Why in the World Are We Pulling Troops out of Poland? | Command Post
Bulwark Takes
The Bulwark
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling (Ret.) and Ben Parker went live on Wednesday morning to give their takes on NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's comments about the Strait of Hormuz and the reported plan by the U.S. and Israel to install Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back to power in Iran. Plus, Ben and Mark break down why Pete Hegseth's decision to pull troops out of Poland makes no sense and dismiss Vance's ridiculous comments about Trump and Ukraine.
Text TAKES to 64000 for your 2 free gifts with the purchase of any Pocket Hose Ballistic hose. By Texting 64000, you agree to receive recurring automated marketing messages from Pocket Hose. Message frequency varies and data rates may apply. Text STOP at any time to opt out. Text HELP for additional Information. No purchase required. Terms apply, available at https://PocketHose.com/terms.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Ben Parker from the bulwark. And hi, I'm Mark Hurtling from the Bullwork. Welcome back to another episode of Command Post. We're basically going to be talking about the same things again today. What's going on in Iran and what's going on in Europe? What's going on in Europe really has not gotten enough attention, both what's happening in Ukraine and also what our own military announcements have been lately. |
| 0:21.2 | So we're going to talk about that. |
| 0:22.6 | But first general, we got to start off with an Iran update. |
| 0:26.7 | We've had conflicting reports these last two days. |
| 0:29.2 | The first was a couple days ago. |
| 0:30.6 | It was reported that NATO was going to come to the rescue, and the cavalry was going to ride in over the horizon and open up the |
| 0:37.8 | Strait of Hormuz. |
| 0:38.8 | And then this morning, I think we have a screenshot of the producer Matt can pull it up |
| 0:42.7 | of the report. |
| 0:43.7 | Margruita, the Secretary General of NATO saying, no, we're not, we're not going to do that. |
| 0:48.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:49.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:50.5 | What I'd say to this, Ben, this is, this is really fascinating to watch because the president, |
| 0:57.0 | President Trump continues to insult NATO for not coming to the rescue and then he changes his |
| 1:03.0 | tune. |
| 1:04.0 | But truthfully, you know, one of the talking points he's used is, hey, we've helped NATO for 80 |
| 1:10.0 | years and we're asking for their help now and they're |
| 1:12.5 | not going to give it to us. But this is not the kind of thing NATO was built for. And what I say that, |
| 1:21.1 | you know, Ruta has already clearly signaled that NATO is not preparing a collective naval |
| 1:26.6 | operation in the Gulf. They are designed, NATO is not preparing a collective naval operation in the Gulf. |
| 1:28.7 | They are designed. |
| 1:30.2 | NATO is designed primarily for collective defense in the Euro-Atlantic region, although they have |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Bulwark, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Bulwark and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.