“If you listen to Hakeem Jeffries' talking point, it's that every day the war goes on, Iran gets stronger and America gets weaker. That is laughably not true. … For Jeffries, he's talking about the war as a political talking point. For the president, he was talking about the war as this is what leaders do.”
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show · US Politics · September 2026
Context
Said by James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation on the Tudor Dixon Podcast in September 2026, after President Trump's address at the United Nations. Carafano was contrasting the president's stated approach to the war with Iran with what he described as Jeffries' message ahead of the midterms.
Transcript
Well, welcome home.
…me and saying, I'm going to shift my strategy with Iran right now because the midterms are coming up. I don't care. I'm not on the ballot. That's not going to move me. I'm going to continue and make sure they don't get a nuclear weapon. I thought that was a really telling point for the president.
…by the way, is exactly what the left is. If you listen to Hakeem Jeffrey's talking point, it's that every day the war goes on, Iran gets stronger and America gets weaker. That is laughably not true. I mean, it is so not true. But his notion is, is the war won't end before the midterms. Therefore, I can say this and nobody can really hold me accountable for it. Maybe I'll pick up a few votes. But for Jeffries, he's talking about the war as a political talking point. For the president, he was talking about the war as this is what leaders do. The best politics is to put the nation first. So that Lincoln-esque moment, I think that was defining his presidency. The other thing about that moment is where he said Iran, China never have a nuclear weapon. And the entire General Assembly Hall, maybe except for the Iranians, stood up and applauded. And that is the worst day ever in the war for the Iranians. Not when stuff was blown up, not…
Well, and as we watched that, I was thinking, what does a Joe Biden in this situation do? Or worse, what does a Kamala Harris in this situation do? And what is the future if it is one of, I mean, I don't know who the choices are right now for 28 on the Democrat side, but if it goes to that…
Yeah. And, you know, I travel a lot around the world to a lot of different places. And there are still a lot of people who have terminal Trump derangement syndrome. And their thing is, just wait out Trump. And after Trump's gone, you know, we'll just go back to the way things were or things are…
He did. He did talk about you brought up Russia earlier. He did talk about the Russia-Ukraine war and that being more challenging to stop. Even the Slovenian PM came out and said that he feels that the U.N. has double standards when it comes to Ukraine, Russia versus Israel, Gaza. the…
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