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>> Kurt Kotenberg out of
green Bay. Thanks so much.

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>> Thank you for having us.
>> There is a new ten day

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ceasefire between Israel
and Lebanon, and we're into

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week two of a ceasefire
with Iran and new today,

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Iran announces the Strait
of Hormuz is open. The

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temporary détente in the
war with Iran comes in the

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midst of a build up of U.S.
forces having steamed into

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the region. Last week, we
interviewed Democratic U.S.

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Second District
Representative Mark Pocan,

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who called the U.S. Israel
War with Iran. Chaos piled

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on top of chaos. Tonight,
we turn to Republican U.S.

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Senator Ron Johnson. And
Senator, thanks very much

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for being here.
>> Well, Fredricka, thanks

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for having me on.
>> So it seems to be

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welcome news that Iran has
declared the Strait of

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Hormuz open. But what about
Representative Pocan

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comment that this war is
chaos on top of chaos? Are

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you satisfied with the war
planning that went into

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this and the move?
>> Since last weekend? I

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was on one of the Sunday
morning shows and the host

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started the interview by
saying that I was

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supportive of the war in
Iran, and I pushed back

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immediately by saying, no,
I am absolutely opposed to

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the war. The Iranian
ayatollahs declared on

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America 47 years ago. The
fact that they have

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hundreds, probably
thousands of Americans,

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blood on their hands and
obviously tens of thousands

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of their own citizens,
blood on their hands. So

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what I'm supportive of is
ending that war once and

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for all, ending the threat,
ending the menace, and

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ending the there any
possibility that they could

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obtain a nuclear weapon
weapon which could be

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existential to America. So
yeah, it is war. Messy. Is

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it chaotic? Sure. You know,
I don't like war, but we

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had to act before we
weren't able to act before

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they became a nuclear power,
before they had so many

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missiles and so many drones
that taking this action

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would have devastated the
region. It's been

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destructive enough. But
again, so I support

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President Trump's very
difficult decision. This is

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good news. I think, you
know, we have dramatically

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degraded Iran's capability
to be a state sponsor of

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terror, to develop a
nuclear weapon, to hold the

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Strait of Hormuz hostage.
And I think this latest

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blockade is certainly
showing. It's proving its

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worth in bringing Iran to
the negotiating table and

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forcing to force them into
what should be as close to,

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you know, unilateral
disarmament and just, you

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know, unconditional
surrender as possible.

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>> And so you think it's a
diplomatic course at this

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point, not a bombing course,
to quote, finish the job,

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as you've said you want to
do.

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>> Yeah. When President
Trump met with the families

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of the fallen at Dover, the
dignified return, he

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reported in his speech that
the family is almost to a

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person said, okay, we've
sacrificed now finish the

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job. And I think it'd be,
you know, not good if we

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left a regime in place,
continue to be dedicated to

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enrich uranium, not give up
those uranium stockpiles,

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continue to build up their
missile and drone

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stockpiles, to continue to
threaten the region and

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threaten world peace. So I
want to finish the job. We

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have obviously decimated
their leadership. We've

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decimated their their
missiles, their drones,

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their nuclear program. But
we haven't finished the job.

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But we need to do that.
>> You took exception last

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week to the president
threatening to wipe out an

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entire civilization in Iran.
It was a newsworthy rebuke

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from a high ranking
Republican. What did you

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think when you saw that
threat?

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>> I guess I wouldn't call
it a rebuke. I was asked a

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question. I gave an honest
answer. We're not at war

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with Iranian people. In
fact, we are trying to do

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everything we can to
support them. We want to

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liberate the Iranian people,
not not impoverish them. So

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again, President Trump has
a certain negotiating style.

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I mean, I, for one, am
hoping and praying it works.

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I mean, Frederica, just
think of how if all these

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things are successful, it
looks like Venezuela is on

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the road to success. If we
can tame Iran, if we can

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remove that regime and get
more responsible leadership

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in there, who are going to
be more interested in

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governing Iran for the
benefit of its people as

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opposed to their ideology
being a state sponsor of

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terror? I mean, just
understand how positively

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that could reset global
politics or the

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geopolitical situation
throughout the world. If

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Cuba could reclaim if
Cubans could reclaim their

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liberty, their freedom. I
mean, these are, you know,

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Iran should be incredibly
successful and prosperous

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nation, as should Venezuela,
as should Cuba. And it's

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only it's only through
American leadership that

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those things can happen.
>> As to not being at war

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with the Iranian people and
Iranian U.A.W. student that

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is now there says it very
much feels to her like the

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U.S. is at war with the
people. How do you respond

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to that?
>> That's one person's

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opinion. Again, we're not
doing polls. I mean,

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they've obviously canceled
the internet, so we don't

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know exactly what's
happening inside Iran. I

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think one of the reasons
the Iranian regime is so

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brutal to its people, I
mean, they executed 30 to

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40,000 of their own
citizens in a couple of

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days. Okay. My guess is a
large majority of Iranians

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would like to see the
ayatollahs gone on the

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dustbin of history. The
sooner the better. Again, I

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don't there are certainly
people within Iran who

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support the mullahs and the
ayatollahs, but I just have

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to believe when you take a
look at the long history of

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Iran, the Persian people
and stuff, I mean, this has

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been a prosperous land. The
ayatollahs have just

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devastated what could be
incredibly prosperous and

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freedom loving type of
country.

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>> How, in your mind, can
ordinary Iranian citizens

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like that U.A.W. student of
whom we spoke rise up and

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take over the regime?
>> Well, it's very

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difficult. I pointed this
out in the past. You know,

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for those who just want to
keep pushing nationwide gun

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control and those who want
to disarm America, this is

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what it looks like when a
population disarmed, when

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the only people that have
bullets and rifles and

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weapons are our brutal
regime, it leads to tyranny.

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And we had some pretty
interesting testimony in

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the Senate this this past
week, Congressman Thomas

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Massie went through the
list of regime after regime

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after regime, brutal
dictatorial regimes leading

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to the deaths of millions
of their citizens. The

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first action was always
disarming the population.

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So it's difficult. I think
we've certainly weakened

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the regime. It's as weak as
it's ever been. In his 47

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years. We may have to do
some assistance. We may

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have to to provide some.
I'll call it, assistance to

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the Iranian people so they
can. Finally, on top of

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that regime.
>> Senator Ron Johnson, we