Generals Clash With Trump as Military Turmoil Grows

0:00Ben Meiselas:We are seeing a full-fledged military resistance against Trump and Hegseth. Top generals and admirals are pushing back right now. You have Hegseth firing like all of these top-level people because he's so utterly pathetic. I've been reporting earlier this week about all of the military leaks at the highest level to all of these major media outlets. top generals, top admirals, other top military officials, leaking how the U.S. has run out of Patriot interceptors, THAAD interceptors, SM-2, SM-3, SM-6 anti-ballistics from the Navy destroyers, ATACAMs, and so much other military equipment. We now also learn that Saudi Arabia ran through close to 90 % of its interceptors.

0:54Ben Meiselas:And here is what has happened in a very short period of time. We learned on Friday, Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, commander of the Army's Fifth Corps, has just been terminated early. That's a key command post for U.S. Europe Command. You previously have learned from watching the Midas Touch Network or elsewhere. General Randy George, four-star, former Army Chief of Staff, he was let go and forced out by Hegseth. David M. Hody, former Army Ranger who led the Army's Transformation and Training Command, forced out. You had Major General William Green, Jr., Chief of the Army's Chaplain Corps.

1:42Ben Meiselas:He was pushed out. Of course, in the past two to three months as well, General Christopher T. Donoghue, he was forced out by Hegseth as well, and he was the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. So you had Costanza, one of the commanders in Europe Army's Fifth Corps, and you had General Charles, General Christopher T. Donoghue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, forced out. These are some of the top people too, some of the most respected people, people who would not commit war crimes, people who would not go along with the buffoonery of Hegseth. I mean, these are people who must be beside themselves at what they are seeing with the Trump regime.

2:28Ben Meiselas:And one of the things we're learning as well is it seems that these people absolutely despise Brad Cooper, or a lot of them do, the guy who's now running CENTCOM, Admiral Brad Cooper, you know that guy who's basically turned CENTCOM into a Trump troll account. He had that awful appearance before Congress where we had numerous members of Congress who served our country bravely, cross-examining him a few months back. And Cooper was like, no, we're winning. We control the rate of Hormuz, it was so damn embarrassing. Some of the leaks that are coming out right now is that really the only person who's still telling Donald, we still have a shot.

3:10Ben Meiselas:We still have a shot at beating Iran if we just escalate a little more and do an air war, Donald, is that Admiral Brad Cooper is CENTCOM. Let's take a look at what's happened. You also have General Dan Cain, who's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who, you know, when studying what's going on behind the scenes, this guy is not qualified for this position. You know, he's a three-star general, let's be clear. I mean, that's very impressive, you know, but he's not a four-star. And he had to get a waiver to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Remember the Trump regime game fired CQ Brown Jr., who was a four-star, very qualified.

3:57Ben Meiselas:He was actually appointed by Trump to a top-level position during Trump's first administration. Then Biden elevated him one more time to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs. But Pete Hegseth doesn't want black people, minorities, or women in leadership positions in the military. And because Trump and Hegseth are racist and they have a racist regime, they pushed out top talent. They brought in a white guy, Dan Raisin, because they like the name Raisin, who had to get a waiver because he was not qualified for the position. I mean, to be fair, of a lot of people, I mean, he has been raising the issue that the United States is out of interceptors and that it would be a bad decision.

4:38Ben Meiselas:He's been the voice against CENTCOM close to Trump saying, do not escalate because if you escalate, we're out of interceptors and we're out of weapons at this point. But also, you're chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The buck kind of stops with you. I mean, also the head of CENTCOM and the other positions. But you should have been doing, I don't know, either resign or you should be doing a lot more than allowing our weapons to be depleted in this way. I mean, it's like tapping out in the first quarter of a four-quarter basketball game. It's kind of like basic war 101. I mean, what the heck is even going on?

5:18Ben Meiselas:Let me be very clear. We should never have been involved in this catastrophic war. I think Trump is a war criminal. I think Netanyahu is a war criminal. So please don't misconstrue my criticism of the military tactics as a promotion of the war. Far from it. I just want to point out that these people are not just malicious and evil in the Trump regime. They are incompetent. And our military generals, who many of them are very courageous, a lot of them, and brave, and people who deserve our support, who deserve our appreciation, they were not listened to in favor of hegseth and sycophants. And I think being a true patriotic American who supports our military generals should call out unlawful and catastrophic wars.

6:05Ben Meiselas:I think that's what makes you supporting your military. What we're doing here, what makes us supportive is calling out when our force is used unlawfully or criminally. Not to mention, you then have the Trump regime engaged in all of those war crimes in the Caribbean and in the Pacific where they just blow up fishing boats and have slaughtered hundreds and hundreds of people. And you remember that the prior leader of Southcom resigned as well because didn't want to be involved in war crimes. And then they replaced them with someone who gladly was going to be involved in war crimes. So let's talk about what we're learning.

6:44Ben Meiselas:Let's be diligent here. In recent weeks, General Dan Raisin-Kane has discussed privately with Trump and other generals the prospect of finding an immediate off-ramp from the war with Iran because the military options on the table to escalate carry various risks and air power alone is unlikely to achieve Trump's stated objectives, whatever the hell that is. And this is what sources told Zachary Cohen. Cohen's been a pretty good reporter on, very good reporter on this. Cain is looking for an off-ramp, sources are saying. Let's dig into this a little more right here. So one of the things that we're saying in response, Trump has consistently appeared averse to the idea of deploying ground troops.

7:31Ben Meiselas:Cain and others in Trump's cabinet privately view that outcome as unlikely and instead have sought to develop other options that fit within Trump's own parameters, according to multiple people, that it's not going to be a ground invasion and any escalation by air is likely not going to result in any appreciable different outcome. In fact, it will likely lead to strengthening the hand of Iran. The article goes on to say, the only ones in favor of the operation to escalate by air are elements of CENTCOM. Trump ultimately decided to back off after talking with Middle East allies also, who told him they were afraid of Iranian retaliation, specifically retaliatory attacks on their energy infrastructure and these dwindling U.S.

8:27Ben Meiselas:stockpiles of interceptors and weapons has also been very, very, very, has been very alarming to people in the military. And they've been telling that to Trump privately. Cain has been more direct in acknowledging the limits of air power and reiterating his view that bombing alone is unlikely to achieve. Trump stated objectives at this stage of the war, according to, again, top people who have been speaking with CNN. Cain appears to have become more vocal about the potential second and third order effects of potential U.S. escalation in recent weeks, meaning that if the U.S. attacked Iran by air, we're out of ATACAMs, the HIMARS, we're out of the interceptors, we're out of SM2, SM3, anti-ballistics, SM6s.

9:14Ben Meiselas:And so Iran would be able to strike the infrastructure, of the Arab nations with impunity. And so the Arab nations, like Saudi Arabia, which went through 90 % of its stockpiles, you aren't able to protect us. Saudi Arabia just did an alliance with Turkey, bringing Pakistan into the mix because Saudi Arabia has a defense alliance with Pakistan because the US security umbrella in the Middle East is officially dead. Let's be very clear about that. we're halfway through the year and it's a good time to check in with yourself back in january i think we all had plans to eat better and be more consistent some weeks i do great other weeks i look up at one in the afternoon and realize that i've had nothing but coffee that's just real life that's why huel h-u-e-l has become one of those things that i keep around it's not about starting over every monday it's about not completely falling off when life gets busy the ready to drink black edition is incredibly easy i grab one from the fridge when i don't have time to think about lunch.

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11:28Ben Meiselas:So you have that going on with Dan Kane. Now we have this happen. A top U.S. general in Europe was abruptly removed from command. One of the Pentagon's top generals overseeing military operations in Europe has been removed from command. The Army confirmed on Friday, nearly two months before his time on the job would have naturally wrapped up, Lieutenant General Charles Costanza, commander of the Army's Fifth Corps, the proud Mighty Fifth, was removed from command in recent days according to a service spokesperson, though the circumstances surrounding the removal was unclear. Costanza's removal comes amid a broader shakeup of the military senior ranks, with more than two dozen high-ranking officers removed or sidelined under Pete Hegseth's reign, often without public explanation.

12:18Ben Meiselas:But a source familiar with Costanza's removal said it was unrelated to Hegseth's broader effort to reshape the military's top leadership. Sure, Costanza's replacement is Major General Thomas Feltley. The Fifth Corps is responsible for overseeing U.S. Army forces and coordinating operations across Europe, partially based in Poland. The Corps has taken an increasingly prominent role since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, helping coordinate U.S. support for Kyiv and managing the American military footprint along NATO front lines. So we just fired our top person that's basically helping in Poland, the closest to the front in Ukraine.

12:58Ben Meiselas:The Pentagon has downsized the U.S. military footprint in Europe this year, most notably with the abrupt cancellation of a planned deployment of the Army 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas to Poland. Trump later announced the U.S. was going to position 5 ,000 troops in Poland after the brigade's removal drew criticism in Warsaw. Costanza, an Army officer, commanded the Army's Fifth Corps since April 2024, and he previously led the 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart. Brigadier General John Mountford, Deputy Commanding General of Readiness for the Fifth Corps, is serving as the Acting Commanding General.

13:40Ben Meiselas:So you had that happen. In addition, you had the following announcement by the press secretary for Pete Hegseth as well, that they were going to be firing. Effective immediately, the Department of War has revoked former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall's eligibility for access to classified information and his ability to hold any sensitive positions. Here's what we're learning. The Department of War revoked former Secretary of Air Force Frank Kendall's eligibility to access classified information and his ability to hold any sensitive Department of War position, citing an alleged unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding Air Force One's capabilities to a media outlet.

14:26Ben Meiselas:Kendall served as Secretary of the Air Force from July 28, 2021 until July 20, 2025. While the Department of War has not identified the specific disclosure at issue, the action comes days after Kendall publicly commented on the capabilities of the VC-25B bridge aircraft, the interim presidential aircraft converted from the Qatari Boeing 747 during media reporting, comparing it to the existing VC-25A fleet. Those reports highlighted that the bridge aircraft lacks several capabilities of the legacy Air Force fleet and will undergo additional upgrades. At this time, it remains unclear whether the revocation is directly related to those comments or to a separate alleged disclosure.

15:15Ben Meiselas:Here's how he was cited in the New York Times. Time didn't permit all the normal Air Force One modifications, so some mix of security, communications, and support is missing, Kendall told the New York Times. With the Iran situation, this could be of concern. I'm surprised to see this plane used outside of the United States, he said. Now, that got him a revocation of his clearances. General Randy George, the former U.S. Army Chief of Staff, when he was pushed out a few months back, again, during the heat of the heart of the catastrophic war in Iran, he said the Army deserves leaders of character in his farewell letter after being forced out by Hegseth, as noted at the beginning.

16:03Ben Meiselas:Army Chief Chief of Staff Randy George was pushed out. You had David Honey was pushed out as well along with him. Major General William Green, the Chief of the Army's Chaplain Corps. You also had General Christopher Donahue, who led U.S. Army Europe and Africa. He was the commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. Very, very well respected there. and you could go back. I mean, you could go back to all of these top generals and admirals, dozens of our, you know, the most respected are out and they've been forced out by Hegseth. We see all of these leaks happening and, you know, you get rid of your top tier team and clearly that's one of the things, one of the reasons at a tactical level, you know, the U.S.

16:56Ben Meiselas:doesn't have the best people, you know, not to suggest that there aren't good people there, but Hegseth has gotten rid of the top people who are the top people for a reason who rose through the ranks. That's just the thing that you see in dictatorships a lot. It's one of the downfalls to dictatorships and we see it in the US that idiots, let's call them, let's call them idiots, scumbags like Hegseth and Trump. Dummies who behave this way get rid of people who intimidate them who are smart. Which basically everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million. Thanks for watching, everybody. We appreciate it.

17:32Ben Meiselas:Oh, did you get your copy of WTF America pre-order? And now it's the book I wrote with my brothers. We'll put a link in the description below. The publisher tells us the most important thing are these pre-orders. So the book comes out in October, but if you're able to pre-order it, that goes a very long way to helping with the book's momentum and with the advertising strategy and all of that. So if you can pick up a copy of WTF America now, link in description, or you can Google it. make sure you get the one by my brothers. There's been like these AI things that have been like doing it as well.

18:04Anyway, just we appreciate you. Breaking news right now.

18:07Ben Meiselas:My brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America. And well, doesn't that just say it all? It comes out officially this October, but you can pre-order your copy today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description below.

18:30Thank you.