All Hell Breaks Loose After Trump Monday War Directive

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: All Hell Breaks Loose After Trump Monday War Directive

Date: July 13, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas (MeidasTouch Network)
Episode Focus: The escalating “Trump Monday War Directive,” its global political and economic consequences, U.S. domestic response, and acute criticism of the administration’s foreign policy and propaganda.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on former President Donald Trump’s explosive directive involving the Strait of Hormuz, which proposes the U.S. serve as a “mercenary” military force, controlling the strait and charging global traffic a fee—what commentators have dubbed the “pirate doctrine.” The brothers dissect Trump’s rhetoric, the global fallout, reactions from Iran and neoconservative allies, and the broader implications for U.S. democracy and the global order. Humor, sharp critique, and passionate defense of democracy guide their analysis.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Trump’s “Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” Directive

• Trump’s announcement: Trump declared that the U.S. will control the Strait of Hormuz, block Iranian ships, and charge non-Iranian tankers a 20% fee on cargo for “security.”
  • Quote: “The USA will be from this point forward known as the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait.” [04:33]
• Economic fallout: Oil prices are surging; fears of a strategic petroleum reserve emergency.
  • “The oil market right now is just an utter disaster. It's going well past $80 a barrel very soon and the economy is really getting crushed by this.” [03:35]

2. Sharp Critique of Trump’s Policy & Mental State

• The hosts mock Trump’s self-aggrandizing rhetoric and question his grasp on reality.
  • Quote: “What the hell is this? The third punitive expedition. Americans just want to be able to afford groceries… have health care. Americans don't want to be dragged into your third punitive expedition. What the hell is this?” [05:15]
• Trump’s posturing compared to scripted action movies—“What are you making? Some made for DVD movie? This is real life.” [04:36]
• Trump’s history of breaking deals and using negotiation as a ploy mocked as “sucker punching.” [05:58]

3. U.S.-Iran Tensions & Global Reaction

• Iran’s response: Iran’s IRGC sharply rejects U.S. intervention, demanding withdrawal for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen for global shipping.
  • Quote: “The only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to vessel traffic is for the aggressive US military to end its intervention...” [06:09]
• Escalation risk: Shipping data shows tankers stalling, risks to the global oil supply intensifying. Predictions of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve reaching crisis levels within days, not weeks. [05:46]

4. Trump’s Bizarre Media Performances

• Clips played of Trump rambling on Fox News about being “guardian angel of the Strait” and “getting reimbursed” by wealthy other nations.
  • Quote (Trump): “We'll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we'll call it the Guardian angel of the Strait. And we should be reimbursed for that. When we do that, we're going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy.” [07:17]
• The hosts call out the absurdity: “No, we're not...We're not going to be doing any of those things. What are you talking about? And nobody wants this.” [06:37]

5. Escalating Propaganda and Militarism

• Recruitment campaign: Discussion of the “Send Me” military recruitment effort promoting American readiness to fight vague missions.
  • Quote (Military Narrator): “Throughout our storied history, when soldiers said, send me, well equipped or poorly equipped, it didn’t matter...[they] were called to serve something greater than themselves, Send me.” [13:39]
• The hosts blast Trump’s hypocrisy given his draft-dodging history and disrespect toward veterans (“suckers and losers”). [13:19]

6. Attacks on the International Criminal Court (ICC)

• Marco Rubio’s video and op-ed argued for dismantling the ICC, claiming it’s “waging a war” against America via international law.
  • Quote (Rubio): “It was a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited.” [15:52]
• Hosts argue this is a smokescreen to enable future war crimes and shield U.S. leaders from prosecution. [14:50]

7. Broader Middle East Escalation

• Iranian plane blocked from landing in Yemen by Saudi forces, illustrating regional chaos spurred by U.S. policy.
  • “[Let] me show you what it looked like as Saudi Arabia bombed the airport as this plane was about to land.” [17:16]

8. Domestic Turmoil: ICE Shooting in Maine

• Brief coverage of a fatal police shooting involving ICE in Maine, reflecting unrest and concern over policing at home even as global crises mount.
  • “One person has been killed in another shooting invite involving ice, this time in Maine... Authorities have not yet released any of the details, but there is a video...” [18:46]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s War Directive:

  • “We are reinstating the Iranian blockade, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers... The USA will be from this point forward known as the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait.” – Trump [04:33]

• Commentary on the Directive:

  • “What the hell is this? The third punitive expedition. Americans just want to be able to afford groceries.” – Political Commentator [05:15]

• Calling Out Propaganda:

  • “That's coming from Donald Trump, a five time draft dodger who claimed bone spurs, who says that our veterans are suckers and losers. Pay attention to the propaganda they’re putting out.” [13:19]

• Rubio’s ICC Crusade:

  • “It was a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited.” – Marco Rubio [15:52]

• On Trump’s Motivations:

  • “Because Donald Trump is such a feeble, pathetic loser, he has to rip up anything that has to do with Obama and then gets us in this never ending war where now he says that we're the guardians of the freaking strait. What the hell are you talking about, you loser?” [11:06]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:35–05:15: Analysis of Trump’s Strait of Hormuz directive and economic fallout
• 06:46–07:17: Trump’s Fox News appearance, “Guardian Angel of the Strait”
• 08:52–09:46: Trump’s contradictory claims about negotiations with Iran
• 13:19–14:13: Dissection of “Send Me” propaganda and Trump’s military hypocrisy
• 14:49–16:16: Rubio’s video on the ICC and its implications
• 17:16–18:06: Saudi forces block Iranian plane in Yemen, regional escalation
• 18:46–19:54: ICE-involved shooting in Maine, domestic unrest

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Episode Tone and Delivery

As always, the Meiselas brothers employ a tone that is alternately serious, satirical, and exasperated. Their banter blends fact-based analysis with mocking humor, particularly when calling out Trump’s grandiosity and the administration’s embrace of militarism and propaganda.

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Summary

This MeidasTouch episode breaks down the acute national and international chaos set off by Trump’s latest hostile move in the Middle East. The brothers deliver a rapid-fire, sometimes incredulous rundown of geopolitical risk, domestic spin, and intensifying authoritarian rhetoric—from the “pirate doctrine” over Hormuz to anti-ICC scare tactics. Key quotes and timestamps illuminate both the drama and absurdity, making the summary an essential primer for those alarmed by recent turns in U.S. policy or looking to understand the headlines driving real anxiety at home and abroad.

Transcript

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[Political Commentator]

O O.com Donald Trump is having a meltdown this morning and he is giving more fatal directives that will certainly backfire in his face, but unfortunately also backfire in the face of everybody in the world to Donald Trump is posting that the United States will essentially now serve as mercenaries and take over the Strait of Hormuz and charge everyone a fee to transit equal to 20% of their cargo. The pirate doctrine as it's being called. This is what Donald Trump just posted moments ago. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed right now. By the way, we've only seen a few tankers associated with Iran leave, but Donald Trump says the blockade is now on. The oil market right now is just an utter disaster. It's going well past $80 a barrel very soon and the economy is really getting crushed by this. Here's what Donald Trump posted. The Hormuz Strait is open and will remain open with or without Iran. We are reinstating the Iranian blockade, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and use of the straight. The USA will be from this point forward known as the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait. And he puts that in caps. That's what the US will be known as. Donald Trump says the guardian of Hormuz. What are you making? Some made for DVD movie? This is real life. What the hell is this? He goes on to say, but as such, and as a matter of fairness, we will be reimbursed at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the world. The process and formation will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter. And then he posts that the US is now involved in what he refers to as a punitive expedition in Iran. He reposts that. Donald Trump's action against Iran is already the third most successful punitive expedition in US history, only exceeded by Jefferson's takedown of the Barbary pirates and his own capture of Maduro. If Trump eliminates enriched uranium, it easily jumps to first place. The hell are you talking about? The third punitive expedition. Americans just want to be able to afford groceries. Americans just want to be able to afford homes, have health care. Americans don't want to be dragged into your third punitive expedition. What the hell is this? The economy is crashing right now. Oil prices are surging right now. People can't afford anything. And this is what he's posting. Iran isn't backing down. Donald Trump doesn't control these straight of horror moves. If you look at the shipping data we've been posting it. Reuters has also confirmed it. The number of oil tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz yesterday fell to its lowest level in two months. As I've been repeatedly saying, we are on the verge now. It's a matter of days, not weeks, of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve hitting a level that will trigger an emergency and a global catastrophe. Because there won't be crude in the strategic reserves at all. Just take a look at the shipping data. The ships aren't leaving. Just making all of this up. Why do we have a deranged psychopath there who's now saying he's going to extort every ship. 20%. And so here's the statement from the IRGC Public Relations in response. The only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to vessel traffic is for the aggressive US military to end its intervention in the Strait and respect the sovereignty of countries over their own coastal waters. The continuation of these interventions will lead to even greater disruption affecting the global oil and gas sector. As I've always said, Donald Trump is never capable of doing a deal. He hasn't done deals his entire life. He's always broken deals, committed fraud, and then used the idea of negotiation and deal to lure people into good faith discussions where he sucker punches you in the back. So then Donald Trump went on state regime, media, Fox, and I guess he was supposed to talk about Lindsey Graham. Instead, he was talking about being the guardian of the straight. We're going to keep it. We'll be the guardian. We'll be reimbursed. We're going to get paid. We're going to be so rich.

[Ad Narrator]

No, we're not.

[Political Commentator]

We're not going to be doing any of those things. What are you talking about? And nobody wants this. Here, play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

We hit him very hard last night. Every time they send a drone, we hit them very hard. But we had a deal. What? Nobody knows we had a deal. It was a done deal and then they broke it. They always break it. We've had 10 deals with these people. And so we're just going to hit them very hard and we're going to, we're going to keep the straight and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the strait. Maybe we'll call it the Guardian angel of the Strait. And we should be reimbursed for that. When we do that, we're going to be reimbursed because the other nations are very wealthy. There aren't our side, and we can't be expected to do that for nothing, unlike we had for many years. You know, we, we guarded the strait for 50 years more and we never got paid for it. They made all the money and the United States was just, you know, not, they wouldn't. It's amazing. It's, we never made, we guarded it for nothing, and now we're going to guard it. We're going to get paid for guarding it. A lot of money, but we just want to be reimbursed for doing all of this, for putting our people in danger. But we're really not putting people, we're really saving people.

[Political Commentator]

When I say nobody wants it, I mean, I guess Netanyahu wants it. I guess the neocon war hawks want this, but the American people don't want to be dragged into this thing. Then you have these state regime media hosts in their propaganda ways. They're like, so Donald it does seem like Iran's back at it again, wanting to now try to once again control the Strait. What are you gonna do there, Donald? And then he makes up this bizarre false story about how Iran wanted to negotiate again. You know, yesterday there was an 11 hours. They always like 11 hours. And then we had a deal. And then they came back after 11 hours and then they were like, no, these people are crazy. Since March, Iran has been very consistent. Okay, say what you want to say. They've been very clear that they will not give up control over the Strait of Hormuz and will fight to the death over it. They've made that point clear. They made all their other points clear while you've been saying they're the greatest, I hate them, they're the greatest.

[Odoo Representative]

There's a deal.

[Political Commentator]

There's not a deal. There's a deal. I'm going to blow up their civilization. I'm not going to blow up their civilization. Here's what he just said on state regime media moments ago. Let's play it.

[Donald Trump]

It looks like they're back at their

[Marco Rubio]

business trying to take over the Strait.

[Political Commentator]

What's your response?

[Donald Trump]

Well, we're taking over the strait. They have nothing. They've got nothing. So something that nobody knows. Yesterday they had an 11 hour meeting. Everything's 11 hours with these guys. You know, you can't settle one sentence in one hour and one minute. It should be one minute. And everything was agreed to yesterday. And they leave the room and they call back and they say, we had a make a couple of changes. I said changes. They got to make changes. We're not going to make changes. Always changes. They just, you know, they're professional negotiators. That's all they are. That's. I don't even call them good at it. They haven't gotten anything. They got nothing from me.

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[Political Commentator]

And then he goes on to attack former President Obama. He says Obama was on the Iranian side. He went to their side because you know, he is a. And it seems like Donald Trump is going to say that Obama went to their side cuz Trump was gonna say Obama's a Muslim and then he went to their side or Obama is like an Iranian and went to their side. This is what the psychotic demented President of the United States is saying right now about a former who was actually successfully able to do a deal that got rid of Iran's nuclear program. But because Donald Trump is such a feeble, pathetic loser, he has to rip up anything that has to do with Obama and then gets us in this never ending war where now he says that we're the guardians of the freaking strait. What the hell are you talking about, you loser? Here's what he says about Obama. Play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

Obama was the worst of all because Obama actually went to their side. Obama because, you know, he's a. Well, let's not say, let's not say, let's leave that for another time. He was terrible. And he allowed them. He allowed Iran to. He gave them 1.7 billion in cash, in green cash, put in satchels in an airplane and brought to Iran $1.7 billion. Do you know what that is? Did you ever see. Did you ever see a million dollars in cash? This is 1.7 billion. It took up an entire 7 Boeing 757 and they flew it to Tehran and they gave it to people that were waiting at a plane. Can you imagine?

[Political Commentator]

And so as Donald Trump now escalates the war in Iran and as I noted earlier, a ground invasion looks more and more imminent. More and more, it looks like this escalation is going to result in a wider Scale war. We're already seeing it regionally. The Trump regime is pushing through there Defense Department, which they call their Department of War, a new recruiting effort called Send me. Send me, send me, send me. And they say in this video, even when the mission is vague, Americans have always been saying, send me. I want to go to war.

[Marco Rubio]

Okay?

[Political Commentator]

That's coming from Donald Trump, a five time draft dodger who claimed bone spurs, who says that our veterans are suckers and losers. Pay attention to the propaganda they're putting out. They're saying, send me. Whether the mission's vague, we will die for America. We will die for Trump. That's what they're saying here. Here, show this clip.

[Military Narrator]

Throughout our storied history, when soldiers said, send me, well equipped or poorly equipped, it didn't matter whether they were stepping into a clear mission or a vague one. Whether they were clear skies or raining, was always the determined reply. Every one of them, just like you were called to serve something greater than themselves, Send me.

[Political Commentator]

And at the same time, they're putting out those videos. One of the biggest neocons, Marco Rubio, is putting out videos right now, and he put out an op ed and a video why we're dismantling the international criminal Courts. And he says it's now the job of the United States to dismantle and obliterate the ICC because the ICC prosecutes war criminals. And this is a video that Rubio released this morning. And he says it's one of the biggest threats facing the American people right now. He says it's the International Criminal Court.

[Ornod Founder]

Why?

[Political Commentator]

Because they are further getting ready to escalate their war crimes. They've already committed war crimes over and over again. They've already aided and embedded genocide. That's why they're now saying, we're attacking the icc. Send me. We'll attack the icc. Do you see what's happening this morning? Here, play this clip of our shared way of life.

[Marco Rubio]

But today, powerful people in faraway places want to take that away from us. They believe that they should be in charge of your laws, of your country, your life. And they don't care whether or not you agree. Halfway across the world, there's an institution that calls itself the International Criminal Court. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't. But chances are you don't know the names of its judges, of its prosecutors, or its president. And you shouldn't have to. But as we speak, the ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country. Not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts and the force of so called international law. When the ICC was born 24 years ago, they told us that it was merely a narrow backstop. A global court that would step in to prosecute only the gravest offenses, things like genocide and war crimes, and only when a nation's courts were unable to prosecute them on their own. But the truth is it was something far more radical and extreme. It was a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited.

[Political Commentator]

Meanwhile, Iran's not backing down. As noted before, Iran's IRGC spokesperson has been saying things like this. We will not under any circumstances allow the United States to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz. Not now, not ever. Also, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the angel of death is just. This is regarding Lindsey Graham. For such an individual whose entire life's legacy was malice and support for aggression, nothing but a dark record will remain in the minds of people. The death of this hot headed and sharp tongued senator will certainly not grieve the heart of any free person. Now, as I noted already, this war is expanding regionally in ways that were very, very predictable. An Iranian plane was supposed to land in the airport in Yemen and it was blocked by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia controls the kind of official Yemeni government, Iran backs the Houthi government and there's this kind of division of power, kind of civil war, if you will, that's been going on in Yemen. You know, Saudi Arabia controls a group. Then there's Iran that you know, supports the Houthis. Let me show you what it looked like as Saudi Arabia bombed the air airport as this plane was about to land. Let me show you what happened over here. Let's play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

It's.

[Political Commentator]

Now I do want to focus briefly on domestic issues for a moment. I'll of course cover this more. Today one person has been killed in another shooting invite involving ice, this time in Maine. According to Maine's House Speaker. He said the shooting occurred Monday morning at the Maine State Police and he said the shooting occurred Monday morning rather and it's being looked at right now. Authorities have not yet released any of the details, but there is a video right now of agents fatally shooting this individual. It's at a distance so it's hard to see, but let me show you the the video that's been released here. Play this clip. Well, there you have it folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thank you for watching.

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