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Home » Prof. John Mearsheimer: Will Trump Go Kamikaze? (Transcript)

Prof. John Mearsheimer: Will Trump Go Kamikaze? (Transcript)

Editor’s Notes: In this episode of Judging Freedom, Judge Andrew Napolitano welcomes Professor John Mearsheimer to analyze the escalating military tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran. They examine the strategic implications of potential U.S. ground troop deployments and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, questioning whether these actions serve national interests or lead toward a “Vietnam-style” quagmire. The discussion also delves into the influence of political advisers on foreign policy and the severe economic and legal consequences of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. (March 31, 2026)

TRANSCRIPT:

“Undeclared wars are commonplace. Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood, and rejected.”

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: What if sometimes to love your country, you had to alter or abolish the government? What if Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom’s greatest hour of danger is now?

Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Professor John Mearsheimer joins us now. Professor Mearsheimer, thank you very much for your time.

I usually don’t do this, but I want to read a headline to you in today’s Wall Street Journal, a newspaper generally rather favorable to the Trump administration. “Trump looks to exit with strait still closed. Goal is to limit Iran war to a few weeks. Reopening passage could come later.”

Well, if this is true, he would not have succeeded in any of his goals. Regime change, capture of nuclear material, degrading offensive weaponry, ballistic missiles, and now getting the Strait of Hormuz open, which was open before the war.

A Colossal Failure: The Goals Not Achieved

PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: Yeah. I mean, your comments highlight that the war has left us worse off. In other words, he’s not achieved any of the goals. Plus, now that we’ve gone to war, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. And furthermore, you want to factor in here, most importantly, the huge economic damage that’s going to be done to the world economy over time. And also I think the chances that Iran will get a nuclear weapon have increased significantly as a result of this war. So it’s really quite amazing what a colossal failure this has been.

Mad King or Desperate Flailing?

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Wow. Why do you suppose, Professor Mearsheimer, President Trump is making up stories about the extraordinary progress of what we believe to be fanciful negotiations, and yet in the same breath, sometimes literally in the same sentence, threatening to bomb and destroy civilian architecture like power grids and desalination plants?

PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: Well, there are two possible interpretations, and it’s hard to determine which one is correct.

The first is that he’s a mad king, that he’s just basically lost his mind. Sometimes when you listen to him talk, you think that is the case. It’s hard to believe that this man is operating with a full deck. That’s one interpretation.

Another interpretation is he’s just flailing. He’s in a desperate situation. To get back to the headline that you read, he basically is saying that we can’t open the strait. We can’t open it. And that would represent a significant defeat for the United States. This would be disastrous for him.

At the same time, he understands that he’s in a situation that’s probably worse than the one that Lyndon Johnson was in back in the day, and he can’t do anything about it. And in fact, he’s just getting deeper and deeper into the morass. So he’s flailing around and he’s going from optimism to pessimism at 95 miles an hour. And it’s not that he’s a mad king, he’s just flailing because he’s gotten himself into this desperate situation. So those are the two interpretations. I don’t know which one is correct.

Trump’s Claims of Fanciful Negotiations

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Yeah, I guess we won’t know. But here he is Sunday night on Air Force One saying that Iran has agreed to his 15-point demand during these “negotiations.”

VIDEO CLIP BEGINS:

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You had offered that 50-point plan to Iran the day after. Come back.

TRUMP: Yeah, they came back on the 15th point. They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn’t they?

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: You make it sound like they made some concessions. Can you identify those?

TRUMP: Well, they’re agreeing with us on the plan. I mean, we asked for 15 things and for the most part, we’re going to be asking for a couple of other things. We’re having very good meetings both directly and indirectly, and I think we’re getting a lot of very important points.

VIDEO CLIP ENDS:

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: In fact, these meetings don’t exist.

PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: I know. I don’t know what to say. What do you say about this? The whole thing is just preposterous. The level of incoherence here is just off the charts. This is the President of the United States. The President of the most powerful country in the world. You can only wonder what other leaders around the world, other people around the world are thinking as they watch this. And it’s just hard to believe that this man is in charge of the United States at what is a critical diplomatic juncture here. That’s what we have to emphasize.

Witkoff and Kushner: Israeli Assets?

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Yeah. What do foreign diplomats think of Witkoff and Kushner? Are they credible people?

PROFESSOR JOHN MEARSHEIMER: No. I think that everybody recognizes at this point in time, because we now have enough evidence, that number one, they’re incompetent.