Furious World Leaders Make Deadly Warning to Trump

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Furious World Leaders Make Deadly Warning to Trump
Date: May 21, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett and Jordy Meiselas
Main Contributor in This Episode: Ron Filipkowski

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the MeidasTouch Podcast zeroes in on how world leaders are openly defying and threatening Donald Trump amid his administration’s growing calls for military escalation and massive defense spending. The episode offers a deep dive into escalating global tensions involving Iran, Ukraine, Taiwan, Cuba, and China, as well as how U.S. adversaries are leveraging asymmetric warfare to counter America’s traditional military might. The hosts critique Trump's global strategy, highlight the responses of foreign leaders (sometimes mocking Trump's approach), and examine domestic political maneuvering—especially claims of U.S. pretexts for invasion and regime change.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Escalation of Asymmetric Warfare and Global Responses

• Countries Shift Military Strategy:

  • World leaders are countering the U.S.’s massive defense budget by investing in asymmetric tactics, such as drone warfare, observed particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine.
  • Ron Filipkowski (01:58):

    "Furious world leaders are striking back at Donald Trump and they are threatening him with asymmetric warfare as the Trump regime puts in a demand for $1.5 trillion for a defense budget."

  • Ukraine’s recent deep strikes into Moscow’s infrastructure using drones highlight the new era of warfare; similar tactics are embraced by Iran, Russia, and even Cuba.

• Iran’s Drone and Militia Capabilities:

  • Iran and its proxies (militias in Iraq, Hezbollah, Houthis) leverage low-cost but effective drones, countering expensive American missile defense systems.
  • Ron Filipkowski (06:10):

    "The Iranian weaponry, you're talking about thousands of dollars, $25,000, $30,000. And they're able to churn them out on these assembly lines..."

• Cuba’s Militia Response to U.S. Aggression:

  • U.S. moves closer to a possible invasion of Cuba; Cuban officials warn of strong, bloody resistance.
  • Cuban forces now reportedly possess upwards of 300 attack drones, touted as ready to strike Florida if provoked. Allegations emerge that the Trump administration may be using these as a pretext for military action.

2. Trump’s Perceived Weakness and Foreign Policy Setbacks

• China Plays Hardball:

  • After a disastrous Trump trip to China, Xi Jinping refuses further Boeing deals and bans top U.S. Defense officials from the country, demanding a cessation of arms sales to Taiwan as a condition for trade normalization.
  • Ron Filipkowski (10:20):

    "Now Xi Jinping lured Trump in, cornered him, and now is saying, okay, now you don't give Taiwan any weapons, and then we'll play ball."

  • Chinese leverage (refusal to buy U.S. products, stalls on chip trade) further isolates the U.S.

• Taiwan’s Defensive Posture:

  • Taiwan ramps up military drills before and after Trump’s China trip, showcasing tank mobility and urban warfare capabilities to counter possible amphibious Chinese invasions.

• Trump’s Own Statements Downplay U.S. Achievements:

  • Trump’s speeches are portrayed as weak—he gripes about the U.S. chip industry being "taken by Taiwan" and refers to the "Taiwan problem."
  • Donald Trump (13:03):

    "Close to 50% of the chip business by the time I leave. And right now we have none practically, and we'll have. It was taken by other places. It was taken by Taiwan. I'm not knocking them. I'm saying, if they can get away with it. But if you had the right president, that would have never happened."

  • Ron Filipkowski’s commentary (14:05):

    "And then you see him scrambling to help Russia and Belarus..."

3. U.S. Domestic Political Maneuvering and the Cuba Focus

• Pretext for War – Indictment of Raul Castro:

  • Trump’s acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, confirms indictments are not just "for show" but may serve as a rationale for regime change.
  • Reporter (15:40):

    "If people look at this and say this is at least partially just a pretext to push for regime change in Cuba, what would you say to people who take that perspective?"

  • Todd Blanche (15:49):

    "I don't care what people look at and think. I mean, we returned an indictment and that's what we're here to talk about."

• Florida Politicians & Regime Change Rhetoric:

  • Rep. Carlos Jimenez (R), when pressed if the U.S. should attack Cuba, downplays the necessity, claiming Cuban people will overthrow the regime themselves due to economic suffering.
  • Carlos Jimenez (16:50):

    "I think the Cuban people themselves are going to do something about the regime. There's been a lot of, lot of protests happen every day..."

  • Host points out this echoes Iran regime change talking points that never materialize as expected.

• Media and Intelligence Skepticism:

  • Even Newsmax’s hosts question the veracity and intent of U.S. intelligence about a Cuban drone threat to Florida.
  • Newsmax Host (19:13):

    "To me this just sounds like we're trying to make the case to attack Cuba. I don't buy it. It sounds like a false flag operation."

4. Canada’s Stable Role in the Global Crisis

• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Statement:
  • Carney touts Canada as a stable, trustworthy energy partner in an unstable world, implicitly contrasting with the chaos in U.S. foreign policy.
  • Prime Minister Carney (19:56):

    "Canada is a stable, reliable partner in a world that is anything but... we're leveraging [this] to make us more independent, more resilient and more prosperous."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Shifting Power in Warfare:
  "If the great and powerful United States army has been reduced to basically being a bunch of bandits or pirates in the Persian Gulf, bragging about stopping cargo ships and tankers, and Donald Trump brags about being a pirate, I think other nations are saying... can we look at modern weaponry and adapt our tactics?" — Ron Filipkowski (09:55)

• On U.S. Leadership Perception:
  "Biden had double these things... Donald Trump's like, yeah, very good, very good. This is like, what a. Art of the deal. Art of the deal, everybody." — Ron Filipkowski (12:35)

• Reporter challenging government narrative:
  "If people look at this and say this is at least partially just a pretext to push for regime change in Cuba, what would you say to people who take that perspective?" (15:40)

• Newsmax expresses skepticism:
  "To me, this just sounds like we're trying to make the case to attack Cuba. I don't buy it. It sounds like a false flag operation." — Newsmax host (19:13)

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Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:58] – Opening: Global backlash at Trump’s defense strategy and asymmetric warfare discussion
• [06:10] – Iran’s cost-effective drone warfare versus U.S. missile systems
• [09:55] – U.S. military image and use of blockades, piracy accusations
• [10:20] – China leverages Taiwan arms policy against Trump
• [13:03] – Trump speech: U.S. chip industry and Taiwan
• [14:05] – Trump’s efforts to aid Russian/Belarusian economic interests
• [15:18] – AG Blanche on indictment of Raul Castro: regime change narrative
• [16:50] – Interview: Florida GOP Congressman claims regime change will come from Cubans themselves
• [19:13] – Newsmax panel doubts U.S. intelligence and possible Cuba false-flag
• [19:56] – Canadian PM Carney: Stable, trusted, reliable partner for the world

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Tone & Delivery

The episode maintains the signature MeidasTouch blend of comedic brotherly banter, earnest support for democracy, and sharp, unapologetic criticism of the Trump administration. The language is direct and passionate, often sarcastic when referring to Trump’s claims, and unflinching in highlighting potential U.S. foreign policy blunders. The analysis is informed, ties together multiple geopolitical threads, and aims to equip listeners with a comprehensive view of escalating global dangers and domestic political spin.

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Conclusion:
This episode of MeidasTouch paints a picture of a United States grappling with the consequences of its foreign policy pivots under Trump. As world leaders push back more assertively—using asymmetric warfare, economic leverage, and rhetorical resistance—America’s traditional power is questioned. Meanwhile, domestic narratives appear increasingly performative and disconnected. The MeidasTouch hosts urge listeners to pay close attention to the “Cuba pretext” as a possible flashpoint and to remain vigilant about what’s truly at stake for democracy and global stability.

Transcript

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[Ron Filipkowski]

furious world leaders are striking back at Donald Trump and they are threatening him with asymmetric warfare as the Trump regime puts in a demand for $0.1 trillion for a defense budget. We're seeing countries across the world saying we can do more than the United States can with their $1.5 trillion defense budget by investing in asymmetric warfare, by focusing on drones and and other asymmetric tactics that they observed that were utilized by Iran when the Trump regime and Netanyahu invaded Iran and so what we're seeing right now is Donald Trump is showing utter weakness after his disastrous trip to China. More on that in a moment. I'll tell you what Xi Jinping is doing to Donald Trump's Under Secretary of War, that Elbridge Colby guy who tries to act all tough and attacks Canada. So while Donald Trump had this disastrous appearance, you know, in China, we're seeing countries across the world projecting strength and saying we don't need the United States. Of course, we saw this with Ukraine President Zelinsky showing the power of his drone army, of his ballistic missiles, Ukrainians forces being able to strike deep within Moscow in oil depots there and infrastructure surrounding Moscow. That's one of the reasons why Putin had to head over immediately to China and Xi Jinping to help coordinate because that's, that's the alliance, right? It's Russia, it's China, it's Iran, it's North Korea. So we saw that happen, you know, in Ukraine. We saw Taiwan just over the past 24, 48 hours, as Donald Trump has shown other weakness. Taiwan is showing that still with those Abrams tanks that the US previously gave them, with the weapons that Taiwan has. They've been running numerous military drills, both before Donald Trump's disastrous trip to China and then after. They're showing two main capabilities. Number one, they're showing the ability to project strength with amphibious invasions by China. And so they ran a lot of drills right on the shore. And then they've been showing that they're willing to deploy asymmetric warfare within the cities themselves. And they showed that they have capabilities of driving these massive tanks across the bridges and, and what they would do in the event of an invasion by China. So we're seeing that there, of course, we're seeing Iran continue to taunt the United States continue to say if you re up the invasion, we're going to unleash the same asymmetric tactics you saw across the Middle East. And we've seen these Iranian militia groups and Iranian proxy groups, whether it's the militia groups in Iraq, whether it is Hezbollah, whether it is the Houthis. They've been able to utilize what Iran's been able to utilize as well, which are these FPV drones, the Shahid drones, more the FPV drones is what they're able to utilize and other weapons that can be made at a fraction of, a fraction of the cost that the United States uses. Right. I mean, the Trump regime was using these Thaad and Patriot systems that cost like hundreds of millions. And each missile can Cost, you know, millions of dollars. And the Iranian weaponry, you're talking about thousands of dollars, 25,000, $30,000. And they're able to churn them out on these assembly lines that they've developed in Tehran, in Iran, in the surrounding country, as well as they've developed manufacturing plants in Russia as well, which Russia is able to send through the Caspian Sea. And then that brings us to Cuba. You know about the US Blockade there. The Trump regime seems to be moving closer to an invasion of Cuba. And we see there the leader of Cuba as well, Miguel Diaz Canel Bermudez. I mean, he's posting, you know, look, you know, we know why you're going after Raul Castro, the 94 year old former leader. You know, they say, look, this is all part of the pretext to invade. You indict, you have the playbook that you used in Venezuela. You indict the, you indict the leader, or in this case the old leader. You come up with additional reasons why Cuba poses a threat. Laundered through Axios over the weekend was the story. 300 drones ready to go in Cuba in order to attack Florida. And it specifically hit the Keys. Remember the Florida Keys. Sheriff is like, yeah, we don't know anything about that. And then boom, you know, right on cue you have the MAGA Republican Congress members saying, aha, Cuba has 300 drones 90 miles away from Miami, 90 miles away from our coast. Oh, we're gonna have to invade Cuba to get rid of the drones. And one of the things that Cuba's saying is they've been saying, look, you're starving us to death. We pose no threat to you. Obviously if you invade us, we're going to have to defend ourselves. We, we don't have a traditional army. People don't know the actual size and scale of the Cuban army. They have a deep seated militia structure there as well. And while, you know, I think that the regime in Cuba is increasingly unpopular with the people, as we saw with Iran or as we saw elsewhere, the US Invasions of places does tend to rally people around a national identity, as oftentimes the Trump regime attacks the people. And also there's, you know, from what I've read of the intelligence in terms of the Cuban army, there's still sufficient people loyal to the Cuban army, the Cuban militias, the Cuban identity, where this will be no Venezuela. You're not just going to show up and then do a very basic regime change. And all of the leadership in Cuba made it very clear, this will be bloody. We will fight we will fight to the death to protect Cuba's sovereignty. We're not just tapping out. And the Trump regime is getting increasingly frustrated because they're like, we did this blockade. We're starving Cuba to death. Why isn't Cuba surrendering? Right. This was the same tactic that the Trump regime tried to use with Iran. Look, we have all our ships there. We're doing our threats. Why isn't Iran just giving up? Well, I think increasingly, though, people see how weak Donald Trump looks. And ultimately you look to Iran. If the great and powerful United States army has been reduced to basically being a bunch of bandits or pirates in the Persian Gulf, bragging about stopping cargo ships and tankers, and Donald Trump brags about being a pirate. I think other nations are saying in different ways, one, can we stand up to the United States? It's going to be difficult. But, but they've got this big, massive Goliath, slow moving, old school warfare. Can we look at modern weaponry and adapt our tactics? And I think you're seeing Cuba do that, Iran do that. They're looking there. And by the way, China, unlike the US They've been focused a ton on developing these nimble weapons systems. And also we, I mean, the intelligence suggests that China has been helping Iran, also training Russians in drone warfare with a lot of Chinese technology there. Now, as I said at the outset, I was gonna get back to one of the leverage points that China is now using. And this stuff needs to get way more attention than it is. And that's why we cover this stuff on the Midas Touch Network. So you know Elbridge Colby, who's the number two at the Defense Department. They call themselves the War Department. They're the Defense Department. He's right under Hegseth. So he was the guy earlier this week who threatened Canada. We're pulling out of the joint defense program that's been around since the 1950s. Look how strong I am. I'm threatening Canada. Don't you dare use this rhetoric, Canada against us. Remember he posted the article about Prime Minister Carney's Davos speech, right? Where Carney wanted to unite the world multilateralism. This is a massive rupture in the trust of the world that was caused by the United States. Right. That would. Remember I showed you that guy. Social media posts. Well, what's going on behind the scenes as well is you have Xi Jinping saying, I'm going to ban Elbridge Colby from coming to China and we are not going to buy those Boeing jets. We did no deals with The United States is what China is saying. We'd made preliminary conversations, but we've made no actual deals with the United States. We want clarification and confirmation that the United States is not going to provide military weapons to Taiwan. That's what Xi Jinping said. Confirm that you won't give military weapons to Taiwan, and we'll do business with you. All of those things. Remember, Donald, you showed up and you then went and you told your country all of these things that you got, by the way, which those things were half the amount as what Biden got, right? I mean, Biden had double these things. I mean, when it comes to the soybeans, when it comes to the manufacturing, when it comes to the chips, Donald Trump caused China to basically go to zero, and then China raised it to half the amount of Biden. And then Donald Trump's like, yeah, very good, very good. This is like, what a. Art of the deal. Art of the deal, everybody. And so now Xi Jinping lured Trump in, cornered him, and now is saying, okay, now you don't give, obviously, is what we said was gonna happen. Now you don't give Taiwan any weapons, and then we'll play ball. We'll do the chips, you know, because they also said, you know, we're not buying any Nvidia chips. We're not doing any of these things. So China's exerting its leverage right now, and they know how weak Donald Trump looks right now. So we're seeing, though Donald Trump respond to these threats that, you know, China's not going to order the Boeings, they're not going to meet with Elbridge Colby. And just think about what we've seen Donald Trump do over the past 24 to 48 hours, folks. It is the height of weakness. So this was Donald Trump's speech that he gave yesterday when he was in front of the coast guards. And listen to what he says about Taiwan in front of the coast guards. Play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

Close to 50% of the chip business by the time I leave. And right now we have none practically, and we'll have. It was taken by other places. It was taken by Taiwan. I'm not knocking them. I'm saying, if they can get away with it. But if you had the right president, that would have never happened.

[Ron Filipkowski]

And then he refers to the weapons to Taiwan as, quote, the Taiwan problem. When he was on the tarmac. Here's what he referred to as the Taiwan problem. I mean, what a horrible thing. Here. Play this clip Taiwan. Do you have any plans to call

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President Lai before you make your decision on the arms deal, what do you

[Ron Filipkowski]

have any plans to call President, President

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Lai of Taiwan before you make a decision on the weapons package?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I'll speak to him. I speak to everybody. We have that situation very well in hand. We had a great meeting with President Xi. Really, it was amazing, actually. It was amazing. Many of you were there. We'll work on that Taiwan problem.

[Ron Filipkowski]

And then you see him scrambling to help Russia and Belarus. Donald Trump wants Ukraine to help ease restrictions on Belarusian potash. Think about that. The fertilizer. The US Is pushing Ukraine to convince European countries to ease restrictions on Belarus. Potash. On potash imports of Belarusian fertilizer. Washington believes that softening sanctions on potash fertilizers, once one of Belarus key sources of foreign currency, could partly pull Belarus away from. That's just the help Putin, what are we talking about over here? Because this has. Steve Witkoff is making his seventh visit to Russia. He just announced zero trips to Ukraine, seven trips to Russia right here. I mean it's, it's, it's unbelievable. And then you had Donald Trump's acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. So yeah, with Raul Castro. This isn't a show. We really, we really intend to indict this guy, this 94 year old here playing this clip.

[Todd Blanche]

We didn't indict. This isn't a show. Indictment. This is an indictment because we, we expect that there was a warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Then a reporter says it seems like you're just trying to create a pretext for war right here. And watch what Blanche says. Let's play this clip.

[Todd Blanche]

Thank you. One other question. If people look at this and say this is at least partially just a

[Ron Filipkowski]

pretext to push for regime change in

[Todd Blanche]

Cuba, what would you say to people who take that perspective? I don't care what people look at and think. I mean, we returned an indictment and that's what we're here to talk about. If people want to speculate or think what they will, I don't care. Okay, one more question.

[Ron Filipkowski]

So the Midas Touch network caught up with one of these MAGA Republican Congress members from Florida, Cuban. And he, he's was one of the kind of warmongers who wants an invasion of Cuba. Carlos Jimenez and our Pablo Manriquez asked him and as so should the US Attack Cuba? And he goes, I don't think it's going to be necessary because the Cuban people are feeling, you know, are suffering so much that they're going to take back the country themselves and they're going to protest. And the amount of pressure we're putting on Cuba, we're not going to need to invade. Let me just show you what he said. Play this clip. Congressman, I'm sure you've been asked about this all day, so forgive me, but should the United States attack Cuba? Say what? Should the United States attack Cuba?

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

I don't think it's going to be necessary. I think the Cuban people themselves are

[Ron Filipkowski]

going to do something about the regime. There's been a lot of, lot of

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

protests happen every day.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Careful. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. And so, you know, the pressure I think, is, is working. That's, the regime is in the weakest condition it's ever been. Okay. And so, you know, just let it play out. But not, no, no US Intervention is necessary. Okay, thank you, sir. Now, isn't this exactly what you said when it came to Iran? The people are going to stand up and say, hey, Donald and Netanyahu, thank you so much. This is exactly what we wanted. And that's obviously not what happened. And this is what they're, this is what they're, this is what they're going with again. And so look, we'll keep you posted every step of the way. You know, again, I mentioned at the outset, you have, you know, people in the inner circle of the Iranian negotiating team saying militarily, Iran is now stronger than it was at the beginning of the war. Iranians are steadfast in their positions regarding sovereignty. You know, we're not going to make concessions when it comes to basic issues of sovereignty. Iran's bragging about the 42 aircraft that it destroyed thus far in the war. I mean, four F15s, one F35, one A10 7KC, 135 Strato tankers and E3 Century. And this was all just. The United States government had to confess and admit to this. And I'll leave you at this point right here, because to me, this says a lot. This is what they were discussing on Newsmax right here. They brought Jon James Comer, MAGA Republican. And even Newsmax is skeptical of what the Trump regime is doing in Cuba. Let me show you what down on Newsmax. Here, play this clip.

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

I really don't think, Rob, it'll get to any type of military action, but the President's threatening that he's increased sanctions on Cuba. I don't know how many more sanctions the Cubans can take, especially after what happened in Venezuela. The Cuban American population clearly supports what the President's doing in Cuba. Thus far it hasn't cost any tax dollars other than to send a few diplomats to Cuba. But at the end of the day, I think that we've got to be on guard because of the new types of warfare that's out there with these new drones and these new technology.

[Donald Trump]

I get it.

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

We're seeing it out in Iran.

[Todd Blanche]

I understand that Axios had a report this week that the US Is concerned. I'm sure you saw this about a possible Cuba drone strike on Florida. And I'll be honest, Mr. Chairman, I know that you've got the security clearance to know more about this, but to me this just sounds like we're trying to make the case to attack Cuba. I don't buy it. It sound a false flag operation. Would you support military action in Cuba if it came to that? And I guess more importantly, do you buy this report in Axios?

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

Well, I know that I've been one of the biggest critics of our intelligence community over the past 10 years.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Right.

[MAGA Republican Congress Member / Jon James Comer]

They're usually wrong.

[Ron Filipkowski]

And then you had Prime Minister Carney saying, look everybody, Canada, we're stable here. We're stable here, everybody. Let's play this clip.

[Prime Minister Carney]

We're at the heart of the energy transition in so many different areas. And in an uncertain world, we have another commodity that partners are choosing. It's the rarest of commodities, unfortunately these days, which is trust. Canada is a stable, reliable partner in a world that is anything but. And as our strategic value as a reliable low carbon energy provider is unlocking markets for Canadian products and investments across the board, that's the core point. There's a huge commercial opportunity, but it unlocks much more. And that's what we're leveraging to make us more independent as a country, more resilient and more prosperous.

[Ron Filipkowski]

So there you have it folks. Let me know what you think. Let's hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Again, I want to bring you the information that I don't think you're hearing anywhere, anywhere else. And I want to tie it all together for us. I want to tie it all together so we can make these connections about how all of this is impacting our, our day to day lives. Pay attention to what's going on in Cuba right now though, especially Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million. Thanks for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our [e-mail]. you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only [e-mail].