Trump has Disaster Saturday as he Freezes Up in Fear

25 Jul 2026 · 21 min · 11 chapters

Ask about this episode

Ask anything about it. ChatGPT or Claude reads this page and answers with the times it was said.

Connect VO and ask about every podcast you hear, including the moments you saved. Add to ChatGPT · Add to Claude

In short

The episode argues Donald Trump is “frozen in fear” and incompetent, then pivots to escalating Middle East conflict and global supply-chain impacts.

Guest backgrounds

No guests are identified in the transcript.

Key claims

Trump backed out of planned escalation toward Iran after telling Israeli intelligence; Iran refused negotiations and Trump then bombed at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The episode claims Trump’s jokes were plagiarized and includes racist Vietnam-joke repackaging. It alleges Trump is mocking Canada with AI border-wall memes while golfing. It claims Houthis launched retaliatory strikes on Saudi refineries (Jizan, Yanbu), using missiles/drones, and that footage exists despite suppression. It asserts Ukraine-Russia strikes affect shipping and prices. It also claims Patriot interceptors malfunction and Iran manipulates interceptors with missiles plus drones.

Notable examples

Saudi Aramco Jizan refinery smoke; Zelensky FP-5/flamingo references; Trump golf at Sterling, Virginia; Katy Perry condemning White House TikTok using her song; Alex Preti’s ICE-related death and lack of accountability.

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 Disastrous Saturday Overview

0:58 to 1:30

Discussing Trump's fear-driven decisions and public appearances.

“Every company is investing in AI, but most only have a small group actually using it, and a large group who tried and didn't see the value.”

Trump's Failed Negotiations with Iran

1:30 to 2:26

Analyzing Trump's attempts to negotiate with Iran and their fallout.

“Donald Trump is having a disastrous Saturday so far as he is frozen in fear.”

Plagiarized Jokes at the Correspondents' Dinner

2:26 to 3:19

Detailing the jokes Trump used that were not original.

“And now we're learning that a lot of the, even the horrible jokes that Donald Trump was saying, they were taken from like past jokes that are already out there.”

Trump's Golfing and Social Media Mockery

3:19 to 3:59

Discussing Trump's activities and social media posts amidst crises.

“Also, Donald Trump was using racist Vietnam jokes that he was repackaging when Donald Trump said, but after hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, get down, get down, which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking.”

Global Reactions and Criticism of Trump

3:59 to 6:28

Examining public responses to Trump's behavior and speeches.

“That's how Donald Trump is spending his time.”

Houthi Strikes and Regional Tensions

6:28 to 10:01

Covering the recent retaliatory strikes by the Houthis against Saudi Arabia.

“Let's talk about what's happening in the world.”

Ukraine's Military Actions Against Russia

10:01 to 12:25

Highlighting Ukraine's recent military operations in response to Russia.

“I mean, this morning you had President Zelensky of Ukraine post the following message.”

Trump's Use of Music for Military Propaganda

12:25 to 14:00

Discussing the controversy over Trump's use of Katy Perry's music.

“And again, with all this taking place, what's Donald Trump doing?”

The Impact of US Military Actions

14:00 to 16:00

Discussion about US military actions and their consequences in the region.

“these interceptors from the United States as the United States.”

The Legacy of Alex Preti

16:00 to 16:48

A heartbreaking look at the story of Alex Preti and his mother's grief.

“And we can't let them take away our happiness.”
Show all 11 chapters

Reflections on Trump's Impact

16:48 to 18:30

A critical commentary on Donald Trump's actions and their implications.

“Number one, the whole program, I was glad I was able to watch the whole thing from beginning to end.”
Hear the part that matters, and keep it.Open this episode in VO. Double tap your headphones to save a moment as you listen.
Get VO free

Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00You've made an AI investment for your team. You rolled it out, and a handful of people use it every day. Everyone else? They tried it, but nothing clicked. They went back to what they knew. That's not a people problem. It's a product problem. Superhuman fixes that. From the makers of Grammarly, Superhuman brings AI into every tool your team already works in, so they get instant help with drafting, summarizing, and finding information. With most AI tools, you need to know what to ask, how to ask it, and how to connect it to your work. Most people don't have the time or patience to get there, so the gap between the best people on your team and everyone else gets bigger.

0:38With Superhuman, your team doesn't need to build new habits or spend hours on training. Superhuman is already there with the right context and ready before they even have to ask. When every person on your team works at their best, that's when your AI investments start to compound. See what Superhuman can do at superhuman.com. That's superhuman.com. Every company is investing in AI, but most only have a small group actually using it, and a large group who tried and didn't see the value. Superhuman fixes that. From the makers of Grammarly, Superhuman brings AI into every tool your team already uses for instant help with drafts, finding information, and more.

1:19So habits and proficiency form naturally. When every person on your team works at their best, that's when your AI investments start to compound. See what Superhuman can do at superhuman.com.

1:30Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is having a disastrous Saturday so far as he is frozen in fear. He had told Israeli intelligence that he planned on doing a major escalation in Iran last night, and then he backed out of it. Donald Trump was trying to negotiate with Iran. Iran said, we have no interest in negotiating with you. Donald Trump, according to multiple sources, wanted to re-engage with the Memorandum of Understanding. Iran said, we don't want to do that anymore. You continue to breach it. we are done having negotiations. Then of course, Donald Trump bombed. Well, he bombed at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

2:13Ben Meiselas:It was the worst thing ever. Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, they're like, we have no clue what he's doing. He told us he was going to do it and we assessed that was going to happen. So we don't know what the hell is even going on right now. And then Donald Trump was on the stage at the White House Correspondents' Dinner and it was just absolutely terrible. And now we're learning that a lot of the, even the horrible jokes that Donald Trump was saying, they were taken from like past jokes that are already out there. One would say they were plagiarized. I mean, if you just look at Reddit boards, I think this was in music lyrics as well.

2:50Ben Meiselas:This is from seven years ago. There's one from like over 15, 16 years ago as well. My wife of 60 years said, let's go upstairs and make love. The Reddit board said, I told her, choose one. I can't do both. Or how about this post on X, which was Twitter back from September 22nd. This is from 2007, this post. Old is when your sweetie says, let's go upstairs and make love. And you answer, pick one. I can't do both. Also, Donald Trump was using racist Vietnam jokes that he was repackaging when Donald Trump said, but after hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, get down, get down, which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking.

3:35Ben Meiselas:And that was a racist joke taken from Vietnam. I could keep going on, but you get the point. Now, what's Donald Trump doing today? Donald Trump arrived at his golf course in Sterling, Virginia, starting his day at 10.32 a.m. He has nothing on his schedule today other than golfing today with everything that's going on. That's how Donald Trump is spending his time. Oh, when he arrived at the golf course, this is what he posted on his social media platform. A AI image of the Canadian United States border, and it has a gigantic wall that says air filter barrier North America, Donald Trump mocking Canada while they are dealing with climate wildfires.

4:25Ben Meiselas:While Mexico is sending people to help Canada fight wildfires, Donald Trump is attacking Canada, putting tariffs on Canada because of the wildfires, harassing Canada and mocking them in social media posts. The American people and the entire world are sick and tired of this pathetic, vile thing. This pathetic, vile creature who inhabits the Oval Office and turned it into some yellow-looking piss-on-a-mailbox thing. That's what it looks like when you actually look at it. I want to share this with you. Some more of these videos are coming in this morning. A caller on C-SPAN saying, I was laughing at that speech by Donald Trump for all the wrong reasons.

5:17Ben Meiselas:It's so bad. The world is watching this. He's invaded countries. And this is what he's doing. This is how he's behaving. Here, play this clip. But as far as the correspondence dinner, I was laughing for the wrong reasons. It was so bad. You know, the world is watching this speech, and I'm embarrassed for America that we have somebody that is so bitter about being treated unfairly and complaining about all these hurts that are done to him because he's so wonderful and perfect in everything that he does. I just found it frustrating to listen to. But I listened to the whole thing. And I love the dinner, and thank you for taking my call.

6:11Ben Meiselas:And Donald Trump's behaving that way also, and while he's golfing and posting new AI memes attacking Canada because, no offense to petulant two-year-olds, but Donald Trump is a petulant, misbehaved two-year-old. No offense to them. Let's talk about what's happening in the world. The Houthis, through their main spokesperson, claimed, and we saw evidence that it's true, that they launched two retaliatory strikes against Saudi Arabia following Saudi Arabia strikes on Houda Deh and Camaran Island. So Saudi Arabia struck that port city of Hudaday and the island. And then Yemen, remember I said they're going to respond hard.

6:59Ben Meiselas:And the Houthis in Yemen responded with force. The first operation targeted these refineries in Jizan in Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and drones. The second targeted refinery facilities in Yanbu using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. The group claims that both attacks achieve their objectives, and we have it. I know it achieved its objective because I have the videos of it. We have the satellite footage of what's going down as well, despite the US trying to suppress the satellite footage now, not just from the United States, satellite footage, private companies, but from european union too we've got the footage we've got the open source uh people on the ground who are taking this let me show you what it looked like as the yemen houthis successfully struck the saudi aramco jazan oil refinery overnight here play this clip show you a little bit of a closer view you can see these thick plumes of smoke rising from the saudi aramco refinery let's play it

8:20Ben Meiselas:multiple fire hot spots have been detected at the saudi arabia aramco jazan oil refinery following the attack right there still burning right now burning down as of this recording i I mean, that's one of the biggest oil refining companies in the world. That's one of their major facilities. And the Houthis said, we're just getting started right now. It should be noted that as the Houthis were striking that facility, one of the things that Saudi Arabia was using were these Greek anti-ballistic interceptors. And it's just important to note because you have so many countries that are involved in this war.

9:09Ben Meiselas:One might say the entire world is involved in this war, whether you're now looking at the United States using air bases in the UK and some other locations in Europe and elsewhere in order to engage in these catastrophic and unlawful strikes in Iran. You now have the Houthis who have shut down effectively the Bab el-Mandab Strait for Saudi Arabian tankers, the Strait of Hormuz being shut down. You have lots of, you know, Iran is striking its Arab nation neighbors. Some of them are striking back in Iran. You have the United States moving its planes and lots of its expensive equipment to Israel because the Iron Dome still functions there.

9:51Ben Meiselas:while the U.S. purported security umbrella in the Arab nations really has not been effective at all. And you take a look at what's happening throughout the world. I mean, this morning you had President Zelensky of Ukraine post the following message. He said, Ukraine continues applying long-range sanctions in response to Russian strikes. Last night, the warriors of our defense forces hit targets across different regions of Russia that are fueling this war. Zelensky calls the long-range ballistic strikes using the FP-5s. Those are the flamingos. The FP-1, FP-2 are the long-range drones. But notice what Zelensky says here.

10:32Ben Meiselas:I think this is significant. We also achieved very strong results with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran as well as a warship. Zelensky claims Ukrainian forces struck a Russian ship involved in transporting military equipment to Iran. This is less than 24 hours after Trump said it would be very bad for Russia and China if they supplied Iran with weaponry. Ukraine struck the anti-Pinsky oil refinery in Tyumen in Russia with drones today, 2 ,000 kilometers from the front, one of Ukraine's deepest strikes yet. That has a capacity of 160 ,000 barrels a day.

11:18Ben Meiselas:In response, or at the same time, Russia announced that it destroyed ships supplying Kiev's army at the Nikolov port, a cargo ship at the Chermaninsk port, a warehouse storage military cargo ship, and a bulk carrier three dry cargo ships. And I know we cover a lot here, the Ukrainian strikes hitting these Russian cargo ships. Russia's striking Ukrainian ships as well. And Russia's trying to do a blockade of Ukrainian ports. And think about what all of this is doing to global supply chains right now. Think about what all of you don't have to think about it. You know how it's impacting your wallet.

12:00Ben Meiselas:You know how when you open up the fridge, there's not as many things there. You know when you go to the grocery store and they're scanning and it goes beep, beep, beep. It feels like a heart monitor because you see the prices going up. You know you can't afford anything. The cost of living is impossible. This is Donald Trump's. This is caused by how Donald Trump has just destroyed the world. I mean, him, Netanyahu, and people like that have destroyed the world. And again, with all this taking place, what's Donald Trump doing? He's doing TikTok videos. And so Katy Perry has to respond because she isn't happy that Donald Trump is stealing.

12:37Ben Meiselas:Same way he steals jokes, he's stealing her music for war crime videos. And she posts, I'm deeply appalled and angry to see firework used on the White House TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this. I was not asked. I absolutely do not condone it. I wrote the song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments. To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to a soundtrack of destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.

13:22Right?

13:23Ben Meiselas:And as Donald Trump is stealing that music and he's engaged in all of these war crimes, Donald Trump promised these Arab nations that these Patriot interceptors that he sold them would work. You take a look right here, the Patriot interceptor malfunction in Manama in Bahrain. I've been showing you this footage. Here's more footage over here of some of these strikes taking place right here. We're learning that Iran is increasingly using these Kaibar Shakan ballistic missiles in their coordinated attacks. And what Iran's been able to do studying the U.S. Patriot interceptors is Iran's able to manipulate the flight path speeds and also have these Kaibar Shakan ballistic missiles be launched in tandem with drones in order to draw out these interceptors from the United States as the United States.

14:18Ben Meiselas:is completely running out of its munitions. That's why we've seen a high percentage of Iranian ballistic missiles striking their targets. I'll show you this too. Iranian state media this morning circulating a video caption, people of Bandar Jask weapons in hand are waiting for the arrival of American forces showing armed locals and militia groups in the Gulf of Oman town right Right here, Bandar Jask and the nearby areas of Sirik, Keshem and Bandar Abbas have been hit repeatedly in the U.S. strikes. And you see right there the people of Iran walking around with guns. I'll leave you all with this because I think it's very important.

15:04Ben Meiselas:And I don't ever want to forget Alex Preti, his family. Alex Preti, of course, was murdered by ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo, nurse, credible human being, Trump's ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo, murdering him in cold blood. Six months after the killing of her son, Alex Preti, his mother is sharing a heartbreaking message about the grief, she says, has only deepened with time. In an emotional post marking the six-month anniversary of Alex's death, She writes that no one has been held accountable and says her family never even received an apology or even a phone call from a government official, hospital personnel, or the Minneapolis Police Department.

15:47Ben Meiselas:At the same time, she expressed profound gratitude for the overwhelming support her family has received from people around the world, urging others to continue speaking out and never forget what Alex stood for. and that's the thing that you know i think is so important people power people want to come together people don't want this war people don't want this torture people want happiness and empathy in the aggregate but there are really bad people there are demons amongst us there are horrible people there are the trumps there are the netanyahu's there are the people like that who want to inflict horrible horrible pain in this world and we have to recognize there are demons amongst us and we have to call it out and we have to be able to know that their goal is to bring misery for everybody.

16:34Ben Meiselas:And we can't let them take away our happiness. We can't let them steal it. Donald Trump's at a golf course right now. He may have all this power, but he's there alone. He's frozen. He's fearful. And he'll be remembered as just one of the worst pieces of scum whoever whoever whoever existed for a short period this short period of time on this planet i'll leave you with this final clip of another caller from c-span let's play it right we'll go to jerry in oceanside california republican jerry are you there i am here thank you yeah i i i would say a couple of things. Number one, the whole program, I was glad I was able to watch the whole thing from beginning to end.

17:25Because it was in transformal in many, many ways. The thing I would say is the Manalus was great. I thought the awards were great. And reflected, you know, what the freedoms we have that were described. I thought the The president was terrible. I was disappointed that here he is representing the United States as a president. Well, he is a convicted felon. So here he is, and it reflects just the same way he is when he's in the news, when he's talking, whether it's here or dignitaries in other countries. He treats everybody the same way, and it's all about him. He hasn't changed, and he's not going to change.

18:13so I'm glad that you put the show on I thought it was fantastic but him doing people a favor and showing up and treating the audience like that was despicable but it's the same way he treats everybody all the time

18:29Ben Meiselas:there you have it everybody let me know what you think hit subscribe let's get to 7 million subscribers thanks for watching everybody we so appreciate you

18:43Ben Meiselas:All at store.midastouch.com. Hey, Chicagoland. Wayfair's Black Friday in July sale is coming to the Wayfair store. From July 23rd through 27th, you can score up to 80 % off everything home in person. Like up to 80 % off area rugs, up to 60 % off outdoor furniture, and up to 60 % off mattresses. Take home the small stuff that day and get the big stuff shipped fast and free right to your door. Shop the sale July 23rd through 27th at the Wayfair store at Eden's Plaza in Wilmette. Wayfair, every style, every home. Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer?

19:20May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan,$15 a month, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending. Zero tears.

19:36Ben Meiselas:Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms.

From the publisher

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump’ disaster Saturday as he freezes up after threatening Iran and his presidency crumbles.

Pre-order the new book from MeidasTouch, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy, today: https://bit.ly/wtfamericayoutube

Visit https://meidasplus.com for more!

MeidasTouch relies on SnapStream to record, watch, monitor, and clip the news. Get a FREE TRIAL of SnapStream by clicking here: https://go.snapstream.com/affiliate/meidastouch/meidasnews?utm_campaign=4490308-affiliate2025&utm_content=customerpartner

Support the MeidasTouch Network: https://patreon.com/meidastouch
Add the MeidasTouch Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-meidastouch-podcast/id1510240831
Buy MeidasTouch Merch: https://store.meidastouch.com

Follow MeidasTouch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/meidastouch
Follow MeidasTouch on Facebook: https://facebook.com/meidastouch
Follow MeidasTouch on Instagram: https://instagram.com/meidastouch
Follow MeidasTouch on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@meidastouch
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The MeidasTouch Podcast

All 2,215 episodes
Trump has Disaster Saturday as he Freezes Up in FearThe MeidasTouch Podcast · 21 min
Listen in VO