Trump Loses All Control as War Backfires

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0:38Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is panicking as this war against Iran, which never had a plan, is spiraling out of control. after news broke that Iran is selecting a new Ayatollah, the old Ayatollah's son, Manjaba, who is in many ways even more extreme than the old Ayatollah. Donald Trump gave an eight-minute interview just now to Axios, where Donald Trump says it is unacceptable that Iran has selected the Ayatollah's son, Manjaba, to be the Ayatollah. Donald Trump says that any selection of Iranians, new Ayatollah must be made by Donald Trump. Trump says they are wasting their time. Khamenei's son is a lightweight.

1:24Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump says, I have to be involved in this appointment, just like I did with Delcy Rodriguez in Venezuela. And Khamenei's son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran. Sure, Donald, I think that the 300 million Shiites who are even more radicalized right now in the region because of you and your behavior and killing the old Ayatollah. Like, you know who we want right now? We want anyone who's picked by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. I mean, do you realize that when you make statements like that, you're causing far more problems as well for the United States and other nations in that region.

2:08Ben Meiselas:By the way, those other nations in the region still under attack by Iran. Explosions are now heard in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates amidst a new wave of ballistic missile and drone strikes. You have footage over here of two Iranian ballistic missiles slamming into Bahrain's petroleum company refinery. Here's footage showing the impact of the Iranian ballistic missiles in Bahrain amidst this new wave of Iranian drone and ballistic missile strikes. And you can see these several large fires at the Iranian Petroleum Company right there. Here's some additional footage showing Iranian ballistic missiles at high altitude over Jordan.

2:53Ben Meiselas:In the past 12 hours or so, it's believed that Iran attacked the Azerbaijan airport as well. And another Ayatollah in Iran, one of their most senior clerics, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, just declared that the nation was on the verge of a great test and urged the shedding of Zionist blood and the shedding of Trump's blood on state television. While Iran's foreign minister, Argychi, has announced or has stated, Iran is not agreeing to a ceasefire. Stop putting out false information. Iran is not entering into a ceasefire. Also, Argechi and others are calling out the Trump regime's submarine attack using torpedoes off the coast of Sri Lanka, where the U.S.

3:45Ben Meiselas:sunk and would appear to be an unarmed Iranian naval ship that was doing joint exercises or a parade, rather, inside India. and that the United States knew about this parade because the U.S. Navy was invited as well, but declined. And as part of the requirements to participate in this parade in India, Modi made it clear that Iran, that the ship couldn't be armed. And then the U.S. struck that ship. It's called the Denna, killing potentially 100 people aboard that ship. And so lots of people, you know, calling out the United States, you know, for that. But the United States says. That's fair target when it comes to war.

4:31Ben Meiselas:Also, we're hearing more reports kind of confirming exactly what I was saying yesterday about the Kurds, that Donald Trump is trying to coerce and threaten the Kurds to do a ground invasion of Iran. To be clear, when we talk about Kurds, there's lots of different Kurdish groups. So it's not like, which Kurdish group are you referring to? I don't think Donald Trump realizes the Kurdish groups all throughout that region. And they're not necessarily all sharing the exact same ideas, but Donald Trump apparently is giving the Kurds an ultimatum. You're either with Iran or you're with us. You need to do a ground invasion.

5:09Ben Meiselas:The Kurds are like, yeah, we don't want to do a ground invasion of Iran. Trump, you've betrayed us over and over again. You've betrayed us during your first administration. You've betrayed us during this regime recently in Syria. So yeah, we're not doing that ground invasion because you're just going to throw us under the bus again. That's why yesterday Donald Trump then announced the Kurds are invading. You know, he announced it. He leaked it to the press that the Kurds were invading Iran, trying to provoke Iran to strike the Kurds and then force the Kurds into the war by forcing Iran to strike the Kurds by falsely leaking to state regime media, which calls itself Fox, Axios and Israel leaking to their local media that the Kurds were invading when the Kurds were not invading yesterday.

5:50Ben Meiselas:So lots of serious things taking place, right? Undisputed. America is at a war. Although Trump officials and MAGA Republicans in Congress and the Senate try to deny it's a war. They call it a special military operation, which is what Putin calls his invasion of Ukraine. Serious stuff going on. America's lost service members. The Strait of Hormuz is essentially closed. Oil prices are skyrocketing. I mean, you see it right now. I mean, this is some of the biggest increases in gas prices, you know, this quickly, like almost ever. So lots of problems, lots of issues. What's the commander in chief doing?

6:33Ben Meiselas:What's Donald Trump doing right now? Well, here's what he's posting. Trump pardons five former NFL stars. This is what he posted. He then posted fine arts commission, which is run by Trump, gives ballroom the green light. How about this post? U.S. Justice Department hangs banner of Donald Trump at its headquarters, and it is a fascist looking photo of soldiers marching in Washington, D.C. with Donald Trump's photo on the Justice Department building. This is a big banner of Trump on the Justice Department building. That's what Trump's posting. He's posting this mortgage rates fall to lowest level since 2022.

7:14Ben Meiselas:Huh. When's that article from? Oh, February 19th, 2026. So Donald Trump on March 5th, while we're in a war, is posting February 19th, 2026 articles. And anybody watching this, I'm sure you would disagree with Donald Trump that housing is affordable right now and that it's easy to buy a home and easy to get a mortgage. So that's what Trump's posting. He then posts this. The golden era. Trump touts$18 trillion of investment. Steel revival in North Georgia. Makes up a fake number. $18 trillion, which he claims he's getting from all of these countries. You think these countries are giving you$18 trillion?

7:55Ben Meiselas:They're not. Also, I noticed this article, February 19th, 2026. So again, he's just posting old articles. Then he puts out Pete Hegseth, again, Secretary of Defense, who gives one of the cringiest speeches imaginable. Here's what Pete Hegseth says. This is how he's trying to articulate what America is doing right now by invading Iran, play this clip. President Trump has reestablished the Monroe Doctrine, the Trump corollary of the Monroe Doctrine, or if you'd like, for short, you can just call it the Dunro Doctrine. More Pete Hegseth earlier today, fear mongering about radical narco communism, because you do know also they're using that as a pretext for the United States to invade.

8:42Ben Meiselas:Well, they were invited to invade Ecuador by Ecuador's MAGA leader. You know, we have ground troops at war in Ecuador as of two days ago. You're aware of that. Anyway, here's what Hegseth says. Play this clip. Led astray by competing forces, radical narco communism and narco tyranny, which threaten our people, borders and sovereign lands in the name of a false sovereignty or a false peace. And you've got mega Republican senators like Langford saying it's bumpy. It's difficult here. People are suffering in the United States, but it's because we're at war. We're literally at war. Oh, so we are at a war.

9:20Ben Meiselas:So you admit it. Here, play this clip. Right now, while literally we're at a war with Iran right now. So it is very important that we actually have all of our Homeland Security fully funded. Then you have Congress member, the fact that you have to get them to admit that we're at a war, right? Then you have Congress member McCormick saying, this is gonna be bumpy, but this is what the American people want. We want bumpy. By the way, remember when MAGA Republicans last year when Donald Trump promised that everything was going to be great in 24 hours, that things would be amazing. Remember, they said, no, no, no, no, no.

9:55Ben Meiselas:When Donald Trump's doing these tariffs against the world, it's going to be bumpy, but we're going to be sacrificing for Donald Trump. Remember, they said that anyway. Here's what McCormick said. There's now two major producers of oil that 30 percent of the oil reserves in the world are in Venezuela and Iran, and they will be under more favorable regimes that aren't trying to support our adversaries and destroy America. And so this is this is going to be bumpy in the in the short term. This is great for America, great for energy prices, great for energy security in the longer run. And thank God we are blessed in America with natural resources that can provide our energy and a president that's willing to unlock them.

10:35Ben Meiselas:By the way, great, great montage made this morning by CNN showing Trump administration officials calling the invasion of Iran a war. While Donald Trump saying it's not a war here. I mean, it was Donald Trump saying it's a war. Republicans saying it's not a war on the Hill, because if it's a war, you need a war power authorization by Congress. Play this clip. Then we may have casualties that often happens in war. We're doing very well on on the war front. We set the terms of this war from start to finish. 9 ,000 Americans have been able to leave the region since the start of this war. Nobody should classify this as war.

11:17It is combat operations. I wouldn't call this a war as much as I'd call it a conflict that should be very short and sweet. I don't know if this is technically a war. We have declared war. So if we haven't declared war, then I don't see that. The president hasn't asked us to declare war yet, but they have declared war on us. Would you consider it a war? It's a significant military operation. Strategic strikes are not war. They have declared war on us. I don't believe in the semantics. We've talked about the language this morning. We're not at war right now. We're four days in to a very specific, clear mission and operation.

11:56Ben Meiselas:I think Congress member Himes puts it succinctly right here. Let's play it. Americans are going to feel this in the pocketbook. Already you see the White House in an absolute panic over gas prices, coming up with wild ideas. Let's do a one year holiday on the federal excise tax of gas to bring that price down. They're just flailing for ideas because they understand that this terrible decision that they have taken is going to end this presidency. We're going to have a lame duck president for three years with 20 to 30 percent approval ratings. Now, by the way, that causes me no heartburn. You know, making this president a lame duck is going to be a wonderful thing for the republic.

12:36But, you know, the cost that the American people are going to pay both in in blood and treasure is going to be tragic. It's going to be felt in the pocketbook. And of course, it's going to have a dramatic impact on the midterms.

12:50Ben Meiselas:And then you have this Emirati billionaire, Khalif Ahmed Al-Habtour, slamming Donald Trump. This Emirati billionaire says the following, Who gave you the authority? Posted this morning. Who gave you the authority to drag our region into war with Iran? On what basis did you make this dangerous decision? Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield? He goes on to say, did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? Did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself? the people of this region have the right to ask as well was this decision yours alone did it come from the result of pressures from netanyahu and his government you've now placed the countries of the gulf cooperation council and arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose he goes on to say for before the ink has dried on the board of peace initiative that you announce in the name of peace and stability we find ourselves facing military escalation that endangers the entire region.

13:55Ben Meiselas:So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace? Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today, where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or are we funding a war that exposes us to danger? There, he says it right there. And as Asina Tusi explains, by every credible account right now, the Islamic Republic's base has been radicalized more, mobilized more.

14:38Ben Meiselas:They've been on the streets since Saturday. There are no signs of defections or regime splintering. And that's just the fact. You may not like to hear that. That's just the truth of what's happening right now. When Trump killed the Ayatollah the way he did, that did not, the consequence of that was an unpopular Ayatollah who's 85 years old is now viewed as a martyr within the community. And now his more extremist son is now gonna be running the show. That's what's going down. That's just a fact. We may not like the facts, but those are the facts. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers.

15:16Ben Meiselas: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, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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