MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 10/31/25

Summary

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MeidasTouch Podcast Full Episode Summary – October 31, 2025

Main Theme Overview

In this episode, the Meiselas brothers (Ben, Brett, Jordy) and Ron Filipkowski conduct a lively, in-depth analysis of Donald Trump’s recent trip to Asia, the subsequent gaslighting about so-called economic successes, the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, and the mounting humanitarian crises from policy decisions. The discussion is heavy on the exposure of right-wing disinformation, the realities of economic and policy impacts under the Trump administration, and features biting humor, passionate advocacy for democracy, and recognition of their community’s efforts to push back.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Asia Trip: Lies, Gaslighting, and International Humiliation (08:00–23:00)

• The panel ridicules Trump's claim of bringing “trillions of dollars” into the U.S. and explores how his pursuit of superficial “wins” is blatantly harmful.
• Trump’s repetitive pattern: create crises, partially “fix” them, then take credit, leaving the U.S. objectively worse off.
• Key focus: Trade deals with China (“soybeans”) and Trump’s disastrous negotiation tactics.
• “It’s the opposite of what you’d learn in Negotiation 101. Trump gets conned, then sells it as a win.” – Benji Backer (14:11)
• “China bought 27 million metric tons of soybeans under Biden. Now Trump brags that they’ll buy 25 million tons—two million less—a downgrade framed as victory.” – Ron Filipkowski (19:20)

Timestamp Highlights

• [08:40] Trump “trillions” video & breakdown of his false claims.
• [13:44] Commentary on Trump’s embarrassing behavior with world leaders.
• [16:40] Trump gives his trip a “12 out of 10”—the crew mocks his need to fabricate achievements.

2. The SNAP Benefits Crisis & Government Shutdown (26:00–47:00)

• 42 million Americans are about to lose SNAP (food assistance) benefits, and 20 million face loss of health insurance, directly due to the MAGA government shutdown.
• The show exposes the administration’s refusal to use a $6 billion SNAP contingency fund—used during Trump’s previous term—to protect the most vulnerable, suggesting that “suffering is the point.”
• GOP strategies are compared to “Ponzi schemes,” stringing along desperate Americans while pushing resources to the oligarch class and foreign ventures (e.g., $40B to Argentina).

Notable Exchange

• “The suffering is the point. They find money for military boondoggles or Argentina bailouts, but not to feed Americans.” – Benji Backer (41:35)
• “Doesn’t he just admit it? We’ll starve Americans because it pressures Schumer. It’s not a talking point—42 million hit, many in red states.” – Ron Filipkowski (43:58)

Timestamp Highlights

• [34:00] GOP’s promise of “parallel prosperity”—mocked as a fantasy slogan.
• [41:35–43:58] Detailed walkthrough by Ben and Ron of why SNAP is being left to lapse and GOP deflection tactics.

3. The Trump Economy: Stagflation, Tariffs, and Wall Street/Working-Class Divide (36:10–39:58)

• Discussion of inflation and shrinking GDP under Trump, attributed to trade wars, high tariffs, and anti-labor policies.
• Expert (Justin Wolfers) is cited describing the unique pain point: “stagflation,” where both inflation and unemployment rise while GDP falls—an extremely difficult scenario for policy-makers.

Notable Quotes

• “If they just walked back what they've been doing, you'd see inflation calm and the labor market stabilize.” – Justin Wolfers, via Ron Filipkowski (39:54)
• “The arsonist convinces people in the fire that he's the firefighter.” – Ron Filipkowski (67:32)

4. ICE, Border Patrol, and the Use of Force on Civilians and Children (53:52–61:00)

• ICE raids and Border Patrol actions are described as targeting vulnerable longtime residents, not criminals. Reports of children being rounded up; chemical weapons used in Chicago on families.
• Kristi Noem’s denial (“No citizen detained”) is called out as a bald-faced lie.
• Illinois Governor Pritzker’s plea to halt ICE actions on Halloween is played and applauded. Noem responds callously, vowing to increase raids: “We’re going to be out in full force.”

Emotional Moments

• “No child should have to go trick-or-treating in fear of armed federal agents and inhaling tear gas. This is not the America that I know.” – Governor Pritzker (58:22)

5. Disinformation as a Tool for Authoritarianism; The Importance of Truth (63:06–67:32)

• The conversation pivots to how the Trump GOP’s spread of absurdities (“your cities are burning, they’re eating your dogs and cats…”) is meant to justify repression and stoke fear.
• Voltaire quote invoked: “Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” (63:07)

Notable Quotes

• “It’s all lies. If they can make people believe your neighbors eat your dogs, they can justify any action.” – Benji Backer (65:40)
• “We don’t want ICE here, get out of my city.” – Benji Backer (65:29)

6. Calls to Action & Celebrating the Community (66:02–74:30)

• Repeated encouragement for viewers to join, stay involved, spread the truth, and support each other; heavy gratitude for the “Meidas Mighty” community.
• Highlight: The “Last Republican” documentary is announced as a top streaming movie, further driving audience momentum.

Timestamp Highlights

• [67:32] Closing remarks stressing affordability and the need to fight for “Main Street,” not Wall Street.
• [74:17] Lighthearted banter about Ben’s interview with Governor Newsom.

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Notable Quotes by Speaker & Timestamp

| Speaker | Quote | Timestamp | |-------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Benji Backer | “Trump gets conned, then sells it as a win.” | 14:11 | | Ron Filipkowski | “China bought 27 million metric tons of soybeans under Biden. Now Trump brags… two million less—a downgrade framed as victory.” | 19:20 | | Benji Backer | “The suffering is the point. They find money for military boondoggles or Argentina bailouts, but not to feed Americans.” | 41:35 | | Ron Filipkowski | “Doesn’t he just admit it? We’ll starve Americans because it pressures Schumer. …It’s not a talking point—42 million hit, many in red states.” | 43:58 | | Justin Wolfers (clip, via Ron) | “If they just walked back what they've been doing, you'd see inflation calm and the labor market stabilize.” | 39:54 | | Governor Pritzker (clip) | “No child should have to go trick-or-treating in fear of armed federal agents and inhaling tear gas. This is not the America that I know.” | 58:22 | | Benji Backer | “It’s all lies. If they can make people believe your neighbors eat your dogs, they can justify any action.” | 65:40 | | Ron Filipkowski | “The arsonist convinces people in the fire that he's the firefighter.” | 67:32 |

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Structure & Segment Timestamps

• Opening & Trump’s Asia Trip Dissection: [08:00–23:00]
• Domestic Impact: Shutdown, SNAP, Healthcare: [26:00–47:00]
• Economic Analysis – Stagflation & Tariffs: [36:10–39:58]
• ICE/Border Patrol Humanitarian Crisis: [53:52–61:00]
• Authoritarianism, Propaganda, and Community Resilience: [63:06–67:32]
• Community, Call to Action, & Show Close: [66:02–74:30]

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Tone & Takeaways

The brothers’ signature blend of humor, outrage, and camaraderie pervades throughout. The tone is sharply critical of Trump and the GOP, with particular focus on fraud, cruelty, and their manipulation of the American public through lies and fear tactics, but it is always leavened by hope, encouragement, and strong advocacy for collective truth-telling and action.

Memorable Moments

• The ongoing inside joke about Trump’s self-scored “12 out of 10” trip to Asia.
• Biting banter likening GOP policy to a Ponzi scheme and calling out performative theatrics.
• Emotional appeals in defense of vulnerable children and struggling Americans.

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For the Uninitiated

This episode provides a thorough, passionate, and incisive analysis of current events through the lens of the MeidasTouch crew, mixing factual breakdowns with humor and heart. Listeners will come away informed, outraged, and, most importantly, energized to persist in defending democracy.

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For Further Engagement

• “The Last Republican” Documentary – Special 15-minute preview and viewing party.
• Interview with California Governor Gavin Newsom – Available on Newsom’s YouTube channel.
• Active community participation – Encouraged via memberships and social engagement.

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Transcript

[Ron Filipkowski]

This is a real good story about.

[Benji Backer]

Bronx and his dad, Ryan. Real United Airlines customers.

[Ron Filipkowski]

We were returning home and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Kath and Andrew. I got to sit in the driver's seat.

[Jordy Jordan]

I grew up in an aviation family and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Of myself when I was that age. That's Andrew, a real United pilot.

[Jordy Jordan]

These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever.

[Jordy Jordan]

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[Ron Filipkowski]

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[Jordy Jordan]

That means no small talk.

[Ron Filipkowski]

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[Benji Backer]

It's just weather.

[Jordy Jordan]

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[Benji Backer]

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[Ron Filipkowski]

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[Benji Backer]

Good to see you, too, brothers, and good to be here with the Midas Mighty. Thanks to everybody for listening and thanks to everybody for watching on YouTube. For those watching, as always remember to check out the podcast on all audio platforms. I think one of the things that we've just noticed as we, you know, follow regime, and it's something we've noticed since the first Trump administration, is that they are, they have like, psychological disorders, I'll just put it that way. I don't say this in a way to like, you know, obviously I'm not trying to excuse their behavior whatsoever, but they wear their pathology on their sleeves. And why is this dangerous for the United States? Because all of our adversaries and all these world leaders, they know exactly what they need to do to manipulate somebody like Donald Trump. And every time we see Trump go on these trips, and by the way, he doesn't have to even leave the country. It could be, you know, when it's tech leaders here at home, we know when you see Tim Cook giving him gold plated this or whatever, everybody knows how to manipulate the guy. They know all you have to do is offer up a little bit of flattery, give him some gold plated bullshit, and then he'll do whatever you want. Because all Donald Trump wants to do is to be able to just come back home and to just make up shit and to say, look, I solved this CR crisis. I did this deal, I did this. He doesn't care what the actual results are. He doesn't care what the actual facts are. He just wants a little kernel of something that he could hang his hat on and then try to brag to the American people and try to act like he's actually doing things, when in fact he is making things far worse by every metric for the American people. And we're seeing this all across the board right now, whether it's with snap, whether it's with these health care subsidies. I mean, suffering is what is on the menu at the White House. And I think it is absolutely disgusting to watch and to see the gaslighting that we are seeing from Donald Trump and from administration. I know we're going to talk about it all. I don't want to belabor the point right now. So I got to toss to Jordy. Jordy, what's the latest?

[Jordy Jordan]

What's going on, brothers? What's up, Midas Mighty. I am so stoked for today's show. Thank you, audio listeners. Shout out to the audio listeners. Shout out to the live viewers right here on YouTube if you haven't yet, download the audio version of this podcast. Also shout out to our mods. I saw that in the chat last week. Forgot to say that. Shout out to our mods. Y' all are putting in the effort behind the scenes. Thank you guys so much. And then Brett, Ben, I just want to comment really quick on that Trump clip that we played earlier.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Thank you.

[Jordy Jordan]

The sides are locked in. Sometimes you got to let them fight. I guess this isn't like parents talking about their sons. Like, isn't like Brett and I like getting into it, like growing up when we were kids, you know, sometimes boys will be boys. Just gotta let them fight it out.

[Benji Backer]

This is different that I'm gonna end the war in 24 hours on Jordy.

[Jordy Jordan]

A bit different, I would say there, Brett. Correct.

[Benji Backer]

Bit different. I gotta say. I want to give a huge shout out to everybody for watching the Last Republican. That's the new documentary Midas Studios did with Adam Kinzinger following him final year in office during the January 6th hearings. And the movie, so much more than that. It is the number one documentary right now on Apple tv. Last I checked, it was like top six of all movies, like of all movies in history on Apple TV right now, which is pretty amazing. The feedback has been incredible. If you haven't watched it yet, make sure to check it out. We're going to do a special thing for all of you. Right follow. Immediately following this episode, we're going to do a live stream. Ben and Adam Kinzinger, they're going to present the first 15 minutes of the movie for free as a live stream right here on YouTube. We will. If you're watching on YouTube, we're going to redirect you to that stream right after this. So make sure to stick around. I know once you see that first 15 minutes, you're going to want to see the rest. Ben, where are we starting?

[Ron Filipkowski]

Well, let me show you where Donald Trump says that he brought in trillions of dollars from this trip. Let me ask this question, though. Is that on top of the 17 trillion? No, I mean 19 trillion. No, I mean 20 trillion. No, I mean $22 trillion that he's now claiming that he's brought into the United States. Is that on top of it that nobody's ever seen? And I don't just point it out to say he's a liar and he's a bad person. All of that so stipulated. But this is what Ponzi schemers do to prey on weak and vulnerable people. And Donald Trump knows that he's starving people to death in the United States. 42 million Americans losing their SNAP benefits while $40 billion goes to Argentina. 20 million Americans losing healthcare While Donald Trump destroys the East Wing to build himself a ballroom and says, I can't figure out a legal way to actually help people get their SNAP when it expires as a result of the government shutdown, notwithstanding the fact that there's literally a SNAP contingency fund filled with $6 billion for this precise purpose. But the Ponzi scheme here is what is so utterly nefarious and evil. Because what he wants to do is string real desperate people, people who are suffering, which is most Americans right now, I might add, along the same way a Ponzi schemer does and says, I've brought in this money. You're just going to have to wait a year or two. You're going to be so rich. I brought in all this money. That's why he keeps on making up these numbers, because he holds out the false hope that there are riches right around the corner. This is what this felon has done his entire life. This is what this bankrupter has done his entire life. This is what this sexual abuser has done his entire life. This is what he did in Atlantic City with his casinos. This is what he's done with lots of his projects that have gone bankrupt, bankrupt, bankrupt. He creates false hope, he drags people along, he destroys their life, he steals their money, he picks their pockets, figuratively and sometimes literally. However, it's actually being done, in my opinion, and this is how he's doing it writ large on the United States. Bernie Madoff, Ponzi scheme, $64 billion. Trump's Ponzi scheme with the United States economy, $22 trillion fraud is what he's saying. So here he says he brought in trillions of dollars. Let's play it. So many successful meetings, so many meetings, great for our country, with literally hundreds of billions. Trillions of do have come into our country over the last four days, represented by this meeting. But trillions of dollars where Toyota is going to build plants, $10 billion worth of plants. And you know, I could go over so many different companies coming in, they're pouring money into the United States. So beyond even this meeting, this was an unbelievable trip, and I hope you're glad you were part of it. It was. Oh.

[Jordy Jordan]

Huh.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Brett and Jordy. Let me see. Is Toyota investing $10 billion like he said that? Mr. Toyota said.

[Jordy Jordan]

No.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Toyota says that ain't happening. Toyota says it did not explicitly promise Trump new $10 billion investments in the US Toyota just said it's going to do what it's always been doing. It has its investment priorities across the world it's previously invested in the US it's not going to change its patterns at all because of Donald Trump. If anything, it's going to force them to invest less money in the US So that was a lie. Did we bring in trillions of dollars? Where is it? Is it on the tariff shelf? But you go through who we did it. We go through each and every one of these places. Trump went to. In Japan, he saw the new Prime Minister, Taka Ishii. Did Donald Trump get her to stop buying oil LNG from Russia? Okay, that didn't happen. What about in South Korea? What happened? What was the big deal in South Korea? They gave Donald Trump, like, a fake golden crown that looked ridiculous so that they didn't have to get extorted by him and give him $350 billion. I don't know. Is the Georgia plant open? You know, the one that Trump raided with ICE and border Patrol? I don't see that happening. So what happened there in South Korea? Did they agree to build more factories and that didn't happen? What about with Xi Jinping? So what happened there? Oh, he's gonna. China's agreeing to now buy more soybeans. Let me just try to understand. By the way, for those on audio, we just pulled up the photo of, like, Donald Trump groveling and trembling right before Xi Jinping. This was one of the most embarrassing things to even that photo.

[Jordy Jordan]

Can you just pull up that photo? He looks like. He looks like. He smells like. Like, when I'm looking at that photo, I'm like, this guy, he smells like. He just give. He's giving off this gro. He, like, the mouth is wide open.

[Ron Filipkowski]

I don't.

[Jordy Jordan]

I wouldn't want that person standing next to me.

[Benji Backer]

Excellent analysis. You know, the funny thing is I. I have seen. I have seen comments like that where. Because Xi Jinping the entire time, because Trump was being like such a pick me, like, Trump was there and he, like, was like, so eager for G to come. And then G came and like, he was like, I don't even, you know, it was like, I don't even know this dude kind of, you know, sort of thing. He was looking each other look in.

[Jordy Jordan]

The other direction the whole time.

[Benji Backer]

And Ron Philipkowski's tweet, the Midas Touch editor in chief, he, like, I think it's. I think it says a lot what, what Ron wrote here as the caption for this photo of Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. He wrote, guess which one was doing the begging because he desperately Needed some BS to try and sell as a win. Uh, well, guess who? Donald Trump. And that's the, that goes exactly to my point that I was making in the beginning of this episode. Donald Trump is so desperate to get quote unquote wins that he ends up actually harming the American people and getting just completely destroyed in all of these negotiat. Like if you took a class for negotiation 101, what Trump is doing is like the opposite of what anything is you're supposed to do when you go into a negotiation. So we're talking about soybeans, right? Soybeans, which now China used to buy tons of soybeans from the United States that went down to zero this year because of Donald Trump. Zero soybeans. And now they're trying to brag that China is now apparently agreeing to buy some soybeans. Ben has the specific numbers. I'll let him go through it in a second. But now he's trying to frame it as a win that China's now buying fewer soybeans than they were before from the American people. And so actually the American farmers are being screwed more and are not having the same success that they were having before. And that's also one of the things that drives me batshit about all of these so called trade deals, trade frameworks, whatever BS moniker the legacy media wants to give all of these. Because you have to remember, why is Donald Trump trying to chase these trade frameworks and trade deals? Because he destroyed all the trade deals and trade frameworks, that's why. And so you are saying like the arsonist has now partially put out the fire that he caused and now the stock market like blows up. The stock market starts going crazy anytime he makes these announcements and people act like he like did something great. Like, no, he hasn't even gotten us back to zero. We're, we're actually worse off than we were before. If he did nothing, we'd be far better off.

[Ron Filipkowski]

So Trump was asked, how do you think this trip went? And he said on a scale of 1 to 10, it was a 12. Okay, well so if it was a 12, then don't you think that the American people should be feeling the impact and how great it is? I mean, a 12, like, what a ridiculous comment to even say like, like every number he makes up. Like he can't speak a sentence without lying. Here, play this clip.

[Benji Backer]

Which countries do you have in mind.

[Ron Filipkowski]

When you say you want to send a signal? What a rough ride this. The interviews are tough enough without, you know, without Your life being threatened. You guys okay? Yes, sir.

[Jordy Jordan]

Thank you.

[Ron Filipkowski]

That camera guy's very steady. We're going to look real bad today on television, I'll tell you. I think that, you know, it's pretty much, I think we've discussed mostly what we said, pretty comprehensive. We're going to issue a statement on some of the details. But overall, I guess on the scale of from 0 to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12.

[Jordy Jordan]

I think it was a 12.

[Ron Filipkowski]

I think very importantly, you know, just the whole relationship is very, very important. And I think it was very good. What I mean, the, the turbulence, I know maybe he's never experienced turbulence on an airplane before, but, but that's called turbulence. It happens when you fly sometimes. Okay. And, but let's, let's show you what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said was the big news. What they got. Great. Let's play the one first, Brett. The second one first where Besant talks about the soybean deal. And like, the way he talks about it, he's like, I've got breaking news. I've got breaking news. I'm gonna. Maria, break on the air. Maria. Maria, I've got incredible news about what happened in Asia. Maria. Maria, here, play this clip. Maria. One of the big, big parts of this agreement, and I'm going to break the news here on your story, is the massive amount of agriculture purchases that.

[Benji Backer]

The Chinese are going to be doing in this agreement. So the Chinese have agreed to buy.

[Ron Filipkowski]

12 million metric tons of, of soybeans during this season right now, between now and the should be January. And then for the next three years, they're going to be buying a minimum, a minimum of 25 million metric tons per annum for the next three years. What I would expect is, as President Trump did in 2020, after President Xi had agreed to the phase one deal, he called him regularly and got him to buy more, and that number went up much higher. So maybe why would you need to call him up and ask him to buy more? Why wouldn't you do that in the deal?

[Jordy Jordan]

Why?

[Ron Filipkowski]

Have you ever done a deal with somebody and then after, like you bought your car, you go to the car dealership and you're like, actually, can you do it cheaper for me? And they're like, sure, we'll do it cheaper for you. Absolutely. That's what we always do. I'm just going to call you. I mean, so let's talk about what the facts are. So under former President Biden in 2024, China bought 27 metric tons of soybeans from U.S. farmers in 2024. What Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant was bragging about, right? There was 25 million tons per year. So 2 million tons per year less of soybeans after China already went to zero metric tons of soybeans under Donald Trump. So Your deal was 2 MET, 2 million metric tons less. That was what you are celebrating right there. And then when it comes to rare earths, these rare earth elements, well, it's not exactly as it seems there either, because every year right now, under the New Deal, Trump has to go back to Xi Jinping, who gets to decide whether or not they will put export controls on the rare earth minerals elements or not. There were not export controls on these rare earth elements under former President Biden. They flowed relatively freely. It's not to say there were no restrictions, but the restrictions were implemented first in April by China against Trump and then accelerated about a month leading up to this meeting, so that Xi could exert leverage over Donald Trump. And leverage for what? Well, Xi Jinping wants certain type of semiconductor chips that Nvidia and United States companies have been able to develop, and it seems that Trump's inclined to give China that. Also, Xi Jinping wants to do whatever he wants to do with Taiwan without the United States interference there. And Xi Jinping, you know, all of Donald Trump's tough talk about fentanyl tariffs, these tariffs, that tariffs, and the other Trump basically removed them in exchange for Xi Jinping agreeing to buy less soybeans than they did under Biden. Like just that's what did in China. I mean, it's a. When I say it like that, it's a bit ridiculous.

[Benji Backer]

Huh? That's exactly the point that I've been trying to make. And you laid it out so brilliantly. And you know, it's bad when even the New York Times is mocking Donald Trump's trip here and is calling it out. I mean, there was a headline in the Times today that said this. The art of letting Trump claim a win while walking away stronger. And the article essentially says that Xi walked out of this meeting with confidence, projecting confidence. He viewed it that he made Washington blink because he managed to get Donald Trump to agree to set things back, not even to the status quo, but worse for the United States than the status quo was prior to Trump causing all of this chaos to begin with. So Trump creates a problem, makes farmers suffer, makes Americans suffer, causes all of this global instability and chaos. Then he reverses course on a lot of the things and accepts a worse deal from China and tries to claim it as a win. Let me tell you, China's a whole lot smarter than Donald Trump is. And, and they know it. And you could see it visually when you're watching Xi and Donald Trump next to each other, and you could just see it in the raw data that's coming out and the actual, the actual details of these so called deals that they are making right now. I mean, every single time China's just humiliating the US we're at a worse off place now than we were before.

[Jordy Jordan]

Exactly. And this is why I say too, you know, to the folks who like to claim that Donald Trump is this great businessman, the ones who voted for him in 2016. I don't love his politics, but he's a great businessman for the ones who voted for him this past election. You know something about Kamala, I don't like Trump, but he's a good businessman. No, he's not like, sorry, you don't have cover on that. He is a serial bankrupter. Dude was born halfway between third base and home plate with a silver spoon in his mouth. He has done nothing to prove that he is a good businessman. Trump stakes.

[Ron Filipkowski]

What a win that was.

[Jordy Jordan]

The Trump casinos, those didn't go belly up. I mean, it is so infuriating when folks try and put this guy like he. Why? Because he wrote a book called the.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Art of the Deal. Ooh, fancy this.

[Jordy Jordan]

This he didn't.

[Benji Backer]

That he didn't write.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Yeah, and here's the thing, too. You know, I gave the example of, well, what happens if you go to the car dealer? You make the deal and then you go back and you say, you know what? I actually wanted a cheaper monthly lease or whatever it is. Although right now, in the Trump economy, even doing the lease in the first place is difficult. You know that you did a deal, right? Like, you signed paperwork. There are terms arising out of this. Has anybody seen any terms, anything signed? Is there a signature on behalf of Xi Jinping or the trade representative? Is there a signature on behalf of our trade representative for the United States how these deals are actually done? Are there details and specifications and penalties or anything? No, what? They're. What? They're, they're oral understandings. And Donald Trump presents it one way. By the way, China's been awfully quiet about it as well, right? Like, you haven't heard them, like, saying.

[Benji Backer]

Anything tells you everything. You need to know that they have been like dead silent about this. And Donald Trump is the one coming out and going, look what I did.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Look at this. Isn't this, guys?

[Benji Backer]

Isn't this amazing? Isn't this amazing? And I think back, with all these, you know, kind of things that Donald Trump says, too. There was that one moment, guys remember, in the White House. House, and it was Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, and it was that hot mic moment after they actually wrapped up their meeting where Zuckerberg had just told the press that he had planned on pumping in. I forget what the exact number was, but X amount of billions of dollars of investment into the US Economy over the next few years. And then he turns to Donald Trump when he. When they think the cameras are off. And Zuckerberg was like, so was that, like, a good number to say? I don't. I'm just throwing things out here. I could have done a bigger number. I guess I could have done a lot. Like, it's all a scam. And they all. Either some people are in on the SC or Trump is just doing the scam himself, but it's like one big fraud perpetrated on the American people. Some people are in on it, some people aren't in on it, but it's the American people who are getting screwed.

[Ron Filipkowski]

I want to talk about that, and I want to connect what happened there. I want to connect it to what's happening here domestically with the government shutdown, with the fact that 42 million Americans are going to lose SNAP, 20 million Americans are going to lose health care. I want to. We'll. We'll. We'll tie it all together. I will show what Maga Mike saying, and we'll show Governor Pritzker saying to fight back. We'll show what Democrats are saying to fight back. Two reminders, though, or three reminders. Number one, join the YouTube page, subscribe, but also become a member if you can, and gift memberships to as many people as you can. It really helps us when you gift memberships. It helps grow this network. Number two, watch the last Republican. You could buy it on any of the platforms, whether that's Apple or Google Play. Apple TV, Google Play, Amazon, YouTube, you could buy it there.

[Benji Backer]

We're gonna just say this. It's available in the United States right now. And so I know there are a lot of international viewers who want to see it. We're trying to figure out how to make this an international distribution. We're working on it. It's actually. There's a lot more red tape you got to go through to do that. We're working on it for right now. I don't know. Use a vpn, but for the people in the United States, it's available on all those big platforms. Sorry Ben.

[Ron Filipkowski]

We're going to put it the first 15 minutes on YouTube. As soon as this episode ends, I'm going to do a live viewing party with Kinzinger and you'll see me and Kinzinger introduce this first act. We'll show about 15 minutes or so so you can watch the first 15 minutes for free. All right, first quick break of the show. We'll be right back with much more More.

[Jordy Jordan]

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[Ron Filipkowski]

Look, starting a new business can be intimidating. I get it. Midas Touch Network was not built overnight. You need the tools to help you engage in the day to day tasks, the growth and so. So it's why we use Shopify. It made things easy for us. And I think you should use Shopify too. So Shopify is a commerce platform. It is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all E commerce in the United States. From household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands like the Midas Touch Network. Get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand style, accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you, even if you don't easily create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling to the Midas Touch Network. And best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert. And with its world class expertise and everything for managing inventory to international shipping, to processing returns and beyond, you can count on Shopify. If you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify. So turn your big business idea into Boom boom Boom. With Shopify on your side. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com Midas go to shopify.com Midas one more time. That's shopify.com Midas.

[Jordy Jordan]

Let'S go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of the YouTube and the video and the audio. Hit the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you really quickly. The Shopify ad always gets me because when Ben does the boom, boom, boom for those who don't know or don't know the story, that was an audio cue that was for editors to tee up a boom, boom, boom sound effect. But Ben being the champ that he is, just, just read that one for the squad.

[Benji Backer]

And then the other thing, bit of Iran burgundy.

[Jordy Jordan]

It's okay. Benji's doing a lot the other thing here. Store.midas touch.com everybody. Store.midas touch.Com we got new Midas merch. Not only that, very special Midas merch that we've been working on for a while, the play the clip merch. Everyone is familiar with Ben's famous phrase at this point when he does all of his hits and, and all of that. The play the clip. We say it all the time on the show. So we decided to immortalize it with merch at store midas touch.com go and check it out. Pick up yours today, Benji. Where to next, Alex?

[Ron Filipkowski]

I want to show you this other clip of Scott Besant who said promises made, promises kept by Donald Trump. He says, because Wall street is doing great. But he says, don't worry everybody else, all the American workers next year we Got you back like 2026 is your year. This year was Wall Street. It's about to trickle, trickle, trickle down on your head how just we got you next week. You know, if you were someone convicted of a felony and you owned a crypto company that invested in Donald Trump's family, you got pardoned and you're doing very, very good. If you're Argentina, you got $40 billion. The Trump family golden age. If you're one of these right wing oligarchs, a great year for you. If you're a farmer, pretty much the worst year. If you're a construction manufacturing horrible year for you. Most Americans 99% Strugg afford groceries or pay their rent. But your year, next year and the next year what are they going to say? Just wait 2027 and then 2028 and then what happens? I was about to do it. It was going to be the greatest. But then the Democrats came in Biden w w w 2020 election. These people are such freaking losers. Here's bessant, let's play it because what's really happened here is the low end consumer has gotten killed and President Trump is promises made, promises kept on his campaign promises and it's going to start flowing through to working Americans. Next year we're going to have Wall Street's done great and Main street can do great also. So I think we're going to have parallel prosperity next year. That's wonderful to hear. And Secretary, I want to thank you so much for all of your efforts. Obviously it is making a huge difference for the American people. Parallel prosperity.

[Jordy Jordan]

What a slogan. Parallel parallel prosperity next year.

[Ron Filipkowski]

I mean what billboard action. I mean so, so stupid. So then you go to what's J.D. vance saying at the White House? J.D. vance. I guess they're going to run with this for what? Brett? The, the this is going to be J.D. vance's 2028 slogan. It's going to be there's much more suffering coming your way. The suffering will get worse. This is what JD Vance said. Let's play it on the issue the shutdown. There is the concern about 42 million people losing their snap benefits the force. Over this weekend the administration moved a lot of money around to pay troops to pay federal law enforcement and is telling Congress you can't move my IR pay with some.

[Benji Backer]

Why not?

[Ron Filipkowski]

Would there be some push perhaps in the next 48 hours to try to do that so Americans don't go hungry?

[Jordy Jordan]

Well, here's the problem.

[Ron Filipkowski]

If you go back to previous government.

[Jordy Jordan]

Shutdowns, what has happened is that sometimes.

[Ron Filipkowski]

The president has tried to make the shutdown as painful as possible on the American people. I give the President of the United States great credit and the entire team.

[Jordy Jordan]

For trying to make this as painless as possible.

[Ron Filipkowski]

The Democrats are acting irresponsibly. He doesn't want the American people to suffer because of it.

[Jordy Jordan]

But look, right now, this government, this.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Administration, we're like guys running around, you know, with, with a leak in a damn wall, trying to plug it with bubble gum. And we plug one spot with bubble gum and we plug another spot with bubble gum. And we plug another spot with bubble gum. Why don't the Democrats, I think more. You're like the guy with a blowtorch who goes to the home and starts burning it down and then start saying, me, I'm not. What I'm not doing. The Democrats are doing it. How could Biden do this? How could Biden do? We see you burning us down, though? Those are, I don't know why he sounds like a weird Disney character.

[Benji Backer]

Honestly. It's what he, it's what he sounds like to me. So I, I think, I think you're impressed.

[Jordy Jordan]

What Disney character is that, though? Is that a goofy impression?

[Benji Backer]

Don't, don't, don't press him on it.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Okay? Yeah, don't drill down on those details, Jord. Nowhere it leads. Nowhere of substance. Okay, everybody.

[Benji Backer]

Vance has to be like the single.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Most really happening in the, like, that's what's really happening. I mean, you had earlier this week, yes, you had a small rate cut by the Federal Reserve, but future rate cuts are likely not in the, in the offing, which where there was supposed to be a ton of rate cuts as inflation was going down under former President Biden because there were steps taken to reduce inflation like the Inflation Reduction Production act and other pieces of legislation that were pushed forward to help deal with the situation. If Trump just let the economy go into. Over, just go into auto drive, autopilot, we'd be fine. But of course he did tariffs against the world. So we got this report from Jerome Powell. Here's what he had to say. Let's play the first clip. In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside side. A challenging situation. There is no risk free path for policy. As we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals. Our framework calls for us to take a balanced approach in promoting both sides of our dual mandate. I want to show you this next clip of him as well. Play this clip higher Tariffs are pushing up prices in some categories of goods.

[Benji Backer]

Resulting in higher overall inflation.

[Ron Filipkowski]

A reasonable base case is that the effects on inflation, inflation will be relatively short lived, a one time shift in the price level. But it is also possible that the inflationary effects could instead be more persistent. And that is a risk to be assessed and managed. And then I'll show you this other economist from University of Michigan who I like, Justin Wolfers. He puts it, he has a humorous way of describing what's going on with the economy. And he explains basically what we're in a period of what's called stagflation right now. As your GDP is shrinking, as unemployment is rising and inflation is rising, those things happening together is deeply, deeply problematic. Oftentimes, if the economy's doing well and you see GDP growth, then you'll see inflation rise and you'll have to deal with that. That's normally what you see. But to see GDP contract and inflation rise and unemployment rise is a very difficult. Difficult is a very difficult problem to combat. And it's being caused because Donald Trump has engaged in a trade war against the world with these disastrous tariffs. He's also gutted our labor force with or a major portion of the labor force as well with the disastrous policies by ICE and Border Patrol and they're terrorizing of communities. Here's how Justin Wolfers puts it. I like how he puts it here.

[Benji Backer]

Plus, look at these prices right here. Ron was saying this has only happened a handful of times. What normally happens after. Yeah.

[Ron Filipkowski]

So normally what we get is either a strong economy, which is bad for inflation, or a weak economy, which is good for inflation. And what we have is two bad.

[Benji Backer]

Things happening both at the same time right now.

[Ron Filipkowski]

And the real question is, how do.

[Benji Backer]

You respond to that?

[Ron Filipkowski]

So we've got high and rising inflation, it's about 3%.

[Benji Backer]

And there's a whole lot of tariffs.

[Ron Filipkowski]

That might push that a little higher.

[Benji Backer]

Over the next few months.

[Ron Filipkowski]

We've had the unemployment rate drift up over the last year or two. And while the GDP statistics have been a little stronger, the reality is if.

[Benji Backer]

Unemployment'S drifting up, you're not doing things right.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Very, very hard place for the Fed to be. I've got a very good secret plan for how we can get rid of this supply shock. By the way, Katie, it's a supply shock that comes about entirely because of uncertainty induced by the White House and tariffs. So if they just walked back the.

[Benji Backer]

Stuff they've been doing, I think you'd.

[Ron Filipkowski]

See infl start to calm down a Little.

[Benji Backer]

And you might see the labor market start to stabilize.

[Ron Filipkowski]

One more clip I want to show everyone. And you know, I, I cover every morning now MAGA Mike Johnson's disastrous press conferences where he goes through this humiliation ritual where he just lies and lies and lies. And he was asked this question by the reporter. You know, even MAGA Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley says, let's just do a single piece of legislation. Let's do it on a bipartisan basis right now and fund SNAP. We can't have 42 million Americans starving to death starting this weekend. We can't starve the American people. So let's just, let's deal with SNAP right now. Despite, Let me be clear there too, there is $6 billion in a bank account right now called a contingency SNAP fund fund that can be accessed immediately. The Trump administration's own USDA Department of Agriculture website said that it can be accessed like five days ago. They deleted it from the website. The Office of Management and Budget opinion said that this money can be used for this purpose. The whole purpose is a contingency. It's an emergency situation. And in any event, we were sending $40 billion, even if it wasn't like an obvious thing, right? Let's just say it was complicated. Okay? We figured out ways to, that we Trump unlawfully to what, destroy the east wing of the White House in three days and to give $40 billion to Argentina to do tariffs against the world without going through Article 1 to invade cities with, with the military. So we can't figure out a way, you're telling me, to feed starving Americans.

[Benji Backer]

And then let me just add this because, you know, this isn't like a hypothetical thing. It's not something you need to do some like, sort of exercise about. This has been, we've gone into this contingency fund for snap. Not only have we as a country gone into this contingency fund for SNAP, Donald Trump has done this in 2019, during the last Trump, during that government shutdown under Donald Trump, once again, SNAP benefits were going to lapse due to the same sorts of things. And Donald Trump at that point decided to use the emergency SNAP contingency fund in order to make sure that those programs were still funded so that people, people were not going hungry. This time, however, they are refusing to do that because like you see in authoritarian countries throughout the world, the suffering is the point. They want the American people to suffer, it seems, by design. And the things they are spending money on as the American people are worried about where they're going to find their next meal and just so offensive when they're spending, pouring all this money into the military. Military militarizing our streets, detaining civilians, chaining citizens, bombing random boats at sea. Just the image imagery of him with these, these golden crowns giving $40 billion to Argentina. Like they find money whenever they want to find it, to do anything that they want to do. But when it comes to feeding people in this country who need it the most, they decide f that we're not doing that. And so Mike Johnson was asked about this and he was, because there are other people. There's, there's actually like a bit of a consensus in the United States Senate, at least to people who say, of course we should be going into the SNAP contingency fund. That is exactly what it's here for. Even people like Senator Josh Hawley, they want to d into this fund because it's for this exact purpose. Mike Johnson was asked about this by Dana Bash on cnn. Here's what he said.

[Ron Filipkowski]

The reality is that this has been a stalemate for 30 days. And it's not just Democrats. You also have one of the most conservative Republican senators, Josh Hawley, who says at least please move money around to feed people. Why not consider that?

[Jordy Jordan]

Because if you deviate from the goal.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Of reopening the entire government, Chuck Schumer.

[Jordy Jordan]

And the radicals over there will continue.

[Ron Filipkowski]

To play games with people's paychecks, their livelihoods. And if you do just part of this, it will reduce the pressure for them to do all of it, to do their basic job, and that is reopen the government. This is very real and very serious and they can end it today. They can do it right now.

[Benji Backer]

All they have to do is we just need five more Democrats in the.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Senate to help us reach the 60 vote threshold. We don't have enough Republicans to do the right thing on our own. We need them to do the right thing. Doesn't he just admit it right there? The reason we're not doing this, we're going to starve Americans because it puts more pressure on Schumer. What do you even like? This isn't a talking point by Democrats. Okay? 42 million Americans. I'll be willing to bet that over 50% of those individuals are red state Republican voters. Most likely. Right. This isn't a. When it comes to health care, Obamacare, which MAGA Republicans want to say, do we have the clip of Duffy Brett, where he's like, what are Democrats doing to fight for Obamacare? Do we have that clip and it's like, it's like, it's called Obamacare. It's a Democratic initiative. We have that one.

[Benji Backer]

I've got this Duffy clip. Let's see if it's it.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Go ask the Democrats that question. Say, what are you going to do to make sure that people get Snapdragon.

[Jordy Jordan]

Benefits this Saturday or they have health.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Care assistance for their Obamacare? What are you going to do? Because we're doing everything we can on our end, but there's not much more we can do because the rules of the road by which we have to play. Can you believe that that's even words that he said? What are you, what are you Democrats doing? Obamacare, the Affordable Care act, the subsidies, lowering the price were Democratic initiatives and Democrats would like to make it cheaper. Republicans have fought at every step of the way to destroy Obamacare all the.

[Benji Backer]

Time, by the way, a Democratic initiative that you could argue was based on a Republican initiative put forward by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, and it wasn't controversial when Mitt Romney did it there. I mean, that's kind of what the Affordable Care act was based upon. And the nerve of someone like Sean Duffy to say when there's a party and a president right now who spends every waking day, maybe not every, the ballroom, there's all the other stuff, but spends a whole lot of time trying to chip away at Obamacare, trying to chip away at the Affordable Care act, trying to remove those subsidies, cities trying to make it. Going back to what we were saying about JD Vance before, and it's a comment that Mike Johnson said today, trying to make it as painful as possible for the American people as we put as much suffering on it, the American people. And then they go ahead and blame the Democrats for it. Going back to what Mike Johnson said before, too. You don't need five Democrats. And if you do need five Democrats, then maybe you should negotiate with them and try to actually act in good faith and do it. But this is all because y' all didn't pass a budget. If you want to pass a budget, go ahead, pass your budget. Why are you still working off the Pelosi budget? You're still working off the Biden budget. Pass your own damn budget. You wouldn't be in this problem. Instead, you're trying to patch it up and you're trying to put these CR after CR after cr. We don't have to be in this game. We're in this game because you don't do your jobs. If you want to break the filibuster, you could do that, too. You have a million ways that you could get around it. But the one way that you have to get around it in this system, if you really want to actually do what you're supposed to do, is work with the other side, acknowledge that there are a whole bunch of Americans out there, actually majority of Americans, who did not vote for this president, and then acknowledge that you need to do what you can to help them. And it's not like the demands from the Democrats this negotiation are all that crazy. It's extend the Affordable Care act subsidies so that a person doesn't have to go from spending 10,000 a year on their health care to spending 40,000 a year on their health care. I think that is, like, the most reasonable request imaginable.

[Jordy Jordan]

That's such a good point. And then you got actors up there, like wannabe actors, failed actors, like a Sean Duffy, you know, most famously on Real World, wrot, Road Rules on mtv. I mean, this whole cabinet is just such a joke. This whole Republican Party right now is such a joke. When you get these people up there who are just acting and really trying to just appease. Dear Leader, do I have the talking points exactly correct today? Okay, yeah. Okay, say. Say radical Chuck Schumer. Okay, perfect. And then talk about Hakeem being radical and. Okay, perfect. Got that check mark and those radical Marxist liberal Democrats in New York. Okay, great. It's, you know, in comes all at the expense of the American people is what I'm trying to get at. Because it's so infuriating at its heart. At its core, this country could do so good, and it could do so good by its citizens. But when you see a regime that takes control, like this Trump regime and how they bring these oligarchs in. Brett, to your point. And Donnie gets the golden iPhone and he gets the golden crown. And he has Zuckerberg up there talking about. Okay, did I say the talking point correct? About the trillion versus billion. Was that the right number you wanted? S. Why? So that y' all could get your pockets line. So you could buy 15 yachts, 30 yachts, so y' all could be living your best Damn lives while 42 million Americans are about to go hungry. Why? Why is that the world you want to live in? And at its core, this country could be so great if everyone just stopped acting. If this MAGA Republican Party just stopped acting and started working for the American people.

[Ron Filipkowski]

We've got a lot more to discuss on this episode. Become a member of our YouTube channel. Make sure you're subscribed first, then become a member. And you can also gift these paid memberships to other people as well who can't afford them. You just click the join and then there'll be a feature where you can gift memberships that helps grow our independent media platform. Make sure you watch the Last Republican. It's across all of those streaming platforms. It's on Apple TV, it's on Google Play, it's on YouTube and it's on Amazon. So. And it's right now the number one documentary on all of Apple TV and the seventh most watched movie there. Also, check out the interview that I did with California Governor Gavin Gavin Newsom on Gavin Newsom's YouTube page and tell me what you think about it. We spoke for about he interviewed me, which was like, I'm like, you sure? You sure? The other you you want interview, you want interview me? Okay. We went about an hour and 15 minutes. It was a long interview. We covered basically every topic imaginable on the interview, from the Midas origin stories to current events to fighting for people in this moment to Prop 50, you name it, it's been covered there. So just search Gavin Newsom's YouTube channel and I'd love to get your feedback about what you thought about that interview. And let's take our last quick break of the show. A reminder, when the show ends, we're going to bring you to the live. That will be about a 15 minute or so, the first act of the last Republican documentary for free. And Adam Kinzinger and I will introduce that. All right, last break of the show. We'll be right back.

[Jordy Jordan]

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[Ron Filipkowski]

So we all know by now, I think this is an undisputed fact, right? Who could dispute this? That as ICE and Border Patrol are invading, rolling through, being deployed in, I believe, invading American cities. They're not just rounding up the bad guys, they're not rounding up the criminals. We all agree the criminals, criminals should go. They're overwhelmingly targeting people who have been here for a long time without criminal records. Maybe at worst a traffic ticket from 20 years ago or 10 years ago. But mostly people, migrants with no criminal records who have just been working in farms and factories or Home Depot parking lots outside street vendors, people working in restaurants, people working at car washes. Like we know that's basically their main targets. We've seen it like we, it's why it's so important we document. It's why we show you these videos, videos every day. It's why we work with groups like Migrant Insider, Status Coup, Sidewalk School, you know, other groups just to try to get you this data and, and bring it to you 5051 and try to share with you on a day to day basis these videos of, of what's happening. We also know, and this is an undisputed fact that ICE and Border Patrol are going after American citizens, that they've detained many American citizens. We've highlighted the stories, we've interviewed the people people. We've showed you clips of American citizens getting, we've showed you reporters videotaping and getting arrested and detained. Like this is, it's an undisputed fact, right, that ICE has also detained American citizens. That's not, that shouldn't be a controversial fact. I don't, I mean it's, it should be controversial that it's happening, but it shouldn't be a disputed fact. It's despicable that it's happening. Let me use the right words. So Kristi Noem held a press conference, conference because they want to ramp up operations on Halloween to target children. They want to attack children, want to zip tie children. The way they've raided apartments in Chicago. They put like the children outside naked. They, they gas the children, right? We see the gas canisters, the chemical weapons being used on children. I've showed you videos of the children like lined up, cuffed. I mean some horrific, horrific images. So Christine Ohm was asked, what about the Americans they citizens that you're also detaining and arresting? Play this clip of her.

[Benji Backer]

I can't hear you. There's no American citizens have been arrested or detained. We focus on those that are here illegally and anything that you would hear or report that would be different than that is simply not true in false reporting. Thank you, everybody. Have a great day.

[Jordy Jordan]

Really.

[Ron Filipkowski]

See you later, everybody. I mean, again, we just know that she's lying there. Every word these people say, whether it's the Besants, whether it's her, whoever we know, we know that they're lying. Let me show you. Right here we have Pritzker, Governor Pritzker of Illinois, he just says, look to Greg Bevino, who's the head of Border Patrol. This guy right here who wears the trench coat, who you can judge what he's. What he's doing. The footage, by the way, that we're playing for our audio listeners is him looking like he's like saluting. He's doing these weird hand gestures. Very like performative. I mean, this literally looks like a video that you would see like in Germany in like the mid-1930s, 1940s. Like, like that's what this thing looks like.

[Benji Backer]

And specifically this is posted by the Department of Homeland Security. Like they, they. This is the imagery. They want it out there. They wanted this to the American people to see this specifically.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Yeah. So Governor Pritzker said, you're sending these chemical agents in front of elementary schools like you're torturing our children here in Illinois. Like you're attacking our peaceful communities. Can you just agree to stop for Halloween? So these kids who are suffering right now because of what ICE and Border Patrol are doing, that they could at least just like, at least have a holiday that they like Halloween. Here's what he says. Here, play this clip. I want to now speak directly to Greg Bovino. Mr. Bovino, your operation has sown fear and division and chaos among law abiding residents in our communities. If you are unwilling to cease operations and leave our city, can we at least agree that our children should not be victims, especially on Halloween? Can we agree that there is no imminent threat that should disrupt their holiday? No child in America should have to go trick or treating in fear that they might be confronted with armed federal agents and have to inhale tear gas. I honestly can't even believe that I have to make this plea. This is not the America that I know. I ask you to restore some sanity for the sake of our children. So Kristi Noem is then asked about his statements to Bavino and to her saying, can you please just stop doing this on Halloween? Like, just give our children in Illinois, especially in Chicago, a rest. Let them just go out and trick or treat and stop using chemical agents on them. Stop beating them. You know, stop, make, stop terrorizing their lives like you're torturing people, children in our peaceful communities. Can you stop doing it and watch what Kristi Noem says in response? Let's play a quick final question following up on Chicago, because I know that there are a lot of Chicagoans talking about this right now because there is.

[Jordy Jordan]

A lot of ICE activity obviously in that city.

[Ron Filipkowski]

And you are making the case, obviously. Rightly so. But the governor has asked you specifically.

[Benji Backer]

To pause immigration enforcement operations in that city.

[Ron Filipkowski]

So he says. So he says that kids can safely celebrate Halloween. Do you have any plans to alter.

[Benji Backer]

Activity tomorrow on that day? No. We're going to be out on the streets in full force and increase our activities to make sure kids are safe. Every day in Chicago, we're arresting murderers, child pedophiles, those who have prepared perpetuated assault and pornography against children. We're going to be out there to make sure that they can be safe. Enjoy the holidays, spend some time with their families and their neighbors and their communities. And they don't have to be the victim of a crime because of these illegal aliens that are in our country victimizing them.

[Ron Filipkowski]

You know, there's, I mean, a sick, vile human being, like, like a real trash human being. She is like, really scum, scum of the earth. I don't know how else to describe what I'm watching there. But you know what it reminds me a lot of? Rather than me calling her names, it reminds me the pretext that Putin uses to kidnap children in Ukraine. It's part of a denazification plan. And so we need to kidnap thousands of children because we need to bring them over to Russia because they're actually really Russian and we need to save them. We're doing this to save you. This is the mag away. You live in a liberal city. We're doing the mag away. We're bringing you over to the ma. You got to join us in our cult and you've got to watch Donald Trump wear the golden crown from South Korea. You've got to watch us, Donald Trump, bulldoze the east wing of the White House. You know, you, you need to pledge allegiance to a sexual abuser in Donald Trump who's covering up the Epstein files. You need to be part of what? Join the magas, the people who cover up the biggest pedo sex trafficking ring. That's how they are protecting the children. Do you see what they're doing? Do you see it is. And this is what I said to California Governor Gavin Newsom in our interview as we were, as I was reflecting on the Midas Touch Network, I said, I think something that I did wrong in our coverage in 2023, 2024, that we've evolved to do better is now to do more of a historical perspective on things and an international perspective perspective versus just focusing on domestic events in a vacuum. Because what we see here with the Christie Gnomes and the Trumps and the Magas, it's a mindset that is actually not historically unique. What's historically unique is the American democracy experiment that we were able to have co equal branches of government, checks and balances, a constitution based on good faith and fair deeds, dealing. That's the exception, not the rule. That's what actually made America exceptional historically. You would have the lords versus the peasants, and you would have the people gaslight you the way the Christy Gnomes and the Besants and the Trumps do and inflict suffering on the people. Pain and cruelty is the purpose by the lords, the sicko oligarchs. Brett. Sorry.

[Jordy Jordan]

No, don't be sorry.

[Benji Backer]

No, I think it was a great point. You know, it always reminds me so much of what this administration, what these Republicans say. It reminds me of that Voltaire quote, which I'm sure a lot of you have heard, which is anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. And I think anytime you see them saying things that are so outrageous, that are so left field, you can understand that that's the goal. Right? If they could convince people. Right. And I was thinking about this too. You know, I was. I was re watching the last Republican last night, you know, had to support. And. And that really, honestly is like a big thesis of what happened around January 6th as well. Right. There was that moment, that kind of brief respite where you're like, oh, wait, these people might actually be breaking away from Trump. They're calling him out, he's a pariah, you know, all this stuff. And then there was that meeting where Kevin McCarthy kissed the ring down in Mar a Lago. And all of a sudden everyone shifted and. Oh, it's. It was a tourist visit and it was a great day. It was a day of love, a day of celebration. What are you talking about? Actually, the FBI did it, the BLM did it, so and so did it. And the whole point is just to spread these absurdities, make people not even be able to believe their own eyes. And unfortunately, what we've seen is this entire Republican Party basically be co opted with that belief. This entire Republican Party co opted with that Strategy. And when I, you know, said at the beginning, you know, about these people kind of all having various personality disorders, I know, I certainly. I do mean that. But a lot of it also is like a concern, effort and a concerted strategy in order to mask their extremism by making people believe the most absurd things imaginable. And when I see them telling these stories about these cities, I mean, hey, I live in Los Angeles, right? You'd think I'd walk out of my. My place and there would be murders and fires and chaos, but it's like the most beautiful place imaginable. We don't want ice here. We don't want these people here. Get the hell out of my city. You know, I'm sure the people in Portland feel the same way when they're being told lies. And you've seen the videos of, like, you know, the. Those are, to me, were like, the best protests that I've seen back, like, dancing in, like, the animal suits and things like that. Because it just shows the absurdity of what they're trying to make the American people believe about these cities. It's all lies. I saw JD Vance yesterday, even going back to their eating dogs, eating cats. He. He went back to that line saying that that was true when a bunch of Haitians come into your city and they start eating your dogs and your cats, like, y' all are still pushing in that stuff. But if they can make people believe that stuff, if they can make you believe that your neighbors are eating your dogs and your cats or that your city is on fire or whatever it is, then they could justify whatever action they want to take. And that's what's so dangerous about this administration. That's what's so dangerous about the propaganda. And that's why it's so important. Even when it feels helpless, even when it feels like we are so buried by all of this bullshit that we continue to fight back.

[Jordy Jordan]

And that's why, I'm sorry, grateful Brett and Ben and Midas mighty for. For all of you.

[Ron Filipkowski]

For.

[Jordy Jordan]

For one, obviously, everyone at the Midas Touch network and everyone behind the scenes here is doing unbelievable work. But. But you, the listener and you the viewer. You the Midas mighty, you who go out to the no Kings protest, you who are having your voices heard peacefully and pushing back, because we are not living in normal times right now. And don't be gaslit by anyone around you or corporate media and, you know, the cable TV that. That tries to tell you.

[Benji Backer]

You otherwise.

[Jordy Jordan]

We all are witnessing what we're witnessing. Collectively, I'm glad that we are all here together to hold each other responsible, and not just each other, but hold this regime responsible.

[Benji Backer]

That one of the things I love so much about. Sorry, just one of the things I love so much about the last Republican is I really think it is a. It's a reality check, right? It's that it snaps people back to reality and it shows. It's not just a rehash of January 6th and the committee and all that. It's so much more. It's really a personal story. It's heartwarming at times. It's funny at times. Times it's infuriating a lot of times it makes you want to just shake these people who put our country on this path. It's enraging, but it's important that we continue to flood the zone with the truth every single day, to show these images, to show that what actually happened then, what's actually happening now, because it's all connected. And it's not just here, but it's all over the world. We are seeing these networks of autocracies that are behaving in this sort of way.

[Ron Filipkowski]

I want to leave you with this leader, Hakeem Jeffries. I like that I'm seeing Democrats fighting right now. And I know that there was a lot of people who are saying they needed to fight harder, they needed to fight harder. You know, I give a shout out to California Governor Gavin Newsom, I think, for. I think he really led the way. Like, I don't want to mince words, right. And showed how you fight in this current moment. And then I think that that also provided a template. I. For a lot of other Democrats across the country. I also want to, separately, I think I say this in my interview with Newsom. I think you have Governor Newsom fighting in a very proactive way, but I also think you have, you know, Bernie Sanders, aoc, fighting in a very proactive way as well, commanding huge crowds at their Fight the Oligarchy tour. And I also like that I'm seeing emerging of those worlds as well. You know, on my interview with Newsom, he gave a shout out to Mandami and the energy that was brought to that campaign and recognizing, you know, you've seen a lot of Trump supporters who are voting for Mandami. And I think we have to understand that the issue of affordability is real. It's. It's. It's. It's real. I mean, you. You know, it. I don't need to tell you that, because we know it when we go to the supermarket and they're at the register, the. The groceries are going through the register, and it's like, beep, beep, beep. It feels like a heart monitor. And it's like, okay, not that, not that, not that. That's across all areas and all levels right now. And so it's important that we. I think Trump was able to recognize the importance of the issue, but the way a fraudster does and exploit it and lie to people and cause more suffering because Trump's the cause of the issue to begin with. But the arsonists convinced people in the fire that they were the firefighter. It's what happened. The wolf and sheep's closed, basically. Right. So what I think we have to recognize is people are. People are not. This is not a golden age. People are not doing great. And we need to fight for people like we try to do here every day in the Midas Touch Network and deliver for the people. And whereas Trump sees their pain and uses that as their mark, as his mark, we have to see their pain of people and lift them up, support them, provide real solutions and be there for them and show them we're real fighters. That's what we need to do. So I'll leave you with this video right here of Hakeem Jeffries. Let's. Let's play this clip. More than 40 million people that are.

[Jordy Jordan]

Not going to get their SNAP benefits.

[Benji Backer]

And thousands of federal workers who are going to miss their second paycheck. Now, at some point, does the pain.

[Ron Filipkowski]

From the shutdown, at the very least, match pain from people having to pay higher premiums? If these subsidies are not, we want to reopen the government and do it immediately. And Donald Trump needs to instruct his employees here in the Capitol. That would be Mike Johnson and John Thune. They work for Donald Trump. They don't work for the American. The people. In fact, Donald Trump is the one who recently said, I'm the President and the speaker of the House. This is extraordinary stuff. Like Donald Trump is openly mocking Republican leaders. We can find a path forward, but it's not going to come from Republicans in the House and the Senate. At the leadership level, it's got to come from the Trump administration saying, the American people have. Have had enough of this Republican shutdown, have had enough of the refusal to deal with the health care crisis. As Marjorie Taylor Greene has indicated, this is a Republican health care crisis, and they refuse to do anything about it. She can't find their health care plan. We can't find their health care plan because it doesn't exist. So all of this pain that's being visited upon the American people by Donald Trump and Republican policies needs to end. And we're saying we remain ready, willing and able to find that bipartisan path forward to ending it and addressing the needs of the American people. I mean, I want to hear that. You know, that's where I think people want to see more of. So we'll leave you with that. I want to thank everybody for watching. I want to. We've got additional news with which is that during the show, we found out that the last Republican is now number four most watched amongst all movies in the world right now. Number four. Let's get it number one.

[Benji Backer]

We're gonna like when Ben says number four and all movies, like out of all movies of all time, like it's ahead right now of F1, which is a major blockbuster release, ahead of Jurassic World, ahead of and then literally name every, I could name every other movie in existence. It's ahead of every other movie in existence other than four. Let's get it to number one. Like I said, if you're in the US Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, go check it out. Support. It's an important film. Like I said, it's heartwarming, it's funny, it's infuriating. It's, it really runs the gamut. It runs the full range of emotions. It is really, really well done. And it's a really important story that needs to be told now at this instant and shared at this instant. I really, really, really believe in this film and the filmma. Steve Pink, the director who also did one of my favorite movies, Hot Tub Time Machine, did an absolutely incredible, incredible job with this. So please check it out.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Absolutely. And I just want to give a special shout out to everybody who was involved in the picture. MCDC Media Courthouse Documentary collective Rob Bindler, Chap & Wilson, Jason Cohn, Sarafina D, Dave Feliz, AJ J Levitt, Stephen Pink and Kevin Morris. These were seven friends who united to make movies that matter. MCDC Media Courthouse Documentary Collective and I think after the success of this one, they're going to want to make some more documentaries with the Midas Touch Network. I'm just saying Shout out. Mcdc, we see you all. Reminder, join on the Midas Touch YouTube channel right now. Now hit subscribe join and gift memberships to as many people as you can as well watch the interview I did with Governor Newsome on his YouTube channel, the Governor Newsome Gavin Newsome YouTube channel with his podcast. I'd love to get your feedback of it. It was interesting being interviewed by a governor, so it was, you know, a different role.

[Benji Backer]

A lot of people seem shocked that you have legs, Ben, and that's the big, big thing. I'm seeing Ben as one of your.

[Jordy Jordan]

One of your first interviews without Brett and I by your side to hold your hand throughout it too.

[Benji Backer]

So.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Thank you everybody for watching. We'll see you next time. I look forward to your feedback as well when we show you the first 15 minutes of the last Republican Jordy, take it away.

[Jordy Jordan]

Shout out to the Midas My day.

[Ron Filipkowski]

Precious we sing our song.

[Jordy Jordan]

Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our [e-mail] you'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipowski, ad free episodes of our podcast and more exclusive content only [e-mail].

[Ron Filipkowski]

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