Trump Threatens An Apocalypse…To Maybe Get A Ceasefire?
Left, Right & Center
KCRW
3.9 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 10 April 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Trump wanted the Iran War to end quickly after six weeks of fighting, and so he issued a dire threat: submit or he will “end an entire civilization.” Now we’re in a fragile two-week ceasefire for negotiations. The White House says the warning was necessary to get us to this point, but critics called it reckless.
Congress also returns to DC after its two-week recess, and it’s back to the continuing standoff on funding for the Department of Homeland Security. What can we expect from a legislative branch that was already struggling to get much done before a midterm election year?
Plus we reflect on the meaning of the Artemis mission and whether it puts all our partisan battles in perspective.
Producer: Leo Duran
Host: David Greene
Guests:
- Mike Dubke, veteran GOP communications strategist and advisor. He was the White House Comms Director under Donald Trump in 2017 - @MikeDubke
- Mo Elleithee, executive director at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service - @MoElleithee
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right. It's time for another left, right and center, everybody. Thanks for being here. I'm David Green. Now, if you follow politics or, I don't know, just the state of the world in general, this past week has been nerve-wracking, right? The clock was ticking on Iran. After six weeks of fighting President Trump wanted it all to be over quickly, so he issued |
| 0:23.8 | a threat that if Iran did not agree to a deal by end of day, Tuesday, quote, a whole civilization |
| 0:30.4 | will die. Here's the president. We have a plan because of the power of our military where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o'clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. |
| 0:53.0 | But with 90 minutes to go before his deadline, a breakthrough was announced. |
| 0:57.9 | Both sides had agreed to a ceasefire. |
| 1:00.8 | And so it seemed at least briefly like there was progress. |
| 1:05.1 | But this ceasefire only does last for two weeks while negotiations take place. |
| 1:10.0 | And while there is a multi-point plan that is the foundation of these peace talks, |
| 1:15.0 | there was immediate disagreement and tension over several points. |
| 1:18.4 | That includes attacks on Lebanon by Israel, also the fate of Iran's nuclear enrichment program, |
| 1:23.9 | and control over the all-important Strait of Hormuz. |
| 1:26.8 | Meanwhile, safe passage through |
| 1:28.8 | the straight remains uncertain at this point. Nevertheless, the White House has been self-congratulatory, |
| 1:35.1 | saying the president's over-the-top threats were absolutely necessary just to get us here. |
| 1:39.8 | His very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are all witnessing today. |
| 1:47.0 | White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt speaking there. |
| 1:49.3 | So was this brinksmanship worthwhile? |
| 1:52.8 | Can this strategy lead to a real off-ramp calming a crisis that, to be fair, was largely this president's own making? |
| 2:00.2 | Moelethy is here to talk about this. |
| 2:01.8 | On the left, on the right, we have Mike Dupke back. |
| 2:04.0 | He's a veteran GOP communications strategist, and Mike was the director of communications |
| 2:08.6 | at the White House under President Trump in 2017. |
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