Podbit · The MeidasTouch Podcast
On the same day Trump held his Fourth of July spectacle to a sparse crowd, millions of people and dozens of nations gathered in Tehran for Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral. Iran noticed — and made sure the world did too.
Where this was said
At 9:50 · chapter starts 8:50
Joe Flood's photographs tell the story that the fireworks footage couldn't — every surface around the reflecting pool covered in a fine layer of ash, debris floating in still-green water. Workers were deployed to the pool the morning after, clearing fallout from a display that the administration billed as a triumph. Meiselas adds a grim stat: close to a hundred hospital-related incidents were reported, possibly more. Then the pivot to geopolitics: on the very same day, Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral drew millions of mourners to Tehran and representatives from dozens of nations. The contrast, Meiselas argues, was not lost on Iran — they highlighted it directly while Trump was 'out there polluting the United States.' The side-by-side images of a sparse D.C. crowd and a packed Tehran street underscore the soft-power optics.
Close to a hundred hospital-related incidents were reported at or around Trump's Fourth of July event.
Millions of people and dozens of countries attended Ayatollah Khomeini's funeral in Tehran on July 4th, a sharp contrast to Trump's low-turnout event.
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Erika Kirk became the CEO of TPUSA while grieving her husband's murder in public, and now faces tens of thousands accusing her of conspiring to kill him. Andrew Wilson calls it mind-boggling psychological torture. The sparklers at the memorial weren't suspicious — they were a grieving widow doing her best in an impossible situation.
Joe Rogan and Andrew Wilson watch a bystander video of the Corey Ruiz police shooting in Madison, Wisconsin live on air. The video is so blurry they initially think a female officer fired the fatal shots. They later learn a male officer did, after Ruiz allegedly pulled a knife and stabbed officers. Their conclusion: you cannot have a hot take on a story you don't understand yet.
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