Trump Flees to NJ as US Abandons Bases

0:00Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is hiding in his golf course in Benminster, New Jersey. Today, he keeps on posting deranged AI memes of himself taking over Iranian ships, saying, I've got your ship. I am a pirate. It is beyond odd. He's also posting images of himself and Kim Jong-un. This says Kim Jong-un has launched multiple ballistic missile tests. Over the past week, Donald Trump posts this bizarre photo with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, and Trump goes, despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, There are many where we are smiling. Kim Jong-un and I get along great. The United States has recently removed the USS George Washington from the Pacific.

0:40Ben Meiselas:That was our last supercarrier in that area because the supercarriers in the Persian Gulf have experienced horrid conditions, which the Midas Touch Network, Aaron Parnas, affiliated with the Midas Touch Network, has been writing about. Also, some other great reporters have been exposing that. And a major thanks to all the family members of our courageous sailors and Marines who have been telling us what is going on. You are the real heroes. And it's an honor for us to just try to get out the truth for all of you and to try to bring accountability to this Trump regime. We are learning as well that the Trump regime is now increasingly relying on its base in Diego Garcia as its main logistical hub in the Middle East, and it's not even in the Middle East.

1:27Ben Meiselas:Because Iran so successfully struck all of the United States bases in places like Bahrain, in places like Kuwait, in Qatar, the Al-Yudid base there, in Iraq, in Jordan, in the UAE, in all of the surrounding areas, the U.S. bases are destroyed. That's one of the main reasons also that the supercarriers were not able to get a lot of the food and a lot of the mail and the things that were needed for them to be able to actually function aboard the ship because Iran struck the bases, which were kind of mini logistical hubs, like especially in Bahrain, for example. And so here's what we're learning.

2:07Ben Meiselas:The New York Times reports this morning, Iran's early war attack on the U.S. and their subsequent attacks in July when Donald Trump resumed his Netanyahu's catastrophic invasion of Iran. Iran's early war attack on the U.S. naval base in Bahrain crippled key logistical hubs there, and also they did this in the surrounding areas, forcing the Navy to resupply from Diego Garcia about 2 ,200 miles from the carriers operating near Iran. The longer supply route has contributed to shortages and strain aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, also aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, also the other ships in the region as well.

2:50Ben Meiselas:We'll talk about that on this video too. And we know about how the Abraham Lincoln sailors have been suffering significantly. The Trump regime claims now, after all of the reporting with about 260 days out in sea, that the Abraham Lincoln is coming home. But we'll see. The Trump regime lies about everything. So the U.S. Navy's shift of its main logistics hub right now to Diego Garcia. That follows the Iranian strikes on the Bahrain base and all of the other bases. And so that's why they're now using Diego Garcia. And you can see where Diego Garcia is on a map, which ain't all that close. And this is what the results are of the Trump regime.

3:32Ben Meiselas:Someone in Donald Trump who's bankrupted most of his companies that he's touched his entire life. Casinos bankrupt, this bankrupt. He's bankrupted our military and he's destroyed our alliances. As our editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski writes, Trump's foreign policy is the opposite of chess. You see, chess requires you to anticipate moves from your opponent, think through them, and make plans to counter and take advantage of them. He doesn't do that. He plows forward and assumes his opponent will be incapable of resistance. And meanwhile, he gives speeches like the deranged speech he gave in Nassau County on Friday where he says this.

4:10Ben Meiselas:I don't even want to play the clip right now because his voice is so irritating. So I'm going to spare you the clip. But here's what he said. This was his speech in Nassau County, Long Island. By the way, where I grew up, we're winning big with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nobody has any idea how successful we are. They don't want to write it. But they know. You know who knows? how well we're doing Iran. Think of it. Think of it. They have no Navy. For you to pay a tiny little bit more, more for your gasoline, just remember you're doing it so that a very evil country can't have a nuclear weapon.

4:49Ben Meiselas:So remember, when you have to pay a little bit more, you're at$4 a gallon. It's okay. I mean, I'm not ever going to apologize. I did the right thing. I'm not going to apologize at all. Meanwhile, this morning, we're also learning that in addition to Donald Trump doing an executive order to remove the electromagnetic launch pads that exist on our supercarriers and replace them with steam catapult launchers for our aircraft aboard the air carriers, Donald Trump is also ordering the Navy to redesign our existing Ford-class supercarrier ships so that they look like battleships because Trump likes the battleship aesthetic.

5:38Ben Meiselas:This is in addition to the Trump-class battleships that he wants to build. So we have our Ford-class already built, and Donald Trump wants all of those to be redesigned and changed to look like battleships. Those are the Ford class are the supercarriers, I should say. Trump wants to redesign those so they look like battleships. Then Trump wants a Trump class of battleships. This will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, maybe trillions of dollars, because Trump likes the way battleships look in 1920 and Trump doesn't like stealth. The U.S. Navy now is considering redesigning Ford class aircraft carriers to better match Trump's preference for the World War II era look.

6:20Ben Meiselas:Look, the biggest proposed change is moving the carrier's command island farther forward. Trump has also ordered the Navy to study replacing the electromagnetic aircraft catapults with the older steam-powered systems. Navy officials warn these changes could cost billions, delay construction, and reduce operational efficiency. What the hell is even going on? Meanwhile, we've heard from Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson today. And here was the post. And he says, you know what? This is a lot like Dostoevsky. And he goes, this passage from Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov aptly describes the situation in which the U.S.

7:03Ben Meiselas:system of governance and foreign policy regarding Iran and the region finds itself in due to its extreme reliance on lies. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he He cannot distinguish the truth within him or around him and so loses all respect for himself and for others. The brothers Karam Zav. That's what they're citing in the Iran foreign ministry spokes person level. While Donald Trump is posting memes that say Wall of Steel to blockade, like fake AI memes of what Trump believes is our blockade. It's our oil tanker now. It belongs to us. We own the oil tanker.

7:51Ben Meiselas:Or while Donald Trump is posting photos of himself and Kim Jong-un, while even over the past few days, state regime media has put out, Fox says North Korea expert warns U.S. can never take their eye off Kim Jong-un following missile tests during Iran war. North Korea expert talks about how Kim Jong-un's latest ballistic missile tests in the region should be taken seriously, also in light of some of the aggressive maneuvering by Chinese vessels in the region as well. And of course, you also have Putin doing a press conference in an island that Russia claims as its island, that Japan claims as its island, and where a Russian leader has never been before.

8:39Ben Meiselas:And things are obviously escalating in the region. And the United States has now moved its only super carrier in the region, the George Washington, to the Middle East because the Trump regime has done such a horrid job managing basic logistics aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and then also aboard the USS George H.W. Bush there. The George H.W. Bush is still going to be in the region while the George Washington carrier is going to be headed in that direction. Aaron Parnas has been just doing some incredible reporting on this. He says, the mental health decline of America's troops is not just an issue on the USS Lincoln or the George H.W.

9:17Ben Meiselas:Bush. Before that also, it was a major issue aboard the USS Gerald Ford, where there was lots of flooding and plumbing issues, lots of problems there. It's an issue on ships across the region. Here's what one mother told me about her son on the USS Boxer. My son is on the Boxer and they have been gone since March. The conditions are not as bad as on the Lincoln, but they have not ported for several months and mental health is definitely a concern their ship is also older and they never were supposed to go to war but because of the shortage they had to show up their ship is expected to retire after this deployment which they were supposed to go other places but then got rerouted and they've had several issues we also talked about another carrier that was working with the USS George Washington in the Pacific.

10:07Ben Meiselas:Remember earlier, a separate ship that suffered major, major issues as well. And it didn't have functioning toilets for many, many days. And it was unclear how people even went to the bathroom while the Trump regime wants zero transparency about all of that. We also heard from the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson that they are progressing in their negotiations, not with the United States. They say the U.S. has nothing to do with this at all, and they're not having any discussions at all with the U.S., but with Oman. But it's going to be on Iran's schedule when they will announce any deal with Oman, not to open up the Strait of Hormuz for the United States or for allies of the U.S., but just for Iran's control with its new general port authority that it is operating with Oman.

10:56Ben Meiselas:Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said in the last three weeks, negotiations have been moving forward and have proceeded smoothly with Oman. There are still some matters where discussions continue, particularly regarding the joint statement that is to be released by Iran and Oman. Exchanges are ongoing. And whenever it is finalized, information will certainly be provided. Now, he's putting that statement out to show Iran is in control of the Strait of Hormuz. And it will set, you see what he's saying there? We will set the timelines. When we make the announcements about a deal with Oman that the United States has nothing to do with.

11:32Ben Meiselas:And let's also be very clear. This does not mean we're opening up the Strait of Hormuz for the United States. And you'll remember, what was it, two or three weeks ago, you had Treasury Secretary Besant saying two weeks. Oh, no, then he said two days. He said two days and now we're two weeks later. But at that point, he said, we expect there to be a deal in two days because what the U.S. was trying to do two weeks ago is take credit for the Iran and Oman deal, which was basically done two weeks ago. And remember, I interviewed Professor Morandi of Tehran University, and he kind of confirmed, yeah, we're basically done.

12:08Ben Meiselas:We did the deal with Oman, but we're going to announce it on our timetable. And we're not going to include the U.S. in it. And so we know that in the U.S., Donald Trump's going to try to take credit for a deal between Iran and Oman because Trump's incapable of doing a deal. So why would we give him the win that we did a deal with Oman that has nothing to do with opening up the Strait of Hormuz? A few other points I want to make as well as we talk about, again, the U.S. abandoning its bases in the Middle East, now in Diego Garcia. What else is happening in the area? Well, Adnach, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, confirming that another tanker was hit in the past 24 to 48 hours in the Strait of Hormuz.

12:49Ben Meiselas:And finally, UKMTO confirmed that a bolt carrier, the Al-Watan, associated with Adnach, was indeed struck by, obviously, an Iranian ballistic. Yasser Allah, the Houthis are still attacking the MOCA port. At least six ballistic missiles have been launched in the last hour. This all happened in the past 12 to 24 hours. And the MOCA port is still controlled by the Saudi-backed forces. And the Houthis are moving to try to take that area. And the Houthis control most of the area by the Bab al-Mondab Strait. But you have this al-moka port which is still controlled by the saudi-backed government um and that's what they're uh striking right now and then there were massive uh netanyahu israel strikes in lebanon uh today as well uh we're gonna try to figure out what the what the death count is there but there were really bad strikes um that took place earlier today so we'll keep you posted with all of this and more.

13:56Ben Meiselas:Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks, everybody. Before you go, our book WTF America is available for preorder now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back to preorder. Scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.

14:28We'll see you next time.