Today's Poll Question: Is the U.S. winning the war with Iran?

0:00Get ready to vote on today's Daily poll question at smirkconnish.com. But first, Michael explains it for you, right here. Welcome to the smirkconnish podcast from SiriusXM for independent vines. I gang it's Monday, it's the 16th of March. From the note included in today's smirkconnish.com daily newsletter, I begin this way with a quote. We're going to win so much you may even get tired of winning. He was candidate Donald Trump 2016, Albany, New York, a classic Trump line, a theme that he would often repeat. And today's poll question reminds of that brag in the context of war. Are we winning? That is the Monday poll question at smirkconnish.com. Make sure you're going there and voting from SiriusXM. Thank you to my friends at Parks Casino because it's here. The field is set. The college basketball tournament begins this week. Michigan, Michigan State, Penn, Villanova, St. John's, Lehigh, all among the field.

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2:04so families can get the care they need at prices they can afford. That's why we're investing in new technologies that make care easier to access, more predictable and more affordable and helping bring down high hospital and prescription drug prices. This more to do and we'll continue fighting for you. How about that Saturday vote? $66,220 cast their ballots at the SpurConnish.com Daily Poll Question on Saturday and what drew so many votes me asking should opinions on the war in Iran transcend one's view of President Trump. I got to tell you, I was floored 63.99% I was thrilled with the vote total but I was floored

3:10by the outcome 63.99% agreed that yes, your view about the war in Iran ought to transcend what you think of Trump and I must say I've been going back and forth wondering like did people understand this question? I mean what went on here when there were about 800 who voted. It was running 65% yes and on Saturday I said to myself, well I've yet to begin the CNN program. Maybe when the CNN program begins, people will reverse course, no, they never did it from start to finish the 63 to 66% range was a constant and what inspired me to make this the poll question of the day was the David Boyz column in the Wall Street Journal, David Boyz, a guest on today's POTUS program cannot wait. The legendary trial lawyer who's not a fan of President Trump, but he publishes this

4:12essay in the Wall Street Journal under the headline, partisanship on Iran is dangerous for America. It's a must read here just two graphs from what David Boyz wrote, those of us who generally oppose Mr. Trump, but who recognize the threat Iran poses need to support the military action not because we owe anything to Trump, but because we owe it to ourselves, our country and our children. If we oppose the war and succeed in pressuring Trump to curtail it before the mission is accomplished, we would have the satisfaction of defeating someone we generally oppose, which might help ourselves politically, but America would be worse for it. I think he's right and I said so here and I said so on television this weekend, however we got here and please make no mistake, David Boyz did a better job articulating why we need to be in Iran then did the administration. They've been inconsistent, they've yet to state the full case, but here we are now.

5:15And that's why I agree we've got to finish this job. It's kind of funny because I was parroting Boyz and yet in some media outlets all of a sudden I become the advocate. So that's the Saturday, the remarkable Saturday poll question today with a hat tip to my buddy Shane Inspector, I'm asking, is the US winning the war? Let's go back in time, it's Albany, it's April, it's 2016, let me ask you, April of 2016, how many thought Donald Trump was in root to winning the White House? I didn't, here's what he said. We're going to win so much you may even get tired of winning and you'll say please, please, it's too much winning. We can't take it anymore, Mr. President, it's too much and I'll say no it isn't, we have to keep winning. We have to win more, we're going to win more, we're going to win so much. We're going to do it live, we're going to do it live. Is the US winning the war? Is the US winning the war?

6:16I mean, militarily, and I've discussed this with David Sanger, militarily it's been with the exception of the girl school, big exception, I get it, bad intel, but militarily they're hitting all the target, they're hitting so many targets. Now I'm going to sound like Trump in April of 2016, they're running out of targets. Iran might run out of weapons, but does that mean that we are winning? Can you ever win an asymmetrical battle? I've been thinking, and I'm going to put this question to Admiral Stavridis today, I've been thinking of a parallel, I've been thinking of something similar and I've come up with one and it's not from the two distant past. It's Afghanistan. This is the Smirconnish podcast from Sirius Exam. Behind every health care statistic is a person's face, paying the price. Big pharma just increased the prices of 350 drugs. Hospital monopolies are marking up procedures by 300%. The drug companies and hospitals set health care prices and they're too high.

7:19America's health insurers are on the side of people working hard to negotiate costs down and make health care work better for everyone. We see more than numbers. We see you. I've been thinking of a parallel, I've been thinking of something similar and I've come up with one and it's not from the two distant past. It's Afghanistan because the Soviets in 79 over ran the Mujahideen, but they never quite won that war and they ultimately withdrew from the Washington Post. After two weeks of war against Iran, President Donald Trump may soon be ready to declare victory but he confronts a challenge.

8:20Tehran also gets a vote. With most of Iran's navy eliminated, much of its missile stockpile destroyed and top leaders killed, Trump is nearing the goals his military leaders set at the outset of the war. But the conflict has not achieved the broader aims Trump has sometimes declared. A hardened regime in Tehran remains in power. It's roiling global oil markets by choking off the vital shipping lane that allows oil and gas out of the Persian Gulf. The country's leaders may be more eager than ever to race toward a nuclear weapon, diplomats and analysts say and Tehran retains control of what the United States and allied nations believe is 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium. There's more to the story, but I think you get the picture. I have to say that I went and took a peek when roughly 700 had voted, well, I'm not going to tell you. Because I was surprised by the result. I was surprised by the early result.

9:22May I say one more thing, Richard Clark, who I consider to be a friend of this program. He's advised three United States presidents on matters of national security. He's tentatively booked on tomorrow's show, but he wrote an essay that is also in the list. We're kind of calm daily newsletter about his experience with regard to the straight of war moves, very, very knowledgeable about that area and one line that I highlighted that Richard Clark wrote. He said the following, my personal experiences and recent analysis lead me to believe that combat in the Gulf is like playing catch with lit torches in a chemistry lab. Go vote at smurconnish.com on today's poll question. I assume that you are a newsletter subscriber sign up. It is free and it is worthy. And I will see you on POTUS. Michael Smurconish for independent mind. Listen weekdays on Sirius XM's POTUS, Channel 124, and anytime on the Sirius XM app.

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