Not Without Incident: Questioning Big Brother's Platitudes

Protests are raging in Iran. So are the illiberal liberal and illiberal classes. Numerous figures, from Bill Ackman to Lindsey Graham are demanding that Donald Trump ‘help’ the Iranian people. [i] In response to news that JD Vance’s team is pushing for diplomacy, MAGA luminary Laura Loomer said “Disturbing. There is no negotiation with an oppressive regime that is using Automatic rifles on civilians for opposing the Islamic regime. The only negotiation for the Ayatollah should be “bullet or drone strike”? Death to the Iranian regime.”[ii] This same logic is not applied to the many tyrants that the US avidly supports, even as they oppress their citizens and commit grotesque human rights violations. One of America’s closest allies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, routinely spies on its citizens and jails dissidents. As exposed in the Snowden files, the NSA promised to assist the Saudi Ministry of Interior through intelligence sharing and help with surveillance.[iii] Saudi Arabia uses Pegasus, spyware created by the Israeli arms company NSO Group, to surveil journalists and dissidents, like Jamal Kashoggi, who was killed on the orders of the Saudi regime.[iv] Also, a Saudi led coalition, with the backing of the US, devastated Yemen and created a human rights crisis there.[v]

Dictators in Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, and other states are apparently not so bad, even though they treat protesters and dissidents just like the Ayatollahs. In the case of Iran, the same faction who sneers at international law and humanitarianism suddenly feign adherence to these concepts and use them as justification for ‘helping’ people become free. Graham, who is so excited about the US going to war with Iran, and in the span of a decade went from being Trump’s opposition to his bestie, said on FOX News “To the people of Iran: We stand with you tonight…We stand for you taking back your country from the Ayatollah, a religious Nazi who kills you and terrorizes the world.”[vi] This is another justification for overthrowing the Ayatollahs, that they are “the worlds biggest sponsor of terrorism”, and the assumption is that with a more pro-Western regime, groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza will lose important sources of funding and arms. Thus, we are always fighting the war terror. Trying to install a regime more friendly to the US will not be an elixir in the war on terror. Militarism begets militarism. Terrorism begets terrorism.

Bombing Iran will elate cretins like Graham and Ackman, but it will foster more terrorism against the West, not less. Graham proceeded to say, “And to the Ayatollah: You need to understand, if you keep killing your people who are demanding a better life, Donald J. Trump is gonna kill you,”[vii] This proclamation was not met with acrimony from Trump or his supporters, as it should have been. Remarks like this make diplomacy impossible, which is the goal, evidently. Graham later made a show of putting on a hat emblazoned with the slogan, MIGA, meaning make Iran great again. Watching Graham deliberate on cable news and on the floor of the Senate, you would never know that he is supposed to be representing the people of South Carolina. This typifies the reality of the Trump regime, as their focus is not on America, it is on anywhere but America.

As a symbolic gesture, Trump announced a 25% tariff on any country that does business with Iran.[viii] This is symbolic because the entire West already has incredibly harsh sanctions on Iran. Further, considering China accounts for around 90% of Iran’s oil exports, this is likely to worsen relations and trade talks with China.[ix]

Presently, Trump is being given various options for striking Iran, and he is also considering diplomacy. This is sure to enrage the bloodthirsty warmongers who desire regime change, and will not be satisfied with anything else, especially diplomacy. Back after Trump’s strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, when Trump floated the idea of talking with Tehran, Mark Levin, a deranged conservative FOX News and radio host, lost his mind. After Iran’s orchestrated, intentionally limp response to US strikes on its nuclear facilities, followed by Trump’s declaration of a ceasefire to go in effect within hours, Levin tweeted out that:

“The Iranian Nazi regime is desperately trying to hold on to power with no effective options. Will the regime be provided an “off ramp” without surrendering unconditionally? In other words, will the regime be given a lifeline, and survive to terrorize and murder, build more ballistic missiles, and develop nukes and intercontinental missiles in the future? That would be a disastrous outcome after all this.”[x]

Since this tweet, he has been attacking Steve Bannon, or, as he calls him, ‘Fraudster Pardon Me Bannon, a Weight Watchers failure’, and Tucker Carlson, who he calls ‘Chatsworth Qatarlson’, as complete liars who are not only lying about the split in MAGA over Trump’s strikes on Iran, but that they are also now “Trump hating reprobates”[xi] Levin tweeted a referral to Carlson’s texts expressing disgust for Trump during the legal battle between Dominion and FOX News, claiming that Carlson is a phony MAGA spokesman, as is Bannon, despite Bannon being the architect of Trump’s America First platform from the beginning of his campaign back in 2015 and an integral voice in his movement. During this time, Levin and others in the conservative elite who are cheering Trump’s strikes were vehemently opposed to Trump, and they delivered impassioned monologues about why Trump was dangerous and that they would not be supporting him the 2016 general election.[xii] These include Ben Shapiro, Glenn Beck, and the writers at magazines like National Review and Commentary. Thus, it’s odd that Levin is calling Carlson and Bannon grifters when they are simply standing by principles they have had not forever, but for a long time now.

Bannon is the closest to an intellectual in the MAGA movement and he is one of the few figures able to identify and tap into what drove Trump into the White House twice now. Trump is now so intertwined with the war hawks from the liberal and conservative internationalist wings of the illiberal liberal class that those who have the exact ideas that allowed Trump to appeal to voters exhausted by military adventurism are now tossed aside like rubbish. They are cast as zany isolationists, not voices of reason or principle. Bannon may be shady, and he is a convicted scam artist, but to say that he is out of touch with the MAGA base is preposterous. In another tween, Levin called him “A carnival barker.”- it takes one to know one.[xiii]

Levin is not alone in his regime change fantasies. As I mentioned in a past essay, John Bolton, who has long yearned for the overthrow of the Ayatollah, said in his response to Trump’s strikes that he hopes that it beckons regime change, and he recently said on X that “The only foundation for longterm peace and security in the Middle East-and beyond-is by overthrowing the ayatollahs.”[xiv] He has been appearing on multiple shows assuring us that Trump’s threats to Iran “are credible”.[xv] One would think that after an abysmal record, interventionism would be relegated to the dustbin of history. If the Ayatollah and his fundamentalist clergy are deposed, who would take over? Would a different jihadist take over, like in Syria, and will there be a grotesque media campaign to whitewash his image, promising us that his Islamist days are behind him?

It is obvious that even those who are clamoring for regime change do not know who or what would follow, as, when it comes to Iran, most government officials show ignorance about even basic facts, like its population or its ethnic breakdown. Ted Cruz displayed this in his heated interview with Carlson on his X show, where, when asked what the population of Iran is, Cruz said that he “doesn’t sit around memorizing population tables.”[xvi] If you are going to propose the overthrow of a government, it is not unreasonable to expect at least a basic knowledge of the country, as taking out a regime is the easy part, what happens in the aftermath of that ouster has been an utter tragedy in every country it occurred. Vapid, insipid goons like Cruz, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Levin, and Shapiro foam at the mouth for the Ayatollah to be ousted, but when Iran collapses as a result, plunging into civil war, one which would involve proxies of the US and the current regime’s allies, they will not reflect and submit that regime change was mistaken and dangerous. It took years for the cheerleaders of the Iraq war to admit that it may have been a mistake, however, if they could make the decision over again, they would likely repeat their error, believing that this time, they could do it the right way.

In a recent column, Shapiro argued that Trump has once and for all eradicated “Iraq syndrome”, a mindset that was instilled in Americans following the Iraq war.[xvii] It refers to the fear that “any US use of force overseas would inevitably result in a quagmire.” According to Shapiro, Iraq syndrome is a new form of Vietnam syndrome, where a similar reluctance to use military force abroad emerged after the Vietnam war, and there was a desire to enact a less assertive foreign policy. In his view, “Underlying this posture was a thinly veiled anti-Americanism: the belief that the United States was not a force for good but malign presence on the world stage.”[xviii] Of course, in Shapiro’s eyes, this Vietnam syndrome led to a retreat, visually captured by the image of a US helicopter fleeing Saigon with Vietnamese people clasping onto it, and this retreat apparently “helped usher in the Cambodian genocide, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”[xix] This is absurd, and the opposite is true, as it is US militarism and meddling that led to the three events Shapiro mentions. He asserts that Ronald Reagan moved past Vietnam syndrome, by getting back into the business of overthrowing regimes, despite the retreat that Shapiro refers to being a fantasy, as between the Ford and Carter administrations, the US was still interfering in various countries, from Indonesia to Angola. The same is true of the Obama and Biden administrations, who Shapiro claims oversaw mass retreat, enabling the rise of ISIS. Never mind that Obama wrecked Libya and backed a coup in Ukraine, among other interventionist policies. Shapiro declares that at the hands of Trump, Iraq syndrome has been annihilated, and once again, America is feared on the world stage. After Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and his abduction of Maduro, Iraq syndrome spoke, warning of World War III, and they were wrong. What Shapiro and his ilk miss is that what he calls Iraq syndrome is an opposition to empire. What he calls retreat or isolationism, is a return to America, and focusing on the interests of Americans. This was the original promise of Trump.

It’s not just that the invasion of Iraq was a catastrophe, the ideology that underpinned it is. The ideology of Western supremacy seems immortal, despite Trump’s proclaimed opposition to it in 2016. This very ideology lives on. Epitomizing it, and betraying its faulty logic, David Frum, former speechwriter for George Bush, tweeted “Don’t let this be Hungary 1956 in Iran. Better to try and fail than fail because we didn’t try.”[xx] He is referring to the attempted uprising against the Soviet Union’s rule of Hungary, which was squashed by Soviet forces. The faulty logic is implying that anytime a citizenry abroad vies to depose their repressive leaders, we must aid them. The US should not have intervened in Hungary, just as it should not intervene in Iran. Frum says try and fail like he’s talking about playing a video game or trying a new hobby. In these cases, there is no harm done if it is a failure. However, as has been proven repeatedly, if a regime change operation fails, the results are disastrous. Thousands of civilians are killed, cities are reduced to rubble, and either renewed civil wars erupt or civil war between factions is ignited. Frum also implies that if we do not intervene, then we did not try. Thus, we failed. Any genocide or uprising against a tyrannical regime apparently demands Western intervention, and when we do nothing to help, we are automatically failing. This logic is absurd, as if ‘trying’, which is sure to aggravate conflicts rather than alleviate them, is better than exercising restraint. Frum and his ilk, who should have been ostracized long ago following the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, remain in polite society, toxifying the discourse with their long discredited, dangerous logic. Trump, originally borne out of distrust for such voices like Frum and Bill Kristol, driving them away from the GOP upon his nomination in 2016, has come around to their ideology, and Trump may package and express it differently, but in practice it is the same.

One possibility for who takes over from the Ayatollah is Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah, who was imposed on Iran by the CIA in 1953 and proceeded to brutally rule the country for 26 years, until the Iranian revolution in 1979. In a speech, Pahlavi declared the nearing end of the Islamic Republic, and he said that “This is our Berlin Wall moment,”, and he said that he can lead the transition of Iran from a theocracy to a democracy, a country that can prosper in a new alliance with the West.[xxi] He recently tweeted on X that Trump must help the people of Iran.[xxii] Thus, the goal is making Iran into a puppet of the West, pilfering their oil and imposing a pliable government on them. The issue with the current regime cannot be that they are autocratic, as if this were the case, then the likes of Cruz and Grahm would be calling for the overthrow of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Oman, Bahrain, and countless other autocracies in the Middle East the US and most of the Western world has alliances with. Western leaders make annual trips to the Gulf States, giving speeches and making statements expressing their love of democracy and liberal values. UK prime minister Keir Starmer gave such statements in Riyadh, home to the Saudi crown prince, a monarchial dictator.[xxiii] When asked about the reason for his visit, he said it was to stimulate the UK economy. When Boris Johnson met with Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in 2022, Starmer criticized him for going “cap in hand from dictator to dictator,”, and Joe Biden made similar criticisms of Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.[xxiv] Then in office, he met with MBS, gave him a fist bump, and signed a hefty weapons deal with them so they could continue obliterating Yemen.[xxv] Biden also visited Cairo to meet with Egyptian dictator Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and he sold him weapons as well, despite promising during his 2020 campaign to end blank checks for dictators like El-Sisi.[xxvi]

The illiberal liberal class fawn over the Gulf States, insisting that we need them for our economies and for defense in the Middle East, to keep belligerents like Iran at bay. Iran may be a theocracy, but so is Saudi Arabia, and so are many other Gulf States, like Jordan. Further, in America, many Republicans and figures on the religious right use fundamentalist ideology to justify Israel’s actions and their eternal support for Israel. In his discussion with Carlson, Cruz cites Chapter 12 of Genesis (though he has to be told by Carlson where the quote is from), that reads “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:”[xxvii] The nation referred to here is Israel, but not the modern nation state of Israel, or its government. Carlson questions Cruz on this, but he is given no explanation for why it is the obligation of Christians to support Benjamin Netanyahu and the state of Israel. Many Republicans infuse their politics with their religious beliefs. Trump is often touted as a messianic figure, who, upon escaping death in Butler, Pennsylvania, proved he was sent by God to save America.[xxviii] Thus, it is amusing to see these same people call the Islamic Republic of Iran a theocratic abyss, as if they are not in any way guided to extreme positions by their religiosity. The narrative that justifies the calls for regime change in Iran apply to many of our allies. The notion that it is unique in its religious extremism is asinine given that the West is driven by ideological and economic supremacy as well. We are not only hypocrites, but we are also radical hypocrites.

With Trump’s credibility as truly America First completely blown, he might as well depose the Iranian regime and install the Shah’s son. This would of course restart the cycle that led to the rise of the Ayatollahs in the 70’s in the first place, but it would also further cement the reality that Trump is a continuation, not a return to or a deviation from the foreign policy of his predecessors. Trump’s proposed involvement in Iran, the exact details of which are still unclear or are still being conceived by the permanent regime, has two main problems. One has plagued American foreign policy for decades, that is the issue of blatant hypocrisy in intervening in other countries to give the gift of liberation while lavishly supporting incredibly repressive regimes elsewhere. The second problem is unique to Trump, and that is the fact that he does not pretend to care about promoting democracy or human rights. This tends to irk the illiberal liberal class, who pride themselves on their ‘values’ and ‘norms’. In the National Security Strategy (NSS), it says that in the Middle East, to better work with their allies there, “doing so will require dropping America’s misguided experiment with hectoring these nations—especially the Gulf monarchies—into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government.”[xxix] So why is Iran an exception to this proposal? It does later state that America will ensure that energy supplies in the Gulf are not in the hands of their adversaries, and “that the region not be an incubator ore exporter of terror against American interests or the American homeland,”  However, in Syria  the country has been taken over by a former member of Al Qaeda, and he has greenlit atrocities against Christian minorities and supporters of the Assad regime, the US is endorsing Israel’s slaughter of Gazans, and protestor and dissidents are routinely killed and/or jailed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Yet it is the Iranian regime that must be toppled. The NSS goes on to say that “We should encourage and applaud reform when and where it emerges organically, without trying to impose it from without. The key to successful relations with the Middle East is accepting the region, its leaders, and its nations as they are while working together on areas of common interest.”[xxx] The ongoing protests may be organic, but the verbs encourage and applaud differ wildly from what is meant by help, especially when it is uttered by war hungry imps like Graham. When they say help, they mean impose, the very action that the NSS states the US will no longer enact in the region. Evidently, America First is dead, and the Trump regime killed it, replacing it with the doctrine that preceded it, this time stripped of its humanitarian guise. MAGA merchandise should be immediately replaced with MEGA merchandise, signaling Trump’s true doctrine- Make Empire Great Again, with a tagline, courtesy of Frum, “or fail trying.”[xxxi]

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[i] Bill Ackman [@BillAckman], “Tweet,” Tweet, Twitter, January 9, 2026, https://x.com/BillAckman/status/2009671907860467968.

[ii] Laura Loomer [@LauraLoomer], “Disturbing. There is no negotiation with a an oppressive regime that is using Automatic rifles on civilians for opposing the Islamic regime. The only negotiation for the Ayatollah should be ‘bullet or drone strike’? Death to the Iranian Regime! @POTUS and @marcorubio need,” Tweet, Twitter, January 12, 2026, https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/2010847368132886828.

[iii] Glenn Greenwald Hussain Murtaza, “The NSA’s New Partner in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police,” The Intercept, July 25, 2014, https://theintercept.com/2014/07/25/nsas-new-partner-spying-saudi-arabias-brutal-state-police/.

[iv] Stephanie Kirchgaessner, “Saudis behind NSO Spyware Attack on Jamal Khashoggi’s Family, Leak Suggests,” World News, The Guardian, July 18, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/nso-spyware-used-to-target-family-of-jamal-khashoggi-leaked-data-shows-saudis-pegasus.

[v] Nadia Hardman, “‘They Fired on Us Like Rain,’” Human Rights Watch, August 21, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi; HRW, Saudi Arabia: Mass Killings of Migrants at Yemen Border | Human Rights Watch, August 21, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/21/saudi-arabia-mass-killings-migrants-yemen-border.

[vi] Anders Hogstram, “Sen. Lindsey Graham Warns Iran Leader Trump Will Kill Him over Protesters | Fox News,” accessed January 15, 2026, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/graham-warns-iranian-ayatollah-trump-gonna-kill-you-internal-crackdown-continues.

[vii] Hogstram, “Sen. Lindsey Graham Warns Iran Leader Trump Will Kill Him over Protesters | Fox News.”

[viii] Kevin Breuninger, “Trump Says Any Country Doing Business with Iran Will Face 25% U.S. Tariff,” CNBC, January 12, 2026, https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/trump-tariffs-iran-business.html.

[ix] Reuters, “China’s Heavy Reliance on Iranian Oil Imports,” Energy, Reuters, January 13, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-heavy-reliance-iranian-oil-imports-2026-01-13/.

[x] Mark R. Levin [@marklevinshow], “Tweet on the Iranian ‘Nazi regime,’” Tweet, Twitter, June 23, 2025, https://x.com/marklevinshow/status/1937227495025070439.

[xi] Mark R. Levin [@marklevinshow], “Tweet on Steve Bannon,” Tweet, Twitter, June 25, 2025, https://x.com/marklevinshow/status/1937981875550589431.

[xii] Jessie Hellmann, “Mark Levin: I Would Never Vote for Trump,” accessed January 15, 2026, https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/275722-mark-levin-i-would-never-vote-for-trump/.

[xiii] Mark R. Levin [@marklevinshow], “Tweet on Steve Bannon II,” Tweet, Twitter, June 25, 2025, https://x.com/marklevinshow/status/1937986136540123367.

[xiv] John Bolton [@AmbJohnBolton], “The only foundation for longterm peace and security in the Middle East — and beyond — is by overthrowing the ayatollahs. https://t.co/TyZY0caVQi,” Tweet, Twitter, January 13, 2026, https://x.com/AmbJohnBolton/status/2011077022081077383.

[xv] John Bolton and Anderson Cooper, “Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton Weighs in on the Possibility of U.S. Strikes on Iran | CNN,” accessed January 15, 2026, https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/14/world/video/ac360bolton.

[xvi] Tucker Confronts Ted Cruz on His Support for Regime Change in Iran, directed by Tucker Carlson, 2025, 01:59:28, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smemFVe0l5E.

[xvii] Ben Shapiro, “How Trump Has Finally Buried the Iraq Syndrome,” Grand Forks Herald, January 11, 2026, https://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/columns/ben-shapiro-how-trump-has-finally-buried-the-iraq-syndrome.

[xviii] Shapiro, “How Trump Has Finally Buried the Iraq Syndrome.”

[xix] Shapiro, “How Trump Has Finally Buried the Iraq Syndrome.”

[xx] David Frum [@davidfrum], “Tweet,” Tweet, Twitter, January 11, 2026, https://x.com/davidfrum/status/2010165133746811091.

[xxi] Iran Facing “Berlin Wall Moment”, Says Son of Ousted Iranian Shah | AFP, directed by AFP News Agency, 2025, 00:40, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0KVy2wNvcM.

[xxii] Reza Pahlavi [@PahlaviReza], “Tweet,” Tweet, Twitter, January 9, 2026, https://x.com/PahlaviReza/status/2009644016036450493.

[xxiii] Richard Palmer, “Starmer Deploys Royals to Charm Gulf Leaders in Hopes of New Trade Deal,” Politics, The Guardian, November 30, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/nov/30/keir-starmer-royals-king-charles-prince-william-gulf-trade-deal.

[xxiv] Heather Stewart and Aubrey Allegretti, “Boris Johnson Going ‘from Dictator to Dictator’ for Oil, Says Starmer,” Politics, The Guardian, March 15, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/15/boris-johnson-going-from-dictator-to-dictator-for-oil-says-starmer; Jeffrey Fields, “Biden Once Wanted to Make Saudi Arabia a ‘Pariah’ – so Why Is He Playing Nice with the Kingdom’s Repressive Rulers Now?,” The Conversation, July 12, 2022, https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.37a9resju.

[xxv] Aamer Madhani and Josh Boak, “Biden Gives Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed a Hearty Handshake a Year after an Awkward Fist Bump Moment,” AP News, September 9, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/biden-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-handshake-g20-c33e0f9bd2c6aff967a9d3d61529d9bd.

[xxvi] Forum on the Arms Trade, “Biden’s Controversial Arms Sales,” Forum on the Arms Trade, accessed January 15, 2026, https://www.forumarmstrade.org/bidenarms.html.

[xxvii] Tucker Confronts Ted Cruz on His Support for Regime Change in Iran.

[xxviii] Tucker Confronts Ted Cruz on His Support for Regime Change in Iran.

[xxix] Emily Harding, The National Security Strategy: The Good, the Not So Great, and the Alarm Bells, December 5, 2025, https://www.csis.org/analysis/national-security-strategy-good-not-so-great-and-alarm-bells.

[xxx] Harding, The National Security Strategy.

[xxxi] David Frum [@davidfrum], “Tweet.”

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References

AFP News Agency, dir. Iran Facing “Berlin Wall Moment”, Says Son of Ousted Iranian Shah | AFP. 2025. 00:40. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0KVy2wNvcM.

Bolton, John, and Anderson Cooper. “Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton Weighs in on the Possibility of U.S. Strikes on Iran | CNN.” Accessed January 15, 2026. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/14/world/video/ac360bolton.

Breuninger, Kevin. “Trump Says Any Country Doing Business with Iran Will Face 25% U.S. Tariff.” CNBC, January 12, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/trump-tariffs-iran-business.html.

Fields, Jeffrey. “Biden Once Wanted to Make Saudi Arabia a ‘Pariah’ – so Why Is He Playing Nice with the Kingdom’s Repressive Rulers Now?” The Conversation, July 12, 2022. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAI.37a9resju.

Forum on the Arms Trade. “Biden’s Controversial Arms Sales.” Forum on the Arms Trade. Accessed January 15, 2026. https://www.forumarmstrade.org/bidenarms.html.

Harding, Emily. The National Security Strategy: The Good, the Not So Great, and the Alarm Bells. December 5, 2025. https://www.csis.org/analysis/national-security-strategy-good-not-so-great-and-alarm-bells.

Hardman, Nadia. “‘They Fired on Us Like Rain.’” Human Rights Watch, August 21, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi.

Hellmann, Jessie. “Mark Levin: I Would Never Vote for Trump.” Accessed January 15, 2026. https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/275722-mark-levin-i-would-never-vote-for-trump/.

Hogstram, Anders. “Sen. Lindsey Graham Warns Iran Leader Trump Will Kill Him over Protesters | Fox News.” Accessed January 15, 2026. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/graham-warns-iranian-ayatollah-trump-gonna-kill-you-internal-crackdown-continues.

HRW. Saudi Arabia: Mass Killings of Migrants at Yemen Border | Human Rights Watch. August 21, 2023. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/21/saudi-arabia-mass-killings-migrants-yemen-border.

Hussain, Glenn Greenwald, Murtaza. “The NSA’s New Partner in Spying: Saudi Arabia’s Brutal State Police.” The Intercept, July 25, 2014. https://theintercept.com/2014/07/25/nsas-new-partner-spying-saudi-arabias-brutal-state-police/.

Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. “Saudis behind NSO Spyware Attack on Jamal Khashoggi’s Family, Leak Suggests.” World News. The Guardian, July 18, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/nso-spyware-used-to-target-family-of-jamal-khashoggi-leaked-data-shows-saudis-pegasus.

Madhani, Aamer, and Josh Boak. “Biden Gives Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed a Hearty Handshake a Year after an Awkward Fist Bump Moment.” AP News, September 9, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/biden-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-handshake-g20-c33e0f9bd2c6aff967a9d3d61529d9bd.

Palmer, Richard. “Starmer Deploys Royals to Charm Gulf Leaders in Hopes of New Trade Deal.” Politics. The Guardian, November 30, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/nov/30/keir-starmer-royals-king-charles-prince-william-gulf-trade-deal.

Reuters. “China’s Heavy Reliance on Iranian Oil Imports.” Energy. Reuters, January 13, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/chinas-heavy-reliance-iranian-oil-imports-2026-01-13/.

Shapiro, Ben. “How Trump Has Finally Buried the Iraq Syndrome.” Grand Forks Herald, January 11, 2026. https://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/columns/ben-shapiro-how-trump-has-finally-buried-the-iraq-syndrome.

Stewart, Heather, and Aubrey Allegretti. “Boris Johnson Going ‘from Dictator to Dictator’ for Oil, Says Starmer.” Politics. The Guardian, March 15, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/mar/15/boris-johnson-going-from-dictator-to-dictator-for-oil-says-starmer.

Tucker Carlson, dir. Tucker Confronts Ted Cruz on His Support for Regime Change in Iran. 2025. 01:59:28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smemFVe0l5E.