0:00

Dead American troops in the Middle East

0:02

as a result that directly correlates with

0:04

Iran's response to Hamas on October 7th,

0:06

right? And I'm not saying that Israel's

0:08

to blame. I'm not saying that Hamas

0:10

is to blame. What I'm saying is

0:12

they had a conflict and as a

0:14

result of the decisions from that conflict,

0:16

we now have eight countries involved with

0:18

international troops dying in completely different countries.

0:20

What is Biden going to do? What

0:22

is the United States going to do

0:24

to respond to what just happened? I

0:35

am very excited to be back in the studio

0:37

with you, actually recording in person again after five

0:39

weeks on the road. But the first thing I actually

0:41

want to talk about is what do

0:43

you think Biden is going to do next? We

0:46

have, I know it's not romantic

0:48

conversation. Welcome home. But

0:52

seriously, so Iranian supported

0:55

militias have killed American troops

0:57

in Jordan. That means Americans are

0:59

dead and there's a direct tie back

1:01

to Iran. What is Biden

1:03

going to do? What is the

1:05

United States going to do to respond to

1:08

what just happened? That's a good

1:11

question. It's a it's a tricky spot that

1:13

he's in because nobody wants

1:15

to broaden the conflict. But

1:17

you can't appear weak and

1:20

you have to do something. So I

1:22

mean, that's in there and all of the

1:24

you know, he not long after the the

1:26

attack in Jordan, he came out and said,

1:28

you know, that he was developing

1:30

a plane of attack and then he had developed the

1:32

plan of attack. But it's all very, you

1:35

know, very behind closed doors, you know,

1:38

obviously private meetings. So it's

1:40

it will be interesting to see. I think I

1:42

saw an article today that said, you know,

1:45

the the plan is something that will be

1:47

laid out over the course of days

1:49

and weeks. So it's a long term.

1:52

So the last time we sat together, we talked about how

1:54

the Middle East had turned into a formal full blown crisis.

1:57

Now the crisis has absolutely.

2:00

Then United States? Yeah, no doubt

2:02

about it, right? Yeah. Dead American

2:04

troops in the Middle East. As

2:06

a result, that directly correlates with

2:08

Iran's response to Hamas on October

2:10

Seventh. So. All.

2:13

This just just disaster that has

2:15

happened since October Seventh, right? And

2:17

and I'm not saying that Israel's

2:19

to blame. I'm not saying that

2:21

Hamas is to blame. What I'm saying is

2:24

they had a conflict and as a result

2:26

of the decisions from that conflicts. We.

2:28

Now have eight countries involved.

2:31

With. International troops dying and completely

2:33

different countries because those those American

2:35

troops died in Jordan. Yeah.

2:37

Loving cannot in Israel because this is

2:40

a it's not any. The

2:42

is your on Ah, the As

2:44

or Hamas conflict with the window

2:46

of opportunity that. All these various groups

2:48

have been waiting for, right? A satellite. They're

2:51

suddenly like, oh my gosh, were so angry

2:53

about what's going on and now they've been.

2:55

They've been. Doing little little things

2:57

here and there that that don't make the

3:00

media re I guess the reason we have

3:02

a presence and these various countries as because

3:04

stuff has been going on assistant simmering for

3:06

a long time but now there is this

3:09

giant window of opportunity and Iran you know

3:11

which isn't in a good place? You know

3:13

in their own country they see this when

3:16

you're opportunity and now they can. Really

3:18

straight. So I think there's an incredible

3:20

espionage lesson here, but I don't want

3:22

to start with that because I think

3:24

if we start with the espionage lesson

3:27

than it's gonna be confusing. whereas if

3:29

we start with this with the um

3:31

tempo of what's happening right now what

3:33

we call the Op tempo. If

3:36

we start with the Op's tempo what's happening

3:38

right now then the espionage lesson will become

3:40

very clear. So. First of

3:43

all, it's an election year. We.

3:46

cannot ignore that facts right it

3:48

is the united states is the

3:50

world's superpower singular we are the

3:52

wealthiest country in the world we're

3:55

the most military keep militarily capable

3:57

country in the world we are

4:00

largest economy in the world, in

4:02

the world. That

4:05

makes us target number one for

4:07

everybody else. There is no way

4:09

around that. I would also say that

4:11

something important about the United States because, you

4:14

know, out of the, I don't

4:17

disagree with everything you're saying, but there are

4:19

other major players in the world, but out

4:21

of those major players, for example Russia or

4:23

China, we are the only

4:25

one out of those three that

4:27

has a government that actually changes every four

4:30

years and not just changes a little bit,

4:32

right? It's not like there's little policy changes

4:34

happening. I mean there could be a giant

4:37

policy swing after

4:39

this election, right? So it's a big

4:42

deal. Like this is a time where

4:44

Americans really should be paying attention because

4:46

the entire world is paying attention to

4:49

what America could be next year.

4:51

Exactly right. I'm so glad that

4:53

you pointed that out because you're

4:55

right. We are as

4:57

close to a true democracy as

5:00

any democracy out there and we

5:02

really do. If you just look at

5:04

our track record over the last 16

5:06

to 20 years, we literally

5:08

have huge changes with

5:11

each new elected official. I mean the

5:13

cabinet changes, senior offices across the government

5:15

change because they're all there at the

5:17

president's good grace. So

5:20

massive changes in the US

5:22

political landscape which then impacts

5:24

the US's foreign policy landscape

5:27

every four years. So

5:29

you are right. We are the wealthiest,

5:31

the largest, the most military capable

5:33

and being a democracy

5:35

that's elected by the people, we are

5:38

also the most volatile government

5:42

in the wealthiest

5:45

five nations in the world right now. So you've

5:47

got all these things at play. The

5:50

fact that people became aware of

5:53

foreign influence in 2016 during the

5:55

Trump election Doesn't mean

5:57

that foreign influence started in 2016. The

6:00

Draft Rumble as Frank. Every

6:02

country out there seize the opportunity

6:04

to influence the American politics every

6:07

four years. Made. It. I

6:09

mean, I guarantee you it's on budgets

6:11

as a line item in every intelligence

6:13

service everywhere around where enemy at least

6:15

every four years, me every two years

6:18

and incredibly up the ass off cycle

6:20

actions or whatever I mean, anything political

6:22

right there's always going. To be in a

6:24

level of influence with as as we've seen it's

6:26

not just the President that his influence or a

6:29

if you can start. Having your influence

6:31

campaigns to sell Congress with the people

6:33

who are sympathetic to your cause. You

6:35

know not. It's not just foreign powers, right?

6:38

lobbyists at the same thing, right? So let's

6:40

think about this. When did Russia invaded Ukraine?

6:43

On and off cycle election year.

6:45

On a congressional election. Two years

6:47

later, Hamas attacks. Israel

6:50

right? Read the end of Twenty

6:52

Twenty Three In the beginning of

6:54

Twenty Twenty Four Now you have

6:56

Iran attacking, move through multiple militias

6:58

right around his and ball through

7:00

Hezbollah. and it's of in both

7:02

through the who, these and is

7:04

involved through these Iraqi militias. Malicious.

7:06

So all of this happening and

7:08

twenty fourth, those the there is

7:10

absolutely. An effort even if

7:12

it's not coordinated, even if they're And

7:14

even if there aren't back room deals

7:16

over scars and and cigars which by

7:19

the way, also United States, nobody meets

7:21

over scotch and see. Any

7:24

meat, over friggin hooker and T

7:26

right? That's just the way the

7:28

rest the world works. But my

7:30

point is everybody sees the chaos

7:32

that happening and they all want

7:34

to pile on. Why is it

7:37

that Kim Jong Own just announced

7:39

that he is breaking all ties.

7:41

To the South that there were no longer be

7:43

a unification effort and he's testing nuclear weapons. And

7:45

I would he do that? They're. Just.

7:47

A pile on It's a fucking hockey game.

7:50

right? They just somebody got punched in the face

7:52

and know everybody else is excited to punch more

7:54

people in the face. That's what's happening. I

7:57

really funny and I'll save that that does feel.

7:59

About right? Yeah, That's what's happening. So

8:01

as much as we want to think

8:03

that like there might be some sort

8:05

of massive coordinated counter attack was coming

8:07

from all of our enemies working together,

8:10

there's no evidence of that that we

8:12

are aware of at a public level.

8:14

Could it be happening? Of course it

8:16

could be happening, but the probability of

8:18

it happening is relatively low. Now there

8:20

are economic and military things happening. You

8:23

get the Brics countries right? The The

8:25

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa Union

8:27

that's also expanding to increase their expanded

8:29

to. Include: Indonesia, Saudi, Arabia, Uae,

8:31

you got them growing in power

8:33

and wealth. Me: But

8:35

that doesn't necessarily mean that there

8:37

are also cooperating militarily. it just

8:39

means that they have a shared

8:41

economical. Gray and I think that's of

8:43

people have to keep in mind Is there you

8:46

know? Every. Nice and Stay has

8:48

various cause I that an alter

8:50

ego of economical and. They

8:52

are all looking for that different

8:54

opportunities to lose their own pace

8:57

and on and that's a different

8:59

for everybody of so. You

9:01

know, India. Has has

9:04

an interest in. You

9:06

know, increasing it's an evil forces in

9:08

the see to, you know, hedge against

9:10

by China, my do, but they are

9:12

also have an interest. Economically getting close

9:14

as I know. Right Because they want

9:16

to become the manufacture of Tomorrow now

9:19

that China is trying to become the

9:21

technology hub of tomorrow, right? So you're

9:23

exactly right the the, but at the

9:25

same time. While we see

9:27

economic cooperation very overtly. It's

9:30

important to understand that there is

9:32

a certain level of mob mentality

9:34

that's happening here. Remember the the

9:36

Black Lives Matter riots and are

9:38

or what were the the riot

9:40

the rise of happened after bomb.

9:43

when we were kids in the eighties

9:45

or nineties. Oh, Yes,

9:49

I. am i cannot remember the name right

9:52

now and i am for would can't move

9:54

within a the trigger that but what i

9:56

mean any time riots outbreak in the united

9:58

states essentially a small group of people cross

10:01

the line and start looting and rioting.

10:04

But then more people who would never cross

10:06

the line themselves see

10:08

it happening, and then they pile on, and they join in.

10:10

And then before you know it, you've got some people who

10:13

are doing it, and they don't even know what they're doing.

10:15

They're just taken over by emotion. That

10:17

is what's happening right now across the Middle East. You

10:21

had Hamas and Israel cross the line

10:23

with each other. And then

10:25

you had all these people who were on kind of

10:27

like waiting in the wings, who would

10:29

never start the fight, but are happy to get in

10:31

on the fight. They all start

10:34

getting involved too. And now what's happened is the

10:36

United States, in our best efforts to

10:38

try to not commit to

10:40

anything, we made

10:43

ourselves vulnerable. We made ourselves

10:45

vulnerable, and that vulnerability happened

10:47

to occur at a base in

10:49

Jordan, on I think it

10:52

was a night watch, when a drone came

10:54

in and blew up near the barracks. But

10:56

I mean, the truth is, could we ever

10:58

have avoided it? I

11:01

think unfortunately, we all

11:03

knew the day was going to come when

11:05

Americans were going to die in the Middle East. If

11:07

we're not also accepting that there is a

11:10

day where troops will die in defense of

11:12

Taiwan, we should be asking ourselves that question

11:14

too. Because right now, we get

11:16

a test case. How will the

11:18

United States respond in the Middle East? Because

11:21

that will tell us how the United States will

11:23

respond when troops die trying to

11:25

defend Taiwan from an aggressive China. However

11:28

that might happen. Whether that happens

11:30

during an exercise or a blockade, or

11:33

whether there's some kind of screw up in a

11:35

cruise missile, who cares? Who knows? But

11:37

Americans will die if

11:39

the United States truly continues to toe the

11:42

line with China and promise defense of Taiwan.

11:44

American troops will die in that process. Just

11:47

like American troops have died in the United

11:49

States' efforts to safeguard Israel. How

11:51

do we as Americans, how

11:54

do we feel America should respond? I

11:58

personally think that... We

12:00

should see this situation as a

12:03

learning point for ourselves to

12:06

recognize that we can't take the

12:10

Lezay fair like We

12:13

can't just lean on economics

12:16

as our tool for

12:18

foreign policy We can't

12:20

say Israel. We support you a hundred percent

12:23

sell them a bunch of weapons You

12:26

like give them a bunch of intelligence

12:28

watch them systematically destroy their enemy and

12:30

then expect that we're safe We

12:33

can't do that. I mean, I would have hoped that World War two

12:35

taught us that Exactly

12:38

the lesson of World War two, but we don't

12:40

often learn very well from our history, right? So

12:44

What by not mediating by

12:46

not trying to find a solution

12:48

to the Israel Hamas issue. Yeah,

12:50

the Israel Palestine a humanitarian

12:54

crisis by not trying to push

12:56

Israel in a direction where they

12:59

Solved that problem. We have now watched

13:01

Americans die if

13:04

we would have taken a more direct stance if

13:06

we would have found a way to force some

13:09

sort of economic cooperation if we would have

13:11

found a way to enforce a ceasefire if we

13:13

would have found a way to do something

13:15

other than just Like

13:17

get pushed around by Netanyahu and then eventually

13:20

after Selling and selling and

13:22

pushing and pushing then we decided to

13:24

kind of back off until we started

13:26

bombing in Yemen Remember like come

13:28

on. Yeah, this is not this

13:30

does not show a unified coordinated

13:32

effort to secure Americans as

13:35

people It shows a unified effort

13:37

to secure American priorities

13:39

and American interests, but

13:42

not American people Right,

13:44

like if you want to if you want to protect American lives

13:47

Yeah, you have to accept

13:49

the fact that sometimes you have to

13:51

choose between interests and

13:53

lives politics and people Yeah,

13:56

and unfortunately our current administration does

13:58

not seem to understand the difference between

14:01

politics and people. I think the last several

14:04

administrations have not understood the difference between politics and

14:06

people. That's a very fair point. Yeah, and I

14:08

mean we can see that across the

14:10

board, international issues and domestic issues, politics

14:13

is the game

14:15

right now, which is unfortunate because politics

14:17

doesn't solve anything, all the politicking. Diplomacy

14:20

could solve something, and I

14:22

see those as two very different things. But

14:26

I agree, I

14:28

mean the last several

14:30

administrations, this isn't a new

14:32

problem, right? This explosive,

14:35

this conflict and the broadening

14:37

conflict shouldn't be a surprise

14:40

to anybody. It has been simmering. Something could

14:42

have been done about this many, many

14:44

years ago, but it

14:46

wasn't in the interest of

14:48

politicians at the time, and so they put it

14:50

on the back burner, and now look where we are.

14:53

So the espionage lesson that we're

14:55

talking about here, the lesson from Spycraft

14:58

101 is

15:00

the radicalization ladder. That's what's

15:02

happening here. In the

15:04

Middle East, you have to understand that

15:07

the Middle East is a hotbed for extremism, not

15:10

just Islamic extremism, but extremism

15:12

of all types of variety,

15:14

from Sunni to

15:16

Shia to, you name

15:18

it, people killed. There's Buddhist

15:20

extremists in Asia. It's

15:22

just crazy. Yeah, right? So there are,

15:25

it's a hotbed for the development of

15:27

extremism, and the first step in

15:29

the stair-stepping ladder of extremism is

15:32

some sort of injustice. And

15:36

the difficult thing about injustice is injustice

15:38

is a perspective, right?

15:41

If I want to go bowling with the

15:43

boys, and you tell me

15:45

no, to you, that may not

15:47

seem like an injustice. That

15:50

may be like you saying, no, we've got to take care

15:52

of the kids tonight, and I've got to get ready for

15:54

this meeting tomorrow, and I've got, there's all these real-world reasons

15:56

why you shouldn't go bowling tonight. But

15:58

from my point of view, I'm like, I

16:01

want to go bowling and the only reason I can

16:03

is because you said no, therefore this is an injustice,

16:05

right? Or if you take the

16:07

keys and hide them, right? I remember when

16:09

my mom was trying

16:11

to quit smoking When my

16:13

mom was trying to quit smoke

16:15

when my mom was full on hiding the fact

16:17

that she was smoking From

16:20

my dad my sisters and I I

16:22

think it was my baby sister may have been my middle

16:24

sister found her cigarettes

16:26

and and Threw

16:28

them in the toilet Like her

16:30

pack of hidden Yeah, and threw them in the

16:32

toilet didn't flush the toilet just let them sit

16:34

there and fall apart in the toilet Yeah, and

16:37

my mom was a nurse. She worked a she

16:39

worked late shift. Yeah, so So

16:41

she needed her cigarettes. Yeah when she went to go

16:43

to work So she

16:45

went to go find her cigarettes. They weren't there.

16:47

She was getting frustrated. She went to pee before

16:49

work She opens a toilet there are her cigarettes

16:53

Five minutes before she has to leave to go

16:55

do her 12-hour shift, right? She

16:57

was pissed. Yeah, she

17:00

was furious who did this to my cigarettes

17:02

who threw away my cigarettes My sister was

17:04

like, I thought you didn't smoke You

17:09

can 100% see the injustice that

17:12

they both felt from their own points of view That's

17:15

what makes the radicalization ladder so

17:17

effective because if you're trying to

17:19

radicalize a normal person Into

17:22

a person who straps a bomb to their chest

17:24

and runs into a building screaming some sort of

17:26

chant and then blows themselves Up, you can't do

17:28

that in just one step. You need

17:30

to go through a stair-stepping

17:33

process or a ladder a radicalization ladder

17:35

and the very first step to that

17:37

ladder is that an injustice has

17:39

to be perceived Right and I would argue that

17:41

you know along that part of the

17:44

injustice there is suffering there Yeah,

17:46

right the perceived injustice comes

17:48

because that person is suffering They don't have

17:50

the resources they need they don't have the

17:52

basic human, you know, their basic human needs

17:54

being met They are suffering

17:56

they are watching, you know people die

17:58

around them. They are starving they're, you know,

18:01

watching violence, like all

18:03

of that is happening. And then, you know, that

18:06

perception of injustice is coming out of that

18:08

suffering that they're feeling. And somebody comes along

18:10

and says, hey, you know whose fault this

18:12

is? That guy's fault. Bingo. And

18:15

right there is a second step in the ladder. So I know I'm

18:17

not teaching you anything new, right? But the second

18:19

step of the ladder comes in validating

18:21

somebody else's injustice, validating somebody else's suffering. So now

18:23

let's take a look at what's happening in the

18:25

Middle East right now. What

18:27

is Hamas doing? Guaranteeing

18:32

future generations of radicalized

18:34

targets, right, of individuals

18:36

ripe for radicalization because they watched their mother

18:38

die, they watched their father die, they watched

18:40

their sister die, they watched their friends die,

18:43

they watched their brother die, they watched their

18:45

grandparents die. They themselves may have been injured

18:47

as a child in a bombing raid. All

18:50

Hamas is doing is guaranteeing 15 to 40 years

18:55

of future individuals who

18:57

are ripe for radicalization. What

19:00

is Iran doing? The

19:02

exact same thing. Iran is arming

19:04

and supporting all the groups that

19:07

feel like they have been marginalized

19:10

through an injustice of the United States

19:12

being in the Middle East. Where did

19:14

Al-Qaeda even come from? Al-Qaeda

19:16

came from one radical point

19:19

of view that believed that the United

19:21

States had no right to be meddling

19:23

in the Middle East, right? And that's

19:25

where Osama bin Laden built

19:28

such a massive support network. Even

19:30

the Mujahideen before the United

19:33

States went into Afghanistan was trying to

19:35

kick out Russia for the same injustice,

19:37

right? So now we're seeing injustice play out

19:40

all throughout the Middle East. What

19:42

is it that has Americans frothing at the

19:44

mouth right now to

19:47

kill Iranians? Oh yeah,

19:49

the third attacks. They

19:52

feel like it was an unjust attack

19:54

against Americans in Jordan, right? We are

19:56

in a cycle here that

19:59

very much. benefits our

20:02

enemies. Because our

20:04

enemies Iran, Hezbollah,

20:08

Houthis, Hamas,

20:12

the radical groups of the world, the

20:15

only way they have someone to train

20:17

and recruit in the future is if

20:19

they can find an injustice today. And

20:22

if they can't find an injustice, they

20:24

can provoke

20:27

powers like the United States and Israel to

20:29

take actions in which an injustice

20:31

occurs. That's the lesson, that's

20:36

the spy lesson that you and I see

20:38

that makes us so sad. Because we happen

20:41

to be at a period in history where we

20:43

are being played by unsophisticated

20:49

rebel groups, but they're

20:51

playing us and they're winning only because we

20:53

are also at a place where our politicians

20:55

don't understand the difference between people and politics.

20:58

Because if we just understood the idea

21:00

between people and politics, we could find

21:02

other solutions besides creating

21:05

these systematic offensives

21:08

that kill massive amounts of people and

21:11

are then perceived to be an injustice of

21:13

what is essentially just a wealthy or bigger

21:15

country attacking a little guy. So do

21:17

I think that those,

21:20

do I think that

21:23

our politicians would even consider some of those alternatives?

21:25

I don't know. Like

21:28

to a certain extent, I don't think

21:30

that we should be blowing up Houthi bases. I

21:32

think that we should instead be finding economic

21:34

incentives to pay the Houthis to let ships

21:37

pass. Because you know what I bet they

21:39

wouldn't say no to? I bet they wouldn't

21:41

say no to a few million dollars quarterly

21:43

or annually saying, hey here's the deal, we

21:45

need oil tankers and these tankers and these

21:48

tankers and these tankers to be able to

21:50

pass safely through your area in support of

21:52

the humanitarian crisis in Israel. And

21:55

if the Houthis can be paid more by one side

21:57

than the other, guess what they're gonna pick? They're gonna

21:59

pick the one side. Right? The same

22:01

thing goes with the rebel groups in Iraq. Am I saying

22:03

pay them off? No, I'm not saying pay them off. But

22:05

what I am saying is what I think Biden will do

22:07

next is Understand that

22:09

what he cannot do is attack Israel or

22:11

I'm sorry. What he cannot do is attack

22:13

Iran To attack

22:16

Iran directly. Yeah, or

22:18

to attack IRGC officials directly

22:20

Mm-hmm is going to be to

22:22

escalate the conflict instead what he will have to

22:24

do is create very

22:27

small focalized focused

22:29

attacks most likely

22:31

in Afghanistan Syria and Lebanon

22:35

and I

22:37

think I said Iraq right? Yeah, so

22:40

Iraq Lebanon and Syria. He's gonna have

22:42

to pick very very focalized attacks to

22:46

Attack key leaders. Yeah who are backed by

22:48

Iranians in those areas But he's gonna have

22:50

to be careful not to kill an Iranian

22:52

and that I think is what's tricky because

22:54

as soon as an American bomb

22:56

trooper or Missile kills an Iranian

22:59

Iran's gonna come back and do

23:01

it again So he's gonna have

23:03

to kill local leaders through highly

23:05

sophisticated operations in multiple countries

23:07

and most likely he will try to do

23:09

it Simultaneously as a show of force for

23:11

the effectiveness of the US military, right? So

23:13

that's what I think the next

23:15

few weeks will hold in store because if he

23:17

does it right He's gonna

23:19

look great going on to the on the polls

23:22

in November. Yeah, but if he fucks it up,

23:24

yeah I Mean the whole

23:26

Middle East is gonna burn. Yeah, and I think

23:28

I I agree with you I think that that

23:30

is most likely what his arm was next

23:32

move is going to be But it is

23:34

a tricky situation and even when you were talking about, you

23:37

know that The

23:40

you know me, you know working playing economics

23:42

with the hoodies, right? it's though

23:44

even those situations are tricky because you

23:46

know while you know, I would

23:49

estimate like a number of

23:51

of Radicalized

23:53

people if you improve their life,

23:55

they will not be radicalized anymore,

23:57

but then there are always those

23:59

hard lines The people who are, I mean,

24:01

we've talked about, you know, the different motivators

24:04

for people and there are people who

24:06

are actually motivated by ideology and those people, you

24:08

can pay them enough money in the world to

24:10

change the way they think. And if they believe

24:12

something, that's what they're going to act on. And

24:15

so then the tricky part there is, you know,

24:17

even if you're investing in

24:19

the de-radicalization of the

24:21

majority of the group, that money

24:24

is still going to those really hard liners

24:26

somehow, right? And then go on to

24:28

find new people to radicalize to make

24:30

a different group to still do attacks.

24:32

So it's really, really challenging. And I

24:34

think in this situation,

24:37

what's difficult for me to watch

24:39

in this situation is I am having

24:43

trouble understanding what the long game is. Right.

24:46

Right? Because the post-war plan,

24:49

nobody has a good idea. Nobody's

24:51

talking about it. And if they don't have

24:53

something right in place, it's, I mean, you

24:55

know, we're looking at Germany from World War

24:57

I to World War II, right? Like

25:00

you have to have something in place

25:02

for the survivors. Right. Right.

25:05

And I think that's such a great lesson from history because

25:07

basically what you're highlighting is that Germany

25:10

coming out of World War I, they

25:13

were the aggressor. Austria was the

25:15

aggressor of World War I. Germany

25:18

quickly got involved. Germany became the

25:20

driving force of World War I. Germany

25:23

was destroyed. And during the

25:25

treaties following World War I,

25:28

Germany was dismantled, destroyed

25:30

economically. They were punished. They

25:32

were punitively punished. And

25:35

from that punishment, the Nazi Party was born

25:37

and then they just rolled right into

25:39

World War II. Because they felt an injustice

25:41

in how they were treated post-war. Correct. Right.

25:44

So you're exactly right. I

25:46

am a huge fan of what you're saying right now

25:48

because that is also what I am reading is

25:51

at risk for us between

25:54

Palestine and Israel. Yeah. Because

25:57

we have watched how Hamas'

25:59

popularity... Has gone up

26:01

since October 7th. Yeah, they used to

26:03

be primarily focused in Gaza, right? They

26:06

were they were the ruling body in

26:08

the Gaza Strip and it

26:10

was a completely different party that ran the West

26:12

Bank Well now what we've seen is that the

26:14

West Bank has massively increased not just in terms

26:16

of their their Support for

26:18

Hamas, but they have also

26:20

started engaging in more conflict against Israel directly

26:23

So now Israel is literally fighting on

26:25

two fronts in the West Bank and Gaza at the same

26:27

time Yeah, as all these

26:29

other conflicts are also creeping up from the

26:32

region around them, right? And I think you're

26:34

exactly right It's because you know, we

26:37

are we are hopefully not going to

26:39

see Palestine or Israel turn into a

26:42

similar Defunct state

26:45

like what we saw happen to Germany and World

26:47

War one. Yeah, hopefully the world will Get

26:50

their shit straight and realize we can't

26:52

let that happen that there are

26:54

millions of civilians Yep human beings

26:57

people people right like you and

26:59

me mothers fathers brothers sisters sons

27:01

daughters, right? That need

27:03

a safe place to live that has

27:05

basic human needs that need to be

27:07

met I say like there has

27:09

to be a plan for this moving forward

27:12

and they can't be met today only

27:15

Right. They have to be met for decades.

27:17

Yeah, you have to make sure

27:19

that the seven-year-old who's Experiencing trauma

27:22

right now when they turn 17

27:25

Has an option other than Poverty

27:28

because if you don't give them another option.

27:30

Yep a radical group is gonna come in

27:33

and give them an option Exactly. That's I

27:35

think that's a great point too because the

27:37

radicalization ladder thrives on Ignorance.

27:40

Yeah, if you if you can

27:42

reduce the amount of ignorance Then

27:45

you can increase the amount of knowledge Increase

27:48

knowledge reduces the chances of someone being

27:50

able to be convinced

27:52

that they're in justice Is

27:55

simple right? They will instead be

27:57

aware that it is much more complicated. Yes, which

27:59

is how which is one

28:01

of the reasons it's so difficult to

28:03

radicalize Americans. There are Americans who become

28:05

radicalized, but in comparison to other

28:07

countries, very, very few

28:09

Americans suffer through the radicalization

28:12

process because they fail

28:14

at step one. It's hard

28:16

to convince an American that their injustice

28:18

can be tied to a single cause.

28:20

Yeah, because I feel like the opposite

28:22

side of that radicalization coin, the

28:24

people who become educated, the people

28:27

who understand that there is much

28:29

more complexity to the

28:32

grief that they feel, to the trauma that

28:34

they've experienced in their life, those are the

28:37

people who move forward and make

28:39

actual change. Because they see that there's

28:41

also more opportunity. Yes, that

28:43

there are other ways than violence

28:45

to make change in the world. Right. And

28:48

that's what we need. Those are the people we need to cultivate, but there

28:50

has to be a plan. There has to be a

28:53

commitment to a long-term investment in

28:55

these people. So the main

28:57

takeaways here that I was excited to share with

28:59

you, that I was excited to talk about, even

29:02

though I've only been home less than 24 hours. This

29:07

is our life, people. Is

29:10

one that I

29:12

am so sad to see what's happening in the

29:14

Middle East. Yeah. And I mourn

29:16

for the families of the Americans that were killed. And

29:19

I mourn for the families of the Americans that

29:21

have yet to be killed. If

29:25

our current administration chooses a path

29:27

of escalation. Yeah. However,

29:29

I also understand that we come from a

29:32

warring culture. The United States is a conflict-based

29:34

culture. I've said it before. I mean,

29:36

we were born out of revolution. That's true. So

29:39

there will be some

29:41

sort of kinetic military response.

29:43

Right. Biden has already promised it.

29:46

I anticipate that what that will look like is kinetic

29:48

strikes that are highly sophisticated

29:50

and very localized in at

29:52

least three countries, possibly four. Afghanistan

29:54

might also see it. So just again, I

29:57

think we will see an attack in Iraq. I think we will see an attack

29:59

in Iraq. attack in Syria, I think we'll see an

30:01

attack in Lebanon, we may also see an attack

30:04

in Afghanistan. Carried

30:06

out by American special forces or American troops,

30:08

American missiles, against specific Iranian-backed

30:11

local militias in each of those

30:13

places. That's what I think will

30:15

happen, and I think

30:17

it will happen in a very short period of time, if

30:19

not fully coordinated over the same 24 hours,

30:21

if not the same one hour, just

30:24

to demonstrate how powerful the

30:26

United States can be. Because that's what they want to do.

30:28

They want to shock an eye right now. They

30:30

want to do one thing one time and have everybody else

30:32

just kind of say, whoa, I don't think we want to

30:35

mess with them. That's

30:37

within Biden's best interest. Anything other

30:39

than that, he runs the risk

30:41

of increasing escalation, which decreases his chances of

30:43

reelection, or he runs the risk of fucking

30:46

the whole thing up and ruining the chances of his

30:48

next election. So that's

30:51

what I wanted to talk about, and I absolutely

30:53

wanted to hear your thoughts on that radicalization ladder,

30:55

because that's what I think is happening in the

30:57

Middle East. I think that's very intentional. I

31:00

think that's something that the groups out there have lived off

31:02

of since the 1980s. They

31:04

know it very well. They understand what

31:06

an opportunity presents itself that they can

31:08

prey upon to build next year's

31:13

recruits today. Yeah, I

31:15

agree with you. So there's only

31:17

one thing more depressing, I think, on the horizon

31:19

than the Middle East, and

31:21

that is Valentine's Day. Yeah,

31:26

I actually had somebody ask me today, do you guys

31:28

have plans for Valentine's Day? I'm like, Andy's

31:32

away filming the show. So

31:37

we have an interesting love-hate relationship with

31:39

Valentine's Day. I have always liked Valentine's

31:41

Day. I've always liked it as a

31:44

Hallmark holiday. I think that's a big deal in

31:46

your family, actually. I mean, it might be. Because

31:48

your mom was just like, I'm going to send

31:50

the kids Valentine's Day gifts, and we

31:52

never celebrated any of these holidays. My

31:54

mom went to Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's

31:56

Day. I was like, that's for

31:58

whatever. The megabyte that

32:01

I know came i know how your

32:03

family and can I married into that

32:05

he asked but I was the per

32:07

I remember. I mean as pathetic

32:09

as this sounds, I remember being in

32:11

fifth grade. And sometimes

32:13

not getting a Valentine from somebody even

32:16

though even though everybody was getting the

32:18

same grocery store. Passive fifty Valentine's Sickening.

32:20

Get why? Sometimes so and so sometimes

32:22

Jimmy or jail or whoever else wouldn't

32:25

give me one, but they would give

32:27

it some. My friend Mike, an Art

32:29

right says. Is only twenty and the

32:31

packed with as twenty Five seasons success sorry

32:33

at the back. So it's

32:35

just like reliving being the last

32:38

one picks for to ball. E

32:40

S is like reliving that every

32:42

Valentine's Day. So I even as

32:44

a kid I remember carrying way

32:46

too much about getting some cheap

32:49

Valentine that really just said you

32:51

know preprinted message from Arzu and

32:53

yeah from gym or Jane to

32:55

and the whatever my be so

32:57

like. I remember feeling that. That.

33:00

Grief when I was a kid. So

33:03

for sure growing up as an adult

33:05

like Valentine's Day has always been important

33:07

to me and. The day

33:09

that our son was born. Even.

33:12

Better than that? The day that the

33:14

doctor predicted that our delivery date for

33:16

our first child before we knew what

33:19

our child's gender was. When.

33:21

The doctor said. That

33:23

the estimated birthday was.

33:26

February. Fourteenth Valentine's Day.

33:29

I was over the moon as like I'm

33:31

going to have a Valentine's Day baby and

33:33

then oh well. Maybe not because you know

33:36

that first baby use it takes a little

33:38

bit longer than normal. They came same on

33:40

Valentine's It's so I now have. a

33:43

gorgeous ten year old boy who will

33:45

turn eleven on valentine's day this year

33:47

i love the hallmark holiday i love

33:50

the hard some it's easy romantic baloney

33:52

i love the little grocery store sweethearts

33:54

that say i heart you yeah and

33:57

i love it it's our son's birthday

33:59

i love Valentine's Day, but you

34:01

don't. It's okay.

34:07

And that's why it's so depressing. That's

34:10

why I would categorize this very closely

34:12

with the Middle Eastern crisis in terms

34:14

of things that I don't look forward

34:16

to every day. It

34:18

was definitely hard when we started dating and I

34:20

remember the first Valentine's Day we were together and

34:23

it was such a big deal for you and

34:25

I was like completely unprepared. You're like

34:27

trying to plan something special and get me

34:29

something special and I was like, I got

34:31

nothing for you right now. That

34:33

sounds like our relationship in a nutshell. Me

34:35

trying to plan something special for

34:37

you and you being completely oblivious

34:41

to the fact that anything special is even supposed

34:43

to occur. Yeah. I mean to

34:45

a certain extent I think that I got very lucky with

34:48

you because your expectations

34:50

are like super low. Super low. I am

34:52

the cheap girlfriend. I mean it's amazing. It

34:55

really is like where do you want to

34:57

go eat tonight and you're like I want

34:59

pho 83. Yeah. And pho

35:01

83 is about as nice a

35:03

place as you would imagine it

35:05

would be. It's so delicious. But

35:09

it is delicious. It was and

35:11

we were I mean we were junior

35:14

officers at CIA dating at least two

35:16

nights a week going to pho. Was it

35:18

pho 83? It was something. Pho

35:20

19? No I think 83 might have been

35:22

it. But I mean there was

35:24

it was like nine dollars. Yeah. Nine

35:27

dollars in a styrofoam bowl and you

35:29

were so happy. Yeah. You were so

35:31

happy. That's all I need. What was the first

35:33

thing you brought me was a cherries.

35:36

A bag of cherries. From the grocery store. And I was over the

35:38

moon. I was like this man right here. Bought

35:42

me a gift. I love some cherries. Oh

35:46

my gosh. I was so excited. I mean don't I

35:48

mean I'm I'm a very like

35:52

straightforward stupid

35:55

boy. So when

35:57

I discovered what kind of benefits came.

36:00

grocery store cherries and $9 pho. I

36:03

had you swimming in cherries and pho.

36:06

It's that simple. It was worth the toll you

36:08

paid, it comes to my house. And the toll I

36:11

had to pay to drive to your house, that is

36:13

exactly right. And the expense

36:16

of staying up way too late with you at your

36:18

house. Oh yeah, on a weekday, I know. I

36:21

never drove to you, you drove to me. That's

36:24

where you should be. So needless to

36:26

say, for Valentine's Day this year, I

36:28

am on the road, I am gone

36:30

again. But we do

36:32

get to go on a massive family vacation

36:34

to celebrate our son's 11th birthday. And

36:36

I am very, very excited about

36:39

that. I am also very excited

36:41

because while February 14th

36:44

may actually be Valentine's Day, you

36:46

and I are also planning an event on

36:49

February 19th, where

36:52

we will host like

36:55

a super private group of people to

36:57

come have dinner with us. And

37:00

we will also host a

37:02

very private version of our

37:04

Streetcraft training day, bye

37:06

for a day experience with

37:08

couples and or people who

37:10

are part of a couple, but perhaps their partner can't

37:12

show up. So a

37:15

very relationship focused experience. And

37:17

I get to do both of them with you. And I've never gotten

37:19

to do that, but we have never done any

37:21

kind of event with our customer base,

37:23

our audience base. We have never done anything like

37:25

that together. We have never done

37:27

it live in person. And we

37:29

have never done a training event for our own

37:32

people together. So, I mean, I

37:34

feel like we're kind of celebrating Valentine's Day,

37:36

both before Valentine's Day on the family

37:39

trip, and then also after Valentine's Day

37:41

with our Streetcraft event and with our

37:43

private dinner event. Yeah, I mean, even

37:45

though you won't be here on the day of Valentine's

37:47

Day, it is a special year for it, I think,

37:49

because I agree, like we're, you know, part of what's

37:51

special about this cruise is it's actually like the ship

37:53

that we took our honeymoon cruise on. So for me,

37:56

this is really special to be able to share it

37:58

with the kids because I have these amazing memories. after

38:02

I stopped taking Dramamine. This

38:06

first few days. But then I have amazing

38:08

memories of our honeymoon on that cruise. So

38:11

I'm so excited to be able to share

38:14

it with family. And then afterwards,

38:16

you're right, I have never run a streetcraft

38:18

with you ever. I've

38:21

played a role in the streetcraft. I'm usually like the

38:23

bump if you come. Which

38:26

is always a lot of fun, but I've never

38:28

had the opportunity to be by your

38:30

side while you're teaching. And then the fact

38:32

that we're having an additional

38:36

private dinner with

38:38

a small group of people that we can really connect

38:40

with. It's really exciting to

38:42

be able to connect with other couples in this way

38:45

and to be able to see them perform on

38:47

a mission, like get firehose

38:49

with information and perform on a mission together.

38:51

It's really going to be a bonding experience.

38:53

So it's so great for us to be

38:55

able to see that because we can relate to it. If

38:58

you want to know what we're talking about, if you want to get in early

39:02

on the streetcraft experience or the private dinner with JiHin,

39:04

I just click on the link in the description below.

39:07

We're not quite done talking about it yet, but if you're

39:09

sitting there and you're wondering what is this event and what

39:11

are they talking about and how do I sit there and

39:14

have dinner with them, click on the link at the description

39:16

line below. Just click on the link in the description below.

39:19

And you'll be taken directly to a registration

39:21

page where you can register for streetcraft and

39:23

you can join us for that private dinner.

39:26

So you'll find it just in the description of

39:28

this episode right below. So

39:30

I also think it's

39:32

interesting because one of the questions

39:34

that we are very often asked is people

39:36

want to know how we motivate each other. And

39:40

sometimes I wonder the same

39:42

thing because I swear

39:44

I demotivate you more than I motivate you. And

39:46

then just like our conversation about Valentine's Day,

39:49

there are absolutely times where I feel like

39:51

I come to you needing

39:53

your, needing you to lift

39:55

me up and I get a big fat

39:57

like, wah, wah, like...

40:00

You do not collect $200 and do not pass

40:02

go. Sorry. Well,

40:06

I think, I mean, if it happens to us, it must happen

40:08

to everybody else too. Yeah, I mean, you can't, it's

40:10

like... You can't bat a thousand with your

40:12

spouse. Exactly. You're never going to be a

40:14

perfect parent or a perfect spouse and just deal with

40:16

it. That's just how life

40:19

goes. But I

40:21

would say, you know, it's funny when you say that

40:23

you feel like you demotivate me. I

40:25

don't think you demotivate me. I think what

40:28

you see is that you lower

40:31

my excitement level. Because

40:34

I'll be like, I had this great idea and I

40:36

want to do this thing and blah, blah. And you'll

40:38

be like, are you sure? That's a good idea. Or

40:40

I don't think it's going to work the way you

40:42

think it's going to work. So then I'm like, more.

40:46

But you give me so much food for thought that,

40:51

you know, over time, it does

40:53

turn, it helps with proper motivation,

40:55

right? Because I might be motivated

40:57

by something shiny, which isn't going

40:59

to last. But then

41:01

you give me things to think about, which gives me

41:03

a stronger desire and drive to

41:06

do it the right way. And

41:08

for me, the way I'm motivated

41:11

is by watching you, honestly.

41:13

Like I find you really

41:15

inspirational and I just

41:18

watch the way that you live your life and

41:20

I want to emulate some

41:22

of those things, not everything. But

41:25

a lot oftentimes, you know, I just, you

41:27

know, I have this Andy voice in my head and I'm

41:30

like, what would Andy do? Seriously.

41:33

I'm sorry for that voice. But it's so

41:35

helpful over the years. It's been so helpful. And

41:37

that was one of the reasons when we first

41:39

got together that I was like, I have

41:42

to lock this man down. There

41:45

are my like low cut shirts

41:47

right now because I need to win this

41:49

one because I

41:51

saw the potential, right? Like you made me

41:54

want to be a better person and you

41:56

had the skills to give me the

41:59

inside. that I needed

42:01

to develop the self-reflection that I needed to

42:03

do myself to get to those points of

42:05

growth. And you motivated me through low-cut shirts.

42:08

Mm-hmm. But, I mean... It worked. It did

42:10

work. That and nine dollar fuh. And nine

42:12

dollar fuh. No,

42:15

but you know what I will say, you know, because pre-marriage

42:19

dating and then

42:22

post-marriage life... Yeah. ...the

42:25

types of motivators are completely different. And

42:27

I'm sure that's true for everyone who

42:29

can relate to what it's like to

42:32

date and then marry. Yeah. Um, because

42:34

I will say that motivating me

42:37

before we were married was a fairly simple thing. Like

42:39

it was really just like, show

42:42

me some attention, show me some affection and have

42:44

a good time. And I was like, I

42:47

was ready to go all day. Yeah. But now

42:49

that we have children, a business... Yeah. You

42:52

know, we're building a life, we're building a legacy together.

42:54

Mm-hmm. It's

42:56

much, much harder to motivate me

42:59

than it was when we were dating. And one of the things that

43:01

I find strangely motivating about

43:04

you is how you

43:06

slow things down. Mm. Like

43:08

I am always trying to move fast because

43:10

I'm always trying to get to tomorrow. Yeah.

43:13

I am very, very future oriented. Mm-hmm. I

43:15

am always thinking about what's the next step.

43:17

I am always trying to think two or

43:19

three steps ahead of that. I am always

43:21

pushing and pushing and casting vision and thinking

43:23

about what's next. And what

43:26

happens is you never, you

43:29

for sure don't appreciate today. Right?

43:32

I get that, right? Yeah. There's a thousand mindfulness

43:34

books written about that garbage. I'm trying to get

43:36

through it today. Right. That's how you

43:38

see it. So I

43:41

don't want to harp on any

43:43

of the mindfulness jargon that's out there. But

43:45

when you're always focused on the future, what

43:48

ends up happening is you don't ever take the

43:50

time to really pressure test your own ideas. Mm.

43:53

So just like you were saying that one of the things I

43:55

do is give you food for thought. Yeah. One of the things

43:57

that you do is you slow me down. so

44:00

that I can't, I

44:02

don't even have the option of doing

44:04

the reckless, least

44:06

probable, highest

44:08

risk thing because you've essentially

44:11

taken that off the table

44:13

just by your own natural

44:16

kind of resistance, just the

44:18

natural pace that you do things, how

44:20

you consume information, how you process information,

44:23

right? How you react to rapid changes. Like a

44:25

lot of those things, we've

44:28

had to live with those as a family,

44:31

partly because you have general anxiety

44:33

disorder, but also partly because

44:35

you just don't like to move too

44:37

fast. You're a

44:39

Southerner, you are a true Venezuelan-born

44:42

Southerner. And

44:45

I can't tell you how much that has

44:47

paid dividends for us and I am now

44:49

motivated because I know that

44:51

the best outcome will come as long

44:54

as you have your opinion heard, right?

44:56

If I try to do something without your input, I am

44:58

very nervous. When I try to

45:00

do anything with your input, even if I don't agree

45:02

with your input, I am that much

45:05

more excited because I'm like, well, I mean, my

45:07

odds of success just went up 10 fold

45:10

because Gee, he's involved. Yeah, that's

45:12

exciting to hear. Yeah, so I mean, it means that

45:14

our future will be constantly full of me raining on

45:17

your parade and you slowing me down. What's

45:20

not to look forward to? Valentine's

45:23

Day, here we come. It should just really be,

45:25

instead of caramel cookies, it can just be a

45:27

pile of dried, crusty

45:29

caramel. Just

45:31

sticky and slow and nothing.

45:34

But still delicious. Just lick that pile. Folks,

45:41

thank you very much for joining us today. If

45:44

you enjoyed this conversation, if there's anything that we

45:46

talked about that you have thoughts on, comments on,

45:48

anything you agree with or disagree with, please leave

45:50

a comment for us. Drop us, leave us a

45:53

message, give us a question, anything you want, put

45:55

it in the description below. If you liked the

45:57

video, give us a thumbs up. Like the video,

45:59

share it. it with a friend. I am certain

46:01

there are at least three people that you know

46:04

today who would like something about the conversation we

46:06

just had. So go ahead and share this video

46:08

with them and let the community grow. Share the

46:10

wealth. Let us have conversations that frankly nobody else

46:12

is really having. People don't talk about this in

46:14

mainstream media. People don't talk

46:17

about this in politics. People don't talk about

46:19

this at work. And if you're a married

46:21

couple, I know you know what it feels

46:23

like to end up having conversations that are

46:25

just empty with your spouse. So part of

46:27

the reason Jehi and I have this conversation

46:29

every week is so that we

46:31

can have a meaningful conversation that isn't just

46:33

about what the kids ate, how

46:35

they slept, or what we're going to do next week

46:38

for roller skating and math. So

46:41

feel free and we would welcome the opportunity

46:43

to share this content with more people that

46:45

you know would love this. And of course,

46:47

for sure, for sure, if you're interested in

46:50

joining Jehi and I for our February 19th

46:52

Streetcraft event for couples, or if you're interested

46:54

in joining us, especially for that VIP dinner

46:56

the night before that Streetcraft, click in the

46:58

description below, click on the link and follow

47:01

that link and register yourself and your spouse,

47:03

register yourself and your partner, register yourself and

47:05

your boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever you're with. But

47:07

we would love to see you. We would

47:09

love to have this conversation with you and

47:12

we can't wait to sit and actually have

47:14

a awesome, intimate, honest,

47:17

transparent conversation with

47:19

like-minded people on February 19th with you there.

47:21

Thanks very much, folks. Hit subscribe, give us

47:23

a thumbs up and share this with a

47:25

friend. Leave a comment below and sign up

47:27

for Streetcraft. We'll see you soon.