← The MeidasTouch Podcast
Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:01]
Adrian
Want to sharpen your aim, save money on ammo and train like the pros, all from the comfort of your home. Meet Mantis X, the cutting edge dry fire training system used by the Marine Corps, army and Special Forces to build precision and confidence. 94% of shooters report improved accuracy in just 20 minutes and you could be next. With Mantis X, you train with your own firearm anytime, anywhere without wasting a single round in less than two weeks. The system pays for itself in ammo savings alone. As a proud gun owner, I believe in the Second Amendment. But rights come with responsibility. That means refining your accuracy, mastering your skills, and staying prepared every time you train. Whether you're a new shooter or an experienced marksman, Mantis X helps you train smarter, shoot better, and defend what matters most. Get yours today@mantisx.com that's mantisx.com Reflecting on.
- [01:01]
Brian
Donald Trump's disastrous G7 appearance, if you even want to call it that, where he basically lasted about 12 hours in Alberta, Canada before leaving. Go Back to a June 8, 2025 post to President Zelensky of Ukraine and how important this G7 meeting was to to Ukraine and to our allies. On June 8, President Zelensky posted, in the coming weeks, important meetings and negotiations will take place in Ukraine, and we're doing everything to ensure that the June summits, the G7 summit in Canada, and the NATO summit in the Netherlands are not hollow. Russia only truly understands one language, the language of force. That is precisely the language that must become the working one across all formats of international engagement in the coming months. And then, of course, on Monday, Donald Trump left the G7 after being in Alberta for about 12 hours, not to meet with President Zelensky on Tuesday. Then throughout Donald Trump's brief time in Alberta, he kept on basically acting as like Putin's agent. And he talked about how the G7 should really be called the G8. Remember this? Let's play it together.
- [02:22]
Chris
Very well. I look forward to that. The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn't want to have Russia in. And I would say that that was a mistake because I think you wouldn't have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn't have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago. But it didn't work out that way. But it used to be the G8 and now it's, I guess, what's that? Nine years ago, eight years ago, it switched over. They threw Russia out, which I claimed was a Very big mistake. Even though I wasn't in politics then, I was very loud about it. It was a mistake in that you spend so much time talking about Russia, he's no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated. But you wouldn't have had the war.
- [03:08]
Brian
Then he says that Putin speaks to me and nobody else. He bragged about how Putin speaks to him and praise Putin as the very first thing he did when he showed up in Alberta. Here, play this.
- [03:20]
Chris
Biggest economy in the world after the United States. Well, it's not a bad idea. I don't mind that. If somebody wants to suggest China coming in, I think we suggest. But you want to have people that you can talk to, you know, they. They don't talk. Putin speaks to me. He doesn't speak to anybody else. He doesn't want to talk because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the ga, as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be. He was very insulting. And, I mean, he was thrown out by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people along with Obama.
- [03:51]
Brian
And then here's the moment where he says that he's leaving. And, you know, it kind of reminds me of like, like, like a, like a little boy at, like a sleepover. And the other kids are like, don't want to hang out with him. And so he comes up with an excuse why he had to call Mommy and Daddy and leave. But anyway, how weird is this when he leaves. Here, play this clip. President came in on why you're leaving the G7 early for Washington.
- [04:17]
Chris
Well, I have to be back. Very important. I want to just thank our great host. Fantastic job. Thank you, Canada. But you probably see what I see, and I have to be back as soon as I can and have dinner with these wonderful leaders. And then I get on the plane. I have to be back early. I loved it. I tell you. I loved it.
- [04:40]
Brian
And I think, let's bring a Democratic Congress member, Seth Molton. I mean, whether he was going back to meet with the National Security Council regarding Iran. But, Congressman, he's with all of our top allies there who are trying to coordinate a strategy at the G7 for de escalation and trying to work together. He just seems very uncomfortable with them. He's now going to miss the meeting with Zelensky. What are you making of this?
- [05:08]
Adrian
All.
- [05:09]
David
I mean, it's typical Trump. He is uncomfortable with our allies. He doesn't like our allies. And obviously the feeling is mutual. But this is a guy who has spent his career siding with Putin he sounded like a Putin puppet, a Kremlin spokesman, in those statements that you played earlier. And it's kind of amazing that Trump just genuinely seems to enjoy spending time with dictatorship more than spending time with our allies in Europe and around the world.
- [05:39]
Brian
You know, he posted right before that disastrous dictator parade that he had this great call with Putin. He's like, putin called me. He wished me a happy birthday. He was talking about Iran, that he knows so much about Iran, like, bragging about this conversation. Then, shortly after Zelensky posts today, the Russians launched a stone cold combined attack on our energy infrastructure. This is a spit in the face to everything the international community is trying to do to stop the war. And it happened right after Putin's conversation with Trump, after the Americans asked us not to strike Russian energy facilities. At the same time, as Putin tries to portray himself as a mediator for the Middle east and attempts to somehow assist his accomplices in Tehran, the level of cynicism is staggering here. And again, it just, it does seem, though, that with Zelensky, you know, you just put this together. Donald Trump shows up in Alberta, serves as the agent of Putin, says all of those things that we hear tomorrow or today. Zelensky is supposed to show up on Tuesday. And then before that, Donald Trump jets. He makes all of these incredibly irresponsible posts. What does it even mean? Everybody in Tehran, a city of 9 million people, leave right now, exclamation point. Leave right now without a plan. What are we doing? How is this going to impact? Are our troops. No one knows what's going on. I mean, I think that's problematic.
- [07:11]
David
No, I mean, we know that Trump conducts foreign policy by social media, which is not a good practice. It doesn't usually go that well. It doesn't serve our allies well. It doesn't send a clear message to our enemies. But if there's one thing that you can predict about Donald Trump, I mean, because we know he's unpredictable, right? And his friends will say, oh, this is one of his strengths, you know, they never know what he's gonna do. Well, if there's one thing that is predictable, it's he's gonna support Vladimir Putin. It's unbelievable how many different things, situations he's been in, terrible things Putin has done, and Trump is always there backing him up. That's the one predictable thing here. He's the commander in chief, the United States. I mean, if a general officer under him were to say these things, he would immediately be labeled a traitor. That's what we call People who aid and abet our enemies, traitors. And yet the commander in chief just keeps on doing it.
- [08:07]
Brian
You're a veteran, you served in the Marines, multiple tours of duty in Iraq. So I got to ask you about what you thought about that disastrous dictator parade. And you know, one of the things that I talked about on our show last night is I think it also just made the troops look bad. I mean, I thought it was disorganized, it was low energy. I personally do not support Trump co opting the 250th anniversary of the army and doing dictator parades through the center of Washington D.C. but also it was just so poorly exit like it just looked bad, it was bad to watch. And now I think people have certain perspectives on what they, what they observed. What's your overall view?
- [08:48]
David
I mean, yes, it makes look, it makes everyone look bad. And it turns out that the US army is not great at doing Soviet style, North Korean style parades because that's not what people sign up to do. That's not what they're trained to do, and it's not what they want to do. This is an important point that I think is often lost on people who haven't served, is the military hates parades. That's why the army didn't want to do this. It's why Trump's first chief of staff, Marine General John Kelly, shut him down when he suggested this in his first term. So it's bad for the troops, it's bad for the country, it's a bad look for a democracy. And it also, by the way, costs a lot of money. I mean, upwards of $40 million. Imagine how much veteran housing you could buy for $40 million. You could help a lot of vets with that kind of money. And this parade helped.
- [09:46]
Brian
Nobody talk to us about that because I haven't heard the analysis about the military hates parades. They certainly looked like they hated being there, that was for sure. And we did a video on that. Talk to us about the culture inside the military, about why just even asking them to do a parade like that. If you had the most basic understanding of military culture, you would know in the United States, you would know that that ask would have this result.
- [10:16]
David
It's like the worst thing you get asked to do. It's the thing you dread in basic training is have to march around and you know, and get screamed at when you're out of line. You're a little out of step or whatever. I mean, this is the hell they put you through in basic training. And you go through it because you don't want to have to do it again. You get out of that. Right? That's the whole point. And so no one in the United States military signs up to be marching around. You sign up to serve your country, you sign up to go overseas, you sign up to make sure that other people don't have to fight in your place. There are a lot of different reasons people join. Marching in parades ain't one of them. And by the way, another reason you don't join the military is to go fight fellow Americans on the streets of Los Angeles.
- [11:06]
Brian
Talk to us about that because, you know, obviously we see the National Guard being federalized, you as a member of them, as a former member of the Marines, a veteran serving the way you did in Iraq, I'm sure, you know, you know, even the, the division that's there and, and what must be going through their minds, being sent to LA as the. Donald Trump uses the language of an invader of invasion. And then Donald Trump has like the Putin's. You saw his post where he goes, we're going to expand basically this war against all democratic cities. And he goes, because they are turning everybody trans. Like, everybody's becoming trans, so we need to stop that. And I'm reading this thing, I mean, turning everybody trans and we're sending Marines to stop everybody becoming trans. What the hell am I reading?
- [12:05]
David
I mean, you're tempted to laugh, but it is actually deadly serious because he is undermining our democracy by politicizing the military. You know, if one leader, one political party controls the military, then you don't have a fair and equal democracy anymore. Now, what do the Marines think about this? Well, I have heard that a lot of officers are considering resigning their commissions because they question whether this is constitutional, whether they're violating their oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not the President, the Constitution, by carrying out these orders. These are active discussions going on among Marine officers today. And it's not even the first time. I mean, I had, for all my time in Iraq, in a war that I disagreed with, led by a President I voted against twice. I never questioned the lawfulness of orders we received. I didn't hear of that going on. And yet in Trump's first term, even I heard from a lot of junior officers who were asking that question. You know, they've had their resignation letters already written, much like General Mattis did when he served as Secretary of Defense, knowing that President Trump was likely to do something or asked them to do something unlawful. So this is a dangerous time for our country. But I do have confidence in the Marines, at least, you know, as much as you can have confidence in any military unit to do their very best to uphold the law.
- [13:37]
Brian
So what do you say to those military officers right now who are being ordered to patrol American cities as Donald Trump uses the language of invasion and conquest against American cities? And these are Marines that you've heard from or, you know, who are considering resigning as officers. How do they, if they're watching this, how do they think about it? How do you balance that? How do. How do you work through that, given that if you're in that position?
- [14:11]
David
And I just have three words. Remember your oath. Remember your oath. That's what these officers, these Marines need to think about every single day. Trump doesn't care about his oath to the Constitution one bit. He's proven that over and over again. But these Marines have their honor, their integrity, and our country to remember when, when they're put in these situations. So, I mean, it's, It's, It'll be difficult. But another question I frequently get these days from younger people, including people who haven't signed up for the military yet but are considering it, is, can I do this? Should I serve under this commander in chief? And my answer is always, actually, this is the most important time to have smart, honorable, courageous young Americans serve our country, because you might have to have the honor and courage to actually disobey an unlawful order, which is not an easy thing to do. It's not easy for anyone to do in. In those shoes.
- [15:17]
Brian
It's horrifying, shocking that we're here having these conversations. Although I do think the contrast in seeing the peaceful protests, those no Kings protest, I believe, really showed the very best of America. Seeing in cities people showing joy and love and seeing diversity, you know, and just seeing it was almost 3% of the population out there, which is a big number for mass mobilizations. Before we go, I'd love to get your take on the no Kings protests.
- [15:50]
David
Yeah, I mean, a hell of a lot more people than showed up for Trump's birthday parade, that's for sure. And I was proud to speak at a couple parades up in my corner of the world. And in both places, you know, Beverly Lynn, Massachusetts, two small cities on the North Shore. I was just so impressed by the crowds. You know, actually, really, swamps get always kind of a Swampscott Lynn thing, a small town on the shore, and about a thousand people showed up, a huge percentage just of the people who live in that town came out to, to just say, you know, we remember that we're Americans. We're Americans. We believe in democracy. We don't support kings.
- [16:33]
Brian
Congressmember Seth Moulton. Thanks for joining us. Great to see you everybody. Hit subscribe 10,000 away from 5 million subscribers, the truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies collection@store.midas touch.com all 100% USA union made.