Iran, Job Losses, Mark is Back, and More
Main Discussion Topics
The American Capitalist Party's Position on the Iran War
The ACP published a formal position on the Iran conflict, co-written by Mark and Alan Thomas, grounded in constitutional principles rather than personal opinions
Mark shares that he published his own personal perspective separately so the board could see him choosing principle over personal feeling
The ACP position: going to war without congressional approval violates the Constitution
Mark explained the importance of sticking to principle: "When you give up principle once, you're gonna give it up again. And if government has shown us anything, it's that once it steps away from the Constitution for one thing, it steps away permanently. That has been the case for the last 150 years."
Mark also addressed those urging the hosts to simply defer to Peikoff: "Many of the people who claim you and I are looking at the Constitution as if it is a biblical text are the very same people telling us to read Peikoff as if he is a Christ-like figure. We are obligated to think through what they say and parse for ourselves whether or not what they say is true."
Fact-Checking Leonard Peikoff's War Articles
Michael spent hours cross-checking two Peikoff articles: his 2001 "End States That Sponsor Terrorism" and his 1997 piece on the Iraq War
Michael submitted the articles through three AI systems for fact-checking and verified his own episode through three systems as well
Despite Peikoff being a major intellectual influence on Michael, he found multiple factual errors and exaggerations central to the arguments
Michael stated his position clearly: "I hold unequivocally that the Islamic regime in Iran is evil. But going to war without congressional approval violates the Constitution. The Constitution is the rule of law. The rule of law is the precondition for a free society."
Key factual errors Michael identified:
Peikoff claimed Iran nationalized American oil in 1951. In reality, the company nationalized was majority-owned by the British government, not an American company.
Peikoff's claim that the 1979 Iranian Revolution was the fountainhead of Islamic fundamentalism is historically inaccurate. Wahhabism began in the 1800s. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 and its ideology was spread primarily through Sayyid Qutb, decades before 1979.
Peikoff claimed Truman and Eisenhower did nothing in response to the nationalization. In fact, Eisenhower led a coup to remove the Prime Minister responsible.
Peikoff predicted mass casualties in America if Iran was not attacked in 2001. No such attack materialized.
Mark reinforced the historical record on 9/11: "The 19 people who murdered almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11 were not from Iran. Fifteen were from Saudi Arabia." He added that the intellectual source of radical Islamism traces to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and to Sayyid Qutb, not to Iran.
Michael on intellectual honesty: "I stated Leonard Peikoff is one of my heroes. I agree probably with 95% of the things he's written. He's had so much influence on my thinking. But when he says something that's simply not true, what do I do? Fact check me. Fact check me now."
Trump's Contradictory Statements on the Iran War
In the same press conference, Trump said the war was "very complete" and also "the beginning"
When asked how he knew Iran was planning an attack within a week, Trump said he was told by Pete Hegseth, Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff
Trump was the only person in his government claiming Iran bombed its own school. When asked why, he said "because I don't know"
Despite ongoing military engagement, Trump said he wants to work with someone inside the current regime, walking back earlier calls for an overthrow of the Islamic Republic
Michael on Trump's decision-making: "Pete, Jared, Steve, and Marco told him. That's how he knows they were gonna attack us within a week."
Mark: "He's most influenced by the people who last talked to him, and it's those people who influence him the most. He will act on the impulse he gets from the last conversation he had."
On Trump's incoherence: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes Trump is just not very intelligent. He's not articulate and he really doesn't know what he's doing."
Venezuela: Trump's Communist Deal
Trump walked back regime change in Venezuela, endorsing Delcy Rodriguez, a former intelligence operative under both Chavez and Maduro, as president
Mark described Rodriguez as someone responsible for arresting and executing dissidents under the previous regime
Both Mark and Michael see this as a failure of principle and a betrayal of the Venezuelan diaspora who supported Trump expecting genuine regime change
Mark argued that communists view policy in terms of generations, not election cycles, and any deal with them is a pragmatic maneuver on their part
Mark: "Trump is not guided by principles. This will change tomorrow."
Michael: "Taking an unconstitutional action to keep a communist government in place is a failure. In principle, violating the Constitution because you want to fight a war, taking out another country's leader and putting in place another communist... I don't need to see anything after that. I get that's wrong in principle."
Russia's Role and the Strait of Hormuz
Russia has been sharing satellite imagery of US warships and aircraft with Iran, according to reporting from The Washington Post
This is occurring while Trump publicly claims to have had a good phone call with Putin and that Russia wants to help
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is down approximately 80% due to prohibitive insurance costs
Trump is reportedly exploring insuring up to $20 billion in cargo passing through the Strait at US taxpayer expense, with Navy escorts
Trump as Commander in Chief
Both Mark and Michael argue that Trump's identity as a capricious, unprincipled leader is directly relevant to any assessment of the war, not as a reason to oppose it categorically, but as a factor in the calculation
Mark: Trump "operates on the primacy of consciousness. That's why he is giving us these contradictory messages. All of these things could be true at once even though they're conflicting because he feels it to be so."
Michael noted 69,000 jobs were reportedly lost in February, contradicting Trump's claims about the economy's performance
On Principle vs. Pragmatism
Both Mark and Michael push back against the argument that results justify unprincipled means
Mark drew on the historical example of the US alliance with Stalin in WWII to show how working with communists produces short-term gains and long-term betrayal
Michael: "The violation of principle negates the after-effects. What you are arguing is pure pragmatism."
Notable Quotes
Mark on Constitutional Principle: "Principles are a sum of knowledge. They can't be thrown away for exigencies or for what you think will win you the moment. We're about the long term, not the short term."
Michael on Fact-Checking Heroes: "When you are making an argument, whether it be Mark, me, anybody else, it is imperative that you are marshaling facts. Because when you slip in things that are not true, skepticism arises not only in my mind but likely in the minds of any reasonable people."
Mark on Trump: "He causes and creates chaos because he doesn't know what he's about. He sticks his finger in the air and he lets other policymakers who may be a little more sound than him dictate what he does from one minute to the next. That's not what a president should do."
Michael on Intellectual Honesty: "Each of us was wrong about something and each of us admitted it. We are all wrong at times. When that happens, the thing to do is admit it. That's how honest discourse takes place."
Referenced Works and Sources
Leonard Peikoff, "End States That Sponsor Terrorism" (2001)
Leonard Peikoff, article on the Iraq War (1997)
Jeffrey Tucker article (discussed in upcoming Self-Made Soul Patreon episode)
Axios: "A World at War: The Iran Conflict Goes Global"
Washington Post reporting on Russia sharing satellite imagery with Iran
Key Themes
Constitutional principle over personal opinion or tribal loyalty
The necessity of rigorous fact-checking, even of respected intellectual figures
Historical origins of Islamic fundamentalism and the dangers of misattributing them
Trump's unprincipled, mercurial leadership style as a legitimate factor in war analysis
The long-term unreliability of pragmatic deals with communist regimes
The rule of law as the foundation of capitalism and human prosperity
Capitalist Thought of the Day
"To live in a capitalist society requires one very important thing: the rule of law, not of men. People who start businesses, people who produce, need solidity. They need to understand what their world is all about, and the way they understand that is through clear, clean law, property protections, and rights protections. That is what has contributed to the incredible state of innovation, progress, and wealth accumulation that has brought the world out of poverty: respect for law and individual rights. That is the system capitalism endorses, a system of laws, not of men. Through that solidity, we are able to innovate and produce, keep what we own, and become rich. Not just the people at the very top, but also those producing at the bottom of the economic rungs. For those people, being at the bottom is just a temporary space. They always move up if they are allowed to, and in a capitalist society, they would be free to." - Mark