Trump’s ability to ‘BS the world’ on Iran is ‘otherworldly’, key Democrat says

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

Lawrence O'Donnell, MS NOW

Politics, Washington, Congress, News, Ms Now, President, Versant Media, Policy, Versant, Government, Senate

4.5 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tonight on The Last Word: Rep. Adam Smith says Iran has not agreed to Donald Trump’s claims. Also, Trump is grappling with potential midterm losses. Plus, Trump is checked again by the federal courts. And Pete Hegseth says members of the press are like “Pharisees” who tried to “destroy” Jesus. Rep. Adam Smith, Rep. Greg Stanton, Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, Barbara McQuade, and Richard Stengel join Jonathan Capehart.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Now it's time for the last word.
0:02.3	Jonathan Cape Bart is in for Lawrence.
0:04.3	Hey, Jonathan.
0:05.5	Hey, Jen.
0:06.5	I'm got no chit-chat between you and I, because I want you to go off and have a great weekend.
0:13.2	Thank you, Jonathan.
0:14.2	Have a great show.
0:15.6	ASAP.
0:16.4	Thanks a lot, Jen.
0:18.0	So 48 days, thousands dead. Gas prices surging, shipping disrupted around the world.
0:26.3	And this is what Donald Trump had to say about it all yesterday. I will say the war in Iran is going
0:34.4	along swimmingly. We can do whatever we want. And it should be, it should be
0:41.8	ending pretty soon. Tonight, all we're left with are Donald Trump's claims that the war in Iran
0:49.4	is not only going swimmingly, but should be ending pretty soon.
0:55.1	This morning, Donald Trump said, quote, Iran has just announced the Strait of Iran is
1:00.2	fully open and ready for full passage. Thank you.
1:04.5	21 minutes later, Donald Trump posted the correct name of the waterway, saying, quote,
1:10.5	The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage.
1:17.2	So tonight, for all the violence and volatility, Donald Trump's war of choice continues to cause,
1:23.9	the Strait of Hormuz is back open, back in effect to where it was before Trump started his war.
1:32.0	Donald Trump also said that the U.S. naval blockade will, quote,
1:35.9	remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran only until such time as our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lawrence O'Donnell, MS NOW, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Lawrence O'Donnell, MS NOW and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.