Congress is finally showing a spine. After months of all gas and no brakes, the unauthorized Iran war has become the breaking point — and for the first time in this administration, Republicans, Democrats, and the Angry Middle in between are unified in opposition. The country does not want another regime-change war. The country does not want a new forever war. And the politicians, as usual, are behind the people they claim to lead. Paul Rieckhoff lays out why this moment matters and why the pushback can’t stop at Iran when Cuba, Greenland, and Mexico are already in the rhetorical crosshairs.
Then there’s the deeper rot. The nominee to run the DNI — the traffic cop for every piece of intelligence flowing from our allies and our own agencies — has no experience and, in Paul’s read, no intelligence. Scott Bessent is brawling with Bill Pulte on Capitol Hill. Ebola is spreading in Africa. Putin is slamming into Ukraine. Iran is hitting Kuwait. The World Cup is coming to American soil with a national security apparatus staffed by wannabe tough guys and unqualified loyalists. Americans feel less safe because they are less safe — and this briefing connects every dot.
In this episode
- Why the Iran war became the breaking point that finally unified Republicans, Democrats, and independents
- How politicians are lagging behind a country that has already rejected forever wars
- Trump’s “all gas, no brakes” doctrine — and the trial balloons on Cuba, Greenland, and Mexico
- Congress rediscovering its single most important power: holding back a president who sends young Americans to die
- Scott Bessent’s Capitol Hill answer about wanting to “kick Bill Pulte’s ass” — and what it says about the wannabe tough guys running Washington
- Marco Rubio reading the room and positioning for what comes after Trump
- An unqualified DNI nominee sitting on top of every allied intelligence secret — and why Putin is celebrating
- The unsafe summer: Ebola, Ukraine, Iran-Kuwait, and the World Cup converging on a hollowed-out national security apparatus
- The real fear: a DNI who could sell American secrets, intentionally or otherwise
