Transcript of Tuesday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 6/25/2026

Welcome to Ben On Breaking News. I'm Ben Myselis and this is your breaking news. As we predicted, and frankly, as the Iranian negotiating delegation stated, they would not be going to Qatar and Doha to have further negotiations with the United States. They said, look, you guys attacked us on Friday and Saturday after the markets closed. There's really nothing for us to talk about. You know, we will just play out these 60 days in the memorandum of understanding. You can do the things that are set forth in the memorandum of understanding as it relates to the US removing sanctions, unfreezing funds, and, uh, you know, good luck. You want to use the shipping route closest to Oman without the consent of the IRGC? Even Oman says they're going to need to charge a fee with the IRGC. So do it. Well, we'll shoot the ships. There's no ships that are using that Oman route right now. And the Foreign Ministry of Iran— by the way, we have like the data, like we know that the ships are all now going through the IRGC route, not the Oman route. It's fascinating too, and I'll maybe get into it later in the show.

Uh, the, uh, the crack spreads right now between the Brent crude price, uh, as compared to, uh, the refinery prices, right? You know, Donald Trump's like out there ranting and raving and saying, look at the retailers and the refineries, you're charging, you're price gouging. First off, bud, aren't these your buddies? Like, aren't— isn't this your crew? Like, aren't these the people who you plan the invasion of Venezuela with? So like, why are you posting on social media? Um, but pull up that chart one more time, Jeremy, and people can see the crack spreads right there. Uh, no, no, that— this, this one over here. Here are the gasoline spreads right here. They're sometimes referred to as the crack spreads. And a crack spread refers to the delta or the difference between the price of Brent crude, which it appears our Treasury Department is shorting the hell out of to bring the price down and to manipulate the market. So it's like $69 a barrel or $71 a barrel. And the crack spread refers to the delta or difference between that and what the refineries are actually charging, right? Think about it as like the dough or flour that goes to make the cake.

Baker, the cookies versus what the actual cookie costs. And in a stable market, the crack spreads aren't that kind of far apart. But right now they are because the refineries don't really buy what the price of literally and figuratively what the Brent crude price is. Because they see, I think, well, we all see, which is it does appear that there's a concerted effort to manipulate the market, but not recognize Brent crude, those futures, WTI, that's different than what the refinery price is. So Donald Trump's out there shouting on his social media platform. And I guess that's the, that's the American policy right now. But any event, Qatar supposed that Donald Trump posted over the weekend to manipulate the markets. Look, the delegation from Iran is going to show up in Doha. These are going to be great talks. And in Iran, they were like, no, we're not going to do that. I mean, look, the markets were baked, man. The markets were manipulated. I mean, Yesterday they did very well. Today the markets did very well, um, after having a really bad week last week with massive drops. Um, the thing is, this ain't helping you.

This ain't helping the American people afford homes. This ain't helping the American people afford gas or afford groceries or afford anything. I mean, this is helping Donald Trump's billionaire buds, his friends, make a lot more money and You were looking at the end of last week, you were seeing the market tank, market manipulation, boom, Monday, Tuesday. We see what we see what's happening right now. But at the end of the day, you know, we're seeing just the systemic breakdown of the economy as it works or doesn't work for most American people. So you have Whitcoff and you have Kushner in Qatar. I mean, does anybody doubt what's really going on in those meetings? I mean, Kushner's out there raising another $5 billion fund, right? You know, he's bragging about his returns on his last fund. We did 15 to 25% returns on Kushner Fund One. Well, I mean, you have all the insider— it's not hard. It's not hard when you're doing— when you get all the insider information about what the hell is going to happen and you're the ones, you know, seemingly manipulating this whole system right here. So it was Surprised it's not more than that, to be honest with you.

But now they're out there in Doha. What do you think they're talking, you know, to, uh, the people in Doha about? I mean, they're probably— Whitcoff's got business interests, you've got Kushner's got business interests over there. Um, and, you know, there was this purported conference call that took place with Rubio and Whitcoff and others and members of Congress yesterday where they were asking This was like their briefing that they were going to be having regarding the memorandum of understanding. And when Democratic Congress members were asking Whitkopf and Rubio basic questions about, like, okay, what's Whitkopf even doing there? Like, who is this guy? Why is he there? Whitkopf's like, don't you dare. That's a dumbass question. Don't even talk to me about that. We'll show you all of that. We'll show you that while the Trump regime is pretending— just think about what, like, losers they make us look like, right? Let's talk about the losers they make us look like abroad and at home.

Okay.

They're literally cosplaying a negotiation with Iran abroad. Like they're the once powerful, preeminent, dominant United States of America, right, is in Doha, Qatar.

Okay.

Begging the Qataris to go along with a fabrication that the Trump officials are mediating with Iran when Iran is not there. Like, y'all realize that, like, Qatar knows that this is a farce, and all the other Middle East countries and all the other countries in the world, you know, I mean, they're like, I mean, what do you think, like, a French president Emmanuel Macron or Um, you know, Zelensky— I mean, what, what do you think? Uh, I said this time, it's like, what do you think, like, Xi Jinping thinks? Now, like, like, what's he doing? Like, could you ever imagine— I think, put it this way, take a step back— could you ever imagine Xi Jinping of China rushing to, say, I don't know, pick a country, Bahrain, to say, to say that he's sending his foreign minister there, to say that they were having a meeting with, I don't know, Uzbekistan, and Uzbekistan's not there, and they're asking Bahrain to go along with it. Could you ever— like, what would we think of Xi Jinping? Think about what the other— they just think we're fools. So anyway, we're, we're, we're, we're at a foreign policy level making up today that there are conversations taking place.

Do we have also the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Jeremy, and what the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson said? That, yeah, yeah, the United— we've got Whitcoff and Kushner here, but Iran isn't here, and so those, those discussions aren't happening. I mean, they're just, they're just mocking us. Like, like, why would we be cosplaying a fake mediation. Oh, it's to manipulate the markets.

Here, play this clip.

Indirect discussions through mediators.

As I confirmed, uh, a while earlier, the U.S. envoy, uh, Mr. Steve Witkoff and Mr. Jared Kushner, are here in Doha to meet with the negotiators— with the mediators, sorry, meaning with the Qatari officials. And the talks will be around, uh, all regional issues which are of concern, including of course negotiations with Iran, but also including Lebanon and other files in the region. So they are not here for direct negotiations with the Iranians or related meetings, as we have made clear in the past that the high-level meetings will only happen when the technical meetings are producing results for them to take place. And the technical meetings are ongoing between the parties, whether they are direct or indirect, it keeps moving in and out, you know, according to the logistics of it and the discussions and the way they are progressing. But I can confirm that the Technical meetings are, are still happening and the mediators are working as go-betweens between the, the parties, uh, in the time being. We're not expecting any, uh, high-level Iranian officials at, uh, at the moment, but as I said, the technical meetings are ongoing as since Luzern and they haven't stopped since then.

Uh, by the way, have you seen one American media outlet, not independent news, because there are some independent news that I think are sharing this in addition to Midas, like Dropside and Zetio and a few others. Okay, but so out— outside of the Midas Touch Network though, have you seen any news just showing that, or do they just regurgitate the propaganda from the regime that there are talks happening? Talks aren't happening. Like, like We've become Baghdad Bob, you know, to which you have, uh, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessin say, oh, they're Tehran Tim, they're Tehran Tim. Okay, well, who's, who's in Doha? Okay, let's put aside then what's Iran saying, put aside what the U.S. is saying, okay, as I've always kind of come back to, what's the mediator saying? Right, what is the Qatari mediator? Well, you just heard it. Iran didn't show up and the US sent its two top envoys. They shouldn't be our top envoys, by the way. Why is Kushner and Woodcroft our top envoys? But we sent our two people, Iran didn't. I mean, that's— and the President of the United States, you know, this isn't supposed to be some, uh, you know, just some like troll, you know, some troll.

It's supposed to be, you know, someone who is always viewed as the leader of the free world, uh, you know, someone who is supposed to be, you know, not, not just on par with like a Xi Jinping, you know, in terms of leadership in a global world order, but I mean, I'm talking about like, you know, the president. The president just makes up lies that we're having conversations that aren't happening. And, and you heard there for yourself, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says We had not planned any meeting with the American side at any level over the next few days, so there's nothing for us to cancel. We weren't going. There's nothing for it. We're not showing. And just think about, like, I don't know, and I, I don't— I'm trying to think about how, how best to, to, to structure this, this argument. I'll, I'll just, I'll just say that for what was once viewed as a superpower, the United States. Superpower, that should mean something, right? I mean, superpower, it was undisputable, undisputed fact that that's how the U.S. was viewed internationally in a post-World War II global world order. But just think about how it's been so diminished, so diminished, where you have an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson putting the President of the United States of America in his place by saying, we don't want to be around your people, we never were going, so there's nothing for us to cancel.

And then to have the mediator in Qatar confirm, yeah, the Iranians are not here and are not coming. And yet we go through this farce that it's, that it's happening. I'll show you, uh, I believe the guy's name is Michael Knowles. From The Daily Wire. I heard, I heard that The Daily Wire is, uh, they, they think that they're a $2 billion company, and Ben Shapiro thinks he's super popular now again. So they want to— they want to IPO, apparently. And I guess because Shapiro's popularity is waning— I think that's an understatement— they want to keep pumping out like Michael Knowles as the face, as the face of this Daily Wire thing. Um, so they bring in J.D. Vance, and like, J.D. Vance's whole shtick is that he doesn't like— I don't— I don't— I'm just a guy from Appalachia. I don't really understand. He's like Forrest Gump. I'm just a guy from Appalachia. Stupid is as stupid does. I'm just a J.D. Vance man. I don't know how diploma— it's very confusing. You know, these Persians, they're just very complicated with their negotiation style. I don't get it. I don't understand the nuances of diplomacy.

Dude, you're the vice president.

What is this?

What is this weaponizing ignorance stupidity? Ah, what do you want me? Aw shucks, I'm just JD. I'm just little JD from Appalachia.

Stupid.

It's the stupidest government. It's the stupidest and most dangerous government at the same time. So JD goes on Michael Knowles. I'll show you what went down. Let's play this clip.

I'm not saying they're going to— I can't predict, of course, the future. But so one, there are talks. There were scheduled talks, really technical talks building on the negotiation that we've already had. Those are definitely happening tomorrow. One of the things I find just fascinating and frustrating about the Iranians is they'll say, no, no, no, there aren't peace talks ongoing, but there are technical talks between the United States and Iran about the peace deal. It's like, okay, so it's a Persian negotiating tactic and a Persian rhetorical device that I don't understand. But that is the way that the Iranians have done this.

A Persian rhetorical device. Oh, those Persian rhetorical device structures. I'm not sure what you don't understand, JD. There's a memorandum of understanding that has 14 points to them, you understand? Then it states that in 60 days, there's going to be a final agreement. The final agreement isn't supposed to conflict with the 14 points. The technical talks are not new negotiations. They are implementations of the 14 points. Donald Trump said that there would be negotiations taking place in Doha. The Iranians— are you following me, JD? The Iranians did not show up to Doha for the purported negotiations that Donald Trump claimed are happening. The Iranians are saying there's no need for new negotiations. Why would we be showing up in Doha? It doesn't make any sense. Sure, there could be technical conversations in terms of drafting of the final agreement, but that's not some newfangled negotiation taking place. And why do we need to show up in Doha for it? So JD, why would Whitcoff and Kushner be there and lie and say that they were talking to their counterparts? Do you know where Foreign Minister Araghchi is? Do you know where the Deputy Foreign Minister is?

Do you know what's happening in the region? Foreign Minister Araghchi got a hero's welcome in Iraq, despite the United States helping the Iraqi government with American tankers launching essentially a silent coup in Iraq in order to try to round up politicians in Iraq who are sympathetic to Iran, that that would somehow deter Foreign Minister Araghchi over there. You have Foreign Minister Aragchi there with a Pakistani foreign minister and, uh, an Iraqi minister. And when I say that Aragchi got a hero's welcome in Iraq, I mean, you would think that you were watching the Beatles at their prime showing up in America, is what it looked like when foreign minister Aradji was in Iraq. I mean, you're talking about everybody was out there surrounding him. And, you know, you could see that the, uh, the level of respect for him that the Iraqi foreign ministers have, because they view this as the guy who brought this— this— want to know what the world thinks, the perception of the world? Is that that's the guy, along with M.B. Golubov and some others, who brought down and slayed the United States. That's how the world perceives it outside of our propaganda media here in the United States.

Now, whether you like what I'm saying or don't like what I'm saying, that's kind of besides the point. It's the truth about the geopolitical framing of things right now. Because Trump lost this war that we should never have been involved in in the first place. Another notable dynamic going on, which if you've been watching the Midas Touch Network, you know I've been talking about this now pretty much right after the memorandum of understanding. And I saw some of the comments thought that I was being conspiratorial, that Marco Rubio's goal was to undermine JD Vance's role in negotiating the MOU. I said no, Rubio is going to the Middle East as Netanyahu's proxy representing the neocon and war hawks who don't like the JD Vance kind of faction of things, which is more critical of Netanyahu and Israel. And JD Vance is going to undermine the Iran MOU that JD Vance negotiated. Rubio was going to undermine the Vance MOU. Rubio did an MOU with Lebanon and Israel, with Netanyahu and the United States, which at its core, the goal is to destroy Iran's diplomatic access inside of Lebanon. That was the goal. And the goal of it is to basically codify indefinitely Israel's claim to territory in southern Lebanon, which Israel calls a security zone.

And not only that, it extends the security zone by two pilot zones.. And if you pay attention to what's happening, it purports to act like the pilot zones reduce the control of Israel of the security zones. But what it actually does is adds to the security zones and says, Lebanon, you take over those areas which Israel has not yet been able to take over. But Lebanon, you take these pilot zones because Israel realized there's a lot of Hezbollah in those two pilot zone areas. So put the Lebanese army in the pilot zones and have them do what Netanyahu couldn't do, and we'll say that we are removing ourselves from those areas where we're never in it. So it adds to the security zones, and then it says basically at the discretion of Netanyahu, he gets to stay in southern Lebanon. Now that directly conflicts with the Iran MOU in Article 1. Which says the exact opposite of that. And then if you recall, at the Switzerland talks that JD Vance attended— folks, I'm just giving you the objective data. This is just the reality of, of what it is. So, so how you want to internalize it or not internalize it, go for it.

But I'm just telling you what, what's going on. So that when they met in Switzerland And Rubio wasn't there. He wasn't there on purpose. Why? Because Rubio was going to be doing the work of Netanyahu the week after. So JD Vance does a further, basically, addendum or joint statement to the 14-point memorandum of understanding that says the deconfliction cell in Lebanon This is the exact language of a joint statement the US approved. The deconfliction cell, meaning reducing the conflict in Lebanon, would be made up of Qatar, Pakistan, Iran, and the United States. So Iran would be involved in that. And then the deconfliction cell in Rubio's MOU was basically Israel, and Lebanon and the United States. So they're in direct conflict, and Iran knows this. The world knows this. If I know this, they know this, and you know this, they know this. But it tries— but the deceit is that the U.S. pretends they're complementary when they're already breaching the MOU with Iran. And if you think about it like this, I'll give it to you in sports terms because there was some LeBron James news about, you know, what team he's going to go to, or where is he going to go next, right?

So imagine LeBron James does a deal with Nike, right? Whatever you think about Nike one way or another, let's just— he does the deal with Nike, and then a week later he does a deal with Adidas that specifically says we're now obligated to attack Nike 7 times a year and do an anti-Nike ad campaign. That's essentially what the situation is when it comes to the Iran MOU with the US and the Lebanon MOU with the US. You know, at some point you can't honor both because both are in direct conflict with one another. And that was the intention of the Lebanon MOU. Now you could say, but Ben, why would we do the Iran MOU then? OK, well, then don't sign it. I don't know. You know, you don't need to go to— you don't need to go to Versailles and sign the document. Trump has never viewed contracts as things that need to be followed his whole life.

Go read—

don't read it— but The Art of the Deal, where he said a contract is something that's not actually something you follow in good faith. It is a starting point to manipulate, to further get what you want. That's not the way principle should work. That's not some Persian rhetorical thing, JD Vance. That's frankly a framework that whether you're Persian or non-Persian, we should say if you enter into a contract, you honor the contract, right? Regardless of what you think or don't think. About the MOU. What you can't dispute with me is that the MOU was executed by the United States and it was executed by Iran the same way the JCPOA was an actual agreement, unlike the Memorandum of Understanding, which is a 14-point MOU. But, you know, these are deals that happen. You know, when you talk about the USMCA, right, or CUSMA, as it's called in Canada, the Canadian-US-Mexican Agreement, it's a deal. Donald Trump wants to rip it up and break it. He doesn't want to follow the deals. If you go to when Donald Trump says, I brought in $21 trillion, notice that there are no written deals. There are all these frameworks and then they come up with new language.

Right. I don't need Persian rhetorical flair to counteract what this Trump regime is saying. They're using the language, the Trump regime of like fraudsters.

Right.

Like, you know how you never get a straight answer, like from a fraudster like a Bernie Madoff or an Enron or, the con artist. They'll always like come up with some excuse. Well, actually, that's— there's technical details and there's, you know, we'll get your money, but we just have to, you know, wait to see how the indices and the indexes are working. And then we're gonna, you know, maybe we'll cross-pollinate it with this and all, you know, pursuant to, you know, this. They just start saying these things and it's no, you know, you got to honor your deals. You know, you put a deal on paper, you honor it, you follow it. You act, you exercise good faith in the deal. And that's something that's totally divorced from Donald Trump and his regime. By the way, I showed you Michael Knowles there interviewing JD Vance. That took place after Michael Knowles was the main attraction earlier today at the so-called Great American State Fair, which, as you know, is the biggest disaster imaginable. I can't even believe this thing is going to go on for several more days at this point. Leave it to the Trump regime to take something that was such a light lift.

The Smithsonian, in a nonpartisan way, was ready to do a beautiful event. We would have had entertainers and we would have had beautiful festivals. It would have been grand and great. And it's, it's really a sad thing that such a beautiful thing was turned into this grotesque, strange Trump thing. And I showed a video earlier in the day where yesterday's big event, right, the main stage big event was, you know, some quack doctor or something talking about women's root canals and breast implants and giving a speech about breast implants and root canals and, and, and having graphs and charts on implants.

Plants.

Like, that was the main stage because it was Maha Monday. Maha Monday. You know, there's like 12 people. There's like 12 people there. Today's main event of the great state fair was Michael Knowles debating a 10-year-old girl about the merits of burning ladies in the Salem witch trials. But pointing out that procedurally, while unclear if the ladies were truly witches who deserved to be burned, Michael Knowles argues what may needed to have been changed to create more validity in burning the ladies to death is having less random judges. That's what they were— that's what they were debating with a 10-year-old girl. On the main stage. That's what— that was the big event. You don't believe me? Here, uh, Madeleine Peltz posted the video of what went down.

Here, play this.

But the one area where the Salem witch trials went a little far is I would say they weren't organized enough. So you had these like random judges, you know, kind of burning these ladies.

I'm not—

I don't know if they were guilty or not, but I think I think more— if it were more formalized, built up a little bit more, maybe with like a Grand Inquisitor or something, that would have been a better way to do it. I am so impressed. I could see for a second you probably were like, come on, Ben, that's not actually what they were talking about on the main stage of the Great— yeah, it was probably worse. I probably underplayed it, right? I downplayed it. Just show the other video there, Jeremy, so people can see what the crowd looked like.

Here, play.

Why? Because, well, um, I think it was Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson that said, um, baseball— I mean, they're truly having a 10-year-old girl on stage with a MAGA hat listen to the filth out of that guy talk about how ladies in the Salem Witch Trials, we don't know if they were guilty or not guilty, but the real problem is we didn't have a Grand Inquisitor. No, that's the thing. People are like, Ben, why don't you go on that— why don't you go on that CNN debate show? Or why don't you go on— why don't you debate these people? I don't know. God bless Mockler for having the patience to talk to those people. I just— I truly don't have the patience or desire to, to really speak with these psychopaths. I just don't. I mean, how could— what are you supposed to— what are you supposed to say to that? You know, you're To me, even having a conversation with that guy, you know, it was like, what do you mean, Grand Inquisitor? Come on, man. Like, you just get pulled into these discussions that are so devoid and divorced of what the American people are experiencing and feeling.

And the thing is, as we get closer and closer to the midterms, one of the things that MAGA is going to do and Trump is going to do is just make politics so freaking gross and disgusting that it just makes everybody go, ugh, I don't even want to pay attention to it. I don't even want to look at it. Then Election Day happens. And maybe from your regime media and your local news, you know, you get a little bit of bits and pieces when they sanitize all of this. But they want to repel you from all of this and just gross you out. So you just stay away and they'll talk about communist this and, you know, and the biggest threat, even a bigger threat than 9/11 is rent stabilization. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong. I saw, I saw that. You guys see that? I showed a video of it. The person on Fox who was approaching Thomas Massie, you know, and got the orders from Trump and MAGA Mike to go after Massie and like try to have Massie like prove a negative. Like, you try to disprove right now, you know, all these things about you.

And then Massie turned the tables on the guy and the guy just like lost it. But they want to make politics so gross and so disgusting. And, and, and, but beneath all of this, but what should be above all of this is what Trump is calling a big yawn, a big yawn. Affordability, housing, health care. That's what he said yesterday. This is a big yawn, but more than a big yawn. That's also part of Trump's fraud. You see, for Trump, housing and affordability, he hates it. He hates it. Why? Because his whole life was a slumlord and a fraud and the leader and representative of the Epstein class. And for him, everything is a zero-sum game. Quite literally, everything is a zero-sum game. So when you take a look right here of the amount of money that Donald Trump and Steve Ratner posted this, that Trump made in crypto since he's been— this is, this is a fraction of the billions of dollars that he's made since he's been in office. So according to Reuters, in Trump's crypto ventures alone, he's made about $2.29 billion. And do you want to guess how much money his investors made?

Huh.

Do you think his stakeholders and shareholders shared in that $2.29 billion value?

Nope.

You know how they say the American economy is a K-shaped economy? Zero-sum game. Take a look at that chart one more time. That's a K-shaped economy. That looks a lot like when they say, Our economy is a K-shaped economy. Trump makes $2.9 billion. Look at the red right there. Look at the basically vertical line down, uh, or 90-degree angle forming going down or whatever, right? Uh, that right there is Trump's investors. They lost $2.29 billion. Lost. That looks a lot like our economy. Where the rich get richer and become trillionaires. Trump manipulates the markets. His friends, his family makes a lot of money. But most people, 99.9%, they're out there losing the money. And Trump views it as a zero-sum game. You know, I'm not anti-business. I'm for fair business. I'm for fairness, not rigging the rules so the billionaires always win. Heads I win, tails you lose type of mentality. And for fairness, you know, there's a way and there was a way in our country when it came to business for shareholders, for workers to share in the value, in the sacrifice that they made, where a CEO's salary didn't have to be thousands of times what the worker was making.

Everybody in a common enterprise, a business, an association, can benefit. And sure, the CEO and certain executives make more money, but it's not so wildly out of control that the workers who are sacrificing and who are the engines of your business can't even afford basic necessities to live. But that's what it's become. The whole economy looks a lot like a Trump crypto scheme right now, right? That's what our economy looks like, and that's what his crypto scheme looks like. They call it K-shape. I call it fraud. I call it looting and pillaging from the people in order to fund the fact that they need 25 to 30 yachts, 25 to 30 mansions. 25 to 30 private jets. But that's not good enough. Those yachts, those private jets. They need to be tax write-offs. The sports teams that they buy. Did you know that when these billionaires buy sports teams, they can deduct the purchase of the sports teams? A full deduction over the course of the next 15 years. So not only does the value of the sports team appreciate in value, but then every year the money they put into the sports team, they write that off.

They deduct that from the money that they've made in that given year over a 15-year period. Did you know that that was something that they did? You're paying more taxes, not even as a percentage, than a lot of these billionaires pay.. And that's where we're at right now. That's what's pissed people. And Trump wants to now say, well, anyone fighting for the common man and woman, the worker, you're a communist and you're a bigger threat than 9/11. That's pretty telling also, isn't it? Because that tells you that for Donald Trump, someone who's never sacrificed, and for his Epstein-class friends, the mere idea I'm trying to make things more affordable. I'm trying to help workers is a bigger threat to them than 9/11, of World War II, of World War I. That's what he said. So you go back to the housing issue. Trump sees housing as zero sum. If you're going to give housing to first-time homeowners, You must be taking it away from Trump and his buddy and the slumlords and the Epstein. You must be giving homes to them. It doesn't— never. You could share collectively in the value of a company with people who are— I get executives and CEOs making more money, but it doesn't have to be wildly out of control.

You can build more homes. That doesn't mean you're taking away homes, but that's Trump's mentality. With everything. And that's really where we're at right now. That's why he hates the rent stabilization. Oh, you're going to screw over the slumlord. That's what's going to create the squalor. No, the squalor exists now. The squalor exists now. And what Trump has turned America into is what his fair looks like. A failure. Okay, let's take our first and only break of the show. We'll be right back after this quick break.

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Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Myselis, and this is your breaking news. Breaking news moments ago, MAGA Mike Johnson shutting down the House of Representatives, telling people, go home, we're not going to come back until July 4th. Why? Because the House of Representatives couldn't pass what's called a rule. When you can't pass the rule, you can't engage in debate or do your work. Passing the rule, kind of like writing your name on an exam. You know how they say you get the first few hundred points on the SAT after you put your name? The idea of not being able to pass a rule, it's unheard of, pretty much, if not totally unheard of, but very rare that you wouldn't be able to pass a rule. But under MAGA Mike, that is very, very common and One of the reasons that they aren't passing the rule is because Donald Trump having a baby temper tantrum— no offense to babies, I hear my little baby sleeping in the background, or just waking up rather, so I never would want to conflate Trump's behavior to the maturity of actual babies as compared— in comparison to Trump.

But Trump threw the temper tantrum over the housing bill. A bipartisan bill. You know, I often get asked, is there anything nice, Ben, you can say about Donald Trump?

Can I—

no, there isn't. There really isn't. It's horrible. He's really horrible. But I would say— but this is what I said. I said, when I heard the housing affordability bill pass, I would have said, wow, that was a bipartisan achievement. Trump signed it. I agree with this. That's what I would have said. You know, he wasn't really the— he wasn't behind it, but you get, you get it done. I would have said something nice about it. That's what I said the night before. I said, okay, housing affordability bill, he's going to sign. I said, if he signs it, that would be great. I think it could have went much further, but, you know, it's good work by Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott, different sides of the aisle by far, okay? And they came up with this agreement together. What Donald Trump do? I'm not signing it. He's a, you know, he's a baby, you know, but what I will do is I will put an eagle with 11 stripes that represents the Confederate flag and I will, and it looks like the Nazi eagle. I'm going to put that over the White House and I'll do it as an AI because I'm such a troll.

Don't you love a trolly president? Oh, look what I'm doing. Nazi eagles on the White House.

Ho ho ho.

You know, it's stupid, man. It was really stupid. Just like, grow up and behave like a grown-up. Behave like a leader. Behave like an adult. Despite— just act like one. Like, pretend it's, you know, a movie or something and just— he can't. He can't do it. He's incapable of doing it. As much as I despise him and this regime, I don't root for America to look bad or foolish because it makes all of us look bad and foolish, and it hurts the people of our country more importantly than how it makes us look. I, I, I wish he could go to the G7 and behave like a normal guy, or like at least do a shtick, do like an acting like it, behave normal. Of course he can't. None of these people can because they're actual psychopaths. They're actually deranged and demented, malignant, narcissistic, like assholes. Like, they're just— they're horrible. They're horrible in every single way. And they all are.

Every one of them.

You take a look right here. As I saw more breaking news over the commercial break, Trump has just reported earnings of $635 million in royalties linked to his meme coin. You know, the Trump meme coin that crashed? $635 million in royalties he made while people got screwed. I saw this one during the commercial break. Steve Ratner with another post. It's not just the Lutnick sons cashing in on Trump's family's White House self-dealing. World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture Don Jr. and Eric launched with Steve Witkop's sons Zach and Alex, has netted a fortune for both families of at least $1.1 billion. Here's a graph. World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's pump and dump. Take a look right here. You can see its public trading opening on September 25th. Then you can see presale insiders in the Trump family. The tokens that they were able to sell, um, and the proceeds they were able to make. Public buyers since September 2025 launch are down 75%. June 2026, down 76% from its peak. Do you see this chart right here? This is how all Trump charts look. Like, like going back to his businesses or whatever you want to call them in the '70s and the '80s.

This is the Trump chart. The meme coins, the— this business, the casino. Look, look, these are all of his— the Trump graph is the Trump family and the insiders. They're at the top. They're at the top. The investors, the shareholders, the stakeholders, they're at the bottom. That's you. That's us. That's where the American people are when they talk about K-shape. We're, we're the ones who have been dumped in the pump and dump. And it just, it fascinates me. It's an interesting word choice by me because I feel more stronger than that, that there could be people who were so obviously dumped while Trump and his right-wing oligarchs were pumped. And the people who were dumped can still go around him even though the events are like 300 people now or 400 people now. But they just like it. They're good with it. They're cool with, with being dumped. Like, I despise Trump's right-wing oligarch crew. At least they're—

they made—

they're making money. You know, they can satiate their greed. They're horrible scumbags. But I see why they at least like it. They're making— they're making— they're at least making a lot more money and getting a lot of tax breaks. And they're, you know, in their zero-sum game, they're screw— they're screwing you over. But I don't get how people on that bottom rung— but then you see what they do. They see what they do. They're eating your cats and dogs. It's the Haitians, it's the Somalians, that's who's doing it to you. It's the immigrants. Think about what they're hearing. On Capitol Hill today, I think we've got the video of Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin. He was furious because MAGA Republican Congressmember Mike Lawler was invited to join this hearing just to introduce somebody. And then Lawler started defaming Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good and started attacking people who were peacefully protesting ICE and Border Patrol. And I'll show you what this looks like, because Lawler starts shouting and yelling and saying, and the Democrats are the reason why so many people have died, because the Democrats have opened the floodgates for the killer immigrants and they've been killing everybody here in this country.

And then Jamie Raskin steps in and he's like, how dare you?

I do—

you're supposed to just introduce the witness. Why are you grandstanding and using this to attack immigrants and to attack Renee Nicole Good and Alex Perry? Watch what went down.

Let's play it.

In this country, I do feel that outrage.

You do not. Do you?

Because if you did, do you feel the outrage about Alex Perry? You should be ashamed. You don't belong in this committee. You should get the hell out of here. You don't understand the rules. You don't understand the Constitution. Mr. Raskin, Mr. Raskin, you're full of disgrace. Say one word about it.

Get rid of—

say one word about Alex Petty. I did. I wrote a whole New York Times op-ed about it. You should be absolutely ashamed of yourself for not opposing sanctuary policies that resulted in their daughter's death. Okay, now I give a lot of credit to Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin for fighting back, for punching back, for going on the offense. But I also want to reflect upon the fact that the MAGA Republicans inject so much poison into the political process. And there was a right way we could have had a discussion about immigration with strong borders, making sure criminals are prosecuted and making sure that the deportations focus on truly individuals who have violated the law, right? There was a bipartisan immigration bill and that would have dealt with strong borders, expedited immigration proceedings, due process, compassion, pathway to citizenship, funding so Border Patrol can actually just be on the border, not invading our cities. Donald Trump and MAGA said, no, no, no, no, no, we can't solve the problem. We need to fuel the problem because we need to run on these issues. We need to run on these issues. That's why when Mike Lawler's out there yelling and shouting, they'll never talk about the bipartisan immigration bill.

That Trump and Lawler and all the MAGAs killed because they want to run on that and be divisive. Now, the issue is when a lot of people watch what I just showed you, when you see people yelling at each other, a lot of the reaction from people is just to say this: I'm leaving. I don't want— I don't want— why are you yelling?

I got it.

I'm going to— I got to take care of my daughter. I got to— I got to go eat lunch. I'm going to go. I'm going to go watch Netflix, watch the— watch, watch a show. I'm going to— I can't. I don't want to watch that.

Right.

I mean, and, you know, it's hard sometimes, especially where the right wing has a trillion-dollar media landscape. To decipher sometimes the yelling and to say, okay, wait a minute. So you're telling me that we actually had a solution that dealt with the border responsibly, strong borders, compassion, it would have solved the problems. What could we talk like that? Can we, can you explain that? Yeah, we should be able to talk, but you know, you have to understand these people. Who just care about power for the sake of power, these MAGAs, they're going to shout and scream because— pull up the K-shaped charts right there— they need to convince the people who are on the bottom of those K-shaped charts, the type of people who lose 76%, the people on the bottom of the K-shaped graphs, the people in the pump and dump who are dumps, in this case, 99% of Americans. You have to keep people really angry at the other because the moment people realize that you've just screwed them and picked their pockets and stole from them and you're supporting a right-wing oligarch and you're laughing at them, they're going to turn against you.

So you got to keep them angry and you got to keep the venom in this all and you've got to keep the division and you've got to keep that communist— That's what they do. That's what they do. And that's what we'll see a lot more of as we head closer to the election, because they, the pumpers, don't want a politics that benefits the dumped. They want to keep on dumping you and dumping you and dumping you. And then when you, when you, when you're treading water, when you're treading water, right? And they'll say, we'll help you, we'll help you.

Dunk.

We're out trading, please dunk. I'll say, well, I'll get you in bed. Dunk. That's what they want to do to you. That's who these right-wing Epstein-class oligarchs are, and people like Mike Lawler protect them. If you think about the chessboard, right, they're the front line of defense against the oligarchical kings and queens. They're positioned there to do the blocking and tackling for the Epstein class. That is screwing you, that is pickpocketing you, that is harming you, that is crushing you.

Right.

And then they have their people show up like Russ Vought, the architect of Project 2025, and with the level of arrogance and disgust, they get off. They get off. The way Kristi Noem's husband— won't go there, won't go there. But they get off on the pain and suffering of the American people. Take a look at Russ Voigt right here being cross-examined by Democratic Congressmember Pocan. And Congressmember Pocan is asking some very basic questions like, uh, will you acknowledge that people have died as a result of cuts to USAID. Let's watch it.

You know, many of us disagree with the first time in 250 years history of the country, the unified executive theory. So let me drill into one area to ask, do you concur that multiple studies have shown that people, both adults and children across the globe, have died because of cuts to programs like USAID? I do not concur with the validity of those studies. They are based on— do you agree that people have died across the globe because of our— I believe these studies that people are banting about? My question is, do you believe people have died because of the cuts to USAID? It's simple, yes or no. I do not believe that the administration— I don't believe anyone's died. Let me finish the question. No, no, it's a yes or no. It is, it's really simple. Do you think people died or not? Cuts are aimed at— All right, you're not going to answer it. I would claim my time. I thought you were going to be a little more helpful, Director Vought, but that's fine. Um, so this is Boston studies, Lancet studies, others have said hundreds of thousands to millions of kids and adults will die because of this.

Uh, one of your co-conspirators, Elon Musk, recently has been going nuts trying to claim no one's died, uh, and he has to name names. So let me mention a few people, uh, who've died because of these cuts. Uh, Rovina Naboi in Kenya, her little daughter Jane, uh, died of starvation in a refugee camp because we cut back on their food and the food rations. She got sick and died. Ugana Bulama, Nigeria, USAID-funded program, babies a special nutrition— nutrient-dense paste to avoid malnutrition. She had twins, 6 months old. The program ended abruptly because of cuts to USAID. 2 weeks later, one of the twins died. I've got a bunch more. Are you familiar with any of these stories? 13.4 million for civic engagement. Are you familiar with any of these stories? There's no number. You're involved in that answer, Director Vogt. You're citing— Are you familiar with any of these stories? I just gave you two examples. Are you familiar? It's a yes or no. I am familiar. Don't dance. You're not a tap dancer. Are you familiar with the stories? It's really that simple. I am familiar with the press that you are citing. The reports that you are also referring to are— I take my tie back.

You're clearly not going to answer questions today. I thought you came to answer questions. You're not.

And I'll leave you all right here with, uh, the latest from the lead negotiator from Iran, MB Ghalibaf, who gave a lengthy televised interview moments ago. And, uh, he offered what is probably the clearest explanation so far of how Tehran sees the post-war MOU and where the process now stands. MB Ghalibaf, again, Iran's lead negotiator, he says negotiations are over. According to him, the trip to Switzerland was not about negotiating a new agreement, but about discussing the implementation of the MOU. It's what I said before. He says Iran will not move to the remaining provisions of the agreement until the five have been implemented, adding that Article 13 will only be pursued afterwards. He describes the U.S. commitment to end the war in Lebanon, enable the return of displaced civilians, and restore Lebanese sovereignty. As one of the biggest achievements of the MOU, he says a joint committee involving Iran, the United States, and Lebanon has been established to follow the implementation of the Lebanon file, with Iran's ambassador serving as Tehran's representative. He claims the U.S. naval blockade has now been fully lifted. He says Iran has exported more than 40 million barrels of oil since the blockade ended.

He claims Iranian oil is now being sold at or around 20% higher prices, with payments reaching Iranian accounts. He says the 60-day period of toll-free transit through the Strait of Hormuz is temporary, while insisting that Iran and Oman retain responsibility for nav— for managing navigation there. He argues that Hormuz should become busier, safer, and cheaper for commercial shipping, saying Iran's strategic advantage comes from making the strait function efficiently rather than keeping it closed. He reiterates that Iran's missile capabilities, the resistance, access, and enrichment are not negotiable, while warning that Tehran is prepared to respond militarily if the MOU is violated. Overall, Ghalibaf appears to be reinforcing an official narrative that the MOU is now entering its implementation phase. The repeated emphasis on oil exports, higher revenues, the lifting of the naval blockade, and developments in Lebanon seems to be intended to demonstrate that Iran is already reaping concrete strategic and economic benefits while preserving military leverage if implementation falters. And by the way, folks, that's not some— to use JD Vance's term— some Persian rhetorical trick, like a racist statement. It was a Persian rhetorical trickery. What are you talking about? Um, that is strategic, makes sense to me, and it seems to be what's taking place.

When you observe that Iran is not there in Qatar, there's nothing for them to negotiate anymore. We did the MOU. Do your obligations. Then the MOU says, once you hit your obligations, at that point we then begin discussions on the nuclear file. We'll have those discussions once you go through and do your obligations. It was tiered like a ladder. The US has to climb the ladder, and when it climbs the ladder, then Iran has nuclear discussions. So I saw former President Obama. He was asked, well, what do you make of this deal? Obama, Obama's Obama, in kind of textbook Obama fashion, goes— I won't do the Obama voice— but he goes, I did a deal. The JCPOA was a deal that specifically addressed removing nuclear enrichment capabilities of Iran to weapons grade. And it was hundreds of pages that dealt specifically with the nuclear file. That's what the JCPOA was, and it was a template to do similar non-nuclear deals with North Korea and others. And according to all international agencies, including Israel, by the way, and all international agencies, Iran was complying with the JCPOA until Donald Trump ripped it apart. The 14-point MOU only deals with the nuclear file, beginning negotiations on Iran, their responsibilities regarding nuclear enrichment, downgrading, down-blending, etc.

That only begins that portion once the U.S. meets its commitments in the MOU. That includes full, durable ceasefire in Lebanon. That includes $300 billion fund to Iran. That includes unfreezing sanctioned money to Iran. That includes removing the blockade. You do all of those things, and then in the future, We can begin the discussion basically of the JCPOA, but a weaker version sometime in the future. That's what the MOU actually is. So that's, that's where we— that, that's where we are right now. As much as I despise this regime, I want to see the MOU complied with. I don't know how we're going to comply with it because already the Lebanon MOU is directly in conflict with the Iran MOU and the Switzerland deconfliction statements. Already you have the Arab nations saying that Rubio didn't discuss anything about a $300 billion fund and that the Arab nations, they've never been consulted with and have no clue where the money's coming from because they ain't paying the money. So the US is essentially a guarantor of it. Where, where, where's that coming from? And then the Lebanon file, where you have Netanyahu today walking in Lebanon cosplaying like he's a soldier in the so-called security zone.

He took that trip to specifically say to Iran, we will not allow there to be Iran's involvement in the deconfliction process. And Netanyahu, he bombed Syria the other day, he continues to bomb southern Lebanon, and obviously continues to bomb Gaza. And Netanyahu, by being there, is sending a very intentional message: I'm going to drag the U.S. back into a war with you. I showed you, if you watched my morning videos, what they were saying on Israel's I24 News, where you had the former consul in Los Angeles and you had all their people saying, 'For Israel.' Their view is that Netanyahu and Trump go back to war with Iran in November after the midterm elections, and that it's a foregone conclusion that the third Iran war, as they call it in the Netanyahu regime, that that will be taking place, that they will drag us back in around November and try to hope for a ground invasion. And I mean, you see him there with his grin, with his, um, provocative act right there, essentially saying, we ain't leaving. So what happens? What happens next? And the reality is, is that in the best case scenario— let me paint the best case picture We go through 15 cycles of 60 days of the charade and farce of this MOU existing, and then the problems get dumped on a new administration.

And then all of these Republicans start to say, ah, you did it, we had it all set up for you, it was gonna be We had it perfect. Pick the person who you think will be the Democratic president, whatever the name is. Now you've destroyed us. You've screwed us. We had it perfect. Trump was tough. We set it all up. We arranged it in this perfect thing. No, no, you're a bunch of frauds. And the US in whatever the next election is, You can't have someone who just is like, eh, kumbaya, let's go, you know, let's treat this as normal. You can't. The stakes are too high. You have to be able to very strongly explain where the problems are coming from because they have to be fixed. The surgery to our country has to take place, but that means You have to be able to diagnose people. You know how Trump says, don't do the testing because then you'll see that people were sick. Remember, that was in COVID. People are sick. By not doing the testing, you're just covering up the sickness. So when you come in and you have to diagnose the sickness, you can't be conflated for the virus.

That's what happened with Biden. That's what happened with former President Biden. And the toxic media environment promoted that idea. Anyway, the good news is we've got a new media environment. I think we all get it. And we'll just keep grinding every day, getting the truth out, huh? That's what we'll keep on doing.

All right.

Thanks, everybody, for watching. Subscribe to the Midas Touch on audio. We appreciate you. We're grateful for you. Hit subscribe. Help us get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching, everybody. Have a great day. We'll see you soon.

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