Mehdi Goes Head-to-Head With Patrick Bet-David on Trump, Iran, Muslims, and Ilhan Omar
‘Donald Trump wouldn’t have allowed you into this country, and yet you sit and support him,’ Mehdi tells the pro-Trump podcaster Bet-David, who was born in Iran.
Zeteo’s editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan and Trump-supporting conservative media personality and podcast host Patrick Bet-David disagree on a lot of things, but when Mehdi appeared on PBD’s latest show, the two managed to have a wide-ranging, mostly civil conversation – until it came to immigration, Muslims, and Ilhan Omar.
During the conversation, Mehdi and Bet-David, who was born in Iran, also discuss the Trump administration’s decision to effectively dismantle the asylum process for all refugees except white South Africans.
“Number one, that’s racist. 99.9% of your refugees are white people who are not refugees and you don’t allow in people from Iran, Iraq, Syria,” Mehdi says. “The second point is, Donald Trump wouldn’t have allowed you into this country, and yet you sit and support him.”
Watch the full video above to see Mehdi fact-check Bet-David on Trump’s so-called “landslide” victory in 2024, and point out that the president “got one of the narrowest wins in modern American history.” He also presses Bet-David about his praise for Trump on day one of the Iran war and asks if the podcaster accepts that it’s been an “absolute disaster,” noting that Trump “is not a war leader” and “he doesn’t understand foreign policy.”
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Mehdi is a verbal surgeon. I love listening to him speak, which is the main reason I subbed to Zeteo. He explains this passionately, yet in a way that even a 'random Joe' like me can understand. I really think he 'gets it', and always appreciate his insights!
Cheeto’s Spendthrift Economy
Many commentators on the US economy as well as economists have for the last 8 to 18mo and longer have been sounding the alarm over the growing national debt. Now with the Iranian war the debt is over $39T and growing. Cheeto continues to recklessly spend thinking that a war time economy may bail him out. Of course Cheeto, who drove businesses into the ground going bankrupt 5 times, is now in charge of the upcoming Great Depression 2.0 and will botch its management much like he did COVID. His inability to manage anything was apparent during COVID since he has no mental discipline and relies on “gut instinct” to guide his management.
Potential foreign investors who help pay for our debt are becoming risk adverse. HSBC, the second largest European bank, is now sounding the alarm(https://bit.ly/42Tl15s) implying that foreign investment which now amounts to $40-50T in T bills will need to be compensated for the risk they take on. This means that the yield on treasuries will have to go higher, meaning that the US will fast approach a point when the country will not be able to afford its debt, creating a defined debt trap which occurs when the rate of increase of outstanding debt accelerates faster than the tax revenue to cover the interest cost.
5% is the magic number for 10y T bills. It is the level where the debt is unsustainable without default.
The Fed has two tools in its toolbox, interest rates and money printing. In this precarious financial situation those tools do little to help in the long run particularly with a reckless overspending Cheeto government.