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In this edition of American Week, Simon Marks breaks down a turbulent few days in Washington, from Donald Trump’s comments on Iran and the Falklands' to growing strain in US-UK relations ahead of the Royal Visit. 0:21 | Falkland Islands in play and Trump's swipe at Prince Harry 1:06 | Trump gears up for British Royals 2:44 | Trump's Iran quagmire 4:37 | Inconvenient truths about Iran shared with Congress 6:19 | FBI Director Kash Patel under fire 8:16 | High tech industry runs rampant 8:56 | Alex Bores campaigns to regulate Big Tech... and faces big opposition. 11:24 | Will Democrats get behind Alex Bores? 11:35 | What can we expect next week? Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #simonmarks #americanweek #LBC #trump #donaldtrump #debate #news #uspolitics #usnews #iran #iranwar LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
I must confess that until a few hours ago, it never occurred to me that I would be starting this American Week by talking about the Falkland Islands
0:08
If only I had known that President Trump was about to threaten a review of the UK's claim to them
0:14
well, I would have made a fortune on Polymarket or Calci, the predictive betting markets about which we will talk a little bit later
0:22
But here we are, 72 hours before the King and Queen arrive in Washington for their state visit
0:27
and this time around, the president is not even waiting for the farewells
0:32
to open up a new front against Sir Keir Starmer's government. In a set of options that would punish NATO members for failing to join
0:40
the disastrous US and Israeli war on Iran, the Pentagon is suggesting the future of the Falklands should be on the block
0:48
which of course would not only punish No. 10, but delight President Javier Malay
0:54
Trump's mucker in Buenos Aires, who happens to have reasserted Argentina's right to the islands just three weeks ago
1:02
And beyond the Falklands, yesterday at the White House, there was this
1:06
Prince Harry today has said that he would like to see you do more to end the war in Ukraine
1:11
Do you think it's appropriate for a royal to make those comments ahead of the visit on Monday? Prince Harry
1:15
Yes, sir. How's he doing? How's his wife? Please give her my regards, OK
1:19
Now, he could have left it there, his voice dripping with sarcasm about the estranged son and daughter-in-law of the very king he will be welcoming to Washington next week
1:30
But, of course, he didn't. I know one thing. Prince Harry is not speaking for the UK. That's for sure
1:38
I think I'm speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry. But I appreciate his advice very much
1:44
Would you not invite him to the dinner? I look forward to the dinner. We're having King Charles come. He's a friend of mine
1:51
We're really looking forward to it. We've spoken and we're going to have a great time
1:55
I tell you, if I had that ballroom built, it would be full. I wish we had more seats
1:59
We're going to have very great people that love the UK. I love the UK
2:04
I think they made a big mistake on energy. You should open up the North Sea in Aberdeen
2:11
You should open it up. And the other thing is they made a big mistake on immigration
2:15
He just cannot stop himself, which is why next week is such a potentially treacherous moment
2:21
for the rapidly diminishing and no longer special relationship between Washington and London
2:27
It is hard to imagine what a win looks like beyond 96 hours in which the president zips his lip
2:34
and at least waits for the Royal Plain to depart American airspace
2:37
before launching another effort to diminish a prime minister who has already got more than enough trouble on his plate
2:44
Speaking of trouble, Iran continues to provide the president with lots of it
2:49
They want to make a deal. We have been speaking to them, but they don't even know who's leading the country
2:57
They in turmoil They in turmoil So we thought we give them a little chance to get some of their turmoil resolved We don know who the leader is in Iran Now you could actually argue his own government is the one in turmoil
3:11
This week, the president's approval rating cratered to 33%, its lowest level yet
3:17
and only 30% of American voters approve of his handling of the economy
3:21
which is the top issue on their minds less than seven months from midterm elections
3:27
As ever, there were contradictions aplenty in his various positions on Iran this week
3:32
His claim there that... We don't know who the leader is in Iran. ...rather undercut his own press secretary, Caroline Levitt
3:39
24 hours earlier, she had assured White House reporters that the administration knew exactly what it was doing
3:46
Well, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down with those individuals in person
3:52
But obviously, there's a lot of internal fraction and internal division, which again just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury in the first place
4:00
Ah yes, the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury, the military attacks that the White House publicly claims have brought Iran to its knees
4:09
Here's the president on Tuesday with a whole raft of non-sequiturs on CNBC
4:14
We've taken out their navy, we've taken out their air force, we've taken out their leaders frankly, which does complicate things in one way
4:21
but these leaders are much more rational. It is regime change, no matter what you want to call it
4:27
which is not something I said I was going to do, but I've done it, indirectly maybe, but I've done it
4:33
And I think we're in a very strong negotiating position. The thing about that, though
4:38
is that they are telling an entirely different story in classified briefings to lawmakers
4:43
The Washington Post reported this week that behind closed doors, the Pentagon has warned Congress
4:49
that even when peace is finally agreed, it will then take up to six months to clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines
4:58
So higher petrol prices are very much here to stay. And Fox News revealed that in a separate classified briefing
5:05
a top official from the Defense Intelligence Agency told lawmakers that Iran still has thousands of missiles and drones
5:14
both of which pose a significant risk to militaries of the United States
5:18
and its Gulf allies and partners. So this ain't the slam dunk that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wants you to believe
5:26
Our blockade is only growing and going global. And as the president said, we have all the time in the world
5:36
Iran has a historic chance to make a serious deal. And the ball is in their court
5:43
Either way, the War Department stands ready for what comes next, locked and loaded
5:51
Now, talking about being loaded, veteran viewers of American Week may remember that when Mr. Hegseth was nominated to lead the Pentagon
5:59
many lawmakers were somewhat nervous over his enjoyment of a drink to the point where he had to promise to disavow alcohol if he wanted more than two million active duty military personnel under his command
6:12
This week, another member of the Trump administration found himself accused of an ongoing relationship with the bottle
6:19
Can you say definitively that you have not been intoxicated or absent
6:23
during your tenure as FBI director? I can say unequivocally that I never listen to the fake news mafia
6:31
And as when they get louder, it just means I'm doing my job. Except FBI Director Kash Patel has, according to the reporting of The Atlantic
6:38
rather fallen short of that mark. A devastating investigation revealed his alleged drinking
6:45
much of it in public, has been a recurring source of concern across the government
6:50
with members of his security team often reportedly having difficulty waking him up
6:56
So much so that at one point a request for breaching equipment
7:00
those battering rams you see SWAT teams using on TV dramas when they need to break into a room
7:06
was made last year because Mr Patel was allegedly unreachable behind locked doors
7:13
Reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick spoke to 20 current and former officials for her story
7:19
We stand by every word. And look, these are not the types of people who are willing to speak out outside of the FBI, especially right now, because Kash Patel is going after people with polygraphs in a way that has never happened at the Bureau
7:36
She spoke to MS Now. Mr Patel is also going after her and the Atlantic
7:42
suing them for defamation in a long-shot $250 million lawsuit. It is not clear whether he will still be FBI director by the time the lawsuit gets into the courts
7:53
because President Trump is widely reported to be thinking of firing him
7:57
Now, there's an issue we have not talked sufficiently about here on American Week
8:01
and it's time to start correcting that. As you know, successive American governments have done nothing to regulate social media
8:10
cryptocurrencies, AI, and now the burgeoning predictive betting markets. On Thursday, a US Special Forces Master Sergeant was arrested for allegedly using classified
8:23
information to place bets on polymarket relating to the US military action in Venezuela that toppled
8:30
President Nicolas Maduro. He allegedly pocketed $400,000, which of course is a fraction of the
8:38
millions of dollars that Trump's friends in the oil industry will be making as a result
8:43
of America's military intervention. But at a time when all of these technologies are running rampant
8:49
without any guardrails, there's a man in New York who is vowing to change all of that
8:56
I'm Alex Boris, computer engineer and New York state legislator. I'm running for Congress because
9:00
the most important technology of the millennium is being built right now And our current government doesn understand it And we can afford for them to miss the boat like they did on social media We need to get this right so that it works for us Alex Boris is making history in Manhattan A democrat he is the first candidate
9:16
from either party seeking election to congress ever to make the need for regulation of the
9:22
artificial intelligence industry the central pillar of his political platform. He used to work
9:28
for Palantir and now says his former colleagues there and at the other AI companies cannot be
9:35
trusted to police themselves. 10% of Americans want to put the genie back in the bottle and burn
9:40
all the data centers and not use it at all and that's, you know, I empathize but I don't think
9:45
that's a practical way forward. 10% of people want to just let it rip and they don't care how many
9:52
people it hurts as long as it's moving as fast as possible and 80% of people are like there are
9:57
aspects that are good. I use it for this aspect. But like there's also things that are scary and
10:01
it's moving really quickly. And I'm not sure I trust the people we currently have in government
10:05
to get to the right answer. This is a campaign for those people. It is definitely not a campaign
10:11
for the AI behemoths who are now flooding the airwaves in New York with attack ads to discredit
10:18
and undermine the Boris campaign. Meet Alex Boris. He's got a master's in computer science
10:24
but he's an expert in hypocrisy. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars
10:28
building and selling the tech for ICE, enabling ICE, and powering their deportations
10:33
while making bank. Now he's running from his past while ICE is in our communities
10:38
But the facts don't lie, even if Alex does. That ad and scores of others like it
10:43
are appearing all over the country in congressional primaries where the big tech community
10:48
is spending millions to derail any politician, including several Republicans, who are threatening to regulate the big tech industry
10:57
In the case of Mr. Borges, who has already successfully passed a bill
11:00
in the New York State Assembly regulating AI, that advertisement completely misstates his record
11:07
The goal, as they've stated, is to extract so much pain in this race
11:14
and to beat me up so badly that when the idea of AI regulation is proposed in the future
11:20
politicians run in the other direction. Will New York Democrats get behind him in next month's primary
11:25
and make him their candidate for Congress this November? We are going to keep a close eye on that race
11:30
In many ways, the future of American society may depend on it
11:35
Next week, we'll have our eyes firmly on the royal visit, which will include the Queen participating in a Winnie the Pooh event in Manhattan
11:44
That is where the original Pooh Bear, Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga and Tigger
11:49
Christopher Robin's actual toys are on long-term display at the New York Public Library
11:55
I'll tell you what, how about we tell Donald Trump that if he wants to review the UK sovereignty over the Falklands
12:02
we're going to review America's stewardship of Winnie the Pooh and all his friends in return
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