Carlson and Cruz... who speaks for MAGA? (06-18-2025--Hour3)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. I alluded to it earlier. I didn't just allude to it. I said it flat out. I said it. Ted Cruz went on the Tucker Carlson program and highlighting the riff that has now. Erupted among the quote unquote woke. Right and MAGA influencers and MAGA voters and the Trump administration. And so there's this splintering that's been occurring over the last few months and is now erupted over this issue of American involvement in Iran or Israel's attack on Iran, which again like not really sure what we're doing, like to the extent we are involved, like well, Trump was informed about it, Okay, yeah, it means Israel trust him more than they trusted Joe Biden because they wouldn't tell by the like. After a couple of leaks and stuff and Biden leaning on Israel not to do stuff against Tamas, they just quit telling him stuff. They didn't tell them about the beeper operation against Hasballa, so they obviously feel more comfortable with Donald Trump, so they're telling Trump some stuff. So he was aware, He says he was aware of the operation beforehand. Okay, and they've probably asked about using the B two bombers to drop bunker busters on Fordel, which is the enrichment facility in Iran, ninety meters under a mountain, encased in concrete in order to build nuclear weapons. That's why you spin the uranium to ninety percent in the centrifuges to ninety percent enrichment levels so you could turn it into weapons grade fuel. Or payload. They've also, you know, Israel's been taken out their ballistic missile production facilities, their launcher pads and stuff, all with the aim to make sure that Iran's nuclear program is eliminated. That's what their efforts been about. And I'm seeing these people on the right, these influencers on their podcasts and such that are very, very adamantly opposed to Israel doing this. Now, look, I'm not saying everybody opposed to what Israel is doing is an anti Semite. I'm not saying that, although every anti Semite as opposed to what Israel is doing. So there is that component and some of the people, some of these voices on the right are in fact Jew haters. They are, okay, and I'm not I don't need to go through and name every single one because I don't listen to all of their stuff enough to know. But there's yes there that isn't well. I mean, there's one I can name. He's an outward Jew hater, Ballzarian, that idiot. So there's that wing. But then there is also this other group that seems to engage in the tactics of the woke left. And this is why they have been labeled as the quote woke right. It's because they are nationalists, but also they employ these woke tactics, they cancel opponents and whatever. Anyway, so this rift has now erupted, and it erupted after Israel's attacks on Iran. The most notable one is Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump. Trump called him Kookie Carlson in a tweet. He said in some press availability, he was answering some questions and he was asked about something Tucker Carlson said, and he was like, yeah, Tucker should get his own TV network and then maybe some people will listen to him or something, so denigrating Carlson. Carlson going after Trump, and then Carlson invited Ted Cruz to come on his show. And I find this to be just rich, and I'll explain why a couple of weeks ago, and I played some of this audio a couple of weeks ago. Douglas Murray, who is a pro Israel guy, British dude and wrote like the Decline of the West and stuff, wrote several books and he went over into Gaza. He was there with the IDF and whatever. Like I said, pro Israel, and he has been on the Joe Rogan podcast many, many times alone. Most times Joe Rogan interviews people alone and they just chat about whatever. But apparently this last time, when Murray was invited, Rogan would not allow him to come on unless he had I guess his emotional support. Comic Dave Smith, who is a self described libertarian and Dave Smith is anti Israel, and he frames everything in like the terms of genocide and Israel is in genocide, they're the evil ones and all that, and so they had this debate, and very early in the debate, Smith is going on about the blockade and they're not getting any food in through the through the different gates and stuff, and Douglas Murray said, well, have you ever been there? Except because he's British, he says, have you ever been there? And he just comes across as very elitist, right, And so everybody starts arguing afterwards about how you know, Murray was doing this appeal to expertise, and that because Dave Smith had never set foot in Israel or Gaza or I'd never seen the checkpoints, and I had never seen the you know, the Egyptian walls and stuff that they've built up in the checkpoints there, that he should at least, Murray was saying, he should at least be there. You've been going around, you know, giving your opinion on this matter for now, you two years or whatever it's been, and you've never even been there, You've never talked to people that are living there, and that would be something that a journalist would do somebody who is researching a topic, that's something you should do. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't have an opinion, which is what Dave Smith kept trying to reframe it as Dave Smith, Oh, so now I can't apply on this stuff, I can't talk about it, And Murray kept saying, I'm not saying you can't have an opinion on it. I'm just saying that that would help your opinion be more credible. But of course all of that was lost, that's all nuanced and it doesn't matter. So everybody's like, ha haa haa, Douglas Murray making this appeal to the experts. Oh, that worked out so well for us in COVID, right, Look at where the experts got us, right. So there's just this flat out rejection of expertise on that interview. But in this interview now, Tucker Carlson asks Ted Cruz data points about Iran, and Cruz doesn't know the answers, and this is a gotcha. This is aha. Ted Cruz is ignorant. He doesn't have the expertise necessary to opine on this matter. And now you've got the very same people that were dragging Douglas Murray now defending Tucker Carlson for doing the exact same thing, the exact same thing, highly ironic. There are also now reports I've seen floating around that apparently, And look, my opinion, I used to watch Tucker Carlson. I used to like Tucker Carlson. I appreciated his arguments. I don't know what has happened to him, because something has happened to him, and I don't know what it is. I'm not saying, like, you know, he sold out or whatever, although there's stuff floating around that the Kataris paid some money. They had to report it through the Foreign Agent Registry Act the FARA requirements that they did pay for They did pay him to arrange an interview with like the Katari Prime minister or something. And I don't know any of the details about that, but things, for me, my opinion of Carlson shifted when I saw him doing the show from Moscow and he's walking through the grocery stores. Oh my gosh, look at all of this bread. Oh it's fantastic. Oh they got this. Oh McDonald's. They have McDonald's. The streets are so clean here, Holy Cow. And that's odd, that's almost that's like a Hanoi Jane kind of kind of move. And I'm not sure what to make of that, and so I just like, now, I just I pulled the plug, like I'm not watching anything that guy does anymore because I can't trust him. I don't know what. I don't know if he's running some sort of a game or a sy op or something, I don't know. So he invites Ted Cruz on. I've got some sound bites, we got some calls, we got Jerry and Dave. We'll get to you all up next. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground dot news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot Ground dot News slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature your subscription and then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. We will head over first and speak with Jerry. Welcome to the program. Hello Jerry, Hey Pete. So three things, Tucker Carlson, Congressional Republicans and Yaffo Middle Eastern saff Casual. So that's the easiest one. YAPO, which is an awesome Middle Eastern SAFT casual restaurant that's currently in South Park and Dilworth is open. And Balanine woooo so excited about that. I was thrilled to hear you, hear what you said about Tucker Carlson. I don't know what the hell's happened to him, but he has gone right over the edge and frankly I think part of it, in my opinion, is that he now from the subscriptions and I canceled my subscription and everything. I think he has so much fu money that he just doesn't he doesn't care anymore. He's just I don't. I don't know what it is, And frankly, I don't really care, because I would I wouldn't give him the time of day anymore. But I think I think part of it is when you get to the point where you have so much money that you can do and say whatever you want and the ramifications don't really impact you. I think that's part of it, at least part of it. Congressional Republicans every day. I'm surprised that the fact that I can even loathe them more than I did the day before, this idiot lawler from New York about the Sault eductions. And then of course we have you know, we have a Massy, and then you have Lindsey And why can't the people in South Carolina just kind of get it together and vote for some saner people, you know? And the bottom line for me is, we never ever ever see Democrats do this kind of crap. Never, And I think all. The crazy well you do, Jerry, So all right, you do. Look at John Fetterman, righte, Richie Torres, right, I mean you do have some of them breaking ranks. I don't really count Fedterman, bless his heart, hope he's well, don't really count him. Well that's not. Fair, though, because you can't say Democrats don't ever do it and then say I don't count the guy that That is the example of a Democrat doing it, and Richie Torres has done it too on Israel. This is one of the I think it's one of the I think it's one of the traps that both Democrats and Republicans fall into. They think that the other party is way better at the game than they are, Like, we're in disarray all the time, but they got their stuff together. Democrats say the same thing about Republicans that Republicans say about Democrats. Well, Democrats say a lot of things, two things very quickly, and I'll let you move on. You're right, I shouldn't discount betterman, but but I think we overall. And my point being that they that they don't break, they hold ranks. That's that's how I should have phrased it. Cat. Let's look have to give him credit regardless of whatever's going on with him, he has been brave enough to book the Democrat trend. As and as has Richie Torres well, and my. Frankly, I haven't paid as much to Richie in Congress. My hope, and even though I'm a Republican, my hope is that Richie would return to New York and run for mayor, which I wish he would spend this time, and then run and then run for governor, because I think he would be phenomenal in a state that will probably never vote for Republicans in either of those offices. I don't know how what kind of chances the least sephonic has. I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of Richie Torres. But overall my thought was, and I should have said it better, Democrats rarely, rarely ever break ranks, and Republicans always throws things to the wind and the sky. Lawler from New York, who cares if everybody gets hit with a sixty seven billion dollar tax increase? I don't care. I'm just gonna torpedo the bill because of the salt deductions. Yeah you know, no, I got you. I agree, Jerry, I appreciate the call. Thank you very much. No, it's good to hear from you. Let me get Dave on here before the bottom of the hour news. Hello, Dave, welcome to the show. Hey, the thanks. I'll talk a little bit slower than Jerry anyway. Hey, I just want to make sure y'all are aware. I know that everybody in Waxaw knows, and because i'm this is day from Waxaw, and I know that a good number of Union County knows. But I want to make sure an all of Union County, and for that matter, if she's stoopid enough to even try to run for statewide office, your poster chalk for this woke right name is the old lady by the name of well, I shouldn't say lady, but anyway, it's female by the name of Tracy Wesseling. And Tracy has gone off the rails. Even just when you think she couldn't do anything more crazy, she posts a picture of herself over the weekend during the No Kings sitting on a throne and saying off with his head, okay about Trump that kind of stuff, Yeah, of course, about Trump. And she's she's on the woke right. She's she's she is. First of all, I think woke ride is an oxymon. It's not if you're woke, you're not. You're not right describes the tax. But the way we the way we call it in the hood, we talked talk about this in the liud. We have an expression you ain't right. So if you woke, you ain't right. And there's no such thing. And she has had just begun to attack. Who is she is this person running for office or in elected office? She is she is a Waxaw commissioner, saying to be a former commissioner on November four of the twenty twenty five if she dares to run and waste her ten bucks. But anyway, so. She was like Maga. She was a Maga supporter, and now. She's I think she was a snake from the very beginning to shet. Anybody in Union County knows that you got to have an R by your name to get elected, right, and and so that's all she did. She was able to to. She tried to get a Democrat poster child named Michael Avola into one of our wonderful private Facebook groups that we have in Union County Conservative group. She tried to get him in there, and the late Great stoney Rushing County Commission, Union County Mission. Stoney Rushing called her up shore owned and exposed her, and she's been spiraling down hill ever since. That was about two years ago. Now, Dave, I appreciate, appreciate, Yeah, man, I appreciate the call. Thank you, sir. I don't know anything about the story he just described. But this is one of the things about the quote woke right is that a lot of them are actually politically, ideologically, philosophically of the left. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion. Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. Nestled within the breath taking fourteen thousand acres of the Pisga National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions with hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi Fi grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch. Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at Cabins Offashville dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. All right, let me get to some some of these clips. All I have are clips because the Tucker Carlson interview with Senator Ted Cruz dropped at some point within the last I guess ninety minutes or so. I've not seen it. I don't know if I'll even give the guy a view. But this is what the Carlson camp sent out to promote the interview, and they did so as a gotcha like, look at this, We made him squirm. Haha. Take that, Ted Cruz. And here's the exchange that the Tucker Carlson operation sent out. And Tucker Carlson posted himself on his Twitter feed. How many people living around? By the way, I don't know the population at all. No, I don't know the population. You don't know the population of the country. You seek to topple? How many people living around? Ninety two million? Okay? How could you not know that? I don't sit around memorizing population tables. Well, it's kind of relevant because you're calling for the overthrow of the government. Why is it real event, whether it's will because ninety million or eighty million or one hundred million, Because if you don't know anything about the country, you didn't say I don't know anything about Okay, what's the ethnic mix of Wrong? They are Persians and well presuminantly Shia. Okay, No, he's not even you don't know anything about Iran? So okay, I'm not the Tucker Carlson on Iran. Okay, hang on second, So that reference that he made right there, the Tucker Carlson expert, I think that's a reference to the quote unquote historian the best historian ever on World War Two that said Winston Churchill was the main villain of World War Two. That guy. Tucker Carlson has been platforming some pretty weird guests, okay, and they all seem to have a certain level of jew hatred. I'm just just pointing out what I think is pretty obvious. Guys platform Jeffrey Sachs multiple times, so whatever, Like so this is where he goes with Ted Kruz, what's the population? This is like what they did to George W. Bush, remember when they were asking him the capitals of various countries, what's the capital of Pakistan or something. When he was running for president. And because Ted Cruz doesn't know the population of Iran, which is about ninety million, and because he doesn't know the exact breakdown because when he asked, what's the ethnic breakdown of Iran? And what did Ted Cruz just say? He said they're mostly Persian? And what does Carlson just follow up with? Immediately talks over him and says, what percentage? What percentage you want you expect me to know the percentages of the ethnic composition of Iran, which is sixty one percent Persian. Next up is the azerbaijanis sixteen percent, Kurds ten percent, and then every other ethnic group is at like single digits four percent in below. So it's mainly Persian. So he is correct. Ted Cruz was correct, but then he then Carlson follows up with give me the population breakdown by ethnicity and the percentages. I don't even know what this is. I do know what this is. Who's calling there. The one about the country, ain't. No, you don't know anything about the country. You're the one who claims they're not trying to murder Donald Trump. I'm not saying that. Who can't figure out to say, General SOLMONI. You believe they're trying to murder Trump? Yes, because you're not calling for military strikes against them in retaliation. And if they really believe that carrying out military strikes. Today said Israel was right with our help. I've said we Israel is leading them, but we're supporting them. Well, this you're breaking news here, because. He's actually not breaking news because the we have resupplied their iron dome munitions. We are in a support role. And what Carlson is trying to do here is to make it sound like we're flying side by side with the Israelis or something or where, like we've got teams on the ground, you know, painting the targets for them to drop bombs on. Like this is just bizarre behavior for Carlson. The US government last night denied the National Security Council spokesman Alex Fiffer denied on behalf of Trump that we were acting on Israel's behalf in any offensive capacity. We're not bombing then Israel's bombing then. Right in any offensive capacity. So he just twisted what Cruz said. This was the clip that Carlson sent out thinking this made him look good and Cruse look bad. You just said we were we are supporting as I stakes. You're a senator. If you're saying the United States government is now, we're with a run right now, people are listening. To be more clear, even though I'm twisting everything you're saying, I'm not letting you say it. You don't know anything about Iran. He does know about Iran. By the way, when Trump whacked solo money, remember that first term, MAGA. Was totally fine with it. But now that Israel is doing the rest of the job, now all of a sudden, there's this big gnashing of teeth and no, they're going to drag us into war and all of this. Wouldn't you think us taking out the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? Do you think that would have been more of a provocation than letting Israel do this again. It's almost as if there's something about the fact that it's the Israeli's doing it. Israeli derangement syndrome, you might call it. All right, so spring is here a time of renewal and celebrations. You got graduations, weddings, anniversaries and the special days for mom and dad. Your family's making memory that are going to last a lifetime. But let me ask you, are all of those treasured moments from days gone by? Are they hidden away on old VCR tapes, eight millimeter films, photos slides? Are they preserved? Because over time, these precious memories can fade and deteriorate, losing the magic of yesterday. At Creative Video, they help you protect what matters most. Their expert team digitizes your cherished family moments and transfers them onto a USB drive, freezing them in time so they can be enjoyed for generations to come. I urge you do not wait until it's too late. This spring, celebrate your past. Visit Creative Video today and let them preserve your legacy with the love and care that it deserves. Creative Video Preserving Family Memories since nineteen ninety seven. Located in mint Hill, just off four eighty five. Mail orders are accepted to get all the details that create a video dot com. All right, I got one more clip of Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz on his show today, and this is about the Masade spying on the American government. Does Masade share all of his intelligence with us? Oh? Probably not, but they share a lot. We don't share all of our intelligence with them, but we share a lot. It's a close a lot. Do they spy domestically the United States? Oh, they probably do, and we do as well. And friends and allies spy on each other and I do. Why assume all of our allies spy on us? That's okay with you? You know what. One of the things about being a conservative is that you're not naive and utopian. You don't think humans are all. Part of the reason socialism doesn't work is is the mantra for each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs doesn't work. As a conservative, I assume people act in their rational self interest. It's why to pay people to spy on you. It's conservative to recognize that human beings act to their own self interests. And every one of our friends spies on us, and I'm not do you like it? That's my question. I'm not asking whether they have motive to do it. Of course they do. I understand that. And I and by the way, I'm mad at that you're an American wanmaker. So I just want to I want to know your attitude. You said that you're guiding principle, in fact, the only principle, the only criterion. I said, guiding the overwhelming. I wouldn't say only. Is it an America's interest? Is it an America's interest for Israel to spy on us, including on the president? It is an America's interest to be closely allied with Israel? Because that's not it? Is it in America's interest to share information with the massade? And is that outweighed by the fact that they are going to spy on us? And also, do you think that if we don't share intel with them, that they stop spying on us, or will they continue spying on us again? Like this is what Carlson is doing, is trying to make the Israeli seem like they are particularly out of step for nefarious reasons. Then every other nation on the planet that attempts to do spona against America, including our allies, which by the way, we do against our allies because they don't tell us everything either, and we don't tell them everything. We get huge benefits for it. And you want to see the cleric. But I just want to stop on the spine for a second. That it takes place, as you know, and including on the President of the United States and several precedents, and I just want to know if that's okay, and why is it okay? Wouldn't an American lawmaker say to a client state, you're not allowed to spy on us. I'm sorry, I know why you want to. I'm not mad at you, but you're not allowed to, sure, And I don't care for it. I don't want to be spot on by you. Is that it's kind of weird not to say that, but you don't seem able to say that. And then he stops right there, So we don't hear what Crew said. So does Ted Cruz like it? No? No, Aloey's gonna say, Oh yes, I love being spied on. What a stupid question. There it is again, there are stupid questions. Tucker is playing a game here, and the game is the Jews. That's what this tells me. That's what these clips that he pushed out there for red meat for his base that's listening to his podcast on the regular, it all falls in that same sort of category. That's what it tells me. I may tell you something different, but that's what it tells me. And here's a write up from a guy named Entropian. He says, when making decisions, we usually seek out relevant information to help us make that decision. The population of Iran is not one of those things that would have helped Ted Cruz arrive at his current stance. If it were, perhaps hearing the statistic would have given him pause, but it didn't. It changed nothing because it wasn't important. The only reason anybody wishes he had known the answer was to have stopped Tucker's gotcha question in its tracks, which, by the way, it would not have because Tucker would have hopped to a couple other factoids that he had lined up, like the ethnic makeup, and he did exactly that. Perhaps then he would have moved to GDP industrial production capacity or any other data point. We should expect our leaders to know data that is relevant to their decisions. We should not expect our leaders to humor bad faith interview questions. Let me get to some messages, Dennis says Rush Limbaugh tagged Tucker Carlson with the nickname Chatsworth Osborne Junior, which is a reference to the old Dobe Gills TV show by which there was a friend of Doobie's who was a complete spoiled mom boy. Brad Rush hit the nail on the head. I did not know that. Okay, let me see. Let's take in a second to load the uh load the emails now. For some reason, not sure why, tim Oteo says, I admit I have been vacillating on what Trump should do. It seems so simple to just take out fourdoh with our bunker busters. It's so tempting. But in war, all repercussions cannot be seen before they happen. What I know for sure, however, is that if Israel is allowed to eliminate that forcility, they will do it. We just need to provide support since we supposedly have complete air superiority. What I would like to see is Trump sending over a fleet of C one thirties to drop palettes of aid packages to the Iranian people that include pamphlets assuring the Iranian people that Israel is only going to dismantle the nuclear program. Ted Cruz was probably taken off guard because he was expecting a rational discussion and got hyperbolic lunacy instead. If I could have answered for him, that answer would have been I don't know Iran's population, but I know the population of the US, and I want to keep it that way. That would be in a good response. And John says, thank you for calling it exactly what it is. Anti Semitism is a word played by the haters to muddy the waters. It is jew hatred. Yeah, all right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, So if you'd like, please support them and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to dpecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.