Trump blatantly threatens and rots in public, embarrassing America’s ‘allies’.

26 September 2026, posted by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)

https://www.youtube.com/live/gOxYEK8pTsw?t=164s

“INTEL Roundtable: Weekly Wrap 25-SEPT”

Judge Napolitano, Larry Johnson, Karen Kwiatkowski

25 September 2026

02:44

Welcome here, a pleasure, guys. Thanks very much, uh, for joining us. Larry, I have to go to you first. You just spent three weeks in Russia. You participated in, uh, academic, uh, programs. You did many, many interviews where you were doing the interviewing

02:59

and you interacted with a lot of important people that affect public policy in Russia. You interacted with ordinary folks and you were there during an election, right? What’s what’s your take after all this? >> Uh, Western media is engaged, you’ll be,

03:18

no surprise to you, with a lot of hype, exaggeration, and misinformation. An example was last a week ago, Sunday, when the election was concluding, last day of a three-day uh vote for the Duma. Uh, I woke up in the morning to news that there had been the most massive

03:39

drone attack ever in the history of the world on Moscow. I didn’t hear a damn thing. Uh, there were no sirens going off at night, nothing. Apparently, what happened is, yes, Ukraine launched around 1,600 drones. Some said, 1900. uh the the vast vast majority of them got shot down uh

04:00

in the way out outside of Moscow. Now people need to understand Moscow city limits is three times the size of New York City including all five burrows. Okay, just to give you some idea of the size, twice the population. Uh that drone strike killed two people, sad for

04:24

them, and injured five. So, you know, it’s not it was not a strategic blow that was going to change the course of the war, but when you listen to the news reports, they provided that same that kind of hype and exaggeration. So, it was useful to see it from that standpoint. The election

04:44

was very well-run, very well organized. Uh there were 10 parties that participated. I had a chance to interview uh the foreign election observers uh one gentleman from Argentina, two from Spain, couple from Greece, one an Irishman from Lebanon figure. Well, he’s born in Lebanon, but

05:05

he’s an Irish citizen now. Uh someone from Syria and someone from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. So, uh, you know, and they all commented on how well-run they thought the election was. And again, you had 10 parties participating. Nobody was being arrested and drugged off to jail.

05:26

>> Wow. Karen, does it surprise you that American media would have the same Russophobia as the European media does? >> I mean, it’s I think it’s coming from the same source, you know. Uh, our government, um, is is when it comes to Ukraine and Russia, this was a US

05:47

project. Uh, NATO went along with it, of course, but it’s a US project, and our media, uh, is reflecting the government. It’s state media. I mean, we’re really late Soviet Union, and we we don’t have we don’t have an independent media other than true independent media because of

06:03

the First Amendment. I mean, the the mainstream is state media. So, it’s not in their interest to report honestly. it’s in their interest to contribute to whatever narrative is uh going on which um is still the narrative that Ukraine can possibly win and and look how strong

06:19

they are and look how great our investment was for the last four years plus. >> Well, Larry, both of you, I’m going to play uh Trump’s hideous statement at the UN and then I’m going to ask you, could you count the number of members of Congress who condemned this? Chris, cut number 12.

06:40

“But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before? Maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic

07:02

and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we’ll make a deal right after the election.”

07:23

>> Karen, did he just threaten to murder 91 million people? >> Yeah, he sure did. He sure did. And he acts like it’s all his decision. So, I guess he lives in a an unconstitutional world where he decides who lives and dies. And then he talks about a deal, a

07:39

deal like after the American election, like that’s how the world evolves. I mean, or revolves. It’s um it’s really shocking in in a number of different ways. I just don’t uh uh I didn’t see Congress push back against that because they have given the executive branch all

07:56

of their power. They have uh given it to them willingly. Uh maybe because in this issue, AIPAC wants it that way. I don’t know. But but yeah, the our Congress is a uh you know, I used to say like a piece of cooked spaghetti, but it’s not even that consequential. It’s less

08:12

consequential than that. Um we have an executive state, an emperor, and the emperor was was speaking out of the side of his mouth basically, whatever came to him. Uh and he’s he apparently fancies a violent end. I mean, the kind of language that’s uh I mean, it’s

08:30

shocking. It’s just shocking, >> Larry. I think you were back from your trip when, and maybe I’m wrong, correct me if I’m wrong. When Trump made those uh comments, did you hear a single Republican or Democrat or anybody in the Congress condemn that? >> Well, no. I was actually I was

08:49

monitoring it from the aircraft. Thank God for, you know, Starlink, you can hook up to the internet, you know. Uh, I I I I asked a question of one of the AI search engines and Donald Trump has done something that Adolf Hitler never did or Joseph Stalin or Mao Tsetung or you know

09:14

Pol Pot. Pick your mass murderer in history. ever has have any of them gone out and threatened by name specifically to annihilate a particular country. Now, you know, you could say Hitler celebrated taking down Czechoslovakia after the fact, but that’s quite different. I mean what

09:39

Donald Trump is is doing this by his very words he he is putting himself in a category of monsters of of historical monsters to even think such a thing to threaten such a thing. Uh it’s it’s like if you’ve got a neighbor that moves in and threatens to murder you and your

10:03

family you’re going to step back and wait until they do something. This kind of language, I think, is designed as well to try to provoke Iran into taking preemptive steps, which they might do. >> Karen, um, uh, yesterday I was, uh, able to participate in a private conversation.

10:25

Professor Sachs was there. There were about 25 or 30 other people [clears throat] there with President Iranian President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi. Uh, Foreign Minister Araghchi is fluent in English. President Pezeshkian, who’s a cardiac surgeon, uh, was not, but there were able uh,

10:44

translators uh, there. They are absolutely uh, devoted to the fatwa issued by the Ayatollah that the United States and Israel murdered. They are from their hearts as well as their law. I’m quoting them now. opposed to the concept of obtaining and using uh nuclear weapons,

11:10

but they think that they can expect that Trump would honor his own signature on the memorandum of understanding. And they can’t understand, they can’t grasp that a head of state signing a document in front of an international audience within a week would repudiate the

11:32

document and his own signature. >> KWIATKOWSKI:  Yeah, it that is uh it’s understandable um that they would expect any head of state who signs a document like that publicly who that his best people uh not in my opinion, but Trump’s best people negotiated for him, um and then to

11:51

repudiate it as if it doesn’t even matter. But um I think uh uh you know I I I have I’ve had a little bit of a more concern because I saw Tucker Carlson talk about a meeting he had uh just before the Iran thing and he said there’s three things that are going to

12:09

happen if you invade Iran. >> Let me let me stop you right here, >> okay >> And we will play a clip of exactly what he said. >>  KWIATKOWSKI: That’s very concerning. That is extremely alarming to me. >> It’s terrifying because of the statement Trump said wi with sort of a devil may

12:27

care attitude. Oh, it doesn’t matter because in the long run, we’re all dead. Chris cut number 19. TUCKER CARLSON: “This war is being pushed by Israel with three aims. One, its own regional hegemony. Take Iran off the map. you can’t they don’t have freedom of movement as long as Iran

12:48

is a regional power. Two, diminishing the power of the GCC, the six Gulf states which are a rival to Israel and are becoming this kind of Switzerland of the Middle East and that’s bad for Israeli interest. And three, getting the US out of the Middle East because we constrain their

13:06

ambitions, getting our bases out, destroying our bases. Israel wants our bases out of the Middle East. I said this to Trump to his face in the Oval Office days before the war began and he looked at me and said, ‘Yes, you’re right. But in the end, we all die

13:21

anyway, so it doesn’t matter.’ That’s exactly what he said. In the end, we all die anyway.”  >> Karen. >> Yeah. I mean, denialism and also the fact that he’s willing, Trump is willing to do what Netanyahu wants him to do. uh which is unbelievable. I mean it’s you

13:45

know beyond Pol Pot. It’s beyond any of these monsters in history. And he’s willing to do that and willing to listen to the truth about it and basically say well it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. We’re going to do it anyway. My friend Netanyahu has asked us to do this

14:02

and he’s going to do it. And also I think um the fact that he says we’re all dead anyway. That’s kind of yes, it is nihilistic, but it’s also it also indicates perhaps that he is under real threat of death or death of his family members and and he’s just uh going to do

14:18

whatever Netanyahu tells him to do. And that’s why when I saw the well, I saw this afterwards, but when you look back at that speech he gave to the UN, I have a decision to make. I have a tough decision to make and I’m going to be making that decision. Really? Are you

14:31

Mr. Trump? Are you making that decision? Or is this really uh far more disturbing even than having an insane president? Um having having a more insane small country that we have absolutely no control over other than we give them money. Apparently, we can’t stop that

14:47

either, you know, and they’re making our decisions for us and they’re deciding a nihilistic vision of the world will be implemented starting just starting in West Asia because obviously it doesn’t look like that would be contained beyond that. So, I I just

15:04

this is serious problem and and I noticed I didn’t notice before, but that was on NPR. So, there’s a whole lot of people that watch NPR that probably don’t uh are not as up on uh some of the global politics and and so I imagine they’re shocked also.

15:20

>> Larry, um is Trump planning an invasion of Iran after the midterms? >> No. Uh I I don’t think so. Uh but we haven’t seen, you know, to do that you’d have to start moving a large number of troops forward. They haven’t done that. And even if they did move those troops

15:40

forward, they would be in jeopardy. Um he may he may try some more air strikes, but that that already has proven to be a fruitless, feckless effort. Uh the real problem for him is going to be the economy and the diesel shortage. Uh this this shortage of diesel and aviation

15:58

fuel is global and and in in cont contrary to what Trump says does not have a damn thing to do with Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries. Not a thing. Uh completely irrelevant. But uh the the issue is reopening the flow of oil, the the high sulfur content

16:22

oil that comes out of the Persian Gulf and getting that into refineries and and even if under ideal circumstances, if they if Iran and the United States made an agreement tonight and tomorrow, you know, magically all these uh super tankers are showing up filling up with

16:41

oil and sailing off, you’re not going to see any possible relief with respect to diesel and aviation fuel which has to be refined for at least uh two to three months minimum and that’s ideal if we get started tomorrow. Well, we ain’t getting started tomorrow. Uh so you’re

17:02

facing a massive shortage of diesel and aviation fuel that’s going to depress the global economy or most countries in the global economy for the foreseeable future. >> Well, does the does the federal government understand that? Does Trump understand that? Does he believe his own

17:25

confabulation that this is caused by uh Ukrainian attacks on uh on Russian refineries, Karen? Because the American public doesn’t believe that. >> No. And also, we control the Iranian attacks and their targets. I mean, what do you complain about? Call

17:43

up Ratcliffe and tell him to quit doing it. Um he’s not he’s this is all it’s a it’s fantasy land. And um I don’t know what Trump really understands. Um you know he was with with the Xi meeting you know he was quite restrained I think he was not on his uh he was he was not his

17:60

normal bully aggressive self he was being respectful and uh it seemed like there was a power differential there and so maybe and then I heard there’s going to be follow-up meetings with Xi two more meetings potentially before the end of the calendar year so you know I this

18:18

is very strange for an American to feel this way or to think this way but I almost think that the fate of the world is in the hands of of the Chinese president and and and Putin. These these two guys are in a position to watch Trump objectively to know everything

18:35

that that we know and more I think um because their whole intelligence apparatus is oriented to learning uh the facts the objective facts of what’s going on in the west in particular Washington DC. So you know it’s almost like the fate of the world is being held by people

18:52

far far from us. Um otherwise it’s held it’s held in West Jerusalem which is which is very disturbing. Um but I think I think uh I think Xi and Putin and maybe like some of the BRICS members I mean Malaysia countries that have become disturbed enough about what’s happening

19:11

that they are actually speaking out. I mean we even had the king of Jordan right complaining that Israel was out of bounds and would never stop. And that’s unusual for him. He’s not even a you know what what does what do we care what he thinks? He’s he’s our puppet too in

19:26

many ways. But I think there’s a the whole world is waking up to the danger that’s posed to the whole world out of Washington and particularly Trump. So that doesn’t give me a sense of security. It makes me very uncomfortable to think that the future of the world is

19:43

in the hands of people far far away. But I don’t see how Americans can do anything. I mean, we don’t even have a Congress that will act.

19:49

…

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.