The spirit of this revolution is not going away.
This is the Ron Paul Liberty Report with Ron Paul, Daniel McAdams, and Chris Rossini.
We are all ambassadors of the Ron Paul Doctrine, and it's so simple, just tell the truth.
An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government.
Hello everybody, and thank you for tuning in to the Liberty Report.
With us today, we have Daniel McAdams, our co-host.
Daniel, good to see you this morning.
Good morning, Dr. Paul. How are you this morning?
Well, doing well.
And we're going to go back to a subject we've talked about for a few weeks,
but I thought the war was supposed to end.
It was supposed to be a short war, and we'd be out of business.
We wouldn't have anything to talk about.
There would be peace in our land, and we wouldn't have to worry about the budget or anything.
Only.
But it hasn't changed, and although we wanted to be very reluctant
and not be, you know, challenging and being negative with our administration,
the short war didn't last a short period of time.
It lasted a long time, and it looks like it's going to continue.
Even though the President will speak to the nation again,
I think he must have a record on how many times he's addressed the nation
as a President, but he has been addressing it frequently.
But today there's a lot of people on pins and needles
because they're wondering what they're going to say.
There's a lot of money at stake.
There's a military industrial complex.
Want to know, money being spent?
Are we going to surrender and leave?
Or are we going to add more?
What bit of information has the President given us over the last two or three weeks
about this is what we're doing, this is why we're out there,
and this is when it's going to end?
I predict that all that confusion that we've had for the last two or three weeks or more
will not be clarified tonight.
I have a suspicion that it will be hype.
It will sound good.
And the country now, the biggest challenge that the President has is credibility.
And because he may say some wonderful thing,
well, we agree with that, we agree with that.
That's a movement in the right direction.
But I do not expect magic because even if he did move in the right direction
and just say, I think the Liberty people have it right.
We need to leave.
We're leaving tomorrow.
They're not going to believe him.
And it's not that simple.
So it's an important speech.
And I imagine there will be a lot of people watching it.
And yet there's not much optimism.
Even in a short couple of days, the polls are deteriorating.
So he shouldn't be that cheerful about what's going on.
And it also looks like while this is all happening,
the thing that they more or less forget about is the strength of the dollar
internationally is not exactly getting a lot of pluses.
What kind of a situation is there where we have to sit and wait
whether the president himself will decide to take us further into war.
No authorization, no declaration.
But that's where we are.
It'll be a rare primetime speech that the president,
I think he called it an update on the Iran war.
Nobody knows at all what it could be.
And Trump himself, as we've tried to document on the show,
not only from day to day, not only from hour to hour,
but within each true social post itself,
there will be two or three positions.
We're about ready to go to peace, but we're going to blow you to heck.
And we don't care about the Hormuz Strait being open,
but if you don't open it, we're going to blow you up.
I mean, within the same thing.
So the question is, what will he say tonight?
Nobody knows, of course.
If anyone knows, they're probably putting in bets right now
because that seems to be what's happening with this administration.
But nevertheless, we can turn to people that we know are good analysts.
One of them is our old friend, Larry Johnson,
who's spoken at several of our conferences.
And of course, his indispensable blog, Sonar21,
he put out a piece this morning.
Trump to give important update on Iran Wednesday in primetime speech.
Now, he goes through this article talking about all of the military material
that's been moved to the region,
including a lot of these A-10 warthogs,
which are used for close air support.
So if you're going to Storm and Island,
you need to have these warthogs here.
So there have been a lot of them.
He's calculated it all.
I'll save you all that just to say that he's put it in very, very fine detail.
I'll cut to the chase of what Johnson is talking about.
And I think this is a pretty realistic three possibilities
if you go to that next one.
So what is Trump going to announce?
I think I'll put that next one on.
There we go.
Option one, declare that negotiations with Iran
via intermediaries, example Pakistan, are progressing
and that the U.S. is going to cease combat operations
against Iran in order to support the negotiations
and achieve a peaceful resolution.
Option two, declare that victory has been achieved
and that U.S. forces will begin withdrawing from the region,
leaving the status of the Strait of Hormuz in Limbo.
Option three, announce a massive air and ground operation
to secure the freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Now go to the next one.
Now this is, again, I've mentioned this,
the deployment of the A-10s, the Warthogs and the Apaches,
combat helicopters, I mean, one of two things.
One, it's a show force intended to pressure Iran
into returning to the negotiating table.
Or two, the U.S. is going to launch a massive attack
against Iranian assets in the Persian Gulf,
especially those located in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Let's go to Larry Johnson's conclusions in the next one.
He says, I think, and I think I tend to agree with Larry Johnson here.
You probably feel the same, maybe Dr. Paul.
Larry says, I think Trump is counting on Iran offering up
the concessions in the face of the U.S. buildup
of additional air combat assets.
Netanyahu reportedly just said Iran no longer poses
a threat to Israel's existence, a dramatic pivot, if true.
However, over the last few hours,
Israel and the U.S. carried out a large wave
of attacks against Iran.
They struck targets across several parts of Iran.
Iran will retaliate in force to these latest attacks.
Now, here's a cut to the chase here.
In short, I believe Donald Trump will announce
a major offensive to try to force Iran
to release its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.
I believe that offensive will fail
and that the war will escalate
unless the U.S. and Israel agree
to two critical Iranian demands,
the end of all sanctions and the removal
of all U.S. military bases
from the Persian Arab Gulf country.
So that's what Larry says.
You know, and that's interesting.
And of course, we respect his opinion
and we'll see what will happen.
But I don't know whether he will make,
his words might be a little bit different.
He might say, you know,
peace is here, we're doing it
and we're moving in this direction.
And then still do the bombing anyway.
So that's up for grabs.
And that's why my first comment was
the credibility isn't there anymore.
And I don't think it can be regained.
I think it's over with as far as the credibility.
So that is a serious problem
because what if there is a serious attack
on us as a consequence of our misunderstanding
or not being able to understand
what our foreign policy is all about.
And then we're in big trouble.
But this is not going to be a press conference
as I understand tonight.
But sometimes they get a question in
and there will be a press conference.
But if I happen to be in a press group,
I would ask a few questions.
Not complicated.
My first question would is,
why did you start this?
Why did you start this war?
Especially when you have no authority.
And although the Congress gave me my money,
that must be my authority.
So anyway, but they don't press them.
I don't know if everybody's ever asking,
Mr. President, why in the world did you do this?
Maybe there's more people asking that question
but maybe they don't get the real chance
to do that at the press conference.
And the other thing that is important
but politically it would never be honestly addressed
and that is Mr. President,
when things go badly and people die from it
and the policy was predicted that people would die from it.
Matter of fact, it seems like sometimes
your administrators and your stickhand
will brag about it.
So do you or does your staff ever feel guilty about this?
Is there any feeling about this?
They say, well, we only lost seven people.
And we've killed 2,000
and we do it as efficiently as we can.
But those questions, don't they have any remorse?
Do they think they're above it?
Or are they totally ignorant?
Or are they just trying to fool the people consciously?
I'll tell you what, I don't know what their motives are
but I know that the people are getting very frustrated with this
and the polling.
We don't think a whole lot about a system
that is absolute democracy where the majority always rules
but when the people speak out and there's a consensus
like there was with COVID, people know that.
You know, whether the support for a war like World War II
versus, you know, the lack of support for Vietnam eventually.
You'd think they would learn a lesson.
That'd be another question you got.
Why don't the American people and our administrators
learn from all the dumb mistakes they made in foreign policy
where a lot of Americans and a lot of other people
and some people die and history shows
that the policies that you're following
is going to bankrupt the country
and there's evidence that that's ongoing right now.
Yeah, in the middle of it for sure.
Well, Trump put out a post on Truth Social
that a lot of people are talking about this morning
because it again suggests this is someone
who either is being really kept in a box
or there's something going on upstairs.
Go to that next one if you can.
This is what Trump put out this morning.
Iran's new, if we can get that, I know there's a lot to put up,
Iran's new regime president, much less radicalized
and far more intelligent than his predecessors,
has just asked the United States of America for a ceasefire.
We will consider it when Hormuz Strait is open, free and clear.
Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion
or as they say, back to the stone ages.
President DJ T.
And the point is, and our friend Will Ascriber pointed that out,
Iran has had the same president as it's had for almost two years,
Massoud Pazegi Khan.
Neither he nor any other Iranian officials
have requested a ceasefire.
Iran would like nothing more than to face a U.S.
attempt at a ground invasion
and then he characterized Trump.
If you scoot ahead too, this is zero heads,
it's characterization of it.
Iran, it's not true that Iran requested a ceasefire.
Go forward one more.
And you would say, well, of course they would say that,
but there's a pattern of this, Dr. Paul,
where he says we're negotiating with Iran.
We're almost there.
In Iran says we've had no contacts at all.
Over and over and over.
And so now, because Trump has destroyed his credibility,
we have to believe the Iranians even.
So Iran has again rejected Trump's narrative
after he hours ago claimed that the new regime president
has just asked the U.S. for a ceasefire.
The foreign ministry responded
by saying there is no truth to Trump's statements
that Iran requested a ceasefire.
The spokesman said,
no decision is made met yet.
We've made many considerations.
Our conditions for ending the war are very clear.
We do not accept a ceasefire.
We seek a complete end.
As a reminder, the Iranian president
has been in office since July of 2024
and he's made public appearances in Tehran
even over the last days.
There is no new regime president.
And I highlighted this additionally.
Trump is now threatening to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age
if Hormuz is not open.
But just yesterday, he suggested
he's fine with it staying close
and that ultimately others should open it.
So happy.
How do you follow this?
This is political schizophrenia.
It is.
It's all over the place.
You know, the other point
that people ought to be asking
because we're not going to get the answers
directly from the administration
or probably either political party
when you think about it,
but why are we going so far away
to look for a fight?
Whether it's Korea or Vietnam
or Ukraine,
and here we are 6,000 miles
and determined to have this war going on
and that was 6,000 miles away.
How many, I'm sure there are a few Iranians
that are really upset with us
and probably lingering around there
and they'd like to do us harm.
But how many troops have we sent?
How much money have we spent?
How many bombs have we dropped to make a point?
And I think it's this obsession with empire.
We have an empire
and they see this as a responsibility.
It's not like they're aggressors.
They're responsible
and they're supposed to stop wars
and bring about peace.
They're always for peace
as long as they do exactly what we tell them.
And that doesn't last forever.
We're seeing the winding down
of that attitude
and that type of system
that we've lived with for too long.
That's exactly true
because it is winding down
along with the support for this war.
Now skip ahead a few to this YouGov poll
that just came out.
It came out last night.
A very important poll.
Most Americans oppose sending ground troops to Iran.
The latest economist YouGov poll finds.
Go to the next one.
Here's some more info on it.
The war in Iran is unpopular
and becoming even more unpopular.
Few Americans support deploying ground troops.
Only 30% of Americans strongly
or somewhat approve
of Donald Trump's handling of the Iran conflict.
60% disapprove
for a net approval of negative 30.
That's down from negative 19 last week.
That's a huge shift from negative 19
to negative 30.
That's dropping like a stone, Dr. Paul.
Now go to the next one.
You can look at the tabs here.
If you are watching us,
if you're not watching us,
the new poll signs that even Republicans
are starting to sour on the war.
Support for the war has fallen from
73% of Republicans to 62% of Republicans.
That's just a little over half, Dr. Paul.
Approval of how Trump is handling the war
has dropped from 81% of Republicans
to 68% of Republicans.
Huge drop there
and just 30% of Republicans favor
sending ground troops to Iran.
The only numbers that are relatively
holding steady are the self-identified
MAGA Republicans.
I would say the only methodological
problem with that, Dr. Paul,
is how many and what percentage of total
Republicans identify as MAGA.
Are there five people that are still
dead-enders?
We don't know, but nevertheless
the non-MAGA Republicans,
only 33% of Republicans
support Trump's handling of this war.
These are nightmare numbers, I think,
for Trump.
Yes, and they're not going to
change favorably.
These should be warning
to the people.
This is where we should be optimistic
because we're
losing a
concept of the First Amendment
protection of free speech
even though
that is the case and we have to pay attention.
We still have it.
We still have the ability to speak out
and that evidently
has an influence
and this is why this is spreading
but
what's going to add fuel to the fire
and it's already happening
is that the economics of suffering
as a consequence
and I think people are going to say
especially during Ukraine
when we had inflation
everything's stirring up
they immediately saw, you know,
why are we spending all this money in Ukraine?
So I think that
attitude
is spreading
and it's a good attitude
why are they doing this?
Because I think the economy is going to get worse
and I think they can relate it
to, you know, government
spending and the militarism
and
so I think, you know,
we listen to these speeches
and I will listen to it
and I'll try to figure out what he's saying
but
I don't think
that we'll hear
what it's going to be, what it's like tomorrow
it could change tomorrow
but
I think that
those who have
been introduced
have a fair understanding
of Austrian economics
realize that these events
are locked in place
how can you prevent
the recession
if there's wind coming
how can you prevent it?
It's already
the sins have already been
committed
not only have we spent the money
and we have debt and we're paying on it
it's automatic
the debt is growing
because of the interest so fast
that we're locked in
so it has to be
a big change in attitude
which it's sort of like
getting the medicine
you need to save your life
because you have a bad cancer
because
it's not going to be easy
but the reason why it's acceptable
in medicine
is people get a relief when they say
okay what do I have, you have this
this is the truth, this is what you have to do
and knowing that
and then going in a positive way
to do what you need to do
we're not there
oh you mean
people talk about cutting spending
but you know that means
that you couldn't buy all these
super airplanes
and apply to bars
and not even to count the money that you're spending
yeah absolutely
well I've got a recommendation for you Dr. Paul
if you're going to watch it and for all of our viewers
if you put on that very last clip
you're going to want to grab a bag of this guys
trust me
this is the Ron Paul Liberty
Report Revolution Blend
a special
artisan blend of coffee from our friends
at Moondah's Artisan Coffee
it's a special blend that they put together
all organic of course
for viewers of the Ron Paul Liberty
Report they are our affiliates
we get a small percentage of each sale
and we're also supporting
a great independent
American company that works very hard
we both tried the coffee
I love the coffee
if you have some brewed up tonight
you're going to need it
you may want to put a shot of whiskey in it
I don't know but that's your own business
but nevertheless
check this out there is a link in the description
as well as a link to get some tickets
for our upcoming conference
and I'm over now Dr. Paul it's up to you
very good
and I want to thank our viewers for tuning in today
because we
don't exist without you
we send a message out
and we look at the numbers of people coming
to visit us
and get some information
and those numbers are always improving
but it's secondary
to us doing a good job
and looking and trying to sort things out
because we know exactly what our goals are
and it's not complicated
it's to seek the truth
and truth is something
that is not totally achievable
but I'll tell you what
the opposite of truth is nihilism
you don't believe there is any truth out there
and there is a big difference
even the founders understood
the difference between the natural law
and the nihilism
saying you can't solve those problems
that's why you need dictators
and you need an empire
and you have to take charge
and feed the people and take care of them
and if they don't act right
we'll take care of them
because we will have a strong military
it's that attitude that we try to change
I want to thank all of you for tuning in so frequently
and
please come back soon
to the Liberty Report