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- [00:00]
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.
- [00:05]
Ben Meiselas
Please, for the love of everything good
- [00:07]
Ryan Reynolds
in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments.
- [00:14]
Ben Meiselas
But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway.
- [00:19]
Ryan Reynolds
Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment
- [00:22]
Mint Mobile/Grammarly/Wayfair Ad Voice
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- [01:27]
Ben Meiselas
Wayfair Every style, Every home. This has been on Breaking News. I'm Ben Meiselas and this is your breaking news. All hell is breaking loose across the world as a result of Donald Trump's utter incompetence. His weakness, how pathetic he is, is permeating the entire globe. Donald Trump was getting booed mercilessly at Madison Square Garden last night for Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the Spurs. The spurs won, which the knicks had a 13 game winning streak before Donald Trump showed up, forced Madison Square Garden to basically shut down. NYPD had to shut down the perimeter, taking away the joy from the fans who were having these parties outside and they were having watch parties and celebrating. There were such great vibes in Manhattan. Donald Trump destroys that as he and his cabinet members, you know, strolled in on the motorcade.
- [02:31]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And then Donald Trump showed up.
- [02:33]
Ben Meiselas
He got booed during the national Anthem
- [02:36]
Political Commentator/Co-host
he started stuffing his face with hamburgers
- [02:39]
Ben Meiselas
and French fries and pizza.
- [02:41]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I mean, like, it looked like he
- [02:42]
Ben Meiselas
ate three burgers, five slices of pizza,
- [02:45]
Political Commentator/Co-host
and kept on stuffing his face with
- [02:47]
Ben Meiselas
fries and, like, throwing the trash on, on the floor.
- [02:51]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And then he fell asleep. He fell asleep during the finals game. For those on audio, I'm showing him sleeping next to the billionaire owner James Dolan of the Nick. I think they're both sleeping. This is the NBA Finals that you've destroyed the experience of New Yorkers for you to show up and fall asleep there. And then he left seven minutes early. He then leaves the game early so he could avoid traffic. And while all of that was going on, a Apache helicopter was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz, or rather was hit by a Shahi drone belonging to Iran. Because Iran's made it very clear this is our area, these are our territorial waters. So if you're going to fly Apaches or you're going to fly any of your planes over the strait, which is now jointly controlled by Iran and Oman, it don't belong to you. You live thousands of miles away. So if you come here with your Apaches, we are going to respond. And that's what happened. And the Apache helicopter got hit with the Shahid drone. New York Times reported this last night. If you look at the sequencing of what went down, the Apache helicopter was shot down at right around the same time Donald Trump was leaving to go
- [04:12]
Ben Meiselas
to Madison Square Garden.
- [04:14]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And the rescue was taking place essentially while he was there sleeping in Madison Square Garden, while he was stuffing his face with burgers and pizza and French fries, the rescue mission was taking place. He was asked about it while he was on the tarmac, and he was like, we don't really know what's happening. I'll find out more.
- [04:34]
Ben Meiselas
We'll find out more.
- [04:36]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Maybe you should be doing your damn job versus being in Madison Square Garden where where nobody wanted you there. And maybe you should be focused on what's actually happening in the damn globe right now. How about we do that? Then he goes silent for most of
- [04:54]
Ben Meiselas
the morning until about an hour ago or two hours ago.
- [04:58]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Meanwhile, the markets crashed this morning. His beloved markets, my markets, my Dow, my NASDAQ, my S& P absolutely crashed. They started crashing last Friday. They started crashing again. One of the pieces of news now is because you can't do this forever, excuse my language. You can't just have your Ponzi scheme go on and on. Eventually, the rubber meets the road. Eventually some. This is what I. Exactly what I'VE been warning about now for forever. But especially I said, look, you can't keep on dragging this on and saying, oh, am I going to do a deal tomorrow? I'm going to do another deal. My deal's going to be so powerful. 21 trillion. I've done this amount of money, at some point it catches up to you. This is what's happened in Donald Trump's life. His whole life has been this scam. Like, don't you realize it? Look at this orange freaking mutant right here. This red faced, orange faced mutant right here. This, this is not how human beings are supposed to behave. This is not normal human behavior. I mean, over the weekend, screaming at Kristen Welker, I really won the 2020 election. You know, it's like, shut up, man. Grow up. It's 2026. It sucks that you're the president. It's the worst that you're the president right now, but you are. And as much as I despise this person for everything he's done, for the, the infinite torture that he's caused people in my country and this world and the, and the horrible things he's done, I still root for this country. I still don't want to see people suffer. And so I pray and hope. I'm just like, come on, man, stop being so damn weak. Stop lying about a deal, a deal here, a deal there. I'm doing a deal, deal, deal, deal. My deal is going to be so powerful, it. Just shut the hell up and either do the damn deal or do something or get the hell out of the way. Right? I mean, literally, you're in a leadership position. Not just any leadership position. You're in the most important leadership position in the country, in the world right now. That comes with august responsibility. You should be sacrificing because you're a public servant. But you have to make hard decisions and we just see what it's like. How did he bankrupt so many things? This, this is how he's bankrupted so many things. What the hell are you doing in the Strait of Hormuz? You're pretending that this blockade is going to crush Iran. You told us 60 days ago that Iran had three days left. Three days left. You told everybody and Wall Street Journal and New York Times and state regime media, they published your crap to that Iran had three days left because you said they're suffering so much. And their pipes, their pipes, they just can't handle all of the oil pressure. And the oil pressure is going to cause an explosion and Carg island in Iran, it's going to blow up. We've got them right where we want them. And so we're going to make a deal and they're going to, they're going to. Our deal is going to be so strong and powerful. That didn't happen and it didn't happen. I saw CNN did a report that was like, he's made. There have been 38 days in the,
- [08:20]
Ben Meiselas
one in the 100 plus days of
- [08:22]
Political Commentator/Co-host
the war where he said a deal is going to happen in the next few days. Like, we're right there.
- [08:29]
Ben Meiselas
We're right on the cusp.
- [08:30]
Political Commentator/Co-host
We've got the deal.
- [08:31]
Ben Meiselas
It's right in our sight.
- [08:33]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Like when you're, when you have no credibility in the world, when you have zero credibility and your words are no different than, than the trash that you discarded on the floor haphazardly at Madison Square Garden because you don't even know the way garbages work because you're garbage. And so you just throw shit on the floor. Your words don't mean anything. And how could the leader of the. This is where I say this isn't political. This isn't a Democrat, a Republican or an. I'm not being a liberal here, despite having lots of views that align with what people would be considering a liberal or a progressive person, because I believe in human rights and decency and compassion and lifting up marginalized communities because I believe in those things. But what I'm saying right now should just be a freaking adult. You know, I've worked in law firms and I, and I run a business and I deal with professionals in different circumstances every day. The, the way he behaves, his behavior is not normal. And we better be calling this out that it is not normal human behavior and stop normalizing this shit. Seriously. I don't know why anybody who has a platform on any type of news network isn't saying it this way. Because this behavior is so abhorrent. Not as a conservative or as a liberal, but as a human being. He's unhinged. He. He sleeps. He lies with every sound, utterance, word. Everything the guy says is a lie. And in the highest stake stuffs. He lies about the highest stake stuff. And then he lies about the stupidest stuff. Oh, they applauded me. I would say it was overwhelming applause. Overwhelming, overwhelming applause. What are you talking about? You were booed out of New York, you delusional psycho. What? And you fell asleep at the event. Who falls asleep at the NBA Finals? And again, if you're falling asleep at the NBA Finals, if You're falling asleep on camera in front of the world. If you're behaving the way he behaved with Kristen Welker, knowing that that would be broadcast to the entire world. If this is your behavior and what we can see, what the hell do you think is going on behind the scenes right now? So, of course Putin doesn't take him serious. Course Netanyahu doesn't take him seriously. Of course the Iranians don't say, how do we even negotiate with. How do you even do a deal with a psycho whose face turns bright red when he thinks he won the 2020 election. How do you literally communicate with this individual? And we've seen reports now, and we don't need the reports to confirm it.
- [11:25]
Ben Meiselas
There was a New York Times report
- [11:26]
Political Commentator/Co-host
and a CNN report. That's like, every time we're close to actually doing a deal to Donald Trump, then changes it, they'll agree, okay, no enrichment for 10 years.
- [11:35]
Ben Meiselas
Ah, 20 years.
- [11:37]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Okay, well, you know, your team that you put out there who are horrible humans, by the way, the Witkoffs and the Kushners and JD Vance and all these idiots, they nonetheless had a deal with Iran. If you don't want them to negotiate, then find people who can do this deal, but just come up with a deal. Get the hell out of the straight of Hormuz. Let's. Let's get the ships out. You know what? You lost the damn war. Stop acting like you won, you psychopath. You lost to Iran because you're a pathetic loser, and you lost to Iran. You went in there because you're weak and cowardly and you wanted to cover up the damn Epstein files, and you got pulled into this by Netanyahu because he knows how to play you like the freaking fool that you are, the idiot that you are, the lifelong bankrupting loser that you are.
- [12:28]
Ben Meiselas
You.
- [12:28]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You brought us into this catastrophic war
- [12:31]
Ben Meiselas
in Iran with no exit plan.
- [12:33]
Political Commentator/Co-host
The Strait of Hormuz is closed. You've been lying about deals, and I'm going to blow up their civilization. And, oh, the Ayatollah is really nice. And he's a gay Ayatollah. I mean, you're saying the dumbest shit in the world. Make a freaking decision, you idiot. And I think I'm channeling the rage of Americans right here. Make a decision and stop the bullshit and act like a freaking grownup or get the hell out of there. Seriously, I would so much rather have. And I don't. I'm not trying to praise a JD Vance or a Rubio, anything right now, what I would do to have George W. Bush over this idiot right now. I can't even believe I have to articulate a word like that. Someone who got us into some of the biggest disasters imaginable looks good in comparison to this shit show going on by the Trump regime right now. And it's just like, we have a loser. We have somebody who. Who should never.
- [13:27]
Ben Meiselas
Who.
- [13:27]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Who was too scared to jump off the high diving board, like, but went up there. Well, what do I do? What do I do? Should I jump? Do I go down? Do I jump? Do I go either jump or get the hell down? But make a decision, you loser, because if you're not feeling angry the way I'm feeling right now, if you're not feeling you. I wake up feeling humiliated by this guy's behavior as an American. And I don't know how any patriotic American doesn't wake up and feel humiliated by this guy, Epstein's best friend, who's covering up a freaking child sex trafficking ring right now, who's falling asleep in public at an arena of 50,000 people during one of the biggest sports events that he had to go to, and he had to shut down the whole block while he has us losing to Iran in a war and losing bad. And then he starts to go, they don't have a navy, they don't have an army, they don't have a military. Then who the hell is shooting down the Apaches, you idiot? Who the hell keeps shooting down the MQ9 reapers, you idiot? Who the hell keeps on being able to, with precision and surgically target Haifa and Israel and their petrochemical facilities to target Kuwaiti air bases, the 5th Naval Fleet in Bahrain every time they're attacked, you have to face the reality you're a loser. You lost this war to Iran and you lost it big. Everything you said that was going to happen didn't happen. So you know what happens when you're a loser? You negotiate the terms of surrender, not the terms of victory, because you're a loser. And if you wanted to change the dynamic and go and invade and commit more war crimes and lose more, I guess you can double down and compound the losing, which let me be very clear, I don't want to see at all. But you lost.
- [15:19]
Ben Meiselas
And I'll.
- [15:20]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And I'll tell you the exact day you lost. You threatened you were going to end the Iranian civilization. You were going to wipe them out if they don't make a deal. We all remember that. Then the deadline hit where you said you were going to wipe them off the face of this earth. Then, as your own arbitrary deadline hit, you unilaterally declared a ceasefire. Not Iran. You unilaterally. They didn't declare the ceasefire. You, you loser. You declared a surrender. Let's stop pretending it's anything other than that. You declared a surrender because you threatened you were going to destroy their civilization. When the President of the United States threatens mass genocide like that, while being complicit in a genocide, I might add, in Palestine and Lebanon. When you threaten that, though, and then you go, ceasefire everybody, we've agreed. And then, you idiot, you reposted Foreign Minister Aragchi's terms. There's no ambiguity what the ceasefire framework was. You reposted Iraqi, he didn't repost you. So I can literally look at the post. I know what the framework was. And yes, it had peace in Lebanon, meaning Israel cannot attack Lebanon. The US Cannot attack Lebanon and Beirut. Look, what I'm seeing today, what I'm seeing today is on the beautiful beaches of Ty in Lebanon, a wealthy area in Lebanon also with these crystal clear waters, this beautiful location where people just want to live in peace. Under the auspices of you're going after Hezbollah, we have Netanyahu blowing up buildings. And in the beautiful town or city of Ty, you pronounce it, sir, in Arabic. After attacking D in Beirut and after continuing to attack Beirut and southern Lebanon all of the time. As soon as you announce that ceasefire, Netanyahu is like, oh, we can't have that deal happen. We. So what did they started doing? The IDF started going further and further and further into Lebanon. Of course, if they're going to send their troops into Lebanon, Hezbollah is then going to attack them with when they're in Lebanon. Everybody knew that was going to happen. Then each Hezbollah attack of Israel while the IDF is there is then used by Netanyahu to say, see, now Hezbollah is attacking us. So now we got to blow up buildings in Ty and Beirut and all of these locations. And now Hezbollah has these FPV drones that we've seen used by Russia in Ukraine now, and Ukraine's using as well these fiber optics that aren't able to be detected. So now you're seeing the death toll rise of IDF soldiers. So Netanyahu's whole proposition of staying in power and not being criminally prosecuted is basically no two state solution. We basically have to exterminate Lebanon and Gaza. I mean, that's basically the position of Netanyahu and Smootras and Ben gvir. I defy you to tell me that's not what they literally go read what a Ben GVIR smutrid statement is. There's no interest in a two state
- [18:20]
Ben Meiselas
solution or a workable solution.
- [18:22]
Political Commentator/Co-host
It's utter extermination and obliteration. That's the language that they use, the language of genocide. Because that's what they're doing over there. And let's not mince our freaking words. Netanyahu sees you as weak. Putin sees you as weak. Iran sees you as weak. And there you are in Madison Square Garden eating fried bulbs, shoving fries up your nose like an idiot. Like an idiot while an American Apache is getting shot down and you have the audacity to go sleeping Joe, Sleepy Joe. The the Obama deal. And here's the thing, folks, do you all know it is so damn easy, it is so damn easy to criticize a deal or to tear up something that involves compromise and negotiation. Doing the hard work is hard. And so anybody can Monday night quarterback or whatever the expression is and go, you know what I don't like about the jcpoa? That Obama had to unfreeze certain funds in exchange for this multilateral mechanism to ensure that Iran would not get nuclear material that Trump then pulled out from during the Trump term, which Iran said, okay, I guess we're going to have to enrich uranium. You know, at that point, it's so easy to criticize any of the tough decisions that leaders have to make. I mean, even when we talk about the screw worms, right? In theory, investing hundreds of millions of dollars in screw worm prevention, if there's no screw worms, you may go, well, I guess you're wasting hundreds of millions of dollars detecting the screw worm. Or if Biden has to close down or slow cattle deliveries from Mexico or from certain South American countries where there may be screw. Like there's a lot of screw worm in Argentina beef. So when you then import this freaking screw worm from Argentina beef, what do you think is going to happen? It's easy to criticize leaders who have to make tough decisions and have to level with you and have to explain to you, here's the problems, here's how we're going to attack it. When you have an injury and you pull off the bandage and you see bloody and gory, that ain't pretty to see sometimes. But if you're gonna fix it, that's what you have to do. That's what Biden did. During Biden's first term, you have to rip the band aid of Donald Trump's failed PPP program after mishandling it's understatement. After affirmatively basically promoting Covid, I think other presidents would have handled it much better. Crashing everything. Biden had to fix it. Yes, there was inflation under Biden for the first two years and bad inflation. Where do you think that was coming from? Do you think it was coming from Biden or do you think it was coming from the fact that Donald Trump put America into more debt than ever before, that he completely mishandled Covid, that you had all of these transport and shipping that basically came to a halt. So then once market started reopening, it had a shock. And the shock had to comprehend all of the failures, which is basically like opening up the wound and then having to stitch it back together. Biden stitched it together, handed this guy what was called a Goldilocks economy, just right. What Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times and the economists called the envy of the world. Trump had to do literally nothing. He could have played golf, talked about the UFC and he could have spiked the football and pretended to be a genius and it would have been disheartening to see him be celebrated for Biden's accomplishments. But no, this asshole has to go in and tariff the whole damn world when we all know the repercussions of it. Cover up the freaking pedo ring, cover up the Epstein files, then compound matters by getting into a catastrophic war in Iran because he got overconfident after taking over Venezuela by just allowing an extension of the Maduro regime to stay in power. Then you get into this catastrophic never ending situation in Iran, which frankly, let's be very clear, this ain't ending in Donald Trump's term. Could we just be real about it? You know what's going to happen? Things are going to get worse and they're going to get much worse and they're going to. I hate to be the, I'm not trying to be a doom and gloom kind of person, but it's going to get much worse.
- [23:04]
Ben Meiselas
And then I'll tell you what's going to happen.
- [23:06]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Some Democrats going to win the President and it's going to be a wipeout. Because by the time this regime reaches its natural conclusion, you're going to see, as I've always thought, some of the biggest massive post Putin kind of Europe awakening style protests in the United States, okay? And so what will happen is some Democrat, you know, will win. Whether it's, whether it's a Newsom or
- [23:35]
Ben Meiselas
an ass off or a Kamala or
- [23:39]
Political Commentator/Co-host
who's ever, who's ever gonna, who's ever gonna run a Buddha judge. You, you, you, you, you. Name me. Which candidates you think are, you know are gonna win, one of them will pull ahead, they'll inspire people, they'll win and boom, they'll come to power and they gotta fix this shit, they gotta fix this mess, this catastrophe that Donald Trump created where you're gonna have what, six and a half, 7%, 8%. What do you think inflation's gonna be by then? Six and a half, 7% inflation? 8% inflate 10% inflation. 11% inflation. You think those numbers are far fetched? Watch what the inflation report's going to be tomorrow and this week it'll be 4%. It'll maybe 4.1%. And I'm again nothing of what I've been. I'm extra angry today because it's like, here we are again. He, he, here we. It feels like. And it's a little bit different than Covid because you don't have, you know, the, you know, the, the COVID related deaths, if you will, at that scale every day. But it's, it's like that, I mean, it's like that vibe from June and July at the height of COVID when America was this dystopian shithole caused by
- [25:01]
Ben Meiselas
Donald Trump and that he just destroyed everything and that.
- [25:05]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You want to know why the voting numbers were so big in 2020? Because of this. Because people are enraged at what you do and how with the right wing trillion dollar media apparatus, America could get duped into, into replay, into doing the remix of it. It's crazy to me. You wanted this again, like you all realized there was a better way to go than this. From a nonpartisan perspective, there was a much better way to go than, you know, than this. And I say, look, don't. Where we would be right now if Kamala Harris was president, we would be so, we would be. And all these right wing people would be like, oh, be very careful. She's going to get us into another war. Like they would be doing all of this. If she did a fraction of what we saw right now, A fraction of a fraction, she would be impeached and arrested. This stuff that this guy does every damn day is absolutely unforgivable. But I'll say this. If Nikki Haley was president, it would,
- [26:14]
Ben Meiselas
I'm not be very clear, okay, Horrible, weak, pathetic. The way she bowed down to Donald Trump and all.
- [26:21]
Political Commentator/Co-host
But I'm just being blunt. If she was in office, she would have, she would have a significantly better temperament than this, than this psycho it's like the worst person you, possibly the worst American you could pick for this position. And I truly mean that. I think if you went through every American that's alive, the worst one, how many people live in, in America? 300, 370 million? Whatever the number, I think number one of 307, whatever the, the actual number
- [26:51]
Ben Meiselas
is, is the person who's, who's now running this, you know, who's running this show right now here what it goes.
- [26:58]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I, I've just been informed. This is what he posted this morning. I've just been informed by our great military that last night the Iranian shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the straight of Hermo. There were two pilots involved. Both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must of necessity respond to this attack. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Donald Day Trump. And now you have some paper saying that Donald Trump is going to be
- [27:29]
Ben Meiselas
responding right now with kind of a
- [27:32]
Political Commentator/Co-host
massive strike against Iran. And then there are other sources where Trump tells the Wall Street Journal that it's not a big deal. In a phone call with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said, the blockade, it's making Iran very poor. We'll keep it in place. I just want to let you know that it wasn't a big deal. It's just an Apache. Everybody, the pilots are fine. Yeah, they spent two hours in the water as darkness fell, according to Captain Tim Hawkins. But folks, it's all, I mean, who speaks like this? Who talks like this? I'll show you what they're saying in Iran.
- [28:08]
Ben Meiselas
Here's what Foreign Minister Aragi says.
- [28:10]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Foreign forces in proximity to our territory
- [28:13]
Ben Meiselas
are at constant risk on account of their own human errors, plane accidents, or potentially being caught in crossfire.
- [28:20]
Political Commentator/Co-host
To reduce risk, best solution is for them to leave. We prefer language of diplomacy, but speak other languages, too.
- [28:27]
Ben Meiselas
I mean, so play this out, Donald.
- [28:29]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You attack Iran, you'll attack more of their facilities. Okay?
- [28:35]
Ben Meiselas
They respond, they'll attack Kuwait, they'll attack Bahrain. They'll do a 1.5 to 2x what you do.
- [28:43]
Political Commentator/Co-host
So then you attack.
- [28:43]
Ben Meiselas
And now they attack.
- [28:45]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And then Israel attacks.
- [28:46]
Ben Meiselas
And here you are again. Here you are. Here, here, here you are again. The markets will continue to plummet. More importantly than that, the American people will now see gas prices continue to go up.
- [29:01]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And we will be hitting that point, as I've been saying now every damn
- [29:06]
Ben Meiselas
day, where the oil prices will be $160 a barrel, $200 a barrel.
- [29:13]
Political Commentator/Co-host
We're just moving towards that. We're moving towards it every day. And I don't want to hear people, don't be an alarmist. Well, your titles are hyperbolic.
- [29:25]
Ben Meiselas
No, they're not. You know what's hyperbolic? Donald Trump. Donald Trump is hyperbolic. Okay?
- [29:32]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Donald Trump's behavior, when I see that bright red panicked face of his freak out. And then he goes, don't be a panicking. Don't be a panicking. I'm literally watching you panic before my eyes. I'm watching a person. You know, could you imagine if your
- [29:51]
Ben Meiselas
pilot in a plane ride was flying and behave this way?
- [29:58]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Do you hit a little bit of turbulence? Oh, it's gonna be okay, everybody. Don't worry. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna move to the la. You know, it's like, what are we doing here? What are we doing here every day?
- [30:15]
Ben Meiselas
Every damn day with this loser? And then you have the maga Republicans, like, why would we pass a war powers resolution?
- [30:25]
Political Commentator/Co-host
He's doing very powerful and very strong negotiate.
- [30:29]
Ben Meiselas
He's not.
- [30:30]
Political Commentator/Co-host
What do you mean?
- [30:30]
Ben Meiselas
He's doing very powerful and very strong negotiations. What the hell is this guy even doing? The hell is he doing? He's, he's making, he's, he behaves like a buffoon. He behaves like an idiot every day. I just don't get why we can't all ignore, just can't all acknowledge that
- [30:47]
Political Commentator/Co-host
and the whole world is ablaze and
- [30:49]
Ben Meiselas
it just, it doesn't actually have to be this way. Like, it legitimately does not have to be this way. That's the thing. And instead you want to attack former President Biden because he was old, because he stuttered a little bit, that, that, like, like, you know, for, for our
- [31:10]
Political Commentator/Co-host
country that frankly put Biden through that. You know, I, I, I don't want to be like, we, we deserve it.
- [31:19]
Ben Meiselas
Because the suffering that people are facing right now in this country is such that I want to make light of it like we deserve, no one deserves the pain that most Americans are. No one deserves it. So. But you get what I mean, right?
- [31:33]
Political Commentator/Co-host
It's like you had somebody there if you were a religious person. This is a guy in Biden who attended church regularly, who was actually a quietly religious guy.
- [31:44]
Ben Meiselas
And be clear, I don't care if you're religious or not religious. Right. I want you to be a good person. But my point is, like, you got
- [31:50]
Political Commentator/Co-host
someone who was like a God fearing Catholic who would show up, who would visit his son at the cemetery, who would, who had showed up at church quietly, didn't use religion as a propaganda tool.
- [32:04]
Ben Meiselas
You know, so you had that.
- [32:05]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You had somebody who was caring and
- [32:07]
Ben Meiselas
compassionate, who was, like, loving and would
- [32:11]
Political Commentator/Co-host
show empathy and emotion, and you mock that. You had somebody who was making strategic moves about semiconductors and chips. That led to the semiconductor boom, which
- [32:26]
Ben Meiselas
Trump just threw in the trash.
- [32:27]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Where do you think the semiconductor boom came? Maybe the chips act. Maybe the, the, maybe the, the rise in the chips that we've seen that Trump just crashed is because of the chips act. Maybe there was a thing. And maybe just like inflation, in the negative way, maybe in the positive way, the light switch doesn't just go on overnight. So it doesn't happen overnight. Maybe it takes successive quarters for the gains to show up, which is what was happening under Biden. But as the gains were showing up, people like, yeah, but, but, but he's sleepy.
- [33:02]
Ben Meiselas
What was sleepy about him? He's old.
- [33:05]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Yeah, but, but he had a bad debate.
- [33:09]
Ben Meiselas
Okay. If you watch Donald Trump at that same debate, arguably Trump was just as bad, but he's graded. He's graded on some different scale, which is if he breathes A plus, you know, Biden did horribly. It's not like Biden had a good debate, but like they both did horribly. So, so, so on that basis, we torch the country. We torch the country.
- [33:35]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Really?
- [33:37]
Ben Meiselas
If you haven't told them. I mean, I'm just, I'm angry at what this guy's done. I'm angry that it's, it's not like we're not out of it. We're. We're not even in the middle of it. Like, we. All those, like, the tariff stuff, you'll see in the inflation reports this week where that goes. The oil shocks as he just stays frozen there in the Middle east, too scared to leave because I wouldn't want to do a deal worse than Obama's deal. He's also, you know, threatens ending civilizations, which would be war crime, more war crimes than genocide, then doesn't do it. So what are you doing, man? What are you doing? And that's just what happens when you elect somebody like this. The elections have real consequences, and we're seeing that play out in the worst way. And so it's time to just wake the hell up. I know you watching this and listening to this are woke.
- [34:49]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You're woke.
- [34:49]
Ben Meiselas
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [34:50]
Political Commentator/Co-host
If woke means I'm woken up to
- [34:53]
Ben Meiselas
your incompetence and fascism and horrible behavior. Yeah, yeah, it's woke. Very woke.
- [35:03]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Woke, woke. Oh, can you believe transgenic. They're doing trans mice. Yeah.
- [35:10]
Ben Meiselas
You know, you know the way that you all allowed the screw arm, now you want to blame Biden for it. You know it's transgenic, not transgender mice. I know you just want to bully transgender people with everything, but that's the type of stuff where we do research for Alzheimer's and other diseases that you or people in your family probably have and you just want to mock it like a weird third grader. No offense to weird third grade bullies.
- [35:35]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Oh, they're doing transgender mice. Oh, could you believe it?
- [35:38]
Ben Meiselas
What I saw, you know, with you know what they ratchet up on Fox, Maria Bartiroma and Laura Ingraham.
- [35:45]
Political Commentator/Co-host
They don't want to call you a mother. Oh, they're attacking the name Mother.
- [35:54]
Ben Meiselas
Attacking the name Mother. No one's attacking the name Mother. Y' all are deranged psychopaths. This whole MAGA movement, deranged psychopaths that have just objectively destroyed this country and it's sickening. Let's take a break. We'll be right back.
- [36:16]
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- [39:13]
Ben Meiselas
Midas listen when we started Midas Touch,
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- [40:36]
Ben Meiselas
welcome back everybody to Ben on breaking news. I'm Ben Mycellus. Breaking news and think breaking heads on this episode. Yeah, no, I was just, I was reflecting in that first half and I'll calm it down on the second half a little bit, but I was, you know, when I do these lives, I don't want to hold back, you know, you know how I feel. I think how you feel. Right. So I, I, I want to channel that. I want to channel that because you know, we're in this together.
- [41:13]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And
- [41:15]
Ben Meiselas
you know, I see every day you tell me, I mean I'm, I, I get your messages every day before I sign on. I get your messages and so I pay attention to what you're experiencing with so many people I know are experiencing and I just see the hurt out there. And again I say this, this isn't a Democrat or it's not like a Democrat, Republican, independent thing. Like there's a better way than what we have now. And you know, here's the thing too. Like you look at Mayor Mamdani's leadership in New York City, for all the fear mongering about this guy and for all the whatever and you see how, how he's leading. And I think to myself, imagine like if we had someone like that running the country, you know, who was every day out there empathizing with people, looking in people in the eyes like if we had like an administration instead of a regime that could like, I don't know, go give a speech on the commemoration of D Day and not like insult our allies. Like how do you screw up a D Day commemoration and attack European countries and, and, and compare European countries to a Nazi invasion of Europe and saying that European countries are allowing invasions like the Nazis of immigrants. How do you screw, how do you screw that up? All you have to do is say to our allies, we appreciate your support and your sacrifice and we know the United States of America and our greatness is made possible because of great friends like you. And as we commemorate this date, a day when allies Came together on the beaches of Normandy and other beaches nearby and made the ultimate sacrifice for democracy against fascism. It is so important to reflect and remember that sacrifice and honor it and do it justice. I mean, how hard. I didn't even know I was going to talk about that. I mean, that's what you say. Because that's what normal people say in a situation like that.
- [43:54]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You don't go, the globalists are invading your beaches with globalism.
- [44:01]
Ben Meiselas
Dude, shut up. What are you talking about? Just be normal.
- [44:03]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Just behave like a normal human being.
- [44:06]
Ben Meiselas
And then these people have the audacity
- [44:08]
Political Commentator/Co-host
to be like, liberals are weirdos. They're behaving so strange.
- [44:14]
Ben Meiselas
It's like, dude, shut up, man. Just shut up. I mean, do you. Do you see. Do you see what you look like? Do you see how you talk every damn day? Do you see the. The way you obsess over penises and vaginas, like, all of the time? Like the penis police over there? What are you expecting? What are you doing gives a shit? Just let people live but worry about you, you know? I know, I know a lot of these Republicans are probably obsessed about this stuff because of things that they struggle in their own minds to come to terms with about themselves. Maybe. But what do you. What.
- [44:54]
Political Commentator/Co-host
What do we. I mean, did you.
- [44:55]
Ben Meiselas
Do you see they call in a witness today? Alveda King, this is a real. Jim Jordan calls a witness to testify on Capitol Hill today who says this SPLC is using.
- [45:09]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Okay, but my question is about the one proposed by Todd Blanche.
- [45:13]
Ben Meiselas
Do.
- [45:14]
Political Commentator/Co-host
It's a yes or no? I will not answer, Mr. Banger. Killing the babies and cutting the penises off. And so anyway, I have limited time with money in. That is the problem.
- [45:25]
Ben Meiselas
Mr. Banger, that was a witness that the MAGA Republicans had a hearing today about the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's where their focus is on right now, attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center. And even though the Southern Poverty Law center worked closely with the FBI and local police to get the extremist groups, now the Trump regime that's pardoning the extremist groups are going after the Southern Poverty Law center and saying, you help the extremist groups, that the Trump regime is helping those extremist groups. And so they did a hearing on that. And somehow the MAGA witness started talking about penises. Cutting off babies, penises. You can't make this stuff up. You can't make this stuff up. Do we have the video of James Comer who heads the House Oversight Committee on Epstein? And so you have James comer who's asked a pretty basic question. Okay. Pam Bondi was supposed to testify under oath. She didn't. She refused to even take an oath. She was not on video. And then she had the audacity, with the DOJ lawyer sitting right next to her to make the following stipulations. She's not going to answer anything before 2025. That's off limits. I'm only going to testify beginning when I was the AG February 2025. Okay, so let's ask you questions, Pam Bondi, about your communications with Donald Trump. Did he ask you to cover up the files? Other people in the executive branch? What'd you say to this person? What'd you say to that person? Yeah, I'm not going to answer that. Why, Pam Bondi? Why are you not going to answer them? Executive privilege. I'm not going to answer that question. Okay, so you're not going to answer anything before February 2025 because you say that's outside the scope. You're not going to answer anything February 2025 or later that involves your communications with other executive branch officials, which is basically the whole purpose of this deposition. Okay, well, what about. Are you aware. Not your communications. Are you aware if the DOJ did searches to try to identify Trump's name on the files in order to delete or destroy whether Donald Trump was in the files? That's not a communication. That's not before 2024. It's you at the DOJ. Did you all create some sort of protocol to destroy Trump's name from the files or to flag Trump's name in the files? I don't recall. I don't recall. You don't recall? You don't recall that that's not a material event in your life? You don't. Could. Could have happened. Could not have happened. We may have instructed everybody to destroy incriminating records that have Donald Trump's name on it, but, you know, I. I don't. I just don't. I don't recall. Okay, so do you know why a lot of the Epstein survivors names were leaked when the one thing that was supposed to happen was that that not be the case? I mean, that was one of the key things. And then you leaked their survive. Do you know why that happened? You're gonna have to ask Todd Blanche. He did it. Okay, but you were the ag. He was the deputy at the time. So you're saying he would know that you have no clue? Yeah, I don't know. Okay, sounds good. So you don't know Anything, you're not going to testify, anything. And that's the, that's what you're going to do. That's literally what happened in the deposition. I'll tell you. I've been a litigator for. I was a lit, I don't litigate anymore. I was a litigator from 2010, 2011 to 2023. Slowed down a little bit 2022, as Midas was growing. Okay. I've never seen that level of obstruction in a deposition ever. But what do you do when the people who are supposed to be the good guys, the doj, are complicit? What do you do, what do you do when a system that's based on adversaries, the doj, good, the other side is supposed to be presumed innocent but adverse. What do you, what do you do when, when this side jumps the V, meaning the side verse, this side jumps the V and says, we're, we're working with this team. It's like when Donald Trump partners with Del C. Rodriguez. That's not impressive. The United States, we could always align ourselves with an authoritarian of a country and become their partners. The way I described it, I did an interview, I'm not sure if you saw it with Chris Voss. Chris Voss, he kind of came off like he was a Trumper, which surprised me a little bit. I should re interview the guy. Jeremy, let's get that guy back on. Because I was telling him back in April how horrible of a negotiator Trump was. And he was trying to tell me, no, no, no, no, no.
- [51:31]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You'll see.
- [51:31]
Ben Meiselas
You know, it's like when you do a negotiation with a bank robber and
- [51:35]
Political Commentator/Co-host
you can't, can't give all of.
- [51:37]
Ben Meiselas
He's giving some bank robber negotiation. And I told him, I said, but Chris, you were an FBI hostage negotiator. When you were negotiating with the hostage taker, the bad guy, did you ever tell the hostage taker, the bad guy, hey, you want to become partners with me? And then we can both take the hostages and because we control where the money is, we can then split the funds together and keep the hostages? Or was your goal as the hostage negotiator to neutralize as best as you could, the hostage taker and save the hostages. Oh, wow. Didn't think about it that way. Yeah, we could always, if we wanted to ally with the bad guys. Think about what Trump's. You remember going back to the catastrophic war in Iran for a second. You remember what Trump's first deal was that he wanted? I put deal in quotes. He wanted to do a joint venture with the Ayatollah. So if you're Iran and you hear him say that, you're like, dude, this guy is a lunatic. He wants to a JV with the Ayatollah, you know, And Trump thinks that everything is some, like, transactional New York City real estate that could, you know,
- [53:03]
Political Commentator/Co-host
let's just split the Hormuz tolls you take. You take that. I'll take the air rights over Tiffany's, and you can take the, you know,
- [53:14]
Ben Meiselas
do you think that's the straight of her moves? And then he picks Witkoff and Kushner to people who aren't even appointed to negotiate on behalf of the United States, and two really dumb people to handle these negotiations. These are dumb. These are dumbos. These are dumb idiots. Like, I'm. I don't. I. I can try to sound smarter, but I. But. But they're like, dumb people. So Jared Kushner had one thing that he was focused on with Daddy's money during Trump's first term. It was 666 Fifth Avenue, and he bought it for billions of dollars and ran it into the ground. Then he needed a bailout from the Qataris through a fund that helped him basically bail out. He couldn't run. Couldn't run a single building. Witkoff had a reputation in New York as being a sleazy. Like, sleazy, sleazy, sleazy. New York real estate, as sleazy as you get, which is why Trump liked the guy. Like. Like, that was what he was known for. The, The. The scummy and sleazy sleazebag Witkoff.
- [54:29]
Political Commentator/Co-host
That's like.
- [54:30]
Ben Meiselas
That was his reputation in New York, in my opinion, from lots of people who did dealings with this guy. Those are the guys who are negotiating. Your plan of how you were going to bring peace of Russia's invasion of Ukraine was to have Kushner and Witkoff. And then you notice the guy who is the lieutenant general guy that they had there, who is the original negotiator, who was the envoy first to Russia and Ukraine, and then they pulled the guy out because Putin said, we don't like the Kellogg, Kellogg, you know? And to me, the big problem with a guy like Kellogg, who's actually a smart guy and a qualified guy, who should have been the guy in the negotiations, is that a guy like Kellogg then debases himself
- [55:23]
Political Commentator/Co-host
and then, like, publicly
- [55:27]
Ben Meiselas
accepts the situation and has to, like, praise Donald. And it's like, Kellogg, you know, I forget if this guy was a Three star general. But this guy was imminently qualified to be the right guy. His whole career was like, I think Biden would have picked someone more qualified. But you would put Kellogg on a list of people, objectively, who could be in a room to have these discussions. Putin said, I don't like him there. Why do you think Putin said that? And then basically, he became this kind of feckless, powerless, rudderless thing who would show up to Ukraine eventually and get nothing, you know, and get nothing done. But now you have Kushner and Witkoff, who were in Pakistan handling the negotiation. Didn't even know anything about nuclear weapons. I mean, like, did you see the reporting from last week? They had to go to, like, they
- [56:28]
Political Commentator/Co-host
had to go to, like, nuclear weapons school.
- [56:30]
Ben Meiselas
They had to go to, like, a facility and meet with nuclear scientists to learn about nuclear dilution. Like, they had to learn about it last week for the first time. And it's like, what is this? You know, like, it's like, what's the guy's name? Like, it's like a Jackie Chan Tucker. Chris Tucker movie. Like, you know, is this like. Like an Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito movie? Right? Is. Is this. What are we doing here? You know?
- [57:07]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And what happens when two zany guys have to negotiate peace, deal with Iran and don't know a thing about nuclear weapons?
- [57:22]
Ben Meiselas
They go to nuclear schools like Billy Madison.
- [57:25]
Political Commentator/Co-host
No, it's shampoo. That's better. No, it's conditioner. That's better.
- [57:31]
Ben Meiselas
Oh, you know, I mean, you know, like, that's like, what our country's reduced to.
- [57:34]
Political Commentator/Co-host
It's like. It's like Billy Madison going through grades
- [57:39]
Ben Meiselas
and has to, like, learn, you know?
- [57:41]
Political Commentator/Co-host
No, penguin. No, I mean, that's Kushner and Wyckoff. We. This is real life.
- [57:46]
Ben Meiselas
And I make light of it just because it's a coping mechanism to deal
- [57:50]
Political Commentator/Co-host
with the sheer rage that I feel
- [57:53]
Ben Meiselas
about these idiots sometimes. Just to.
- [57:55]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Just to.
- [57:56]
Ben Meiselas
Just the gallows humor of it all, I suppose. But it's like they're going to new. I. I have a. I have a wild idea. Rather than send Kushner and Witkoff to nuclear school for three days of learning what nuclear materials like and what enrichment is and dilution and all of that. Maybe you just bring in people who are appointed and confirmed by the Senate who have an ability to negotiate this. Now, let me be very clear. Marco Rubio, I think, is one of the worst human beings imaginable right now. I think he's horrible
- [58:38]
Political Commentator/Co-host
because of his
- [58:39]
Ben Meiselas
experience in the Senate before he took this role as this Trump stooge who now goes to the UFC matches, like, you know, you know, whatever is. You have stupid UFC fights. He was a guy who at least had the qualifications. Clearly not the temperament anymore, because we saw how he handles all of this. But he was a. If there was one person to probably be at the negotiation who, at least because of his foreign relations experience being in the Senate, and I'm not trying. Let me be clear. I'm not praising Rubio, so don't. Don't go there with me. I'm just simply saying out of anybody there, he at least had the most experience to be in the room in Pakistan when these negotiations were taking place. And he was at a UFC fight. And then he said that he was technically there by being in the UFC fight during. During the Senate hearing. You're supposed to be the chief negotiator. You're supposed to be the State Department head. You're the Secretary of State. It's quite literally what your job is. Right? So we have J.D.
- [60:00]
Political Commentator/Co-host
this is what J.D.
- [60:00]
Ben Meiselas
vance. This is what J.D. vance said earlier. Let's play this clip. You say very close.
- [60:05]
Political Commentator/Co-host
How soon could the deal happen?
- [60:06]
Ben Meiselas
Before the midterm elections? Oh, absolutely.
- [60:09]
Political Commentator/Co-host
No, I think we're gonna know a
- [60:11]
Ben Meiselas
lot before the midterm elections.
- [60:12]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Look, I think that the deal could
- [60:14]
Ben Meiselas
happen in the next week, but the deal could also happen months from now. It can happen tomorrow. Might also happen. Never. That's the thing. And again, have you ever heard people talk so much about the word deal?
- [60:37]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Deal, deal, deal, deal.
- [60:38]
Ben Meiselas
I'm gonna do a deal.
- [60:40]
Political Commentator/Co-host
You like this deal?
- [60:42]
Ben Meiselas
I made a deal. I did this deal. Dude, either just do the deal or shut the f up. Seriously, enough talking about.
- [60:51]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I'm a good deal maker.
- [60:54]
Ben Meiselas
I've met in my life, good negotiators and actual deal makers. I can assure you that they've never ran around saying, I'm a deal maker.
- [61:09]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I do deals. I'm a deal guy. You want to do a deal? I'll do a deal with you. You want? Oh, I do. Powerful deal. What's a powerful deal? What does it even mean?
- [61:17]
Ben Meiselas
It's a deal. It's a powerful and strong deal. Who even talks about a deal like that?
- [61:24]
Political Commentator/Co-host
A deal.
- [61:24]
Ben Meiselas
A negotiation is a good faith bargaining where each side tries to find common ground. That is the very essence of a negotiation. It is not destruction. It is not obliteration. It is not surrender. It is good faith bargaining to try to reach a compromise. That is what a deal quite literally is. Which differs from a Surrender, even a term of surrender, as we've seen historically, still has various forms of compromise. Right. We should study history. How did we get into World War II? Well, because the literal terms of surrender in World War I felt so humiliating. I'm oversimplifying the causes, to be clear, but were so humiliating to Germany and to others that the anger festered and festered. And then you got a fascist like Hitler who promised that he alone would fix the problem and have to avenge the humiliation. So post World War II, we recognized, perhaps in a surrender negotiation, surrender involving Germany, Italy, Japan and others, that we develop a compromise that actually allows dignity in defeat so that we can support a post World War II structure that avoids World War 3. So that was the thinking even in a surrender negotiation. The Post World War II negotiating framework was one still of dignity for Germany, Italy, Japan and the losing sides of the war. So fast forward, and again, I'm oversimplifying, but I think the point is appropriate. Trump's view of the negotiations with Iran are not negotiations. Trump's perspective is total annihilation and total surrender, perhaps even worse than a World War I post Germany defeat treaty for Iran. And America did not win the war against Iran. Iran's perspective is, if you want to read the statements, like read what Iraqi says, read what Golubov says. Here, pull up. We have Golubov statement. Pull up what Golubov is saying. That's why we need to be culturally sensitive to what other people are saying. We prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments and we'll switch to what we speak best. You ride the horse you saddled. Okay. By the way, he's a PhD. He is a accomplished person in Iran who's been rising through the ranks, who is at that position not by happenstance, you know, and. And he is kind of a quantitative, qualitative intellectual.
- [65:29]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And you make. Oh, Ben, you praise.
- [65:30]
Ben Meiselas
I'm just telling you what it is. I'm just explaining to you guy that, that objectively he is a very intelligent and deeply deep thinker who does a lot of planning and doesn't act arbitrarily and capriciously and picks his words carefully. That isn't me praising him or the regime. I'm just letting you know we have to understand this. Similarly, Foreign Minister or Argji in his post today also is very similar, echoing the same language about speaking the language of diplomacy, but speaking the language of war more fluently, if that's really where you want to go. And so What Iran is saying and signaling is, look, we're not afraid of you. If you want to invade and attack us, if you think that the path to a better deal is a path of escalating the war, Iran is saying, do it. Go for it. We have our plan. You attack us. We know you'll cause us pain. You have already, and you will cause us pain. But we're prepared, and we've got our missiles, our arsenal, trained on American bases and American interests nearby. We're ready for that based on the
- [67:11]
Political Commentator/Co-host
current way the war went down.
- [67:14]
Ben Meiselas
This is a negotiation. That is a partial surrender by the United States. That's the dynamic. You may not like hearing this from me, but if I'm to be actually patriotic, although that term has been so warped now in our country by maga, you have to identify the reality. America lost. Did we get, like.
- [67:38]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Is it like a full surrender? No.
- [67:42]
Ben Meiselas
No. Did America cause damage? Yes. And also commit a lot of war crimes, where I believe those who did it need to be held accountable in the future, especially as it relates to Manob killing the little girls in the elementary school. But America must negotiate a partial surrender, because that's the truth. That's the dynamic. So what does a partial surrender mean?
- [68:06]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I've given this deep thought.
- [68:09]
Ben Meiselas
A partial surrender means you have to allow Iran and Oman to assert at least symbolic control over the Strait of Hormuz. Now, if you want to change the equation by escalating the war, then be prepared for the consequences of that, and perhaps you and CENTCOM and our military change the equation. And if the equation has changed, maybe you have enhanced bargaining power. I don't believe so. I think you'll have even weaker bargaining power at this point. And you've depleted so much of your missile stockpiles. And further escalating will result in, I think, a depression that's of a scale that's significantly greater than even the Great Depression. I'm not trying to fear Monger. I just think that that's where it goes. If you escalate this, we are teetering on that. I think we are clearly heading in that direction right now. But if you want to change the dynamic, you think of the negotiation where it's not a partial surrender. You escalate, they escalate. You play that out for the next two years, and then you see where we are. The current equation, we have to look at it real politique. The current equation is, Iran partially won, the United States partially lost. It's a partial surrender, not a complete surrender. A surrender, though, so that needs to be negotiated. So what has to have to, what has to happen? Iran gets to control the Strait of Hormuz. I think there's a way to structure it though, where they symbolically control it. And I think they and Oman, rather than us attacking Oman because Oman's an ally or a neutral party, I think you create a structure where Oman and Iran technically control this thing. There is some sort of environmental duty or tax that has to get paid. It's not daily tolls, but it is some sort of payment which can be done in terms of unfreezing funds to Iran that can be framed as an investment in the Strait of Hormuz environmental impact. Frame it that way if you want to save face a little bit. Okay, I think you frame it that way. I think you invite other Middle east countries to have some stake in this architecture. It's tough because UAE has kind of fully aligned with the US and Israel and so Iran's very suspicious of them. Saudi Arabia, Turkey have more of a neutral ish position. So maybe you don't include the UAE in this for now, which will piss the UAE off. Especially after all their quid pro quo deals with Trump and Kushner. They thought they were paying for things that they're not getting right now. So there's that. That's what happens when you violate emolument clauses and you put your personal, that worth ahead of the countries which we're seeing. But I think as part of this deal and dynamic, maybe you bring in Turkey, maybe you bring in Saudi Arabia, maybe you bring in Bahrain. Tough to do. Bahrain also, because they're Abraham Accords. But you, you bring them into this board, that could be the new strain of Hormuz board. Okay. And then you unfreeze the funds for Iran. We have the Strait of Hormuz open. Now, concurrently, we go to our allies, former allies, who we've dissed and insulted. But then we go to UK and France who have been working on this. They've got a 40 plus, 50 plus country coalition that's ready to do post war mine sweeping and post war recovery. So what you do is you say, okay, look, you can symbolically control the Strait of Hormuz. We're going to invite in other countries, we could have rotating leadership to empower sovereignty within Arab nations so they all have a piece of it. Because there's other countries that border the Persian Gulf also. Right?
- [72:38]
Political Commentator/Co-host
So it can't just be, yes, you
- [72:39]
Ben Meiselas
two control the Strait, but let's invite other Arab nations into this. Then separately let's have our coalition go outside. So if the Strait of Hormuz is closed again, now we have a coalition and we have multilateral support for this. Even Obama in the JCPOA had to bring in China and Russia. It's tough given Russia and Ukraine's dynamic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But you have to bring in China to help, be a guarantor of this as well. And to me, that's, you know, the. The Islamic Republic remains in power. Obviously, I would start doing symbolic things to show a little bit more good faith with Iranian soccer, football help some of. Help some more Iranian football people get here before the first game. I'd make moves there, just. Just symbolic goods, goodwill stuff, and open the straight and try to build like, you know, okay, you're like, well, Ben Netanyahu's never going to allow that. I hear you. So we got to deal with that. But you have to tell them no, you have to tell them you're going to go it alone. We're not supportive of this. You gotta get that. Get out of Lebanon.
- [73:57]
Political Commentator/Co-host
Yeah.
- [73:57]
Ben Meiselas
You can't. You can't do it. And then if they do that and Hezbollah continues to attack or Hamas and whatever.
- [74:06]
Political Commentator/Co-host
I mean, then you can say, hey,
- [74:08]
Ben Meiselas
look, they're not in Lebanon. They're there. And we can start establishing this, you know, a structure again.
- [74:15]
Political Commentator/Co-host
So, like, that's that to me, the only way a deal.
- [74:19]
Ben Meiselas
And I've been. I've been thinking about this, as you can probably tell from. But that's the only. That's what a deal looks like. That's how it has to happen. There's no other path other than that. Then you escalated and you try to negotiate after you escalated, which I don't want to see, but then Iran escalates it and they have weapons, they have a navy, they have soldiers. They have people to do it. So they're going to. They're going to strike back. But that's the equation now.
- [74:48]
Political Commentator/Co-host
And the problem is.
- [74:48]
Ben Meiselas
And I'll just go back to where we started. I'll go back to where we started. Jeremy, show the crowd of Madison Square Garden booing him. Let's show you this. Let's play it. Okay, now show Donald Trump on the tarmac saying that he received applause and that he was, like, loved and that he got lots of applause there, there. Let's play that clip. If we've got that one on the tarmac, I think we got it. Jeremy, just take a look. We don't have that one. Take my word for it. He did I'm pretty sure it's in the stack though, Jeremy. But you see, he said I wasn't booed. It was great. Things are amazing. They love me. So when you are. When you don't understand the equation and you create your false realities that aren't the shared reality and you live constantly in this perpetual fraud, this is what we see. This is what we see. And now America is just a Trump Ponzi scheme company. That's what America like. And that's what made me really upset, you know, when I, you know, when I was. When I was starting the show today and I was just like, you know, I don't. I don't want to be some extra in this weird reality show. I want all of your families to be doing well and I want you to be able to have a job that you feel respected in, and I want you to be able to get the health care that you need. And like, I. It really like, it like, literally causes me pain to see you, to see what you're going through and. And don't worry about me. Just to see. To see what you're experiencing and to hear your stories and to. And I just. I wish I could do more. I mean, I'm so proud of Katie Fang, you know, suing the Trump regime. She's a host on Midas. To get the Epstein files. You know, I try to do everything I can every day to, To. To put it out there just every day in this moment. But like, I literally, like, I, you know, I, I show up for the show and I'm like, okay, I gotta. I gotta go live. And I'm, you know, I objectively, I can't hide how I feel. I'm objectively get sad and upset at the pain he's causing you. And I wanna, I wish I could just do more. I really do. This is what I can do. You know, I'll create this network and just chop wood every day. Pop, pop, pop. Keep putting these videos out. Keep building the network and keep it going. Just keep getting out the truth every single damn day with you. That's all we can do right now in this moment is stay together and fight together and keep growing this. Keep, Keep supporting democracy. That's what we'll do. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. I appreciate you all. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.
- [78:13]
Ryan Reynolds
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