Whoa! Zelenskyy Catches Trump Sleeping With Surprise Offensive

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2:42Ben Meiselas:President Zelensky of Ukraine is going on the offense. I mean, literally going on the offense, announcing a major offensive strike against Russia. and President Zelensky has a message to the United States and to the world, a powerful one. He says, look, in Ukraine, we know more about modern warfare than the rest of the world combined. So you want to work with us? We can work with you, but prove that you are loyal to us and that you actually support the free world if you want us to help you out. That's Zelensky taking the upper hand. That's Zelensky delivering a powerful message to an increasingly weak and sickly looking Donald Trump.

3:28Ben Meiselas:I'm going on an offensive right now against Russia. You can join us if you'd like to learn about our military technologies, or you can look like a weak and pathetic individual. Essentially, what he is saying, just take a look at Zelensky's video that he made right here, looking at the camera announcing the offensive. Let's play it. Chapter Wishing You Health, Dear Ukrainians. Many things today. There were reports from the military, the commander-in-chief. We continue counter-offensive actions in the Donetsk direction, the Pokrovsk area, the Dobropilya area. It was one of the most important directions for the Russian offensive.

4:08And they were unable to launch a full-scale offensive there. Our military is destroying their forces. The Russians have significant losses. The exchange fund for our state has been significantly replenished. Every day adds Russian prisoners. I want to thank all our units involved. The 79th 82nd Air Assault Brigades, our assault units, 1st, 33rd.

4:39Ben Meiselas:Then in this next clip, this is where President Zelensky talks about the technology and the weapons and the tactics that he and Ukraine has developed better than the rest of the world. And listen carefully to what he says, because there is a message here, in my view, to the Trump regime, which is we will work with people who support Ukraine. If you don't want to support Ukraine, then we don't need to work with you. Here, play this clip. It is essential that they also help us so that we help them. Right now, it is Ukrainians, Ukrainian companies and the Ukrainian army that have one of the strongest experiences in modern warfare.

5:20This largely concerns advanced weapons, advanced technologies. Ukraine will not engage in arms charity and help those who are indifferent to Ukraine. We are ready to work with those who would genuinely support us, our independence. Of course, there must be reliable export control so that Ukrainian technologies and our weapons do not reach the Russians and their allies. Our Ukrainian companies, weapon manufacturers, have talked a lot about this. There is a lot of interest in the world in joint projects with Ukraine for weapon production. There is also a clear demand for our weapons. Accordingly, thanks to controlled exports, we will be able to accumulate money for more production of the things our army needs.

6:18Another thing that strengthens the army. I thank the parliamentarians for passing my bill on the military ombudsman. This is about the real protection of our soldiers' rights. The law has already been signed and published. Today, I signed a decree for the law to take effect, a decree on the establishment of the Office of the Military Ombudsman. The regulations for the operation of this institution have also been approved, and I will appoint Olha Reshitylova, a person well known to our soldiers, as the first Ukrainian military ombudsman. Ahead is the launch of institutional systematic work. It is important that this is felt at all levels in the defense forces of Ukraine.

7:11We are doing what strengthens the army. We are doing what strengthens the warriors of our army. Thank you to everyone who helps. Thank you to all who work for our Ukraine. To everyone fighting for our state. Glory to Ukraine.

7:27Ben Meiselas:Powerful words by President Zelensky there. And yesterday, we can see the weakness of Donald Trump permeating throughout the world, right? There were three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets breaching Estonian airspace near Vandaloon Island, staying almost 12 minutes with transponders off and no flight plans. Very provocative action. Estonia is a member of NATO the same way Romania is, which was also an area targeted by Russia, the same way Poland is, which was. So Russia is testing NATO's resolve here. We're seeing over here a Russian kamikaze drone found on the beach of Western Latvia. Do you see the pattern here?

8:16Ben Meiselas:They're testing NATO. They're seeing how weak and pathetic is. Also, while Donald Trump was in the UK, three more individuals were arrested in the UK for being spies for working with Russian intelligence. Let me show you what Donald Trump said on Friday when he was asked about the Russian jets entering Estonia's airspace for 12 minutes. Donald Trump's like, well, maybe I'll take a look at it. They'll be briefing me in a short while. They'll brief me. Maybe I'll look at it. Maybe you'll look at it. Maybe. Here, play this clip. Russian jets entered Estonia's airspace today for 12 minutes. Do you see that as a threat to NATO?

8:57Well, I'm going to have to look at it. They're going to be briefing me in a short while. So I'll let you know about it tonight or tomorrow. What's your take in general? Well, I don't love it. I don't love it. I don't like when that happens. It could be big trouble, but I'll let you know later. They're going to brief me in about an hour. My bedroom is my sanctuary, a place to recharge and reset. And at the center of it all is my Helix mattress, making every night feel like a retreat into comfort and calm. Now you guys know I take my sleep very seriously and switching to a Helix mattress has been a total game changer.

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10:26Ben Meiselas:Again, so utterly pathetic at a time where also we learned that Trump blocked$400 million in military aid to Taiwan as he attempts to negotiate his trade deal with China. Except what China is doing is actually negotiating with intention and purpose. Unlike Donald Trump, who's behaving like an absolute maniac. China has withheld purchases of soybeans from farmers. When I say withheld purchases, literally not buying any. They're going to Brazil. American farmers are about to go out of business en masse and declare bankruptcy if action isn't taken by the federal government to bail them out. We're hearing about this from farmers across the country right now.

11:13Ben Meiselas:In addition to China basically strangling American farmers, also the input costs are excessive as a result of Donald Trump's trade war against the world. Whether it's fertilizer prices, equipment prices, farmers are absolutely suffering. Two people familiar with the matter said the package to Taiwan, if it was approved, would have been more lethal than past rounds of aid to Taiwan, including munitions and autonomous drones. But by the way, the same guy at the State Department and Pentagon, State Department and Pentagon, who are directing these policies, same people with Ukraine, same people with Taiwan, it is really moving the United States towards, well, Trump wants to be allied with Russia and China, it seems, instead of our traditional allies.

12:04Ben Meiselas:But Russia and China, as we saw recently in the recent convention in China, are basically just laughing in Donald Trump's face. As John Arvosis says, so Trump is now doing the unthinkable for Republicans. He's selling out to China, but they'll accept this too. Remember when Republicans, the same ones who pretended they were Russia hawks, remember those who pretended they were China hawks and that they were protecting Taiwan. And they would say the Democrats are being weak on Taiwan and the Democrats are not standing up to Xi Jinping. Donald Trump literally blocked the president of Taiwan from entering American airspace because Xi Jinping called Donald Trump and told him to.

12:48Ben Meiselas:That's how weak Donald Trump is. Donald Trump is so weak that he is basically trying to negotiate this deal for TikTok and China to give the rights to some of Trump's billionaire friends to basically just license the name TikTok in the United States while China can continue to control the algorithm and all of the issues that the Senate on a bipartisan basis recognized made it very dangerous in the first place. So he's going to reward his billionaire friends. He's going to allow China to maintain the IP and the technology and the algorithm, which is the whole, which is everything to begin with and make America weaker and sacrifice Taiwan over TikTok.

13:37Ben Meiselas:Wild stuff. Meanwhile, you had King Charles during Trump's visit to the UK, trying to lecture Donald Trump on the history of the relationship between the UK and the United States, I guess, hoping that Donald Trump would do the right thing with Ukraine. I think in King Charles's mind, he thought that this would be a way to convince Donald Trump. All the pomp and circumstance, you literally give Trump like the Disney experience of Windsor Castle. But sorry, King Charles, Donald Trump, as you saw, doesn't give a crap. So it's just going to require Europe, which just authorized another 19 sanctions package, no help of the U.S., to stand with Zelensky.

14:26Ben Meiselas:And Zelensky is going on the offense here. Watch this. Our countries have the closest defense, security, and intelligence relationship ever known. In two world wars, we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny. Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine to deter aggression and secure peace. Notably, even Mike Pence, former Vice President Pence, is comparing Donald Trump's behavior of seizing corporations in the United States like Intel to the state ownership of businesses in China and Russia. He's like Pence is like there's really no difference between how Trump's acting and Putin's acting.

15:19Ben Meiselas:Here play this clip. The state ownership of business is very common in China. This is passive. This is passive in Russia. Yeah. taking a percentage of the sales of Nvidia, taking a percentage of the stock of Intel, is inconsistent with free market principles. And I think it's taken our country to a very perilous place. And I think we need to resist that very strongly. The Constitution is clear. We have a takings clause. There has to be just compensation. There was nothing in the CHIPS Act that required a percentage of sales. And I really do believe that what's happening with tariffs, what's happening with state ownership business represents a departure from the free market principles that have been at the heart of the Republican Party.

16:10And for the sake of our long term prosperity, we need to get back to those principles.

16:16Ben Meiselas:And speaking of there's no difference between how Trump is acting and how Putin is acting and Viktor Orban is acting, I want to give a shout out to Pekka Komi. The organization of the U.S. media has begun. This is a powerful piece right here. Let me just read a short portion of it to you. Donald Trump is following Viktor Orban of Hungary in Vladimir Putin's playbook to capture America's media and silence dissent. Twenty years ago, Putin snuffed out NTV, Russia's last major independent TV channel, and placed the country's broadcast networks under state control. Ten years ago, Orban did the same in Hungary, handing almost every mainstream outlet to loyal oligarchs and turning the press into a government echo chamber.

16:58Ben Meiselas:Does that sound familiar? here. Today, we see the same playbook being used in the United States as powerful businessmen and oligarchs move to seize America's key media institutions. This is how democracies die in the 21st century, not with overt censorship, but with media capture. The organization of American media has begun. Putin's method was simple. First, harass independent media owners with legal pressure until they sell or flee. Second, and their outlets to loyalists tied to the state or security services. Third, flood the media market with state money, currently to the tune of over a billion euros per year of Russian taxpayer money spent on government propaganda media while starving dissenting voices.

17:38Ben Meiselas:By the mid-2000s, all of Russia's major television channels and most of its printed radio outlets were either state-owned or controlled by Kremlin loyal oligarchs. Only then came the final step, laws branding critics as foreign agents and banning opposition outlets outright. By then, there were not many left to protest. After consolidating control, Putin went even further. Having dissident voices and investigative journalists imprisoned, exiled, or murdered, this ensured that no independent scrutiny of his regime could survive. Orban imported the system wholesale. Loyal allies quietly bought up nearly every major Hungarian outlet, consolidating the country's mainstream press into the Central European Press and Media Foundation, KESMA.

18:20Ben Meiselas:In 2018, he issued a decree exempting this media empire from competition or media pluralism review. The state became Hungary's largest advertiser, showering cash on pro-government media and starving the rest. Within a few years, independent journalism in Hungary had almost disappeared. Elections still happened, but voters now live inside a government-controlled information bubble. Independent voices have fortunately begun to resurface on social media platforms, yet most of the country's traditional media remains firmly controlled by Orban's allies. In Russia and Hungary, oligarchs used fortunes built on state contracts to buy media outlets and convert them into political tools for their patrons.

19:03Ben Meiselas:This was the engine of media capture, loyal businessmen acquiring once independent outlets, then reshaping them into propaganda arms while maintaining the appearance of normal journalism. sound familiar sound familiar it's why we independent media right now Midas Touch and others need to stand up now's the time to put it all on the line which is what we do each and every day here at this network we hope you appreciate it we hope you appreciate we appreciate you we really do go to MidasPlus.com check us out at our sub stack MidasPlus.com thanks for everything hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers.

19:46Ben Meiselas:Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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