Senator Baldwin Discusses Trump’s Unlawful War in Iran
4/16/202622 mincomplete
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1:00A little bit. It doesn't bother me when he speaks on issues today.
1:05Frankly, even when I disagree with how he's applying the legal principles.
1:09So, the most obvious example is...
1:11How embarrassing. Vice President J .D.
1:14Vance just got humiliated at a Turning Point USA event.
1:18As you can see right there, very few people showed up to see J .D.
1:22Vance speak. They like rented out a stadium and maybe it was like one -eighth
1:28full. And then J .D.
1:29Vance was getting relentlessly heckled.
1:33He was being called out for his genocide.
1:36He was being called out for his use of religion to justify war crimes.
1:42Let me show you one part of this where Vance was heckled.
1:45Let's play this clip. Was our administration like the administration that solved the problem, but
1:51the president, the president. Excuse me, sir.
1:57Right, right now, right now, you right now, you see more humanitarian aid come into
2:04Gaza than it has any time in the past five years.
2:07Because we have taken that situation...
2:09So also, Charlie Kirk's wife, Erica Kirk, was supposed to be on stage with J
2:13.D. Vance during this event.
2:15But then right before the event took place, Erica Kirk posted that there were security
2:21threats directed at her. And that's why she was not showing up at this empty
2:25venue. Erica Kirk posted, I was so looking forward to tonight's event with our vice
2:31president, J .D. Vance. But after all our family has been through, I take my
2:36security team's recommendation extremely serious.
2:39Thank you to our amazing Georgia chapter for your support.
2:42God bless you all. And here was the moment it was announced that Erica Kirk
2:46would be skipping this event.
2:49That's how they described it.
2:49What an odd event. Here, play this clip.
2:51Mr. Vice President, I'm on stage here instead of our friend Erica Kirk.
2:55That's right. Because unfortunately, she has received some very serious threats in her direction.
3:03Which is terrible. It's a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state
3:08of the country. And then Candace Owens, who's been obviously very critical of Erica Kirk,
3:13said the following, Stop. This is exhausting.
3:15You pulled out because of the bad ticket sales.
3:18For the same reason, TP Faith had to reschedule the pastor summit and various other
3:23events quietly. People don't believe you and don't line up for you because you struggle
3:28to tell the truth about even the most basic facts.
3:30Where is the video of Charlie appointing US CEO weeks before his death?
3:34The secret service sits above your security team.
3:37Were there actually a viable threat?
3:39The vice president would not have continued the event.
3:42Your closest threat is the shit public relations team you hired that continues to operate
3:47under the delusion that they are smarter than the public.
3:50They aren't. And then more from the event when there's more heckling thereafter of JD
3:57Vance. Show the other heckling.
3:58And how can you say that God is never on the side of those who
4:02wield the sword? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from
4:07the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and
4:13liberated those innocent people from those who had survived the Holocaust?
4:20I certainly think the answer is yes.
4:22And I agree. Jesus Christ does not.
4:24I agree. Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide.
4:27Whoever yelled that out from the dark, he certainly does not.
4:31I think that's pretty easy.
4:32I think that's a pretty easy principle.
4:35And then JD Vance getting very nervous and on the defensive as he's getting booed
4:40and he's getting called out and he's like, okay, okay, okay.
4:44I know a lot of young people don't like the war crimes we're involved in.
4:48The war that we're involved in in the Middle East, I get it.
4:51But this is where you get involved.
4:54Take your country back. Y 'all are the government.
4:57Take the country back from you.
5:00Okay. Okay. JD, we'll take the country back from you.
5:03It's exactly what they're planning on doing in the midterms.
5:05Here, play this clip. Issues like, like, for example, I, I recognize, uh, that, that,
5:10that a lot of Young voters don't love the policy that we have in the
5:15Middle East. Okay, I understand that.
5:17I also know that we've secured the border.
5:20We've lowered housing prices now for eight months in a row, and there's going to
5:23be more to come beyond that.
5:24We've made America energy dominant, which has lowered electricity costs and things like that.
5:29We've made it so that we have the lowest murder rate in 127 years.
5:33I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue.
5:38I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue.
5:40What I'm saying is don't get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one
5:46topic. Get more involved. Make your voice heard even more.
5:50That's how we ultimately take the country back.
5:52It's not by you. And then J .D.
5:54Vance is like, but the issue in the midterms, the people we're running against, they
5:59want to kill Donald Trump.
6:01They're trying to kill him.
6:02They're trying to kill him?
6:03What are you talking about?
6:04That's how you're running for the midterms.
6:06They're trying to kill him.
6:07Like they killed this person and killed that person.
6:10Can you just give people health care, J .D.?
6:12Can you just allow people to afford homes, J .D.?
6:16And afford gas and afford things that actually people need in life?
6:20How about that? Rather than Matt saying all this, here, play this clip.
6:23Our goal is, well, starting in a few months, we're going to have primaries that
6:27are over. We're going to have candidates on the ballot.
6:29And we're all going to need to get out there and work hard because the
6:33people who want to kill Donald Trump, the people who want to throw Donald Trump
6:37in prison, the people who murdered our friend and then the people who celebrated it
6:41afterwards, those people are trying to achieve political power.
6:44We cannot let them. And we have to unite to make sure that doesn't happen.
6:49And then J .D. Vance is like, you know, one of the things that we're
6:52trying to stop. We don't want powerful people being involved in disgusting behavior.
6:58Y 'all, they're covering up the Epstein files.
7:00What are you talking about?
7:01Play the clip. I don't want powerful people, you know, being involved in this disgusting
7:06behavior, but I have to defend the president on this.
7:08And then more from J .D.
7:09Vance right here, where he's like, look, here's what we've told Iran.
7:14You want to be rich?
7:16You want to make a little deal with us, Ayatollah?
7:19You want to do some JV?
7:21You scratch my back, I scratch your back, Ayatollah?
7:24It's the dumbest foreign policy imaginable and a dangerous one filled with war crimes.
7:32Here, play this clip. He said, if you guys commit to not having a nuclear
7:39weapon, we are going to make Iran thrive.
7:42We're going to make it economically prosperous.
7:43And we're going to invite the Iranian people into the world economy in a way
7:47they haven't been in my entire life.
7:49And that's the kind of Trumpian grand bargain that the president has put on the
7:53table. Man, we're going to keep on negotiating and try to make it happen because
7:56it would be great for the world.
7:58It'd be great for our country.
8:00It'd be great for everybody.
8:01Now I want to bring in Senator Tammy Baldwin from the great state of Wisconsin.
8:05Senator, great to see you as always.
8:07I was remarking before you and I started recording that when you and I last
8:12chatted, it wasn't all that long ago, but it was ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo
8:18invading our country here. And we were talking about that.
8:22And since that time, the United States invading Iran, and we see this catastrophic and
8:29unlawful war unfolding, the barrage of lies coming out from the Trump regime where it's
8:35not clear what is really even happening.
8:37And so I just want to get your kind of take and perspective of where
8:41we are right now with this kind of catastrophic and unlawful war.
8:44Yeah, well, that contrast is really quite remarkable.
8:51When we talked in January, we saw a surge of 3 ,000 ICE and Border
8:57Patrol and other agents, federal agents wearing masks, roaming the streets of residential neighborhoods, and
9:06killing U .S. American civilians who were simply exercising their First Amendment rights to protest
9:14this unlawful domestic action in my mind.
9:19And now we see the tragedy of an illegal war of choice that Trump started
9:26in Iran along with Israel.
9:29We also see the violence and war in Lebanon that we're not directly involved in,
9:36but we've lost 13 U .S.
9:40service members. Many hundreds are now injured because of this war.
9:47And obviously, civilian life has been lost throughout the region.
9:54And it was not the type of military action in response to any sort of
10:04threat, imminent or otherwise. Iran wasn't in the process of attacking us.
10:10They weren't close to being able to threaten the United States of America.
10:16And yet, here we are over a month into a war.
10:22And it seems as there are these talks about are future negotiations going to take
10:29place with Iran? One of the threshold issues now, by all accounts, by lots of
10:35different reporting is, the Trump regime is asking Iran, can you not enrique - uranium
10:39for about 20 years. And Iran is saying, you know what, one to five years
10:46will hold off. So we've already are now at a point where we had a
10:51deal under former President Obama where they wouldn't enrich uranium kind of period.
10:55Now we're talking about maybe five years.
10:57Do we meet in the middle now where Iran gets to enrich its uranium?
11:01And we're no longer even talking about some of these other issues, which the Trump
11:05regime said were the threshold issues.
11:07Number one, they talked about regime change.
11:10Then they talked about ballistic missiles.
11:12And now it's like, we're going to try to get the Strait of Hormuz back,
11:15which we had before the war.
11:17And now we're also talking about, well, maybe they can enrich uranium in 10 years,
11:21which is like, what was the point of all of this?
11:24It's like, huh, what were we even doing?
11:27So yes, the premise for why we're there changed.
11:30It seemed hourly. Although those words from the president seem like they're in the distant
11:39past. But remember, when there were widespread protests against the Iranian regime from within the
11:46country, President Trump said, well, we might have to take military action to support them.
11:51Then he talked about the ballistic missile program.
11:55Then he talked about their nuclear program.
11:58Then he talked about regime change.
12:01Now he's talking about the Strait of Hormuz.
12:04And I also want to just underscore the important point you made to begin with,
12:10which is under President Obama, we had over many weeks and months hashed out an
12:19agreement that had the buy -in not only from the United States and Iran, but
12:25Russia, China, China, the EU, England, and France, all participants in the negotiations.
12:35And we had the ability to stop Iran from continuing at that point a nuclear
12:48program. And we had really enforceable provisions there that allowed intrusive international inspections on regular
13:00basis to make sure that they were following what they agreed to in the Iran
13:06nuclear deal. And what did Trump do when he took office?
13:10He ripped it up. And now we're in much worse shape than we were when
13:19he decided to rip up that deal.
13:21So, and then look, there are domestic consequences.
13:25The price of fuel gas at the pump is surging because of this war.
13:33The price of fertilizer, many of the inputs also travel through the Strait of Hormuz.
13:40We see inflation shooting up because of this war.
13:47Americans were already hurting. And this president ran for office a second time saying, I
13:54will bring down costs on day one, and I will end foreign conflicts on day
14:00one. And now through this war, he has broken both in a profound fashion.
14:06You know, I think about something that's happened in the past 12 hours that doesn't
14:11get nearly enough attention or frankly, any attention.
14:14And I think about how much attention it got under former president Obama, which is
14:19North Korea testing all of these missiles and bragging about having nuclear weapons and that
14:27they're never going to give it up.
14:28And it just seems that it's kind of a collective shrug now, both from the
14:34Trump regime and our media, like, of course, Kim Jong -un has nuclear weapons.
14:37So in the first term, when Donald Trump's like, I'm going to be so much
14:41stronger than Obama. And we all recall those days where every missile test by Kim
14:46Jong -un was front page news and viewed as a weakness and failure of Obama.
14:52And that was pushed. Donald Trump becomes like buddy -buddy with Kim Jong -un.
14:56Kim Jong -un uses that bizarre relationship in love letters to get nuclear weapons.
15:02I think by all accounts, people just recognize they've got nukes and now they're testing
15:05missiles while the United States removes its that and patriots from that region and emboldens
15:11China and emboldens North Korea.
15:13But then there's almost like this collective shrug in a way of like, so we
15:17just have to accept it.
15:18And it's like, no, why, why, why under Obama is that the front page story?
15:22And now when Trump basically gives the guy nukes, it's like, that's part of the
15:26art of the deal. It's a bizarre, it's a bizarre contrast to me.
15:31Oh, there's many bizarre contrasts when it comes to what countries in the world have
15:37secured nuclear weapons through their nuclear programs and whether they are allies or not with
15:46the United States. And we have been entirely inconsistent.
15:50I mean, I think of Pakistan, we don't talk about that very often, but sometimes
15:55we're friends, sometimes the relationship is quite tense.
15:59Um, and yes, there has been no consistency.
16:03Uh, but Iran, um, you know, has, uh, Held a special place, I think, because
16:10of the, you know, the threats that the regime there has made to countries.
16:19And instead of seizing the opportunity that we had when the world community essentially agreed
16:30to the Joint Plan of Action, the JPCOA, and, you know, shut down Iran's nuclear
16:39program, this administration turned away from that opportunity.
16:44Think how much different things could be today had we continued to support that agreement.
16:53You know, and then finally, here's the kind of, you know, thing that I think
16:58about as we talk about, will there be more negotiations, you know, in Pakistan or
17:03elsewhere? You know, Donald Trump's posts are, Iran needs to be obliterated in the negotiation,
17:10and we need to crush them in the negotiation.
17:14And while I very clearly and with moral clarity declare this war unlawful and catastrophic
17:20for a variety of reasons, I also reflect upon the idea that the language that
17:26you're going to be using, if Trump used, that's war language.
17:28So if you're going in a war direction, I understand, obliterate, I would disagree with
17:34it, I'd call it out, but that's the language of we're in war, obliterate, destroy,
17:38crush, and again, war crimes, but, you know, let's, but I get it.
17:42In a negotiation, I don't get how you reach resolutions by saying, I'm going to
17:47crush and destroy the other side in a negotiation.
17:52Negotiations are mutual respect, recognizing the other side's sovereignty and right to exist, not saying
17:57you're going to kill the other side's negotiators, like the Trump regime has leaked through
18:01proxies. So even the dynamic is set up of, that's not a negotiation.
18:06No one's forcing you to negotiate, Trump.
18:08You asked for this negotiation.
18:09So if you're going to sit at the table, then you have to behave like
18:12a negotiator, or I guess go back to war, which I don't want to see.
18:16But like, you can't be in this murky middle ground, which just systemically shocks both
18:22our conscious and our markets.
18:23Yes, so, well, there's a reason why it's not Trump sitting at the negotiating table.
18:29He sends others, not even his secretary of state, his chief diplomat.
18:34No, Marco Rubio was sitting with Donald Trump at a big fight in Miami while
18:43negotiations were going on in Pakistan through his vice president, who, by the way, it's
18:50widely reported, was one of the inner circle of advisors who said, well, I think
18:55it's a bad idea, but if you decide to do it, I'll be with you,
18:59right? So that's who he has at the negotiating table.
19:03Look, you know, the president loves to be known for the art of the deal,
19:07but I don't think he knows one thing about negotiations.
19:11And just as he uses this cataclysmic language, like a civilization will die tonight, which
19:20is indicative of war crimes, you know, he also has said, oftentimes minutes apart, we
19:30won. We've already won, right?
19:34You know, that we've achieved all of our goals.
19:38You know, the victory is already there.
19:40And so his consistency from moment to moment is completely lacking, but we do have
19:51to figure out a path out of this war.
19:54And I have one that I'm working with my colleagues on, which is having Congress
20:00stand up and do its job.
20:02Look, it's up to Congress and the Constitution to declare war or to authorize the
20:07use of military force if the United States is not under imminent threat or under
20:13direct attack. So this is an illegal war, but Congress could stop it.
20:18And so we have offered war power resolution votes.
20:23And we've been doing this on a consistent basis because one by one, we need
20:30to get our Republican colleagues to decide to do the job of Congress.
20:35Congress has power here. My Republican colleagues have yet to realize their power to check
20:42the overreaches of this president.
20:46But we need to continue to force these votes and invite our Republican colleagues to
20:52listen to their constituents, to even listen to the MAGA folks like Megyn Kelly and
20:59Tucker Carlson, who are saying this war is crazy.
21:03And Congress needs to do its job to stop this war.
21:09As always, Senator Baldwin, we appreciate you for joining us.
21:13And let's just bring some more normalcy back.
21:16To me, this is not even about politics.
21:19I just want the craziness gone.
21:21I want normalcy. I want people to be able to spend time thinking about their
21:25family, not worrying about having health care ripped away and just get back to normal.
21:30We appreciate you just fighting for people.
21:32Thank you so much. Everybody hit subscribe.
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