Ana Kasparian — Trump Ends Iran War? Joe Kent's Shocking Relief

Here to discuss this with us, along with some of the details of the memorandum of understanding, is the former director of National Counterterrorism Center of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. Joe, thank you so much for joining us. >> Great to be here. Thanks for having me. >> Yeah, no problem. Joe, let me start with a interesting question. Is Trump back? >> It really looks like he is. I mean, I think it's very significant that he himself went and signed the treaty last night. I I don't think any of us were expecting that. It was supposed to be on Friday in Geneva. They were going to send the vice president initially, and then President Trump flipped the script and he showed up and he in person and he signed the MOU himself, which means this has his full support. So, between that and the statements that he's made over the last 24 or 48 hours telling Israel that they need to knock it off, especially with regards to Lebanon, talking about essentially Iran having a pragmatic need to defend itself and just recognizing the fact where we are in this conflict, and the most important thing is reopening the Straits of Hormuz. I feel like President Trump is back. And then the the great press conference that the J.D. Vance, our vice president, had this afternoon really kind of trying to put the Israeli leaders in their place and let them know that we're serious about this as well. I'm more optimistic than I've than I've been since since I resigned. >> Yeah, so now we're on the left and I certainly am. And so I didn't want Trump in the first place. So, I didn't much believe in him, but you did, right? And you worked as his National Counterterrorism Center director. And so, that's why I phrased it as as having him back from your perspective. And so, from that perspective, are you given how much you went through, given the fact that you resigned, given the massive pushback against you from mainstream media, other Republicans, etc., are Are surprised at Trump and Vance beginning to represent America first again given all that you've been through? >> Just relieved. I mean, look, there was a while there where I thought did I get this entire thing wrong? Did I Did I misread President Trump? And I always said like I can't figure this out. I don't think I misread him. I think he believed in these principles, but what took place with the way that the war was forced upon us by the Israelis and pretty much every action that we've taken since then before, you know, the last 48 hours or so, I I was really second guessing, you know, myself and my own judgment. However, the way that he has behaved I think that he's snapped out of it. I don't know what exactly, you know, what drove him to get us into this war beyond the Israeli influence I've talked about before. There was always something there that I couldn't put my finger on and and I don't know what snapped in President Trump over the last 24-48 hours, but he does seem like he's had enough. He seems like right now he's listening to what I have always believed his gut instincts to be where he's not listening to the donors, he's not listening to all this, you know, probably very very flattering talk that was coming from the Israelis. He's looking at results. And if And this is what I was hoping that he was going to do where he sat back and he looked at the results of the war. He looked at the markets. He looked at what this meant to America's standing in the world and he said, "Okay, now I need to make a business decision and I need to cut us a better deal and get us out of this losing deal." So, I'm I'm mostly just relieved. Cautiously optimistic, I guess, too. >> Cautiously optimistic is the best way to describe the way I'm feeling right now. There have been too many moments where you think should I be optimistic? And then, of course, the disappointment comes immediately after. But, it does appear as though Trump and you know, based on the messaging we're hearing from Vice President Vance, seems like they're really going to stick to this effort at ending the war and moving toward a permanent peace deal. But, you know, I I do want to push back a little bit on what what changed with Trump? What flipped? Honestly, I don't think the president had a choice. Unless he was willing to watch the global economy melt down. There was no military option, as you have eloquently mentioned in multiple interviews. There was no military option in getting control of the Strait of Hormuz. There was no way we were going to topple the IRGC. And we have lost soldiers. And so, I I I just think it got to a point where Trump looks at the math and realizes either we keep going in the direction we're going and the entire global economy just melts down, or we end this now. What do you think? >> Look, I don't know what your plans are for the summer, but if you're still paying Verizon or AT&T tons of money for your phone plan, you should stop. Really, stop right now. My friend Andrew Yang, the guy behind Universal Basic Income, launched a phone company and he's basically giving money away. He loves to do that. Seriously, it's been a total game-changer for me. I use it. Here's the deal. If you sign up right now, new customers get the first three months completely free. No tricks, no catch. The whole summer totally free. That's money you can spend doing things you actually enjoy, like going to the beach, going to a concert, grabbing ice cream with your friends, whatever you want. Not convinced? Here's the cherry on top. 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One of I think the things that appealed to to me and a lot of us about President Trump it is that he wouldn't get stuck in some, you know, high pie in the sky principle of like we have to stay here to liberate everyone or to fight the terrorists over over there so we don't have to fight them over here. He was always a much more pragmatic guy. Again, that's why this entire thing kind of threw me for a loop. So to see him kind of wake up and be like, oh man, there there actually is no military way out of this regardless of what all the neocons are saying about how we should just be, you know, back to kicking butt and dropping bombs. He's like, "Well, that doesn't work." And then he looked at the markets and he looked at the effect on the economy here and what that's going to mean for American consumers and American taxpayers and American voters, especially going in the midterm. And then he got on he got back on the realism and said we actually need to take action here. And I think something that's been really significant is the way that they've approached Israel cuz we we've heard President Trump before say he wants to get a deal with the Iranians, but they would never address the the Israelis or, you know, try to move in a meaningful way to restrain the Israelis. And we're seeing a real effort right now to at least call out the Israelis and there's even some rumors and reporting of us potentially withholding some arms supplies and shipments to Israel. And I I just think that's absolutely key because the Israelis, I fear, are going to continue in Lebanon. And we've already seen the Iranians put out some warning that, "Hey, we mean business about what's taking place in Lebanon." So I do think our middle is going to be tested here, but based on the rhetoric so far, I I remain you know, cautiously optimistic. >> Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live