Is Trump Planning A Nuclear Attack on Iran?

**Anthony Scaramucci** (0:01)
Donald Trump just threatened to seize the Strait of Hormuz and claim it as US territory, as rumor swirl of a potential nuclear strike on Iran. Can he do it? Let's just say I have my doubts. And Trump has changed tune on North Korea again. He now claims that he's best friends with his leader. But what does that mean for the future of Ukraine? Stay tuned to find out.
Welcome to The Rest Is Politics US with me, Anthony Scaramucci. And today I'm joined by fellow ex-Republican White House Communications Director and host of MS Now's Deadline, White House, Nicolle Wallace. Thank you so much for being here. And she's an awesome friend. But the one thing I will say about Nicolle Wallace, which I have intense love for, is your Met fandom. You are a loyal Met fan, okay? And we've got a lot of British football fans out here. You know, we love the Mets, unfortunately. You and me.

**Nicolle Wallace** (0:59)
I've come all the way around in the Mets. I've been through like all the stages of grief. I think the last time we talked, I was angry and now I've moved into acceptance and I started watching again. So that's, I don't know, it's either it's either moving through the seven stages or absolute denial.

**Anthony Scaramucci** (1:15)
I have been in so much pain for 50 plus years. I'm just in full on acceptance every day. And unfortunately for me, I watch every inning. But let's go to Trump for a second. Okay, he he's in my hometown, in the neck of the woods, Nassau County.
He's campaigning for Bruce Blakeman, who's the Republican nominee, a MAGA guy.

**Nicolle Wallace** (1:35)
Who used to be a Bush guy. His brother was a Bush guy.

**Anthony Scaramucci** (1:37)
Yeah, I like Bruce. I got a lot with Bruce. I know Bruce forever. Both lived out in Nassau County forever. He's the county executive, the Republican nominee.
And he's there at the police academy. And the police are cheering this guy on, even though he's pardoning people who have committed violence against police officers. So that's a whole other weird thing, Nicolle. But I want to go to his comment. It was a flippant comment. He said, when the war is over, we're going to declare the Strait of Hormuz US territory. Pretty soon, he said.

**Nicolle Wallace** (2:11)
Yeah, look, he's added to the list with Greenland and I think the Panama Canal. He was also going to declare US territory. I think he's finding and I think the world is finding or maybe found already.
You'd know better than me that his words are increasingly disconnected from reality or enforceable truths. And I think the thing with the Strait of Hormuz is perhaps one of the biggest geopolitical blunders in American foreign policy history. And I know that might sound rich coming from someone who worked for an administration whose foreign policies are still debated and polarizing in the Middle East. But I think the idea that he would say anything about the Strait of Hormuz that anybody would believe at this point is about the people that believe him, not about the things he says.

**Anthony Scaramucci** (3:01)
OK, so let me play a Trumpster for a second, OK?
And I want you to respond. He's a 5D chess player. He's just this magnificent maestro.

**Nicolle Wallace** (3:10)
I don't even think he can play checkers.

**Anthony Scaramucci** (3:12)
OK, OK. Well, you know, my buddy Rick Wilson says he eats the pieces when he's looking at a chessboard. OK, but let's say he's this magnificent maestro.
And this is an anchoring position for his negotiating. But in the meantime, the Iranian foreign minister says, you know, we're a middle power that beat the American military and come to us, we'll show you how you can do it, too.

**Nicolle Wallace** (3:36)
Look, I think you and I sometimes talk past each other when you step into the world as it is and I cling to the world I wish it was. So I talk to some people more, you know, in your world, the real politic folks in finance who have to get through the next two and a half years without destroying their businesses and their standing in the global economy. And here's what I would say, Trump doesn't know how to set up a chessboard, let alone play chess.
Trump is a person with no shame and no pathological ability to pause and reflect. And so it gives him immense advantages in a lot of ways, but not with superpowers or super adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran. And I think the fact that he lost the tariff war against China has to do with the Chinese DNA's ability to turn to hardship and nationalism and endure more pain than the American economy. And I think the same is true of Iran in a much more existential way. So I don't think Trump is playing chess. I don't think Trump is winning. I don't even think Trump thinks Trump is winning. But I think that the debacle with Iran is so serious, people will be taking out for decades.