Is A War With Iran A Distraction From The Epstein Files?

The Muckrake Political Podcast

CLNS Media Network

News, Politics

4.6 • 530 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠ Co-hosts Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman open this Weekender by asking the ugliest question out loud: Are we drifting toward a strike on Iran with no clear end game? They dig into why the silence feels like the point, how Russia and China fit onto the board, and why a wider conflict always seems to make a few very specific people rich. Then they pivot to the Epstein fallout and what it looks like when Europe actually treats the network like a crime, while the U.S. political class keeps trying to pretend it is somebody else’s problem. From there it gets bleakly funny as they talk about the AI chip rush, the coming squeeze on everyday electronics, and how tech oligarchs keep turning basic life into a scarcity game. Somehow, a treatise on Doritos emerges before ending with what they’re watching and reading, including a new crime caper that mostly works, Gravity’s Rainbow as a full-time job, and Nick trying to finish a Mick Cronin video before the weekend is over.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Weekender edition of the McCrack podcast. I'm here with my good friend
0:07.3	and co-conspirator, Nick Houseman. Nick, how you doing, bud? I love me a good conspiracy. I'll
0:12.0	tell you that. Well, I mean, they're all around us. Why shouldn't we get in on the fun? Let's have
0:18.0	our own conspiracy. I don't know. I want to be the conspirator. You want, I want to be a co-conspirator.
0:21.6	You want, but you have to have co-conspirators.
0:24.3	I guess otherwise it wouldn't be a conspiracy. It was not a conspiracy at that point. You're right. Okay. All right, great. Well, then we can be co-conspirators. I can, I'll accept it. Okay. Well, I can't wait for this part of the podcast to be clipped out for our future trial before we're put in some sort of an ice concentration camp.
0:41.6	I'm very excited about that.
0:43.4	Everybody, we have a jam-pack show today.
0:46.6	We're on the verge of war.
0:48.4	Who knew, Nick?
0:49.7	Who knew?
0:50.3	We'll talk about that as well as former Prince Andrew being arrested and what is going on in Europe and how they are actually handling the Epstein situation as well.
0:59.7	Some interesting, I don't know if interesting is the right word, some interesting news revolving around American electronics and the near future we could be living.
1:09.1	A reminder to everybody, please head over to patreon.com slash my Craig podcast. Become a patron. You'll gain full access to every weekender, which you're already listening to the previews of. We know we see the numbers. If you are not signed up and you're a patron, you are listening to this preview. Hang out with us a little bit more and also support us. This is a really, really hard time.
1:29.6	I'm sure as you're looking around, you're seeing what's happening with corporate news and
1:32.6	corporate media. This is the time to support independent media and we need your support more
1:37.6	than ever, patreon.com slash muckrake podcast. Nick, we talked a little bit, I want to say it was like
1:43.8	a week ago. We talked a little bit about what was going on in terms of the United States and Iran, and there was a buildup of forces in the Middle East.
1:51.5	Well, shit's popping off. And we are seeing historic levels of equipment and arsenals that are being moved into the Middle East.
2:01.1	The only thing that is even comparable are the last two Iraq wars, including the War on Terror.
2:07.8	And before that, Operation Persian Gulf, Gulf Storm.
2:13.1	No, storm.
	...

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