Trump Loses Control as War Spreads

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1:00My name's Mackenzie and I started to go fund me for the adoptive mother of a nonverbal autistic child. The mother had lost her job because she wasn't able to find adequate care for this autistic child. So she really needed some help with living expenses, paying some back bills. So I launched a GoFundMe to help support them during this crisis. And we raised about $10,000 within just a couple of months. I think that the surprising thing was by telling a clear story and just like really being very clear about what we needed, we had some really generous donations from people who were really moved by the situation that this family was struggling with. GoFundMe is the world's number one fundraising platform trusted by over 200 million people. Start your GoFundMe today at GoFundMe.com. That's GoFundMe.com. GoFundMe.com. This podcast is supported by GoFundMe.

2:01That's the sound of a big deal. At Wayfair, that sound happens a lot. Dream sofa for half the price. Big deal. New dining table you've been eyeing for months. Big deal. Finally picking up those last few pieces and finishing that bedroom. Now that's a really big deal. Whatever your home needs, Wayfair has the selection, the savings and over millions of five star reviews to back it up. Shop Wayfair.com today before someone else snags your big deal. Wayfair every style, every home. The situation in the Middle East has gone from bad to worse. Following Donald Trump's invasion of Iran, we just learned that a fourth US service member has been pronounced dead. The amount of seriously wounded US service members has climbed to 18. Also in response to all of the very serious and deeply troubling news coming out of Iran in the Middle East, Donald Trump has issued the following statement to the American people. He said this to the New York Post moments ago,

3:01quote, I don't have the yips with respect to the boots on the ground. Like every president says, there will be no boots on the ground. I don't say it. I say probably don't need them or if they were necessary. Because I don't have the yips. I don't have the yips. Statement from Donald Trump right there. War is spreading throughout the entire Middle East. Iran is not relenting. There was a disastrous press conference held this morning by Donald Trump's defense secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain, they talked about a war that could last a very long period of time weeks, potentially months. Also, Donald Trump's been calling into reporters and saying that he is not ruling out boots on the ground. The specific quote from Donald Trump is we are going to be escalating this even more soon. It's going to get even less safe.

4:02We haven't even hit them referring to Iran hard yet. Donald Trump says he's also been making a number of other kind of deranged quotes about how he's not ruling out. He's at other presidents. They're afraid of putting boots on the ground. I'm not afraid of putting boots on the ground. I'm going to do whatever it is that I'm going to do. We also learned that there were three F-15s that were struck by Kuwait in a friendly fire incident. US Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses. Fortunately, all of the individuals aboard those airplanes were safe and they did not die. They all were able to eject, but a major friendly fire incident over there in Kuwait. I want to go through what else is going on. Let's just take this piece by piece of what we are learning this morning, sent com posted the following update.

5:02As of 7.30 a.m. March 2nd for US service members have been killed in action. The fourth service member who was seriously wounded during Iran's initial attack eventually succumbed to their injuries. 18 American service members seriously wounded so far during this operation. The US military is ongoing strike campaign against Iran, according to a spokesperson from US Central Command. Iranian forces also hit a US flagged tanker. The stenna imperative in the port of Bahrain today setting the vessel on fire. And while all of this was going on, Donald Trump says it's going to get less safe. We haven't started to hit them hard yet. The big wave hasn't even happened yet. The big one is coming soon. Then Donald Trump called up CNN and told Jake Tapper the following as well. Let's just play this clip. For that. And President Trump, I'm just hearing in my ear, just told my colleague, Jake Tapper, that the big wave is yet to come. So clearly things are going to be escalating, not de-escalating in the future. Well, I think the eminent threat goes back to nuclear weapons.

6:03Yeah, but I mean, the assessment was it could take 10 years. 10 years for an ICBM, but we know they have. Trump said it was obliterated. But the nuclear weapons were obliterated. So we know they have stockpiles and nuclear material. Are they? We can see this satellite imagery right here, dated Sunday March 1st, obtained by planet labs and air bus defense and space had to put to the fine folks at OS, I and T defender who have done a good job at least compiling all this stuff and analyzed by the New York Times. You can see extensive damage that's been done to the US naval support activity base in Bahrain, the headquarters of the US Navy's fifth fleet right there. Look at the before, look at the after right here. Also, according to ABC, all US military bases are now under threat condition Bravo, which is basically one of the highest level threats of terroristic activity there. Ali Laurenjani, who is one of the top military officials in Iran, runs their national security,

7:06their version of their national security council has put out the following statement this morning. Iran, unlike the United States has prepared itself for a long war. And here's the statement that was put out by the Islamic regime. As in the past 300 years, Iran did not start this war and our braved armed forces have not engaged in any attacks except in defense. We will fiercely defend ourselves and our 6,000 year old civilization regardless of the costs and will make the enemies sorry for their miscalculations. He then posted, Trump has betrayed America first to adopt Israel first and then posted, Trump's wishful thinking has dragged the whole region into an unnecessary war and now he is rightly worried about more American casualties. It is indeed very sad that he is sacrificing American treasure and blood to advance Netanyahu's illegitimate expansionist ambitions. He also posts, we will not negotiate with the United States.

8:08So folks, it doesn't seem like Iran is going to be relenting or going to be surrendering or going to be even negotiating with Donald Trump at this point. The same time, we know that the Kremlin, Donald Trump's buddy Vladimir Putin, says that Russia is in continuous contact with Iran's leadership over what Moscow calls outright aggression against Iran and has expressed deep disappointment in how events unfolded. So as Donald Trump continues to be a Putin bootlicker, you have Putin and China also siding here with Iran as we knew they would. Pete Hegsiff, Secretary of Defense, held a unhinged press conference this morning with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain, and he just started doing like Clint Eastwood quotes. It was like very bizarre this press conference. Let me show you what went down when he was asked, so is this war going to take four weeks, six weeks? How long is it going to take Pete Hegsiff?

9:08He then attacks NBC and says, that's a typical NBC gotcha question. If it's four weeks, six weeks, it could move up. Just stop asking these questions here, play this clip. Pability that we have over there. I heard the question about four weeks. It's a typical NBC sort of gotcha type question. President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up, it could move back. We're going to execute at his command, the objectives we've set out to achieve. And what he has shown ability to do that other presidents can't quite seem to have the aperture to do, well, I mean, Joe Biden didn't even know what he was doing. Is to look for opportunities and off ramps and escalations for the United States, that creates new opportunities to execute what we need on our own timeline. So you can play games about four weeks, five weeks. He has all the latitude and I'm glad he does because there's no better communicator than our president expressing those things. I've been in meetings with the president for the last two and a half days. We know exactly where his head space is

10:11and he will communicate as he should exactly what he would like. And we will follow those orders. And I think everything he said on that is right down the middle. Absolutely. Yes, right there. Yes, sir. Then Hegsiff starts to like do these bizarre one liners where he's like, this is not so called regime change, but this is changing the regime here, play this clip. Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear black male ambitions. Let me say that again. A conventional shield for their nuclear black male ambitions. Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs. Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb. It almost worked under Obama and his terrible deal, but not under this president. Turns out the regime who chanted death to America

11:13and death to Israel was gifted death from America and death from Israel. This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change. And the world is better off for it. You know what's easier than fixing a problem? Not having the problem in the first place. Your liver is one of those organs that you don't think about until you have to. Supporting a daily is one of those small things that can make a huge difference in how you feel overall. And that's where dose comes in. Dose for your liver is a clinically-backed liver health supplement. This isn't just another capsule or powder. Dose is a liquid supplement. It's taken in a daily two-ounce shot and it tastes like fresh squeezed orange juice. Here's why it matters. Your liver is your body's filter. It processes everything you consume and handles over 500 plus daily functions, energy production, digestion, fat metabolism, vitamin storage. When your liver is overworked, you feel it. Dose helps cleanse the liver of unwanted stressors that may be slowing your liver down

12:14and promotes daily liver function so that your liver can do its job. Zero sugar, zero junk, zero calories. And when you take dose daily, you're going to reduce sluggishness, get rid of those midday crashes, support your metabolism, and even aid your daily digestion. Plus, this is the real deal. There are two double-blind placebo-controlled studies showing doses positive impact on liver enzyme levels. Are you ready to give your liver the support it deserves? Head to dosedaily.co slash mitus or enter mitus to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it. That's d-o-s-e-d-a-i-l-y.co slash mitus. M-e-i-d-a-s for 35% off your first month subscription. As we wrote on the mitus touch account, it would be nice if we had a secretary of defense who knew what he was doing and not just regurgitating quotes from action movies, more from Hegsith right here,

13:15where he's asked by reporters. What do you mean by you want our troops to pray or what do you want them to pray for? What's in your prayer for them? What are you talking about right now? Rather than giving us a strategy you want prayer, that's what you're saying that we should do. We shouldn't ask questions as the American people, it's just prayer, and he's like, yeah, it should just be the biblical prayer. That's what my family does, the biblical prayer. All of these war mongers, all of these fascists, they hide behind the Bible, they hide behind God when they don't want to answer actual questions. Saddle, it's utterly despicable. Play this clip. There's a military objective. That's one right here. That's what your radio is. Thank you, sir. As you've said, there are a large amount of U.S. service members that are in harm's way right now. What is your prayer for them? First of all, my prayer for them is that I do pray for them. My wife prays for them, our family prays for them, our cabinet prays for them. None of this is done on a whim.

14:18Having been in their boots, having been in their shoes, having been in their flight suits, I think we, I mean, I know we think about them with every decision that we make and every recommendation that we make to the President of the United States. Those recommendations are made prayerfully. And when I pray every day for them and for this mission, I pray simply for the biblical wisdom to see what is right and the courage to do it. It's gonna take courage to follow through on this. There's gonna be a lot of noise and we pray for that and we hope all of you do as well. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Kane spoke and he said, we should expect a lot more losses of life. This mission's gonna take a very long time. This is a major operation. Major combat operations take a long time. We're in a war. Here, play this clip. The military objectives at Sencom and the joint force have been tasked with, will take some time to achieve. And in some cases will be difficult and greedy work.

15:19We expect to take additional losses. And as always, we will work to minimize U.S. losses. But as the secretary said, this is major combat operations. So then a reporter asks, Hegsiff, are you concerned about this war spiraling into a longer war? Play this clip. Secretary Hegsiff and one of the chairman Kane as well. I understand to your point here that you don't want to broadcast everything for our adversaries to hear. But the American people also want to know what they're sending their men and women to war for. Is there a concern of this spiraling into a longer war and then one for the chairman when you're done? Did you not hear my remarks? I mean, we're ensuring the mission gets accomplished. But we are very clear-eyed as the president has been unlike other presidents about the foolish policies of the past that recklessly pulled us in to things that were not tethered to actual clear objectives. So we know we have plans, we have generals,

16:23we have chairmen, we have commanders, sent com commanders, Admiral Cooper, who's executing very deliberately to ensure outcomes that I laid out are accomplished. But we would never in front of a press pool lay out how long that may take. The mission for our warfighters, which is what matters to us, is very, very clear and they're executing it right now violently. And then he says that rules of engagement are stupid, he says, rules of engagement are stupid. Let's play this clip. With maximum authorities, no stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives. As the president warned, an effort of this scope will include casualties. War is hell and always will be. A grateful nation honors the four Americans we have lost thus far and those injured. The absolute best of America.

17:25Donald Trump just issued the following statement to New York Post. Donald Trump says, quote, I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like every president says, there will be no boots on the ground. I don't say it. I probably don't need them or if they were necessary. I don't have the yips, not the yips. Donald Trump says that's his current message to the American people. He doesn't have the yips. Then Donald Trump said that he really liked that press conference of Pete Hegsworth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Cain. He says that's right out of the central casting of a Hollywood movie. And he said that that's what he likes. You know, that it's out of central casting. It's a direct quote from Donald Trump. You're a play with this clip. The military operation, he said there is no greater military in the US and he was appraising General Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary of war Pete Hegsworth for the news conference that he'd just watched. Cut and dry as he said, central casting

18:27and they have a job to do and they're getting it done. More Donald Trump communicating here with state regime media, known as Fox. Donald Trump is saying that we need to follow what we did in Venezuela and do that in Iran. Just use the template, find somebody in the Islamic Republic who wants to take over and then become their ally. So that's the plan right now. Okay, here play this clip. Ooh, he said there is a plan. He points to Venezuela as a template, which means to me that going in, they had some sense on the ground of what was coming next. Then they're bringing on all their sick offense and the magma movement like Mark Wayne Mullin, Magga Republican Senator from Oklahoma. And here he says, it's up to the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people will make their decision. You mean the Iranian people, okay? It's up to the Iraqi people. They literally conflate Iraq and Iran

19:28because this is what they're doing here playing this clip. But it's up to the Iraqi people, or I'm sorry, the Iranian people, to choose their next leader. It's up to them to rise up and kick this regime out of place. If they do not, then they will be with a different leader, but the same regime. If they choose to get a different leader that we can have a relationship with, which we would love to. Prior to 1979, we had a good relationship with Iran. But if they choose to pick up a leader, we will surround that leader, not necessarily with boots on the ground, but with assets to make sure that that leader can be protected, rise up, and then Iranian people will have the opportunity to choose their next leadership. That's what we... In contrast, here's with Democratic Congress member and Army Ranger, Jason Crow had to say, play this clip. Right, and how this goes is elites and leaders in Washington talk tough and bang the war drums. And then what happens is working class kids like me and the people that I fought with and Iraq and Afghanistan actually have to get into planes and helicopters and pick up rifles and do it.

20:30Right, so I've had it with that cycle, that endless cycle of non-accountability. I mean, look, Friday night Donald Trump filmed this tough video where he talked about war and the cost of war and how hard it's gonna be and how we're gonna lose troops. Then he literally went behind the curtain and hosted a million dollar a plate a dinner dance party at Mar-a-Lago. That tells you everything you need to know. Another international news, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has barred the US from using bases there to strike Iran. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a direct boost in France's nuclear arsenal moments ago, announcing the country will stop revealing the size of its stockpile, but will be greatly increasing its stockpile of nuclear weapons. As Aaron Banco explains, what a remarkable turn in messaging. We went from hearing from Trump and senior officials and lawmakers in recent days, that they won freedom for the Iranian people, signalling a push for regime change

21:32to hearing from the Pentagon that this campaign is actually not about that at all. And as Greg Kaustrum says, Trump is basically calling up every journalist and his phone to workshop different timelines and goals for his war in the past two days, Washington Post, the aim is freedom for the people of Iran, Axios. Maybe we can end it in two or three days. New York Times might be four to five weeks. I have three very good choices who might take control. ABC actually never mind. We killed those choices. He doesn't sound convinced by any of it. He's throwing spaghetti at the wall ultimately. I suspect he just wants to say he solved the problem that is vexed every American president. There's no clear idea what that looks like. No plan how to get there. Probably what's gonna happen is Trump declares victory and just leaves the region an absolute mess. I'm sure that's even possible at this point as we're seeing just this massive, massive retaliation by Iran. I mean, massive strikes. Let's don't get me wrong by the United States and Israel in Iran, but Iran is striking its neighbors

22:36and inflicting a lot of pain as well. And the entire region's becoming a Gulf Russia's being drawn China's potentially being drawn in and the entire world right now in some way or another is involved in this war. That's what we got for now. We'll keep you posted throughout the day. Hit subscribe. Let's get to seven million subscribers and thanks for watching. Wanna stay plugged in? Become a subscriber for our sub-stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philakowski, add three episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com. Rinse knows that greatness takes time, but so does laundry. So rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door, expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time one spent sorting and waiting, folding and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up the Irish flute or those calligraphy pens or that daunting beef Wellington recipe card

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