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- [00:00]
Brett
It's tax season and at Lifelock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's a big one you need to billions. That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points Lifelock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it, guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast for the threats you can't control. Terms apply.
- [00:30]
Benji
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Brett
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- [00:34]
Benji
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Brett
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- [00:42]
Benji
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- [00:45]
Brett
Well, the holidays have come and gone once again.
- [00:48]
Jordy
But if you've forgotten to get that special someone in your life a gift. Well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless.
- [00:56]
Bams
So here's the idea.
- [00:57]
Jordy
You get it now, you call it an early present for next year.
- [01:00]
Brett
What do you have to lose?
- [01:02]
Bams
Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch limited time,
- [01:05]
Brett
50 off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for 3 months, $90 for 6 month or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. It's been catastrophic day after catastrophic day for Donald Trump and his collapsing regime. And good. This is the karma that they deserve. They tried to have Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton get embarrassed during depositions earlier in the day. Hillary Clinton's deposition was up first. She said, let's do it in public. Let's invite the press. Let's do it in a public hearing. To which MAGA Republican James Comer's like, no way. Let's keep it secret, everybody. And then during the deposition, you had MAGA Republicans like Lauren Boebert like taking photos of Hillary Clinton from the side and sending it to MAGA influencers. Then Hillary Clinton's like, if you want to, let's just have the press come in if you're going to be weird about it. Then James Comer's like, no way. And they started asking her about UFOs and Pizzagate and all of these things. Well, we'll cover what went down there. But yet again, it backfires in James Comer and Donald Trump's face. Now the Democrats are like, great, you set a precedent. We would like Lutnick's deposition next. We would like Donald Trump's deposition next. Oh, and by the way, Donald Trump and his despicable sycophantic Department of Justice is now covering up, we know now basically for a fact that they're covering up these 302 reports, these FBI reports. And we believe that one of them is from some of the great reporting out there, is an accuser of Donald Trump who says that Trump sexually assaulted her when she was a minor. That's among the 302 reports that have been concealed. And we also know that back on January 4th, Todd Blanch, the number two at the Department of Justice and Donald Trump's criminal defense attorney before that, sent a memo telling the FBI agents to flag those 302 reports and set them aside and also to not produce documents on the basis of privilege claims, even though the Epstein Transparency act does not mention you can withhold documents on the basis of privilege claims. We'll go over that. Also, you, you've got potential war with Iran breaking out at any moment right now. Apparently Iran rejected each and every one of the demands by the Trump regime. They view Donald Trump as weak. And so we'll see what happens there. And they said, well, Donald Trump threatened that he was going to attack Iran the moment they killed a single protester. And then Donald Trump let Iran massacre 30,000 protesters. So I think Iran views Donald Trump and his regime as not wanting to a war that would be more than any kind of strategic strikes. And Iran saying do it, do it. And that's what it looks like when Donald Trump goes it alone. His only ally is Israel. No one else in the world wants to help the United States anymore. America's isolated and weaker than ever and our military is overextended right now. That's clear talk about that America may be going to war with Cuba. There was apparently a very big international incident that no one in the Trump regime is even saying what happened where individuals from the United titled boat went to Cuba, started opening fire apparently on coast guards in Cuba. Cuba then opened fire on the individuals in this boat, killing four, capturing six individuals. And no real story, like who are these people from the United States? Like what's, what's, what's going on there. But the Trump regime is saying we need to strangle Cuba. Let's strangle it. Also North Korea, Kim Jong Un's leader there in North Korea, he said, we're expanding our nuclear nuclear arsenal. We're going to make it bigger and stronger and more powerful, more nuclear weapons. No response by the Trump regime because, you know, Donald Trump likes Kim Jong Un. We'll talk about all of this and more. We'll talk about, oh, that hearing in the Senate, the confirmation hearing of Casey Means, who the Trump regime wants to be the surgeon general. And she's the lady who said that she heard the whispers in the air that told her she needed to do psychedelics and that that's what she bases her being a surgeon general around. I'm not saying, look, you psychedelics may or may not work for you. I'm only suggesting that when she heard the whispers and she says that and then she sells supplements as well and doesn't disclose conflicts of interest and that she's making money and that, no, she never passed her residency. She is an inactive physician. I don't know. You know, she, she believes that vaccines cause autism. She's RFK sycophant, maybe not the best person to be surgeon general, doesn't believe in birth control and says that, you know, it will kill you. I'm not the best surgeon. All right, we'll talk about that and more here at the Midas Touch podcast, yet again, the number one podcast in all of the United States. On the new YouTube charts, we were number one this entire month. And oftentimes we go back and forth. We're number one or Joe Rogan's number one. But for the past three weeks, Midas Touch has been number one. Thanks to all of you. And make sure you subscribe to our audio podcast as well. Even if you just like watching this on video, it helps us so much when you subscribe on audio. And we hit 6 million subscribers thanks to you here on the YouTube channel. Brett, how you doing? Brett? The people state of the Union we threw here with MoveOn was also a huge, it was a huge hit.
- [06:40]
Jordy
I know you've had a chance to speak about it with the folks, but I want to, you know, just mention it for a second up top and thank everybody for tuning in. I mean, everybody who watched live, everybody who watched after the fact, that was a record setting night. It was a history making night. And the thing I love about it the most is that we got to counter the State of the Union that was filled with grievances and lies, with the stories of real Americans actually highlighting the issues that are actually facing people in this country, highlighting what's important. And so I want to thank everybody for tuning in. I remember the last episode. I said, this is the moment, right? We need you guys to step up. Right? I'm calling on you.
- [07:18]
Bams
Okay.
- [07:19]
Jordy
And you all stepped up big time. I mean, that was such a huge success. We all made history. You all made history. Thank you so much for being part of this. And I think it's just a sign of the power of this network, the power of this community and of people power in general, and the thirst for pro democracy democracy content and messages and the truth. I think we made such a powerful statement that night and we are just getting started here. So thank you so much. Really, really, really appreciate it. I'm excited to get into today's episode. We've got a whole lot to discuss, but, you know, I was going to turn over to Jordy and just say, you know, check in. How you doing, little brother?
- [07:57]
Bams
What's going on? What's up, brothers? What's up? Midas Mighty? Now, I want to elaborate on that a little bit. Brett, with some just concrete numbers here too. Just, just for the folks, just so y' all know, the people. State of the Union, huge success. I mean, truly, as Brett said, what an honor to be able to, to bring that to the world with you guys every step of the way. We had over 170,000 consecutive live viewers at one point on the stream, which is just absolutely insane for any stream. By the end of the stream, it had over 2 million views. And where we stand today, across all of the various streams, over 4.5 million views on the people's State of the Union. So huge success, huge shout out to the Midas Mighty. This is all thanks to you guys. And we're going to keep. We're going to keep doing this. We're going to keep doing this. Absolutely. And obviously huge shout out to our partners. Move on. Incredible stuff. Benji, where do you want to start off today, big bro?
- [08:53]
Brett
Well, let's start off talking about how this deposition by MAGA of Hillary Clinton backfired in their faces, as we expected it would. Let me just show you what Hillary Clinton said herself after the deposition concluded. And she answered every question while the MAGA Congress members like Lauren Boebert were like, taking photos of her and sending it to like MAGA influencers like Benny Johnson. Here's what former Secretary of State Clinton had to say. Let's play it.
- [09:24]
Benji
I don't know how many times I had to say I did not know Jeffrey Epstein. I never went to his island, I never went to his homes. I never went to his offices. So it's on the record numerous times. It then got at the end quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about pizzagate one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the Internet that was serving as the basis of a member's questions.
- [10:04]
Brett
To me, ridiculous. So when the congress members arrived in New York to take that deposition, it was notable because no MAGA Republican Congress members showed up to Les Wexner's deposition. They didn't want to be at that one, the guy who funded Epstein, Epstein's co conspirator. But they all wanted to be at this one of Hillary Clinton so they could take photos of her. But the good news is, is that when they were there, they were asked questions by members of the media and some of them asked them good questions. For example, James Comer was asked, are you concerned about all the news out right now that Donald Trump and his DOJ and FBI have been covering up? Interviews of witnesses or at least one accuser we know of potentially who accused Donald Trump of sexual abuse when she was a minor by Donald Trump, that these documents based on what we see in the document manifest are missing. And this was an accuser who mentioned being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump. That's the accusations. So where, where, where are these Comer, what say you? You're play this. Are you concerned that there has been a cover up of sexual abuse of a minor by President Trump?
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Jordy
There are missing FBI records that are.
- [11:22]
Brett
No, we're looking into the accusation by the npr. We don't know that the answer to that. We know what the administration says. We're still looking to get a definitive answer on that. I don't even know what that means. You're looking into the accusation by npr. No, it's the accusation by the individual who says she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump. Look into the accusation there. You're the House Oversight Committee. You read the NPR article. And by the way, hat tip to that reporter Roger Sullenberger as well. He broke the initial story. Then NPR also broke additional facts about that story. Then other people covered it, Wall Street Journal covered it, cnn, others and of course we've been talking about it here on the Midas Touch network for some time. But there's not much to look into there. I mean here's the document manifest. You can see the highlighted documents are from this accuser and you those are being concealed. We know that there are probably at least 90, probably more FBI 302s being concealed. I did a video on this earlier in this morning. A January 4th memo that Todd Blanche sent to FBI agents when they were reviewing the files saying make sure you segregate the 302 interviews and any types of communications that are internal within the DOJ and FBI, those shouldn't be produced. Any communications between Epstein and Ghislaine should not be produced. Let me repeat that. We know for a fact they are withholding documents and they're redacting documents of Epstein and Ghislaine communications. Because what they're saying in this memo, what Todd Blanch is saying, they had what's called a joint defense privilege. This is what the argument is, a joint defense privilege. So that their attorneys were sharing information with each other. And so therefore it's all attorney client privilege and should not be produced. How is there a joint defense privilege? When Epstein allegedly died, I mean, he died, he allegedly by suicide, which nobody believes. What explained to me was, was Ghislaine being criminally prosecuted at the exact same time? Were they arrested together at that exact same time? They had a joint defense privilege for 20 years. What are you talking about there? So to me, just produce the documents. We're looking into NPR's accusations. We know what the Trump has stated in response. What have they stated? That he's been vindicated. The hell does that even mean? Why are we at a deposition of Hillary Clinton and not Howard Lutnick? Why isn't Lutnick being deposed? Like, shouldn't the people who were on the island like and knew Epstein and lied about it? Don't you think we start there? We start there right before Hillary Lutnick maybe would be at the top of the list. Right? Here's what Comer says. Here plays the clip.
- [14:29]
Benji
Spirit of bipartisanship.
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Jordy
Would you then ask the Commerce Secretary,
- [14:32]
Benji
Howard Lutnick, to come testify?
- [14:33]
Jordy
It seems like he has some information
- [14:36]
Brett
that's very possible. And I think they're, you know, I think it's a good possibility that his name will arise in some questioning today.
- [14:43]
Benji
It'll be on my list.
- [14:44]
Jordy
And I have an email I printed
- [14:45]
Benji
off for Hillary to ask about Howard Lutnick.
- [14:47]
Brett
Today we're asking again, and I want to remind everyone, we've already brought in Alex Acosta and Bill Barr for depositions. That's two Republicans in the, in the Trump administration. So this isn't just about Democrats. This is about anyone that has any knowledge of Epstein, the investigation. I think we all agree the government failed. The government failed the victims and what our role is. We can't, we can't prosecute anyone. But what we have been doing is getting transparency to the American people. So you're going to ask Hillary Clinton about Howard Lutnick?
- [15:23]
Bams
That's.
- [15:24]
Brett
That's how you're going to address Howard Lutnick lying about not being on the island is to ask Hillary Clinton, who was never on the island and never spoke to Epstein, questions about Howard Lutnick. Like, do you all just think that we're just the stupidest people? Like, what does that even. What does that even mean? And then you're telling us that you've called people in the administration, Alex Acosta and Bill Barr, not in the administration. Right now you have Alex Acosta. He was Donald Trump's labor secretary. And when he testified previously in a deposition, we know he lied through his teeth. And there were lots of instances where he said they were never investigating financial fraud. He didn't know all of these things. I mean, look, the files clearly show that the guy lied about everything. There should be a referral of perjury against Alex Acosta, if anything. And then Bill Barr, the guy, Trump's hatchet man, who literally covered up everything for Donald Trump during his first term, that guy. You're saying that guy's in the Trump administration right now? What are you talking about? Now, contrast that to what Democratic Congress member Robert Garcia said outside of the deposition about the precedent that has now been set by the House Oversight Committee by deciding to depose Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. Here, play this clip. Lastly, I want to also add that this committee has now set a new precedent about talking to presidents and former presidents. And we're demanding immediately that we ask President Trump to testify in front of
- [16:55]
Jordy
our committee and be deposed in front of oversight, Republicans and Democrats.
- [16:59]
Brett
And that should happen immediately. He is the person that appears almost more than anyone else in the committee, and it needs to happen right now. Mr.
- [17:06]
Jordy
Chair, do you distinguish at all. Do you distinguish at all between a president and a former president and a sitting president? I mean, is there something in there? Because they will say, wait a minute,
- [17:14]
Brett
we know, you know what the court ruled on his immunity.
- [17:18]
Bams
We should.
- [17:19]
Brett
We should depose the person that is mentioned in the Epstein files almost more than any other person next to Ghislaine Maxwell, and that's Donald Trump.
- [17:27]
Jordy
Listen, ranking member Garcia has done a fantastic job. I think throughout this entire process, he's remained steadfast, despite the Democrats being in the minority. He's been on point with his messaging. He's been out there trying to get the truth. He's been subpoenaing the Epstein estate. He's been actually doing everything he can to get this information out there, and I think he deserves to be commended for that.
- [17:48]
Bams
But.
- [17:49]
Jordy
And you contrast that with the way the Republicans have handled this every step of the way, and the way the Trump regime has handled this, and every action they've taken has made them seem guiltier and guiltier and guiltier. And I wonder why I say that sarcastically, obviously. But we've seen every step of the way now from the very beginning of this Trump fight, the release of this, ultimately, he had to be forced by the discharge petition. It was such an overwhelming vote that it would have been an embarrassment and his veto would have been overturned. So he was essentially forced into signing this. And then the DOJ stonewalling every step of the way. And now what's he doing? He's bringing out his pedo protection racket. These House Oversight Committee Republicans, to run these sort of sham depositions to try, once again, to try to deflect from Donald Trump and to try to put it on other people like Hillary Clinton and others, what they're doing here is incredibly obvious. And they are just acting as Donald Trump's personal law firm rather than an actual oversight committee, trying to get to the bottom of things, trying to get to the truth here. And we're dealing with one of the most serious issues imaginable, child sex trafficking and a ring that involved very powerful people and extended far beyond even the sex trafficking scheme. But to also the way power was manipulated and how power worked with each other in order to kind of manipulate the public and move markets and overthrow governments. I mean, this is the most serious stuff that we're dealing with. And they've taken this to a place where they've just debased themselves, debased the, debase the whole process, because ultimately, they want people to believe nothing. They want to throw fake stuff out there. They just want to muddy the waters constantly. And today, I think, was another example of that. You know, Hillary Clinton, you know, when she got out of this deposition, I think she also said something incredibly revealing about kind of the best exchange that she felt that she had with the House Oversight Committee. So let me just play these words from Hillary Clinton, and we'll talk on the other side of it.
- [19:51]
Benji
I can only say that the best exchange that I had came at the very end, when, contrary to every other deposition they have taken, no Republican member asked any questions about Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell to anyone else they have deposed. And, in fact, the Republican members didn't even show up for the deposition of Les Wexner. And when I said that, I had to point out that the only questions that any Republican Member asked of any of the people that deposed was of former Attorney General Bill Barr, when Chairman Comer asked him about the allegations, in his view, about Russia's involvement in my election in 2016. So at the very end of this hearing, after I made that point, I want to commend Chairman Comer for raising a series of significant questions that I responded to about the nature of the investigation and the areas that I thought should be explored. So I appreciated that.
- [21:28]
Jordy
I
- [21:30]
Benji
want to see the truth come out. So that was a reassuring way to end a very long, repetitive deposition.
- [21:41]
Jordy
And I think that says a whole lot. And, you know, even just watching the body language of Hillary Clinton, hearing the way she speaks about this issue, her. Her confidence in the way she speaks, I think she comes off as incredibly trustworthy as she is. She comes off as somebody, to me, who has nothing to hide about this issue. And let's be honest here, she is so much smarter than any of these people in the House Oversight Committee. And they've dragged her through the mud before. They've, you know, had her do that very long testimony on the Benghazi, where she was there for hours and hours and hours and didn't flinch, answered every question. And I'm sure she did the same here as they kept trying to throw all this stuff out her. And just the way they tried to derail this whole thing, the way they didn't want to make it public, the stunt that they pulled with Lauren Boebert illegally taking a photo of Hillary Clinton during the deposition and leaking it to MAGA propagandist Benny Johnson. They're trying to do everything they possibly can to try to throw her off her game, to try to rattle her. But she, to me, appears as somebody who is going in there who has given honest testimony and has nothing to hide. When Donald Trump, on the other hand, you look at him, everything he's doing makes him look guiltier and guiltier and guiltier. And these Republicans, as I said before, appear that they are just. They view their job as being the personal law firm of Donald Trump. And everything that they do is designed to try to. For things that Donald Trump may have done in his dark past.
- [23:10]
Bams
Exactly. B. And here's the thing. Hillary wanted to do all of this in public. I think it was really smart of her, too, to hold that press conference after and answer these questions. It's really like we always say here, you know, you just have to control the narrative, especially when the truth is on your side, ultimately. And so.
- [23:25]
Brett
Right.
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Bams
You zoomed in on Ben and So when Hillary does that press conference after, that's her getting ahead of all of the shady shtick that, that MAGA and the Trump regime that they're, that they're trying to pull. Like, the reason, in my opinion, other than, you know, Lauren Boebert just being ridiculous. Human being sent that photo was to like make it look nefarious, like make it look evil. Like what Hillary would like, oh, look, she, look, she's answering questions on Epstein. Look, it's Hillary Clinton answering the question. It's like, yeah, she wanted to do this in public with cameras so everybody could see none of this should be political. Like, nothing with the Epstein file should be political. But you know who's politicizing it in every step of the way is the GOP at every step of the way. Look, this is a humanity issue. This isn't right versus left. This is right versus wrong. It's literally good versus evil. We're all looking for, well, we as the pro democracy communities clearly looking for justice for their survivors. That's what we want. We want accountability and answers. And anyone that's willing to stand up in public and say, hey, I will tell you everything that I know about this situation, I want to hear from them. And I think the American people at large want to hear from them every step of the way. The GOP has been shady, shady, shady. They don't want the truth. They want their version of the truth. And they're going to try and make that molded up any way that they can. But ultimately the facts are going to be what the facts are. And the American people, and thanks to independent media at large, we're demanding the facts and we're getting more evidence and more facts every single day. This has been one of these single worst looks, if you could, for the Republican regime in quite some time. I mean, it's really, this used to be an issue that they like at least pretended to really care about and were proud to discuss. And now it just looks like again, the COVID up in the situation cannot be worse than the crime at all. But the COVID up is getting pretty damn bad and it's right in front of the American people's faces.
- [25:28]
Brett
Look, we started this episode talking about the people, State of the Union. It is so critical that we ground coverage and center it in the people in we the people in getting out the facts and amplifying the voices of what people are experiencing. And it's important to note what we're up against also. And the breaking news from a little bit earlier ago is now that Warner Brothers is agreeing to be sold to Paramount. Netflix has declined to raise its offer after Paramount raised its offer of Warner Brothers. And so you're now going to have Paramount, which you all saw what it just did to CBS and how it's destroyed CBS already. Now they take over Warner Brothers, they're going to run that a certain way as well. And you may be saying, doesn't this, like, violate antitrust law? Like, aren't there, like, issues about one company now controlling almost like all of the media? Like, is it there? How could it possibly be that they control Paramount, CBS and now Warner Brothers? They're going to own it all? Well, the antitrust department at the Department of Justice really doesn't exist anymore. I mean, it's pretty much been gutted. And the head of the antitrust division at the DOJ and the number two are gone. And, you know, corporations said, we don't want the, you know, the antitrust division to really exist. We want to be able to engage in, you know, these types of, you know, these types of things. And it's interesting because you may remember in 2024 at, you know, I'm trying to think of where that conference, there was a conference and David Zaslav, who owns Warner Brothers, was out there and he was asked in 2024 about Trump or Biden. I think this was before Biden left the race. And he said, well, one of the reasons that he liked Trump a lot was the idea of kind of these massive consolidations. And he thought that that would be, you know, helpful and mergers and acquisitions. And meanwhile, I pointed out that Zaslav basically got his job during a merger and acquisition of. Of involving Paramount, I'm sorry, involving Warner Brothers and Discovery during the time when Biden was in office. But he was never able to actually successfully execute the business once he made the merger like he did the Warner Brothers Discovery merger, then he came in from the Discovery side, basically ran the company during Biden's term, and then now that entity should, should succeed. It should be competitive, right? It should do all of the things he wanted. But now it's just going to sell that over and create this monopoly with Paramount, you know, which is, you know, I think not a helpful thing. And by the way, it's not just the DOJ antitrust divisions that's been dismantled. The anti sex trafficking division of the DoJ has basically been dismantled. Their division that goes after crypto has been dismantled. The civil rights division has been dismantled. You know, the DOJ has been utterly gutted. You know, at this point, you know,
- [28:42]
Jordy
and I think that to be fair, Ben, the civil rights division, they view their priority as the biggest thing is racism against white people, is the current position of the civil rights division with Trump. And I just want to emphasize how big of a deal that this merger is, this acquisition is, because now you're having a Trump lackey who's going to be owning Warner Brothers Discovery, which owns CNN and owns so many other properties, right? This is the whole Barry Weiss situation with cbs. Same, same companies, same owners. And this to me reeks of all the issues we have with kind of oligarchy, this right wing oligarchy taking over, you know, these, this media, this media capture. And we see here, just the other night, guess who was Lindsey Graham's special guest at the State of the Union? It was Ellison. It was David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, David Ellison, who was the chairman and CEO of Paramount. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that we see in Russia. This happens. We know that Trump is pushing for this deal to happen because it's also going to give the Trump administration a lot of control over the media right here now that his buddy is in control of it. He's got his buddy in control of Ellison now is in control of TikTok. He's in control of this, he's in control of CBS. There's so much power now given to this one company. And think about everyone now, us, everyone who's competing now with these massive, massive, massive conglomerates out there that control the media. I mean, you know, I don't underestimate this, I think is what I want to say. It reminds me a little bit, but probably on a far bigger scale even of when like Elon Musk took on, you know, took over Twitter and people were like, don't be fearful. Everything will be fine. It'll be this, it'll be the same app. No, we saw what he did there. He purged dissenting voices. And we've already seen what Ellison has done with shows like the Colbert show. You know, when they took over cbs, Colbert is not going to have a show soon. That's because of them. I think you're going to see a lot more of that. And we've already heard stories about the Trump administration saying if this deal happens, there were kind of these backroom conversations happening. I don't know what has come of those, but saying if this, you know, if we're able to make this deal happen, then I don't want to see this host be on CNN anymore. I Don't want to see this host be on this show anymore. And I think you're going to see a lot of that behind the scenes because that's how these oligarchs work. That's how this corrupt administration works. They don't care about actual capitalism and actual competition in media. They want to try to just own the airwave and spread their propaganda as best as they can. And so this is a really, this is one of those issues that may not seem entirely political on its face. It may seem like an entertainment issue, but this is incredibly intertwined with our politics and with the way people are going to be consuming media. So I think it's, you know, incredibly important. Remember, they had already accepted Netflix's bid. Warner Brothers Discovery. They had accepted Netflix's bid. It seemed like that was kind of gonna be the thing. But we knew the Trump regime didn't want it to go through. We then saw that Paramount launched this hostile takeover attempt and they've been successful. They ultimately were able to pitch an offer that was a superior offer to what Netflix did. And, you know, at the end of the day, whatever is going to give the most value to shareholders is what Paramount is going to do. They gave Netflix about four days or so to give a counter proposal. And then Netflix said, we're not, we can't match that. The numbers are too high. And so there you have it. This is going to have major ramifications. And I think it's just important, you know, that we, that we follow this story and understand what's happening. I know it's something we've talked about, you know, so much, these right wing, you know, oligarchs and you know, what they've been doing, you know, with the Trump administration to try to get their messaging out. And this is just the latest example.
- [32:27]
Brett
With that, let's take our first quick break of the show. Reminder, make sure you subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. I got to make sure I remember that and stop saying six at the end of the episodes that I do.
- [32:42]
Jordy
You're still writing the old numbers on the.
- [32:44]
Bams
How many times have you said six this week?
- [32:46]
Brett
A couple. Six. About six times?
- [32:48]
Bams
About six.
- [32:49]
Brett
Then also make sure you subscribe to the Midas Touch on Audio wherever you get your audio podcast and leave a five star review. It's super helpful when you leave reviews and you subscribe both on audio and video. So audio listeners subscribe on video, video watchers subscribe on audio. Let's take a quick break. We will be right, right back
- [33:10]
Bams
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- [34:58]
Jordy
Before I started using hexclad, cooking honestly felt like a compromise. If you have a nonstick pan, you're trading real cooking performance for convenience. It can't get hot enough, food doesn't cook evenly and not to mention the coating scratches and wears out fast. If you have stainless steel, the performance can be great, but cooking starts to feel like work instead of fun. Everything sticks and the cleanup is absolutely miserable. Now let me show you this. This right here is my hexclad. With hexclad you can finally have the performance of stainless steel and the convenience of non stick in one pan. Its hybrid design gives you the heat distribution of stainless steel and cleanup is a breeze. Their patented laser etched steel hexagons give you better searing. The non stick valleys in between make cooking and cleanup effortless. It's the best of both worlds. Hexclad. Check every single box. When it comes to selecting your cookware, they're dishwasher safe and simple to wipe clean after use. Oven saf up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Stay cool. Stainless steel handles so you're not grabbing a scorching hot panhandle every time you cook. And they're non toxic free from PTFE and Forever Chemicals. With over 1 million customers and over 50,000 five star reviews, the secret is out. There's a reason that Gordon Ramsay uses Hexclad at home and in his restaurants. And he's the toughest critic on the planet. All Hexclad products come with a lifetime warranty. So it's literally the last set of pots and pans you will ever have to buy. For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off your order with our exclusive link. Just head to hexclad.com Midas support our show and check them out at h e x C-L-A-.com Midas M E I D A S Make sure to let them know we sent you. Bon appetit. Let's cook with Hexclad's revolutionary cookware.
- [36:50]
Bams
Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in the description, both the audio and the video. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. Brett, you are the superior brother at reading the ads. I'm just gonna say that.
- [37:02]
Brett
That.
- [37:03]
Bams
That Hexclad read me. It was like Oscar winning. Also, I like that you showed your pan during the read. Like. Like. Whoever says like you can't. You can't ever knock us for not using the products like that Hexclad that you showed during the read. I could. You're using that every day.
- [37:17]
Brett
Day.
- [37:17]
Jordy
I do get excited to cook with the Hexclad. I'm not gonna lie about it. I won't waste.
- [37:22]
Bams
I know Ben loves when we talk about this stuff. Is what you do. You love when we talk about this?
- [37:29]
Brett
Absolutely. The superior brother. The superior brother.
- [37:31]
Bams
The ad reads. The ad reads.
- [37:33]
Brett
No, I'm not saying that I think I'm superior. I'm just saying it's a funny.
- [37:37]
Jordy
You hurt Ben's feelings now.
- [37:39]
Bams
I was just. I was trying to give him a compliment. Anyway, great read. You kind of threw me off now. Now I feel bad. I'm gonna be thinking about this all night. Probably gonna keep me up. Benji. Where to be nice.
- [37:47]
Brett
Okay, I want to cover one more thing as it Relates right now to the Epstein files. The World Economic Forum CEO and President Borj Bren from Norway. He also was a foreign minister of Norway before taking over the World Economic Forum. He announced that he's stepping down from the World Economic Forum leadership role after an independent investigation was launched into his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He previously said he had no relationship with Epstein. Then he showed up in the files. Then he said he didn't know about Epstein's criminal prosecutions in the past. But then in the files, he and Epstein were doing like emojis regarding Epstein's past criminal convictions for raping minors, which they. He actually pled to child prostitution, which is raping minors. And you probably remember Borj Brend from Midas videos. He was the guy interviewing Donald Trump at Davos. Do you remember that? The World Economic Forum. They're the ones who put on Davos, right? The Davos conference. And so he was the guy who said, it's a pleasure to welcome Donald Trump back to Davos at a time of significant economic, technological and geopolitical change. And this guy, Borj Bend, you know, he was part of the whole Steve Bannon crew global disruption and trying to frame it as order while they, you know, while this Epstein class was preying on, you know, people throughout the entire, the entire world. Up is down, down is up. You know, that's this, the potent force of propaganda, right? And just give you an example of it Today you had J.D. vance speaking in Wisconsin. And quite literally, all the things the Trump regime does, they accuse the other side of doing, right? And so J.D. vance in the speech just says, you know what, what we have to avoid at all costs is government with bad policy and bad leadership that destroys the American dream. Here's what he said. Play this clue. I'm talking about your American dream. Whether you want to have a good job and raise a healthy, happy family, whether your kid wants to go off and play college football, whether you want to start a business like the one that we're standing in. Whatever it is, the great thing about this country is that the American dream comes in many shapes and sizes. But here's the thing about the American dream. The government cannot give it to you for you. But the government with bad policy and bad leadership, it can destroy that American dream. What? Whatever shape it takes in the lives of you and your children. Like zero self awareness.
- [40:34]
Jordy
I mean, it is psychological studies on these people, right? Like, I mean, there has to be deep studies about psychological projection. And everybody involved in this entire MAGA
- [40:45]
Brett
movement, how they even do it. Like, I'm not suggesting it's a good skill by any imagination, but it is impressive that they literally could go up there and say stuff like that.
- [40:55]
Bams
Like they're soulless creatures.
- [40:57]
Brett
They're so, they have been, they have, have no shame. How you could like, like just the physical ability to go up there and not have like something in you be like, right. Like how, how is it even achieved? I mean these are, to your point, Jordi, I mean these are soulless monsters. Epstein class predators who, who, who hate people. And they're so able to mutate into these fake personalities to just steal and harvest and take and be these predators. I mean, here he goes. When you go to the polls in November, I just want you to remember who's trying to defraud you, who's trying to protect you from the fraudsters.
- [41:46]
Bams
J.D.
- [41:46]
Brett
vance is saying that they're trying to protect the people from the fraudsters. Here, play this clip. Generosity of spirit. And so I want you, when you go to the polls in November, I don't want you to just think about all the great things that we've accomplished, all the great things that we've talked about. I don't want you just to think about no taxes on tips and lower gas prices. I want you to think, who is going to protect my money from fraudsters? And the simple answer is it's Derek Van Orden and congressional Republicans. It is not the Democrats who created this problem to be begin with going on there. When you think about all the great things we've accomplished, I mean he's, he's at a manufacturing plant and manufacturing is down. We're in a jobs recession right now. Inflation is surging again. Right now. Our fourth quarter GDP grew at only 1.4% when they were saying it was going to be 3 to 5%. That's not, these aren't good data points right now. By, and setting aside those data points, American families are struggling right now. People can't afford their rent, they can't afford home. Future generations don't have, have hope in the future right now. But he goes, I don't want you just to think about the incredible things we've done for you. Like, like what, what have you actually, you've done nothing. You've taken, you've stolen, you've ripped to shreds things. But I want you to think about who's going to protect you from that fraud. You're the fraudsters. You're the people who have pardoned the fraudsters. The drug traffickers you're the people who have covered up the sex traffickers. Frankly, the pedo protection ring is right there. The cabal is right there in the Oval Office. You've torn to shreds our alliances. Donald Trump is out there enriching himself to the tune of billions of dollars, giving away our classified technology, semiconductor technology, to the UAE and others in exchange for hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars to him personally. That's what.
- [43:51]
Jordy
Here's the issue, though, right?
- [43:52]
Brett
Here's.
- [43:52]
Jordy
Here's the issue. It's that there is a subsect of people in this country who are inclined to believe what people are telling them if they have some sort of positive view towards them. So, for example, there was a moment the other night after the State of the Union that hurt me. You know what I'm gonna say, right? Yeah. And so there was this moment where CNN did, like this focus group after the fact about the State of the Union, and they were asking swing voters, so what did you think of the speech? Did the speech move you? Somebody hand up the speech moved me. So they said, okay, well, what moved you about the speech? It wasn't a moving speech by Donald Trump speaking quite the opposite, you know, and the person goes, you know, he said 18 trillion in investments. He said. He said health care. He said something about health care. Said something about health. Yeah, he's taken away your health care and the 18 trillion in investments is made up. It's bullshit. It's a lie. So it's great that he said numbers. I could say I did a zillion bajillion dollars in investments. But at a certain point, like, people need to take responsibility and they need to have critical thinking skills and they understand this stuff. But that is exactly. It goes back to our point, though, about this kind of hostile takeover with Ellison and Parma. It's why they won't. It's why it's so important for them to control TikTok and why it's so important for them to control CBA. It's important for them to control the way people are getting information. Because when Donald Trump is up there in the State of the Union, the one thing that doesn't exist does not. And this is why we didn't air Donald Trump's speech live. The one thing that doesn't exist is. Is a counter. Right? There's no one saying 18 trillion. Hold up. That's bullshit.
- [45:38]
Brett
You know that.
- [45:39]
Jordy
That's a lie. Hold on. You're talking about health care while you refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act. Subsidies and now people are suffering and going bankrupt because of it. So don't you dare talk about health care. Where's your health care plan? You said two weeks 10 years ago. You know, there's nobody to counter that stuff. And that works to the benefit of those in power who want to lie to you. So when I, when I saw that it was just such a kind of microcosm of the information environment that we're in and it just, it caused me like internal, like physical pain to hear this guy who was, you know, probably a well intentioned person, right, probably thinks highly of the country, you know, I assume the best of people, right. But he's able to just buy these just incredibly obvious lies that are being told by the President of the United States.
- [46:25]
Bams
Well, we have to, to your point, exactly, get to a point in this country where accountability and truth matter, like actually, actually, actually matter. And it's really the, it's, it's the double edged sword to what I always say because like, I want to give people the benefit of the doubt a lot because I believe in people. I believe in the American people. I believe in people. And so when there's a trillion dollar propaganda arm just consistently and constantly spewing disinformation in your head, I could see how you could be susceptible to the lies. But then on the other side of the coin, to your point, again, Brett, critical thinking is so important and I think we really have to hold people and our fellow Americans to standards to be able to critically think for themselves and not just spew the regime talking points. Because you were duped.
- [47:20]
Brett
Why?
- [47:20]
Bams
Because the other half of the country isn't duped. The other half of the country is able to critically think and understand this and be frustrated with, with the lies. And so watching that on when whenever they have the, the quote, unquote swing voters, which I'm not even sure if they are actually swing voters or just MAGA in disguise for the, for the segment, but that's neither here nor there. It pains me to see their reaction, just to kind of see where, you know, where the other side of the country's minds are at. Because again, you're being lied to actively by people who do not have your best interest at heart. Who people?
- [47:56]
Jordy
You just reminded me to remember when our researchers last time during the election did the whole swing voter thing and researchers just, yeah, during lecture, they looked up the swing voter who they presented to the public as this is an undecided voter. And like all of the person's Facebook and Instagram was all pro Trump shit. All, all memes. And we're like this is your swing vote. This is your undecided voters. Cnn, your cnn. This isn't Fox even. This is cnn. That's how bad it is now. You know, just, just wait till you know this.
- [48:27]
Brett
How about billionaire Kelly Leffler was speaking at that event as well with JD Vance looting Loeffler looting leftler Kelly Leffler. She now runs. They picked the billionaire right wing oligarch to run the Small Business association, right? It's like when they pick that Casey Means to be the Surgeon general who hates like being, who hates Surgeon generals, right? They pick the guy to run the EPA who hates the environment.
- [48:53]
Bams
The guy Department of Education who wants to shut down,
- [48:59]
Brett
shut down education. The guy who hates health and kills people and talks about sniffing cocaine off of toilet bowls to run the health Department. You've got the guy who couldn't run a military non profit and was forced out after all of his personal issues to run the Defense Department and the change it and call it the Department of, of War unlawfully. You've got the guy to run Medicaid and Medicare Services who was in my opinion a scam artist, talk show host. You know, you, I mean I could pretty much go through. You've got the Kristi Noem kills her dog, you know to, to run ICE and Border Patrol. You've got, you know, you just, just
- [49:39]
Bams
name the position that one feels a little more on brand for, for, for that.
- [49:43]
Brett
For those that's probably the right for I support anyway you have. Here's what, here's what Kelly Leffler had to say about that. Donald Trump and J.D. vance, you know, they're, they're from the real world. They understand your struggles. They're like you. Here, play this clip.
- [49:59]
Jordy
The Trump administration knows that there's nothing
- [50:02]
Bams
small about small business. In fact, President Trump tells me all
- [50:06]
Jordy
the time, Kelly, small business is big business. And it's true, friends, this administration gets it. Both President Trump and Vice President Vance
- [50:17]
Bams
lived and worked in the real world.
- [50:20]
Jordy
And that's why Main street is coming back.
- [50:23]
Brett
Friends, friends, let me tell you, Donald Trump tells friends every day that he can't. Small business is big business. Friends, Friends. Really, Donald Trump who screwed over small businesses his entire life. Friends, let me tell you friends, it
- [50:39]
Bams
reminds me of a clip I remember when she was running. She used the, she said y' all like six times in like a 30 second clip. It's just so phony. They're all, they're so funny and Just to clarify, when you said real world, I just, like, it has to be says, like, Ben doesn't actually mean, like, real. Real world road rules, like Sean Duffy. So just, Just, Just. Just to clarify, because. Because that's who. The Trump cabinet. There are a bunch of.
- [50:59]
Jordy
You have to clarify with this regime because they're. Because there are people who. They pulled from the Real World Royal rules challenge on MTV's reality show into the administration.
- [51:08]
Brett
That is true. All right, gonna take our last quick break of the show. When we come back, I want to discuss what's going on internationally. I also want to discuss a big development with the AI company Anthropic, which runs the AI Claude program, and how. Which is integral to our military services. So right on the eve of potential war with everybody, including Iran, that Donald Trump is threatening, you have Pete Hegseth telling Anthropic that basically, they will be declared essentially like an enemy of the United States, even though their AI is critical to our military operations. It was used in Venezuela, for example. If you don't let the Department of Defense use your kind of AI programming to kill people autonomously without any human involvement, then you will be declared an enemy of the United States. And also, if we can't use your AI tool like Claude and your other AI tools to do mass surveillance on the American people, we will declare you an enemy of the country. And either we will declare you as being detrimental to our supply chain to shut you down and. Or integral to our supply chain to seize your company and take it over under the Defense Production act, where we will now take over Anthropic and run it ourselves. So here you have an AI company that's basically saying, look, you could use it for a lot of things, but we're not comfortable with you using our AI and our coding in a way that could commit crimes against humanity without any human involvement. And we don't want mass surveillance involving our tools. And the Trump regime saying, if we can't do mass surveillance and if we can't allow the AI to decide on its own who lives and who dies without human control, we will declare you. One of two things which are contradictory. We will declare you as a threat to our supply chain and ban you, or so integral to our supply chain that the United States government takes you over. And, Brett, to your point, this is what you see in Russia with the media. You see the media takeover of what's happening here, like Russia, and now you have the regime taking over companies and saying, we're seizing it so that we can do mass surveillance. It's not like. It's not like they're. It's not like Trump's denying these two demands. Hexit's demands are mass surveillance and autonomous killing, where the AI code decides the deaths and all.
- [53:54]
Jordy
Perhaps the most chilling, I was gonna say perhaps the most chilling thing about this is the fact that, you know, right now, Anthropic is being singled out. Why isn't OpenAI being singled out? Who does ChatGPT? Why isn't Google being singled out? Who does Google Gemini? Why isn't Twitter or X or whatever being signaled out for Grok, which we already know is deeply integrated now and is being more deeply integrated in the government system? That's right. The AI that referred to itself as Mecca Hitler is very integral to the government's AI system right now. Why aren't they being singled out? Why? I think the implication is, is that they agreed to allow this stuff. Those, those companies, they agreed to allow the United States government to use their AI to kill people, to do mass surveillance on people. That's my opinion. When we kind of look at the broader landscape right now of AI and how. Buddy, buddy, all of these kind of AI CEOs have been with the Trump regime, you know, and remember, they want the support of the Trump regime so they can continue to build these data centers all across the country and take up all the resources of all of these towns and neighborhoods without paying anything as they just leech and leech and leech and drive people's bills up and take away the water like it is the most dystopian thing imaginable that's playing out right now before our eyes. Anyway, anthropic was given 24 hours, right? They gave a deadline 24 hours. You better respond. Are you going to, you know, from the perspective of Pete Hegseth, are you going to do the right thing and let us do mass surveillance on people and use your AI to kill people? Well, Anthropic just issued their response, and we'll let you know exactly what they said right after this break. First, I want to remind everybody you like cco.
- [55:43]
Brett
It's done. Ben, you like that?
- [55:44]
Bams
We're doing deep teases now. Deep.
- [55:47]
Jordy
That's it.
- [55:50]
Brett
I ruined the surprises. They reject the Department of Defense's office.
- [55:53]
Jordy
They rejected it, but.
- [55:54]
Brett
Well,
- [55:56]
Jordy
I was trying to set up. But we'll talk. We'll. We'll tell you their statement, though, after this break. Thanks to everybody for, you know, tuning in. This is going to be a quick break.
- [56:06]
Bams
Break.
- [56:07]
Jordy
Remember, join us MidAsPlus.com that's our substack. So much great content there, including Ron Filipkowski's daily bulletins, which are really, really incredibly special. They catch you up on all the news of the day almost every single day of the week. If you ever are in a hurry or you know, like reading your news in an easy to digest format, you got to go to midasplus.com check that out. We got more great interviews, live content there. So much happening on our substack@midasplus.com make sure you're subscribed right here to this YouTube channel. Make sure they help us get to 7 million subscribers. How quickly could we get to 7 million? We continue to grow this platform so we can compete with all of these major conglomerates out there that continue to consume each other, continue to grow. We are competing with them in many aspects. We are beating them and we better continue to grow and fight back. Thank you so much for watching. We'll be right back after this quick break. Don't go anywhere. Even though the tease is ruined, don't you go anywhere. We'll be right back.
- [57:07]
Bams
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- [62:02]
Brett
So we said we were going to the commercial, then we teased the outcome, then I told the outcome and then.
- [62:07]
Bams
Yeah. Why did you step on Brett's tease? You didn't feel like that was.
- [62:10]
Brett
I. Well, I thought that the issue was so serious and significant that you didn't appreciate Brett's te. It was such a monumental decision that I felt, I, I felt bad leaving the TE's when anthropic ultimately decides that, that it is rejecting the offers of Hegseth.
- [62:26]
Bams
And I do agree that it was an insane thing to tease. Like there are, there are other things to tease.
- [62:31]
Brett
Anthropic says that maybe Brett isn't the superior brother. Anthropic says that.
- [62:36]
Jordy
Unbelievable.
- [62:37]
Brett
Anthropic says. Let me get, let me finish the line. Anthropic says that it appreciates the offer you appreciate, but you know, it's, it's going to stick with what it said before. It believes that it is integral to the military and you know, it hopes the military reconsiders. And you know, if you just think about it structurally though, and this is again important to know, how is it possible, Ben, Brett and Jordy, that Donald Trump has bankrupted so many things like even right now, right. If you were, if you really wanted mass surveillance, which we know the Trump regime was, and they really want autonomous AI killing and deaths. Right. You really want that right now. And you're gonna, you want to retaliate against Anthropic and you're going to, you know, disrupt all of their software in the military. But you also are threatening to invade Iran. Don't you think that your adversaries are going to realize that that's going on as well? And don't you think, I don't know, maybe you deal with the fact that you have two air force or two aircraft carriers right near Iran and that they've been there for like record periods of time and the Navy and the people who are in the Navy are just absolutely losing their minds right now just about how they're being treated by the Trump regime. Morale there is at an all time low. And now you're also going to disable your own technology. I mean, you've attacked your allies. So the UK doesn't want to let you use any of their bases. No country wants to let you actually use any of their bases or their land or their airspace other than Israel in order for you to attack Iran. So you've lost your allies now. You've lost the ability to even rely on their intelligence or their resources forces, as the United States has always done in the past in wars. You're now going after one of your chief suppliers of, to use the word superior, some of the most superior AI technology. You are also harming the morale of your soldiers right now. And this is something that's going underreported right now. But as Al Jazeera English writes, there's trouble brewing on the USS Gerald Ford. According to media reports, the vessel's toilet facilities are inadequate, and that's due. And those that do exist are prone to daily breakdowns. The crew are also unhappy after their deployment was extended. So the people there are literally living in feces and sewer. The internal piping has exploded, so the piss and the feces is all over the floor. It stinks. People are getting sick. And again, morale is at an all time low right there. The deployment has been extended twice. The Gerald Ford's been there for 241 days. The sailors are missing their funerals, missing births, missing their children's first steps. Right here. The ship sewage system is failing. It's costing massive amounts of money. Crew members are now leaking to reporters they want to quit the Navy. Morale is described in terms that defense journalists have not used since the Vietnam era. Reporting the deployment is on track to reach 11 months. The post Vietnam record is 294 days. So I just, it's important that you know that this is actually going on and remember, because we're making these parallels to Russia and American media and seizing companies like Anthropic and others and seizing production. Right. I mean, aren't these the, aren't these the boogeymen that the Magas always said the Democrats are going to do, which they don't do, and the magas are the first ones to do it. Well, remember the Pentagon got rid of all of the defense reporters from inside the Pentagon. Right. That was one of Hegset's first things. And he has propagandists in there. So now you gutted the defense reporting groups who now still have to report, but they don't have access to the Pentagon transparently as they do before. So it all relies on leaks. So you have all of that taking place and then you go to Iran with a list of demands after Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy to Russia and everything says, we just don't get why Iran is not capitulating fighting. Aren't they scared of our aircraft carriers? Why won't they capitulate? And after all the reporting is that Donald Trump just wants a surgical strike to declare a victory like he did last time and say total obliteration. But that Donald Trump doesn't have the ability to stomach any long term war, nor do we have the resources to even be able to actually do a long term war. America doesn't have those resources. So if America starts the war in Iran, Iran retaliates around its neighbors and the likely result will be a massive World War three style conflagration in the Middle East. That's likely what's going to happen. And we're fast rolling or slow rolling, whatever you want to say into it right now. So you have that happening in Iran, off the coast of Cuba, you had an American boat with 10 people on it, people who used to be from Cuba, who were living in the Miami area, who were recently on right wing media. We're learning more about the individuals who were on this boat and basically brag that they were going to do stuff like this when they were going right wing media influencer podcasts and stuff. They get on a boat, they drive, they, they, they go to Cuba, they sail to Cuba, they open fire on the Cuban coast guards. The Cuban coast guards respond as well. I don't know, were they promised like the Iranian protesters that if they created and provoked an incident that that would help the Trump regime in Rubio then go and attack Cuba. I mean, remember what Donald Trump said in Iran. He told the protesters, go out there, we need you out there. If any single protester gets out, if one gets shot and killed, America will be there. In Iran to get your back. If you believe the numbers of Trump and Lindsey Graham. 30,000. That's their number. 30,000 Iranians got massacred. And there's no self awareness or even reporting that Trump's responsible for that massacre. He told him to go out and do it. And we didn't even have our ships near Iran at that point. Our ships were in Venezuela, if you want to know why their tours of duty have been so long. Because Trump's been doing this stuff off the, on the Caribbean, right, The invasion of Venezuela. Then he moved the ships to, to, to the Persian Gulf area and to be by, and to be near Iran. So the ships then moved, you know, into that region, kind of Mediterranean area. And so, so what, what the hell is going on there? Meanwhile, you have Kim Jong Un in North Korea saying, just announcing publicly, remember when Donald Trump would attack former President Obama and be like, I'm going to stop Kim Jong Un. All of the, all of the stuff I've done has scared Kim Jong Un. Quite the contrary. Kim Jong Un just making statements on the daily where. Here's what we're doing. We're extending our nuclear arsenal. We're increasing our capabilities here, here and here. Maybe we'll do some nuclear weapons in space. These are direct quotes from Kim Jong Un and what he said over the past 24 to 48 hours. Remember when MAGA would be outraged about, you know, or the predecessors, the Tea Party. Oh, it's so weak that Obama would not, what, invade North Korea when it would do nuclear, when it would do the ballistic missile testing. Well, you just got, just straight up Kim Jong Un just saying, here's what I'm going to do. His direct quote is the following. He goes, we have a prospective plan to strengthen our national nuclear force and we'll focus on project projects to increase the number of nuclear weapons and expand nuclear operational means in space for use. So Kim Jong Un said China keeps flying its military drones over Taiwan, which it says we, it's our, it's our airspace, we're going to do it. No comments there other than Donald Trump desperately wants to visit China in April. And so Xi Jinping realizes that all Donald Trump cares about, about is this big photo op and to just roll out the army and do some sort of parade for Donald Trump. And you can get Donald Trump basically to do anything you know you want. You got him. You got the United States depriving Ukraine of Patriot missiles and depriving Europe of missiles promised to Europe that it said that it would sell because the US Said we're not going to give weapons to Ukraine. You got to buy it. So Europe's like, okay, we'll buy it.
- [71:41]
Jordy
It.
- [71:42]
Brett
Well then the United States doesn't sell the licenses or give Europe the stuff that it needs to actually give Ukraine. Not just the Patriot missile systems, but the actual missiles and the radars and the repairs and everything that comes along with it. And the US like, ah, I guess we can't find it. I guess there's scarcity. So then Europe's like, okay, well, we're going to build our own weapons. We're going to do a Europe first defense policy. To which the US Responds, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, you can't discriminate against the US by doing a Europe first. Europe buying European military products first. You got to buy America first. Like, why would we buy from you? You've been threatening us. You've been attacking our sovereignty. You keep going after Greenland and Denmark and you talk about kill switches and you tell us we're too dependent on you, so we're going to build our own weapons. Sure, that's what we'll do. Then Trump's like, no, you can't do that. Don't do that at all. And then meanwhile, the United States abstains in a resolution urging a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine before the United Nations. Russia votes against it. The US and China abstain. 107 nations, our former allies, all voted for it. The US abstained from a resolution on the four year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine calling for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. But I want everybody to see all this stuff is connected. But a common theme we see is that this idiocracy, this isn't coming from a political perspective. This idiocracy that is this Trump regime is making us less safe. Stop the propaganda and focus what's actually happening on the Gerald Ford ship right now, where, where the sailors, where our navy right now. The people on the Air Force carrier, the Air Force carrier carrier, the aircraft carrier. They, they, they, they don't even have the pipes to, to, to, to use toilet bowls. And by the way, shouldn't this be a top story? Shouldn't this be a front page story everywhere? That's why we focus so much on international news here on the Midas touchdown. All this stuff is connected. And by the way, it's connected to the Epstein files too, because this Epstein class is international in scope and they were planning a lot of these things. Annexation of Crimea, Brexit, propping up Jair Bolsonaro insider crypto trading, all that's in the files. And Epstein's like the middleman of that as that's happening. Brett Jordy, well said.
- [74:06]
Jordy
And that's why it's so important that we always contextualize these things, like you said, on an international level and show you the ties between all of these various people. Because this isn't happening in the United States in a vacuum. Now. There have been a lot of countries that have been able to, who really go on offense against this authoritarian strain by seeing the disaster of what has happened here in the United States. I'm thinking of countries like Canada who have done an incredible job at batting down this autocratic strain that was rising at the time in that country. Other various other countries throughout the world, you know, as well. But some countries still fall prey to this because I think, think a lot of this right wing rhetoric, they know how to get to people's heartstrings, right? I mean, think about the way a lot of this rose in the beginning. It's almost, it's so morally depraved to think about it now. But they came into this by speaking about this idea of a global elite sex trafficking ring of elites who are sex trafficking children and blamed it on their political opponents. When those people spreading these, these conspiracy theories were the people actually engaging in this sort of behavior with people like Jeffrey Epstein. So it's very devious what they do. And that's why every time you see, you know, a J.D. vance out there, any of these people, they go, we're just trying to get the human trap, the child sex traffickers off the street. And they don't want us to do that as they are covering up that very behavior, as they are covering up those very crimes. So while that kind of rhetoric can be quite intoxicating and kind of appeals to people's almost like lizard brains, right? Appeals to people's just instincts. You have to be able to step back and go, these people are lying to you. You have to. If you're that guy who goes, oh well, Trump said 18 trillion investment. Trump said healthcare, Trump said, you gotta be able to step back and go. But what's actually happening, don't fall for the propaganda. Let's look at the facts, let's look at the receipts, let's look at the photos, let's look at the actual data as what's coming in. What's actually happening on the, on the ship. Oh, oh, it's a disaster. Okay. That's what's actually happening. Don't Buy this regime propaganda and it's gonna get harder and harder and harder. But that's why we need to continue to grow bigger and bigger and we need to fight back and we need to combat this crap and we need to work together and growing our megaphone collectively. I mean, all of us here in fighting back against the sort of disinformation.
- [76:32]
Bams
Well, that's the coolest thing too, about hitting 6 million subscribers and 9 billion views on the Midas Touch Network YouTube channel. Channel. Right. I, I, I mean this earnestly and I know our audience knows it like this isn't about, this isn't about Ben, Brett or Jordy, right? Now that we have this megaphone, let's continue to, to build on it, right? Let's get this even bigger, even louder. So these pro democracy ideals and values truly win the day. Brett, you talk about the, the, the swing voter again, right? We really do have to get back in this society to a place where truth, truth is actually championed, right? And accountability truly means what accountability should actually mean. So for me, it's going to be one of the biggest battles I think this country is going to have to sort of reconcile and really go through over these next 5, 10, 15, 20 years, however long this democracy can really sustain. And I truly feel that we will continue to win as a society so long as we bring truth, and I mean real earnest truth to the forefront of what this country and what these people should, should really care about. Ultimately. I don't want to be lied to. Don't piss on my face. Tell me it's raining. It's absolutely ridiculous. I keep going back to that swing voter. I mean, I, what a putz. Like, like, come on, man, I just want to shake you. Like, please wake up. They are lying to you actively. You are the mark, Benji. What say you?
- [78:04]
Brett
I'll just leave us with this too, because we're talking about these manipulation tactics. So earlier today, the White House official TikTok account posted an AI video of the US hockey star Brady Tkachuk, where they attribute the words. It was, it was an AI of him calling Canadians maple syrup eating. You know, I don't like cursing. I just want to let people know what the official White House account manipulated. The team USA gold medal winner saying Canadian maple syrup eating fucks. And the guy didn't say that. Then Tkachuk had to address the video and say, that's not my voice. It's not what I was saying. I would never say that. That's not who I am. And now he's embroiled in this. And as our editor in chief, Ron Philipowski writes, we. Well, you know what? You hang out around Donald Trump, and that's. It's kind of the deal, you know, you know, you, you hang there, you, you believe it's, you know, you can go and say, oh, it's not political. It's not. I'm, I'm just here because it's the presidency and this is the White House, and it's always an honor, and this is what it means to be an American. Well, he just took your name, image, and likeness and now attributed the words to you that Canadians are maple syrup eating fucks. And now, now when people think about your gold medal and people, it's overshadowed by all of this. Not only did Trump steal your valor, steal your win, he embroiled you in something grotesque and disgusting that should have been uplifting for everybody. Men's and women's hockey teams winning gold. How great. What. Incredible. I love hockey. I don't know if you know this about me. I sit on the board of the Hockey Diversity alliance with numerous NHL players. I've been on that board for several years. I love hockey. My best friend is. It was a professional hockey player. Okay, but also, how do you take a moment that's so beautiful, that should be so beautiful and patriotic for the country and turn it into a way to attack the female hockey team and to mock them and then turn it into a political perversion? It's not political to call out Donald Trump's behavior. That's the thing that. Oh, you're being political. It's just hockey. I'm not trying to be political. I wanted to root for the team. I wanted to cheer on the gold medal team. I love hockey. I love sports. Sports. I like that. Okay, but now I have some asshole in the Oval Office, some pedo protector out there who's now attacking the women's hockey team. And so it's not political for me to say that's horrible conduct. Not just because I'm a. I, I'm, I'm, I'm a girl, dad, but because I'm a human being and I see something. And so you say something. And that's kind of the common thing, too. It's like, oh, you're, you're turning this into a political thing. Why would you. Because you did it. You politicized it. You made it into a thing. You tried to divide our nation with something like that. And that's horrible. That's horrible. And now the people who went along with it now you're getting AI placed in your mouth by Donald Trump. Attacking Canadians as part of Donald Trump's agenda to conquer Canada and invade the sovereignty of Canada. And that just makes us weaker. It makes us pathetic, you know? And even when people are like, well, I would never say that. I would never. Okay, well then call it out. Say that Donald Trump is wrong. Just say what's actually happening. You don't why we're scared of him. Just say what's happened. Say it's inappropriate, it's horrible that the leader of this country would behave in such a despicable manner. That's fine. Say that because that's the truth. And that doesn't make me go, oh, you don't like hockey? Are you going to alienate? Are you going to alienate guys? What are you going to alienate? I like hockey. Hockey. I sit on a hockey board, okay? And at the same time I do that. I think that being a quote, unquote, man also means standing up for the female team. That's what it means to be a man. Also. You stand up for people. You don't bully. That's what being a man's about. Being a man. The girls team, the girls. That's not how men behave. I know. People should behave. Anyway, I'll leave you with that because that, that news came across my. Came across my desk and that pissed me off. The whole thing, the whole thing pisses me off. Anyway, on that positive note, thank you, everybody for. Thank you, everybody.
- [82:40]
Jordy
Well, here's the pot. Here's the positive. And I'll leave you on a positive note. We showed the other day after the State of the Union what people power looks like. We showed what it looks like when everybody comes together as one and actually pushes back against this crap with the truth. And we did it that one night. We could do it every night, right? We could do this all the time.
- [82:57]
Brett
Time.
- [82:57]
Jordy
We need to continue to push our energy in that direction. Positively right. You use this movement in a positive way. It's one of the most important things to me now that we have a platform that's this size. And as we built it up the entire way, it's always been about uplifting voices. It's always been about pushing back against this fascist, fascist strain. And so let's continue to do it. Let's keep building, let's keep growing this community. Let's keep uplifting pro democracy voices. We showed the power of it the other night and we are just getting started. So let's keep up the fight, folks. And that's how you end it on a positive note. Any criticisms with that, Bams?
- [83:32]
Brett
Jordy, I'll just leave with this. Even like right wing people just are even like right wing people like Eric Erickson like runs like red state. Right? I mean, just, you know, just as he even goes. The Republicans in the United States are on the verge of supporting a practitioner of witchcraft for surgeon general general who won't recommend vaccines but will recommend hallucinogens to connect to the spirit realm and who channels moon power magic. I'm just reading you what like even someone like Eric Erickson is saying about right winger. Yeah, exactly what he's saying about the surgeon general. Pick who's part of the Maha, rfk, whatever. And go, go and watch the video I did on Casey Means. I did a whole, whole very long video where I show other clips of her in the past and how dangerous, you know, how dangerous, by the way. I want to be clear. There are holistic medicines and things that I like, you know, and I'm supportive of. There's a lot of, there's a lot of stuff out there, you know, that, that, that, that could be good for you. But this Casey Means has shown that she does not disclose her conflicts of interest, that she sells these supplements and pretends that, that she's not making money off of them. And, and, and then she's made her whole brand to actually attack people's health, in my opinion, for her own enrichment. Anyway, I'll, I, I'll, I'll just leave with that because I said I was going to talk about at the beginning. On that note, Jordy, shout out to
- [84:59]
Bams
the Midas mighty the
- [85:02]
Brett
might Standing strong
- [85:08]
Jordy
against the fascists we sing our song.
- [85:19]
Bams
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