El Mencho Killing IGNITES Narco War & Newsom's 960 SAT Speech | PBD #744
February 23, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readEl Mencho Killing Ignites Narco War, Iran on the Brink, and Newsom's 960 SAT
The Fall of El Mencho and the Chaos That Followed
Mexican authorities killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), in a military operation over the weekend. El Mencho was a former local police officer who had been arrested in the United States in the 1990s on drug charges before being deported back to Mexico. His cartel, which broke away from the Sinaloa cartel in the early 2000s, became dominant through synthetic drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. The U.S. had placed a $10 million bounty on his head.
What followed his death was immediate and violent. Criminal groups burned cars and trucks to block roads across the country. Explosions erupted in Puerto Vallarta, a resort city on Mexico's Pacific coast. Videos showed fires burning across the city, panicked civilians running through airports, and a Costco filled with frightened shoppers. Cartel members attacked police stations and engaged in firefights with security forces. The brutality of the cartel was on full display in videos circulating online—one showed a man tied to a tree, still alive, as cartel members cut open his chest and removed his heart.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:26) **Episode Kickoff & Mexico Narco Crisis** - Hosts introduce the chaos in Mexico following the killing of cartel leader El Mencho, framing it as a potential parallel to Iran.
- 2 (15:51) **Mexico: Narco-State Analysis & Iran Parallel** - Panel debates whether Mexico is a narco-state and uses the El Mencho killing as a cautionary tale for potential US action in Iran.
- 3 (31:40) **Iran Escalation & Student Protests** - The panel shifts to Iran, analyzing student protests, military buildup, and the likelihood of a US strike.
- 4 (48:02) **Iran: Succession & Strategy Debate** - The panel debates the risks of removing Iran's leadership, focusing on the lack of a clear successor versus the Iranian people's desire for change.
- 5 (61:27) **Tariffs & Supreme Court Ruling** - The panel covers Trump's tariff increase to 15% after the Supreme Court struck down his previous executive order.
- 6 (82:32) **US Hockey Gold Medal Win** - A celebratory segment on the US men's hockey team winning gold against Canada, with emotional moments honoring a fallen teammate.
- 7 (89:31) **Gavin Newsom's SAT Speech & California Woes** - The panel criticizes Governor Newsom for a pandering speech to a Black audience and a reporter's tough questioning of the LA mayor.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Patrick Bet-David, Tom Ellsworth, Adam Sosnick, and Vincent Oshana break down cartel riots following El Mencho’s killing, Gavin Newsom’s controversial “960 SAT” speech, Iran’s potential collapse, Trump’s tariff clash with SCOTUS, Mamdani’s snow photo-ID policy, and Mar-a-Lago shooting updates.
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Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
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