B (1:54)

We've got a lot to discuss on this episode of the Midas Touch Podcast. The east wing of the White House. The fully destroyed Going, going, gone. Donald Trump said that he was not going to actually touch the physical structure of the White House. By that, he meant he was destroying the entire east wing. He also now says that the Golden Ballroom is not going to cost $200 million. It's going to cost $300 million and he claims he raised $350 million for what was supposed to be a $200 million ballroom. I'll let you try to do that math. We'll talk about that and more. The government shutdown continues. And while it continues, Americans are terrified that 20 million to 30 million Americans may lose their health care as the MAGA Republicans refuse to extend Affordable Care act subsidies and are attacking people's Medicaid. We'll talk about that. Cattle ranchers and soybean farmers are continuing to suffer as Donald Trump's trade war against the world is backfiring. Meanwhile, the government refuses to publish any financial data at all. We're not getting data about jobless claims. We're not getting data inflation. No data at all. And they're using the government shutdown as an excuse, the same way they're using the government shutdown not to turn over the Epstein file. Speaking about Epstein, Melania Trump was sued by author Michael Wolf. Wolf says that Melania was threatening Wolf based on Wolf's reporting about her potential connections, if any, to Jeffrey Epstein. And he's talked about the relationships and the photographs of her and Epstein and what may become of all of that. MAGA Mike Johnson was sued as well by the Attorney General of Arizona for refusing to swear in Adelita Grijalva. We may or may not be going to war with Venezuela anytime soon. And Pete Hegseth, the department at the Department of Defense, who unlawfully calls himself the Secretary of War, just announced another war crime, blowing up a fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean. This time, it brings the death total to like over 30. And these indiscriminate war crimes crimes continue in the name of the United States. We're going to talk about that and a lot more. Let me bring in Brett and Jordy. How you guys doing?

D (4:08)

Oh, my God. Every single day, you guys, it's, you know, you wake up and you're like, I cannot believe all this is going on. It's good to be here with you guys, though. I'm always happy to be breaking down the news with you and with the Midas Mighty. Thank you to everybody watching. Thank you to everybody listening on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just such an interesting side by side. And interesting really doesn't quite cut it as a, as a word here. But you're seeing how Trump is building this, you know, Golden Ballroom demolish, abolishing the entire east wing of the White House, lying about it, sending the military into the streets, screwing over farmers. You see the Republican Party, you know, completely just like screwing over people with their health care. Those premiums, those, those increases are starting to hit right now. People are starting to see what the costs are going to look like if this continues. And it's just such a side by side between all of the actions Trump is doing. As you see the grift also on full display, as you see the Golden Ballroom going up, as you see him try to basically steal $230 million from the treasury by demanding the Department of justice give him $230 million personally. As you see all these corporations jumping in to fund this ballroom, it is like the epitome of corruption. Let them eat cake does not even cover the half of it. If we're being honest here. We'll dive into it all. Jordy, what's the latest on your end?

E (5:24)

I'm excited to get into today's show. We have a lot to cover. Benji, where are we starting off today, big bro?

B (5:30)

Why don't we start with Caroline Levitt's press conference? She's the chief propagandist at the White House. And I think she summed it up basically what all Americans know already about this regime when she said, at this moment in time, the ballroom is really the President's main priority. Let's play this clip. Go ahead.

A (5:48)

Thank you, Carolyn. Thank you.

B (5:49)

Thank you. In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden.

A (5:52)

I'm going into the back. Sorry, go ahead.

D (5:54)

In addition to the ballroom and the.

B (5:55)

Rose Garden patio, is the President looking.

D (5:57)

At any other renovations or significant kind.

B (5:59)

Of projects here at the White House?

A (6:01)

Not to my knowledge, no. But he's a builder at heart, clearly. And so his, his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the President's main priority.

B (6:15)

Next, a reporter asked Caroline Levitt on the ballroom in July, Trump said it was only going to cost 200 million. Yesterday we saw that he said it was going to cost 300 million. Why is it like just going up $100 million a week at this point? Let's play this clip.

A (6:31)

Danny.

D (6:32)

Thanks, Caroline. Back to the ballroom.

A (6:33)

I'm phrase, I just wanted to ask.

D (6:36)

Because in July, the White House said that it would cost 200 million.

A (6:41)

Yesterday, the President said 300 million.

B (6:43)

Is 300 million now the operative figure.

D (6:45)

And why did it go up by so much?

A (6:47)

300 million is the figure. And again, it's not going to cost the taxpayers a dime. So we look forward to this project continuing and we will continue to keep everyone apprised on it. Perhaps the president will even bring you all out to see it one day at the appropriate time.

B (7:01)

The appropriate time. You may get to see see it, your eyes may get to see this ball, this golden Ballroom, if you are lucky. Next, a reporter asked Caroline Levitt, but okay, so the price has changed. It went from 200 million to 300 million. But also, didn't Donald Trump say that the project was not going to interfere with or touch the current structure of the White House at all? You've just demolished the entire East Wing. The East Wing no longer exists. So how do you square that with him saying the structure was not going to be touched? You just demolished it. Here, play this clip.

A (7:42)

Two quick construction questions, if I can. You mentioned any construction project comes with changes. The president had initially said that this project wouldn't interfere with or touch the current structure. Now he says to do this properly, he realized that the East Wing had to be demolished. This is the People's House.

D (7:57)

Why not inform the public of that change? And when it was decided that the.

A (8:01)

East Wing would have to be demolished, look again, with any construction project, changes come and we have informed all of you. We've been keeping you apprised of this project. We've shown you the renderings, and if you look at the renderings, it's very clear the East Wing was going to be modernized instead. In fact, I said that in the briefing when we initially introduced this plan to all of you and to the public, the east in tearing down two different things. Ms. Well, again, the President the plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we're now in was necessary. And the president wants to do right by the People's House. And so that's exactly what he's doing. It's going to be again, like I said, much more stable, strong, secure and more beautiful than ever once.

B (8:51)

It's just saying words. What the hell? The more stable structure, White House has been around for a pretty long time without it being destroyed. Stable, strong, we're doing justice by the People House. You know, she also just says, like with any construction project, that's just what happens if you need to make an alteration. If I wanted to make an alteration to where I live right now, if I wanted to build an ADU in my backyard, an accessory dwelling unit, okay, just in my own property, I would have to go get a permit, just personally. Right. And if I'm renting an apartment or renting a place, I can't just start demolishing the walls at all. Like, so it's not just like, like with any construction project. And by the way, this is the White House, and there's something called a National Planning Commission. And the entire claim, I guess, from the Trump regime about why they didn't have to go through the law, the National Planning Commission, is that they claim they weren't touching any existing structures at all and that there would be no real material. He was just going to be building something new. And then they changed that to say no. Actually, the legal guidance is that we can destroy anything. So then a reporter asks, destroy any. So are you saying that because you think that your authority is you can destroy the East Wing? Can he destroy the rest of the White House? Can he destroy the Lincoln Memorial? Can he destroy the Washington Monument? Can he destroy anything in D.C. on his own without getting any authority? And she goes, yes. Caroline Lambert says, yes, that's the legal authority we have. He can destroy anything he wants to destroy. Which of course is not true, but let's listen to what she says. So we bring out the receipts. Let's play it.

A (10:35)

So the White House has explained that the reason you didn't submit construction plans to the NCPC is because that commission, along with others, don't have oversight over demolitions, but only over construction. And so far, you haven't built anything. So can you help us understand, can the President tear down anything he wants without oversight? Could he demolish this building or, say, the Jefferson Memorial? So it's not the President who came up with that legal opinion himself. That's a legal opinion that's been held by the NCPC for many years. It's written. So we can get you that background and that research, if you wish to include it in your reporting, because it is very important. They have ruled consistently. Their general counsel has said, when it comes to phase one of this project, the tearing down of the current East Wing structure, a submission is not required legally for that. Only for vertical construction will a submission be required. And that's a legal opinion from them. And we are following that legal opinion. And again, I would just add, can any president do such a thing to the White House grounds? There have been many presidents in the past who have made their mark on this beautiful White House complex. This briefing room, as you all know, was not once a briefing room. It was a swimming pool. There have been Presidents who have completely torn down the Executive Mansion. If you look at what President Truman did, some of the photos of the construction project that took place in those years, I think sitting here today, we're all grateful for those efforts and the modifications that happened at that time. And again in due time, the East Wing is going to be more beautiful and modern than ever before. And in addition, there will be a big, beautiful ballroom that can hold big parties and state visits for generations to come. So it sounds like the answer is, yes, he can tear down whatever he wants. And then secondly, I mean, that's not what we're saying. That's a legal opinion that's been held for many years, interpreting it. No, it's something that presidents have done for years and years. In fact, I have some photos here.

D (12:34)

And I just want to say. Because it's a lie. Okay, what she's saying is a lie. Yes, the White House has been renovated throughout the years. Yes, people have made changes. Any substantial changes have gone through Congress and the funds have been appropriated by Congress. She brought up Harry Truman, for example. That renovation, the Truman reconstruction, took place from 1949 to 1952, and it was approved by the Congress, paid for with appropriated funds. There was a discussion. It didn't just one day, you didn't just wake up and all of a sudden he's demolishing part of the White House. This has never happened like this before. And I think kind of every thing we see with Donald Trump shows that there is. There's no limit to what these people will defend. He could do literally anything. I'm talking the most horrific atrocity imaginable, the craziest thing that you could possibly think of, he could do anything. And all of these people, whether it be Caroline Levitt, whether it be Fox News, all the people around Donald Trump, the kind of MAGA propaganda bots on Twitter, they will all go to bat to defend them. And it doesn't matter whatsoever if they're. If they have any sort of consistent logic between their statements. For example, yesterday I had somebody writing to me, one of these, like, MAGA accounts. They were like, he's not demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House. Why would you spread these lies? You know, one of these people, you're fear mongering, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're lying about what's going on. He's only changing the facade. It's just the facade. And of course, you know, we learned today the entire thing is demolished. The whole East Wing of the White House is gone. It's gone, it doesn't exist anymore. And they just go on with their day as if, you know, they were accurate, they were correct, you know, never correcting themselves. They'll just move to the next thing, which is usually some sort of what about ism, but Obama built a tennis court. Obama put some lines on, built a basketball court. Obama put some lines on a tennis court. Okay, like, stop with the what about isms. All this very kind of Soviet style disinformation that these, that these court decisions somehow justify you doing this. Nothing justifies you doing this. A president cannot just come and, excuse me, come in and knock down the White House, come in and knock down the Lincoln Memorial, do whatever the hell he wants. That's why we have laws in this country. That's why there are guidelines around this sort of thing. And to see Donald Trump just unilaterally do this is incredibly disturbing to me. And the defense of, well, these corporations are the ones who are funding it first. I know there was a list of corporations that came out today about this and shame on all those companies, but I'd like to know how much are they each giving? What did Donald, what is Donald Trump getting in return for this? Because that's one of the issues when you have these private companies coming in to fund it, especially with somebody who is so pay for play like Donald Trump. What is the corruption happening? And also remember, this isn't a one and done sort of thing. So you're building this gigantic structure. I think it's supposed to be 90,000 square feet. And this is supposed to be up forever. Right. So who's paying the bills after the initial construction, say, even, say Donald Trump does have all this money to build it and it's being built from outside sources. The taxpayer is clearly footing the bill for this thing in the future. There's not going to be donors who are funding the utility bills, who are funding the maintenance, which are. That that's going to cost the fortune in and of itself.

E (15:44)

Exactly. Brett, I want to comment on something you just said there. So the MAGA commenter, to you, the facade, the MAGA base has never met like a word that they don't just love to cling to the facade, it's just the facade. What are they even, what are they even talking about? And I just want to recap all of this really quickly, Ben, before we move on. Like, just let me get this straight. So as the government, as the government shut down wages on with House Republicans working 80 of the last 92 days, working 12 days in three months. The Trump regime's main priority is the $300 million ballroom. As federal workers go unpaid as SNAP benefits are about to lapse for 42 million people. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the federal program that provides food purchasing assistance to low income and no income individuals and families for 42 people in this country, is about to lapse. The main priority for the Trump regime is a $300 million ballroom. Now, this is why I say often on this show that the Republican Party, they're not pro life, they're pro forced birth, because after you're born, they don't give a damn about you. And I wish I was making this up, I wish I was being hyperbolic, but Trump's chief propagandist, Caroline Levitt, she said this out loud. We all just heard it. We just played the clip. The number one priority, the main priority for the regime is the $300 million ballroom. There is no other conclusion I can draw other than MAGA and the Trump regime. They hate America. They hate the American people, and they hate American workers.

B (17:14)

Well, there's that, there's the ballroom, there's the National Guard invading cities after ICE invades, creates turmoil, and they bring in the National Guard to invade blue cities and then rigging the midterm elections.

D (17:29)

Right?

B (17:30)

That's basically the focus. And Trump was asked, I think we've got this, this clip in a press conference he had earlier the day. So how much money have you raised for this? So now it's, I thought it was 200 million, now it's 300 million. And then Trump goes, no, it's 350 million right now. There's like, what, a 50 million extra? Like, and why don't we know, okay, if it's 350 million, who, where's this money coming from? And then the reporter says, how much are you donating? What's your number? Because remember, originally, Trump said he's paying for it all. Just think about the fraud that he's committed already. He said he's paying for it all, number one, which is a lie. That was. He said, I'm paying for it all. Okay? Number two, I'm not going to touch the existing structure. I admire the existing structure of the east wing. It will not be touched at all. That's what he said as well. And again, those are, that's not like a minor fraud. That's a major fraud on the American people. Because just think about it, maybe people would have filed lawsuits earlier had they known that it was actually going to demolish the wing and that he was not going to pay for it. All that now it's illegal quid pro quos. And now you've destroyed the bill. It's a major fraud. It's a major crime. And I honestly believe that all of the corporations that are involved in this should be criminally prosecuted when Trump's out of office. I truly do. I think if your name's on the list, I believe you've engaged in a crime to destroy and desecrate the White House. And I think Democrats need to talk about it like that, like y' all are criminals. And I think that part of, though, the pull into fascism by these corporations is that once you bend the knee a little, if you don't bend the knee fully, it's hard to unbend the knee, if you know what I mean. Because at this point, you as corporations are so down the path of humiliation and criminality and destroying our free markets that your only concept of what the future holds is you destroying our free market system and you destroying America. But you existing as an oligarchy where your money is based on favors being handed to you. You give Donald Trump a golden bar and gives you an exemption. You pay for this, he gives you that. Your stock price is now based on utter fabrications. Because our. The fundamentals of our economy are as horrible as you can be. You look at any stat, we're in a recession. I mean, 23, 24 states are in a recession job. We don't even have the claims, but the fundamentals are shredded. So you go, well, then why is the stock market going up? Well, because it's a lot of the same corporations that just keep making announcements and their price is going up based upon doing oligarchical crap with Donald Trump. And like, oh, I guess it should go up, I guess it should go up. But fundamentally that leads to a crash. Those companies are going to be screwed. They're going to have a really horrible place in our history. And I just think it's important that we call it. I know. Here's Trump, just so you hear him in his own words saying, 350 million has been raised. Why would you raise more money than the project costs if you don't intend to use it or take it? Here, play this clip. Have you raised the full 300 million.

D (20:57)

Needed to fund your ballroom?

A (20:58)

And how much specifically are you donating?

C (21:00)

Actually, I think 300 million. All. All donor money and money that we put up, we've raised. It's going to be. It's going to cost Right in the neighborhood of 300 million. It's been expanded and made. Absolutely. It'll be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world, I think.

A (21:19)

And how much specifically are you donating to it personally?

C (21:22)

How much am I donating? I won't be able to tell you until I finish, but I'll donate whatever's needed. I'll tell you that.

B (21:28)

That means he's giving nothing. And he previously said he was going to pay the whole thing himself. And you hear right there. And I just don't get, I just truly don't get. The American who lives in this country, likely on an Affordable Care act plan or Medicaid. You're either probably on one of them unless you're on Medicare. Okay, who sees that and goes, that's my guy. That's my guy.

D (21:52)

Yeah, Trump.

B (21:53)

Yeah, man, that's what I'm looking for. I'm not sure what that accent is, but that's how, how I imagine, imagine that man to sound.

D (22:00)

That's, that's, that's generic Trump supporter.

B (22:02)

Yeah, man, that's what I want. Don't tell me. You don't tell me. I don't want to know.

D (22:09)

You know who you sound like?

B (22:10)

I, I don't know.

D (22:11)

For, for those listeners or viewers who maybe have seen the righteous gemstones, you sound a little like Baby Billy.

E (22:18)

I hear that.

D (22:19)

I hear Baby Billionaire, I hear is a fantastic character.

E (22:23)

Not, not Sandler's character in Waterboy, but just Waterboy in general in there. And so good. That's good.

D (22:29)

Like Walter Goggins, the actor play. That's so, that's so funny. Well, I mean, yeah. I mean, think about if you're one of these soybean farmers who's getting completely screwed over, if you're one of these cattle ranchers who's being completely screwed over. If you're somebody who relies on these Affordable Care act subsidies, who's being completely screwed over? I could go down the list. I could do this all day. Right? And you're watching the priority of the administration right now. Them spend all of this money and all of this time and focus all of their energy on building a gilded ballroom in Washington, D.C. i mean, it's just the epitome. It's just the most corrupt regime we've ever seen. I think this, this is going to be my pitch. And I don't know if this is smart politically or not. I don't care about politics, but this is going to be my pitch to future. You know, if Democrats are able to retake House, Senate get, you know, foolproof majorities. I think we need a constitutional amendment. We could call it like the no Kings Act. The no King Amendment. It's gotta be a constitutional amendment. And we need to go through. Use Trump as a test case. Every single thing that Donald Trump has done that we've previously relied upon flimsy laws or precedent, we go through. And you put it in the Constitution that these things aren't allowed. You ban the president from being able to assume control over the National Guard without it going through an independent body. You ban the ability to just unilaterally set these tariffs. You set parameters around that. Once again, you force it to go through a unilateral, an independent body. Rather, you reform the pardon power so people can't be pardoning, pardoning their corrupt cronies. And we'll get into that a little more later in this episode. You reform the Insurrection Act. Just all these various things, all these weaknesses in our system, I think you patch up with a new constitutional amendment. And we can even put your name on it, Donald, if you really want your name on something, okay. But I think it's very obvious that we've relied far too belong in this country on precedent, and we need to actually take action. And it needs to be something that is Supreme Court proof. It needs to be an actual amendment in the United States Constitution that clearly lays this stuff out, because the stakes are just too high. And we're seeing right now in real time what happens when you let an authoritarian in the White House.

E (24:38)

Brilliant. Brilliant. And let me just say this really quick, because I want this on record, not that 300 million and 350 million numbers that the regime's throwing out right now aren't ridiculous. My gut and my guess, knowing Trump and how he likes to just be fraudulent, this thing's going to. And how he likes the way numbers sound. This thing will get up to $500 million by the end of the.

D (24:57)

Maybe like a billion.

E (24:57)

Yeah, because he likes. Yeah, he like. He'll like that number. That would be a good number that he could say and boast around about. It's disgusting. It's embarrassing.

D (25:04)

It'll keep going up, up, up 100%.

B (25:07)

Want to take our first quick break of the show. We've got a lot more to discuss. As the United States going to war with Venezuela, Donald Trump seemed to indicate that we were, as the United States going to go to war with Colombia. The language that Donald Trump and his regime are using about Colombia is very disturbing. We'll talk about the war crimes that are being committed by the United States in the Caribbean as well as now in the Pacific Theater. We'll talk about Melania Trump getting sued and so much more when we come back. A reminder, become a member of our YouTube channel if you can. If you're already subscribed, that's great. If you're not subscribed, hit subscribe. Help us get to 6 million. But you'll see on YouTube there's a button that says join and join is a paid membership only. Do it if you can do it. And if you're able to gift memberships out to people, lots of people can't afford memberships during these difficult times. And if you're able to afford memberships, gift memberships to others, they can access all of the exclusive content that you can access. Again, access to the emojis and much more. So just do that if you can. And subscribe to the audio podcast as well. If you're just on YouTube. If you're an audio listener, subscribe to YouTube. So we've got everybody on all platforms and leave a five star review on the audio podcast platforms.

D (26:16)

That helps.

B (26:17)

We're going to take our first quick break of the show. We'll be right back. Much more to discuss when we return.

E (26:24)

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D (27:54)

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E (29:15)

Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there is an exit survey let them know we sent you. Benji where to next?

B (29:25)

Someone by the name of Kasim Rashid. Right? So just to recap everything, Donald Trump spending about $100 million on taxpayer money on golf, about $172 million on new Gulf Stream private jets for Kristi Noem and her close friend Corey Lewandowski to travel the country and on the taxpayer dime, $230 million. Because Donald Trump claims he suffers pain and suffering as a result of the 2020 election. And he says that the DOJ needs to pay him $230 million, $250 million for a vanity ballroom as the White House grounds are being destroyed, as we showed you in the first segment, $40 billion to Argentina while our farmers suffer tax cuts to billionaires, at least a $170 billion budget to the ISO Gestapo as they unleash, unleash chemical warfare on cities. They zip tie kids, they kidnap people and disappear them to concentration camps. So no wonder when you actually look at the polling data right now, like if you look at the generics from Quinnipiac for the midterm elections. And this is why Trump and the MAGA Republicans need to rig these midterms. It's why they're frantic right now. The generic Quinnipiac poll shows the Democrats up plus nine in a generic Democrat versus Republican if the elections were to be held tomorrow. And we know that Democrats have been overperforming in special elections by 10 to 15 points across the country. And one of the themes I just think the Democrats, Democrats, frankly, need to hit on for the midterms is no kings. There needs to be a check. There needs to be a guardrail. Right? And I think you almost appeal to everybody, say, no matter where you stand on any issue, this dictator needs to be checked. And I think that's part of the appeal to Republicans, too. Right? And Magus just saying, look, this has gone far, far, far too far for you. Obviously, it's gone far too far. But, you know, what are you? You're a soybean farmer. You thought he loved the farmers because he said, I love you. Now he hate, he hates you. He's bankrupting you. You're a rancher. You think he likes you because he.

D (31:38)

Goes, I love the ranchers.

B (31:40)

He hates you. And not only that, but if you're a rancher, he's like lecturing you about how you do, how you do business. I mean, like his posts were, you're making the prices too high. Ranchers, you don't know what the hell you're doing. Ranchers, you got to listen to me. You look at the statement. We'll put it up there one more time. By the by the ranchers, I mean the National Cattlemen's Beef association, cattlemen and women cannot stand behind Trump while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef. Another statement talks about how it's a betrayal and how he's manipulating the markets, the cattle markets. And not only has Trump given $40 billion to Argentina. When he was asked, why are you doing that? His response was like, listen, lady, listen, lady. You don't know what you're talking about. And we're gonna bring Argentinian beef to the United States to bring down our be here. You may want to look into what's going on with Argentinian beef right now, number one, Donald, and you'll see that there's a massive case of foot and mouth disease there. And then you may also want to understand how that would undercut the American cattle ranchers who are already suffering because of your tariffs against the world. You may also want to then factor in that Argentina undercut our soybean farmers by selling their soybeans to China, further harming the ability of our soybean farmers here to find export markets. And you may also want to realize that in Argentina, they have universal health care, which I guess America is helping to fund their health care, while 20 million Americans are about to lose their health care. So you had Caroline Levitt. She was asked a question about, about farmers and about American ranchers. And of course, the only way they know how to answer questions is by blaming Biden. So watch what she says when she's asked about ranchers. Let's play it.

A (33:31)

How will Trump administration support those farmers? Look, the president hears those concerns. He addressed them yesterday himself. President loves our ranchers, and our ranchers love our president. And in fact, the president did a lot for them in his first term here. They are struggling because of the many horrible policies of the previous administration. President loves our ranchers, and he also loves American consumers. And he. He wants to do right by both. So the immediate solution to the problem of the rising cost of beef, President wants to bring that down as we have to increase our supply. And so that's what he's doing with respect to these imports.

B (34:03)

Yeah, he loves you so much, he's going to undercut the market, manipulate it by bringing in Argentinian diseased beef to screw over our cattle ranches. He loves the farmers so much that he's destroying all your markets to export to. But I do want to cue you in on something there, because this is part of a brainwashing strategy Caroline Levin and Donald Trump use. That's why I highlight those Trump emails sometimes when I do my reporting in the morning. It's a form of love bombing. I love you, you love me. I love you, you love me. And you repeat it over. Trump loves farmers, Trump loves firefighters. Trump loves this, Trump loves that. You love me. I love you, and you repeat it over and over. Democrats never do that. Democrats never say that, that Democrats never utilize those strategies. Democrats never look in the camera and go, I care about you. I'm fighting for you. I hear you. I understand what you're going through. Trump does that because he recognizes that humans want to hear that, but they also want you to deliver when you say that. So I just want to cue you in. Trump says that because he recognizes that with words, he knows how to manipulate people and then screw them.

C (35:13)

Them.

B (35:14)

But you can do that in a good way, in the sense of letting people know you're fighting for them and then actually fighting for them. And I know sometimes Democrats think, oh, well, you're just being performative. Perform, perform and then deliver. Trump performs and then commits fraud. So I just want to cue you in. Why they love them. Love, love, love, love, love. I love you, you love me. I love you. I miss you, I miss you. I love you. That's part of a brainwashing strategy that they use that we see in cults happen all of the time. So next, Caroline Levitt has asked about, well, what are you doing with health care? And so she one of the things that I like about Democrats fighting, fighting back in the way they are right now, as Trump and the MAGA Republicans have shut down the government is it's exposed what's really here all along, which is ever since John McCain gave that thumbs down and saved the Affordable Care Act, Trump has won it, destroyed with no alternatives. Remember, during the first term, two weeks, I'll give you a plan. Two weeks, I'll give you a plan. Never gave a plan. And remember, right before the 2020 election, he did that inter 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl, and he showed a binder that looked really big and detailed, but then Leslie Stahl opened it, and it was 600 blank pages with nothing on it. And that's what he said his plan was. But that's not. That's why he sued 60 Minutes. Not because of that, but he held that grudge against 60 minutes and why he didn't go on, and he was too afraid to. And former Vice President Kamala Harris went on. Then Trump ended up suing 60 Minutes because he's a little weasel and a little coward. So she went on 60 Minutes. You didn't even go on 60 Minutes, by the way. But they want to get rid of Obamacare. They want to get rid of the Affordable Care act, then they don't have a plan of what they're going to do. So if you have a plan like my plan would be universal health care, tax the rich more, which Trump's never going to do, and then give the everybody health care for free. That's my plan. They don't have one. They wanted to go back to what was before Obamacare, when people would die.

D (37:04)

Let me play this clip and then.

B (37:05)

I'll turn it over to you. This is Caroline Levitt saying it was called Obamacare. Why? And I'll play the other clip to play this one first.

A (37:10)

So it's something the president wants to do. And Brittany, one more point. I'll just point out the irony in Democrats holding the government and the American public hostage over a health care system that they created. The health care system was called Obamacare.

B (37:25)

Why?

A (37:25)

Because Democrats and President Obama implement it. And Republicans have always said it's a broken system. Yes, but they caused it and now they want to shut down the government. So to fix it, we need to open the government and then we can have these very important conversations about healthcare.

B (37:39)

Okay, and then one more clip. Brett, let's just show where she says, well, what's your plan? What is your plan here?

D (37:45)

Play this clip first.

A (37:46)

Is we understand that the president, Republicans.

D (37:49)

Will not negotiate on ACA extensions until the government reopens. If and when that happens, what does.

A (37:56)

The president think should be or what are his plans for preventing rising health care costs for Americans?

B (38:02)

Ms.

A (38:02)

It's a very good question, and I'll leave that to the president to negotiate that when Democrats vote to reopen the government. When it comes to lowering health care costs. The president is deeply committed to this. It's why he has spent so much time and effort negotiating with Big Pharma to lower the health care costs of.

D (38:18)

Prescription drugs because we all know that.

B (38:20)

The prices of prescription drugs have gotten so much lower under Donald Trump. Right? The most favored nation's provisions. We all got it right. We're all paying $1, the lowest possible price. No, we all know it's bogus. We all see the letters that the Affordable Care act plans that we're all on in different states in Colorado, $24,000 increases a year in Colorado. Similarly in Pennsylvania, 103% increases. That was a great question that reporter asked, what's your plan? Because you've made it clear you don't want to negotiate and have a conversation with the other political party. And then Caroline Levitt says, that's correct, we don't want to, and we're not going to tell you what our plan is. I don't care what political party you're from. That's not the way our system works in the United States. It isn't. So that, to me should transcend political party.

D (39:10)

Brett, by the way, I do have to give a huge shout out to the press bowl today. Like they brought their A game today. There were some really good questions out there. One of the questions earlier that was Weijia Jiang from CBS News. Like, she did a terrific job. All these questions were actually very on point and they really expose just how bereft of any ideas this administration truly is. And it's shameful because there are lives on the other line of this, and I've always talked about on this show that a concept of a reality deficit that Trump is able to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. So long as those lies aren't affecting people. Sometimes, you know, they are affecting the people and they still, you know, somehow get sucked in by his lies. But when it's something like you're staring down the barrel of a held care plan that's going up and going to cost you another $20,000 that year and Donald Trump is telling you that everything's okay, that is what I mean, that you know, that that's the deficit where all of a sudden that person goes, holy shit, I can't afford that. I mean, what human being can afford that sort of thing? And remember the whole funny, you know, odd thing about this, you know, the Obamacare thing that they do is first off, if you remember where Obamacare originated, and by the way, Republicans named it Obamacare to try to smear Obama. And Obama's like, okay, it's Obamacare. That's what you want to do. But remember, it originated with a Mitt Romney plan. It was originally like something that Mitt Romney had implemented in Massachusetts, which is like Obamacare the Affordable Care act was based off. It has been a massive success. People like it by massive margins. It's like probably one of the most popular policies in American history. It has, it's like it has like a 70 plus percent approval rating. Is it perfect?

B (40:41)

No.

D (40:42)

Is our health care system, does it need a ton of work? Yes. Do I think it needs like a page one rewrite? Yes. But this solved a lot of issues that were happening at the time. People being denied health care coverage of kids, not being able to get health care coverage of people with, you know, pre existing conditions not able to get health care coverage. It saved a whole lot of lives and has done a whole lot of good. And the Republican plan is, it's basically their same plan that they do overall with the United States government is is it's, let's destroy this thing. Let's rip it apart. We may not be able to repeal it, but let's tear it apart. Let's pull it out by the roots and let's make this thing as bare bones as possible. And when shit hits the fan, we will not blame, when people start to blame us, we'll say, no, it's not us, it's Obamacare. That's what they're trying to do right here. And Donald Trump in his first term, he took an ax to Obamacare. A whole lot of not, but it remained. Now they are once again trying to destroy Obamacare. They're trying taking away these subsidies, all of all the things that they're doing and refusing to act on it. It really gives away their game. Their idea is basically, we're not able to repeal this thing, so let's kind of try to destroy it from within. And we don't give a damn who suffers and who kind of lives. Like, it's, it's, it's a really kind of evil thing. And as you look just throughout everything that they're doing, I just like, you think of like Marie Antoinette here. Like, it's like this is what, like the administration, their entire thing is right. It's like some of you may die, but that's a risk, you know, it's a risk I'm willing to take. People, you know, I'm going to take on that burden. Like, that's Lord Farquaad, I think, from, from Shrek. But, but that's, that's really like the ethos of the entire administration.

E (42:23)

No, it is. And that leads me to this larger point, just a macro point here. It's like you see Caroline Levitt up there and just the condescending nature, the unserious nature of her answering these questions. And frankly, the entire Trump regime, obviously, like, I really do struggle with the damage that they've done. It's hard to imagine that it could almost ever be undone. How am I supposed to take them seriously ever? When you know that you can elect someone like a Trump, when you know, like you could get someone like a Caroline Levitt up there just spewing these weirdo propagandist talking points. And like we always say we have kids. Like we, we fucking love this country and we want this country to be kick ass as best as it can operate for not just our, our kids, but for everybody's kids and for future generations to come. And when you look at Caroline Levitt up there, like, it actually, it hurts Me to see someone up there and just acting like, not, not to get.

D (43:16)

Sappy about it, but like, it's a good point, right? Think about all the kids, right? And you used to be able to be like, when you grow up, be the president, right? When you grow up, you could work in the White House. And that used to be like a, a positive thing, right? And now you, you have your kids, you, you go into. Okay, let's want to watch the press briefing with me from the White House. Want to see what's happening today? Let's learn about some world affairs. And these people are behaving. They're just like the most despicable, reprehensible human beings who you do not want anybody's behavior modeled after. I mean, the other day, I don't have her right now, but do you guys see that? The text chain that Caroline Levitt had with that HuffPost reporter? And he asked like a very good question about Russia. And she responds, your mom. Like that was her response, was your mom. And then like, he asked again and he said, your mama or something like that was her response to everything. And then, you know, he came out with the story, posted it, and then she published the text change, as if it vindicated her and was like, look how brutal. Look how mean this reporter was. And she looked like a toddler. Like that. I don't care who you are, left, right, center, independent, moderate. I don't care what the hell you consider yourselves, but we should all be able to look at that as a country and say, we don't want this shit in our government. Like, where is normalcy? Where is decency? Where is just honesty? Where are the good human beings? They're certainly not in the White House. And the one thing I got to commend Donald Trump for is that he did manage to find the largest group of grifters and scum that he could possibly assemble. And he somehow put them all in one place. Like, I've never seen people this horrific all in the same place. Equally just offensive and horrible. It's really something.

B (44:54)

Let's take our last quick break of the show. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Join and become a member if you can. Subscribe on audio, if you're on our YouTube. If you're audio, subscribe on YouTube, vice versa. Leave a five star review on the audio podcast that helps us out a ton. When we come back, we'll talk about potential war breaking out in Venezuela. We'll talk about the ceasefire deal in the Middle east becoming undone. Recently. Israel and the Knesset said that they were going to annex the west bank, which Donald Trump said nobody should care about at all. Don't worry about it, just just pretend it didn't happen. We'll talk about a lot more when we come back. Last quick break of the show. See you short shortly.

E (45:40)

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D (47:15)

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B (48:54)

Welcome back. Welcome back.

D (48:56)

Surprised you that break.

B (48:58)

What surprised me was Jordy missing. What surprised me was I know Jordi had to go, but I didn't realize that Jordy was just gonna. He was gonna leave like that, so that's what surprised me. Anyway, let's see.

D (49:11)

We're all new to that dads now, guys. We could begin any moment. At any moment. It happens. It's live tv, folks. Streaming. What are you gonna say?

B (49:24)

All right, from Hamburger Helper to heat rationing, we're gonna be hearing more about words like that under this Trump regime. And by the way, you don't have to just be like, well, Ben, you just. Midas, you're. You don't like Trump, so you must be fear mongering Hamburger Helpers back. People are unable to. To. They're going to need the Hamburger Helper. I go just, you know, without a sense of. Without a shred of irony. Here's how it was delivered by Fox yesterday. Here, play this.

A (49:54)

And last but not least, one trend and true brand is making a big comeback as consumers tighten their wallets. And here it is. Hamburger Helper. The mix of Mac and cheese and ground beef is seeing a surge.

B (50:07)

All right, good.

D (50:08)

All right, all right, all right. By the way, you know that she had not read that before she read it live on tv because you could tell there was a moment when she said, like, tightening their belts or whatever, and she was like, ooh, shouldn't have said that. Can we play one more time? I want you to like, watch her face and listen carefully.

B (50:23)

At that one moment in the background, I think it's Harris Faulkner, the other host. Host, who is. Who tries to cover it up like, and act like it's so tasty and yummy to try to distract people. Mm. This is what we want. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

D (50:37)

Yeah, she's trying to, like. It's just like trying to, like, cough to cover up her fart.

E (50:40)

Basically.

D (50:42)

It's a metaphor. Okay, ready?

E (50:44)

Watch this.

A (50:44)

And last but not least, one trend and true brand is making a big comeback as consumers tighten their wallets. And here it is. Hamburger Helper, the mix of Mac and cheese and ground beef. Is seeing a surgeon.

B (50:56)

And yeah, she did hesitate. Let me just take a look though, at these other stats though. Right here. A significant group of Americans are falling behind on their car payments and economic warning sign. We're seeing credit card delinquencies at records high. Student loan defaults at record highs. That means 6,7 million student loan borrowers likely are going to be unable to really participate in the economy because their credit is going to be. Shut up. Got. The national debt rose $1 trillion since August alone. $1 trillion since August. Federal spending is super. I'll get to that a second. Total US debt officially crossed the $38 trillion mark for the first time in history. $23 billion per day or so. And if you look for those audio listeners, you can see, see it all of us, it's all going up, but in 2025, it goes up like a skyscraper. Okay. All of a sudden the debt goes from, you know, like. Like what? Like, like a 45 degree to like 180 going up north. Right. It's like poop.

D (52:10)

You know, I'm not a math guy, but it goes up. It goes.

B (52:14)

I'm thinking of my. What are these? All those compasses or whatever. It's going to be what they call it.

D (52:21)

It's protractor, Right?

B (52:22)

Protractor.

C (52:23)

Yeah.

B (52:23)

Compasses. I think it's a podcast. I should know words. So you, you have that. You also have. Federal spending is up about what is 7% year over year right now. So despite all the things that Doge is doing and all of this, Federal spending up significantly 7% in 2025 over 2024 year to date. So any claim by the Trump regime that the federal government is tightening its belt, that's contradicted by its own real time expenditure data. Aaron Sojourner writes, the administration is spectacularly hammering some things, but raising spending elsewhere. I said on a spectacularly what are they hammering? They're hammering down the White House, I guess, is what they're hammering down. Down. While they're spending all that money on Trump's golf trips on ice and all of these things. And what did I predict? I predicted that. Well, last time, under Donald Trump, what did he add? He added like it was a $8 trillion to our debt or $9 trillion. I said, this time it's going to be like 30 or $40 trillion to our debt. And I think we're going to be seeing that. And then, Brett, we now are talking about heat rationing coming very soon as we're in the winter. Winter because of this government shutdown. Heat rationing.

D (53:43)

I think that's something the people would call a recession indicator, perhaps a depression.

B (53:48)

He rationing in Russia, though, Brett. And so. And Trump is modeling the ballroom off of the Romanov Winter Palace. So I guess we're modeling heat rationing also off of Russia as well.

D (54:01)

Yeah, I mean, we've seen this playbook in other countries, in developing countries, not in the United States of America anytime recently, at least. I mean, this is, this is crazy stuff, but this is what happens when you have the corrupt Trump regime that thinks that it has unlimited funds to carry out all the things that you were saying before, whether it's ice raids or demolitions of the White House or, you know, you name all the things that they're doing, and they're telling the American people that they gotta, you know, start, you know, reining in their spending and they're screwing them over and they're taking away, in many instances, their, their source of income, their, their, their ability to live, which I think is so horrific. And so, like, I wanted to highlight this specifically because I think it actually blends all the various things that we talking about here, from the shutdown to Donald Trump's spending and bailouts, to the actual effects that people are having on the ground. And so, as you know, like, if you've been watching or listening to the Midas Touch podcast recently, you know, we've been putting in these, these climate segments so that we could speak about these issues, because I think with all the chaos that's going on right now, the climate issues aren't getting enough attention at all. And by the way, thanks for all the kind words about those. So let me fuse all these topics together for you for a second and show you how this shutdown and Trump's actions right now are screwing over Americans in the midst of this climate crisis that we're so millions of Americans Right now, you know, we could be going into a brutal winter as they've been over the past few years. And it's not just cost of the weather, but it's thanks to Donald Trump's cuts and the Republican led government shutdown, people are now being forced to ration heat just to survive. In the United States of America, people are being forced to ration heat just to survive. And this goes even before the shutdown, Trump had already gutted the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. They call it liheap. That's like the acronym for it. That's the program that helps families pay their heating and cooling bills. Cooling bills. He laid off the entire staff and even tried to eliminate the program altogether. But because of the shutdown right now those funds that Congress already approved, by the way, $4 billion are now frozen. And so here we are, we're heading into winter and millions of working families have no idea whatsoever if they're going to be able to keep the heat on in their homes in the United States of America. Energy costs are through the roof right now, as I'm sure you guys have all noticed. The Guardian is reporting that utilities are already shutting off power for families who can't keep up with their bills. The total number of shutoffs could hit 4 million households this year. Mark Wolfe, he's the guy who heads the group that runs LIHEAP nationally. He said the following, quote, no family should be forced to choose between heat and food because of a federal funding delay. But that is exactly what is happening right now. And this isn't a new thing. Like, get this, the Trump administration doge, which Ben was just talking about during Elon Elon Musk's reign, they fired the entire team responsible for distributing these funds. So, so even if Congress somehow passes a short term deal, that money probably won't even reach the states at this point or any of the tribes throughout the country until December at the earliest. Meanwhile, Trump just is lying to everybody. Like we've been playing these clips, right? We have all the receipts where Trump says your costs are going way down. Your electricity, your energy, it's going way down, way down. Energy prices are soaring right now. If you look at Illinois, they're up 28%. If you look to Indiana, it's up 25%. Up 20, up 23% in Ohio.

B (57:07)

So.

D (57:07)

So as I've been trying to like paint the picture with you, you have Trump building his $300 million ballroom at the White House, throwing these parties for billionaires, and the new Rose Garden Club Club Rose Garden, whatever the hell he's calling it. Bailing out Argentina with like $40 billion. Millions of Americans here at home are wondering if they could simply afford to keep their homes warm during the winter. And I, let's face it, this is by design. In my opinion, it's working exactly as intended. It's working for him and his donors, maybe not for the American people. He's screwing them over. But I wanted to make sure that you were updated with that. Oh, you know, let me do one more climate update today, because this is important and all this stuff just goes under the radar because of what's going on here. Trump administration announced that they plan on allowing oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. You may know that as Anwar. One of the largest remaining tracks of pristine wilderness in the United States, a critical habitat for polar bears, caribou, migratory birds, other wildlife. Trump wants to use that land now and he's giving the approvals to use that land to drill for oil. So we got to stay on top of all that stuff. And I know a lot of you always say, cover the climate. We try to do it as much as we can here. If you like these segments, by the way, if you like hearing climate news, if you have any thoughts on any of those things, tell us in the comments. You know, I always want to hear them and I want to make sure that folks know out there that the American people still care about these issues. They're important issues. People try to act like they don't. So if you care about this, just let us know in the comments, you know.

B (58:28)

You know, I was thinking, I always get asked questions about, like, the manosphere because people like, are you the left Joe Rogan? I'm like, no, I'm not the left Joe. I don't want to be the left Joe Rogan. But I'm just thinking about the manosphere of right these, these podcast bros out there, like, as they're talking about, like, what, What's Trump doing? He's building a ballroom. Yeah, you're going to be some beautiful gowns, going to be some. Be going to a tea party over there. And that ball room elegant ballroom is what I signed up for. There's a, there's a reason why Donald Trump's approval with 18 to 29 year olds right now is negative 39. It fell from. It was once plus five heading out of the 2024 election because he promised all these young people everything. I'm gonna make your life so much better. You're gonna be Rich, all the wealth that we've got, you're gonna get it too. You're gonna join the club, club. And very quickly, 18 to 29 year olds who realize what a lot of us know as well, that this guy is a fraudster, A lifelong bankrupter, negative 39. His highest disapprovals are in the young people. So don't let people say, oh, young people like Donald Trump. There was always young Republicans, like that existed before. But like George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, I think even George H.W. bush at some points in time had higher approval ratings with young Republicans, Republicans than Donald Trump has right now. And part of what MAGA wants you to do while they're so unpopular is to act like they're very popular. And I know our kind of corporate structure wants to perpetuate that narrative. He's the most unpopular president like in the history of the country. And it's getting worse and worse as the government shutdown that he's causing continues to go on. So that's one of the things right here, is that you would think what Time magazine gave him another like front page again, like another front cover. Acting like, like this guy is like people hate this guy, like despise this guy. And Brett, you made a great point on social media about the tearing down of the White House. You said, weren't these like MAGA snowflakes the same people who lost their minds over renovations to Cracker Barrels logo? But they're fine with the physical White House getting bulldozed. And I think you make such a great point right there.

D (60:45)

Imagine if they brought one tenth of the energy they brought to Cracker Barrel. Or anytime a conflict Confederate statue is altered or changed or taken down, they.

B (60:54)

Go, my heritage, my heritage. You're attacking my heritage.

D (60:57)

You're bulldozing the frickin White House and you're not even batting an eye.

B (61:00)

And it's crazy. Let's talk about some international affairs quickly. Donald Trump was asked by a French reporter and I think it was pretty clear what she was saying. Trump can't understand accents, but she asked him, what do you make of the fact that the Knesset, Israel's parliament is pushing forward their legislation to annex the West Bank. What do you make of that? That happened right after the ceasefire and she didn't ask this in the question. But also Hamas is retaking control of Gaza with no sense of ever disarming. Also we've seen about 50 plus Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the so called ceasefire. There's been a lot of military activity, a lot of military activity taking place in the region, which what a ceasefire is. When. Ceasefire, the military activity stops. Okay. But here's what Donald Trump said when he was asked. Let's play it.

C (62:00)

Not that guy. He's so hopeless. Go ahead. Go ahead.

A (62:05)

Yesterday there was a vote at the Nisset on annexing the West Bank. Do you see it as a challenge to your peace efforts?

C (62:12)

Could you say that louder, please?

A (62:14)

Yes. Yesterday there was a vote at the Nisset in Israel on annexing the West Bank. Do you see it as a challenge to your peace efforts?

C (62:22)

Will you answer that, please? Because I cannot understand the words you say. Where are you? Where are you from? Where are you from? You're from France. Beautiful accent, but we can't understand what you're saying. The west bank is. Don't worry about the West Bank. Israel's not going to do anything with the West Bank. Okay. Don't worry about it. Is that your question? They're not going to do anything with the West Bank. Don't worry about it. Israel's doing very well. They're not going to do anything with it.

B (62:57)

Don't worry about it. I'm never going to touch the White House. I'm never going to destroy it. Don't worry about it.

D (63:02)

About it.

B (63:03)

$20 trillion is coming in. Just trust me. I'm not going to show you where it is. I'm just going to say 20 trillion. I'm going to give you a Doge dividend check. Oh, wait a minute. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to give you a tariff rebate check. Oh, wait a minute. I'm not going to do that. I'm going to come up with a great health care plan. Wait a minute. I'm not going to do that. So he lies about everything. It's just blatant fraud. Like, every word. Like every. There's. Every single word is frank. Fraud that, that this regime puts out There. Every single word is fraud that this regime puts out. And then we know that they're out there engaged in war crimes in the Caribbean and now in the Pacific blowing up these ships. And, you know, I just want to be clear, like, there's a. I do not support the regime in Venezuela. There's a dictator in Venezuela, Maduro, he's illegitimate. They don't make fentanyl in Venezuela. Like, that's just a fact. Like, they don't make fentanyl in Venezuela, you know, or in Colombia. And if you look at where these fishing boats are positioned, that Trump is blowing up the size of these boats would require them to be refueled nine separate times if they were to enter the United States from where they are positioned, based on the size of these boats, nine times to refuel. This is not where the fentanyl is actually coming from. But he's using that as the pretext to engage in these, in these war crimes right now that are taking place. We've heard from the president of Colombia. You're killing innocent Colombians. So what does Donald Trump do? Well, Colombia is the enemy right now because you've called out the fact that the United States is killing innocent Colombians. That's where we're at with that right now. And here. And Trump is now talking about a land invasion on Venezuela or strike striking on Venezuelan land. And so a reporter asks, like, so doesn't that require you to go to Congress? Or like, don't you need, like, to declare a war if you're going to start invading Venezuela? And here's what Trump says. Let's play it.

D (65:10)

If you are declaring war against these cartels and Congress is likely to approve of that process, why not just ask for a declaration of. Of war?

C (65:20)

Well, I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay, we're going to kill them. You know, they're going to be, like, dead.

B (65:32)

Okay, they're going to be like, dead. We're going to kill them. Everybody remember Abu Ghraib and the scandal, CIA black sites in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. And it was a big deal 20 years ago when it was discovered that the CIA was covertly waterboarding people, a form of torture. And people said, we don't do that in the United States. We don't torture people, even the bad guys. That's not how you get good information. That's not how you're able to eventually stop terrorism from spreading by engaging in torture. Remember some of the photos that were taken of soldiers who were laughing at people who were naked and being. Remember, that was a big deal and rightfully so. Right. Everybody remembers that. I mean, if you were around that time. So now we're just killing people. They're going to be like, dead, he says, and he's killing fishermen. Likely some are innocent people. And even the drug dealers should be a process before they die. In the United States, drug dealers don't get the immediate death penalty without a jury trial.

D (66:39)

Trial.

B (66:40)

This isn't even how you would collect good information and data if your goal is actually to stop drug cartels. Colombia was working with the United States on an international basis to try to stop drug trafficking internationally. Gustav Petro was actually an ally. Colombia has a dark past, obviously, of being a cocaine capital in Mecca. And Gustav Petro had been working in collaboration with the United States military to show how the cocaine district distribution had been shut down there. The big issues is the fentanyl that's coming in from other areas right now and not from those areas right now, and not on those little ships. Like, it's common sense that a ship that needs to refuel nine separate times. There's no logic to it. So Trump says he's thinking about invading Venezuela. There have been reports of warplanes over and over again near Venezuela. Bella, we'll keep you posted every step of the way there. Two other things I want to just discuss briefly. Number one, Michael Wolf, the author. You've seen him on the Midas Touch network. He sued Melania in New York's trial court. Melania threatened to sue him the same way she threatened to sue Hunter Biden for defamation. Because they've said, oh, she's got connections with Epstein, this, that, and the other. And we've seen photos with her and Epstein. And so remember, Hunter Biden's like, sue me, sue me. I want that discovery. She never sued Hunter Biden after threatening to sue Hunter Biden, which was interesting. Then she threatened to sue Michael Wolf and gave a deadline of October 21st for Michael Wolf to respond. Or she said, or I'm going to sue you. Although she didn't sue Hunter, so who knows if she would follow through with the set, with the threat. But Michael Wolf sues Hunter her and says that violates New York's protections on First Amendment. Your threat caused me to incur legal fees. Now I want discovery. I'm suing you. I'm going to subpoena you. I'm going to subpoena Donald. Now you're in the New York courthouse. Let's go. Let's fight it out. Now, it will be interesting now if Melania countersues him for defamation, even though she didn't do that with Hunter, her, Because I think she's terrified of the discovery. And Michael Wolf made it clear on the Midas Touch network, I want to know her background. Obviously, she rolled in the same circles as Epstein because we see the photos. And Michael Wolf's like, what's defamatory about what I said? That you had an association with somebody who you're photographed with. Like, what do you what, what, what are you saying? The issue is you met Trump at the KitKat Club, which is. Which was part of a shady circle of modeling people with questionable things happening. I. I'm questioning it. I want to know what that's about. And so Wolf says, I've sued her. And you got to give Wolf credit for just doing it, for going for it and saying, I'm suing you. I want discovery. Let's go. Let's duke it out. We'll see if she countersues him or what she's going to do now. But she. She's been going and threatening reporters all across the country. Threatening, threatening, threatening, threatening, threatening. And she hasn't actually acted on any of those cases by filing a suit as it relates to Epstein. So, Wilf, we'll follow that.

D (70:00)

And then finally, real, like, Streisand effect sort of thing, right? Like, because now, like, the more I, the more she protests the story, the more she threatens to sue, especially when it's not followed up with action. The more I'm like, okay, well, what's, what's there then? What are you trying to hide? And I think we actually do need to know more information now. So let's get you under oath. Let's do the deposition.

E (70:20)

Let's.

D (70:21)

Let's hear what the truth.

B (70:21)

Okay.

D (70:22)

Let's get everybody who may know something about this. Right. The truth should be exposed. Let's get some sunlight on it.

B (70:27)

Absolutely. Last story I want to talk about. It's important in shedding light and bringing sunlight to the Trump corruption. So Donald Trump pardoned someone by the name of, who goes by the name of cz, a billionaire bitcoin exchange or crypto exchange person. He runs something called Binance. His net worth has increased from like a billion dollars in 2019 to, like $80 billion now. He's one of the main funders and one of the initial funders of Trump's family business with the Witkoffs World Liberty Financial. That's where Trump gets. You know, Trump has doubled his wealth or tripled his wealth into the billions. One of the things his family has a massive stake in World Liberty Financial and these stable coins and these meme coins that Trump has and his bitcoin business and meme coin business and stablecoin stuff is where Trump's deriving a lot of wealth from. So this World Liberty Financial thing is an area where the Trump family got a lot of funds and a lot of money from this guy cz. So Trump pardoned this guy. This guy pled guilty to, like, money laundering back in 2023, 3 was going to pay $4 billion in restitution was owed to the government. When you pardon someone, the restitution goes away as well. So would not owe that money. I'm not sure if any was paid to date. I doubt it, but we'll see. But 4 billion was going to be owed. So where do you think that 4 billion probably is going to end up or portions of that are going to potentially end up? We'd say a good return on investment for this guy. Czech out. And you know, and Trump just, Trump just, Trump just pardoned the guy. The guy pled guilty to. It was like money laundering. His platform was alleged to be knowingly allowing like Hamas and Al Qaeda and terrorist groups to use isis.

E (72:25)

Yeah.

D (72:25)

And they weren't reporting any of that stuff. Like willfully. They were choosing not to report any of that stuff. To add another layer to this, one of the lobbyists that was higher to help facilitate, to facilitate the pardon was this guy, Shane McDowell, who just so happens to be a hunting buddy of none other than Donald Trump Jr. And he and Donald Trump Jr. Were spotted at the White House last week talking to Donald Trump. So Trump could try to play dumb. He could try to say, oh, you just, you know, he, he yelled at a reporter today who asked about this. I think he did the same thing where he's like, what'd you say?

E (72:55)

Huh?

D (72:55)

What'd you say? And then he's like, oh, shut up. You don't know nothing. You know nothing about crypto. Your fake news, your fake news as, as he does does. But this is just the latest example of Donald Trump's corrupt pay for pardon schemes. We've seen this before. We will see it again. It's corruption of the highest order. It's very direct. A to B, corruption. We've never seen anything like this in our history. Which goes back to my idea for the constitutional amendment that I think at some point people should, should be fighting for because this is, it's, it's insane what we're seeing. It certainly does not feel like the United States of America feels much more like, you know, like Russia.

B (73:30)

To be honest. We covered a lot on this episode, but I think we've touched upon everything you need to know heading into the weekend. As of this recording, though, as well, please make sure that you subscribe to our YouTube channel. Subscribe on audio, leave a five star review on audio, become a member of our YouTube channel and gift memberships to others who may not be able to afford it. If you can I know that would be very helpful to of a lot, lot of people and we're grateful for you. Stay in the fight for real. Stay in this fight. We together, you, this whole community, we're holding the line. Trump's getting more and more desperate, more and more brazen, but more and more desperate. And we have to hold the line. They want to destroy our spirit, destroy our hope, and we have to be there for each other. We have to fight with each other always shoulder to shoulder, shoulder. That's what we are going to do together. Thank you all so much. We'll see you next time on the Midas Touch podcast. Shout out to the Midas Mite.

D (74:32)

Is.

B (74:32)

Standing strong.

D (74:36)

Against the fascists. We sing our song.

B (74:44)

We will get it right whenever.

E (74:48)

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack@midasplus.com you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only available@midasplus.com.

A (75:03)

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