A sharp divide over American foreign policy played out on CNN’s NewsNight Wednesday as Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary squared off against panelist Bakari Sellers over the strategic merits of President Donald Trump’s ongoing military campaign in Iran.
O’Leary, looking at the conflict through a lens of regional stability and American enterprise, offered a bold “guarantee” that the war would end with the critical Strait of Hormuz reopened and a total shift in the global balance of power.
He argued that Trump’s decisive action has effectively cornered the Iranian regime, leaving them with no allies outside of “rogue nations” like Russia and China.
“What Trump has done, whether you like it or you don’t, he’s changed the axis of power there because at the end of the day, this is good for that region,” O’Leary argued. He pointed to the rapid modernization of hubs like Dubai as evidence of the growth potential that could be unlocked across the Middle East once the current threat is neutralized.
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The conversation turned personal when Sellers demanded to know how a war in the Middle East benefits a citizen in “South Carolina, Nebraska, or Ohio.” Sellers grew visibly frustrated as O’Leary attempted to explain the long-term benefits of expanding American trade into high-income jurisdictions.
“We want to do business in growing jurisdictions,” O’Leary explained, noting that the American economy has relied on exporting goods to wealthy markets for two hundred years. “You make stuff in North Carolina. You make stuff in South Carolina. You have to sell it to somebody.”
Sellers was not interested in the “Shark’s” economic forecast, repeatedly interrupting the businessman. “You just said a bunch of nothing,” Sellers claimed, later escalating his rhetoric by telling O’Leary, “You can’t sell me a bunch of BS.”
Despite the 78-day duration of the conflict and the pushback from the panel, O’Leary stood his ground.
He insisted that the path toward a more prosperous American economy is paved by ensuring global trade routes remain open and that U.S. manufacturers have access to the world’s most profitable emerging markets.
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