The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump Crashes Out at WH as Navy Chief Fired

Episode Date: April 23, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump crashing out as the United States Secretary of Navy John Phelan has just resigned in the middle of the war with Iran. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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So this Earth month, make a small yet stylish upgrade that actually matters to your health and the planet. Get Koyuchi. Right now get 15% off your entire order when you visit Koyuchi.com. That's koyuchi.com to get 15% off. C-O-Y-U-C-H-I-com. Donald Trump is crashing out right now in the White House as the Secretary of the United States Navy. John C. Feelein has suddenly resigned from his position.

Let me repeat that. The top official in the United States Navy has resigned effective immediately while the United States is still at war, while the Navy currently has a blockade in the Persian Gulf, while morale has never been lower of the United States Navy, as the Navy is committing war crimes, the Secretary of the United States Navy has suddenly tendered his resignation. Donald Trump's Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell just posted the following statement. Secretary of the Navy, John C. Feeleon is departing the administration effective immediately. On behalf of the Secretary of War and Deputy Secretary of War, we are grateful to the Secretary

Phelan for his service to the Department and the United States Navy. We wish him and his future, we wish him well in his future endeavors. Under Secretary Young Cow will become the acting Secretary of the United States. Navy, Secretary of Navy, John C. Feeleon, step down, effective immediately. Now, this comes at the same time that Iran said they're refusing to show up in Islamabad, Pakistan, to have any further negotiations with Donald Trump regarding a ceasefire or anything until Donald Trump ends the naval blockade in the Persian Gulf. And unless and until Donald Trump agrees to the 10-point negotiating framework with Iran that Donald Trump previously said that he was agreeing to and until Donald Trump stops threatening Iran with the United States Navy and with the

United States military. So the fact that the top official in the United States Navy is resigning right now is really catastrophic. This is unprecedented, folks. And you'll recall our Navy has been stretched very thin, both in terms of their weapons. We know that it's been exhausted during this catastrophic and a lawful war with Iran. But if you look at some of the aircraft carriers like the USS Gerald Ford, It's now been on active duty missions. It's been the longest deployed aircraft, basically, since the end of the Cold War. Over 300 days, morale is very low. We've been hearing stories about the food being served on the USS Gerald Ford, the USS Tripoli,

the USS Abraham Lincoln barely feeding members of our incredible Navy. We learned about the USS Gerald Ford before the catastrophic war in Iran officially broke out this $13 billion aircraft carrier had toilet bowls that didn't work. And so you had thousands of sailors swimming through raw sewage before the start of the catastrophic war in Iran. And it had to head to a port in order to get that fixed. We'll also recall that the Navy secretary John Feelein held this weird press conference with Donald Trump back in December, where he talked about building a new class of battleships called the Trump class of battleships because Donald Trump didn't like the way aircraft carriers look and Donald Trump doesn't like the way

that stealth ships look and how other ships are made. So Trump wanted battleships to look the way they did during like World War I and World War II. He wanted that as the model, he said. And so you had John Phelan hold a weird press conference saying that's what he was going to do and he was going to call him the Trump battleships with nuclear capabilities. Play this clip. This ship isn't just to swat the arrows. It is going to reach out and kill the archers. And for the first time in generations, we'll have a new leg in America's nuclear deterrence

because the Trump-class battleship will carry the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile. Striking dominance isn't all that the Trump-class battleship brings to the fight at sea. It has the size and capacity. to serve as a flagship for our fleet commanders so that they can command and control naval forces far out to sea. Remember how embarrassing it was when then Donald Trump was like, I'm an aesthetic person. I don't like the way our ships look.

Remember that? Play this clip. On the Second World War, they were freighters and different types, but we were doing a ship a day, and now we don't do ships. And I'm not a fan of some of the ships you do. I'm a very aesthetic person. I don't like some of the ships you do. doing aesthetically. They say, oh, it's stealth. They said, that's not so an ugly ship. It's not necessary in order to say your stealth. By the way, the B-2 bombers were incredible. That is

stealth. They went into that. I was. Let me just remind you all what Donald Trump had previously said back on November 26, 2024, where he nominated John Feelein. Just to be clear, John Feelein's never been in the Navy before. No military experience. He's just a big Republican, donor, a rich guy who was appointed in this position by Donald Trump. This is what Donald Trump said back in November of 2024. It is my great honor to announce John Feelin as our next United States Secretary of Navy. John will be a tremendous force for our naval service members and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First Vision. He will put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else. all else, John has excelled in every endeavor from founding and leading Ruggar Management LLC to

co-founding MSD Capital LP private investment firms for Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technology. His record and success speaks for itself, a true champion of American enterprise and ingenuity. Private equity guy was the Secretary of Navy, but he's gone. He has suddenly resigned during this war while we're in these very, very tenuous, this tenuous situation and Donald Trump continues to crash out in the White House right now. As Iran is just saying, Donald, you can keep on extending your deadlines, but we're not going to negotiate with you unless and until you stop threatening us and unless and until you end the naval blockade in the Persian Gulf and agree to the 10-point negotiating framework

that you previously agreed to. Then we'll meet and we're happy to go to Islamabad. And that's what they've been saying. Donald Trump's like, well, I'm going to give them until Sunday. I'm going to give them three to five days. right, when the market's closed. I'm going to extend the deadline. Iran's like, we're not asking for that. We're not asking for any extensions, Donald. And now the fact that you have the U.S. Navy Secretary resigning, that signals a weakness, chaos. Iran sees, can you imagine if Iran's chief of the Navy, you know,

suddenly resign? Isn't it also ironic that you had like Jesse Waters and all the state regime media people on Fox yesterday being like, oh, and this person in Iran is being fired and there's a coup here and all these things happen. It's all projection and confession. The head of our Navy has just resigned in the middle of this war. And Donald Trump continues to crash out as a result of all of this. Donald Trump posted the following. Morning glory.

Will President Trump go full Sherman in the war on Iran from Sherman's march to Trump's Iran deadline? A historical argument emerges for why ruthless wartime measures can ultimately deliver lasting peace. You think that's the productive response to Iran. And then Donald Trump writes, I guess this is like his therapy and makes him feel good. Last season of my apprentice, Juggernaut, exclamation point. And he posts a New York Times article from 2004 that says the apprentice scores ratings top for season. And then he posts another graphic from the New York Times that says finale viewers, 28 million, key demographic, 17.5 million viewers. Then he posts, you can't compromise on sanity

and common sense. Like a total crash out right now. I mean, look, you want to see what Iran's lead negotiator and parliament leader M. B. Ghalabov is saying, here's what he writes. A complete ceasefire only makes sense if it is not violated by the maritime blockade and the hostage taking of the world's economy. And if the Zionist war mongering across all fronts is halted, Opening the Strait of Hormuz is impossible with such a flagrant breach of the ceasefire. They did not achieve their goals through military aggression, nor will they through bullying. The only way forward is to recognize the rights of the Iranian nation. Then Iran's president, Peseshkin, posted,

The Islamic Republic of Iran has always welcome and continues to welcome dialogue and agreement. Bad faith, siege, and threats are the main obstacles to genuine negotiation. The world is witnessing your hypocritical empty talk, and the contradiction between your claims and your actions. And as the Iran negotiating delegation had said, the United States didn't bring anybody to the last negotiating round that has any knowledge about nuclear issues. So Iran's like, how could we talk about nuclear issues with Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkoff?

They don't know what they're talking about. And so Iran's like, we have no plans to attend another meeting. We're just not going to do it. So then Donald Trump sends Caroline Levitt to do a press conference, and she does one from the White House lawn. And she's asked by state regime media, which calls itself Fox, does the president view what Iran did earlier this morning as a violation of the ceasefire? You know, Iran interdicted two ships in the Strait of Hormuz that tried to breach the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, Iran has a Navy, despite Donald Trump saying that totally obliterated, Iran's Navy, not obliterated, interdicted these ships and made them stop.

And Iran did it because Donald Trump has a blockade right now and the Persian Gulf in Iran warned is what we're going to do when they did it. If you try to get around our control of the Strait of Hamos, listen to Caroline Levitt just kind of freak out on the White House lawn. And she's like, no, we don't really care. It wasn't American ships and it wasn't Israeli ships, so we don't care.

I mean, they're your ally ships. What a terrible response here, play this clip. I want to ask you about these ships that Iran seized. We're continuing to get reporting on this. Does the seizure of two ships, as we said, they were Greek and Mediterranean-owned ships with cargo on them, and the reports are that Iran basically seized them and then moved them into Iranian waters.

We don't know what's going to happen to these crews. We're not sure where all of this is going. Does the president view that as a violation of the ceasefire? No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels. And for the American media, who is sort of blowing this out of proportion

to discredit the president's facts that he has completely obliterated Iran's conventional navy, these two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don't have control over the strait. This is piracy that we are seeing on display. And the naval blockade that the United States has imposed continues to be incredibly effective.

And to be clear, the blockade is on ships going to and from Iranian ports. And the point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran now. While there's a ceasefire with respect to the military and kinetic strikes, Operation Economic Fury continues. And the crux of that is this naval blockade. We are choking their economy. We are strangling their main source of revenue. pay their own people. They're losing $500 million every single day. Carg Island is completely full of oil because they can't transport it to and from. So the president, the cards are in his hands.

The United States maintains control over the situation. He has all of the leverage. And again, that's why he's maintained a little bit of flexibility with the extension of the ceasefire as we await a unified response from the Iranians to the president's very clear proposal. And so next, you know, Caroline Levin and Donald Trump have been pushing the story, which is just not true, about how there were eight beautiful Iranian women who are about to be executed by the regime. And it does seem that there are women who have been arrested, not executed, and they're going through a process there, which we can say is, you know, a problem, sure. But like, we have to accurately report what's happening. It's not saving these women from execution. That's just, that's not what is happening.

Let's just stick with the facts about what's actually happening. And then we can have a real kind of common sense conversation. Here, play this clip. Well, first of all, Martha, only President Trump could save the lives of these eight beautiful Iranian women, who he has received direct word from the Iranian regime or what's left of it, that their lives are going to be spared. And that comes as a result of President Trump asking them directly,

not to kill these young beautiful women who certainly deserve a chance to continue living their lives freely and peacefully. And now that will happen thanks to President Trump because he's a humanitarian at heart. And remember, Donald Trump told the protesters in January, go out and protest, I've got your back, and then didn't have their back.

And now what? It's social media posts and Caroline Levin on the White House lawn. Next, she says that the fact that Iran can't send a unified message just shows how effective operation epic fury truly was. And again, when are you talking about Caroline, they have sent a unified message back in early March. If you want to negotiate here is our 10-point framework, and you all agree to Iran's 10-point framework.

So it just doesn't seem like you really want to have a real negotiation. If you want to go to war, there's a war path. When you'll commit war crimes, there's a path. You will lose tens of thousands of U.S. service members. There's a war path. But if you want to negotiate, you have to live in a reality. This isn't like what you get to do with your sycophantic regime media where you just lie. You have to address the fact that there's a counterparty who's made clear their non-negotiables,

and they've stood on those non-negotiables. This ain't Delsi Rodriguez in Venezuela. It's not what this is. Here, play this clip of her right here. The fact that they cannot send a unified message yet, which is why the president decided to extend the ceasefire, just shows how effective operation Epic Fury truly was because there's a lot of internal division over there. The president understands that, and so we await their response.

Yeah, they had one leader, one Ayatollah for 37 years, who seemed to be able to keep a bit of a lid on all of these disparate groups. But that is sort of an open can of worms after his death in that operation on February 28th. So we'll see if they can get their act together. And then she's asked, well, what do you make of Iran just outwe? right, mocking you all. Like, they're mocking Donald Trump. And all of those Lego videos and social media posts, they're mocking Donald Trump for setting deadlines. Then when the deadline approaches, Donald Trump extends the deadline and then makes up an excuse why he extends the deadline.

Like, as the ceasefire was about to expire, he said, Pakistan told me to do it because Iran needs to get the message from the Ayatollah. Iran's like, that's not true. And when you say that, Donald, when you lie and your counterparty knows that you're not telling the truth, and you don't stand on your deadlines, they don't take you seriously. They take you like a clown. And they're making clown videos about you. You know how you used to say the world is laughing at you? The world, everybody's laughing at you.

But unfortunately, it's more horrified. Iran's laughing at you. But former allies of the United States are horrified. I guess this is causing real pain and suffering. Let's play this clip. So in the same day, the president said that he doesn't want to extend ceasefire, and the bombs would start falling after the... end of the ceasefire. And unilaterally, he declared that the ceasefire would be extended indefinitely.

Iranian state media are openly mocking the President of the United States and say, we didn't have been requested extension of the ceasefire. What's the response from the President of the United States? The response is you guys all see a lot of different messaging coming out of Iran, a lot of different rhetoric and language from them. I would caution you to take anything that they say at face value. What we've seen, is that what they say publicly is much different than what they concede to the United States and our negotiating team privately. I've said that repeatedly to all of you in the news media and you should take our word. So then Caroline Levitt is asked.

So who's in charge with Iran that you're negotiating with? Who are you talking to? And her response is we obviously know who we're negotiating with because we sat down with those individuals in person. Okay, so you're confirming that the negotiating team is Galabaf. I just showed you his post. It is Foreign Minister Aragchi. It is that team. It is that team of people.

They also had someone from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard there. So they had their National Security Council leader who replaced Larajani there. That's who's there. But anyway, play this clip of Caroline Lovett. Let's play it. Is it more than who was in charge in Iran and who the administration is even negotiating with? Well, we obviously know who we're negotiating with because our negotiating team has sat down with those individuals in person. But obviously, there's a lot of internal fraction and internal division,

which, again, just proves the effectiveness of Operation Epic Fury in the first place. Their regime and many of its leaders for nearly five decades have been wiped off of the face of planet Earth. So again... And then one of the things that happened, I'll probably make a longer video on this while all of that was taking place, is you had a hearing with RFK Jr., where RFK Jr. was asked a pretty basic question by Senator Elizabeth Warren asking, does Donald Trump just make up percentages? Like, where do you get these percentages from? And RFK June is Donald Trump does percentages differently. The direct quote is Donald, President Trump has a different way of calculating percentages. So if you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction based on the way

Donald Trump calculates things. Let's play this quote. President Trump and the Republicans slashed health care for millions of families. The president pitched his Trump RX website as the answer for Americans who are worried about health care costs. He claims that Trump RX has reduced prices by as much as 600%, 600%, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs. But let's do some real math here. Take one drug, Protonics, a 30-day supply of this heartburn medication, cost $200 on Trump RX, but there is an identical, generic version of this pill called pantoprizol. Secretary Kennedy, do you know how much it costs for a 30-day supply of that drug at Costco?

But I would say that, Senator. Do you know what it caused? President Trump has a different way of calculating. If there's two ways of calculating percentage, if you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction. You know I only have five minutes. Do you know what the drug costs at Costco?

I do not. The drug is $16 at Costco. Trump RX charges $200 for Protonics, and Costco charges $16. Let's do another one. And then finally, I should point out as Donald Trump is, you know, screaming and having a meltdown. One of the things we learned is that Donald Trump will now be bailing out Spirit Airlines. Apparently, the U.S. is going to take control of Spirit Airlines because that's what the Communist Trump regime does right now,

where the U.S. is going to own 90% of Spirit Airlines and a $500 million rescue plan. Okay, I'm sure that's going to work out well. That's where our taxpayers are taxpayer dollars are going. going and Caroline Leavitt blames it all in Biden. Here's what she says. Let's play it. There's been some reporting about a possible bailout for Spirit Airlines. Can you update us on those talks and why does the administration think it's a good investment to buy into a bankrupt airline? Well, I understand the airline is bankrupt because the previous administration blocked the merger, which was probably not a wise move. Obviously this is something the commerce department

and the president are tracking. I don't have any updates or announcements, but the avi, Asian industry is very important to this president and this White House. Millions of Americans depend on it. We want to see the best possible outcome, but I don't have any announcement. Let me know what you all think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks so much for watching.

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