Michael T. Lester

82% voted that states can commit terrorism under DHS’s definition. The U.S. labels certain countries “State Sponsors of Terrorism” — Iran, North Korea, Syria, Cuba — and that label carries real consequences, but it’s unilateral. There’s no binding global authority that can apply the same designation to a powerful state. We’re left with a system where powerful states can define and constrain others, but there’s no neutral mechanism that can do it back to them. If you’re trying to understand how international order functions, that accountability gap is hard to ignore.

@ShawnRyan762 Great conversation with information people need to know and can verify on their own. Question everything..

Is the United States Going to War with Iran For Israel? Premiering at 12PM CST with @MichaelTLester youtu.be/YTUfls6Yk4c?si…

Thank you, Shawn. It was an honor to be back on the show, especially discussing topics that most people are too afraid to address. "We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it." --Thomas Jefferson

Official Preview with returning guest, Michael Lester. “What was the first thing we were told on why we were going into Iran? Nuclear. Nuclear weapons..." @MichaelTLester

@joekent16jan19 Joe, sacrificing your own well-being by refusing to participate in activity that does not support the country is a selfless, patriotic act. You are a true patriot! Now, let's all work to fix what is wrong!

After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. It has been an honor serving under @POTUS and @DNIGabbard and leading the professionals at NCTC. May God bless America.

@ShawnRyan762 @joekent16jan19 Sacrificing your own well-being for the sake of your country is one of the most patriotic, selfless things you can do. That could be fighting and possibly dying for it, or refusing to participate in activity does not support it. Joe is a good patriot.

Sometimes the most impactful statement you can make is a strong resignation. It's unfortunate it's come down to this. God's speed @joekent16jan19 I hope this wakes some people up.

"Patriots support the country all of the time, and their government when it deserves it." Mark Twain True patriots hold their government accountable. Nationalists agree with the government regardless of whether it is right, wrong, ethical, or moral. Our founding fathers were patriots. Nazis were nationalists.

I respect Tucker Carlson, he's one of the few voices that genuinely tries to speak the truth. I agree with him about 99% of the time. He’s a great man! But on one crucial point, we sharply disagree. He says you should support your country even when it’s wrong. I strongly disagree. What is a country? Let’s define that first. The government? A single person? The military? No. A country is its people. You don’t blindly support a country, you support the people who make it. So what is our country today? Is it Donald Trump, Washington D.C. or those in power? I would say none of it. When your leaders, through incompetence, corruption, or greed, harm the very citizens they’re meant to protect, your country is no longer represented by them, no matter what the law says. Y’know, the same law they claim to follow but constantly break. What law is just for me and you, but not for them? No what's allowed for you is allowed for me! If millions across political divides reject war and global conflict, yet our leaders drag us into it anyway, that leadership is no longer your country, it’s something else entirely. People like Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and almighty Benjamin Netanyahu (Who’s not even American but sure as hell acts like he is) when their actions endanger your fellow citizens, they become adversaries of the country you love. Supporting your country means standing with the citizens, not blindly following leaders. The same goes for military personnel. I don’t know a retired SEAL, Delta Force, or Army veteran who isn’t fed up with this endless cycle of misused power and senseless conflict. We are all sick of it! Trump bypassed congress to give Israel 20,000 bombs worth $650 million from your money for the war you never supported and we are supposed to support our government in this? NO! When your government kills, poisons, or harms its own citizens in any shape and form, it no longer has the authority over people. History is full of examples. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, Gary Webb, Chelsea Manning’s torture, The Tuskegee syphilis study, experiments that poisoned San Francisco, and countless wars, I could go on forever with this list. After this you do not stand by your country, you do not support your country in this. When your government abandons the constitution and your safety, you oppose it. You fight for your country by protecting its people, reclaiming it from corruption before it transforms into something irreversible. You do not support them in any war you did not sign up for! I will give an example. In the late 18th century, France was ruled by King Louis XVI and a corrupt aristocracy. For decades, they ignored the suffering of ordinary people, put the economy in crisis, and spent lavishly on military and their own interests while poverty spread among usual French citizens. The country’s institutions were failing, and the leadership was actively destroying the nation’s stability. The people faced a choice, continue to accept a government that undermined their lives, or rise up. The French people chose to act. From storming the Bastille to organizing revolutionary assemblies, they overthrew a government that no longer served the nation. Leaders like Maximilien Robespierre and Georges Danton helped guide the uprising, not to destroy France, but to reclaim its values, liberty, equality, fraternity. The monarchy fell, and a republic was born, laying the foundation for modern democratic ideals. France’s people didn’t simply accept tyranny and stoop by their country when it was no longer listening to them. They instead went against it, took control of their destiny, and restored their country, the country they knew, not some strange entity that had hijacked it and its soul. So I disagree with Tucker, when your country betrays you, you no longer support it, you take it back!

The numbers themselves come from publicly available U.S. budget and military aid records. Al Jazeera turning those numbers into a chart doesn’t change the underlying data. If the figures are inaccurate, cite the source that shows otherwise.

It's not a right and left issue; it's a systemic and incentive issue.

I had a really great conversation with Father Chad Ripperger. The FULL episode will be available on Thursday.

@RealCandaceO That's what I told Shawn Ryan about being occupied, and that's why I wrote my book "We Are The Bad Guys." We should talk.

No one ever should sign up for United States military outside of those who wish to join the IDF. Go home and defend your neighborhoods instead. Let the Mark Levins and Ben Shapiros send their offspring instead. We are an occupied nation. This is why Charlie was murdered.

Naval deployments are strategic signaling. They communicate posture, deterrence, and contingency planning. Examining where carriers are positioned doesn’t mean buying into every narrative built around them. It just means location matters. We should be able to discuss that without sliding into conspiracy territory.

"The USS Gerald R. Ford is not parked near Iran. It is parked off Israel. And nobody is asking the only question that matters: why. The $13.3 billion crown jewel of the US Navy, the largest warship ever constructed, just positioned itself off Haifa. Not in the Arabian Sea where the Lincoln sits 850 kilometers from Iranian shores loaded for offensive operations. Not in the Gulf where strike range is optimal. Off Israel. Defending Israel. This is not redundancy. This is architecture." This was written by Shanaka Anslem Perera (@shanaka86 ). I highly encourage you to read his analysis here: x.com/shanaka86/stat…

According to the state, absolutely! One thing I didn't post here, but may in the future, is U.S. code detailing the designation of a terrorist organization (8 U.S.C. § 1189). I'll spare you the details, but there is a clause at the end that states the group has to be a threat to U.S. nationals or national security. That means that whether or not a group is a terrorist group depends on whether their acts impact us or not. In other words, it's not an absolute definition. If a group, or country, conducts terrorist acts, but it doesn't threaten us, then we don't consider them terrorists. That seems a little myopic and self-serving to me.

@MichaelTLester For instance, 9/11 is described as terrorism. If it became official that the US government (or another one) was responsible, would that stop being terrorism? According to the State, probably... logically : still terrorism.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security defines terrorism as: “The unlawful use of force or violence to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or government in furtherance of political or social objectives.” Under this definition, can a state commit terrorism?

Ever wonder why we are so focused on starting a war with Iran? Go watch the 1997 movie "Wag the Dog."

For the first time in 50 years, we have no agreements with Russia on Nuclear Arsenals. Both Trump and Putin say they are just reacting defensively, but every arms race started with that statement. At what point do we admit that a “defensive” arms race is still and arms race, and more nukes for any reason are still just more nukes? You can read my full analysis here: michaeltlester.com/the-structural…

Thousands of American citizens are serving Israel in their army, wearing an Israeli uniform, and take an oath of allegiance (שבועת אמונים) to "Be loyal to the State of Israel…” How do you feel about that?

No. It's not. It has only happened twice before in the last 25 years. Once in 2016 as a few day operational overlap between the TRUMAN and EISENHOWER, and once in 2023 for a few weeks between the EISENHOWER and the FORD after 10/7. Other than a few weeks in 1999 during the Balkan conflict, the last sustained operational dual deployment was in 1991 during Desert Shield/Storm.

@MichaelTLester Pretty common

The U.S. has 11 Aircraft carriers. 3 are deployed. 8 are in homeport for training, maintenance, or work ups. 1 is forward deployed in Japan as a semi-permanent Western Pacific asset. 1 is in the Mediterranean, soon to be joined by the other. That puts 2/3 of our Naval carrier force inside the operationally confined Mediterranean with the rest of the Atlantic and Pacific ignored. Does sound like a good idea?