Trump Panics as War Suddenly Escalates
3/18/202618 mincomplete
0:00Donald Trump's unlawful war against Iran is spiraling out of control.
0:04Things are escalating. The United States and Israel are confirming that they've just targeted Iran's
0:11largest natural gas processing facility earlier this morning in southern Iran.
0:19Iranian reports indicate that these facilities are affiliated with the South Pars offshore gas field
0:27were struck by Israel. Israel said, we did this with the United States.
0:31This is massive escalation, folks.
0:35That is how Iran is perceiving it as well.
0:38Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, they've now issued evacuation orders for four energy
0:46facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates following this morning's Israeli end.
0:54We know these are joint Israeli -U .S.
0:56strikes against energy infrastructure in southern Iran.
1:00And these facilities include the major facilities in those nations that I mentioned.
1:06A spokesperson for Qatar's foreign minister just issued the following statement.
1:12The Israeli targeting of facilities linked to Iran's South Pars field, which is an extension
1:18of Qatar's north field, is a dangerous and irresponsible step amid the current military escalation
1:26in the region. Targeting energy infrastructure constitutes a threat to global energy security as well
1:33as to the people of the region and its environment.
1:36We reiterate, as we have repeatedly emphasized, the necessity of avoiding the targeting of vital
1:43facilities. We call on all parties to exercise restraint, adhere to international law, and work
1:50toward de -escalation in a manner that preserves security and stability in the region.
1:56Now, we're hearing from Donald Trump right now.
1:59Moments ago, he posted on his social media platform.
2:02Let's see how he is addressing this escalation.
2:06Donald Trump writes, I wonder what would happen if we, quote, finished off, end quote,
2:13what's left of the Iranian terror state and let the countries that use it, we
2:19don't, be responsible for the so -called straight.
2:24And then he spells it S -T -R -A -I -G -H -T, that would
2:30get some of our non -responsive allies in gear and fast, D -J -T.
2:39That's your response to all of this right now.
2:42What are they saying in Iran right now?
2:44Iran is, their leaders are saying, we previously made clear and repeated warnings that were
2:53given to your rulers in Arab nations about entering down this dangerous path and gambling
3:00with the fate of your nations.
3:02And they say, evacuate now.
3:04We are hitting your energy facilities.
3:07Wow, wow, wow. We now see right now, Bloomberg is reporting, folks, that multiple oil
3:14and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, they've been evacuated right now
3:19as a result of these.
3:21They're calling it Israeli strikes, but Israel saying we did it with the United States.
3:25Israel strikes this morning against several.
3:27energy sites in southern Iran and threats made by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard against these
3:35facilities. We're hearing now from the chief propagandist at the White House, Caroline Levitt.
3:41She says, we don't need the Strait of Hormuz for our energy.
3:46Let's just let the others deal with it.
3:49Here's what she said. Let's play this clip.
3:51Has there been any movement overnight on behalf of our allies that has softened their
3:56position about going through the Strait of Hormuz?
3:58Not overnight. But the president and his team, especially Secretary Hegseth and Secretary Rubio, continue
4:05to be in touch with their counterparts in Europe and, of course, our allies in
4:10the Arab and Gulf region to step up and do more to help the United
4:14States in securing the Strait of Hormuz.
4:17This is to their benefit, more so than it is to the benefit of the
4:20United States. Thanks to President Trump, we are a net exporter of energy.
4:24We don't need the Strait of Hormuz for our energy here at home for the
4:29American people. Of course, we want the Strait to be open for the global oil
4:32market and to stabilize prices and bring them down again.
4:35And we have options at the military has options to continue doing that.
4:40But the president is right to call on our allies to step up to do
4:44more. You know. And then Caroline Levitt says NATO is being very unfair to us
4:49right now. Very unfair NATO.
4:51This this is the messaging from the White House right now during this massive escalation
4:55as oil is what it's going to hit one hundred and fifty dollars a barrel
4:59soon. And you're attacking you're attacking NATO.
5:02Here, play this clip. You know, one of President Trump's guiding principles is fairness.
5:06And he has long called out NATO for what for being what he believes in
5:11unfair alliance for the American people, the American taxpayer and our U .S.
5:16Armed Forces. You look at some of the trade deals with our NATO allies.
5:19The president has worked to renegotiate and reset those to make them more fair for
5:24the American people and American workers.
5:26You look at the fact that the United States has thousands of troops on our
5:30allies in NATO's soil. We're paying these countries billions of dollars in our troops on
5:36their soil serves as a deterrent for them.
5:39And the president wants the American taxpayer and our American military to be treated fairly.
5:43He feels sometimes with NATO, they are not.
5:46And he's right to call that out.
5:47And he's right to call on them to step up and do more, especially when
5:50reopening the strait benefits them even more than it does the United States of America.
5:54There are troubles here at home as well.
5:56The Department of Homeland Security remains shut down.
5:58And Mark Wayne Mullen has his hearing.
6:00We're going to hear from him more from Caroline Levitt right here.
6:02She says, rest assured, everybody, there is a plan.
6:07Here, play this clip. What is the plan to reopen strait awareness quickly?
6:12The president is going to continue to talk to our allies, both in Europe and
6:16also in the Gulf and Arab region.
6:18The United States military has a lot of capabilities, as you have seen play out
6:22over the last 18 days.
6:23They still do have tricks up their sleeve.
6:26I won't broadcast them for the media, but rest assured, there is a plan.
6:30They're working on it. We have seen some progress with respect to that.
6:33But of course, the president, again, continues to call on our allies to step up
6:36and do more. Now we're hearing from Commodore Ali Raza Tangsiri, the commander of Iran's
6:42Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.
6:44He just put out the following statement and he says, your presence on the streets
6:50has become our Trump card.
6:52And from now on, it will lead to new equations in the region with the
6:57target bank updated. Hashtag oil facilities associated with America are now on par with American
7:05bases. And will come under fire with full force.
7:09We warn citizens and workers, stay away from these facilities.
7:14There's a Senate hearing taking place right now with Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National
7:19Intelligence. You'll recall Joe Kent, who is her number two, resigned based on his objection
7:26to the war in Iran.
7:27He resigned yesterday. Senator Warner just cross -examined Tulsi Gabbard about Donald Trump saying that
7:34he was shocked and surprised that Iran has been retaliating against its neighbors and shutting
7:40down the Strait of Hormuz, which everybody knew was going to happen.
7:45It should also be noted that the Trump regime, based on the advice, if you
7:51want to call it that, of Laura Loomer, also got rid of one of their
7:55top Iranian advisors as well in the past few weeks.
8:01But here's what Warner says to Gabbard.
8:04So do you not tell Donald Trump these things?
8:06Because it's pretty obvious to everybody that what's going to happen with the Strait of
8:10Hormuz, what's going to happen with the neighboring Arab nations.
8:13And Tulsi Gabbard has just been having one of the worst hearings imaginable.
8:18I mean, because she's just a liar with everything.
8:21Here's what she says. Here, play this clip.
8:23He chose to omit the parts that contradict the president.
8:27The president continues to say as well that, you know, he had no idea, was
8:31shocked that the Iranians would move to take over the Strait of Hormuz.
8:36Did you provide any intelligence that would say that it would be, that it was
8:43not likely that the Iranians would try to move on the Strait?
8:46I'm not aware of those remarks.
8:48And I think those of us here at the table can point to the fact
8:52that historically, the Iranians have always threatened to leverage their control.
8:57Why would the president say he was amazed?
8:59I'm not aware of those remarks.
9:00What about the comments the president made that thought that he was surprised again, reports
9:05that Iran struck the adjacent Gulf states?
9:08Again, I'm not aware of those remarks.
9:11We have been and continue to provide the intelligence.
9:13Did you brief the president?
9:14Did you brief the president if he starts a war of choice that the likely
9:22result would be that Iran would strike adjacent Gulf nations and close the Strait of
9:29Hormuz? Did you brief him on those two facts that I think have been consistently
9:33the assumptions of the intelligence community?
9:38I have not and won't divulge internal conversations.
9:41I will say that those of us within the intelligence community continue to provide the
9:46president with all of the best objective intelligence available to inform his decisions.
9:51So real quick, I need to tell you about one of my favorite sponsors, Smart
9:54Credit. Your credit score may have taken a big hit over the holidays and you
9:58may not even know it.
9:58I know I didn't. Sure, a late payment hurts, but so does opening a store
10:02credit card just to get a discount and transferring a balance from one card to
10:06another. That can drop your score fast.
10:08I had no idea. So if you're thinking about refinancing, buying a new car, renting
10:13an apartment, anything that requires credit, you need your best possible score and you need
10:19it fast. You need Smart Credit, the new science in credit scoring.
10:24Smart Credit's data experts understand how the credit bureaus operate.
10:27They build a personalized strategy designed to take action and maximize your score, not by
10:32a few points in a few months, but potentially see a real upward change to
10:37secure better rates on everything you finance.
10:40Better scores can mean faster approvals, lower payments, and more money in your pocket.
10:45Don't let holiday spending traps derail your entire year.
10:48Get ahead of it now with Smart Credit.
10:50Go to smartcredit .com slash Midas and start your seven -day trial for just $1.
10:56Your results will depend on your unique credit profile, but I think you'll be excited
11:01to see how many points Smart Credit estimates you could gain.
11:04Results not guaranteed, cancel anytime.
11:07That's smartcredit .com slash Midas, smartcredit .com.
11:11Now folks, the economic data that's coming in is really bad as well.
11:16We got a really bad producer price index readout coming hotter than anybody expected, and
11:24that was the pre -war producer price index.
11:28So if this war wasn't going on and we got this PPI readout, we would
11:33be like, holy SH, you know what I'm going to say next.
11:37This is bad, bad. Now you layer it on top of the war when we
11:42get those PPI readouts and those inflation readouts, folks.
11:46I don't think it's an exaggeration that inflation will soon be going above 5%.
11:52And you can be like, oh, Ben, you're saying you're being hyperbolic again.
11:55Watch. Inflation will be above 5%.
11:58I think clearly by the end of this year, perhaps even higher where things are
12:03going right now. But here's how they reported on CNBC, the new horrible inflation data.
12:10Here play this clip. What does that tell you?
12:12I mean, I understand the short term we're taking the Fed activity out from the
12:16two year, and that's why you see those spreads kind of get compressed.
12:19The long end, does that tell you anything about how people are seeing the health
12:24of the economy down the road or is it something else?
12:27I do think that there is part of that reflected in this as well.
12:32It's almost the worst of both worlds.
12:34I guess stagflation would come close to describing the situation.
12:38We're probably not going to see Fed easing and the long end.
12:42Well, part of it is weakness.
12:44We've had a spat of some fairly weak numbers.
12:46And then you put in the fact that we are on the PCE, you know,
12:513 % handle on some of the Fed's favorite metrics.
12:54As the Wall Street Journal pointed out today, it would be very difficult, even for
12:59some of the recent appointees, to think that easing could even be on the menu
13:03at this or even very close subsequent meetings down the road.
13:08Here's what they were talking about on Fox.
13:10Here play this clip. The Dow Industrial is down about 16 points.
13:13Again, we are waiting on the producer price index out any second here.
13:17Cheryl Cassoni with the number.
13:18Cheryl. These numbers are much hotter than expected, guys, for February PPI.
13:23Month over month, a seven -tenths of a percent jump.
13:27Street was looking for a gain of three -tenths of a percent.
13:29Year over year, we came in 3 .4 percent annualized basis.
13:34The street was looking for 2 .9 percent.
13:36That's the reading that we got the month prior.
13:38So again, hotter than expected.
13:40We got five -tenths of a percent for core month over month.
13:43The street was looking for three -tenths of a percent to the upside.
13:45And then we came in core year over year, 3 .9 percent.
13:49The street was looking for 3 .7 percent.
13:51And there's the markets are reflecting what we're seeing here as far as these numbers.
13:57I'm going to get to the report.
13:58I'm going to see what the government is saying here about where this rise was
14:00because it wasn't energy last month.
14:02I can tell you that from a memory.
14:05What they're saying here is, okay, so for final demand goods, we saw an increase
14:11of 1 .1 percent. Biggest rise we've seen since August of 23.
14:1640 percent of that is final demand goods, 2 .4 percent energy in final demand.
14:23And goods, less food and energy also increased.
14:25So that's where the story is here as far as these these numbers.
14:30Also, they're talking about final demand services.
14:32There was a five point seven percent drop in prices for travel or accommodation services,
14:37food, alcohol, wholesaling, dealing investment advice all in this report.
14:41I'm getting the rap signal, Maria, but there's a lot to go through, a lot
14:44to talk about. And I think you're spot on there, Cheryl, because remember, in the
14:48month of February, services prices were going higher.
14:51And we've talked about that.
14:52Services prices were going higher.
14:54There were a handful of commodities like what we were talking about, gold.
14:58We were talking about silver.
15:00All of those things were going higher in February as well.
15:02Putting oil aside related to the war on Iran.
15:06Joel Shulman, your reaction to these numbers, I should point out, we haven't seen such
15:09a significant impact on markets.
15:11Dow and Dow shows are negative going into it.
15:13It's still negative. Yeah, this is not good.
15:15We're going to see the markets off today.
15:18You know, your guest mentioned that he thought the rates would be dropped in December.
15:23I thought they'd be earlier.
15:25This is pushing things back at least a couple of months.
15:27So this is going to be negative for the markets.
15:29And we're going to see we're going to probably see the markets ticking down even
15:33further in the next couple of days.
15:34So this is not good news.
15:36And we know that the next couple of months we're going to see elevated prices
15:39because of energy. All right.
15:41We are an hour away from the opening bell.
15:43And the Dow and Dow shows now down 105.
15:45Joe, good to see you.
15:46We'll be back with you.
15:47Now, folks, during the St.
15:48Patrick's Day parade over in Ireland, they rolled out their Epstein float.
15:53You can see the Epstein float right there.
15:56The entire world mocking the United States for covering up a child sex trafficking ring
16:02here in the United States, which is what the Trump regime continues to do.
16:06And more news about that cover up coming from Jason Leopold, who is on the
16:12front lines, frankly, of reporting on Epstein files.
16:17Jason's been incredible reporter over at Bloomberg.
16:19And he says a document, a 69 page target profile prepared for the DEA by
16:27the Department of Justice's now defunct organized crime drug enforcement task force was released in
16:35January. And it talks about the money laundering and drug trafficking schemes that Epstein used.
16:42It was a target profile.
16:44And this target profile has been blocked by Todd Blanche from the Department of Justice.
16:51Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney is not allowing a 69 page target profile regarding
16:58the money laundering scheme and the people who were helping Epstein with the money laundering
17:04alongside the sex trafficking and the drug cartels that they were involved in as well.
17:10There's a heavily redacted document in Blanche saying that document doesn't get released.
17:15I'm going to do a whole other report on that, folks.
17:18The cover up continues. The cover up of child sex trafficking ring continues here in
17:23the United States and Donald Trump escalating things in Iran.
17:27The price of oil is surging and you see what's happening right now with our
17:32economy. We'll keep reporting throughout the day.
17:34Now hit subscribe. Help us get to 7 million subscribers.
17:38And thank you all so much for watching the Midas Touch Network.
17:42You may think you're subscribed.
17:44Just double check and turn your notifications on.
17:46Thanks for watching, everybody. You