Transcript of Tuesday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 7/14/2026 New

This has been on breaking news. I'm Ben Myselis and this is your breaking news. We have a lot to discuss. Moments ago, US CENTCOM announced more strikes on Iran. We are currently monitoring what's happening right there. These strikes again appear to be, uh, significant in scope, uh, mostly targeting the, uh, coastal areas in Iran. But we are, you know, certainly seeing an escalation taking place. You know, we'll note that there is a lot of infrastructure being hit that doesn't just always appear to be military infrastructure. We're covering that. Iran's response, we're covering. Yeah, like, for example, water and electricity infrastructure have been hit in Kish, Iran, by the United States. You know, Iran is striking back as well. And You know, there is all-out war taking place right now, uh, in the Middle East. Uh, the latest reporting that we're getting is that, uh, Iran was able to strike a Kuwaiti Navy vessel. Um, the Kuwaiti Army is confirming that Iranian missiles struck a Kuwaiti Naval— Navy vessel. What you're seeing on screen right now is not the naval vessel but another tanker that Iran was able to strike off of Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump claims that the US controls the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday, Trump said a 20% fee, a mafia protection fee, to be paid to the Trump regime, or Donald Trump, who knows, for his protection over the Strait of Hormuz. You see the protection right there, everybody? That's a tanker right there that was loaded up, to leave the Strait of Hormuz, did not use the IRGC route. Iran struck that. By my count, over the past 3 days, Iran has been able to hit somewhere in the range of 5 to 8, tankers and hit them hard. I mean, these are— for those who are listening on audio, I mean, you're seeing a massive tanker sinking right now in the Persian Gulf. Um, and this is what Iran warned that it would do. This is what their Sepah Navy, their IRGC Navy, said they're going to do. Um, should be also be noted that moments ago the blockade by the U.S. officially went into effect. The blockade that was removed from the Memorandum of Understanding, uh, by the MOU is now back in place right now. And Iran has previously stated once that blockade is in effect that they would consider shutting down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea.

It should also be noted, you know, Iran has released photographs of what it is saying are locations that it struck in Bahrain, in Kuwait, in off the coast of Oman, in the UAE, in the surrounding, in the surrounding Arab nations., in Qatar. And so they've released these photographs. And one of the things that has been deeply deacon disconcerting to me, frankly, you know, as, as a reporter trying to find out the objective damn facts for all of you and, and report on it is, you know, we'll see these Iranian strikes, then we'll see video often of the Iranian strikes hitting the targets. That it claims it's striking, whether again that's in Jordan or Kuwait or Bahrain or Qatar or wherever, then we'll get a message out from CENTCOM or one of the Arab nations that says, actually, what you saw may have been debris and the Iranian missiles were actually all stopped and the Iranian drones were all stopped. And then we see the satellite footage and then Trump denies it and CENTCOM denies it, but I see the satellite footage and I, trust me, I don't want to be like, Tasnim News Agency is showing me this and that's more reliable than what I'm seeing from Senka.

That's a hard thing. But more often than not, these satellite footage images appear to then be legit. We then learn about what's happened as we did during the first 40-day war. And I'll show you what we're seeing. Like, I'll show you this over in— this was in Jordan. And what appears to be in this video is some of these US Patriot interceptors stop working after, after some of the initial strikes. And it appears to be showing, you know, Iran successfully hitting targets in Jordan. I'll just, I'll just show you here. Let's play this clip.

Now, uh, you take a look at the markets today, and I take a look at them to see what's going on. I mean, how we, we, we have the most unstable geopolitical environment imaginable with the strikes taking place in the Middle East and the full-fledged war there, a full-fledged war taking place right now with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There's been massive strikes on Odessa and Kyiv today, and Ukraine's been striking back, hitting these Russian vessels and striking deep within Russia and hitting refineries there. Uh, you know, you would think, you know, okay, well, what's going on with the market? Well, you know, there was a cooler than expected inflation reading today because of the memorandum of understanding, which caused the markets to rise because inflation dropped. That's a good thing. We want inflation to drop. I know when there is a good inflation report, when you report objectively, you say good, that's a good thing. But that can mean relief, except we've just escalated the war again and now gas prices are going back up to $4. And if you look at our strategic reserves, they're being depleted. And if you look at the price of crude, it's now past $80.

And so you have this utter and total chaos where, wow, and it's psychological torture to people. They're like, got it. Are we heading in the right direction? There's one day, maybe, maybe, maybe. Then it's like, no, there's a massive escalation taking place. And so that's where we're at right now. I want to bring in Scott McFarland, who leads the Midas Touch Washington Bureau. And I want to see what's going on on Capitol Hill, because what I just described there in the first 7 minutes are deeply serious things that you would hope a group of serious people in Congress would be addressing the serious issues that are happening. Like, I don't know, Scott, um, the idea of an authorization for use of force, War Powers Resolution, literally the constitutional function of what Congress is supposed to be doing. But what's actually going on on Capitol Hill now that Congress has finally returned after 2 weeks of not working yet again?

Oh, it's like pin the tail on the donkey. They're wearing the blindfolds and they've been spun around several times and have no idea what direction they're walking in. Two big things, Ben. First of all, they've got to spend $88 billion in taxpayer money to offset the bills incurred so far in this war and whatever lies ahead. That's how much the Pentagon says it needs, and it needs it soon. So they got to figure out what to do about that. And they're all kinds of jammed up on their must-pass annual defense authorization bill. They do it every year. Usually it's pretty bipartisan, pretty smooth. They can't figure out where they're going with that right now because of Iran. Democrats are not lining up behind the plan. The Republican votes are hard to find. They're down Mitch McConnell. This is a, this is a dizzying affair here in Washington. It's as if we're not in the middle of a, a time of war where usually there's a focus and a singularity of purpose.

You know, I saw a MAGA Mike Johnson press conference where yet again he seemed— he was working 22 hours, he said, so he was too busy to learn about more ICE killings. He was also too busy apparently to actually address a war authorization or anything like that. All he seemed to want to talk about was we need money because there's communism on our shore. And so Pete Hegseth needs money to attack the communists in the United States. That's what I heard at his press conference, Scott.

I heard the 22 hours reference. You know, I, I, we sit through a lot of these leadership press conferences in Washington. Let me tell you, Ben, it's like the least favorite part of the week is sitting through a leadership press conference because you get 95% of oration of talking points and you get one or two questions and you get nowhere. It's like banging your head against a wall. Him saying he works 22 hours a day is a poor read of the room, the internal room and the external room. He doesn't have a manual labor job, so your work hours are not going to be sympathetic. Secondly, his members want him to lead them in a direction, and his 22-hour workday has not gotten them focused down a path towards actually making law. They are lost, even by congressional standards, even by modern-day congressional standards. Doesn't bode well for getting munitions restockpiled. Doesn't bode well for getting foreign aid, whatever remains of it, out the door, and all the other things those $88 billion are to pay for.

Now, tomorrow you have a Todd Blanch confirmation hearing. Um, I spoke to Senator Schiff and released that interview. One of the things that struck me is, you know, Schiff's like, maybe I get 10 minutes to ask him questions. Like, so for me, you know, I'm like, what would I need to do a thorough deposition of Todd Blanch as a former litigator? I said probably 2 to 3 days of 6 hours each day in a deposition to address conflicts of interest, to adjust the— to address the January 6th, uh, slush fund, to address, uh, the Epstein files. 10 minutes even by itself sounds utterly absurd. But what else are you hearing about this hearing?

I can confirm, according to my latest reporting, each senator gets one turn and only one turn. And yes, there'll be a 10-minute timer that will buzz when they're done and they'll be cut off. It's already going to be a prolonged affair. There's all kinds of opening speeches that eat up time and inform us not whatsoever. So they're going to be strict about the 10-minute timing. 12 Republicans, 10 Democrats— I should say 11 Republicans, sadly now without Lindsey Graham's seat being filled— and 10 Democrats. And they get just one crack at this. 10 minutes, maybe that even sounds longer than it is. It takes you longer to make a grilled cheese or take a decent catnap than 10 minutes affords you. And Todd Blanch has shown himself to be uniquely effective, Ben, especially in May during his most recent questioning, at filling gaps, filling time, kind of an informal filibuster. He can take a simple question and make lots of a meal out of it. There was this moment in May Chris Van Hollen asked Todd Blanchard at an Appropriations Committee hearing whether he'd met with the Epstein survivors. Have you met with them? He turned that answer of no into 2 minutes of talking that was just burning through Van Hollen's time.

And Van Hollen tried to continue to reclaim his time, and Blanchard would interject then, making it all disjointed. And even in the best of circumstances, Ben, congressional hearing is the last place you want to go, like the last place to hear coherent, logical questions and answers. It's not a courtroom, it's not a deposition. This one's going to be a free-for-all.

And then you have— it seems that the Trump regime's top priority is, I guess, lying about the reflecting pool. I saw the reflecting pool. I mean, it's like, with everything that's going on right now, I, I bring it up not because— and I, I know this is why you cover it— not because we want to talk about reflecting It's because it is showing where priorities are versus where the American people want their priorities to be. And then it also, to me— and I'll get your take— for me, it also shows if you're gonna lie and say that there is a 300-yard gash, 3 football fields in length, in this reflecting pool, and that that's what vandals did, then you will literally lie about anything. And you do. You lie about the pretext of war. You lie about $19.1 trillion. You know, to me, it also just shows that everything, everything is— where you look, you've covered this for a long time, Scott. You've covered politicians, you know, for a very long time. We know they spin. We know they exaggerate, but usually— and I'm not for that, but it's usually within a realm of a reality, not a completely alternative universe.

And I want to hear your take on the Reflecting Pool. But for me, it's like that, then the $19.1 trillion that they claim they brought in from all of these Arab nations, which we know they didn't bring in 19.2 trillion. The whole thing is made up while our debt is rising. I saw $3.5 trillion added to our debt this year. The deficit increases and they go $19.2 trillion. Okay, well, if you got $19.2 trillion, why are you doing— why do you need reconciliation 3.0? Why do you need— you have $19.2 trillion. Why are you even doing any of this?

If you could indulge me, for those who can watch, put that image back up on the screen of what the reflecting pool looks like right now. That looks freaking dystopian. It's gone. It's been drained again. They're going to have to find some way to fix it. It's not U.S. flag blue, clearly. It's back to some concrete color. And I'll tell you, Ben, uh, Scott McFarland reports is at the reflecting pool tonight. I'll show you what it looks like up close and personal. It's not an issue we were caring about months ago, but Trump thrust this issue upon us by saying it's a priority that only he can fix. And he has done damage to this pool. He has not fixed it. And here's the thing, Historic preservationists sued trying to stop that work, predicting he was going to damage it because he didn't have the right experts, didn't have the right systems or studies in place. And they were prophetic. He has— they've got to fix it again, but the plaintiffs are suing again trying to get the work to stop, saying he's using the same contractor, the same system, and he still hasn't brought scientists and experts in to make sure further damage isn't done.

But it's all metaphorical, isn't it, Ben? It's representative of something Trump has put his fingerprints on declaratively that has gotten worse under his watch. Watch out for a couple other vanity projects that are larger in scope and size than even the reflecting pool. The monumental arch is going to overshadow the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. It's going to block out the sun of those two places if and when it's built. And in September, I'm told, the Trump sycophantic administrators are going to greenlight that project. And there is the matter of the White House ballroom. It looks like a bomb went off next to the White House. It looks awful, and there's no guarantee that thing's going to be any improved from the prior version. All of this costs taxpayer money, and all of this is now being infiltrated by Trump lies. A 300-foot vandal's gash underwater— unless Aquaman has an alibi, and a very effective box cutter. There's no way to carve 3 football fields in length beneath water at all. It's just bonkers on its face.

I don't even know as a human being, like, how you can lie like that. Like, I mean, like, and how it then gets kind of normalized in the dis— I mean, just think about this. Trump was saying 250 feet, then he goes 300 yards, Then, then $19.1 trillion, this and that. In a little bit, I'm going to bring on Justin Wolfers, who just joined the Midas Touch Network, because I want to get some of this economic data. You know, you're bringing me inside how Trump's manipulations are, you know, impacting the, you know, what's going on in DC and Capitol. Justin's going to talk about, you know, the inflation report, what we're seeing, you know, over there. But before we go, Scott, I want to remind everybody to subscribe to Scott McFarland Reports, your YouTube channel. It's had meteoric growth. Um, since you joined the Midas Touch Network, Scott, anything you want to say before you head out to our subscribers? And again, everybody, make sure you subscribe to Scott McFarland Reports on YouTube. Search that in the YouTube search. Scott, before we go, anything else you want to say?

It's an awful lot of reporters in Washington, but there's not nearly enough, and certainly not nearly enough to cover Trump 2.0. The goal of Trump 2.0 is to flood the zone so intensely that some of the scandals get missed and some of the erosion of democracy goes unseen. We are going to fight against that together, all of us. Me, Ben, Justin's on the team now. That's fantastic. And the Midas Mighty, we are going to check all of this crap to make sure you're aware of what's going on.

I just want to show our audience this side by side right here. Scott McFarland, Justin Wolfers, the Midas Mighty, Team America, ready to deliver the truth, the facts. And Scott, we appreciate you. Justin, when we come back, we got to learn about what's going on right now in the economy. How this war escalation may impact future readings when it comes to inflation. Just when we thought, okay, okay, a decent read, gas is going back up to $4 a gallon, it appears. And, you know, we'll get into that. Scott, thank you. Justin, we're going to take a quick break. Midas Touch Network 2.0. There it goes. We'll be right back after this first quick break. Look, if you're in this community, you're paying attention, you know what's happening, and a lot of what's happening, it's directly affecting your Medicare. Plans are being discontinued, premiums are going up, and the broker you might have talked to probably pushing Medicare Advantage plans even if they aren't right for you. That's why I want you to know about Chapter. They're the only advisors who compare every Medicare plan in the country. Thousands of people from this community have already used them.

One viewer, Kevin in Florida, is saving $2,100 a year. Another, Steven, finally has a plan that covers his dialysis. And for the Midas Mighty, a call with chapter is free and takes just 20 minutes. So if you're on the right plan, they'll tell you, and if not, they'll help you find a plan that fits your needs. I want you to know that We've gotten such incredible feedback from the Midas Mighty about Chapter. Frankly, it is overwhelming, the positivity that is out there for Chapter. And so I'm so glad to be affiliated with it. I'm so glad you're all having great experiences. So call 82 Medicare today to speak with Chapter. That is 82 Medicare. And feel confident in your Medicare coverage.

One thing I love about summer is how easy everything feels. The days are a little more relaxed and I find myself reaching for the same comfortable go-anywhere pieces again and again. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on well-made essentials that naturally become those everyday staples you actually live in all season long. Quince's 100% European linen pants and shirts are breathable, easy to throw on, and the summer upgrade your rotation needs, starting at just $34. Their tees are soft enough to live in all day and the lightweight cotton sweaters are exactly what you want when summer nights cool down. Everything at Quince is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you're paying for exceptional quality and not the brand markup. The Quince linen shirt has been my go-to all summer, and I know you're going to love it too. And it's not just clothing. Quince has become trusted favorite for everything from home to travel to everyday essentials. Make your summer wardrobe easier Go to quince.com/mitis for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada too.

That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E, dot com slash mitis for free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com/mitis.

If you're anything like me, a lot of the information you take in every day doesn't come from sitting down and reading a report. It comes from conversations, interviews, meetings, phone calls, and discussions with people who know something you don't. The problem is those conversations move fast and it's easy to forget an important detail later. That's exactly why I've been using Plaud. Plaud creates these AI-powered wearable devices that help capture, organize, and recall information from real-world conversations and moments. So whether it's an interview, a meeting, a phone call, or just a voice memo, it captures the details while you stay focused on the conversation. Afterward, everything is searchable, organized, and easy to reference. It supports transcription in 112 languages, is trusted by more than 2 million users worldwide, and is built with enterprise-grade privacy and compliance standards. I have the Plaud Notepin S here. It's a small wearable device that follows me throughout the day. So whether I'm preparing for the show, discussing breaking news, or organizing thoughts between recordings, it lets me capture important details without constantly reaching for my phone. It's made my workflow a lot easier because I can stay engaged in conversation instead of worrying about taking notes.

And it even helps me with the basic stuff I'm bad at, like remembering people's names. Say I'm in a meeting and a lot of people I just met are speaking. It'll organize all the information. I can easily look up who was who, remind myself of the action items, so I could actually be present in the moment and be sure that none of the information discussed gets away from me, because I could always look it up later. And there's a bunch of ways to wear it. There's a magnetic pin, a clip, a lanyard to wear as a necklace like the one I have on now, a wristband. It's super cool and so helpful. If your day is driven by conversations, interviews, analysis, and staying informed, Plaud helps make sure nothing important gets lost. Get up to 20% off with code MIDAS at plaud.ai/midas. That's P-L-A-U-D dot A-I slash MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S.

Thank you to all of our sponsors. Keep supporting this show, support our sponsors. All right, Justin Wolfers joining the Midas Touch Network, and Midas Touch entering into a strategic partnership with Platypus Economics. That's Justin's YouTube channel. Everybody subscribe to Platypus Economics, search for that on YouTube. You'll get Justin's takes and you'll get his takes here on the Midas Touch Network. And, um, you know, look, I think this partnership that we're doing is so important right now to help, especially, you know, especially right now because there's volatility, there's confusion. You know, there was today a— let's be real. I mean, it was a— it was a good— I just because it's Trump, I don't say everything's bad. We want inflation to go down. So when you have a cooler than expected report, We acknowledge that's a good thing. However, you pointed out that that is still relative to other countries, the US inflation versus these other G7 countries. We still have the highest inflation. It's still higher than when Trump came into office and his whole promise he was going to lower it. And now, you know, this was obviously inspired— this happened because of the memorandum of understanding.

And now that the war has escalated, we're already back up to $80 a barrel right now of crude, which, by the way, is different than a refinery price, which is an important thing. But in terms of the price at the pump, we're dealing with $4 right now. So talk to us about the report. But to me, it just shows you how finally, finally, could it be heading? No, it's not. And by the way, Warsh seemed to recognize that in his testimony as well today.

Yeah, um, first of all, love the shout out from my brother Scott, so I want to send one back to Scott. What a joy it is to be appearing next to Scott and to you, brother Ben. Appreciate you, mate. Um, look, big news day today. Um, the inflation report just came out. Infla— this is particularly important right now because inflation is the absolutely dominant macroeconomic phenomenon for thinking about the future of monetary policy. And it was, as Ben described, very good news. Um, Now we need to be very careful and thoughtful how we talk about any economic number. So the numbers came in a little lower than we had anticipated, suggesting inflation's a little weaker than most people on Wall Street and throughout the economy had expected. So that's the very good news. I feel more optimistic about the future today than I did last night, but I also want to pan back. Headline inflation is still 3.5%. Even when you strip out energy, it's still 2.6%, well above the Fed's target. So this is a case where the number itself, the level, it's still pretty unhappy. It's still a problem. We're in an inflation moment right now and there may be more inflation just to come, but it's less bad than we'd previously thought.

That's the subtlety to bear in mind. And then, you know, looking, there are deep questions about what's going on. So first of all, we all know there's a lot going on in Iran. We know that that drives oil markets. We know that oil markets drive energy markets. And that's a big part of what happened today. Which is energy prices are high, but they fell from being extremely high when we were at war. So this was basically the payoff to the ceasefire. The problem, of course, is that today the ceasefire is over, which suggests that this positive force is going to go away and we're going to see a return of higher energy prices, higher gas prices, and probably higher headline inflation again over the next few weeks. But Ben, there's a ton to discuss here.

Right.

You know, but what's fascinating to me to try to understand is we, we don't just have escalation, all out— let's call all-out regional war in the Middle East because we're seeing Iran respond by striking other Arab nations. You have Saudi Arabia striking the Houthis within Yemen. You have the Houthis striking back at Saudi Arabia. You have again, the entire region, right? And then you, you look a little further on the map and you see escalation with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. You see Ukraine developing these capabilities now with their long-range FP-1, FP-2, FP-5s, whether it's the Flamingos or the FP-1 long range, to hit those refineries deep, 3,000 kilometers deep, or 2,500 kilometers, although the flight of those drones, you know, has to sometimes travel 3,000 kilometers. Also striking all of these Russian ships. And so when I pull back, what confuses and confounds me— and we could talk a little bit about the strategic reserves— is I remember under the Biden administration, the idea that the market viewed this uncertainty as one of the reasons why we were dealing with oil prices that were significantly higher than they are today under— and I'm talking maybe when Russia first invades Ukraine, I get it.

But by 2023, the Strait of Hormuz is open, you've got all of that. Yet I'm looking at 2023 price of crude and I'm seeing still $85, $86, $87, you know, when Biden was in office. And now You know, I look at it and I go, how is it even— well, and you can say, well, Ben, the market has priced this, that, and the other, but is it because of the strategic reserves that we've tapped into and we now have to do— what's going on there?

Yeah, there's a lot going on here. So, um, look, the first thing is just to recognize there was a lot of talk during the Biden and also the Obama eras, uh, Republicans talked a lot about uncertainty. This is more than uncertainty, this is geopolitical risk. So, um, you named a lot of countries and a lot of strategic issues. It all just boils down to— in the, you know, the way an economist would think about it is one thing, right? You're talking about different countries, different militaries, and very important stories, but it basically comes down to geopolitical risk. If I were running a company right now, if it were a multinational, would I be willing to make investments, say, in expanding my product lines because I want to go around the world? Would I be willing to invest in a factory which is dependent on oil, which in turn depends on what happens in the Middle East. So we're in a very, very interconnected world. Geopolitical risk is just one of those things we all want less of. Um, to, to simplify things a touch too much, I don't know about you, I have a cat, and I've seen what happens when my cat catches a mouse.

My cat doesn't just go and eat the mouse and be done with it. That would be pretty easy and quick for markets to digest. My cat bats the mouse around a little bit and keeps playing with it. In fact, my cat can be a bit of a bastard. He keeps playing with the mouse and the mouse suffers, and on and on the story goes. And what I worry about is, in this story, Donald Trump is the cat and Iran or the Middle East or American interests over there are the mouse. And, um, what, what we had was we began a war with no strategic objectives, no understanding of the Strait of Hormuz, very poorly defined, a failure to bring the allies along. We realized it was going nowhere, so we started a ceasefire. The ceasefire— and we're now actually just going back to what we did before, which is re-entering an armed conflict with no strategic goals that are well articulated, no allies, and no plan. It didn't work the first time, and it didn't work the second time. When folks in financial markets are thinking, they're not just thinking about where are we today, we're thinking about the future.

And so the problem is, is the cat going to keep playing with the mouse, batting it about, creating this geopolitical risk, which at one level is inflationary, and also at another level is going to lead to less investment, you know.

And what also concerns me is that Trump's response to all of this is gimmicks, or in my opinion, outright fraud. The gimmick— gas prices going up, I'm opening up Freedom Center gas stations with opaque ownership in Pennsylvania, and I'm gonna declare $3.47 a gallon And it's like, who— what is this? There's 150,000 gas stations across the country. You're pointing to 25 and that that's trying to extrapolate something when that's not an economically significant data point, or basically pointing to, you know, um, a Walmart sale, right? As though it's like a Cyber Monday sale or whatever it is, like You know, Walmart is doing a sale and, and the Trump regime points to that as, aha, look, we're talking 15%, 20% off of beef. And they're trying to act like that's an economic policy. And to me, that's trying to throw people off, Justin, from the work that you and economists do, because you're trying to give data sets and numbers and explain it in ways that may be slightly complicated and uncomfortable and all of these things. He's then throwing this thing and he's doing it deliberately. My view is to kind of undermine the work of— because you just throw out a lot of numbers and be like, what are we talking about?

And then more broadly, he then throws out something like $19.2 trillion, a number so unfathomably large that you just— you talk about the cat, you know, chasing the mouse. You know, we're talking about right here you know, someone trying to follow, you know, a laser pen going all around. It's like, okay, I'm done. I'm just gonna go and, you know, watch a Netflix movie, okay? And I don't know who's telling me whatever, but I, I, I don't know. I'm gonna— and I think that's the reaction that they're going for. What, what do you make of it all?

First of all, you took my analogy with the cat and you improved it with the laser pointer. They jump, they pounce, they're little bastards about it, and they're having too much fun. And I think that is what's going on. Look, it's a funny way of saying this, but partly this is a challenge to your audience as well, which is what you just described is the foundation of why I started Platypus Economics and why you and I are working together. We all have different theories about what bedevils the world right now, but one of my core beliefs is we'd all be a little better off if we all understood a little bit of economics. And part of that is a reaction to the current moment where truth has become optional. And so I want folks to understand what the truth is, to be able to think through it for themselves. That's exactly the energy. I don't have the charisma energy, mate. I've got big nerd energy. But that's the energy I want to bring to Midas, which is let's focus relentlessly on giving folks at home the tools to be able to see through the bullshit.

Let's give a couple of examples here, right? You just said the president has been boasting about $19.2 trillion of investment in the United States. I just want to give people at home the weapons that they need to understand what's true and what's false. The US economy, the total size, the total amount of production in the US economy in a year is $30 trillion. If $19 trillion of it was investment, that means that there's only $11 trillion left for consumption. Consumption is you and I eating dinner. If you think that consumption has fallen to a third of the economy, it's impossible. It's crazy. We'd all notice and we'd all be a little bit hungry right now. And so you're absolutely right, Ben, to say that, you know, one way of saying it is the president is a truly brilliant television producer. And what he's done is he's created a narrative arc that I think people find genuinely compelling. They can't avert their eyes from it, but the narrative isn't true. And so what I'm going to keep doing relentlessly, and I love the fact that you're in this with me, brother, is bringing it back to understanding the very basic truths.

You know, one of the ways we establish credibility is by always telling truth. Today was a really good day for the White House. If they could tell us the truth and say, hey, you know what, inflation's higher than we want, but we got a little bit of good news today, I'm all in on that. And, and that's what happened. And that's the story that we're here to tell.

Right.

Or extrapolate. Why was it a better report? Oh, wait. The memorandum of understanding allowed for there to be a temporary cessation of war. Maybe there's a reason why the American people don't want this war, you know, to continue to escalate. Maybe it's more than just a talking point and there's actually, you know, reality. And, and the hard part is, is that, you know, you know, with Donald Trump's pathology, you know, with past is prelude, you know that this is going to happen. And so, you know, you still want to root for good news in the economy because I know bad news in the economy means real people are hurting. And I know that what he's inevitably going to do, since this is what he's done his whole life— his narrative arc, to use your term, often ends in bankruptcy with his past entities. And, you know, just when you kind of hope, okay, we're, you know, maybe, you know, there's been so much off— just let's just get Americans out of this, let's get the world out of Boom, right back into, you know, an escalatory trap climbing the ladder. And then I'll just leave with this, and then I want to talk briefly just about your YouTube channel.

When you talk about geopolitical risk, like, other than World War II— and again, this is where people, you know, I'm careful, I don't want people to go, Ben, you know, you're hyperbolic, blah blah blah blah blah, you know— but I don't, as a student of history, I can't think of geopolitical risk being higher right now with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the exact same time, you have a regional war. You have this lined up with regional powers in a massive global proxy war. You have a main oil hub shut down. You've got Trump threatening Cuba. And, you know, and, and so I don't know, I don't want my point of reference to seem There he goes again. But I just need to call out what I see. So before we go, though, I want to remind everybody to subscribe to Platypus Economics on YouTube. It's going to be great to have you on here to give your economic takes. And you and I will do some videos on topics. You'll do some videos, you know, on the YouTube channel here. Everybody subscribe to Justin's channel, Platypus Economics. Justin, anything you want to say before we go?

Mate, I just think, um, that we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that what's happening in Iran, it's a personal story, it's a moral story, it's an ethical story, it's a geopolitical story. You asked a question, you said, is it true that geopolitical risk is that high? You have a feeling that it is. It turns out the Fed actually has an indicator, it has an index that measures this, and it says that geopolitical risk right now is at a very, very high level. So beyond all of the good other good reasons to be worried and concerned, and right on top of this Iran issue, there's one more, which is that it does affect the pocketbook. It's going to be one of the dominant themes affecting the, the US economy. And every time the president escalates— the, the clearest pattern is every time it— he escalates this war, American markets fall, American confidence falls, and there's a general sense that this is probably going to be a negative for the economy moving forward.

Justin Wolfers. Great to have you aboard. It was great to see you and Scott side by side, and thank you so much, uh, Justin, everybody. We'll take our last quick break of the show. And just a reminder, everybody too, did you see the video I did this morning where I showcased Allison Gill and Katie Fang and how the work that they've done in the Midas Touch Network to bring transparency to the Epstein Transparency Act, right? Allison identifying a training video, right, a training video that showed how they identify Trump in the Epstein transparency— and the Trump in the Epstein files. And then you have Katie Fang seeking an order to enforce a judge's prior order that the Trump regime needs to turn over Epstein files. So I want to highlight the great work of Allison. And Katie Fang, and I showcased that this morning as well. So Midas is growing, Midas is having an impact, and, uh, we'll keep on, uh, just keep on chopping wood every day. When we come back, a lot to report. U.S. airstrikes in Bandar Abbas, U.S. strikes in, uh, Keshem right now, airstrikes in Kabahar in Iran right now.

Massive strikes there. Iran is responding. I mean, this war is escalating, you know, quicker than ever right now. And we'll talk more about that when we come back from this last break. Thanks, everybody. Last break of the show. We'll be right back.

I never thought a pillowcase could make much of a difference in my life, but after trying Blissy, I totally get the hype. Blissy's pillowcases are made from the highest quality silk, 22 momme 6A grade, 100% pure mulberry silk. Unlike cotton or even satin, silk is naturally cooling, breathable, and much gentler on your skin and hair. I noticed less bedhead, less frizz, and fewer sleep creases pretty quickly. What I also love is that it's dermatologist-tested and recommended, hypoallergenic, and fully machine washable. Plus, Blissy has over 100 colors and designs. Including new Wicked and Harry Potter collections, so there's something for everyone. It's no surprise they've sold over 3 million pillowcases and have been featured in Vogue, Oprah Daily, and Good Morning America. They also make matching sleep masks, bonnets, and crease-preventing scrunchies, which make great gifts, by the way. Personally, after sleeping on my Blissy pillowcases, my hair looks smoother in the morning, and I wake up with fewer sleep marks on my face. It's one of those small upgrades that actually makes a noticeable difference. And because you're a listener of the Midas Touch podcast, Blissie is offering 60 nights risk-free plus an additional 30% off when you shop at blissie.com/midas. That's blissie.com/midas, M-I-D-A-S, and use code MIDAS to get an additional 30% off your skin and hair will thank you.

If you're anything like me, it's really easy to lose track of where your money's actually going every month. Between recurring subscriptions, everyday spending, and trying to stay on top of bills, it adds up fast. That's why I've been using Rocket Money. It gives you one place to see your checking, savings, loans, and investments so you actually have a clear picture of your finances. It also tracks your subscriptions and lets you cancel the ones you don't want with just a few taps, helping users save over $880 million in canceled subscriptions. You can also set budgets, create savings goals, and get alerts for big purchases or upcoming bills so there are fewer surprises. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster! Join at rocketmoney.com/midistouch. That's rocketmoney.com/midistouch. Rocketmoney.com/midistouch. M-E-I-D-A-S-T-O-U-C-H.

Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. We had Scott McFarland, we had Justin Wolfers this morning. We did a video with Katie Fang and Allison Gill, really showcasing the full repertoire here at the Midas Touch Network, which I don't just believe is the future of news, I believe it is the present of news. And again, remember to subscribe to Scott McFarland's YouTube channel, Justin Wolfer's YouTube channel, Katie Fang's YouTube channel, Allison Gill's YouTube channel and her podcast Daily Beans. Let's get into what else happened today. As I mentioned before the break, CENTCOM announced it was resuming strikes on Iran. Iran has responded, apparently striking a Kuwaiti Navy vessel. Also, Iran has been able to strike nearby Arab nations in Kuwait and Bahrain and United Arab Emirates and Qatar and small area in Oman where the US has some military facilities, uh, there. Jordan have been able to hit. And, uh, you know, and, and, and these are strikes that are, um, you know, these Iranian strikes are getting through. Iran clearly has um, less munitions than the United States, although the US munitions are depleting the same way the US strategic reserves are depleting. But Iran's launched its largest attack on Bahrain with over 30 missiles targeting US assets there.

There's been continuous and heavy explosions reported across Bahrain minutes ago. You also had Iran striking again all these, these Arab nations nearby. Iran is You know, I always want to think about everything in life that I do, whether it's Midas Touch Network, whether it's you name it, as what is the, what is the purpose of this all? Like, what's the, what, what is the goal? What is the objective of, of this? And, you know, I think it's important that you highlight Trump's deranged behavior with things as simple, which become as not simple as the reflecting pool or whatever, to extrapolate, these are people who don't strategize, who don't have plans, who don't think through things, and who are malicious. That's a very bad recipe. And so if you were to extrapolate lessons from the 40 days of the war, I mean, we know there's really never been a ceasefire, but the 40 days of the initial fighting then MOU, then right now back to war.

How—

and then if you observed the Ayatollah's funeral in both Iran and Iraq, how your conclusion is, well, if we just bomb the coast a little more, that's going to make Iran tap out and they're going to say, Donald, what can we do for you, Donald? Oh, you want to do a deal? Sure, what do you want to do? You want to control the Strait of Hormuz? Oh God, your, your bombing is— as this time we are submitting. That's just, that's not going to happen, period. The idea that that was going to happen with the first set of strikes by the United States, which is what Netanyahu told Trump and what others told Trump and what Trump believed, that's been proven, I mean, to be false. So, you know, there's, there's either, you know, there's— I've always said there's two things that need to happen. One or the other needs to happen. The one that I support is the memorandum of understanding. I, I think that, um, obviously we should never have been involved in the catastrophic war in the first place, but the memorandum of understanding gave at least a modicum of saving face. Any of the humiliation that the United States has been put through by losing the war, you know, can be addressed in the economy maybe gets better, you know, maybe inflation decreases, you focus on some other things.

And, you know, yes, it'll definitely be a blemish in the— beyond the blemish, I'm not trying to understate it, especially with the war crimes that are being committed, so forgive me. Um, but, but you could, at least if you're the Trump regime, try to spin it and say, well, now we're focusing on the economy, and look at this, you know, we got a good inflation readout, we're going to be so focused on that right now. And, and that to me seems to be a logical course of action, right? Go all in on the MOU, and maybe there's some face-saving things you do. Also, Iran wants to control the Strait of Hormuz. They probably want to charge something like 1% of the value of the vessels, not the 20% that Trump said. They seem to be open to environmental fees or other ways to deal with it so it's not a toll. You know, you, you figure it out with Oman and Iran, or maybe you come up with some payment structure. And, you know, not ideal, but when you lose a war— which America lost the war— when you lose the war and when you break things, you got to fix it.

So, you know, I think that there was— I think there was a way to deal with it, you know. But remember, Donald Trump has all these personal entanglements and emolument violations decisions, right, for himself, that he also— he's also beholden to this person here and that person there and that person here, which to me also undermines American foreign policy, which is why we have an emolument clause. So to me, there's the path of one: don't get into the war in the first place. But MOU, lean in, save face if you can, you know, move out of the region, which the US, my opinion, shouldn't really be in there in the first place. Because it's only led to disastrous wars. Focus on the economy from, you know, should be for the next 3 years, and then make that your thing. That to me is, is a logical approach to this. Alternatively, you do a ground invasion, you go all in. You have to expect that you will probably lose 30,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops per month.

Per month.

That's similar to the amount of troops that Russia is losing in its invasion of Ukraine. And the Ukrainian soldiers are also at very high death toll right there. But if Trump is saying this is existential and that this nuclear bomb is gonna destroy it, which I don't agree with, let me be very clear. Okay, if you're gonna do a ground invasion and you are focused on doing something different because obviously the, the bombings don't work, that you can't just bomb and be like, they're obliterated, they don't exist, they don't have a navy anymore, this is amazing.

That's not true.

That, that's not a strategy.

You—

then you do a ground invasion, you commit it and expect that you're going to have 30,000— expect global economic catastrophe at a scale worse than the Great Depression and expect 30,000 to 50,000 troops dead. You'll have to do a draft, which we know Trump is a draft dodger— 5 times bone spurs. You'll have to do a draft, and good, good luck seeing the American people's reaction to that. Um, by reference, America only has like 50,000 troops, right, in the region right now, which CENTCOM boasted about in a post. Yes, we have 50,000 troops. Okay, Russia's losing 50,000 troops essentially a month, uh, in, in the war on Ukraine, just by reference. Um, and that you— that if you are saying that you want to try to change the dynamic, that's your only other option other than the MOU. What Trump is doing is, you know, this, you know, fraud. You know, it's, it's war. I mean, he's striking coastal cities hard. Iran then responds hard and tactically because Iran knows how to utilize its terrain to cause harm in the region.

Right.

And so, you know, this then becomes this never-ending thing where CENTCOM announces attacks. Iran then responds and hits the neighbors. And inevitably, whether it's today or tomorrow or 5 days from now or 7 days from now, as the strategic petroleum reserves, which were basically there, hits actual tank bottom, not just functional tank bottom, and then something happens and it's like, we're done, we're out. And then all of a sudden it's like, ah, panic! What happened? Then you'll see the oil go from $80 a barrel to $120, $130, about $250 a barrel, you know, very, very quickly. And then we're scrambling to try to do some deal or something that now probably looks like a worse version of the MOU, which was a worse version of the JCPOA. Like, that's obviously where this heads. Anyway, you know, and anyway, and it's clear where we're going with all of this. And, you know, that's where it's like, I don't— I just don't know. I, I don't know how— I know how this ends, but like, to observe it in slow motion, to watch drunk history unfold before your eyes and say, this is what you're doing, this is, this is the plan, this is What were— it is, it is, it is embarrassing.

And then, you know, you have the Iraqi Prime Minister, you know, he showed up in the Oval Office and Trump just made it incredibly— just talk about injecting even more issues into the region. I mean, this— one of the fears amongst the Shiite, amongst the Shiite community as well, is that this Iraqi PM, Prime Minister, Um, who basically took the job away from al-Maliki, the other guy who was, you know, previously a prime minister of Iraq, and now bringing this guy. Is this guy going to be a puppet of Trump? And so we saw those massive crowds, right, in Iraq for the Ayatollah's funeral and the processions there where you had Foreign Minister Iraqi and this guy, Iraq's prime minister, this guy was there with the Iraqi, and Iraqi, one of the reasons in Iran, among the fact that there's a huge Shiite population in Iraq, they wanted to show this guy, look, look at all the millions of people in Iraq. And so if you're gonna go along and try to be a US puppet, we've got the people on the side of Iran. That, that was one of the reasons among others, but one of the main reasons why Iran decided we're going to do a procession in Iraq.

And so Trump brings the guy in and starts talking about how handsome you are and beautiful looking you are, which gets really weird right away. Here, play this clip.

He's a young man. He's young and he's handsome, which I don't like. I'm not happy about it.

Okay, and then I'll show you, um, you know, next, uh, what he says in this press conference.

He's—

while he's talking to this Iraqi guy, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Trump's like, and we're just gonna take your oil. We're gonna, we're gonna take your oil. Here, let's play this clip.

Look, Baghdad, I think, and I and, and this country, we're gonna make some tremendous music together. We haven't been dealing very much over the last 4 or 5 years with the previous administration. Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil and because of other things, but because of their oil. And we're going to be doing a lot of deals. We're going to create a lot of jobs for both countries, and we're going to be taking out a lot of oil. A lot of oil is coming out, and the American companies are doing it— mostly American companies now. They don't want to do business with others. They want to do business with America, and that's good. And that's one of the reasons that I felt so strongly that this was going to be a great prime minister, and I fought for that.

I fought for that because I want to take their oil. We'll make great music together when I take his oil. And then Trump was asked a very basic question about Iran, and he was confused. And he starts talking about Iraq and how American oil companies are gonna again, uh, take all of the oil out of Iraq. So what he's saying— I mean, and I just want you to think about the Shiite population in Iraq that's very sympathetic to Iran. They're seeing these images right here. What do you think that they're thinking right now? What do you know? What And that's why I say, well, what's the goal and objective? It was the goal and objective to just make yourself seem tough, Don, because you've now created even more instability in the region by not even understanding the dynamics at play here.

Play this clip.

Um, sir, is the military attack on Iran, is this a strategy to bring him back to the table, was it to degrade them so the regime would eventually fall?

Well, we don't think we need the military there anymore. It's a very big operation. And what we do have is the oil companies are all going in now and they're doing partnerships with Iraq and they're getting along very well. The relationship is a whole big relationship where we don't need the military. We're there to help them. We're there to protect them if need be. But we don't think that's going to be necessary. And their, their primary— I consider it an opponent. They might have considered a friend, but I consider that an opponent— was Iran was a big burden on Iraq because they were the bully of the Middle East, as you know.

So that's what's going on in the White House. Let's talk about what's going on in America now. In places like Allentown, in places like Scranton. Okay, over the next month, our friends over at Fight for Progress are spotlighting what's going down in Pennsylvania. Real people living with decisions coming out of Washington, and one name keeps on coming up: Rob Bresnahan, the MAGA Republican congressman out there. And so while the people of Northeast Pennsylvania, throughout Pennsylvania, and the entire country are focused on affordability, Donald Trump psychologically torturing them each and every day, you've got MAGA Republican Congress members like Bresnahan and others who are out there making life more difficult and harder and avoiding their constituents.. And so I want everybody to go check out the Fight for Progress YouTube page. So when this is done as well, search Fight for Progress, and I want you to watch the full 8-minute video that they're highlighting the stories of people just like you who are out there, who are experiencing the pain, the psychological torture of the Trump regime, aided, abetted, enabled by MAGA Republican Congress members. So let me share with you this story right here, and you can watch the full version of that story at the Fight for Progress YouTube page.

But this to me is— when I think about everything we're talking about on this episode, for me, who I'm fighting for is the people out there. And, and this story probably feels If you're in America, like your story.

Let's play it.

It is really hard to get by. Price of groceries, everything is skyrocketed, things because of the tariffs. During the periods of times I didn't have SNAP, I straight up didn't eat anything on my days off because there's no room in the budget to go grocery shopping, especially with grocery prices being what they are. So the fridge is empty. This is what it looks like because my EBT money doesn't doesn't hit until tomorrow. This is how I live. If I don't have my EBT card, if I don't have food stamps, this is what my fridge looks like. I absolutely worry about losing the benefits because it's happened before.

The president's tax bill could feature the largest Medicaid and SNAP cuts in history. Congressman Rob Bresnahan voted for President Trump's so-called one big beautiful bill.

Trump and Bresnahan are doing, from my perspective, everything they can to bring the cost of living up. The tariffs, the taxes, the wars. I think if they had to survive one day in, you know, someone's shoes in like my financial standing or someone else's financial standing, they wouldn't— they wouldn't be able to. Even more so if you took away the benefits. Go ahead and live my life now.

Drop a blue heart if you're from Pennsylvania. Just curious to see how many people watching from Pennsylvania right now. Whether you're from Pennsylvania or not, This is a story that is what's going on in America right now. You know, there was that shot there that really touched me when she opened up the fridge, and in the fridge there were 3 things, maybe 4 things. And I think about whether it's MAGA Republicans like Bresnan or any MAGA Republican Congress member as they're focused on Reconciliation 3.0, as they're calling it. It's trying to find ways to label patriotic Americans, people like Anna right there and others, frauds, and saying that they're frauds. So we need to take away their food stamps, and we need to take away— we need to take away— why? Where's it going to go?

Bombing Iran.

Netanyahu, Obama. You know, Donald Trump does these interviews, which I saw yesterday. And you know, it'll be these like right-wing MAGA neocon pundits. You're gonna, you're gonna kill him. You're gonna kill the fifth, the fifth and the sixth tier of these leaders.

You're gonna kill them.

Yeah, I'm gonna kill them. I'm gonna kill them. I'm gonna, you know, they have no Navy, they have no name. And it's like, I think about that video that I just showed you of the American experience of nothing in the fridge. That's when I say people feel psychologically tortured, right? That's what I mean, because it is a form of psychological torture where you live in what's supposed to be the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a teeny tiny right-wing oligarch group that parades and struts themselves in the Oval Office, conspiring with a psychotic madman who's out there bombing things and making things up about $19.1 trillion. Well, if you brought $19.1 trillion, then, then, then help the American people with that. Where, where, Well, why are people suffering? Because you're not, because they're not. And this is real. These are real stories out there. These are real stories of real people out there. That's why everybody, if you can subscribe to the YouTube channel Fight for Progress, watch the full 8-minute video there as well. You could put in the comments, Ben says hello, so they can see that you're there and search Fight for Progress.

All right.

Thanks, everybody, for watching. I hope you were okay that I highlighted that. I just thought it was an important story., to share. I'll of course continue the war coverage throughout the day. I'll of course give you the breaking news throughout the day. Every 90 minutes, new videos, breaking news on the Midas Touch Network. Thanks for watching, everybody. We appreciate you. Hit subscribe. Go to the Fight for Progress YouTube. Say Ben sends you. Watch the full video.

Thanks, everybody.

Have a good one.

Shout out.

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.