The End of Operation Epic Fury

The Dispatch Podcast

The Dispatch

News, Politics

4.6 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2026

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steve Hayes is joined by Jonah Goldberg, Megan McArdle, and Mike Warren to discuss the potential end of major combat operations against Iran and Trump's retribution campaign against Indiana Republicans who opposed his mid-decade redistricting efforts.The Agenda:—End of Operation Epic Fury—Did the U.S. achieve its military goals?—Post-Iran War U.S. economy—Trump's waning political capital—Indiana GOP primary revenge—The ballroom flip-flop—NWYT: A Dispatch cruiseDispatch Recommendations:—The Fading Trump Presidency—Will MAGA Come for Thomas Massie?—My Father’s Conservatism—Anti-Zionism Is a Dead End for PalestiniansThe Dispatch Podcast is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including audio versions of all our articles and newsletters—⁠click here⁠. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:36.7	Welcome to the dispatch podcast. I'm Steve Hayes. On today's roundtable, we'll discuss the potential end of armed conflict with Iran as Operation Epic Fury wraps up and the administration pauses Project Freedom, the quote unquote humanitarian effort to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. We'll also discuss the coming end of the Trump era, looking at Normie Republicans souring on
0:59.4	the president and his disapproval at second-term lows, but also his ability to exact revenge
1:04.4	on Indiana state senators who defied his wishes on mid-decade redistricting.
1:09.9	And finally, not worth your time.
1:11.7	Amidst some bad news about cruises, we weigh the pros and cons of starting dispatch cruises.
1:18.6	I'm joined today by my dispatch colleagues Jonah Goldberg and Mike Warren and dispatch contributor, Megan McArdle.
1:25.3	Let's dive in.
1:37.1	Thank you. contributor, Megan McArdle. Let's dive in. Welcome, everyone.
1:38.3	After a week of warning the American public that wars take a long time to win and announcing on Sunday the launch of Project
1:46.2	Freedom to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday.
1:49.7	Secretary of State Marco Rubio went to the White House Tuesday to announce the close of Operation
1:55.1	Epic Fury, thus theoretically ending combat with Iran and shifting to a humanitarian project freedom.
2:05.5	But less than four hours later, President Trump announced himself on social media a pause on Project Freedom in pursuit of a deal, a peace deal, at, quote, the request of Pakistan and other countries. As of this recording,
2:20.4	Thursday morning, the world is eagerly and anxiously awaiting what has been reported as a one-page
2:28.0	peace deal, reporting, suggesting that the United States has made some offers, the Iranians have
2:34.1	made some offers. Much Iranians have made some
2:34.5	offers, much discussion about a one-pager? Mike Warren, you follow this stuff closely. I often turn to
	...

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