Hi all. It’s Monday, I’m fired up, and I’m not going to mince words. Let me break down today’s news for you. I’ll keep this brief.
Donald Trump is having a terrible Monday, and the world is far less safe because of it.
While this grotesque figure continues to pretend to lead the United States, we are watching a real-time breakdown of global stability in large part due to the dangerous relationship between Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Here’s what just happened. Putin contacted Donald Trump earlier and fed him a lie. He said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had attempted to attack his residence. That claim is false. Entirely fabricated. It was designed with the purpose to give Putin a pretext to escalate his war, launch ballistic missiles and drone strikes on Kyiv, target government buildings, and potentially attempt to assassinate Zelenskyy.
Trump didn’t question it. He didn’t push back. He swallowed it whole.
According to Russian state propaganda, Trump reacted with sympathy for Putin and relief that the United States had not provided Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Trump spoke with Putin repeatedly in the 24 hours leading up to his meeting with Zelenskyy. He spoke with Putin before meeting Zelenskyy. He spoke with Putin again afterward. By Trump’s own admission, these calls lasted hours. And then, almost immediately, the Kremlin rolled out the fake “residence attack” story, complete with threats that Ukraine’s so-called “terrorist actions will not go unanswered.”
That language should sound familiar. Label your enemy a terrorist. Declare diplomacy impossible. Escalate violence. It’s the same authoritarian playbook Trump uses at home.
When Zelenskyy refused to agree to Trump’s demand that Ukraine give up its eastern territory, the next phase kicked in. Suddenly, Putin had his excuse. Suddenly, Kyiv was under renewed attack. Suddenly, Russia announced it was reassessing negotiations because Ukraine had supposedly crossed some imaginary line.
Zelenskyy called it out clearly and publicly. He said the alleged strike was “a complete fabrication intended to justify additional attacks against Ukraine,” and warned the world not to stay silent. He emphasized that Ukraine does not undermine diplomacy. Russia does.
What makes this moment especially dangerous is that it’s not happening in isolation.
In the past 24 hours alone, China launched its most aggressive military drills ever around Taiwan, mobilizing naval, air, and rocket forces and forcing Taiwan to activate emergency readiness measures. North Korea test-fired long-range cruise missiles, openly framing the launches as combat-readiness exercises. Iran declared it is now in an all-out war posture against the United States, Europe, and Israel, boasting that its military forces are more prepared than ever.
These are not coincidences. Authoritarians test the world when they sense weakness. And right now, the United States is broadcasting weakness from the very top.
While all of this is unfolding, Trump’s last social media post featured an image of a nuclear explosion over Manhattan, paired with racist rhetoric about Democrats and immigrants. At the precise moment global tensions are reaching levels not seen since the lead-up to the world wars, he’s posting nuclear imagery and racist propaganda.
Corporate media may be too afraid to describe it like this, but let me be very clear: this is the closest the world has been to a world war in generations.
Trump openly parroted Russia’s position that a ceasefire would only prolong the war and that peace would somehow cause more violence. It’s Orwellian. War is peace. Peace is war.
During his press conference with Zelenskyy, Trump all but admitted what he and Putin had been discussing. He joked that they hadn’t talked about the weather or Christmas dinner. He said they talked for hours. And now we know exactly what those hours were used for.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, went on Fox News and dismantled another Trump lie, firmly rejecting the idea that Ukrainians are ready to surrender their territory. Zelenskyy explained that while Ukrainians desperately want peace, they want a just peace. They do not want to hand over the Donbas only to give Russia a launchpad for future attacks.
When asked whether Putin has shown any indication that he wants peace, Zelenskyy’s answer was simple. No.
And if you want a snapshot of how detached Trump is from reality, look at his claim that Russia wants Ukraine to succeed and will help rebuild it. Zelenskyy’s expression during that moment said everything. You could see the disbelief. You could see the alarm.
This chaos is not confined to foreign policy. It’s bleeding directly into the U.S. economy. Consumer confidence is collapsing. Investors are spooked. Businesses cannot plan when the White House generates a new crisis every day. As economist Justin Wolfers put it, Americans overwhelmingly believe macroeconomic policy is being run poorly, and it’s not even close.
Trump is a failure and he is actively destabilizing the world. And the cost of that recklessness is rising by the hour.
Watch my latest report above for more details. Also, a quick programming note: I will be going live on the MeidasTouch Podcast tonight at 8p ET/5p PT on YouTube.
Also: I wanted to flag an article in the CBC written about former Canadian Member of Parliament Charlie Angus and the rise of MeidasCanada. You can read the piece here.
Little did Angus know, MeidasTouch News, a popular U.S.-based news site that has been critical of Trump, was watching. It started posting some of those speeches.
“People started stopping me on the street … the bus on [Ottawa’s] Elgin stopped in the middle of the street and the bus driver gave me a shout out,” said Angus. “I couldn’t figure out what was going on.”…
On Labour Day, Angus launched MeidasCanada, featuring YouTube videos commenting on the news of the day – part rant, part op-ed and often featuring the kind of language Canadians are unlikely to hear on mainstream television airwaves.
Nearly four months later, MeidasCanada’s YouTube channel has more than 206,000 subscribers.
Thanks for making our reporting, and our global expansion, possible.
See you soon with more updates!
