Trump Surfaces After Surrender and Faces Instant Rejection

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1:36Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump just surfaced and he surrendered again. The same cycle, folks. He rushes to Barack Ravid over at Axios, who's Donald Trump's chief outside propagandist. And Donald Trump leaks the following to manipulate the market, only to have Iran deny it and then have the oil markets go back up, which is not where you want it to be going because that means higher gas prices for you. And it turns out what Donald Trump did this morning is a utter farce and more global humiliation for Donald Trump. So he rushes to Barack Ravid over at Axios. And here's what Ravid posts. The White House believes it's getting close to an agreement with Iran on a one page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.

2:26Ben Meiselas:So not a deal, a framework for potential negotiations to eventually discuss a deal. Ravid described it as a 14-point plan. This is something that they were saying months ago, but here they are saying it again. And look at what happens immediately. You see oil prices drop dramatically and then it all of a sudden starts to skyrocket again. Hmm, what happened? Well, then Donald Trump, after the markets get manipulated, he makes a post, which I'll tell you about in one moment. But Ravid wasn't done pumping the market, in my opinion, yet. Here's what he then says after his scoop. The U.S. expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours.

3:18Ben Meiselas:Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began. Yes, but U.S. officials have expressed optimism about a deal at several points during previous rounds of negotiations and during the current war, but have yet to reach one. So now he starts to hedge a little bit and then Donald Trump posts the following. assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to. Just think about that sentence. Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to. What the hell does that sentence even mean? First off, assuming, so it's hypothetical, agreed to give what has been agreed to by who?

4:03Ben Meiselas:Who has agreed to such things? You? Are you just imposing unilateral terms? And then Trump goes on to say, which is perhaps a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end. Assuming they do this, which is a big assumption, then Epic Fury will be at an end. Do you see the utter con right here? And the highly effective blockade will allow the Hormuzh Strait to be open to all, including Iran. If they don't agree, the bombing starts and it will be sadly at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump. And then Barack Ravid, the stenographer of Donald Trump, quite literally a stenographer.

4:46Ben Meiselas:We get the siren emoji, everybody. And then he just repeats what Donald Trump says. And then since Ravid is also the stenographer for Netanyahu, he then posts the following. Do you see what this guy's doing right here? I just want everybody to be alert to the scams and schemes of corporate news and why independent news is so important. And I think it's important that we all open up our eyes to what the hell is happening here. So then Ravid posts, senior Israeli official, the Americans did not surprise us. Prime Minister Netanyahu is in continuous contact with Donald Trump and they hold almost daily conversations.

5:23Ben Meiselas:There is direct communication between the prime minister staff and the president's team. Another senior Israeli official, It was made clear to us in the discussion that Trump is standing by his red lines, foremost among them the removal of nuclear material from Iran. The prime minister has instructed the IDF to be prepared for all scenarios, including a return to fighting if required. Oh, very interesting. Donald Trump and Netanyahu coordinating this every single step of the way. Well, what's Iran saying about this? Well, instant rejection of this whole scam. A senior Iranian member of parliament directly calls the Axios report on the U.S.-Iran agreement more of an American wishlist than reality, with Iran rejecting several clauses of the U.S.

6:10Ben Meiselas:peace memorandum as unacceptable. We could have told you that two months ago when Iran gave its 10-point negotiating framework and Iran said, here are our non-negotiables, and Iran hasn't moved from those. Iran says the Axios report is speculation and that Axios serves as a tool for the White House market manipulation, that Iran has heavily rejected such proposals in recent days, and the current discussions are about ending the war, not the nuclear issue, which will make any deal impossible as long as the U.S. demands to discuss nuclear. If you've been watching the Midas Touch Network, you know Iran has said, now a new non-negotiable after Donald Trump escalated his threats is no discussion at all about nuclear.

6:59Ben Meiselas:The pure discussions are just about ceasefire, long-term security guarantees. Then Donald Trump tells the New York Post, it's too soon to prepare for an Iran peace signing with Israel not even being aware of the proposal. And Israel says it's ready to resume fighting. So if you're like, Ben, these all seem like contradictory statements. Well, they are, and they're intended by Trump to manipulate the market. Iran's MB Ghalibbaf, that's their parliament leader, then said the following to Iran state media. The enemy, in its new plan with the naval blockade, is seeking economic pressure and media propaganda to destroy the country's cohesion and force us to surrender.

7:42Ben Meiselas:Of course, we do not rule out the possibility of a military attack, especially terrorist attacks. But the part of the enemy's plan that relates to society is to weaken Iran from within. The enemy is placing great hope on economic pressure, and it is clear that they have again been giving false reports based on which they have made wrong decisions, and these wrong decisions will cause hardship for everyone. You Iranians abroad with great capacities you have, you can be the greatest pillars in defeating Iran's army. You know that moment when you're heading out the door and need something that looks polished without ironing or overthinking it?

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9:48Ben Meiselas:And Iran's foreign minister, Aragji, who has been meeting with China's foreign minister before Trump shows up to China, said the following, Our Chinese friends believe that Iran after the war is different from Iran before the war. Its international position has improved and it has proven its capabilities and its power. Therefore, a new era of cooperation between Iran and other countries lies ahead. In other words, Iran believes it won the war because it won the war. Any objective viewer says Iran won the war. Sure, the U.S. blew up a lot of buildings in Iran and blew up Iran's conventional navy and blew up a lot of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps buildings and killed a lot of leadership and also engaged in lots of war crimes, killing little girls in Manab.

10:41Ben Meiselas:Yes, the United States did those things. The United States claimed its goal was regime change, getting all of the nuclear material out of Iran and getting rid of their conventional weapon shield, the ballistic missiles and the Shahi drones. The U.S. achieved zero objectives. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz. So if you just do a basic objective analysis of that, you want to say who comes out ahead? I don't know. The side that got more and didn't lose more? Just call me old fashioned, but that's how I interpret this. Let's take a look at the market manipulation now, shall we? The Kobayashi letter does a good job describing what went down.

11:25Ben Meiselas:According to their analysis,$920 million worth of crude oil shorts were taken 70 minutes before an Axios report claimed the U.S. and Iran were near a 14-point deal to end the war. At 3.40 a.m., nearly 10 ,000 contracts worth of crude oil shorts were taken without any major news. This is equivalent to$920 million in notional value, an unusually large trade at 3.40 a.m. Eastern Time. At 4.50 a.m. Eastern Time, just 70 minutes later, Axios reported that the U.S. is close to a memorandum of understanding to end the Iran War. By 7 a.m. Eastern Time, oil prices had fallen over 12%, with these crude oil shorts gaining approximately $125 million.

12:14Ben Meiselas:Minutes later, Iran launched what it now refers to as the Persian Gulf Strait Authority. In addition, Donald Trump announced, assuming, and it's a big assumption, well, then oil prices surged to 8%. What just happened? It seems like clear and present market manipulation. Part of this manipulation is Trump then sends his sycophants on regime media, which is Fox, and they do their regime media thing. Carlos Jimenez, MAGA Republican from Florida, says, imagine how bad it would be under Biden right now. Play this clip. Why? Because we need to go on offense against the Democrats. Can you imagine what oil prices would be today if Joe Biden were actually in office and the Straits of Hormuz were being closed by Iran?

13:03We're now energy independent and we're energy dominant. Under him, We were energy dependent. And so the world would be a much worse place if Joe Biden and the Democrats were in power.

13:15Ben Meiselas:Tom Emmer, MAGA Republican Congress member from Minnesota, who seems to hate his state of Minnesota, says Donald Trump has never been stronger. Okay, here play this clip. All of these polls that try to suggest that Donald Trump's influence is waning are completely false. Donald Trump has never been stronger, especially with the Republican base. And you saw it last night in Indiana. He's become more than Donald Trump. He is an icon of the ages. And when he speaks, people listen. And I know the left doesn't like to hear that, Stuart, but it's fact. And you saw it last night on display in Indiana.

13:55Yes, the MAGA held together and supported the president on this. I think his

13:59Ben Meiselas:political fortunes may be on the upswing. Just a little. We shall see. Tom Ellis. Then as the manipulation continues, Donald Trump goes to his usual posts, the posts like this. Top DOJ official predicting the Supreme Court will declare AR-15 rifles legal everywhere. Yay, AR-15s for everybody with no AR-15 regulations. Put them by schools, put them by churches, put them by religious centers, put them by hospitals. AR-15s everywhere. That's exactly what Americans are saying that they want. The same type of weapons that our military needs to get training for and our military needs to take tests and handle with responsibility.

14:39Ben Meiselas:Proliferate the AR-15s. We'll take away your health care, weapons of war everywhere. What else are they? What else do they do? Oh, the Trump regime, the ballroom, the White House ballroom. I'm not even going to read this post. The greatest thing. Everybody needs a ballroom, Donald Trump says. And then finally, this morning, we see the authoritarian regime in action and the Trump regime raids the top Democrat in Virginia who was behind the redistricting plan that got Democrats a 10 to 1 majority in in 10 to 1 congressional delegation in Virginia. Louise Lucas, the Virginia Senate pro temp, her facility, her office was raided.

15:23Ben Meiselas:Fox was there. Fox got tipped off. They were right there when the raid was taking place. And they seem to know everything about this raid. And here's how Fox reports the raid of the top Democrat in Virginia who successfully did the redistricting plan. This was part of her map, her plan that she pushed forward. Senator Luis Lucas, state senator, and now she gets her office raided. Obviously, we need to learn more details. I don't know the facts, so I'm not going to rush to judgments or conclusions or anything. However, we know what this Trump regime does over and over again. So play this clip. Very influential Democrat from Virginia, state Senator Luis Lucas, is at the center of a major FBI corruption investigation.

16:10Right now, in fact, agents are executing search warrants across the Commonwealth, including her office. Alex Hogan is in Portsmouth, Virginia. Alex. Hi, Harris. So the FBI here telling us today that these are court authorized criminal search warrants that they are issuing and they're going into the building behind me. This is the office here in Portsmouth of State Senator Louise Lucas. You can likely see some of the FBI agents behind me. All of the staffers inside this building were told to come outside. I could hear them saying that they were not allowed back in the building throughout the last hour.

16:45We've been seeing the FBI come and go carrying boxes out of the building. Now, just across the parking lot next to where I am, there is a cannabis dispensary. We know that the state senator is associated with several cannabis locations and dispensaries. And what we're seeing there, a completely different scene carrying out SWAT teams arrived with their weapons drawn, telling anyone in the building to come out of the building with their...

17:09Ben Meiselas:There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think about this all. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks 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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