Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 4/16/2026

25:51Ben Meiselas:We got to take them down. We got to take them down to their knees, everybody. We're going to negotiate them down to their knees right now. OK, because let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Those Israelis and rallies are doing really good. The Israelis are sleeping much easier right now. So do you care about, I don't know how the Americans are doing? No, I don't care. What about Biden and Ukraine? I'm glad I didn't do anything with Ukraine, but I'm glad the Israelis are doing good. And we're going to bring them down on the knee. The embargo thingy that we're doing, the embargo thingy.

26:27Ben Meiselas:I mean, how do you even watch this stuff with a straight face? I mean, this is this is the group of clowns. I mean, there are people in that guy's district who see that and go, that's my guy. The cigar smoking Batman villain saying that what makes him happy right now while Americans are suffering is that he, by the way, I don't even think the Israelis, I don't think it's an accurate statement. I think that they've been bombed more and they've had more insecurity there than before. So I don't believe the statement's true. But the very fact that America first means that now while he's smoking a cigar and says, I don't care about the debt or I don't care about the economic conditions.

27:08Ben Meiselas:While Donald Trump's out there saying four dollars is not a lot of money. Four dollars per gallon is child's play. The market is doing amazing right now. But when you talk about intellectual consistency, that's not a trade of MAGA. So I'll show you right now when Democratic Senator Van Hollen got the opportunity to cross-examine Mike Walls, Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, the first kind of top Trump official who showed up. The hearing was about like additional aid to the United Nations. It really didn't have to do with the Trump's unlawful war in Iran. But Democrats finally had an opportunity to speak to a Trump official because Rubio hasn't testified before Congress.

27:52Hegseth hasn't testified before Congress. Just think about that during a war.

27:56Ben Meiselas:They are so scared. There's such a bunch of scared weasels that they don't even send people to show up to testify. Right. Instead, they do their pathetic propaganda, state regime media press conference. They don't even testify before Congress because they're a bunch of losers. They're weak. They're scared. They're losers. And that's not a political statement. It's just the reality. So Mike Walls testified about United Nations funding, but he was asked questions because Democrats had finally an opportunity to ask a person in the Trump regime about the war. So one question that Van Hollen had was you were very outspoken when you were a Congress member, Congress member Walls.

28:41Now you're the U.N. ambassador or the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

28:45Ben Meiselas:And you said Putin is a war criminal and that if Biden didn't say that, that Biden should be impeached and removed immediately. By the way, Biden said that. Biden was strong against Putin. So now what's your view about that? Let's play this clip. Would you agree that we should enforce that there be consequences for war crimes? And let me ask you a different way. Would you agree it would be a violation of international law to blow up a bunch of civilian infrastructure in Iran because Iran did not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz? That would be a violation of international humanitarian law if we actually did.

29:25Actually, that is incorrect. We have a long history. We could look at video after video of the bridges that we bombed in World War II and Vietnam and conflict after conflict of power plants in Serbia under the Clinton administration. Mr. Ambassador, this was not my question. And this is particularly a regime that has dual use. It has military with civilian uses. Mr. Ambassador, that was not my question. President Trump threatened to hit civilian infrastructure if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz. We all know international law. We know there are some exceptions to the general rule that you shouldn't hit civilian infrastructure.

30:05The enemy is occupying it. Obviously, you didn't answer that, but here's the one on Putin. Let's play the other clip. If we've got the other clip with him talking about Putin and Van Halen. All right, we don't. Let's take our first quick break of the show. We will be right back after our first quick break. All right, quick question. How many of you actually use your debit card every day, but get basically nothing back for it? I've been using Cash App a lot lately, and honestly, it just feels way more built around how we actually spend money. Like I was thinking about this, for example, if I could add the perfect discount to my card, it'd probably be the food spots I hit all the time, coffee, takeout, that kind of thing.

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35:44monocora.com slash Midas. Welcome back. Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis. This is your Breaking News. Breaking News from earlier today. A federal judge, Judge Leon in Washington, D.C., ordered that all of the above ground work on Donald Trump's ballroom need to be halted forthwith. This is after the same judge ordered that the ballroom project be completely stopped pending Congress passing legislation to fund the ballroom. The federal judge did indeed say that if there are national security issues, the judge's order blocking the ballroom would not address any of the national security issues that Donald Trump claimed may or may not exist.

36:30But then Donald Trump rushed to the Court of Appeals, and there's a judge named Rao who's auditioning to become a Supreme Court justice, far right-wing extremist justice on the Circuit Court of Appeals. She wrote a scathing order saying that you can't stay or block any of the national security issues regarding the ballroom, then sent the case back to the federal judge in Washington, D.C., who, by the way, the federal judge in Washington, D.C., who's a senior district court judge, was appointed by George W. Bush, very far right wing judge, actually, who's the district court judge, not a MAGA judge, whereas you have the MAGA judge on the circuit court of appeals who made the ruling, which basically overturned what the district court judge did.

37:16But the district

37:16Ben Meiselas:court judge said, all right, let me be very clear on what my order was, even though I believe it was very clear. The ballroom, the location where Donald Trump says he's going to hold his fancy parties, okay, that's going to be blocked. That needs congressional authorization for that to exist. All of the underground work, the bunker, the secret military installations that Donald Trump claims to be building, I'm not blocking that. I'm not touching any of that. And the federal judge says, you know, it's very disingenuous right now that the Trump regime's argument is that the ballroom itself is a national security protection for him?

38:00Ben Meiselas:I mean, just think about that right now. With so many issues going on in this country, with so many people suffering with Trump starting wars here and wars there, and now he's threatening he's going to go to war with Cuba next and invade Cuba. His main priority is building golden ballrooms and arches, not getting congressional legislation to actually fund these things, just tearing things down, ripping it apart, and then saying he's doing it for his national security. That this is what we need for our protection and safety is a golden ballroom right now. Okay. Let me just share with you what the judge's order says, because I think it's very instructive.

38:42Ben Meiselas:On March 31st, 2026, I granted the motion of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of a ballroom on the White House grounds as ultra-virus, meaning outside of the scope of the Constitution. In recognition of the national security and presidential security concerns raised by the ongoing construction project, I excluded from the scope of the injunction for my order blocking the ballroom any actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff.

39:26Ben Meiselas:Defendants now seek to turn this exception on its head and unreasonably insist that the entire ballroom project may proceed. Based on the record before me, I cannot possibly agree, but I will clarify the scope of the injunction as described below. And then he goes on to say how on April 1st, the National Trust, that's the group that brought this lawsuit against Donald Trump, citing public statements by the president interpreting my order, filed a motion for clarification for a preliminary injunction. Defendants, Trump, Meanwhile, not surprisingly, filed an appeal and an emergency motion to stay.

40:08On April 11th, our circuit court remanded the case with instructions to promptly address the pending motion to clarify how the injunction and its exceptions ensure safety and security pending litigation and extended

40:23Ben Meiselas:my temporary stay of the preliminary injunction to April 17th, 2026. On April 13th, defendants filed their opposition to the National Trust motion to clarify and attached a Secret Service declaration. And it goes on to say that same day, defendants filed a motion seeking a further 14 day stay of the preliminary injunction. I now find this motions ripe for decision. And he goes on to say, defendants argue the entire ballroom construction project from tip to tail falls within the safety and security exceptions and therefore may proceed unabated. That is neither a reasonable nor correct reading of my order with an exclamation point.

41:08My order preliminarily enjoined defendants from taking any action in furtherance of the physical developments of the proposed ballroom. The accompanying opinion stated the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion. It is to say the least incredible, if not disingenuous, that defendants now argue that my order does not stop the ballroom construction because of the safety and security exception.

41:34Ben Meiselas:And the court goes on to say the injunction excludes only below ground construction because throughout this case, defendants Trump raised discrete national security concerns about construction of underground elements. Early on, defendants argue that security concerns warranted permitting the current below grade construction to continue. Specifically, defendants indicated that national security related facilities are being constructed below the ground, referencing a security bunker. By the way, do you all remember the reporting that we were doing on the Midas Touch Network six months ago, maybe longer?

42:12Ben Meiselas:And we said, what this is all about is a security bunker underneath. They're building data centers, security bunkers for Donald Trump because he's terrified of, I think, what can happen to him based on his unpopularity. And he's not intending to leave the White House. So he's building a military installation for himself when he doesn't leave office at the end of his term. That's one of the things I said that he was doing lots of like, oh, you're being hyperbolic, security bunker. What are you talking about? Bunker? What do you mean? That's exactly what they're doing. And he's also using that as a pretext to now say, I have to continue to build my ballroom because the ballroom and the bunker are one and the same.

42:57Ben Meiselas:And so now that I've ripped to shreds the East Wing, now it is a national security harm to me if I don't build a ballroom. Because I ripped it down unlawfully, I have to build a ballroom to protect myself because the ballroom protects against ballistic missiles, I kid you not, FPV drones and other types of drones right now. That's the argument that he's making before the court. While all of these issues, while Americans are suffering and struggling, this is what Donald Trump is saying to the American people right now. So I wanted to talk about that. Some other things that I think we need to discuss.

43:31Ben Meiselas:World Cup boycott. World Cup boycott. One of the things that we were also talking about months and months ago is that a World Cup boycott was growing and picking up steam. Now, the Financial Times reported yesterday that travel industry executives, hotel industry executives, and sports industry executives are saying fans are being put off by expensive match tickets, inflation fears, and anti-American sentiment. U.S. hotels are now slashing their summer room rates as World Cup demand falls short. Just think about that. Only Donald Trump can make the World Cup demand fall short. How is it even possible to make the World Cup demand fall short?

44:25Ben Meiselas:Well, when you put ice and border patrol Gestapo around the area, kidnapping people, killing people, throwing people into concentration camps. When you put ice and border patrol in airports, Donald Trump has threatened the lives of the Iranian soccer or football team saying, yeah, if they want to play, they could play. but I can't say what's going to happen to them if they show up. Good luck. We wish you the best of your gum here. So again, as part of Donald Trump's war crimes, threatening to destroy the Iranian civilization, also, in my opinion, threatening to kill their soccer team, their football team.

45:00Ben Meiselas:You've got, again, Donald Trump's threats against Europe, against NATO, against Canada, against the rest of the world, and his unlawful war in Iran. People don't want to show up here. Tourism is already down massively here in the United States. And the idea of going to the World Cup and being in the United States right now with all of the images that people see on TV with ice and board, people just don't want to do that. We'll watch it on TV. Why would we shop? Also, things are unaffordable here. I mean, for you to just even like take a train to the game right now, it could cost$100. And if you think about people in other countries showing up here, $100 based on what they're used to spending in their countries, it's again, it is unaffordable to show up.

45:47Ben Meiselas:It is dangerous to show up. You have Donald Trump's turning it into an event for himself, not making it about the world and athletes, making it about him. He's already given himself a fake FIFA peace prize before going to war with the entire world. People are like, why would we do this? You've turned the World Cup into some grotesque thing. Donald Trump managed to pull that off. Also, while we're on the topic of sports, I think this is a major development as well. Saudi Arabia basically saying, you know that live golf league that we've been basically the sole funder of. Remember everybody, Live and how Live Golf started rising and became like the main golf league and picked out all of these top players who are PGA players who became these Live Golf players.

46:43Ben Meiselas:And there were all these lawsuits back and forth. It's funded by Saudi Arabia. And as part of the, I guess, unspoken or I guess spoken quid pro quos that exist, The United States provided security umbrellas and gave weapons and chips and information to Saudi Arabia, Middle East countries, made the weapons available and promised protection. That security umbrella has been broken by Donald Trump. And I think it's a bigger story that Saudi Arabia is announcing that it's not going to be funding LIV anymore, which basically means the LIV golf tournament. The Live League is basically destroyed at this point.

47:29To me, it's a bigger story than just that. I mean, obviously, here's the headline from Wall Street Journal. Live is facing the possibility of imminent closure with Saudi Arabia's public investment fund on the verge of pulling its backing for Live, according to a person familiar with the matter. Then as Golf Channel reports with the news of a possible ceasing of operations for Live Golf. Which players moves are you watching right here? And Live Golf executives were summoned to New York City for an emergency meeting amidst reporting that the league's future is in question. Players are reportedly in the dark over the future and the meeting has nothing to do with a potential DP World Tour merger.

48:13And so think about it. What does Donald Trump care about more than just about anything, the ballroom, the Triumphal Arches, golf, right? And his relationship with like golf players and professional golf players. So you're Saudi Arabia. You feel betrayed by Trump and the fraudulent security umbrella you were promised. We're going to put Trump on hotels. We're going to put your name here and there. We'll give you this money. We'll buy your crypto and you're this and we'll get, you know, but you have to protect us.

48:42Ben Meiselas:That's what all of this was. I mean, Qatar doesn't like Donald Trump. Donald Trump used the presidency, in my opinion, to extract stuff. It's not like a shrewd negotiator. I mean, anyone, Biden could have done it if he wanted to. Obama could have done it if he wanted to. But when you're a public servant, you're not supposed to violate the emolument clause of the Constitution. You're supposed to look out for the people, not use the power of the United States built over 250 years as a tool for you to extract personal. I mean, anybody can do that if you were the president of the United States and that's how you wanted to use the presidency.

49:25Ben Meiselas:But then when Donald Trump got the jets from Qatar and the crypto money from Abu Dhabi, when he got the hotels and the disinvestments and Kushner got this money from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Okay. It was a, I scratch your back, you scratch my back. Okay. You're supposed to protect us. Then when you go it alone with Netanyahu against Iran and you don't tell the Arab nations what's going to happen, you get these Arab nations attacked all of their, their factories, their desalination plants, their liquefied natural gas plants, other infrastructure obliterated by Iran, uh, that had links to the United States in this horrific war that took place, one of the first things they said is, okay, we're not going to fund LIV anymore.

50:11Ben Meiselas:We won't fund. Good luck with the golfers now. Good luck with that. But there's a bigger sign of things to come. These sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East would spend lots of money in private equity in big deals in the United States. They would put a lot of money in the U.S. believing it was a secure and stable market, believing that the investments were good investments, but also part of this quid pro quo security umbrella. Lots of other countries also would buy the U.S. Treasury bonds and buy United States real estate, park their money into the United States stock markets. Lots of, you know, a stronger dollar.

50:53Ben Meiselas:Now we're seeing all of that. The dollar weakened. We're seeing treasury bond yields surge. We're seeing countries removing their gold storage from the United States. We saw France do that recently, remove their gold from New York and didn't even seem like Trump even kept their gold and they had to reach a settlement when they wanted to remove the gold and they couldn't even find it in the United States anymore. There was a whole deal that had to be worked out there. The bond auctions that take place with the Treasury Department being less successful. I think you're going to find a trend of not just Saudi Arabia, but Abu Dhabi and the UAE and Qatar and all of these countries that would invest a lot of money saying, yeah, we're not going to do it.

51:41We're going to look to China. We're going to look to Europe. We're going to look to Canada. We're going to look elsewhere where possible.

51:48Ben Meiselas:And I think live is just foreshadowing what's to come in other areas. All right. We got that clip, by the way, now of Mike Waltz during his testimony where he was cross-examined by Senator Von Holland. I wanted to show you that before the break when he was asked about statements he made as a Congress member about Putin when he was a Congress member, Waltz, a Republican Congress member. Now he's in the Trump regime. He's the United Nations ambassador from the United States. Here's what he had to say about Putin. Let's play this clip. You said that President Biden needed to make clear that, quote, Putin is an absolute war criminal, unquote.

52:26Do you stand by your statement that Putin was an absolute war criminal? I'll tell you, Senator, statements I made as a member of Congress very different than what I make now as an ambassador to the UN working for President Trump and representing the United States. So are you retractable? I certainly, I support President Trump in everything he is doing and trying to end this awful. I just find it very interesting, Mr. Ambassador, that you called upon the former president Biden in no uncertain terms to condemn Putin as a war criminal. And you won't call upon President Trump to do the same thing.

53:02As you know, he has refused to do what you called upon President Biden to do. Let me move on. You know, Senator, it's quite difficult to mediate the end of the war if you take such maximalist approaches. And now being a diplomat and a mediator and fulfilling his goals, working for him and his agenda is very different than when you're elected. It's interesting, though, I have to say, Mr. Ambassador, it was a simple question. I guess you are you're not asking this president to do what you asked the last president to. I mean, did you hear his response there? He said it's hard to take this maximalist approach.

53:41what do you mean the math?

53:42Ben Meiselas:Well, first off, stop using the word maximalist. Okay. Stop acting like you're smart and using big words. Okay. Maximalist. Haven't you heard that word over and over again throughout this catastrophic war and run? It's a maximalist, a maximalist, maximalist. You know, these are idiots bullshitting their way through an assignment by trying to use big words to the teacher and acting like they're smart. Okay. That's what this, it's no different than what you all may have seen in high school and middle school, where the unprepared person just starts saying indubitably and maximalist, indubitably, arguably, no, you don't know what you're talking about.

54:22Ben Meiselas:Maximalist. It was your statement, your words. You said, and rightfully so that Putin is a war criminal. It's not maximalist. That's an objective reality. So you were being asked a question by a Democratic senator about the objective reality. He was a war criminal two years ago when you were a Congress member. Has that changed? Well, that was so maximalist. It's your word. Stop saying that. Behave like a normal human being. And this is where I say it over and over again. This isn't a political thing. Democrats, if a Democrat was calling Putin a war criminal and then testified like that and then said maximalist, I don't want to go maximalist.

55:03Ben Meiselas:I would call them out for it. I don't care what political party you're from. That's a ridiculous statement right there. And then he goes, well, when we're trying to mediate the dispute, I can't do. What do you mean you're trying to mediate the dispute? Mediate. So now the U.S. has taken the position that they are a neutral, that we're just neutral in all of this. And we seem you get what he's admitting right there. There's no difference between Ukraine and Russia. Although we all know to Donald Trump, he's supporting Putin in everything that he does. But Russia has their sworn policy to destroy America.

55:49Ben Meiselas:That's their goal and objective. Well, I'm just being neutral. On the one hand, Zelensky is trying to help us deliver drone technology and help us address modern warfare. And Zelensky would help the United States strengthen NATO, the alliance that the United States helped found and lead until Donald Trump destroyed it. So, but, you know, there's that. On the other hand, Putin wants, you know, to destroy the United States and work with China to reshape the world order with the U.S. being very bad. We're just we're just being neutral here. Right. I mean, it is weak. It is pathetic with that responses.

56:33Ben Meiselas:And again, that's why people hate, you know, just hate this stuff. You want maximum Democratic Senator Murphy cross-examined walls as well. Let's show you what happened during that cross-examination. Let's play it. But President Trump has said that if Iran does not comply with his demands, that he will end Iran's civilization with specific threats to target civilian infrastructure. This looks to a lot of us into the world like a promise by the president of the United States to commit war crimes. I'm sure you don't agree with that assessment, but we have never had a president before threaten to end an entire civilization and double down on that claim if that country does not accede to the demands of the United States.

57:27So what does the president mean when he says that if these negotiations don't work out, he will end Iran's civilization? Well, Senator, I think that statement in the broader context, he also talked about attacking infrastructure, bridges, power plants. And we all know Iran has a long history of co-bingling both civilian and military, of hiding weapons in hospitals and schools and using what could be just pure civilian infrastructure to also power factories for drones, for missiles. controls and the IRGC controls nearly 50 percent of the economy. I think it looks like, frankly, well, look, I guess what does it mean?

58:16What does it mean to end a civilization? But I think we have to look at the fact that you have a regime that literally chants death to America for the last 47 years and has acted on it, has killed thousands of Americans, has slaughtered its own people. I mean, how many machine gun bullets does it take over the course of a week to kill 40 ,000 of its own people. But does that merit a threat to civilization? Senator, it was some tough talk. And what are the results? What are the results was we had the highest level engagement in the history of the Iranian regime with the vice president and speaker of the parliament less than a week later.

58:58We had a ceasefire 48 hours later. They clearly got the message and they clearly came back to the table. Yeah, and I guess it's an open question as to whether we should try to pursue our aims by threatening another nation with mass civilian casualty. I don't know that that's something that we should celebrate, that we are able to cow nations to our demands by threatening to kill civilians. But as a former military member, and I'm safe in speaking for our military, they take every precaution possible to avoid civilian casualties. But this regime responded. And again, if we focus on the results over the rhetoric, they came to the table.

59:40They got the message. They put the ceasefire in place. They haven't honored it with the Straits of Hormuz. And now we have talks ongoing. way.

59:47Ben Meiselas:They put the ceasefire in place. They didn't honor it. So we're doing a fake ceasefire where nothing's really happening and no ships are leaving the Strait of Hormuz and they still control the Strait of Hormuz. So we did a fake ceasefire, but look at the results. Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization and they immediately entered into a ceasefire that they're not following. It's an interesting telling of history because it's not the true one. It wasn't that Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization that led them to enter a ceasefire. It was that Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization, imposed a deadline.

1:00:27Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump got afraid of his own deadline because he could not execute the threat based on the pressure that was put upon him. So then Donald Trump begged for there to be a ceasefire with Iran, where Donald Trump then manipulated the markets by agreeing to all of Iran's 10-point demands. And those demands included Iran gets to enrich uranium, Iran gets to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz, permanent security guarantees for Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the Shiite groups in Iraq, that Iran gets full reparations for the war, that all sanctions are removed from Iran, that Iran gets to charge$2 million per tanker, leaving the Strait of Hormuz.

1:01:22Ben Meiselas:It was not the threat of destroying civilization that led to the ceasefire. It was the threat of destroying the civilization, and then Donald Trump not carrying it out, and Trump begging for a ceasefire by agreeing to Iran's 10-point plan and then showing up in Islamabad and then Trump having J.D. Vance and Whitcoff and Kushner say, we're not going by the 10-point plan. Here are the terms that we're dictating to you. And Iran said, no, and we'll keep controlling the Strait of Hormuz. That's where we are today. That's why we are where we are today. The fact that walls can go up there and say it's because he made a social media tweet that that's what did it.

1:02:11Ben Meiselas:It's actually the exact opposite of that. And why is what I'm saying even important? Like, why does it even matter? And this is why, though, I don't really like debate shows because you don't get at the truth. And this is why I don't like platforming people like Scott Jennings or any of that. Don't get me wrong. Like I respect the art of a good debater putting a Scott Jennings in his place. I love when Mockler like crushes the guy and like no one does it better than Mockler. And I think you need that, especially young people like Mockler doing it. He was one of my closest friends, Mockler, and he's crushing it, right?

1:02:49Ben Meiselas:Does a great job. But the thing about a debate like that is when you do the split screen, you know, someone like a Waltz who's a sociopath or a Scott Jennings or whoever, these liars, they just go and they'll just lie. And it was because Donald Trump sent a strong message that, and it's like, that's not what happened. That's not the reality. I prefer this format where we can actually show the data and show the clips and show you the evidence. And you could truly make a decision. Now you could ultimately disagree with me in what I'm saying, but it's not a, there's not a debate. There's not a both sides of what happened here.

1:03:25Ben Meiselas:Trump imposed a deadline. Trump backed down against his own deadline. Trump posted he agreed to Iran's 10-point plan. Trump reposted Foreign Minister Aragchi of Iran's announcing the 10-point plan is the framework for the negotiation. Iran agreed to, Iran knew the Trump regime was going to lie, but now Iran got Trump to basically publicly admit to the 10-point plan. So that sent a message to China, Russia, Europe that Trump is broken. him. The message for Iran, you may be saying, well, why would Iran agree to that? Were they deceived by Donald Trump? No, they knew that he was lying. They knew the stunt that he was going to pull, but they don't care if he pulls the stunt.

1:04:08Ben Meiselas:They control the Strait of Hormuz. They're going to use their time to rebuild their missile arsenal. I'm sure, although it won't be admitted, China and Russia, whether it's through the Caspian Sea or otherwise, are going to start giving them weapons and intelligence. So Iran's going to use this to build up. They're going to repair the stuff that's been broken. They're going to keep building their drones. They control the Strait of Hormuz because Donald Trump was so dumb and removed the sanctions against Iranian oil during the war. Iran was able to make a lot of money and get its oil out of the ports and to their destinations so that they could, they predicted a situation where Trump may do a blockade like this.

1:04:51Ben Meiselas:So Iran's good for the next 60 days or so. Meanwhile, they know that time is on their side in a way because in a war of attrition, Iran can outlast the United States because here in the United States, when you start to see$5,$6 a gallon of oil or more, the pressure that's put on Donald Trump, when you start to see the markets crash and the bond yields rise and all of that, Trump backs down. Iran knows that. They're not dumb. In fact, they're a very sophisticated society. And one of the big problems in terms of the whole negotiating dynamic is, number one, Donald Trump, because he has a very myopic view of things and because he's, in my opinion, racist and xenophobic, he thinks he's negotiating with cavemen shouting Allah Akbar, wherever they go, you're dealing with a very sophisticated civilization of PhDs and engineers and very smart people.

1:05:55Ben Meiselas:There's a reason the Iranian civilization has been so strong for so long. And even with a regime in power, that is repressive to say the least. And there's a lot that can be said about the way this, a lot of way, you know, this Iranian regime, the idea of underestimating your enemy is like rule number one in negotiation of what you can't do. Stop underestimating. They are smart. They are, they are, they are smart. They are shrewd. They think 30 to 40 steps ahead. They have every scenario mapped out right now. They've got a social media game. They've got a diplomacy game. They've got a war game.

1:06:39Ben Meiselas:They've mapped out every move, no matter what you do. And Donald Trump's just winging it. You know, it's just like, what are you doing? What are you doing? How do we not even have the secretary of state involved in these negotiations? See that at a UFC fight at a UFC fight during the person who's supposed to be involved. Rubio, no, just not involved in this. Instead, we have Whitcoff and Kushner. Whitcoff and Kushner and J.D. Vance, people who have no idea about diplomacy, negotiation, nuclear capabilities. How do you even negotiate at a technical level when you don't have people who have any understanding of nuclear capabilities, of enrichment, of civilian use nuclear versus non-civilian use, weapons grade, non-weapons grade.

1:07:30Ben Meiselas:These are very technical issues. When Obama negotiated this, he had the top PhDs, nuclear physicists, scientists, you know, they're dealing at very granular levels. And now you have Trump imposing, using the negotiation. I'll leave everybody with this point right here. And then I'll show you Pope Leo the 14th before we go. Trump, Putin, very similar in so many ways. If you think about Putin's purported negotiations with Ukraine, it's an attempt to use the negotiation to extract things that could not be achieved in the war itself. I don't, I'm not, there's differences obviously in the different, in the wars and the invasions.

1:08:15Ben Meiselas:And so I don't want to get, but in terms of a negotiating mindset, Trump and Putin don't negotiate. For them, negotiation is chicanery, trickery, scheming, dominance. That's not what a negotiation is because these people cheat and steal their entire lives. There's no morality in what they do. So a negotiation is a tool to steal and to take and to dominate when you couldn't achieve that through war, which is an ultimate act of aggression and domination. So when Trump posts, oh, we're going to destroy you in the negotiation, you're never going to be able to negotiate if that's your standpoint. If that's your view, you know, and you want to go to war, I will condemn you as a war criminal.

1:09:02Ben Meiselas:And I think that's the worst move, but there's a war path and then there's a negotiation path. But if you're going to negotiate, you can't threaten to kill the other party in a negotiation because they're not going to want to negotiate with you. You're going to have to give up certain things. There's a give and take in a negotiation. You leave things on the table. You come together. You try to reach common ground. And if you even look at what Putin wants to do, right? Putin wants Donbass. He wants Eastern Ukraine. Give me that and then we'll stop. And then Zelensky's like, I'm not stupid. You haven't been able to achieve that in a war.

1:09:36Ben Meiselas:If I give you that, then you're just going to use it to further invade and take us over. Iran realizes that if Donald Trump, that if Donald Trump's ultimate plan is here, and they're guarding and protecting against that. You couldn't do this in the war. Now we control the Strait of Rome. Now we're just supposed to give it to you. Why? You couldn't take it in the war. And in fact, we've followed all of your statements where you've said, oh, I'm going to, we're going in. We've got the mine sweepers. We're there. Europe, go in. I'm not going in. We don't need it. I don't need your oil. I need your oil.

1:10:14Ben Meiselas:Open up the fucking straight. Excuse my language, right? Open up the effing straight, you assholes. I mean, you look like you realize how weak that makes you look and how pathetic that makes them. You don't think they realize that when and now you're trying to negotiate. If you don't do it, we're going to crush you. And then Donald Trump's also saying the war's over. We're not going to be going to war anymore. OK, Iran sees all of that. I mean, Trump quite simply is the worst negotiator ever. Can't negotiate. Doesn't know how to negotiate. Never knew how to negotiate. It's why he bankrupted so many things like everything, right?

1:10:46Ben Meiselas:With all of his scams, the biggest scam is saying he's a dealmaker. He's not a dealmaker. He's a destroyer. He's always been a destroyer, never a dealmaker. Dealmaker was cover for destroyer, right? And that's what he does. You let him in, he sucker punches you. The art of his deal is the art of the sucker punch. Oh, you know, just come on, boom. Boom. And just think about what he did with the already. The two negotiations he invaded during the negotiations, but that's how he lives his whole life. That's how he's always done things. He uses formalities, norms, good faith and fair dealing to destroy and doesn't have normal human being feelings about it.

1:11:31Ben Meiselas:So before we go, I'll show you what Pope Leo XIV said, because I started out by saying he's in Cameroon talking about Trump. Let's play this clip of Pope Leo XIV. Jesus told us, Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion in the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. Yes, my dear sisters and brothers, you who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor, merciful, meek, and pure of heart, you who have wept, you are the light of the world. There you have it, everybody. Make sure you catch the show I do with my brothers this evening, 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific.

1:12:28We go live then. It's been great spending this time with you with Ben on Breaking News. We'll see you next time. We appreciate you. Shout out Midas Mighty. make sure you subscribe, help us get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks everybody for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add three episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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