Immense thanks to Eric Peters of EricPetersDotCom and on X as “AT” apostate27832 for joining us in our Mind Meld tonight. It was very important to get his thoughts on the Trump Admin trigger-pull on the bond market and the collapse that signals. It's coming, of course, but Bessent, by doing what he is with bonds, just showed everyone that it's time to get away from the Federal Reserve Note, from US bonds, and the housing market, followed by everything in the market... Big thanks, also, to all the fine journalists whose work we got to discuss.- Join us, m-f 6 PM on Rumble or on X, and look for the audio pod, shortly after each stream, via Spotify or here at Substack! Here is the link to the entire video presentation! - Liberty Conspiracy LIVE 82026 Bessent Blathers As Strait Tightens, Bonds Decay, ABC v FCC
Here are some of the big stories we got to cover tonight!
WAR
News editors oft tell journalists that they should start with the personal then get into the abstract and statistical. SO… Let’s poke fun at that (I usually skipped the opening of news articles just for that reason, so I could get to the meat of the info) by looking at Israel’s number one rump-swab, Mike Huckabee. This is a story we — and likely you — saw the other day, but it is worth reiterating and using as a way to show us how unbalanced so many statists are. The problem is not necessarily that Huckabee keeps flacking for a genocide machine. That is obviously vile. But on a more subtle level, Huckabee’s assumed place to “represent” all of “Americans” on any front, that is a perennially unethical and misguided sign of hubristic statist thinking.
Megatron@Megatron_ron
🇺🇸🇮🇱 U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee continues to humiliate the United States in front of the world He says the world should hand over the keys to the Jews, to run the world “There are only 16 million Jews in the whole world. Put that in perspective. That’s 0.05% of the
12:30 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 122K Views
342 Replies · 977 Reposts · 2.62K Likes
BREAKING: CONFIRMED, Trump tried to bribe the head of the IRGC
Trump continues the immoral, unconstitutional, and only-significant-because-it-will-boomerang rhetoric and purported policy of trying to “economically strangle” Iran. Iran is in charge of the Strait, and Iran and Oman are making arrangements for the mostly-Iranian-controlled strait traffic. Trump’s actions already saw a response from his victims that has shut down most of the world’s supply of oil, natural gas, helium, hydrogen, and numerous forms of fertilizer (and many other products). He is going to collapse the US, Canadian, and European economies. Australia likely will collapse as well, because the government attacked the coal industry there and they are heavily reliant on imported fuel now.
Gardner Goldsmith - Liberty Conspiracy M-F 6pm@gardgoldsmith
This is so clearly false it blows my mind that anyone stands near him.
Breaking911 @Breaking911
President Trump on Iran: "The Strait is open. A lot of boats are coming through. People aren't reporting that... the Naval blockade has been extremely effective... We're going to see what happens."
2:09 AM · Aug 20, 2026 · 160 Views
4 Reposts · 4 Likes
And if the US is going to try to strangle Iranian people off from goods they need, sans any Declaration of War, sans any defensive rationale that the Trumpistas can concoct, what will happen to the Iranian population? They have suffered and managed for decades, but how about Trump STOP the madness against them?
The Cradle@TheCradleMedia
BREAKING | Iran’s foreign ministry says the new US sanctions target innocent Iranian citizens and amount to economic terrorism: ▪️In an official statement, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the imposition of new economic and trade sanctions by the US ruling
3:19 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 1.82K Views
10 Reposts · 14 Likes
Thus, the boomerang
Drop Site@DropSiteNews
🛢️ Brent Crude Breaks $94 as Trump Threatens Increased Economic Pressure ▪️Brent crude surged as high as $94.60 a barrel Thursday, its highest level since July 24, before pulling back below $93. Oil has now risen for five straight sessions as traders price in tighter Middle East
CSPAN @cspan
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent: "We got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand."
5:11 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 54.4K Views
14 Replies · 35 Reposts · 141 Likes
This is a valuable retort by Seyed Mirandi re this unbalanced CNN report
The Prez the other day canceled military exercises with the S. Korean troops, sent S. Korea a $10 bil bill for US “protection”, and claimed that he was good friends with the leader of N. Korea. Why? Well, the S. Koreans did not agree to send ships to the Strait of H to help the US, and the S. Koreans are in talks with Iran for energy deals. Judge Napolitano and Doug MacGregor cover this well, as the US reach around the globe must end. Perhaps Trump’s petulance will lead to something positive, for N. and S. Korea to unify and find peace with China?
The death toll has risen, from the strike we reported the other day. “Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 10 Palestinians as IDF Ramps Up Massacres After Netanyahu-Kushner Meeting - News From Antiwar.com” LINK
-And we want to reiterate the evil of the Zionista criminals “Israel’s Ben Gvir boasts of planned execution facility for Palestinian prisoners | Middle East Eye” LINK
As expected, the Israelis are adding, not subtracting, troops in the land it already has stolen from Syrians. “Large Israeli Deployment Reported in Southwest Syria, Forces Push Into Rif Damasq - News From Antiwar.com” LINK
Yesterday, many folks remarked that Senator Darlene Graham, appointed by the SC Governor to fill her deceased brother’s vacant seat, admitted to not being informed about whether “Taiwan and the South China Sea” were national security issues for the US. It was refreshing to hear her admit that she was not up on the matters, but it also was disappointing to hear her broadly claim that she “supports our military” - as if the US military has been engaged in ANY constitutionally sanctioned action since WWII. While this, on its own, deserves closer analysis, and Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams offer just that, from the standpoint of correctly seeing the enormous and deadly US war-machine that has bases all over the world, I want to concentrate on the repeated use of the term “national security” and how easy it is for listeners to fall into the trap of thinking that such a term ever has any stable meaning (it will be manipulated by politicians to serve their ends), that they can ever really influence what the policies will be (Public Choice economics tells us the vested corporate interests will steer the manna of warmongering their way, at our expense) and that the collective can tell each of us what is our “security” measurement in our lives. Ron and Daniel begin by talking about the number of US bases that appear to be done in the Middle East, thanks to Iran’s push back against US aggression.
Judge Napolitano and Doug MacGregor dig into this, as well:
It looks like the Bessent attempt to manipulate the US Treasury market already is facing the reality that the US Debt is going to undermine the current rates of return… People know the Dollar will be worth less in ten years, so they demand higher rates. Bessent thought he could buy a bunch of long-term bonds and keep the rates low. Nope…
The Kobeissi Letter@KobeissiLetter
You can't make this up: At 8:15 AM ET yesterday, the 10Y Note Yield was trading at 4.68% when the US Treasury announced it would be increasing bond buybacks to $4 billion. The yield fell to a low of 4.63% as the US Treasury pledged to provide "liquidity support." Exactly 24
The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter
It's official. On July 31st, we called for US government intervention as long-term borrowing costs hit 2008 levels. Today, it happened. The US Treasury is DOUBLING buybacks to $4 billion per operation for "liquidity support." What comes next? Let us explain. (a thread)
1:00 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 121K Views
92 Replies · 180 Reposts · 1K Likes
And, as we work on the News Notes, Bessent just announced a DOUBLING of what he did the other day. This is unsustainable. The Treasury announced it will at least double its liquidity support buybacks for 10- to 30-year bonds, raising the maximum from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation from September 9 through November 4. Yields dropped sharply by 9-10 basis points right after, gold surged over 3%, and Bitcoin futures rose amid the relief rally. Critics call it debt reshuffling that swaps cheaper long-term bonds for pricier short-term ones, as national debt tops $40 trillion with daily interest at $3.8 billion.
Leshka.eth ⛩@leshka_eth
🚨 🇺🇸 THE U.S. TREASURY JUST ADMITTED THE ECONOMY IS COLLAPSING Today the Treasury DOUBLED its buybacks of long-dated debt. From $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, starting September 9. Read that again. America is buying back its own bonds because nobody else
5:16 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 1.14M Views
575 Replies · 3.39K Reposts · 8.82K Likes
The Kobeissi Letter@KobeissiLetter
BREAKING: US Treasury Secretary Bessent says Treasury buybacks announced yesterday could now MORE than double, exceeding $4 billion per operation. Bessent said buybacks will increase “by at least double,” adding, “we have a big toolkit, so we’ll see.” This comes just hours
The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter
It's official. On July 31st, we called for US government intervention as long-term borrowing costs hit 2008 levels. Today, it happened. The US Treasury is DOUBLING buybacks to $4 billion per operation for "liquidity support." What comes next? Let us explain. (a thread)
3:24 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 51.2K Views
40 Replies · 41 Reposts · 286 Likes
MORE
Mario Nawfal@MarioNawfal
🇺🇸 U.S. national debt is now roughly the same size as its entire economy 💀 It just crossed $40T after adding another $3T in a single year. Interest costs have already climbed past the whole defense budget, and the forecasts show the pile growing even faster thanks to recent
9:40 PM · Aug 19, 2026 · 40.4K Views
25 Replies · 34 Reposts · 166 Likes
Douglas MacGregor is spot on about this Bessent fakery. The US debt is unsustainable, the interest on the debt will exceed the military budget each year, and the US spending on war (and the other massive tentacles of Leviathan) has to be cut (my preference would be no state, no US government demanding people send it cash).
And, yeah, it looks like Bessent will be the subject of some key analysis tonight on LCL…
The Hormuz Letter@HormuzLetter
BREAKING: US Treasury Secretary Bessent acts surprised as to why Trump's "Economic D-Day" announcement didn't crash oil prices as he hoped for. "We have a spike in oil prices that I don't really understand"
6:00 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 16K Views
57 Replies · 49 Reposts · 426 Likes
And, as the US economy gets slammed
Interest on the $40 trillion debt is over $1.4 trillion a year… AND, here are the US deficits each month, for this year, from the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement (through July 2026). Figures are in billions of dollars (unadjusted for calendar/timing shifts) and represent total on- and off-budget results:
January 2026: Deficit of $94.6 billion
February 2026: Deficit of $307.5 billion
March 2026: Deficit of $164.1 billion
April 2026: Surplus of $215.0 billion
May 2026: Deficit of $292.6 billion
June 2026: Deficit of $120.3 billion
July 2026: Deficit of $432.3 billion
David Stockman@DA_Stockman
Hey, Trumpy, there is a reason Switzerland has much lower interest rates than the US. It's the debt, stupid!
6:32 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 1.98K Views
10 Replies · 28 Reposts · 110 Likes
And
𝕊𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕻𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕤@SprinterPress
Donald Trump on the US national debt in 2016: - We need to do something. Because otherwise, in 3-4 years... Right now, the debt is $18 trillion, and soon it will be $20 trillion. Economists, even though I'm not a big fan of them, say that $24 trillion is a threshold we're
6:47 PM · Aug 20, 2026 · 4.81K Views
7 Replies · 69 Reposts · 125 Likes
“The Madness of King Trump - EPautos - Libertarian Car Talk” LINK Eric will be with us tonight at 6:45 to dig into this in our Mind Meld!
SCOTUS WILL HEAR BIRTHRIGHT AGAIN? “Supreme Court to hear Trump’s bid to narrow birthright citizenship” LINK
We yesterday did not get to discuss this: “MAGA gov sued for shielding ICE agent who lied about shooting victim: report” LINK
-And we did not get to discuss this University of MD prof’s plight, either. “UMD instructor denied release from immigration custody” LINK
-And… “ICE admits it investigated a critic based on constitutionally protected speech” LINK
AND… “Appeals court rejects ICE church arrests policy” LINK
Yep. It Goes On. “US tells schools not to alter discipline policies to reduce racial disparities” LINK
We did not get to discuss this yesterday “Breaking: ABC sues Trump over free speech after Kimmel’s win - See Melber’s legal report” LINK
That’s it for now, all! Please keep in mind that ANTIWAR is starting a soft fundraiser, a quiet way to get support! Check it out and feel free to give ‘em a hand!
Spread the word! Thanks, again! Please feel free to SHARE the links, and join us every M-F at 6 PM on Rumble, and my X @gardgoldsmith — and you also can donate to help the Liberty Conspiracy, itself! Just visit PayPal to help out! You also can mail GG at:
Gardner Goldsmith
PO Box 581
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