The Young Turks - Trump's Temper Tantrum - July 16, 2025

Episode Date: July 17, 2025

Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial and start selling today at ⁠shopify.com/tyt Donald Trump has another public meltdown over the Epstein scandal. BRICS leaders release a 31-page plan to undermine the U.S. dollar, signaling a deepening economic shift. Israel bombs Syrian government buildings in Damascus live on television. Hosts: Ana Kasparian & Cenk Uygur FOLLOW US ON: FACEBOOK  ☞   https://www.facebook.com/theyoungturks TWITTER  ☞       https://twitter.com/TheYoungTurks INSTAGRAM  ☞  https://www.instagram.com/theyoungturks TIKTOK  ☞          https://www.tiktok.com/@theyoungturks 👕MERCH  ☞      https:/www.shoptyt.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to The Young Turks, the online news show. Make sure to follow and rate our show with not one, not two, in person with Square Kiosk or online. Instant access to your sales, plus the funding you need to go even bigger. And real-time insights so you know what's working, what's not, and what's next. Because when you're doing big things, your tools should too. Visit square.ca to get started. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. it. So Are we gonna have a good show?

I think we're gonna have a good show. I know we're gonna have a good show specifically because today there were far too many stories to fit into two hours of the program. And when that happens, it tends to lead to an excellent program. So I'm looking forward to it. Cenk Uygur will be joining us in the second hour to talk about Alex Jones having some pretty harsh words for President Donald Trump, yet another Trump supporter has turned on the President and we'll give you the details on what's going on.

Essentially, Alex Jones is saying, yo bro, I'm not in a cult. Are you not? No, we'll wait until we get to that topic. I wanted to save that story specifically for Cenk because I know he's going to have a lot to

say about it. We're also going to talk a little bit about what's currently transpiring in Syria as Israel has taken ownership of some of the bombings and airstrikes that have taken place in Damascus and other parts of Syria. What's behind that? Why is Israel bombing yet another one of their neighbors? We're gonna talk about the latest Trump attacks against his own supporters. Really looking forward to sharing that with you.

Anyway, a lot to get to. I don't wanna waste any more time. But if you're wondering, man, the main show team, they're really busting their butts, okay? What can I do to support them? You can like and share the stream. That's a really easy way to help us in the algorithm and share the message of TYT. And if you got some extra bucks to spare each month, you can become a paying member of the show by going to tyt.com slash join, or just smash that join button. It's coming. It's coming. Smash it. Smash it. There we go. Smash that join button if you're watching us on YouTube. All right, without further ado, let's talk about the latest in this Epstein debacle.

I know you've urged people to move on, but I'm curious, why do you think your supporters in particular have been so interested in the Epstein story and so upset about how it's been handled? I don't understand it. Well, that was President Donald Trump last night, once again, complaining about the fact that his administration is getting chided by their own supporters over this whole Epstein cover up. Now this morning, Trump also went completely nuclear multiple times, by the way, and repeatedly insulted his own supporters. But before we get to that, let's actually see more of what Trump had to say

just last night. He's dead for a long time. He was never a big factor in terms of life. I don't understand what the interest or what the fascination is. I really don't. And the credible information has been given. Don't forget, we went through years of the Mueller witch hunt and all of the different things, the Steele dossier, which was all fake. All that information was fake, but I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody. It's pretty boring stuff. It's shorted, but it's boring.

And I don't understand why it keeps going. I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going. But credible information, let them give it. Anything that's credible,

I would say let them have it. Epstein was never really a big factor in terms of life. Okay, I mean, Epstein was a really a big factor in terms of life. Okay, I mean, Epstein was a big factor when it comes to, I don't know the exact number of young girls who were essentially assaulted and raped because of

what Epstein was up to. But I would venture to say that that's a pretty big deal. And if Trump is wondering why people care about this so much, and let me just say, for anyone who does care about this, whether you're on the left,

whether you're part of the MAGA crowd who's furious with the Trump administration over this Epstein cover up right now, these are, I'm going to keep it real, on this issue specifically, these are my people. Because they understand the gravity of the situation. So yes, there are all sorts of theories, right? One of those theories that has a ton of circumstantial evidence to support it

is this idea that Jeffrey Epstein was working for intelligence. Alex Acosta, who prosecuted him and gave him a sweetheart deal, had said on the record, and even till this day does not deny that he was told to back off because Epstein is intelligence. Now the question is, which intelligence are we talking

about? And the circumstantial evidence that I'm referring to tends to point to Mossad. It could be possible that Epstein was working with other intelligence organizations as part of a blackmail operation in order to implicate powerful governmental officials, certainly here in the United States, in this blackmail scheme, right? Now, why would Mossad want that? Why would any intelligence organization want that,

especially as it pertains to American politicians. If you're asking that question, my answer is, are you kidding me? Of course, that blackmail is incredibly powerful in essentially allowing for foreign countries to steer US foreign policy.

So Trump, that's the reason why it's a big deal. Another reason why it's a big deal is because members of your administration, Cash Patel, Dan Bongino, obviously, Bandy multiple times over the last several months on cable television has said we've got the goods, we're gonna show you the goods, we're gonna release the Epstein files. This is a child pedophilia ring, and then all of a sudden, I don't know, there's no client

list, no, there's no client. Yeah, apparently there was no evidence that would incriminate the likes of Ghislaine Maxwell or Jeffrey Epstein. It's just absolutely ridiculous. So let me just end that rant and just talk about what happened

this morning because today Trump bashed his own base in a long post on Truth Social. So bear with me as I read some of the relevant excerpts. He writes that the Democrats new scam is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein hoax. No, we will not forever call it the Jeffrey Epstein hoax. I do wanna call what you're doing the Jeffrey Epstein cover up, but I'll continue with what he had to say. And my past supporters, he's referring to people who voted for him who are currently upset with him. My past supporters have bought into this BS, hook line and sinker. They haven't learned their lesson and probably never will even after being conned by the lunatic left for eight long years.

No, they were conned by you and your administration. And they have woken up to that fact. And I feel terrible for them because they genuinely had trust in the Trump administration as it pertains the release of these so-called Epstein files. There's more from Trump's post on Truth Social. He says, I have had more success in six months than perhaps any president in our country's history. And all these people want to talk about with strong prodding by the fake news and the success starved Democrats is the Jeffrey Epstein hoax. Now look, I actually don't feel comfortable giving the Democratic Party a ton of credit right now because they were in power during the last administration.

If they really wanted to release the Epstein files, they could have done it. And now they're really capitalizing on this divide within the Trump base. It's all for political reasons and that grosses me out as well. I want honesty and I want to see the files. I want to see the client list. I want to know which American politicians were implicated in

this situation. More importantly, by the way, all of the individuals who participated in doing this to minors, to young girls, should also be prosecuted, no? Are we just comfortable with allowing powerful people to get away with victimizing girls like that? I'm not okay with that, even if this has nothing to do with Epstein working

for an intelligence organization, which I think he did. But let's say that's not the case. The injustice, the unfairness and the lies is what really bothers me. And I suspect really bothers the portion of the Trump base that has now turned on him and now he's chiding them. He's making them out to be

the bad guys when your administration is the administration that promised to release the goods and reneged on that promise. It's the most brazen lie told repeatedly by the Trump administration and now they're getting called out on it. Final excerpt from his post, he says, let these weaklings, again, he's talking about his supporters, let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work. Don't even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don't

want their support anymore. Now, the biggest mistake anyone can make in any context is thinking that they are infallible, they're unstoppable. What Trump is failing to realize is that his power comes from his base, you lose your base, you lose everything homeboy, you do. And it is incredible to me how far

he is willing to go to engage in this unwillingness to release the Epstein files. And that begs the question, why? Why is that happening? So let's check out some of the replies to that post on Truth Social, so you'll get a little sense of how people are reacting to it. Now, there were a few comments supporting the president sprinkled in, but there were a lot of comments critical of him, including

one that reads, why was Epstein in prison then? How about Ghislaine? For a hoax? I don't think so. This is the hill we all die on. Another individual says, why is the Epstein case so important to the MAGA movement? It's why Trump won in 2016. He promised to rip the mask off the globalist elite and drain their filthy swamp. If the GOP betrays that mission again, at least a third of the base walks and they will lose in 2026,

guaranteed. So, I know that Trump, we all know that Trump has lied to his base on a whole host of issues. But you guys have to understand that right now we live in this like weird bifurcated media landscape where people exist in bubbles and they're only exposed to certain information. And so when it comes to economic policies, it could get dense, it could get really difficult to follow. The complexities make it easier for the Trump administration to get away with lying.

complexities make it easier for the Trump administration to get away with lying. With the Epstein files, it's a pretty cut and dry case. They make a promise, they keep making the promise repeatedly, and then suddenly, randomly, right before Trump is set to meet with

Benjamin Netanyahu as Netanyahu traveled to the United States. They're like, no, there's no client list, no client list, okay, all right. Let me just give you one more. Ratdog writes, people you nominated for your own administration talked about Epstein for years. Now you're saying it never was without giving us the proof. And you don't want the

support of your full base simply because they don't believe what you do. Now again, there are a few comments in there. I don't wanna misrepresent. There are some people who are buying Trump's ridiculous narrative hook, line and sinker. So this isn't a situation where you have MAGA appearing as some sort of monolith, right? There are some who are willing to play ball with Trump no matter what. But there is a sizable portion of his voters, of his supporters who are speaking out. Not just private citizens, okay, who voted for him, but also pretty

big name public figures. Later this morning, Trump tripled down on insisting that no one should be talking about Jeffrey Epstein. Let's take a quick look at that. So, I think that Trump is going to be talking about

Jeffrey Epstein. Let's take a quick look at that. It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. They're wasting their time with a guy who obviously has some very serious problems who died three, four years ago. I'd rather talk about the success we have with the economy, the best we've ever had.

The sad part is it's people that are really doing the Democrats' work. They're stupid people. You mentioned past supporters when you were talking about the Epstein issue. Does that mean that you're effectively disowning any supporters who are now- I lost a lot of faith in certain people, yeah, I lost because they got duped by the Democrats. The Democrats are good for nothing. You should always be skeptical of someone who takes a situation that's really a nonpartisan issue and tries to make it partisan. And that's what Trump is doing here.

This is really a nonpartisan issue. There are people on the left who want to see the Epstein files. I'm one of them. Cenk is one of them, obviously, we've been talking about the situation. And this is not some manufactured

political stunt by the Democrats. This was one of the biggest lies. This is one of the biggest lies. This is one of the biggest examples of Trump reneging on a promise. Now some people have argued, well, Trump's not really on the record the way that Cash Patel or Pam Bondi is pushing this idea that

the Epstein files should be released. Okay, but he didn't ever say when he was running that he would block the release of the Epstein files, be released. Okay, but he didn't ever say when he was running that he would block the release of the Epstein files. He played along with it. So it's important to keep that in mind as well. And meanwhile, several right wing media figures have suddenly stopped talking about Epstein. So there are those who are vocal in their dissent. But then there are those who are like, okay, daddy Trump.

I'll tell you why. But first Epstein's name was brought up only eight times across Fox's programming on Monday, with its first reference coming well into the 6pm hour. By contrast, Fox name checked former President Joe Biden 158 times that same day. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. So all of a sudden, we're not talking about Epstein's 158 times that same day. That's hilarious. That's hilarious. So all of a sudden, we're not talking about Epstein's irrelevant.

We're not going to talk about him as much anymore. You know what's super relevant? Biden, the guy who's not in charge anymore. Now, why don't we check in with our favorite onion soup expert, Jesse Waters.

Jesse Waters mentioned Epstein's name across more than 100 episodes of his programs over the last six years. Waters said he was leading the charge to expose Jeffrey Epstein's list of fixers, clients, and famous friends, unlike

the corrupt mainstream press, whose silence, he claimed, aided the powerful people who want to keep you from knowing about Epstein's world. What happened? What happened, Waters? Well, I'll tell our audience what

happened. Well, on Monday night, the sole discussion of the Epstein story on his broadcast came during a segment in which his producer interviewed beachgoers. Fun. Now keep in mind that over

the weekend, CNN also reported the following, that the president called some of the attorney general's most vocal critics in an effort to stem the bleeding over the Epstein files. Three sources familiar with the matter told CNN Trump's calls included one with conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sunday or Saturday, I should say, to express his support for Bondi. And guess what happened? Kirk was a good boy. So Charlie Kirk said that he was quote, done talking about Epstein for the time being. But I think he probably suffered a significant

amount of backlash for that because yesterday, he claimed that when he said the time being, this is so funny, when he said the time being, what he actually meant was just that day specifically. So now he says he's gonna continue discussing Epstein, okay. So today, Kirk insisted that when Trump repeatedly calls his supporters stupid, he isn't actually referring to his supporters. So Kirk is still trying to do damage control for Trump, even though Trump did call his supporters all sorts of names.

So let's see what kind of case Kirk is making here. This is what I'm telling the President both privately and publicly, is that the base cares about this, not to get you. As President Donald Trump is upset on truth social, I do not that the base cares about this, not to get you. As President Donald Trump is upset

on truth social, I do not think he's attacking all of you in the rank and file. Instead, President Donald Trump is venting off some anger right now, because he thinks that this is being used to derail his presidency. thinks that this is being used to derail his presidency. Look, I know that Trump called you all sorts of names, Maga, but he's just trying to vent.

He's just really frustrated that you're trying to hold him accountable for breaking a big promise. Okay, now Kirk also acknowledged, by the way, the massive outrage from his own fans on this very issue. I can tell you right now, Gen Z is really fired up about this, especially young men. I mean, we're getting flooded with thousands, hundreds of thousands of

comments that are very unhappy about this. We're basically having to do the PR work of the administration, basically. People are very, very confused. And some people are very disappointed and mad.

You need to help them out a little bit. Explain what is going on. I am worried it's starting to seep in to lower propensity voters. And when seeping into kind of the lower, not information, I hate that, but lower prop. So many people are chronically online, and I disagree. Some people say, only chronically online people care about it. That's not correct. You're not chronically online, Charlie Kirk. You're chronically online. Now it's one thing to do a show for an online audience, but he's posting on social media all day. You're perpetually online. So you're going to look down your nose at other people who are criticizing the Trump administration for breaking their promise by saying that they're

terminally online, whatever. And by the way, I got news for you Charlie and I suspect you already knew this. You run a PR operation on behalf of the Trump administration, you think we're stupid? You're providing cover for

him right now as we speak when he broke a promise, when his administration broke a major promise. Now, what are other conservatives saying about all this? Well, why don't we watch in order of appearance as the compilation featuring Dinesh D'Souza, Laura Ingraham, Greg Kelly and Scott Jennings. Going to make the case that even though there are unanswered questions about Epstein, it is in fact time to move on. Now as conservative influencers were eating their own about Epstein, the president was

stealing the show on the one year anniversary on the day he almost lost his life. He made a triumphant appearance at a global sporting event. Who's really upset right now are the podcasters, as I call it, the pod-crissy. I'm gonna just have to defer to President Trump on this thing. He actually knows Jeffrey Epstein or knew him. He appointed Pam Bondi. He knows all of the players. He knows these lawyers. I'm going to take his word for it. If you vote for Donald Trump and you have trust in his judgment and

the people he's appointed, at some point you have to trust their judgment. I mean, you put them in charge of this and I think what Doug said is important to know. The Biden people had this stuff. If there was something

incriminating about Trump, it would have come out. And also now the Trump people have this stuff and if there was something incriminating about Bill Gates it would have come out. And also now the Trump people have this stuff and if there was something incriminating about Bill Gates or Bill Clinton, it would certainly have come out. I love how Greg Kelly thinks saying that Trump personally knew Epstein is somehow a good argument for this cover up. And also Scott Jennings, I wish he were here so I could ask him this question. I'm very curious

if he would have the same light handed treatment toward other government officials who decide to use their judgment in their decision making. We can go all the way back to 2020 when the Democrats that are typically chided by Scott Jennings had decided to do mask mandates, school shutdowns in response to COVID. I mean, why don't we just trust their judgments? At some point, you just gotta trust their judgment. They're politicians after all. We all know politicians have good judgment. We should never question them. What kind of argument was that? What kind of argument was that? There are others who are continuing to speak out. Here's Megyn Kelly, Vinny Oshana, one of my favorites, I'll admit, and Rob Schmidt sharing their

point of view. You now have some mega influencers clearly on direction of the White House saying, okay, I'm done. Let's not pretend that some of the President's most loyal advocates aren't very, very interested in Epstein. They are, all right? However, some in the media let their loyalty to the president trump their journalistic obligation. And I refuse, refuse to be the CNN of Trump 2.0, where they just trusted the administration on Biden's mental acuity.

Let's just call it what it is. Something is obviously off. I don't know if the president's name is involved. Something is going on where everybody, we were promised everything, Bonjina, everybody came in all riding high. The moment they came in, everything's changed. And now they're trying to tell us that we're crazy and when somebody like Ben Shapiro of all people is telling me not to look into something and then go, it's a conspiracy. I don't listen to it, okay? It's absolutely, something is up. You may have noticed the Epstein story was almost nowhere to be found though on Fox News

these last couple of days. After months of very consistent coverage, it's pretty obvious that a lot of people don't really know what to do with this. There's a lot of people that are very scared because it's clear that the White House didn't want this to be a subject. But Trump's base, his supporters and base care about it. And so there was a bit of a conflict there. And a lot of TV hosts are terrified of what to say and how to say it cuz they don't wanna lose their audience and

they don't wanna piss off the White House at the same time. And look, when it comes to these two feuding compilation videos that we've shown you, the second one where you have media figures essentially questioning the Trump administration seem to be the most persuasive or at least the most in line with the American people. Because despite how much the Trump administration is trying to spin this, they're bringing up

the Steele dossier, it's the Democrats, the American people aren't buying it and that's according to a YouGov and economist poll that just came out. They polled Americans between July 11th and 14th and here's what they found. Respondents to the survey were economist poll that just came out. They polled Americans between July 11th and 14th and

here's what they found. Respondents to the survey were asked should the government release all the documents that it has about the Jeffrey Epstein case and an almost unheard of 79% responded yes versus just 5% saying no, including a stunning 83% of Trump

voters. Respondents were also asked if the government is covering up evidence about Epstein and get a load of this. 67% of all Americans say yes, there's a cover up with another full quarter not sure. Meaning 92% of Americans are at least open to the idea that the government that Trump runs is covering up evidence on Epstein. That's not a good look. So it doesn't appear that Trump is willing to change course on this. If I were to bet money on it, we're never gonna see any additional evidence, anything

released pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein. And that's a damn shame, because I think the American people deserve to know what type of political leaders, what type of powerful individuals were implicated in the abuse of young girls, at the very least. And we should know whether or not these theories of a blackmail

operation are true. Because I need to know whether our government is being controlled by other governments Because I need to know whether our government is being controlled by other governments. I want to know whether our foreign policy decisions are actually driven by what's best for

the American people, or whether it's driven by what's best for another country. So we'll wait and see how this develops. But I'm really happy to see that people aren't dropping this, because I do think this is

a serious issue. We got to take a break when we come back, we're going to switch gears and talk a little bit about some bombings that have been taking place in Syria. What's behind it? Why is it happening?

I'm going to give you the details and more when we come back. Long Bendy Twizzlers candy keeps the fun going. Keep the fun going. Twizzlers, Anna Kasparian. And special thanks to R Stone with a generous super chat. Just wanna read his comment or their comment before we move on to our next story. With all the actions the right wing have done this week leads me to believe they have an electoral scheme starting with his ice crew to be deployed anywhere at a moment's notice,

prepare for a ramp up of election fraud rhetoric for 2026. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm curious to see what Trump is going to do in the face of backlash from his own base. And look, there are things that he's done that are deeply unpopular

and that also includes that massive omnibus bill that cuts Medicare funding while increasing the tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. He included, as I said, because I want to be fair, some tax cuts that benefit working

class people, no tax on tips to a certain amount, no tax on overtime to a certain amount, both things are going to be means tested, of course, and tax on tips to a certain amount, no tax on overtime to a certain amount. Both things are going to be means tested, of course, and they're gonna expire. Meaning that four years later, those tax cuts go away, but what remains permanent are the tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. And a lot of Trump voters rely on our social safety net, okay? And I don't like anyone insulting them for voting for Trump and also relying on our social safety net, okay? And I don't like anyone insulting them for

voting for Trump and also relying on the social safety net. Some people are busy, they don't connect the dots, whatever, there are fellow Americans. My point is though, when they lose those benefits, when they see that they're barely getting by and they're not getting the same access to Medicaid, they're gonna be upset. So we'll see what happens, but I think you make an interesting point, Arstown. All right, with that said, let's move on to our next story. TV says Israel is responsible. Damascus, the capital of Syria, of course, has been hit by a series of Israeli airstrikes. Because if Israel isn't bombing their neighbors, what else would they be up to? Now Israel's defense minister Israel Katz shared video of his country's attack and

accompanied that video with a statement saying that the painful blows have begun. Okay, now Israel, of course, has taken responsibility for bombing the headquarters of the Syrian armed forces in Damascus. And there have been additional Israeli strikes in other parts of the country, other Israeli strikes in Damascus as well. Specifically, they've targeted the Defense Ministry in Syria and the presidential palace. And in other parts of Syria, including the southern city of, I can't say it, I'm sorry. But basically the southern region of Syria, where they have a

majority Druze community. And so you're going to want to know that because it's basically in my opinion, the cover story for what's going on in Syria right now. But there's this claim that Israel is just trying to protect the Jews community in Syria.

They're very concerned about them. Okay, they're also claiming that their latest military campaign is about protecting them. Tel Aviv is demanding the demilitarization of Syria, a sovereign country, especially under its new leadership.

And there's gonna be more on that in just a minute. But before I share more details, why don't we watch this? The flashpoint of Swayda, which is a stronghold for this Druze community. They are a minority group but they are a majority in this city. And that is where these clashes broke out over the weekend between Bedouin tribes and this Druze community. With that outbreak of violence over the weekend, dozens of people were killed. That's what prompted the Syrian government to send forces to southern Syria. It says the Syrian government says in an attempt to quell the unrest, to calm

what you're hearing and you're seeing there on your screen. But Israel's response, Israel's intervention in what is a domestic affair has of course poured fuel on this fire. And it makes it ever more difficult for government forces to reestablish control in an area when Israeli forces say they have no right to be there. ever more difficult for government forces to reestablish control in an area when Israeli forces say they have no right to be there. Israel has declared a unilateral

demilitarized zone in this part of Syria, something the Syrian government says it does not agree to, it is calling on Israel to stop, it is accusing Israel of violating its sovereignty. So there you have it, that's the town I'm referring to, Swayda, which is where they have been using Israel of violating its sovereignty. So there you have it, that's the town I'm referring to,

Sweda, which is where they have a large Druze community in southern Syria. And the Syrian Druze community, as you got a little sense of from that video, does not recognize the new Syrian regime. Now remember Bashar al-Assad, his regime was

toppled. The person in charge who has taken power is a former Al-Qaeda guy, not a good look, but nonetheless, Ahmed al-Sharah, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jalani. The Druze community is concerned about him because under Bashar al-Assad, while he was a brutal dictator, there's no question about it. It was more a secular society. But now there's concern that there's going to be Islamic extremism in Syria that will not respect various religious minorities or ethnic minorities in Syria. And you should know that Syria is far more diverse than most Americans realize.

And so the Jewish community that does not want to see the military in their town under the leadership of Syria's new leader is understandable to some extent. But unfortunately, this is what happens when you have regime change wars. When you have a proxy war take place in Syria to topple a regime, well, what comes next? People who tend to love war, neoconservatives especially, seem to push this idea that when you topple a regime, all these wonderful things will happen. Flowers will bloom, democracy will bloom, but that's not what typically happens as we've learned in Libya,

as we're learning now in Syria. But unfortunately for the Druze, the person in charge right now is Al-Sharah and they don't want the military in their town. The Bedouins are upset about that. So the two groups have kind of been attacking one another in Swida.

Now Israel has used those hostilities as an excuse to bomb the hell out of Syria, not just Swida, but as I've mentioned in the beginning of the story, Damascus, the capital as a country, is a very, very, very, very, very,

very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, hostilities as an excuse to bomb the hell out of Syria. Not just Swida, but as I've mentioned in the beginning of the story, Damascus, the capital as well. And they're specifically going after government buildings, military infrastructure, things like that.

So again, the Defense Ministry, the Presidential Palace was bombed. And you also have the headquarters of the Syrian armed forces in Damascus getting bombed by the Israelis as well. Now with that in mind, Israel also has a community of Israeli Druze. Okay, we've talked about them on the show before and some of them are concerned about how the Druze in Syria, their brothers and sisters as they refer to them, are being treated. And they're so concerned about that

they're trying to take matters into their own hands. And in this next video, you'll see what I'm talking about. We are watching here on the Israeli side of the border is really quite stunning, Becky. And that is that we are seeing

Druze individuals in Israel, either Israeli Druze or Syrian Druze who live in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, attempting to cross into Syria to try and help their fellow Druze brothers in Syria who have been under attack in the city of Soweta. And we are seeing hundreds of these Druze individuals crossing the Israeli border fence into the Israeli controlled buffer zone inside of Syria, trying to make their way to presumably that city of Sueda.

So Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed this matter and requested that the Israeli Druze stop attempting to cross the border into Syria to essentially engage in these scuffles and these hostilities. He says that the IDF has it covered through their bombing campaign and footage proves that because the IDF is bombing Sweda along with other government targets in Syria. But it's also important to understand that not everyone in the Druze community wants Israel to

be involved in this. And I suspect that they feel that protecting the Druze is not really what's motivating the Israeli government and I'm going to give you more evidence of that in just a minute. But first, take a look at this.

Well, the Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar kind of laid it out this morning saying that there are two primary reasons for Israel intervening in Syria. The first of which he said is that Israel is trying to protect itself, that it does not want to allow

certain armed elements along its border in that southern part of Syria. So there is a national security interest, they say. The second element though, which seems to be the most salient one at this moment, is that they say that they have an interest in protecting the minority Druze community in Syria, citing strong bonds that Israel has with the Druze community. And what's important to also understand is that the Druze

community is not a monolith. First of all, the Druze are a religion. They live in Syria, they live in Israel, they live in Lebanon as well. And there are very much differences not only between the Syrian Druze

and the Israeli Druze, the Lebanese Druze, but only between the Syrian Druze and the Israeli Druze, the Lebanese Druze, but also within the Syrian Druze community itself. By the way, I should note that the former Al-Qaeda new leader of Syria has made overtures toward Israel in an effort to create some

sort of allyship, to maybe even do business with one another, to be friendly with one another, right? So you have the new leadership of Syria wanting to play ball with Israel and honestly, the new regime in Syria doesn't really have the power to push back on or

go to war with Israel. But it didn't really help in regard to convincing Israel that maybe you should stop trying to take over more or occupy more land in Syria or engage in these airstrikes which they're currently engaging in. Now, there's the Israeli cover story, and I'm going to call it that, right? And then I just don't buy their concern for Jews, I don't. And even if they are, okay, well,

who are you to invade or bomb a sovereign country under this premise that you're trying to protect any group of people? I mean, you have a brand new regime, Israel has wanted regime change in Syria, congratulations, premise that you're trying to protect any group of people. I mean, you have a brand new regime. Israel has wanted regime change in Syria, congratulations,

you got what you want. So why not allow the new regime to govern, to find a way to unite the Syrian people regardless of what their background is, what their religion is, what their ethnicity is? Now, I don't have a lot of faith in al-Shara. Ever since he's taken power, there have been attacks on on Druze.

There have also been attacks on Christians living in Syria. It's been a nightmare, which often is the case when you have a regime change without a real plan in place to essentially do something after a regime is toppled. But this conflict, I don't want anyone to think just started today or earlier this week. No, no, no, no, no, okay? This dates back all the way to the 1967 war between Israel and Syria and the agreement both countries signed in 1974, in which Israel would keep its part of the Golan Heights, and there would be a buffer zone between Syria and Israel.

But Israel has taken advantage of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, which is why I think they were part of that proxy war to topple Bashar al-Assad. Take a look. Ever since the fall of the Assad government,

the Israelis have seen the opportunity not just to destroy all of Syria's military capabilities, whether it was the Navy, the army, heavy weaponry and air defense systems. Everything that you could imagine would possibly pose a threat to Israel, it has eliminated. And then on top of that, Israeli soldiers have come deeper into Syrian territory. I'll tell you, last week we were actually in Funeitra in southwestern Syria. And we were talking to people there. There was one person, a local, who was with us in the car trying to point out where the Israeli soldiers were. We saw tanks in February there. Now those tanks have been

replaced by drones. And there was a drone that came all the way to the windshield of our car, and that person hit their face because he said that all of that area, there's facial recognition software that Israelis are using on Syrian territory. And there was a raid on some people

by Israeli soldiers because there were people from outside of Punezra who came to visit them. by Israeli soldiers because there were people from outside of Coneza who came to visit them. Yeah, fascinating. I think the AI technology being deployed, the use of drones,

Israeli drones in Syria. It's the type of context that you're not going to get in American reporting. I'm just keeping it real. I had to do a lot of digging to kind of figure out what was really going on here. But I wanna go to video five because Israeli ministers aren't calling for the

protection of the minority Druze community. They're calling for something else in Syria right now, which blows my mind. Take a look. Now we're also hearing from an Israeli minister. This is from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own party, who is calling for Syria's new president, Ahmed Al-Shara, to be quote, eliminated. So I'm wondering what are Israel's goals here? Why did Israel attack this region? Well, Israel has been attacking this region and especially all of the western parts of Syria,

occupying more territory, putting its soldiers on the ground, harassing citizens, carrying out raids, abducting Syrian citizens, not giving any justifications or clarification of why it's doing it. Last week, we've heard from the Israeli army raiding what it

called an Iranian cell. And when we went to that area, a child was among the people who was abducted. They abducted a child? Was the child the Iranian cell that they were worried of? Come on, guys. Come on, come on, come on. I mean, it's infuriating. It really is infuriating when you have a country run by a government that makes Israelis out to be perpetual victims when they can't stop

bombing their neighbors and occupying land. And I mean, you have a minister in the Likud party calling for regime change in Syria again, again, again. How much more do we need to destabilize the Middle East? It's absurd. Geez, okay, but there are a few more points worth mentioning because there's a water basin

called the Yarmouk River that actually provides a shared water supply between Syria and Jordan. And it appears that Israel has the Yarmouk River that actually provides a shared water supply between Syria and Jordan. And it appears that Israel has some interest in occupying that water supply. Now, why would they want that?

Well, the Israeli control over the Yarmouk River and Unity Dam is a strategic move aimed at enhancing its influence in the region, especially after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria. This control grants Israel the ability to regulate one of the most important water sources in Syria, allowing it to directly impact water resources in both Syria and Jordan.

I mean, look, this kind of sounds a little far fetched, doesn't it? I mean, when has Israel ever controlled the water supply of, wait, they do that all the time as it pertains to Palestinians. Whether we're talking about Gaza, whether we're talking about an occupation in the West Bank. These are the kinds of tactics that you'll see from the Israeli

government and the IDF. Israeli control included the towns of Al Baath, Khan Arnaveh, and Katana, in addition to the Syrian side of Mount Hermon, providing Israel with the strategic position overlooking Damascus.

And I should note that Israel probably wants access to this incredibly important resource as well because they have water insecurity issues as well. they have water insecurity issues as well. So final thing that I'll mention, because you should never just believe a cover story. Okay, you should never just believe what a government is telling you about what's motivating

their bombing campaign. You need to dig deeper. And the Times of Israel reported today, Netanyahu's corruption trial adjourned amid strikes on Syria. Anyone surprised by that? Because I'm not. All right, we gotta take our break when we come back. One more story before we go to Cenk. in our Twitch community was commenting on or responding to one of the Trump videos we showed you in the first story about covering up the Epstein files. Velvet Goldmine says saying it doesn't make it true. The economy doesn't feel any better for people now than it did when Biden was president. But he keeps lying and saying it's the best ever. It seems like some of them may be waking up.

Well, you make an excellent point. And in fact, the next story is kind of about the economy and what the international community is trying to do in dethroning the US dollar, which if they succeed would be absolutely disastrous for the American people. I'm gonna explain how right now, let's get into it. And if we lost the the world standard dollar, that would be like losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer. We're not gonna let that happen. The dollar, you ever hear the expression dollar is king? The dollar is king, we're gonna keep it that way. Well Trump certainly would want to keep the dollar king and all Americans would want that

as well because if the US dollar is no longer the global reserve currency, we're in a lot of trouble. That could lead to significant inflation, higher interest rates, and a lot of economic turmoil for the American people. And it seems like Trump understands that. However, while the US dollar does remain dominant as the world's reserve currency, There might be some trouble in paradise as these so called BRICS nations are essentially working together to dethrone the US dollar. Now Trump again plans to retaliate and I'll show you how in just a minute. But let's actually start with what BRICS is, okay?

And what these nations expressed, they're expressed commitment, okay, during their annual summit, which just took place earlier this month. Now BRICS comprises of 10 countries, and that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Indonesia, the UAE and Iran. And they are focusing on two different things. I'm going to start with the alternatives to what's known

as the SWIFT system. So during their annual summit, BRICS leaders have basically issued this 31 page statement reaffirming their commitment to undermine the US dollar. Now while they don't plan to create some new currency to do so, they are creating

an alternative to something called SWIFT. Now, if you're unfamiliar with SWIFT, that means you're a normal person. Most people are not familiar with it. However, SWIFT is the International Payment slash Banking System that is dominated by the United States and Europe. Now, the alternative is BRICS pay for BRICS nations, or nations doing trade with BRICS, or M-Bridge, which includes non-BRICS countries. So they're trying to find a different way of doing international payments and banking without having to rely on Swift, which again is controlled and mostly dominated by the West, the United States and Europe. Also, a key goal is to enable payments in local currencies, which would reduce the need for

conversion to US dollars when these trade deals are happening between countries that are interested in kind of moving away from the BRICS system. And this can really lower transaction costs for them, but obviously be detrimental for the West. Now 50 countries have reportedly expressed interest in joining this

BRICS pay initiative. And that does have some American politicians concerned, including President Donald Trump. Now, if you're wondering, what is the motivation behind this? Well, developing nations would have a massive, giant interest in

setting up these alternative international banking systems. Because BRICS countries, particularly Russia, have faced sanctions that have impacted their ability to even use SWIFT for international payments. particularly Russia, have faced sanctions that have impacted their ability to even use Swift for international payments.

So they're looking for a workaround here, okay? So for many emerging economies, gold serves as a form of geopolitical insurance. Treasury holdings and access to Swift can be frozen at any time. It's more challenging to do the same with physical

gold stored in a domestic vault. And that is the second part of what BRICS nations are doing. They're trying to move away from investing in the US dollar, and instead they're parking their savings in gold. That's what they're investing in. And if you take a look at this headline, you have a financial institution like UBS calling the US dollar unattractive as gold becomes a preferred reserve asset. So the international community again has basically decided to invest in gold in lieu of US currency. Let's take a look at this graph and what it will show you is, it's a representation of how the US dollar is at a three year low while the value of gold has really shot up. The green line represents the US dollar, the yellow line represents

gold. Institutions now hold nearly as much gold as they did back in 1965, which was during the Bretton Woods era. And according to the World Gold Council's survey of other nations, of course, a whopping 95% of

central banks expect to increase their gold reserves over the next 12 months. So the US dollar index, according to Forbes, when measured against a basket of other major currencies has actually declined 10% this year through mid-June. So we're talking about the entirety of Trump's second term, We've seen a decline in the value of the US dollar. But Trump, of course, is typically unable to look inward. He is unable to take ownership of mistakes that he may have made. Some of the decisions he may have made that

led to the decline of the US dollar. And David Morrison of Trade Nation, he's a senior analyst with Trade Nation, says that Trump's tariffs, the fact that many investors view his administration as somewhat chaotic, along with concerns over US national debt, have seen the dollar fall out of favor. And what did Trump literally just do? Well, he pushed for the passage of this major omnibus bill that adds another $3.4 trillion to our debt, our current debt of $37 trillion. So that's all to say that the international community is kind

of looking at the United States and like, I don't know, man, do we really want to have this much faith, this much trust in the US dollar? But apparently Trump operates at one speed and one speed only because here's how he responded to BRICS nations for, if they aligned with anti-American policies. That would be India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa.

That's right, they have to pay 10% if they're in BRICS, cuz BRICS was set up to hurt us. BRICS was set up to degenerate our dollar and take our dollar as the standard, take it off as the standard. And that's okay if they wanna play that game, but I can play that game too. So anybody that's in bricks is getting a 10% charge. Is that immediate, sir? Yeah, pretty sure. Or is that because they engage in some ridiculous?

Well, if they're a member of bricks, they're gonna have to pay 10% tariff just for that one thing and they won't be a member alone. I thought bricks was, I said this about a year ago and it largely broke up. But there are a couple that hang around, but I thought it largely broke up. Bricks is not, in my opinion, not a serious threat. But what they're trying to do is

destroy the dollar. Well, they are trying to destroy the dollar. Whether or not they're going to be successful in doing so remains to be seen. But again, there is increased interest in the international

community to move away from Swift to invest in gold as opposed to the US dollar. And let's also remember since Trump is thinking about retaliating against BRICS nations through additional tariffs. International investors have also

been concerned about rising debt levels, Trump's tax cutting big beautiful bill could add another $3.3 trillion to the US debt over the next 10 years. And as I mentioned earlier, the tariffs and the uncertainty pertaining to Trump's tariffs

policy, his trade wars and all that, that has led to an increase of central banks around the world wanting to no longer invest in US currency and instead invest in gold. So he's essentially compounding the situation by moving forward with the same policies that have

partly created this mess in the first place. So we'll see what happens, but it's important to understand what's happening in the international community, how America is perceived in the international community. You're not really gonna get a good description of that if you're just consuming American media. But when you have all these countries trying to find ways to work around the United States, to no longer really invest in the

United States when there's this distrust in the international community, you gotta ask why. And our leaders should be held accountable for that, right? If they're engaging in policies that could eventually lead to the dethroning of the US dollar, we as Americans would be in a lot of trouble. We gotta keep it real on that. So, with that in mind, we gotta take a quick break. When we come back, Cenk Uygur will join me. Actually, I gotta read one comment because I really appreciate it. Corden Big writes in and says, just got home, doing a dab in your name, Anna. I appreciate you. We gotta take a break. We'll be right back.