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Political Commentator
Another Pina colada?
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Donald Trump
Fantastic.
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Political Commentator
You're hired and you're hired.
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Political Commentator
Shopify.com setup Donald Trump is panicking as Putin's trip to China is clearly scaring him. Donald Trump left China with nothing but some rose seeds. That was Xi Jinping's gift to Donald Trump. In contrast, Vladimir Putin got a much bigger welcome than Donald Trump. And then as a parting gift, Xi Jinping displayed the Unbreakable Friendship of Great Nations Strategic Partnership of Great Powers exhibit at the premises of the Great hall of the People in Beijing. And this Exhibit featured gigantic photos of Xi Jinping next to Vladimir Putin. And the theme of this exhibit was Unbreakable Alliance. And clearly you have Xi Jinping and Putin sending a message to Donald Trump about how weak and pathetic he is. Putin and Xi Jinping also signed numerous documents announcing a multipolar world order. Again, another jab at Donald Trump. And then Xi Jinping gave Putin a much bigger welcome than even Donald Trump got right after Trump showed up. So just think about this. Right before Donald Trump shows up in China. Who's there? Iran's foreign minister, Iraqi. Then Trump shows up and says, oh, you're so strong and you're so powerful. Xi Jinping gives Donald Trump some rose seeds to leave, knowing that the rose garden was destroyed by Donald Trump and Melania. Then Putin shows up immediately. And then Xi Jinping builds out this entire exhibit called Unbreakable Alliance. So Donald Trump was asked about it. What do you make of Xi Jinping's meeting with Putin that just took place? And Donald Trump was on the tarmac earlier today. Here's what he had to say. Let's play this clip. What do you make of President Xi meeting with Putin this week?
Donald Trump
Well, he told me he was going to. I think it's good. I get along with both of them, but I think it's good. I don't know if the ceremony is quite as brilliant as mine. I watched. I think we topped him. I think we topped him. Good team. But no, I like, I get along with Putin. I get along with, I get along with everybody but your husband and a few others on the Iran deal.
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Political Commentator
And then Donald Trump said, but look, folks, I'm 99% approval in Israel. So after being president in the United States, I think I'm going to run for prime Minister of Israel. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump
I'm right now at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime minister. So maybe after I do this, I'll go to Israel, run for prime minister. At a poll this morning, I'm 99%, so that's good.
Political Commentator
But now Donald Trump is scared about a lot of things this morning. And so we saw a major market manipulation take place today. It takes place every day under this regime, but this one was fairly flagrant and blatant. Let me show you what went down. So we learned earlier this morning, as Joe Wiesenthal and others reported, the U.S. strategic Petroleum Reserve just saw its largest one week drawdown in history, both on an absolute basis and on a percentage basis. This is not good. US crude oil inventories fell by 17.7 million barrels last week. Again, that's the largest drawdown in history. And this drop was announced 15 minutes after an anonymous Pakistani report talked about an imminent United States and Iran peace agreement. And again, this appears to be coordinated market manipulation. This kind of Pakistani linked source to a media outlet called Al Hadad said the following and then it got picked up on the various news wires and this brought down the price of oil. At the time that we learned of this historic and devastating drawdown of petroleum reserves, this is what we learned. This was, this is what the wire headline read. Possible Washington Tehran deal nearest finalization work is underway to finalize the text of a Washington Tehran agreement, according to Al Hadath sources. With negotiations reportedly advancing in earnest, sources say a final deal could be announced within hours. And Pakistan's army chief does not travel to Iran, suggesting key diplomatic steps are nearing completion. And what did that do? You see US oil prices fall about 7% to 10% to about $97 per barrel. As you know, you have that announcement and Donald Trump's like, we're moving closer, we're moving closer, but let's look at what's actually happening. Right? You take a look at what's happening in Iran. Their parliament leader, their lead negotiator, M.B. golubov, just said the following this morning, enemy movements, both overt and covert and covert indicate that they are seeking a new round of war. The people should be assured that our military forces have used the ceasefire opportunity in the best possible way to rebuild and strengthen their capabilities. We will make the enemy regret any renewed aggression against Iran. Also, Golubov says he quotes here JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, Chapter 11, quote, we felt trapped in two unwinnable wars and a disproportionate share of fighters came from our neighborhood. And then Golubov says hillbilly too. Incoming America's poor and forgotten will foot the bill for the Bro Ligarcs diamond, the Demon and the Beltway war merchants. Donald Trump on the tarmac again moments ago. He goes, I'm in no hurry. When it comes to this war, I'm in no hurry. Oh, the midterms. I'm in no hurry. Here, play this clip right here on the Iran deal.
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Would you be open to a limited deal that just covered the Strait of Hormuz?
Donald Trump
What does that mean on Iran?
Political Commentator
Just a limited deal, just for a longer ceasefire.
Donald Trump
We'd have to open the straight that would open immediately. So we're going to give this one shot. I'm in no hurry. You never think, oh, the midterms, I'm in a hurry. I'm in no hurry. I just, ideally, I'd like to see few people killed as opposed to a lot. We can do it either way, but. But I'd like to see a few people killed. I just wonder whether or not they have the good of the people, because some of the things they're doing to me means they don't have the good of the people, and they have to have the good of the people.
Political Commentator
Now, one of the things that we also learned took place late last night is that Donald Trump and Netanyahu held a phone call. Israel's News 12 described it as lengthy and dramatic. Donald Trump then told the press that he would allow two to three days for negotiations to play out earlier this week. And then today on the tarmac, Donald Trump was asked about that conversation with Netanyahu. And Donald Trump's like, he's fine. I'll just, he'll, he'll do whatever I want. The US And Israel are obviously coordinating this hour by hour about what's taking place here. Play this clip. What have you said to Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to hold off on strikes?
Donald Trump
Fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's very, very good man. He'll do whatever I want him to do. And he's a great guy. To me, he's a great guy. Don't forget he was a wartime prime minister.
Political Commentator
Then a reporter asked Donald Trump, are you worried about any of. I know big priority for you right now is the ballroom funding. And we see a lot of MAGA Republican supporting it, but we also see some Republicans who are not support. A little bit worried in the Senate about giving all this ballroom money. What do you make of it? And Donald Trump's like, you know, look, this is for our military. The ballroom is for our military. It's a strong military position for our people that we do this ballroom. A strong military position. Come on, what are we even talking about here, folks? There's so many people here in the United States who are struggling and suffering, and you have all of this taking place. Let's play this clip.
Donald Trump
Some of them don't know how to win. I know how to win. I think I've proven that, haven't I?
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Are you worried about the ballroom funding, Mr. President? There's speculation that could be.
Donald Trump
The ballrooms are being built. I'm building the ballroom. We saw it yesterday, right? Yeah, we're building a great ballroom. It's been needed. It's a very military complex. The roof is actually a drone port. The roof of the ballroom is a drone port. And it gives great safety to everything below. We're building a really great ballroom, but it's, it's also a military, strong military position for our people.
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Political Commentator
As Donald Trump is out there talking about ballrooms and as they're manipulating the market and as Donald Trump says that he would become the next Prime Minister of Israel, real disturbing images were posted and videos were posted by Israeli Security Minister Ben gvir. He visited one of these detention centers or camps where the global Samud flotilla activists, the international flotilla activists are being held. And it was a really horrible video, you know, and he's taunting the individuals who were detained and he's screaming at them, and they're, you see that they're in these horrible conditions. And he's posting it, kind of gloating about the situation. And it's really horrible, really horrible stuff. But, but that's, that's Trump and Netanyahu for you right there. Netanyahu is. Ah, that doesn't represent. Yeah, come on, come on. That's, that's, that's the Trump Netanyahu regime for you. Donald Trump then sends HUD Secretary Scott Turner out there to try to do his bidding. Here's what he said moments ago. Let's play it. What do you want to say about
Donald Trump
this spike in mortgage rates today?
Political Commentator
What can you do. And what should be done in terms of getting these rates lower?
HUD Secretary Scott Turner
Well, good morning, Maria. It's always great to be with you. You know, the president is laser focused on keeping our country safe. You know, to not have an evil regime, to have a nuclear weapon. The president is focused on that, to make sure that Americans and American people are.
Political Commentator
You see the American people, you know, I mean, by the way, 7% mortgage, most Americans can't get any mortgage at all right now. Americans can't afford their rent. They're renters and they can't afford their rent yet alone. Yet alone afford a home. And we're seeing foreclosure, delinquencies, skyrocket right now. But you do see these kind of the, what do you call them, the brologarchs, the oligarchs, these right wing oligarchs. You know, they're never, they're getting richer and richer and richer. And you know, you have Jeff Bezos, for example, giving an interview at cnbc and like, this is the ridiculous thing that he had to say. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump
We've had lots of wars and tariffs
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and all sorts of things that have happened since then.
Donald Trump
What do you think? I think he has. I mean, I'm comparing him to his first term and I think he is a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first.
Political Commentator
Then we learn more about the Kobayasi letter report and others reported. Financial Times reported it first. Donald Trump Jr. S investment firm, 1789 Capital, has seen its assets under management surge by 1,650% over the last year to 3.5 billion. They say that they are building an investment empire around, quote, patriotic capitalism. And they describe themselves as the new Carlyle Group. And they just so happen to get in on all of the new big IPOs before they go public. I wonder and Don Jr gets to be on all of these boards. Have you ever seen more blatant corruption? I want to point this out as well. You know, obviously we've done a lot of reporting on Donald Trump's $1.776 billion slush fund for the January 6 insurrectionists after he sued the IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion in his personal capacity based on a data leak during his first term of, of tax returns that involved 450,000Americans. And Trump says, I'm personally injured $10 billion and now I'm going to settle for $1.776 billion and I'm going to create this slush fund. That's the where people are focusing on, but that's the smokescreen. Okay, we're going to. What happened yesterday was that second document where the United States government waived and released all claims and forever barred the IRS from, like, investigating Donald Trump for tax fraud or tax evasion and not paying his taxes. And so what Donald Trump built into the settlement agreement based on all of the grifting that he's doing and all the quid pro quos, assume he's making billions and billions of dollars, right, from all of these deals with foreign countries. Him and the Trump organ, they are parties to this action. So think about all the deals that they did. This settlement agreement waives all tax liability and any tax evasion or tax fraud or any misconduct, any claims against Trump, Trump or Trump's family regarding taxes. So if they don't pay, this is my legal analysis, you could disagree with it. So to me, if they don't pay their taxes going back, there's no remedy against them right now, based on this agreement, if this agreement stands. So that could be billion. It could be billions. Billions and billions and billions of dollars. That's what I was calling out when I said. When he said, oh, I'm gonna donate the money to charity. I'm saying he was gonna donate and then he's gonna write it off. And then he was gonna roll over his write offs year over year to never pay taxes. And so they try to come up with a scheme to basically have him never pay taxes again. That's my opinion of what's really going on there. And then the 1776 stuff, the $1.776 billion, slush and impeachable and as corrupt as can be. But I think that's distracting from what he and his family personally gained. I want to point that out to you. And then finally, former Cuban President Raul Castro was indicted by the doj. As the United States moves closer to invading Cuba. This is part of the dramatic escalation in Trump's pressure campaign against Cuba. And obviously, there's a blockade there, although Russia is able to bring. Russia's able to get around the blockade, but other countries, of course, aren't. And then the Trump regime says, ah, no, Cuba has drones, and now the drones are going to pose a threat to us. So now we have to invade Cuba. And this is kind of their precursor to invasion. This is the move that they did with Maduro. They indict the leader or the former leader, and then they then use that. And then they call the invasion an extraction mission and not a war to try to avoid authorization, Right? So there you have it. This morning. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million. Thanks for watching everybody.
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Release Date: May 20, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
This episode dives into former President Donald Trump’s unsettled response to recent global affairs—especially Vladimir Putin’s high-profile state visit to China—and analyzes how these developments expose Trump’s anxieties on the world stage. The hosts, blending sharp legal-political insight with trademark banter, connect the dots between escalating international alliances, market manipulation, domestic policy chaos, and a brash mélange of Trumpian bravado and panic.
“Putin and Xi Jinping also signed numerous documents announcing a multipolar world order. Again, another jab at Donald Trump.”
— Political Commentator [02:30]
“I’m right now at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime minister. So maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel, run for prime minister.”
— Donald Trump [04:28]
“The U.S. strategic Petroleum Reserve just saw its largest one week drawdown in history... This is not good.”
— Political Commentator [04:54]
"He’ll do whatever I want him to do. He’s very, very good man. To me, he’s a great guy."
— Donald Trump [09:11]
"The ballroom is for our military. The roof is actually a drone port."
— Donald Trump [10:15]
“What Donald Trump built into the settlement... waives all tax liability... any claims against Trump, Trump or Trump’s family regarding taxes.”
— Ben Meiselas [15:40]
The episode is characterized by rapid-fire, brotherly comedic banter interwoven with analytical legal and political commentary. The hosts use pointed sarcasm to highlight the absurdities of Trump’s statements and actions, blend humor with outrage, and focus consistently on defending democracy.
For listeners seeking both laughs and serious political analysis, this episode delivers trademark MeidasTouch insight into the ongoing saga of Trump, global power plays, and the fight for democracy.