In This Episode
- Check out Mehdi’s work – zeteo.com/s/mehdi-unfiltered
- Call Congress – 202-224-3121
- Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy
- What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast
Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/
TRANSCRIPT
Jane Coaston: It’s Tuesday, April 14th. I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that is wondering, how low will Vice President J.D. Vance go to bend the knee to President Donald Trump? Will he, for example, pretend that Trump posting an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ was funny? Here’s Vance on Fox News Monday speaking to Bret Baier.
[clip of Vice President J.D. Vance] Well first of all, Brett, I think the president was posting a joke and of course he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case. I think that the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media and I actually think that’s one of the good things about this president is that he’s not filtered, he doesn’t send everything through a communications professional, he actually reaches out directly to the people.
Jane Coaston: Yes, that’s kind of what I thought Vance would do. [music break] On today’s show, the U.S. conducts more lethal strikes against supposed drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific, and the showdown that no one asked for, POTUS vs. Pope. God help us. But let’s start with the war in Iran, and what it means at home. Trump’s war in the Iran is now 45 days old. So far, the conflict has resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen U.S. service members and thousands of Iranians, and there is no end in sight. The situation is bad enough that after failing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz with diplomacy, Trump announced that the U.S. will just blockade the strait itself. Here he is on Monday responding to a reporter during the White House’s first door-dash delivery. More on that later.
[clip of unnamed news reporter] Mr. President, as far as the naval blockade is concerned, what’s the end game? Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating table? Is it open up the Strait so that gas prices ultimately come down?
[clip of President Donald Trump] Maybe everything. I mean, both of those things, certainly, and more. We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing. They’re really blackmailing the world. We’re not going to let that happen.
Jane Coaston: He went on to explain that the blockade will be fine for the U.S. because the United States produces so much oil by itself, which is sort of true. But due to a bunch of factors like the global oil market and the type of oil the U.S. Can actually pump out of the ground, it isn’t going to make gasoline prices go any lower, which is a problem for Republicans. Actually, the entire Iran war is a problem for the GOP, especially with the midterms just a few months away. Gas prices are likely to remain high until the end of the year. Consumer sentiment is remarkably low. Trump’s own opinion polling keeps on dropping with basically everyone, and the GOP doesn’t have much more to run on than tax cuts. Yes, midterms are always tough for the party in power, but an unpopular war with no exit strategy isn’t helping. It’s no wonder that on Monday, Cook Political Report shifted the ratings of four Senate races in the direction of Democrats. But Democrats are still pretty unpopular. So, how should Democrats running for office this year, and in coming years, respond? What should they be running for? Because recently, we aren’t Trump hasn’t been good enough. To find out, I spoke with Mehdi Hasan. He’s the founder and editor-in-chief of the media company Zeteo. Mehdi, welcome to What a Day!
Mehdi Hasan: Thanks for having me.
Jane Coaston: It’s been a month and a half since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, and the effects have been, but are even more so officially hitting home. How do you think Americans are perceiving the war with Iran right now?
Mehdi Hasan: I think they think it’s a disaster and they’re right to think it is a disaster because it is a disaster. It’s one of the biggest disasters of my lifetime and there have been a lot of disasters in my 46 years on this planet. The one remarkable thing I noticed about American reactions to this war is that they are consistently anti-war. They were anti- war before Trump kicked off this war of choice, and they’ve been increasingly anti-war since this shit show has continued over the last few weeks. And for the first time in my lifetime, the American public is opposed to a war in which American military personnel are involved and have died in. Right? Iraq, a lot of people took to the streets to oppose the Iraq war. I was one of them in the UK. People marched across the US, across the world. But once the war got going, the American public fell in line. The American public backed the boys in action. Not this time. The American public is so fatigued with this war that they’re not supporting it even as 13, 14, American soldiers are killed.
Jane Coaston: So I think that that gets us to what I wanted to talk to you about, which is the midterms are coming up and we’ve seen a lot of Democrats position themselves as just anti-Trump, which for midterms, great, fine.
Mehdi Hasan: Sure.
Jane Coaston: Amazing.
Mehdi Hasan: Worked in 2018.
Jane Coaston: Look, it works. It worked in 2006. It tends to work. But instead of saying what they’re not for, how do you think Democrats can define what they are for, especially when it comes to Iran? Like, should Democrats be straight up anti-war right now, or should they take more of the Iranian regime is terrible, but you’re doing a terrible job fighting them? That kind of stance.
Mehdi Hasan: Yeah, I mean, obviously, anyone who knows me knows I don’t support the latter stance. I think it’s insane for Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jefferies to be like the, our objection to this war is you didn’t write a clear enough letter to Congress explaining what you were doing. Tut, tut, tut. You know, [?] Trump, this phrase comes from Chuck Schumer back in 2025 when he was attacking Trump from the right for not being tough enough on Iran. So this is the problem we have with current democratic leadership. A lot of them are pro-Israel hawks. A lot of them are AIPAC funded hawks who love a good Middle East war. Their objection to Trump is that it’s Trump doing it, not a Democratic president. Um. So that’s not the right way forward. It’s not the right way forward morally. It’s not the right way forward politically. Morally, obviously, I think the Democrats should be an anti-war party because war is bad, especially the endless foreign wars that the U.S. has fought in recent years. They’ve almost all been bad. Right? Libya and Iraq and Afghanistan were supposedly we had noble goals. That was the good war after 9/11, turned out to be a 20-year debacle. We left it back in the hands of the Taliban. So, war is bad, um the American public now think war is bad, so there’s a moral reason for rejecting war, stridently, and there’s a good political electoral reason, which is the American public is fatigued with war, is fed up with war sees through the bullshit, isn’t signing up to Trump’s Iran war, won’t sign up to any future war, I hope, and therefore it’s kind of, it’s there for the taking. I mean, my big problem with 2024 Kamala Harris, I had many, but was leaving that lane open for Trump to pretend to be the anti-war candidate. I knew he wasn’t anti-war. I told people on the left, please don’t buy this shtick. I told Muslims who I knew in Dearborn, Michigan, please, don’t buy this bullshit. But some of them did buy it. And can you blame them when Trump was turning up to tell them, I won’t send boys to fight in the Middle East, I won’t kill Muslims, but Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris, they want another war in the middle east. The Democrats left open that massive anti-war lane. And if they do it again this year, then they deserve to lose again. But thankfully, we do have candidates like Graham Platner, who is vocally anti-war in Maine. He does look like he’s going to be the Senate Democratic candidate in Maine. We need more Graham Platners.
Jane Coaston: Speaking of Kamala Harris and Graham Platner and a host of other candidates, for Democrats taking any stance on Israel has gotten complicated, particularly in purple states. How are Democrats positioning themselves regarding Israel right now and how should they be?
Mehdi Hasan: So some Democrats are doing the right thing and really reassessing what they have thought about Israel for years. I interviewed Ro Khanna recently, who has led the charge on both the War Powers Act and on arms and aid to Israel. He used to proudly brag that he was a progressive Zionist, that he was a Progressive Supporter of Israel. And I asked him, I said, how did the Ro Khanna four or five years ago, who was proud to defend Israel, turn into the Ro Khanna of today? And he said, look, I was in the wrong place. I got it wrong. Obviously the genocide in Gaza made me see Israel in a different light. And I think we need more Democrats who are substantively shifting, who get what they got wrong. Even Bernie Sanders, people forget. Bernie Sanders was a hardcore liberal Zionist. I think he still is a liberal Zionist, but he’s much more critical of Israel, much more willing to talk about things like conditioning aid and restricting arms. He’s led that effort. He will be in the Senate later this week with a vote on arms to Israel again. But people forget 10, 15 years ago, Bernie was defending Israel’s right to defend itself. In fact, at the beginning of this genocide, he wasn’t calling for a ceasefire. So Democrats have been moving, some of them in substantive ways. Now, there are others, I think of the governor of California, who says stuff to your colleagues, Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor on stage that, oh, is Israel an apartheid state? And then goes to Politico and says, ah I was quoting Tom Friedman, I revere Israel. I think that’s going to be problematic. The people who see that they need to say certain things in order to have a viable chance in Democratic primaries where the base is like, what, 8% pro-Israel and the rest is anti. Um. You’ve seen that with Josh Shapiro. Josh Shapiro is the one of the most pro-Israel Democrats in the 2028 race. And just the other day he came out slamming Netanyahu, not just slamming Netanyahu which he’s done before, which is easy, low-hanging fruit, but you know talking about um who to blame for this war, you know his rhetoric much harsher than anything before. And you think he’s seen the internal numbers. He gets that he has to say this to have any chance of being any kind of front-runner in 2028. Now, are people like him or new someone others when they get elected, are they actually going to be you know uh willing to reassess America’s relationship with Israel? Most people will be skeptical. So I think in the democratic race, people are going to have to work out who’s actually moved on Israel and reflects where the base is now, and where international law is, and where common sense is, and who just basically has seen the internal numbers and gets that they have to say this stuff.
Jane Coaston: I’m curious as to your thinking on that with regard to the people who are going to be voting in Democratic primaries and the people who are voting in the main elections are likely to have different perspectives and even weight those perspectives on Israel differently. How do you think Democrats need to be thinking about that?
Mehdi Hasan: It’s a good question. And I remember Democrats pointing out in 2024 that it wasn’t cost-free for Harris to, you know, throw Biden under the bus because, for example, Pennsylvania had lots of Jewish pro-Israel voters versus Michigan’s lots of pro-Palestine Arab voters. I get that. Obviously, you know, these are not zero-sum games. These are complicated calculations. But one thing I would say is interesting. I can’t remember who the polling was by. I want to say IMU, but there was polling done in swing states in 2024, not after the election, not with the benefit of hindsight, which showed that a candidate who was willing to engage and call out the genocide and talk about conditioning arms to Israel, this is at the height of the genocide in 2024. They would pick up independent voters in swing states, but they wouldn’t lose many. So there was an argument that said it was, I’m not going to say cost free, but it wasn’t as costly to be anti-Israel as it was to be pro-Israel. And I would argue that gulf has only gotten bigger in the last couple of years. So the primary Democratic primary crowd is now much more anti-Israel than it was before, especially with Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu making it into a partisan issue. So Democrats can comfortably reject Israel citing, well, it’s Trump’s policy. And then you look at the American public, Jane, the polling that just came out from Pew the other day, astonishing numbers, it’s everyone under the age of 50 is a critic of Israel right now, including, this is the one that almost knocked me down, a majority of Republicans. Even a majority of Republicans under 50 now take a critical stance of Israel. So I think, look, it is not going to be a top issue in the general election. Why would it? Americans are going to vote on things like the economy, wages, jobs, crime, the border, the usual stuff, healthcare. Um. I’m not pretending Israel or the genocide or Lebanon or Iran is going to be a top three issue, but it’s not going to cost a Democratic candidate. And therefore, the real question that Democrats have to ask themselves is, how do I win a primary when the base is now in such a different place from where it was 10, 15 years ago?
Jane Coaston: It’s clear to me that Trump has no end game for the Iran war, a war he started, a war of choice, a where he’s gotten us into, but he sometimes manages to eke out wins from the most difficult situations. It’s that tweet about like, I wonder if old Trump can wriggle his way out of this one, and then he does.
Mehdi Hasan: Yes.
Jane Coaston: Do you think there’s anything Trump could do that will throw a giant wrench into Democrats’ momentum this fall?
Mehdi Hasan: So, objectively. Just looking at it from a purely factual perspective, no, there’s no way he can rescue this. Like, even if the war stopped tomorrow with an amazing peace deal where everyone’s happy, the damage to the global economy is done. The damage to oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf is done, the damage between our allies is done! The damage to America’s reputation in the world where the president can just mull openly about destroying a civilization tonight. That’s done, right? You can’t take that back. Um. But, to go back to your point, Trump being Trump, and the America that we live in and the media we have to deal with. Um. He is able to eke out wins because he’s graded on a curve, Jane. He gets a pass that no other politician in my lifetime has gotten. So even if he ends up killing 160 schoolgirls on day one, even if you threatens genocide in Iran, even if he sends his conflicted, corrupted son-in-law to do peace negotiations and then fail, even after all that, if there is some deal done, some shitty deal, where it’s like, yay, we reopened the Strait of Hormuz, hey, it was already open before the war. Such is our media, that that will be seen as a win. And Trump will call it a win, and his Republican cult will go on TV with message discipline and say it was a win and the media will say, well, they say it’s a win! And that is how he gets away with the shit that Joe Biden couldn’t get away with, Barack Obama couldn’t get away with. No other president could get away with. But yes, I’ve said this many times, Donald Trump is the master, the absolute master of providing solutions to problems he created and then asking for praise for that.
Jane Coaston: Mehdi, thank you so much for joining me.
Mehdi Hasan: Thank you, Jane.
Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo. You probably know the drill by now, and if you don’t, just hang in there, because we’ll be getting to more news in a moment. But in the meantime, if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]
[AD BREAK]
Jane Coaston: Here’s what else we’re following today.
[sung] Headlines.
Jane Coaston: Joining me is Crooked’s Washington correspondent, Matt Berg, to talk about the big stories. Hey Matt.
Matt Berg: Hey Jane.
Jane Coaston: President Donald Trump found a new way to piss off MAGA world, which I didn’t even know was possible, but this time he went with um straight up blasphemy. He posted, and later deleted, an image that depicted himself as none other than Jesus Christ. Now, here’s what he told reporters on Monday.
[clip of President Donald Trump] I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there which we support and uh only the fake news could come up with that one so I had I had I just heard about it and I said how did they come up that? It’s supposed to be me as doctor making people better and I do make people better.
Jane Coaston: Now people who are watching this on YouTube, you will be able to see the image and you can tell me if this reminds you of any doctor you’ve ever seen.
Matt Berg: That’s not my doctor.
Jane Coaston: Either Donald Trump came up with the worst lie I’ve ever heard or admitted that he could not tell the difference between an image of Jesus Christ and a doctor. In other words, he is either lying or he’s an idiot. But it’s probably both. And what really gets me is seeing some within Maga world kind of going with it? Like seriously. But somehow, that’s not the only religious scandal Trump waded into on Monday. He continued beefing with Pope Leo. Yes, you heard me. Beefing with the Pope. After a late night social media post on Sunday in which he described the pontiff as being, quote, “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.” And Matt, you know, that might be really hard on the Pope’s reelection campaign. Oh wait.
Matt Berg: Yeah, that is one way of thinking about this. I mean, Trump is not shying away from this fight. And this is a fight he started for no reason whatsoever. I mean if you’re thinking about it from Trump’s angle, it is that Leo has repeatedly called for the end of the war in Iran, which Trump obviously is not wrapping up anytime soon. And Leo hasn’t explicitly taken aim at Trump, but Trump is still taking these comments incredibly personally, even though popes you know generally advocate for peace.
Jane Coaston: It’s admittedly a little funny that Saturday the Pope said, quote, “enough of the adultery of self and money, enough of the display of power, enough, of war.” And Trump correctly assumed Pope Leo was talking about him. As the saying goes, a hit dog does tend to holler. So how is the Pope taking all of this?
Matt Berg: He’s doing okay. I mean, he is he is not bothered by Trump. He told reporters on Monday that he’s not afraid of the Trump administration and that he is going to continue to you know do his job, spreading the gospel, calling for peace. Trump, on the other hand, doubled down on his insults on Leo, telling reporters on Mondays that, quote, “there’s nothing to apologize for.”
Jane Coaston: I’m so glad we have normal, stable adults running this country who are not picking fights with religious leaders who represent 1.4 billion people. Speaking of more insane decisions, Trump threatened on Monday to bomb Iranian boats that come near to the U.S. blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
Matt Berg: Right. In that post on Truth Social, Trump said that the attacks on Iranian boats would be the same as the attacks on alleged drug boats in the Western Hemisphere. As recently as Saturday, the US killed five people on two alleged drugboats in the Eastern Pacific, according to the military.
Jane Coaston: Since September, the US military has killed at least 168 people on drug boats without actually ever providing evidence that they were carrying drugs. Some of these boats have been alleged to be fishing boats. So I guess Trump is taking his boat bombing global. Just wait until the Board of Peace hears about this one. I’m sure member countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar will be sending some very harsh emails.
Matt Berg: Yeah, I’m sure he’s gonna get in a lot of trouble, but of course, I am kidding. We’ve heard crickets from the Board of Peace since its inaugural meeting in February. In just a week after that meeting, Trump bombed Iran, but I digress. Threatening to drop bombs on Iranian boats and posting a picture of himself as Jesus may not even have been the weirdest thing that Trump did on Monday. He also got McDonald’s door dashed to his house, and by his house I mean the White House ahead of a press conference.
Jane Coaston: Yeah uh, the publicity stunt was to promote Trump’s no tax on tips law because that’s going to counter the rising gas prices and the fact that no one can buy a house and also we’re at war with Iran. But Trump answered questions alongside the door dasher who was wearing a door dash grandma t-shirt and I felt very bad for her because it did not go the way Trump thought it would.
[clip of President Donald Trump] And I think you voted for me, do you think?
[clip of Door Dasher Grandma] Uh. Maybe.
[clip of President Donald Trump] Yeah. I heard you’re a great supporter, we appreciate it.
[clip of Door Dasher Grandma] Thank you.
Jane Coaston: And that’s not all!
Matt Berg: Trump also asked this DoorDash grandma, again, this is a food delivery driver, what she thought about Republicans favorite topic, trans people playing sports. Here’s a clip.
[clip of President Donald Trump] Do you think that men should play in women’s sports?
[clip of Door Dasher Grandma] I really don’t have an opinion on that.
[clip of President Donald Trump] You don’t? I’ll bet you do.
[clip of Door Dasher Grandma] No, no, I’m here about–
[clip of President Donald Trump] Pizza?
[clip of Door Dasher Grandma] No tax on tips.
[clip of President Donald Trump] Yeah.
Matt Berg: I have a lot of questions after seeing that clip, but my biggest one is, did Trump say that she was there for pizza? Cause she was delivering McDonald’s.
Jane Coaston: I don’t think I’ve ever felt as bad for someone who is delivering food in my entire life. And I just, I stand with DoorDash Grandma. You didn’t ask for any of this. And I stand with you, Matt. Thank you so much for hanging out with me to watch one of the most uncomfortable clips we’ve ever watched on the show.
Matt Berg: Well, thank you for having me.
Jane Coaston: One quick update to a story we brought you on Monday’s show. California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell has announced he will resign from Congress. In a statement, Swalwall wrote, quote, “I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.” On Sunday, Swalwell suspended his campaign for governor of California after the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN published stories on Friday detailing allegations of sexual misconduct. Both reports feature a former staffer who said Swalwall sexually assaulted her on two separate occasions. CNN also included claims made by three additional women. On Monday, the House Ethics Committee said it would investigate Swalwell for, quote, “…allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, including towards an employee working under his supervision.” The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is also investigating his former staffer’s claims regarding an alleged assault in New York City. And that’s the news. [music break]
[AD BREAK]
Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, read the conclusions from a federal judge who tossed Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, not just about how Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that Trump had come, quote, “nowhere close to proving the journals reporting on Trump’s alleged creepy 50th birthday letter to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein amounted to actual malice,” like me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and Trump’s team says it will refile its, quote, “powerhouse lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal,” because apparently Trump wants me to keep talking about how he allegedly wrote a creepy 50th birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Fohr. Our producer is Caitlin Plummer. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, and Ethan Oberman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Kyle Murdock and Jordan Cantor. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]
