Panel: Trump says he doesn’t care about Iran deal. Does it risk escalation?

[0:00] i just feel like it's really hard to hear the president say that he doesn't care [0:04] about us being in war and that we have had troops that already died like imagine if you're a family [0:09] who has lost somebody to this war and you hear your commander-in-chief say i don't care or [0:14] imagine that you are a military family you're afraid that your family is going to be deployed [0:18] or imagine you're just a person like us sitting at the tables like i want you to care sir i really [0:23] do like i'm on i want you to care i am like i want you to be bought in in this moment and to [0:28] your point when you started is like when people lose interest is one thing but when people are [0:34] indifferent that's a dangerous place to be and i think those other countries in the region want him [0:41] not to be indifferent in this moment for sure yeah i mean you've served in you know i have and i've [0:46] talked to people that are deploying right now that are going overseas to support these missions and [0:51] actually ask them ask a few of them and as a better myself the comment that the president [0:55] made i don't believe in context was that i don't care [0:59] about the operations writ large i think his comment was i don't care if iran thinks that [1:03] i'm desperate or not i don't care about the opinion of iran in this situation so i don't [1:07] know that the well i mean explicitly i don't care if they make a deal or not which you know [1:13] this deal is supposedly going to keep us from potentially putting boots on the ground right [1:17] and as i said i think the president in context his comment was i don't care about iran's opinion [1:23] about us making a deal or not not that he doesn't care at large as you said he's the commander-in-chief [1:27] every time you brought up this the service member [1:29] that were killed every time we've had a dignified transfer the president has been there he's spoken [1:33] to these families so i think it's a it's a little disingenuous to say that the president doesn't [1:36] care writ large about these military operations i mean i do think it's fair for him to say [1:42] about the opinion about how he uses his words and i think when you say something like that even if [1:47] it is in the context of a negotiation and a deal we're still talking about the fact that if you're [1:52] saying i don't care about negotiations prices for gas and oil are so high i mean i think 20 states [1:59] gas prices that have risen over a dollar um airline prices are going to go up because fuel [2:04] is now double for those airlines so the airlines are going to shift the cost to the customers [2:09] and so when you say these words like i don't care to the average person you know that's not [2:14] sitting here talking about this but goes to the gas pump and is like but i care [2:18] about these prices i care because i can't afford to fly home to see my family for easter because [2:23] i'm sure we'll get into it the long lines and also the prices um in in especially in [2:29] wartime words matter and i think truth especially matters and when we are not seeing that from this [2:34] administration and i think that's what's hard to digest um when you see comments like that [2:39] yeah well general stanley mccrystal who of course uh well-known at part of many of the [2:47] wars that the united states has been fighting in recent decades uh talk to the new york times [2:54] about it it seems his his comments were about how the administration [2:59] uh potentially a pete hegseth the defense secretary of the president uh the top is how he [3:06] put it he talks about being disappointed by how the top of our country is talking about military [3:12] operations right now watch and we'll talk about it i'm disappointed by the current atmosphere that is [3:20] communicated from the top i had the honor and opportunity to serve with some of the [3:24] most elite forces people who really did some extraordinary things but they didn't [3:30] beat their chest about it right and they weren't braggadocious and they didn't talk about yeah we [3:37] love killing people that that's just not the way they behaved now the danger though of some of that [3:46] verbiage now is much of the force is 18 years old right and and it's [3:53] influenceable and he was specifically talking about the defense secretary pete hegseth [3:58] but the point that he's making is that when we were just discussing words matter [4:01] absolutely and i think the the comments that the journal is talking about is is like you said the [4:06] the statements that were made by the secretary i would not have used those words uh you know [4:11] that will negotiate with bombs i think it's a specific quote that he's referencing now i'll [4:15] also say at the same time that you know i won't take a lesson in civility and statesmanship from [4:21] from the iranian regime right who's killed hundreds of thousands of their own people on [4:24] their streets who's who who don't have the greatest record with women or members of the lgbt community [4:31] you know that they've killed around uh the country around the world i'm not going to take a lesson [4:35] from the iranians because their feelings are hurt because the the secretary of defense made that [4:39] comment but i would not have made that statement in that context i think just some of the language [4:44] that he uses unfortunately is going to tarnish our military and has frankly politicized our military [4:49] even more so sorry what's wrong with warrior ethos and lethality that is oh i i it's more how he uses [4:55] it in the context of we're going to go negotiate with our bombs i think those words matter i think [5:01] um his focus on just the politicization that we've seen is i i personally feel is unlike any [5:08] other administration that we have seen but but our focus on lethality and a warrior ethos is [5:12] absolutely legitimate that is that is i'm just saying like his focus on some of these words and [5:17] the continued repetition of how he uses it but it's not and i'm just clarifying the purpose [5:22] i'm going to clarify for you really quick the purpose of the military hasn't changed on its [5:25] lethality and goals okay i'm just saying like but how he uses his words and like can we like doing [5:31] what he uses in the pac is not really getting us can we also stipulate that again i think they'd [5:35] do better served by general kane doing more of the press yes but having said that yeah during pete's [5:39] time as secretary of war defense he's had incredibly successful operations in venezuela [5:44] uh attack on the nuclear facility in iran and so far by all accounts with the politics of this [5:48] current incursion the military success has been remarkable i actually don't think i think that [5:52] i don't think an operation midnight hammer was a success i think the maduro operation was a success [5:58] and that shows the prowess of our military of our military and the military and the military and the [6:01] military and the military and the military and the military was something that was pulled was [6:07] has been dusted off the shelves by multiple administrations including in your first [6:11] administration under donald trump that is an operation that continued to get refined [6:16] under democratic and republican presidents so it was executed with refinement because our military [6:22] practiced that so much and and so i'm not i'm not i'm not it was not but i'm not i'm not disputing [6:29] the operation being successful [6:31] i i actually have on this show touted like when he when he said that the review of what happened [6:38] at the school in iran of those girls being killed is under review i think i was on the show with you [6:43] and i said that is the right language to use that was the right thing to do so i will give him more [6:47] credit is due but the language that he uses with our military has further politicized it and that [6:52] is a problem i don't i don't think i don't think that's an accurate characterization uh again [6:56] having been one of those 18 year old kids that they referenced in there uh people are not military [7:01] leaders many i talked to hundreds of them a week is not they're not politicized they're actually [7:06] motivated they're actually ready to go execute their function to defend the constitution united [7:10] states against all enemies foreign and domestic under the leadership of pete hexad they don't [7:14] look at the politics of it we sit here at this table in our ivory tower in our nice suits and [7:18] we talk about these things but the men and women in the military i would actually push back on that [7:23] because i did talk to some people last night in uniform that do feel uncomfortable with what's [7:28] happening that do feel uncomfortable with the language writ large that is not the [7:31] opinion of our what i would say is that yes that is the military does fall under the command of [7:37] pk stuff that doesn't just dismiss though the fact that he could politicize the department it's not [7:42] even the department of defense anymore it is the department of war because of like there are just [7:47] some truths to be here it doesn't mean that the the men and women who are serving are not going [7:52] to follow command what it it does mean that pk seth and this administration have done some [7:56] politically charged and if you do i mean what how do you view the social media videos that [8:02] have been put out that seem to basically gamify war i mean look anyone that's gone to war anyone [8:09] that has loved someone that has gone to war knows it's not a game of course of course it's not a game [8:14] but i'll say that the facts sort of disagree with these characterizations our military across all [8:19] the branches had the highest recruiting numbers that they had the last four years in the last [8:23] administration our military was hemorrhaging it was suffering because people didn't want to join [8:28] and so you're so you're talking you're talking about that [8:32] exception with the exception of the marine corps of course i have a bias the marine corps kept its [8:35] its fund or its uh numbers uh for recruitment but that's right but i would say that the military the [8:40] facts disagree with this point that recruitment efforts were going up under secretary austin [8:45] under the biden administration yes they continue to go under they know that it's actually not true [8:50] that is absolutely not true it was continuing to go up and i will say i'm not able to get to [8:57] the gamification of of what we're seeing in work i mean you have call of duty videos and [9:02] spongebob being spliced together as if it is some type of game and people are coming home [9:06] in caskets and that i think is a real detriment to our military i agree with you that we should [9:11] agree on that that we should take them serious and i agree we shouldn't gamify [9:15] combat it's a dark and ugly ugly thing i agree with you on that point