Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
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Grant is an AP Award-winning journalist with over a decade of on-the-ground reporting on the biggest political stories, scandals, and elections in America. Twice a week, he takes the stories dominating the headlines and breaks them down in plain English — no jargon, no spin, no shouting.
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Make It Make Sense with Grant Hermes
Trump Signed Iran's "Deal" at Versailles And JD Vance Is Already the Fall Guy
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Trump gave his longest speech since the State of the Union at a press conference in Paris, then flew to the Palace of Versailles to sign the Iran memorandum of understanding.
For those keeping score at home: Versailles is where Germany signed its humiliating defeat at the end of World War I, the document widely credited with planting the seeds of World War II.
The White House finally released the 14-section MOU. Grant goes through what's actually in it versus what JD Vance has been claiming on his wall-to-wall media tour. The short version: Iran keeps its enriched uranium stockpile, the Strait of Hormuz will now be jointly controlled by Iran and Oman (charging fees for access that used to be free), and the $300 billion reconstruction fund is in the document despite Trump calling it "entirely false."
At $187 billion spent to reach this agreement, the deal is 144 times more expensive than the Obama Iran deal Trump ripped up in 2018, which cost $1.3 billion and achieved many of the same things.
Then there's JD Vance, who has been the lead negotiator, the lead spokesperson, and is now being set up as the lead fall guy. If the deal collapses in the next 60 days, it's Vance who takes the blame. If it succeeds, Trump takes the glory. Grant breaks down why Trump privately mocks Vance, pits him against Rubio, and can't stand the idea of a successor, including how he felt about his own son.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 JD Vance's very bad week and the soft launch of his 2028 campaign
1:30 Sponsor: SaySo News
2:45 Trump's Paris speech: longest time on camera in months, and he struggled to finish it
5:00 Why signing the MOU at the Palace of Versailles is a massive historical red flag
6:30 What's actually in the 14-section MOU: blockade, forces, and de-mining 5,000 underwater mines
8:00 Iran and Oman get joint control of the Strait — and the right to charge fees for access that used to be free
9:30 The money: oil sanctions lifted immediately, assets unfrozen, and the $300 billion that Trump says isn't real but is in the document
11:30 John Bolton's warning: how other countries are reading this agreement between the lines
13:00 144 times more expensive than Obama's deal: the full cost breakdown
14:30 The nuclear question: Iran keeps its uranium, inspectors return, and Trump's new position
16:30 JD Vance's media blitz: every network, The View, the NYT, and a new book about his conversion to Catholicism
18:00 Trump undercuts Vance on stage in Paris with the world watching
19:30 Trump privately mocks Vance, polls his allies on Vance vs. Rubio, and calls him "cloying and weird"
21:00 Why Trump can't tolerate a successor: Don Jr., MAGA, and the legacy obsession explained
23:00 If the deal works, Trump gets the glory. If it fails, Vance gets the wolves.
MAKE IT MAKE SENSE SUBSTACK: The Price Of Peace
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