sense to assume that they do. Derek Peterson: Yeah, ⁓ that is a completely fair point and not one that's lost on me. But the only way I can see any kind of hope in this is to think that maybe that there is a better way and that our intentions were to try to help the Iranian people figure that out. ⁓ But I always go back to like, that's not our job. It's like we're like our job was never meant to police the world. It's like Canada has kind of figured a few things out in that like you never see Canada dabbling in this shit. you know, like they're like they've always been like pretty chill. I'm like, man, why can't the US just the amount of money we spend? And to be honest, a lot of this feels like. We spend so much money on our defense budget and missiles and all this stuff that to justify the spending, we have to do stuff like this. You we have to get into a war every so often to make sure that, you know, the Lockheed Martin executives get their, you know, government contracts. And, know, like I just don't I'm I'm hoping that this era of politics from like you know, 95 till now is soon coming to an end where we can take a bloated defense budget and start like, look, we can defend our borders. we, there's, this is a possibility. If we're funneling that money into just defending the United States and we've already all agreed that like, look, immigration while what's happening with ICE is awful, we all have. come to terms that yeah, we do need to secure our borders to some degree. Okay, so with that just being the consensus that we've come to, like that's where the money should be invested and then we shouldn't be overpaying for that. Like yeah, have a stockpile of missiles, make sure we're working on staying up with technology and all that stuff, but dude, universal healthcare would be freaking fantastic. universal childcare, taking care of like the people that are in our country and actually making our country a great place to live. Like all of this stuff and what we spend on defense alone is would probably cover all of those things. Like if we Elwyn: Yeah, our guy, Talarico, said it yesterday or the day before, and he's not the first guy to say it. You know, there's never enough money for healthcare or for teachers or for roads or hospitals or schools, but there's always enough money to bomb some country halfway across the world. And choices reflect priorities, but I don't think that the American people still believe that those should be our priorities. Derek Peterson: Yeah, I 1000 % agree. you know, like, and so that brings me to my conspiracy portion of our podcast. Before you shut the fuck up. No, I am going to pound this home because I genuinely like go back to the Zelinsky in the White House with JD Vance and Trump. Elwyn: Conspiracy Derek has entered the chat. Derek Peterson: and them hammering him on why he is not having elections in his country. And he's like, have you seen my country? My country is in rubble. We can't host elections while we're in the middle of fighting for survival. dude, the Aaron Parnas just reported today, the FBI has credible threats against ⁓ of something happening in California. And that, you know, Trump was apparently reports of him on the phone with Putin in a way, in a situation that he didn't want to know, wanted people, and I don't know, that was a post in my newsfeed and I'm not 100 % sure how credible the source is. But, you know, in general, what we haven't seen is criticism of Russia while Russia has been sharing intelligence with Iran and you know, there is some, there's something going on here that, is, and in my gut instinct tells me that American lives are going to be lost on American soil and the U S government will have been complicit in all of that. And this terrifies me and there, and the, the entire purpose of that would be to somehow stall. or halt the midterms because they know that if there is a change and the Democrats get enough to Senate seats that they cannot stop the wave of justice that's going to be had. They are going to actually be able to enact laws and stop a lot of what's happening currently. And I think a lot of this administration knows that they are in trouble if they don't maintain power. Like I don't think I don't think Trump is dumb enough to know that when all this is said and done, that, and not just for him, for his family, for everybody else, that there is going to be investigations, that there is going to be people going hard at them. And so at this point, it feels like he's a rat in a cage. And the only way to keep yourself in power is to start doing some really terrible Putin-esque shit. Elwyn: Yeah, I think the democracy docket is an account I follow, and that's run by Mark Elias, who is like one of the best election attorneys out there. They're following 168 voting rights cases today. there's, you know, I think you're... you're not wrong like this should absolutely be something I think the benefit that we have is that it's foreseeable you know I think that that you and I you know to relative Nimwits can sit here and foresee this I think is probably the biggest flaw in that plan you know but there's no Derek Peterson: It's just dumb as shit. It's like, dude, just put yourself in a situation like, this is the funny thing about like, sociopaths and narcissists are like, incapable of empathy, Like incapable of putting themselves in somebody else's shoes to like, try to experience. But for somebody that actually is, like they can actually think outside of their own body for a second, it's like, yeah, just put yourself in Trump's shoes for a second. Like, and. your behavior would likely be the exact same. Elwyn: Yeah, well, I mean, I guess. I hope not. Yeah. Derek Peterson: Like, if I don't have a soul and I don't give a shit about anybody but myself and money and making sure my family is set up in a way, like meaning I don't give a crap about any human life outside of my own and the people closest to me, yeah, all of the decisions I'm making are the exact ones that it feels like Trump is about to make. Elwyn: And we know when it comes to, or I think we know, we should certainly know, he's not going to, if he backs down, it'll be because he says we won convincingly, so he'll just sort of declare victory and move on, because he's done that before. But if he's trapped, which I think he is a little bit, he doesn't back down, right? He's just gonna go harder and faster. But people make mistakes then also when that happens. Derek Peterson: Yeah, but dude, there's not people around him. Dude, do you think that there is anybody around him? But they won't stop him from dropping a nuke. This is my biggest concern. Elwyn: It's not the people around him. No, no, it's not... No. But nobody... But I don't think anybody expects the people around him to ⁓ moderate him in any way. At all. I, you know, I don't know, honestly, if the military would defy such an order. Would defy that order. I have no idea. You know, I have some friends who are army vets who, you know, they say... They sleep pretty well at night because they're like, nope, I was in the military and I know the people there and they would defy that order. I'm glad that guy feels that way. Doesn't quite rub off on me all that much. ⁓ Yeah, you know, but I think, you know, the military is a slightly different animal. You know, there are signs that they're like, this is wrong. Like some of the memes that the administration is putting out, they're like, ⁓ this is gross. We really hate this. But he is a rat in a cage, right? And he is going to flail his way. Derek Peterson: Yeah. That's reassuring. Yeah. Elwyn: around until he finds a way out of it. It's what he does while flailing that of course is the problem and when do we get, and I've been asking this question for five years now of Trump presidencies, where is the line for his supporters, for the media, where is the line where it's just like, nope, we now have to just go against him, right? Everything is too much. I haven't seen it yet and that to me is the biggest problem. He's surrounded himself with sycophants this time and they're all wildly unqualified sycophants so who knows what they're getting on the back end. downstream are... Derek Peterson: Yeah, and that's part of the problem with all of this though is like what those people get on the back end of this is all tied to him staying in power. Like, you know what mean? Like. Elwyn: Right, but you also have, but you have states like Idaho saying we're not going to provide voter data, complete voter data to the federal government. You have states like Indiana saying we're not going to redistrict on a local level, right? So there is point at which his control ends and it's just threats. It's the control and gravitational pull of his threats and his voter base. But there is a split there. point at which he no longer pulls the levers. He's reliant on other people to do his work for him. And that's also relevant and good. That's a good thing about the way we're set up. The thing that ultimately he's probably trying to figure out when he talks to Putin is how can I do what you did, Putin, in a decentralized system? Because Putin has a centralized system. And by the way, Putin is getting fucking sanctions lifted on their oil by Trump. Derek Peterson: I know. Elwyn: Putin is like there over there going like this is great. They're literally cheering this on Russian state media. ⁓ So yeah, what he does now is critically important and what we do as a country later is just as important because we have to have the stones as a country to say punishment is due for crimes that were committed and unless we have that then it's just going to be someone else, you know. There's just going to be someone who's a little less cartoonish about his evil. Derek Peterson: Yeah. Well, the, ⁓ I'm sure we're going to have updates on this regularly throughout. ⁓ this whole thing is just exhausting me on another level because I'll end with this kind of thought too is because like, you we talk a lot about the bigger picture and conspiracies a little bit, what we think might happen, which is just basically we've been paying attention to the behavior of this man for so long. It's becoming relatively easily to predict. So, ⁓ but the trickle down effect sucks, man. Like the uneasiness and so many people I know are out of work. So many people I know can't find, ⁓ jobs. My job is directly impacted, ⁓ by this regularly, ⁓ the uneasiness of people to buy and sell and move on with their life, do the things that they want to do, buy a bigger house, you know, downsize and move out of their house. Like all of this stuff impacts at all. And it, it sucks to be experiencing the negative outcomes of these decisions daily and seeing how they impact real people's lives. just sucks. and it's exhausting. ⁓ and even people that are, ⁓ ironically enough, even a lot of the people I know that voted for him are struggling as well. ⁓ less willing to admit that it's him as the reason that they're struggling, but like, you know, for anybody else on the outside, know. you know, it's a shitty situation and one that I hope gets better before it gets worse. But I, with the ⁓ experience that we've had from the last year, it doesn't feel like that's going to happen. So. Elwyn: Yeah. I'll say by the way, I don't think that your theory on Trump trying to stop the elections is a conspiracy. That's definitely not a conspiracy. That's just a theory borne out by, I don't know, looking at what's going on. Derek Peterson: Yeah, and the concept of what's happening is just, I hate thinking that somebody in our government could give up American lives for any reason. this is the first, the fact that I can even think that sucks. The fact that like, you know, it's like an episode of a TV show where they have You know, like I remember when 24 went on for way too many years, which I think I brought that up before. And it was like on it's like 12th season and they have like 24 episodes in every season. And they're like, we don't even know who to make the bad guy anymore. So it's like, it's the president, the president's behind it all. like, that's what I'm like, all right, I checked out on this one, but yeah, now we're there. Elwyn: You- you- Did you see the Lord Farquaad meme? From Shrek? So Lord Farquaad is the- the evil lord from Shrek? It's not even a meme. It's not even a fucking meme. It's actually true. He has a line in the movie that says, some of you will die, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Yeah, it's like fucking actually- actually Trump. Right? Like, no, we're- you know, there's casualties and there'll be more and, you know, war sucks, but, ⁓ yeah, there'll be more. It's like- Derek Peterson: Nah. That's almost verbatim what he said. Elwyn: Fuck, he's fuck. It's Lord Farquaad from Shrek, only it's way better when Lord Farquaad was in an animated movie. Yeah, that's right. Derek Peterson: Yeah, it was actually funny when he said it. All right, who are we telling to shut the fuck up today, Owen? ⁓ this is a good one. This is a good one. I've been waiting for this one. Elwyn: Lindsey Graham, get the fuck out of here and shut the fuck up, Lindsey Graham. I mean... There is no moral underpinning to my telling him to shut the fuck up. He just needs to shut the fuck up, man. This guy has been advocating for war with anybody and everybody he can find for decades, right? He appears wasted half the time, first of all, right? But we're... Derek Peterson: Always, always looks drunk. Elwyn: Yeah, we're barely two weeks, we're not two weeks into bombing the shit out of Iran and he's like, Cuba, you're next. Nobody fucking wants this. Nobody wants us to go in fight Cuba. Nobody wanted us to fight Iran. He's out there saying, yesterday he was in an interview saying, Iran, know, come to me. I'll make a security, not Iran, UAE, United Arab Emirates in Dubai. I'll make a security arrangement with you. Who the fuck are you, Lindsey Graham? You don't get to make those security arrangements. Your weird obsession with war is killing people all over the world for no definable purpose and your response is to demand more war. Okay? He's... It's hard to describe what he is except for there's a character in the book, The Fountainhead, who is like... He's evil. Right, but you don't really recognize him as evil right away, and he's like, he has a high-pitched voice, and he's ugly, and he's smarmy, and he has no physical attributes whatsoever. He's physically built like the evil piece of shit that he morally is. That's fucking Lindsey Graham. He's degrading in front of us like the portrait of Dorian Gray because he is a fucking immoral piece of shit who just wants to wage war against everybody and apparently sell hats because now he's waving the like, make Cuba great again hat around on interviews with Fox. Nobody has the balls to call him out on it. Nobody has the balls to say man What have you done in your life besides advocate for the death of thousands of people around the world? Right like you're a terrible person Lindsey Graham, and you need to shut the fuck up It's not a long one because there's really no nuance right stop advocating for death and war and destruction It doesn't help us. It just kills people And I'm tired of listening to you in your bullshit southern accent slinging that garbage. So shut the fuck up, Lindsey Graham. Derek Peterson: Well done. That one deserves a fist bump too. Dude, that dude is, every time I hear him speak, there's a handful of those people that I just can't listen to talking. He ⁓ is not at the top of that list. Stephen Miller is definitely at the top of that list. He is. Elwyn: Ciao ⁓ The amount of bullying that that Lindsey Graham must have been subjected to when he was younger has got to be just like the the weakest pastiest kid on a South Carolina plantation type shit. Yeah Derek Peterson: You know all of this is, you know, if you look at Lindsey Graham's investment portfolio, I can guarantee you 80 % of it's ⁓ in war stocks. you know. Elwyn: I feel certain he will not be voting for any sort of fan insider trading bill. Derek Peterson: Yeah, can guarantee that. Can guarantee that. All right, well, what are we talking about next week? Elwyn: Do we want to do like presidential and qualified immunity? We've been, we tossed that around a little while ago, but it might be fun now since Trump is war-criminin' all over the place. Derek Peterson: I think. Yeah, I think we absolutely should ⁓ qualify. Yeah, that's a good one. Let's go with that ⁓ unless a nuclear bomb is dropped between now and next week, then we might need to, or we invade Cuba. At which point, we may not even be able to podcast, I don't, like, all of this, the internet might just be down. So, I mean, we'll see. That might actually be the next step. Elwyn: before we invade Cuba. Derek Peterson: We're gonna find out that the internet all goes down and then the only channel that's available through like satellite is Fox Elwyn: I believe strongly that Palantir knows exactly who we are and we're just not on the list of the day. Derek Peterson: ⁓ yeah, that's actually my goal. Like if our podcast ever gets big enough that we, that like the FBI shows up at my house, I know we made it. That'll, we're going out for steaks that night. So, I'm not arrested at that time, but you know, I'll feel pretty good about it. All right, well. Elwyn: That's right. That's right. Yes, might be our last meal. Let's go. We could ask, they'll be like, can you arrest us tonight after the steak dinner? Like you can follow me around for the rest of the day, but we made a promise on episode 18. That's right. Derek Peterson: Yeah, I like. Yeah, I'll even put on one of those foot trackers or whatever. And bro, this is episode, I think 20 or 21, by the way. ⁓ Yeah, dude, we're far enough. We're getting there. We're getting there. I think the goal is by episode 100 to at least have 100 followers, maybe. 100 subscribers. Elwyn: ⁓ okay, sorry. Solid. Solid. So I was put in contact with a guy who's trying to start a new political party. I almost sent it to you because it's all about like, it's based on return to morals and values and anti-corruption and all this shit. So I had exchanged a couple emails with him and you know, we were going to set up a call and I was like, okay, well I don't need to use a scheduling app, we can just set up a time. Like I don't have a whole busy schedule. And just a little bit about me, you know, I own a gym and blah blah blah and I do this podcast and I sent him the politically homeless in America one and I haven't heard back from him ⁓ yet. I got an email him today but I'm like ⁓ fuck I thought that was a good one to send I guess you know he might be from Idaho I don't know Derek Peterson: It would, yeah, no, that's an honest one. That's one that, honestly, and I think anybody that can't listen to that and hear the heart behind it, they can go fuck, I'm gonna tell them to shut the fuck up. So if that guy never contacts you, this is my shut the fuck up for the day, that guy. All right, see you all next week. Elwyn: Yeah. There you go. There you go. All right, man.