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breaking loose right now as Donald Trump's plan with Vladimir Putin is revealed. Ukraine was promised Patriot in Interceptors or Patriot Interceptor licenses by the Trump regime for a long period of time. Now they were promised the licenses in NATO a few weeks back at the NATO summit in Turkey. But now we know what Donald Trump and Putin were talking about back on July 4th. Remember when they had a 90 minute call and they didn't really discuss what was on that call? There really wasn't a readout as you would normally expect. Although with Trump, he doesn't do anything you normally expect. This was the headline Putin and Trump held business like 90 minute July 4th call Moscow says. Remember, Trump didn't even publish it right away. We first learned about it from Moscow. Just think about it. A 90 minute phone call between the leader of Russia and the United States on the date of America's 250th birthday on that July 4th. Well, what has taken place since then? What took place over this past month? Well, you had that NATO summit take place in Turkey. And this past month Donald Trump has lured Zelensky and Ukraine in making them believe that Donald Trump may have had a change of heart. Right? That Donald Trump saw Ukraine making advances with its FP1, FP2 and FP5. The FP1 and FP2s are, are the long range drones. The FP fives are the Flamingo ballistics. And Donald Trump made Zelinsky and Ukraine feel, wow, you guys are really doing a great job. I want to maybe be on your side. And there were all these very simplistic narratives from corporate news. Is Donald Trump having a change of heart? No, in my opinion.
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Right.
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And if you've been following the Midas touch network, you remember the warnings I made from that phone call. And whenever corporate news was reporting that Donald Trump's having a change of heart, Donald Trump says that he may support Zelensky and give him interceptor licenses. I was saying do not trust any of this. This is an op. Do not trust it. What do you think he was talking to Putin about? I think Putin was a little worried about Zelensky's FP1, FP2 drone strikes and the flamingo ballistics that Zelensky was using to strike targets deep within Russ. But I think Putin was playing this out too. And he said, all right, look, Donald, this is what you got to do. Why don't you pretend that you like him. I'll just act like this is making me upset. Why don't you get some information, draw out the info from Zelinsky. Let's learn what Naito is saying. They don't trust you, Donald. They have to trust you. Again, I'm giving you my opinion. You can disagree with this, but I believe this is the most likely scenario of what Putin would be conveying. And get the information right now. It seems that you don't even like Zelensky. Act like you like him. At least tell him you're going to give him the interceptor licenses. You don't even really have to do it. But the key is going to be the winter, Donald, because Zelensky is running very low on the Patriot and his no Patriot interceptors. So what Zelensky has been able to develop are drone interceptors. They can stop the cruise missiles a little harder to stop the cruise missiles. Zelensky can stop about 90% of the Shahid drones now, but can't stop the ballistics. The only thing that could really stop the ballistics are the PAC 3 interceptors, the Patriot interceptors, which Donald Trump previously promised that he would sell to Europe and that Europe would be able to then give to Zelensky. But then Donald Trump says, oopsie, supply shortage catastrophic. He didn't say he's in call it catastrophic, but war In Iran, we've depleted our stockpiles. We didn't deplete our stockpiles. We depleted our stockpiles. We didn't deplete our stockpiles. When it comes to Zelinsky, we depleted our stockpiles.
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Right.
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So you have that going on now. Donald Trump this past week all of a sudden went from, I'm going to give Zelensky the Patriot Interceptor licenses to now I'm not going to give it to him. And not only that, the language that Donald Trump's been using to say he's not going to give Zelinsky the Patriot intercept interceptors sounds directly out of Putin's mouth. Have you ever watched a Putin speech? Right. Donald Trump's now saying, the issue is, if I give the Patriot Interceptors or the licenses, that could be used against me one day, that could be used against us. What if the other side turns against us? So I'm not going to give these. Now, Donald Trump promised he was going to give the licenses. He made it very clear at the NATO summit that he was going to do it. Zelensky and the Ukrainian Defense Department relied on this. Heading into this winter, they need these PAC3 interceptors. And it's dire because what Russia does, Russia sends these ballistic missile salvos of usually 10 to 15, sometimes 20. Last night in Kiev, they sent like 25 to 30 at a time, and they all hit their targets. Kiev doesn't have any PAC3 intercept. They can't do anything. They have no PAC3 interceptors. They can't shoot down any of the ballistic missiles. So every ballistic missile, basically from Russia, hits its target in Ukraine. And what Russia is preparing, and this is what they're doing right now, they're building up a massive supply of these ballistic missiles, getting ready for the winter. Russia is going to do a massive winter offensive. The Russian Duma just said this war is going to only escalate and get much more violent until we take over all of Ukraine. And what Russia is going to use, now that they know that Ukraine doesn't have the Interceptors, they're going to lead with these ballistic missiles. And Zelinsky was told from Trump, I'm going to give you the licenses. And now that's not happening at all. Now, this is the headline from the Kievan Independent. We have not agreed to that. Trump walks back the promise of Patriot license for Ukraine and is not just walking back a promise. I mean, this is existential. This is how the Atlantic reports it. Trump rejected zelensky's request for 300 Patriot missiles for Ukraine this winter. Zelensky also asked for expanded Starlink use to target Russian ballistic missile launchers inside Russia, arguing it could offer a faster and cheaper response to the threat. Trump said he would speak to Elon Musk, but gave no timeline or final decision, leaving the plan uncertain. So you see what's going on there. Zelensky's like, look, man, look, if you're not going to give us the interceptors, if you're not going to give us the interceptor licenses, can you just turn Starlink on? We won't strike within Russia using Starlink other than the ballistic missile launchers. So just let us use Starlink to shoot their ballistic missile launchers, because you're not giving us the interceptors. And so we are going to just be sitting targets as Russia reigns. These ballistics at us. Let us just shoot the launchers, please. And Trump's like, yeah, we're going to have to see. So think about the timing of this call with Putin July 4th. What do you think they talked about for those 90 minutes that now at the end of this month, Trump did the. And by the way, Trump posted a video of the rope, a dope. He posted the ali Foreman fight, 8th round. So what do you think Trump's been doing? He's been just basically dodging, luring Zelensky on, wasting Zelensky's time. It's going to be great. I'm going to give it to you. Zelensky goes back to his country. I've been offered these interceptors. I've been offered these. We're going to get it. We're going to get it. And then Trump at the end of July, rug pull. Rug pull. And then what coincides with it as well? Russia, massive strike, western Ukraine, Leviv pound, pow, POW pounding down on Lviv. And then what else happens? Two ballistic missiles find their way in eastern Poland, which should trigger Article 4 NATO consultation, perhaps even Article 5, NATO's joint defense pact. Does Poland invoke it? No. Why? Because they know us won't honor it, so they don't do it. And so this to me, was part of the plan. Wait to the end of the month, draw Ukraine along, Donald, tap them along, Right? That's an expression. Trump uses Iran's tap me along, tap Zelinsky along, wait till the end of the month and then the plan gets revealed. Let's bring out some receipts as well. Just so we all know, it's very clear that Donald Trump promised Zelinsky the interceptor licenses, so there could be no doubt about it. Right. Donald Trump at the NATO summit, July 8, 2026, four days after the phone call with Putin, there he is with Zelensky. And, you know, honestly, I. Do you think Zelinsky fell for this? Do you think Zelinsky knew that this is what was going on? I mean, Trump's clearly playing Zelinsky. I was calling it out in real time that that's what was happening here. Play this clip.
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But. So one of the things we're going to be talking about is you'll. We're going to give a license to you to make patriots. That's pretty cool. This way he can't complain that we're not giving them enough. I say make them yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll, that'll work out all right. You know, they'll be thrilled, but, you know, they'll be able to do it. You'll be able to figure that out. Most, most countries couldn't do that.
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Now, Zelensky was at the White House this week, right? You see him right there. Notably, the meeting was not televised. Netanyahu's meeting was not televised either. Both happened at separate times. But Trump loves televising these Oval Office meetings. So why wouldn't these Zelensky and Netanyahu meetings be televised? The Netanyahu meeting, obviously there was a reason for that, right? I mean, Netanyahu was helping, was giving Donald Trump the orders basically of escalating the catastrophic, an unlawful war in Iran. But Trump didn't want to have these Alinsky meeting before the press, because what would have been asked in Zelinsky's presence? Trump would be asked, what's up with the Patriot Interceptors? What's up with the license you promised it? And then Trump would have to answer that in front of the press with Zelensky. And Trump knows Zelensky would have called him out in public. So Trump did not do the Zelinsky meeting in front of the press. Instead, they did it private. You got these shots of Zelinsky walking in to the White House right there. What was deeply concerning to me is when I heard Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after Russia's ballistic missiles landed in Poland. This is what Tusk said, and this concerned me. After my conversation with Zelinsky, it is quite clear to me that the next 100 days could decide the outcome of this war. Right now, I would say the chances are 50, 50. Much depends on the decision made by the President of the United States. Other people also play an important role. For example, Elon Musk when it comes to Starlink and other systems. So some of this goes beyond politics. Well, if you're relying on Donald Trump and Elon Musk for Ukraine's survival going into this winter and we've reached this dire stage because Donald Trump has tapped Zelinsky along at least for the past month with this plan with Putin that I believe was initiated on that July 4th call. That's a very big problem if you're relying on Trump and Musk. If you're relying on reflecting pool boys, what I call Donald Trump now, Donald Trump, who's out there saying vandals did the reflecting pool when his own Justice Department dismisses the case against David Hearn. And you see how psychologically ill, what a sick, demented scumbag Donald Trump is. And you think about Donald Trump's conduct to David Hearn, blaming him as the vandal. Think about what he's just done to Zelensky, tapping him along until the end of this month and then revealing, I'm not going to help you. And think about the Ukrainian people who depended on these promises right here. So Kiev got bombarded massive casualties last night in Kiev. Um, I, I mean the, the, the, the casualties, they're very, very serious. Lots of people who are injured and killed. Um, but again, they can't stop the inter, they can't stop the ballistic missiles. They don't have interceptors. Here's an explosion and secondary detonation hitting a Ukrainian ammunition ammunition site in Kilmenytsky near residential areas. Let's show you this that Russia struck this. Let's play it.
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Six.
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Now you do have Ukraine striking back. Ukraine's been hitting these wild berry logistical centers throughout Russia. That's like the Amazon of Russia, which Ukraine says is used to build military equipment and help with other military supplies for the Russian army. This right here, you'll see another, this is another logistics company called Ozon. I mean you, zelinsky's hit like 43% of the wild berries. So this is hitting an ozone plant here. Let's play it. And also this is video within Russia. This is video from the Nizhnek Mis Nekim industrial zone of the polystyrene production plant blown up by Ukrainian drones. And I'll show you, here's a photo of it here. I'll show you the video of it here as well. So you can see for yourself. Now, a major red flag for me about Trump's plan with Putin was also when the anti Zelinsky right wing MAGA crowd all of a sudden Started saying nice things about Zelensky, and that was coinciding with the time that Donald Trump acted like he was being more sympathetic to Zelensky. And there was a lot of reporting about all that. And I'm like, I'm, like, thinking to the corporate news, I'm like, wtf?
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Really?
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Wtf? You're falling for this, by the way. I talk about this in the book wtf America? It's out in October. I wrote it with my brothers, pre order it right now, hit the QR code. There's a link to it in the description below. But we talk about these bigger issues, these dynamics at play. It's like the corporate news was, like, glazing Laura fricking Loomer because all of a sudden she was saying nice things about Ukraine. It was so over the top, though. I mean, to me, it felt forced. I think that's an understatement that it felt forced, you know, but all these people, even the Kiev Independent, were like, look, Laura Loomers, she hated us. Now she thinks, just stop it. Just ignore people like that. Come on, she wasn't with you. Now you're just going to be like, oh, shoot, maybe, just maybe, that there are broader forces at play right here. Laura Loomer to Keev Independent. Look, if I was president of the US and Russia was supplying Iran with weapons, I would kill Putin. Obviously, I don't speak for the president. And then she visited Ukraine. Skyfall drone factory. Signed two P1 Sun Interceptor Drones, including one dedicated to Iran. Why are you signing? Why are you letting her sign the drones? It's Laura freaking Loomer, man. Come on. Why are you treating her like she's some celebrity crazy? What are you. What are you. Seriously Ukraine, what are you doing? The hell are you doing? Then Laura Loomer's like, look, if I was the president, I would. I would kill Vladimir Putin. Obviously, I don't speak to him, but I'm not him, but I. I'd kill him. Laura Loomer F the Russians, they should come to Kiev. If I come here and survive, why would Jared Kushner and Woodcock. It's not. I guess it's nice that she's saying these. These words, but words, words don't mean you need action, you need conduct, you need behavior, you need values, you need principles. And what concerned me as I was watching this on July 4th and seeing what Zelinsky was doing as well, and, you know, because I've been saying this, like, on all of my Ukraine videos, I'm like, what are we doing here? You bring it in, Loomer. You bring, you know, you know, you're trusting Trump with all of this. No, Zelinsky was better when he was independent, when he was. They were building the FP1, FP2 drones, the FP5, flamingo ballistics, when. When they didn't have to rely on them. I get they don't have interceptors, but. But you can't trust Trump with anything. And I also think the dismissal of Fedorov, the defense secretary now, and there's still protests, by the way, to reinstall Fedorov, the young defense secretary, lots of people say that he could be the future leader of Ukraine. He was the guy who revolutionized drone warfare in Ukraine, and they, you know, and Zelensky got rid of that guy because, you know, the commander in chief was part of the old Ukrainian guard, and he wanted Fedorov gone, and the people protested. So then Zelinsky got rid of the main, you know, commander in chief from the old guard. So they both got fired. And I. And I think people are a little befuddled. I want to be real. I want real talk, real talk here. And I think people are a bit befuddled what the hell's going on right now there as well. And they're like, did we really just trust that Donald Trump. Did we put our whole winter plan on Trump providing us interceptors and licenses only for him to throw us under the bus? And this is going to be a dark, dark winter? Is that what's happening right now? This was from Camp David. This was Trump on Ukraine and the Patriots. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build our weapons, because it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. People like that can turn on you. Who do you think told that to Donald Trump? I'm giving you my opinion, protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but in my opinion, that's right out of Putin's mouth. Donald, you can't give it to him. He's going to turn on you. You can't give your weapons like that. And by the way, I bet you Netanyahu was saying that also, as I think they were also planning the Moroccan migrants to go to go to Northern Africa and the Spanish, two Spanish cities. Anyway, here's what Trump says about you have to be careful giving Ukraine your technology, because they could turn on you. And what do you think Putin said? Putin said, look, Donald, you know the history of Ukraine. It's part of Russia, and you help them and you give them all of these things, and they turn on you. Where do you think he's getting this from? That's what. That's Putin's language. Let's play this clip.
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Five missiles, and we shot all five deaths before they got close. Nobody else has that capacity. These weapons are incredible. We have to be very careful about letting somebody build. You know, it's very important now. We are building many plants now to make those and other. The Tomahawk missile is the most incredible thing. It could go into a doorway. You can put it through a window of a house. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. You have to be very judicious, but you have to be very careful. Now, we have not agreed to that. We're talking about it. But it's a hard thing to give away that kind of technology. And I don't think this would ever happen. But, you know, those people that you give that technology, they can someday turn on you. You know, that is possible. You look at war, it's happened a couple of times over the years, right? So we have to to be very careful. I mean, we guard that. We have the greatest military in the world.
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Then Donald Trump says the following on Ukraine Patriots. He goes, it's like, this is the reason we don't give our Nvidia chips to other countries, because it's highly classified technology, idiot. You gave the Nvidia chip, the Blackwell to uae. You gave them the most classified. You gave China the number two most classified chip. Um, and you gave the UAE the top classified chip. And UAE is just gonna give it to China, man. And so that's the reason why you're not going to give Ukraine the Patriot Interceptor license. Because Nvidia. You're just saying freaking words, man. Your words are just word. They don't mean anything. And they're dangerous. And you're a fraud and a phony, and you did this. Such an obvious freaking trap, Zielinski. You didn't see the trap. You didn't see the trap was so obvious. Let's play this clip.
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The Javelins are unbelievably. We have the greatest weapons in the world. We have to be very careful about giving out the secrets to those weapons. And they're not you. You can't copy them. It's a little like Nvidia. They have a chip, they say you cannot copy it. The complexity is so great. You cannot. You know, most things you copy. China is known for it. Other countries that we do something and I guess we copy also. Most things you can copy pretty easily. There's a chip that they made their ultimate chip. And they always have the ultimate chip. And I say, well, why doesn't somebody copy it? Because they can't.
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And then Donald Trump goes back to the bold side. I want them to both make a deal. Zelinsky is going to make a deal. Putin's going to make a deal. Trump's view is, and Putin's view is deplete Zelensky's resources that he doesn't have the interceptors, get to the next winter. This is what Putin's view is, and then bombard him with the ballistics. Now, I'll play it as clip. Play it.
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Before that it was 32,000 Celsius. I said, you got to get this war off with. I think he wants to make a deal and I think Putin wants to make a deal. But there's a lot of dislike, as you probably notice. He seems very reluctant to make concessions. President Putin, well, nobody wants to make concessions, but they're both going to have to make some concessions. I mean, you got to make a deal. 25,000 young, beautiful people, soldiers.
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Now, what Zelensky's plan is now, and this is why obviously the strikes on the Wild Berry facilities are significant. Like, I don't want to underestimate them, but what worries me about them, and you could disagree with me, what worries me about the Wild Berry facility strikes, even if those are used by the Russian army for logistics, which I. Which I think they are, I think they are also used bluntly for things that are non Russian logistics. But I do think that there's part of it that's used for Russian army logistics. But what concerns me about the strikes as well is it feels like it's frantic. And I think it is because winter is coming and I think it's being done at these Wild Berry facilities as part of a plan. Like, we have to ferment a lot of social unrest in Russia amongst the people, bring the fight there, show them that no one is safe. And because we don't have interceptors and we're going to get, we could get really screwed, like we're screwed this winter right now if we don't have these intercepts. So we've got to create real problems in Russia for the people. Now why I get concerned is I feel like that further shows the concern about the winter and not having the Interceptors. Like, to me, it's shining a spotlight on the problem of holy shit, excuse my language, but this winter we don't have Interceptors and Russia is building up this massive Ballistic arsenal. I think it reflects that a little bit to me. You tell me if you disagree, but I think, I think it says that and I worry that it has the. That it has the ability to do the opposite of what its intention is. Its intention is to, in theory, have the Russian people get. Get pissed at Putin, get pissed at the regime and.
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And.
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And join against the regime. What I worry about is can it paradoxically have the opposite? In fact, potentially, could it unintentionally bring people to say, you know what we, you know, that's where I get. It may be used for military purposes, but now I'm not getting my toothpaste or I'm not getting my whatever, whatever the tchotchkes are that you buy or my electronics or, you know, whatever you buy at Amazon, but you buy it there. And you're saying, well, it's Ukraine that's doing it. Versus are you, Are you? Or do you blame. It's because we're in this, you know, it was because we invaded them. Or do you start blaming the person who's bombing the warehouse and does that actually make people more entrenched against you? Versus I think the idea is this is going to rally Russians to the side of the Ukraine and try to stop the war. And I just don't.
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I.
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This is where I will openly express my ignorance, which is this. Is that what happens or does something else happen? Now, this is the Wild Berries founder Tatiana Kim on the Ukrainian drone attacks. Here's how they are using it there. By striking us, terrorists hide the true reasons and accuse us of allegedly selling military goods. This is what, this is how they're responding. And I'm not, I'm not saying I agree with her. Let me be very clear, or I agree with this position of the Russia. I want you to know what's being said so you have the ability to evaluate and be informed versus these debates or people like screaming in each other's faces. I want you to be informed with data, but you can open any global marketplace, Amazon or alternate Alibaba, and see if we have anything. They don't. She said, there is no logic, common sense or rationality in the terrorist actions, and there cannot be. The enemy himself made a public statement that the attacks on Wild Berries are aimed at ordinary citizens. Their only goal is to apply pressure, destabilize, and cause panic and shock among a large number of people. We see that the situation has united everyone. Entrepreneurs, buyers, the business community and representatives of regional authorities are uniting to solve the problem. Together, we will do everything to help businesses cope with this difficult situation. I thank everyone for the support. Together we are stronger because Wild Berries is you. Meanwhile, I'll show you the B roll of what it looks like in Kiev which is just a kill zone right now as they don't have the interceptors play this B roll right here. I will show you you B roll of the residents now of Ukraine city of Lviv as they attempt to dig survivors out of the ruins of apartment buildings after Russian targeted them in missile strikes. I want to give a hat tip to Jay in Keef. My friend in Kiev does a very good job. I want to give a hat tip to Kershawn Cat. I want to give a hat tip to the MA K account and others open source accounts who do a very good job aggregating a lot of the footage from the locations. Anyway, let me know what you think. Hit subscribe let's get to 7 million subscribers. Before you go, our book WTF America is available for pre order now. It's the story of how we got here and how we fight our way back. To pre order, scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's do this.
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This.
Episode: Trump and Putin's Plan Comes Under New Scrutiny
Date: August 1, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
In this intense and analytical episode, the Meiselas brothers dissect recent developments involving Donald Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin, and the unfolding crisis in Ukraine as winter approaches. The primary focus is Trump’s reversal on providing Ukraine with critical Patriot interceptor missile licenses—a move Ben suspects was orchestrated after a secretive July 4th Trump-Putin call. Using detailed on-the-ground reports, segment highlights, and sharp commentary, the hosts explore the geopolitical, military, and humanitarian ramifications of what they see as a “sabotage” of Ukraine’s defense options, as well as the complicity and amplification by right-wing American media.
The episode balances detailed geopolitical analysis with the Meiselas brothers’ trademark candor, urgency, and exasperation at what they see as media gullibility and political betrayal. Ben, in particular, leads with passionate, sometimes blunt commentary (“You’re just saying freaking words, man. Your words are just words. They don’t mean anything. And they’re dangerous.” [25:43]), while still giving space for critical thinking and invitations to disagree.
This episode is essential listening for anyone tracking U.S.-Ukraine-Russia relations, internal Ukrainian politics, and the high-stakes game playing out as winter approaches. It’s also a caution about media narratives and whom to trust on foreign policy.