The Christian Nationalists Get Their War in Iran
Donald Trump is the hammer of the Christian nationalists that built America, and rely on forever wars to assert their dominance. In this special live Gaslit Nation taping, Andrea discusses the real story behind Trump/Kushner and Israel’s war. The Trump/Kushner families get to grift, illegally enriching themselves, endangering our national security and very lives, while the Pentagon looks the other way. At least the Washington, DC elite, along with Israel, finally get their war with Iran.
As Andrea has long warned: World War III has already started. This week, Gaslit Nation provides the stories behind the stories, mapping out where this is all headed, and most importantly, what we can do to resist and build a better world.
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Show Notes:
Russia Should Get Ready for the Fall of Vladimir Putin https://www.19fortyfive.com/2026/03/russia-should-get-ready-for-the-fall-of-vladimir-putin/
For Kushner, Israel Policy May Be Shaped by the Personal https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/us/politics/jared-kushner-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QVA.k_Mc.ukQ2I2AgWRiQ&smid=url-share
As Tensions With Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for Most Extreme Measure: While senior officials argue the drone strike was warranted to prevent future attacks, some in the administration remain skeptical about the rationale for the attack. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/04/us/politics/trump-suleimani.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QVA.TdSS.Vi_-mzc5Zb-W&smid=url-share
Russian Oligarch Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska and Associates Indicted for Sanctions Evasion and Obstruction of Justice https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/russian-oligarch-oleg-vladimirovich-deripaska-and-associates-indicted-sanctions-evasion-and
Did the FBI’s Charles McGonigal Help Throw the 2016 Election to Trump?: The shocking indictments against the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI in New York raise many dark questions. https://newrepublic.com/article/170328/charles-mcgonigal-throw-2016-election
New York Times article Andrea references mentioning Reid Hoffman: Big Donors Turn on Biden. Quietly: Some of the president’s past supporters want a new candidate, but they are leery of going public. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/politics/biden-donors-debate.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QVA.QVGf.oDxmofN4ILKB&smid=url-share
1972 Electoral College Results https://www.270towin.com/1972-election/
Russia’s most important Middle East base is not where you think https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/russias-most-important-middle-east-base-is-not-where-you-think/
The Church Committee Report: https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/investigations/church-committee.htm
Trump ordered to pay $382,000 after losing UK lawsuit over Steele dossier
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/07/trump-loses-lawsuit-steele-dossier
Israel, US will ensure Iran does not have nuclear capabilities, Israeli U.N. envoy says https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-us-will-ensure-iran-does-not-have-nuclear-capabilities-israeli-un-envoy-2026-03-02/
Trump seeks to justify Iran war, but stated objectives shift https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-he-ordered-iran-strikes-thwart-tehrans-missile-program-2026-03-02/
Trump’s First Administration Shut Down Investigation Into Epstein: The state of New Mexico was investigating Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch, but then the Department of Justice intervened.
https://newrepublic.com/post/207226/donald-trump-first-administration-investigation-epstein-ranch
Jonathan Karl: Pres Trump told me tonight the US had identified possible candidates to take over Iran, but they were killed in the initial attack. "The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates," Trump told me. "It's not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead." https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mg2bruf4wk2q
The Playbook for Defeating MAGA: The Church Committee Report https://gaslitnation.libsyn.com/the-playbook-for-defeating-maga-the-church-committee-report
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Andrea Chalupa (00:43):
So this is the March 2nd, 2026 Gaslit Nation Salon, and we are of course talking about World War III. And I'll keep reminding everyone that World War III has been going on for a while now. If you're wondering why your nervous system is completely shot, it's because we're living in war times. That's just how it is. And the sooner people accept that, the sooner we can adjust and be doing what we need to be doing, what we're being called to doing in this critical moment in history. And what I want to talk about today in America's history, 250 year history, is the broader strokes of this massive Iran war. And I know so much, of course, is being driven by Donald Trump, his family of grifters, Jared Kushner, their deep old, old ties to Israel and Netanyahu. Netanyahu would stay at Kushner's house over the years when he'd come to US when Nanyahu himself was rising in his career.
(01:50):
These are old, old, old, old friends. And now Jared Kushner is the shadow secretary of state. He went to Iran days before the invasion, the attack by the United States. And so it's very clear that central to this is Trump. And Kushner, you know that already. And a very obvious example of that is that in January 2020, Trump was given a list of options. This is obviously Trump's first term. He was given a list of options to what to do about Iran. And one of the options was to kill the number two, the big old military leader of Iran, Soleimani, charismatic guy running Iran's operation across Syria, containing Syria, propping a facade, Hezbollah, all of it. Soleimani was the charismatic leader of the region that had the massive network of Iranian proxies in his pocket. They're all loyal to him, loved him. And so the Pentagon rubber gave Trump an option of ... The nuclear option would be killing Soleimani.
(03:03):
And Trump's like, "Let's do it. " And so they assassinated Soleimani. It was a huge shock. Everyone's like, "Trump just straight went nuclear." But what ends up happening over time is that Soleimani's networks wither and that contributed to creating an opening for Syria to be liberated for Hezbollah to get weakened, for Hamas to get weakened and so on. So Soleimani being killed was very much cutting off the head of the snake or whatever, the monster. And so my larger point that I want to talk about is this, as I keep trying to tell people, and I think I'm one of the few quote unquote resistance podcasts to do this, Trump is just a figurehead. And I know that's hard to believe because he's created a revolution undoubtedly, but there's also a very real deep state in the United States of America that's deeply Christian nationalists, that's deeply white, that's very white, that sees Israel as the key to a Book of Revelations second coming of Christ.
(04:22):
That's extraordinarily fine with what Trump is doing. They think Bari Weiss is a martyr for what she's doing in her direction of CBS. I know because I meet with these people to get their perspective on things, they also do not see trans people as people. They put their kids in private schools because they don't want them to be indoctrinated by gay propaganda and so on. And that's the core of the real in existence, Christian nationalist deep state that runs America, that is America that built America, right? There's a reason why slavery was kept intact for as long as it was. They even justified the existence of slavery. And I think that's extremely important for us to keep in mind here. Why is that? Because number one, it is an absolute fact from all the documentation we've shown on the show with leading investigative journalists and so on, that Donald Trump greatly benefited and they've said it themselves, Don Jr., Eric, from Russians, from dirty Russian money, massive, massive documentation of this.
(05:30):
The Russians invested an unbelievable amount of money into the Trumps. The Russians provided massive amount of highly illegal help to bring Donald Trump to power in 2016. We had two reports on this. Three, if you count the steel dossier, which still holds up, done by the spy that ran Britain's Russia desk. And all of them said that the Russians were deeply invested financially, politically to Donald Trump, and their proxies, the Kremlin's proxies and Trump's inner circle were all wound up with each other again and again. And so without that help, I don't think Donald Trump would've been president. I think Hillary Clinton would've eeked through. That's how much of a difference it made. So the Russians invest decades, decades into the Trumps. What did the Russians get in return? Let's pay attention to what the outgoing Obama administration and what US intelligence was saying in late 2016 and intelligence reports leaking the press and so on were saying in 2017 and on, in Trump's first term.
(06:46):
They kept saying that, what did the Russians want? According to official US intelligence narrative, the Russians just wanted to embarrass the United States. They wanted to try to destabilize the United States, but they stopped short of calling it an occupation or ... The language they were using was like, they're trying to embarrass us. They're trying to show that they could do this to us, but they can't. They absolutely can't.
(07:14):
And the rest of us, especially in Gaslit Nation from the early days, were like, "We're under occupation. He's going to turn us into a Russian style oligarchy and we're not wrong. We're absolutely not wrong." But the Christian nationalist real life, deep state that runs this country and has since its foundation, they took a look at the Russian thugs who thought that they could come in here and get their idiot, elected president and run the show. And keep in mind, the thuggiest of the Russian thugs, Darapaska, was kept out of the United States for a very long time. He still hasn't even come into the United States. And being in the US was his goal. He even tried under Trump to get his mistress sent here to give birth in Los Angeles and the United States Feds shut that down, arrested even the lawyers that tried to help that operation.
(08:10):
Okay? Darapaska, one of the most ruthless oligarchs who won the aluminum wars of the car bomb 1990s in Russia, so violent. The American deep state is like, "Get the fuck out. Stay the fuck out. You're not welcome here." Why are they doing that?
(08:29):
And I'm also going under Trump too. And I also want to share with you the huge headline. After everything the Russians put into Donald Trump and his family over the decades, right? Look at how much Putin has lost a massive amount, an insane amount. With Trump's contribution, killing Soleimani contributed to the liberation of Syria. So under Trump, Putin has lost Syria, Venezuela. He's absolutely going to lose Cuba. You better believe that Marco Rubio wants that feather in his cap of liberating the land of his heritage, right? Cuba's going to be on next. Now Iran, right? I mentioned Hezbollah and Hamas have been severely weakened, all of this. And people might say, "Well, it's Israel. It's Israel. This is Israel's war." I see a lot of people saying that. Sure, with absolutely without a doubt.
(09:26):
Again, I want to remind everyone, what a source inside the Pentagon recently told me is that Israel is America's whip, that it cracks in the Middle East. As Eli Mistal of the nation has said on this show, America is Israel's bank. Israel would not exist if it weren't for us. And again, as my source in the Bentagon said, Netanyahu is our useful idiot. And certainly the hard right, authoritarian, deeply corrupt, ruling Netanyahu coalition Israel sees themselves as independent and doing what they want. And we see indications of that because Trump had an Iranian leader in mind to replace the one that was just killed, the Camanian. And that replacement got killed by Israel because clearly Israel didn't want that person. Israel did that intentionally. So Israel sees itself as an independent state. They're not on an American leash. An America shouldn't dictate to Israel what Israel can and cannot do.
(10:44):
They're a sovereign nation. That's simply not true. The United States Pentagon sees Israel as its military base in the Middle East to carry out all of these operations in order to keep their own hands clean. Why would they do that? Because look at all the massive amount of protests and the political earthquakes, cultural earthquakes of the Vietnam War and the Vietnam protests and how horrible that was and all the body bags were coming home and Johnson being hounded and the protest camps growing outside the White House. They don't want another Vietnam. But if you pay attention to when they launch their wars, when the Christian nationalist deep state launches their wars, I remember very well when George W. Bush went into Iraq, suddenly they were running these news programs of US military figures going to Vietnam and having these peaceful ceremonies, these formalities with the Vietnamese.
(11:45):
Now, just today, I believe, the White House just commemorated someone who fought in Vietnam and they made sure to air that on live TV, cable news all over. MSNBC's playing it, right? Getting in on that propaganda. And why would they bring up Vietnam every time they launch one of their wars? Because they want to remind you that what the Pentagon does with crowd control here of the American public is they're always trying to get you used to things. They're trying to get you to accept things. They know this. They talk about this. My source of the Pentagon was like, "Yeah, the American people are going to have to get used to this. We know over time they will." So pay attention to, if you see things about Vietnam popping up more and more because they want to remind you, "Hey, we got over Vietnam. We got through that.
(12:30):
Don't compare this to another Vietnam." And the way they try to prevent the backlash of Vietnam here domestically is by going through Israel, by using Israel. And so Israel is the United States. It's an American military base that does our dirty work for us and gladly does it because they want this war. Netanyahu wants this war. Jerry Kushner wants this war. With this war, Netanyahu stays in power and he avoids his corruption, trials and prison time for himself and his wife. He wants this war. So it's a symbiotic relationship. They benefit each other. And yes, in any partnership, there is going to be some freelancing on both sides, right? Testing the boundaries of that relationship, certainly. And so my larger point is this that I want people to pay attention to.
(13:26):
Look at everything that Russia is losing. And I think what has happened with the Christian nationalist deep state, and I'm not saying this to be a conspiracy, theorist, podcaster of the left, I in fact know someone who is working at the DNI, who's up there with Tulsi Gabbard, who is as Christian nationalists as they come. His wife is doing the MAGA prayer groups. So if you're wondering, who am I talking about? I'm talking about DNI. I'm talking about the Pentagon. I'm talking about everyone who showed up to celebrate Kissinger's 100th birthday in New York City. Just look at that guest list. Look at the photos. That's who I'm talking about. I'm very specific here. And so what has happened is every elite, far right, Christian nationalist ruling establishment has gambled on a dictator. It happened with Hitler, happened with Mussolini where they think, "Okay, he's an asshole, but he can be our asshole and we can control him and we can use him to terrorize and squash our enemies." And they certainly made that decision with Trump, right?
(14:52):
For instance, James Comey did everything he possibly could, breaking protocol to sabotage Hillary Clinton's chances in 2016. We witnessed that with our own eyes and ears. The New York City FBI field office, as Giuliani was cackling days before the 2016 election, Giuliani's like, "We have something up our sleeves." And certainly that was Charles McGonigal who was on the bank roll of the Russian mafia. But overall that establishment with notable exceptions like Peter Struck, who was testifying in Congress, I remember he was like an FBI agent, very charismatic, who was screaming into the camera on behalf of all the American people. Yeah, I was sending those flirty emails to Lisa Page at DOJ about stopping Trump because I couldn't fathom the American people voting for such a criminal. So there's always going to be exceptions, right? There's always going to be a spectrum of people who believe certain ... That's obvious, but the core power structure of the United States of America remains a citadel of Christian nationalism that built this country.
(16:02):
And what's fascinating, what I think we need to sit with and take time with is the fact that Putin put all this money into this guy and he's lost so much. I can't get over how much he's lost because what I think's happened is the Washington DC establishment. You know how we're looking at Trump? We're like, "Why is he getting away with all these crimes and corruptions? Why isn't anyone stopping him? Why is Merrick Garland?" So obviously doing nothing, nothing on the heels of January 6th. Why did Christopher Ray of the FBI let the January 6th coup get plotted out in the open? And we always sat on the show, it's like, this is deeply corrupt or institutions are rotten to the core. It is because the Christian nationalist deep state made a bargain. They let Trump be Trump, and he sees that and understands that, and he's getting away with that.
(16:59):
He and his family are openly enriching themselves. They're openly selling access to our White House. They're openly selling chips to the Mill East that are going to get to China. They're openly doing all that, but the establishment of the United States of America is letting them do that because Trump lets them smash and grab around the globe. They want Venezuela. They want to finally decapitate Iran. They want these things. And Trump is their channel, their hammer to get these things. And in exchange for exchange for them working together, Trump get out of jail free card. And he doesn't need the Russians anymore. And the Russians see that and know that. And ultimately, ultimately what brings them together ideologically is that they're all united against the Chinese. It's not about containing Russia, right? It isn't about we have to stand up to Putin. It is to a certain extent, but standing up to Putin is just a strategy in terms of containing China as well.
(18:10):
So I want to pause. There's other things I want to go down this list. Yeah, John Bolton is super happy now, but one thing I want to point out in regards to this, Russia's suicidal strategy of invading Ukraine started under Trump's first term. He was already building up his forces, right? Biden was coming in and already the forces were amassing. And part of me wonders whether the long game was to bait Russia into launching a full scale invasion. Debate Russia to debate Russia to do that would be an extremely easy thing. Putin considers himself the second coming of stalin. Everywhere they've invaded and occupied in Ukraine, they've put up stalen monuments, stolen banners and so on. That wouldn't be hard to convince Russia to do that.
(19:20):
And the reason why I bring that up is because Russia invading Ukraine has been one of the greatest gifts to the Christian nationalist deep state, because it's bogged down Russia and this disastrous war that it's stuck in. Putin's days are numbered. China is watching this and realizing that they need to slow their role in invading Taiwan, and they have been. And Iran has put a lot into Russia's invasion, trying to help Russia, all the Shahid drones that terrorize Ukrainians on a nightly basis, and now that's going to soon be over likely with the growing war in Iran. So all of this is to say, there's been this very clear long game right now, looking back, all the years I've been doing this show, putting these pieces together, there's a very clear long game that is being played by the United States establishment that is there no matter who was president of the United States.
(20:20):
There's a very clear long game. And Donald Trump is just their latest useful idiot. I don't think they want a Democrat president because the Democrats have a base that they're beholden to, an anti-war base. They want Republicans, especially Republicans that are dumb as nuts and easy to manipulate like Trump. So when the United States intelligence community issued their report with President Obama's orders, President Obama's on the way out and US intelligence comes in and issues a report on what Russia did to us in 2016. And their conclusion was they nicked us. Sure, they hit our ego, but they're not going to succeed. This is what they're talking about. Look back now to 2016, look at everything Putin has lost. His allies are either that ran his proxy dictatorships are either dead in prison here in Brooklyn, or he has to house them now because they're in exile like Asad.
(21:27):
That would seem unthinkable. In 2016, if someone from the future came, "Hey, Andrea, don't cry and be depressed over what's happened because look at this list of all these dictatorships that are about to fall." And I'm not saying this as though it's like a good thing. I'm saying there's very clearly World War III happening. You don't get the liberation of Syria, the invasion of Venezuela, the invasion of Iran now, the attack on Iran without ... There's a larger thing at play here, right? And one thing I want to share about my personal view of things, whether I'm recording this show or not, my internal monologue is Gaslit Nation. I intensely focus on these things. And as the daughter of a neuroscientist, my dad ran research for Georgia Washington University. He was the chair of the neuroscience at UC Davis. He founded the Mind Institute. My dad, hardcore neuroscientist.
(22:34):
And one thing he told me is that we are just at the very start of understanding the power of the mind. That's not a new age statement, that is a scientific statement. The biggest misconception about neuroscience is people don't understand how little we actually know about the brain and the mind that those are facts. And I have to say in honor of that mystery of our all powerful minds, because I focus so intensely on the things we talk about here on Gaslit Nation, my mind tends to attract a lot of interesting characters and I believe there is some sort of power of attraction, some law of attraction. And I have so many stories of that, so many stories. For instance, when my sister was testifying in the Senate bipartisan Russia investigation, and all focus was on her, my husband and I went to Costa Rica and we got adopted by a couple that the man took a big interest in me, wanted to become friends with me, and over time he finally came forward and said that he was an FBI agent.
(23:33):
And a friend at the NSA, a family friend who worked at NSA at the time was like, "Yeah, they probably sent him because of your sister." I don't think that's true. And then I took my daughter to a David Hockney exhibit. We ran into Hillary Clinton and she got to meet Hillary Clinton. I ran into Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and she needed Tim Snyder's contact. So I interviewed her disturbed at Tim Snyder. I was at a taxi line and there was Andy Greenberg Wired and now he's been on the show twice. I just have such an uncanny ability of running into people. And granted, it's because I live in an international hub, New York City, like Sia Weaver. Sia Weaver, who's Mayor Mamdani's tenant czar, who's under fire of right-wing media that's openly harassing her at her home. I ran into her just the other day being interviewed by a journalist, and I crashed it with my adorable daughter, introducing her as a real life superhero to my daughter and putting a smile on her face.
(24:28):
So with the power of the mind, the laws of attraction, I am constantly running into people. Oh, one of the most dramatic examples during the height of will Biden or won't Biden drop out of this election, my husband and I went on a date night and the woman sitting next to me looking very J. Crew glossy, like those Democratic staffers do, was openly talking to her boyfriend about her boss Biden and the New York Times. And from everything I overheard her saying, because it was one of those restaurants in New York where you're smushed together. Over everything I heard her saying, I was able to find the exact New York Times article she was referring to about Reed Hoffman organizing an emergency call to go, "Yay, team Biden." That's pretty uncanny. And so all of this is to say that I think a lot about a taxi ride in Toronto in the fall of 2017.
(25:23):
I think a lot about this, where I had the sweetest taxi driver pick me up and pepper me with questions. He opened me up to start talking to him. And I was telling him all about my work and my film, Mr. Jones and all of it. And he's like, "Wow, Russia and Ukraine, you know that's so funny because the guy that I just picked up before you and dropped off to the airport, he's headed to London, he's this Israeli guy, he was telling me that Putin's days are numbered." I'm like, "Excuse me, what? " And he's like, "Oh, here, you're at the airport now. Have a good flight." I'm like "I'm sorry, do you mind telling me his name and what did he look like, anything about him?" And I know that seems very farfetched, probably just a coincidence, but I never forgot that. Some international man of mystery saying somebody with Israeli connection headed to London who promises vows that Putin's days are numbered.
(26:23):
And now here we are looking back on all that and that's always just stuck with me. And let's just say there's no connection. This was just some pizza delivery guy, right? He just made an optimistic proclamation, but let's just sit with the thesis of that and everything we've seen since that declaration, right? And one might say, "But Israel is entrenched with Russian oligarch money." I know from one real estate developer who's in his 90s who worked a lot in Russia in the 1990s, and he said that when he worked with the Russian oligarchs, they would wire their money, the payment they received on the projects to Israel. Netanyahu campaigned with a giant billboard of himself shaking hands with Putin to get votes. Russia is probably like the second most spoken language in Israel, but where Israel draws the line is the fact that Russia, being a terrorist state, openly aligns with Hamas and has always historically used Palestinian liberation causes to drive a wedge between the West.
(27:43):
So anyone who deeply sincerely cares about Palestine should not cheer on Russia for that because it's purely opportunistic. And so what I'm getting at is this, Trump used the Russians to come to power, just like he used his mentor, Roy Cohn, just like he used Roger Ailes. But ultimately the Christian nationalist deep state that built our country, runs our country, that culture, right? You know what I'm talking about, that culture of toughness, that they looked at the Russians, they looked at Darapaska, they looked at that and they said, "You know what?
(28:23):
No thanks. We're going to protect our..." It's like a mafia war. It's like a turf war. "This is our turf. You stay out, but we'll take Trump though because we find him useful and that's what's happening. And that's why Merrick Garland didn't do anything because he's part of that establishment. And that strategy is very much how the Ukrainian oligarchs operate. Ukraine, as we know, as we talk about in the show, has a very real corruption problem. It has horrifying oligarchs, including one who for a time had his own personal army and had an actual shark tank in his office. But when it came to Russia's invasion, those Ukrainian oligarchs became the biggest patriots and funded the war, funded whatever was needed. Why? Because they enjoy their independence. They don't want to have to kiss their ring to the czar and the Kremlin. They want their independence, just like the American oligarchs here at home.
(29:24):
So the American oligarchs here at home, and the Christian nationalist deep state that props them up, took a look at these Russian mafia thugs encroaching in on their territory, and they said," You know what? We're going to have to go do a street war.
(29:42):
"So what we've been seeing, since 2016 has basically been one big long baptism scene in The Godfather where Putin's been getting knocked off the board. And the official policy of this, if you go to Washington DC That all the think tanks are a buzz with this is China first containment strategy. We've talked about this before because what is Russia ultimately? China and Russia are the new BFFs. They are social media silly when it comes to this. They do all of these ... For years, they've done these joint events together saying it's the Russia and China, multipolar world now. Look at us together. And then Russia embarrasses itself in Ukraine and China's like ... And that was the US. I'm convinced that the US did something to bait Russia to go in there. And I know that sounds horrible because that's horrible, but think about it.
(30:50):
Think about it this way.
(30:53):
United States intelligence under Biden knew with absolute certainty the hour that Russia would launch its full scale invasion. They knew. They knew it was coming. But you're telling me they didn't have the intelligence. They didn't have the knowledge, the expertise to also see that it would be such a disaster. That doesn't add up. Do you know what I'm saying? So I'll put it to you this way. The number one expert in the world on Russia is Ukraine. And when the United States was warning Ukraine, the invasion is coming. They're going to launch a full scale invasion. And Ukraine kept saying, "No, they're not. That is ridiculous. They're not going to do it. They would never do that in a million years." Ukraine knew it was going to be suicidal. Of course, they didn't think Russia would be suicidal, but the United States was insisting. And the United States was telling everyone, "This is happening.
(32:03):
Russia's big and mighty. Ukraine is going to fall. Zelensky, do you want to ride out of there?" Right? And sure, people, analysts were saying, "Oh, Putin went COVID crazy. He spent too much time alone during the pandemic. And he started getting all these fantasies that they could just march in to Kiev as liberators." And people blamed it on Putin's mindset because he is crazy.
(32:32):
But it's deeper than that. I'm convinced that Russia was easily, easily baited by the US under Trump's first term with the idea of getting him stuck there, knowing that it would create this bigger ripple effect of bringing down his larger terrorist network. Because think about it. As my Syrian friends have said, "Thank you, Ukraine. Because of your war, Russia had to pull its forces out of Syria and put them in Ukraine. And that freed up Syria, that left Syria defenseless. And then Trump killing Solemani and the guy that was holding Iran together in Syria, double blow." So please pay attention that there's these larger chess moves that have been happening in the last 10 years that if you look at them taken all together, there's very much a larger strategy at play. It's undeniable. And I know people might be like, Putin's just dumb.
(33:40):
The Russian leadership is just arrogant. Absolutely. But that makes them easy targets to do some ... That makes them easy to bend to your larger agenda. And you might be thinking, oh, do they really have strategies like this? Pay attention to some of the interviews we've done recently. Look at the church committee report and everything that that revealed. Right? College students getting experimented on by our own government on college campuses with LSD. Martin Luther King Jr. Being assassinated by the FBI and then the DOJ covering it up in a report. Look at Epstein's whole compromise operation, which was probably used to help to ensure bringing Trump to power. Now, all of this, all of this ... Remember, Epstein was always protected. There's all these reports that he was intelligence. He was protected. So the United States government has a long history of these galaxy brain conspiracies to try to play God.
(34:48):
This is well documented. This is not me just pulling this ... Again, if you don't believe me, read the church committee report. Go back to our episode on that. And that's just one example of many. And so I know none of this takes away from the fact that the Trump family itself and everything they're doing is deeply corrupt. But the Pentagon doesn't matter who's president. The Pentagon doesn't care about ICE. The Pentagon agrees that some of these brown people need to get out of our country. The Pentagon doesn't care about uppity gay people and women. They don't care about the things that you and I care about. They don't care about our communities. They want to ensure one thing. All they care about is American dominance.
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And so Trump is their tool. Where does that leave us? The people. Well, one thing they cannot control and they know this, which is why they're fine with Palantir. They want Palantir and they want their surveillance state, is that we have agency and we're unpredictable. The Me Too movement, they couldn't have predicted that. And that led to a rise of Epstein victims coming forward, and that led to his arrest and Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest. They cannot control us. They know that. They have all sorts of SIOPs and operations and games in order to try to control us, but they really cannot and they know that. And so just like any authoritarian or any sort of authoritarian structure, it is authoritarian, let's be honest. If you're launching wars and occupations as authoritarian, they know that their power is limited and they fear us. So where does this leave us in this feeling?
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I'm not saying that this is fatalism because the people have always moved for a better government and always pushed and built a better government. And one thing they are scared of is how Colorado and Oregon today are blue states, solidly blue, the big upset election in Texas. They're scared of what's coming. They're scared of these larger trends. They're scared of people like AOC, those leftists who aren't going to allow them to play their chess board wars anymore. They're scared of all this. And so I think one of the greatest levers we have is their fear. And the second thing that we have to use in terms of taking back our own agencies, the fact that playing God on a global chess board is dangerous. And what's going to happen now is the inflation crisis is going to get worse with all of the shipping lanes being tied up in this war in the Middle East, the price of oil skyrocketing and so on.
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And China is likely retaliating because they have to. And all of that is going to worsen the affordability crisis for this Republican leaning establishment that rules our country. And that's heading into the midterms, heading into 2028. And they cannot control that and they cannot control people's reaction to that. And they might try to steal elections, but it's harder, especially in a system like ours, to steal these elections. They're going to try. Even Putin has to send his thugs into polling places to physically stuff election ballots. We see that it's even hard for the Russians themselves. What I'm saying is they have to put work in to steal elections. So they're going to try, certainly, because they want to keep Trump going. If Trump dies, they want to get the next version, the next lackey that will live high on the hog in the White House, enriching himself and his family and green light their nuclear plans.
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They're hammering this region, hammering that region.
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It's crazy when you think about it. I know, but it's important for us to have perspective and look at the larger, bigger picture here and just sort of take a step back and look at the big view of things and then put ourselves in the position of they can play their war games and just story innocent lives as much as they want, but they have to face us and they have to face accountability. And right now, we have some of the worst people on this planet, Stephen Miller, Christino, who are forced to live in a government fortress on a military compound because they cannot live in a normal house in Alexandria because their neighbors hate them. So these people aren't God as much as they like to think they are. And ultimately, it's the power of the people that is going to overcome them and force accountability and build a better world.
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And I promise that because that's also the big picture thinking here. America has become increasingly progressive. And if you don't believe that, go look up a picture of the 1972 map, electoral map for Nixon. The entire United States of America was practically read. We've come a long way in just 50 years. And as a historian, I can tell you that's remarkable progress. And I know it doesn't feel like that because everything's a horror show now. So my point is this, Trump is a figurehead. He is an absolute figurehead and we're up against a larger establishment, but we can take it on, but we have to also acknowledge that it exists in order to do that.
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Our discussion continues and you can get access to that by signing up at the truth teller level or higher on Patreon. Discounted annual memberships are available and you can give the gift of membership. Get bonus shows, invites to exclusive events, all our shows at free, and more at patreon.com/gaslit. That's patreon.com/gaslit. Thank you to everyone who supports the show.
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Gaslit Nation is produced by Andrea Chalupa. Our associate producer is Karlyn Daigle. Our founding production manager is a Nicholas Torres. If you like what we do, please leave us a review on iTunes. It helps us reach more listeners.
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Original music on Gaslit Nation is produced by David Whitehead, Martin Vissenberg, Nick Barr, Damien Arriaga, and Karlyn Daigle. Our logo design was generously donated by Hamish Smythe of the New York-based firm Order. Thank you so much, Hamish.
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