Loading summary
Ben
I started Ornod in 2013 and we make bike apparel. The best part of Shopify for me is our ability to run the business as essentially non technical people. We're able to admin everything on the back end, front end and sell things online easily. If Shopify were a bike accessory, I think it would actually be the bicycle. It's the thing that you do the thing on. We run the business on Shopify so start your free trial on shopify.com Summer
Orderly Meds Advertiser
is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP1 may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which GLP1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds.com podcast that's orderlymeds.com podcast taking care of yourself feels great. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual Results VARI Z website for details
Shannon Maldonado
My name is Shannon Maldonado. I'm the founder of Yaoi, a gift shop from the lens of artists and handmade objects. I chose Shopify because when I was testing other platforms it was definitely one of the most user friendly. It was important to me to think about where we would be in the future. All of the tools for reading your sales, like planning inventory, they're just right there on your dashboard. For anyone starting a small business, the biggest thing I can tell you, it doesn't have to be perfect. Shopify can help you build upon it. Start your free trial on shopify.com are
Orderly Meds Advertiser
you noticing your car insurance rate creep up? Even without tickets or claims, you're not alone. That's why there's Jerry, your proactive insurance assistant. Jerry handles the legwork by comparing quotes side by side from over 50 top insurers so you can confidently hit buy. No spam calls, no hidden fees. Jerry even tracks rates and alerts you when it's best to shop. Drivers who save with Jerry could save over $1300 a year. Don't settle for higher rates. Download the Jerry app or visit Jerry AI Libsyn Today. That's J E R R Y AI Libsyn.
Ben
Donald Trump is panicking this morning as the size of the crowds in Tehran continue to grow. What started with millions is now tens of millions of mourners for Ayatollah Khamenei's thousand funeral procession. We're seeing tens of millions of people on the street in Tehran and in surrounding cities. We'll show you some images right here. So now in the Oval Office, Donald Trump is back to saying, well, we're either gonna make a deal with Iran or we're gonna finish the job. It won't be tough for us to finish the job. We're gonna destroy their energy, we're gonna destroy their bridges, we're gonna destroy their big beautiful plants and they like it. We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. Donald Trump says as he threatens the individuals who are out there mourning, essentially the person who is their pope. And as Donald Trump entered into who was their pope, Donald Trump entered into the mou. You did the deal already. What deal are you talk. There's nothing more to negotiate other than to make the deal into a long form agreement. Here's what Donald Trump said. Play this clip.
Donald Trump
Maybe making a deal. I don't know. We'll make either. Look, we're going to win one way or the other. We're either going to make a deal or we're going to finish the job. Okay? And it won't be tough to finish the job. I'd rather make a deal because I don't want to affect 91 million people. We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply. All of those big plants that they built, big, beautiful modern plants, they had a lot of money. They don't have any money now. We haven't given them any money. But we can knock out their electricity and power generating plants in I would say a small part of an afternoon. Every plant will be gone. And they know that.
Ben
Now, Financial Times has confirmed the numbers that we've been telling you. I've seen some of your comments saying, Ben, there's not tens of millions. You're exaggerating. You're being hyperbolic. Come on, Ben. Here's how Financial Times puts it. The funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could see a total of 12 million to 15 million visitors across the days of events, making it one of the largest funerals in modern history. I would say it's the largest funeral ever. Take a look right here, what you can see in Engelab Square and Ezadi Square. I mean, the whole Tehran is filled with people in addition to in the mosque mourning areas as well. Here, playing this clip. So then Donald Trump is like, well, we're doing very well with Iran. We're doing very well with them. You know, we're just not getting the coverage that we deserve. It's really a media thing that, you know, when I say they're fully destroyed and that the people hate the regime there and that they have no radars and militaries, you know, when media says they have a military, they still control the Strait of Hormuz. You're lying about everything. And then show images, man, that's so unfair to the United States. Here, play this.
Donald Trump
Clip them. Hundreds of billions. They have more money than they've ever made. And we're doing very well, paid for the war many times over. And then Iran, we're doing actually equally as well. We're just not getting the kind of coverage that we should. But we have eviscerated them military. And the bottom line is our country is strong. We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. I was with President Xi then.
Ben
Donald Trump said that nobody ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war. Nobody heard of it, he said, but it's a big money machine. You know, you should learn your history. Everybody knew about these Strait of Hormuz. And by the way, I'll give you another piece of history as well. July 3rd of 1988, when the United States military destroyed an Iranian commercial flight, Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290 people. Yeah, the Iranians remember that. And people remember what went down there. Anyway, here, let's play this clip of Donald Trump saying nobody's heard of the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump
The Strait and the famous Strait of Hormuz nobody ever heard of but is some big money machine. I'll tell you what, when you look at the numbers, Michael.
Ben
And then Donald Trump, showing again how just utterly delusional and pathetic he is, starts to brag about TikTok. He goes, you hear about Tic Tac? People say that I get better ratings on TikTok than Taylor Swift. Okay, so he's like terrified of the size of the crowds in Tehran. He's lying and saying that more people watch him on TikTok than anything. Just. And this is what you're saying from the Oval Office. And by the way, this is supposed to be like a press conference on what he calls the Trump accounts, Investment accounts for babies, where it invests In S&P 500 ETFs, these exchange traded funds. Here, just play this clip of what he says.
Donald Trump
About two days ago, the new numbers just came out. You know who the number one person in TikTok is by far Trump? Me. I just got they. I'm number one. Like Taylor Swift was number 11. I'm number one in TikTok by far.
Ben
Then Donald Trump's like, every time I see these crypto guys who are getting rich, I say to them, you're so lucky you got me. You're so lucky because otherwise you'd be under investigation. So you're very lucky you have me. I mean, can the corruption get any more obvious? Let's play it.
Donald Trump
They allowed people to come out of jail. And every time I see a crypto guy that where they dropped an investigation, I said, you're lucky I'm president. Because they, you know, I don't know if, you know, the Biden administration became totally pro crypto.
Ben
Here you have mourners at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral throwing stones at a billboard of Donald Trump. We can just show you that. Let's play it. And you can see over here, people in Tehran held signs up like this. We will end you, Donald, thank you for your attention to this matter. Here's. If you look in the crowd, you see lots of signs like this. Sooner or later, your heads will roll. And it's a photo of Donald Trump and people in his regime. Mourners throwing. You saw that? Lots of messages threatening Donald Trump. That's out there. Meanwhile, the world's on fire. I did a video this morning. We know this weekend Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke for 90 minutes. And then shortly thereafter, Putin launched one of his biggest ballistic missile strikes on Kiev since the war began. I think right now it's over 20 people killed striking in the heart of Kyiv. By the way, we've also seen. I'll show you the video right here showing a Ukrainian drone slamming into the Omsk refinery, which is Russia's largest refinery in Ukraine's longest distance drone strike yet. Several hits on various infrastructure within the facility have been recorded. Here's a closer view of the fire over there. This was probably 2,500 km away from, from Ukraine. And lots of people are saying that the way these drones had to attack, they actually went 3,500km to attack from a direction that Russia didn't expect. Let me show you the Omsk refinery. And again, this is one of the biggest refineries in all of Russia. Here. Let's play this. So then Donald Trump said, as it relates to Russia's war on Ukraine, I think we're getting much closer than people realize. I think we're getting much closer to, to solving it. We're very close to getting a deal, promised he would get it done not just on day one, but 24 hours after the election. The guy lies about everything. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump
I think we're getting much closer than people realize. And President Putin wants it to end. I will tell you that very strongly. Good call. And President Zelensky actually wants it to end now. And we're going to be going to NATO and we're going to be talking about it. And I think we're going to get it. I think we're going to get it ended. It's been terrible.
Ben
And then he goes on to brag about calling up Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA, and having FIFA reverse a red card against one of the top US Players. UEFA put out a statement on Fowler and Baligan getting the red card reversed and playing in tonight's game. Here's what Donald Trump had to say. You know, if Belgium beats us, they could be proud. But otherwise the refs were rigging it against the United states. Like the 2020 election. Donald Trump says a big committee.
Donald Trump
And after reviewing it, I think they said, look, it's this would. This game would have a big mark on it if we lost, if we won. No matter what happened, you have to let them use their best players. And the game tonight's going to be amazing and we're going to have a full team and Belgium is going to have a full team. And you know what? If they beat us, then they can be really proud the other way. If they beat us, we'll say it was. I say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020. But I won't get into that, ladies and gentlemen.
Ben
And then Ted Cruz was bragging about Donald Trump getting the red card reversed. This hadn't happened, I think, ever in FIFA history, reversing a red card and a red card. That was then confirmed on the review. Here's what Ted Cruz has to say. And on behalf of all Americans, thank you for getting rid of that ridiculous red card.
Donald Trump
This is his interest. It was spectacular.
Ben
There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did. Mr. President, here's the statement from the European Soccer Football Federation statement on decision related to Fuller and Baligan. Yesterday's decision to suspend a probationary period a year. The implementation of the one match automatic suspension following the red card issue to Foller and Baligan crossed a red line. Football, like any other sport, relies on rules which are the basis for fair, honest and transparent competition. Sometimes rules are open to interpretation. In this case not at a minimum. Automatic suspension of one match following a red card is not a discretionary option and does not require the decision of a competent body to be enacted. And it goes on to criticize the decision. Meanwhile, you had Benjamin Netanyahu going on state regime, media Fox this morning and saying that only Israel should be able to have F35s and not Turkey or no one else in the Middle east, because he says the entire security infrastructure of the Middle east relies on Israel and the United States imposing its military will and that you shouldn't give F35s to any other countries. Here's what he says.
Donald Trump
I don't think they should be given F35s or the engines for their fighter jets because that'll upset the power balance in the Middle east, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America's posture in the Middle East.
Ben
And then Netanyahu says that the only reason why Iran is still standing is because of goons, a few hundred thousand goons. That's why. And otherwise, if it wasn't for these few hundred thousand goons, we would have been able to take it over. Donald Trump and Netanyahu would have conquered all of Iran. And you see all the people out there at the funeral who were just ready and willing and so excited to have Netanyahu rule over Iran because they saw the genocide in Gaza and the genocide in Lebanon and they said, this is precisely what we want. Come on. This is what he's saying this morning. Play this clip. We've had over 13,000 strikes on them.
Donald Trump
You've had over 8,000 strikes on them. Why is that government still standing? Because it has a few hundred thousand goons who kill murder in broad daylight and at night. They murder their own people. They murder.
Ben
You've got Donald Trump making posts this morning of National Guard looking at the reflecting pool. By the way, the reflecting pool looks green today and it has all this ash from that disastrous firework show. Donald Trump making weird posts about himself sitting courtside at a nick game from the 1990s. And then he writes or he reposts someone who says, thanks to trumponomics, the US Economy is hotter than the New York Knicks. Like, why are you making sports so damn weird, too? And conflating it with the economy, which is bad and where most Americans are suffering right now. Yeah, maybe not Michael Dell, the billionaire who's in there, whose stock went up. You saw Dell behind him after these Trump accounts were announced and that Dell was going to make a philanthropic investment in the Trump accounts. And then the Dell stock goes up right there. But most Americans are suffering right now can't afford anything, can't afford homes. Most Americans feel they're going through a great depression, but Trump says we're never been harder. I also want to point this out as well. I'll just show you a little clip of this. We don't need to show the full minute. So last night we had Delsey Rodriguez and d' Estado Cabello giving medals thanking the US Search and rescue teams in La Guera. We have to give them, we have to get everything has to be medals now. So we have the authoritarian regime of Venezuela that held up aid to the people of Venezuela following the earthquakes and who did not do a good job in deploying search and rescue teams. There's still tens of thousands of people missing and presumed dead over or close to 3,000 confirmed dead. That's going to increase dramatically. And now we're handing out medals. And the person handing out the medals while America's like envoy is standing right there is a guy who, there was a $25 million bounty on him. But that's the Trump regime for you. The Trump regime. Let's play it.
Shannon Maldonado
Received by six.
Ben
Grandma
Shannon Maldonado
happy.
Donald Trump
Thank you.
Ben
Thank you. Happy independence day. And then the weakness of the Trump regime obviously being demonstrated. China sees how weak they are. China's navy just successfully test fired a nuclear capable ballistic missile carrying a training simulation warhead from a strategic submarine into the Pacific high seas. The launch triggered swift condemnations from New Zealand, Japan, Papua New guinea, who called it a threat to regional stability. We don't hear anything from Donald Trump. Kim Jong Un of North Korea did a cruise missile test over the weekend as well, bragging about their nuclear capabilities. But Donald Trump and Michael Dell in the Oval Office bragging about their helicopters. And Michael Dell goes, sir, we don't have a helicopter. We call it a delicopter. It's the delicopter, everybody. Let's play it.
Donald Trump
Every question is a kill. You know that. Every question, every question's a kill.
Ben
Sir, we don't have a helicopter.
Donald Trump
We have a delicopter.
Ben
There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think about all of this. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thank you for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack@midasplus.com you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of our podcast and more extensive exclusive content only available@midasplus.com.
Episode: Trump Panics as Crowd Threatens Him
Date: July 6, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
Theme: Trump’s Panicked Response to Global Events, Crowds in Iran, and the State of Global Democracy
In this episode, the Meiselas brothers break down a series of dramatic events on the global and domestic stage with their signature blend of legal analysis, media-savvy insights, and brotherly banter. The discussion centers on Donald Trump’s embattled reactions to mass demonstrations in Iran during Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral, his grandstanding regarding international diplomacy and pop culture, Russia’s latest aggressive moves in Ukraine, escalating global tensions, and the fragility of democratic norms in the U.S. and abroad.
[02:07] Ben opens the show by highlighting the unprecedented size of public mourning in Tehran after the death of Ayatollah Khamenei, noting estimates of 12 to 15 million mourners.
[06:52] The discussion shifts to increasingly erratic claims from Trump during a so-called press conference:
[08:27] Ben describes scenes from Iran, including:
[09:30] Ben details the aftermath of a recent Trump-Putin call:
[11:28] The hosts discuss Trump’s purported intervention in international soccer:
[14:20] The conversation shifts to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Fox interview:
[15:31]–[17:00] Ben discusses:
[17:41]–[19:00]
The brothers are relentless in their critique, using sharp humor, incredulity, and exasperation to highlight what they see as Trump’s ignorance, corruption, and the absurdities of authoritarian politics. Their advocacy for democracy and rational governance underpins the entire conversation, with pointed reminders of the stakes for both the US and the world.
If you haven’t tuned in, this episode offers a whirlwind, often hilarious but deeply concerned dissection of current global flashpoints, filtered through the unique dynamic of the Meiselas siblings—part legal clinic, part media call-out, always explicitly pro-democracy.