Rep. Auchincloss Discusses Trump’s Disastrous Iran Deal
4/10/202620 mincomplete
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0:59Terms apply. Megamike and Republicans in Congress are refusing to show up and do their
1:05job. They've shut down Congress as there continues to be a partial shutdown of the
1:11federal government, while this purported ceasefire, which is really a market manipulation scheme by Donald
1:18Trump, is essentially fully collapsing.
1:22From Iran, their leaders, their lead negotiators are not even showing up to Islamabad in
1:28Pakistan to meet with J .D.
1:31Vance and the United States delegation until the U .S.
1:35agrees to negotiate within the 10 -point Iranian framework that Donald Trump previously stated publicly
1:41that he would be agreeable to and that that would be the basis of any
1:47negotiated settlement discussions. And so Iran's not even showing.
1:51So what's Megamike doing? They're posting messages right now from the House gallery that says
1:58the following. The House of Representatives has adjourned until 12 p .m.
2:02Tuesday, April 14, 2026 for morning hour.
2:06The House then meets 2 p .m.
2:08for legislative business. I mean, it must be nice.
2:10Do they even work at all?
2:12Or are they just continue to take vacations and continue to allow Donald Trump to
2:18engage in these unlawful wars and, frankly, war crimes, these disastrous foreign war crimes?
2:26We have Donald Trump privately telling his cabinet and telling people in the White House
2:33that he truly doubts the Strait of Hormuz will ever fully reopen soon, and he's
2:38getting very, very worried, despite him publicly saying that oil will flow again quickly and
2:44the Strait of Hormuz is open.
2:46Donald Trump is privately confiding that he thinks that Iran is never going to give
2:51up control. You have all of the Arab nations in the Middle East that were
2:55once allied with the United States.
2:58They're seeing what's going on, and they're saying if this is what's going to happen
3:01and the U .S. is going to let Iran continue to just control the Strait
3:04of Hormuz, and Donald Trump has given up America's security umbrella, which formed the basis
3:09of all of our quid pro quo pay -for -play payments to Donald Trump, then
3:14we might have to just engage in our own military intervention, and there may be
3:18just an entire Middle East war that could break out very soon.
3:23And then Donald Trump, while all this is going on, while Magamite has abandoned Congress,
3:27Trump's just - calling up the New York Post and saying things like this.
3:30You're dealing with people in Iran that we don't know whether or not they tell
3:34the truth to our face.
3:36They're getting rid of all nuclear weapons.
3:38And then they go out to the press and say, no, we'd like to enrich
3:42Donald in Iran's 10 point plan.
3:44It literally says in rich uranium is permitted that you agreed to and you posted
3:49you agreed to their 10 point plan.
3:51You also gave them control over the straight of Hormuz.
3:54You also said they could charge $2 million.
3:56You also said that the United States would remove all military bases in the Middle
4:00East. You also said Iran can keep all ballistic missiles, Shahid drones and FPV drones.
4:05You also said you would pay Iran war reparations.
4:08That was their 10 point plan that you agreed to.
4:10And we all saw what it was when you did it.
4:12You can try to lie, but you agreed to this plan.
4:15Donald Trump then said, we're loading up the ships with the best ammunition, the best
4:19weapons ever made. If we don't have a deal, we will be using them and
4:24we will be using them very effectively.
4:26Well, Iran's negotiating team says, okay, keep on talking like that.
4:30We're just not going to show up.
4:32We control the straight of Hormuz.
4:34We hold the cards, Donald, and we will not be going to Islamabad at all.
4:39To which Donald Trump then posts, the Iranians don't seem to realize they have no
4:43cards other than a short term extortion of the world by using international waterways.
4:49The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate.
4:53Donald J. Trump, you know, and it's language like that, Donald, that hasn't really done
4:57too well for you in the past because you bankrupted all your damn companies or
5:02most of them and in this war.
5:03So that's how you're behaving right now.
5:06And meanwhile, Pakistan's defense minister, Kawa Asif, just reposted the following message.
5:12Israel must be restrained for US -Iran ceasefire to hold.
5:17And Donald, you picked this guy in Pakistan and Prime Minister Sharif to be the
5:23mediator. And your mediators are posting Israel must be restrained for US -Iran ceasefire to
5:31hold. That's your guy. That's your guy in Pakistan who's posting that right now.
5:36As Israel says, there is no ceasefire with Lebanon.
5:39And we're going to do what we did earlier this week, where there was a
5:42massacre of innocent people in Lebanon, where there were 258 people killed and over a
5:47thousand other casualties. So you may be wondering, well, Ben, what are these MAGA Republican
5:52Congress members doing? They're going on TV.
5:54They're going on state regime media, which calls itself Fox.
5:58And you've got MAGA Republican Congress member Russell Fry saying, we shouldn't have Congress micromanaging
6:05a war. Donald Trump is handling it great.
6:07It's quite literally your job under Article 1 to declare war.
6:13The war powers is a power of Congress.
6:16But go ahead and tell this to state regime media.
6:19Play this clip. So Congress right now certainly has an obligation in some ways to
6:23assist in matters of international importance.
6:27But to micromanage the president with 535 CEOs of the country doesn't make a lot
6:32of sense to me. It doesn't make a lot of sense to the American people.
6:35President Trump has always said from the very beginning, this is a limited incursion.
6:38We're going to go in there and take care of business and fix things.
6:41We don't need Congress right now micromanaging a war that the president or a conflict
6:47that the president is trying to engage in.
6:49And so Democrats are just playing politics once.
6:51Or what about MAGA Republican Senator McCormick?
6:55He goes, but could you imagine what it would be like right now if Kamala
6:59Harris was in charge? Could you imagine where we'd be with Iran?
7:04Yeah, not in Iran right now, not in Iran.
7:06Disastrous war where you've just ceded all of America's power.
7:09I mean, are these people for real?
7:11I mean, these are the most vile, deranged human beings, these MAGA Republicans.
7:17What are you, you're going to blame Kamala?
7:19This is sociopath stuff. And I'm sure you all know a sociopath in your life
7:24for many. That's what this is right here.
7:26These are deranged human beings.
7:28Play this clip. Been eliminated.
7:29And I just want to do a thought experiment with you.
7:31Imagine a scenario where Kamala Harris was president and we were dealing with Iran, which
7:39we now know had capabilities we didn't even know existed.
7:42Imagine three more years and then building that missile capability, three more years closer to
7:46a nuclear weapon. That is a world that would have been completely unacceptable to all
7:50Americans. And then you have MAGA Republican Senator Rick Scott say, we saved Europe.
7:56So you owe us. You owe us.
7:58They have to engage in war crimes with you.
8:01They have to engage in war crimes with Donald.
8:04Sorry, they ain't doing it.
8:05They ain't doing it. Here, play this clip right here.
8:08Your thoughts. Well, first off, I mean, Europe would all be speaking German if it
8:14wasn't for the American service members.
8:18And what we did to save their butts in the Second World War, for them
8:22to not support what we're doing in Iran, to make them safer and Americans safer,
8:27is just foolish. So NATO's going to have to change.
8:31Either they're going to step up and be a partner and be an ally, or
8:35why are we even involved in it?
8:37It doesn't make any sense.
8:38Them not supporting what we're doing in Iran, not letting us use military bases.
8:43I mean, we built probably most of that stuff.
8:45And clearly American dollars went into all the defense of Europe over the years.
8:49So something's going to change.
8:51I want to bring in Democratic Congress member Jake Alkencloss, Congress member Alkencloss.
8:56Great to see you, as always.
8:58I'm sure those have seen you on the network before.
9:00You're captain in the Marines.
9:02You've led teams in some of the most difficult areas across the country.
9:07And so, you know, obviously, you know, being a member of Congress and seeing the
9:12military buildup in Iran near and dear to your heart, and so many Americans as
9:17well. You know, talk us through right now, you know, this situation where Donald Trump
9:24made a social media post saying that he agreed to the 10 -point plan that
9:29was put forward by Iran.
9:31Iran had consistently been putting forward those 10 points.
9:35It wasn't a mystery what they were.
9:37One of the issues why it was so surprising that a ceasefire would even be
9:42entered into was because those 10 points described, you know, in certain circles as maximalist
9:48was basically a full surrender by Donald Trump of everything when you read those 10
9:53points. And so then Trump's position basically is now, and this is what he and
9:58J .D. Vance are saying, you know, actually the parliament leader in Iran, M .B.
10:03Goluboff, doesn't really speak good English.
10:05And there must have been something lost in translation because they actually accepted our 15
10:10-point plan. We never agreed to their 10 -point plan.
10:14And it's just, it's a clown show, Congressman.
10:17I mean, to see the United States of America, one, adopt that 10 -point plan,
10:22which was a surrender, in my view, when you look at the 10 points, and
10:26then now be like, oh, you know, they didn't understand English.
10:28And that's what, it's just, this is what the United States is, it's pathetic.
10:34The nation that saved the world from the Nazis and architected the Pax Americana now
10:41is the nation that let Iran...
10:44in Pakistan and China make as the basis of negotiations going forward, 10 points that
10:51are, as you said, a complete capitulation of American power in that region.
10:57So what the president said, to be clear, his own words was, these 10 points,
11:03not 15, these 10 points are a workable basis on which to negotiate.
11:09Let's just, I'm just going to briefly recite what those 10 points are, I'll compress
11:13and condense them. The United States removes all forces from all bases in the Middle
11:18East. The United States and its allies, including Israel, agree to never attack Iran or
11:23its proxy terror forces ever again.
11:26The United States lifts all primary and secondary sanctions on Iran.
11:30The United States unfreezes all overseas property held by Iranian leaders.
11:34The United States pays war reparations to Iran.
11:38Iran is allowed to control the Strait of Hormuz and charge every ship $2 million
11:43to transit it. And then finally silence on the question of nuclear enrichment.
11:49I mean, this document is what the previous Ayatollah could only have dreamed of as
11:57a basis for negotiations. Right.
12:00And so I suppose the thinking with Iran, when Trump had Pakistan reach out to
12:06them right before his deadline, they're like, we probably know he's going to violate this
12:10and he's going to pull the stunt he's pulling now.
12:13But I assume their thinking is even getting the United States to say that they
12:19agree to this is a massive blow to the credibility of the U .S.
12:25It sends the signal everywhere that this is utter weakness.
12:29And there's nothing that Iran could even achieve militarily that would be as embarrassing as
12:36Trump or any American president saying, I agree to these terms, a historical scar.
12:42And for Iran, they're like, you know what?
12:44He breaks, he breaches it.
12:45He breaches it. We just got him to basically say the Americans lost.
12:49And that's the message that the rest of the world understands, even if certain Fox
12:54viewers may not understand that based on the, but I even think they're getting it
12:57now based on the lousy propaganda that's being spewed.
13:01But that's my take on it.
13:03And they put him in the trap and we're seeing him right now kind of
13:07put the screws in, it seems, you know, as there's apparently a conversation coming up
13:11in Islamabad. That's right. These 10 points, it's not that they're going to become the
13:17final terms of an international treaty.
13:20I think Congress would revolt, allies would revolt.
13:23They cannot become instantiated into a treaty.
13:26But I think you said it quite rightly, Ben, a series of conditions that had
13:31they been, for example, introduced into the United Nations, the United States would previously have
13:35vetoed them, right? They would never have been allowed to come into the United Nations.
13:38They are now the anchor point for a new conception of regional power in the
13:43Middle East. And the basis upon which the United States and its allies now has
13:47to negotiate, which is why I have said that this president is now the first
13:51president in American history to start and then lose a war by himself.
13:57And that's a mark of shame that he's going to have to carry forward into
14:01history. You know, and the only thing I'd push back on is just to say
14:05losing is and being a loser is probably, you know, nice because this loss is
14:15not just in this war.
14:17I mean, this outcome is is generational.
14:21Now, what will happen in the.
14:23future how this puzzle gets put back together, but it is basically fundamentally saying that
14:30the post -World War II structure is over and it's, you know, and Trump posted
14:38it and they did things too where, you know, you can tell that they were
14:42thinking ahead while Donald Trump was just thinking about his own deadline.
14:45They said he's got to post this message, which specifically used their language.
14:50He has to do a repost of the foreign.
14:54He reposted in the foreign minister of Iran on his social media.
14:58I mean, just some things that you got to look at and go, oh my
15:03God, remember the days where Obama would wear a tan suit and that was like,
15:07what are we doing? Can I, so you had said like, where do we go
15:12from here? The future so uncertain, clearly it is.
15:14And I very little confidence that this president or the team around him can architect
15:19anything materially better in the next year or two.
15:22But I do think it's important that as Democrats, you know, as the ideas primary
15:26begins for 2028, that we do start to lay down a national security vision for
15:32this part of the world.
15:33And what I have proposed, and it's an outline though, is that in some ways
15:37you have to make the problem bigger.
15:38And what I mean by that is just focused on Israel versus Hezbollah or even
15:44America versus Iran is actually missing what I think is the broader picture, which is
15:48a greater Mediterranean alliance. We've got Ukraine all the way through to the Middle East
15:54that really have to be knit together in a defense, energy, and logistics infrastructure.
16:00And we can do that, one, by reinforcing the Abraham Accords with an air defense
16:05substructure, two, by investing in the India -Middle East economic corridor, which basically creates ports
16:13and pipelines to connect the Middle East with Europe directly bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
16:18And three, by strengthening NATO and tying NATO and the Abraham Accords more closely together.
16:25We really need an arc from Ukraine all the way through our allies in the
16:29Middle East that is a bulwark against hostility from Russia and hostility from Iran and
16:35allows the United States to focus on what is truly our pacing adversary in the
16:3821st century, which is China in the Indo -Pacific.
16:42Now, you've been on Fox multiple times and whenever you're on there, you know, the
16:48last time you're on there, Donald Trump attacking you personally, making social media posts about
16:54you personally. You know, what's, what's your reaction to all of that?
16:59I mean, obviously you get under his skin, but, you know, more broadly, you know,
17:03you're not afraid to go on Fox and to, and to speak to that audience
17:07there. Talk to us about that.
17:10I'll go on Fox anytime they'll have me.
17:12They have me less frequently these days than they used to, I think, because I
17:14do get under the president's skin and he lets them know about it.
17:17The reason I do that though, is because we know a template for beating this
17:22administration. And what it requires is one, you've got to drive some wedges into the
17:27MAGA coalition. Two, you've got to get dissenters within the administration.
17:32Three, you've got to get outside groups, whether they be industry, whether they be academic,
17:37whether they be civil society groups.
17:39And then four, using those three things, you then have to get congressional Republicans.
17:45So we've done this template, for example, with the National Institutes of Health.
17:49We've done this to a certain degree on ice and on pulling back from their
17:54worst excesses in Minnesota. And now we've done this on Epstein.
17:58And now we've got to do this on this one.
18:01We have got to box in this president's unilateral authority to conduct war and peace
18:06because he's a lunatic and we got to pass a war powers resolution.
18:10We've got to demand a two thirds vote in the Senate for any agreement that
18:13he would try to ink with Iran.
18:15And the way to do that, it starts with driving wedges into the MAGA coalition.
18:18And on this issue, we have tailwinds because I think a lot of the MAGA
18:23coalition are looking at a president who talked about an America first foreign policy.
18:27They're seeing him bomb seven different countries in his first year and have to ask
18:31China, China's help to lower gas prices for Americans.
18:35That does not sound like an America first foreign policy.
18:39Congressman, talk to us about simple but not easy or sub stack before we go.
18:44Every week I write about a democratic alternative to the madness that we're seeing in
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18:55I also think it's critical that looking towards 26 and 28, Democrats propose a positive
19:00agenda to the American public about what we want to do.
19:03And so every week I write about, hey, I know you're seeing this in the
19:06headlines. You probably have concerns.
19:07Here's a better democratic approach, whether it be immigration, whether it be the cost of
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19:14I'm always trying to put forward a positive democratic alternative.
19:17I encourage people to subscribe.
19:20Congressmember Aukenkloss, thanks for joining us.
19:22Appreciate you having me on again.
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