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felt a lot of anxiety and worry.
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So I went on to BetterHelp to
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try to look for a therapist to help me with that.
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My relationship with my family and with my boyfriend and with myself were suffering. I really needed help. I was ruminating a lot, really getting those thoughts out to a therapist feedback was just life changing.
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Feel your best and amplify your everyday look with Thrive cosmetics. Go to thrivecosmetics.com shine26 for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order. That's thrive Cosmetics. C A U s E M E T-I C S.com Shine26 Donald Trump is
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crashing out right now in the White House as the Secretary of the United States Navy, John C. Phelan, has suddenly resigned from his position. Let me repeat that. The top official in the United States Navy has resigned effective immediately. While the United States is still at war. While the Navy currently has a blockade in the Persian Gulf, while morale has never been lower of the United States Navy, as the Navy is committing war crimes, the Secretary of the United States Navy has suddenly tendered his resignation. Donald Trump's Defense Department spokesperson, Sean Parnell just posted the following statement. Secretary of the Navy John C. Felon is departing the administration effective immediately. On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to the Secretary Phelan for his service to the department and the United States Navy. We wish him and his future, we wish him well in his future endeavors. Under Secretary Young Cow will become the Acting Secretary of the United States Navy. Secretary of Navy John C. Phelan stepped down effective immediately. Now comes at the same time that Iran said they're refusing to show up in Islamabad, Pakistan to have any further negotiations with Donald Trump regarding a ceasefire or anything until Donald Trump ends the naval blockade in the Persian Gulf. And lesson, until Donald Trump agrees to the 10 point negotiating framework with Iran that Donald Trump previously said that he was agreeing to, and until Donald Trump stops threatening Iran with the United States Navy and with the United States military. So the fact that the top official in the United States Navy is resigning right now is really catastrophic. This is unprecedented, folks. And you'll recall our Navy has been stretched very thin both in terms of their weapons. We know that it's been exhausted during this catastrophic and unlawful war with Iran. But if you look at some of the aircraft carriers, like the USS Gerald Ford, it's now been on active duty missions. It's been the longest deployed aircraft basically since the end of the Cold War, over 300 days. Morale is very low. We've been hearing stories about the food being served on the USS Gerald Ford, the USS Tripoli, the USS Abraham Lincoln, barely feeding members of our incredible Navy. We learned about the USS Gerald Ford before the catastrophic war in Iran officially broke out. This $13 billion aircraft carrier had toilet bowls that didn't work. And so you had thousands of sailors swimming through raw sewage before the start of the catastrophic war in Iran. And it had to head to a port in order get that fixed. We'll also recall that the Navy Secretary, John Phelan, held this up weird press conference with Donald Trump back in December where he talked about building a new class of battleships called the Trump class of battleships. Because Donald Trump didn't like the way aircraft carriers look and Donald Trump doesn't like the way that stealth ships look and how other ships are made. So Trump wanted battleships to look the way they did during like World War I and World War II. He wanted that as the model, he said. And so you had John Phelan hold a weird press conference saying that's what he was going to do. And he was going to call him the Trump battleships with nuclear capabilities. Play this clip. This ship isn't just to swat the arrows. It is going to reach out and kill the archers.
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And for the first time in generations,
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we'll have a new leg in America's nuclear deterrence because the Trump class battleship will carry the nuclear armed sea launched cruise missile striking. Dominance isn't all that the Trump class
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battleship brings to the fight at sea.
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It has the size and capacity to
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serve as a flagship for our fleet
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commanders so that they can command and
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control naval forces far out to sea.
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Remember how embarrassing it was when then Donald Trump was like, I'm an aesthetic person. I don't like the way our ships look. Remember that? Play this clip.
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The Second World War, they were freighters and different types but we were doing a ship a day and now we don't do ships. And I'm not a fan of some of the ships you do. I'm a very aesthetic person. I don't like some of the ships you're doing. Aesthetically they say, oh it's stealth. I said that's not stealth. An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you're stealth. By the way, the B2 bombers were incredible.
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That is stealth.
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They went into that. I was.
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Let me just remind you all what Donald Trump had previously said back on November 26, 2024 where he nominated John Phelan. Just to be clear, John Phelan has never been in the Navy before. No military experience. He's just a big Republican donor, a rich guy who was appointed in this position by Donald Trump. This is what Donald Trump said back in November of 2024. It is my great honor to announce John Phelan as our next United States Secretary of Navy. John will be a tremendous force for our naval service members and a steadfast leader in advancing my America first vision. He will put the business of the US Navy above all else, all else. John has excelled in every endeavor from founding and leading Rugger Management LLC to co founding MSD Capital LP private investment firms. For Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technology, his record and success speaks for itself. A true champion of American enterprise and ingenuity. Private equity guy was the Secretary of Navy, but he's gone. He has suddenly resigned. During this war, while we're in these very, very tenuous, this tenuous situation and Donald Trump continues to crash out in the White House right now, as Iran is just saying, Donald, you can keep on extending your deadlines, but we're not going to negotiate with you unless and until you stop threatening us. And unless and until you end the naval blockade in the Persian Gulf and agree to the 10 point negotiating framework that you previously agreed to, then we'll meet and we're happy to go to Islamabad. And that's what they've been Saying Donald Trump's like, well, we're, I'm going to give them until Sunday. I'm going to give, give him three to five days, right when the markets close, I'm going to extend the deadline. Iran's like, we're not asking for that. We're not asking for any extensions, Donald. And now the fact that you have the US Navy secretary resigning, that signals a weakness, chaos. Iran seas. Can you imagine if Iran's chief of the Navy, you know, suddenly resigned? Isn't it also ironic that you had like Jesse Waters and all the state regime media people on Fox yesterday being like, oh, and this person in Iran is being fired and there's a coup here and all these things happen. It's all projection and confession. The head of our navy has just resigned in the middle of this war. And Donald Trump continues to crash out as a result of all of this. Donald Trump posted the following Morning Glory. Will President Trump go full Sherman in the war on Iran? From Sherman's march to Trump's Iran deadline, a historical argument emerges for why ruthless wartime measures can ultimately deliver lasting peace. You think that's the productive response to Iran? And then Donald Trump writes, I guess this is like his therapy and makes him feel good. Last season of my Apprentice juggernaut, exclamation point. And he posts a New York Times article from 2004 that says the Apprentice scores ratings top four season. And then he posts another graphic from the New York Times that says finale viewers 28 million key demographic 17.5 million viewers. Then he posts, you can't compromise on sanity and common sense like a total crash out right now. I mean, look, you want to see what Iran's lead negotiator and parliament leader and be gallop is saying? Here's what he writes. A complete cease fire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage taking of the world's economy. And if the Zionist war mongering across all fronts is halted. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire. They did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying. The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation. Then Iran's president possession. Posted. The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcomed and continues to welcome dialogue and agreement. Bad faith, siege and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiation. The world is witnessing your hypocritical empty talk and the contradiction between your claims and your actions. And as the Iran negotiating delegation had said, the United States didn't bring anybody to the last negotiating round that has any knowledge about nuclear issues. So Iran's like, how could we talk about nuclear issues with Jared Kushner and Steve Woodcock? They don't know what they're talking about. And so Iran's like, we have no plans to attend another meeting. We're just not going to do it. So then Donald Trump sends Caroline Levitt to do a press conference, and she does one from the White House lawn, and she's asked by state, regime media, which calls itself Fox, does the President view what Iran did earlier this morning as a violation of the ceasefire? You know, Iran interdicted two ships in the Strait of Hormuz that tried to breach the Strait of Hormuz? Yes. Iran has a navy, despite Donald Trump saying that totally obliterated Iran's navy. Not obliterated, interdicted these ships and, and made them stop. And Iran did it, because Donald Trump has a blockade right now in the Persian Gulf. And Iran warned is what we're going to do. And they did it. If you try to get around our control of the Strait of Hormuz, listen to Caroline Levitt just kind of freak out on the White House lawn and she's like, no, we don't really care. It wasn't American ships and it wasn't Israeli ships, so we don't care. I mean, they're your allies ships. What a terrible response. Here, play this clip.
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I want to ask you about these ships that Iran seized. We're continuing to get reporting on this. Does the seizure of two ships, as we said, they were Greek and Mediterranean owned ships with cargo on them, and the reports are that Iran basically seized them and then moved them into Iranian waters. We don't know what's going to happen to these crews. We're not sure where all of this is going. Does the President view that as a violation of the ceasefire? No, because these were not US Ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels. And for the American media, who is sort of blowing this out of proportion to discredit the President's facts that he has completely obliterated Iran's conventional navy. These two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal navy in the Middle east to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don't have control over the strait. This is piracy that we are seeing on display. And the naval blockade that the United States has imposed continues to be incredibly effective. And to be clear, the blockade is on ships going to and from Iranian ports. And the point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran. Now, while there's a cease fire with respect to the military and kinetic strikes, Operation Economic Fury continues. And the crux of that is this naval blockade. We are choking their, choking their, their economy. We are strangling their main source of revenue. They can't pay their own people. They're losing $500 million every single day. Carg island is completely full of oil because they can't transport it to and from. So the President, the cards are in his hands. The United States maintains control over the situation. He has all of the leverage. And again, that's why he's maintained a little bit of flexibility with the extension of the ceasefire as we await a unified response from the Iranians to the President's very clear proposal.
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And so next, you know, Caroline Levitt and Donald Trump have been pushing the story, which is just not true, about how there were eight beautiful Iranian women who are about to be executed by the regime. And it does seem that there are women who have been arrested, not executed. And they're going through a process there which we can say is, you know, a problem. Sure. But, like, we have to accurately report what's happening. It's not saving these women from execution. That's, that's just, that's not what, what is happening. Let's just stick with the facts about what's actually happening and then we can have a real kind of common sense conversation here. Play this clip.
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Well, first of all, Martha, only President Trump could save the lives of these eight beautiful Iranian women who he has received direct word from the Iranian regime, or what's left of it, that their lives are going to be spared. And that comes as a result of President Trump asking them directly not to kill these young, beautiful women who certainly deserve a chance to continue living their lives freely, peacefully. And now that will happen thanks to President Trump because he's a humanitarian at heart.
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And remember, Donald Trump told the protesters in January, go out and protest, I've got your back. And then didn't have their back. And now what? It's social media posts and Caroline Levin on the White House lawn next. She says that the fact that Iran can send a unified message just shows how effective Operation Epic Fury truly was. And again, when are you talking about Caroline? They have sent a unified message back in early March, if you want to negotiate. Here's our ten point framework. And you all agreed to Iran's ten point framework. So it just doesn't seem like you really want to have a real Negotiation. If you want to go to war, there's a war path where you'll commit war crimes, there's a path you will lose tens of thousands of US Service members, there's a war path. But if you want to negotiate, you have to live in a reality. This isn't like what you get to do with your sycophantic regime media, where you just lie. You have to address the fact that there is a counterparty who's made clear their non negotiables and they've stood on those non negotiables. This ain't Delsey Rodriguez of Venezuela. It's not what this is here. Play this clip of her right here.
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The fact that they cannot send a unified message yet, which is why the President decided to extend the ceasefire, just shows how effective Operation Epic Fury truly was. Because there's a lot of internal division over there. The President understands that. And so we await their response. Yeah, they had one leader, One ayatollah for 37 years who seemed to be able to keep a bit of a lid on all of these disparate groups. But that is sort of an open can of worms after his death in that operation on February 28th. So we'll see if they can get their act together.
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And then she's asked, well, what do you make of Iran just outright mocking you all? Like they're mocking Donald Trump in all of those Lego videos and social media posts, they're mocking Donald Trump for setting deadlines. Then when the deadline approaches, Donald Trump extends the deadline and then makes up an excuse why he extends the deadline. Like, as the ceasefire was about to expire, he said, pakistan told me to do it because Iran needs to get the message from the Ayatollah. Runs like, that's not. That's not true. And when you say that, Donald, when you lie and your counterparty knows that you're not telling the truth and you don't stand on your deadlines, they don't take you seriously, they take you like a clown, and they're making clown videos about you. You know how you used to say, the world is laughing at the end? The world, everybody's laughing at you. But unfortunately, it's more horrified. Iran's laughing at you, but former allies of the United States are horrified because this is causing real pain and suffering. Let's play this clip. So in the same day, the President said that he doesn't want to extend ceasefire and the bombs would start falling after the end of the season. And unilaterally, he declared that the Ceasefire would be extended indefinitely. Iranian state media are openly mocking the President of the United States and say, we didn't even request the extension of the ceasefire.
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What's the response from the President of the United States? The response is, you guys all see a lot of different messaging coming out of Iran, a lot of different rhetoric and language from them. I would caution you to take anything that they say at face value. What we've seen is that what they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the United States and our negotiating team privately. I've said that repeatedly to all of you in the news media, and you should take our word.
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So then Caroline Levitt is asked, so who's in charge with Iran that you're negotiating with? Who are you talking to? And her response is, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because we sat down with those individuals in person. Okay, so you're confirming that the negotiating team is Gallaboff. I just showed you his post. It is Foreign Minister Aragchi. It is that team. It is that team of people. They also had someone from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard there. So that's. They. They had their National Security Council leader who replaced Lara Johnny there. That's who's there. But anyway, play this clip of Caroline Levitt. Let's play it. Who is in charge in Iran and who the administration is even negotiating with?
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Well, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down with those individuals in person. But obviously, there's a lot of internal fraction and internal division, which, again, just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury in the first place. Their regime and many of its leaders for nearly five decades have been wiped off of the face of planet Earth.
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So again, and then one of the things that happened. I'll probably make a longer video on this while all of that was taking place is you had a hearing with RFK Jr. Where RFK Jr. Was asked a pretty basic question by Senator Elizabeth Warren asking, does Donald Trump just make up percentages? Like, where do you get these percentages from? And RFK juniors? Donald Trump does percentages differently. The direct quote is, Donald, President Trump has a different way of calculating percentages. So if you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction based on the way Donald Trump calculates things. Let's play this clip.
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President Trump and the Republicans slashed health care for millions of families. The President pitched his Trump RX website as the answer for Americans who are worried about health care costs. He claims that Trump Rx has reduced prices by as much as 600%. 600%, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs. But let's do some real math here. Take one drug, Protonix. A 30 day supply of this heartburn medication cost $200 on Trump Rx. But there is an identical generic version of this pill called Pantoprazole. Secretary Kennedy, do you know how much it costs for a 30 day supply of that drug at Costco? But I would say this, Senator, do you know what it.
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President Trump has a different way of calculating. If there's two ways of calculating percentage. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to 10, that's a 600% reduction.
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You know, I only have five minutes. Do you know what the drug costs at Costco?
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I do not.
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The drug is $16 at Costco. Trump Rx charges $200 for protonics and Costco charges $16. Let's do another one.
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And then finally, I should point out, as Donald Trump is, you know, screaming and having a meltdown, one of the things we learned is that Donald Trump will now be bailing out Spirit Airlines. Apparently, the US Is going to take control of Spirit Airlines because that's what the communist Trump regime does right now, where the US is going to own 90% of Spirit Airlines in a $500 million rescue plan. Okay, I'm sure that's going to work out well. That's, that's where our taxpayers are taxpayer dollars are going. And Caroline Levitt blames it all on Biden. Here's what she says. Let's play it. There's been some reporting about a possible
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bailout for Spirit Airlines. Can you update us on those talks? And why does the administration think it's a good investment to buy into a bankrupt airline? Well, I understand the airline is bankrupt because the previous administration blocked the merger, which was probably not a wise move. Obviously, this is something the Commerce Department and the President are tracking. I don't have any updates or announcements, but the aviation industry is very important to this president and this White House. Millions of Americans depend on it. We want to see the best possible outcome. But I don't have any announcements.
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You haven't let me know what you all think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks so much for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack@midasplus.com you'll get daily recommendations, recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of Our podcast and more exclusive content Only available@midasplus.com. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless Way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month, of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
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Episode Title: Trump Crashes Out at WH as Navy Chief Fired
Date: April 23, 2026
Hosts: Ben Meiselas, Brett Meiselas, Jordy Meiselas
This episode centers on the sudden resignation of United States Navy Secretary John C. Phelan, a political appointee with no military experience, amid the ongoing and controversial war with Iran. The Meiselas brothers unpack the growing chaos in the Trump White House, the ramifications of Phelan's departure, Trump’s erratic behavior and communications, the failure of the naval blockade strategy, strained Iran-U.S. negotiations, and the surreal White House response. The show is marked by the brothers’ signature mix of humor, sharp critique, and deep concern for the state of American democracy.
[02:01–05:00]
Quote (Ben Meiselas, 02:25):
“Donald Trump continues to crash out in the White House right now, as Iran is just saying, Donald, you can keep on extending your deadlines, but we’re not going to negotiate unless and until you stop threatening us.”
[05:00–07:00]
Quote (Trump from past speech, 06:04):
“I’m a very aesthetic person. I don’t like some of the ships you’re doing. Aesthetically they say, oh it’s stealth. I said that’s not stealth. An ugly ship is not necessary in order to say you’re stealth.”
[07:00–13:00]
Quote (Ben Meiselas, 07:40):
“It’s all projection and confession. The head of our navy has just resigned in the middle of this war… And Donald Trump continues to crash out as a result of all this.”
[12:03–14:00]
Quote (Caroline Levitt, 12:50):
“We are choking their, choking their, their economy. We are strangling their main source of revenue. They can’t pay their own people.”
[14:00–15:08]
Quote (Caroline Levitt, 14:45):
“Only President Trump could save the lives of these eight beautiful Iranian women… now that will happen thanks to President Trump because he’s a humanitarian at heart.”
[16:15–18:31]
Quote (Ben Meiselas, 16:47):
“When you lie and your counterparty knows that you’re not telling the truth and you don’t stand on your deadlines, they don’t take you seriously—they take you like a clown. And they’re making clown videos about you.”
[18:31–19:38]
Quote (Caroline Levitt, 19:16):
“We obviously know who we’re negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down with those individuals in person. But obviously, there’s a lot of internal fraction and internal division, which, again, just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury.”
[19:38–21:45]
Quote (RFK Jr., 21:14):
“President Trump has a different way of calculating. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to 10, that’s a 600% reduction.”
[21:45–22:52]
Quote (Ben Meiselas, 22:00):
“Apparently, the US is going to take control of Spirit Airlines because that’s what the communist Trump regime does right now. Where the US is going to own 90% of Spirit Airlines in a $500 million rescue plan… That’s where our taxpayer dollars are going.”
This high-stakes episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast delivers a blistering, detail-rich critique of the Trump administration’s handling of military and domestic affairs amid wartime crisis. With sharp analysis, revealing soundbites, and a touch of humor, the Meiselas brothers expose the disconnect between White House spin and reality, the chaos sown by crony appointments, and the international consequences of ongoing leadership failures. The episode’s easy-to-follow structure makes it an essential recap for anyone seeking to understand the latest in U.S. politics and the state of democracy.
Important Segments by Timestamp:
Note: This summary omits ads, intros, and closing promotions to focus solely on the podcast’s core content.