Trump Has 12:30am Meltdown as He Hides War Losses

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Trump Has 12:30am Meltdown as He Hides War Losses
Date: July 16, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the chaotic late-night behavior of Donald Trump, focusing on his erratic social media posts, efforts to distract from the escalating war in Iran and its apparent U.S. casualties, and his administration’s controversial imposition of tariffs on Brazil. The Meiselas brothers deliver their signature combination of sharp political commentary, humor, and urgent calls for civic engagement as they unpack the latest tumultuous events and illuminate their broader ramifications for democracy, U.S. foreign policy, and the state of the economy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s 12:30am Social Media Meltdown

(02:30 – 06:04)

• Ben describes Trump’s erratic behavior: “Donald Trump was having a meltdown at 12:30am making deranged post after deranged post as his regime appears to be covering up U.S. casualties...”
• Trump’s social media blitz is framed as a tactic to distract from serious issues: ongoing war casualties, economic downturn, depleting Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
• Trump boasts about being “number one on TikTok”—a claim Ben ridicules as baseless:

  “He’s posting videos of himself at 12:30am bragging that he's number one on TikTok... he’s not number one. He's posting weird videos of himself from like the early 90s.” (03:20)

• Trump’s other odd late-night posts include old racing photos and a video of advisor Dan Scavino bowling.

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2. U.S. War with Iran: Casualty Cover-ups and Escalation

(02:30 – 04:39; 07:10 – 09:19)

• Discussion of consecutive U.S. air evacuations from Saudi Arabia to Germany, with official denials of casualties fueling skepticism.
• Footage described from U.S. bombing raids in Tehran, countering Trump’s claims that Iranian air defenses were "obliterated":

  “But I thought Donald Trump said that he obliterated all of Iran’s anti aircraft and air defense systems... seems like they certainly got a defense system.” (08:15)

• Trump’s attempt to spin U.S.-Iran relations by boasting about “goodwill gestures” from Iran, in sharp contradiction to the ongoing violence:

  “What are you even talking about? You appreciate the goodwill by what? By bombing Tehran? By bombing right next to a children’s hospital last night...” (09:18)

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3. Economic Woes and Manipulation

(04:53 – 05:46; 06:11 – 07:21)

• Trump’s administration quietly imposed 25% tariffs on Brazil during the night, allegedly to pressure the country into supporting Flavio Bolsonaro, son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro.

  “So Trump and Bolsonaro’s kid coordinated tariffs to inflict pain on Brazil in order to extort Brazil. And that was implemented last night as part of Marco Rubio’s attempt to work with Donald Trump to dominate the Western hemisphere in a new form of extortive imperialism...” (05:03)

• Ben references the Harvard Harris poll, emphasizing that Americans view the economy as worse under Trump than under Biden (59% to 41% prefer the previous state under Biden).
• Analysis of inflation: Biden had to "put out the arson" from Trump’s first term. Trump’s tariffs and massive war expenditures are driving present-day inflation.

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4. Data Centers, AI, and Jobs

(09:19 – 11:08)

• Trump extols data centers as "liquid gold" and job creators—claims Ben vehemently disputes:

  “If you want to know why there’s a jobs recession right now, it’s because AI data centers are wiping out jobs. And also your tariffs against the world are destroying hospitality jobs.” (10:14)

• Trump touts supposed benefits of data centers: lower taxes, surplus utilities for communities; Ben argues communities actually suffer higher energy prices and pollution.
• Ben laments Democratic leadership’s failure to capitalize on the unpopularity of these policies.

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5. Trump’s Wealth Policies & Elitism

(11:53 – 12:21)

• Ben highlights Trump’s gloating about tax breaks helping the ultra-rich:

  “You know what I like about my big beautiful bill?... It helped my friends buy private jets.” (11:53)

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6. Energy Policy Disinformation

(12:21 – 13:40)

• Trump’s Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, touts data centers as tools to “stop the rise in electricity prices,” twisting facts about their actual impacts on grids and pricing:

  “Data centers are the greatest tool we have right now to stop the rise of electricity prices... In fact, that’s the solution, not the problem.” – Energy Secretary (12:50)

• Ben’s reaction:

  “Data centers use electricity. They don’t make electric. Why is the energy secretary saying data centers make electricity? WTF America?” (12:21)

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7. Political Gaslighting and Extremism

(13:40 – 14:28)

• Ben slams Trump for posting about a “Trump coin” while Americans suffer.
• MAGA Republican senator refuses to affirm Georgia’s Democratic Senators Ossoff and Warnock as legitimately elected.

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8. Trump’s Saber-Rattling on Iran

(14:35 – 15:09)

• Trump administration paints Iran as desperate for “settlement,” with Chris Wright claiming imminent victory:

  “They want to settle so badly. They don’t like what we’re doing and they do want to settle... we’ll have Iran defeated soon.” (14:36; 14:54)

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9. Brazil Tariff Scandal & International Fallout

(15:15 – 17:09)

• Ben describes the unlawful tariff campaign against Brazil as interference to help the Bolsonaro political dynasty.
• Brazil’s President Lula denounces the move as a historic low in U.S.-Brazil relations and as interference driven by “electoral objectives” and the Bolsonaro family.

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10. Final Reflections and Call to Action

(17:09 – end)

• Ben encourages viewers to pre-order the brothers’ new book, “WTF America?” exploring the deeper international and domestic crises.
• Emphasis on democratic engagement: “Let’s get to 7 million subscribers.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ben on Distraction:

  “Don’t pay attention to the catastrophic war. Don’t pay attention to the fact that I’m crashing the economy.” (04:44)

• Trump Boasting:

  "I'm number one on TikTok. Can you believe it? I'm number one. Look at those numbers.” — as impersonated by Chris Wright (05:48)

• Ben’s Cynicism:

  “He posted that at 12:37am... I'm not going to play it.” (03:44)

• Ben on Unfounded Claims:

  “Data centers use electricity. They don’t make electric. Why is the energy secretary saying data centers make electricity? WTF America?” (12:21)

• President Lula of Brazil:

  “This will go down in history as one of the worst days in relations between the United States and Brazil... driven by electoral objectives… Protecting our sovereignty is an obligation that stands above all parties and all trends.” (16:35–16:40)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:30 — Analysis of Trump’s late-night meltdown and regime tactics
• 04:53 — Trump’s tariffs on Brazil and the “Don Row Doctrine”
• 06:11 — Harvard Harris Poll: Americans prefer the pre-Trump economy
• 07:21 — Bombing and conflict coverage: Tehran under attack
• 09:19 — Trump’s “goodwill” claims about Iran
• 10:14 — Data centers, AI, job losses, and tariffs’ economic impact
• 11:53 — Trump boasts about helping friends buy private jets
• 12:21 — Energy secretary’s misleading data center claims; Ben’s outrage
• 13:40 — The Trump coin post and questioning of U.S. Senators’ legitimacy
• 14:36 — Saber-rattling soundbites about “defeating” Iran
• 15:15 — Deep dive on the Brazilian tariffs and the Bolsonaros
• 16:35 — President Lula’s condemnation of U.S. intervention
• 17:09 — Outro: Book promotion and call to action

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Tone and Style

The conversation blends sharp, sometimes incredulous political analysis with the Meiselas brothers' trademark humor and urgency. Anger and exasperation at Trump’s “arsonist” tactics and admiration for political fighters like Senator Ossoff come through loud and clear, as do moments of comic relief (“WTF America?!”) and heartfelt calls for audience engagement.

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Summary

This episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast offers a scathing, thorough unpacking of Donald Trump’s latest chaotic maneuvers—his performative social media distractions, disturbing foreign policy decisions, economic mismanagement, and efforts to undermine democracy both at home and abroad. The Meiselas brothers’ mix of wit, rage, and analysis provides a vital lens for understanding the tumult of July 2026, culminating in a passionate appeal for civic action and real leadership.

Transcript

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[Ben (Political Commentator)]

Donald Trump was having a meltdown at 12:30am making deranged post after deranged post as his regime appears to be covering up U.S. casualties or at least very serious injuries, and his catastrophic escalation of the war in Iran. Here's what we are learning. A third medical evacuation mission from the Middle east took place in the last five days. A US Air Force C17A Globemaster conducted two patient pickups in Saudi Arabia before continuing to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Now, the US Says there's no casualties and don't even pay attention to what's happening here. But earlier this week, there was another medevac mission that appeared to rendezvous with a patient as well. When you look at some of the kind of satellite and air traffic data now, this does not independently confirm that there are indeed combat casualties, but as this one account notes, it does raise a lot of serious questions. What is actually going on? And of course, Donald Trump wants to distract from that. He wants to distract from the fact that the Strategic Petroleum Reserves continue to be depleted. So what does Donald Trump, a WMD weapon and mass distraction, do? Well, he's posting videos of himself at 12:30am bragging that he's number one on TikTok, as he calls TikTok, even though he's not number one. I don't even know what data he's talking about. He's not number one. He's posting weird videos of himself from like the early 90s. And it's like Donald Trump is a trailblazer. He's posting these weird photos of like the Trump 250 Grand Prix, whatever the hell he's doing now. He's doing, he's turning Washington D.C. into like a, like a racetrack. He's posting weird videos of Dan Scavino, one of his top advisors, bowling. I mean, he posted that at 12:37am this video of Dan Scavino bowling, which I'm not going to play.

I'll just, Let me just show you

a short clip of like, what the TikTok video is.

Look, I'm number one on TikTok, everybody.

Don't pay attention to the catastrophic war. Don't pay attention to the fact that I'm a crashing the economy.

Don't pay attention to the fact that

the United States, by the way, just

imposed 25% across the board tariffs on Brazil. Yeah, last night when you were sleeping, the Trump regime imposed 25% tariffs on Brazil because the Trump regime wants to install Flavio Bolsonaro the insurrectionist, former President Jair Bolsonaro's kid to become the leader. So Trump and Bolsonaro's kid coordinated tariffs to inflict pain on Brazil in order to extort Brazil. And that was implemented last night as part of Marco Rubio's attempt to work with Donald Trump to to dominate the Western hemisphere in a new form of extortive imperialism that we're seeing right now when Donald Trump calls that the Don Row doctrine, just straight up trying to destroy the Western hemisphere. Let me just show you first this video that Donald Trump made of him saying, I'm number one on TikTok.

Here, play. Just play a short clip of it.

[Chris Wright (Energy Secretary)]

I'm number one on TikTok. Can you believe it? I'm number one. Look at those numbers.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

And then this was a short clip

of the video again. He's releasing these videos at midnight into

1am Here, play this clip would make

a less daring man shudder to think

[Unnamed Political Figure (Discussing Energy Policy)]

about the arc of where he's been.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

It's like some sort of mythical story or something.

And these weird photos of himself with this Grand Prix race thing.

Look, the American people see what's going on in the latest Harvard Harris poll right here when the question was this is the independence.

Is the economy today better or worse than it was when Biden was president?

Overwhelmingly, 59% to 41% say the economy

was better under former President Biden.

Now let's be honest in the sense that the first two years under former President Biden, it was rough, inflation was high. You can't deny that. However, it was because he was the firefighter putting out the arson. He had to fix what Trump destroyed. During Donald Trump's first term, when Trump didn't only mishandle Covid Trump caused catastrophic calamity. Biden had to come in, be an adult, fix it. He did fix it. We he left with 3% inflation. Now inflation significantly higher. Inflation was going to be at 2% Trump tariff. The world is involved in this catastrophic

war in Iran that he entered into

with Netanyahu, that he wants to escalate and the American people are suffering. It's obvious we're way worse off than

we were under former President Biden.

And just while Donald Trump's making those deranged posts, while it appears there's a cover up of casualties taking place, let me just play for you this video. This is some of the scenes from Tehran last night during an extensive U.S. bombing campaign. And there was also outside of Tehran,

Iran had its air defenses where it was shooting at the US planes.

But first let me show you these scenes from Tehran. Let's play it.

[Ben's Brother (Co-author)]

Now.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

We'll just show you a which is

the scenes just outside of Tehran. But I thought Donald Trump said that he obliterated all of Iran's anti aircraft and air defense systems. It seems like they're shooting stuff at the. Seems like they certainly got a defense system. And again, as I said before, we know that there are med evac planes in the area attached to the US that are going from the Middle east to Germany. What they're doing, we don't know. But anyway, let me play this clip. Then. Donald Trump made this weird post. Iran has allowed an American citizen who was wrongfully detained in December 2024 under the presidency of sleepy Joe Biden to leave the country. She's now safely outside of IR Iran

and in good condition.

The United States appreciates this gesture of goodwill by the Iranian president. What are you even talking about? You appreciate the goodwill by what? By bombing Tehran? By bombing right next to a children's hospital last night where a children's cancer treatment center had to be evacuated. Well, while you were attacking a mineral water facility in Iran. Oh, and by the way, late last night, Donald Trump bragging how much he loves data centers, right? He goes, everybody loves data centers. Trump says it's liquid gold. Trump says one of the biggest driving forces in the future for jobs are data centers. They're big, strong, bold, they're money machines, they're cash cows, they're liquid gold. He says they will lower taxes and they create record setting jobs. Really it's kind of the opposite.

If you want to know why there's

a jobs recession right now, it's because AI data centers are wiping out jobs. And also your tariffs against the world are, are destroying hospitality jobs. I can go on and on and on. Then Donald Trump goes, they the data centers must pay for their own water and power. And any leftover goes back to the state and local communities. They're tremendous wins. Donald Trump says for states and communities. Donald Trump is saying the data centers are the greatest thing for the communities. Why don't you ask communities where there are data centers how that's going for their electrical prices, how that's going for their health, how that's going for the community in general, how it's going for pollution and for the noise. You see community saying data centers, data centers. Quite the contrary. And by the way, where the hell

are the Democrats on this? Or anybody. This should be an issue that's so easy.

It's handed to you on a silver platter. Not because it's the politically expedient thing to do, because it's the right thing to do. Oh, by the way, that's why I wrote this book, WTF America?

[Ben's Brother (Co-author)]

Right here.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

That's the exact, one of the exact reasons, you know, this issue. Some of these things just aren't political issues. I mean, it's just WTF America? I wrote this with my brothers. I'll put the scan the QR code, pre order it. The book comes out in October. I'll talk more about it in a moment as well. But it's like, wtf? Like, you hear what Trump saying, just stand up. And by the way, that's why I like people like Senator Ossoff, you know, who's out there fighting, and stay, you know, and stand it up. And there are some Democratic fighters as well. And then look, wtf You've got Donald Trump saying yesterday, yesterday.

You know what I like about my big beautiful bill?

It helped my friends buy private jets. It helped my friends. Yeah, yeah, WTF America? Here, play this clip right here.

[Chris Wright (Energy Secretary)]

We delivered 100% expensing. And that expensing, I think we write it off in one year. I have friends that bought things that frankly, they didn't need. I have a friend that never flew on a private plane in his life and he ended up going out buying a very expensive private plane because of expensing one year.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

Then his energy secretary, Chris Wright, goes on and he's like, he's like, you know, he was like, data centers are the greatest tool we have now to stop the rise in electricity prices. Data centers use electricity. They don't make electric. Why is the energy secretary saying data centers make electricity? WTF America? Wtf? Pre order here, play this clip.

[Unnamed Political Figure (Discussing Energy Policy)]

And of course, unfortunately, Governor Hochul has it exactly backwards. Data centers are the greatest tool we have right now to stop the rise of electricity prices and ultimately to bring them back down. It's the Democrat green energy policies that have driven energy prices up in New York State actually shrunk their total electricity production. I mean, they banned fracking. They blocked a pipeline to bring natural gas, the biggest source of energy in New York. They closed the Indian Point nuclear reactor. They passed these crazy green energy mandates and an insane climate law. So the energy is expensive in New York and now sparse because of bad Democrat policies. Nothing to do with data centers. In fact, that's the solution, not the problem.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

Then you have Donald Trump posting yesterday again, Walt, while the American people are suffering, while Americans are psychologically Tortured from this regime. This is a real post. The Trump coin. The Trump coin. Everybody here, play this clip. Yeah. Wtf. What the hell? Then this MAGA Republican senator is out there. MAGA Republican senator. She's out there and she's asked, in your mind, are Senator Ossoff and Warnock duly elected? Here, play this clip. In your mind, are Senators Ossoff and

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Warnock duly chosen and sworn?

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

I don't know yet. WTF America? Then Donald Trump says Iran wants to settle so badly.

Here, play this clip.

[Chris Wright (Energy Secretary)]

They want to settle so badly. They don't like what we're doing and they do want to settle. We'll find out whether or not we settle with them or we just finish it off.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

And he says Iran, Iran, they want to settle soon. We. They want to do a deal. They want to settle. They want to be. They'll be defeated. Here, just play this other clip of

[Chris Wright (Energy Secretary)]

them booming and we'll have Iran defeated soon. They'll be defeated very soon. And then I guess a, it'll be even better. But you know, even during this, it's been, it's been amazing.

[Ben (Political Commentator)]

I mean, I know. So utterly embarrassing. And then again, late last night, as I noted earlier, you had Marco Rubio

announced 25% tariffs on most Brazilian imports. And if you're saying, Ben, I thought the Supreme Court declared the tariffs unlawful, you'd be right. So the Trump regime tried one scheme, tried another scheme, and now they did something that they call Section 301 investigations, where even though America has a trade surplus with Brazil, a surplus in the amount of nearly $450 million, the Trump regime declared the trade tactics by Brazil to be an unlawful cartel harming the United States President Lula, Brazil, who's in

an election against Jair Bolsonaro's son. Jair Bolsonaro is convicted of engaging in an insurrection and he's basically thrown in prison by the Brazilian Supreme Court for

the rest of his life.

Lula's running against Jair's kid, Flavio Bolsonaro.

Lula leads by about depending on the poll. There's two rounds.

The first rounds, October, then there's a runoff, but anywhere from 10 to 20%.

But it could potentially narrow. So Donald Trump, Rubio, the Trump regime wants the insurrection people, so they root for the Bolson there. They're trying to push the Bolsonaros. So even here, what Lula says right

here, this will go down in history

as one of the worst days in

relations between the United States and Brazil.

This happened last night. And then Lula says exactly what it is that this is part of the plot with the active collaboration of the Bolsonaro family, driven by electoral objectives. One cannot love Brazil only when we win elections. Protecting our sovereignty is an obligation that stands above all parties and all trends. By the way, in WTF America, I focus a lot on the international issues

as well, not just the gamesmanship of

day to day politics.

What's going on internationally?

So hit subscribe, Help us get to 7 million subscribers. Get a copy, pre order WTF America? There's the QR code. Just scan the QR code and pre order it now. Thanks for watching. Appreciate you and hopefully you like the buy. Spent a long time, a lot of sleepless nights writing this book. Thanks for watching everybody. We appreciate you. Let's get to 7 million subscribers to it. Hit the QR code.

[Ben's Brother (Co-author)]

Breaking news right now. My brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America? And well, doesn't that just say it all? It comes out officially this October, but you can pre order your copy today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description below.

[Sam]

Sam.