Trump Just Made It Worse…

0:00Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump in a spiral this morning, waking up to his collapsing presidency, waking up to the country he is destroying here. This is what he posted first thing this morning. Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name of Hormuz Strait to Trump Strait? Like America itself, it would be hotter than ever before. Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump. Of course, we don't have control over the Strait of Hormuz. and the massive escalation of the catastrophic war in Iran that Trump engaged in yesterday resulted in the death of five individuals, the injury of 68 individuals at a wedding in Sirach County in Iran, in the southern area of Iran.

0:48Ben Meiselas:Meanwhile, the IRGC says that two additional oil tankers were struck in the Strait of Hormuz, trying to pass through the unauthorized rout overnight. Iran responded to the United States strikes on the wedding in Syriq and to other U.S. strikes that took place in the coast of Iran. Iran responded with strikes in Jordan, in Erbil, Iraq, in Kuwait, in the United Arab Emirates. Iran claims that there are multiple U.S. casualties, at least in the strike against Jordan, which the Trump regime is covering up. Numerous Iranian embassies are posting the following this morning. Announced the death toll in Jordan last night at CENTCOM.

1:34Ben Meiselas:And then other Iranian embassy accounts are saying, our sister embassy is asking the real questions. But when CENTCOM is silent, it is the answer. The Iranians struck an area called Camp Titan in Jordan, which they claimed was being reconstituted for logistics to the United States military because the Bahrain base was destroyed early in the war by Iran. Iran claims there were service members who were at the Camp Titan base in Jordan and they were killed or injured. And they claim that CENTCOM is covering it up right now. We will be covering that and following up with what's happening there. As the Trump regime is spiraling and all over the place, they sent out Treasury Secretary Besant, who I'm not sure why we keep hearing from this deranged and demented psychopath Besant, but he goes on.

2:28Ben Meiselas:Well, I think I do know it's all about market manipulation. Although he doesn't make things better, I think he makes it worse. By far, he goes on state regime media Fox, and he says, the reason that we're seeing this shock in oil supply right now. He goes, it's Ukraine's fault, everybody. Ukraine did it. Here's what he said. And we are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refine products. So that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis and then the conflict in Iran and the conflict in Iran will end and prices will come down overall.

3:15Ben Meiselas:And then he says, actually, it's not just Ukraine, it's Biden's fault and Kamala Harris. Here's what he says. Play this clip. Well, Brian, let's let's let's walk backwards for them. First of all, the Canadian deal has virtually no impact on American prices, no impact. So, you know, and Prime Minister Carney has made a political decision. The deal was on the one yard line. He blew it up at the last minute. President Trump offered our northern neighbors the most favorable deal. And he will have to come back. And I'm not sure that the deal will be that good again. And look, prices are too high. The American consumer got blown away under Joe Biden, 21.5 % stated inflation, probably much higher for working Americans.

4:03Ben Meiselas:And then the market manipulation continues. They bring on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. And Howard Lutnick's like, the way Donald Trump is handling this with Iran, there's been no American deaths at all. Zero. I don't know what war you're talking about, but we know of at least 18 confirmed deaths, although we believe the number may be more than that. We also know of overall casualties, at least reported, close to 800. The real number is probably in the thousands with massive traumatic brain injury issues being caused. But OK, go on, let Nick here play this clip. The growth rate and the reduction in the deficit will not only stabilize the bond market, will bring rates down.

4:51I think the way the president is playing Iran, right, there's not there haven't been American deaths. It's really just an economic choke out, which the administration is now executing more broadly. And I think it'll be very effective. So I'm very optimistic that the bond market will treat us very well. It may take over the next couple of months, but you're going to see rates stabilize. You're going to.

5:16Ben Meiselas:And then Howard Lutnick says, and we need data centers everywhere. They don't cause any issue at all with water. No issues at all. I'm not sure what you're talking about there, Howard Lutnick, but the American people kind of know that this is the most ridiculous lie ever. Of course, these data centers and these hyperscalers are going into communities. They're taking up the municipal supply of water. Overall, they're consuming data centers like 40 billion gallons a year of water by 2028. It's probably already in being covered up, but here's what Lutnick says, data centers in your backyard, everybody.

5:51Ben Meiselas:Here, play this clip. Unbelievable. You know, one of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water. The number one product in America that uses water is cattle. I mean, data centers don't use water. The data centers, this is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down. That's my Lutnick impression, by the way. Then he goes on and he attacks Canada. You're going to mess with the U.S.? Donald Trump's going to give you a smackdown. This is what he's saying. Again, so utterly humiliating. Here, play this clip. So if you're going to mess with the United States of America and its economy, and you're right adjacent to our northern border, I think it was really disrespectful.

6:34We were treated disrespectfully. And I think when you treat Donald Trump disrespectfully, you know, he knows it. And that's what happened. And they did it for politics. They're going to do it through their elections in Quebec. And then they have an election in Alberta. And after October 12th, all of a sudden, the Canadians are going to treat us respectfully because their elections will be behind them. It's just, it's sad. If you're from my perspective, it's just sad the way Canada's treated us.

7:01Ben Meiselas:As noted, the United States military is in shambles. Our logistics has been completely dismantled out of this catastrophic war in Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln, which was previously in the Strait of Hormuz area, it was right outside in the Arabian Sea, for 286 days, it's now arrived in Thailand, where no doubt Russian and Chinese intelligence are waiting there as well. But anyway, the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Thailand. Just look at what the ship looks like. Visibly weathered, heavy rust and worn paint. This is what our ships look like now in the United States Navy. Join the Navy, they said.

7:49Ben Meiselas:I mean, Donald Trump hates our service members. He's always called them suckers and losers. And this is how he treats them. I mean, just look at this rotting aircraft carrier. And you could say, well, that's because it's been at sea for a long time and that's what happens. Well, it's not meant to be at sea for a long time like that, okay? Think about what it looked like in the inside. If this is what it looks like on the outside, think about the inside where the plumbing didn't work, where people had to put their feces all over the floor and the piss was all over the floor and people weren't getting food and the families were raising the red flowers were sounding the alarm and the and the military leaders under the trump regime hegseth what they were defaming the families like no you're lying to us here just take a look at what the ship looks like

8:52Ben Meiselas:Iran's parliament leader, Mbigal Abbas, just posted the following message. Manab school, children massacred, Lemaire sports hall, kids slaughtered, the Kushtik wedding, that's in the Sirik area in southern Iran, children killed with families. If a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it's Satan. Shields a junior Satan that does the same. It's the great Satan. And the Trump regime just goes out there and slaughters children. They escalate the attacks. So the Syriq wedding area, this has been geolocated. It's been independently verified by BBC and New York Times and others.

9:36Ben Meiselas:So it's confirmed the Trump regime and Netanyahu at first tried to say, ah, it was Iran that struck its own people. No, it was a slammer, a unique missile. We know it's of a United States origin. We've seen the parts. It's 100 % the US that did it. Now, there was a telecommunication structure down the block from this residential area, and they struck the telecommunications area, and they struck the residential area where the wedding was taking place. You can see the aftermath here of the US attack on the wedding in Iran, where five people were killed. A four-year-old child was killed, 68 injured.

10:12Ben Meiselas:We believe that number is going to go up. Here, play this clip.

10:25Ben Meiselas:BBC's independent verification, Sarah Jalali over there at BBC, geo-confirmed this video right here of the aftermath as well. Let's play this clip.

10:50Ben Meiselas:And so what is the Trump regime doing? We're heading close to the midterms. They got to cheat. They got to cheat for the midterm. So Donald Trump, Governor Abbott, MAGA Republicans are now trying to shut down voting locations, polling locations in areas like Tarrant County in Texas. and that's their plan. They want to screw with our mail ballots and they want to screw with the voting locations because they're authoritarians. And we've already been talking about how the Trump regime's trying to push through this rule with the Postal Service that's going to have a Trump voter rolls. And if you're not on the Trump voter rolls, the Postal Service will not just eliminate your ballot, but all 10 ,000 ballots in the same batch of ballots, they'll just throw it away.

11:38Ben Meiselas:that's that's part at trump's discretion everybody because he's an authoritarian because he is a um wannabe dictator um who knows uh his reign that the people are rising up against this crap but here's what happened in tarrant our friends at ms now brought us this here play this clip voting is a right not a privilege making citizens jump through hoops to vote is the kind of cowardice engaged in by people who don't think they can earn our votes. The founders of our country would be appalled at how you treat people here with disdain and with your attempts to make it more difficult to vote. The commissioner's court of Tarrant County voted on party lines, three Republicans, two Democrats, to close nearly 100 polling stations in a county that Kamala Harris won by 26 points.

12:27There are 316 polling places in that county, more than 2 million people. They voted today to close 92 of them. They say it's about the budget two months before Election Day. Seems to me pretty transparent effort to make it harder for people in the Fort Worth metro area to vote, knowing that Fort Worth numbers are going to be determinative for any statewide Democratic victory and to suppress support for Tallarico in what is now a toss up race.

12:50Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump then putting out this weird 1930s fascist Nazi videos like this. Communism is the enemy of the free people everywhere. This is the stuff that they're putting out at the White House on the official White House account. Play this clip. Together we will defeat communism, socialism, and Marxism in America. We will not be a socialist country.

13:18Ben Meiselas:And of course, everything is falling apart in the Trump regime. Lots of people have been calling out the Venezuela deal. Within Venezuela, outside of Venezuela, we were, hopefully, you thought we were, as soon as it was announced, we called it out. And I tried to give you a deep dive into what was really going on there. All the BS, all the corruption, that it was a fake deal. Trump's$100 billion plan to boost Venezuela's oil production is facing major doubts from industry experts. Yeah, you think because the oil is not easy to refine. It's going to take decades to refine. It doesn't go into our strategic petroleum reserves.

13:58Ben Meiselas:It's virtually uninvestable, Venezuela as well, under the Delce Rodriguez regime. And so that's why Donald Trump, because he's a communist, an authoritarian communist, created a Trump oil company within Hegsett's Defense Department that did a deal with Alejandro Bentecourt, a bully chico is what they're called, these young chavistas who took advantage of the people in Venezuela. He did the electricity grid in Venezuela and then took all this money for himself while there were all of these blackouts in Venezuela. He's the guy that the Defense Department is doing a JV with for the U.S. to have a 100-year exploitation rights of Venezuela's tarry, viscous, dense sour oil that will take hundreds of billions of dollars to refine maybe decades from now when it's finally achievable.

14:48Ben Meiselas:and will not do anything with the price of oil right now, where the price of crude is heading over$100 a barrel for both WTI and Brent, by the way. And so, but with all of this going on, what do you have? You have the energy secretary, Chris Wright, arrived in Venezuela and he was like, we need American businesses. This is all for the American businesses. Look what he said when he was in Venezuela. You can see him for yourself here. Play this clip. We'll need further investment by other American companies outside of Decevra. Absolutely. The American investment in Venezuela is to grow the flow of private capital from a great number of American businesses.

15:30We want to see a lot of investment coming from the United States into Venezuela to grow opportunity and prosperity for Venezuelans and for Americans and for energy consumers around the world. When you anticipate meaningful.

15:42Ben Meiselas:And as Carlos Rodriguez Lopez says, I'm aware that this press conference is in the middle of a runway. However, the fact that Secretary Wright is making such an emphasis on incentivizing investments from, quote, a great number of American businesses leads me to believe that the Trump administration is looking for American investment in Venezuela from a broad scope of American industries. That's not exclusively American big oil because America big oil knows that you can't just do this in Venezuela. So one of the things that Trump's bringing in are the crypto bros and his tech oligarch buds. And so like Coinbase co-founder Fred Ersham is thinking about, you know, because the oil folks are like, we're not going to do that.

16:25Ben Meiselas:So they're bringing in like crypto folks and Coinbase folks and people like that. Meanwhile, remember when Trump regime threatened economic D-Day, that if you do business with Iran, if you do business, we are going to obliterate you. We don't care if you're China or you're Russia or you're whoever. Remember what happened right away? Pakistan was like, well, we're still going to do business with Iran. All the kind of middle power type countries said we're going to do business with Iran. Then Russia said, not only are we doing business with Iran, we're going to focus our investments on nuclear capabilities with Iran, investment in nuclear facilities in Iran.

17:02Ben Meiselas:And then China, of course, came out with a statement through their foreign minister, Wang Yi, saying we're going to support Iran as well. and then Donald Trump and Besant were like, China's actually working very, very productively with us. Well, China was apparently the sole holdout at the G20 finance minister's meeting, blocking consensus on the Strait of Hormuz free navigation language, reportedly because it could set a precedent for the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. In other words, China blocked an effort by the United States at that G20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina, to basically say that the Strait of Hormuz should be free for navigation.

17:46Ben Meiselas:And China's like, of course, it should be free for navigation, but not with the way you're doing it, the United States. We don't support where you're doing it. And China's been very clear that it supports Iran and that it's standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder with Iran. Also, you're seeing lots of billboards like this go up all throughout Iran right now. Take a look over here. It is Donald Trump in the catering container with a cheeseburger and a Coke in his hands. And they're just mocking the hell out of him about what a coward America's so-called commander in chief is. And just look at this billboard right here.

18:22Ben Meiselas:Trump hiding. This is, you know, in Tehran. Trump, this is what they put in Tehran. Trump hiding in a catering container with a cheeseburger and a soda. The humiliation ritual here in the United States, the shame that he's brought our country, how weak and pathetic we look. We look like a country of losers right now because we have a loser in the Oval Office. Thanks for watching. We'll keep you posted throughout the day. Hit subscribe, get your copy of WTF America now. We appreciate you. Have a good one. Before you go, our book, WTF America, is available for pre-order now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back.

18:58Ben Meiselas:To pre-order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this. Thank you.