From Pirro to Zero

**Jon Favreau** (0:20)
Welcome to Pod Save America, I'm Jon Favreau.

**Jon Lovett** (0:22)
I'm Jon Lovett.

**Tommy Vietor** (0:22)
I'm Tommy Vietor.

**Jon Favreau** (0:23)
On today's show, Todd Blanche is getting confirmed as Attorney General after killing Trump's January 6th slush fund. But is it really dead?
We'll talk about that and whether Blanche's US Attorney for DC, Jeanine Pirro, is about to be fired for telling the truth about the Reflecting Pool, that Trump still says was vandalized. We'll also cover the disturbing case of House Republican Max Miller, what it means for our efforts to flip the house, and what you can do to help flip the house as well. We got more news about cursed DNC chair, Ken Martin, a Michigan primary that's finally ending. And later, I talked to Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, Francesca Hong, about her momentum in a huge race that's just seven days from the finish line. But first, it was another eventful weekend where the commander-in-chief threatened Iran with what he's calling the biggest attack since World War II, only to once again pull back at the very last moment because of alleged talks about an alleged deal that no one can confirm. Iran says it's bullshit. US officials told CBS no new talks have been planned.
And by Monday afternoon, Trump put to rest any lingering confusion with his usual clarity.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:32)
This is at least the fifth time you've turned off airstrikes against Iran since April to negotiate. What is your message to the American people who are wondering what has changed this time? Why should it be any different?

**Donald Trump** (1:42)
Well, you don't know. I don't know. I think we're going to maybe get something. But I want to give them every last chance before decapitation. This is the last chance for them to sign a good document. I'm very proud of the fact that I will give people a chance. This is a big move.
Iran knew it. They knew what was coming. It was going to come last night, and it would have gone on for a long time, and there'd be essentially very little left. There'd be nothing left.

**Jon Favreau** (2:11)
Okay. Seems like he's about to wrap this thing up, huh?

**Jon Lovett** (2:17)
Little time before the decapitation. Queen of Farts over here.

**Tommy Vietor** (2:20)
That's like a marine twinnet.

**Jon Favreau** (2:24)
Why do you think Trump called off planned strikes for the 500th time?

**Tommy Vietor** (2:28)
I think it was a combination of things. I think the Saudis got to him and other Gulf autocrats who pay him bribes. They do not want to see- Give them planes and stuff. Yeah, give them planes. God knows what else. They don't want to see a resumption of full-scale combat because for them, that means the oil and gas industry gets all screwed up. They can't get their exports out and also the Iranians fire a bunch of missiles and drones at them. So that sucks if you're sitting in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain or Kuwait or whatever.
I think MBS, Mabed bin Salman in particular was persuasive. There's also this ongoing issue about they don't have enough interceptor missiles to defend from all these Iranian ballistic missile responses. I think Trump also knows it's going to jack up oil and gas prices pretty close to the midterms and probably not materially impact situation. You're not going to win the war in a weekend. I think you and I talked about this on Friday. Some of the reports were like, Trump's got the biggest airstrike barrage since World War II planned. That'll be done by Monday. You're not going to win the war. So he's bluffing and he's trying to see if he can use it as leverage. The thing that's driving me crazy, just for a quick aside, you guys remember the whole Syria red line thing? That was a fight about Syria policy kind of, but the thing everyone in Washington said is presidents don't bluff.
You can't threaten to do something and then not implement it. Trump has now done that five times and all the Republicans who blamed the Syria red line for Putin invading Crimea or everything China does are just silent on this now.

**Jon Favreau** (3:55)
Yeah, and at this point, I'm sure that the Iranians here, the biggest, most devastating attack since World War II and they probably start laughing.

**Tommy Vietor** (4:03)
They're like, we just beat you in a previous war.

**Jon Lovett** (4:05)
Well, it's also like, how many cycles of this can we go through? We're going to obliterate your society, we're going to send you back to the Stone Age.

**Jon Favreau** (4:12)
Yeah, sure you are.