Trump Panics as Military Wants Him Sidelined in War

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2:28Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is panicking on Sunday as his own top military generals are trying to keep him sidelined to stop escalating this war. The Jerusalem Post reported this morning that when the military did that extraction mission of those two F-15E pilots who were downed over Iran, they refused to allow Donald Trump in the situation room because Donald Trump's behavior was so erratic and so impulsive that they thought it would result in our troops getting killed. We're seeing that this morning as well, as Donald Trump is once again threatening to blow up Iranian bridges and infrastructure and other civilian areas if Iran does not accept Donald Trump's terms.

3:15Ben Meiselas:And as our editor-in-chief, Ron Filipkowski says, two days after Donald Trump made 13 celebratory posts in an hour claiming that Iran surrendered to all of his demands and the war is over to manipulate the market on Friday. He's back threatening to blow up power plants and bridges. So after Donald Trump continued with the blockade of the Persian Gulf and continued to threaten Iran, Iran said that they were not going to, even on a limited basis, allow ships to cross through the coordinated route by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps through the Strait of Hormuz. So the Strait of Hormuz fully closed, and then Iran rejected all of Donald Trump's claims that Iran fully surrendered and they would give up all of their uranium and allow the United States to control the Strait of Hormuz and that they would no longer fund their various proxy groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis.

4:09Ben Meiselas:And then so Donald Trump now, as we're approaching this next week says it's going to be bridge and what, destroy bridge and destroy hospital and destroy civilian infrastructure day if Iran doesn't make a deal. What we're learning is going to be happening in a few days is Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner claim they're going to be going to Pakistan, Islamabad, in order to have another round of negotiations with the Iranians. They also claim that J.D. Vance will not be part of this delegation. J.D. Vance is now being sidelined by Donald Trump, although lots of Trump cabinet members who went on morning shows this morning claim J.D.

4:49Ben Meiselas:Vance was going to be showing up with Whitcoff and Kushner. But Trump saying that J.D. Vance is not going to go for security reasons, which, again, makes very little sense. Also, though, the Iranians are saying they're not going to show up to Islamabad if Donald Trump continues to use this rhetoric and continues the blockade of the Persian Gulf. So Iran says, we don't know what you're talking about. We ain't showing up to Islamabad for more talks as long as you keep on misrepresenting our negotiating position, as long as you don't agree to negotiate within the 10 point framework you previously agreed to, and as long as the blockade continues.

5:25Ben Meiselas:So here's what Donald Trump posted early this morning. Let me just read some of it for you. It's completely deranged. And again, it's more of the threatening the bridges and the infrastructure. And I'm going to kill you if you don't negotiate with me, which is not the way to negotiate. We already know these negotiations are going to be a failure because if it's just Whitcoff and Kushner and Donald Trump uses this rhetoric, it is impossible to reach any resolution, especially when Donald Trump previously agreed to Iran's 10 point framework and no longer says he's going to be abiding by that. But here's the message this morning.

5:59Ben Meiselas:Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz, a total violation of our ceasefire agreement, exclamation point. Many of them were aimed at a friendship and a freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn't nice, was it? My representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan. They will be there tomorrow evening for negotiations. Iran recently announced they were closing the strait, which is strange because our blockade has already closed it. They're helping us without even knowing it, and they're the ones that lose with the closed passage,$500 million a day. The United States loses nothing.

6:34Ben Meiselas:In fact, many ships are headed right now to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska to load up compliments of the IRGC. Always wanting to be the tough guy. We're offering a very fair and reasonable deal, deals in caps for some reason. And I hope they take it because if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single power plant, every single bridge in Iran. No more Mr. Nice Guy. They'll come down fast. They'll come down easy. And if they don't take the deal, it will be my honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran by other presidents for the last 47 years.

7:11Ben Meiselas:It's time for the Iran killing machine to end Donald J. Trump. And again, that's not going to result in any successful negotiations at all. And Donald Trump's bluster and bravado right here is also be lied by the fact that military generals don't even want him in the situation room anymore. and we see him running around panicking like the loser that he is. Donald Trump's been calling different media outlets to serve as his stenographer yet again this morning. He called Jonathan Karl of ABC and he said based on Secret Service issues, J.D. Vance is not going to be able to join Whitcoff and Kushner, which is fascinating because Donald Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, was on the morning show saying J.D.

7:52Ben Meiselas:Vance was going to be in this delegation. These people have zero organization. They don't know what they're doing. They're all a bunch of idiots. And Iran knows that these people in the United States, these Trump cabinet people are just a bunch of loser idiots who are pathetic people their entire life, who somehow got into power. Watch Chris Wright over here, the energy secretary, play this clip. We'll get we'll get back there for sure. Who's leading the delegation to Islamabad tomorrow? Do we know the vice president's been leading the negotiations from the start? OK, President Trump previously said with Iran, there were very good conversations going on.

8:24But the top Iranian negotiator told State TV in Iran that the two sides are still far from a final agreement. You think that there will be, you're optimistic there will be a deal sometime this week or next? Yeah, I think you'll see a deal in the near future. I don't know the exact time frame, but we'll see a deal in the near future.

8:42Ben Meiselas:Remember. Literally at the same time that was happening, here's what was going on on ABC. As Donald Trump told ABC that J.D. Vance would not be attending. Here play this clip. And an important clarification, I just got off the phone with President Trump yet again. He told me that Vice President Vance will not be leading the U.S. delegation to Islamabad. He said it's because of security. The Secret Service did not feel comfortable having the Vice President go to Pakistan on 24 hours notice. He's added JD is great. Meanwhile, Iran's like, we ain't attending. We're not going as long as you continue to threaten us this way.

9:18Ben Meiselas:That's not how we negotiate. So no, Iran says they're not sending its negotiators while this blockade of the Persian Gulf remains in place. Also, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson just posted the following message. The United States so-called blockade of Iran's ports or coastline is not only a violation of Pakistan's mediated ceasefire, but it's also both unlawful and criminal. Moreover, by deliberately inflicting collective punishment on the Iranian population. It amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Iranian embassy social media accounts continue to post Donald Trump is a war criminal on their accounts today.

9:56Ben Meiselas:Similarly, Iran's president Pazeshkin said that Donald Trump has no justification to deprive Iran of its nuclear rights. Just 48 hours ago, Donald Trump was saying that Iran agreed to give up uranium enrichment and all nuclear dust. Donald Trump lies about everything. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Commander General Saeed Mousavi says that during the pause in hostilities, our speed in upgrading and refilling missiles and drone launch platforms is even higher than before the war. We have information that the enemy, referring to the United States and Israel in this context, is unable to create such conditions for itself and is forced to bring in munitions drip by drip from the other side of the world.

10:37Ben Meiselas:The United States is taking away weapons that it promised to Asia, weapons that it promised to Ukraine, while it lifts sanctions against Russian oil. It should also be noted that New York Times was reporting that Iran pretty much has most of its ballistic missiles. I mean, it has 40 to 50 percent of its ballistic missiles, 40 to 50 percent of its ballistic missile launchers, 40 to 50 percent of its drones. It has these underground cities that have not been struck by the United States that have all of these weapons. And I think that they are way more prepared than Donald Trump thinks. This is the moment on Fox where they talked about Donald Trump's plan.

11:15Ben Meiselas:Let's play it. I just spoke with President Trump for about 20 minutes and he told me if Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up. He went on to say that bridges and power plants will be targeted if Iran does not sign this agreement. The president telling me that U.S. Special Envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are heading to Islamabad, Pakistan for meetings on Tuesday, possibly into Wednesday, to try and get this agreement across the finish line. The president telling Fox News this is a very simple deal, but this is the last chance for the Iranians. The president very clear in our conversation that he is not making the same mistake that President Obama made, giving cash to the Iranians and allowing them to continue a nuclear program.

12:01The deal on the table is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure that the Iranians do not have this highly enriched uranium that is buried deep underground after Operation Midnight Hammer last summer. And again, the president telling Fox News that the entire country will be blown up. Bridges and power plants will be targeted if the Iranians do not sign this

12:24Ben Meiselas:agreement. So then Trump cabinet officials were going on the various shows this morning, the Murray's morning shows. You had Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, supposed to be a United Nations diplomatic guy who's supposed to talk about making peace. He starts to talk about how we'll go up the escalation ladder and we're going to blow them up. We're going to blow them to smithereens, the Iranians. We're going to blow them all up. It's totally justified. No, it's not. It's genocide. It's a war crime. You are criminals. Here, play this clip. engagement, any type of infrastructure that is being commingled, that is being used to move military hardware is absolutely a legitimate target, as are power plants, the grid and other things that are being used to power Iran's war economy, which, oh, by the way, the IRGC controls an estimated 40 to 50 percent of.

13:16So the president will move up an escalation ladder responsibly. as our amazing military will follow those orders with him as a commander in chief until Iran comes to the table and really lives up to a responsible deal that the vice president has put on the table. It cannot and will not ever have a nuclear weapon.

13:38Ben Meiselas:More from Mike Waltz over here on Trump's latest threat to blow up Iran's civilian infrastructure. Let's play it. Everything, absolutely everything's on the table and the president's made it very clear. He is prepared to escalate, to deescalate this conflict. as he should be. But I just want to get ahead of this other ridiculous and, frankly, irresponsible narrative that this would somehow constitute a, quote, war crime that we've heard from Democratic politicians, the media, and others in the international community. That is wrong. It's irresponsible. And we have a long history of taking down bridges, power plants, and other infrastructure that is powering Iran's military.

14:21And they have a long history of conflating civilian and military assets.

14:27Ben Meiselas:More for Walls right here when he's asked by Kristen Welker, aren't you rewarding Russia by removing the sanctions against them and keeping the sanctions removed? Like, why are you helping Russia? Here, play this clip. Same time, but - Why is the US rewarding Russia? That's ridiculous. At the same time, I'm sorry. Why is the U.S. rewarding Russia by extending these sanction waivers until May? Russia's working with Iran. Yeah, that's oil. That's oil that was going to market. And now rather than just going to China, it can go to some of our other allies and partners, number one. But number two, what is Russia lost?

15:08Russia has lost one of its military partners in terms of its biggest drone provider, Iran, whose military industrial complex has been absolutely devastated. So.

15:21Ben Meiselas:And it should also be noted while the United States continues to remove sanctions from Russian oil and reward it because Donald Trump is a Putin bootlicker, Russia continues to kill Ukrainians each and every day as Ukraine fights valiantly for its survival and pushes back against this unlawful invasion by Russia. Just last night, Russian attacks killed two Ukrainians. But if you were watching or reading right-wing media, you would have no clue that this was taking place. It's why it's important to have a media diet that focuses on objective facts because people get very skewed understandings of what's going on in the world if you don't actually focus on the facts.

16:04Ben Meiselas:Why we focus on the facts here on the Midas Touch Network. By the way, it's why I get my news from Ground News. And it's why I partner with Ground News for this episode and the videos that I make at the Midas Touch Network. Because they're the best tool for me to stay objective with my reporting. Ground News is an app and a website that pulls in thousands of articles from around the world. Like the one I just showed you about Russians killing at least two Ukrainians last night. and they organize the articles from around the world by story to show you what's being reported on the left, what's being reported in the center, what's being reported on the right, and how are they framing the stories differently.

16:45Ben Meiselas:For every story, the color-coded layout makes it easy to see the political bias of each source. So I can filter for high-factuality sources and see which sources are independently owned or owned by a large media conglomerate with corporate interests. This lets you compare reporting on the same issue in one place. So you You can come to your own conclusions based on all of the facts. On this article, for example, Ground News is showing that no or very small amounts of right-wing media are reporting on the Russians killing Ukrainians. And I think that if you were just getting your news from right-wing media, you wouldn't really understand what is going on.

17:21Ben Meiselas:You wouldn't understand the story completely or maybe even a little bit at all, which is why Ground News has a dedicated blind spot feed, a personal favorite of mine, which highlights stories being disproportionately covered. on either side of the political aisle to help you burst through political echo chambers. Because I believe in Ground News so much, we're offering 40 % off the same vantage plan that I use for my research. Just go click the link in the description or go to ground.news slash MTN or scan the QR code up here. It's one of the biggest discounts they've ever offered. If you want to support the channel and get a clearer understanding of the world, try out Ground News.

18:00Ben Meiselas:go to ground.news slash MTN or scan the QR code up here. And we're offering that 40 % off that vantage plan that I'm using. And then finally, Mike Walls in Trump's war says that we're actually doing a lot of countries a favor here. I mean, these guys are such sociopaths. Play this clip. At the end of the day, the Iranians are not going to decide economic winners and losers, but this is really a favor to the world in many ways, because what we're doing in ensuring that it stays open is ensuring that the economies of Asia and Europe and elsewhere maintain their supplies and are active. And by the way, there's a humanitarian component here.

18:41Ben Meiselas:He also called Operation Epstein Fury. I mean, Operation Economic Fury. I mean, Operation Epic Fury, Economic Fury. Here, play this clip. I think he got a little confused here. Play this clip. So he's taken a number of actions in this in this operation economic fury that is going to have incredible results in turn. Then we heard more from Chris Wright, who said, yeah, Donald Trump threatening to blow up civilizations. That's creative negotiation. Play this clip. About the people, because I know that's been part of the conversation from the administration is wanting to help the Iranian people themselves.

19:15The leadership, obviously a different story. But when the president talks about blowing up every power plant, every bridge, How does that complicate things for if the people do have an opportunity to rebuild there and how far it sets back some kind of recovery for the country? Look, the president is using every way he can to get leverage over the regime to bring this conflict to an end. He's a creative negotiator. He uses pressure in different ways. He uses uncertainty in different ways. And I think, as you've seen over the last 16 months, it generally leads to good results. I don't think we'll see any surprises here.

19:49I think we'll have a nice end to this conflict. and have the Middle East finally not have a constant terror, a constant risk over the regimes in the area, the economies in the area, and ultimately the flow of goods through the Straits of Hormuz. Imagine a nuclear armed Iran, not far away from that reality. This is going to put an end to it. So how would you consider, what would you?

20:13Ben Meiselas:More from Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who admits that it's not safe to go through the Strait of Hormuz and it's not really open. Let's play this clip. So just to be clear, it's not safe right now to go through the Strait of Hormuz, correct? That is correct. Okay. The president said, well, let me just follow up on that. When will it be? I think after a deal is reached, after a deal is reached, it won't be in the too distant future. People are ready to go. Ships are there. The United States put through two warships through the straits. We can open it one way or the other. And here's what Elise Stefanik had to say this morning, one of the Trump MAGA sycophants in Congress, when she was asked by Jake Tapper, who actually had a good line of questioning here about, isn't it genocide when Donald Trump says he's gonna blow up a civilization?

20:58Ben Meiselas:Isn't that a threat of genocide? Here, play this clip. He said the entire civilization will die. And it's very important to note that the, I'm talking, he was focused on the Iranian terrorist regime. And Jake, isn't it true that it brought the Iranians to the table to a ceasefire agreement. That is, it did because they had a ceasefire agreement going on for days. And president Trump is correct to call out the Iranian terrorist regime, which has financed Hamas and Hezbollah, which I believe has led to some of the financing of these, this guy. Let's talk about what they're also saying in Iran. Professor Mirandi, who travels with the negotiating team in Iran writes, Iran is not worried about renewed aggression from the Trump and Netanyahu regimes.

21:37Ben Meiselas:This time, the Islamic Republic will be more decisive and it will make sure that the Trump and Netanyahu regimes and their U.S. proxies in the Persian Gulf pay a much greater price. The Epstein coalition is planning an even more destructive war. Iran will strike back very hard. But since Arab family dictatorships in the Persian Gulf are fully complicit, this time Iran will hit back much faster and much harder. They are finished. So that's where we are right now. Just the facts, Jack. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. Hit subscribe. let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching.

22:36Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

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