Pathetic Trump Makes Fatal Mistake on World Stage

20 Aug 2025 · 20 min · 7 chapters

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In short

The host argues Donald Trump’s drive for a Nobel Peace Prize is distorting U.S. foreign policy, using the Anchorage meeting with Vladimir Putin as the centerpiece and claiming it led to humiliating optics and failed diplomacy.

Key claims

Trump “dangled” tariff relief tied to support for a Nobel committee connected to Norway; he treats adversaries like royalty while U.S. soldiers “grovel” for Putin; his “peace president” messaging is propaganda; and his approach leads to appeasement rather than lasting peace in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran.

Notable examples

Anchorage ceasefire failure; alleged July phone call with Norwegian foreign minister; Gaza “resort” rhetoric; Israel-Iran “peace” claim despite Iran plotting revenge; Rwanda credit-taking; alleged pressure on countries like Qatar and India.

Guests

None mentioned; the episode is hosted by Michael Popok (Legal AF / Midas Touch Network).

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Trump's Foreign Policy and the Nobel Prize

2:29 to 4:14

Explore how Trump's desire for the Nobel Prize impacts his foreign policy.

“No, he doesn't matter what it does to American diplomacy or lasting peace.”

Critique of Trump's Diplomatic Strategies

4:14 to 6:29

Discuss the failures of Trump's diplomatic approach, particularly with Putin.

“Barack Obama the Superman, to Donald Trump's Lex Luthor.”

Analysis of Peace Claims

6:29 to 8:46

Examine the validity of Trump's claims about achieving peace in various regions.

“Powers, you know, review when you get your car repaired, you know, to say how great your dealership was.”

The Myth of Trump's Peace Presidency

11:42 to 14:00

Delve into the contradictions in Trump's portrayal as a peacemaker.

“That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y dot C-O slash Legal AF for 30 % off your first month subscription.”

Trump's Ineffective Security Policies

14:00 to 16:29

Explore the failures of Trump's administration in addressing security threats.

“I defy anybody right now in this hot take to tell me in comments what he has done to stop the next terrorist attack, domestic or foreign, on American soil.”

Zelensky's Negotiation Challenges

16:30 to 17:18

Discuss the implications of Trump's pressure on Zelensky regarding NATO.

“If Zelensky comes out weaker than he went in, we're all lesser for it.”

Zelensky's Negotiation Challenges

19:59 to 20:19

Discuss the implications of Trump's pressure on Zelensky regarding NATO.

“The GLP-1 pill you've been waiting for is now on row.”
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Transcript

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2:28Michael Popok:Donald Trump's lust for the Nobel Prize has gotten so bad. Now the Wall Street Journal, in advance of the meeting in the White House, attended by Zelensky and Donald Trump, which Trump had to call in order to try to save his ass from the embarrassment and the disaster of the Anchorage meeting with Putin. Even the Wall Street Journal is saying that adversaries know that Donald Trump's lust for the Nobel Prize is warping his foreign policy, is warping his commitment to peace and shaping and warping the outcome of his negotiations when there's war and conflict at stake and Putin is taking advantage of it and China is taking advantage of it because Donald Trump wants that Nobel Peace Prize like some demented child in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

3:18Michael Popok:I want it now. No, he doesn't matter what it does to American diplomacy or lasting peace. He doesn't care about Ukraine. He doesn't care about world affairs. He just wants the Nobel Peace Prize. And now he'll do anything for it. Two new reports have come out of him in a tie together all in the last 48 hours. That Donald Trump held a phone call in July that just got reported with the Norwegian foreign minister. in which during the call, he dangled a lower tariff rate in return for support for the Nobel Prize awarded by a committee connected to the Norwegian government. And so he had a call with Jen Stutenberg and said, 15 % tariffs like the European Union, but I need to get the Nobel Peace Prize.

4:04Michael Popok:I mean, that's the connection. And that warps economic policy, global affairs, when you're out trying to get the thing that your rival, your arch rival, Barack Obama got, Barack Obama the Superman, to Donald Trump's Lex Luthor. He got the Nobel. I need the Nobel. This is like the Gollum, you know? I need the Nobel and my pretty, or whatever the phrase was. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal AF. I'll figure out the phrase. It's not just that Donald Trump's phony peace presidency emergency reared its ugly head with whatever that just happened in Anchorage, whatever happened in Anchorage just happened.

4:47Michael Popok:What was that disaster? Chris Murphy properly called it an embarrassment, a failure, a disaster of epic proportion. When you literally treat your adversary, Putin, like royalty, roll out the red carpet, but you don't even roll out the red carpet. You make your soldiers, U.S. soldiers, bend their knee, literally grovel on hands and knees, soldiers in front of the plane for Putin to roll out and smooth out the red carpet. You applaud on the way. You treat him with kick gloves. You throw him in the SUV with you. You give him a warm embrace. and then all that happens is the former head of the KGB in Putin eats your lunch in front of you and America's lunch in front of us.

5:39We go from ceasefire, which I'll figure out in the first two

5:44Michael Popok:minutes, Trump the dealmaker said, or there'll be serious consequences to no ceasefire. That'll just get in the way of a lasting peace. The Wall Street Journal just said what you're really trying to do is win the Nobel Peace Prize again. So we've got Wall Street Journal just on the morning of the meeting with Zelensky with seven other Europeans and NATO allies that are coming for, they're coming heavy. They're coming heavy to back up Zelensky and make sure he doesn't get embarrassed again. And the Wall Street Journal actually called out Donald Trump's lust for the, there's another way to put it, lust for that golden object of the Nobel Peace Prize.

6:22Michael Popok:every other press release by this administration is calling Donald Trump the peace president the peace president and then he puts a gun to the head the peace president to places like Cambodia you know places like Israel and tells them to nominate him that's not you know nomination doesn't happen because countries send in your name. It's not the J.D. Powers, you know, review when you get your car repaired, you know, to say how great your dealership was. There's a five-person committee that's appointed by the Norwegian parliament. That's the Nobel Prize committee. That's who picks it, okay? You don't lobby.

7:07Michael Popok:In fact, if you lobby, you're going to lose. So Donald Trump has Israel lobby. What is the peace that's been achieved in Israel? You can be on either side of the equation about what's happening in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or what happened on October the 7th in Israel and whether there was proportionality in the response. We can have that debate. But nowhere in that debate is that there is peace in Gaza by a guy who said he was going to bulldozer over Gaza and make it into a resort. That's Donald Trump. So where is the peace? The peace that he claims between Israel and Iran because we dropped the mother of all bombs, the setback, the nuclear program by several months, apparently.

7:50Michael Popok:That's the lasting peace that's been negotiated between Israel and Iran. Did I miss a peace deal? Did I miss the signing of a peace treaty? The fact that Iran is currently silent and probably plotting its revenge right now as we speak. That's the peace that he's claiming. peace that he's taking the credit for in Rwanda. And he cuts out of the equation countries like Qatar, who are actually handling the diplomacy part and are largely responsible for this peace. India and Pakistan, India gives zero credit to the Trump administration, which is probably why he hit them with a 50 % tariff, 5-0. Not because they're doing oil business with Russia, because he doesn't like the position they're taking with the Nobel Peace Prize again.

8:39Michael Popok:why do I have to keep talking about this? Because it's warping his foreign policy. The fact that the Wall Street Journal actually spilled ink in their editorial to connect the dots between Donald Trump's lust for the Nobel Prize and his foreign policy and his quote-unquote diplomacy and peacemaking, that's why they questioned in the Wall Street Journal op-ed piece this morning, they questioned what type of peace is going to be negotiated. what kind of peace will there be in Ukraine it will it be peace or as I've said before appeasement you think Neville Chamberlain got a lot of crap for appeasing Hitler what did we just watch in Alaska a complete capitulation and the optics of it were worse bend the knee applaud and clap you think when Nixon went to China the Chinese president or chairman of the Communist Party applauded his arrival, got down on his hands and knees, or had his military get down on the hands and knees and vacuum and straighten out the red carpet?

9:47Michael Popok:No. They have more respect for themselves. Did you know the liver is the second largest organ in your body? It's responsible for over 500 functions. But for some reason, liver health doesn't always get the attention it deserves. Over 30 % of Americans have a sluggish liver, a problem that often goes undetected until the very last minute. Dose is on a mission to educate us all on why it's so important to maintain your liver health and has created an incredible product to help you do just that. I mean, I found a clinically supported, potent, and effective solution, and I can't wait to share it with you.

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11:15Michael Popok:Stick with dose and feel the incredible benefits over time. More energy, better digestion, reduced bloating, healthier liver enzyme function, reduction in brain fog, and better sleep. One dose for your liver shot is equivalent to 17 shots of turmeric juice. Dose is gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, and vegan. Save 30 % on your first month of subscription by going to Dosedaily.co slash Legal AF or entering Legal AF at checkout. That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y dot C-O slash Legal AF for 30 % off your first month subscription. And so this, you know, we used to joke about it. Like Donald Trump, it burns his ass, it chaps his backside that he never got the Nobel Prize.

11:58Michael Popok:And Barack Obama did. Barack Obama did. So did Martin Luther King Jr. So did Mother Teresa. Would anybody put Donald Trump in that category? And the list of things that he continues to list in every one of his make-believe mythical press releases. This is the president of peace. Right? Like the banner over his head on the stage in Alaska. What is it with Republican failed presidents like Bush and now Trump and fake phony banners? They love banners. You know, George W. Bush, mission accomplished. Really? Really? Mission accomplished in the Gulf? And in our attack after 9-11? Donald Trump pursuing peace.

12:46Michael Popok:You notice it's not accomplishing peace. And there was a missing piece, Zelensky. But they love their banners. So this is the mythology that we're watching the propaganda machine of the Trump administration crank out on a daily basis. Right? Me, president of peace, global peace, my response. But the world is on fire. Our allies are at our throats. Tourism is down because nobody wants to visit America. Tourism to Washington, D.C. is down because nobody wants to walk around surrounded by the National Guard.

13:26Michael Popok:Globally, economically, national security wise, we think, do people sleep better at night with Trump in office? Knowing that he's the one that's going to answer the 3 a.m. red phone phone call. That makes us feel better because the peacemakers in office. So me, strong, peacemaker, president. I always use caveman voice now for Donald Trump. Me, me, law and order domestically. Right. Law and order only in blue states and blue cities about immigration and homelessness. Does that make you feel any safer? I defy anybody right now in this hot take to tell me in comments what he has done to stop the next terrorist attack, domestic or foreign, on American soil.

14:10Michael Popok:Tell me what it is. And don't tell me about the migrant that did a U-turn on a highway. Okay? Talk about violent crime. Talk about terrorism. Tell about the security of the homeland. What is it? What is it? Nothing. So law and order, only law and order where he can embarrass a mayor that's Democrat or a governor who's Democrat, apparently. That's the only place law and order takes place. Spitting and mango throwing in First Amendment expression in California over depraved immigration policy needs to be crushed violently by the military of all things in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. Yeah.

14:53Michael Popok:A 19-year-old gets jumped by two 14-year-olds and they got to crush the dissent and individuals and people in D.C. And then when you look at the order about why they took over D.C., the only two things they're focused on is immigration and homelessness. Homeless encampments. Is that the problem in D.C. right now? Homeless encampments that need to be taken away by the military and the National Guard? That's our problem nationwide. The homeless? It is a problem, but not in a negative way. They need to be given homes. They need to be given dignity in their life and lifestyle. So this is all the phony charade of Donald Trump.

15:38And it's all warped because he and his administration

15:42Michael Popok:won't rest until he gets the Nobel Peace Prize. Why don't we give him the Nobel Prize in economics? How's that going for him? Not well. the tariffs the consumer price index the wholesale price index the jobless report how many how many commissioners of independent statisticians and economists can he fire in order to fix his failed economic policies you can't fire the numbers you know who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes like that old country song i'm going to continue to follow it all right here the connectivity between donald trump's bully pulpit, his economic and global policies, and the Nobel Prize as he walks into this meeting that he needs to save his ass.

16:27Michael Popok:And I don't think he can do it. I'll tell you, I'll leave it on this. If Zelensky comes out weaker than he went in, we're all lesser for it. He's already had his legs cut out from under him in his negotiations with the country that attacked him by Donald Trump declaring, you're going to have to give up more property, more real estate, or even the real estate you didn't lose on the battlefield. We're just going to give it because he's bigger and you're smaller. Yeah. You know what's bigger and smaller? Putin's brain is bigger than Donald Trump's small brain. That's what we're watching. And telling him that you're going to have to give up on your ever wanting to be in NATO permanently.

17:11Michael Popok:Before he even sits down at the table with Putin? What kind of support is that from the leader of the free world? We'll cover it all. You're on the Midas Touch Network. Slide over to Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Hit the subscribe button there as well. And I got great news. Legal AF Substack is on fire in a good way. Good trouble. Come on over to Legal AF Substack. Videos, lives, articles, filings, and orders from the courts all in one place under one roof. Legal AF Substack. Come on over there and hit the paid and free membership. Paid if you can support us and free if you can't, as we say. If you can support us financially, we love it.

17:48Michael Popok:If you can't, come over. We'll have a great time either way. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popok. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We've got some new reporting. We've got interviews. We've got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes.

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From the publisher

Trump’s lust for the Nobel Peace Prize has even infected his failed negotiations with Putin over a proper peace which respects the Ukrainian people, as smart adversaries like Putin use Trump’s “Nobel” desires against him. Michael Popok ties together two recent events — Trump extorting the Norwegians by offering lower tariffs in return for getting the Prize, and the Wall Street Journal saying that Russia is exploiting Trump’s Nobel desires, to explain Trump’s failed diplomacy and foreign and economic policies

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