Furious World Leaders Strike Back at Trump for Surrender

0:00This podcast is supported by Anthropic, the public benefit corporation behind Claude. Everyone's got a hard question about AI. Your job, your kids, where it's going. Anthropic was built to surface those questions and share what it finds along the way, because there's hope in hard questions. Ask yours at Claude.ai slash Spotify and keep thinking. That's Claude.ai slash Spotify.

0:30In business, the best days are when priorities stay on track. The Hartford helps midsize and large companies manage key exposures with insurance and proactive risk solutions. So focus can stay where it belongs. Visit thehartford.com slash risk mitigation to learn more. The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50 ,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered.

1:10Real design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 40 % off site-wide, plus get a free professional measure at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply.

1:20Ben Meiselas:World leaders are furious at the Trump regime, and they are striking back. Headlines like this, Japan and Brazil, both fed up with the United States, are looking to begin trading beef with each other for the first time in history. That's what Donald Trump gets. In Canada, you have Prime Minister Carney saying, we're going to speak to Donald when it makes sense. We're on our own schedule. Canada strong and with Canada no longer being able to rely on the United States. Prime Minister Carney is pushing for new markets, new relationships, and cutting out the United States. That was a headline from the New York Times.

1:58Ben Meiselas:Now, we also have one of the first times in seven years that Prime Minister Modi of India is looking to visit China to meet with Xi Jinping in the fallout of the trade negotiations with the Trump regime. or it should be viewed as Donald Trump's erratic behavior, clearly favoring Pakistan because they invested in Donald Trump's crypto enterprise. Trump brought the military general from Pakistan into the White House, and Donald Trump has basically cut out and attacked India. So India says, OK, looks like we may go and take a visit at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, And what if Moni visits Xi Jinping and we go all in on China?

2:42Ben Meiselas:How about this, by the way? Australia now choosing Japan for warships, even though it costs more than the United States. A big sign also of how countries are moving away from the United States. Again, we saw this in Canada as well. Not buying U.S. war planes. They know what? We're going to buy it from France. And also we saw in France, it's President Emmanuel Macron saying, no, you know, we're not going to buy weapons from the United States to ship to Ukraine. We're going to provide our own weaponry to Ukraine. And speaking of Ukraine, yesterday, Steve Whitcoff, Donald Trump's real estate buddy from back in the day, who has no foreign policy experience at all, no diplomatic experience.

3:29Ben Meiselas:experience. Yesterday, he went back to Putin to put his hand on his heart and say, Mr. Putin, it is so great to see you. And then Donald Trump posted on social media that Steve Whitcoff had a great and highly productive meeting with Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made, Donald Trump said. He goes on to say, afterwards, I updated some of our European allies. Everyone agrees this war must come to a close and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Now, Jay and Keeve and lots of people who are observing and following at a very close level what's happening on Ukraine predicted this was going to happen, that Donald Trump would find a way to taco yet again, Trump always chickens out, to not impose sanctions on Russia.

4:18Ben Meiselas:And now Donald Trump saying, I need a few more weeks. Let's see what happens here or Donald Trump saying, Vladimir Putin wants to meet with me. So I'll meet with Putin first, me and Putin alone. And then let's try to get Putin and Zelensky in a room together, but let's cut out our NATO allies, our G7 allies. Let's cut out Europe. And this is Putin's plan, divide and conquer. Have Trump and Zelensky and Putin bully Zelensky into submission and not have French President Emmanuel Macron there, or Frédéric Merz of Germany, or Keir Starmer of the UK, or Prime Minister Carney of Canada, or Anthony Albanese of Australia.

5:04Ben Meiselas:As Jane Keefe rightly points out, Putin's only goal now is to get Trump to force Zelensky to stop destroying Russia's oil infrastructure. As long as Trump does that, Putin can continue this war and the planned wars ahead when Putin's going to go take over other countries in Europe next. As lots of people were predicting before the Whitcoff-Putin meeting, like Alexander Djokic wrote, the only question on the Whitcoff-Putin meeting is, will Trump accept another performative partial ceasefire offer from Putin or not? Putin will not accept a full ceasefire at this moment. In fact, I don't even think they talked about ceasefire.

5:44Ben Meiselas:So what do you mean, Donald Trump, that it was productive. By the way, Donald Trump then called our European allies, frankly, former European allies, the way Donald Trump has treated them. He did a conference call with Starmer of the UK and Stubov, Finland and Frederick Merz of Germany and Mark Rutt, NATO Secretary General. You also had J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio on that call, along with Steve Witkoff. And Donald Trump said, European leaders, you are not going to get to meet with Putin. I alone. I'm going to fix it. I'm the guy who said I would fix it in 24 hours. But now I say I was just being sarcastic.

6:22Ben Meiselas:J-K-L-O-L. I didn't really mean I would bring peace in Ukraine in 24 hours. I was just punking everyone the same way I punked everybody when I said I was going to release the Epstein files right away. One of my jokes that I tell because Donald Trump just thinks he's a stand-up comedian while Americans and the world suffers as a result of his dangerous behavior. European leaders were pissed, folks. They left this conference call with Donald Trump talking about a meeting with Putin one on one, which would elevate Putin so unnecessarily and then try to get Zelensky from stop sending the drones, knocking out the railroads and oil infrastructure and really crushing Putin's war machine.

7:04Ben Meiselas:And European allies expressed, I guess to put it politely skepticism afterward that this would all be effective, according to one official who was briefed on the call. Another person familiar with the call said the Europeans appear to accept what Mr. Trump said the Europeans have tried to coordinate an end to the violence between Russia and Ukraine while supporting their European neighbor. We'll tell you what the European leaders are saying right now, that Donald Trump is a crazy maniac and they need to be there to support Zelensky. Let's actually look at what Zelensky said, because it's very telling.

7:37Ben Meiselas:Zelensky posted on his social media, right on my way to our brigades here in the Sumi region, I spoke with Trump. This conversation happened after Trump's representative, Steve Witkoff, visited Moscow. Our joint position with our partners is absolutely clear. The war must end and it must be done honestly, AKA you are full of S-H-I, you know what I'm going to say. European leaders were on the call and I am grateful to each of them for their support, right? Each of the European leaders for their support. We discussed what was spelled out in Moscow. Ukraine will definitely defend its independence.

8:21Ben Meiselas:In other words, Trump, don't freaking tread on us. We're thankful for Europe standing by our side. We all need lasting and reliable peace, aka stop falling for Putin's BS. Russia must end the war that it itself started. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine. Did you see all the hidden messages in that post? It was pretty obvious to me as well. It is always cold brew season in my house. I drink cold brew year-round, and I used to rely on grocery store concentrate or overpriced$6 cafe runs, mostly out of what I thought was convenience. But then I found trade, and everything changed. Now, making cold brew at home is not only easy, it actually tastes better, and it's way more affordable.

9:06Ben Meiselas:Trade delivers beans roasted specifically for cold brew, grinds them for me, and they even have the simple gear that I need to make the perfect cup. I just scoop it into a pitcher, add water, toss it in the fridge overnight, and wake up to the smoothest, most delicious cold brew. They partnered with 15 top roasters to build a cold brew collection that's curated for the best possible flavor. My personal favorite so far, a bag from Perk Coffee called Thunderlips, super fresh, smells amazing, has this rich chocolatey smoothness with a hint of fruit that's perfect for summer. And the subscription, totally flexible.

9:40Ben Meiselas:I can pause shipments, reschedule, and always count on great coffee wherever I am. For a limited time, Trade is giving 50 % off a month of cold brew. That's around 60 cups of cold brew for 50 % off when you go to drinktrade.com slash Midas. That's drinktrade.com slash Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S, to get 50 % off one month. Now, just to be very clear, as a reminder, Donald Trump's new line that he goes around and says when asked, well, you said you were going to stop the war in 24 hours. His line is, I was just joking. Everyone knew I was being sarcastic. That's just what I do. I tell funny jokes. One of those jokes, Donald Trump says, is peace in Ukraine in 24 hours.

10:25Ben Meiselas:Another one of Trump's sarcastic jokes, he says, Gaza, that he was going to bring peace to Gaza in 24 hours. He didn't really mean that, folks. He actually meant he'll give Benjamin Netanyahu carte blanche authority. Of course, that's what he meant. Here's Donald Trump saying he was being sarcastic. Let's play it. I'm not understating the complexity of all this, but as a candidate, you said you would have this war settled in 24 hours. Well, I was being a little bit sarcastic when I said that. What I really mean is I'd like to get it settled. And then, by the way, here's Donald Trump recently saying that as well at a NATO conference that it was all sarcasm by him.

11:05Ben Meiselas:Sick, sick man. Here play this clip. He once said that you would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. You later said you said that sarcastically. Of course it was sarcastic. But you've now been in office for five months and five days. Why have you not been able to end the Ukraine war? Because it's more difficult than people would have any idea. Vladimir Putin has been more difficult. Frankly, I had some problems with Zelensky. You may have read about him. And it's been more difficult than other wars. I mean, look, we just ended a war in 12 days. that was simmering for 30 years, frankly. All right, now, yesterday at a press conference, Donald Trump was asked about the sanctions that he said he would be imposing, what was it, in April?

11:52Ben Meiselas:He said two weeks. And then a month ago or two months ago, he said 50 days, 60 days. Whenever we approach a deadline, one of these things happens. And then Donald Trump tacos, he always chickens out. So he was asked, you said, Donald, that you would know if Putin was tapping you along? What gives you the confidence now that he isn't just tapping you along again, that he isn't playing you, that he isn't buying time while they try to achieve their war objectives, delay, delay, delay, while they make some advances in their invasion of Ukraine? Donald Trump says, I can't answer that. I'm gonna have to get back to you in a few weeks, okay?

12:31Ben Meiselas:A few weeks here, play this clip. Mr. President, in the past, you said you would know if he was tackling you wrong. What gives you any confidence that he is or isn't doing that this final round? Can't answer the question yet. I'll tell you in a matter of weeks, maybe less. So a reporter that asks, well, what's changed? You're giving him a few weeks now more? Did he make some sort of concession? Did you talk ceasefire? And Donald Trump's like, here play this clip. Mr. President, what was the breakthrough today? Did Vladimir Putin make some kind of concession that he hasn't been willing to make before?

13:08I don't call it a breakthrough. I mean, we've been working on this a long time. There are thousands of young people dying, mostly soldiers, but also, you know, missiles being hit into Kiev and other places. But in terms of soldiers, I think Russia's lost over 20 ,000 since the beginning of the year, 20 ,000. And I guess the estimate for Ukraine is about 9 ,000. It's a terrible situation. We want

13:34Ben Meiselas:to get it subbed. I mean, it's just so utterly pathetic, isn't it? Then Marco Rubio goes on Fox Business yesterday, making clear that the latest Putin-Witkov meeting didn't result in much progress toward ending Russia's war on Ukraine. You could hear him talk about that himself. Play this clip. You know, those concessions aren't easy. You have to also sell to the public back in your country. But I think what I can say is everybody wants the war to end. I think the conditions under which it's supposed to end, that's always the hard part in this. But today was a good day, but there's a lot of work to it.

14:04I don't want to exaggerate. We still have a ways to go here, but we certainly are closer today than we were yesterday, where we weren't close at all. Is Ambassador Woodcoff, Steve Woodcoff, coming back with a ceasefire proposal? You know, it's like a ceasefire on Thursday, a ceasefire on Friday, a ceasefire on Monday. Is that in the cards? Was that discussed at this meeting? Well, I don't know about timing in terms of that. The specific timing of it is not discussed. I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war. We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept.

14:43And what you try to see is how far can you get these two positions closer? How can you get these two positions closer to each other? If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there's the opportunity for the president to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelensky to try to close this thing out. So we've got to get closer in that regard. But I think for the first time, perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war. We haven't had much of that to this point.

15:16Obviously, the Ukrainians have a say in this. We got to bring the two sides and the two positions close enough so that, you know, the ultimate closer President Trump can get involved and make it happen.

15:24Ben Meiselas:And what was it, three months already ago or so? It was day 89 into the Trump regime's, Trump's presidency, his regime, where Rubio said, look, at the end of the day, if we can't make a deal, the United States is just going to move on. We're just going to move on. I'll let you know in the next coming days if we can do a peace deal. OK, well, that was day 89 of the Trump regime. That was like three months ago or so. So everything they say is a lie. Here's Rubio right here. Let's play the clip. I'm not going to tell you what the framework says, because when you start negotiating these things through the media and so forth, they fall apart.

16:05And it's a broad framework. It's a framework that gets us into a position to see, look, there are going to be differences. There's no there's no one saying it's going to be done in 12 hours. But we want to see how far apart it is and whether those differences are can even be narrowed, if it's even possible to get movement within the period of time we have in mind. And so we've talked about outlines of both sides. I thought we had positive meetings yesterday. Obviously, the Ukrainians have to go back home. They have to run it by their president. They have to take into account their views on all of this.

16:33And we hope to hear back from them very soon. but we need to figure out here now within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term, because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on.

16:45Ben Meiselas:By the way, here was Steve Whitcoff, Donald Trump's real estate buddy, meeting with Putin. You can see how much Whitcoff loves Putin. Play this clip.

17:01Ben Meiselas:and as our friend Olga Lautman says Russia puts out the first photo of Witkoff strolling in the park with Krel Dimitrov the most bizarre part Russia media it's not really that bizarre when you think about it the Russian propaganda machine whenever Witkoff comes in town it's like a humiliation ritual for the United States and that's how they frame it on state regime media in Russia. Look, here comes Woodcock. Here he lands. They cover it like a car chase in Los Angeles. They cover it like, here comes the US humiliation ritual. Here it comes. And then they basically mock Donald Trump and they'll maybe show nudes of Melania on TV, which is one of the things they do to mock Donald Trump.

17:49Ben Meiselas:So that's what world leaders feel about Donald Trump, utterly pathetic, utterly pathetic. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. And you see the world moving, saying bye-bye, moving away from Trump in the United States. We see these other alliances forming and Donald Trump taco once again, always chickening out. Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers.

18:21Ben Meiselas:Sign up for free now at MidasPlus.com.

18:33The right window treatments change everything. Your sleep, your privacy, the way every room looks and feels. At Blinds.com, we've spent 30 years making it surprisingly simple to get exactly what your home needs. We've covered over 25 million windows and have 50 ,000 five-star reviews to prove we deliver. Whether you DIY it or want a pro to handle everything from measure to install, we have you covered. Real design professionals. Free samples. Zero pressure. Right now, get up to 40 % off site-wide. Plus, get a free professional measure at Blinds.com. Rules and restrictions apply. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.

19:05Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited premium wireless for$15 a month is back. So, I thought it would be fun if we made$15 bills. but it turns out that's very illegal uh so there goes my big idea for the commercial give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch up front payment of 45 for three months 90 for six months or 180 for 12 month plan required 15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy see terms