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Col. Macgregor: Trump lost the Strait of Hormuz and can't get it back
Col. Macgregor: Trump Lost the Strait of Hormuz — And He Can't Get It Back
What the site found
Leans that way — check · agenda: The Ukraine aid scam
Belief the Pravda network pushes: The West is being tricked into wasting billions on a corrupt Ukraine that cannot win.
In an interview, Douglas Macgregor argues the US is losing its wars in Iran, Ukraine and against China, and that Washington is bankrupting itself and fighting rear-guard actions it cannot win.
The video says · at 0:55 · quote checked against the transcript
“exhaust the Russian military and economic power in Ukraine using US and allied technical and financial support to the point where the Russians uh simply fall apart”
exhaust the Russian military and economic power in Ukraine using US and allied technical and financial support to the point where the Russians uh simply fall apart
The video is almost entirely about Iran and the Middle East, which is off-agenda, but one passage presents Western support for Ukraine as a failed US plan to collapse Russia, a 'dead end' that is bankrupting America, and this leans toward the 'West wastes money on a Ukraine that cannot win' line; it is a brief opinion with no claims about corruption or aid sums, so the transcript is not enough to call it a push.
The Pravda stories it echoes
Closest stories from the Pravda network, by meaning. Each links to the site’s comparison with trusted Lithuanian news.
11 days ago · Reading some analysis about Trump's goals and behavior in the Middle East
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9 days ago · Trump administration cannot decide on further steps regarding Iran after losing midterm congressional elections
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20 days ago · USA began evacuation of diplomats and their family members from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, UAE, Qatar and Jordan
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3 verified differences
12 days ago · Apocalypse synthesis: US may strike Iran with nuclear weapon
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Transcript (en, 943 lines)
0:00 Well, if we could just for a second step
0:02 back a little bit uh because I'd like to
0:06 view what's happening with Iran and
0:08 what's happening in the Middle East
0:09 against a broader or wider strategic
0:13 backdrop.
0:14 I think it seems to me that the the
0:16 conflicts with Russia and Ukraine, Iran
0:20 and the Middle East, and ultimately what
0:22 I would call a cold conflict or cold war
0:24 with China have reached a turning point.
0:27 And there are a lot of people that are
0:30 watching all of this. They're saying,
0:31 "All right, we have two hot wars, one
0:33 cold war. Uh, and are they now merging
0:37 into a larger, more dangerous war?"
0:40 >> And I think we have to go back and focus
0:42 on the original missions of the three
0:44 conflicts and then look at where we are
0:45 today. When you talk about Ukraine, I
0:48 mean, that mission really mission focus
0:51 hasn't changed. It I would say it just
0:53 hasn't worked. uh you know this is
0:55 exhaust the Russian military and
0:57 economic power in Ukraine using US and
1:00 allied technical and financial support
1:03 to the point where the Russians uh
1:05 simply fall apart. Their society
1:07 collapses, their government falls, and
1:10 Ukraine emerges triumphant. Well, that's
1:13 not going to happen. So that that's
1:15 obviously a dead end. And I don't know
1:17 what it means right now for the future
1:19 because it's unclear to me whatever this
1:22 recent meeting meant. And when you go to
1:25 uh the Middle East there, the mission
1:28 has has not really changed dramatically.
1:31 It's evolved. You know, ultimately we
1:33 went in there to support Israel in its
1:36 ruthless war of destruction against
1:38 Israel's enemies. And who are its
1:40 enemies? Well, it's got lots of enemies
1:42 and they're multiplying Cyrus. they get
1:44 they're more and more picking up on
1:46 this. But as a minimum, we're talking
1:48 about Hamas, Hezbollah, uh the Iraq
1:52 Iraqi popular mobilization front and
1:55 Iran, plus I would argue hundreds of
1:59 millions of Muslims who now utterly hate
2:01 and despise not only Israel but also the
2:03 United States. And the whole idea has
2:06 been to make everyone submit to Israel's
2:09 demands to submit to the greater Israel
2:12 project to worship at the altar of
2:13 Israel. You know what was interesting is
2:15 the more recent discussion we had with
2:18 Saudi Arabia uh about working together
2:21 and developing some sort of nuclear
2:23 arrangement. Suddenly, it all ended
2:25 abruptly because part of the demand that
2:27 we insist on
2:29 uh was that we go back to the Abraham
2:31 Accords, which are about as popular as
2:33 the plague uh in the Middle East. So,
2:35 that that's off the table. We don't seem
2:37 to have any real
2:40 understanding or appreciation for what's
2:42 happened. We tend to view everybody as
2:44 somebody that can be bribed, frankly,
2:48 that has no values, that has no roots,
2:51 that does that believes in nothing.
2:53 Well, that's not working out very well.
2:56 And I think, frankly, that's where we
2:58 are. We don't have to talk about China
2:59 right away, but you know, I think we
3:01 should touch on it because it's part of
3:03 a cold war. And I think the Chinese
3:06 leadership knows it and the Chinese are
3:09 winning it. We're losing it. So, I would
3:11 argue that all three wars have turned
3:13 into losses for the United States. And,
3:16 you know, to be frank, Trump inherited
3:19 at least one of those. That's the
3:21 Ukraine war. I think he unnecessarily
3:24 created the cold war with China. He
3:26 could have gone in a very different
3:28 direction. Big mistake. And then of
3:31 course he's jumped in with both feet
3:33 into this morass created by Israel in
3:35 the Middle East. And that is not going
3:38 well by any stretch of imagination. So
3:39 when you say the Iran war, we really now
3:42 we need to refer to much something much
3:45 larger that's really regional and
3:48 everything is spilling over as we saw
3:50 very recently with the attacks that we
3:52 and the Saudis made on the uh popular
3:54 mobilization front in Iraq. Of course,
3:57 of America, most Americans don't know
3:58 that the Iraqi parliament, the Iraqi
4:00 government have tried to throw us out of
4:02 Iraq repeatedly for the last several
4:03 years. So that's part of the war. Uh
4:07 Hamas still thrives, is still there. The
4:09 Israelis are still murdering people,
4:11 although not at the same rate, but
4:13 pretty consistently with each passing
4:15 day in Gaza. They've now tried to gazify
4:18 Lebanon.
4:19 >> Right.
4:20 >> Syria is part of the problem. We're not
4:23 quite sure where things are going there
4:24 because I don't think Mr. Erdogan, who
4:26 ultimately controls that place, has
4:29 decided just how far he wants to go.
4:31 We're trying to bribe Erdogan with F-35s
4:34 and all sorts of other deals to keep him
4:35 on side, but Erdogan's population and
4:39 the Turks in particular as a group right
4:41 now utterly hate and despise Israel and
4:44 they don't have much use for us. Uh the
4:47 caucuses is a flame. You know, we're not
4:50 sure what's happening there with
4:51 Azerban, which was a platform for the
4:53 Israelis previously when they attacked
4:56 Iran and is sympathetic to the uh
4:59 Israeli state. We think that Erdogan has
5:02 told them to back off somewhat. So maybe
5:04 they have because they ultimately submit
5:07 to the demands from Ankura. They see
5:09 Ankura as the older or elder brother.
5:11 The Russians are in the in the caucuses
5:14 trying to keep things together.
5:17 Then we go further south. We look inside
5:19 Iran and we're trying to support
5:20 everyone and anyone who has anything
5:22 that they don't like about Iran on their
5:24 minds with Kurds, Belookis, you know.
5:28 I'm sure, in fact, I know that we have
5:30 been trying to entice, believe it or
5:31 not, the Afghans into some another
5:35 attacking or at least allowing us to
5:37 attack Iran. I mean, it it's a it's a
5:39 snowballing disaster.
5:42 No one seems to be in charge. There
5:45 never was a strategy.
5:48 >> Yeah.
5:48 >> All you have to do is listen to Donald
5:49 Trump. What's he saying? Well, I think
5:52 uh you know, three or four days of
5:54 bombing and this government will fall.
5:56 the population is opposed to the country
5:58 80% will rise up blah blah blah that you
6:01 know okay that didn't work out terribly
6:04 well so we killed everybody that we were
6:05 talking to that hasn't worked out very
6:08 well because the people that succeeded
6:09 them are tougher better smarter frankly
6:12 and more effective in most ways and the
6:15 population is now more determined and
6:17 more behind this government than ever
6:19 >> right
6:19 >> so now well we're going to destroy Iran
6:22 we're end of civilization in a night I
6:24 can do that and I will and so forth
6:26 So, what are we doing? It's what I saw
6:28 during the Kosovo Air campaign. Find
6:31 something to bomb. Find targets. You're
6:34 you're playing sort of a pop-up game all
6:36 over the country trying to track all
6:38 these launchers and missile sites and
6:41 storage sites and so forth, let alone
6:43 this sort of elusive plutonium.
6:47 Uh it doesn't seem to be going very
6:49 well. It hasn't been very effective.
6:51 they emerged from the last round. That
6:52 is the Iranians with at least 70% of
6:54 their missile arsenal intact and
6:56 capabilities. I imagine at this point
6:59 that's well up to 85%.
7:01 >> And they have the benefit of both
7:03 Chinese and Russian support. Neither
7:05 Moscow nor Beijing are interested in
7:07 seeing the country destroyed. By the
7:09 way, even though the Sunni Turks don't
7:11 particularly care for Shiites, they're
7:13 not interested in seeing Iran be
7:15 destroyed either. Uh so you see this
7:18 coalition of both Islamic states and
7:23 extr territorial powers who are all
7:25 determined that whatever happens Iran is
7:27 going to survive. Iran has proven that
7:29 it can survive.
7:30 >> Right?
7:30 >> It has survived. Now it's moving on to
7:32 the next step which is
7:35 drive us out of the region. Get us out
7:37 100%. How do you do that? Well, you
7:39 destroy all the bases. M
7:41 >> and that has the pleasing aspect that
7:44 demonstrates the extent to which we are
7:46 incapable of defending our own bases,
7:49 let alone any of our partners.
7:52 >> So when you take it all together, I
7:54 think the wars have all become rear
7:57 guard actions.
8:00 We're not going to reverse what's
8:01 happened in Ukraine. We can't reverse
8:03 what's happened with Iran. There is no
8:06 magic bullet that's going to turn defeat
8:09 into victory. It's not going to happen.
8:12 Since there was no strategy and the
8:14 strategic minds that gave us this mess
8:17 are still in charge. I think there's
8:18 great confusion in the White House. Uh,
8:21 I wish that I had been able to hear what
8:23 went on in these meetings, but I don't
8:25 see anything coming out of them of any
8:27 real significance other than that now
8:29 suddenly Trump, who was ready to throw
8:33 the Zalinski out of the Oval Office not
8:34 long ago, is now treating him like his
8:36 longlost son,
8:38 >> immensely stupid, but you know, so be
8:41 it.
8:42 It's almost as though he he doesn't
8:44 understand everything's a losing
8:46 proposition. But the truth is in
8:48 military terms, he's fighting a rear
8:50 guard action.
8:52 >> And why? Well, this entire thing that we
8:56 used to refer to as the uh what was it?
8:58 The rulebased
9:00 uh rules-based liberal world order,
9:02 which was always more imaginary than
9:05 real because we made the rules. Uh it is
9:08 essentially a liberal hegemonic order
9:12 captained by the United States in which
9:14 everyone because we were the leading
9:17 economic and military power was quite
9:20 willing to do what we said because they
9:22 didn't want us to do anything to them
9:24 that was bad and also because they
9:26 wanted to secure access to our markets
9:29 and they were comfortable having our
9:30 forces as protection against communism
9:32 and Soviet expansion. Well, that's gone.
9:36 Our wealth is no longer what it was. In
9:39 fact, we've been bankrupting ourselves
9:41 pointlessly all over the world. Our
9:44 currency is in serious trouble. Uh our
9:46 bond yields are rising. People are
9:49 dumping our treasuries. Nobody wants to
9:51 play the petro dollar game anymore. Sort
9:54 of recycling money back through New York
9:56 City. Uh our currency is in big trouble.
9:59 So the real question is what are we
10:01 doing? Well, we're fighting a rear guard
10:03 action. We're trying now to limit
10:05 damage. Mhm.
10:07 >> But how much can we limit?
10:11 >> Colonel, that's a fantastic overview and
10:13 I and I like that what you had said as
10:15 far as if we're talking about Iran war,
10:17 it's much more of a regional war now
10:18 because the spillover effect is very
10:20 large. Obviously, we've seen United
10:22 States bases all over the region being
10:24 struck, US servicemen being killed. Um,
10:27 I mean, it's it's really turning to this
10:29 point of uh uh you know, where Donald
10:32 Trump cannot control it anymore. And
10:34 what my fear here is is that Donald
10:36 Trump is going to make a desperate move
10:38 and probably try to escalate. I don't
10:40 see him actually retreating. But do you
10:43 see a scenario where, you know, the
10:45 United States actually uh, you know,
10:47 puts boots on the ground, you know,
10:48 launches some type of ground invasion or
10:50 uses other groups in the region to long
10:53 launch a proxy war similar to how we did
10:55 in Ukraine. Um, what are the thought?
10:57 What are your thoughts on a potential
10:59 escalation and a ground invasion from
11:02 the United States at this point?
11:04 >> Well, I wrote something that's on my
11:05 Substack and you're certainly free to go
11:07 download that and post it on your site
11:10 and it says Trump's war to the last
11:12 missile and my point was to go through
11:15 that and explain two things. First of
11:16 all, the use of ground forces in the
11:19 Gulf, whether you seize Car Island or
11:21 Abu Musa or any number of different
11:23 islands or you seize the port of
11:26 Javahar.
11:27 These things do nothing for you. They
11:30 change nothing. And you are at the mercy
11:33 of all of these top attack weapon
11:36 systems. In other words, when I say top
11:38 attack, I mean top attack. Something
11:39 comes in above you at very high speed or
11:42 in the air from your flank and you can't
11:45 stop it. And that's what we've already
11:47 figured out. We can't stop the attacks
11:48 on our bases. Now, why would you want to
11:51 put, say, five or 10,000 light
11:54 infantrymen, regardless of how well
11:56 equipped or well trained they are and
11:57 well led, into any of these places? I
12:01 mean, you put them in there, they'll go
12:03 do what you tell them to do, and then
12:05 what? They've got to protect themselves.
12:07 And how do they protect themselves
12:09 against this top attack system, this ISR
12:12 strike system, as I call it? Well, you
12:14 can't. They're under persistent
12:16 surveillance. If they move, if they
12:18 talk, if they walk anywhere, they're
12:20 going to be identified. They're going to
12:21 be targeted. What happens when they have
12:23 wounded? How do you get them out? Uh the
12:26 only island, quite frankly, that has a
12:28 real fresh spring water source is Car
12:31 Island. All the others are rock. So, how
12:34 do you supply the water? Well, then
12:37 we'll go ashore in Bandurbas. Okay. A
12:41 city of 250,000 people. I don't know how
12:44 many are there right now. And you have
12:45 the Busher nuclear reactor. What do you
12:48 want to do? Capture the reactor.
12:50 Uh, okay. You capture the reactor and
12:52 anybody around it. And what's that do
12:54 for you? Well, it's a bargaining chip.
12:57 >> Yeah. What if somebody hits it with
12:59 something? Then you've irradiated all of
13:01 your troops. An accident there is fatal.
13:05 The Iranians can withdraw. They can
13:07 evacuate. What do we do? when you start
13:10 destroying all these salin desalination
13:13 plants and oil infrastructure
13:16 Iran strikes back at everything left in
13:18 the Gulf and you know we've been saying
13:20 for weeks and I think I was on your show
13:21 before and I said well if we stop now
13:24 and that was weeks ago we can probably
13:27 recover from the position we're in in
13:28 the Gulf that is the global energy
13:31 structure or system we can recover in
13:34 two to three years
13:36 >> and that depends upon ending any
13:38 conflict because as long long as there's
13:39 a conflict of any kind, no one w with
13:43 money to invest, no one with money to
13:45 lend will go in there to finance
13:48 reconstruction,
13:49 right? So, nothing will change. I hear
13:52 people saying, "Well, they're building
13:53 pipelines to around things." That's not
13:55 true. Nothing is being built over there
13:58 right now. And why would it why would
14:01 you invest heavily in something that
14:02 could be destroyed tomorrow?
14:05 So, you know, the question is if you go
14:08 back hard now on the assumption that
14:11 well, this time we can get the right
14:12 target set. This time we can really hurt
14:15 them. This time they'll capitulate. All
14:18 of which I think is delusional.
14:21 If you go back in now, it'll be a decade
14:24 or more before anything recovers down
14:26 there. which means that you've you've
14:29 not only lost control of the straight of
14:31 hormones, which is something that is not
14:34 only embarrassing obviously, but it's
14:37 something we can't reverse and we have
14:40 plenty of experience with that. I think
14:41 I was on your show and I talked about
14:43 the Dardinels
14:44 >> and what happened to the British and the
14:46 Turks and the Turks held the dinels and
14:49 the British couldn't dislodge them. They
14:51 started out with 50,000 troops when they
14:53 landed the British and nine months later
14:55 they had 500,000. and they couldn't
14:57 couldn't do anything. They had to get
14:58 them out and they walked away and they
15:00 never tried again. And when the war
15:03 ended, even though the Turks had been on
15:04 the losing side, everybody made the
15:07 decision to turn the dinels over to the
15:09 Turks on condition that we all abided by
15:12 this thing called the Montreus
15:14 Convention. And by the way, the Turks
15:16 charge fees
15:18 for movement through and and so forth
15:20 because they've got to maintain it. It's
15:22 not costfree. You don't just sit there
15:24 and all the channels remain open and
15:27 nothing silts up and so forth. That's
15:29 worked. Now, we're upset that thanks to
15:34 our attack, we can't control the
15:36 straight. We're not going to get control
15:38 of the street. It it it would take a
15:40 100,000 troops and you probably lose a
15:43 large number of them and it wouldn't
15:45 last. I mean, this was what they found
15:46 out in the Jordan Hills. So, why not go
15:50 back to theou? Well, that's because
15:52 theou was a statement of fact. It it
15:55 provided for things we didn't like, but
15:57 we lost the war. It was the intelligent
16:01 thing to do when he signed it. And he
16:04 understood that because he said, "I've
16:06 got to get the global energy complex up
16:09 and running. Got to open this straight.
16:11 That's more important." Yes, Mr.
16:13 president is more important than you and
16:16 anything else happening today on this
16:17 planet for billions of people on this
16:20 planet. What's he done? He's backed
16:22 away. He's doubled down, made more
16:25 damage. And I think he's predisposed
16:28 right now to opt once again for force.
16:30 He seems to like force. This is a
16:33 personality that thinks, well, if you
16:35 don't listen to me, I've got to hammer
16:37 you into the dirt. And you know, we
16:38 we've been through Roy Con's rules,
16:41 right? These are the things that have
16:42 defined Trump, but I don't see it
16:45 working and I see it being disastrous.
16:48 And in the meantime, China has grown
16:51 stronger and and will continue to go
16:54 stronger. Not because
16:56 we've started wars, but because they've
16:58 stayed out of them.
17:01 >> Correct.
17:02 >> And that's the lesson. And that's
17:04 something we Americans used to
17:05 understand very well. And we've seem to
17:08 forgotten it. That is the one thing
17:10 about China is that over the last, you
17:12 know, 40 years, it's risen very
17:13 peacefully. It does not involve itself
17:15 in very many wars and certainly spends a
17:17 lot of its time, its resources, its its
17:20 energy on itself and and that's why
17:22 we've seen a a dramatic rise of China
17:23 over the last 40 years. Um, Colonel, I'd
17:26 like to talk about Netanyahu and his
17:28 visit to the United States. uh he's just
17:30 flown into Washington, you know, red
17:33 carpet treatment of course, you know,
17:34 with Donald Trump, probably coming to
17:36 see, you know, the the funeral for
17:38 Lindsey Graham, who obviously was a very
17:40 big fan of Netanyahu and the Israeli
17:42 regime, but I'd like to get your
17:44 thoughts on, you know, this potential
17:45 meeting and and what, you know, what do
17:47 you think is going on between behind the
17:48 scenes with Netanyahu and Trump? What do
17:51 you think that they're talking about? I
17:52 mean, I can't I can't imagine that both
17:54 of them are happy at this point, five
17:56 months into the war. Nothing has really
17:58 gone either one of them their way. 92%
18:01 of Israelis actually believe that the
18:02 United States have lost the war
18:04 according to Israeli sources. So what do
18:07 you think that this uh strategic meeting
18:08 is going to accomplish or what do you
18:10 think that they're going to be
18:11 discussing right now?
18:12 >> It's all pure speculation, but we can
18:15 start from certain what I would call
18:17 ironclad assumptions.
18:20 uh Zalinski and Netanyahu, part of the
18:22 same cabal, backed by most of the same
18:25 Zionist billionaires who hate Russia,
18:27 hate Iran, and would like to see both
18:29 destroyed. You know,
18:32 so both of them have the same interest,
18:34 and that is to keep the war going.
18:39 Whatever you do, Mr. Trump, don't stop.
18:43 Keep bombing. Keep sending us money.
18:46 Keep sending us equipment and supplies.
18:49 help us to fund more mercenary forces.
18:51 This is Ukraine, you know, and we will
18:55 win. Just give us some more time and
18:57 we'll pull this out and win. Of course,
18:58 50% of everything you give these people
19:00 ends up in bank accounts and in Cyprus
19:02 and God knows where else because these
19:04 people are terrible crooks and
19:06 criminals.
19:07 But sadly, it looks like President Trump
19:10 was advised by his handlers uh who own
19:13 him and others to go along with this. So
19:17 I I suppose we'll come out with some
19:19 sort plan to send x numbers of millions
19:23 of dollars and more equipment. It's not
19:25 going to make any difference. Ukraine's
19:27 losing this war. The whole posture of
19:30 Russian forces is changing and Russia is
19:34 moving now aggressively west and Odessa
19:39 is useless to the Ukrainians as support
19:41 now. It should have been shut down a
19:43 long time ago and now Ukraine is a
19:47 landlocked entity of no particular value
19:50 to anybody there. Russians are moving
19:53 into Karkov. So I I think that over the
19:56 next month or two Ukraine is quite
19:58 liable to collapse on its own at this
20:01 stage. I don't think MI6 or the CIA and
20:05 hundreds of millions of dollars and any
20:07 more, you know, equipment can save them.
20:09 I think they've had it. They're also
20:11 running out of manpower. And even in the
20:12 western part of Ukraine, which is the
20:15 most anti-Russian, anti-communist
20:17 historically, and I know those people. I
20:19 grew up with some of them, and I love
20:21 them personally. But they've now turned
20:23 on the government. They don't want their
20:25 their families murdered on the
20:27 battlefield by the Ukrainian leadership
20:29 that simply treats them as can cannon
20:31 fodder.
20:32 So I think unfortunately Zilinski will
20:35 will leave with a pat on the head some
20:38 promises.
20:40 No doubt you know Congress will deliver
20:42 because they profit from the weapons and
20:44 so forth that are sent over there.
20:47 Then we come to Mr. Netanyahu and of
20:50 course Mr. Mr. Zilinski will do anything
20:52 anything he can to ingratiate himself to
20:55 us including I'll join the war against
20:58 Iran. Okay. Thanks. Uh, and now then you
21:01 turn to Mr. Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu has
21:04 lost the war. Israel is in a very real
21:09 danger of going out of existence.
21:12 All over the region, all of the elites
21:16 privately are saying the same thing from
21:20 uh the Indian border all the way to
21:21 Morocco in the Islamic world. Sykes Pico
21:26 is dead.
21:28 it will not be restored.
21:31 In other words, when this ends this war,
21:34 the map is not going to look as it did
21:36 before.
21:38 >> I don't think President Trump really
21:41 understands that. And I think that Mr.
21:44 internet and Yahoo is living in this
21:46 fantasy world of the Greater Israel
21:48 project which means that we are going to
21:51 fight in perpetuity against everyone in
21:54 the region, anyone in the region that
21:56 refuses to submit to Israel. We're not.
22:00 Those days are over. He may actually be
22:03 removed from office. I'm talking about
22:05 Trump. I'm also talking about Netanyahu.
22:08 Of course, removing Netanyahu doesn't
22:10 change thinking in Israel. They continue
22:13 to believe with heart and soul in what I
22:16 would call Jewish supremacy and Israeli
22:19 hegemony which is heavily backed in New
22:21 York City in the financial markets
22:23 around the world. But that's not going
22:25 to work
22:27 because they've got everybody against
22:28 them now. The only one who hasn't joined
22:30 the fight directly is of course Mr.
22:32 Erdogan,
22:33 >> right? Uh but I think that's coming
22:36 >> because behind all of this you also have
22:38 the development of bricks and bricks is
22:42 ultimately going to include the Turks as
22:44 well as the Iranians and everybody else
22:46 in the Middle East who wants to recover
22:48 from this stupid war
22:51 because if you don't join bricks you're
22:53 not going to be able to do much trade.
22:55 They're already started to trade in yuan
22:57 and yuan is effectively going to be
22:59 backed by gold. Where does that leave
23:01 us? we're out. So, as I said, it's a
23:06 rear guard proposition and Trump will
23:08 have to do what he thinks he can do for
23:11 the Israelis as well as for Zilinski
23:14 while he tries in his own dumb way with
23:17 tariffs and sanctions and other things
23:19 to hurt everybody including China. It's
23:22 all going to fail. Has no chance of
23:24 success.
23:25 And the smart thing to do is the
23:27 opposite of what he's doing obviously.
23:30 But there is no strategic thinking. None
23:32 whatsoever. You know if you you know the
23:35 best the best illustration of the sort
23:37 of strategy that we should pursue was
23:39 pursued by Great Britain from 1795 to
23:42 1815. And they would periodically be in
23:45 conflict with revolutionary France and
23:48 Napoleonic France. and then they would
23:50 make peace because they could go no
23:52 further or they'd been into a setback.
23:55 They couldn't buy it their way out or
23:58 they couldn't fight their way out. There
23:59 was no shame in that. You just stopped.
24:01 You cut a deal. You got off. You waited
24:04 and you built alternative structures
24:07 yourself in their case with allies and
24:09 partners and so forth. But that takes
24:12 patience. It takes understanding. It
24:15 takes continuity of thinking in
24:17 government. We don't have any of that.
24:21 >> Yeah. Uh, Colonel, how do you think that
24:24 this plays out for Donald Trump as
24:26 we're, you know, less than a hundred
24:27 days to the midterm elections? You know,
24:30 this is the big thing coming up
24:31 obviously in the United States. We could
24:33 see potentially the Democrats gaining
24:35 power of the House and the Senate and
24:37 ultimately, you know, having a tool to
24:39 really stop Donald Trump alto together.
24:42 Uh, do you see that this that so far
24:44 this Iran war would has been such a
24:46 disaster for Donald Trump that that is
24:48 most likely the outcome that he could
24:50 potentially lose his power and the
24:52 midterms could swing to the Democratic
24:54 side. What is your thoughts on the
24:55 midterms?
24:56 >> I I I don't think the midterms matter
24:59 very much because both parties are
25:00 disasters. I think if you focus on
25:03 Donald Trump, the question is, will he
25:06 be removed before the end of the year or
25:09 will he last into 2027?
25:12 That depends mostly on the economy.
25:16 Now, I've looked for people that are
25:19 upset over the war, and there there are
25:22 some out there in the United States,
25:23 some people who are. A lot of people in
25:25 the United States don't understand this.
25:27 I mean, ignorance is widespread. Oh,
25:30 let's bomb those rag heads. You know, I
25:33 don't care how many Muslims die. I mean,
25:34 I hear this kind of thing all the time.
25:36 >> Absolutely.
25:37 >> And it's dumb. But this is the product
25:40 of brainwashing that's gone on for
25:42 decades. You can't just turn it off and
25:45 get people to understand that's not the
25:46 case. It hurts Russia because people
25:49 insist, "Oh, well, we know the Russians.
25:51 We dealt with them in the Cold War.
25:52 They're evil." Well, wait a minute. You
25:54 know, this is not the Soviet. Oh, go
25:56 away. They're the same. So you got a
25:59 problem with that in the American
26:00 population. A problem I would say of an
26:03 acute lack of understanding and less
26:04 politely ignorance.
26:07 But there are more Americans than ever
26:09 that are feeling the rise in inflation,
26:12 the rise in prices. Uh the economy,
26:15 contrary to what President Trump keeps
26:17 insisting, is not good. It's not robust.
26:21 This is one of the reasons that people
26:23 voted for him initially. Remember that
26:25 he would focus here at home. He used to
26:28 talk about the debt and the danger to
26:31 the economy. He used to talk about
26:33 finding a way to grow out. Well, growing
26:35 out is now an impossibility. The best
26:37 that you can hope for is a default. And
26:40 that default can be managed. It's going
26:43 to be painful. Uh because this entire
26:46 nation subsists on cheap energy and
26:49 cheap credit. If you don't have cheap
26:51 energy, you don't have cheap credit. you
26:53 don't have cheap credit. Well, you end
26:55 up paying outrageous percentages for
26:57 money that you borrow to buy a house,
26:59 build a building, conduct a business.
27:02 So, we've been very fortunate. All of
27:04 this is tied up with the stupidity of
27:06 his actions in the Middle East and visav
27:09 China as well as Europe and Ukraine.
27:12 So, if he continues to self- emilate,
27:15 which is really what he's doing, and at
27:18 this stage, I think there's a good bet
27:20 he will, uh, he'll double down again.
27:23 He'll do as Mr. Netanyahu asks. And I'm
27:27 sure that he probably thinks, well, I
27:29 have enough support from the Zionist
27:32 billionaires that are backing all of
27:33 these things and pushing all these
27:35 things that I can fight off any attempt
27:38 to remove me. That may or may not be
27:41 true. If things get much worse, and I
27:43 think they're going to get a lot worse.
27:44 I think you're going to see 150 bucks a
27:46 barrel and higher, I think if you talk
27:49 to Jeff Curry, he'll make the same kinds
27:51 of arguments. Or Ray Dallio or Luke
27:54 Roman, you know, or uh, you know,
27:57 Gundlock, Jeffrey Gundlock. All of these
27:59 people are very smart. They've been in
28:01 business for years. Uh, Rogers is
28:04 another one. They'll all basically say,
28:06 "Look, you know, we're we're just one
28:09 foot left on the cliff. We're already
28:11 tipping over into the abyss. So, if I'm
28:14 right and they're right and that's the
28:16 case.
28:17 >> No, he he's going to have a tough time
28:19 remaining in office. And it's it's
28:22 either now or later he'll be gone.
28:26 >> Yeah. I mean, I think you've hit on the
28:27 most important thing for all Americans
28:29 that I mean is the primary thing is
28:31 certainly the economy. I mean, when we
28:33 look at gas is still, you know, uh at
28:36 all-time highs. I mean, it just
28:37 continues to get worse. I I was in
28:39 California, diesel was almost $8 a
28:41 gallon. I mean, how does the United
28:43 States economy uh function when those
28:45 when the gas is so high and the pro is
28:48 so high? Um, and then now we're looking
28:51 at Iran, you know, actually shutting
28:53 down uh the other side of Saudi Arabia
28:55 where where they're exporting, right? I
28:57 think it's Hezbollah rather. Hezbollah
28:59 has shut down that other avenue to
29:01 export oil. So, I think we're going to
29:02 see a lot of economic pain here coming
29:05 up in the fall. And and I I mean do you
29:08 think that Donald Trump ultimately will
29:10 have to cut a deal similar to how he you
29:12 know originally he signed theou and
29:14 basically said look we had to sign it or
29:16 else the global economy would collapse.
29:18 We know that the United States strategic
29:20 oil reserve is at is very low. Actually
29:22 it was China that really saved the
29:24 global economy because China stopped
29:25 importing as many barrels of oil and
29:27 they allowed those barrels of oil to go
29:29 to other nations around the world
29:30 because China has the largest strategic
29:32 oil reserve in the world over 1.4 4
29:35 billion barrels. Uh they could survive
29:37 well over a year if needed, you know,
29:39 because of China's vast reserves. So
29:41 again, world needs to thank China for
29:43 once again saving the economy. But
29:45 ultimately, Trump has shown his cards.
29:47 He has to make a deal or he has to make
29:49 a move or or or witness a global
29:52 economic collapse. Is that ultimately
29:54 going to be the story here, Colonel,
29:55 that Donald Trump's going to have to
29:57 eventually give up?
29:58 >> Well, two things. First of all, most
30:00 Americans do not understand what you
30:03 just said about China.
30:05 They are being told, "Oh, China wants to
30:07 destroy us. China wants to replace us.
30:11 Chinese don't want to replace us. They
30:14 want nothing to do with the reserve
30:15 currency." I mean, it's it's bizarre
30:18 when you listen to people. Oh, they hate
30:20 us. We're at war with China. No, you
30:21 don't. You're not necessarily at war
30:23 with China. You're competing with China
30:25 and you're doing a shitty job of
30:27 competing with China, but you're
30:29 competing. You're not at war. Oh, yes,
30:31 we are. Okay, fine.
30:33 uh you have the same problem with
30:35 Russia. I think that uh the other issue
30:39 is that
30:41 Donald Trump can't sign much of anything
30:44 because at this point the best deal he
30:47 received was the one that he's thrown
30:49 away.
30:51 Theou
30:53 thatou as as uh humiliating as he seemed
30:56 to think it was was a great opportunity
30:58 to get out
31:00 >> in this nonsense.
31:02 But he's, you know, the puppet of the
31:04 Jewish lobby. He's essentially consigned
31:08 his soul to them. He's mortgaged his
31:11 life and his presidency to the Israel
31:13 lobby. That's it. They're not going to
31:16 accept that. So when this ends, and it
31:18 will, everything ends at some point, and
31:20 it could end catastrophically, by the
31:22 way, including the use of nuclear
31:24 weapons, uh, because the Israelis could
31:27 foolishly initiate that.
31:30 But I I hope not. But when this ends,
31:34 we'll just leave.
31:37 >> And that's what we always do. And again,
31:39 I say this to people and they look at me
31:41 with blankface. I said, remember, we are
31:43 primarily
31:44 an aerospace and naval power.
31:47 >> Our army was really pitifully small and
31:51 not terribly capable. Uh it's it's gone
31:54 from where it was in 1991 down to almost
31:57 nothing. Needs to be radically
31:58 reorganized, reoriented. It has things
32:01 it's got to do, but we're primarily air
32:04 and naval, and that's what you're seeing
32:05 in operation right now. And air and
32:08 naval power has limits. Those limits are
32:10 identified. We can't change those. So, I
32:13 think what he does is he says, "I've
32:15 done all I can. We've destroyed all of
32:17 them. It'll be years before they
32:18 recover. So, we're leaving." He'll say
32:22 something like that and it'll go away at
32:24 some point.
32:26 The problem is the fee, the defeat, the
32:28 strategic setbacks. what I talked about
32:30 at the beginning, the destruction of
32:31 this hegemonic order is going to follow
32:35 him back to Washington,
32:36 >> right?
32:37 >> And he'll pay a heavy price for it. His
32:39 best shot is over. And it's over for
32:42 another reason. I'm sure you're aware of
32:43 this, Cyrus.
32:45 Nobody believes him,
32:49 >> Yeah. I think his credibility is is
32:51 almost completely gone at this point. I
32:54 totally agree with you.
32:55 >> I mean, I I said to a friend of mine,
32:56 "Would you buy a used car from Donald
32:58 Trump?" He started to laugh. He said,
33:00 "Hell no." He said, "Of course not."
33:02 >> He he'd bring this 1957 Ford freshly
33:05 painted up to you and say, "This is the
33:06 greatest car in the world." You know,
33:09 and there's nothing better. And by you
33:12 know, he's simply interested in parting
33:14 you from your money.
33:15 >> That's what he's learned to do very
33:17 well. Well, that doesn't prepare you to
33:20 be president of the United States. And
33:21 then if you add in the egoomania,
33:24 narcissism,
33:26 the acute lack of understanding, the
33:28 failure to study anything, when you're
33:31 talking to somebody who says the
33:32 president likes to watch things on
33:34 video. One of my sons was telling me
33:36 about a cold laring. Is that familiar to
33:38 you?
33:39 >> I haven't heard of it. No.
33:40 >> Well, it's about becoming an avatar. You
33:43 play in one of these games and then you
33:45 step into the avatar and you you run
33:48 around. And uh they said, "Well, you
33:51 dad, you don't understand. The president
33:53 lararsps too much. He's laring.
33:56 >> He doesn't understand what he's doing."
33:58 >> Right. I I think he's lost the mental
34:01 capacity to serve uh this country,
34:03 certainly in the highest position in the
34:05 world. I mean, it is a very important
34:07 position and it's very difficult to see
34:10 the United States doing anything of what
34:12 you've just predicted, just eventually
34:14 having to pull out. And that's what we
34:15 always do. That's what we always do. We
34:17 look at Afghanistan uh you know 20
34:19 years$2 trillion dollars to replace the
34:21 Taliban with the Taliban and
34:23 strategically accomplish nothing in the
34:25 region other than uh maybe enriching a
34:27 lot of our politicians who's owning the
34:29 military-industrial stocks, you know,
34:31 and that does seem to be a big play. We
34:33 know the Jewish lobby. It's a
34:35 frustrating thing, Colonel, but I'm
34:36 really glad that we can get people like
34:38 yourself on the show to help more
34:40 Americans and more people around the
34:42 world, you know, learn the truth.
34:43 Colonel, I'll give you the last word.
34:44 tell us more about your Substack and
34:46 where we can find more of your work so
34:48 that we can continue to support you.
34:50 >> Well, there are a couple of things that
34:51 people can do. One is to go obviously to
34:53 the Warrior Diplomacy. It's McGregor
34:55 Warrior Diplomacy Substack. And now
34:58 there's also a McGregor Warrior
35:00 Diplomacy YouTube channel. And I think
35:03 you you know a lot of things are posted
35:06 that have been done recently as well as
35:08 in the past. And I think people will
35:10 find it interesting. We posted some
35:11 things that I wrote a long time ago and
35:14 people are reading you say, "Well, this
35:16 is exactly right." Well, they're 10
35:18 years old in some cases and they're
35:21 finding out that, you know, the problems
35:22 we're dealing with didn't just happen.
35:24 And in fairness to Donald Trump, by the
35:26 way, and Joe Biden. When you look at the
35:29 problems we have with missiles and
35:30 munitions, they go back to the George W.
35:33 push time
35:35 >> decisions that were made then to
35:37 reallocate funds and the air and naval
35:40 services went with considerably fewer
35:42 resources into the future. But they also
35:45 had leaders, senior leaders who wanted
35:47 to push themselves, advance themselves.
35:49 They were ambitious and they didn't
35:51 manage very well. So the combination of
35:54 poor senior military leadership along
35:57 with the reallocation of funds to fight
35:59 remember the global war on terror and
36:03 these funds went into primarily light
36:05 infantry and the Marines and the army.
36:08 Uh that's money lost on a cause that was
36:11 lost that never made any sense and under
36:14 a series of senior military leaders that
36:16 weren't very impressive. So the problems
36:19 we have now began 30 years ago.
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