Hegseth Preaches Lethality, Trump Confident On Iran | Talarico Enters the Chat | 3/4/26

The A.M. Update

Aaron McIntire

News, Daily News, Politics

4.9 • 833 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this Thursday edition of The A.M. Update, Aaron McIntire breaks down the latest from the escalating conflict with Iran, where top leadership has been eliminated, military branches crippled, and U.S. officials project overwhelming dominance in Operation Epic Fury. We cover confident assessments from President Trump and key Pentagon voices, contrasting congressional caution on terminology, and report the tragic loss of the first four American service members. Updates on conflicting claims about Kurdish involvement add intrigue to the ground situation. Stateside, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz faces intense questioning over a major fraud scandal and disputed statements about payment restarts, while newly minted Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico draws scrutiny for controversial theological takes and past social media posts. Plus, a strong biblical defense of personal charity versus government compulsion, the passing of coaching legend Lou Holtz, poll results on Iran's future, and more.

A.M. Update, Aaron McIntire, Iran conflict, Operation Epic Fury, Pete Hegseth, Tim Walz, James Talarico, Feeding Our Future fraud, Texas Senate primary, Lou Holtz, military updates, congressional hearings, poll of the week

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Thursday, March 5th, 2026. More updates on Iran. Are the Kurds getting involved? Tim Walls
0:06.1	gets grilled and the opening op-o dump on one James Tala Rico next on the AM update.
0:14.6	Secretary of War, Pete Hankseth. No doubt. But I liken Iran's predicament to a football team who scripted the first 20 plays of a game.
0:26.6	The team knew what plays to run because their first few drives were scripted.
0:31.9	But now that the game has started and the blitz is on, they don't know what plays to call, let alone how to get in the huddle and call those plays.
0:41.3	Iran's senior leaders are dead.
0:44.3	The so-called governing council that might have selected a successor, dead, missing, or cowering in bunkers, too terrified to even occupy the same room. Senior generals, mid-level
0:56.6	officers enlisted ranks, they can't talk or communicate, let alone mount a coordinated and sustained
1:02.0	offensive. That's not great for morale. The Iranian Air Force is no more, built for 1996, destroyed in 2026. The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom
1:16.0	of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.
1:23.2	Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, one of three Pentagon and military officials over the past 36 hours saying in unison were absolutely taking names and kicking, you know what.
1:34.9	The other two officials, I was invoking there, of course, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Cain, and the commander of Central Command.
1:44.0	That would be Brad Cooper.
1:45.6	President Trump also spoke about the ongoing efforts to rid Iran of their projection of strength capabilities.
1:52.6	We're doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly, I would say.
1:58.0	Somebody said, on a scale of 10, where would you rate it?
2:00.4	I said about a 15. And we're going to
2:04.0	continue to do well. We have the greatest military in the world by far. President Trump sounding
2:09.0	very confident there as well, he added. We're in a very strong position now. And their leadership is
2:16.3	just rapidly going.
2:17.9	Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead.
2:23.3	And it's an amazing, amazing thing that's taking place before your eyes,
	...

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