Global Power Plays, Winter Chaos, and the Human Side of Sports

Good Morning. This Is The Morning Rundown. Hope your coffee's strong Because, uh, The headlines definitely are. Yeah, buckle up. Today Weree looking at Trumpss new hardline on Iran, Gaza, And Syria. What A tougher, more America-first posture actually looks Like compared to Bidenss hesitation. Right, And what That could mean For real People on The ground, Not just diplomats In fancy rooms. Exactly. Then We shift to weather And public safety, East Coast winter Storms, rare Georgia snow, And That Austrian avalanche as A reminder That nature doesn't care about your weekend plans. Plus, Welll get into how The media's framing A January 6th-linked march In Minneapolis, And The Hit-and-run death of actress Kiana Underwood as, honestly, A tough conversation about basic responsibility. Actions have consequences. Thatss A theme Today. Even In sports, Seahawks 49ers, Broncos Bills, Frank Crumss Big man touchdown, And what all That chaos says about Coaching And Discipline. And Welll close With Air Force coach Joe Scottss suspension And That wild Everest North Face ski descent, where risk, rules, And Personal grit all collide. So, um, Letss get into It. Politics And global affairs up First. Trump, The Middle East, And what A more transactional America really means, After This. Okay, So over basically One weekend, Trump tried to reset half The world. Iran, Gaza, Syria, And Even Trade With Europe. Big swing. Yeah, This was Like A foreign policy blitz. Letss start With Iran And Gaza. Then Welll hit Syria. Right. Trumpss calling openly For new leadership In Iran, backing protesters And dissidents. And at The Same time, Hess very publicly clashing With Netanyahu over The U.S.-Gaza plan. Which Is wild, Because People assume Trump And Netanyahu are always perfectly aligned. Exactly. Under Biden, You got A lot of caution, A lot of, Weree consulting With partners. With Trump, Itss more, Heress The deal, take It or leave It. That changes USS. leverage. Yeah, Bidenss team leaned into process And multilateralism. Trump Is signaling, Illl Support You, But I expect something concrete back, Whether Thatss on Iran containment, hostages, or Gaza governance. And With Iran, Hess Not dancing around regime change. Hess basically saying, This government Is The problem, Not just Its behavior. Thatss A harder Line than what we've seen For years. Right. That ups The psychological pressure. It tells The Iranian leadership, you're Not just negotiating sanctions, your own survival Is on The table. But David, Walk This out. For People listening on their commute, what does harder Line actually mean In The region? So practically, It can mean tighter sanctions, more visible USS. Support For Iranian opposition, And A closer hug With Israel And Sunni states on intel And missile defense. And In Gaza, A clash With Netanyahu over The USS. plan says, Weree your ally, But Weree Not your doormat. Trump may Be more willing to publicly pressure Israel If He thinks they're dragging their feet on an endgame. Which, honestly, A lot of DCC. insiders said he'd never Do. But Hess very transactional. If You want weapons, UNN. cover, money, He wants movement. Exactly. Itss classic America First, But In foreign policy. Benefits have to Be visible to USS. voters, Not just foreign elites. Some People hear That And Go, Oh, Hess destabilizing everything. Others say, Finally, someone making allies carry more of The load. Yeah, And Whether You Like him or Not, allies are clearly taking It seriously. Which brings US to Syria. Syria never really went away. It just fell off The front page. Exactly. Youvee got Syrian regime forces pushing into Kurdish-held areas In The northeast, where USS. troops And Kurdish fighters have been The backbone against ISIS. And Washington Is out there saying, Show restraint, Which, You know, doesn't Exactly scare anybody. No. Thatss diplomacy speak For Please don't Do This, without backing It up. A more muscular Trump posture would look very different. Spell That out. So more muscular could mean visible USS. patrols pushing closer to The Line, flying jets Low And often, maybe Even taking out equipment If Syrian or Iranian-backed militias test US. Like, hit A convoy, Not A capital. Exactly. Limited, targeted strikes That say, If You threaten our People or our Kurdish partners, You pay immediately. And Less patient? Less patient means Fewer warnings, shorter diplomatic run-up. Under Biden, You usually see Several statements, UNN. chatter, back-channel calls. Under Trump, historically, You got something closer to, rocket hits A USS. base, 48 hours later, their commander's car blows up. The Soleimani playbook. Yep. And That sticks In The heads of Iran, Assad, everybody. They have to assume He might actually Do It again. Theress risk there, though. One bad strike, One miss Id, And suddenly Youvee got A bigger War. Exactly. Imm Not sugarcoating It. But from A deterrence standpoint, clear red lines Plus credible follow-through Do tend to reduce The gray zone harassment. So For everyday folks here, what should They watch For This week That tells US Which way This Is going? Two things. One, In Syria, watch For reports of any direct contact. USS. troops blocking Syrian forces or new airstrikes. Thatlll Show Whether Trump Is just talking tough or actually shifting posture. OK. Two, In The wider region, watch how Iran responds to The new leadership talk. Do They test The USS. With more proxy attacks? Or Do They Go quiet And focus on internal crackdowns? Markets And oil prices will react fast If This escalates. And on Israel And Gaza, Idd say, listen For leaks. If Israeli officials start anonymously complaining about USS. pressure, That probably means Trump really Is using The aid And diplomatic cover as leverage. Yeah. And If You start hearing more about Gulf states quietly coordinating With Washington, Thatss another hint of A new, harder Line on Iran behind The scenes. Big picture. All of This sends A signal. Under Trump, deals are conditional. Support Is conditional. If you're an ally or an adversary, You don't get to Coast. And Thatss A Shock to A lot of The foreign policy establishment That got comfortable With The old, predictable patterns. Whether you're cheering That or nervous about It, Itss The reality Youvee got to understand For The next few years. Absolutely. All Right. Thatss The global storm setting up overseas. After The break, Letss talk about The literal Storms, those back-to-back winter systems, The Arctic blast, And why Even Georgia might see snow. Plus, what actually matters For getting to work or school This week. And A Hard reminder from That fatal avalanche In Austria. Stay With US. Okay, confession time. I checked my weather app before I Even checked our Show notes. Same. Itss Like Iran, Gaza, Syria. But First, Do I need snow boots? Right. So, um, East Coast folks. Two back-to-back winter systems Plus an Arctic blast. Who actually needs to care This Morning? If you're from DCC. up through Boston, pay attention. Today into tomorrow. Messy commutes, Not apocalypse. Think slushy snow, Some ice, Then That bitter Cold snaps In behind It. So more leave ten minutes Early, Not raid The grocery store For six days of bread. Exactly. Main things, charge your phone, have gas In The car, scrape your windshield before You hit The highway instead of while driving Like A maniac. Low bar, But needed. Also, check school alerts. A lot of districts will Do delayed start instead of full closures, especially With temps diving After The snow. And Georgia. People are freaking out about Southern snow. Is That hype? A little of both. North Georgia, Atlanta suburbs, could see A quick hit of snow or ice. Not huge totals, But remember, The South isn't built For This. Bridges freeze faster, Fewer plows, drivers Less used to It. So, If You can work from home down there, maybe take The hint. Yeah, And If You have to drive, keep It Slow, leave way more distance. Black ice Is sneaky. Big picture. This goes With what We Were saying last SEGMENT. You can't control global events, But You can control your own prep. Totally. And nature does Not care about your schedule. Which brings US to Austria. Yeah. Deadly avalanche In The Alps. Several skiers killed, Some injured. Authorities say parts of The area Were at A high avalanche risk level. This Is One of those bluebird day tragedies. Fresh snow, gorgeous views, People on vacation, And Then A slab of snow Lets Go, And Thatss It. Do We know yet If They Were off-piste or inbounds? Early reports say A mix. Some Near marked runs, Some In more backcountry type terrain. But either way, If The bulletin says considerable or high avalanche danger, Thatss Not fine print. Thatss The headline. Right. Personal responsibility kicks In. No mountain Is worth ignoring The risk board. And If you're headed to any ski resort This winter, Even In The USS., just Do The basics. Read The avalanche report. Hire A guide If you're going off-trail. Wear A beacon. Tell People your plan. And don't Let The group's bravest skier make The safety calls. Yes. Confidence Is Not A safety credential. All Right. From physical Storms to social ones. Minneapolis had A January 6th linked march That ended With A little scuffle. Walk US through what actually happened. So This was A pro-Trump January 6th themed demonstration downtown. Mostly peaceful marching, speeches, flags. Near The end, Theress A confrontation With A small group of counter-protesters. Some shoving, cops step In. One arrest, minor injuries, nothing Like 2021. If You just see The headlines, Itss January 6th march turns chaotic. Exactly. Some outlets lean Hard into That framing. Others barely mention The scuffle And say It was unfairly targeted Because of The Politics. And look, A lot of People on The Right feel Like When Itss our protest, every tense moment Is national news. When Itss, say, A left-leaning march That gets out of hand, Itss Mostly peaceful And buried. Yeah, I get That frustration. Media Absolutely picks And chooses Which clips to loop. But— But at The Same time, I don't want every street demonstration turned into A culture War scene. scorecard. Most People Who Show up, on either side, aren't out there to brawl. True. Still, If prosecutors In Some cities Go soft on One kind of riot And throw The book at another, People notice. Thatss where The two-tiered system feeling comes from. For sure. I just Think We can hold both ideas. Yes, apply The law evenly. And Also, stop pretending every protest You disagree With Is One step from Civil War. Yeah. Makes sense. And speaking of how fast normal Life can tilt, The Hit-and-run That killed former Nickelodeon star Keanu Underwood. Yeah, That One hurt. Shess 32, mom, reportedly crossing The street, gets struck, driver keeps going. Itss just brutal. You Go from errands, or dinner, whatever, to gone In seconds Because someone couldn't Be bothered to stop. Police are Still looking For The vehicle. This Is where accountability really matters. Hit-and-run isn't A mistake. Itss A choice. And road safety isn't partisan. Put your phone down, Slow down Near crosswalks, And If, God forbid, something happens, You Stay. You call 911. You render aid. Also, If You see something, speak up. A dented car In A neighbor's driveway? Dashcam footage? These cases often break Because regular People share info. I keep thinking about her kid, her family, And how many families get That Same call And never make headlines Because they're Not famous. Exactly. Itss A reminder That what We Do With Two tons of metal on The road Is A moral choice every day. Alright, Letss Not doom People completely. Yeah, Letss end on something A little lighter, But Still intense In Its own way. Coming up next, Weree hitting The weekend In sports. Seahawks Niners, Broncos Bills, Some wild moments, And One very unexpected touchdown. Plus A coach Under investigation, And an Everest descent Thatss honestly as gripping as anything We talked about Today. Stay With US. Alright, Letss land This thing on something A little lighter And A little epic. Playoff weekend, David. Seahawks Niners, Broncos Bills. It felt intense. Yeah, It Finally felt Like real January football. Cold, physical, coaches getting exposed A bit too. Exactly. Seahawks 49ers First. The Niners just looked grown up. Like Thatss A program That knows Who It Is. Disciplined, No panic. You could see The difference In Coaching. Shanahan had answers. Seattle looked scrappy, But Also kind of frantic. Mm-hmm. And Under That Playoff pressure, those little details Show. Third down calls, clock management, tackling. Itss Like what We talked about With The avalanche piece. You don't respect The risk, You pay For It. Right. In playoffs, The margin For error Is tiny. You could see San Francisco winning on preparedness And toughness as much as talent. Broncos Bills was The wild One, though. That game felt Like chaos In A Good way. Controlled chaos. Denver came In With That scrappy, nothing-to-lose energy. Buffalo Still looked Like A team carrying A few years of heartbreak on Its back. Yeah, You could feel That tightness. And Then out of nowhere, Frank Crum. A lineman catching his First career pass For A touchdown? Come on. It was great. Big guy rumbling into The end zone, The sideline going nuts. Thatss The stuff You can't script. And It instantly went viral, obviously. Big man touchdowns always Do. But This felt extra wholesome, Like The universe tossing Broncos fans A little treat. And It says something about Denverss mindset. You call That play In A huge game. You're saying, Weree prepared, We trust our guys, And Weree Not scared. Thatss culture. Exactly. And on The flip side, With Buffalo, I just kept thinking, This Is what happens When The pressure gets In your head. Mistakes, frustration, bad body language. Yeah, That mental side matters. You can talk analytics all day, But at Some point Itss leadership, Personal responsibility, And guys doing their job When Itss loud And ugly. Thatss why I Like January Football. It exposes who's actually Disciplined, And who's been kind of coasting on talent. And It sets The tone For next week. The teams That advance look Like They earned It. No freebies. Alright, quick pivot, Because This connects In A tougher way. Air Force basketball And coach Joe Scott getting suspended while They investigate how players Were treated. Yeah, So Air Force puts him on leave, brings In an outside law firm, says there are concerns about treatment of players. We don't have all The details yet. And Thatss important. We really don't. So, on One hand, I Like That Weree Finally asking, Whatss happening behind The scenes With these kids? Same. You don't want abuse hiding Under The old school toughen up label. But, And This matters, due process has to Be real, Not just A PR move. Right. You can care about player welfare And Still say, Let The facts Come out before We cancel The guy's Life. Exactly. A military academy especially should care about Two things at once, standards And accountability. If something bad happened, fix It fast. If Not, clear his name And move on. And Idd love to see US get back to A healthier idea of toughness. Demanding, Yes. Humiliating And cruel, No. Theress A Line. Itss Like We said In The last SEGMENT about That Minneapolis march And Media framing. Slow down, get context. Don't Let One headline define The whole story. Okay, from basketball to Everest, Because This last story might Be my favorite of The week. Same. One climber takes on The North Face of Everest, Which Is already insane, And Then becomes The First person to ski It top to bottom. Yeah, And He wasn't just chasing A record. He lost A close friend In The mountains, And instead of walking away, He turns That grief into This focused, Disciplined mission. Thatss The part That sticks With me. He trained For years, obsessing over every route choice, every snow condition, Because One mistake up there Is It. No second chances. And After all The doom scrolling, War clips, political fights, whatever algorithm drama, A story Like That just cuts through. Itss One guy saying, Life Is Hard. Imm Still going to Do something beautiful And brutally difficult. Itss responsibility again, honestly. Hess Not blaming The world. Hess Not Demanding That The mountain Be safe. Hess saying, This Is dangerous. Imm going anyway, And Illl own That risk. Yeah, And You don't have to ski Everest to live That way. It could Be fixing your finances, getting healthy, repairing A relationship, just deciding, Imm Not A victim Today. So as We head into The next Playoff round, Thatss The through Line For me. The teams That advance, Discipline, And composure. The Everest guy, Same thing, just With more snow And Fewer referees. Fewer terrible calls, hopefully, But I love That. Toughness With purpose. And A little Hope. Even After Some of The darker stuff We covered Today, there are People out there doing Hard things The Right way. So maybe Thatss The challenge For Today. Be A little more Like those Playoff teams That kept their heads, or That climber Who turned loss into something meaningful. Imm With You. One small, courageous choice. Thatss It. All Right. Thatss The Morning Rundown. Go Be safe on those icy roads, enjoy The games, And maybe find your own Little Everest. Welll see You tomorrow. All Right. Thatss It For The Morning Rundown Today. If You remember One thing, Itss This. Trumpss here's-the-deal-take-it-or-leave-it foreign policy means friends And enemies. No USS. Support Is conditional. Not guaranteed. Right. And That has real stakes, from Iran to those Limited, targeted strikes We talked about In Syria. Itss tougher, more transactional. And You know, voters need to decide If That Makes America stronger. Exactly. If This helped You cut through The noise, hit follow, subscribe, And drop A quick review. It really does help more People find US. And send This episode to That One friend Who always argues foreign policy In The group chat. Thanks For starting your day With US. Welll see You tomorrow.