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- [00:02]
Ben
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- [00:32]
Jordi
Month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should 1. It's $15 a month.
- [00:40]
Reporter
2.
- [00:40]
Ben
Seriously, it's $15 a month.
- [00:43]
Jordi
3. No big contracts.
- [00:44]
Ben
4.
- [00:45]
Jordi
I use it.
- [00:45]
Ben
5. My mom uses it.
- [00:46]
Jordi
Are you, Are you playing me off?
- [00:48]
Brett
That's what's happening, right?
- [00:49]
Jordi
Okay, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront.
- [00:53]
Announcer
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- [00:59]
Brett
See mintmobile.com we have a lot to.
- [01:02]
Ben
Discuss on this episode of the Midas Touch podcast. You have John Bolton being indicted at the behest of the Trump regime in Maryland, an 18 count felony indictment. We'll break down what happened there in the federal court in Maryland. Then we'll talk about what happened in the Illinois appeals court where the Court of Appeals with a Trump appointed judge, a George H.W. bush judge, and an Obama judge all agreed that Trump's invasion of Chicago was patently unlawful and that the protests that were taking place in Chicago against the Trump regime did not create a pretext for any type of military invasion. You had Donald Trump speaking with Vladimir Putin on a day where Trump was supposed to announce yet again that there could be sanctions against Russia and perhaps Tomahawk missiles being transferred to Ukraine. Donald Trump said that his call with Putin went great and then now they're going to have more talks. And of course, course, yet again Putin got what he wanted. No sanctions on Russia, no Tomahawk weapons to Ukraine. Putin knows how to play Donald Trump like a frickin fiddle. Meanwhile, the deal between Israel and Hamas seems to be falling apart. It's easy to predict when Israel and Hamas did not actually sign the deal. They were not signatories. All these other countries signed it, but not the two parties that were the subject of the deal. You have Benjamin Netanyahu not agreeing to a two state solution. You have his finance minister, a guy named Smutrich, a far right guy, talks about building more establishments in Gaza and building more settlements in Gaza. You have Hamas saying that it's not going to disarm and never intended to disarm under the deal. They said that was never part of it. You had Donald Trump saying earlier this week that he spoke with Hamas and he told them, I'm good with you Hamas patrolling like police go after the bad games gangs, but you have to behave yourself. Hamas behave yourself. And now Trump's like, they may not be behaving like they told me, whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Donald Trump didn't say that he supports a two state solution. So I'm not sure with all of those factors how there was ever going to be a sustainable peace. But corporate news was spiking the football and buying into Trump's narratives. Look, I'm glad that the hostages were returned. Of course I'm glad about the prospect of a ceasefire. But the structural issues surrounding this, I think, phony deal were obvious to us here at the Midas Touch Network. We'll talk about, by the way, 24 Palestinians have been killed since the purported ceasefire has been announced. It's an important point to mention as well. Midas Touch Network broke the story of the potential for Navy warships over the weekend to launch missiles into Camp Pendleton off the coast in San Diego, launching missiles into the military base there. Midas Touch broke the story. Governor Newsom confirmed the story. The Trump regime seems to be backing off of that. But we will talk about what went down. There was good reporting by Aaron Parnas on our team. Meanwhile, Trump held a weird presser supposedly about ivf. His campaign promise was that IVF would be made free, he would force insurance companies to cover it for free, or the government would pay for all ivf. That's not what he announced today. So it was just yet another lie by him, just a weird executive order and a weird press conference. And then he held that weird presser yesterday where he talked about building a triumphant architect kind of the way that Hitler wanted one in Germania, in Washington, D.C. a version of that. He talked about the Golden Ballroom and started talking to his rich friends saying, you give me 25 million. You give me 25 million. We'll talk a little bit more about that. We'll talk about the typhoon that hit Alaska as well and the deaths and the injuries that occurred there as the Trump regime removed very critical flood protections that were put in place by former President Biden because the EPA Said that flood protection grants are. Are too woke. Are too woke. And I think it would have stopped what went down there in Alaska. Of course, our farmers continue to suffer here, while Argentina is now not just getting a $20 billion bailout, but a $40 billion bailout as well. So we've got a lot to cover. In other words, Brett and Jordy, good to see you.
- [05:16]
Brett
Good to see you too, Ben. Good to see you, Jordy. A whole lot of major breaking news, one might say. And it's like every single day it feels the same way, right? Just an overwhelming onslaught of just crazy stuff coming at you. Like, I feel like each of those stories that you said in the beginning of this episode in that intro right there, Ben, like, each of them could be a months long, if not a years long story in any other particular time. But we know the Trump administration, now going back to both administrations, has a concerted strategy of just flooding the zone with shit. And that's what we're seeing here. That's what we see every day. And so the thing, one thing I want to make sure, like, and I want to just say this kind of at the top, we'll get into it a little deeper as we speak about some of our reporting and whatnot. But I think a real problem that we're seeing is that some of these stories that are coming out of this regime are so insane. They are so crazy that they sound so unbelievable to the average person when they hear them. But I think we have to come to terms that we are dealing with crazy. We are not dealing with normal. These are not normal times. And I feel like on some level, people know that the people watching the show, the people listening to the show realize that. But still, because things are just so insane coming at people. Like when we were doing our reporting on this missile story, for example, people go, there's no way you must be making this up. Absolutely not. I assure you. Yes. We will never, ever, ever publish anything that isn't 100% verified, sourced incredibly well. And this is just the nature of the Trump regime. We have a president who is sending the military into cities. We have a president who is indicting his political enemies. We have a president who is making enemies. Lists of people who are against him or anti Christian or anti fascist, anti whatever it is that they need to do in order to target the average American people. You have a regime that is out there calling Americans, protesting at the no Kings rally this weekend, calling them terrorists, calling them all these names. We just need to remain on guard. Is my message at the front and realize that we're not dealing in normal times. And we're going to get into this in more detail. First, I got to toss it over to Jordi. Jordi, what's the latest on your end?
- [07:27]
Jordi
What's going on, everybody? I'm excited to get into today's show as well. Brett. I want to build on what you were saying, but, yeah, first I want to start with here, the firing missiles and Camp Pendleton. Like, what in the Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin is this stuff? This is the type of strongman behavior that's quite literally the stuff of dictators and absolutely has no place in America. And yet here we are. A deeply disturbing trend, though, Brett, that I'm seeing as well, building on what you're saying is that during the second Trump regime, there are some people out there who consider themselves. Who may consider themselves pro democracy, but yet constantly discount very legitimate stories that are coming out of this White House because they think with no facts or data or sourcing. This is their gut telling them that this is too crazy. This can't be real. No way. This is real. Y' all are making this up. Look, we have got to come to terms with the fact that there are actually crazy things coming out of this White House. So please stop giving this guy the benefit of the doubt. We source meticulously here at the Midas Touch Network. Facts are our friends. Here, we lead with facts and data. As our North Star, that's a good place to play. So, please, if you actually do consider yourself pro democracy and you are one of those people that I was talking about, wake up and get loud and direct your frustrations at the regime who is constantly setting fires to the very fabric of our democracy.
- [08:59]
Ben
Ben, look, I wish it were just rage bait. When we warned that the United States military would be sent by Donald Trump to invade states and cities, blue states. I wish it was rage bait. I wish it was rage bait. Only when we said what Trump's mass deportations meant is they were going to have masked ICE agents go and kidnap people on the street and disappear them and throw them into concentration camps like Alligator Alcatraz. I wish it were rage bait. When we would make videos and say, oh, this right wing Trump Supreme Court's absolutely going to overturn Roe v. Wade. They're never going to do it. It's super precedent now. They're going to take away women's reproductive rights, and then they're coming for the rights of gay people next, and then they're going to come for the Rights of even you don't even know what the interracial marriage down the line. And then they're going to come for the Voting Rights act over and over. No, they're not going to do that. They are. They are. I wish it were just rage bait, because I don't want these things to. Absolutely. I wish it was rage bait. When we said Project 2025 is real. The Trump regime is going to dismantle the government. They want to destroy things like FEMA and the National Oceanic Administration and the State Department and usaid. And then they're coming. They're not going to get rid of the weather forecasting services. They're not going to gut the CDC and the nih. They're not going to. That's impossible.
- [10:25]
Brett
Stop.
- [10:25]
Ben
Stop fear mongering. They've done all of that. So I don't get how we're here. October 16, 2025, as the record date on this, on this episode, just say mid to late October in general. And people still saying that's just rage bait. You should be enraged not at the people writing the stories about what's happening and accurately describing what it is. You should be enraged at what our country has become. That's where you should direct your anger. And you should show up at the no Kings protest and peacefully protest this weekend with us and with millions of others and what will be the biggest mass mobilization in the entire country. I mean, look, let's just pull back, take a look at what happened just in the past two hours. We'll talk, of course, about the news that John Bolton was indicted on 18 counts of allegedly retaining and transmitting national defense information. You know, there's some reporting that suggests that the way the prosecutors came into this information was a hack into Bolton's messages that potentially took place from Iran and by foreign hostile nations. It'll be interesting to see what happens there in discovery if the information was turned over by Iranian hackers and other things like that. But we will watch as that develops. But, you know, Trump has ordered that his doj, we saw the messages, go after this person, this person, that person, this person, that person, go after my enemies. In the past, you would have a president, no matter whether they were Democrat or Republican, and they would say to their doj, you don't serve me. You serve the American people. You are independent of me. And there wouldn't be conversations happening. It would be the biggest scandal, impeachable and convictable of a former president if you even had the head of the doj, like in the Oval office just talking about the case at all, at any level, that would be unheard of. Everybody would be outraged. But now what talking about the issue is, is rage bait? Or should we focus on the fact that there's an authoritarian takeover of our country and are ripping to shreds of our Constitution? That's Bolton. Talk about what happened at the press conference in the Oval Office that just wrapped up where Trump was talking about his IVF plans and then the White House and I saw all of these reporting. Trump keeps campaign pledge on ivf.
- [13:10]
Brett
No, he didn't.
- [13:11]
Ben
What are you talking about? His campaign pledge on IVF was it would be free. That it would be free on day one, and that the government would pay for it or that insurance companies would pay for it. Like, y' all reporters, you realize that Trump is kicking people off their insurance right now and that premiums are about to skyrocket because the ACA subsidies are not being extended. And so, like, you realize you're being played by this entire press conference where he's saying, I've signed an executive order where I'm directing this one pharmaceutical company, which I'm sure has some relationship also behind the scenes with Trump or whatever. I'm directing them. Trump wants to overhaul drug sales. A company tied to his son stands to benefit. I'm directing them. Lower the costs.
- [14:01]
Brett
You see how I had that ready. You see how I had that ready to go for you, too?
- [14:04]
Reporter
Yeah.
- [14:04]
Brett
I didn't even know Ben was going to say that. They maybe had a connection to his. His sons or something, and boom, I found it right there. And Ben, let me just call out the con really quickly also, because he's like, how could people be falling for this stuff? Have you guys noticed that Trump always brings up this IVF stuff and always starts speaking about health whenever there are clear issues with the Republican Party in regards to this issue and his administration. Like the clips of him from the campaign trail. And we could play one. We could go back and show you what Donald Trump was saying on the campaign trail. Why was Donald Trump starting to say, I'm the fi. Remember he was saying this weird, weird crap. I'm the father of iv. I free IVF for everybody. Like that.
- [14:41]
Jordi
All of a sudden, he said a lot of weird shit on the campaign trail.
- [14:44]
Brett
Yeah, he did.
- [14:45]
Jordi
And, like, we had an elector like sharks.
- [14:48]
Brett
And we did our. We did our best to let everybody know about this craziness, but, you know, it got sanewashed a whole bunch. But we continue on. But, you know, it all happens. Why would Donald Trump say it then, because that was when the Alabama Supreme Court made a ruling that essentially forced the hospitals to stop allowing IVF procedures to happen. And so it was this big chaos, and it really exposed the cruelty of the Republican Party for just how vicious they were being to people who wanted to start a family for people who were desperate to have ivf. And so that was Donald Trump's damage control. Why is Donald Trump all of a sudden rolling out this right now again? Because once again, Republicans are being exposed for trying to hike up premiums on the American people by insane amounts by refusing to extend these aff Affordable Care act tax credits. So you see the sleight of hand there. He dangles this fake stuff out at you, while the real thing that is staring people in the face that could increase their premiums by 4x5x, that is right around the corner. It's like seeing the light in the tunnel, but the light is a train coming at you. And you have Donald Trump trying to distract you. While it's all happening, it happens over and over again. Ben, I'll let you break down what's, what's, what's been going on.
- [16:02]
Ben
Let's just show. You said you're going to show the clip. So let's show the clip of what Trump's campaign promise was, where he said, the government will pay for it, or I'll force insurance companies to cover IVF for free. Just so we have no doubt what the promise was, and we know that that's not what's happening today. Here, play this clip.
- [16:20]
Reporter
I'm announcing today in a major statement that under the Trump administration, your government will pay for, or your insurance company will be mandated to pay for all costs, costs associated with IVF treatment, fertilization for women, IVF treatment, because we want more babies, to put it very nicely.
- [16:46]
Ben
What does that even mean? I'm announcing in a major statement to say the word. I mean, just everything about the guy's a con artist. So then today in the Oval Office, speaking of which, he goes, so we are now, I have a great announcement, Another major announcement, a major statement announcement. We're now bringing in $20 trillion from investments. We've already brought in 17 trillion. And you may be saying, didn't he say 18 trillion two days ago? Yeah, he did. So now he's going 20 trillion. Yeah, he just making up more numbers now. He says $20 trillion. Now the entire American GDP is about $30 trillion. We're not bringing in an additional $20 trillion at all. And if we were, how Cruel. How unusual that you would allow Americans not to be able to afford their healthcare, not to be able to afford education. The life of 99% of Americans is much worse right now. But apparently you have now $20 trillion that's brought in. We know he didn't bring in the money. It's a ridiculous lie. But this is part of the fascist playbook. Just make up the most outrageous lies so untethered from reality because people's minds sometimes can't comprehend lies of such magnitude. It's what we've seen in fascist regimes throughout history. Here, play this clip.
- [18:06]
Reporter
Maria. Can you imagine four years, less than 1, we're going to break $20 trillion of investment, and we're already over 17 trillion. And that's in eight months. Can you believe that? And he was at less than 1 trillion.
- [18:21]
Ben
Part of the scam, also, that he does there is. He has a person in the room confirm it as part. Like, it's always like, could you believe that now? And the person goes, yeah. So then when you watch it psychologically, you're like, wait a minute, he's making up. But this person seems like a smart person and they're validating it. And so it's part of the psychological brainwashing and manipulation that takes place. I just want to cue you in on the tricks of brainwashers, because that's what he's doing right there. Then he goes on and says, now I'm getting prescription drug prices down 500, 600, 800%. Again, these are fake numbers. Like, it would quite literally mean that the pharmaceutical company is paying you massive amounts of money to use their pharmaceutical drugs. Here, play this clip.
- [19:10]
Reporter
But I was so 1/8th of 1%. Now I'm getting them down, Maria. 500, 600, 800%. In some cases even more than that. It's hard to believe, but I was proud. I said, oh, wow, I'm the first one. 1/8th of 1%. And I was proud.
- [19:27]
Ben
I don't even know what he means, but 1/8 of 1. What does that even. 1/8 of 1%. What are you talking about? What Trump promised back in May again, not too long ago, although perhaps it feels like an eternity ago. I remember we were in New York, brothers for the podcast awards for the Webby. So I remember getting the notification. Trump announced. There was two announcements. One, do you remember? The one announcement was a deal with China. Oh, my God, they did the greatest deal with China. Okay, well, how's that worked out right now? Okay, talk about that a little bit later in the show not too good. Our farmers are going through Farmageddon right now. And as Trump even said during the press conference yesterday, you know, we're in a total trade war with them. And then Trump announced most favored nations, that the American pharmaceuticals would be as cheap as the cheapest pharmaceutical that that company charges in another country. So if Canada was able to get the price down to one buck for drug X, that drug would cost one buck here in the United States. That hasn't happened. These are just fake. These are fake Mark Burnett apprentice style fraudy events that aren't real. And this house of cards is falling apart before our very eyes because it's untethered from the reality. He didn't solve eight wars. We're not bringing in 20 trillion prescription drug prices aren being reduced by 800%. We're not bringing in all this money from tariffs. We're not winning the trade war against the world. Americans are not living in a golden age. You know, this is real stuff that we need to be calling out and the media just ignores it. Brett Jordi.
- [21:07]
Brett
Yeah. And as you said, you know, part of the whole scam with this one in particular, I do want to go back to it. I don't want to just gloss over it is the fact that once again, Donald Trump finding ways to line his pocket using the government. Like this whole announcement is also kind of funneling money into the hands of his advisors and into people like Donald Trump Jr. And I pulled up before. I'll. I just want to focus on it one more time. It is this Wall Street Journal article that Don Jr. And Howard Lutnick stand to benefit from what, what Trump is doing here. You could see it here. Trump wants to overhaul drug sales. A company tied to his son stands to benefit. Family members of Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are poised to from efforts to remake the industry. And so as part of what this whole kind of health care scheme that Donald Trump is doing right now that he calls Trump Rx is he is basically funneling people to this other private company called Blink Rx. That's like the partner they're using for all of this. And who is the investment firm that funded Blink Rx? It's Donald Trump's investment firm. I think it's called like 1789 capital or something like that. Trump Jr. Donald Trump Jr. Is a partner on the board of that investment firm who is a, who sits as a board member of Trump of Blink Rx, which is what the Trump Rx is using for all the stuff. If you guess Donald Trump Jr. Sits as the board member on Blink Rx. You'd be right. And you could go now with Howard Lutnick. After Lutnick became Commerce Secretary, his children took control of his firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, which is now profiting from a $500 million SPAC, which is tied to Donald Trump's push to bring drug manufacturing to the US and this whole push that Donald Trump is doing with BlinkRx stands to boost the financial interests of his entire family directly tied into it. And so you just see how this works. In everything Donald Trump is doing, you realize, oh, he's not doing this to benefit people. He's doing this to benefit his own family or his own cronies. It's the stuff you see in Soviet dictatorships. And I think that's something we're probably going to be going back to a lot in this episode and other episodes as we see what the Trump administration is doing.
- [23:16]
Jordi
The Trump. The Trump grift just continues on. It's. Grift is almost like too nice of a word at this. Like, it just. It's thievery. And his kids are benefiting. He's benefiting. If anyone else had ever used the position that was the President of the United States to benefit financially in this way, the outrage from all media, independent media, corporate media, rightfully so, would be holding their feet to the fire. So I just. I just posed the question. Corporate media. You heard what Brett just said. He laid that out beautifully. Great work.
- [23:50]
Ben
B.
- [23:51]
Jordi
Why not. Why not you? Where are you here right now? And you know what? We don't need you as. As the collective we here. It's disappointing that you're no longer doing your jobs. But, hey, that's why we're here, and that's why we are going to continue to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire every instance, every step of the way.
- [24:10]
Brett
Back.
- [24:11]
Ben
Take our first quick break of the show. We've got a lot to discuss when we get back, we'll talk about the ruling from the federal appeals court In Illinois, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, John Bolton has issued a statement in response to being indicted. You know, regardless of what your views are about, Bolton, I think it's a powerful statement and certainly does not deserve what's happening. We'll talk about no kings. We'll talk about what happened in California. We'll talk about the deal and Middle east falling apart because it wasn't really a deal to begin with. That and more. We'll take our first quick break of the show. A reminder Become a member of our YouTube channel right now. If you're already subscribed, you can become a member. Gift as many memberships as you can to people. Others may not be able to afford memberships. Help them unlock memberships if you can. Of course. We'll be right back.
- [25:04]
Jordi
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- [28:57]
Ben
So America currently has troops in Israel right now. Hamas meanwhile is refusing to disarm. Actually says we're never going to disarm. From the outset, then you have Israel saying, well we're going to make sure we blow up all the Hamas tunnels and Netanyahu and Smutrich don't support a two state solution. Smutrich says we're going to make more Jewish settlements in Gaza. 24 Palestinians have been killed during this purported ceasefire. I guess let me just repeat that again. Like 24 Palestinians have been killed during this purported what kind of ceasefire is that where 24 people, you know, we know of, you know, have. Have been killed. And to me, it's just one of these other Trump fugazes, right? It's just, you know, like, it's a good thing that the hostages were returned. The idea of a ceasefire is a, Is. Is good in concept, but it'd be very easy for Biden or Obama or anybody to make deals that aren't real. Okay, we got deal. You want a deal? Deal.
- [30:01]
Jordi
Deal.
- [30:01]
Ben
You got a deal? I got a deal. You want a deal? Deal. Deal. Deal. I mean, you know, Hamas and Israel didn't sign the document. Like, isn't that the most basic way a deal's supposed to work? Like, to me, what I like to do in our coverage of everything is I just like to pull back because I like things discussed very simply. Right? Like when we talk about Trump's trade war against the world and the fact that Trump and his. Remember when him and his regime. 90 deals in 90 days. Well, if you listen to the coverage, people will be like, well, you did eight deals, but you didn't do 90 deals. I'm like, he didn't do eight deals. I guess he did. No, he didn't. He didn't do eight deals. He sent out social media posts. There's no binding deal. There's no document between country A and the United States with signatures that are binding that forces Japan to give $550 billion or South Korea to give 350 billion billion, or the EU to give, you know, 700 billion. There's. There's no binding aspect. It's not a real deal. These are fake deals, you know. So to me, I like to ask the basic question, did the parties sign it? Right. I mean, how's that question not asked? So that's how, you know, in the trade deals, Israel and Hamas didn't sign the document. It's a pretty big freaking situation when they don't. I was going to say a big deal, but it's not a deal when they don't sign the thing to begin with, with. And then Donald Trump was out there saying, I. He used to be said earlier this week, I'm good with Hamas patrolling. They just got to behave. I'm good. What does that even mean? They've got to behave? You're. You're speaking to a mosque. You want them to patrol. Like, what are we even talking about here? So then when we'll talk about the shutdown in a little bit. I like to be very basic with that assessment, too. I like to keep it simple. Are the parties speaking to each other? Democrats, Republicans? No. Why? Because MAGA Mike says he doesn't want to talk to them. Like, what do you mean he doesn't want to talk to me? He doesn't want to talk to them. He thinks that he has no obligation in the American form of government of speaking to the other political parties. AOC had a great line. She's like, did they watch Schoolhouse Rocks? Like, party's supposed to. That's the way our system works. So when one party's like, we're not talking to you, Nana, Nana, Nana, we're not talking. Donald Trump said, don't talk to you. It's like, okay, well, you can't do deals with these people. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like, how are you supposed to get things done in America? I guess that's how it works in North Korea. But in America, the parties are supposed to speak. So to me, I like to break it down simple. So Trump's asked by a reporter, so did you mean that US Forces would go in and take out Hamas? Because you have these troops here and you made a social media post today where you said, hamas. If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I mean, what a ridiculous thing to post on social media, too. But here he was asked this question. Let's play it.
- [32:53]
Brett
Mr. President, previously you did not seem.
- [32:56]
Ben
To be bothered regarding Hamas cracking down on what you called crack gangs, actually. What a couple of games. And today you issued a threat against Hamas on true social. What has changed?
- [33:15]
Reporter
What was said? Go ahead.
- [33:17]
Ben
You said if they continue killing, keep killing innocents in Gaza, that if that continues, the United States.
- [33:25]
Reporter
I know. Strong statement. That's right.
- [33:27]
Brett
They used to be gang, and now you're saying innocence.
- [33:30]
Jordi
What.
- [33:30]
Brett
What made you think they're innocent?
- [33:32]
Ben
Innocence now.
- [33:33]
Reporter
Well, I'm looking at what's happening, and that wasn't the deal that was made. And we'll see what happens. It's calmed down. It's. It's a tough neighborhood. We know that. We have a commitment from them, and I assume they're going to honor that commitment. I hope they do. And I know, I understand they brought back some additional bodies today. It's a rough deal when you think of it, right? Very rough. We have our hostages back completely. We were very lucky with that. But it's a. It's a tough. It's a tough situation. They brought back bodies Today, as you probably know. But they also said they're going to behave. We're going to find out if they behave. If they behave good. If they don't behave, we'll take care of it. Yeah, please.
- [34:18]
Ben
Following up on that, I was going.
- [34:20]
Reporter
To say, you see an end. Fake news. Go ahead.
- [34:23]
Ben
So ridiculous. Stephen, watch that. If they behave. That's how he's taught Hamas. If they, if you behave, you must behave good. I mean, what are we even watching here?
- [34:34]
Brett
I didn't even understand what he was saying the other day, you know, which you brought up earlier, but when he was like, oh, yeah, no, Hamas, they do what they want. I trust them. They're going to do great. They're going to, they patrol the areas. They're going to get rid of all those bad gangs. Like, like, what do you, like, why are you hyping Hamas? Like, he does this oftentimes for these groups. And it's just like a totally bizarre thing to see a president of the United States do. And it's like, of course they're not. And some of the things that we' seen Hamas doing in recent days, like, they've immediately filled the power vacuum and they are doing all of these executions of people, like in the street. Some of the most horrific footage I have ever seen. And Trump's response is just to say, well, I hope they behave. Like it's just absurd. But that's what happens when you're more concerned about trying to win a Nobel, Nobel Peace Prize than actually trying to bring peace to the region. You do a whole kind of rush job. You force people to just move ahead when you actually don't have any plan. I, like Ben said, I'm thrilled and I've said how, you know, how ecstatic I am to see the hostages back and all that, but to see still people dying, fighting, happening, Hamas killing innocent people, like, it's just absolutely, just grotesque to be watching.
- [35:46]
Jordi
Well, that's why I urged on the show on Monday when I said this deal is fragile, fragile. And our biggest concern, our collective, the brother's biggest concern was what does the phase two of this look like? Because it doesn't seem like there's been any thought put into it. And that's just the once again being verified. The longer now and when these days pass. Can we also just quickly talk about how weird it is? Just that last little section of that clip when Donald Trump goes, oh, no, not you, CNN fake news. Not that I'm trying to defend CNN here, but I'm just making a larger Point. Could you imagine if everybody's favorite game, imagine if Biden did it. But in this context, imagine if Obama did it. Imagine if Obama was fielding a question from Fox News or a whole gaggle of reporters and he looked over and he, I saw Peter Doocy there raise his hand and he said, not you, Fox News, fake News. Could you imagine the outrage? Could you imagine the outrage? And yet, once again, let it slide. It's just Donnie being Donnie, y'.
- [36:44]
Ben
All.
- [36:44]
Jordi
I mean, ah, it just, it grinds my gears there. Benji.
- [36:49]
Ben
I couldn't agree more with you, Jordi. This is what Trump said about Senator Thune. Senator Thune says that we need to put sanctions on Russia. Today was supposed to be one of those other two weeks where Donald Trump says sanctions on Russia end potentially the US Giving long range weapons to Ukraine. But Trump spoke with Putin then. Trump's like, this was the greatest conversation. It's so productive. Putin made me all of these promises. It's just Trump is so thirsty for the theater of a deal that he just wants to announce deal no matter, no matter how, no matter what the outcome actually is. He just wants to say deal.
- [37:28]
Brett
Look, I did a deal deal.
- [37:31]
Ben
It's weird behavior. So the reporter says, look, the Senate Republic. Thune said he would like to proceed with a bill to put sanctions on Russia. Wasn't that what this week is supposed to be about? Let's watch Trump's response. Let's play it.
- [37:44]
Reporter
Not surprised. Yeah, please.
- [37:46]
Announcer
Thank you.
- [37:47]
Jordi
So Senate Majority Leader John Thune today.
- [37:50]
Announcer
Said he'd like to proceed with the.
- [37:53]
Jordi
Bill which would put sanctions on Russia.
- [37:55]
Ben
What's your thought on that?
- [37:56]
Reporter
Well, we're going to see. He doesn't know about the call yet. I'm going to speak to him later. And it was subject to what I wanted to do do. And so we'll see what happens. We may have. This may be such a productive call that we're going to end up, we want to get peace. We want to stop the killing. 7,000 people a week. Can you believe it? We want to stop the killing. So I'm going to speak to him and the Speaker, Mike Johnson. I'll speak.
- [38:25]
Ben
Well, good to know that Mike Maga, Mike and Thune are doing something. Apparently they're not, not refusing to speak to Democrats. I'm being facetious, of course. What about the Tomahawks? Wasn't, wasn't this week going to be the big announcement that America was going to provide Tomahawks and other support to Ukraine? So Trump was asked about the Tomahawks and Trump's like, yeah, but we need those here. So not really sure what I can do with those. And that's because he had the call with Putin and then this is what always happens. And then he adopts Putin's framing of the issue, and then were in this constant spiral. Pure. Play this clip.
- [38:59]
Reporter
Tell them about the Tomahawks.
- [39:00]
Ben
Did you discuss the Tomahawk missiles? Did you just discuss.
- [39:03]
Reporter
Well, we talked about it a little bit. Didn't say much. But I do say to you, you know, we need Tomahawks for the United States of America, too. We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we, we can't deplete for our country. So, you know, they're very vital, they're very powerful.
- [39:22]
Ben
They're.
- [39:22]
Reporter
They're very accurate, they're very good. But we need them, too. So I don't know what we can do about that.
- [39:28]
Ben
We need them to.
- [39:29]
Brett
We need a pool. We need that.
- [39:31]
Ben
Like, dude, he's not even saying actual intelligence. There's nothing that's coherent about what this guy is even saying. Just, just admit it. You're never going to give Ukraine what's needed. This is all one again. It's just one big Ponzi scheme over and over again. Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks. And then he leaves. Destroys everything. Somebody's got fix it. And then they do what they do best. Blame the person who has to actually clean up the mess that was created by all of these frauds that were injected into the United States of America. It's just absolutely, absolutely ridiculous.
- [40:10]
Brett
Same pattern we always see, right, too, Ben. The last person he speaks to determines, like, all of his beliefs. And so he had, like, I think Caroline Levitt today said that he spoke with Vladimir Putin for over two hours today, and then he got off that call and all of a sudden he back to being like, Mr. Pro Russia, not doing sanctions, not giving Tomahawks to Ukraine. Because Putin knew that Trump was starting to shift his stance a little bit. And he was starting to speak about giving Tomahawks to Ukraine. He was starting to speak about sanctioning Russia. So Putin just calls up, flatters him a little bit, says, hey, we could probably meet me and you, you know, part two. Go on another date, Donald. And he, like, falls for it hook, line and sinker every time. It's the, it's the same pattern we see. And I bet, like, if he spoke to Zelensky tomorrow, actually, it's too fresh to the Putin conversation. You might have another like, you know, Oval Office kind of confrontation. But there's a world where, you know, he speaks to him and then he changes his mind once again because that's kind of how he, that's how he views the world. He's like, he's like a dog who has like, you know, memory that only lasts for like 30 seconds.
- [41:13]
Ben
I think the important point is what you just said, though. He's meeting with Zielinski tomorrow. In many ways, though, I actually think it's not great timing. Timing because it's right after the Putin talk and Trump's still going to be feasting off the Putin talking points. So I'll focus on what's going to happen there. But if I, if I was betting, knowing Trump's psychology, I think that and pathology, I think it's not going to be a good meeting. And I say that because Trump seems to be emboldened by believing that he actually just brought peace to the Middle east, which he did not do. And I think he's going to go there and try to, to intimidate Zelensky in a way that I don't think people are. I'll see if I'm right or wrong. But I think I'm right about that one. I think I have a good sense of his pathology. When we get back, I want to talk about John Bolton's response to being indicted by the Trump regime, Judge Theodore Chang and Obama appointees. The judge who's been assigned to the case, that was the judge that was selected at random in the district court in Maryland. We'll talk about what happened in Illinois where the appeals court there blocked the troops. Affirm the lower court's ruling. Affirm Judge Perry's ruling. So if you're keeping track, you had the Trump appointed judge in Portland ruling against Trump. The now a Trump appointed appeals court judge ruled against Trump as well. After affirming what Judge Perry, the lower court judge did, we'll take our last quick break of the show. We'll talk more about the government shutdown down. We'll talk about lots more to discuss. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million. And also if you can become a member of our YouTube channel and gift memberships to the to others who may not be able to afford memberships during these difficult times. It's a great way to help others in the community by gifting them membership so they can access the bonus features like the exclusive podcast I do with Ron Filipkowski for members. Anyway, take our last quick break. The show.
- [43:19]
Jordi
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- [47:57]
Ben
Let's read the statement of former Ambassador John Bolton after being indicted in the District Court in Maryland, he goes for four decades I've devoted my life to America's foreign policy and now national security. I would never compromise those goals. I tried to do that during my tenure in the first Trump administration, but resigned when it became impossible to do so. Donald Trump's retribution against me began, then continued when he tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of my book the Room where it happened before the 2020 election and became one of his rallying cries and his reelection campaign. Now I become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department to charge those he deems to be enemies with charges that were declined before or described. Distort the facts. My book was reviewed and approved by the Appropriate Experience Career Clearance officials when my email was hacked in 2021 the FBI was made fully aware in four years of the prior administration. After these reviews, no charges were ever filed. Then came Trump too, who embodies what Joseph Stalin's head of secret police once said. You show me the man, I'll show you the crime. These charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents to ensure that he alone determines what is said about his cond. Dissent and disagreement are foundational to America's constitutional system and vitally important to our freedom. I look forward to the fight to defend my lawful conduct and to expose his abuse of power. And then, as I noted, the judge who was assigned the case is Judge Theodore Chang, an Obama appointee who earlier this year issued one of the most sweeping rulings against Doge. I think that's an important fact to point out there. We'll keep you posted with more. Also important to note that the military commander overseeing the Pentagon's escalating attacks against the boats in the Caribbean Sea. Donald Trump shooting these fishing boats, tiny fishing boats, war crimes, let's call them what it is that the Trump regime is saying. Smuggling drugs. That commander stepping down, three of three U.S. officials said on Thursday. The officer, Admiral Alvin Halsey, is leaving his job as head of the US Southern Command, which oversees all operations in Central and South America. America. The reporting goes on to say that it's unclear why Admiral Halsey is leaving now less than a year into his tenure and in the midst of the biggest operation in his 37 year career. May I offer a guess that he likely believes that they're committing war crimes and he doesn't want in the future to be charged with war crimes. I'm just gonna, I'm gonna go out on a stretch and make that guess right there. A wild leap, if you will. But perhaps you can say that I'm rageback baiting by suggesting that blowing up tiny fishing boats of Colombian and Venezuelan origin without any evidence is is a war crime. USB 52s and helicopters fly near Venezuela. Also in show of threats, the Trump administration is increasing US Military pressure on the Maduro regime as well. Well, another potential war can break out there as well. One of the things that we just learned today moments before we went live. Phil Stewart, National Security Correspondent one of the many who were not signing the pact that was required by the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseip, that he would have to approve all of these reports. Phil Stewart, a longtime national security correspondent. But he got a scoop. I think we'll see More leaks than ever as a result of the behavior. And I'm not sure there's a coincidence between this and other resignations, but who knows? Another US Military strike in the Caribbean just took place, and this time there are survivors. The strike happened today. Phil Stewart says he is getting details. This is one of those stories that's so obviously a war crime. The people, people who are involved in these war crimes. I think one day we'll be tried for murder. I think we will look back at this and it will be obvious that Trump's been just killing innocent people. Like, I don't think that's. I don't think it's a far stretch to, to come to that conclusion. The fentanyl is not getting into the United States via these means in any grand scale. It's coming in basically through Mexico and then Mexico at certain ports of entry tunnels and other means. You know, Trump's worldview is, like, 1980s on things. And so, like, I guess in his mind, he's got like, the Tony Montana, like, fishing boats, like, coming in. Like, they don't even have the fuel capacity to get to the United States. These things. How do you know there aren't innocent people aboard? Why wouldn't you just. If you're able to shoot it down, you can interdict. But, you know, I, I think we'll find out soon that these are innocent people just being slaughtered every day by the, by the, the Trump regime. Just horrible stuff.
- [53:04]
Brett
Yeah. And it's crazy when you look at just the state of the Pentagon, as you noted. And I do got to actually, I give. I got to give a huge shout out and actually send a lot of respect to the, all the corporate media channels who banded together and decided, no, we're not going to play this game. And kind of the last one that I was really curious about and the two, I would say the two that really surprised me in a good way was Newsmax and, and Fox News. I was stunned. I was stunned at Newsmax because I don't view Newsmax as like, a real channel. I view it as like a MAGA propaganda channel, just like oan. But Newsmax and Fox, they joined all the other mainstream networks, you know, pbs, cnn, NBC, you know, Reuters, you name it. I go down the whole list of saying, we're not signing this kind of loyalty pledge that Pete Hegseth wants us to sign. Pete Hegseth essentially was saying that you're not allowed to, to report on unauthorized things that we don't want you to report on. And you have to run all of that by the Pentagon first, essentially criminalizing reporting of anything, of any leaks or anything like that. I mean, it's just so against the First Amendment, so against what the Fourth Estate is about. So thankfully all of those corporations came together and they said, absolutely not, we're not signing that. The only people who ended up signing this and now have Pentagon access, when you look through the list, it's kind of horrifying. The Federalist, the Epoch, the epic Epoch Times, however you say it. Oan a Turkish newspaper, another Turkish state run news agency, two Turkish freelancers, a reporter for the Australian and Afghan freelancer, and then three lesser known operations including India, Globe, USA Journal, Korea, AWPS News. So now like only these foreign entities, including for whatever reason, like a ton of Turkish stations have access to the Pentagon to report on the Pentagon, on Pentagon approval approved stories. Like, the whole thing is just so bizarre. And when we see, you know, we can look at what the Trump regime is doing all over the world and it's clear that they are very interventionalist, even though they try to act like they are isolationalist and that they are America First. That's the whole thing they do. We learned in a story that they are that Trump has given the green light for covert CIA operations in Venezuela, including the authorization for lethal force against the Maduro regime. That, so we're trying to do regime change now. And I want to be clear, I ain't no Maduro fan. I don't view him as a legitimate guy, but I don't think Trump sold regime change as part of this America first agenda that he was putting on the American people. As Ben mentioned, we're flying military helicopters and planes over Venezuela in a show of force. That's a, that's a, by the way, a phrase that you're going to hear a lot with Donald Trump. I mean, hey, Donald Trump did a show of force on top of the Epstein survivors. If you remember, when the Epstein survivors were doing, doing a rally in Washington D.C. he flew jets right over them. And then he used the excuse that he was doing that because there were foreign dignitaries in the White House. This is Donald Trump's M.O. he does the same moves every single time we see him. Like, I don't know why this is a shock and I do want to talk about our exclusive reporting as well about California. But, but we should get a little more into this, I think, because Donald Trump was asked, in fact about all these plans for the CIA and whatnot. I want, I just want to hear, I want you to hear how Donald Trump answered this question about COVID CIA. They're supposed to be secret, covert CIA operations that were reported that no one's supposed to know about. But drip, drip, drip, the New York Times certainly found out about them. I believe they were the ones who were to report on this. And Trump was asked about it and he said this.
- [56:40]
Ben
Thank you, Chris, why did you authorize.
- [56:43]
Reporter
The CIA to go into Venezuela and.
- [56:46]
Ben
Is there more information you can share.
- [56:48]
Reporter
About these strikes on the alleged. Well, I can't do that. I authorize for two reasons, really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the. Well, they came in through the border. They came.
- [57:03]
Ben
By the way, did you see when the, the reporter knew what he was doing with that question? Right? The way he asked the question was already accepting that Donald Trump did it to get Trump to embrace it versus saying, did you so why did you do it? As though it was a foregone conclusion. And then if you go back and you can rewind it for those watching on video, the reporter recognized that Trump acknowledged. And he, he did a little like, nod with his head, like, yeah, like you, thank you. Like you just confirmed. Like, that's why I set up the question way, you know, and, and it was the right question. But you know, what the, the right, the right answer is supposed to be? Look, we don't comment on any covert operations like that. And that's, we can't comment on that at this time. Next question. Like, how, how difficult is that to do that? So, and think about, though, now, if that's taking place, is he now putting our CIA agents at risk? Risk is now an open invitation for Venezuela to then say, all right, well, let's have KGB agents in and let's, you know, like, like, who knows the ramifications of how reckless he is? As reckless.
- [58:16]
Jordi
And that's the issue though, right? When you're not cognitively all there. Like, I'm not saying that to be hyperbolic here. Like, we're all witnessing this in real time. What's going on? Like, you know that stupid trick when you ask someone, hey, you got some sup dog on your shoulder and you got what's up dog. Like, I feel like he, he would parrot that. Like he would fall for that and have no idea what's going on. Like, it's scary, Ben, because you're right. Who knows what he's saying to Vladimir Putin when he's having these two hour long conversations. That's a long time to be on the phone. I don't think I've ever been on the phone for two hours with anybody. I can only imagine what's being said on that. Or what, or what Putin's trying to bait and get out of Donald Trump on that. And who's in the room there to kind of help keep him trying to Trump from spilling all the secrets. It's a scary thing when you do look at it from that perspective. Ben.
- [59:00]
Ben
Yeah. Let's talk though, about the government shutdown right now. I think it's important that we, that we hit on it. MAGA Mike Johnson was asked, where's this heading? You know, you're not speaking to Democrats, you're not having conversations with the Democrats. A government shut down, there's no end and start. How does this end? Maga Mike. And watch what his response is. Let's play this clip.
- [59:27]
Jordi
And so many of you have asked all of us, how will it end? We have no idea. It's up to the Democrats and they have to decide it. And judging by their outrageous behavior, the Democrats appear perfectly happy to keep the political theater going while real people suffer.
- [59:42]
Ben
I mean, what a horrible thing to say. And how do you not, in the American form of government, government, speak to the other side when you need their votes and you need their support. Your Democrats are fighting for people's health care because people's ACA premiums are about to skyrocket. People are about to get kicked off Medicaid, about to get kicked off healthcare. The Republicans, they've been directed by Donald Trump in the House. Do not have any conversations with Democrats yet alone negotiate. You're not allowed to speak to them. So if that's your behavior, then fundamentally, essentially the American experiment is over. Right? The game, the game is over of how we interact in a democracy because it requires compromise. You know, how did Biden keep the government open? He brought in McCarthy to his office and he said, what do you need? Okay, let me help this state, let me help that state. You know, that's how the sausage is made. You want this, we want this. Everybody happy? Everybody a little disappointed. That's an actual deal. Great. But this behavior by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, just saying, we're not talking to the other side. I mean, that's, that's just that behavior is not American. It's not what we're used to having. Normally in a shutdown, the parties would be rolling up their sleeves, talking to each other. Do we have the clip, Brett, where MAGA Mike was asked on Fox, will you agree to Debate. I think we have this clip. Will you agree to debate Hakeem Jeffries? Because you had indicated, and C SPAN published that you were willing to go on C Span and Maga Mike and Hakeem Jeffries were going to talk to each other in public.
- [61:18]
Brett
This was big because Hakeem threw down the gauntlet on the Midas Touch podcast, saying, come on, MAGA Mike, you want to, you want to do this thing. Let's open the government. Let's, let's debate this. Let's hash it out. Hakeem made the challenge. And so when I woke up and I saw the news that MAGA Mike had agreed to the debate, I was like, really stunned. Okay, let's, let's, let's see this happen. I want to, I want to see this. Get the cameras in there. And then Mike Johnson was asked about it just a few hours later after the headlines ran, and he said this.
- [61:49]
Ben
Your reaction to that? As I also note that just came.
- [61:52]
Jordi
Across our desk, Mr. Speaker, that you.
- [61:56]
Ben
Have agreed to a debate with Jeffries on C Span at an unknown date and time. Is that true?
- [62:02]
Jordi
I'll debate Hakeem Jeffries anywhere, anytime, as soon as we get the government open. He's engaging in political theater and stating absurd things. What he just said is absurd. It is the Democrats who voted to shut the government down. Look at the record.
- [62:15]
Ben
The debate is to keep the government open.
- [62:17]
Brett
Like you're gonna keep the government open and then debate. How does that make it. The debate's about the shutdown. What the hell are you talking about?
- [62:25]
Jordi
And I just like how Johnson keeps going, talking about this political theater when he is, quite literally Johnson engaging in political theater. Look, we're on day 16 of the government shutdown. When the audio listeners get this, we'll be on day 17. That's counting works. There's no end in sight. And Ben, to your point, it's because Donald Trump doesn't want it to end. And I saw the stat from Ron Philipowski, our editor in chief here at the Mystouch Network, that Mike Johnson has now also had the house adjourned for 73 out of the last 85 days.
- [62:53]
Brett
That's a crazy stat.
- [62:54]
Jordi
That's a crazy friggin stat. When you look at these numbers next to each other, there is no other conclusion I could draw anybody concluded draw other than the fact that these Republican politicians do not actually want to work, especially for you, the American people, period. The Republican Party has proven once again that if you give them power, if you give them control, they don't work for your answer to you. They only answer to one person, and that is their dear leader, Donald Trump. Trump says jump. They say, how high? You say you need health care. They say, no, you say you want the Epstein files. Right. Released. They cover their ears and eyes and they don't show up to work. So this whole thing to me is just so frustrating on every single level because their hypocrisy just knows no bounds.
- [63:44]
Ben
In the past 85 days, another way to frame it, the Republicans have only worked 12 days out of 85 days. Just think about in your life just working 12 days of 85. 5 During the most crucial moments. Like, as well. Like, imagine that's when, like, like, I need my vacation. Like an accountant during tax season, right? Like, like, that's when they're like, you know what? I'm going to take my vacation right now. The three months leading up to tax season. To tax season. That's when I'm taking my break. It's like, that's when you're taking your break. I mean, how irresponsible. What malpractice is that? Like, what, what disdain for this country does it show? And I think that the way AOC is talking about this is how every Democrat should be talking about this. How we're. We've been talking about it as well. Like, which is they're not even. These Republicans aren't even showing up to work. Like, how are you supposed to talk to people who refuse to talk to you in a system that's based on talking with each other and coming up with deals? Watch, as AOC says it, they need.
- [64:48]
Announcer
To pick up a phone. They're saying that they're doing all this work. They are twiddling their thumbs and talking to each other.
- [64:55]
Jordi
Other.
- [64:57]
Announcer
It is actually an unconscionable abdication and refusal to work. They refuse. I've never seen people who hate working so much in my life. I mean, genuinely, they won't even pick up the phone. They won't. If I were Mike Johnson, you should be in that office negotiating with Hakeem Jeffries every damn day, day until we reopen this government. And any day that you don't do that is a failure. It is a failure. And until there is accountability for people who refuse to work to work, then we're going to continue to be in this cycle. So, you know, in the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader is John Thune. He should be negotiating with Chuck Schuyler. President Trump should be having congressional leaders in the White House. Do you see that?
- [65:51]
Brett
Every day.
- [65:52]
Announcer
No, you don't. Because they're playing golf and they're going to mar a Lago. And the House. And Republicans in the House have been on vacation for weeks now. We are here in Washington D.C. we are ready to work. We are ready to strike a deal. We're not here to just be my way and the highway about everything. But what we're also not going to accept is the complete collapse of the American health care system. So that just. Just because the Republican Party has decided to take a million federal workers hostage.
- [66:20]
Ben
Pick up the damn phone. Exactly. To me, that's. Speak to each other.
- [66:25]
Reporter
That.
- [66:25]
Ben
That. When I was speaking to Leader Jeffries, to me, that was the biggest point that I wanted to get out of this interview, which is because our whole system is based on. That's the way democracy works. You know, in parliamentary systems, I like to cover what goes on in Canada a lot. Right. Like you'll have the prime minister debate the main opposition leader. Like, they go back and forth. It's not like, oh, theatrics. Then they'll have, like the foreign minister speak to the chaplain.
- [66:51]
Brett
It gets heated too, in those Parliament and Parliament.
- [66:55]
Ben
Like, it gets.
- [66:55]
Brett
It gets pretty nuts. I'd like to honestly like to see more of that sort of debate here, if I'm being honest.
- [67:00]
Ben
Why would that be? Theatrics. To get the facts out and to talk about it like it literally makes no sense. And I just hope the American people see what's happening just in terms of the most basic level. Like, who's the one who shut down Congress? The Republicans, they control it. They're not working. They're not even there to discuss. And then ultimately, why? Because Trump wants it shut down. Trump's been bragging, ho, ho, ho.
- [67:23]
Jordi
I got rid of the Schumer programs, the Democrat program.
- [67:26]
Ben
Which ones? $20 billion that was needed to help Manhattan. You really own the Dems on that one. By hurting American. America's like, wealthiest city. Great. The. The World Trade center of the world in Manhattan. You. You've showed the Dems, oh, you're going to cut health care, measles, mumps, rubella, investigate. Way to show the Dems you've got rid of energy. They act like energy is the Democrat issue.
- [67:51]
Brett
Yes.
- [67:52]
Reporter
You've.
- [67:52]
Ben
You've got rid of solar projects. We saw Governor Shapiro filed the lawsuit on behalf of Pennsylvania because Trump thinks it's a Democrat issue. To wall want energy that helps grids. Where we see all of these AI data centers and crypto data centers that are causing everybody's energy costs to skyrocket. And Trump's like, we got to go back to coal. Like, we had a solution, we had a bridge to deal with it, but idiot doesn't like windmills and doesn't like solar. So now we can't have the right energy. So everybody's energy prices are spiking. Before we go, though, let's just talk very briefly about the Midas Touch exclusive. We reported here before any other news network did that the Trump regime was planning this military event, this vanity parade where they would be potentially shooting missiles off the coast of San Diego, Pacific Ocean into the Camp Pendleton region, that it would possibly then lead, lead to the shutdown of the i5 on Saturday, which is also the same time as the no Kings protest taking place. Since we reported it, numerous other networks reported it as well. By the way, the Trump regime says, yes, they are using live munitions, but they claim this was regularly scheduled and that they're going to do the live munitions in contained zones, zones, whatever the hell that contains zones regularly scheduled. And it's by the way, Governor Newsom confirmed our reporting, you know, and I just find it wild, you know, and Brett, I'll pass it to you to chime in. You know, we reported the data. The data was accurate. Live munitions are being fired. Now Trump says it's going to be in contained zones. And that is regularly scheduled. Not regularly scheduled. They're claiming it's the 250th anniversary of the Marines. It's not. The 250th anniversary is November 10th. It's not in. It's not October 18th. The first reference to this event taking place was last Friday where they mentioned it very briefly. But actual information started to trickle out, potentially like leaking yesterday for the very first time. And Midas Touch Network broke the story then Trump and the Marines that, no, no, no, this is regularly scheduled, scheduled. And then like the fact checkers come in and go, the Marine said it was regularly scheduled. The Trump said it was regularly scheduled. Oh, it's like how, why do you keep buying with Trump and his and the, you know, that he lies about everything. So why are you saying, oh, most Trump says this, the Marines say this. Why didn't they put out that? If it was, why wouldn't they put out that press release months ago? If it was regularly scheduled, why did it come out after we broke the strike story? Why didn't they do events like this before? Why didn't the governor of California know about this? If this was some regularly scheduled event? I mean, Just ask yourself the most basic freaking. And you think it's a coincidence that they all of a sudden decided to do this on Friday as they're rolling out their talking points that no kings means no paychecks, and no kings is pro Hamas and pro terrorists and all the other stupid defamatory lies they keep. Like, you think that they did not do it the same day as a show of force because Trump said, you know, that it's like, oh, I might as touch you doing the rage bait. We're just reporting what the hell it was. And there actually isn't all that much that. That the Marines, when you break it down, said. That's much different than our reporting. Other than them saying, no, this is a regularly scheduled thing, it's in contained zones, whatever the hell that means. And the governor doesn't know. What the governor's worried about, too, is if this is by roads and there are wetlands, weapons being shot by roads. Even I should know as the governor, so that we can keep people safe also because we don't know what this is. So, Brett, I'll let you take it from there. But, you know, that's. That's a report.
- [71:44]
Brett
Yeah, no, we did. We did this exclusive report yesterday, and the reaction was certainly interesting because people saw that the Trump administration was planning on firing live munitions into Camp Pendleton. Yes, from warships into Camp Pendleton. But that's what they are considering doing this weekend and are shutting down the I5 freeway, which is one of the biggest transportation pathways through the state of California, in order to do so, because they are shooting the missiles over the highway into Camp Pendleton. And to Ben's point, people were like, oh, this is rage bait. This is hyperbolic. How dare you say that? And then the LA Times confirms it. The San Francisco Chronicle confirms that. Washington Post confirms that. Abc, cbs, Everybody under the sun confirms it. The governor confirms that he is working on. Governor Newsom working on trying to mitigate these issues and trying to understand exactly what is going on on, because he's received reports about this, although the federal government is not. They have no, like, line of communication with the state anymore. They're, like, refusing to talk to them because they just want to dominate, because they view blue states and they view their political opposition as the enemy. So, as I said in the beginning, to bring this all full circle right now, you gotta understand that anything is possible in this era of the Trump regime, and nothing is beyond the bounds of reality. So when you see a story and it does, you know, seem outrageous, I. I like that your first Instinct is to be like, is to second guess it because we should all be trying to look for the facts. But when it's confirmed and double confirmed and triple confirmed and you have the governor talking about it at a certain point, you got to realize this stuff is real. And we're trying to warn you about issues the same way we tried to warn you about military on the streets. The same way years ago we made a video that they were trying to overturn Roe v. Wade and people wrote all these nasty things about us and asked the articles saying that we were fear mongering and all this stuff. Sometimes we're simply trying to sound the alarm. And we're never going to go to print with a story, metaphorically print with a story unless it is extremely, extremely well vetted, well sourced and is and it has the accurate information because we are dealing with a regime that views you like this. Here's Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary proved that the Democrat Party's main constituency are made up of Hamas 10 terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals. That is who the Democrat Party is catering to. Not the Trump administration and not the White House and not the Republican Party who is standing up for law abiding Americans not just across the country but around the world. Listen. What a horrible human being Caroline Levitt is. What a despicable human being. And I think any government official who speaks like that should be as far away from government as possible. In any normal time period, period. That comment alone would get you fired, it would get you blacklisted from the entire world of politics. You would be Persona non grata. But today that is just another day in this regime. That's what they think of you. That's how they treat you. That's how they talk about you. It is absolutely grotesque. And so it's no surprise that they are targeting these no Kings protests and that they were trying to shut down the freeways in order to to create these traffic jams and make it more difficult for people in the nation's like largest state here and in California. And it's got like I said, going back to like what Trump did when the Epstein survivors were rallying in Washington D.C. he flew a plane over them. He does these stunts in order to try to intimidate people. But guess what? This weekend, Saturday, October 18th, there are massive protests across the country. Go online, look it up. You will find a no Kings protest protest near you. If you can participate, go ahead and participate. We are going to be streaming some of these protests live on the Midas Touch YouTube channel. I'm so excited to see all of your signs. Remember to protest peacefully, protest patriotically. Do not give them any reason at all to try to start trouble. And you know that they want to try to start trouble. They will probably try to have agitators. They'll probably try to do everything they can. But this weekend we are going to see one of the biggest, if not the biggest, mass mobilizations of Americans who love this country and hate what Donald Trump is doing to it. And they are going to be in the streets fighting for their freedoms, fighting for the actual core values of this country of which Donald Trump does not represent. So you should go into this weekend energized. You should go into it fired up. I'm so psyched to see all you out out here. I'm so psyched to see all the photos. Remember to tag us in those photos. By the way, one of, one of my favorite things that we do with all the protests is ron Philipkowski on Midasplus.com. he likes to compile his favorite signs, the funniest signs, the most powerful signs on our sub stack. So maybe your sign will be featured on Midasplus.com. so make sure you tag us.
- [76:34]
Ben
And signs are always welcome. Midas sent me.
- [76:38]
Brett
Midas sent me signs always welcome. And I hear they are a big conversation. Conversation started too. When you have Midas on the sign or MTN on the sign, a lot of people go, it's like, it's like a club, you know, like an inside club. Oh, you listen to them on me too. Me too. And so, so check it out. This has been a great episode. We covered a whole lot. I feel like there's a whole lot we want to get to also. Still, I could do, we could do this for another couple hours, but at some point we gotta call it. But don't you worry because right here on this YouTube channel and on the Midas Touch podcast feed, you'll have updates coming at you every single day from Ben and and it will keep you up to date and all the other news that that happens. So make sure you're subscribed on the podcast via Apple podcast Spotify. Go, go, go. It's free. Add the show on those platforms right now. Make sure you subscribe to this YouTube channel. You might think you're subscribed, but you're not subscribed. Check it right now. Help us get to 6 million subscribers. You heard that, right. Join us on Substack for daily political bulletins and news recaps. This has been such a fantastic show and I know Jordy is itching, itching to do his sign off. So Jordan Jordy, I'll let you have it. Jordy, what do you got to say for yourself?
- [77:43]
Jordi
Shout out to the Midas mighty.
- [77:48]
Ben
Standing.
- [77:49]
Jordi
Strong.
- [77:53]
Brett
Against the fascist we sing our song.
- [78:04]
Jordi
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