Trump Panics to Find False Flags as Time Runs Out

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1:11Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump is panicking this morning and he is trying to create a false flag incident inside the Strait of Hormuz to justify an even more massive escalation. of United States troops and the United States military attacking Iran. Let me break down what is taking place right now. As I'm sure you know from my earlier report this morning, Donald Trump has now canceled all of his events in the White House for the next three days, and that follows him canceling all events yesterday and shutting down all of his meetings from the press. What we're seeing take place on the satellite footage right by the Strait of Hormuz, right by the Persian Gulf, we're seeing these U.S.

2:01Ben Meiselas:supercarriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and we're seeing the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier very close to Iran, closer than it's ever been since Donald Trump launched this catastrophic war against Iran with Netanyahu about four months ago, which Trump said he was going to resolve in just a few days, like a miracle, it was all going to go away, just like COVID, right? So take a look right here. Molo Monitor was able to identify on a Sentinel-2 satellite over here, these US aircraft carriers. Here's the USS Abraham Lincoln. Here is the USS George H.W. Bush. Look how close they are. We're talking about 250 kilometers away, 220 kilometers away from Chabahar in Iran.

2:58Ben Meiselas:And so it seems clear to me what Donald Trump is trying to do is create another Gulf of Tonkin incident, a la the Vietnam War, as he gets more and more desperate. Because one of the things we're seeing, and you know that I've been talking about this over and over again, it's that crack price, the spread between the crude market, which is being manipulated by the Trump regime and being shorted, in my opinion. so that it's like$72 a barrel,$71 a barrel, as contrasted to the price of the refineries. So that difference is called the crack price. So I'm sure you're seeing right now gas prices either remaining the same or gas prices are going up.

3:46Ben Meiselas:Yet Donald Trump is manipulating the crude market. And Trump thinks, ah, if I manipulate the paper market for crude, that that's going to result in cheaper prices and I can take credit for it at the pump. That's not the way it works because the refineries kind of see what's going on and it's a basic supply and demand issue. As Patrick DeHaan explains, that escalated quickly. The national average right now for gas, what would you and I pay when we have to fill up our car? The paper market of crude is not what we pay when we can't afford our gas. That's the issue right here. The national average is now$3.85 a gallon as oil prices are now rising.

4:31Ben Meiselas:And this is also not just the Strait of Hormuz, but one thing I've been talking about, the escalation between Russia and Ukraine with Russia's escalation of Kyiv, Ukraine responding by striking the Russian oil refineries. And that also adds, of course, to less supply of the crude and of the oil. And so it's a basic supply and demand. I note that you can see the price of crude go down, but as I've said, that's being manipulated and it's actually what we're seeing at the pump. The costs are increasing. Now, my view that Donald Trump is also trying to create this false flag Gulf of Tonkin situation a la the Vietnam War, is also, one, he makes very basic moves.

5:21Ben Meiselas:It's kind of very obvious to me what he does. And I'm proud that the Midas Touch Network can just kind of call this stuff out and be ahead of it, the same way we've been talking about the crack prices. And the thing that I've been, as you know, raising the red flag, as Donald Trump's now doing false flags, the red flag that I've been raising is I've been saying, look, the strategic petroleum reserves are hitting functional tank bottom. So we're now seven to eight days away for like tank bottom, like no more in terms of the ability of the strategic petroleum reserve to really function at the level needed, which would then result in kind of massive shortages, massive kind of gas lines.

6:09Ben Meiselas:It would become truly catastrophic. So I think Donald Trump was like, okay, if I bomb Iran this past week, maybe they're going to give up. I'm like, that's your lesson from the catastrophic war? You think they're just going to give up? Of course they're not going to. And now he's getting desperate. And so he needs to kind of create this pretext for an all-out war as we get closer to functional tank bottom and tank bottom of these strategic reserves as the oil price is now going, the gas price that you pay from the refineries to the place where you go fill up, that's going up. So he needs something, right?

6:47Ben Meiselas:He needs some. What he needs is an escalation of the war, but he needs in his own Trumpian way, his excuse. He needs to basically hang his hat on something the same way it's reflectable. The vandals ripped it apart. So he needs to say, the Iranians attacked the USS aircraft carrier, the George H.W. Bush, they attacked the USS Abraham Lincoln. Here's what Trump posted this morning. Let me go over with you. He goes, the Islamic Republic of Iran, this is what he posted this morning early. The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue talks. And he puts that in quote, we have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them in no uncertain terms that the ceasefire is over, exclamation point.

7:31Ben Meiselas:Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump. Now, of course, he's lying about Iran. They're not asking for talks. Donald Trump is trying to use any type of fabricated negotiations to buy time, I think, to implement this plan that he wants to implement, where he's going to put the blockade on again and try to bait Iran into attacking these aircraft carriers, these supercarriers. And whether Iran does it or whether Iran doesn't do it, Donald Trump's going to say, well, look, everybody, they attacked us. So now we need to invade Iran and we need to attack Iran. And that's why the strategic reserve is down.

8:13Ben Meiselas:That's why the gas prices are back up. Iran did it. Look, they attacked our carriers. To me, that's what he's setting this up for. Now, again, I think this also comes at a time where we know that Netanyahu has been in Donald Trump's ear, right? He's been calling Donald Trump up and saying Iran wants to assassinate you, that they've developed plans to kill you. There's other reporting that now Donald Trump has said to some of his advisors, I have a plan that if they kill me, you need to bomb the hell out of them and destroy the civilization. That was leaked out today as well. But I think Netanyahu was also probably telling Donald Trump about how to do these kind of false flag type of plans.

8:51Ben Meiselas:And clearly, I think that's being coordinated. Trump went back to Barack Ravid, his personal stenographer over at Axios. He's a reporter, but he basically just writes down whatever Donald Trump tells him to write down. Here's what Barack Ravid says. Qatari negotiators have traveled to Iran in coordination with the United States to meet with Iranian officials in an effort to de-escalate the situation and create the conditions for negotiations to resume, according to a diplomat with knowledge of the visit. The diplomat said meetings in Tehran between Qatari and Iranian officials are still ongoing, but that it's clear that both sides want to come back to the memorandum of understanding.

9:41Ben Meiselas:Barak Ravid also reposts Qatari, Pakistani, Turkish, Egyptian, and Saudi officials have conducted multiple phone calls on Wednesday with both the U.S. and Iranian officials in an effort to calm down the situation, sources said. If you look at the Strait of Hormuz right now, you'll see that there are basically no ships moving out at all, certainly not through that southern lane that the United States tried to open. Some ships exiting through the IRGC lane, but clearly traffic there is coming to a major halt. And this, as the strategic reserves in the United States can continue to be depleted. You have statements from Israel, war is not over, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel.

10:28Ben Meiselas:The war is not over. The war is not over. Defense Minister of Israel. We will strike Iran with even greater force if it deems necessary. The campaign is not over. So it's obvious to me what they are setting up for. And just for those who are like, and you keep saying Gulf of Tonkin, Gulf of Tonkin, what are you referring to? And I'm referring to the incident in the Gulf of Duncan, where the U.S. destroyer USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy were there. They reported that they were attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats and that there was this attack. They claimed to have been fired upon, but it was later proven that the attack did not occur.

11:11Ben Meiselas:And that was ultimately used by Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert Albert McNamara in order to escalate after a Gulf of Tonkin resolution was issued. And so to me, from the Gulf of Tonkin incident over in August of 1964 to the Persian Gulf incident, it seems to be pretty clear that that's where they're headed. I want to pivot for a second now and talk to you as Donald Trump is, you know, obviously frantic and flailing internationally. I just want to share with you kind of domestically what's going down also right now. Donald Trump posted the following message this morning. He said, I will not sign the housing bill, which has been fully approved by Congress and sent to the White House in protest over the fact that the United States Senate is not capable of passing the Save America Act, which is polling at 97 percent with the Republican Party and very high with the nonpolitical Democrats.

12:11Ben Meiselas:The act states quite simply that to vote a person must show voter ID, proof of citizenship, and there will be no more crooked, corrupt, and destabilizing mail-in ballots. You also know that Donald Trump votes by mail. I think that's worth noting. It's a voter suppression bill that Donald Trump wants passed. And just think about it. What an immature, destructive human that he is, that finally, when Congress comes together for a bipartisan bill, housing affordability, to try to make housing more affordable for the American people who are suffering, I'm not signing that. I refuse to sign that. I'm protesting it.

12:47Ben Meiselas:Now, it will automatically become law if he doesn't veto it later. So, you know, it will become law. But the fact that that's made him so angry, housing affordability. Remember back in 2024 where he killed the bipartisan immigration bill as well, which would have enhanced border security in a safe, appropriate, and compassionate way and also provided a path, this is bipartisan, and provided a pathway for citizenship for people who have been here working, not committing crimes, not engaged in bad activity, paying taxes, and would have helped our economy. Republicans and Democrats overwhelmingly came together.

13:29Ben Meiselas:And Donald Trump always kills these bipartisan bills. But as we get closer to the midterms, you've got Donald Trump and MAGA wanting to divide America on just about everything. And so, you know, they'll make it about it's communism, this communism, that social, you know, they're trying to destroy our country. They're trying to kill us. This is worse than the Nazis in World War II. This is worse than, you know, that's what Trump is saying. And that's why it's important that we have a accurate media diet right now. And so I'll give you just an example right now. Here's an article that talks about how the EPA, Environmental Protection Agency and others, says that Maha agenda is ongoing, but there's not a single report about it whatsoever.

14:18Ben Meiselas:And so you dig deeper and you go, wait a minute, there's no right-wing media coverage on this at all, that the EPA says Maha agenda is ongoing, but there's not a single report on it. And it's been covered mostly by the left and mostly by the center media. And you realize, wow, there's just a lot of suppression of what's actually happening in media reporting. I just find that fascinating. I often get asked, well, Ben, how do you do your reporting every morning? And I say, I want to make sure I'm giving you perspectives from what everybody out there is saying. And I just want to give you the objective facts and not really give you editorializing or opinion.

14:59Ben Meiselas:Try to get to the objective damn facts here. So that's why I partnered with Ground News for this episode. They're the best tool for me to stay objective with my reporting. It's an app and website that pulls in thousands of articles from around the world and organizes them by story to show you how the left, center, and right are framing stories differently. For every story, the color-coded layout makes it easy to see the political bias of each source. I can filter for high-factuality sources and see which sources are independently owned or owned by large media conglomerate corporate interests. This lets you compare the reporting on the same issue in one place, so you can come to your own conclusions, like the article that I just shared with you about the EPA saying the Maha agenda is ongoing, but there's not a single report on it.

15:44Ben Meiselas:No one on the right wing is covering it. And so I use Ground News' dedicated blind spot feed to highlight that bias, and I can then determine who's covering what. Because I believe in Ground News so much, we're going to offer you 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 ever offered, ground.news slash MTN. If you want to support this channel and get a clearer understanding of the world, try out Ground News one more time. It's ground.news.mtn or scan the QR code up here.

16:20Ben Meiselas:You know, because you see what the MAGAs are pushing right now. You've got MAGA Republican Joe Gruters, the RNC chairman, talking about MAGA warriors heading into the midterms. Play this clip. It's all what happens when the Democrats get control, like the shutdown. They're going to have investigations. They're going to obstruct. They're going to impeach. It's going to be total chaos. They don't want to move the country forward. Trump derangement syndrome is real. American derangement syndrome is real. We have to win. And so we need everybody to go to GOP.com, give us your time and treasure. We have to move this country forward.

16:52We have to elect these MAGA warriors across the country to defeat these socialists that are being elected on the left. We could do it, but we need everybody's help.

17:00Ben Meiselas:More from him right here. This is more from RNC chair Joe Gruters right here. And you can see how panicked and frantic they are. Let's play it. We need to have MAGA warriors in place to move the president's agenda. We need to pass the Save America Act. We need to push the president's agenda by electing these MAGA warriors. If we don't, the president's agenda is over. We'll spend two years fighting with the Democrats. And then notably, you have the State Department spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, talking about renewed hostilities in Iran, going back to what I was saying earlier about what I believe to be this kind of false flag operation that the Trump regime is trying to pull right here.

17:43Ben Meiselas:And, you know, he's basically saying the objectives remain as clear as ever when it comes to it. What do you mean, clear? You've never explained what the objectives are. So I'm not sure how they are clear as ever. Here's what Gruters, here's what the State Department spokesperson, Tommy Piggott rather, has to say. Play this clip. I want to get you on this because I've got you for a moment here. Apparently, there are negotiators out of Qatar that have landed in Iran about a few hours ago, and some sort of negotiation is now underway. What can you tell us after two nights of bombing in Iran this week?

18:22What I can tell us is that the objective remains as clear as ever. That is what is so clear. And President Trump, from the very beginning, saying the Iranian regime cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Of course, from the beginning of this administration, he has preferred a deal. He is a dealmaker. He is a peacemaker. But it's an untenable threat to allow the Iranian regime to have a nuclear weapon. And it is something that President Trump will not allow to happen. Other presidents made that promise. President Trump is taking action to make sure that the Iranian regime can never happen.

18:51OK, are we, Tommy, are we going back to war or have we stepped away from it for now? Well, I think all of this goes back to that objective. So what we're going to see is a president that is going to make sure that our objective here is fulfilled. He has been clear one way or another, the Iranian regime won't have a nuclear weapon. And that is the action that he is taking. OK, Tommy Piggott, State Department. Thanks for coming on.

19:12Ben Meiselas:A lot to cover. Appreciate your time. And so we'll keep you posted here in the Midas Touch Network every step of the way. I really want to flag what's happening with these ships, with these carriers that have been moved very close to Iran. while Donald Trump, I think they're also saying there's going to be talks in Switzerland soon as well. They're going to be having more negotiations in Switzerland. That's when Donald Trump uses that as often the time to pull these stunts and schemes. So pay very close attention. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching, everybody.

19:55Ben Meiselas:content only available at MidasPlus.com.