‘If Trump asks him to bark, he’s gonna WOOF’: Nicolle and Tim react to Trump making a FOOL of Rubio

0:01 of making money crooked on msnow saturday y

0:02 of erratic messaging from the white house and donald trump

0:05 over the war in iran yesterday donald trump's secretary

0:09 of defense pete Hegseth confidently claimed that the ceasefire,

0:12 quote, certainly holds.

0:14 Today, Trump is threatening Iran with the possibility of more bombing.

0:18 Also yesterday, Pete Hegseth touted Donald Trump's so THAT WAS AN EFFORT

0:24 TO GUIDE STRANDED VESSELS THROUGH THE STRAIGHT OF HORMUZ WHICH REMAINS CLOSED.

0:28 SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO GAVE A BIG

0:31 LONG PRESS BRIEFING LOOK LIKE HE THOUGHT HE WAS,

0:34 I DON'T KNOW, BEHIND THE PODIUM, WENT ON FOREVER, SAID ALL SORTS OF STUFF.

0:38 AMONG THE THINGS HE SAID,

0:39 HE DECLARED WITH AUTHORITY THAT PROJECT FREEDOM IS THE NEXT STAGE WITH IRAN

0:44 BECAUSE THE WAR ITSELF IS ACTUALLY HE SAID THAT, LIKE 90 MINUTES LATER,

0:49 TRUMP UNDERCUT BOTH THOSE MEN.

0:51 DONALD TRUMP ANNOUNCED AN ABRUPT END

0:53 TO PROJECT FREEDOM ONE DAY AFTER IT STARTED,

0:57 in like two hours after Rubio touted it.

1:01 We'll deal with what that means or says about them in another segment,

1:05 but at this hour, Iran is saying that it's looking at a U .S.

1:09 proposal to end the war.

1:10 that's after an iranian official dismissed a reported proposal as a quote

1:14 list of american wishes i want to bring in our national

1:18 security reporter david frode also

1:19 joining us military analyst lieutenant general

1:22 mark hurtling he served as a commanding general of the U .S.

1:25 Army in Europe.

1:26 Also joining us, political analyst,

1:28 host of The Bulwark podcast, Tim Miller's here.

1:31 David, why don't you tell us what is actually happening

1:33 right now as far as your reporting can suss that out?

1:38 I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET MORE

1:40 INFORMATION FROM ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS, BUT I DON'T KNOW.

1:43 I WILL BE HONEST.

1:44 YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THIS SORT OF HEAD SPINNING LAST 24 HOURS IS THAT IS CORRECT.

1:49 JUST TODAY, YOU KNOW, THE PRESIDENT AS USUAL HAD EVENTS AND THERE WAS

1:55 AN EVENT ACTUALLY WITH THE MOTHERS OF military members.

1:58 And there he announced that this wasn't a war.

2:02 He called it a skirmish.

2:03 This was after earlier in the day saying he was

2:05 going to bomb Iran if it didn't agree to these terms.

2:08 And then he separately announced this is just in the last

2:11 few hours that Iran had agreed to no longer have a nuclear

2:16 weapon what's strange about all this has just done that you

2:20 know a it's it is not a skirmish 14 Americans are dead,

2:23 hundreds have been wounded and 50 ,000 are risking their lives right now.

2:28 So it's extraordinary to have a president

2:30 say that on this nuclear weapons thing.

2:33 Iran has promised for years to give up IT'S

2:42 NOT NEW THAT THEY'VE PROMISED US AND THEN MOST IMPORTANTLY,

2:45 IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING FOR YEARS, U .S.

2:48 AND ISRAELI OFFICIALS HAVE NOT THINK THAT IRAN HAS NOT TRUSTED THESE PUBLIC

2:50 PROMISES BUT THE PRESIDENT KEEPS FOCUSING ON GETTING IRAN TO PROMISE things.

2:56 And it's just not clear that Iran is agreeing

2:57 to any of the terms that the president claims.

3:00 I mean, let me ask you about the first thing you said,

3:04 trying to figure out what's going on.

3:07 Ostensibly, a journalist covering the war would

3:10 think that Marco Rubio or Pete Hegseth were...

3:14 Actually, Hegseth is a different example.

3:16 Let's stick with Rubio, a credible source.

3:18 I mean, certainly both the turnout and the length of the press conference

3:21 would suggest that the press was

3:23 there consuming information they thought was credible.

3:26 Within 90 minutes, Trump undercut and turned

3:28 Rubio into a the press conference and said,

3:32 I don't know if you're a liar or a fool.

3:33 What is, like when you say you're trying to find

3:36 out what's going on, who do you even call?

3:40 Various people, but the honest thing is,

3:41 you know, this is an incredibly centralized ADMINISTRATION,

3:45 AND I THINK THIS IS NOT REPORTING THAT I'VE CONFIRMED.

3:48 IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S THE PRESIDENT HIMSELF.

3:51 HE IS MAKING ALL HIS DECISIONS ON HIS OWN.

3:53 HE'S NOT NECESSARILY CONSULTING HIS AIDES.

3:56 HE'S JUST MAKING THESE WE WENT FROM THIS VERY,

3:59 AND IT WAS A VERY AMBITIOUS EFFORT TO USE FORCE TO HAVE THE U .S.

4:04 NAVY AND AIRPLANES OPEN UP THE STRAIGHT OF HORMUZ YESTERDAY, PROJECT FREEDOM.

4:08 IT WORKED.

4:09 I MEAN, THERE WAS A clash, Iranians fired on American ships.

4:12 And in the first strange steps,

4:14 the administration played down the importance of that attack.

4:17 And it was a very serious thing that threatened the lives of Americans.

4:19 And then Rubio comes out and tries to spin it somehow.

4:24 And then hours later,

4:25 you have the president calling off that big naval operation.

4:29 And in a way, that was the best chance to take away Iran's leverage.

4:32 If the U .S.

4:33 could open THAT IS A CLEAR STRATEGY,

4:37 BUT THE PRESIDENT SEEMING ON HIS OWN ABANDONS IT HOURS LATER.

4:43 I MEAN, GENERAL HARTLEY, THE I MEAN, GENERAL HARTLEY,

4:45 THE PRESIDENT ABANDONS IT HOURS LATER IN LIKE A SWAMP

4:49 OF OTHER POSTS WITH MEMES AND RIDICULOUS STUFF IN THE SAME,

4:53 YOU KNOW, 48 HOURS HE'S POSTING PICTURES OF HIMSELF NEAR NAKED IN A I THINK IT'S

5:04 GOING ON AND WHAT DO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE MILITARY THINK IS GOING ON?

5:10 WELL, WE HAVE SEEN NICOLE THE THE PRESIDENT

5:13 IN DIFFERENT PRESS CONFERENCES, OVAL OFFICE VISITS,

5:16 READING FROM DOCUMENTS WITHIN HIS OVAL OFFICE WITH PEOPLE STANDING

5:22 AROUND HIM AS A BACKDROP AND SOME OF THAT INFORMATION,

5:26 MOST OF THAT INFORMATION IS SCATTERSHOT.

5:29 HE GOES OFF ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS.

5:31 HE RISKS ON THINGS.

5:33 BUT WHEN YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT GIVING DIRECTION

5:36 AS THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF TO THE NATION'S military.

5:39 It really is a Rubik's cube of ideas

5:42 that I would suggest the military personnel,

5:46 the leaders of the military are trying to figure out as it's

5:50 also being transcribed through secretary hegseth so you've got an individual

5:56 as the commander-in-chief who is changing his mind on a daily

6:00 basis and sometimes an hourly basis after his key national security figures,

6:05 both the secretary of defense and the secretary

6:09 of state are saying different things.

6:11 And I'm sure other national security officials

6:14 are as confused as both of they are, the CIA director, ODNI.

6:19 Commerce has also been a little bit scattershot in their messaging of this.

6:24 But again, I'm going back as your military analyst to say,

6:29 hey, this is putting people who take this seriously.

6:32 The commanders of CENTCOM, the warships in the Gulf,

6:37 the air wing commanders, the special operations,

6:40 they're not sure what comes next.

6:43 Is it a true operation?

6:45 And has the operation been halted because of various congressional demands?

6:50 Is it a project?

6:52 And truthfully, I've never heard of something that's

6:55 a military military operation being called a project before,

6:58 that doesn't fit in.

7:01 And why is it being called that?

7:03 Is it to avoid scrutiny by the Congress of the United

7:07 States or is it to confuse the American people?

7:10 Hell, we're confusing guys like David Rode.

7:13 You can imagine what the typical civilian at home

7:16 watching TV are reading a newspaper trying to figure

7:20 out the track of these different substances are trying

7:23 to think in terms of, are we at war?

7:26 Are we not at war?

7:27 Is there movement through the strait?

7:29 Is the oil being lifted, oil embargo being lifted?

7:33 Are merchant ships flowing again.

7:35 It is a hodgepodge of actions, and it's not the way to conduct operations when

7:41 you're putting American sons and daughters and their family

7:44 members in harm's HARM'S WAY WHEN THEY'RE THINKING

7:47 ABOUT THEIR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN HARM'S WAY.

7:51 TIM MILLER, MARCO RUBIO HE IS THE COUNTRY'S

7:55 SECRETARY OF MARCO RUBIO HAS TWO JOBS, HE IS THE COUNTRY'S SECRETARY OF STATE,

7:58 HE IS ALSO DONALD TRUMP'S NATIONAL SECURITY HE WOULD

8:03 LIKE TO BE SET APART FROM THE CLOWN SHOW,

8:07 HE WOULD LIKE TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, AND ALL THINGS ARE RELATIVE,

8:11 MAYBE SOME PEOPLE VIEW HIM AS A PART, I DON'T know,

8:14 but Marco Rubio is the loser of the day.

8:18 Marco Rubio stood before at least five,

8:21 six dozen journalists for an on-camera briefing HE SAID A LONG TIME,

8:28 HE PICKED UP ENERGY,

8:33 YOU SAW HIM GOING TO REPORTERS MORE QUICKLY AND MORE COMFORTABLY.

8:38 A LOT OF POINTING.

8:39 HE I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S IN HIS MIND.

8:42 HE ACTED LIKE HE HAD AUTHORITY TO SAY THE THINGS HE SAID

8:45 AND IT DID NOT TAKE DONALD TRUMP 90 MINUTES TO RENDER HIM A JACKASS,

8:49 TO GO BACK ON WHAT HE WAS SENT OUT THERE TO SAY,

8:52 TO CONTRADICT HIM AND TO MAKE A FOOL OF HIM.

8:55 NOW, NO DOG IN THE FIGHT IN TERMS OF WHO TAKES OVER MAGA.

9:01 BUT WHAT IS MARCO I DON'T KNOW IF TRUMP ASKED HIM TO GO DO IT AGAIN TOMORROW.

9:09 WELL, HE'LL DO IT.

9:13 TRUMP ASKING HIM TO BARK, HE'S GOING TO That's the deal and it's humiliating.

9:17 It's humiliating, but I think he's enjoying it.

9:19 People can take from that what they want.

9:21 But I agree with you.

9:23 Yeah, I think that.

9:26 Yeah, I think that because it's such a clown show around him,

9:30 I think that people in his circle think him credible.

9:34 And I know that seems crazy to us if you're a journalist that is looking

9:39 at this or just a viewer and you're like

9:41 the guy went out there and said that we're,

9:43 you know, pushing forward on Project Freedom.

9:45 And then two hours later we stopped.

9:46 He has no juice.

9:47 That's obviously the objective thing.

9:49 But I think that a lot of people who are either supporters of the war,

9:52 supporters of Trump are looking around at the other

9:54 people in the administration and being like,

9:56 okay, well, Trump might have pulled the rug out

9:58 from under this guy but at least he's borderline competent.

10:01 And that's why you're getting a lot of buzz for Marco now

10:05 being the heir and I'm just a single person, I'm just a pundit.

10:10 So, you know, mark this down for whatever

10:11 you want but I'm against the conventional wisdom

10:14 on this entirely because I think not only was

10:17 this humiliating for Marco in how Trump is treating him,

10:20 but this is also Marco Rubio's war as much

10:23 as anybody besides Trump and he has taken ownership of it.

10:27 He has put himself out there publicly and the popularity

10:31 of this war is is low right now.

10:33 And let me tell you,

10:33 I suspect the popularity is going to be a lot lower on 4th of July

10:37 when people are having to buy fewer hot dogs or go on fewer road

10:40 trips because of the cost of everything and how much it's going up when

10:44 we're not going to have a very solution to the war that's easy to sell,

10:48 as General Hurtling could be able to tell you better than me.

10:51 So he's making a bet that being the competent Mr.

10:55 Fix-It for Trump, it's going to pay off for him.

10:59 I'm glad he's enjoying himself now because I don't really see

11:02 it working out for him in the future, but we'll see.

11:04 It's such a hallmark of what Trump does to men,