JIM WEBB PODCAST

Trump says he “didn’t want to be Jimmy Carter” and then talks long enough to raise a bigger question: was he explaining a plan, or explaining away a failure. We sit down with Dan McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute to read the tells in the public story around Iran, the wreckage that never gets real press scrutiny, and the contradictions that appear when leaders claim an adversary is nearly defeated...

Calls for “purges” and “Nuremberg-style tribunals” might feel like moral clarity, but they can also be gasoline on a political fire. We dig into that tension with historian and author Peter Maguire, whose work spans the Nuremberg trials, the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, and the messy reality of what accountability looks like after a society breaks. We talk about why Americans across the spect...

The world can look calm for a day while the map is quietly catching fire. We start with rapid updates from the Persian Gulf and immediately ask the uncomfortable question: if strikes are landing in Kuwait and pressure is building on the U.S. Fifth Fleet, what does “de-escalation” even mean anymore? With Doug McGregor, we break down why the Strait of Hormuz is the real strategic choke point, why Ir...

A “ceasefire” headline can be comforting, but comfort isn’t the same thing as truth. We break down the latest claims around Israel and Lebanon, why the reporting doesn’t line up cleanly with what’s happening on the ground, and why timing matters when fuel prices, diesel projections, and market nerves are all spiking. If you’re trying to understand the Israel Lebanon conflict and the Iran war risk...

A single tucked-away section of the National Defense Authorization Act could quietly rewire how the United States supports Israel militarily and it might do it in a way that’s harder for voters to see and harder for Congress to control. I’m joined by Kelly Vlahos, editor-in-chief of Responsible Statecraft, to unpack Ben Freeman’s reporting on NDAA Section 224 and why it signals a shift from the tr...

The fastest way to lose a war is to start one without a plan to end it. Former US diplomat Ambassador Chas Freeman joins us to unpack why the Israel-Iran conflict exposes a deeper crisis in American strategy, from unclear objectives to shrinking freedom of maneuver. We talk about the real tension between Netanyahu and Trump, what Israel is trying to achieve, and why US leaders keep claiming “wins”...

War isn’t an abstract debate when you’ve watched it up close and then sat in the rooms where the next one gets sold. Joe Kent returns to Dad News to unpack why he spoke at the Rage Against the War Machine rally and why he thinks the fastest way to fix America’s domestic problems is to stop bleeding blood and treasure overseas. We talk about the moral line that hits so many veterans: when you know...

War doesn’t usually start with a single moment. It starts with a story that gets repeated, a process that gets bent, and a handful of people who learn they can act first and justify later. That’s why this conversation with retired Colonel Larry Wilkerson hit so hard. Larry served as Colin Powell’s chief of staff at the State Department, and he’s seen up close how the Iraq War era decision machine...

A politician can have the voters, the polling, and the moral high ground and still get steamrolled. That tension sits at the center of our conversation with Daryl Cooper as we ask a blunt question: if most Americans oppose another war and distrust the current foreign-policy consensus, why does almost nobody in power act like it? We start with Thomas Massey and the mechanics of political discipline...

Memorial Day can feel like two holidays fighting each other: a summer kickoff on one side and a day of mourning on the other. Memorial Day also hits differently when you’ve watched friends stay young forever. Jim shares a raw, personal Memorial Day message from the perspective of a combat veteran, not to preach and not to drag you into a dark place, but to tell the truth about what remembrance fee...

A ceasefire can be a talking point while people keep dying and Matt Ho doesn’t let us hide behind the word. Matt is a former Marine Corps captain and State Department official who resigned over Afghanistan and later won the Ridenhour Prize, and he joins me on Memorial Day weekend to unpack what “status quo” really means in the Iran conflict. We walk through why Iran may be negotiating from strengt...

A $34 million primary challenge. A Congress that looks bought and paid for. And a country that keeps drifting toward new wars while veterans keep dying at home. I sit down with former CIA analyst Larry Johnson, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity and the voice behind Sonar 21, to sort through what’s real, what’s theater, and what the incentives are behind the noise. We star...

A newborn comes home from the hospital and, minutes later, we’re back on the hardest question in American life: who actually has power in Washington when a high-profile incumbent can be drowned under tens of millions in outside money? We start with Thomas Massey’s primary loss and talk candidly about donor influence, lobbying pressure, and why it feels like some foreign policy positions are effect...

The strangest part of the US China summit is how little it clarifies. After two days of praise and photo ops, we’re left asking what Washington actually went to get, and what Beijing was happy to let it take home. With Alex Christophorou of The Duran, we unpack why the trip reads more like a high-level business roadshow with top CEOs than a fully prepared superpower negotiation, and why that disti...

The Strait of Hormuz closes and suddenly the whole world feels it. Who’s blamed abroad, and why do China and Iran hold more cards than US headlines admit? Listen now and tell me who miscalculated? Chapter Markers 0:00. Welcome And Stakes Of The Day 1:35 Hormuz Blockade And Global Blame 5:55 China Runs The Blockade Anyway 11:55 Let Your Opponent Make Mistakes 17:20 Trump Xi Goals And Missing Levera...

A ceasefire that’s “on life support,” a Strait of Hormuz that still shapes global energy, and a US military that looks powerful on paper but struggles to surge in reality: that’s where this conversation goes fast. I’m joined by retired Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, a former Pentagon and NSA professional and a founding member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, to sort through...

“47 years with Iran” sounds clean and simple, and it’s also a shortcut that erases the part that explains everything. We sit down with Scott Horton to walk the U.S. Iran timeline back to the 1953 coup against Mohammad Mossadegh, the rebuilding of the Shah’s rule, and how Washington’s habit of picking winners abroad creates the rage and instability it later points to as a reason to intervene again....

Gas prices don’t care about political talking points, and neither do missiles, shipping lanes, or hard deadlines on the battlefield. We sit down with Kyle Anzalone, opinion editor at Antiwar.com and news editor at the Libertarian Institute, to sort signal from noise as Ukraine slips off the front page and the Iran war dominates everything. We start with the Ukraine ceasefire headlines and the scra...

A single vote in a Kentucky primary could tell you more about American power than a hundred cable news panels. We sit down with attorney Robert Barnes to connect the dots between populism, civil liberties, and the machinery that keeps Congress weak and the executive strong. We start with Barnes’s personal story: a hard upbringing in Chattanooga, losing his father young, and a deep skepticism of el...

You can feel it when a country’s leadership stops matching the character of the people it asks to serve. That’s where this conversation begins, with a rare father and son pairing: the host sits down with his dad, Jim Webb, former U.S. Senator and Secretary of the Navy, Navy Cross recipient, and author of Born Fighting and Fields of Fire, to talk about the cultural roots that still drive American p...

“Project Freedom” sounds bold until you game out what it really means: more U.S. ships and aircraft operating in the Strait of Hormuz, more opportunities for Iran to take a shot, and more chances for a single incident to drag us into a wider regional war. We sit down with Joe Kent to cut through the slogans and ask the question that keeps getting skipped in public: what is the U.S. strategic objec...

The Strait of Hormuz is the kind of headline you can scroll past until the price of gas proves you shouldn’t. We sit down with retired Lieutenant Colonel Dan Davis to cut through the competing stories around Iran, the ceasefire, and the naval posturing that’s being sold as “success” while ships still hesitate to transit. We talk deception as a feature of war, why you should be skeptical of every s...

The Strait of Hormuz is not just a map label, it’s a pressure point that can spike oil prices, rattle global shipping, and land right in your grocery bill. We start with signs a ceasefire is breaking down around Iran and the Gulf, including a major strike that raises the stakes for everyone relying on stable energy flows and open sea lanes. From there, we put public claims under a microscope. If I...

The story we’re being told about Iran changes by the hour, and that’s the point. One day it’s “we destroyed their capabilities,” the next it’s “their ambition remains,” and then a War Powers notice lands like a bureaucratic shrug that can restart the clock while the public tries to keep up. I sit down with Daryl Cooper (Martyrmade, Provoked) to untangle what the weekend’s signals actually suggest...

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