The Gas Industry Refuses To Let The U.S. Find Solutions To Rising Gas Prices | American Power

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Key thing here is right now for this Iran situation, this Iran debacle, there is not a declaration of war, nor is there an authorization for use of military force. So we are in a a new area now.

[00:00:12]>> Well, I don't want to deal with this existential threat cuz it might cost me an election.

[00:00:15]>> What? Like what does that mean?

[00:00:18]>> We love to quote unquote step on our own when it comes to this type of stuff.

[00:00:22]>> Wait, who are you quoting?

[00:00:23]>> Myself.

[00:00:36]You're listening to American Power from Find Out Media. I'm your host, Nat Tain, stand-up comedian, speech writer, comedy writer, other kinds of writer, and most famously podcast host. We are recording this at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 4th, 2026. I'm here with my panel of experts.

[00:00:53]Up first, our expert on military and policy, Chad Scott. Chad, how you doing?

[00:00:58]>> I'm doing well. Glad to be here. Hope everyone uh is having a great week.

[00:01:02]>> And of course, also joining us as always is our expert on energy, Mr. Global himself, Matt Randolph. Matt, how you doing?

[00:01:10]>> Living the dream, Natt. Living the dream.

[00:01:12]>> You really are. I want to focus on some evergreen topics, some long-term strategy that we can discuss at great length, but unfortunately news keeps happening. So, I was hoping we could start this today's episode by talking a little bit about what has happened in the world of oil and the situation in Iran. Chad, would you kick us off? Yeah.

[00:01:36]So, it seems the ceasefire is effectively over despite the fact that it's technically still in place on paper. I mean, Iran and the United States are shooting at each other. Um, if you take a look at Trump's announcement of these escort missions through the straight of Hormuz, that's not sitting well with Iran. And the US began supposedly moving ships through the straight under this project freedom.

[00:02:02]US Central Command sentcom said two US flagged merchant ships successfully transited the straight of Hormuz with a US Navy destroyer. Interestingly, the the original construct for this was for neutral ships, but US flag ships are not neutral. So, a bit of a a a misconception on what's going on there.

[00:02:23]Shortly after those ships went through, a South Korean operated cargo ship called the HMMAU was hit by an explosion. likely came from either a drone or a missile out of Iran. There's no casualties, but um Trump publicly blamed Iran and said South Korea should join the war now because of this.

[00:02:40]There's a new strategy coming out of Iran. They're calling >> not claiming responsibility, right?

[00:02:47]>> They they haven't said anything specific as of right now to this. They're trying to create this air of chaos. They're trying to make it seem like um they don't want to directly engage with the United States Navy obviously, but they also want to make it so this the shipping doesn't doesn't go through. And they're saying that all of these countries, regardless of where you stand, need to follow these new Iranian maritime rules. And this is kind of their new construct for how they're going to present a permanent structure within the straight of Hormuz. And they're saying that if you don't follow that, um there's that you're going to be stopped. you're going to get fired upon.

[00:03:23]>> I don't necessarily think they're going to be firing constantly. They just need enough to create this air of cha chaos.

[00:03:29]And with that chaos, um they and maybe Matt could talk about this as well. They struck um the an oil facility that was supposed to be a workaround pipeline in uh that's that's north of uh Dubai, I believe. But um basically, there's a pipeline. And so Iran is not only focusing now on the Straight of Hormuz, they're trying to punish anyone who is circumventing the Straight of Hormuz's control regime by striking pipelines and things like that that would be used to go around their their uh kind of pseudo blockade.

[00:04:02]>> And what's their goal? Just to inflict as much pain as possible at this point.

[00:04:06]>> They're just trying to is assert control. It's this new maritime regime.

[00:04:09]They're trying to say, "Hey, we're in charge of the strait." Uh the two parties here kind of sitting on opposite sides of what is common international law is the United States is saying, "Hey, we're going to blockade as we see fit because this is a war. It's not really a war." According to many in the in the MAGA movement, we've already had to deal with that problem because we've passed the 60 days. Regardless, Iran sitting on the other side saying, "No, this body of water borders us. We control it and you guys got to deal with it." So at that point, we're looking at an approach where you have two countries operating outside of international law, believing what they they believe is right. And it's leading to for all intents and purposes, I don't see a way out of this other than it becoming more of a kinetic fight. And that's kind of what we're seeing with these small boats being struck by Apaches in the Straight of Hormuz. uh uh some some six to seven depending on who the source is of these Iranian swift boats, these these small fast boats that come in and try to harass the ships.

[00:05:10]They were apparently struck by Apache helicopters destroying them. Um missile strikes on these countries and then obviously the missile strikes on on a pipeline system.

[00:05:20]So CNN's reporting that within the next 24 hours, a coalition of the US and Israel and potentially even other countries, including the UAE, would are um looking to start striking Iran again. And that's why in the beginning I said I I believe the ceasefire is just effectively over at this point and we're going to move to more kinetic operations.

[00:05:42]>> And so we find ourselves, as you mentioned, we're 60 days past the original invasion or the original strike in Iran, right? Which means which puts us the War Powers Act would require a declaration of war after 60 days of military activity. Is that the >> the >> So it's either you either have to have a you have to have a declaration of war, which we won't get out of Congress, or an authorization for use of military forces. That's kind of the >> the we haven't declared war on anyone since like World War II. So it's always been an authorization for use of military force. Basically, Congress saying, "Hey, we give the president permission to do this. It's not an act."

[00:06:14]Is that a lower threshold than a full declaration of war?

[00:06:18]>> Yeah, basically there's there's it it it kind of divorces the Congress from the action if there's too many people who are opposed to it, but it's also quicker. There's a quicker mechanism for an authorization for use of military force. Um and and it allows them to the Congress to instead of saying we want this war, we want to fight this war. We believe wholeheartedly in this war, they just kind of say h >> go do what you need, president. We're not going to get in your way. And that's kind of how we got into Afghanistan and Iraq was is uh war. They were all >> Yeah. They were all authorizations for use of military force. Key thing here is right now for this Iran situation, this Iran debacle, there is not a declaration of war, nor is there an authorization for use of military force. So we are in a a new area now. We've passed the 60 days. They've the administration is claiming that because there's been a ceasefire pause that there should be it's no longer a war as if when bombs >> to reset the counter cuz they >> Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

[00:07:21]Ridiculous. They're trying to reset the clock and and the thing is is you your hand off the base in tag rules and putting it back on.

[00:07:27]>> Exactly. That's Yeah. It's like you can't say when the war is only happening as bombs are being dropped and then the war stops when when bombs are done being dropped.

[00:07:35]>> Totally totally new and different war.

[00:07:37]That's like you got Trump's previous war from March. No, no, no. That's over. And that's the thing is we're carrying this over and the the um blockade in itself is an act of war per the the I granted it's an older case from civil war but the Supreme Court has has reaffirmed that a blockade is a part of active warfare operations. The international law across the board shows a blockade is an act of war. For all intents and purposes this is a wartime action that the United States is is conducting against Iran. we are just Congress has just kind of kind of backed away and is allowing Trump to do what he wants. And it's very concerning because it does give this almost dictatorial power to make and and continue war when that power was initially intended to be an article one power of the constitution granted to Congress specifically. So, >> and do we is this the first time we've seen this in American history? Uh, have we seen a president exceed the 60-day limit and continue acts of war without even an authorization for force, authorization of force?

[00:08:43]>> Yes, in general that there's I mean we've seen some like when you look at things like the Kosovo and stuff like that, there's been some buffers where they allowed for a little bit of negotiation stuff, but it's never been this egregious. There was always an at least until recently some still something of a norm like one of the most >> this is this is completely new to >> his lack of militarism in the past destroyed yet?

[00:09:05]>> No. Yeah. This was generally considered the standard. Okay.

[00:09:09]>> Yeah. So, it's it's very much in I mean, I'm very concerned going forward with what's what's going to happen, especially since we uh we're we're now seeing Iran circumvent the strait and start striking the pipelines outside of and that's definitely going to have market market implications for sure for us and the world. And I want to ask about that in just a second, but just to to recap, if you can if you just correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like what you're saying to me is that Iran is doubling down on this strategy that we've talked about in recent weeks where obviously they don't have the scale of military force that the US has, but they realize that in order to inflict harm on the US in order to, you know, maintain control, they don't necessarily need to overpower us. they need to let the US burn out its resources and you know maintain the situation long enough that that it becomes uh inconvenient and expensive for the US to continue to do this and and you know as we've discussed before where we haven't even felt all the economic impacts that are going to come from this yet. Uh so this is essentially their new strategy and they are they're they're doubling down and and and continuing to to uh strengthen their power that way.

[00:10:17]>> And of course yeah absolutely of course they're doing that because it's working.

[00:10:20]They're seeing the cracks form within the administration. They're seeing >> the infighting amongst uh Trump's us even fervent supporters are getting very frustrated. Um you see the the discussions happening in the Midwest of all the costs and things. You're seeing you're seeing the cracks form and so Iran sees no reason to change their strategy. I mean the pain has not been incrementally uh ramped up against them. We just said we're doing a blockade and they're surviving the blockade. not great for them. My biggest concern though is given Trump's kind of cowboy-esque ways of doing things, at what point does Iran say no one one too many times and then it becomes, okay, well, Trump did say this is going to end a civilization or something to that effect or I'm going to strike bridges and civilian infrastructure and power plants. At some point I'm concerned that he will start doing that and that's going to hurt the people of Iran who we should be supporting not so much obviously the regime there's no love loss with this regime but we need to be supporting these people and >> absolutely and well let's take a moment to talk about how this is affecting because we're talking you know some of this is the Iran is guarantee you know banking on this affecting not only Americans but American citizens how is this I know a lot of Americans are paying a lot of the pump these days. Mr. Global, can you give us a little sense of how is this affecting the oil markets as a whole and how is it affecting uh costs for Americans at the pump and at home? It's >> bad, Natt. It's really bad.

[00:11:53]>> Worse than is it worsening or is this is sort of decline as usual? At this point, we have to talk about acceleration.

[00:11:59]>> Honestly, I don't know which is worse. I don't know if today's events are worse with Iran hitting uh so much infrastructure in the UAE or if all of the tankers coming to the United States are worse because people really don't understand how bad that is. But uh that export terminal that Iran hit today, we don't know the extent of the damage yet.

[00:12:22]So the pipeline might still be functional. Um at in that area, there's a whole storage terminal. There's a pipeline. Uh the start of a pipeline is there. There's a lot of stuff there, a very large area. And it's not clear yet to the extent of the damage. Uh that pipeline moves about one and a half million barrels of oil a day, but we don't know if the pipeline itself was damaged. So, it's really hard to say what that's, you know, specifically going to do other than the fact it's going to drive up oil prices. I think oil closed at 114 today. So, it was up uh nearly six bucks by the end of and this stuff's been going on since like 4:00 this morning.

[00:13:03]Today, the whole day was like this. And when they came out and said they were going to escort ships and then they said, "Well, we're not going to ex escort them. We're actually just going to kind of talk them through it." I was like, "What are we doing?" Like, I obviously I'm not a military strategist, but this whole thing seemed kind of odd to me.

[00:13:24]>> Uh but manipulation again. Is that something? Cuz when he said that it was not going to be an escort mission, it was just going to be we'll give you the maps and stuff to get through. I'm like, okay, this is a Monday morning Trump manipulation. Are you seeing the same thing? Is that your feeling, too?

[00:13:40]>> You know, >> or is it more legit?

[00:13:43]>> So, when he came out and said that on Sunday night, he he does this on Sunday night because international markets open on Sunday night. Uh, a lot of people thought it was a manipulation thing, but the the thing was it didn't work. Like the markets dropped for a couple of minutes, but they had to immediately come out and say, "No, we're not actually escorting anyone. We're not doing that." Cuz that's the impression apparently that Donald Trump gave. To be fair, he didn't say the word escort uh in his tweet or truth or whatever it was. He said, "We're going to guide ships through the straight and get them all out of the straight." So, everyone assumed that meant because he said, "We're going to use naval forces." So, you know, people are like, "Oh, that means we're going to escort them." Uh, they immediately came out within minutes and said, "No, we're not escorting anybody. Uh, we're going to give them, you know, the maps and we're going to talk them through it. Lend them an ear.

[00:14:38]Whatever. Whatever the hell it is, we're actually doing a pep talk." Yeah. We're going to guide them through spiritually.

[00:14:44]We're going to ask them like what their goals are with the trip and like hope they get the most out of it.

[00:14:48]>> Do a vision board.

[00:14:50]>> Yeah, we're going to do a vision board.

[00:14:51]We're going to we're going to do a collage with them before they leave.

[00:14:55]>> The whole day has been nuts. Like Iran immediately this morning claimed they hit a destroyer or a warship or something. I I'm not sure.

[00:15:02]>> Uh the US immediately came back and said they didn't hit nothing. And then the US came back later and said, "Well, they actually fired on us." And then like we're in this space in time where you can't believe anybody and it makes it almost impossible to get the right information to the people that you're trying to deliver the information. Um and all of this just makes the market go nuts. Uh my big concern is of course this will post on Wednesday and we'll know about this by the time uh this podcast comes out. Tomorrow the API inventory report comes out which is going to tell us how much our diesel fuel gasoline uh inventories dropped and it's going to be a lot. A lot of people think it's going to be the biggest one ever.

[00:15:44]>> American petroleum index.

[00:15:46]>> No institute.

[00:15:48]>> Institute.

[00:15:49]>> Oh yeah. Close. That was close.

[00:15:51]>> So you know how you know how the job numbers come out? Yeah.

[00:15:55]>> Uh one day who is it that releases the job numbers first? Um a uh the payroll company ADP. Oh yeah.

[00:16:03]>> ADP does their job numbers and then the Bureau of Labor Statistics does their job numbers like the next day or the day after.

[00:16:10]>> They do the same thing with oil inventories. So API does them first and that gives you like some insight into what they might actually look like. And then the EIA comes out the next day and that's the one that really moves the markets. But the API is always very close to the EIA. So we'll know Tuesday how much that inventory dropped. you could see a parabolic move in gas prices um on Wednesday when this show drops if those inventory levels drop as much as people think they're going to drop. Uh >> so we'll have more of an idea of how much gas is or sorry how much oil is domestically available presently. Is that is like within >> how much gasoline and diesel we're talking about refined fuel specifically >> refined fuel. Okay, sorry my apologies.

[00:16:53]>> Yeah, a lot of these tankers aren't getting oil. They're getting our gas and our diesel. Oh, that is driving up our gas prices more than if they were getting oil >> because of the refined oil is making it worth exporting and therefore there's less of it here and driving up prices domestically.

[00:17:11]>> So, what we're seeing right now is exactly what caused gas to go to $5 in 2022 under Joe Biden.

[00:17:17]>> Uh, Russia attacked Ukraine. We started exporting a lot of gas and diesel to Europe because they cut Russia off. We brought our inventory levels way down.

[00:17:26]gas spike to five dollars. The difference is in 2022 it took us six months to send an additional 20 million barrels of gas diesel to Europe. Uh in 2026 we've done that in one month.

[00:17:41]>> So this is a much faster, more drastic >> thing. And there's tankers coming until mid August at least.

[00:17:49]Um, so we could see gas prices go to places honestly not even willing to predict where the gas prices could go.

[00:17:57]But this inventory report and the next one and the next one are going to be the biggest driver of gas prices. It's not actually going to be in uh oil prices because when your inventory gets this low, oil prices can drop and your gas can still rise a lot.

[00:18:14]And after >> is that in part due to the like like refining can't be sped up, right? Like if we haven't >> No, we're at max.

[00:18:21]>> We're at max. But if we are not >> if we don't have oil like if you don't have the full amount of oil to refine at a given time, there's no catching up.

[00:18:29]You are m you are refining at at capacity at this point.

[00:18:33]>> Yeah, we're already at max.

[00:18:34]>> So there's no way of catching up on that scarcity other than to import refined like gas and diesel >> or stop exporting.

[00:18:40]>> Well, okay. Yes. So after tomorrow's report, after tomorrow's report there, there will our inventory levels will be lower than they were in 22. That's what I'm saying.

[00:18:52]>> Mhm.

[00:18:52]>> And that's tomorrow >> after a month rather than six months, >> right?

[00:18:57]>> With more tankers coming until mid August, it's this is bad is what I'm saying, Matt. This is really bad because even if the straight opens today, those tankers are coming until mid August.

[00:19:06]That's how long it takes >> to cycle the world with oil and gas. Do you think that the president could use something like the Defense Production Act to say, "No, we're not giving you any more gas or is that just too problematic or and there's just too much push back?" Because if you're saying what we're saying, I'm seeing just reports generally on the news that like states are now hitting new records of diesel somewhere like six bucks or something. It's getting out of control.

[00:19:30]>> Can the president come in and just say, "All right, enough of this. Our production is for us for now. Stop shipping it." Or is that going to be too much of the push back? Is that basically political suicide from the oil companies? They'll say, "No, we're not doing that." And it's lawsuit heaven there.

[00:19:45]>> It's going to get to a point where I think he has to do it. But the problem is he's done nothing but celebrate the fact that these tankers are coming. But it I fear that it's going to get to the point where he's forced to do that.

[00:19:55]There was a story out today in Reuters about how that is coming. They're going to have to do that. Um, and I don't think you have to use the Defense Production Act to do that either. I think you could just declare an emergency and >> you know, >> but um yeah, that's the real concern right now is our inventories because once your inventory gets that low, oil can go up or down $10. It's not going to matter. Gas is still going up no matter what because you're just out of inventory. It's the supply side of supply and demand. And once you lose that supply side, you're done, right? So, we'll just have to see what happens. You know, I mean, I remember some in some choke points in the past or or also like in times following Hurricane Irene or Hurricane Sandy, other natural disasters like that um when gas distribution was interrupted. Uh you had like a run on gas stations in a lot of cases like you saw >> uh in I mean in it happened in New York, but I know it happened all over the place, but you know, you saw people uh showing up to fill up with, you know, with tank with cans and and uh you know, buying out these local gas stations. uh how far are we from a run on gas? Like how like at what at what point does a increase in prices speed up? I mean, obviously you can't predict uh human behavior at a mass scale, but is there anything that tends to trigger that panic?

[00:21:14]>> So, here's the thing. If we get a run on gas, we're still going to be fine.

[00:21:17]>> Mhm.

[00:21:18]>> It It's not that we're going to run out of gas. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying the price of it is going to be very expensive.

[00:21:26]>> I'm curious if that's going to happen cursorally. Like would there be a run if prices start to get to the point where people say oh [ __ ] I can't pay for this next week if it goes keeps going at this rate like a like a preemptive like not a supply based uh run but like if the cost hike increases in speed essentially and as we said it's acceleration at this point right so if the prices accelerate at a certain level will people start to hoard gas will people will we see a huge buy in for a moment like just a >> yeah this whole thing creates this vicious just feedback loop where every action makes the the last action worse like you know what I mean like high gas prices you get a run due to you know low inventories you get a run that makes inventories worse makes gas prices higher it's it's just it's a cycle you have to break out of but what I want to be clear of is even if that happens we're not going to run out of gas we're just it's just going to be really expensive >> we just can't afford the gas that we have because the lack of supply will just make it so expensive to the average consumer Yeah. And in many ways, this kind of needs to happen to be honest. Like >> we need a wakeup call about what's happening in the Middle East. And the markets have been suppressed for so long. People act like it's no big deal.

[00:22:39]Maybe we need gas to hit seven or eight dollars a gallon so people will wake up and say, "Oh, this is actually serious."

[00:22:46]Um, that's the only way the market can correct itself is through that demand destruction that will occur with those higher prices. And I'm curious, am I incorrect in in in in understanding this? Uh, in other Western countries, I understand that people pay proportionately more per gallon for for gasoline. Like I our gas has been like traditionally much more subsidized and so we're used to a artificially lower price than say like a a car driver in the UK. Am I am I getting that right?

[00:23:15]>> Oh yeah. Our gas is a lot cheaper than all of the other even the western nations. You know, we complain, you know, gas right now in Canada on a well, if you convert it to gallons, it's over $7 a gallon. Like UK, >> but I remember being in the UK and saying, "Oh, it's almost the same price." And then going, "Oh, that's pounds." Like, it's almost twice what we were paying at the time. And you know, the pound was almost double the dollar at the time and it was a comparable number and I went, "Oh my god." And then I real that was like one of the first times I experienced. So we our price has just for decades been somewhat like artificially suppressed. So Americans are under the impression that gasoline effectively is cheaper than uh it could be. I mean obviously it could be it could always be more expensive, but do you think that at do you think this is a thing that's just never going to go all the way back down that we may this may just be what triggers like we have to adjust a little bit to the idea that gas can't be as cheap as we think it is?

[00:24:07]>> So this is a deep conversation because I don't think gas is expensive. I think wages are extremely low and we don't have a cost problem in the United States with everything. We have a problem with what we pay people. Um if the United States paid people, you know, just a normal amount of money, gas would not be expensive right now. Gas is expensive because people don't make enough money to live in this country.

[00:24:34]>> Um >> but we stopped doing that in like the 80s. No, >> the solution has always been to make everything cheaper instead of to pay people more.

[00:24:42]>> Yes.

[00:24:43]>> And who's who benefits from just making stuff cheaper instead of paying people more? Who benefits from that?

[00:24:49]>> From people being able to purchase more things. Uh I would say the people who are being purchased from in my in my very basic economic analysis based on what you're saying. I would imagine that more people being able to buy things uh would probably benefit the people selling it. And it's kind of wild because it when I was so when I was in Germany, stationed in Germany, there's the the US is so hyperfocused on prices that we got what was called an ESO card.

[00:25:14]Now I know you were in Europe, Nat, I don't know if you got this as well, but soldiers when we go to the go to Europe and are stationed there, we don't pay their gas prices. We pay American gas prices at their pumps. We use what's called an ESO card. We drive up to their pump. We pay with the ESO card and it charges us our American per uh gallon rate and they all have to pay their rate. So I'm running up I can fill my tank at the time when I was there for like 30 but for which is like roughly 35 bucks or something like that. they the while the Europeans were paying like 60 or 50 euro themselves and it's because there's this like Matt was saying there was this there's this hyperfocus on trying to keep everything cheap rather than making the market actually work and it's just it was I just kind of was >> over to Europe to find out how the rest of the world is living we got to cause serious culture shock >> well and it's funny because like if you forget your ESO card and you need to get gas you just got to pay their prices and that happens. I mean I mean it would happen every once in a while and so I was like dang I got to pay like 80 bucks on this on my car or my BM BMW to get filled up. But yeah, it's it's really fascinating and I'm you look at the kind of the the shortages thing. I was kind of thinking about 2008 and how the United States is so insulated. We are so insulated. 2008 crisis that hit us hard but it hit us way less than everyone else around the world. Our recovery was way faster. we were so much more insulated because one of our financial system and two um a lot of our a lot of the inputs come to the US and you're seeing like we won't see gas runs here like Matt was saying but already you see like India and Pakistan these are countries like there's a confirmed um cooking oil shortage in India because they get a lot of their cooking oil from Iran. Uh you look at Pakistan and they are having some fuel lines start where people are trying to get fuel. It's things we don't see. And so what ends up happening, unfortunately, politically, we look at it from a kind of hoham, like, okay, well, whatever. I guess we'll keep paying a little bit more. And we don't change anything politically while the rest of the world is really struggling. And it's just kind of fascinating that Matt, like Matt was saying, we're not going to see these gas runs. We're not going to feel the pain, but the rest of the world and humanity outside of the United States certainly is.

[00:27:40]And I think you have a point even thinking about 2008 as to what Matt was saying about, you know, we focused so much more on cost than wages that a lot of the recovery after that. I mean, obviously there was like little bits of stimulus here and there, but um it was focused on getting inflation down and focused on and it wasn't focused on the kind of uh you know, investing in citizens that would create long-term wealth. It was focused on making things affordable as quickly as possible. And you know of course that was like the birth of occupy and all you know all these movements there where people were saying hey I I actually can't afford to live but uh we are very focused on the idea that everything should be you know cheap affordable available immediately. I'm I'm curious as we go forward uh if you guys don't mind pivoting a little bit to talking about the long term of this because I think we're realizing that yeah, these effects are going to be pretty serious and and as often is the case, Americans are insulated in a way that people around the world are not from the effects of the American economy crashing time and time again. Um this is an ongoing situation with no obvious resolution in sight. So, I was wondering if we could take a look at, you know, we're a sane person in charge, uh, given the current narrative, though, given given the way that we've moved forward, assuming anything short of impeachment or, you know, regime change on our end, what's our way out of here? Can we talk about what a possible what possible steps forward look like, both from the military situation, but also how does the American economy stabilize from this? And do we just get used to higher gas prices?

[00:29:16]Um, but I was hoping maybe we could start talking about the military situation first.

[00:29:20]>> Yeah, sure. I can.

[00:29:21]>> So, from from a from a kind of a military, geopolitical, geostrategic stance here.

[00:29:26]>> I want to caveat this this again like I repeating what you said. This would be if we had a competent leader in place.

[00:29:32]And I kind of got I kind of got questioned that last episode in the in the YouTube comments like Trump would never do that. Yes, of course. This is if we had someone who would do this type of stuff. This is if we had a good leader.

[00:29:43]>> You don't need to read that. We know that. So just making sure that people are aware. So first we we have to understand that this administration is getting played by just hyperfocusing on the straight of hormuse. That is Iran's strongest card. It is narrow focus economically sensitive and it lets Iran pressure the global economy without doing anything meaningful. They don't have to fight the US Navy. They don't have to really do anything other than scare people. So if we stay hyperfocused on Hormuz, we are fighting Iran where Iran is strongest and then you're getting into the art of war and Sunzu.

[00:30:18]We're fighting them in on their territory. That does not mean we should be surrendering the straight of Hormuz.

[00:30:24]We should absolutely come to some way to make this open and free again. But it means we stop having to let we stop letting Iran define the entire war around it. And so we take this fight from the straight of Hormuz and we move it out into a global system. We blow it up where America is the strongest. The the entire world because of our soft power, because of our hard power is our strongest arena.

[00:30:49]And that's the first thing we have to admit that this strategy of hitting trying to hit Iran in the mouth in this small spot is not working. And we need to broaden out by rebuilding our allied front. We need, and again, this isn't going to happen, but this is what we need to do. We need to go to Europe, Japan, Australia, all of our Gulf partners, and say, "Look, we screwed up.

[00:31:12]We tried to handle this alone. We tried to take care of this problem. We didn't do it well. We need the help on the diplomatic and economic fronts." And along with that, we got to stop trashing NATO. We got to stop picking fights with our allies. We got to reaffirm our commitments to Europe. increase support in Ukraine where we can as kind of a hey you help us out we'll definitely help you out in Ukraine because the next phase of this only works if other major western economies are aligned with us >> without without those those other western economies countries like China and Russia will find loopholes to help Iran survive the pressure because they love seeing this pressure on the United States so it has to become not the United States pressuring it has to be a coordinated global pressure campaign instead of this unilateral federal American mess that we love to think that we're so star spangled awesome that we can fix ourselves and it and it ends up turning out no we can't. We need help with our allies.

[00:32:05]>> Second of all, we got to separate the immediate crisis from this long-term Iran problem. The immediate crisis is horm right now. We need to solve that now and kind of back burner everything else. And I know that sounds really bad to the Trump administration like we that means we got to back burner the nuclear program, their missiles, their drones or proxies, all of that. But now we're having actual human suffering from the straight up horm being closed. So that needs to be separated and if we try to solve all of it at once, we're not going to get anything. That's kind of the premise of the JCPOA. We we got around this this whole thing. So before I go on, I just I mean because I I can talk about this. I just if Matt, if you want to interject, absolutely throw out whatever you feel or or Nat, but I don't >> Well, I mean I'm I'm I'm listening and I'm hearing, you know, obviously you're saying number one. uh not obviously but if I'm can recap number one you're saying essentially restore our standing among allies >> 100% >> come back to to NATO hat in hand and say hey we actually recognize that we need your help which is does sound a very non-Trumpian thing but that is the caveat of this discussion which is how could this be done not will Trump do it and then secondarily I'm a little questioned about this because I do feel like the administration while they're talking about Iran's nuclear concerns and all these things have been pretty focused on the strait uh and have been delivering a lot of misinformation about this stray. Are you saying that they need to be f they need to be actually solving it and that the focus has been uh spin?

[00:33:29]>> Yeah, it's a it's focused on it. To me from a from a news perspective, >> it's a it's a spin. I think it's spin for market. I think it's spin for votes.

[00:33:37]>> The midterms are coming. I think >> at this point if Trump was was >> I wouldn't say smart in this regard. I think he would just understand that the the midterms are lost at this point and he needs to do the right thing and how to get out of this. And the right thing is going to be a bit painful for the United States and it's not going to get us our maximalist demands. And that's kind of where our maximalist demands is like no more nukes, no more helping the proxies and Hezbollah and the Houthies, no more killing your people, which I really wish we could do that, but that's something that we can't force without our own physical forces on ground there.

[00:34:13]>> And so because of that, we we need to kind of parse this out. We need to compartmentalize and say okay first of all let's solve hormuz and then if we solve that and the ceasefire holds then we can move to a framework of how do we address the nukes which is number two on the list. I think humanitarian is number two but the American people seem to think nukes are number two. So then we compartmentalize further and deal with humanitarian issue deal with proxies deal with everything else and that's kind of the requirement there. And there's there's multiple there's much more steps because it's going to require us to apply pressure external to Iran, including on Israel, including on China and Russia as well. And we can't do that without our allies. So early on, it feels like a lot of the messaging, even from democratic electeds, was not necessarily muddied, but they were all doing this sort of rhetorical uh Trump is going about this the wrong way, but Iran's leaders are evil. Iran is bad to their civilians. And obviously there are other countries where that's true that we didn't suddenly invade that we're not focusing on. So that standard seems uh false to me. But I would agree with you that you know we also can't ignore those humanitarian concerns like we do need to address those humanitarian issues in my opinion also higher priority than nuclear proliferation. I think that's a higher priority perhaps than Iran's nuclear program, but uh we don't need to be as we discussed this, you know, there's no endorsement of of Iran's regime, but I think if anything, we have really uh harmed our ability to have any kind of uh humanitarian impact on Iran.

[00:35:45]I mean, obviously, we're bombing civilian populations. That's uh the opposite of it, but we're also not influencing the regime to be suddenly more of an open society. I mean, if anything, this this makes it more complicated to encourage that. Am I am I crazy to say that?

[00:36:00]>> No. I mean, we should be supporting that was the whole premise initially that we all thought when Trump was like, "Help is coming on the way." We thought that that was going to be the premise that he was going to provide um aid, provide intelligence, help provide weapons via the Kurds into so that they can defend themselves against this regime. And and none of that happened. And so the minute that took place, the Iranian regime said, "Help's not coming." And then they just killed thousands of of them in the streets. And since this war started, they've had something like 25 or 26 executions, which is the most executions Iran has conducted in a span of this span of time since the Ayatollah came into power. So none of this humanitarian threats or efforts that we've made aimed at the the new Ayatollah, Maja Kamei, is working. And so I think personally we have that's why we have to expand globally and have >> it's exacerbating the problem it sounds like.

[00:36:54]>> Yeah. It's making it worse. We're focusing so hyperfocused on Iran itself and the straight of Hormuz that I think we need to apply economic pressure on things like Russia and China uh and potentially start hitting them where it hurts. And uh obviously where that where it hurts them is in in the energy, not both the energy coming out of Russia, but also the energy coming into China from Iran. And and that's kind of where I was like, maybe Matt has his his ideas on how we can impact the the energy and trade with those countries so that we can go kind of end around Straight of Hormuz to have some sort of forcing event with Iran. And I later on I can I'll tell you that we have to give a bit to Iran as well. We can't just be [ __ ] here. We got to actually give a bit. They got to actually have something. But in the meantime, there are some other avenues other than a blockade and just trying to hit him in the mouth, which clearly is not working.

[00:37:51]>> So yeah, I think economics is going to play a big part and it's the economics of our of Iran's supporters in Iran or in Russia, China, North Korea, etc. Matt, any thoughts on that?

[00:38:04]>> I don't have a lot of faith. Look, when it comes to sanctions on Iran, they were always predicated on what our gas prices were. Like they weren't they were never serious. They were a joke.

[00:38:16]You know, when Donald Trump put sanctions on Iran is when our gas prices got cheap enough that he could afford it.

[00:38:22]>> So, I mean, you know what I mean? And it was the same thing with with every administration, you know, uh how we treat Iran has always been predicated on how does it impact our gas prices at home. Like, oh, gas is high. Let's let's chill out on enforcing the sanctions, you know? So like how we can actually do it, >> right? Sorry.

[00:38:45]>> That's what I mean. Like every decision we make regarding Iran, which is supposed to be this existential threat, it's been determined by 50 cents at the gas pump. So how existential of a threat can it actually be? Like when gas is $4, we stop enforcing sanctions against Iran and just let them >> and Russia. It's the frustrating weakness of the West >> because >> And so what's what's the motivation of of >> playing this act of of actually having I mean are you are you uh assuming that it's in good faith when we can afford it or is this more to to have a perpetual boogeyman?

[00:39:19]>> I don't know. I honestly I think it's a bunch of BS. Like if if you tell me that some country is an existential threat to us, >> then why does 50 cents at the gas pump change that right now half of America's is saying that they're doing their patriotic duty by paying more for gas?

[00:39:35]>> Well, why can't they do their patriotic duty when we're not at war? Like why do we have to be at war for you to do your patri like if you know what I mean? Like the whole thing um is is too political for me. It's it's everyone's decisions on Iran is always based on how it hurts or helps themselves politically, personally, and not what's best for the whole country.

[00:39:58]That that has always been the case.

[00:40:01]Well, I don't want to deal with this existential threat because it might cost me an election. What? Like, what does that mean? Like, if if they're this threat, they need to be dealt with. And if they're not, go home and shut up. You know what I mean? like just stop this existential threat. it I agree is complete nonsense because there's only frankly two countries on the face of the earth that are existential threats to the United States and by proxy that means they're existential threats to the world because if that existential threat obviously a nuclear strike comes into bear we respond end of the world so this notion that small countries whether it's Iran North Korea whatever are this existential threat it's completely bogus and he and it's Trump using the same playbook that Putin used saying that Ukraine was some sort of existential threat to Russia. That's absolute nonsense. It's it's the narrative, the boogeyman, and it is. It's BS. So, I just I just wanted to throw that in there that there's no country is truly an existential threat. And the only countries that are, it's it basically becomes a globe ending event at that point. So, it's it's a it's either all or none. You know, they they keep talking about, oh, the last 47 years.

[00:41:11]So, what have they done for the last 47 years, right?

[00:41:15]uh financed or helped carry out terrorist threats.

[00:41:19]Um when all of this is over, are they still going to be able to do that?

[00:41:23]>> Yep.

[00:41:23]>> Absolutely. So, like what the hell are we doing?

[00:41:26]>> Like they're still going to be able to do the thing they've done to us for the last 47 years after all of this is over.

[00:41:33]>> Yeah. And also, if we're talking about who funded terrorists, didn't we fund al Qaeda? Like, we're not spotless on that record.

[00:41:40]>> Yeah. Take it easy. Take it easy. It's >> Hey, we didn't know what they were going to do. Come on. Russia was the best.

[00:41:47]>> No, but I I mean, just seriously, >> well, and that's why I have concerns about us funding and arming Lebanon right now to fight Hezbollah. I get it.

[00:41:55]They're trying to fight Hezbollah.

[00:41:56]Admirable, but that was the same excuse we used when we funded and helped out uh the Mujahedin to fight the Soviets and then they turned around and used those weapons against us. So, it's we we love to we love to quote unquote step on our own dick when it comes to this type of stuff.

[00:42:13]>> Wait, who you quoting?

[00:42:15]>> Myself. I don't know. Not me.

[00:42:16]>> That's a military term when you when you >> believe that George Washington himself at first.

[00:42:20]>> Yeah.

[00:42:21]>> Yeah.

[00:42:21]>> I can't even do that when I'm sitting down, much less standing up.

[00:42:24]>> It does sound more like that.

[00:42:26]>> I don't know. I have to get into the lotus position to do that personally.

[00:42:30]But it basically is like you we we have a we we think it we have such a great idea that we're going to go do this thing and then we end up it ends up being a great idea briefly and then we'd have to deal with several decades if not a generation of consequences and that's kind of what what we're seeing here and now we're doing it again in Iran and we potentially could be doing it again with Lebanon and so we just aren't learning from this stuff and it's yeah so that's why I don't think we need to be focusing so closely and why we need the brain power of the collective of of our allies who know more than us in some things and we know more in other things. That's why when we work together with them, it's it works out and and it's a better situation. Like the lenses are different. We should be asking our Gulf allies, hey, how do we do this better?

[00:43:20]We should be asking Europe, from your experience, what do you see? And we just we just aren't because Trump seems to think that he knows best all the time always. And it's it's it's becoming more and more of a a burden and more of a detriment to the United States that thinking. So we need to expand outward.

[00:43:41]>> I mean if Donald Trump reversing course publicly is what it's going to take, we're in not a great situation. But I am curious.

[00:43:49]Yeah, Matt, we were talking about I mean a lot of this does I feel like every week we go I can't believe this comes down to three men or one man's ego, but uh yeah, publicly changing the narrative. I mean that's a whole other discussion is to like how do you create a I you know I've joked in in the past about sending him the fake New York Post headline like Mom Donnie did, but like literally how do you create a path for Donald Trump to psychologically deescalate, which is a whole other conversation. But I wanted to ask you, Matt, we're talking a little bit about um you know, in order for us to actually sanction Iran in a way that's effective, we have to be willing to do so. You know, you you've expressed your your skepticism. This is actually an existential threat, but if we want to make changes there, we want to do so via sanctions. Uh you're saying we're only willing to do so at times when gas is cheap because it won't it won't threaten the politicians in charge. Uh because the prices are a little lower. You're also talking a little bit about like this might reset our understanding. This crisis might have to reset our understanding of gas prices. We might have to get used to the idea that even if the supply is there that that the prices will be different from what we what we've been used to in the past. Is there any world in which as things settle uh Americans get used to paying 50 cents more anyway and we have the ability to sanction Iran without causing immediate political pressure or give some kind of buffer to oil prices there or are we just going to get back to making gas prices sorry not oil prices gasoline prices? Are we going to get back to making it as cheap as possible at the pump as quick as possible?

[00:45:20]>> Uh I've look and it this isn't just Iran. This is historically I've never been a fan of any kind of sanctions. I think they're stupid and I think they don't work. But that's just me. What do I know? Um, you know, are are you just going to leave sanctions on Iran for 20 years and then what? Like what exactly is going to come of that? Like what is the endgame?

[00:45:45]And I feel like we do so much stuff without having an endgame. like why can't we >> uh I don't know maybe write up some kind of agreement uh on a piece of paper maybe at the top you could write like uh J C P what is that >> I saw you going there like you know you could write >> I'm sorry what would that stand for hypothetically hypothetically what would that be initials for >> joint comprehensive plan of action >> oh that's interesting yeah that's a good idea >> joint meaning yep two people Right. Two countries.

[00:46:18]>> Yeah.

[00:46:20]>> Or more.

[00:46:21]>> Two or more.

[00:46:22]>> The point is, look, >> combined, fused.

[00:46:25]>> Twist intertwined.

[00:46:27]>> And look, people can disagree with me on sanctions all they work all they want.

[00:46:31]That's that's fine. I totally understand the pros and the cons. I've just always thought they were really stupid and is probably the largest uh thing that's driving countries wanting to get away from the US dollar. By the way, uh using your currency as a weapon is just not cool in my book. But um I this is something that needs to settle. As far as gas prices are concerned, like I said before, this has always been a wage thing for me, not a gas price thing.

[00:46:58]>> Mhm.

[00:46:58]>> And there's ways there's a lot of ways we can lower gas prices in the United States. And it's mostly by controlling our exports. But we live in a country, you know, we cater to corporations and we want them to send, you know, you you can pay 50 cents more a gallon so we can have leverage over Europe by sending them fuel. Like that's okay.

[00:47:19]You know, that and that's what people don't understand. Like a lot of what they pay for gas is because we use our natural resources geopolitically to get leverage over other countries. Mhm.

[00:47:30]>> And you know, they blame it on oil companies or whatever, but you know, if we weren't exporting all the diesel we export around the world so we can have some control over someone else in the world, diesel would be a lot cheaper in the United States and so would everything. So, >> but we're using as a bargaining chip by like underelling other exporters or to use it to put pressure on them for other purposes.

[00:47:54]>> Yeah. And look, I'm not opposed to exporting anything, but I am opposed to unlimited, relentless, just export as much, you know, just total give it to the corporations. They'll they always think about the American people first.

[00:48:09]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:48:10]>> Let them do everything. You know what I mean? Like >> Yeah. Like it's just like >> almost down to us, guys. It's so close.

[00:48:19]>> Yeah. Our whole LNG strategy is to make countries relying on us instead of Russia.

[00:48:25]>> Well, that's I think there's a there's a great point there because >> you we we keep focusing in this administration on the punishment. Punish them, punish them, punish them. And one thing that the Obama administration flipped the script on with the JCPOA was kind of was coming to a common understanding so that we don't so Iran doesn't feel like they are surrendering that they're at the losing end of this because that's what they feel like right now. They're feeling like they have to surrender everything. They're losing.

[00:48:56]They're getting killed. They're being uh destroyed. They're being blockaded. So they're just leveraging anything they can. And I want to I want to make this this clear to everyone. I don't think that this maximalist punishment campaign is going to work at all. I think at some point we have to negotiate with them.

[00:49:14]And I'm I think that the negotiations that are about to happen, Iran is so >> angry and I don't say about to happen like in the near like next few days.

[00:49:23]Eventually it has to be negotiated out.

[00:49:25]You don't a war stop on diplomacy. And so what's going to happen is Iran is probably going to get a better deal than they had in the JCPOA. They probably are going to get a more money back. I mean, Trump is talking about 20 billion going back to them potentially. And I think Obama's JCPOA was like six billion of that. And then there was gateways to get more as long as you maintain the the necess necessary steps. Um, at the very least, I think the Trump administration has backed off of their maximalist no nuke talk to maybe in 20 years or you can have that 3.67% enrichment, which is what the JCPOA had.

[00:50:06]So, what we're seeing now is we are going to if if we don't find a way to to work this out with Iran, they're going to continue to hold the straight at risk. And even in the best case scenario that we probably are going to get a worse deal than the JCPOA that Trump pulled out of and we ended up spending what is it what did they say 25 billion dollars on this war so far and 13 lives just to get something that's slightly worse than the the joint comprehensive plan of action. So we do have to come to the table in good faith which Trump has not done. We've attacked him twice now when we went to the like during negotiations. We started to fight a fight with them. And that's why I just I I'm concerned. I don't think we have the administration capable of doing what is necessary, at least until after the midterms. Maybe after the midterms, Trump can be neutered enough that >> um more sane players can come into to >> to play, but I I don't see that happening. And all this because he thought he could sort of claw machine comedy out of the country like we did in South America and be done with it. Uh just essentially we get involved in these Middle East conflicts with no understanding of I again we uh various administrations get involved in these Middle East conflicts with no understanding of the local culture or economic systems. And our only way forward is you know like you're saying Trump's never going to admit he's wrong.

[00:51:30]Right. So >> they do he what all Trump can do is is claim that he won. And so effectively I think if any of these path pads are going to happen, what's going to happen is they're going to have to create some kind of narrative or someone as you said if the pressure after the midterms is high enough, as much as he'll never admit it, he does recognize waning popularity. He does also take crazy swings when his popularity is waning, but he is that means he's aware of it.

[00:51:55]So, it is possible that someone creates a narrative that he can latch on to and, you know, if he knows he's losing, save some amount of face and still call it a victory. And again, you know, we could do an entire episode with a psychologist on what it would take to get Yeah.

[00:52:08]>> Donald Trump's ego to, you know, to to to be placated enough to pretend that he was okay with what it's going to take.

[00:52:14]But effectively, it sounds like it's going to take a little >> eating hat eating crow coming hat in hand eating crow, excuse me. And, uh, we can eat a hat, too. But effectively >> crow in hand, >> a crow in hand is worth two in the George Bush administration. And uh >> I'm I'm on a long one now. But we're going to need to like trust our allies, do have reasonable negotiations, effectively accept a worse deal than we had in the first place. And even that seems like an unrealistic course of action at the moment because Ego is still driving the ship. Like every episode, I'd like to end this episode with a segment we call the least worst part of my week, where we take a look at a silver lining or something that's on the rise or less declining than the rest of the world. On that note, Chad, do you have a story you'd like to share with us? Yeah, I mean kind of uh looking at at the broader geopolitical space for for the Ukrainians and their gaining influence around the world. One one cool thing that took place recently was uh Ukraine met with Armenia and that's a it's a much bigger deal because Armenia is a relatively small country but it's a much bigger deal than you think because Armenia is very much in Russia's sphere of influence. In fact, they are in the collective security treaty organization which is the wish version of NATO. It's like Russia's version of NATO. It's like uh all the the Kazakhstan, the Usbekiststan, Tajjighstan, Armenia's in it and such. And the fact that we have Armenia meeting with Ukraine now there wasn't any kind of military agreements. It was just kind of they wanted to create a framework for future partnerships, economic cooperation, etc. But the fact that Armenia basically looked at Putin and said, "We're we're done with you for now. We're going to go work with Ukraine and talked to them, even when Putin was saying, don't do it." That that's a huge win because that means Russia's losing influence on the global stage, they are struggling to keep their allies. And this this goes back to a bit of the the Russians were unwilling to help Armenia during the conflict they had with Azerbaian. That's a whole another story. So Armenia is quite angry with Russia at this point and they are seeking partners with Western nations including they've met with the United States and now kind of unheard of is them meeting with Ukraine the the clear geopolitical enemy of Russia right now and it looks like Russia's grip on their allies and global affairs continues to slip.

[00:54:50]>> Well, I'm glad that Russia's sphere of influence is shrinking. I I affirm your story. I'm glad that no one happens to be uh throwing a huge wrench into the spokes of global order right now. So, I'm sure everything will work out fine.

[00:55:02]Matt, do you have any silver lining, best, worst, least worst part of your week that you'd like to share with us?

[00:55:08]>> I do. Now, I don't know about you, Nat, but I'm one of these people that genuinely despise tourists that don't respect the wildlife in whatever area they are visiting on their $10,000 family vacation that they can't paid for that they put on a Capital One card. So, the monkeys, now listen, I know I talked >> right at me.

[00:55:31]>> The Capital One card.

[00:55:32]>> Yeah. How do you know what kind of card Chad has?

[00:55:34]>> I got a Capital One card. Capital One, if you're listening, I love your card.

[00:55:39]paying for this. Stop it. We Let's Let's ask for money first.

[00:55:44]>> I love to travel to to like beautiful places. Like I go to like Yellowstone and like I that's my gig. I I love that kind of stuff. And I hate seeing tourists >> that just disrupt or or just do anything to the wildlife. Uh anyway, >> the monkeys I know I talked about a monkey last week, but this is two weeks in a row of monkeys. Uh I'll never do this again. I promise. The monkeys in Jibralter have figured out.

[00:56:06]>> Yeah. Because next week >> how to self-medicate.

[00:56:10]>> Yeah. Uh they've figured out how to self-medicate from all of the junk food that the tourists that go to Gibralar feed them. Chocolate, candy, cookies, potato chips. They're literally getting fed all of this junk by the irresponsible Americans that come down there and spend their hard-earned money to feed monkeys chocolate. And they noticed, scientists in Gibralar noticed that the monkeys were eating an extraordinary amount of dirt.

[00:56:38]There's something in the soil in Gibralar >> that gives a very calming effect to the monkeys. It helps with their gastrointestinal systems. It relieves the symptoms that they suffer from eating all of this ultrarocessed American junk food that we're taking and giving to them. So, they're literally medicating themselves from American tourists by eating uh an enormous amount of dirt. And I just think it's really cool. And they have discovered that these monkeys are communicating with other like herds or tribes of monkeys and like spreading the word about how you need to eat the dirt. And monkeys eating dirt is spreading across Gibralar >> like I I cultural >> like like 98 degrees back in 1996. I don't know. Like it's it's just >> we have our editors update that put a insert a current reference there later.

[00:57:30]>> Uh like I don't know who's relevant today cuz I'm I'm in my 50s. Um >> yeah that's that's I thought that was a great You're very lucky.

[00:57:39]>> They have figured out how to self-medicate. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. It's like no matter what people do to them, they will figure it out.

[00:57:46]>> I also like the angle of well oh man I've been eating all that processed American food. You know what would really clear me out is some just straight dirt. You know, something healthy. I can't eat all this McDonald's. I got to eat some soil from the ground.

[00:58:02]>> We're like we're we're like uh I don't know a month away from having Gwennneth Paltro sell dirt and it'll be like 80 bucks for like a bag of dirt and soo your stomach. A pile of dirt. I'm I'm going to pass this on to my wife.

[00:58:16]>> Why can't we sell the dirt?

[00:58:17]>> My tea makingaking wife. I'm going to be like, "Hey, have you heard of this dirt?

[00:58:20]Maybe we can add some dirt to our tea.

[00:58:22]So, it's monkey dirt.

[00:58:24]>> People are drinking activated charcoal at this point. We're not.

[00:58:27]>> Yeah.

[00:58:28]>> You know, come on.

[00:58:29]>> Madagascarian soil soil from from different places around the world. We could we could market this. This is really If Find Out ever wants to pivot to the like brain supplements and pseudocience homeopathic cures angle, we could start selling like American power >> homeopathic >> bags of dirt.

[00:58:46]>> Yeah, >> dude. Go to Jibralter, get some dirt, bring it back here, say it's from Jialter, and everyone will buy it.

[00:58:53]>> You'll spend a lot.

[00:58:55]>> Special dirt from Jialter.

[00:58:56]>> And use our promo code American Power at checkout at American Express and Capital One. Edit that out, please. I shouldn't keep saying this.

[00:59:05]>> Come on. We're We're a Discover Level podcast right now. We haven't hit that.

[00:59:09]>> We're a Diner Club podcast right now. If if you can find someone who accepts us on credit, that's great. We're we're so happy to be included. But I've got a good story for this week. This is more of a general recap for how my past week went. But as many of you may know, uh perhaps listeners to an energy podcast are aware of the fact that it was Earth week this past week. The week that contains Earth Day. Guess what? We've expanded it. It's a crisis. We got to spend a whole week working on it. Also, climate week. We got that one in September. We need at least we need climate year at this point. But it was Earth Week this past week. And as a result, I had the privilege of doing some shows and workshops with students at schools uh across America in different places. I actually went up to Massaso in Brockton, Massachusetts and uh did a show and workshop with some of the students there. I worked on a show and also worked for several months with students at CU Boulder for their uh inside the greenhouse climate science program where they put on a big show for Earth Day. And most recently, I actually had a chance to speak to some students at Stson High School in New York in a really cool class called writing to make change that works with the students on uh how to shape your writing for activism. And I got to talk to them about how to write speeches and write comedy. And I would say that there's a lot of doom going on right now. And culturally, if the only way that you interact with uh people between the ages of 15 and 25 is on the internet, you might believe that everyone is completely blackpilled and hopeless. And I do think that we're dealing with a lot of phone addiction and a lot of uh dumerism. It's a very real thing. But I can't say my experiences were uh representative of all of America. But I found that almost exclusively the people that I talked to in high school and college to be really interested people really curious with way more aware way more awareness of how [ __ ] everything is than I had as a teenager by a long shot. And I was a real contrarian. But I think in general to be that kind of person when I was to be anti- Bush wasn't even popular when I was in college. And generally all liberals were against him. But it was considered unpopular to be political in many ways.

[01:01:16]And I'm finding that a lot of young people I work with, a lot of people I teach are way more engaged and way more aware of power structures and class structure in a way that was not popular or not common when I was that age. And so, you know, I I wish this were a funnier story that had a monkey involved. Um, but unfortunately almost human story.

[01:01:35]>> Well, it is. I feel really I was really invigorated by talking to all these people because they were really interested and >> kids are like that >> interested in fighting climate change and I thought of it because some of them were telling me that they had to clean up the vapes in the creek down in Boulder, Colorado because animals were vaping. So they tried dirt.

[01:01:52]>> That was my connection to Matt's story.

[01:01:53]They're doing a lot of clean up and pick up by hand to stop the animals from sucking on vapes and zins or whatever the hell else people are throwing away on college campuses. It's bleak. I was really excited to see every every group of young people I talk to. I say, "Get off your phone. Get off the internet. It seems hopeless. Go stick your fingers in the dirt. Go meet people." And I'm really excited to say that I see a lot of people doing it. A lot of people who are actually interested in it. So, um I'm not going to be uh you know, polyianaish and say the kids are all right. Probably most of them are still racist. I don't know. But I'm meeting a lot of young people who are interested in making a change. And I think that's really exciting right now. I think a lot of people are really becoming aware of what's going on in the world. Uh, and that's the least worst part of my week.

[01:02:35]>> No, that's very cool. I'm always hopeful for kids. They're always They always seem to be better than us. That's what I hope.

[01:02:39]>> Oh, I'm not hopeful for them. That's why this is exciting for me.

[01:02:42]>> Never mind.

[01:02:44]>> So, very cool.

[01:02:45]>> You little idiots don't know what's No, >> no. I I I try to I try to be I think people like to paint entire generations with a single brush, and it's ridiculous. But, you know, we all want to believe that Gen Z is hopeless or Gen Alpha is going to just live with an iPad 4 in from their face for their whole lives. But I actually think that to some extent finally people the proliferation of information and the crisises have gotten to the point where people are really starting to get a good sense of what's going on in the world and I think that's really cool.

[01:03:15]>> Yeah. Very cool.

[01:03:16]>> We'll talk to you all next week. This has been the American Power podcast from Find Out Media. I'm Nat Tain for Chad Scott and Matt Randolph. And before we go, we just want to make sure you can follow us on social. Uh Chad, where can people find you on social media?

[01:03:30]>> Uh Tik Tok, Cpcot15, YouTube, CPcott16. I know it's confusing. And then I'm on Facebook also CPcott15. Just find Chad Scott um in the NATO uh global warfare space, not the NFL coach. So, >> or both. And Matt, where can we find you?

[01:03:51]>> Uh, YouTube, Facebook, Tik Tok, Blue Sky, Instagram, Threads, Substack, >> NewsNation, >> to name a few.

[01:03:59]>> Sometimes on NewsNation. Yeah.

[01:04:00]>> And I am Natalousin on whatever social media I choose to pay attention to at any given time. Usually Instagram. But I also want to tell you folks about a brand new app that I'm on, which is Find Out. It is the first of its kind. It's a social network associated with our uh media organization, podcast network. You can interact with other listeners and hosts of your favorite podcasts and there's a news feed and it's not owned by evil billionaires uh who will sell your data. So, uh you can find us all there. I believe that is launching today for early adopters on the wait list and in a few days for everyone else. So, find us on Find Out. I'm Natalousin. And once again, this has been American Power from Find Out Media. For Chad Scott and Mr. Global, Matt Randolph, I'm Nat Tain.

[01:04:46]We'll talk to you next week. And remember, power corrupts, but American power corrupts Americanly.