Trump Loses Control as War Spreads
3/2/202621 mincomplete
0:00The situation in the Middle East has gone from bad to worse following Donald Trump's
0:05invasion of Iran. We just learned that a fourth U .S.
0:09service member has been pronounced dead.
0:12The amount of seriously wounded U .S.
0:15service members has climbed to 18.
0:18Also, in response to all of the very serious and deeply troubling news coming out
0:23of Iran in the Middle East, Donald Trump has issued the following statement to the
0:27American people. He said this to the New York Post moments ago, quote, I don't
0:32have the yips with respect to the boots on the ground.
0:36Like every president says, there will be no boots on the ground.
0:40I don't say it. I say probably don't need them or if they were necessary
0:46because I don't have the yips.
0:49I don't have the yips.
0:51Statement from Donald Trump right there.
0:53War is spreading throughout the entire Middle East.
0:57Iran is not relenting. There was a disastrous press conference held this morning by Donald
1:03Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain.
1:08They talked about a war that could last a very long period of time, weeks,
1:14potentially months. Also, Donald Trump's been calling into reporters and saying that he is not
1:20ruling out boots on the ground.
1:22The specific quote from Donald Trump is, we are going to be escalating this even
1:27more soon. It's going to get even less safe.
1:31We haven't even hit them referring to Iran hard yet, Donald Trump says.
1:36He's also been making a number of other kind of deranged quotes about how he's
1:41not ruling out. He said, other presidents, they're afraid of putting boots on the ground.
1:46I'm not afraid of putting boots on the ground.
1:48I'm going to do whatever it is that I'm going to do.
1:52We also learned that there were three F -15s that were struck by Kuwait in
1:59a friendly fire incident. U .S.
2:01Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses.
2:07Fortunately, all of the individuals on board those airplanes were safe and they did not
2:15die. They all were able to eject.
2:17But a major friendly fire incident over there in Kuwait.
2:22I want to go through what else is going on.
2:25Let's just take this piece by piece of what we are learning this morning.
2:29CENTCOM posted the following update.
2:31As of 7 .30 a .m.
2:33March 2nd, four U .S.
2:34service members have been killed in action.
2:36The fourth service member who was seriously wounded during Iran's initial attack eventually succumbed to
2:42their injuries. 18 American service members seriously wounded so far during this operation.
2:47The U .S. military's ongoing strike campaign against Iran, according to a spokesperson from U
2:53.S. Central Command. Iranian forces also hit a U .S.
2:56flagged tanker, the Stena imperative in the port of Bahrain today, setting the vessel on
3:03fire. And while all of this was going on, Donald Trump says it's going to
3:06get less safe. We haven't started to hit them hard yet.
3:08The big wave hasn't even happened yet.
3:11The big one is coming soon.
3:13Then Donald Trump called up CNN and told Jake Tapper the following as well.
3:19Let's just play this clip.
3:21And President Trump, I'm just hearing in my ear, just told my colleague Jake Tapper
3:24that the big wave is yet to come.
3:27Things are going to be escalating, not de -escalating in the future.
3:30Well, I think the imminent threat goes back to nuclear weapons.
3:33Yeah, but I mean, the assessment was it could take 10 years, 10 years for
3:37an ICBM. We know they have.
3:39But Trump said it was obliterated, that the nuclear weapons were obliterated.
3:43We know they have stockpiles of nuclear material.
3:47We can see this satellite imagery right here, dated Sunday, March 1st, obtained by Planet
3:53Labs and Airbus Defense in Space.
3:55Hats up to the fine folks at OSINT Defender who have done a good job
3:58at least compiling all this stuff and analyzed by The New York Times.
4:02You can see extensive damage that's been done to the U .S.
4:06Naval Support Activity Base in Bahrain, the headquarters of the U .S.
4:11Navy's Fifth Fleet right there.
4:12Look at the before. Look at the after right here.
4:15Also, according to ABC, all U .S.
4:18military bases are now under threat condition Bravo, which is basically one of the highest
4:24level threats of terroristic activity there.
4:27Ali Laranjani, who is one of the top military officials in Iran, runs their national
4:34security, their version of their National Security Council, has put out the following statement this
4:40morning. Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war.
4:45And here's the statement that was put out by the Islamic regime.
4:49As in the past 300 years, Iran did not start this war and our braved
4:53armed forces have not engaged in any tax except in defense.
4:57We will fiercely defend ourselves and our 6 ,000 year old civilization, regardless of the
5:03cost, and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculations.
5:07He then posted, Trump has betrayed America first to adopt Israel first, and then posted,
5:14Trump's wishful thinking has dragged the whole region into an unnecessary war, and now he
5:19is rightly worried about more American casualties.
5:22It is indeed very sad that he is sacrificing American treasure and blood to advance
5:27Netanyahu's illegitimate expansionist ambitions. He also posts, we will not negotiate with the United States.
5:37So folks, it doesn't seem like Iran is going to be relenting or going to
5:42be surrendering or going to be even negotiating with Donald Trump at this point.
5:47At the same time, we know that the Kremlin, Donald Trump's buddy, Vladimir Putin, says
5:52that Russia is in continuous contact with Iran's leadership over what Moscow calls outright aggression
5:59against Tehran and has expressed deep disappointment in how events unfolded.
6:05So as Donald Trump continues to be a Putin bootlicker, you have Putin and China
6:10also siding here with Iran, as we knew they would.
6:14Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, held a unhinged press conference this morning with the chairman
6:21of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain.
6:24And he just started like doing like Clint Eastwood quotes.
6:27It was like very bizarre, this press conference.
6:29Let me show you what went down.
6:31When he was asked, so is this war going to take, you know, four weeks,
6:35six weeks, how long is it going to take, Pete Hegseth?
6:37He then attacks NBC and says that's a typical NBC gotcha question.
6:43If it's four weeks, six weeks, it could move up.
6:46Just stop asking these questions.
6:47Here, play this clip. The ability that we have over there.
6:50I heard the question about about four weeks.
6:53It's the typical NBC sort of gotcha type question.
6:56President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it
7:00may or may not take.
7:01Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks.
7:03It could move up. It could move back.
7:05We're going to execute. At his command, the objectives we've set out to achieve and
7:09what he has shown ability to do that other presidents can't quite seem to have
7:13the aperture to do. Well, I mean, Joe Biden didn't even know what he was
7:17doing, is to look for opportunities and off ramps and escalations for the United States
7:21that creates new opportunities to execute what we need on our own timeline.
7:26So you can play games about four weeks, five weeks.
7:28He has all the latitude and I'm glad he does because there's no better communicator
7:31than our president expressing those things.
7:34I've been in meetings with the president for the last two and a half days.
7:38We know exactly where his head's headspace is and he will communicate as he should
7:42exactly what he would like.
7:44And we will follow those orders.
7:46And I think he everything he said on that is right down the middle.
7:49Absolutely. Yes, right there. Yes, sir.
7:52Then Hegseth starts to like do these bizarre one liners where he's like, this is
7:58not so -called regime change, but this is changing the regime.
8:03Here, play this clip. Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional
8:10shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.
8:13Let me say that again, a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.
8:20Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs.
8:25Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way
8:29to a nuclear bomb. It almost worked under Obama and his terrible deal, but not
8:36under this president. Turns out the regime who chanted death to America and death to
8:43Israel was gifted death from America and death from Israel.
8:50This is not a so -called regime change war, but the regime sure did change
8:57and the world is better off for it.
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10:32As we wrote on the Midas Touch account, it would be nice if we had
10:35a Secretary of Defense who knew what he was doing and not just regurgitating quotes
10:40from action movies. More from Hegseth right here.
10:44where he's asked by reporters, what do you mean by you want our troops to
10:50pray or you want, what do you want them to pray for?
10:55What's in your prayer for them?
10:57What are you talking about right now?
10:59Rather than giving us a strategy, you want prayer?
11:01That's what you're saying that we should do.
11:03We shouldn't ask questions as the American people.
11:05It's just prayer. And he's like, yeah, it should just be the biblical prayer.
11:09That's what my family does, the biblical prayer.
11:12You know, all of these warmongers, all of these fascists, they hide behind the Bible.
11:16They hide behind God when they don't want to answer actual questions.
11:20It's utterly despicable. Play this clip.
11:23There's a military objective. Last one right here.
11:26Thank you, sir. As you've said, there are a large amount of U .S.
11:29service members that are in harm's way right now.
11:32What is your prayer for them?
11:35First of all, my prayer for them is that I do pray for them.
11:38My wife prays for them.
11:40Our family prays for them.
11:41Our cabinet prays for them.
11:43None of this is done on a whim.
11:48Having been in their boots, having been in their shoes, having been in their flight
11:51suits, I think we, I mean, I know we think about them with every decision
11:56that we make and every recommendation that we make to the President of the United
11:59States. Those recommendations are made prayerfully.
12:04And when I pray every day for them and for this mission, I pray simply
12:09for the biblical wisdom to see what is right and the courage to do it.
12:13It's going to take courage to follow through on this.
12:15There's going to be a lot of noise.
12:17And we pray for that.
12:18And we hope all of you do as well.
12:20Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
12:21Thank you. Then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Kane, spoke and he said,
12:27we should expect a lot more losses of life.
12:30This mission is going to take a very long time.
12:32This is a major operation.
12:34Major combat operations take a long time.
12:36We're in a war. Here play this clip.
12:38The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take
12:43some time to achieve and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.
12:48We expect to take additional losses.
12:51And as always, we will work to minimize U .S.
12:55losses. But as the secretary said, this is major combat operations.
13:00So then a reporter asks Hegseth, are you concerned about this war spiraling into a
13:05longer war? Play this clip.
13:08Secretary Hegseth and one for Chairman Kane as well.
13:10I understand to your point here that you don't want to broadcast everything for our
13:16adversaries to hear. But the American people also want to know what they're sending their
13:20men and women to war for.
13:22Is there a concern of this spiraling into a longer war and then one for
13:27the chairman when you're done?
13:28Did you not hear my remarks?
13:31I mean, we're ensuring the mission gets accomplished, but we are very clear eyed as
13:35the president has been, unlike other presidents, about the foolish policies of the past that
13:42recklessly pulled us in to things that were not tethered to actual clear objectives.
13:47So we know, we have plans, we have generals, we have chairmen, we have commanders,
13:54CENTCOM commanders, Admiral Cooper, who's executing very deliberately to ensure outcomes that I laid out
13:59are accomplished. But we would never in front of a press pool lay out how
14:04long that may take. The mission for our warfighters, which is what matters to us,
14:08is very, very clear. And they're executing it right now violently.
14:13And then he says that rules of engagement are stupid.
14:17He says rules of engagement are stupid.
14:20Let's play this clip with maximum authorities.
14:23No. Stupid rules of engagement, no nation -building quagmire, no democracy -building exercise, no politically
14:29correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives.
14:35As the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties.
14:41War is hell and always will be.
14:45A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured.
14:51The absolute best of America.
14:54Donald Trump just issued the following statement to New York Post.
14:59Donald Trump says, quote, I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the
15:05ground. Like every president says, there will be no boots on the ground.
15:09I don't say it. I probably don't need them or if they were necessary.
15:14I don't have the yips, not the yips.
15:17Donald Trump says that's his current message to the American people.
15:20He doesn't have the yips.
15:22Then Donald Trump said that he really liked that press conference of Pete Hegsiv and
15:26the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Kane.
15:30He says that's right out of the central casting of a Hollywood movie.
15:34And he said that that's what he likes, you know, that it's out of central
15:37casting. It's a direct quote from Donald Trump.
15:39Here play this clip. The military operation.
15:41He said there is no greater military in the U .S.
15:44and he was praising General Kane, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary
15:49of war, Pete Hegsiv for the news conference that he just watched.
15:53Cut and dry, as he said, central casting.
15:56And they have a job to do and they're getting it done.
15:59More of Donald Trump communicating here with state regime media known as Fox.
16:05Donald Trump is saying that we need to follow what we did in Venezuela and
16:11do that in Iran. Just use the template, find somebody in the Islamic Republic who
16:17wants to take over and then become their allies.
16:20So that's the plan right now.
16:21OK, here play this clip.
16:23He said there is a plan.
16:25He points to Venezuela as a template, which means to me that going in, they
16:33had some sense on the ground of what was coming next.
16:37Then they're bringing on all their sycophants in the MAGA movement, like Mark Wayne Mullen,
16:42MAGA Republican senator from Oklahoma.
16:45And here he says it's up to the Iraqi people.
16:49The Iraqi people will make their decision.
16:51You mean the Iranian people?
16:53OK, it's up to the Iraqi.
16:55They literally conflate Iraq and Iran because this is what they're doing here.
16:59Play this clip. But it's up to the Iraqi people or I'm sorry, the Iranian
17:04people to choose their next their next leader.
17:07It's up to them to rise up and kick this regime out of place.
17:10If they do not, then they will be with a different leader, but the same
17:14regime. If they choose to get a different leader that we can have a relationship
17:17with, which we would love to.
17:19Prior to 1979, we had a good relationship with Iran.
17:22But if they if they if they choose to pick up a leader, Stuart, we
17:26will surround that leader, not necessarily with with boots on the ground, but with assets
17:31to make sure that that leader can be protected, rise up and then Iranian people
17:35will have the opportunity to choose their next leadership.
17:37That's what we in contrast.
17:38Here's what Democratic Congress member and Army Ranger Jason Crow had to say.
17:43Play this clip. Right. And how this goes is elites and leaders in Washington talk
17:49tough and bang the war drums.
17:50And then what happens is working class kids like me and the people that I
17:53fought with in Iraq and Afghanistan actually have to get into planes and helicopters and
17:57pick up rifles and do it.
17:59Right. So I've had it with that.
18:01cycle, that endless cycle of non -accountability.
18:04I mean, look, Friday night, Donald Trump filmed this tough video where he talked about
18:08war and the costs of war and how hard it's going to be and how
18:12we're going to lose troops.
18:13Then he literally went behind the curtain and hosted a million dollar a plate dinner
18:18dance party at Mar -a -Lago.
18:20That tells you everything you need to know.
18:22In other international news, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has barred the U .S.
18:28from using bases there to strike Iran.
18:31French President Emmanuel Macron announced a direct boost in France's nuclear arsenal moments ago, announcing
18:38the country will stop revealing the size of its stockpile, but will be greatly increasing
18:44its stockpile of nuclear weapons.
18:47As Aaron Banco explains, what a remarkable turn in messaging.
18:52We went from hearing from Trump and senior officials and lawmakers in recent days that
18:57they want freedom for the Iranian people, signaling a push for regime change to hearing
19:02from the Pentagon that this campaign is actually not about that at all.
19:07And as Greg Kallstrom says, Trump is basically calling up every journalist in his phone
19:12to workshop different timelines and goals for his war.
19:16In the past two days, Washington Post, the aim is freedom for the people of
19:19Iran. Axios, maybe we can end it in two or three days.
19:22New York Times might be four to five weeks.
19:25I have three very good choices who might take control.
19:27ABC, actually, never mind. We killed those choices.
19:30He doesn't sound convinced by any of it.
19:32He's throwing spaghetti at the wall.
19:34Ultimately, I suspect he just wants to say he solved the problem that has vexed
19:38every American president. There's no clear idea what that looks like.
19:42No plan how to get there.
19:44Probably what's going to happen is Trump declares victory and just leaves the region an
19:48absolute mess. I'm not sure that's even possible at this point as we're seeing just
19:53this massive, massive retaliation by Iran.
19:57I mean, massive strikes, don't get me wrong, by the United States and Israel in
20:02Iran. But Iran is striking its neighbors and inflicting a lot of pain as well.
20:08And the entire region's becoming engulfed.
20:10Russia's being drawn in. China's potentially being drawn in.
20:13And the entire world right now in some way or another is involved in this
20:19war. That's what we got for now.
20:21We'll keep you posted throughout the day.
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20:25And thanks for watching.