Transcript of Tuesday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 3/10/26

This has been on breaking news. I'm Ben Myselis, and this is your breaking news. Donald Trump's unlawful war against Iran spiraling out of control. This just coming out over the wire. Now we know that as many as 150 US troops have been wounded in the war with Iran, according to sources familiar with the matter, far higher than the Pentagon's publicly disclosed figure of just 8 seriously wounded troops. The true toll of this war is already far worse than the public has been told. This has been a major cover-up by the Trump regime. And now our military and Caroline Levitt is also confirming that these numbers are, quote, within the ballpark. I'll show you some clips of Caroline Levitt's disastrous press conference in just a moment. We're also learning that Iran has been laying naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The world's most important energy choke point that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil, according to two people familiar with US intelligence who spoke to CNN. Only a few dozen having been laid in recent days, the sources said, but Iran has the capability to deploy hundreds if not thousands more, retaining upward of 80% to 90% of its small boats and minelayers operated by the Islamic Revolutionary, uh, Guard Corps.

And we're also getting data from the United Arab Emirates today about how these Iranian drones are striking far more frequently UAE targets. If you evaluate the ability for these drones to strike, you're seeing somewhere in the range of 20 to 25% increases in strike rates right now. A big oil refinery in the United Arab Emirates was just hit. In fact, their biggest— the biggest oil refinery in the UAE halted operations after a drone strike caused a fire in the industrial area in which it's located, according to people familiar with the matter. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. was assessing damage at the plant, the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is not yet public. Public. This specific refinery can process 922,000 barrels of oil. And then if you take a look at just some of the, uh, hit versus intercept rate for ballistic missiles and drone attacks since February 28th for the UAE through today, a lot more of these drones are getting through by significant percentages. And so what that tells us is that the UAE is likely running low on some of these expensive interceptors, right? There's the THAAD system, and then there's also the Patriot missile system.

Uh, both are incredibly expensive, and it can cost tens of millions of dollars to strike down a single Shahed drone, which only costs about $20,000 to make. And so instead of the US studying what was going on in Ukraine and how the war was being fought there, whether it was the Iranian Shahed drones being given to Russia, the joint production of ballistic missiles, but keeping the costs low in their attack on Ukraine, Ukraine's ability to stop a lot of these drones, but not all of them. We've always been covering those deadly attacks in Kyiv and Kharkiv and Odessa and all of the, uh, areas there. And also Ukraine's, uh, ability to use drones against Russia as well. That should have been studied. And let me be very clear, our military preparedness is systemic. I don't want to even act like this is purely a Trump issue, although this is Trump's fault right now. But I think in general, our military, even under the Biden administration— this is bipartisan— I think was slow to adopt and be able to address what the modern warfare was actually looking like, because our military-industrial complex was all about buying expensive weapons, these billion-dollar systems, when in fact things were getting very, very cheap in order to mass-produce these drones.

The situation is, is that it wasn't Biden who got into this war, right? And so if you're going to hastily get into a war the way Trump did because Israel was going to strike Iran first, as Rubio and everyone in the Trump regime said— the Trump regime's making up lots of other excuses— if you're going to get into that war and you know you have these vulnerabilities that you have not yet adapted to, that is a big, big problem. You know, Biden, in helping Ukraine, was able to contain a lot of this. So whereas I do place some fault there, as I would any administration. I would go back 20 years. I would go to Obama. I'd go to George W. Bush. There was a lack of foresight into the way modern weapons and modern war would look. Regardless though, you don't rush into war. Biden was very smart. Biden helped Ukraine. Ukraine was on the front lines. Basically, they still are fighting these proxy battles, if you will, you know, and fighting Russia, which is critical, which invaded Ukraine. But also, you know, Iran is part of that access with Russia, Iran, Russia, and China, who Donald Trump thinks that they're his friends while Russia is out there.

And so is China providing intel to Iran about where to strike. By the way, Putin's not even hiding it. Like, the Kremlin is putting out statements saying that we stand in solidarity with Iran. They're publicizing those statements about what they're doing. It's not actually like a secret that that intelligence is being used to strike the United States. But Biden had a sophisticated plan, and if he was able to build up the, uh, you know, anti-drone capabilities. That's probably where it was heading. Now, Donald Trump in 2025— here's the thing— by 2025, Zelensky had figured out, with the help of the Americans but with Ukrainian ingenuity— this happened in 2025, I want to be clear of the dates— how you address these drone strikes. It's not, it's not foolproof, A lot of drones still strike Ukraine. But in 2025, over the summer, Zelensky goes to Donald Trump and says, hey, let us help you. Let us show you what's happening. Why'd this happen in the summer? Because that was the first war that Donald Trump got into against Iran. And when you started to see, okay, is Iran gonna use the same Shaheds that are being used in Russia and being used in Ukraine?

Um, Zelensky's like, let us help you here. Pull that graphic back up right there. Uh, and if you take a look at this graphic, you can see that Zelensky, uh, according to Axios, in August of last year, Ukraine's President Zelensky showed Donald Trump a presentation detailing the effectiveness of Ukrainian counter-drone technology and offered it to the U.S. in the event of war in the Middle East, warning that the Iranians were improving the effectiveness of their drones. US officials did not entertain an offer at that time. And that was a critical moment because that's when Zelensky truly, you know, knew how to counter it, how the threat had increased. And yes, there were drones that were being used in 2024, you know, when Biden was in office, but they really accelerated it in 2025. It was taken to a whole new level, escalation of this drone warfare. And Trump didn't want to hear it. Instead, what was Donald Trump doing in August of 2025? Do you remember what Trump was doing? He was meeting with Putin. Remember, that's when the Alaska meeting took place. Trump rolls out the red carpet for Putin. He makes our soldiers bend down on their knees and basically kiss Vladimir Putin's shoes.

Remember, I mean, there's actually like a photo of our troops on their knees looking at like Putin's feet as Donald Trump then kind of waddles in the red carpet, and he couldn't walk in a straight line, and he praised Putin and how big this was going to be, this incredible summit. And when Putin totally played him, well, behind the scenes, Zelensky was trying to help out, but the United States refused to even listen to Zelensky. And so right now, is the United States listening to Zelensky? Sort of. But you have Eric Trump is now a major part of this drone company, and this drone company in the U.S. wants the Ukrainian anti-drone and drone technology. So it is a Trump-related business deal, is essentially what's taking place right now. And so you have the Middle East on fire. You have to show you what Iranians' foreign minister is saying publicly. Just, they're trolling Donald Trump on social media. The Iranians are trolling Trump. So you have the foreign minister, Araghchi, says the claim that Iran was planning on attacking the US or US forces, whether preventively or preemptively, is a sheer and utter lie. The sole purpose of that lie is to justify Operation Epic Mistake, a misadventure engineered by Israel and paid for by ordinary Americans.

Then their National Security Council advisor, Ali Larijani responds to one of Donald Trump's social media posts. And Donald Trump's social media post says the following. This was from late last night when Trump rants and raves like a lunatic. If Iran does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America 20 times harder than they have been hit thus far. Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back as a nation again. Death, fire, and fury will rain upon them. But I hope and pray that it does not happen. This is a gift from the United States of America to China and all those nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump. And then our energy Secretary, uh, and posted on social media a lie that the United States Navy was helping ships go through the Strait of Hormuz. And then the Energy Secretary had to remove it because it was just entirely false.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright claimed this morning in a now-deleted post that the United States Navy had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, with the posts being removed only minutes later and officials denying to Fox News that the Navy had carried out any such operation through the strait near Iran. So what else is happening is that the Trump regime is manipulating our markets right now. And so they saw on Monday that the markets were going to tank, tank to like a Great Depression level. Now, systemically, our economy is just being destroyed by Donald Trump. I can't even imagine what the next inflation reports are going to show, what the job losses will show. And you just think of the jobs report last month and what an utter disaster that was. What, 92,000 jobs that were lost? Inflation was surging before all of this. Now you raise the price of gas, inflation's gonna be crushing. But the markets were absolutely crashing and the price of oil per barrel was soaring. So what the Trump regime keeps on doing now They keep trying to come out with good news. Remember, like with Trump's Liberation Day, which was Liquidation Day, you'd have the markets crash and then he would say something and they would go up, then it would crash, then it would go up.

They're doing that over and over again right now. So they're just making things up, just like complete and utter lies. And it's, you know, it is deeply, deeply tragic that this regime in the United States just can't be trusted at all. With anything. And I've said it before on some of my other programs, it's like comic book stupid propaganda. I think all propaganda is bad usually, but this version of the propaganda is like just the dumbest. It's like stupid and dumb, and it's like, what are you talking about? Like, at least in some other regimes fully fueled by propaganda, it's like I don't know, a little bit smart, and there's like a plan, and the messaging is at least repeated over and by the same people. But like, the Trump regime just makes up different things. Why'd you go to war? Well, Israel told us to do it. Actually, Israel didn't tell us to do that. We didn't say it. You literally just said that. So why else did you do it? They were going to strike us with nuclear missiles in 5 days. Really? Where'd you get that from? We learned that. Well, who told you that?

Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkopf told us that. That's the new one. The new one is that Kushner and Whitkopf told Trump that we were days away from nuclear annihilation by Iran. They've moved to that one. Well, what are we in war for? Regime change. So we're there for regime change? No, we're not there for regime change. Okay, well, what are we there for? To get rid of their ballistic missiles. Okay, so we're there to get rid of their ballistic missiles? No. Okay, well, what are we there for? We just want to bring someone in from the Islamic Republic who likes Donald Trump. Okay, so what's going to happen with the people in Iran who want democracy? Ah, they're— we don't like them. They're maniacs. They're lunatics. All Iranians are lunatics. I don't think that— that's like Donald Trump was saying during the press conference yesterday. He was like, they're very menacing people. They're crazy. All Iranians, not like the regime. Trump was referring to the Iranian people generally as menacing people. And then the Trump regime is like, the Iranian people out there have turned against the Islamic Republic and they want Trump. They want Netanyahu.

It's like, no, they don't. Do you see what's happening in Tehran Square right now? Do you see what's happening in cities and towns across Iran? Even if you believed that you may have had support in Iran, which you may have had a little bit of support in Iran. I mean, you blew that during the protests in January where you told the protesters you were going to help them, and then you ended up allowing them to be completely massacred by the Iranian regime. President, you promised— When you said, go out there and protest, and then you said, I got your back if a single Iranian gets killed. You said, I got your back, and you didn't have their back. And now even some people who were against the Ayatollah, who may have been sympathetic when you bomb with a Tomahawk missile a little girl's elementary school and then kill 150 little girls, 185 people in total, and then you go and lie and say the Iranians use the Tomahawk to do it when Iran doesn't have Tomahawks, nor do they have the Tomahawk launchers. Do you all remember Ukraine wanted Tomahawks, remember that? And the United States wouldn't give it to Ukraine.

We don't give tomahawks to a lot of people. I mean, Trump didn't give it to Ukraine because Trump despises Zelensky and loves Vladimir Putin. But there's only like 4 nations that have tomahawks from the United States. You need the tomahawks, you need the launchers. And at the site of the elementary school, the tomahawks, they like, made in the US. Um, you can see the crater marks from where the other tomahawks struck facilities nearby. And why— you're saying that Iran used tomahawks to kill its own people on the first day of the war? That's the first thing that it did was do that, somewhat near a military base? Like, that, that makes— that makes zero sense, and it's, and it's a lie. And the United States is involved in this, you know, horrific, horrific conduct. Um, and by the way, this is what Hegseth would brag about, right? Hegseth's whole thing is throw out the rules of engagement, throw it out, right? We stupid woke rules of engagement, right? Our military is lethal. Lethality. Of course our military is lethal. Of course our military is the most powerful in the world in terms of, in terms of like its size and scale and scope and ability to kill.

But powerful people don't need to run around saying how powerful they are. That's actually what weak people do, right? Saying, you know, we're gonna rain down death from above. That's pretty sick. That that's how the American people, that that's how this Trump regime is speaking. And it has consequences. It's rallied the Iranian people around the new Ayatollah, Mojtaba, who's more extreme than his dad, the old Ayatollah. And you've got people out there who are, you know, who are out there. I mean, Jeremy, do we have the clip? Just, I'll show you Tehran Square right now. Watch for my cue, Jeremy, because I don't need to play the whole thing. Whenever I show what's going on on Iranian TV, I always want to give you a disclaimer because Iran is led by terroristic maniacs. I'm not trying to justify what they're doing. I'm not showing support for the Iranian regime. I always want to flag and contextualize why am I showing you these things. Because in the United States there is propaganda here that looks like the Russian propaganda you see about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That's what our media shows you here. I do want you to recognize that there's Iranian propaganda as well, and they're going to put forward things on their state TV to show their version of events and to propagandize.

But what I do want to show you is that there are a lot of people out there right now supporting Mojtaba, the new ayatollah. And when you hear either in the background, it's loud, there are bangs, you hear explosions. It's been stated by Iranian media that those explosions are missiles coming in from the United States. I don't know that to be the case. So let me flag that. For all we know, it could be fireworks.. It could all be part of an elaborate setup by Iran as part of their propaganda to tell the 100,000 people in Tehran Square, all right, we're going to set off the fireworks, everybody. And then everybody, when we do it, let's show the camera how angry you are. Do I know one way or another? Here's what I do know. I do know that Israel has been bombing the oil rigs in Iran, creating these mushroom clouds of black smoke that makes it look like a nuclear winter there. And I think in the future, future, we'll find out that hundreds of thousands of people in Iran will die of cancers heretofore unknown as a result of the blowing up of these oil rigs and the chemicals that were released.

Like, we know that they were doing that. We do know that the United States and Israel has been targeting desalination plants of Iran for people to get drinking water, purified water. So we do know that. We do know that over 1,000 civilians, perhaps more, have been killed in addition to the 150 at the elementary school have been killed by the United States and Israel so far. We know that Iran has responded by attacking the United States military and they killed 7. An 8th soldier or service member died based on mysterious illness. And now we know 150 have been injured. We also know that Iran has been striking the Arab nations where there are American interests. So when I report this, what I try to do is do that framework, right? I'm not trying to— I'm just presenting to you what they're saying, what we're saying, what they're saying, what they're saying, what they're saying, what he's saying, what she's saying, what they're saying. And then you can form your opinions about this. But what news should be about is just providing you with the data. That's what I think my job here is. So let me just show you what's going on.

Let's just play about 35, 40 seconds. Watch for my cue,

Jeremy. So that's what's going on there, and that's happening in cities across Iran right now. Now you can say, hey Ben, that's just the total setup, that's like a stage that they put forward right there. Um, remember though, the Trump regime made it seem like there were going to be hundreds of thousands or millions of people in Iran the day the U.S. launched its unlawful invasion of Iran, right? They were going to rise up. There were all these people we were told on day one who are going to do it. Remember Donald Trump said, now take back your country, and everybody on Fox was like, and the Iranian people are about to rise up. And they would show images or film of not in Iran, right? They would show footage of like Beverly Hills or footage of Iranian communities in areas where diaspora Iranians here in the United States are from. And they would say, look, you know, look, look, this is what the Iranians want. This is what's happening here. And I think those Iranians here did want— I feel for these Iranians who are here in the United States, who are, who have been forced out by a brutal ayatollah, the Islamic Revolution, and they've had their assets stolen.

And so for them to see, I understand it, you know, to see the ayatollah killed after what prior Ayatollah had done and what this brutal regime has done to their family. I get it. And, you know, that's why I wanted to be very sensitive and delicate. I have a lot of Iranian friends here in the United States. Let me be clear about that too. And but when you had the Iranians protesting in the street in Iran against the Ayatollah, who was 86 years old, And Donald Trump said, get out there, I've got your back, when we didn't even have our ships nearby and no assets were marshaled to even help them. And the people believed the U.S. was going to help them, and Trump abandoned them, and thousands got massacred who went out on the street. And then Donald Trump bragged that he saved 700 protesters from being hung, and they're probably dead right now, by the way, as well. By the way, Trump keeps sending Iranians from the United States who have sought asylum back to Iran by the thousands. The Trump regime— we don't hear about it a lot, um, because often in the brutality of the Trump regime's ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo, they've gone after a lot of other groups as well.

That are— that those stories are told more frequently in A lot of brutal brutality happening there. But it's hard to keep track of everything this disgusting Trump regime does. But the Trump regime has sent hundreds, if not thousands, of Iranians who sought asylum here back to Iran, put them on planes, shipped them to Iran where they were probably killed. And they're probably dead right now. They just think about it. They're asylum seekers from Iran. They get captured by ICE or Border Patrol. They get put on planes. And they get sent to Tehran after being here. What do you think the Ayatollah did to them? Probably killed them. But we have no transparency. The Trump regime didn't even admit that 150 of our soldiers were wounded until it was reported by Reuters, and then the Trump regime had to confess and admit it. And by the way, you know, you have Iranian leaders like Foreign Minister Araghchi also posting the following. He says this: US officials are posting fake news to manipulate markets. It won't protect them from inflationary tsunami they've imposed on Americans. Markets are facing the biggest oil shortfall in history, bigger than the Arab oil embargo, Iran's Islamic Revolution, and the Kuwait invasion combined.

Now, here's the thing. What he's saying is true right there. I could both recognize the Iranian regime is brutal. Is terroristic, um, has engaged in horrible conduct. But I can also acknowledge that what this individual is saying is accurate. He is speaking with facts publicly while the Trump regime is not. That is terrible. That is a terrible fact right there, that Donald Trump is out there spewing that Iran used tomahawks on its own people when we know that's false. It didn't happen. And we see the foreign minister of Iran saying things that in this instance is an accurate thing that he said. Or how about when he says the following: Iran does not want to harm ordinary Americans who overwhelmingly voted to end involvement in costly foreign wars, blame for surging gas prices, costlier mortgages, and pummeled 401(k)s lies squarely with Israel and its dupes in Washington. Now, obviously, Foreign Minister Aragchi is trying to manipulate us. Like, I think we have to understand what his objective is behind posting that, but he is appealing to things that actually resonate with the American people. What he is saying there, once again, is true, right? If you're an American and you're reading what he wrote, you're like, uh, why am I agreeing with— in this case, with the foreign minister of Iran, right?

It's hard. Like, I'm like, why is this guy saying truthful things? He's being very deliberate in his language and messaging. He's being surgical with it. He knows the target audience here in the US are people who are psychologically tortured, living paycheck to paycheck, people here who don't want foreign wars. This is the least popular war in American history at this time. It just started. So he knows those dynamics, and he's appealing manipulatively to the sympathies of the American people. But he's using that. Then you contrast that to Donald Trump's bloviating speeches where Donald Trump is asked, well, what's your message to the Iranian people? Like, are you going to help the Iranian people out? Are you going to do anything for them because they are worried? What's your objectives regarding people out there who are protesting? Like, are you gonna, are you going to try to help them out at all? You know, and Donald Trump's response is, you know, the Iranian people are, are a menacing people. They're all very menacing people, and, you know, I'm very concerned about them. And it's like, okay, well, if you attack the men— and he calls them nasty.

Do we have the clip, Jeremy, where Donald Trump says that they're menacing? I think, I think we have that clip. It's, uh, uh, where does he say it? He goes Putin is helpful. Yeah, let's play that clip.

President, you promised the Iranian people you would help them, but it sounds like you're willing to end this fight after your military objectives have wrapped up. Isn't that a betrayal of your people?

Will I help them? I'd like to, if they can behave. But they've been very menacing. You know, they're great people. They have an amazing population. It's amazing, smart. Brilliant, energetic. They have a great point. I'd love to help them, but they have to be in a system that allows them to be helped. Again, he says they're very menacing people. Just think about that. Very menacing people. And you're trying to appeal to them. Like, the messaging— it's like a worst-case scenario in every aspect of this for how Trump rushed into this war, how unprepared he was. We now have to remove THAAD missile systems from South Korea. We just took those systems, and in South Korea, their president, President Lee, is like, well, we want our systems here, but we cannot fully enforce our opinion. Just think about it. The South Korean president says we oppose the U.S. withdrawal of some of our air defense weapons, but we cannot fully enforce our opinions. How, how— so we've screwed over all the allies that we believed we had in the Middle East. We're screwing over all our allies in Asia. We previously screwed over all of our NATO allies.

And then Donald Trump keeps getting advice from Putin. He keeps having— he keeps having Putin call him, and he keeps on bragging about these conversations with Putin as Putin provides Iran with with weapons, right, as Putin helps Iran target American assets. That's— and, and brags about it publicly that he's doing it. Also, remember Donald Trump's buddy, the Prime Minister of Pakistan? The U.S. tarnished its relationship with India, except where we allow India now to buy oil from Russia. But Trump destroyed America's relationship with India, pushed India to be more dependent on Russia. And Trump was siding with Pakistan because the Pakistan crypto fund invested in World Liberty Financial, which is Trump's family thing. Then Trump— and also Pakistan said that Trump should get a Nobel Peace Prize and India wouldn't say that. Well, now the Prime Minister of Pakistan's like, we want to wish the new Ayatollah, Mojaba, the best. You know, we want to let him know our heart is with him for the martyrdom. Of his father, Khomeini. And, you know, Pakistan stands with you, basically. You know, like, this is Donald Trump's buddy right here. Not a buddy at all. It's idiotic.

It's idiotic that the United States has abandoned all of its, um, all of the clout, I guess, if you— all of its post-World War II strength and alliances and the system where America was the envy of the world. I guess it I guess it says something about how strong— if you want to talk about strength, I guess it says something that it took a year and what, January, February, March, 13 months to like break break, and then it somehow held. Like, I was like, sure, like, okay, tariffs against the world, threatening Greenland, threatening— I'm like, this has got to break. Right. But it shows you the strength of the goodwill the US had built World War II, that America was able to hold it together. But everything this loser in the Oval Office did was break, break, break, break, break, break, break. Even when the Supreme Court helped him out by ruling against the tariffs against the world, that wasn't good for him. He could have just taken a win by losing. But then he's like, actually, Section 122 against the world, right? He could have taken a fake win based on the last Iran war and said, hey, we got what we need done, then negotiate.

You pick the foreign minister of Oman to mediate. You enter into a mediation. The foreign minister of Oman says, Trump, you did a better deal than Obama. Go out there and say, I did a better deal than Obama, right? Spike the football. He had the opportunity to do that. But instead, he was told by Netanyahu that Israel was going to invade. So Trump invaded. But Trump could have actually said he did a good deal. And we all probably would have been like, well, There's not a lot of fluff, right? There's not the yelling, there's not the Whatever. It's fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, facts you may not like, facts that you may like. But this is just, this is just the reality of where, of where it is. I am a data geek. I am a foreign policy wonk. I'll get into these issues deeply. Very specifics that like you don't get when you watch corporate news. Yell at each other and that's what we do here on this network. There's not a lot of fluff, right? There's not the yelling. There's not the whatever. It's fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact, fact.

You may not like facts that you may like, but this is just— this is just the reality of where it is. I am a data geek. I am a foreign policy wonk. I'll get into these issues deeply, very specifics that, like, you don't get when you watch corporate news yell at each other. And that's what we do here on this network. So hit subscribe, help us get to 7 million subscribers right now. Go to store.midastouch.com for the merch. Join, become a member of our YouTube channel. And then if you are able to, go to our Substack, midasplus.com. We still have more to the show. I'll show you other things that are going on today, including, uh, well, I'll save it for when we come back from the break. We'll be right back and, uh, see you shortly. Okay, I can't wait to tell you about my Ridge wallet. Look, the old wallet I used to have was so clunky and chunky, I started to feel like George Costanza from Seinfeld. The old wallet was this giant, crusty leather brick that was falling apart and even started causing me some back pain because I was sitting uneven.

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If for any reason mines were placed and they are not removed forthwith, the military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before. If, on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed, it will be a giant step in the right direction. Additionally, we are using the same technology and missile capabilities deployed against drug traffickers to permanently eliminate any boat or ship attempting to mine the Hormuz Strait. They will be dealt with quickly and violently. Beware, Donald J. Trump. You see, he's trying to find an exit strategy here as well. It will be a giant step in the right direction. So we just— just so you are following this, we went from regime change and Donald Trump must pick the next leader and it'll be a democracy to we'll just pick someone in the Islamic Republic will be friendly to Donald Trump, to actually Trump will be okay with Mojtaba, the Ayatollah's more extreme son, as the new Ayatollah. But if you remove the mines, that will be viewed as a win for the United States. Just remove the mines that Donald Trump said, uh, doesn't exist, and that will be a huge step in the right direction by removing supposedly non-existent mines.

Do you see that this is also how, like, he does, uh, like when he does his, like, fake deals? Like, remember when he did, like, his deal with China and he was like, we're bringing in X million— I forget what it is, you know, tons of soybeans, whatever the number was— 12 million tons or metric tons, 12 million metric tons of soybeans. We did it. It was like, yeah, last year it was 28 and you only delivered 3 million metric tons of soybeans. Means MAGA, MAGA exclamation point. That's a less number. See, the thing about Donald Trump, like everything with MAGA, right, it's all an op. It's all a psychological operation. It's a fraud. It's a con game, right? Donald Trump is probably the best con artist fraudster in at least recent history, maybe even world history. I don't know what he's able to tap into, kind of people's reptilian brains. I don't know how after bankrupting so many things and screwing so many people over, how he's able to do it again. Like, I can't psychologically understand how this zombified MAGA mind virus— you know how they use that term— how it like infects people, because it bears no relationship to truth and facts.

And he fails so frequently and so big that I don't get how people just don't go, wait, this guy's a loser. I really struggle with it. I struggle to understand the psychology. I study it. I study the pathology, but I try to also think of, of how people can see a guy who's lost, isn't like a loser who's always lost, bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt. And then think, wait a minute, but right now I'm going to be the one time that this doesn't happen. I don't, I don't get how that connection is made, but he taps into people's like reptilian brains. He defrauds you and then he screws you over and then he takes for himself. I mean, just even like leaving the last time he was in office, like, it's crazy, right? Like, the guy led an insurrection against the country and left the country with COVID raging, right? And he would do the press conferences like a miracle. It's all going to go away. And people, like, let him do it. Like, he became deeply unpopular.. But like, the guy should be in prison. Like, the guy should be tried for war crimes, like, for the things that he does.

I mean, even with COVID I mean, the guy's misinformation, disinformation, lies probably caused millions of deaths that could have been prevented if we had a normal, competent person in office who, back in '19— that's why it's called COVID-19— saw what was happening, then did all of the You know, I looked at it and it would be like, you know, thousands of people dying each day and he'd be like, it's great by Easter, by Easter, it's better by Easter. And it's like, what do you just make, you're making updates, you're making things up, you know, and then leads an insurrection. He's doing the same thing again with this disastrous war in Iran. And so within 51 minutes after posting, Iran has put out, if Iran has put out any mines, Iran. I looked at it and it would be like thousands of people dying each day and he'd be like, it's great. By Easter, by Easter, it's better. By Easter. It's like, what are you just making? You're making up dates. You're making things up. And then leads an insurrection. He's doing the same thing again with this disastrous war in Iran. And so within 51 minutes after posting, Iran has put out— if Iran has put out any mines, and we have no reports of them doing so, right?

He wrote that at 1:07 PM. Then like 45 minutes later, he goes, I am pleased to report that within the last few hours, we have hit and completely destroyed 10 inactive mine-laying boats and/or ships with more to follow. Donald J. Trump. Like, I don't need you live tweeting this war. I don't need you saying these don't exist, then live tweeting it does exist. I really don't need that. I just— just be normal. You shouldn't have got us into this war in the first place. Conduct yourself like a grown-up. And just, just like at a bare minimum, like, just, just act like an adult. Like, that's where we're at right now. Just act like an adult. And that's just what he's posting right now. It just sucks. It's like it sucks to have a leader in this country who's not a leader, who's just a pathetic thing. And again, I don't know how anybody watches this and gets it. I'll give you positive data points, though. You have these right-wing podcasters like Owen Shroyer, used to be MAGA, Jimmy Dore. I'll show you what they were saying on their show yesterday. I mean, these were MAGA people.

These were right-wing people. Here's what they're saying about Trump, at least. Here, play this clip. You got some of the biggest names on the right or in the MAGA universe completely going against and calling out Donald Trump. What, what, is there anything left to MAGA? And what, what does this mean for the midterms, right? Uh, I guess the only thing left of MAGA is what we call cuckservatives and neocons, is, is I would say what's left. And it really has become a cult. It really has. It goes back to what I said, they used to have to print lies about Trump, now they just print the truth. It has become a cult. And the names that you just mentioned, you know, we might have different approaches to politics and different policies, but I think the one thing that remains is consistency. You know, we remain consistent on the things that we think, the things that we say, and that's why we're so upset with the direction of where this Trump administration is going. You've got like these right-wing streamers, like these Gen Z right-wing streamers, you know, who by the way say like some real offensive stuff.

Stuff that I really despise. But this was part of Trump's MAGA coalition. These young men, remember, it was like the young men, Ben, you got to be like Joe Rogan. I'm like, no, stop. That's not the case. We need to set positive examples and we could lead and show strength by actually defending marginalized communities and by uplifting people and treating women with respect and all people with respect. That's to me, what it actually means to be a man and to show those qualities. And I never bought into like go down this rabbit hole. Remember after the election, I was like, you gotta be more like that. It's like, no, shut up. That's not the case. Just be yourself, be authentic, you know, and support people, help people uplift. Don't bully. Bullying's not cool. Like, what are we talking about anyway? I just want to again contextualize clips before I showed stuff like this on the channel. So there's this guy Sneako.. And again, he's like a right-wing streamer guy. And here's what he has to say. Let's play this clip. The troops that just came back and they come wrapped in the American flag. Trump doesn't even take his hat off.

This is a signal to all US troops. Wait, I'm dying for Israel and you can't even show me respect and take off my hat when I'm in the coffin. Right. Or Candace Owens, who used to be a big kind of MAGA person. And she's like, you know, Trump's a coward. He's a traitor. I mean, this is what the right-wing podcasters are just outright saying now, that Trump's a traitor. Here, play this clip. I'll reiterate my perspective that Trump allowing this to happen, allowing this to go forward, it makes him a traitor and it also makes him a coward. And you would do well to accept that fact. Okay, stop playing left to right.

Stop saying it would have been different if Democrat was in office.

Stop playing Republican or Democrat. Wake up. These people occupy both sides. And I believe very much that world wars are, in effect, global resets. That's why they always want them. They use propaganda to convince people to sign up for their own slaughter. But meanwhile, you have MAGA Mike Johnson, Trump sycophant. He's out there in Doral, Florida, where they're at Trump's resort for the Republican retreat. And here's what MAGA Mike says. Here, let's play this clip. He is the most active president, the most energized president, the most successful president I believe in my lifetime. And he's proven it over and over and over. And part of it is because he doesn't sleep. Thankfully, he's got so much to do. And I know that because I get calls from him at 2 AM and 7 AM, sometimes in the same day. He doesn't require a lot of sleep, thankfully. And he is the man for the moment. I mean, what the hell is that even? Like, that's like, that's weird. Like, that's weird behavior. Like, are you sexually attracted to him, MAGA Mike? I mean, are you— does he arouse you? I don't even understand the behavior of that to another human like that.

Like, what are you doing? You're supposed to be the Speaker of the House. You have your own branch of government, you idiot. You're Article 1. Do you want to date the guy? Like, is that what this is about? Like, what do you want? You want to sleep with him? And I'm not trying to be facetious at all. Like, I'm really not. Like, I think a lot of the stuff that's going on in MAGA is unreconciled feelings that I think they have. I'm giving you my opinion, but like, I think when it comes to Lindsey Graham, this is where I switch from facts to giving you my opinion. You know, I mean, I think that he gets— actually, I think he gets aroused talking about blowing things up. I think he's been unable to grapple with himself, and I think that he gets— I think that he gets aroused by it. I mean, you look at, uh, JD Vance and his background, you know, he said that he was gay for most of his life, and then he said that he was anti-gay, but he— in high school, he said he was gay, and then he was said that JD Vance is the anti-gay guy.

Then he was the You know, the guy from Appalachia who hates Trump, then he likes Trump. And so I, I don't know, like, by the way, I want you all to, you know, I want everybody to— I want to empower and I want people to live thriving lives. I really do. But when you're bringing whatever you're going through and then you're screwing up everybody else's life because you have these, these unreconciled, uh,, you know, in her situations. Like, just go about your life, Mag and Mike. If you are— whatever. Oh good, Mag and Mike, we should all respect that. JD Vance, you know what, I think you probably would have been happier if you took, you know, a path that you had in high school, and then we would all be less— we would all be more safe, you know, as a result, you know, of this behavior. And again, this This behavior right here is, is, is just utterly strange and baffling to see the leader of Article 1, MAGA Mike, go there. And I also like when people are like, oh, he doesn't sleep. That's, that's not a good— I want him to sleep.

I think it's actually a good quality that people can get sleep so they can be well rested and prepared. We see Donald Trump fall asleep at press conferences during the day. So he's sleeping on the job, and if he's awake tweeting or posting or whatever he's doing, that's, that's really problematic. As— that's more problematic. We see him sleep in front of us, and he's tired, and he should probably go to sleep at a regular hour. That he— then, then you can boast and brag that, look, he goes to sleep at 10, he wakes up at 6, maybe he goes for a walk and exercises. Has some breakfast. That would be actually strength, you know. And that's a good example to set. I don't, I don't need to, I don't need to hear that the guy doesn't sleep. And that's not a brag, you know, that we have a non-well-rested, in my opinion, dementia-ridden individual— just my opinion, you know— person up there like just spewing nonsense right now who's, who controls the nuclear codes. Who basically got us into a world war. We may not call this World War III, but the world is at war right now.

Every country is essentially somehow involved in a war. You could define that however you want to define it, without any end in sight. And Donald Trump, before the markets close, manipulates the market. You know, people lose money. People, you know, it's, it's crazy what's going on out there. Let's talk about Caroline Levitt, what she's been saying. Um, she was asked by a reporter at this press conference, you know, Reuters reported 150 U.S. service members injured, right? That's why— are we getting it from Reuters first? Like, this is something normally an administration would talk about.

Caroline, let's talk about it.

Questions for you today. Alex, thank you. Uh, Reuters has reported that about 150 U.S. Service members have been injured so far.

Can you confirm that number and, and elaborate on that? Um, I can't confirm this, the exact number. I know it's within that ballpark, but I would defer you to the Pentagon, um, for a specific number of, of wounded or injured thus far.

Okay, what about boots on the ground? Talk to us about that, Caroline.

Let's play it. As for boots on the ground, the president has, uh, talked about this repeatedly, uh, wisely. He does not rule options out as Commander-in-Chief. So again, I would hesitate to confirm anything that a Democrat on Capitol Hill says right now about the president's thinking.

You just said it yourself. You just said you don't rule out boots on the ground. We don't want that. No one wants this war. What are you doing? Okay, well, what about the United States striking the Iranian elementary school with an American-made Tomahawk, killing 150 little girls, right? To distract from the Epstein files involving Epstein class abusing and being predators to little girls, the Epstein class and the Trump regime went to war with Iran and then killed little girls. There's kind of a, a, a theme here, right, in who they target. Okay, well, what, what about that? What— why did Donald Trump say The same way he said, I've never been on Epstein's jet, right? When we know he was. Barely knew the guy when he says he's a great guy who likes women on the younger side, you know, or we know the stuff that Trump said. So, but why, why would he say that America— that Iran used an American tomahawk on itself? What the hell are you talking about, Caroline? Here, play this clip. On the Iranian school, why did President Trump say yesterday that Iran and may have Tomahawk missiles when there are only 3 other US allies plus the US that have those missiles and therefore could—

Look, again, the president said yesterday he will accept the conclusion of this investigation by the Department of War. I know there's been a lot of speculation in the media about who may be responsible for this. We're not going to get ahead of the Department of War and the conclusion of that investigation. The president has a right to share his opinions with the American public. Public, but he has said he'll accept the conclusion of that investigation. And frankly, we're not going to be harassed by The New York Times, who's been putting out a lot of articles on this, making claims that have just not been verified by the Department of War, to quickly wrap up this investigation because The New York Times is calling on us to do so.

He has the right to share his own opinions. He has the right to share his own opinions. What, what are talk about. Um, then the reporter said, uh, the president said he had the right to strike Iran because he believes that Iran was going to strike the U.S., but no one else is saying that. No, literally nobody. Nobody thinks that was going to happen. Nobody. None of our allies, our intelligence, our military doesn't. Not a single person believes that Iran was about to strike the United States on, for, on that Friday. During the mediation. No, no one believes that. Where are you getting this from, Caroline?

Here, play this clip. When I get back to the Oval Office after this. Check this, Caroline. The president said yesterday for the first time that he had to strike Iran because he believes that Iran was going to strike U.S.

targets within 7 days, and then he then bumped that down later to 3 days.

Where is he getting that? Well, that's not the first time the president has said that he chose to launch Operation Epic Fury because he felt as though Iran was going to strike the United States and our assets in the region first. Again, I addressed this in the last briefing. This was a feeling the president had based on facts, facts provided to him by his top negotiators who had been engaged with the Iranian regime in a good faith effort. The Iranian regime was lying, deceiving the United States of America, clearly trying to continue their their nuclear program to create a bomb that would of course threaten the United States of America.

Okay, and then finally, what about Caroline? The fact that the Kremlin, that Putin, is putting out statements saying Iran's helping— Iran is being helped out by Russia.

Let's play it. Thanks, Caroline. The president said yesterday that President Putin told him he wanted to be helpful in the Middle East. The Kremlin put out a statement where Putin said, quote, I would like to reaffirm our unwavering support for Tehran and our solidarity with Iranian friends. How does the president think that Russia could be helpful, if not helping Iran? And did the president push Putin on Russia sharing intelligence with Iran in this war? The president and his special envoy, Whitkopf, have both said that, of course, they've sent a message to Russia that if that was taking place. It's not something they would be happy with, and they hope that it is not taking place. As for further details about the discussions between these two leaders, I'll leave it to the president to divulge any more of that conversation. But he did confirm it yesterday and provided you with a little bit of the background in his view and his perspective, as he always does.

As he always does. As he always does. 'Iran and Russia.' Like, I mean, who are these people? Like, seriously, who are these humans? These are just the worst of the worst humans. And I often get told, 'Well, you just don't like Trump. This is the anti-Trump channel.' I really don't care, okay? If Donald Trump was some shitty billionaire who was shitty to people At a macro level, I'd be upset about it, right? I, I would maybe express my views. But the issue is not Trump. It's that this individual with his deeply destructive pathology, who like a magnet brings together others with the same destructive pathologies at different levels, these deeply, deeply sick human beings And they come together and they are predators and they inflict real pain, suffering, and trauma on we the people, on you. And they make people's lives miserable because they're miserable. And all they know, rather than, um, contribute, build, help, love support is destroy, kill, pillage, assault. That's their— they're wired, they're wired into those horrible qualities. And we have to, we have to recognize that, and we have to talk about principles and values and qualities of being adults and grown-ups.

That's not talked about a lot. right? And how human beings should be conduct themselves and themselves and coexisting in a world. And I never thought that I'd have to speak to these issues, you know, in, in the United States of America. But we have not just a lack of leadership, but we have really deeply troubled and sick human beings in these positions of power who are the worst people for this specific position. Right, and how human beings should conduct themselves and coexisting in the world. And I never thought that I'd have to speak to these issues, um, you know, in, in the United States of America. But we have not just a lack of leadership, but we have really deeply troubled and sick human beings in these positions of power who are the worst people for this specific position. Whereas my baby daughter would be better as a president of the United States than Donald Trump because she wouldn't be engaged. All she would want to do is listen to Frozen all day. And if she just listened to Frozen all day, her markets can function and the government could run, and she would love Elsa and Anna, and she'd be very happy, and everybody would be very happy, and we could all go on with our lives, and other leaders can do their things, and everyone could and things could function.

That's why I truly believe that my 18-month-old baby would be a better president than Donald Trump, 100%. You know, just the things— if you just left a lot of this on auto drive, things would be much better. But Donald Trump is destructive. You know, same thing in all these other positions. It's like the worst of the worst people. You pick the person for the Department of Health who wants to kill people, in my opinion. You pick the person for the Department of Defense, you know, who couldn't run a nonprofit military organization and was embroiled in so much scandals there, and, you know, has all these horrific, horrific personal qualities that we learned about, that he's not the person who could be running that. And you see it in action where he's out there, lethality, death, death. That's not what your job's supposed to be. You're not a serious human being, right? We have, um, you know, go through it, go through every position, although You know, my brother Jordy said, but you know, Kristi Noem, in killing her dogs and killing the animals the way she did, at least, you know, demonstrated that, that was at least consistent with what she did at ICE.

You know, I was like, yeah, well, I mean, you know, but we need people who are responsible adults. And what we should be talking with our children and grandchildren about is actually leadership qualities and empathy., and we should be deeply critical of just these, of these deeply troubled humans who, who don't behave appropriately. You know, once upon a time, uh, society would, would see this behavior, we would condemn it. You know, I don't know if it was, you know, when a reality TV show culture grew, and then you combine that with social media, and then there's kind of the shock and outrage and the inputs of all of the, um, you know, of all this information, you know, that the human mind wasn't able to fully ingest all of it. Then social media takes off, then AI, and so you have access to all this information. But when the information becomes perverted and diseased and, uh, and destroyed and infected in many ways, and counterintuitively, there's less information when there's more access to information. Allowing the right-wing oligarchs and oligarchs and, and, and the, you know, the authoritarians of the past to establish feudal dynamics, right, of lord versus peasant dynamics.

Because if you go back to feudalism, a lot of the situation was disparity of education, um, and disparity, disparity of resources. So when you have all of this, um, disparity of resources that exist, And you try to impose upon people to accept breadcrumbs and to keep people uneducated by giving it, by poisoning their information well, by poisoning their information source, you create that feudal dynamic. And I think, in my opinion, that's what the Elon Musks and the Peter Thiels and people like that, you know, you know, know about this, this, this great power. But that's why we got to, we got to educate people here. That's what our job is here on this network, to see what they're doing. And to kind of reverse engineer it or engineer it for good and for democracy and to compete, whether it's on YouTube or wherever. So that's what we're going to do every day here. That's what I'm going to do. That's my job. So we're grateful for all of you. We're appreciative of all of you. We covered a lot of topics. Sorry if I was, you know, just, you know, going on a little rant there at the end.

But we appreciate you so much. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers if we can. Let's try to get to 7 million subscribers. Also, um, subscribe to the Midas Touch podcast on audio wherever audio is available. Subscribe to the Midas Touch audio. What else? Uh, so obviously become a member here, turn notifications on. We'll have more updates, videos throughout the day. Thank you everybody, we're grateful for you. Shout out to all of you, shout out to the Midas Mighty, and we will see you next time. Thanks everybody. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filippowski ad-free Episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at Midasplus.com. Sag mal, Nicola, hast du auch immer dieses Gefühl, bei der Steuererklärung mit einem Bein schon im Knast zu stehen? Boah, nee, gar nicht. WISO Steuer ist so die Steuer-App, mit der ich wirklich nichts falsch machen kann. Wow, das heißt, damit ist alles sicher? Ja, genau. WISO Steuer ist die Steuer-App, die dich versteht. Weil Steuern betrifft ja dein ganzes Leben: Arbeit, Kinder, Partner. Du kannst nichts falsch machen. Stimmt. Nice. Fühlt sich gar nicht wie Steuern an.

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