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The MeidasTouch Podcast

Trump gets Public Warning from his Own Top Generals

14 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.537 - 18.04 Unknown

We at Sato have one motto. When you're the best at home, you're the best at life. That's why we have zero euro tax. You can use that money for what you really want. What brings happiness and joy. Sato.fi

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20.551 - 49.491 Ben Meiselas

Donald Trump just got a dire warning from his own top generals. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, United States Air Force General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich, who goes by the call sign Grinch, was in Sweden where he issued a stern and very strong warning to Donald Trump. saying that you are strengthening Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea, and you are weakening the NATO alliance.

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49.932 - 74.242 Ben Meiselas

Grinkovich was in Sweden, where he praised Sweden and other European allies who Donald Trump is attacking. He said, for example, what he likes about Sweden as an ideal ally of the United States, is how he refers to Sweden, is that you say things are made with Sweden, not made in Sweden. And that's how partners should be treating each other.

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74.603 - 90.054 Ben Meiselas

Now, of course, with Donald Trump always being me, me, me, America this, America that, and not talking about the NATO alliance and attacking the NATO alliance, this top general would was clearly referring here to Donald Trump, but he didn't want to mention Donald Trump by name.

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90.074 - 105.176 Ben Meiselas

So I want you to watch what takes place here in Sweden as Grankovic, as one of the top commanders in NATO, discusses the importance of this relationship with Sweden and NATO in general. Here, play this clip.

105.196 - 127.531 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

As governments remove barriers to work with defense firms, you're doing that here in Sweden, and we can learn from you. As you build transatlantic partnerships or pan-European partnerships or global partnerships with other like-minded nations, we can learn from you. And as you create opportunities for co-production and co-development, we can learn from Sweden.

Chapter 2: What warning did Trump's top generals give him?

127.551 - 158.039 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Sweden's industrial base is already doing these things and demonstrating that it can deliver. Yesterday, I heard the phrase made with Sweden. In stark contrast to the other phrase that you might have chosen, a more protectionist phrase of made in Sweden. This is fantastic. All allies would benefit from adopting this mentality as a rising tide lifts all boats.

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158.299 - 182.147 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

In conclusion, everything I'm seeing from Sweden, the collaboration, the modernization efforts, the defense investments, the health of your defense industry, Frankly, I think someone gave you all a checklist for being a model ally and you just went down and started checking it off. So it's a real privilege to be here today with you today with a model ally who's doing so much for the alliance.

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182.488 - 184.129 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

And I truly look forward to your questions.

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184.57 - 195.08 Ben Meiselas

And next, Gronkowicz, this top NATO general, this top Air Force general, call sign Grinch. Here's what he says about Greenland. Play this clip.

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195.1 - 203.007 Unknown

The U.S. national strategy, along with the recent statements from President Trump, has changed anything when it comes to NATO priorities.

203.948 - 225.282 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Well, I won't comment on the political dimensions of recent rhetoric. It's not my place to do that as a military officer. But I will just observe the readout from the North Atlantic Council, where all of our permanent representatives from the 32 nations get together to discuss thorny issues. Those dialogues continue in Brussels. They've been healthy dialogues from what I've heard.

225.262 - 228.045 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

And I think that's the most important thing.

Chapter 3: How is Donald Trump perceived to be strengthening adversaries?

228.125 - 234.132 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Members of the Alliance who've worked together for so many years are talking together and working through these learning issues.

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235.013 - 239.297 Unknown

You have this role for about six months now. Has your priorities in any way changed?

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239.918 - 240.859 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Is it only six months?

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241.78 - 243.722 Unknown

Oh, I'm sorry you feel that way.

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243.822 - 261.381 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

No, no. It's actually been truly a fantastic six months. One of the best jobs that exists on the planet, in my view, and I've truly enjoyed it. My priorities have been pretty consistent. I've got several of them.

Chapter 4: What did General Grinkovich praise about Sweden?

262.002 - 277.837 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

One of us, of course, I'm focused on taking care of our people, your people, that you contribute to the Alliance and to our missions. They are the bread and butter of what we do every single day. And Michael Klassen and I actually got an opportunity to go see some of the Swedish troops yesterday.

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278.518 - 296.99 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Swedish Marines who, I mean, some of the most impressive young women and men that I've seen in uniform. throughout my almost 33 years of service. You all ought to be incredibly proud of what those young people are doing for your country and for the Alliance. We need to take care of them, we need to focus on them, get them the equipment and the capabilities that they need.

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297.631 - 316.477 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

My second focus is warfighting readiness. And the alliance is ready to fight tonight, but we need to continue to hone our readiness and be more and more ready every single day. That's headquarters readiness, making sure we have the processes and capabilities in place to do the things we need to do. It's also individual unit level readiness.

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317.959 - 327.932 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Michael's focused on that here in Sweden, all of the chiefs of defense are, and I am as well. And it's by being ready that we continue to maintain that deterrence that I talked about.

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327.912 - 355.711 Ben Meiselas

And here's how he discusses Russia, North Korea, Iran, China, getting much stronger together because of Trump's weakness. Now he doesn't mention Trump specifically, but he talks about how in the past American foreign policy would be to divide and conquer these countries. But now they're being brought closer together They're cooperating with each other.

356.092 - 385.387 Ben Meiselas

And then Grinkowitz explains, this is why we need cooperation in the Arctic. It's why we need to work with our allies like Canada, like Sweden, like Denmark, like Greenland. This is a clear reference to Donald Trump's attacks on our allies. Watch as the top NATO commander, who's the supreme allied commander Europe, watch what he says.

385.527 - 392.596 Ben Meiselas

And clearly the message here is being sent to Donald Trump and the rest of the world. Here, play this clip.

392.917 - 422.162 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

China continues to fund Putin's war machine. Iran continues to supply technology and weapons. And North Korean combat troops remain in Russia on Ukraine's border. And of course, there's a confluence between Russia, Iran, and Venezuela and their dark fleet of oil tankers that is helping to fund the war. In the Arctic and the high north, we see a similar trend.

422.699 - 444.91 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Russian and Chinese vessels are conducting more and more joint patrols. Chinese icebreakers and research vessels are in Arctic waters and their research is not for peaceful purposes. It's to gain a military advantage. Russia, meanwhile, continues testing advanced capabilities in the Barents Sea.

Chapter 5: How does the NATO alliance view Trump's actions?

534.989 - 552.37 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

At a recent Arctic Chief of Defense Conference, we agreed to increase our understanding of activity in the Arctic, to enhance our domain awareness, and to increase our own activities and exercises in the High North. In short, military cooperation in this region has never been stronger.

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553.345 - 578.256 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Moving forward, we intend to expand our intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities, to improve our infrastructure and logistics for military mobility, and to strengthen our presence with Arctic-capable forces, many of those forces here in Sweden. With seven of eight Arctic nations inside the Alliance, the other one being Russia, we will and we can get this right.

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579.535 - 604.075 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Now what's Sweden's role? As our newest ally, Sweden is instrumental. Two years in and you have already demonstrated exceptional commitment. You're the framework nation for our forward land forces in Finland. You're filling staff roles throughout my command, especially in critical positions at Joint Force Command in Norfolk and our Training and Assistance Command for Ukraine.

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604.679 - 629.202 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

You've contributed capabilities for operations and our vigilance activities across the entire European continent. You're a model for societal resilience. And Sweden is among the top supporters of Ukraine through the prioritized Ukraine requirements list, the Pearl, and a number of other venues. In short, Sweden is setting an example for all of us, and I truly appreciate your leadership.

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630.025 - 655.864 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

Now, as you're aware, transforming for the future and strengthening deterrence takes resources, a lot of resources. But while the defense investment pledge at the Hague summit in 2025 was historic, money alone is not a deterrent. We need the equipment, the weapons and the munitions to start showing up in our allied military inventories. And this is where Sweden really stands apart.

657.447 - 665.978 General Alexis Gregory Grinkovich

you have an incredibly strong industrial base. And there are steps that we can use across the Alliance to learn from your experience.

666.359 - 682.519 Unknown

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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Trump's foreign policy on NATO?

866.528 - 893.194 Keith Kellogg

and in the past uh we didn't allow those four to come together we kept them kind of separated and now they come together now the point is to kind of not break them apart but move some separation that you don't have to worry about them anymore and you get to a point where you separated north korea you separated china you separated uh iran from russia and you keep them isolated

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893.174 - 898.824 Ben Meiselas

And then Kellogg praises Zelinsky. I want you to watch this for yourself. Play this clip.

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899.165 - 926.421 Keith Kellogg

But he's stubborn. He has his opinion. He's unafraid to say that. He knows how to use media. uh and i made a comment i took some criticism for at the time that i said he was a battle and courageous leader and i said people within the administration we in the united states have not seen a leader like him since abraham lincoln

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926.435 - 940.31 Ben Meiselas

And then Kellogg makes it very clear as well that Putin does not want peace with Ukraine. Putin is a KGB officer who wants total submission. That's what he is after. Here, let's play this clip.

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940.33 - 972.878 Keith Kellogg

Putin wants Ukraine to succeed. Do you think that Putin wants Ukraine to succeed? No, I don't. I think, I mean, I think Putin... As a former KGB officer, and I don't think they ever outlived their roots, I think he's got a goal in mind. And what we want in the West is not necessarily what he wants. And I don't think Putin wants Ukraine to succeed at all.

972.858 - 998.528 Ben Meiselas

And then finally, you had a meeting that took place recently with Mark Rutt, the Secretary General of NATO. You see Mark Rutt here talking about the Arctic strategy. And I want you to take a look here how he describes things. Take a look at Mark Rutt at this press conference moments ago. Play this clip.

998.508 - 1022.398 Unknown

What is your comment, approximation, on the latest statements from Donald Trump, who said that if necessary he will take military action on Greenland? And I'm just going to read it. Commissioner Kubilius from European Commission has said that EU members are obliged to come to Denmark's assistance. under EU treaty if faced with military aggression?

1022.779 - 1033.216 Unknown

And as we know, 23 countries of EU are also members of NATO. Including Croatia. Including Croatia, yes. Mr. Plenković, your comment, please.

1033.737 - 1055.093 Mark Rutte

Thank you. Yes, well, on that question, and it is a little bit, I think, repeating my previous reaction, but thank you very much for that important question. And I think what is at core here and to the core of this question is that we all make that same analysis. And there is no debate or discussion about that.

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