3/19/26 Joe Kent on How the Israelis Drove Trump Towards an Unnecessary War with Iran

Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews

Scott Horton

News, Politics

4.8 • 989 Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Scott interviews Joe Kent, the former director of the US National Counterterrorism Center, about what drove him to resign. Kent explains how he saw the Israelis mislead Trump about an Iranian nuclear threat and the supposed fragility of the regime. He also backs up some of the widely attacked claims in his resignation letter about Israeli involvement in getting the US into previous wars in the region, reflects on what the real goals of the Israeli government are with this war, sheds light on Scott’s concerns about significant blowback terrorism in the US and more. Discussed on the show: Kent’s letter of resignation Joe Kent is a retired Army Special Forces soldier who served as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in Trump’s second term until he resigned in 2026 over the war with Iran. Follow him on Twitter @joekent16jan19 Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show! For more on Scott's work: Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org Check out Scott's other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show Read Scott's books: Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw Fool’s Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0 Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow And check out Scott’s full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com You can also support Scott’s work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ladies and gentlemen of the press have been less than honest, reporting to the American people, what's going on in this country?
0:11.0	Because the babies are making it.
0:13.0	We're dealing with Hitler Revisited.
0:15.0	This is the Scott Horton Show, Libertarian Foreign Policy, mostly.
0:21.7	When the president doesn't, that means that it is not only...
0:24.5	We're going to take out seven countries in five years.
0:27.1	They don't know what the fuck they're doing.
0:29.3	Negotiate now.
0:31.4	End this war.
0:33.5	And now, here's your host, Scott Horton.
0:39.1	All right, you guys, introducing Joe Kent, formerly of the 75th Rangers, and then CIA Special
0:50.6	Activities Division, or Special Activity Center, I guess they renamed it paramilitary,
0:57.4	fought in the terror wars. And then most recently he was the head of the counterterrorism center
1:02.1	and famously resigned from the Trump administration over principled objection to the war in Iran.
1:12.6	Welcome back to the show.
1:13.6	How are you doing, sir?
1:15.1	Doing great, Scott.
1:15.8	Thanks for having me.
1:17.1	Absolutely.
1:17.8	Happy to have you here.
1:19.7	And I'm sorry to do this to you, but we might as well because it is obviously crucial.
1:24.4	It's since we're apparently living in the 1930s, we need your opinion on the rise of
	...

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