Trump's Friday Meltdown: Begging Iran, Ditching Ukraine, and Blaming Everybody But Himself – 7/31/26

Your Friday midday update is here

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Friday, July 31st, and there is a lot going on, so let’s get right into it.

Thanks again to all those who continue to let me know you preordered the book I wrote with my brothers, WTF America?!: The Way Out of This Hell and Back to Democracy. If you preorder your copy today, be sure to let me know in the comments!

Here’s what we’re tracking today:

• The Strait of Hormuz standoff between CENTCOM and Iran, plus reports of a possible land blockade

• New OSINT reports of strikes on U.S. and allied bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar

• North Korea warning that conflict on the Korean peninsula is now “a matter of timing”

• Zelenskyy’s Starlink ask and Trump’s wavering on Patriot missile production for Ukraine (I warned you not to trust him)

• Ben-Gvir’s comments on Gaza and Netanyahu’s silence on Hamas disarmament

• Trump’s old comments on Spain resurfacing as Morocco appears to push migrants toward the Spanish border

• The Camp David cabinet meeting, where Trump talked about his own “abuse,” Iran, and Ukraine

• Kevin Hassett’s economic spin session with Maria Bartiromo after a disappointing GDP number

• Trump’s Truth Social post defending the insurrectionist slush fund, and Cornyn’s pushback

• Senator Bernie Moreno going after Dr. Fauci

• The State Department’s new commemorative passport nobody requested

• House Judiciary Democrats opening a probe into Truth Social’s “insider access” program

• UEFA, Concacaf, and now the AFC all lining up against FIFA’s privatization plan tied to a Kushner brother

Before I go any further, if you haven’t joined as a paid subscriber yet, please consider doing so by clicking here. This is how we grow. We’re making this recap paywall free, but when you subscribe, you’ll unlock all our recaps, our exclusive Ask-the-Editor series, and more, while directly supporting the continued growth of this independent network.

Now let’s get into it.

Trump Is Begging Iran For a Deal, and Iran Isn’t Answering the Phone

Donald Trump spent part of his Friday wandering the White House grounds with Natalie Harp, the woman many have been calling his human printer, and calling up the New York Post to announce that he is demanding Iran agree to a cease-fire, or else there will be a price to pay, according to the Post’s Emily Goodin. That is the posture of someone flailing.

Iran’s answer came fast. Overnight in Erbil, Iraq, a Shahed drone struck U.S. interests, and Iranian-aligned accounts spent the day publicly fact-checking CENTCOM’s own fact-checks, insisting the Strait of Hormuz is closed and that any tanker passage requires IRGC Navy coordination. The IRGC claims it struck two tankers and turned back four more that tried to use what the U.S. has been calling the safe southern route. Meanwhile the U.S. reportedly blocked a Qatari LNG tanker from continuing on to Pakistan because it used Iran’s designated corridor instead of the American one. So tankers get squeezed from both directions.

On top of the naval standoff, the Telegraph’s Connor Stringer and Joe Barnes report that the U.S. and Israel are now discussing a land blockade of Iran, which would require Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to close their borders with Iran. Good luck with that. Iraq just held a funeral for the Ayatollah that drew millions of Shiite mourners, and Israel is simultaneously threatening Turkey.

Then there’s the satellite imagery, which needs a caveat up front: these are OSINT aggregator claims based on low-resolution commercial satellite photos, not confirmed by CENTCOM, the Pentagon, or the host governments. With that said, accounts tracking Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan describe a pattern going back to July 2nd, new hangars built, destroyed, rebuilt, and struck again with what one account called scary precision. Other posts point to housing units hit in Kuwait, a new impact at the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, and evacuated aircraft at Al Udeid in Qatar. Whatever the precise details turn out to be, the pattern is a retreat, not a victory lap.

And then, North Korea is now warning, through state-adjacent channels, that a clash on the Korean peninsula is a matter of timing given the expansion of U.S. forces in Japan. Kim Jong Un has nuclear weapons now. He didn’t when Obama was in office. Yet I remember the legacy press talking a whole lot about it then, and going notably silence about these developments under Trump.

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Changing How You Read the News: Here’s Why It Matters

Let me take a quick moment to discuss an important issue that’s affecting our country, and the world. Americans aren’t just disagreeing; we’re being shown completely different stories.

Every day, news outlets decide what to publish. In polarized media environments, audience demographics can split coverage. If you rely on only one side of the media spectrum, you could miss stories entirely, not because it isn’t credible, but because it doesn’t align with certain editorial priorities.

That’s why I’m often asked where I go to do research for my reporting. One of the main research tools I use is called Ground News. Ground News shows me how stories are being covered from different political perspectives, and it highlights “blindspots” where only left-wing or right-wing media is covering a story.

That kind of visibility is rare right now, and it changes how you understand the news. I’ve worked out a deal with them; if you want that level of insight every day, head to /ground.news/meidastouch and subscribe to get 40% off the Vantage plan, the one I use.

Ground News is subscriber-funded, so they don’t rely on ads that could introduce bias. By subscribing, you support both our channel and their independent team working to keep the media transparent. Thanks to Ground News for sponsoring this post and helping solve one of the biggest issues we are facing!

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Ukraine Gets Strung Along Again

The Atlantic’s Simon Shuster, Missy Ryan, and Jonathan Lemire report that Zelenskyy asked Trump to lean on Elon Musk to open up Starlink for targeting ballistic missile launchers inside Russia, since Ukraine is short on Patriot interceptors. Trump didn’t commit. Separately, a UK headline confirms what Trump said live at the Camp David cabinet meeting: he’s not sure he’ll let Ukraine build its own Patriot missiles, despite previously telling NATO allies he would. He talked about the tech being too sensitive to hand over, comparing it to Nvidia chips, the same chips his own administration has sold to the UAE and reportedly considered for China. Meanwhile Ukraine kept up strikes on Russian logistics overnight, hitting Wildberries warehouses in Volgograd and Tatarstan, the Lukoil refinery in Volgograd, the TAIF-NK refinery in Nizhnekamsk, and the Kaspiysk seaport area in Dagestan. Remember I told you not to trust Trump’s “new tone” on Ukraine? This is why.

Ben-Gvir Wants Spain to Take Gaza’s Population, Netanyahu Stays Quiet

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted, in Spanish, that Pedro Sánchez should open Spain’s doors to Gaza residents seeking to leave, framing it as a chance for Spain to add to its “human diversity.” In Hebrew, he separately said the draft disarmament agreement for Hamas is unacceptable to Israel and that targeted killings in Gaza need to continue. CNN’s Tal Shalev reports that Netanyahu has stayed silent on the disarmament announcement, with a source saying he expects Hamas to violate it and doesn’t want to criticize the deal publicly ahead of October elections.

Spain, Morocco, and Trump’s Greatest Hits

Speaking of Spain, footage is circulating of Moroccan trucks appearing to move thousands of migrants toward the Spanish border near Ceuta, and older clips of Trump threatening Spain and Pedro Sánchez are being recirculated right on cue. You’ll recall Trump telling Spain it wasn’t “behaving nicely” but that it would “learn,” the same way, he said, Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico supposedly learned. This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook: manufacture a crisis at a border, then use the resulting images as a talking point for the next election cycle.

Here’s a clip of Trump from July 3rd, in which he says, "They'll learn soon":

Look at who’s actually involved here. Morocco’s government is a partner in the Abraham Accords with Israel, and this week you had Israeli ministers and a chorus of right-wing ultranationalist leaders across Europe piling on Pedro Sánchez at the exact same moment those trucks started moving toward Ceuta. That is not a coincidence, that’s a coordinated pressure campaign, and Sánchez is getting squeezed from every direction because he hasn’t fallen in line with the rest of the European right. Fox’s Jackie Heinrich went and got Trump’s reaction this morning, and predictably he pointed to the images out of Ceuta as a preview of what happens if Democrats win, telling viewers that’s what their lives will look like in three years if the wrong side gets in. That’s the whole strategy in one sentence. Manufacture the crisis, get your allies to amplify it, then turn around and use the footage as a campaign ad for the midterms. By the way, you know midterms are approaching when Republicans can’t stop talking about caravans, communism, and transgender people.

The Camp David Cabinet Meeting

Trump held a cabinet meeting at Camp David where he described Iran as having “very little capabilities” left while also saying Iran will “fight onward.” He talked about giving Ukraine Patriot missile technology and then talked himself out of it in the same breath, worried the technology could be turned against the U.S. He also used the meeting to revisit his own grievances, saying he was abused more than almost anyone in the country’s history and that he deserves damages for the Mar-a-Lago search. He did not mention that he already secured a settlement shielding himself from future tax audits and investigations, a deal worth billions in avoided liability. Trump himself in a Truth social post today confirmed that the immunity deal and slush fund remains on the table, despite Todd Blanche’s verbal assurances under oath that it does not.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the moment to praise Trump’s “courage” over Operation Epic Fury, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared Trump’s economic legacy favorably to Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. You know how these cabinet meetings go…

The Economy Is Not Fine, No Matter They Say

National Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett went on Fox Business and got asked by Maria Bartiromo why the GDP growth he’d promised at 4% came in far lower. He of course blamed Democrats for pursuing a communist takeover of America, and Bartiromo told him that was a great point. This is the scam in plain sight. They tell you a golden age is right around the corner. Soon, you’ll be rich. And when that inevitably does not happen, it’s those pesky communist Democrats to blame! That’s the playbook.

Hassett argued data centers are wonderful for small towns, ignoring the American farmers who’ve absorbed bankruptcy after bankruptcy from these tariffs, from rising fertilizer costs tied directly to the Iran war, and from lost export markets. He acknowledged farmers have had “tough breaks” without ever mentioning who caused them.

The Slush Fund, Cornyn, and the Fauci Distraction

As I mentioned, Trump posted a lengthy defense of the insurrectionist slush fund, insisting he gave up personal payments while defending compensation for January 6th participants he calls unfairly persecuted patriots. He again attacked John Cornyn, whose primary loss Trump take credit for after backing his opponent, and pushed for Todd Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General. Around the same time, Senator Bernie Moreno went on Fox and accused Dr. Fauci of killing seniors and being, in his words, a smug figure who deserves scorn. This is a distraction strategy. When the war goes badly and the economy underperforms, MAGA needs a villain from five years ago to talk about instead. Meanwhile, Moreno won’t even denounce his own son-in-law, Congressman Max Miller, who allegedly abused his own daughter and grandchild. Yesterday, Moreno’s daughter filed a restraining order against Miller.

Passports Nobody Asked For, and a Truth Social Probe

The State Department announced that starting August 8th, Americans can apply for a commemorative America 250th passport featuring Trump’s image. They said, “You asked. We delivered.” Nobody asked for this. What people are asking for is affordable health care and housing. Meanwhile House Judiciary Democrats, led by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, have opened a probe into a scheme allegedly selling insider access to Trump’s Truth Social posts through a Truth API, demanding records on subscribers, pricing, and internal communications by August 13th.

FIFA’s Privatization Plan Is Collapsing

UEFA has voted to boycott the World Cup over FIFA’s plan to sell stakes in the tournament to private investors, led by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Eternal fund. Concacaf has already stood with UEFA, and now the Asian Football Confederation has joined them too, warning that the plan cannot achieve the consensus needed to move forward. That’s three of six global soccer confederations lined up against a Kushner-connected deal tied to a tournament Trump’s circle has been eager to attach itself to. U.S. Soccer has also thrown their support in with the other confederations and against FIFA. Things are not looking good right now for Trump’s buddy, FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

That’s the rundown for this Friday. We’ve got more videos coming throughout the day and Ron Filipkowski’s bulletin later. And if you haven’t already, go preorder WTF America, the book I wrote with my brothers. Preorders genuinely help us plan for the release, so it matters. We’ll see you soon!