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- [00:01]
Ben Meiselas
This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. During tax season, your personal info travels to a lot of places between payroll, your tax consultant, and the IRS. If your W2 gets exposed, that's just the ticket for identity thieves. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply.
- [00:31]
Brett Meiselas
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliate. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. Donald Trump may be destroying our government, our economy. He may be taking away people's Medicaid. People are Democrats, Republicans, independents, showing up at these town halls and letting the politicians know how livid they are at Elon Musk, getting access to their private data and destroying key federal government agencies. But, folks, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are going on an adventure together. They're going to search Fort Knox for some gold, everybody. It will be televised. Here, play this clip.
- [01:34]
Jordy Meiselas
We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold. Tons of gold.
- [01:40]
Brett Meiselas
For those listening on audio, you had Donald Trump seated in the Oval Office next to French President Emmanuel Macron, who's looking at Donald Trump like he's literally a crazy person, but a crazy evil person as well. French President Emmanuel Macron showed up to basically confront Donald Trump about everything that Trump is doing when it comes to attacking Europe and NATO and Ukraine. Earlier in the day before that meeting took place, the United States officially joined, I think the access of evil. You know what we used to be against. Yes. The United States joined Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Hungary in opposing a resolution condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Yeah. Not only, not not only did they oppose it. I mean, they could have abstained. They opposed the resolution, and they were in the group with North Korea, Russia, Belarus and Hungary. How insulting can you get? Then Donald Trump, in the Oval Office with French President Emmanuel Macron has asked, what's your rationale for siding with an access of evil against your allies? Here, play this clip.
- [02:56]
Jordy Meiselas
In the U.S. go ahead, please.
- [02:58]
Brett Meiselas
Can you explain the rationale in having.
- [03:00]
Jordy Meiselas
The US Vote against the UN Resolutions.
- [03:02]
Brett Meiselas
That Ukraine proposed and also the US Proposed?
- [03:05]
Jordy Meiselas
I would rather not explain it now, but it's sort of self evident. I think.
- [03:09]
Brett Meiselas
I would rather not explain it. It's rather self evident. Is it self evident because you support Vladimir Putin? That would seem to make some sense. And then Donald Trump tried to attack Europe and attack France in front of French President Emmanuel Macron. But Macron was ready. And as Donald Trump spewed disinformation. I just want you to watch as Macron basically takes command and says, that's not true. Let me be very clear here. And puts Trump in his place. Here, watch.
- [03:41]
Donald Trump
There was a month ago.
- [03:44]
Brett Meiselas
Just so.
- [03:45]
Jordy Meiselas
You understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.
- [03:50]
Donald Trump
No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total efforts and it was like the US loans guarantee grants, and we provided real money. To be clear, we have 230 billion frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets, but this is not as a collateral of a loan because this is not our belonging. So they are frozen. If at the end of the day in the negotiation we will have with Russia, they're ready to give, to give it to us. Super. It will be loan at the end of the day and Russia would have paid for that.
- [04:22]
Jordy Meiselas
If you believe that, it's okay with me, Mr. President. They get their money back. We don't. And now we do. But you know, that's.
- [04:31]
Brett Meiselas
Yeah, you had French President Emmanuel Macron basically putting Trump in his place and saying, you don't know what you're talking about. And 60% of the money came from us. Let's be very clear. Then later, Donald Trump held a press conference where he attacked what he said was a terrible, terrible deal with Mexico and Canada. He says that's currently causing Mexico and Canada to take advantage of the United States because whoever negotiated this deal is a stupid person. Here, watch what Donald Trump says.
- [05:02]
Jordy Meiselas
I mean, you know, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on, on manufacturing, on just about everything, every aspect that you can imagine, they took advantage of. I look at some of these agreements, I'd read them at night and I'd say, who would ever sign a thing like this? So the tariffs will go forward? Yes. And we're going to make up a lot of territory. We're going to. All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity, we want to have the same. So if somebody charges us, we charge them. It's very simple. But it'll be very good for our country. Our country will be extremely liquid and rich.
- [05:42]
Brett Meiselas
Again, let me bring in my brothers Brett and Jordy to the Midas Touch podcast. Fellas, who would make such a stupid deal? It's usmca.
- [05:52]
Elon Musk
All I gotta say is you'd have to be like a complete idiot, right? Like just a total idiot. Like whoever made that deal. Trump made it sound like that guy was a big fat idiot is all.
- [06:03]
Brett Meiselas
A total idiot. The USMCA United States Mexico Canada agreement. Who, who would make.
- [06:11]
Elon Musk
Let them rob us blind like this?
- [06:13]
Brett Meiselas
I mean, who did that deal? Roll tape.
- [06:15]
Jordy Meiselas
It's my great honor to announce that we have successfully completed negotiations on a brand new deal to terminate and replace NAFTA and the NAFTA trade agreements with an incredible new U. S. Mexico Canada agreement called usmca. Sort of just works. MCA usmca.
- [06:45]
Elon Musk
Oh, that idiot. Got it. Got it. You know, I said this in the last episode, Ben, and by the way, great to be with you guys. Great to be with everybody out there, everybody listening, and welcome to all of our new listeners. You know, I said this to you last time. We can no longer think about the United States of America as being the good guys. And I said, I understand we definitely weren't the good guys 100% of the time throughout history, but in many respects we could always at least look to that guiding star and say that America is trying to be the good guys in the world, is trying to fight for democracy, is trying to uphold our values, at the very least east, that that is the direction we are headed now. We have made a sharp turn towards autocracy, towards authoritarianism. And Europe right now knows that they cannot trust the United States to be a reliable ally, if an ally at all. And so I think that's why it's important that Emmanuel Macron thought that it was important to come and sit down next to Donald Trump just like that, and instantly fact check and humiliate Donald Trump on these issues, putting forward the actual facts as to what is going on. And that's why we're seeing these coalitions building across the, across the world right now that are against the United States. Essentially, the world is saying to the U.S. oh, you want to be isolationists? You don't want to have anything to do with the world order that has existed since the end of World War II that has left the world in relative safety. You don't want to be a part of this anymore, you don't need part of this. Guess what? We're going to kick you out. We're not going to rely on you. Then we're going to form our own version of NATO without you, I guess, is what, like the German, the, the likely new German chancellor was saying yesterday, we're not going to, we're going to have to get used to a NAT list world. We're gonna have to make our own, you know, organizations. We're gonna have to figure out our own plan. The United States is not going to be involved in it. If the US Wants to hang with Kim Jong Un or Vladimir Putin or whatever, do it, do it, do whatever you want. But the free world is going to stick up for the rest of the free world, whether the United States wants to be a part of it or not. And so we are seeing right now this resistance from overseas as well, of all these world leaders getting together to actually push back and showing that, by the way, Europe, bigger than the United States, they have more people, they have more things, they could actually push back if they remain united. And I think they are realizing that they actually have to in the wake of Donald Trump's actions, especially over these past few days. Jordy, great to see you here as always. What's new?
- [09:08]
Fiona
Well said, B. I'm excited to get into the show today. I just want to say this, and I'm really not being funny about that. Those first set of clips that we watched, these are ramblings of a person who needs to be 5150. He's forgetting the deals that he's involved in. And this is the person who has the nuclear coats. And then let me just say this too. I don't want to make this a corporate media thing. I know I say it a lot, but the media in the room with him, come on. When you ask the question about siding with the axis of evil over our allies, and Trump says, you know what, I'd rather not explain it self evident. And the reporters give zero pushback like just crickets. You're in that room. Like, you have a responsibility to not fanboy over you being in that room. You have a responsibility to get the truth. And if Trump truth social posts about you and gives you a mean nickname, really, that's what you're scared about? Come on. You can't let him off the hook.
- [10:01]
Brett Meiselas
The funny thing is, though, is that, so you know, one of the parts of Europe's strategy is they kind of send over like a babysitter to Trump, like, literally just to distract him for like a few more days. And then they, it's like, then they pass the baton to, like the next person. So it's like who gets the short straw, Right? So today it was Emmanuel Macron. And then later in the week you have Keir Darmer, the Prime Minister of the uk, he shows up and they have to, they realize that you have to like, just sit there in front of him. And Jordy, to your point that he's got this malignant narcissism, he's so cognitively addled as well, that the more you're just like in his face and you exhaust him and you wear him out and then you pass the baton to the next person because the more you're literally physically there, the less chance he does something stupid. That's like the new version of like mutually Assured destruction. It's like babysitting Donald Trump so he doesn't commit mass destruction for the world, basically. And that's what, that's what they're doing right now. Because, you know, you just let Donald Trump ramble and he just says, to your point, the most dangerous and crazy things. I mean, it's clear. You take a look at all of the polling data as well. I mean, Trump's approval is tanking. And perhaps the only person less popular than Donald Trump are MAGA Republican Congress members. And the only people less popular than them is Elon Musk. And folks I'm not talking about amongst Democrats or Republicans or Independent, just talking about Americans in general are looking at what's going on and they're like, disgusted. They're like, what? You're giving our private data to why? To Elon Musk? And you're supporting it based on some weirdo X memes? Like, we live in the real world. What are you even talking about? MAGA Republican Congress members. Get this guy to go before Congress, do your oversight job and get us answers. What the hell is going on? You're giving our medical records, our Social Security information, our tax information over to Elon Musk and a group of 19 to 25 year old guys he leads who call themselves Big Balls and who do them all of these, and they do them all of these other things. And then Donald Trump goes up on stage and he says that Elon's a very caring person. I think that we got to use the word caring when we refer to Elon here. Let's watch this.
- [12:41]
Jordy Meiselas
Tremendous fraud, tremendous waste. And when you think of what it is, you know, Elon uses an expression, caring. If we had people that cared, just cared a little bit when they did contracts, when they negotiated with outside vendors for on behalf of the United States, that's what I'm doing now. I'm negotiating for the people of the United States. So we're doing a great job of it. I will say we found it'll be hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and fraud and abuse.
- [13:11]
Brett Meiselas
Okay, that's 100% false. And then just by the way, if you are finding these things, then why is it that the MAGA Republican Congress members refused to let Elon testify before Congress? It all happens on this weirdo social media app called xNow. What are we talking about? Donald Trump posts. Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive. Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately to make greater than ever before. Maga, exclamation point. And then Donald. Then Elon Musk responds to Donald Trump. Trump will do, Mr. President. And then he then sends that weird directive he sent over the weekend to federal employees. Consistent with President Donald Trump's instructions. All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. I mean, it's not just that they're firing these federal workers, which rips people of their dignity, but it's also the dehumanization as well, just treating human beings like absolute trash who are working on very important jobs within our government that help us and almost disproportionately, too. We're talking about veterans who they are firing because a lot of veterans work in the federal government, these spouses of veterans, and because our armed forces people move place to place. These spouses of people in our armed forces are often considered probationary employees since they get new jobs in different states, but they've worked in the federal government and amassed years of expertise. Like they're disproportionately getting fired. Disabled veterans and just hardworking people in general are getting fired. And then they're being told that they're being fired for cause, for their job performance when their job performance met or exceeded expectations, or they never even got a job review to begin with. So then it prevents them from even getting unemployment. And so they're just ripping people's jobs. They're throwing people on the street. And the payroll in the federal government is really only a very small portion of the overall budget. I mean, the majority of it is for Social, Social Security and Medicare and other services like that. So they're, like, coming in here, Brett and Jordy, with this sledgehammer, like they're these, you know, like a hostile takeover and that. By the way, shout out to that song, by the way, that's going viral. The hostile takeover song. It's, it's like a hostile corporate government takeover, which what they're doing analogous to what they would do like in these businesses where they rip the guts out. But this is, these are, this is our government. This is how, this is how we stay safe. Yeah.
- [16:15]
Elon Musk
It reminds me of when a corporation does like stock buybacks and then ends up laying off a whole bunch of employees. That's kind of exactly what we're seeing. But in the government. And that's why, you know, I know people have often said stuff like, you know, the government should be run by like a business and Donald Trump's a businessman. Well, no, it actually shouldn't. There are reasons that it's not. And these are all vital jobs to keeping our country going. And when you get rid of these jobs, you are not really doing anything to the budget whatsoever. It's probably costing more for just Doge to exist. Then also think about all the litigation that's going to come from this. And we'll get into some of the litigation later in the show. But these lawsuits are going to end up costing the government lots of money. And I'm willing to bet that the lawsuits from these employees who have been illegally fired is actually going to cost the US Government substantially more than these mass layoffs. Plus there's of course, the economic effect of taking away people's livelihoods who are then injecting that money into the economy, supporting their families, sending their kids to good schools. You're ripping people's lives away from them in the cruelest way imaginable and you are treating them like dirt. The way they are treating these people is just absolutely appalling to me. But the thing that gives me a little bit of hope right now is I'm looking around the whole country, even in these red districts, and I am seeing people speaking out. I am seeing people who are already fed up. You know, I saw James Carville the other day, he said, you know what, the Trump administration is already collapsing. And he predicted like a full on collapse within 30 days. Right. I agree with him that the Trump administration is collapsing. When you look at these poll numbers, it's absolutely devastating for Trump and he is taking down the Republican Party with him. And I think we are going to see massive ripple effects from all of this. Because these Republicans, they live on their bubble on Twitter or X or whatever. They're constantly reaffirmed these shitty things and they treat these people like crap. These hardworking Americans in the federal government, they treat them like crap and they either forget or are too Dumb to realize that many of these federal workers don't actually work in D.C. but they work in their own districts, they work in their backyards. They are actually their supporters. So we are now seeing these Republicans and these independents rising up and they are demanding action. They are demanding that their representatives uphold their oath. And these representatives have been kind of shocked by it and they've been giving the worst answers, by the way. Just lying. Gaslighting. But here's going to be my challenge to everybody out there. We know that these representatives, one of the reasons that they are so subservient to Donald Trump is that they are afraid of Donald Trump's supporters. I think we need to make these representatives afraid of us. I think that's going to be crucial to making change in this country. I think that involves peacefully protesting. I think that means peacefully showing up to these rallies and doing exactly what these patriotic Americans are doing in all of these various town halls, standing up to people. But you need to make these people not feel safe.
- [19:12]
Brett Meiselas
They need.
- [19:13]
Elon Musk
They should be scared of you every time they step into that town hall that you are going to challenge them. They should scared of you that you are going to take to the streets and peacefully protest them if they are going to strip away your rights, your livelihood, their job. And I think that's going to be the key, more than anything to bring putting our country on the right track.
- [19:31]
Brett Meiselas
Look, these Jordy.
- [19:32]
Fiona
No, I was going to say absolutely be. The energy is palpable right now from people and it's important that we keep the momentum up. I just wanted to say this too. The Trump is a businessman thing, I mean, it just gets me every time I hear it. This guy's not fine, I'll give you that. He was literally a businessman. But voters who came out on that issue saying, you know what, now Trump's going to be good for the economy. He's a businessman. That is gaslighting 101. I almost find it less offensive when it's the folks who would tell me like, no, I support Trump for xyz. Horrible issue. But are you kidding me? That he's a businessman? That is absurd. This aligning themselves with Elon Musk too, continues to just be. Be outrageously offensive to every American. Because why, why would we allow an oligarch like an Elon Musk to field questions in the Oval Office and let him continue to operate the sham, whatever you want to call it. Doge. It is so bizarre what's happening right now. And you as the viewer, none of this is Normal. Don't be gaslit by the media into thinking that any of this, this is normal.
- [20:39]
Brett Meiselas
It ain't. Ben. Yeah. You know their justification, these MAGA Republicans is they go, aren't billionaires the most trustworthy people? There's this is what they really argue, which is ridiculous. They go, billionaires are so rich that why would they do anything negative to you? Like, they're the most trustworthy people out there.
- [21:01]
Fiona
You know, billionaires, the heart of gold.
- [21:03]
Brett Meiselas
And then when they say, well, they're searching for that heart of gold, apparently in Fort Knox, they're looking for all those hearts. That's what's stored in Fort Knox, apparently. And then people are like, what the hell are you talking about? And maybe that's what gets promoted on all of these right wing rage algorithms. But in the real world, MAGA people are on Medicaid too, right? They're on the Affordable Care Act. They rely on federal programs, you know, their special needs kids rely on federal government programs. And then they find out that, oh, that's included in. When you're using dei, you're coming after my kids. Also when you use that term, you're coming after all all of these other programs you're gutting. Oh, when we were cheering to gut the Department of Education, what we really meant is we were getting rid of the services that we rely on. Like lunches for what? Like what are you all doing all of a sudden? And it's like we tried to tell you that, like what do you think we meant when we were saying this is what Project 2025 says. Let me just give you a few examples. This is in Missouri. This is MAGA Republican Congress member Mark Alford where he was confronted by constituents who were asking him questions. He was doing the usual gasl and then people were literally booing him. Here, play this clip. I am willing to invest more money in mental health care. We have got everywhere I go, I've.
- [22:37]
Donald Trump
Been to several hospitals on this period.
- [22:41]
Brett Meiselas
We have got to invest more money in healthcare. I said on, it's on my website. People need more gun control in America. We need more self control with mental health. That is going to go a long way. People are like, what? What's your plan? You're going to cut Medicare, you're going to cut Medicaid? I want you to watch this.
- [23:06]
Elon Musk
By the way. I want to emphasize this is a crowded. That was a crowd in Missouri and the young girl had asked a question about guns and that was the reaction that he got. These people think their beliefs are far More popular than they are, than they get out of their bubble. And that's the kind of reaction they got. I watched, like, a full hour of that. That town hall today. The guy got booed the entire time, ruthlessly. And. And a smart crowd, too. Smart audiences. Because when he would say that Elon did all this waste, fraud, and abuse, they would say, well, give me an example. And he wouldn't be able to give an example. And they go, well, if he actually. If you actually believe that we should be routing out waste, fraud, and abuse like I do, this is what the people would say. Like I do, and I'm a registered Republican. They would say, then why would you get rid of the inspectors general? Why would you get rid of the people at all these offices whose job it was to target waste, fraud, and abuse? And why are you letting this unelected oligarch, billionaire, Elon Musk, why are you putting this guy in charge of my personal information? And they have no response. We'll go. We'll go through the rest. But, I mean, it's.
- [24:03]
Fiona
Right, but. Brett, but real quick. But these talking points, they work so well on x. He got 10,000 retweets on that talking. He thought that was a home run. He got booed. Oh, didn't. Didn't have an answer. No. Interesting.
- [24:14]
Brett Meiselas
They thought they were going to show up. And because Elon's rage algorithm told them that this is what gets likes, they literally thought people would buy the crap that they were selling. Oh, we found all of the Hamas condoms, everybody. We found the condoms in Hamas. And people like, what the hell are you talking about? Why are you taking away my Medicaid? Why are you gutting these agencies? Why can't I go to a national park anymore? Because people are being granted, like, fired. Why are you giving our tax records over to Elon Musk? I mean, don't you know that there's conflicts of interest here? Why don't you force Elon Musk to testify? Why are you. Why are you, like, hiding him? Like, this is a government. What are you doing? You're supposed to be a member of Congress. Are you that pathetic that you're letting Elon Musk do all of your jobs? That's what people are saying. I want to show more of these town halls, and we'll get into some. Some ruby red districts as well, like the one we're showing there, and others. We'll go to Oklahoma. I'll show you Georgia 7th. We'll go around the country so you can see the Mode and the mood rather that's taken place in this country. Let's take our first quick break of the show. I want to remind everybody about our substack, which is midasplus.com check that out. Our editor in chief, Ron Philipkowski does a great job curating that@midasplus.com also we had a great meetup with everybody last week@patreon.com Midas Touch. It was so great to see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of new faces. Check that out and make sure you're subscribed on both audio as well as YouTube. And we're the number one podcast right now on Apple and on Spotify in the US and in Canada right now. Thanks to all of you. So please make sure you subscribe. We'll be right back after our first quick break.
- [26:07]
Fiona
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- [28:00]
Elon Musk
Okay, real talk.
- [28:02]
Guest
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- [28:33]
Elon Musk
Here's what I love.
- [28:34]
Guest
Marley Spoon gives you over a hundred recipes to choose from every week. We're talking everything cozy comfort food like big batch beef stroganoff to lighter dishes like salmon and creamy mustard dill sauce Traybake. There's literally something for every single mood. And my absolute favorite recently, their beef noodle soup with bok choy. I made it last night. I had that moment where I just stared at my plate like, damn, I'm good. It looked incredible, smelled amazing, and more importantly, tasted like something out of a restaurant. And the best part, Marley Spoon just launched their new 15 Minute Express recipes. Yep, dinner in 15 minutes. So even on nights when I'm feeling extra lazy, I have zero excuses. This new year, fast track your way to eating well with Marley spoon. Head to marleyspoon.com offer MIDAS and use that code MIDAS for up to 27 free meals. Meals. You heard me right. Up to 27 free meals with Marley Spoon one last time. That's marley spoon.com offer/midas for up to 27 free meals. And make sure you use our promo code Midas M E I D A S so they know that I sent you.
- [29:43]
Fiona
Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of YouTube and audio. Use the links, use the codes. Let them know we sent you Ruby Rubbish Brand new sponsor to the pod. Big fans of theirs. Definitely check them out. And Marley Spoon, y'all know they're coming back. They're great. Use the links, use the codes. It's good stuff, Benji.
- [29:59]
Brett Meiselas
I would say objectively, this was probably the worst month in presidential history, and I think the data bears that out as well. If we have some of those polls, you'll see that literally on every issue that Donald Trump's been pushing. Americans are absolutely pissed. When you look at just a generic Eric, would you rather see the next Congress controlled by Democrats or Republicans? It's 54% to 41% in favor of Democrats. That's the latest ipsos, Paul. When voters are asked to describe the nation's economy, you have 52% say not so good, 21% say poor. So close to about 80% of Americans believe the economy right now is bad. And by the way, if you looked at those economic numbers, despite the fact that people would always attack former President Biden, consumer confidence started to soar again. Towards the end of former President Biden's term, the Wall Street Journal described how the United States economy was the envy of the world. Lots of newspapers were talking about how Biden was handing over a Goldilocks economy to Donald Trump. 16.4 million jobs were created by former President Biden. There were 40,000 infrastructure projects that were being fund funded and taking place across the country. You had the CHIPS act that brought the semiconductor industry here to the United States. You had Biden respecting our veterans, pushing forward the PACT act to make sure that our veterans got the best health care, especially veterans as well who were exposed to toxic burn pits despite Republicans trying to block that. You had the American Recovery Act. You never had a month where jobs were lost. You had GDP growth that was soaring under former President Biden. America's economy was growing faster than China. It really was the envy of the world in terms of the economy. And inflation was going down. There was an expectation that inflation would hit 2%, which is the level the Federal Reserve wanted. Interest rates were being cut. And I just say all of those things to remind you that that things were headed in the right direction. And if you want to go back to what causes inflation, let me just be very clear. It's kind of like what causes the fire. You know, there has to be kind of an ignition that takes place. And what it was was that Donald Trump's first administration, he added $8 trillion of debt. Let me repeat that. $8 trillion of debt. And that's what caused inflation. And by the way, you can go, oh, well, this is the Midas touch. I hear when people talk about you, when they say that you' than Rogan, they call you the Trump hating podcast. So how do I believe you? Well, I want you to go and look at what Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis both said during the Republican primary debates that Donald Trump was too scared to show up to because both of them talked about how Trump added $8 trillion in debt and that's what was the cause of inflation and that it was the spending habits of Republicans during the first Trump administration. So when you look at this new budget that Republicans are talking, when they talk about cutting trillions to Medicaid, but then giving trillions in tax cuts to the billionaires, there are right wing conservative economic think tanks that are saying that could add $25 trillion. $25 trillion, not just the 8 trillion that Trump caused the first $25 trillion in debt this time. And I think it's going to be, be even more than that, quite frankly. So you have objectively Donald Trump taking that Goldilocks and turning it into even worse than kind of very cold stew at this point. And Americans are livid. And what Donald Trump is doing is he's comparing things now to how great they are. Like a great golf game. He goes, this is how he's trying to like communicate to the American people. He's like, this was so good. You know what it's like? It's like a great golf game when you have those, when you really do well on those first holes.
- [34:24]
Jordy Meiselas
Here, watch this to stick together for because what we've done has never been done before. Nobody's ever seen anything like this. And nobody's ever seen four weeks like we've had, especially the four weeks. The first four weeks, you know, that's like if you golf, when you sink that first forefooter in the first hole, it gives you confidence on the next hole you sink another one. Now you go into that third hole and you can't. And by the time you get to the fifth hole, you feel you can't miss. Right? Like a baseball player. He gets up and he hits our first one and then the second at batty hits that one.
- [34:56]
Brett Meiselas
He said that at the CPAC convention, which is like this MAGA event at this point. It's run by a guy named Matt Schlapp who's now been accused like multiple times of like grabbing Republican men genitals. Like he was sued for it, you know, once. And they had to like resolve that lawsuit. I think there were recent allegations that emerged. Again, that's who runs ccpac Schlap. That's where Donald Trump was describing how his first month was like a great game of golf. Like what, what are you talking about? As you cause this devastation, you're, you're comparing it to golf. And I kid you not, this is what the press room looked like today. They have signs in the back of the press room. That say, this is from the official White House account. They say victory. It says victory. And then on the poster boards behind the podium, it says victory, Gulf of America. Victory, Gulf of America. And it shows the Gulf of Mexico. And they're calling it the Gulf of America. And they're declaring victory right now. Now, I just want you to think about that as so many Americans are now suffering victory. Brett Jordy.
- [36:11]
Elon Musk
They have so misread, I'll say, their quote, unquote mandate that they think they had because they never had a mandate to begin with. Under 50% of the country actually ended up voting for Donald Trump. There never was a mandate. They acted like they got like 70% of the vote and they pushed forward some of the most dangerous, damaging policies. And not only just major changes, but, but changes that uniquely affect people's personal lives. Like if you're going to position yourself as the party of small government, as the part of the party of we're going to leave you alone, let you live your life, and then all of a sudden you are literally the guy responsible for somebody's mom or dad losing their job, or someone's brother or sister losing their job, or all the crap that we are seeing losing their health care, whatever it is, then this gets real personal real fast for folks. And that's what's happening. I think they've so overextended what think they've had. I think the people are already turning on them. I mean, we showed that poll before the approval for Elon Musk's actions was in the 20s in that it was like 26% or something like that. That means that it's even digging into the maga. People aren't liking what they are seeing, which is absolutely astonishing. Do you know how bad you have to be to have in the 20s approval for what you were doing Now? I think it's important that people link a little bit that what Elon is doing is what Trump is doing. And I think, you know, you got, we got to be putting two and two together there. But we are seeing this outrage at all these town hall of people who are already fed up with what is going on. I think when Trump doubles down on this sort of rhetoric, I think when they continue to insult hardworking Americans, federal employees, veterans, I think when they continue to take actions and tell Elon to be more aggressive with the 26% approval rating, I think this is all this house of cards is going to continue to come crumbling down. People are going to be outraged as they are now. But to next Levels. The anger is going to increase. You already feel it in the streets. You already feel it in these town halls. And I don't think they understand exactly what they're doing because I think they're. They brainwash themselves with these algorithms as well. But like they're in for a rude awakening right now. I'm. I'm telling you right now, at the.
- [38:22]
Fiona
Risk of being made fun of by you too. Did I. What, what were they declaring victory over? Did I miss something? I'm not.
- [38:28]
Elon Musk
That is the Gulf of America. I don't know. I guess. I guess that's it. Here's the thing, Jordy. They pick these dumb ass things like Gulf of America, right? They pick gold at Fort Knox. They do things that are just idiotic distractions like of dangling the keys, as I've said in the movie up, you know, or Squirrel, right? They want to divert people's attention to some place to try to make them forget that they are robbing them blind, that they are taking away their jobs. But this is just too personal for people where that crap isn't working anymore. It may work during a campaign, but it doesn't work when reality hits. And they tried this strategy once before. When did they try it? They tried it during the COVID 19 pandemic. They tried to tell everybody everything was okay. The numbers are going to go down to zero. We're all cool, we're chill here, everything's fine. But guess what? Eventually reality catches up to their. And we're seeing that happen right now. Reality is catching up quick, very quick to what they are doing. And so those are the distractions, right?
- [39:27]
Brett Meiselas
The.
- [39:28]
Elon Musk
The renaming of the place the, the Fort Knox. I mean Fort Knox is audited like every, every year. It's like ridiculous. What is he, national treasure? Is he, Nicholas Cage now going to find the gold? It's just like he plays into people's kind of lizard conspiratorial brains. And then while he gets them distracted with is there going to be vault. When I opened up the vault. While he.
- [39:48]
Brett Meiselas
Some gold. Yeah, maybe you give me some money, maybe I give you some gold.
- [39:52]
Elon Musk
And meanwhile he's screwing people. But. But you know, we're seeing people rise up and like I said before, make these people scared, make them scared everywhere they go, with the facts, with the truth, peacefully. But make them afraid of your voice the same way that they are afraid of MAGA people.
- [40:08]
Brett Meiselas
You know, the new thing that they're dangling in front of people because this is a Ponzi scheme administration. I'm sure you saw it. Are those Doge rebates? Like, don't worry, when Elon finds it, we're going to give you some money from it.
- [40:21]
Elon Musk
The Doge rebates, where Elon's basically saying, you know, when we actually find all this money, when we, when we uncover all the fraud, waste and abuse, guess what's going to happen, folks? We're going to give you checks of.
- [40:33]
Brett Meiselas
Up to $5,000, the Doge rebates. So he's just dangling them like, maybe when we find you some money, we'll give, give you. We'll give you a handout. We can give you some money. I mean, first and foremost, it's such an obvious con. Number one, it's such an obvious scam. Number two, even if they did that, it would cause inflation to skyrocket and it would absolutely tank the markets. And so also, what's their plan, too? They're going to tank our economy to then try to give people recovery checks after tanking the economy and then keep people in that type of cycle. That's, that's what conservative means right now. And I just think people aren't buying this crap anymore. I mean, take a look at this MAGA Republican Congress member Fitzgerald. This is at his town hall that he had where he got a rude awakening as well. Let's play when will you stand up to them and say that is enough?
- [41:32]
Elon Musk
The end result of the fraud and abuse that has been discovered already.
- [41:45]
Fiona
Yeah, that played so well. That plates. That talking point played so well over x, it got 17,000 bajillion views. What do you mean? People were mad about that? That's not what my X algorithm said.
- [41:55]
Brett Meiselas
I want you to watch this, by the way. I want you to watch this one here. This is a constituent calling in to. To MAGA Republican Congresswoman Bice. She's from Oklahoma. Watch this Republican constituent call into the MAGA Republican Congresswoman Bice. Let's play it.
- [42:12]
Constituent
I'm a registered Republican voter and retired active army officer. How can you tell me that Doge with some college whiz kids from a computer terminal in Washington, D.C. without even getting out into the field after about a week or maybe two, has determined that it's okay to cut veterans benefits?
- [42:35]
Kayleigh McEnany
I think a couple things. Let me give you an example. Did you know that the VA was in charge of payments for illegals for.
- [42:48]
Brett Meiselas
Housing, basically the va?
- [42:50]
Constituent
No, I'd like, I'd like for you to send that. Send me, could you send me that reference so I could research that? Because. No, I'm not aware that. And I would tell you that that's a red herring, a false flag if you're throwing that kind of political stuff up, trying to cut veterans benefits. That's very alarming to me.
- [43:07]
Brett Meiselas
Now let's go to the Ruby Red congressional district of Maga, Republican Rich McCormick in Georgia. Ruby Red here. Let's play this clip.
- [43:19]
Rich McCormick
I'll pause whenever you want. And you can go and yell all.
- [43:22]
Elon Musk
You want what you congressman and your fellow congressman are going to do to reign in the megalomaniac in the White House.
- [43:34]
Rich McCormick
I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected. The funny thing is you're sitting here and a lot of you would probably say those January 6th sixes who are yelling just as loud as you, who are upset just like you.
- [43:55]
Brett Meiselas
Hey, hey, let's restore some order.
- [43:58]
Rich McCormick
So yelling, yelling at me is not going to get any answer. Okay. I've seen Game of Thrones too. Thank you. Let's go ahead and move on because what if you want to, if you're not going to listen, if you're not going to listen to the answer, we might as well not discuss it.
- [44:13]
Jordy Meiselas
Right?
- [44:13]
Rich McCormick
The REINS act, which reigns in executive power for both parties, whoever is in party. I don't want to see the president make all the decisions. I don't, I didn't want to see. Do you not want to hear that? I just said, I, I answered it directly. I said I don't want to see any president be too powerful. I, look, I'm the one saying let's work together. And you're the one screaming at me, okay, let's be fair. I'm telling you how you solve this, this and you're saying, no, we don't want to hear.
- [44:47]
Brett Meiselas
I mean, the level of gaslighting and arrogance is just through the roof. And now you're seeing all these MAGA Republican Congress members canceling their town halls. They don't want to be a part of it. They don't want to hear from their constituents. And you know, the people are letting them know what's going on. I mean, and again, that gives me hope as well. So you have that taking place. And then you also have, have like what's going on in, in Russia right now where Russian state regime media, which is basically the equivalent of, you know, our Fox at this point is basically state regime media. They're out there basically saying, we couldn't have asked for anything better. We've got America in total alignment with Putin, got Trump and Putin have formed an alliance together. Here, this is what they're saying all over Russian state TV when Trump is answering questions about the press conference. I think it is not a coincidence that many of the narratives that are being voiced largely materialized after their conversation. The phrases he is saying are so deep and so correct, they are in total alignment with the way we see things. Okay, so then Fox has to like justify. So then Fox is in damage control mode. And so at this point at Fox, like if you look at some of the hosts, right, you have like Lara Trump, like who ran the RNC, Donald Trump's daughter in law. You have Kayleigh McEnany, who was Donald Trump's former press secretary, right? The former Fox host Pete Hegseth is now running the Department of Defense with like literally zero experience. And by the way, firing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff via a Donald Trump social media post. I mean, General Seek Q. Brown, the highly qualified chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff gets fired in a social media post basically in the past few days and then they bring in a guy who has to get an exemption because he has no qualification. He did not have the qualifications to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. So firing the highly qualified black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bring in an unqualified white guy guy fired by Pete Hegseth and people get what's going on. This Fox host, like, what the hell is going on? Is now the Defense secretary firing General CQ Brown, like, what the heck? So then Kaylee Macine, Fox, this is the message that they're pushing. Folks, you don't know Trump's a good deal maker and it's all part of four dimensional chess that you're seeing. And it's a strategy. What you got to do is you suck up to the dictator, you soften them, and then that's how you show strength, right? Because everybody knows a tough negotiator tries to look really weak. That's like negotiating 101 right here. Play the clip.
- [47:36]
Kayleigh McEnany
Might be some strategy to that. I, I do think there's a quote.
- [47:39]
Jordy Meiselas
Method to the madness of, you know.
- [47:42]
Kayleigh McEnany
Buttering up a dictator who very much.
- [47:44]
Brett Meiselas
Enjoys that to then find some sort of deal that is friendlier on your.
- [47:48]
Kayleigh McEnany
Terms than maybe it would have been.
- [47:50]
Brett Meiselas
Seriously, sometimes you just like look at those clips and you're like. It does give me hope though, that I think people now are looking at this and it's making them extra angry when they just see how ridiculous it is. Brett, I want to get your take on it. Jordy, I want to get your take on it. We got to take our last quick break of the show. I want to remind everybody to subscribe on both audio and to our YouTube channel. So our YouTube listeners subscribe to the audio podcast currently number one on Apple and Spotify in both the U.S. u.S. And in Canada, beating Joe Rogan and all those right wing podcasts as well. Thanks to all of you the Midas Mighty and subscribe on our YouTube channel. Our YouTube channel today beating Fox, the NBA, ESPN, ABC and that's all thanks to you the Midas mighty. Check out Midasplus.com where our editor in Chief Ron Philipkowski writes some great pieces there and also patreon.com Midas Touch where you get to meet me, Brett and Jordy when we hold our monthly meetings. Let's take our last break of the show.
- [48:56]
Fiona
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- [50:31]
Guest
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- [52:06]
Fiona
Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of audio and YouTube click the links, use the codes, let them know we sent you dose Amazing Naked Wines. Amazing. Check them both out. Benji, where to next?
- [52:17]
Brett Meiselas
Well, let me show you what was posted from a now official government account. This is from the Department of Defense Rapid Response account where a question was asked to Defense Secretary Pete Hegsa about why he selected an unqualified retired Lieutenant General to replace the the General Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff CQ Brown this is what they posted. So this isn't like this is what they think makes him look good. If we have do we have that clip read to play? Mr. Secretary, why did you select an underqualified retired lieutenant general to be the.
- [52:57]
Ben Meiselas
Next Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff?
- [52:58]
Brett Meiselas
Given that I'm going to choose to.
- [53:00]
Elon Musk
Reject your unqualified question.
- [53:02]
Brett Meiselas
I'm going to choose to reject your unqualified question. I mean these are just a bunch of clowns. Like these are a bunch of real pathetic people. Whether it's Kayleigh McEnany's response trying to act like this is four dimensional chess. Whether it's Pete Hegseth saying I'm going to reject your unqualified question. That's the response of someone who is very unqualified, who is not confident in their job and who behaves like, like, like a fifth grade. No, no offense to fifth grade petulant bullies, but like, who behaves like that as a grownup, as a leader, yet alone, the leader of the Defense Department. What. What was that? What?
- [53:40]
Fiona
Do you want to offend those grade petulant bullies? Definitely. Definitely not a segment of our audience that you would want to offend. So I'm glad you cleared that up.
- [53:46]
Elon Musk
Hey, definitely not. Please, please leave them alone then. You know, the reporter responded to that Pete Hegseth clip from the Department of Defense rapid response account. So silly that they have all these accounts, but whatever. I'll get to that in a second. But he wrote the following to be clear, I asked why he selected a quote, under qualified nominee, Dan Cain does not meet the legal requirements to be chairman and would need a waiver. Kane is a RET3 star and will need to be brought back to service and then promoted in order to get the job. So that was the actual question that the reporter was getting at. They tried to do some sort of sick burn to get back to him. Didn't answer the question because what they're doing is indefensible. But I think their whole strategy as we see it, is that they view reality as malleable. This has been the Donald Trump thing from back in 2016 and before. They view reality as just something that's an inconvenient thing, that's in the way that we could change. We can mold public opinion, which is why they put such a emphasis on the problem propaganda. And they view their propaganda as more important than the actual actions that they are taking. So the actual actions that they are taking are dangerous, they are incompetent, they are ruining people's lives. They could likely throw the country into a recession. We're probably going to see some dramatic job losses on future job reports. There's going to be mass unrest. We're already seeing prices skyrocketing. We're seeing all this horrible things, all these horrible things. Things happening. But they think as long as we could control the narrative, especially online, we can control the populace, which is why they have all of these various accounts, rapid response for every department. And why they treat them like they are a MAGA influencer. By the way, I wouldn't even be shocked if they put one of those MAGA influencers in charge of these accounts. But they've really. They've given away the game in recent weeks, especially when you had Jesse Waters go the other day. I mean, he was like, it's what, it's an asymmetrical war. You know, we, we get it on Twitter, Elon boosts it, then we do talk about it on Fox. Then it's in the paper the next day. Bada bing. By the time they even catch up to it, guess what happens? We're already on to the next one. Like, he admitted that on the air. That's, that, that's the strategy that we've been telling you guys that they've been doing. But Jesse Waters just said it out loud that that is their strategy. The White House is employing the same strategy here. And we're going to see this over and over again. Just lies. That's why I'm urging you all, do not take White House comments, official White House statements at the truth. If they say Zelensky agreed to X, Y and Z, don't believe it. If they say, we just got a deal in this play, do not believe anything you see unless you see it reported independently outside of them, unless you have confirmation from the other sides. Because this whole, this whole operation, this whole house of cards, relies on these propaganda platforms, which is why Elon Musk was willing to spend the amount of money he spent on Twitter. Because they know that that is their one trick pony in order to have success here. And by success, they, they may. I mean by controlling the people and pushing forward their horrific agenda. And so, you know, I'm happy though, that we're breaking through the propaganda right now. We're breaking through the propaganda here with this network reaching more people. We're breaking through the propaganda by seeing people take to these town halls, take to these protests, and we're going to have to see more of it. People are going to have to be talking, people are going to have to be spreading the word and it's going to have to get personal for people and people are going to have to share their personal stories. You know, somebody asked me the other day, um, you know, on like a TikTok live that I was doing, they said, but I don't have like followers. So, like, if I went to a town hall and spoke, you know, talked to my representative, no one's going to see it. I said, well, send, send it to me, you know, and I want everybody to know that we got your back here at the Midas Touch Network. We want to be uplifting your voices. So if you go to one of these town halls and peacefully Push back at your representative. We want to be the ones who help you get that out to the masses. And we need everybody in this community, anytime you see these stories of Reverend resistance out there, to spread these stories, to show that there are people out there all across the country who are not okay with it, despite what social media wants to feed you 1,000.
- [57:49]
Fiona
And, you know, you know, another thing here, you could tell how and when Trump and his MAGA cabinet don't want to answer a question by how ridiculous and bully like they come up when a reporter is close to figuring out the truth, you know, and really getting to that sensitive subject, that. That's that reflex that we see from Hegseth there, just acting like a total lunatic. Like who. Who behaves like that in any setting, let alone the setting that he was in just there? I mean, truly bizarre. And the same thing with Trump earlier. I'd rather not. I'd rather not answer that question. Well, too bad. Answer it and defend it. Answer it.
- [58:26]
Brett Meiselas
There's a lot of litigation with the Trump administration that we've been covering here on the Midas Touch Network. I think one of the most interesting ones that's probably not getting enough coverage coverage is what's taking place with that guy Hampton Dillager, who leads the Office of the Special Counsel, and that is the agency that's responsible for investigating illegal actions taken against federal employees. So the Trump administration tried to fire this Hampton Dillinger, and Hampton Dillinger sued to make sure that he does not get fired. There was a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from firing Hampton Dillon. Dillinger. The Trump administration took that case up to the Supreme Court as fast as they could. And a lot of people were probably like, why is that one? What's it about that special counsel department that's getting so much attention and what's happening behind the scenes there? Well, we now know what's happening. So the Supreme Court made a ruling that basically said, you can't. We're not going to overturn the ruling from the district court that you can't fire this guy Hampton Dillon yet. And so that's going to expire soon. I think in the next two days or so this district court order expires, and then there's going to be a more fulsome hearing on the termination. But in the meantime, Hampton Dillinger dropped an absolute bombshell, and this is what the Trump administration was terrified about. So Hampton Dillinger, who runs the Office of Special Counsel, issued a report basically saying all of the termination of these probationary employees is Almost certainly illegal. Now, what the special counsel's office focused on was six specific cases. But in their finding, they extrapolated basically the way you would almost view like a class action lawsuit, that all of these similarly situated people, all of these probationary employees who were fired, were filed, were fired in legally. And as a former practicing attorney who handled wrongful termination cases, you don't really get much more of a smoking gun than when human resources essentially says, yes, the company engaged in employment violations. So that's basically the equivalent of what went down. You have now the equivalent of basically human resources, this office that looks into these things, making a finding saying these probationary firings were unlawful. And the basis of why they were unlawful is that you have to go through certain steps even when you fire probationary employees. Like, you have to communicate if you're firing them for cause. You can't just randomly one day be like, you're fired. See you later. There has to be some, like, attempt to engage with them, to let them know are they not meeting the expectations. Like, there has to be preliminary steps. I mean, you have to think about it like this. These federal government workers gave their life to do jobs that aren't in the spotlight, right? A lot of these jobs aren't glamorous. These are just tough jobs where people sacrifice a lot of their time to do things that keep Americans safe, right? Whether it's working in the Agriculture Department, whether it's working in the Department of Education, whether it's working, whether it's working in energy, whether it's working in national parks, whether it's, you know, being part of the crisis hotline or working elsewhere within the, you know, Veterans Administration. You know, these are jobs that are necessary. Whether it's working within the Transportation Department and focusing on railroad safety, focusing on aviation safety, focusing on shipping safety, right? And what these federal workers just wanted in return was just to be treated with respect and dignity and have a due process if you're going to, you know, do anything to them. They, they signed up also for these federal jobs not to be worked by elon Musk for 20 hour days and to be treated, treated like trash. I mean, these people were giving their time in their life to the federal government to kind of give back as well. And for them to be treated like this is so utterly horrific. But I just. Brett, you alluded to this at the beginning, you know, based on this finding now, what if all of these probationary employees who were fired, they now would have to potentially get reinstated, put back into their job, get Back pay, get penalties, all of these monetary damages as well, for being deemed terminated for cause when there was nothing for cause about the termination. Just imagine if these tens of thousands of people, people who are fired, what if they now file all of these wrongful termination lawsuits as well? And before you know it, you're talking about literally tens of billions of dollars in the aggregate because of these unlawful acts.
- [63:35]
Guest
Yeah.
- [63:35]
Elon Musk
I mean, honestly, I think at the end of the day, when you, when we look back on Doge, you know, hopefully we all get out from under this and I do believe we will be able to. I think we're going to see that Doge was a massive net negative on the United States of America, that it destroyed America's, the United States productivity, that it destroyed, obviously, jobs, and that it actually ended up costing the country more for this ridiculous vanity project that nobody asked for.
- [64:03]
Fiona
Yeah. More so than a net loss, a net negative. Absolutely. And to your point, just the overemphasis there on credibility, like what's happening right now, I don't know how we start digging ourselves up from where Trump and Musk has positioned, positioned us within the respect of the world, because frankly, it's declining at a rapid, at a rapid pace. We've lost the respect of the world, like, I guess aside from Putin and Kim Jong Un, but they don't even respect Trump. They're just using him. They're making fun of him, too. So where do we go from here as a society, as a country? That's going to be the biggest hurdle now going forward. As long as we can all, you know, preserve democracy in these last or next four years.
- [64:44]
Brett Meiselas
Look, supporting Vladimir Putin is not a popular position inside the United States. That is one of those areas that, what, 80% of people, or more disapproved, I think it's maybe in like Even like the 90% of people and the way they. That's why Fox tries to say this is still part of the four dimensional strategy. It's not part of four dimensional chess. When you literally cast a vote in the United nations that says you oppose condemning Russia as the aggressive aggressor in the Russian war against Ukraine, in Russia's unlawful invasion, that the United States would not even join with all of the other countries, but instead side with North Korea and Russia and Belarus and Hungary against Ukraine, it's like a gut punch. When some of these things just hit me like a, like a gut punch, and I'm like, that is humiliating. You know, when I see how the new Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Mears, goes up there and says, now the United States, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, JD Vance and these Magas. He goes, they're just like Putin. They're basically the same. They're interfering in German elections to try to get the Neo Nazi Party, which picked up some seats. They came second. It's scary that they're picking up seats. But fortunately, they underperformed what they were supposed to ultimately do. After JD Van showed up in Europe and attacked and attacked European nations and attacked the other parties in Germany and supported the adf. But we have the Republicans supporting the Neo Nazi Party. At cpac, you had both Steve Bannon and this other speaker doing the Nazi salute symbol. You had Elon Musk doing it. I look at this and at least literally, it's a physical feeling of my heart sinking. And I go, this shouldn't be a Democrat, Republican, Independent. It should just be a human thing. What the hell are we doing? Unfortunately, the CDU CSU party in Germany is going to, I think, be able to form this government behind the new Chancellor, Frederick Meurs. And he's saying, though, look, he goes, I don't know what we're going to do for our NATO summit in, in June, because it seems like America's out. I mean, that's how they're talking. That's how they're talking about us, you know, in Europe. And then Donald Trump's proven it with what he's. With what he's doing. I mean, you know that he posts something like this. This is what this is from the official account of a United States president as a spongebob meme where he's again mocking federal workers for Elon Musk's demand that they justify five things that they did last week. And memes, meanwhile, you had a lot of the agencies then telling their own employees, you don't have to respond to this. I mean, you know, we're not even talking about the fact that Cash Patel became the FBI director. And he's his first response in his press conference as FBI director, Patel was like, this is effing crazy. This is effing crazy. And then Donald Trump picked Dan Bongino, the conspiracy theorist podcaster who never worked at the FBI. I mean, he previously worked at the Secret Service, which is not the FBI, to be the deputy director of the FBI. Let's look at, let's look at the.
- [68:13]
Elon Musk
Bright side, though, Ben. I think that puts you next in line for, to run Department of Defense under the next Democratic administration.
- [68:18]
Brett Meiselas
So could you imagine the, like, if someone were the thing with Like a hexit, too. Like the arrogance. If someone were to say that to me, I would just be like, okay, no, we talking about running the Defense Department. The fact that Heth. The fact that Hegseth even thinks that he should be doing it goes to this malignant narcissistic pathology that's almost as dangerous as the complete fatal error of putting him in there in the first place that he takes it. But. But take a look at what Trump posted. This SpongeBob, the SpongeBob meme. This is how he's referring to federal workers got done last week. He's mocking federal workers, cried about Trump, cried about Elon, made it into the office for once, read some emails, cried about Trump and Elon some more. I mean, again, could you imagine a work environment where your boss just like. Like, bullies you and harasses you every day like that? It is so. It is so demeaning. But I do want this episode to give people hope, because people are rising up. That, to me, is the main theme here. Whether you're talking about from Oklahoma to Missouri to Georgia to the red areas in Wisconsin to, you know, certain red areas in New York. And you go throughout the country. Country. This is a theme we're seeing over and over again. And, Brett, to your point, y'all need to help make your voices heard, whether it's calling your members of Congress, whether it's showing up at these protests, showing up at events. We'll keep covering them here at the Midas Touch Network. And I just think the pressure needs to grow. Brett.
- [70:06]
Elon Musk
Yeah. You know that it is terrifying them when they see these sorts of actions because they're trying to get out in front of it and discredit the protesters. Now, I'm not trying. Or if you've seen, you know, some of the messages that people a MAGA have been posting online, but they're like, no, this can't be real. That's a Republican area. Those are definitely just Democratic activists, or they would say Democrat activists who are just invading these spaces to yell at. They. They can't let people realize that, oh, there are other people like me out there who have these strong feelings who hate what is going on right now, who despise what Donald Trump is doing, what Elon Musk is doing. So they didn't act like this is some sort of, you know, fake thing that shows you that it's getting to the heart of. Of, you know, everything. Because like I said earlier, their entire operation is not a governing operation. It's a propaganda operation. And these things that pierce through the bubble, quite literally in these red bubbles across the country, are the biggest threat to them imaginable. Their voters, rising up, people hearing from them and make your voice heard. If for those of you who have ever said, listen, I am a blue, blue dot in a red district or a red state, what can I do? Well, if you have a friend or two and you want them for a support group, go and bring them to a town hall with you and make your voice heard. This is how we're going to be able to change things here. This is same way Midas is a people powered movement. We need a people powered movement out there on the streets every single day, pushing back, rising up. And that's what we are seeing. And I want to see a whole lot more of it. Make them afraid.
- [71:44]
Brett Meiselas
Yeah. You know, to your point, this is not some hypothetical damage. I mean, I'm sure your 401k is down right now, prices are up right now, inflation is surging right now, jobs are being lost right now. And Trump's out there talking about searching Fort Knox with Elon Musk and doing a National treasure movie like, what in the world is going on? We're going to keep speaking truth to power here on the Midas Touch Network. We will fearlessly report on what's going on and please help spread the message and show others this show. Show others our YouTube channel. Send others our audio podcast. This movement needs to keep on growing, especially as the protests continue to grow. We'll be covering them and we will be letting you know where to go, what to do, and that's going to become a major important part of this as well. For those who are new to this show as well, come back to the YouTube channel with about every 90 minutes we post a new video on that YouTube channel covering some new breaking news or some important topics. So keep checking the YouTube channel throughout the day. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube and on the audio podcast, currently the number one podcast in America on both Spotify and Apple Charts and podscribe beating the Rogan show and all those other right wing podcasts. Podcast folks, this is what you built. You were sick and tired of having these right wing shows constantly dominating the podcast charts. And so this is your movement and it's not possible without you. We're grateful for you. Thank you for all you do. Thank you for the work our mods put in and keeping the conversations civil here. Thank you for. Thank you to all of our hosts as well and all of our workers at the Midas Touch Network who make this production possible. It's such an honor to be here with all of you every single day and so thank you for watching and we'll see you soon. On the next the Next videos we drop and on the next Midas Touch podcast.
- [73:49]
Fiona
Have a great one. Everybody shout out to the Midas My day the.
- [73:55]
Ben Meiselas
Standing Strong.
- [74:00]
Jordy Meiselas
Again.
- [74:11]
Fiona
Love this video. Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram. It's touch and help us blow past 750,000 followers.
- [74:25]
Kayleigh McEnany
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