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Donald Trump got us into a war intentionally in order to distract attention from all of his failings at home. And, and now he's looking at his voters at maga, at the electorate, talking down to them once again and calling them fools if they're not willing to suffer at the gas pump up to six or seven or eight dollars a gallon in order to avoid nuclear war with Iran. I thought that's the reason we bombed Iran over the summer was to avoid nuclear war. I didn't realize that that was a down payment on taking over a country of 90 million people and spending half a trillion dollars. It and the impact on the economy. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Dutch network in Legal af. I'm putting on my Wall street experience now to talk about what's happening in the markets, financial markets, now that Donald Trump has effectively cut the fuel line between the American economy and energy, gas, electric and the rest, and don't you know it but our supposed allies that Donald Trump's been currying favor with the ones that he's invested in and has taken investments from for his family business. Those very same OPEC oil nations are putting the screws to Donald Trump and the American economy. And that's why a barrel of oil, which started out in the 70s, $70 a barrel of oil in February before the war in Iran, is now touching 110, soon to be $120 a barrel. That means gas prices are gonna go up 50, 50% 5, 0% in the next several days. And the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, alleged friends of, of America are of are taking advantage and extorting America with these, this, these pricing. Now Trump came into the war with Iran, which he hopes all of these global impacts, his exporting of chaos would distract attention and make people forget about his failings at home. You know, the taxes through tariffs on American goods, the inflation, the joblessness of his economy, I mean, it doesn't create any jobs. He thought, well, I'm doing terrible at home. Let me pull a Nixon and let me start bombing overseas and see if that improves my political fortunes as your and my economic fortunes flush go down the drain. That's not working for him. Not when you have approval ratings that are hovering in the 30% range. When people hate your immigration policy, hate what tariffs did to prices, hate the inflation, hate the fact that their friends and family aren't working in this Trump economy. And so when you're bombing, you're not just bombing randomly, he's taking over and bombing and roiling the oil and energy markets. Already in the Trump administration, your percentage of your own family budget, that goes for energy. That means a gas at the pump, electric, heating oil, all of the things that go into just fueling your day is a larger percentage of your budget than it was when Joe Biden was president. And not by a little, but by a lot. So you're already paying more. Okay, that was when gas was hovering at $3, 299 and something like that. Now go look at the gas prices. $5, $6, $7. And I'm not talking about just California. And that's in the court. Look how quickly these things went up. Just to give you an idea, as we headed into the war in Iran at the end of February, gas oil, which is how we measure what you're ultimately going to pay at the pump. What is the light crude oil? They call it the Brent B R E N T Brent oil barrel price comes from an oil field in the 70s that had amazing crude oil. It's basically extinct now, depleted, but we still call it the Brent oil barrel marker. It was $70. It's now 105, 108, 110 on the spot market, higher. That happened $70 before February 28th. By March 3rd, after the war started, it was up to $80 a barrel. It then went on March 8th to 100, touching 110 and now beyond. What does that mean for you? That means that 50% higher, 60% higher gas prices at the pump in the next several days. What do you think that's going to do to an economy that was already reeling before the war started? We already got the economic report on jobs. Not only did Donald Trump not make one job in the month of February, didn't make one job in the month of February in an economy of 330 million people, he lost almost 100,000 jobs. 100,000. So it's not even net zero. Like it would be abysmal. It would be grounds for instant removal and impeachment. The way he's running the economy into the ground beyond. To say that this economy made no jobs, but to lose 100,000 jobs in the month of February. What do you think's gonna happen in March now that he's cut the fuel line between the American economy, the global economy and energy? How do you fuel the economy if you don't have power? You don't have power without energy. You don't have energy without oil and electric and hydro electric and all the rest of that. So let's just look at what's happening because of Iran. Again, an attempt to bamboozle you, right, to distract you from his failings at home. That's all it is. Whether you, you can, you know, we can make a list, you know, the top 100 reasons people despise Donald Trump's policies, you know, and I haven't even talked about the layers of scandal, right? The stench of scandal, the indelible scar of scandal that marks this administration, Epstein leading it. How many sex scandals can one administration commit in just a term? We're a year, we're 15 months in. There's three separate sex scandals going on within the Trump administration. The Labor Secretary, the Epstein child sex trafficking cover up, and Kristi Noemi's alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski and her playing footsie in a one bedroom suite on a Golf or a Boeing jet that you and I paid for. Bathroom comfort and hygiene are things most people, they don't think about it until something isn't working the way it should. That's where tushy comes in. Tushy brings a modern, comfortable approach to everyday bathroom hygiene with bidets designed to clean far more effectively than traditional toilet paper. Instead of endless wiping, tushy uses fresh water to help remove up to 99% of bacteria while protecting your natural skin barrier. The tushy bidet we received installed in about 10 minutes and attached easily to an existing toilet without the need for additional plumbing. The cleaning experience feels noticeably fresher and more effective compared with relying on toilet paper alone. Tushy bidets can also help reduce irritation, prevent micro tears caused by wiping. And many people who switch end up using up to 80% less toilet paper. Make going to the bathroom the most comfortable thing you do all day. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order, when you use code LEGAL AF at checkout, that's 10% off. Your first bidet order at hello, TUSHY.com with promo code LEGAL AF. Again, for a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first day order when you use code LEGAL AF at checkout, that's 10% off at hello, TUSHY.Com with promo code LEGAL A F. Put that aside. What did that do? Do you know that 50%. Sorry. 1/5. Sorry. 1/5. Of all oil in the world, 20% comes through one location in the Middle East. It's called the Strait of Hormuz. You know what ships are getting through the Strait of Hormuz right now? Iranian. Everything else. It's a giant parking lot. Donald Trump says, we're gonna start escorting ships to get through the Strait of Hormuz. You know, this is like policy on the fly. Somebody asked me over dinner over the weekend, what do you feel about the Iran war? I said, look, if it were in the hands of mature people that I believed had a plan for the aftermath, you know, the old Powell doctrine, once you break it, you bought it for 90 million people in the oil fields and the security and the area so it doesn't tip over in and just become a raging inferno through the Middle East. I'd feel better if it were competent people, but how can you possibly. Sure, any monkey can bomb. Any monkey can push a button. We used to send them up at NASA in rockets to bomb people. But what do you do in the aftermath? The reason we're watching erratic policy behavior by Donald Trump every day, saying, we're gonna do something different. We're gonna let the people pick the leader. No, I'm gonna pick the leader. There's no consistency here because he is erratic and he is in the throes of dementia, and the rest of his administration know it. So, no, in the hands of Donald Trump. I did not want regime change or bombing war in Iran or boots on the ground, not with this administration. And who's gonna pay the price now for all of the fact that all of the Middle east is inflamed in inferno? You know, when you see the map, it's not just The here's the 75 places the Americans bombed today in and around Iran. It's here's the other 40 places that Iran bombed, including our allies and military bases. Were we prepared for this? Do you think Pete Hegseth. This is rhetorical. Do you think Pete Hegseth has the brain power, the intellectual horsepower to be making these Decisions. Look what they did with the economy and the brain trust around the economy. And we're gonna trust them with a war effort and what its impact is on the global economy? I don't think so. And now Donald Trump is busy calling his own followers fools. He posted on social media. Only fools would think would oppose my policy. Only fools would be upset with higher, higher, higher gas prices in return for nuclear security. Is that what we just obtained? Or did you just obtain what you thought was a way to step on the news cycle and give yourself some points at home for politics? Cuz that's what we think you did. And look at the cost sucked out of the American economy. And think what we could have done with this money. It's going to be a half a trillion dollars by the time we're done in Iran and Venezuela. I haven't even added Cuba into that. Half a trillion dollars. That would educate a lot of people, wouldn't it? With free scholarship. That would pay for a lot of health care for people who can't afford it. That would make affordability a lot easier in America. That would pay for a lot of down payments for home mortgages, wouldn't it? Yeah. No, instead the only one that's making money right now is the military industrial complex and companies that make weapons and resupply weapons. They're giddy. You know, if you can afford to be, you know, invest in Lockheed Martin or Boeing, I guess you're doing okay. The rest of the world is not. So when you're so desperate that your Donald Trump, who attacks his own voters and calls them fools, talks down to them. Right. Disparages them, patronizes them. Patronizes them because of his erratic policies that have now made oil up to triple the price. What did he think was going to happen to the economy? Not a strong economy economy, that was a jobless economy. A jobless economy to begin with. We haven't even gotten the full pricing baked in yet for his original tariffs. Now that the tariffs have been struck down, he reimposed new tariffs that are being challenged. Still collecting ill gotten money that doesn't belong to him from the American people stealing our money. No job creation inflation gonna tick up 1, 2, 3 more points because of oil. Oil going to double in pricing. Up to $140 a barrel. No doubt. In the next quarter your gas prices are going to double. Did you like the $3 gallon of gas? It's going to be six now or seven or higher. So we're going to continue to follow it. All right here. If anything Epstein scandal, the economy, Donald Trump's willful blindness to the suffering of the American voter in this economy. If anything tears him down, it's gonna be him thinking he could start wars all over the world, spend our money to do it, undermine our economy and how you and I are able to afford things like healthcare, things related to education, groceries, the gas pump that he'd be able to get away with that. If anything's gonna tear down his political viability, it's what we're watching right now with the Iran war. I'll continue to follow it. You're here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Come over to Legal AF YouTube channel every hour. We got a new amazing video analyzing law and politics just for you under one pane of glass. Legal AF Till my next report, this is Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal af. Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF sub stack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do called wait for it Morning af. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AO for there as well. We got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on substack. Come over now to free subscribe. Ryan Reynolds here from IT Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same premium wireless for 15amonth plan that I've been join. It's not just for celebrities. 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This episode features host Michael Popok delivering a detailed solo analysis of the economic and political fallout from Donald Trump’s recent war with Iran. Popok contends that Trump instigated the conflict to distract from domestic failures, and dives deep into the resulting turmoil in global energy markets, the skyrocketing cost of oil and gas, and the manipulation (and consequences) thereof. The episode also ties these events to broader themes of political scandal, economic hardship for ordinary Americans, and the destabilizing effect Trump’s policies are having both at home and abroad.
On Oil Price Escalation:
On Economic Policy Failure:
On War & Policy Making:
“Any monkey can bomb. Any monkey can push a button. We used to send them up at NASA in rockets… But what do you do in the aftermath?”
— Michael Popok, [10:34]
“There’s no consistency here because he is erratic and he is in the throes of dementia, and the rest of his administration know it.”
— Michael Popok, [10:55]
On Opportunity Costs:
Calling Out Trump’s Approach to Supporters:
Michael Popok delivers a scathing, data-driven indictment of Trump’s war with Iran, arguing that it’s an act of market manipulation and political misdirection with dire consequences. Listeners receive a clear timeline of escalating oil prices, a breakdown of the knock-on inflation, and an explanation of how average Americans suffer as wealth funnels to military contractors and global oil suppliers. The tone is direct, urgent, and at times biting, deepening the argument with references to ongoing White House scandals and the broader pattern of “erratic” governance.
The theme: catastrophic policy driven by personal political interests, leading to economic pain for the public and windfalls for Trump’s allies and the arms industry.
For those who haven’t listened, this episode offers a blistering legal and financial analysis of the consequences of war-driven market chaos, laced with sharp commentary and predictions about the political ramifications.