Trump Crashes Out in Cabinet Meeting Over War

26 Mar 2026 · 24 min · 14 chapters

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In short

The episode centers on a chaotic White House cabinet meeting where Donald Trump reacts angrily to the Iran war and NATO’s role. Key claims include: the U.S. “doesn’t need” the Strait of Hormuz because it has “twice” (soon “three times”) Saudi/Russia oil; NATO “failed a test” after Trump/Netanyahu invaded Iran without telling NATO; Iran is “begging” to make a deal; and Trump floated taking control of Iran’s oil as an “option.”

Notable examples

Trump’s claim that eight oil tankers were allowed through Hormuz is contradicted by tanker tracking; he says he “aced” cognitive tests and invokes the 25th Amendment; he attacks Germany and discusses Ukraine munitions being diverted to the Middle East. Guests/people mentioned: Chris (interviewer), Pete Hegseth, Steve Whitcoff, Jared Kushner, Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance, Gavin Newsom, Scott Bessant, plus Harry Reid and Netanyahu (referenced).

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 Cabinet Meeting Highlights

1:24 to 1:54

Discussion on Trump's controversial remarks during a cabinet meeting about Iran.

NATO and Trump's Perception

1:54 to 3:25

Analysis of Trump's statements regarding NATO's involvement in conflicts.

“Donald Trump just crashed out during a cabinet meeting in the White House regarding this disastrous war in Iran.”

Trump's Communication Style

3:25 to 5:01

Exploration of Trump's language and its implications on international relations.

“he says this is just a nice little detour a detour and it won't be long watch how deranged this is here play this clip has been put into our country in the last year and again we had to take a little detour.”

Cognitive Tests and Presidential Fitness

5:01 to 6:44

Discussion on Trump's comments about cognitive tests and mental fitness in leadership.

“But, you know, I can't say what we're going to do, because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long.”

Trump's Critique of Global Leaders

6:44 to 8:16

Trump critiques Germany and discusses military alliances and their responsibilities.

“I say it because no person ever reports it.”

Iran's Oil and Trump's Claims

8:16 to 10:01

Examining Trump's claims about Iranian oil shipments and their credibility.

“And a reporter said it was terrible that I talked that way about somebody with mental disability.”

Comparisons of Military Operations

10:01 to 11:23

Discussion on Trump's views comparing Iran to past military engagements.

“You know, I told you about a present, right?”

Trump's Infrastructure Projects

11:23 to 12:04

Trump discusses his infrastructure projects and their importance to the presidency.

“This actually isn't something new to me.”

Negotiations with Iran

12:04 to 14:01

Insights into Trump's negotiations with Iran and the challenges faced.

“And we have some projects that are great.”

War Involvement and International Relations

14:01 to 14:50

Discussion on the timing of international military support and relations with Iran.

“No, it's supposed to get involved when the war is beginning or even before it begins.”
Show all 14 chapters

Trump's Cabinet Perspectives

14:51 to 15:39

Analysis of cabinet members discussing military strategies and international threats.

“Jared and I both agreed that the Iranians were there to buy time until a weaker president arrived.”

Trump's Anecdote About Expensive Pens

15:40 to 17:53

Trump shares a humorous story about his experiences with expensive pens.

“And we're fighting this war during the most holy day for the Christians.”

Discussion on Military Resources Allocation

17:54 to 19:59

Debate over the U.S. military's diversion of resources from Ukraine to the Middle East.

“brand new B-2 bombers of which we just ordered plenty.”

Iran's Economic and Military Strategies

20:00 to 21:21

Exploring Iran's military capabilities and economic strategies amidst U.S. relations.

“But should Iran be able to charge votes countries now to use the Strait of Hormuz Donald?”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

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1:53K-A-C-H-A-V-A dot com code news.

1:56Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump just crashed out during a cabinet meeting in the White House regarding this disastrous war in Iran. Donald Trump began by saying, we don't even need the straight of Hormuz. Watch what he said here. Play this clip. And, you know, they're affected. The amazing thing is we don't need the Hormuz straight. We don't need it. We don't need it at all. We have so much oil. Our country is not affected by this. We have more. We have twice the amount of oil as Saudi Arabia or Russia. And soon it'll be three times the amount. Chris, do you want to speak to that? Then Donald Trump said that the reason he's now asking for NATO's help is that it was a test and they failed the test.

2:39Ben Meiselas:And he will never forget. He will remember the fact that he thinks he's been screwed over by NATO because he and Netanyahu invaded Iran without telling NATO he was going to do it. Play this clip. And nobody's a match for the United States, but they're not a match for the United States. It's small potatoes. That's why I'm so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO. This was a test. You can help us. You don't have to. But if you don't have that, you know, if you don't do that, we're going to remember. Just remember. Remember this in a number of months from now. Remember my statements.

3:16uh have an expression a great expression never forget you can never forget but for donald trump

3:25Ben Meiselas:he says this is just a nice little detour a detour and it won't be long watch how deranged this is here play this clip has been put into our country in the last year and again we had to take a little detour. Won't be long. Gonna end soon. We had to take a little detour, go to Iran, and we had to put out a fire. Next, a reporter asked Donald Trump, so are you going to take control of Iran's oil? And Donald Trump, before answering that question, says we're beating the shit out of them. We're beating the shit out of Iran. Again, this is how the United States president is communicating. It is so horrific.

4:07Ben Meiselas:And all it is doing, it is emboldening the regime in Iran to try to galvanize support there against the United States. Here, play this clip. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. Are you thinking of taking control of Iran's oil? It's an option. I mean, I wouldn't talk about it, but it's an option. Is that something you thought about? Well, in Venezuela, we've done very well working with Venezuela. And certainly we've taken in billions and billions of dollars. And by the way, Venezuela is doing better right now than they've ever done in the history of their country.

4:44Ben Meiselas:Next, Donald Trump says that if he were to do certain things and tell the press what his plans were, that his cabinet might invoke the 25th Amendment. Let's play it. Embarrassed. I don't want to embarrass you because I think you're I think she's a friendly reporter. So I'm sorry. But, you know, I can't say what we're going to do, because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long. They probably what is it called? The 25th Amendment that institute the 25th Amendment, which they didn't do with Biden, which is shocking. Then Donald Trump, after talking about the 25th Amendment, says, I don't want any people with mental disabilities to be the president.

5:27Ben Meiselas:OK, Donald, here, play this clip. I said, I have no problem with it, but I don't want a person with mental disability to be my president. I mean, you don't want to have a person with mental disability being your president. And Donald Trump said that he's been reading that he's desperate to make a deal. He goes, I'm not desperate. I'm not desperate. Let's play this clip. It would be nice if like the fake news, New York Times, which is so fake and the Wall Street Journal is terrible, terrible. I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not, I don't, if I was desperate, he'd be the first to know me.

6:02Let's get the hell out of there. I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care. I want to, in fact, we have other targets we want to hit before we leave. We're hitting them on a daily basis. I don't talk about you. I can't talk about specifics. A lot of people say that wouldn't matter. Maybe it doesn't matter. Who knows? But I wouldn't talk. It's like the question of this yellow lady. Sorry about, I embarrassed her. I don't want to embarrass you because I think you're, I think she's a friendly reporter, so I'm sorry. But, you know, I can't say what we're going to do because if I did, I wouldn't be sitting here for long.

6:37Ben Meiselas:They probably, what is it called? The 25th Amendment. Then he starts talking about cognitive exams, that he takes cognitive exams all the time. He aces it. He says, let's play this clip. I'll say it right now. I say it because no person ever reports it. I'm the only president that ever took a cognitive test. I took it three times. it's actually a very hard test for a lot of people it wasn't hard for me but it's a cognitive test starts off with an easy question and by the time you get to the middle gets tougher by the time you get to the end very few people can answer those questions you get very tough mathematical equations and things i took it three times i aced it all three times in front of numerous doctors that i have no idea who they are who they are and i was told when i went in i said doc ronnie told me this my current doctors are fantastic doctors they said well if you take it you know it's walter reed it's essentially a public hospital and if you do badly it's probably going to get out but i aced it i got them all right and one doctor said i've never seen anybody get them all right i've been doing the test for 20 years i want people i i would love to see anybody that's a president or a vice president or anybody that has any um chance of being a president I would like to see them take a cognitive test.

7:57Ben Meiselas:And then he talks about he doesn't want stupid people to be in office. And again, do you know how weak this makes our nation look and how weak we are under this ridiculousness? Let's play this clip. I believe. And by the way, Gavin Newsom, who is one of the candidates, I believe he took himself out of the running when he says he is he suffers from mental disability. And a reporter said it was terrible that I talked that way about somebody with mental disability. I said, I have no problem with it, but I don't want a person with mental disability to be my president. I mean. Then Donald Trump attacks Germany and says that I think that Germany made very inappropriate statements about the U.S.

8:41Ben Meiselas:Let's play it. I think that's calming down a little bit. And I think we have a chance of getting it done. But it doesn't affect us thousands of miles away. That's why when I heard the head of Germany say, this is not our war about Iran. I said, well, Ukraine's not our war. We helped. But Ukraine's not our war. I thought it was a very inappropriate statement to make. But he made it. You can't erase it. But he felt that way. I said, well, you know, Ukraine's not our war. And it's not, but I would like to see all those young people stop being killed. I mean, they're being killed. It's like a slaughterhouse.

9:20What's happening there is horrible.

9:22Ben Meiselas:Then Trump says, can I reveal the gift that Iran gave us, the present that I've been talking about? They let eight of our ships go through the Strait of Hormuz. And I know that happened because I watched it on Fox. Fact check, no sign of Donald Trump's eight oil boats in Hormuz. The Bloomberg tanker tracker showed no evidence that eight large oil tankers that Donald Trump mentioned moved through the Strait of Hormuz ever. The tracker did note two Iran linked LPG carriers leaving the Persian Gulf Thursday morning. Possibly the extra two Trump referred to, or perhaps Donald Trump is deranged and demented.

10:01Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. You know, I told you about a present, right? Steve, can I reveal the present?

10:12they said to show you the fact that we're real and solid and we're there we're gonna let you have eight boats of oil eight boats eight big boats of oil this was two days ago and they'll sail up tomorrow that was three days ago and i didn't think much about it and then i watched the news and they said a very good anchor actually happened to be fox but i watched it and they said something's unusual happening there are eight boats that are going right up the middle of the homo strait eight big tankers are going loaded up with oil right through and i said well i guess i guess they were right and they were they were real then pete

11:04Ben Meiselas:Hegseth started talking and Donald Trump fell asleep. Let's play it. We're here to win and we're full speed ahead. So, Steve, we appreciate your efforts. More from Hegseth right here. Hegseth starts comparing Iran to the surge in Iraq. Let's play it. This actually isn't something new to me. I may be a young guy, Mr. President, but I'm not a rookie in this realm. In 2007, I helped lead the surge, the public fight for the Iraq surge. Stood and watched people stand in the Senate and declare the war is lost before it even started. Who was that? It was Harry Reid. That was the Democrats and the media working hand in glove.

11:46Back then, it was three years into a war. Now we're three weeks into an operation.

11:52Ben Meiselas:Then Donald Trump wants to talk about his golden ballroom and his triumphal arcs. and redesigning the Kennedy Center. This is top of his mind right now. Play this clip. And we have some projects that are great. This ballroom is going to be something that's so beautiful for the city, so desperately needed by presidents. I mean, now it's no secret. The military wanted it more than anybody. It was supposed to be secret, but it became unsecret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things. But does it matter? Doesn't matter. It's going to be great. We're building an arc, a triumphal arc, which will be incredible for the city.

12:34We're fixing up what was the Kennedy Center. I was honored when the board changed the name a little bit.

12:41Ben Meiselas:Trump then talks about a famous island, although is he talking about Epstein Island? But then he starts attacking the UK. And then again, he starts attacking NATO even more. Let's play this clip. And I think we've been proven right. You know, they took one missile, it went 2 ,500 miles. They supposedly didn't have a missile like that. They had no missile with that capability. But they shot the now famous Ireland, the island that the UK was very afraid to give us. Because they didn't want to get dragged in. But we don't want to get dragged into their wars either. One thing, we're very disappointed, I'll say it publicly, we're very disappointed with NATO.

13:24because NATO has done absolutely nothing. And I've always said 25 years ago, I mean, I was somebody that wasn't a politician, but I was always involved in politics and I understood politics. I said 25 years ago that NATO's a paper tiger, but more importantly, that we'll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours. And I want you to remember that we said this, they didn't come to our rescue. Now they all want to help when they're annihilated. The other side is annihilated. They said, we'd love to send ships. They actually made a statement, a couple of them, that we want to get involved when the war is over.

14:01No, it's supposed to get involved when the war is beginning or even before it begins. We had the UK say that we'll send, this is three weeks ago, we'll send our aircraft carriers, which aren't the best aircraft carriers, by the way. They're toys compared to what we have. But we'll send our aircraft carrier when the war is over. I said, oh, that's wonderful. Thank you very much. Don't bother. We don't need it. And we don't need it. We don't need them.

14:29Ben Meiselas:Then we have Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner, who Iran has said they absolutely want to have no dealings with ever again, since they believe there were productive conversations the Friday back in February before the war began. And then Whitcoff says over here, Jared and I both agree that the Iranians were just trying to buy time. Let's play this clip. I have no doubt that we exhausted all efforts on behalf of a peaceful resolution as you directed. Jared and I both agreed that the Iranians were there to buy time until a weaker president arrived. This was a flawed strategy as your clear direction was to never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon today or any time in the future.

15:15Ben Meiselas:More from Donald Trump's cabinet. Rubio talks about how I think that all the countries across the world should be. Thank you, Donald Trump. Let's play it. Mission here is achieved. And frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that's willing to confront a threat like this and not allow it to continue to persist. Because J.D. Vance goes on this weird religious tangent and says, And we're fighting this war during the most holy day for the Christians. Okay, you play this clip.

15:48I turn it over to Marco is I'm very mindful, of course, that we have a lot of folks overseas fighting very ably for the United States of America. And the whole team, we're very proud of them. But they're fighting at a time where we're about to enter as Christians, the most important week of the Christian calendar, the holy week that celebrates the return of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem. And so I want to say to all of my fellow American Christians, but particularly those serving in the Gulf, that I wish you all a very blessed Easter, a very blessed Holy Week. And we continue to stand behind you and continue to support you every step of the way.

16:24Thank you, sir.

16:24Ben Meiselas:Thank you very much. Donald Trump then starts talking about a pen and how he's got this pen. Here, play this clip. For 25 million, and it would be better. It would be better. See this pen right here? This pen is an interesting example. It's the same thing. So this pen is very inexpensive. But it writes well. I like it. But I can't have the pen the way it was. You know what it is. I don't want to give too much publicity, but they do treat me with a Sharpie.

16:54So I came here to have$1 ,000 pens. And, you know, you hand pens out. You're signing and you're handing them out. You're handing them to all these people. Sometimes you have 30, 40 people. And they were$1 ,000 a piece. Beautiful pen, ballpoint. thousand who's gold silver gorgeous but i'm handing out to kids that don't even know what they're what is this mommy this is kids they're getting a pen for a thousand dollars they have no idea what it is and i'm and i feel guilty because i'm like you know i'm by nature i i don't you know it's the government i love the government like i love myself economically i want to save money so i'm saying this is crazy and it had another problem they didn't write well So I take it out and I sign it and there's no ink.

17:36And I got all you people looking and you say, there must be something wrong with Trump. And I sign it and there's no ink in the pen and it costs a thousand dollars. This one, I called the guy. I said, I'd like to use your pen, but I can't have a gray thing with a big S on it. saying Sharpie as I'm signing a trillion dollar airplane contract to buy brand new fighter jets, brand new B-2 bombers of which we just ordered plenty. I can't do that with the press Fusie pen, but I like the pen the best, but I've signed it. I could do like Biden did, you know.

18:10Ben Meiselas:More from Donald Trump's cabinet here. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant says that the American people are great with short-term viability, volatility. We'd be great with viability, but it's volatility. Watch this clip. Thousands of American lives. Many people, especially the Democrats, underestimate the will of the American people for short-term volatility for 50 years of safety that we are going to have on the other side of this. And I believe energy prices will be lower, inflation will be lower, before we had the appearance of security, which is not real security. Now, the American people and the world will have absolute security.

18:57Ben Meiselas:Really, you think the American people like volatility? Absolutely deranged. Then a reporter asks Donald Trump. So there has been a report that essentially the US is looking to divert some munitions meant for Ukraine to the Middle East. So we're taking our weapons away from Ukraine as we did in Asia and moving it to the Middle East. Donald Trump basically admits that's what we're doing. Play this clip. Thank you, Mr. President. There's been a report that potentially the U.S. is looking at diverting some munitions, air defenses that were meant for Ukraine to the Middle East. Is there any accuracy to that?

19:30Is that something you're concerned? Well, I'd have to ask me, but we do that all the time. You know, we have tremendous amounts of ammunition. We have them in other countries, like in Germany and all over Europe, we have, you know, we're packed. And we take sometimes we take from one and we use for another. We help Ukraine. Biden started and he gave$350 billion away. Too much, way too much. And we sell it now to NATO. We sell it to NATO and they probably give it to Ukraine. Mostly, I think they give it to Ukraine.

20:01Ben Meiselas:But should Iran be able to charge votes countries now to use the Strait of Hormuz Donald? Because before they weren't doing it. Now they have a stronger control on the Strait of Hormuz. And Trump's like, they shouldn't be able to, but they're doing it a bit, but their capabilities are less than two weeks ago. How are their capabilities less if they're doing it right now? Play this clip. Let's see what kind of a job. Mr. President, yesterday you said that you hate mail ballots. Excuse me? Should Iran be able to charge a toll for the Strait of Hormuz? They're charging some vessels to go through.

20:34Well, should they be able to? I mean, they shouldn't be able to, but they're doing it a little bit. I don't know. Look, their capability is a lot less than it was two weeks ago. And with every week and every day, frankly, it gets less and less. All I can tell you is they're begging to make a deal. So let's see what happens. And more from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessett. Let's play it. economic strength is fighting off this evil regime. The Iranians believe they are fighting a two-front war. It is a military war that our great warriors are prosecuting. But on the other side, they are trying to take control of the global economy through a choke point that we believe does not exist and that we will overcome.

21:21The historic operation at Epic Fury seized a generational opportunity to demolish a regime that has coordinated over four decades of global terror.

21:31Ben Meiselas:There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Utterly deranged. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching.

21:54Thank you.

From the publisher

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump crashing out during a cabinet meeting on the war as things continue to escalate.

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