Here’s Why The Knives Are Out for Pete Hegseth!
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Come see us on tour. We're going to be in Bakersfield, San Jose, California, Buffalo, New York, Toledo, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast, Dublin, Liverpool, Birmingham, and London. Go to JimmyDore.com for a link for tickets. Hey, this is Jimmy. Who's this? Hi, Jimmy. This is Vince Vaughn. Double V, friend of the show. What's up, Vince? Good. Fine. You know, pretty good. Okay, good to hear.

I can't complain. You know, I got to say, Vince, you sound sort of reserved. I really don't know what you're talking about, Jimmy Dore. Well, you know, usually you call in and you get all goofy with us and you say crazy things. Your tone today, though, it's just sort of placid. Well, Jimmy, maybe it's time for me to grow up. I can't really keep calling into the Jimmy Dore show and acting like a goofball all the time. You know, everything's not just a great big joke, Jimmy.

Maybe I've decided that calling in and roasting celebrities in a gauche and degrading manner is beneath me. And I'd like to think that you would think that as well. Wow. What's gotten into you, Double V?

My name is Vincent, thank you. And what's gotten into me is last week I got to visit the White House. And I got to meet the president again. And I had a private chat with him and he had a picture taken with me. I can't be White House visitor guy and clown on the Jimmy Dore show guy. I have to project the dignity of a White House visitor. Things are just different now, Jimmy, they are.

Yes, esteemed Trump White House visitor like Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan. Hey, you know what? Their choices are theirs. I do not judge them. Vince Vaughn is not a judger. But at the same time, my choices are mine. And I am going to let that statesman-like vibe, the aura of the halls of power, rub off on me. Maybe that's my aura now.

This same White House released a photo of you and Trump with the caption, White House Crashers. That's a takeoff from your 2005 hit comedy, Wedding Crashers. Not sure they saw that meeting with the same reverence as you did. Mr. Trump is a fan of movies and Hollywood, and that's fine. It's flattering, quite frankly. Why? What did you two discuss? Were you at the White House? Why were you at the White House in the first place?

Jimmy, I've declined to answer this question from other news outlets, and despite our long association, I declined to answer here as well. Oh, come on, Vince. Okay, Jimmy, I can't say no to you. I was pleading my case to him to be his Hollywood czar. Hollywood czar? I don't think I heard him ever mention the potential role of a Hollywood czar.

That's because I made it up and I was pitching it to him. Basically, the idea is someone who is familiar with show business and is in charge of making liberal Hollywood tone down the wokeness. Wait, didn't this already happen?

Yeah, he made those old guys ambassadors or envoys to Hollywood. Purely symbolic. Nothing ever came of it. I'm talking about an Elon Musk-level role in the White House aimed at de-woking Tinseltown. Make Snow White white again, baby. I see. What did Trump... What did he think of your idea? Oh, he fucking loved it. The whole visit was amazing, actually, if I can be honest with you. And I think I can be honest with you. He did that. That's the Vince we know. Walk us through it.

Well, I got there and some intern walked me back to the Oval Office where he had a spread of Big Macs and Filet-O-Fish and Diet Cokes all lined up for us. I was like, do Robert Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Oz let you eat like this? And he said, I do what I fucking want. And then he farted and started eating. I'm like, I love this man already. Uh-huh.

And then I started pitching the idea and he kept interrupting and asking me which female stars I banged. Co-stars. He's like, you were in Lost World. Did you bang Julianne Moore? No, sir. Hmm. You were in Anchorman with Christine Applegate. You bang her? No, sir. And he just kept going. Not looking at IMDb or anything, just from memory. He just knew all the movies I was in and all the hot ladies who were also in them. I'm telling you, the man is sharp as a tack. Very impressive.

But between you and me, the fact that I don't sleep with my female co-stars seemed to bother him like a lot. I felt like it made him not trust me. I told him I've been married for a long time and he's like, I don't understand. What does that have to do with anything? I see. I got the impression that he doesn't trust men who aren't grotesque and immoral in the same way he is. And I met a lot of guys like that in my time. How did you handle that?

Well, I just started lying. Oh, sure. On the set of Wedding Crashers, me, no one, Wilson, double team, Rachel McAdams in a trailer. And then Trump switched back on. I think he knew I was lying, but it didn't matter. Just like the idea of that happening made him happy. So I was back in business. Well, I hope you get the job, Vince. Oh, boy. Me too, Jimmy. And don't worry, I won't come after you, even though you're a big woke liberal. That's not a good description of me at all, actually.

Oh, come on. Don't be shy. Let that freak flag fly, baby. Men could be women. Dogs could be cats. Fords can be Chevys, whatever. That's not what my show is about, Vince.

Jimmy, I have an idea of what your show is in my head, and I'm not going to change it for anything or anyone, even you. But the rest of Hollywood, luck out. If I get this job, I'm going to de-woke the shit out of you. For you, Double V will stand for victory and vindication. Also vengeance. Triple V. Okay, Jimmy, I got to go. I'm getting too excited for my own good. I need to calm down and have a fresca if they still make those at all. Double V out. They still do make frescas, Vince.

Oh, yeah.

So, you know, the knives are out for Pete Hegseth, right? Yes, I do. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and all the headlines and all the newspapers, all the social media is what a screw up this guy is, what an idiot, and he's on his way out.

He's like the new Matt Gaetz. Why? Why is Pete Hegseth out? Pete Hegseth, by the way, just fired three of his top advisors that were his lifelong friends that he handpicked. And you go, well, why did he fire those guys? Because it was released that Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance, and Tulsi Gabbard advised Trump to not go along with Israel and bomb Iran. So that's what got out.

Right. OK, so I'm thinking, oh, they're going after him because of that. But why did he fire those three guys? Well, guess what? I'm watching the Ron Paul show and the Ron Paul Liberty Report. And I apologize for not having this guy's name written down, but he's got a wig cut. He's got it. I think he looks good. I'm jealous.

Well, me too, but I mean, it's cut to look like a wig. Here we go. Watch this. How do you deal with a Pentagon in disarray as we've talked about on this show over the past few days? So apparently the Pentagon is in disarray. Pete Hegseth, not a good manager. That's what they're saying. And...

A Pentagon where the Secretary of Defense is firing loyalists who he had worked with for years. So he just fired his loyalists that he's worked with for years who he appointed, Pete Hegseth. And why did he do that?

claiming, acting as if he never knew them, that they were just leakers and disgruntled former employees because they were found out to have advised Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, successfully advised him, we should not sign off on an attack on Iran. It's not going to be a cakewalk. He listened to them. He got smacked down by the neocons, and so he threw his staff under the bus. So that's why Pete Hegseth

Fired those guys who were lifelong friends of his. And he said, oh, they're leaking. They're doing all this guy was sound like a bullshit. But it's because the neocons found out that they they're coming down on Pete Hegseth for advising Trump against going to war with Iran. And they found out that Pete Hegseth was against it and advised Trump that way. So now he's trying to say, oh, it's their fault.

It's their fault. I'm going to be cool. I'm going to be cool going forward. It's their fault. That's what it sounds like. Right. Well, Jimmy, is that a... I mean, is that like part of his... Because I got to tell you, I'm still thrown for a loop. We showed those clips of him saying how we got to bomb Iran now, like yesterday, from a while ago. And so I'm genuinely surprised that he was like, it's not a good idea to go to Iran. Right. So are they... I mean...

So those are close friends of his. Are they in on that where you guys get fired, go on Tucker and tell people? Is it like that? Could it be like that? But when he was saying we got to bomb the shit out of Iran, he wasn't the defense secretary. He was a guy trying to make a name for himself as a TV personality. Let's remember that. So now that he's defense secretary, he's got responsibility, and he doesn't want to see a war with Iran go belly up, which is what they were advising him. Hey, if you do this, it's not going to be good for us.

there's a war that's not good for us and so he was like okay let's uh let's try to negotiate well then the neocons came down with a hammer on him and he's like well it wasn't my fault it was uh these guys these motherfuckers they they're the ones who told me uh they're the they're the ones the people i've known all my life he threw him under the bus that's according to ron paul's liberty report right let's see he's got it uh something thank goodness dr paul never did to any of us um

So you have a situation, you have a White House in crisis, you have a Pentagon in crisis and disarray, and you have an administration that is expending an enormous amount of energy and effort without understanding the origins of the problem, without understanding the status of the situation, the status of the United States as a party to this war. Okay. So now I'm watching this guy, Mike Benz, who's a friend of the show.

He's good, Mike Banks. And he's good. He's got a lot of insight that is full of information. So he says this. So he's talking about why the knives are out for Pete Hegseth. And this is what he has to say. He has the 10 seconds that prompted me to tweet this in case people haven't been following. So Liz Wheeler is very nice. She posted this 37-second clip. I didn't even watch the full 37 seconds, to be honest. Maybe I should. I paused it after 10 seconds. I went to Twitter.com.

VideoDownloader.com and I cropped the first 10 seconds and I said, okay, I've seen enough. I guess that's all I need. You could train an aquatic mammal. You could have a dolphin bay out the words that Pete Hexeth says here. You could have Flipper at SeaWorld. If you could train to go and just bat out these words, I would be like, I'm okay with you

being the commander of the world's largest army. And these are the 10 seconds. Trump threatened the international order, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C., Brookings Institute types. They were never told their wars were stupid. Good enough. He identifies the main thing. It's the institutions.

It's the outside stakeholders of war, like the Council on Foreign Relations, like the Brookings Institution and their donor network. That's the reason we get involved in stupid wars. So we need to confront the institutions. We need to clean house. And we need to put an America First agenda in charge of our policy again. That's it. That's all you need.

That's all I need in terms of strategic vision. That's it. So Pete Hegseth might be a day drinker. He might be a cowboy. He might be a bad manager of the Pentagon. That's not why they get rid of someone. So they came down on him because it got out that he was advised –

To tell Trump not to go to war with Iran at this moment. He told him that. And the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institute, all the people who make money off war, the war machine, they came down on his head. They want him gone. And so then he's trying to fire the people around him to say, OK, well, OK, OK. That's what it sounds like to me.

That's what it sounds like to me. Oh, is the Pentagon in disarray? What does the array look like? Losing $2 trillion? Assholes. I'm with you. The nerve to be like, he's not qualified when they've lost $2 trillion. Well, they didn't lose it. They stole it repeatedly. Right. And they're like, oh, he can't handle this. No, they're like ticks that have to be dug out with flames. So let's see what else he has to say. Actually, it's his thumb directly over the central dynamic of it all.

I should probably listen to the other 27 seconds, right? Let's listen. Trump threatened... Right. So Jim says, yes, Mike, it's not rocket science, but you'd be surprised how many people don't get it. And not necessarily because they don't get it, but because they can't say it because they are then boxed out of the Council on Foreign Relations. That's right. They're boxed out of the private equity funds. They can't be like Mark Milley and make seven figures after being the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

Working at J.P. Morgan. Yeah. Isn't that something? A general from the Pentagon who was the chairman of George H.W. Staff leaves the administration and then goes to work for Wall Street because he's a brilliant banker. Isn't that amazing?

Covered when he told them, you guys, bankers are the real heroes. Yes! Of U.S. military generals. That's right. Bankers. That's right. And I'm supposed to believe this cock and bull story Trump called troops chumps. Yeah. They're all upset about that. When I just watch a general called bankers the real heroes. Let's watch a little more of this. Going from the battle commander to a banker. Or like Jared Cohen going to Goldman Sachs. Or like all of them.

But the nice thing is, is Pete Hagsett is probably independently wealthy because of his Fox News perch and his book sales and his celebrity status from there. So he doesn't need a seven-figure salary at a bank that's bankrolling U.S. foreign policy as it pertains to war. So I like it. It's elegant. It's simple. Anyway, let's hear the full clip.

Trump threatened the international order, Council on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C., Brookings Institute types. They were never told their wars were stupid or their generals were losers or that NATO didn't step up, that China would unleash a virus. So let's call it the China virus and hold them to account for it. All of those things were a calling out of an international order that was failing and is continuing to fail and now has a great advocate in the regime currently in the White House. And Ukraine,

It's basically a fight Donald Trump by fighting Putin through Zelensky war. They finally found a war they just absolutely love. Trump threat. Holy shit, this guy gets it. Yeah, that's exactly right. Oh, I definitely see the appeal now. Yeah, that's totally in line with Trump's foreign policy vis-a-vis Russia and China. And it's also so it's it's totally in line on foreign policy.

which is shifting to great power competition with China and relative neutrality with Russia. He's totally right that it was get Trump through get Putin. And so that's the outside foreign policy that he aligns with Trump completely eye to eye on. And then the internal threats is he said, this is very interesting. See Brookings Institute types. They were never told their wars were stupid or their generals were losers.

gone right after the generals. I know you guys who have read his books and have said in chat, you know, read his books or listen to more of him. I just haven't had time. This just happened like four hours ago, guys. I did not, you know, I got a lot of other stuff going on. I didn't, there's other people who I had diligence for this DOD spot. Pete Hexeth was not one of them. So, but what I'm, what I'm saying here, what I'm saying here is this fact that he says not only were the worst stupid, but the, but the generals were losers. Yeah.

Trump has had this giant battle with the generals. And I've told you guys this story many times before. When I was just a humble scribe, when I was Donald Trump's speechwriter, I remember the day they walked in and said, Donald Trump wants you to look up what JFK had to say about his generals. And I thought, oh my God, does he think his generals are going to kill him? What did JFK have to say about his generals?

But that's how locked in, horns-wise, Trump was with the general class. So putting someone above the generals as the Secretary of Defense to be able to clean house and then setting up an independent board to basically keep a constant eye out for threats to Pete Hegseth is kind of fucking epic. It's kind of fucking epic. Okay. Very interesting. Very interesting. Okay. All right.

We're learning something here. I'm learning. I don't know if you guys are. This is all new to me. There's a chance to course correct it, but it would take the new Trump administration going after it really hard. How would they correct it?

Well, first of all, you got to fire, um, you know, you got to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs and you got to fire this. I mean, obviously you're going to bring in a new secretary of defense, but any general that was involved, general admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI woke shit, it's got to go. Uh, either you're in for war fighting that, and that's it. And that's the only litmus test we care about. Uh,

You gotta get DEI and CRT out of military academies so you're not training young officers to be baptized in this type of thinking. And then, you know, whatever the standards, whatever the combat standards were, say, in, I don't know, 1995, let's just make those the standards. And as far as recruiting, to hire the guy that, you know, did Top Gun Maverick and create some real ads that motivate people to want to serve.

And there's lots of other ways in which you could identify who gets promoted and what, but there's an ethos change. I mean, there's a reason we're not, people don't want to serve because they don't trust that their senior leaders are going to have their best interest in mind in combat. I know there were mistakes made on our tours all over the place, but I at least for the most part had a sense that my senior leaders were committed to

to the completion of the mission for the right reasons. And maybe there were strategic differences and all that other stuff, and it wasn't always perfect, but I, and that trust is broken. And you have to reestablish that trust by putting in no-nonsense war fighters in those positions who aren't gonna cater to the socially correct garbage. - That's good stuff. I know more about this than I should, but I did get a Pentagon DEI program shut down during the Biden administration in 2021.

So basically, you get the point. So if you're wondering why the knives are out for Pete Hegseth, that's what my. So he's fighting with the generals. He's fighting with the Council on Foreign Relations. He's fighting with the Brookings Institute, the war machine. Now they came down on him really hard. So he fires the people under him who told him, hey, don't go to war with Iran.

Because I think he was up for going for war with Iran. And then there were everybody from Tulsi to J.D. to his three top advisors like, hey, no, this would actually mess us up. This would put us in a bad spot. And you're the defense secretary, so it's going to fall on your head. Go ahead. You don't think that – because it seems like they were like faking their for it. All three of them seemed to me like they were faking being for it. And that would explain why they seem so 180-ish.

You know what I mean? Yes. On the initial thing. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe they had to do that to get confirmed. Who knows? But if you go to so there's that I've talked about this before. They're a sponsor. Kelsey, you can bet on anything. You can bet on politics. You can bet on who's going to win the Canadian election. You can bet on who when Trump ran. You can bet on that. Well, now guess what? You can bet who's going to leave their role in the Trump administration this year.

You can go there and bet. The first one at top, it says Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense. 48% of the money is on him leaving first. Peter Navarro, Howard Lutnik. I'd like to see that guy go. I don't like that guy. I bet betting no is the smart bet on that because he sucks so bad, Howard Lutnik. He's really a demon, that guy.

Did you know, Jimmy, that... Go ahead. Did I know what? Nixon was talking about firebombing the Brookings Institute back in the day. No! But they didn't want to pay for the getaway car or something? No kidding. Yeah. So this is who will leave their role in the Trump administration this year. 48% of the money is on Pete Hegseth. So that's the administration. But now with Trump's cabinet, which is different. His cabinet is different. Again, Pete Hegseth, number one.

At Calchi. The money's on Pete Hegseth. And then underneath that's Howard Ludnick, who I hope that guy goes. 20%. And then Scott Besson, which is the Secretary of Treasury, at 10%. So if you don't know what Calchi is, you can bet. This is legit. Like, they have to register with the SEC and all that stuff. Start betting, right? That's the message I'm getting. Yeah. Hey, don't we have a thing that we can...

Don't we have a deal if people want to go over there to our sponsor, Kalshi? Stand by. I think I... Oh, is it a sponsor for real? Oh, yeah, for real. Oh, what? I was just joking. I didn't know it was a sponsor. So if you go to Kalshi... I know this game. I should put odds in. Door 10 for 10% off. So if you go to Kalshi.com slash door... Yeah, Kalshi.com slash door. Get a free $10 credit when you trade $100. When you trade $100. So...

I'm going to bet. Did I say the knives are out for Pete Hegseth? Yeah. I'm going to put a little money on that. But who knows? Maybe Trump knows the game. But we'll see. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy. Yeah. That'd be money I'd be glad to lose. I'd like to bet on Howard Lutnick never gets kicked out and then lose. That would be like a win-win. I really can't stand that. I can't stand that Lutnick. He's my least favorite guy in the whole administration.

Well, I mean, he does talk like one of the worst people who's ever lived every time I see him say something. Every time. He closed contests with the guy with the bloody eye from the WEF. Ah! Okay, well, that's calchi.com. You can bet on anything. You can bet on anything political, anything politics. You can bet on who's going to be the new pope. Really? Yes! Yes!

I don't know enough data on that, but I could talk to James McCann, comedian James McCann, I bet he'll know, because he filled me out on the whole Pope deal. You can bet on who's going to win the Canadian election on Monday, eh? Liberal Party, Conservative, the Carney or the... Can I put in some kind of lizard? Yeah, put in some kind of lizard. That should be an option. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.

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Moving to Minnesota opened up a lot of doors for us. Just this overall sense of community and of values that, you know, Minnesotans have. It's a real accepting, loving community, especially with two young kids. See what makes Minnesota the star of the North. New residents share why they love calling it home at exploreminnesota.com slash live. Donald Trump made a post on Truth Soul Show, but...

It's all about Crimea. So Trump, I predict Trump is going to walk away from the Ukraine negotiations because here's the here's the funny thing. You know, Trump is acting like, oh, the United States is the negotiator.

What you forget is that the United States is actually at war with Russia. And so you don't get to come in and, no, we're neutral. No, he's still arming, we're still arming Ukraine. We gave them hundreds of billions of dollars. We were at war with Russia. And Russia knows this. And guess what? We lost. Guess what? We lost. Like we lose every war. Russia won. And so Russia gets to set the terms of the...

peace deal. And Zelensky thinks he can stop Russia from setting the terms. If Russia wants, they can take over Ukraine. But what they want is they're going to keep Crimea, which is the part they annexed in 2014. Which they already had. Which was part of Russia for hundreds of years. As was the borderlands, a.k.a. the Ukraine. Right. Right. So, and the big problem, as I've explained on this show many times...

is that Ukraine was slaughtering and bombing the ethnic Russians in the east part of Ukraine who didn't want to go along with their coup government. The United States overthrew the Ukrainian government in 2014, the Maidan coup. Victoria Nuland, the CIA, the United States did that because the president of Ukraine at the time was favoring Russia.

being in business with Russia as opposed to the European Union, and we couldn't have that. So we overthrew their government. The Russian, ethnic Russian-speaking people in the eastern part of Ukraine didn't want to go along with that coup government after we installed our puppets. Well, Ukraine just kept bombing them. There was a couple of peace deals. Ukraine broke them both. And so when Putin invaded Ukraine, it wasn't to start a war. It was to end a war. It was to end the slaughter of the people in the Donbass.

That was one objective. So now Donald Trump's move on Russia occupied Crimea forces Europe to choose sides. Donald Trump's move on Russia occupied Crimea. So let me read that again. Donald Trump's move on Russia occupied Crimea. Just say Crimea. Crimea.

assholes at financial times. Yeah, I know, right? Donald Trump's move on. You mean Crimea, the thing that's theirs? Okay, Crimea, go. The thing that's Russian's. And by the way, 90% of the people in Crimea want to be a part of Russia. And they're Russian. And they're Russian. So the problem is that Zelensky said we will not have any peace deal that gives Crimea to Russia. So that means there's not going to be no peace deal. So there's nothing in it for Russia to stop because they're winning.

How is Zelensky alive still? I don't get it. We've killed better men for much less. And so here's what Trump, so Trump tweeted this out after Zelensky said, I will not, I do not accept a peace deal that gives up Crimea. Well, tell that to the people of Crimea because they don't want to be part of Ukraine. So that's just another garbage talking point. Donald Trump posted this on Truth Social.

He said Ukrainian President Zelensky is boasting on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There's nothing to talk about there. Now, the funny part about that is it doesn't matter if Ukraine recognizes Russia occupying Crimea. They are.

Does BlackRock recognize it? That's what counts. Yeah, that's right. It doesn't matter. Ukraine can recognize it, not recognize it, play hide and seek with it. It could do whatever it wants. It doesn't matter. Ukraine does not matter. They've lost the war.

As we all predicted. The second we stopped giving them money. And it was always predicted at this show since day one that this war is going to end up exactly the way Russia wanted it to end up. And they had a peace deal immediately that was way more favorable to Ukraine than what they're going to get now. And Ukraine walked away from it because Boris Johnson and Victoria Nuland told them to stop it. To have to walk away from it. So they did. They walked away from that peace deal. And we said at the time, they just screwed up.

This is the best deal they're going to get. It's only going to get worse from here because Russia is going to win this war and the winners get to decide the terms. Plus, they have a lot of casualties, Russia. You think they have all those casualties for nothing? What are they, the United States? Right. This statement. So Trump says this statement, him saying Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There's nothing to talk about there. This statement is very harmful to the peace negotiations with Russia and that Crimea was lost years ago.

Meaning 11 years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama. I like to use his whole name. And it's not even a point of discussion. It's not even a point of discussion. This happened under Barack Obama. Yeah, right. I remember it very well. Nobody is asking Zelensky to recognize Crimea as Russian territory. But if he wants Crimea, why didn't they fight for it 11 years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?

Fair question. Oh, because the residents were Russian and they didn't trust the coup? The area also houses, for many years before the Obama handover, major Russian submarine bases. It's inflammatory statements like Zelensky's that make it so difficult to settle this war. He has nothing to boast about. The situation for Ukraine is dire. He can have peace or...

He can fight for another three years before losing the whole country. I have nothing to do with Russia, but have much to do with wanting to save, on average, 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week who are dying for no reason whatsoever. The statement made by Zelensky today will do nothing but prolong the killing fields, and nobody wants that.

We are very close to a deal, but the man with the no cards to play should now finally get it done, meaning Zelensky. I look forward to being able to help Ukraine and Russia get out of this complete and total mess that would have never have started if I were president. So he's laying it out. And so he's like, hey, this is it. And I predict that

Zelensky is being told by his European people and the neocons in the United States, don't let go of Crimea. Make that your line in the sand because they know that that means the war will go on forever. Yeah, Zelensky's smart to keep listening to them. Like that first time he was really smart to listen to Bojo say it's a no-go. And so now this creates a problem for Europe.

As the Financial Times says, Donald Trump's ultimatum for the U.S. to recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea has suddenly confronted European capitals with an agonizing choice. Stick with Kiev or side with Washington? Some European officials fear differences over the Trump administration's one-sided draft accord will put one-sided draft accord. They lost. The United States, Europe, and Ukraine lost the war.

will put bilateral relations with London, Berlin and other capitals to the test, undermine transatlantic security, transatlantic security and potentially derail a NATO summit in late June. Good. Good. Let's derail that NATO summit.

The Europeans have... Oh, no. Oh, no. Where's my fainting couch? The Europeans has always been in a weak position to stand up to the United States, said Jeremy Shapiro, director of the U.S. program at the European Council on Foreign Relations. They've been trying to avoid it for that reason. Wait, because we pay for everything? Could that be the reason why? That's probably the reason. Ha ha.

European hopes of being included in the U.S.-led talks were dashed on Wednesday when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pulled out of the meeting in London with Ukrainian and European officials and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, opted instead to make his fourth visit to the Kremlin. The Trump administration has presented Kiev with the outline of a take-it-or-leave-it deal with terms highly favorable to Moscow because they won the war.

That's why the Financial Times doesn't want to tell you that. They want to make it look like Trump's siding with Russia. Russia won the war. How would Kiev like to be presented with exploding instead of that? Because there's your other choice. Kiev...

including the U.S. recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea 11 years after it annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in contravention of international law. Okay, I got your international law right here. President Volodymyr Zelensky refused once again on Tuesday to recognize Russia's sovereignty over any of the territories it sees since 2014. Kiev, however, is ready to live with de facto Russian control in return for Western security guarantees. Yeah, because they have no choice.

They're ready to live with Russia controlling Crimea because they don't have a choice. But thousands more people should die over semantics. On Wednesday, Trump lashed out at Zelensky's stance, calling it very harmful. I just read you that. He could have peace or he can fight another three years before losing the whole country. Washington's offer to endorse Moscow's control of Crimea, breaking with the agreed policy of NATO,

is possibly the biggest concession it has made to Moscow in recent months in its haste to strike a deal. I think it's not that big of a concession. I don't give a flying fuck about Crimea. NATO. Yeah, it doesn't seem like a concession. It seems like a win-win to me. Yep. A concession. A close ally of German Chancellor-to-be Friedrich Merz said late on Wednesday that Europe could not accept the proposal. Well, good. Then you keep fighting in Ukraine.

You go to war with Russia then. Good, Germany. Oh, yeah, I bet it'll work out great for you. Yeah, I bet it's going to work out great. Maybe you repair that pipeline first so you have enough gas. Yeah, you let them blow up their pipeline, and now you're paying three, four times the rate for energy than you were before the United States blew up the pipeline, and your economy's in a recession. They call it a contraction. Hey, we'll sell you the gas cheap. Yeah.

Putin will achieve all his goals, and the message that would be sent out would be, I can afford such aggression. I will prevail in the end and achieve my goals. Thorsten Frey, a senior MP with the center-right Christian Democrats, said on a television show, and that means if you look at the tradition in which Putin sees himself, that he will continue. So it's this lie. It's this domino theory. So this is the domino theory that if we don't stop Putin now, he's going to keep going. He's going to take over Lithuania and Germany.

And he's going to take over Poland and Germany. He's going to take over the whole continent. That's all a lie. You know what I think, Jimmy? I think if Putin doesn't stop you assholes now, you're going to keep going. That's what I think. Yeah. The Trump administration has also ruled out Ukraine's membership of NATO, a longstanding Russian objection to a NATO pledge to allow Kiev into the alliance at a future point. While Moscow has been lavished with inducements...

Kiev has been subjected to pressure and threats. It has been offered little in exchange for giving up its territory because it lost the fucking war. That's why they have no leverage or in, as George Costanza says, we have no hand. Putin should have to dress up like a hula girl like he used to do.

They should have a belly dance into the meeting like a little hula girl. So this is from the Financial Times. I just love how they write these stories as if Ukraine hasn't lost those territories already. They lost them. There's zero recognition of the facts on the ground in these newspaper stories, which is what they expect Russia. They expect Russia to give back territory that they won at a great cost in lives and treasure. Russia's not doing that. They're not giving it back.

The worst case would be if the U.S. cannot reach a deal between Ukraine and Russia, and this is all pushed on Ukraine. This is when Europe would have to choose.

Between you, come on. Oh, I wonder what they'll choose. I wonder what they'll choose, Kurt. Ukrainian officials said before Wednesday's talks that they were prepared to discuss other terms of Washington's outline deal. Ukraine is ready to negotiate, but not to surrender. There will be no agreement that hands Russia the stronger foundations it needs to regroup and return to with greater violence. Okay. I guess you're just going to give away your whole country then, as Trump said.

The war's been going on for, what, four years? Yeah. People think they've been winning. I know people who think they've been winning, Jimmy. When they say it to me, I can't believe it. It's like a horror movie. Those are people who are on their 10th booster, Kurt. I wish I could say it was all that, but the one dude I know is because he went to officer school, and he wasn't a grunt. He was officer school, and that's where they train you, that nonsense.

Western officials told Financial Times that European capitals would not endorse any move by the U.S. to recognize Crimea as Russian or pressure Kiev to agree to it. And they would hold fast to a long-held position that they would not accept anything regarding Ukraine's sovereignty that Zelensky opposed. Crimea is Ukraine, European Union foreign policy chief told French news. So good. So you guys go fund the war.

Guys, best of luck to you. Best of luck. I think you're going to do it this time. Things don't look good at all, said an EU official. Any move by the U.S. to recognize Crimea as Russia or demand that European capitals ease sanctions on Moscow would kill European Union unity. It's all looking bad. Well, screw your European Union unity.

It should have been done back when you blew up that pipeline and had the Slovakian president shot because he wanted to look into Pfizer and stop funding Ukraine. It should have been done back then. Yeah, the European unity should have been over when they blew up the Nord Stream pipeline, which cast all your economies into recessions and makes you pay two, three, four times the price for energy. That's when European unity should have stopped.

So it's over. So I can't wait for Trump to... And the war will end very quickly if Trump pulls out all support for Ukraine. It will end very quickly. No, of course, because they're only hanging on because they think they've got people planted within the system that are going to keep the money going to Ukraine. Because so far they have done that. And remember, the United States is not a neutral negotiator in this war. They are...

They're at war with Russia. And they lost. The United States lost. We're going to have all these people die so that we can save face for our crash dummy, aka Ukraine. Yeah. Okay. Over, over. So I look forward to Trump getting us out of that.

I know that Ukraine has been bombing inside Russia and they're using United States HIMARS, as they call, which can only be used with a key code from the United States. Meaning if the United States doesn't give them the key code, they can't do it. So basically, the United States and Ukraine have been bombing inside Russia and they blew up a car.

recently in Moscow, and I'm pretty sure they've been drone bombing Moscow. Check me in that in the comments. Why can't we call them Her-Mars, Jimmy? Or Hip-Ha-Ha. How about They-Mars? They-Them-Mars. It's like clusters. So Putin's hit back, and he bombed inside Kiev, and it killed nine people, which every death's a tragedy, but as we watch Gaza, nine people being killed

is low on the scale. So Trump decided to, this is how he got him to stop. In rare rebuke of Putin, Trump urges Russia to stop. That's what he said. First of all, this is where Hillary Clinton would have came in really handy because she would just go up there and tell them, knock it off. Remember how she told, remember what she told Wall Street? Knock it off. She'd have a knock it off button she could press to make Putin knock it off.

Here's what he tweeted out. I'm not happy with the Russian strikes on Kiev. Not necessary. And very bad timing. Vladimir, stop! 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done. Stop. So that's it. Stop! All it took was for you to write that in caps? Why have you been waiting? So Trump tweeted it as a story? Trump tweeted, stop.

I mean, what a nonsense story. Oh, he did tweet it? What a rebuke. Whoa. So you're not happy with the airstrikes? How about the Israelis? They love airstrikes. Check with them. I bet they love it. Let's look for the keep it up tweets to BB. Come on. You've got them all. Check with the Israelis. You have them all throughout your administration.

Russia struck Kiev with an hours-long barrage of missiles and drones. At least 12 people. Oh, no, 12 people. It was nine. Now it's 12 people were killed and 90 were injured at the desliest assault on the city since last July. There's no IDF. Yeah, there's no IDF. If there was the IDF, they would have flattened about 400 or 500 people. Trump's frustration is growing as a U.S.-led effort to get a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia has not made progress. I wonder why.

I wonder why it's not making progress. The comments about Putin came after Trump last outed Ukrainian President Zelensky on Wednesday and accused him of prolonging the killing fields by refusing to surrender the Russia-occupied Crimea.

With his assertion that Putin demonstrated very bad timing with the massive attack, Trump appeared to suggest that the Russian leader was doing himself no favors toward achieving the Kremlin's demand that any peace agreement include Russia keeping control of Crimea, as well as Ukrainian territory in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Lewis and Clark. We got to ship these people vowels post haste. And Kyrgyzstan.

I think she's funny, that Kirsten lady. Have you seen her? Oh, Jess Kirsten? Yeah, Jess Kirsten. She's funny. Anyway, so the point I wanted to show you is that Trump's tweet is, he says, stop! That's how he's going to get it done. All caps, stop! What a news-making tweet. That's what Putin is doing now to help forge a peace deal. Trump responded, stopping taking the whole country. That's a pretty big concession. Yeah.

But the notion is one that Ukraine and much of Europe have fiercely pushed back against, arguing that Russia pausing a land grab is hardly a concession. Again, the AP, just like the Financial Times. Russia doesn't have to make any concessions. They won the fucking war. Fiercely pushed back? Do you mean lamely and then lost? Is that what you mean by fiercely?

Trump criticism of Putin is notable because Trump has repeatedly said Russia is more willing than Ukraine to get a deal done. I didn't like last night, Trump said, of Russia's massive attack on Kiev. I wasn't happy with it. I didn't like it. It sounds like somebody waking up after a ditty party. Something happened that wasn't too chill last night. I didn't like last night.

My ass didn't like last night. My ass got murdered. In his dealings with Zelensky and Putin, Trump has focused on which leader has leverage. Putin has the cards and Zelensky does not. I mean, it's very basic stuff. There's really no reason for this to go on at all. It's very basic. During talks last week in Paris, U.S. officials presented a proposal that included allowing Russia to keep control of occupied Ukrainian territories as part of the deal.

The proposal was discussed again Wednesday during the talks. The principle of Ukraine's territorial integrity is not something that can be negotiated. Yes, it is. It was taken by force, if that makes you happy to say that. Yeah, I love this. It can be taken from you. It can't be negotiated. There's no negotiation. Russia took it. Is this a joke?

This was the position taken last week. It reiterated yesterday in London in a meeting with Senator Ford. So now it's like they're trying to play tough, but they're trying to play tough with the United States, which is the country that makes them tough. Without us, you're not tough. I don't understand what they don't get about that. And also Israel comes before you. That's our first wife. That's right. Our first wife. You're our side piece. That's right. Money's on the dresser, honey. I'm finished with you. That's what America said to Ukraine. That's right.

But he's saying stop because the thing of walking away from both of them and let him duke it out because I don't care no more. I think that's why he's saying that to both of them in the tweet. You know what I mean? Yeah. Posting Vladimir stop. This is Michael Tracy has to be the funniest of all possible strategies for ending the Ukraine war. Well said, Michael Tracy. Guess what?

The real purpose of the Syrian war is now manifest, or one of the real purposes. It's what Israel wanted. What? That's right. Oh, I should have that video posted.

Of Netanyahu saying, well, we got to take out Libya. We got to take out Syria. We got to take out Iraq and Iran. And then everybody will then there'll be peace and democracy. Oh, the original MAGA project. Yeah. Greater Israel project. So Syria willing to normalize ties with Israel. What? Yeah.

So you realize that Syria is run by Al-Qaeda, right? They're supposed to be jihadists. They're supposed to hate Jews in the Israel. But it's funny that ISIS and Al-Qaeda never attack Israel. Isn't that funny? They're supposed to be their sworn enemies. It's almost like Al-Qaeda and ISIS were invented by the United States and Israel. It's almost like that. And Pakistan. Do you hear the jokes?

Goodbye, axes of evil. Hello, axes of normalizing relations with Israel. I'm just waiting to find out that Jolani. So this is Jolani. That's the leader, the Al-Qaeda. I'm just waiting to find out that his real name is Fred Scheinbaum. And he's from Queens, New York. That's what I'm waiting for.

uh so they're open to normalizing ties with israel really you're sworn enemy they're less radical than columbia university yep there but he's there but it's got to be under the right conditions what conditions would those be to have israel stop bombing you would that be the condition

So, Sayed Mohamed Morandi said Syria is willing to join the Abraham Accords. Oh, nice. This was the objective of the dirty war against Syria from the beginning. Well, but just because it was doesn't mean that... It's part of the Greater Israel Project. They want part of Syria and they want Syria on their side. They want people running... So, that's what this was always... There it is. Don't you feel like a sucker? And the people who said this, you called us Assadists.

You called us Assadists when I said this. Syrian war is not what it looks like. And it may be hungry because it sounds like a burrito. Jordan Peterson should interview him for the Daily Wire. They should talk about how anti-Semitic Candace Owens is. I like Syria. We will fight you right up until the Abraham Accords. Right up until then.

Then we're cool. This is a real mitzvah, Jimmy. Yeah. George Galloway says, dear shills for this, hang your heads in shame. Refrain from further public comment. Accept your disgrace. You are useful idiots for Israel and the empire or worse. You're talking to Jordan Peterson?

So this was always an Israeli plan. This was always an Israeli operation. And like always, they get the United States to do most of their dirty work. Well, Syria did a lot of shadow work. Just like in Iraq, just like in Yemen, just like in Libya.

Israel gets it and now they're trying to get it and just like in Israel got the United States to do most of their dirty work and now they're trying to get us to do their dirty work in Iran and I bet it's going to work. Yeah, that's why we know the Ukraine one's going to end because we got to get to work in Iran. They've been busy pushing it. I don't know if Pete Hegseth was undercover trying to keep it out of Iran, but maybe because they're trying to get rid of them. Yeah, well, we're going to talk about that next.

If only Christopher Hitchens was alive to see this, huh? To see he was a dupe. Syrian girl says, new Syrian regime Jelani says he wants to sign the Abraham Accords with Israel. We tried to warn you that the Syrian revolution were a bunch of Zionist puppets and Al-Qaeda, but you called us Assadists and helped destroy Syria. Who, me? I didn't even know you. So...

Not you, Kurt. It doesn't mean you. Syria is prepared to normalize ties with Israel and join the Abraham Accords under the right conditions, the Al-Qaeda president of Syria said. Republican congressman and President Donald Trump ally Corey Mills met with the Shura. So his name is Shura? I thought it was Jelani. Who's Shura? Shura. Ahmed al-Shura. Shura.

uh no he's the president shara i thought jolani was who's jolani isn't this jolani that's jolani he's the president oh it's a syria cindy interim president i'm not oh no i guess that's shara wait who's jolani it does say on the bottom that's who's jolani wait a minute hey syria who's jolani

Oh, no. That's not an American actor, singer, dancer. Wait, is it Zay Jelani, that journalist reported this or something? Wait, this guy's got a real Gerard Butler look to him, doesn't he? Like 300? They're the same guy. They're the same guy. They just have different names. His name is Jelani also? He's also known as Jelani.

So it's the same guy. So he's some kind of intelligence as just like how a BB Netanyahu, AKA BB eat Ben ETI, AKA John Jameson. Yeah. So this guy is known as, so take her. So this guy is president of Syria. Ahmad El Shara, also known as Jelani. So his name was Ahmad El Jelani and he made it El Shara. I guess.

Oh, okay. So it's like how Diddy would rebrand every time he committed a crime. He was born Ahmed Hussein Alshara in 1982. He's also known by his nom de gore, Abu Mohammed Al-Jilani. So he's been a secret agent asset the whole goddamn time. The whole goddamn time. Like Osama bin Laden, a.k.a. Tim Osman, when he would visit America.

So he adopted the Jelani name to signify his family's origins from the Golan Heights, which they're now giving to Israel. And they're all pals. So he's Israeli. So he's Israeli. Just like I said. Israeli. We're going to find out his name is Marty Scheinbaum. Oh, I can't wait. He's from Dearborn.

Syria has been pummeled by Israeli strikes since Assad's ouster. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sent Israeli soldiers into Syria to occupy a swath of mountainous southwest Syria, giving the Israeli army a perch over Damascus. The Israeli occupation of Syria is one of the host of challenges.

that Sarah or Jelani faces. Syria's economy is in shambles, with most of the country living in poverty and the estimated cost of reconstruction from the civil war around 400 billion. Oh, let me guess. He's going to meet the challenge and successfully do it and be an example to the other Arab countries to work with Israel and fit within the whatever pyramid we're building out there. How much you want to bet?

Sharaa's comments about joining the Abraham Accords would put him more into lockstep with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020. None of those Arab countries, however, fought a war with Israel. Sharaa himself hails originally from the Golan Heights, a strategic mountainous region of Syria, which Israel occupied in 1967 and then annexed.

After Assad's ouster, Israeli troops pushed deeper into Syria, taking over a UN buffer zone. A buffer. We got buffers. Yeah, we got buffers, right? Everybody's got buffers. Is that to keep Dave Smith out? Shara or Jelani previously said he was motivated by the Palestinian cause. Really? To do what? To kill Syrian Christians? Is that what motivated him? What?

However, since coming to power, he has signaled a willingness to crack down on Palestinian fighters. Well, who saw that coming? No kidding. I mean, he's doing the bidding of Israel. Isn't that something? And he's Al-Qaeda. But also from there. Oh, who made that group? Oh, what? Oh, God.

That appears to be partly in response to a U.S. demand that Damascus publicly ban all Palestinian armed and political activities and deport members of Palestinian armed groups.

Yeah, I'm sure it came from the United States. On Tuesday, Shara or Jelani's government arrested two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad officials in a sign that one U.S. official told Mideast I was intended to demonstrate Damascus' capabilities. Syria's new rulers have an anus, I'm sorry, have an onus to show they can address American and Israeli security concerns while in America. So they're all... This was...

Oh, Israel's connected to his onus. So this was... Israel is embedded deep in his onus. Israel's got him. They've grabbed him by his onus. So this was always an Israel-United States project. Wait a minute. So when those Israelis were dancing on 9-11, which I thought was a cruel rumor, a hoax, but was a real thing...

And people and they got arrested, if you recall, and sent back to Israel. But they were actually prophets of the future when we would all get back together with Al-Qaeda. Wow. This is a really uplifting story, Jimmy. Isn't it? He got past his hate and anti-Semitism. He's got past his hate, anti-Semitism. It's almost like his other fake name. And now it's almost like he's working for Israel the whole time. It's almost like that.

Oh, man, I can't wait. An FP, that's Foreign Policy Magazine, or The Week. Next time I'm flying in an airport. Oh. I can't wait to see how this guy gets boosted as like, remember when they liked, what's his name from Lebanon? Gaddafi. They rehabbed Gaddafi for at least, oh, Libya. Like three months they were rehabbing Gaddafi.

He's wacky, he's cool, but he condemns terrorism? Yeah. I do. So he just, by the way, he just, Jelani, the president, the Al-Qaeda president of Syria, just started using the name Al-Shura. Oh, interesting. In December of 2024, which is just a few months ago. You know why? Why?

Because he wanted to distance himself from his jihadist past and bolster his legitimacy. So I'm not a terrorist anymore. I'm not working with Israel and the United States. And we're all friends. It's soft. He's soft launching his new identity. Yeah. It's like when B.B. Netanyahu, formerly Ben Malkowski of Philadelphia. That's right. Soft launch his name to gift from God. That's what Netanyahu means. Yeah.

What a gift that keeps giving. Thank you, God. Thank you, Yahoo of the Shasu, for sending us Ben Milkowski. So all the people who thought that the Syria was an organic uprising and they're fighting back against Assad because he's a brutal dictator, you are what they call in my old neighborhood chumps.

You are a chump of the highest order. We're a Rachel Maddow fan. Absolutely. Sure, they're Rachel Maddow fans. No one would bring it up. Look, how many people do you know that even know anything about Syria, and you tell them Al-Qaeda's in charge of Syria, and they go, oh, that doesn't sound good, and they move right on. Right on. The only people that would think, believe any of this, literally have to be Rachel Maddow fans by process of elimination. ♪

Hey, become a premium member. Go to JimmyDoreComedy.com. Sign up. It's the most affordable premium program in the business. All the voices performed today are by the one and only, the inimitable Mike McRae. He can be found at MikeMcRae.com. That's it for this week. You be the best you can be, and I'll keep being me. I'm not a freak. I'm not a freak out.

Do not freak out.

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