Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 4/16/2026
4/16/202671 mincomplete
0:00Pope Leo XIV striking back against Donald Trump as Donald Trump has attacked the Pope.
0:07He's mocked the Catholic Church.
0:09He's done AI images of himself as Jesus.
0:12He's continued to do things like defund Catholic charities.
0:18He's taken money, millions of dollars away from the Archdiocese in Miami.
0:23We'll talk about Pope Leo XIV's speech that he gave in Cameroon.
0:28And Pope Leo XIV isn't holding back right now, but this is the fight that
0:32Donald Trump and MAGA decided that they want to pick.
0:36They're going to go all in on attacking the Catholic Church right now and attacking
0:40the Pope. You have this disastrous press conference I showed a little bit of there
0:45at the outset of Donald Trump on the White House lawn.
0:48He's heading to Las Vegas right now to pretend the economy's booming and everybody's doing
0:53great. Later today, we'll bring you the speech that he gives there.
0:57Um, but, uh, Donald Trump on the White House lawn, uh, disparaging Epstein survivors, uh,
1:06basically saying, uh, you know, uh, he calls them the victims or whatever.
1:12That's how he referred to the survivors, the victims or whatever.
1:17That's by the way, how Donald Trump feels about the survivors.
1:20There is whatever, whatever he doesn't believe them.
1:22He attacks them frequently. He disparages them frequently.
1:26We'll talk about that. Uh, you also have, uh, Donald Trump saying that, uh, you
1:32know, he's not sure if the ceasefire with Iran is going to be extended.
1:36He's also said he doesn't know, uh, you know, uh, what, what Iran's going to
1:40do there. We'll, we'll cover that.
1:42Also, uh, Donald Trump's ballroom, uh, has been halted yet again by a federal district
1:49court judge. Uh, we'll talk about this order, uh, by judge Leon judge order that
1:54all of the above ground work should be, uh, halted, uh, and that Donald Trump
2:01can continue building whatever bunker or whatever's happening underneath.
2:05Uh, but anything that went down, uh, above ground, the ballroom itself will be halted.
2:10Donald Trump's flipping out about that.
2:12He, Donald Trump made a post, uh, moments ago, uh, which we'll pull up in
2:16just a little bit as well, where Donald Trump said the whole ballroom is actually
2:20not a ballroom. This is all for my safety and security.
2:23The ballroom is a way to protect me from drones and ballistic missiles.
2:28And that's why we're doing the ballroom.
2:30We'll cover that. We have some hearings on Capitol Hill.
2:34You had Mike Walls, Donald Trump's ambassador to the United nations testifying.
2:40Uh, he was cross -examinated cross -examined by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate about
2:46Donald Trump's, uh, genocide, war crime threats and execution there to show you what Mike
2:53Walls responded in a little bit.
2:55You had RFK junior testifying today.
2:58We'll go through some of that testimony.
3:00You know, apparently there was a story in the New York post that he would,
3:04uh, cut off, uh, wreck was kind of raccoons, penises, and he would, uh, study
3:10the penises of dead raccoons.
3:12Um, but he was just a bizarre, this is just such a bizarre regime right
3:17here. Um, in any event, he testified and he was asked a lot of questions
3:22about his anti -vax stance, uh, and some of the horrible statements that he made.
3:27And he just denies that he makes them, even though there's like actual audio of
3:30him making statements, we'll cover that.
3:33Um, and then we're learning more about again, these purported negotiations between the United States
3:39and Iran. Donald Trump continues to say they're going great, amazing.
3:43They're heading on the right track.
3:45Um, but when you actually see what Iran's saying, it doesn't seem to be going
3:49in that direction, but set aside what Iran saying, what's Europe saying, what are nations
3:53and what's the rest of the world saying who are either observing these, uh, negotiations
3:58or speaking with the parties to determine what's going on?
4:02Well, uh, Europe and middle East nations, uh, believe that, uh, at a minimum, it
4:10will potentially take six months for the United States and Iran to reach any type
4:15of significant deal. This isn't happening overnight.
4:19Um, so again, if you think about the trajectory of COVID, right, remember we've said
4:26that this kind of follows how Donald Trump dealt with COVID during, uh, his, uh,
4:31first term, like a miracle, it's all going to go away, bend the curve, and
4:35then kind of just ignored it and pretend that everything's great.
4:38And he's doing a great job.
4:39Remember he said he gave himself an A, like he did an amazing job with
4:43COVID and have a scale of one to 10 with COVID.
4:45Remember he said he gave himself an 11.
4:48So if you think about six months from now as well, right, we're pretty much
4:51going to be heading into next year, right?
4:55We're going to start heading into 2027, uh, soon.
4:58And, you know, I think that Donald Trump's plan is just to drag this along
5:02and what I think is important, which is already becoming an issue, but you know,
5:08we have to really pay attention to it.
5:10I mean, like Europe for for example, in Asia, running out of jet fuel.
5:15I mean, there's going to be serious food shortages already.
5:18We're seeing that in certain locations, but food shortages could potentially start to sweep throughout
5:26the entire world, and that could create real serious issues and panic.
5:31So we're focused there. Prices continuing to rise.
5:35And when Donald Trump was asked in the White House lawn today about high gas
5:41prices right now and what his view is, are they going to go down anytime
5:45soon? Donald Trump's like, nope, the prices are good.
5:49I mean, the prices are great.
5:51Stock market's amazing, he says.
5:53So I think we've done our job.
5:56The parallels between this moment and COVID are just so obvious.
6:00Right. So let's go through what went down.
6:02I showed you that first clip right there when Donald Trump was asked, do you
6:06believe there should be a public hearing for more of these Epstein survivors?
6:10Let's just play that clip again.
6:11And let's let's do a fresh start of the episode.
6:14Now that the mic's working, let's play that clip again, Jeremy.
6:16The first lady last week called on Congress to further look into and uncover the
6:22truth on the Epstein files, the Epstein saga.
6:26Do you believe that there should be a public hearing for more of these Epstein
6:29survivors? I'm okay with it.
6:31I think we've had a lot of public hearings.
6:32I'm okay with it. But I understand that the women didn't want to go under
6:36oath. That's when I heard that the women, the victims or whatever, they refused to
6:43go under oath, which was a little surprising.
6:45So Melania felt strongly about it because she was accused of that I met her
6:50through Epstein, but it turned out to be totally false.
6:52It was a false. Then on the White House lawn, Donald Trump also said that
6:59the first lady came out, the reporter asked, the first lady came out last week
7:03and said she had no links with Epstein.
7:05Like, why did that even happen in the first place?
7:07Let's play this clip. Who did?
7:12The first lady. She had none.
7:14Why did she come out and say that last week?
7:15Because the fake news was saying she did and she had none.
7:18And I think that's been proven.
7:21It bothered her that the fake news was being fake news.
7:24So she just wanted to clarify.
7:27She just wanted to clarify no links.
7:29So when we all saw those emails that have Melania's name on them that were
7:33sent to Ghislaine and Ghislaine sent it in all of those photos that are out
7:36there. Everything, everything's fake. Everything's fake news.
7:39Apparently, according to Donald Trump, what about, what if there's no deal, Donald?
7:44I mean, what's going on right now with these negotiations with Iran?
7:47Here, let's play this clip.
7:51We had a very good conversation.
8:01We're doing very well, I can tell you.
8:03Maybe it'll happen before that.
8:04I'm not sure it needs to be extended.
8:08Iran wants to make a deal and we're dealing very nicely with them.
8:13We've got to have no nuclear weapons if we do.
8:16That's a big factor. And they're willing to do things today that they weren't willing
8:20to do two months ago.
8:23It's interesting because two months ago, almost going to be three months ago at this
8:28point, back in February, Donald Trump said there was going to be a deal and
8:32they're going to do things that they weren't going to be able to do recently.
8:34And if we go back to last June, he totally obliterated the nuclear facilities.
8:40So last June, everything's been obliterated.
8:42So what are we even talking about here?
8:44Also, Donald Trump agreed to Iran's 10 point negotiating framework and under Iran's 10 point
8:50negotiating framework, they're allowed to enrich uranium.
8:53That's what the 10 point framework said.
8:55We all know that's what the framework said.
8:56It's public what's been said.
8:58And from what we understand in the negotiations, the Trump regime said, can you not
9:03enrich for 20 years, pass the problem along to people 20 years from now, Iran
9:09said, no, we'll hold off for a year, maybe five years of enriching uranium.
9:14And apparently that's where a lot of the dispute is.
9:16But you had the Pakistani field marshal, Asim Munir, he was in Tehran in the
9:22past 24 to 48 hours, because there has not been any progress made at all
9:27in these negotiations. Let's also not forget, remember what they told us earlier this week
9:33to manipulate the market, right?
9:34Everybody remembers that today was supposed to be the day where there was going to
9:38be a meeting on Thursday.
9:39Remember Barack Ravid from Axios?
9:42Like I know there's so much news happening everywhere and it's coming from all different
9:46directions that sometimes we forget these things.
9:48But today, Thursday was what they told us on Monday, that there would be another
9:53round of negotiations in Pakistan today.
9:57And that didn't happen. So now they say, oh, don't worry, it's going to be
10:01happening in a little bit.
10:02And the real answer probably is closer to what Europeans and what the Gulf states
10:10are saying, that this could probably take about six months on the low end in
10:16terms of actually coming up with a deal.
10:18So the question is, is, well, what do we do from now until then?
10:23Obviously, a ceasefire would be a good thing.
10:26But how do we deal with the fact that Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz?
10:32And they're not going to let any vehicles that are allied with anyone other than
10:37them through the Strait of Hormuz?
10:39Let's go. So that the United States then did an additional blockade of the Persian
10:44Gulf, even though we know that there are some tankers that are able to get
10:48through. So how do we deal with that in the interim?
10:55And look, we all know that there has been a massive shock in the supply
11:02of oil. And I know gas prices are high right now, but all things considered,
11:09the level of the supply shock compared to the price of oil is not really
11:18congruent based upon what we know about the oil shock, right?
11:24With the straight, there's really no major difference.
11:27Maybe a few extra tankers may be getting through right now, but not really from
11:31when the war began, right?
11:34I mean, here we are, April 16th, the war began end of February.
11:39And there's really no discernible difference in the straight and for moves.
11:44In fact, if anything, there's a little, maybe less tankers even getting through based on
11:49the additional blockade by the United States or the purported blockade.
11:55But then it's also like, there's so much that the United States and Trump did
11:58that makes very little sense.
12:00So if you were going to do the blockade, then why did you remove sanctions
12:04on the Iranian oil and the Russian oil?
12:08Because as soon as you remove sanctions on the Iranian oil, what Iran was able
12:14to basically do is take that oil that they already had, put them on ships
12:18and make the transaction and sell them to now buy themselves time for a few
12:25more months. So that even with this blockade, because we removed this, do you ever
12:31get that? Because we removed the sanctions on Iranian oil, they were able to make
12:37the transactions that they needed to help them survive a blockade that we've now put
12:43on. So there's no like coherence and logic behind anything we do.
12:50But what else would you expect when you're dealing with someone who continues to pick
12:53a fight with the Pope?
12:54A reporter asked Donald Trump, why, why do you keep on fighting with the Pope?
12:58Like, what are you doing here?
12:59Play this clip. Why are you fighting with the Pope?
13:03And are you worried it's upsetting your...
13:04No, no, I don't. I have to do what's right.
13:07The Pope has to understand that.
13:09Very simple. I have nothing against the Pope.
13:12His brother's MAGA all the way.
13:14I like his brother, Lewis.
13:15I'm not fighting with him.
13:17The Pope made a statement.
13:18He says, Iran can have a nuclear weapon.
13:21I say, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
13:23And if the Pope looked at the 42 ,000 people that were killed over the
13:27last two or three months as a protester with no weapons, no nothing, I mean,
13:33you take a look at that.
13:34So I can disagree with the Pope.
13:36I have a right to disagree.
13:38You know, also, one of the things that he says over and over again is,
13:43you know, he lies and says, Iran, that the Pope said that Iran should have
13:47a nuclear weapon. You know, I'm glad that the reporter basically said, you know, the
13:52Pope never said that. The Pope never said Iran.
13:54The Pope's just been saying, don't engage in war crimes.
13:57Don't blow up elementary schools.
14:00Don't engage in genocide. You know, stop using God's name to justify your war crimes
14:07and your genocides. That's all the Pope has said.
14:11And Donald Trump and Hegseth and all these MAGAs got very angry at that concept.
14:17How dare he? How dare he say, you know, all of these things about us?
14:22Okay, well, if you believe that that's about you, you should probably look in the
14:26mirror that you're engaged. You know, you're engaged in that, in that conduct.
14:30I'm going through more of these clips right here.
14:34A reporter asked Donald Trump, how much longer will Americans continue to see higher gas
14:38prices? Let's play this clip.
14:40Okay. And then on gas prices, how much longer will Americans continue to see these
14:44high gas prices? Well, they're not very high.
14:46If you look at what they were supposed to be in order to get rid
14:49of a nuclear weapon with the danger that entails.
14:52So the gas prices have come down very much over the last three, four days.
14:57I know, you know, that's what ABC says.
14:59But the fact is that if you look at the stock markets up, everything's doing
15:04really well. And the big thing we have to do is we have to make
15:08sure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, because if they do, you want
15:12to talk about problems, you'd have problems.
15:14So very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.
15:18And they've agreed to that.
15:20Iran's agreed to that. And they've agreed to it very powerfully.
15:24They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust.
15:27It's way underground because of the attack we made with the B -2 bombers.
15:31So we have a lot of agreement with Iran.
15:33And I think something's going to happen very positive.
15:37A lot of agreement. I think something's going to happen very positive.
15:41I don't think $4 is high.
15:43That's what ABC says. I mean, no wonder that he has the worst approval right
15:49now in presidential history. Donald Trump's disapproval right now is higher than Nixon when Nixon
15:58resigned among the independents. Just think about that.
16:01Trump is less popular than Richard Nixon at the time.
16:07Richard Nixon's resignation. That also tells you, though, about the kind of broader political framework
16:17that exists in the United States, right?
16:19And the capitulation on Capitol Hill by MAGA Republicans, how they no longer do their
16:26Article I function, which is to be a co -equal branch of government.
16:31With MAGA Mike and all of these MAGA sycophants, they let this lunatic, this piece
16:35of trash who you see right there spewing that nonsense, saying that $4 gas is
16:42not expensive. That's where their position is.
16:45I mean, that is how deranged it is, right?
16:47They go from telling you that their whole platform is they're going to make things
16:54cheaper and that Biden was someone who made things far more expensive.
16:58On day one, they're going to make this cheaper, that cheaper.
17:00The fourth quarter, it's going to be roaring.
17:03It's going to be booming and things are going to be amazing.
17:05And then when it doesn't happen, what do they do?
17:08They say it is amazing.
17:09This is great. It's $4 gas.
17:12What are you, ABC? What are you, ABC saying that?
17:16That's where they always go to because these are deranged human beings.
17:19But going back to what I was saying before, this is why you need a
17:22robust Article I Congress as a check on this lawlessness, these war crimes, you know,
17:33this behavior right here, right?
17:36I'll show you, you know, we've got reporters on Capitol Hill right now, whether it's
17:41Pablo Monriquez, whether it's Scott McFarlane, others who are there speaking with lawmakers.
17:49Let's take a look at what Democratic Congresswoman Kamliger Dove had to say when she
17:54was asked by our team in D .C.
17:57about the prices going up and how Donald Trump claims no problems with affordability anymore,
18:05that everybody's doing amazing. Here's what Congresswoman Kamliger Dove had to say.
18:09Let's play this clip. Are you concerned about the impact that this war in Iran
18:13is having on our national debt?
18:14Oh, my God. Yes, of course I am.
18:17You would, Stevie Wonder can even see how much this is costing us.
18:21So gas prices are going up.
18:22It's almost $10 in California.
18:24And fertilizers going up. I mean, you name it, the prices have gone up.
18:28And this dude, Dr. Jesus, okay, is wanting to spend $2 billion of your money
18:33every single day rather than help you get health care.
18:37Fuck his ass. Thank you, Congresswoman.
18:40Well, powerful words. Then you have Scott McFarlane, who's on Capitol Hill.
18:45And he's talking, he's talking to a lot of Democratic lawmakers who are pushing for
18:5125th Amendment commissions and a real deep dive into Donald Trump's fitness to serve.
19:01One of the big themes we've been seeing over and over again is, you know,
19:05just so many people finally coming to the conclusion that we've been talking about for
19:09so long on the Midas Touch Network, that this guy is beyond cognitively and physically
19:15addled and unable to do the basic work.
19:18It's just obvious. I mean, it's happening in plain view.
19:22Check in with Scott McFarlane, Midas Touch Chief DC Correspondent.
19:26Here on Capitol Hill, House Democrats do want to fight some messaging fights.
19:30They are pushing this legislation to set up a commission to help execute the 25th
19:35Amendment on Trump if and when that time comes.
19:38There have been 65 co -sponsors so far who've signed on to it and could
19:42be more. Yasmin Ansari, the Democrat from Arizona, told me it is worth having this
19:48public discussion on the 25th Amendment.
19:50It is warranted, even if it's not really going to happen anytime soon.
20:02I think we're getting a lot of positive feedback.
20:05I have been in, you know, very impressed actually to see non -elected, but Republicans,
20:12people like Tucker Carlson and former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, people like Nick Cuentes, Alex
20:17Jones, people I never thought I would ever agree with on anything, recognize that Donald
20:22Trump is so mentally unstable and he clearly is in a state of cognitive decline.
20:28And I'm grateful that Representative Raskin is being the charge on this 25th Amendment bill
20:33and has started an investigation into his cognitive decline because he is unfit and he
20:39is a national security threat to the United States of America.
20:43You know, our reporters are not just asking questions of Democrats on the Hill.
20:48We're catching up with MAGA Republicans because we've got serious questions for them.
20:51We're asking the MAGA Republicans the questions that you want answered.
20:57So one of the individuals that our reporter spoke to is MAGA Republican Congress member
21:05Troy Nels. And we asked him, are you concerned about the impact that the war
21:12in Iran is having on our economy in the United States, on the debt in
21:18the United States that continues to increase?
21:21I mean, weren't you all talking about being fiscal hawks, right?
21:25You're fiscal hawks. You guys were going to bring down the debt, bring down the
21:29deficit. You guys were going to be the heroes.
21:31You all said, even though Donald Trump contributed about 30.
21:34percent of all of our debt more than anybody else during his first term in
21:39just four short years now the debt is soaring right now so there must be
21:44some intellectual consistency here right mega republican troy nails tell us that you're concerned about
21:50the debt play the clip mr nails real quick are you concerned about uh the
21:55impact that the war in iran is having on the national debt no no no
22:00no were you worried about the impact of the war in ukraine had on the
22:06taxpayers in this state in the united states the billions that we put in you
22:11know and you gotta ask yourself the question is the billions that we put into
22:15ukraine what have we what have we gotten out of that what what where are
22:20we at in ukraine other than tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides being
22:24killed where you know that thing was just totally mismanaged by obviously the previous administration
22:32uh i've never voted never voted to give ukraine a nickel and i'm so glad
22:35i made that decision but what have we gotten out of the war in iran
22:38besides like higher gas prices oh we have a much safer world come on you
22:42can't the region's on fire right now well because we're gonna finish the damn job
22:47we're gonna finish the job but i i will tell you this iran right now
22:51yeah has been degraded to the point it will take them a decade maybe more
22:54i mean with the amount of damage we've done to their military assets and the
22:58missile sites and all this stuff i mean i think i think the israelis are
23:03probably sleeping a lot better today and they'll continue to sleep a lot better as
23:07we continue to degrade them the the embargo the the shutting straight down i think
23:11that's all good stuff we have to we have to take iran down to their
23:15knees and it's going to happen one way or the other it's going to happen
23:18thank you harrison we got to take them down to we got to take them
23:23down to their knees everybody we're going to negotiate them down to their knees right
23:28now okay because let me tell you something let me tell you something those israelis
23:33israelis are doing really good there israelis are sleeping much easier right now so so
23:40do you care about i don't know how the americans are doing no i don't
23:45care what about biden and ukraine i'm glad i didn't do anything with ukraine but
23:51i'm glad the israelis are doing good and we're going to bring them down on
23:54the knee the embargo thingy that we're doing the embargo thingy i mean how do
23:57you even watch this stuff with a straight face i mean this is this is
24:03the group of clowns i mean there are people in that guy's district who see
24:08that and go that's my guy the cigar smoking batman villain saying that what makes
24:15him happy right now while americans are suffering is that he by the way i
24:19don't even think the israelis there's i don't think it's an accurate statement i think
24:22that they've been bombed more and they've had more insecurity there than before so i
24:26don't believe the statement's true but the very fact that that america first means that
24:31now while he's smoking a cigar and says i don't care about the debt or
24:36i don't care about the economic conditions while donald trump's out there saying four dollars
24:40is not a lot of money four dollars per gallon is is child's play the
24:44the market is doing amazing right now but look when you talk about intellectual consistency
24:50that's not a trade of maga so i'll show you right now when democratic senator
24:54van holland got the opportunity to cross -examine mike walls trump's ambassador to the united
25:01nations the first kind of top trump official who showed up the the hearing was
25:06about like additional aid to the united nations it really didn't have to do with
25:12the uh trump's unlawful war in iran but democrats finally had an opportunity to speak
25:18to a trump official because rubio hasn't testified before congress exit hasn't testified before congress
25:24just think about that during a war they're so scared there's such a bunch of
25:30scared weasels that they don't even send people to show up to testify right instead
25:36they do their pathetic propaganda state regime media press conference they don't even testify before
25:42congress because they're a bunch of losers they're weak they're scared they're losers and that's
25:47not a political statement it's just the reality so mike walls testified about united nations
25:53funding but he was asked questions because democrats had finally an opportunity to ask a
25:59person in the trump regime about the war so one question that van holland had
26:04was you were very outspoken when you were a congress member congress member walls now
26:11you're the un ambassador or the u .s ambassador to the united nations and you
26:16said putin is a war criminal and that if biden didn't say that that biden
26:20should be impeached and removed immediately by the way biden said that biden was strong
26:24against putin so now what's your view about that let's play this quote would you
26:29agree that we should enforce and that there be consequences for war crimes and let
26:39me ask you a different way would you agree it would be a violation of
26:43international law to blow up a bunch of civilian infrastructure in iran because iran did
26:49not agree to open the strait of hormuz that would be a violation of international
26:53humanitarian law if we actually did actually that's that that is incorrect uh there are
26:59that we have a long history we could Joe, look at video after video of
27:04the bridges that we bombed in World War II and Vietnam and conflict after conflict
27:09of power plants in Serbia under the Clinton administration.
27:12Mr. Ambassador, this was not my question.
27:14And this is particularly a regime that has dual use.
27:16Mr. Ambassador, that was not my question.
27:22President Trump threatened to hit civilian infrastructure if Iran did not open the Strait of
27:29Hormuz. We all know international law.
27:30We know there are some exceptions to the general rule that you shouldn't hit civilian
27:34infrastructure. The enemy is occupying it.
27:38Obviously, you didn't answer that.
27:39But here's the one on Putin.
27:40Let's play the other clip.
27:44If we've got the other clip with him talking about Putin and Van Halen.
27:48All right. We don't. Let's take our first quick break of the show.
27:51We will be right back after our first quick break.
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33:19Ben on breaking news. I'm Ben Micellis.
33:21This is your breaking news.
33:23Breaking news from earlier today, a federal judge, Judge Leon in Washington DC ordered that
33:29all of the above ground work on Donald Trump's ballroom need to be halted forthwith.
33:35This is after the same judge ordered that the ballroom project be completely stopped pending
33:42Congress passing legislation to fund the ballroom.
33:47The federal judge did indeed say that if there are national security issues, the judge's
33:52order blocking the ballroom would not address any of the national security issues that Donald
33:58Trump claimed may or may not exist.
34:00But then Donald Trump rushed to the court of appeals and there's a judge named
34:04Rao who's auditioning to become a Supreme Court justice bar right -wing extremist justice on
34:12the circuit court of appeals.
34:13She wrote a scathing order saying that you can't stay or block any of the
34:18national security issues regarding the ballroom, then sent the case back to the federal judge
34:24in Washington DC, who by the way, the federal judge in Washington DC, who's a
34:28senior district court judge was appointed by George W.
34:31Bush, very far right -wing judge actually, who's the district court judge, not a MAGA
34:37judge, whereas you have the MAGA judge on the circuit court of appeals who made
34:41the ruling, which basically overturned what the district court judge did.
34:46But the district court judge said, all right, let me be very clear on what
34:49my order was, even though I believe it was very clear.
34:52The ballroom, the location where Donald Trump says he's going to hold his fancy parties,
34:58okay, that's going to be blocked.
35:01That needs congressional authorization for that to exist.
35:05All of the underground work, the bunker, the secret military installations that Donald Trump claims
35:14to be building, I'm not blocking that.
35:16I'm not touching any of that.
35:18And the federal judge says, you know, it's very disingenuous right now that the Trump
35:23regime's argument is that the ballroom itself is a national security protection for him.
35:30I mean, just think about that right now.
35:31With so many issues going on in this country, with so many people suffering with
35:37Trump starting wars here and wars there, and now he's threatening he's going to go
35:41to war with Cuba next and invade Cuba like this.
35:45His main priority is building golden ballrooms and arches, not getting congressional legislation to actually
35:54fund these things, just tearing things down, ripping it to part, and then saying he's
35:58doing it for his national security.
36:00That this is what we need for our protection and safety is a golden ballroom
36:06right now. Okay. Let me just share with you what the judge's order says because
36:10I think it's very instructive.
36:12On March 31st, 2026, I granted the motion of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
36:17in the United States for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of a ballroom on
36:22the White House grounds as ultra virus, meaning outside of the scope of the Constitution.
36:28In recognition of the national security and presidential security concerns raised by the ongoing construction
36:34project, I excluded from the scope of the injunction for my order blocking the ballroom
36:41any actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and
36:48its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the
36:54president and his staff. Defendants now seek to turn this exception on its head and
37:00unreasonably insist that the entire ballroom project may proceed.
37:05Based on the record before me, I cannot possibly agree, but I will clarify the
37:11scope of the injunction as described below.
37:15And then he goes on to say how on April 1st, the National Trust, that's
37:20the group that brought this lawsuit against Donald Trump, citing public statements by the president
37:25interpreting my order, filed a motion for clarification for a preliminary injunction.
37:31Defendants, Trump, meanwhile, not surprisingly filed an appeal and an emergency motion to stay.
37:37On April 11th, our circuit court remanded the case with instructions to promptly address the
37:44pending motion to clarify how the injunction and its exceptions ensure safety and security pending
37:51litigation and extended my temporary stay of the preliminary injunction to April 17th, 2020.
37:5726. On April 13th, defendants filed their opposition to the National Trust's motion to clarify
38:04and attached a Secret Service declaration.
38:07And it goes on to say, that same day, defendants filed a motion seeking a
38:13further 14 -day stay of the preliminary injunction.
38:16I now find this motion's ripe for decision.
38:20And he goes on to say, defendants argue the entire ballroom construction project from tip
38:26to tail falls within the safety and security exceptions and therefore may proceed unabated.
38:32That is neither a reasonable nor correct reading of my order with an exclamation point.
38:37My order preliminarily enjoined defendants from taking any action in furtherance of the physical developments
38:44of the proposed ballroom. The accompanying opinion stated the ballroom construction project must stop until
38:50Congress authorizes its completion. It is to say the least incredible, if not disingenuous, that
38:57defendants now argue that my order does not stop the ballroom construction because of the
39:02safety and security exception. And the court goes on to say, the injunction excludes only
39:08below -ground construction because throughout this case, defendants, Trump, raised discrete national security concerns about
39:16construction of underground elements. Early on, defendants argued that security concerns warranted permitting the current
39:23below -grade construction to continue.
39:26Specifically, defendants indicated that national security -related facilities are being constructed below the ground, referencing
39:33a security bunker. By the way, do you all remember the reporting that we were
39:37doing on the Midas Touch Network six months ago, maybe longer, and we said, what
39:43this is all about is a security bunker underneath.
39:47They're building data centers, security bunkers for Donald Trump because he's terrified of, I think,
39:55what can happen to him based on his unpopularity, and he's not intending to leave
40:00the White House. So he's building a military installation for himself when he doesn't leave
40:06office at the end of his term.
40:08That's one of the things I said that he was doing lots of like, oh,
40:10you're being hyperbolic, security bunker.
40:12What are you talking, bunker?
40:13What do you mean? That's exactly what they're doing.
40:17And he's also using that as a pretext to now say, I have to continue
40:22to build my ballroom because the ballroom and the bunker are one and the same.
40:27And so now that I've ripped to shreds the East Wing, now it is a
40:32national security harm to me if I don't build a ballroom.
40:36Because I ripped it down unlawfully, I have to build a ballroom to protect myself
40:41because the ballroom protects against ballistic missiles, I kid you not, FPV drones and other
40:47types of drones right now.
40:48That's the argument that he's making before the court.
40:51While all of these issues, while Americans are suffering and struggling, this is what Donald
40:55Trump is saying to the American people right now.
40:57So I wanted to talk about that.
40:59Some other things that I think we need to discuss.
41:00World Cup boycott. World Cup boycott.
41:05One of the things that we were also talking about months and months ago is
41:10that a World Cup boycott was growing and picking up steam.
41:14Now the Financial Times reported yesterday that travel industry executives, hotel industry executives, and sports
41:24industry executives are saying fans are being put off by expensive match tickets.
41:29Inflation fears, inflation fears, and anti -American sentiment.
41:33U .S. hotels are now slashing their summer room rates as World Cup demand falls
41:41short. Just think about that.
41:44Only Donald Trump can make the World Cup demand fall short.
41:50How is it even possible to make the World Cup demand fall short?
41:55Well, when you put ice and border patrol Gestapo around the area, kidnapping people, killing
42:00people, throwing people into concentration camps, when you put ice and border patrol in airports,
42:06Donald Trump has threatened the lives of the Iranian soccer or football team saying, yeah,
42:11if they want to play, they could play.
42:12But I can't say what's going to happen to them if they show up.
42:16Good luck. We wish you the best if you come here.
42:19So, again, as part of Donald Trump's war crimes, threatening to destroy the Iranian civilization,
42:24also, in my opinion, threatening to kill their soccer team or their football team.
42:30You've got, again, Donald Trump's threats against Europe, against NATO, against Canada, against the rest
42:35of the world, and his unlawful war in Iran.
42:38People don't want to show up here.
42:40Tourism is already down massively here in the United States.
42:44And the idea of going to the World Cup and being in the United States
42:48right now with all of the images that people see on TV with ice and
42:52border, people just don't want to do that.
42:53We'll watch it on TV.
42:54Why would we show up?
42:55Also, things are unaffordable here.
42:58I mean, for you to just even, like, take a train to the game right
43:04now, it could cost $100.
43:06And if you think about people in other countries showing up here $100 based on
43:11what they're used to spending in their countries, it's, again, it is unaffordable to show
43:16up. It is dangerous to show up.
43:19You have Donald Trump's turning it into an event for himself.
43:24But I go back to him and show up.
43:25desaparez酬. On it every day, tú has a lot of work.
43:25not making it about the world and athletes, making it about him.
43:29He's already given himself a fake FIFA peace prize before going to war with the
43:35entire world. People are like, why would we do this?
43:37You've turned the World Cup into some grotesque thing.
43:42Donald Trump managed to pull that off.
43:45Also, while we're on the topic of sports, I think this is a major development
43:49as well. Saudi Arabia basically saying, you know that Live Golf League that we've been
43:57basically the sole funder of?
43:59Remember everybody Live and how Live Golf started rising and became like the main golf
44:05league and picked out all of these top players who are PGA players who became
44:11these Live Golf players. There were all these lawsuits back and forth.
44:16It's funded by Saudi Arabia.
44:18As part of the, I guess, unspoken or I guess spoken quid pro quos that
44:26exist, the United States provided security umbrellas and gave weapons and chips and information to
44:34Saudi Arabia, Middle East countries, made the weapons available and promised protection.
44:42That security umbrella has been broken by Donald Trump.
44:45And I think it's a bigger story that Saudi Arabia is announcing that it's not
44:52going to be funding Live anymore, which basically means the Live Golf Tournament.
44:56The Live League is basically destroyed at this point.
44:59To me, it's a bigger story than just that.
45:01I mean, obviously, here's the headline from Wall Street Journal.
45:05Live is facing the possibility of imminent closure with Saudi Arabia's public investment fund on
45:12the verge of pulling its backing for Live, according to a person familiar with the
45:18matter. Then as Golf Channel reports, with the news of a possible ceasing of operations
45:23for Live Golf, which players moves are you watching right here?
45:28And Live Golf executives were summoned to New York City for an emergency meeting amidst
45:32reporting that the league's future is in question.
45:35Players are reportedly in the dark over the future.
45:38And the meeting has nothing to do with a potential DP World Tour merger.
45:43And so think about it.
45:44What does Donald Trump care about more than just about anything?
45:47The ballroom, the Triumphal Arches, golf, right?
45:52And his relationship with like golf players and professional golf players.
45:56So you're Saudi Arabia. You feel betrayed by Trump and the fraudulent security umbrella you
46:04were promised. We're going to put Trump on hotels.
46:07We're going to put your name here and there.
46:08We'll give you this money.
46:09We'll buy your crypto and you're this and we'll get, you know, but you have
46:11to protect us. That's what all of this was.
46:13I mean, Qatar doesn't like Donald Trump.
46:17Donald Trump used the presidency, in my opinion, to extract stuff.
46:21And it's not a, doesn't, it's not like a shrewd negotiator.
46:25I mean, anyone, Biden could have done it if he wanted to.
46:29You know, Obama could have done it if he wanted to.
46:32But when you're a public servant, you're not supposed to violate the emolument clause of
46:37the constitution. You're supposed to look out for the people, not use the power of
46:42the United States built over 250 years as a tool for you to extract personal.
46:49I mean, it's, anybody can do that if that's what, if you were the president
46:51of the United States and that's how you wanted to use the presidency.
46:55But then when Donald Trump got the jets from Qatar and the crypto money from
47:00the, from Abu Dhabi, when he got the hotels and the disinvestments and Kushner got
47:06this money from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
47:08Okay. It was a, I scratch your back, you scratch my back.
47:13Okay. You're supposed to protect us.
47:15Then when you go it alone with Netanyahu against Iran and you don't tell the
47:19Arab nations what's going to happen, you get these Arab nations attacked all of their,
47:23their factories, their desalination plants, their liquefied natural gas plants, other infrastructure obliterated by Iran
47:32that had links to the United States in this, you know, in this horrific war
47:37that took place. One of the first things they said is, okay, we're not going
47:40to fund live anymore. We won't fund the good luck with the golfers now.
47:44Good luck with that. But there's a bigger sign of things to come.
47:48You know, these sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East would spend lots of money
47:54in private equity on, in big deals in the United States.
47:59They would put a lot of money in the U S believing it was a
48:03secure and stable market, believing that the investments were good investments, but also part of
48:08this quid pro quo security umbrella.
48:11Lots of other countries also would buy the U S treasury bonds and buy United
48:15States real estate, park their money into the United States stock markets.
48:20Lots of, you know, the stronger dollar.
48:23Um, now we're seeing all of that, the dollar weakened, we're seeing treasury bond yields
48:28surge. We're seeing countries removing their gold storage from the United States.
48:34We saw France do that recently, uh, remove their gold from New York and didn't
48:38even seem like it would Trump even like kept their gold.
48:41And they had to like reach like a settlement when they wanted to remove the
48:45gold that they couldn't even find it in the United States anymore.
48:49There was a whole deal that had to be worked out there.
48:52Um, the bond auctions that take place with the Treasury Department being less successful, I
48:59think you're going to find a trend of not just Saudi Arabia, but Abu Dhabi
49:04and the UAE and Qatar and all of these countries that would invest a lot
49:09of money saying, we're not going to do it.
49:11We're going to look to China.
49:13We're going to look to Europe.
49:14We're going to look to Canada.
49:15We're going to look elsewhere where possible.
49:18And I think live is just foreshadowing what's to come in other areas.
49:23All right. We got that clip, by the way, now of Mike Waltz during his
49:26testimony where he was cross -examined by Senator Von Holland.
49:30I wanted to show you that before the break when he was asked about statements
49:33he made as a Congress member about Putin when he was a Congress member, Waltz,
49:39a Republican Congress member. Now he's in the Trump regime.
49:42He's the United Nations ambassador from the United States.
49:46Here's what he had to say about Putin.
49:47Let's play this clip. You said that President Biden needed to make clear that, quote,
49:52Putin is an absolute war criminal, unquote.
49:56Do you stand by your statement that Putin was an absolute war criminal?
50:00I'll tell you, Senator, statements I made as a member of Congress, very different than
50:06what I make now as an ambassador to the UN working for President Trump and
50:10representing the United States. So are you retracting?
50:12I certainly I support President Trump in everything he is doing and trying to end
50:19this awful. I just find it very interesting, Mr.
50:21Ambassador, that you called upon the former President Biden in no uncertain terms to condemn
50:26Putin as a war criminal.
50:28And you won't call upon President Trump to do the same thing.
50:32As you know, he has refused to do what you called upon President Biden to
50:35do. Let me move on.
50:36As you know, Senator, it's quite difficult to mediate the end of the war if
50:41you take such maximalist approaches.
50:43And now being a diplomat and a mediator and fulfilling his goals, working for him
50:47and his agenda is very different than when you're elected a senator or a congressman.
50:52It's interesting, though, I have to say, Mr.
50:53Ambassador, it was a simple question.
50:55I guess you are you're not asking this president to do what you asked the
50:59last president to do. I mean, did you hear his response there?
51:04He said, it's hard to take this maximalist approach.
51:10What do you mean? Well, first off, stop using the word maximalist.
51:14Okay. Stop acting like you're smart and using big words.
51:18Okay. Maximalist. Haven't you heard that word over and over again throughout this catastrophic war
51:24in Iran? It's a maximalist, maximalist, maximalist.
51:28You know, these are idiots bullshitting their way through an assignment by trying to use
51:35big words to the teacher and acting like they're smart.
51:39Okay. That's what this is.
51:41It's no different than what you all may have seen in high school and middle
51:44school where the unprepared person just starts saying indubitably and maximalist, indubitably, arguably.
51:50No, you don't know what you're talking about maximalist.
51:53It was your statement, your words.
51:56You said, and rightfully so that Putin is a war criminal.
52:01It's not maximalist. That's an objective reality.
52:05So you were being asked a question by a democratic Senator about the objective reality.
52:10He was a war criminal two years ago when you were a Congress member.
52:14Has that changed? Well, that was so maximalist.
52:17It's your word. Stop saying that.
52:19Behave like a normal human being.
52:21And this is where I say it over and over again.
52:23This isn't a political thing.
52:24Democrats reply. If a Democrat was calling Putin a war criminal and then testified like
52:29that and then said, uh, maximalist, I don't want to go maximalist.
52:33I would call them out for it.
52:34I don't care what political party you're from.
52:35That's a ridiculous statement right there.
52:37And then he goes, well, when we're trying to mediate the dispute, I can't do,
52:42what do you mean you're trying to mediate the dispute?
52:45Mediate. So now the U S has taken the position that they are a neutral,
52:55that we're just neutral in all of this.
52:57And we seen, you get what he's admitting right there.
53:00There's no difference between Ukraine and Russia.
53:04Although we all know to Donald Trump, he's supporting Putin and everything that he does,
53:09but Russia is, has their sworn policy to destroy America.
53:19That's their goal and objective.
53:22It won't just be in neutral.
53:23On the one hand, Zolinski's trying to help us deliver drone technology and help us
53:32address, uh, modern warfare and, and, and, and Zolinski would help the United States strengthen
53:39NATO, the alliance that the United States helped found and lead until Donald Trump destroyed
53:44it. So, but, but, you know, there's that on the other hand, Putin wants, you
53:49know, to destroy the United States and work with China to reshape the world order
53:54with the U S being very bad.
53:55We're just, we're just being neutral here, right?
53:58I mean, it is weak.
54:00It is pathetic with that responses.
54:03And again, that's why people hate you know, just hate this stuff.
54:06You want maximal democratic Senator Murphy cross -examined, uh, walls as well.
54:14Let's show you what happened during that cross -examination.
54:17Let's play it. But president Trump has said that if Iran does not.
54:20comply with his demands that he will end Iran's civilization with specific threats to target
54:28civilian infrastructure. This looks to a lot of us into the world like a promise
54:35by the president of the United States to commit war crimes.
54:40I'm sure you don't, I'm sure you don't agree with that assessment, but we have
54:45never had a president before threatened to end an entire civilization and double down on
54:51that claim if that country does not accede to the demands of the United States.
54:57So what does the president mean when he says that if these negotiations don't work
55:04out, he will end Iran's civilization?
55:09Well, Senator, I think that statement in the broader context, he also talked about attacking
55:15infrastructure, bridges, power plants. And we all know Iran has a long history of co
55:23-bingling both civilian and military of hiding weapons in hospitals and schools and using what
55:30could be just pure civilian infrastructure to also power factories for drones, for missiles.
55:36And, and the IRGC controls nearly 50 % of the economy.
55:41I think it looks like, frankly, well, look, I guess, what does it mean?
55:46What does it mean to end a civilization?
55:48But I think we have to look at the fact that you have a regime
55:52that literally chanced death to America for the last 47 years and has acted on
55:58it, has killed thousands of Americans, has slaughtered its own people.
56:02Do you know what I mean?
56:03I mean, how many machine gun bullets does it take over the course of a
56:06week to kill 40 ,000 of its own people?
56:09Right. But does that, does that merit a threat to civilization?
56:12I think it's civilization. Senator, it was some tough talk.
56:15And what are the results?
56:17What are the results? Was we had the highest level engagement in the history of
56:23the Iranian regime with the vice president and speaker of the parliament less than a
56:27week later, we had a ceasefire 48 hours later.
56:31They clearly got the message and they clearly came back to the table.
56:35Yeah. And I guess it's an open question as to whether we should try to
56:38pursue our aims by threatening another nation with mass civilian casualty.
56:44I don't know that that's something that we should celebrate that we are able to
56:48cow nations to our demands by threatening to kill civilians.
56:52But as a former military member, and I'm safe in speaking for our military, they
56:57take every precaution possible to avoid civilian casualties.
57:03But this regime responded. And again, if we focus on the results over the rhetoric,
57:08they came to the table, they got the message, they put the ceasefire in place.
57:11They haven't honored it with the Straits of Hormuz.
57:14And now we have talks ongoing.
57:17They put the ceasefire in place.
57:19They didn't honor it. So we're doing a fake ceasefire where nothing's really happening.
57:25And no ships are leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
57:27And they still control the Strait of Hormuz.
57:29So we did a fake ceasefire.
57:31But look at the results.
57:33Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization.
57:36And they immediately entered into a ceasefire that they're not following.
57:40It's an interesting telling of history because it's not the true one.
57:45It wasn't that Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization that led them to enter
57:50a ceasefire. It was that Donald Trump threatened to destroy their civilization, imposed a deadline.
57:56Then Donald Trump got afraid of his own deadline because he could not execute the
58:05threat based on the pressure that was put upon him.
58:09So then Donald Trump begged for there to be a ceasefire with Iran, where Donald
58:15Trump then manipulated the markets by agreeing to all of Iran's 10 point demands.
58:23And those demands included Iran gets to enrich uranium.
58:28Iran gets to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz, permanent security guarantees for Iran,
58:34Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, the Shiite groups in Iraq, that Iran gets full reparations
58:41for the war, that all sanctions are removed from Iran, that Iran gets to charge
58:46$2 million per tanker, leaving the Strait of Hormuz.
58:52It was not the threat of destroying civilization that led to the ceasefire.
58:57It was the threat of destroying the civilization.
59:00And then Donald Trump not carrying it out and Trump begging for a ceasefire by
59:06agreeing to Iran's 10 point plan and then showing up in Islamabad.
59:11And then Trump having J .D.
59:13Vance and Witkoff and Kushner say, we're not going by the 10 point plan.
59:20Here are the terms that we're dictating to you.
59:23And Iran said, no, and we'll keep controlling the Strait of Hormuz.
59:28That's where we are today.
59:30That's why we are where we are today.
59:32The fact that Walz can go up there and say, it's because he made a
59:37social media tweet that that's what did it.
59:40It's actually the exact opposite of that.
59:43And why is what I'm saying even important?
59:45Like, why does it even matter?
59:47You know, and this is bad.
59:48This is why, though, I don't really like debate shows because you don't get at
59:55the truth. And this is why I don't like platforming people like Scott Jennings or
1:00:01any of that. Don't get me wrong.
1:00:02Like, I respect the art of a good debater putting a Scott Jennings in his
1:00:06place. I love when Mockler, like, crushes the guy.
1:00:10And, like, no one does it better than Mockler.
1:00:12And I think you need that, especially young people like Mockler doing it.
1:00:16He's one of my closest friends, Mockler, and he's crushing it, right?
1:00:19He does a great job.
1:00:20But the thing about a debate like that is when you do the split screen,
1:00:25you know, someone like a Waltz who's a sociopath or a Scott Jennings or whoever,
1:00:30these liars, they just go and they'll just lie.
1:00:33And it was because Donald Trump sent a strong message.
1:00:35And it's like that's not what happened.
1:00:37That's not the reality. I prefer this format where we can actually show the data
1:00:41and show the clips and show you the evidence.
1:00:44And you could truly make a decision.
1:00:45Now, you could ultimately disagree with me in what I'm saying, but it's not a
1:00:50– there's not a debate.
1:00:52There's not a both sides of what happened here.
1:00:55Trump imposed a deadline. Trump backed down against his own deadline.
1:00:59Trump posted he agreed to Iran's 10 -point plan.
1:01:02Trump reposted Foreign Minister Aragchi of Iran's announcing the 10 -point plan is the framework
1:01:10for the negotiation. Iran agreed to – Iran knew the Trump regime was going to
1:01:14lie, but now Iran got Trump to basically publicly admit to the 10 -point plan.
1:01:19So that sent a message to China, Russia, Europe that Trump is broken.
1:01:24The message to – for Iran, you may be saying, well, why would Iran agree
1:01:30to that? Were they deceived by Donald Trump?
1:01:32No, they knew that he was lying.
1:01:34They knew the stunt that he was going to pull, but they don't care if
1:01:37he pulls the stunt. They control the Strait of Hormuz.
1:01:40They're going to use their time to rebuild their missile arsenal.
1:01:44I'm sure, although it won't be admitted, China and Russia, whether it's through the Caspian
1:01:49Sea or otherwise, are going to start giving them weapons and intelligence.
1:01:52So Iran's going to use this to build up.
1:01:55They're going to repair the stuff that's been broken.
1:01:57They're going to keep building their drones.
1:01:59They control the Strait of Hormuz.
1:02:01Because Donald Trump was so dumb and removed the sanctions against Iranian oil during the
1:02:06war, Iran was able to make a lot of money and get its oil out
1:02:10of the ports and to their destinations so that they predicted a situation where Trump
1:02:19may do a blockade like this.
1:02:20So Iran's good for the next 60 days or so.
1:02:24Meanwhile, they know that time is on their side in a way because in a
1:02:30war of attrition, Iran can outlast the United States because here in the United States,
1:02:38when you start to see $5, $6 a gallon of oil or more, the pressure
1:02:43that's put on Donald Trump, when you start to see the markets crash and the
1:02:46bond yields rise and all of that, you know, Trump backs down.
1:02:49Iran knows that. They're not dumb.
1:02:51In fact, they're a very sophisticated society.
1:02:53And one of the big problems in terms of the whole negotiating dynamic is, number
1:03:00one, Donald Trump, because he has a very myopic view of things and because he's,
1:03:08in my opinion, racist and xenophobic.
1:03:10Like he thinks he's like negotiating with like cavemen shouting Allah Akbar, wherever they go,
1:03:17you're dealing with a very sophisticated civilization of PhDs and engineers and very smart people.
1:03:25There's a reason the Iranian civilization has been so strong for so long and even
1:03:31with a regime in power that is repressive to say the least.
1:03:37Um, and there's a lot that can be said about the way this, a lot
1:03:42of way, you know, this Iranian machine, the idea of underestimating your enemy is like
1:03:49rule number one in negotiation of what you can't do.
1:03:52Stop underestimating. They are smart.
1:03:55They are, they are, they are smart.
1:03:57They are shrewd. They think 30 to 40 steps ahead.
1:04:01They have every scenario mapped out right now.
1:04:04They've got a social media game.
1:04:05They've got a diplomacy game.
1:04:07They've got a war game.
1:04:09They've mapped out every move, no matter what you do.
1:04:12And Donald Trump's just winging it.
1:04:15You know, it's just like, what are you doing?
1:04:17What are you doing? How do we not even have the secretary of state involved
1:04:21in these negotiations? See that at a UFC fight at a UFC fight during the,
1:04:26the person who's supposed to be involved.
1:04:29Rubio, no, just, just not involved in this.
1:04:33Instead, we have Whitcoff and Kushner, Whitcoff and Kushner and JD Vance, people who have
1:04:39no idea about diplomacy, negotiation, nuclear capabilities.
1:04:44How do you even negotiate at a technical level when you don't have people who
1:04:49have any understanding of nuclear capabilities, of enrichment, of civilian use, nuclear versus non -civilian
1:04:56use? Weapons grade, non -weapons grade, these are very technical issues.
1:05:02When Obama negotiated this, he had the top PhDs, nuclear physicists, scientists, you know, they're
1:05:08dealing at very granular levels.
1:05:11And now you have Trump imposing, using the.
1:05:16I'll leave everybody with this point right here, and then I'll show you Pope Leo
1:05:21the 14th before we go.
1:05:23Trump, Putin, very similar in so many ways.
1:05:26If you think about Putin's purported negotiations with Ukraine, it's an attempt to use the
1:05:33negotiation to extract things that could not be achieved in the war itself.
1:05:40I don't – there's differences, obviously, in the wars and the invasions, and so I
1:05:45don't want to get – but in terms of a negotiating mindset, Trump and Putin
1:05:51don't negotiate. For them, negotiation is chicanery, trickery, scheming, dominance.
1:05:58That's not what a negotiation is because these people cheat and steal their entire lives.
1:06:03There's no morality in what they do.
1:06:06So a negotiation is a tool to steal and to take and to dominate when
1:06:13you couldn't achieve that through war, which is an ultimate act of aggression and domination.
1:06:19So when Trump posts, oh, we're going to destroy you in the negotiation, you're never
1:06:24going to be able to negotiate if that's your standpoint.
1:06:26If that's your view and you want to go to war, I will condemn you
1:06:30as a war criminal, and I think that's the worst move.
1:06:32But there's a war path, and then there's a negotiation path.
1:06:37But if you're going to negotiate, you can't threaten to kill the other party in
1:06:40a negotiation because they're not going to want to negotiate with you.
1:06:43You're going to have to give up certain things.
1:06:46There's a give and take in a negotiation.
1:06:48You leave things on the table.
1:06:49You come together. You try to reach common ground.
1:06:53You know, and if you even look at what Putin wants to do, right?
1:06:55Putin wants Donbass. He wants Eastern Ukraine.
1:06:58Give me that, and then we'll stop.
1:07:00And then Zelensky's like, I'm not stupid.
1:07:03You haven't been able to achieve that in a war.
1:07:06If I give you that, then you're just going to use it to further invade
1:07:10and take us over. Iran realizes that if Donald Trump, you know, that if, you
1:07:17know, what Donald Trump's ultimate plan is here, and that, and they're guarding and protecting
1:07:22against that. You couldn't do this in the war.
1:07:25Now we control the straighter.
1:07:27Now we're just supposed to give it to you.
1:07:28Why? You couldn't take it in the war.
1:07:30And in fact, we've followed all of your statements where you've said, oh, I'm going
1:07:34to, you know, we're going in.
1:07:36We've got the mine sweepers.
1:07:38We're there. Europe, go in.
1:07:39I'm not going in. We don't need it.
1:07:42I don't need your oil.
1:07:43I need your oil. Open up the fucking straight, excuse my language, right?
1:07:46Open up the effing straight, you assholes.
1:07:48I mean, you look like you realize how weak that makes you look and how
1:07:52pathetic that makes them. You don't think they realize that when, and now you're trying
1:07:56to negotiate. If you don't do it, we're going to crush you.
1:07:59And then Donald Trump's also saying the war's over.
1:08:02We're not going to be going to war anymore.
1:08:03Okay. Iran sees all of that.
1:08:05I mean, Trump quite simply is the worst negotiator ever.
1:08:09Can't negotiate. Doesn't know how to negotiate.
1:08:11Never knew how to negotiate.
1:08:12It's why he bankrupted so many things like everything, right?
1:08:16With all of his scams, the biggest scam is saying he's a dealmaker.
1:08:20He's not a dealmaker. He's a destroyer.
1:08:22He's always been a destroyer, never a dealmaker.
1:08:26Dealmaker was cover for destroyer, right?
1:08:29And that's what he does.
1:08:30You let him in. He sucker punches you.
1:08:32The art of his deal is the art of the sucker punch.
1:08:36Oh, you know, just come on.
1:08:38Boom. Boom. And just think about what he did with Iran already.
1:08:42The two negotiations he invaded during the negotiations.
1:08:45But that's how he lives his whole life.
1:08:48That's how he's always done things.
1:08:50He uses formalities, norms, good faith and fair dealing to destroy and doesn't have normal
1:08:59human being feelings about it.
1:09:01So before we go, I'll show you what Pope Leo the 14th said, because I
1:09:04started out by saying he's in Cameroon talking about Trump.
1:09:08Let's play this clip of Pope Leo the 14th.
1:09:09Pope Leo the 14th. Meek and pure of heart.
1:09:43You who have wept. You are the light of the world.
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