How Close Did We Actually Come? — Iran, The Peace Talks, and What Happens Next

The VP is on a plane to Pakistan. Peace talks are scheduled for Saturday in Islamabad as Iran comes in with better cards than it had before the war.

Grant talks to Eric Czuleger from The Under Report back on the show to break down the most overwhelming week in recent memory; what actually happened, how close Tuesday really was to a nuclear war, and why the way this has played out may have made a nuclear Iran more likely, not less.

They get into:

• Why the US position going into Saturday's talks is so difficult
• What "writing your opponent's victory speech" means for these negotiations
• Why are nuclear weapons everywhere more likely now than any time since the 1970s
• Why the IRGC hardliners are now more in control than Iran's elected government.

This is a freewheeling conversation, and they cover a lot of ground; it's worth it.

LINKS:

MAKE IT MAKE SENSE SUBSTACK

THE UNDER REPORT BY ERIC CZULEGER

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The Iran "ceasefire" lasted roughly three hours. The Strait of Hormuz is technically a toll road now. America might get a cut. And nobody can agree on what either side is even negotiating for.

Grant breaks down everything that happened this week — the ceasefire announcement, why Israel blew it up, what Iran's 10-point plan actually says, and the honest scorecard after 38 days of war.

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Trump's deadline for Iran expires at 8PM ET tonight — and hours before it hits, he threatened to wipe out an entire civilization in a single night. Is the nuclear option actually on the table?

Grant breaks down Trump's escalating threats against Iran, what "wiping out a civilization" actually means under international law, the genocide definition in the Geneva Convention, and what signals suggest talks may still be happening behind closed doors.

Topics covered:
— Trump's Easter Sunday Truth Social post threatening Iranian power plants & bridges
— Why bombing civilian infrastructure is a war crime under the Geneva Convention
— The legal definition of genocide & why Trump's words meet the threshold
— Republican reactions: Ron Johnson, Mike Lawler's CNN vs. Fox whiplash
— JD Vance in Hungary, "Madman Theory," and the nuclear arms context
— What signals suggest a deal may still be in play before tonight's deadline

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45% of Americans now call themselves independent — more than either party. So why does Congress look nothing like the country?

Today Grant talks with Chad Peace of the Independent Voter Project about the hidden math behind our elections: how closed primaries, gerrymandering, and plurality voting let roughly 1–2% of the electorate pick your representative before most people even show up to vote.

→ Why independent voters aren't "closet partisans" — they're structurally locked out
→ The New Jersey primary that half the state can't vote in
→ Why Alaska now has the gold standard of elections (and why Trump hates it)
→ The one-sentence law Congress could pass tomorrow
→ Why voter ID is 84% popular but never passes
→ How we get from here to real reform

LINKS:

Independent Voter Project

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Disclosure: This episode contains paid sponsorship. All opinions are Grant’s own.

#independentvoters #elections #democracy #votingrights #politics #primaryelections #rankedchoicevoting

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Trump gave a primetime national address about the Iran war — and the most important parts were what he didn't say. We break down the three things that got cut from the speech, why the markets tanked anyway, and why $7/gallon gas might hit by Memorial Day.

Then: the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara — the case that could end birthright citizenship for the first time in 127 years. We explain what the administration is actually arguing, why they're citing a pro-segregation white supremacist, and what the justices signaled. Plus: Trump became the first sitting president to show up during a case. It didn't go how he thought it would.

This week on Substack (paid): The new bills in Congress targeting citizenship — what they say, what experts are calling dangerous, and who they'd affect. → makeitmakesense.substack.com

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Disclosure: This episode contains paid sponsorship. All opinions are Grant’s own.

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The longest government shutdown in US history drags on as Republicans in the House and Senate square off against each other before leaving for Spring Break without a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump orders TSA agents to get back pay, except no one knows where the money is coming from or if it's legal. ICE may be a permanent fixture at airports.

The war in Iran reaches the two-month mark as gas prices rise to $4/gallon and don't show any sign of coming down. Trump hints that he may just walk away from the war and leave the rest of the world to deal with Iran and a closed Strait of Hormuz, which threatens to send gas prices to $7/gallon by the summer.

Buckle up.

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Grant is joined by the Bipartisan Policy Center's Michael Thorning. Thorning is the director of structural democracy at the nonpartisan think tank and the lead writer of a brand new series called Congress at a Crossroads.

He and Grant talk about why Congress is so broken, how it got here, and what can be done to fix it before it's too late.

LINKS:

Congress at a Crossroads

Bipartisan Policy Center

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Sponsored by: Akila Sunglasses

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Grant is joined by Liz Dye from the Law and Chaos Podcast to talk about the shenanigans coming from the Attorney General's office. AG Pam Bondi is trying to meddle with state bar associations so DOJ attorneys can't face discipline for doing things they would normally face discipline for. Liz explains how it all traces back to a guy named Ed Martin, one of the DOJ's hottest dumpster fires.

PLUS, they talk about what doing this could mean for lawyers stuck trying to defend DHS, military lawyers thrown into civilian courts, and maybe follow through on Trump's election plans.

LINKS:

https://www.lawandchaospod.com/podcast

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