MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 3/20/26

Summary

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MeidasTouch Podcast – Episode Summary (March 20, 2026)

Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
Theme: The Fallout of Trump’s War on Iran: America’s Foreign Policy Crisis and Domestic Corruption Exposed

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Episode Overview

This riveting episode centers on the catastrophic consequences of Donald Trump’s unauthorized and escalating war with Iran ("Operation Epic Fury/Blind Fury"). The Meiselas brothers dissect Trump’s reckless foreign policy, the administration’s chaotic messaging, consequential destabilization of the Middle East, economic ripple effects, and the deepening perception of American weakness on the world stage. Interwoven are discussions about the war’s constitutional legitimacy, Congressional oversight failures, and systemic corruption enriching Trump’s inner circle. True to form, the hosts blend pointed analysis, damning receipts, banter, and memorable moments into a comprehensive examination of this ongoing crisis.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Escalation: How the Iran War Exploded Out of Control

[02:32–07:00]

• Attack & Counterattack: Trump, aligned with Netanyahu, strikes Iran’s critical South Pars energy facility. Iran retaliates by damaging Qatar’s LNG facilities (vital to 20% of global supply), Riyadh, and other regional sites.
• Global Economic Dominoes: The conflict disrupts not just oil, but also helium, fertilizer, and tech investment flows. Tourism collapses; global supply chains face long-term damage.
• America’s Isolation & Weakness: U.S. allies, particularly NATO and key Middle Eastern partners, refuse to support Trump’s war effort, rendering America isolated.
• Trump’s Mixed Messaging: Trump claims innocence while threatening further escalation and making culturally insensitive "Pearl Harbor" jokes to Japan’s PM.
• Consequences for Security & Diplomacy: Iran flexes new power in the Strait of Hormuz, imposing tolls and controlling passage.

Quote Highlight

"[Trump] thought that he could just go into Iran with overwhelming force... But that's not what's happening. This is making the United States of America look so incredibly weak right now. We've only actually improved Iran's standing in the region."
– Brett ([09:34])

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2. Congressional Chaos: Authorization, Accountability, and the $200 Billion War Bill

[07:00–15:41, 23:58–26:12]

• Unconstitutional Launch: Trump initiated the war sans Congressional approval—raising bipartisan constitutional concerns.
• When Will It End? Messaging about war duration is wildly inconsistent—from ‘a few weeks’ to over ‘100 days’.
• The $200 Billion Supplement: Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth demand another $200B, despite already blowing through $50–$100B quickly (total military budget ~$1T).
• Hypocrisy in Spending: The administration claims poverty for domestic needs (Affordable Care Act, rural hospitals, housing) while writing blank checks for war.

Quote Highlight

"They're trying to back into congressional approval for this war... get them to approve this budget... so he could always be like, 'What do you mean we weren't approved? You guys authorized the money for it!'"
– Jordy ([25:35])

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3. Propaganda & Dysfunction: Absurd Messaging, Insularity, and Authoritarian Vibes

[36:23–42:20]

• Exquisite Excursions? Trump’s repeated use of malapropisms ("excursion" vs "incursion") and his bizarre terming of the war as "exquisite" or "a little excursion" are mocked.
• Propaganda Machine: Trump’s press briefings exclude legitimate media; instead, propaganda-friendly outlets (e.g., Lindell TV, Breitbart) are favored.
• Turning on the Press: Hegseth rails against ‘anti-Trump’ media, accusing them of rooting for America’s failure while playing to an audience of MAGA loyalists.

Quote Highlight

"It makes my skin crawl... SNL had to actually stop parodying him too. Because you can't parody stupid. It's already so ridiculous."
– Jordy ([41:33])

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4. Corruption & Grift: War Profiteering and the Trump Family

[26:12–30:40]

• Taxpayer-Funded Enrichment: Examples abound—Trump’s children invest in drone and rare earth companies that receive government windfalls after U.S. intervention.
• Blatant Grift: Trump’s family and inner circle pocket hundreds of millions as a direct outcome of war contracts and business deals.

Quote Highlight

"We are witnessing right now the biggest grift in the history maybe of anything ever... taking money from the US Taxpayer and giving it to Donald Trump."
– Brett ([29:19])

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5. Human Cost & Lack of Accountability

[19:29–23:58, throughout]

• Civilians & Service Members Lost: Over 100 schoolgirls and U.S. troops are killed—amid a lack of civilian casualty transparency.
• Exploitation of Tragedy: The administration disregards families’ wishes, politicizing and fundraising off images of fallen troops’ dignified transfers.

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6. Intelligence Failures & Dissent Within the Regime

[66:00–73:39]

• Director Gabbard’s Deflection: Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence) performs verbal gymnastics to avoid contradicting Trump’s narrative, despite written testimony confirming Iran isn’t a nuclear threat.
• Top Deputy Resigns: Joe Kent, Gabbard’s right-wing deputy, resigns in protest over the war’s unlawful basis, then is hounded by Trump’s team for “leaking.”
• Senate Grilling: Senators (notably Jon Ossoff) force Gabbard to admit, on the record, there’s no intelligence basis for war.
• Responsibility Avoided: Gabbard and others claim only the President can decide what constitutes an “imminent threat,” abdicating professional duty.

Quote Highlight

"Troops are dying, civilians are dying, and she can’t even sit there and justify the intelligence used to launch the attack in the first place. Just how pathetic is that?"
– Jordy ([77:15])

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7. The Epstein Files as Diversion

[49:22–53:59]

• Bombshells Suppressed: The hosts discuss how the war distracts from damaging revelations about Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, including suspicious real estate deals and longstanding associations.
• Insiders Speak: Tom Barrack, Trump’s former envoy, says “most of us actually thought that [Epstein] had built his wealth over his international relations with Israel.”

Quote Highlight

"This is a distraction from the Epstein files right now... the reason we're in war right now is it's a distraction from the information coming out."
– Ben ([54:00])

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8. Notable and Outrageous Moments

[62:00–65:32]

• Pearl Harbor ‘Joke’: When asked about not alerting Japan to war plans, Trump responds with, “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?”—an appallingly tone-deaf attempt at humor.
• Sneaker Show vs. War: Amid Middle Eastern attacks, Trump posts about sneaker auctions and commemorative coins—absurdly out-of-touch.
• Regime Change Delusions: Both Trump and Netanyahu flip-flop between bravado and uncertainty regarding the collapse of Iran’s government.

Quote Highlight

“You believe in surprise more than we do because of Pearl Harbor. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” – Donald Trump ([62:18])

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9. National Debt and Economic Fallout

[47:54–49:21]

• Unsustainable Trajectory: The U.S. hits $39 trillion in national debt, much of it ballooned by Trump-era spending; interest payments alone eclipse many mandatory outlays.
• Global Confidence Eroded: Foreign investors and governments, observing America’s chaos, may eventually shift capital elsewhere—posing grave risks.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “Trump kept calling this war... just a little excursion. Like, what the hell is he talking about?”
  – Brett ([11:30])

• “Trump campaigned on ending forever wars, and yet he has now launched the largest US military deployment to the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War.”
  – Jordy ([13:28])

• “The administration claims we don’t have $30 billion for ACA subsidies, but we can find $200 billion for war.”
  – Ben ([24:15])

• “What kind of sick and deranged country... would take all their money and invest it into military and wars rather than in their people? …I don’t know who would do something like that.”
  – Brett (satirical, [36:23])

• “When you think the low couldn’t get lower, it gets even lower.”
  – Ben ([21:54])

• "Everything that they accused the Bidens of, the Trump children are actually doing."
  – Jordy ([30:09])

• "[The Trump administration] will all go down... as probably like the biggest foreign policy failure in history, the biggest communications failure in history, the biggest congressional failure in history."
  – Brett ([78:02])

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Memorable Segments (Timestamps)

• Opening Crisis Recap & Outline of War (02:32–07:00)
• Campaigning on Ending Wars, Waging the Biggest Yet (13:21–14:45)
• $200B War Supplement, Grift, and Deepening Debt (23:58–30:09)
• Trump's Absurd Comments/Jokes with Japanese PM (62:00–64:40)
• Intelligence Community Hearings & Gabbard’s Stonewalling (65:58–73:39)
• Outrageous Moments: Sneaker Cons, Commemorative Coins, Pearl Harbor reference (multiple between 17:00–65:45)

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Tone and Style

• Language: Unapologetically direct, laced with humor, mockery of Trump era doublespeak (e.g., “exquisite war,” “excursion”), and vivid analogies (e.g., paper tiger, Ponzi scheme).
• Perspective: Fiercely pro-democracy and critical of Trump’s regime and GOP enablers.
• Brotherly Banter: Frequent exchanges between the hosts, blending righteous indignation with satirical observation.

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Conclusion

The brothers close by thanking their community for support, reaffirming their mission to "flood the zone with truth," and highlighting the need for accountability, real journalism, and pro-democracy action. The episode delivers a damning, passionate, and at times darkly comedic critique of a U.S. government in crisis—devastated by hubris, corruption, and authoritarianism under Trump.

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For listeners:
If you missed this episode, you missed not only breaking news and sharp insight, but also a scathing, thorough evisceration of the Trump regime’s handling of foreign policy, national security, and the economy at a precarious moment in U.S. history.

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Subscribe for future live episodes, deep dives, and analysis at the MeidasTouch Network—where truth and democracy come first.

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Transcript

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Visit verizon.combusiness to get started today. New lines only. Price per month with 5 plus lines. Includes auto pay and paper free billing and promotional discounts, taxes, fees, economic adjustment charge applicable. Add ons prices and terms apply. Guarantee applies to base monthly rate and stated discounts only. Add on prices. Additional offers in March 31, 2026 as Donald Trump's disastrous war and unlawful war against Iran spirals out of control. Today, Donald Trump and Pete Hegset said we're going to need 200 billion dol more in order to fight this war. And they want Congress to authorize the $200 billion more for this war despite the fact that Congress has not even authorized this war in the first place. This as the entire Gulf is now engulfed in a massive war. And let's just face it, the tentacles of this war have spread throughout the entire world and never before has the United States, and I say this sadly as a patriotic American, never have looked weaker. You want to talk about escalation dominance. 48 hours ago, Donald Trump and Netanyahu hit the South Pars energy facility in Iran. And yes, Donald Trump was involved in it, despite him saying no, it was just Netanyahu who did it. And Iran said, okay, well you hit our South Pars, we're going to hit the northern LNG liquefied natural gas facilities of Qatar, which provide 20% of the LNG to the entire world. And we're going to hit riyadh. And within 12 hours, Iran, true to its promise, hit those facilities and now they are likely damaged for the next three to five years. So even if this war were to stop immediately like today, which it's not going to, the long term effects of this are going to be absolutely devastating. And folks, we're not just talking about Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz and Iran hitting the neighboring facilities after its facilities were struck. I mean, we're also talking talking about fertilizers, we're also talking about helium. We're also talking about the tourism sector in the Middle East. Then there's a cascading domino effect. What about all these Middle east countries that would invest in startups here in the United States and put their money into private equity companies and purchase things in America? Do you think they're going to do that? And then after Iran retaliated following Donald Trump's strike and Ben Netanyahu strike on their South Pars facility. Donald Trump makes the social media post in, and he's like, I had nothing to do with it. It was just Netanyahu, please stop striking Qatar. Please stop doing that. But if you continue to strike Qatar, we're going to unleash hell and fury on you. And then you had Donald Trump with Prime Minister Taka Ishi of Japan, and Trump was like doing Pearl harbor jokes with Taka Ishi. That was just so utterly, culturally insensitive. Insensitive just to everybody involved in me. We're in this war. Japan is suffering right now. And Donald Trump says to Takeishi, the Prime minister of Japan, I do surprises like you did surprises. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? That's why I got involved in this war in Iran, because I want to do surprises. Donald Trump goes from begging our NATO allies for help to making social media posts saying, we don't need their help. You have Hegseth and Trump and Scott Besant and this whole despicable regime saying Iran's military has been gutted. They've been totally decimated. But when, when you look at the data, they still have their Shahid drone strikes, they still have their ballistic missile strikes. In fact, they are more able to hit their targets than they were before. And we're seeing strike after strike hitting these facilities. I mean, look, right now in Israel, Haifa, one of their biggest energy facilities there, has been directly hit by Iran. And, you know, this thing is spiraling out of control. By the way, in response to all of this, what is the Trump regime floating today? Well, after removing sanctions against Russian oil. Right. And allowing Russia to make billions of dollars selling its oil, that was one sanction. Now Donald Trump says, we're going to remove the sanctions from Iran. Yeah. Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Besson are like, yeah, I think it's time that we remove the sanctions from Iran.

[Brett]

When?

[Ben]

What? And now Iran has such a stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz that they are now collect polls. $2 million to pass through, but you have to be allied with Iran. And they're now making a new business out of this. That's how firm their control is right now. And they see how weak Donald Trump is. They see that NATO doesn't want to support Donald Trump. And when Trump tries to put out these weird statements like, Italy's supporting us, all these countries like, no, we're not. All we've said is that after the war is over, we're happy to help stabilize the region and do our part. But we ain't getting involved in this war. Let's be very clear. So America looks weak. America looks isolated despite all these machinations. With Donald Trump removing sanctions from Russia and now I guess Iran, the price per barrel of oil continues to surge. I don't think it's out of hand to expect $150 per barrel, $200 per barrel. We'll see. Our markets are crashing. But, but even just looking at it beyond short term, think about the long term systemic impacts both in terms of supply chains being destroyed. As I mentioned, not just oil supply, helium, fertilizers and then just a restructuring of a world order now where it looks like the outcome is Iran's going to be stronger, America's going to be weaker, China's going to be much stronger, Russia's going to be much stronger. And what Donald Trump's revealing what a paper tiger he is. Talk about all of this more on the Midas Touch podcast. I'm joined by Brett and Jordy. Great to see you all. And if you want to know, I we all been traveling a lot late lately. We just came back from Austin where we won News podcast of the year in the iHeart Award. Thanks to all of you. There's the photo of us winning. We dedicated the award to all the Midas mighty. It was a tough category. I mean we're in there with the New York Times and npr other top news. We weren't in the political category. We were in the news category. They also put Megan Kelly in that category with us. And a lot speech also was about beating Megan Kelly but more importantly representing our democracy and calling out a lot of the fascist lies that we're seeing. So it was a big award but most importantly it was an award dedicated to this whole community.

[Brett]

Brett and Jordy, great to be here. Ben, great to be here. Jordy, great to be here. Midas Mighty and thanks to everybody watching live on YouTube. Thanks to everybody listening on the various podcast apps. I believe that we're all fixed now on the Apple podcast app for those who are having trouble. So if you can go and check and make sure that you're able to access the show. I want you to that basically right now leave a five star review if you see the show. Let us know if you're able to see the new episodes. You've been such a big help in helping us overcome Apple blocking our show over the past week. But it looks like we are back in action. Thank you. Thank you for everything that you did to help US win the iHeart Award for Best news podcast. Like Ben said, we were going up against, like, such incredible competition. I truly did not think we were going to win that category. I'm just being blunt. But we did, and it was an incredible experience. But, you know, as I always say, say the things that make me the happiest about the show, getting accolades and all of this is that it helps it reach a wider audience. And while the bad guys out there, the authoritarians, the international network of authoritarians, are out there flooding the Zone with crap every day and lies, I think it's so important that we are flooding the Zone with truth here at the Midas Touch Network, and that we are making sure that this truth gets out to as many people as possible. And now, looking at the situation that we find ourselves in with this war, it frankly cannot be more of a disaster. Donald Trump started this war without telling any of our allies. I clearly had no idea what the hell that he's doing. He thought that he could just go into Iran with overwhelming force, kill the ayatollah, and that would be it. He'd be able to get out and say, victory, they surrendered. But that's not what's happening. This is, as Ben said, making the United States of America look so incredibly weak right now. We look like utter buffoons. We've only actually improved Iran's standing in the region. We've endangered our allies in the region and all the Middle Eastern countries in the region. And now we are going to pay the price here at home, quite literally in the form of higher prices, as there's these supply chain disruptions as we see the price of oil spiking. And none of our allies want to help us right now because Donald Trump has given them the middle finger over the past year. And none of them want to get into a war, especially a war that was started from an offensive posture by Donald Trump, where there was no imminent threat, threat to the United States or anybody from Iran at those times. And the Trump administration continues to lie the same way they lied during COVID over and over and over again. Their messaging is horrific, their propaganda is horrifying, and their entire war effort right now is an utter disaster. And, brothers, before I toss to Jordy, I want to toss that a little theory that I have going on in my mind right now about Donald Trump, because Trump keeps calling this war. He goes, just a little excursion. Just a little excursion. Just a little excursion. It's like, what the hell is he talking out? It's a little Excursion. Like, what the hell are you talking. I have an idea. Now, I want the people watching us live, I want the commenters to let me know if you agree with this premise. I think Donald Trump was told by somebody in the military that the United States was going to embark on an incursion, which is an actual military term, means to invade a place quickly, to have a sudden attack, a quick attack. I think Donald Trump was said, sir, the plan is for an incursion. And then I think Trump said, an excursion. And they said, no, sir, an incursion. And he said, an excursion. We're going on an excursion. And nobody wanted to correct him. And so now we're left with Donald Trump saying repeatedly, excursion, excursion, excursion. Kind of in the same way that Donald Trump thinks that when people come into the country on asylum claims that they came from insane asylums. I think kind of the same thing is at play right now. Everything is so stupid, but dangerous. But we're here to uncover the truth. Truth. Not the propaganda lies of Donald Trump, not the propaganda lies of the Iranian regime. We're here to find what the hell is actually going on in this chaotic world. So to that note, let's get into it. But first, Jordy, what's the.

[Jordy]

What's up, brothers? What's up, Midas Mighty? Brett, I think you are just way too spot on with what you were laying out there. I also, I want to go into some numbers about what you were talking about, some more data points. Just remember this first. Remember, Trump campaigned on ending forever wars, and yet he has now launched the largest US military deployment to the Middle east since the 2003 Iraq War. The war with Iran, Operation Epic Fury, better known as Operation Blind Fury. Hat tip to the economist for that one. That's a good one. By that, this has been a total clown show, operationally speaking. Right. This has been nothing short of a major strategic failure and truly a war of choice. It's lacked any clear planning and consistent messaging from the Trump regime. Let's start here. Donald Trump initiated the conflict without formal congressional authorization. Ben, you were talking about that earlier. That's led to actually bipartisan accusations that the move itself was unconstitutional. And the war has also directly contributed to a historic spike in global oil prices, which have reached approximately $120 a barrel. And that just immediately worsens the cost of living for every single American. Not to mention, there has been a total and complete lack of transparency regarding the US's casualties and the tragic deaths of civilians, like the killing of over 100 schoolgirls. In a missile strike.

[Ben]

Remember that.

[Jordy]

Also, to put it nicely, the Trump regime's messaging on the war's duration has been highly inconsistent. Some examples, on March 2, Trump predicted that it would last about four to five weeks.

[Brett]

Weeks.

[Jordy]

On March 4, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, so stupid, suggested it could be three, six or eight weeks. On March 9, Trump claimed that the war was pretty much complete. And on March 11, the Pentagon was reportedly preparing for a conflict lasting at least 100 days. So which is it? Is the war over? Can we bring our troops home so they can stop being senselessly killed in a war of choice by draft dodger Donald? Or is it going to last 100 days, one year, 20 years? Could we just get some damn clarity? All of this chaos, it just underscores the desperate need for adults in the room who actually prioritize constitutional law and strategic clarity over this impulsive, high stakes gambling with American lives.

[Ben]

Ben, one of the words that Donald Trump also keeps using, and I hear everybody in the regime, Brett, you say excursion. He also says, like, exquisite. Like, this is an exquisite war. The military's handled this exquisitely. Like, what's exquisite? What stupid words are you using? The propaganda by this Trump regime is just really bad propaganda. It's not even like, propaganda that can appeal. It's like every time I watch this, like, I'm watching some of the weirdest stuff imaginable. And so while, as I mentioned at the outset, you know, the Gulf is engulfed in a major war with its tentacles basically involving the entire world at this point, in some way or another, the entire world is being impacted by this war involving the world. Call it what you want. You have Donald Trump here talking about doing commemorative coins with his face on it. The vote by the U.S. commission of Fine Arts, whose members are supporters of Donald Trump and were appointed by him, have voted without objection to begin producing Trump commemorative gold coins after the Arts Commission approved his design. Donald Trump, Trump keeps talking about the Golden Ballroom room, the Golden Arch. Today, Donald Trump made multiple social media posts about these Trump sneakers. And while you have Israel and Israel under attack, while you have Riyadh under attack in Saudi Arabia, while you have Qatar under attack, while you have all these other Middle east countries under attack, while you have Iran under, well, while you have this entire, you know, conflagration taking place, this is what Donald Trump posts. It's a photo of the, the Trump golden sneaker and Donald Trump's like, Trump sneaker show in Riyadh that the Trump shoe sold for like $180,000 at his sneaker show. And it's like think when Riyadh and Qatar were involved in their pay for play schemes with Donald Trump. And they thought that if they built Trump towers in Saudi Arabia, there it is rare Trump sneaker listed for 180,000 at sneaker con in Riyadh. Okay, first off, that's not happening right now, number one. And number two, you think there's gonna be future sneaker cons in Riyadh or future car events or Formula One in Bahrain, or ain't nobody going to these places anymore, right? And they all said, okay, Donald, you want us to give your crypto scheme money? You want us to give your family this Trump Towers here? It's not because we like, they thought they were buying protection. And while they are now brought into this war without any consultation at all from Donald Trump, while the Riyadh oil fields are under attack in retaliation for Trump and Netanyahu striking the South Pars oil facility in Iran, while you have Qatar's facility under attack, the Rost Laffen facility, the LNG facility under attack, Donald Trump, Trump starts posting about his sneakers. He starts posting about sneaker Con and that the Trump.

[Brett]

I don't understand, Ben. I thought, you know, Donald Trump, a couple weeks ago, he held this whole event. He's got the Board of Peace now and the Board of Peace, and they're gonna be the ones who ensure peace and tranquility in the world. What happened to all those countries, all those dictators who went on stage alongside Donald Trump to ensure peace in the world before Donald Trump launched a war bringing the entire world into it? Why do you need NATO badly? Why are you begging for NATO when you got your little Board of Peace? I don't understand what happened to the Board of Peace.

[Ben]

Look, you've got the drones over Fort McNair in Washington D.C. right now because all of Trump's cabinet basically lives in military bases now, right? So you have like Rubio and Hegseth under discussed. Pam Bondi, they live in military compounds, right? And right now there are all of these drones of unidentified origins that are flying over there. Meanwhile, you have Iran flying its drones, these FPV drones around the Green Zone in Baghdad, like, with impunity, like, showing that they could target anything they want. And by the way, when they said they were going to target this facility in Qatar, that facility in Saudi Arabia, they hit those facilities, right? We see the mushroom clouds in Saudi Arabia where these things have been hit. Qatar Energy confirmed that their LNG facilities were severely harmed in These Iranian strikes, which Donald Trump then had to basically, you know, beg them to stop and say, we didn't authorize this. Netanyahu did it. Netanyahu did it. And by the way, the World Health Organization says that they're preparing for a nuclear catastrophe right now. So remember all of the fear mongering by Trump and maga. Biden's going to get us into nuclear war. Biden's going to go to war with Iran. Biden this, Biden that, Biden this. Biden was actually the no war president, but Biden was able to. Biden did everything that the Republicans actually claim they wanted. But now the World Health Organization is preparing for a nuclear catastrophe, a potential worst case scenario for the Middle east if the ongoing conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States escalates further. Sources tell Politico and the UN Staff are monitoring the fallout of the strikes on Iran's nuclear sites and remain village vigilant for any type of nuclear threat, according to the WHO regional director. One other thing to point out I think is important too, just to note how despicable this Trump regime is. Six bodies of our fallen service members who were in that Strato tanker refueling airplane that crashed, their bodies were returned through the Dignified Transfer. And the family specifically said, we don't want the media there. We don't want this being photographed because Trump and the White House keep using this for their political propaganda and for fundraising. Like the last Dignified Transfer where Trump wore a campaign hat and literally raised money for his political action organizations off of the Dignified Transfer, they said don't do it. So what does the White House do? They film and they tape it and they photograph it and then they post it on social media. And MAGA Mike Johnson posts the photographs on social media and Trump posted on social media. When they specifically said no photo, no media. We don't use this photo as part of any campaigns that you're doing. And this is what they post right away. And this is what Trump this is just every day it gets a new low. When you think the low couldn't get lower, it gets even lower. So let me show you some data points. Donald Trump with Prime Minister Taka Ishii of Japan in the Oval Office. I'm going to be showing you more of this in just a little bit. But first I want to show you where Donald Trump is at. Asked so are you requesting $200 billion for this war now? $200 billion? More like already it's probably over $50 billion. I think that's probably a low estimate, frankly. Already our military budgets a trillion dollars, I believe already about $50 billion or more has been spent. I think it's probably closer to $100 billion. Why? Why do I think it's. That's the real number? Because if they're asking for a supplement of $200 billion, to me, that tells me that they burned through close to $100 billion fairly quickly. And at the same time, these are the same people who said we didn't have $30 billion to extend affordable Care act subsidies. These are the same people who have taken away $200 billion in rural hospital funding that was necessary to keep hospitals open in rural areas. These are the same people who claim that they don't have to deal with affordable housing or anything that actually Americans need right now. So here's Donald Trump very cavalierly saying, yeah, 200 billion. That's what we'll need. 200 billion. Here, play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

Sophisticated rockets, every single one of them was shot down with our equipment, all our equipment. It's amazing, actually, how good it is. So we want to be sure, and it's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy top, Mr. President.

[Ben]

Price to pay to stay tippy top. $200 billion. And you haven't been shooting all of their ballistic missiles down. That's just a blatant lie. We see what's happening in Qatar and Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and all of these Arab nations with American interest, Baghdad. We see what's going on. You didn't shoot them all down. What's Trump's new line? Oh, that's all AI. That's all AI. Here's what Pete Hegseth said when he was asked about the $200 billion price tag. Let' Pete Hegseth when he was asked about $200 billion.

[Pete Hegseth]

Let's play it both what happened with Midnight Hammer and what happened with that as well. As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys. So we're going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what's been done, for what we may have to do in the future, ensure that. That our ammunition is. Everything's refilled. And not just refilled, but above and beyond. I mean, President Trump, as he said, rebuilt the military in his first term, didn't think he'd use it as dynamically in his second, but he had, so thank goodness he did that. And an investment like this is Meant to say, hey, we'll replace anything that was spent. And now that we're reviving our defense industrial base and rebuilding the arsenal of freedom and cutting deals like our great deputy Secretaries here is doing, just a

[Ben]

bunch of bullshit coming out of that.

[Jordy]

They're just. They're. They're all. They're just such slime balls too. Like, do you see what they're. You see what they're doing here, too? They're trying to. To, in typical Trump, slimy businessman fashion way, he's trying to essentially back into a deal, back into congressional approval for this war, which again, is unauthorized.

[Ben]

Right.

[Jordy]

What he's trying to do is get them to approve on this budget this $200 billion number so he could always be like, look, what do you mean we weren't approved? You guys authorized the money for it? Of course this was approved. It's so typical Trump regime and just so gross. And just hex it. Every time I see opera.

[Brett]

Hammer, hammer opera.

[Jordy]

It's just like, they're so pathetic, man. They're just so pathetic.

[Brett]

I forget who it was, but it might have been Representative Walkinshaw when Pablo Manriquez of the Midas Touch DC Bureau interviewed him in the halls of the Capitol yesterday. And Pablo asked Representative Walkinshaw about Hegseth because Walkinshaw's been in these confidential briefings with him, and Walkinshaw was like, it is so embarrassing. It is so embarrassing watching Pete Hegseth in those briefings because he can't answer any questions. He doesn't know anything. He's able to read a script because he's like a TV person, reality. And so he writes these scripts with these weird lines that you'd see in some crappy action movie. But when you actually try to ask him questions, he's like an idiot. And he said the whole thing is so humiliating. And. And you could tell when you hear him, you know, say all those things, just how. How out of his depth it is. And it should frankly drive every American mad that there is always infinite money for war. Just no questions asked. $200 billion. You know, just give it to us. We just need this for a little excursion. Didn't you win the war? You said you won the war a few weeks ago. Why did you need 200 billion more do when you already have $1 trillion? That's a lot of fricking money. Oh, but we can't do $30 billion to extend health care subsidies, so people need to suffer because they can't afford their health care premiums. That, to me, is like the biggest problem with the United States of America. And especially when we're in this cost crisis and we have this exploding income inequality in the country right now. To me, anybody who's kind of running for office needs to make that clear. You have to be able to say, we have enough money to give an extra $200 billion for war, but we don't have money to. We don't have money to get people housing. That's not the America that we want. And that's the platform that I think a lot of people need to run on. It just shows you, too. Remember, just like months ago, Donald Trump was still making all these posts, saying things like, oh, get ready, with all these tariffs we're bringing in, and all these 19, 18, $20 trillion worth of deals that we're bringing in, we're gonna have. So we have so much money, it's all on the tariff shelf. We're just making bank right now, and we're gonna give it all back to you folks. Remember? And we were saying here at the Mighty Such Answer network, it's a scam. It's a scam. It's a scam. He's not bringing in any of this. All these news networks around, these headlines. So when are Trump's $2,000 checks going to out to people? We're like, never. They're never going out to people. He's not balancing the budget. He's not bringing down the debt. None of this is happening at all. And sure enough, we just see now every day, more and more money gets saddled onto our national debt. And we should be speaking about it right here. $39 trillion we just passed. Since Donald Trump was inaugurated last year, debt has climbed by about $2.8 trillion, and it continues to grow exponentially. And we see now where the priorities of this administration are and the corrupt dealings of the administration need to be discussed as well. Like the drone companies, the Israeli drone companies that the Trump kids invest in, which is profiting like crazy right now off of these war actions. So that $200 billion from taxpayers into the pockets of Donald Trump's children, Donald Trump's family. See other instances like this report that came out today. This is from Joe Wiesenthal at Bloomberg. He said, last year, Donald Trump Jr. Invested in a rare earth startup at a $200 million valuation. Then three months later, the US government announced a huge loan backstop for the company, and now it's worth around $2 billion. We are witnessing right now the biggest grift in the history maybe of anything ever. The biggest theft, the biggest swindle that we have ever seen and they are taking money from the US Taxpayer and they are giving it to Donald Trump, all with this protection racket of the gop. And it is absolutely shameful. And whoever runs all these elections needs to run on affordability, but also against this blatant corruption that we are seeing right now that extends to every facet of everything that the Trumps are doing.

[Jordy]

Brett Counterpoint, Hunter Biden, everything that they accused the Bidens of, the Trump children are actually doing. It's, it's insane saying. And the arguments are so frustrating because they're so illogical. Right. We've won the war. We've eliminated the facilities yet please pay us $200 billion so we could do more war. I don't understand. And that's because the messaging isn't clear. That's because there is no rhyme or reason for what we're witnessing. Other, for other than chaos. For chaos sake.

[Ben]

Ben, let's take our first quick break of the show. We have a lot more to discuss. I do want to show this clip when we get back up. Pete Hegsett saying, you know, the problem with IR is that they take from all of their people and just put all the money into military equipment instead of giving back to the people. There's so many moments like that from that press conference. Then I want to show you Tulsi Gabbard. Oh my God, Don Ratcliffe, she's the Director of National Intelligence. John Ratcliffe is the CIA director. They were getting grilled both at the Senate and the House of Representatives. I'll show you that. Also Joe Kent, who was the basically Director of Counterterrorism working directly under the dni, the Director of National Intelligence, one of the top intelligence officials in the United States. And like a ultra MAGA right wing guy. Trump loved this guy. He resigned and said, I can't be a part of this unlawful war. Iran didn't pose any imminent threat. And this guy's as MAGA as you get. And then the Trump regime is apparently based on all reporting. This was reported by cbs, which is also a form of regime media. Right now they say that he's under a criminal investigation now by the Trump regime for leaking information or he's under like a leak investigation. And they've all attacked Joe Kent. Like you don't get more MAGA right wing, extreme MAGA than like this Joe Kent. I guess Marjorie Taylor Greene. But I guess this is where they all go right now. And now it's Trump, Mark Levin Netanyahu. I guess that's I guess that Pete Hex said. I guess that's the crew. All right, let's take our first quick break of the show. Hit subscribe subscribe to us on Audio. Help us with that audio algorithm. Leave a five star review on audio. We will be right back after this quick break.

[Brett]

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[Jordy]

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

[Ben]

I want to show that clip I was talking about before the break. This is Pete Hegseth talking about Look, Iran is this energy rich country country, but instead of helping their people, they invest all their money on drones and military equipment. Here.

[Pete Hegseth]

Let's play this clip to that point on capabilities. You know, Iran's an energy rich country. Could be, should be. Instead like so many other places, driven by a radical ideology, they've spent that money instead of investing in their people. That's why you had millions of Iranians protesting because they felt like their condition, quality of life didn't match what it could be or should be. And what was the Iranian in state? There's a reason we come call Iran the number one state sponsor of terrorism because they took the the money they they make and they invest it in tunnels and they invested in missiles and they invested in launchers and UAVs. And we are destroying and degrading that, degrading that in historic proportions. But it doesn't mean they won't still have some and try to hold people at issue. Which is why we're we're fighting every

[Brett]

single day to continue to Brothers, Brothers. What kind of sick and deranged country with a demented radical ideology she would take all their money and invest it into military and wars rather than in their people. I mean that's just crazy. I mean I don't know what country what disgusting. I don't know who would do something like that. Thanks.

[Ben]

I don't know either. More from Hegseth right here where he attacks the media and he says a dishonest and anti Trump press will stop at nothing to downplay our progress. That's why when we talk about what's happening at the Qatari Northern LNG facility, is that anti. That's anti Trump. I guess when we, when we show the clips of what's happening in Riyadh and Bahrain and Haifa, or when we talk about the US killing 165 little girls while the Trump regime is also covering up a child sex trafficking ring that preyed on little girls, is that, is that anti. Is that, Is that anti what? That's anti Trump. Or are we just anti despicable conduct and Trump's a despicable person? First here play this clip.

[Pete Hegseth]

And into the soul of a grateful nation. I stand here today speaking to you, the American people, not through filters, not through reporters, not through cable news spin. A dishonest and anti Trump press will stop at nothing. We know this at this point to down play progress, amplify every cost and call into question every step. Sadly, TDS is in their DNA. They want President Trump to fail. But you, the American people, know better. Yes, there are reporters in front of me, but they are not our audience today. It's you, the good, good, decent, patriotic American people. You, the hard working, taxpaying, God fearing American patriots.

[Ben]

Is he like a parody of Homelander from the boys?

[Brett]

Yes. And it's disgusting. I mean, it's, it's disgusting, Ritter. And it's also what they have basically always said about like the people who were fighting right in the Middle East. Like they are the religious extremists who they make the people that they're fighting out to be. They, they hate the press and freedom and the free media. You know, these are all the things that they told us to fear. But right now it's coming from our own government. And something that I think we should point out as well is during these deranged briefings and like now, every few days Hexseth will call one of these briefings and they're like at 8:00 clock in the morning, 5:00am Pacific time, and he just like gets up there and he says all those crazy things and he berates the press. And then when he goes to call on the press for questions, I want you to notice something that I don't think has been called out all that much. And that's the individuals he's called calling out are never like legitimate press out outlets. He's not calling on Reuters or the Associated Press or the New York Times or npr. They may be in the room. He doesn't call on them at all. He calls on people like the people at Lindell tv, you know, Mike Lindell's, you know, Rumble Channel. He calls on people, you know, like Breitbart and the Daily Caller and the Daily Wire. These are the people who, they are uplifting in these briefings. And it's like those, you know, North Korean style propaganda. Often the questions that they get from those people are just so embarrassing. And when I watch that, I think it just makes the United States look so incredibly weak. And by the way, if Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump had their way, they would be shutting down our show. They would be shutting down any sort of dissent and any sort of media that's out there telling the truth. And we could talk about even these, you know, a lot of these Middle Eastern countries, right, the United Arab Emirates has laws against, against releasing footage that the government doesn't like. They call it releasing disinformation. But you see how these regimes and you see how these countries weaponize that term, especially like the Trump, you know, this is what Brandon Carr has been saying. The FCC chair and Donald Trump, they say, these are lies. It's AI. It's disinformation. This is illegal content. Well, they actually have laws on the books about that in places like the United Arab Emirates. So we're not even seeing the worst of it coming out of those countries in terms of the Iranian strikes on places like Dubai because they arrest the tourists who post the footage and they pay influencers to be out there and go, everything's great here. I'm partying. It's. This is the best place in the world. It's safe, it's safe, it's safe. And then when footage does leak out, they go, oh, that big mushroom cloud that you saw after that, that big explosion in the building. It was just some, just a little bit of debris just fell out of the sky. We didn't get hit by a missile. Just a little debris. And the lying, the gaslighting, the COVID cover ups. This is a big problem. This is a big problem. And it's part of what media right now needs to be standing up to. It's. It's this crap that's coming from the administration 1000%.

[Jordy]

Hegseth is so deeply embarrassing to me as an American. I actually can't bring myself to even watch his morning hits. I just can't bend. I Rely on you and your updates to show me the parts I need to see. I'm not just saying that to glaze you, Ben. I'm being sincere. I cannot not watch him. He is such a parody of himself. It is so. He makes my skin crawl. I think it's why SNL had to actually stop parodying him too. Because you can't parody stupid. It's already so ridiculous what we're witnessing on a day to day basis. It makes my, it makes my blood boil. There's nothing of substance there. He's not, he's combative. He's not giving us any information. We all know he's trying to appease one person. That person being Donald Trump when he's up there with these like nice 90s movie lines that he's trying to throw out. It is so deeply embarrassing.

[Ben]

Well, look, you have Treasury Secretary Scott Besant with all of his arrogance today with his head up. Well, we've already removed the sanctions on Russia oil to bring down the prices. Next we're gonna do it with Iran. And I'm watching this, I'm like, what? You're doing a solid to the person or to the country you're at war against, you're gonna help help them sell their oil? Like, what are you even talking about? You can't even wrap your head around the layers of this arrangement. Here, play this clip.

[Congressman Gomez]

We had a break the glass plan across the administration and at Treasury. We unsanctioned Russian oil. We knew that There were about 130 million barrels on the water and we created supply that is beyond the Straits of Hermit. So we anticipated this. We knew that there could be a temporary, and I want to emphasize temporary choke point there. And there was 130 million barrels of floating storage. In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels. So depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China.

[Ben]

You're at war with them. I mean like what warped world are we talking? So the outcome of all of this was make Russia richer, Iran stronger and richer. China just gets to sit back and watch as the US destroys itself. Right? As the US removes its thaad and Patriot missile systems from South Korea and starts to position them in the Middle East. As our thaad and Patriot systems systems there have been taken out, our radar systems have been destroyed. This is the outcome. Iran, as I mentioned now charging Basically, toll fees to countries that are allied with it to use the Strait of Hormuz. And then you had Netanyahu give this press conference today. And after, with all of the confidence in the world, he and Donald Trump so arrogantly said regime change is going to be easy. Remember, at the beginning, the people of Iran will rally behind. Yes. Donald Trump and Netanyahu are going to be greeted as liberators of Iran, as though Iran didn't see what you've done to Gaza and what you've done to Beirut and southern Lebanon. And they're going to welcome you in and say, yeah, Donald Trump, Netanyahu. Like that's what they were trying to sell people at the beginning. Regime changes here. Go and reclaim your country. They tried to do that in January. Remember the protests then the democracy protesters in Trump said he had their back and then didn't have their back and didn't even have ships positioned to have their back. And thousands of Iranian protesters were slaughtered. And now Donald Trump is apparently helping Iran. So if you're in Iran, you. The only message that could exist is that a more extreme version of the Islamic Republic is going to be the result of all of this.

[Brett]

Right.

[Ben]

Trump and Netanyahu kill Ali La Rejani, the National Security Council secretary, basically one of their top guys. Who replaces him? Someone who's more extreme. The old ayatollah is killed. Khomeini, who's put in place a more extreme version and younger version and healthier version of himself, his son Mojaba. That's all you done. That's all you've done. And now you've also demonstrated that the security umbrella promised by the United States to the Middle east and elsewhere is not there anymore. Here, play this clip of Netanyahu. And then I want to briefly talk about Brett, the debt. And I want to make an important point that isn't getting enough attention. But play this clip of Netanyahu.

[Brett]

What do we see? What happens if the. Are there any signs that the Iranian

[Ben]

regime is, is cracking?

[Brett]

A lot of signs. A lot of signs. I wish I could divulge all of them, but I see that. But will I tell you, will I commit right now that it's going to collapse? I can tell you that we're working to create the conditions for it to collapse, but it may, it, it may survive.

[Ben]

It may not may survive. It may not survive.

[Brett]

Mr. Confident, a few weeks ago, sure thing. They were everyone was going to take to the, the streets and, and Netanyahu took over the airwaves and they were playing Netanyahu speeches to the Iranians. They were going to go, netanyahu, you're my hero. You, you, we love you. We got this. I mean, the delusion of these people and the fact that, you know, I know Netanyahu has tried this now repeatedly for, you know, over the course of many presidencies, to try to get the US Involved in a war like this. Then he found a useful idiot in Donald Trump who would actually go along along with the plans here, who would buy into the bullshit, despite the fact that the intelligence said, quite the contrary, that there was no imminent threat to the United States or to the region from Iran, that there was no nuclear rebuilding after the last strikes that Donald Trump did during that other ridiculous name, Operation Midnight Hammer. I mean, this. We're just. They're lying. They're lying to our faces. And now you see them backtracking in real time. Now they're entangled, their backs are against the wall. And things get quite dangerous when you have, especially nuclear powers with their backs against the wall.

[Ben]

A few points I want to make. I said quickly, I want to talk about just the debt for a second. Then I want to pivot, though, to why Donald Trump, I think, was also a very easy mark for Netanyahu or whoever. Look, you could say, well, if we have $39 trillion in national debt, how are we able to even survive as a country? Doesn't it seem like a Ponzi scheme? It does. But where America is the world's currency, where its economy is the envy of the world, where America can essentially money and the world will continue to buy American treasuries, and the world believes America is a safe place to invest, where the world moves its money for private equity, where those conditions exist, the Ponzi scheme can basically continue. Who ultimately pays that debt? We the people are on the hook for it. We pay trillion, over a trillion dollars a year in interest on that. And that trillion dollars a year on interest on the debt could actually be used to fund healthcare and could be used to do other things with it that needed by the American people. So the debt itself creates a stranglehold over the ability of Americans to access health care and to access education and to access, you know, things that I think are important to living, you know, to address those affordability things. But the bigger issue is what happens when Bernie Madoff claims He has a $80 billion fund and he actually doesn't have the ability to pay it back.

[Brett]

Right.

[Ben]

When you have have that debt out there, trillions of dollars in debt. What does that actually mean? That means that there are people out there who actually hold notes where the US has to pay back interest on those notes. So what happens where countries say, you know what, we no longer want to buy things in the dollar or you know what, we don't view this as a safe place to park our money anymore. We're going to move more towards Asia or China or elsewhere or Europe or look elsewhere. We're pulling our. Then what happens if there's a bit of a mutually assured destruction in doing that? Because if the American economy collapses, the whole world economy collapses, then has to be rebuilt. But Donald Trump is certainly pressing fast forward on that right now. It's one of the main things I was warning about Donald Trump's tariffs against the world before he even started this war. Because what happens after? When you look at these Middle east countries, are they going to want to, you know, put their money and park their money with the United States the same way anymore? What about Asia? What about Europe? What about Canada? What about Australia? We already saw lots of these countries entering trade agreements that cut out the US because the US has been attacking them. That's one of the big fears I have with a spiraling national debt also is just this Ponzi scheme. Like Trump, other Ponzi scheme gets called out. And the national debt, by the way, has been built up by a lot of past administrations. It's not. But Trump has certainly been one of the people who put more debt than, you know, than really any anyone else by a significant amount. So I wanted to make that point here. But then the next point I want to make, and we'll talk about this one when we come back from the break as well. But I want to show you this clip to tease it out is, you know, Donald Trump is the Epstein files and Trump's cover up. One of the reasons we're in war right now is it's a distraction from the information that was coming out about the Epstein files. There have been lots of bombshells dropping there. Like Congressmember Dan Gold Goldman in the past 24 hours unveiled the what what the redactions were covering up. On this October 2009 email that Jeffrey Epstein forwarded to Ghislaine, where Alan Gartner, Donald Trump's lawyer, in these notes that were made with Epstein's lawyer, said that Donald Trump never kicked Epstein out of Mar A Lago. That never happened. Epstein was never a member of Mar A Lago. He was always a guest. He was Donald Trump's buddy was never kicked out. And the general manager of Mar? A Lago confirmed that Epstein was never kicked out. We also learned in the past 20 to 48 hours there's a 66 page DEA report regarding drug trafficking and money laundering done in conjunction with the Department of justice. It identifies 12 people who may have been involved in money laundering with Epstein and two other organizations, a massive RICO money laundering, drug trafficking scheme, and Todd Blanche, Donald Trump's criminal defense lawyer. 69 page target profile. I said 66, but decent memory. We're trying to prevent that from getting, getting out as well. They're covering up this document. And one of the questions I've always had, and I've always asked it for years now, is what happened with that Donald Trump house that he bought in West Palm beach in 2004, where he outbid Epstein and then four years later, a Russian oligarch bought this house in West Palm beach for $95 million. It was a very suspicious movement of money, in my opinion. I'm giving you my First Amendment opinion. And so it's just very suspicious. There are all these red flags there. But just listen to what Tom Barrack, Donald Trump's special envoy to Syria and his current ambassador to Turkey, had to say about Epstein. And Tom Barrack was the head of Colony Capital, big private equity billionaire guy very close to Donald Trump. And he knew Epstein. And he said, we all thought that Epstein basically was Israel's guy. That's how we knew him. We knew him as, you know, a guy who got his power from Israel. And I just think. And Tom Barrack is saying that right now, Trump's current ambassador, ambassador to Turkey. Here's what Barrick just said. Here, let's play it.

[Brett]

Just wanted to ask you about what I read in the Epstein files about your association with him. Why did you introduce him to Peter Thiel and Vitaly Churchill? What were your dealings with Jeffrey Epstein?

[Ben]

Well, I didn't introduce him to those people, but all of us dealt with Jeffrey Epstein in the 80s as a business person. He was bigger than life. It was a 30 year story of this that I think most of us actually thought that he had built his wealth and his prowess over his international relations with Israel. That's always what kind of the backdrop was. I didn't see the rest of it later.

[Brett]

In 2000 in the files I read you're having dealings with him after he became a convicted sex offender.

[Ben]

Why of dealings? Maybe? I mean, he was emailing me, asking me for access to the president or trans. I was running a new York Stock Exchange company. He tried to get a hold of me for relevant information. That was it.

[Brett]

You met with him and you met with Vitaly Churkin. You met with Peter Thiel and Epstein.

[Ben]

He kind of had an oopsies moment. I revealed a little too much there.

[Jordy]

Did you see that?

[Ben]

Then he walked away. That was great questioning right there by that reporter. But I think that's an important factor. Right, right. Because this is a distraction from the Epstein files right now. And also, we know you put two and two together, that Donald Trump's reason that he invaded is because, you know, he said that Israel was going to attack first. And I think, you know, I think it's possible that Netanyahu saw that this was the kind of the right time to put this pressure on Trump. Trump was panicking over the release of the Epstein files. And there you have it. There you have it. There's a lot more to talk about. I want to share some more of the revelations there with the Epstein files. But I want to show what was going down on Capitol Hill as well. I also want to show you briefly what was happening with Prime Minister Takeishi in the Oval Office. I've done a whole video on this, so I don't need to, I think, replay it over and over again what's going on in the Oval Office. But for those who just listened to the podcast, I mean, there were some particularly outrageous moments, which I'll share with you when we come back. This is our last quick break hit subscribe. Help us get to 7 million subscribe on audio Midas Touch Network. Midas Touch podcast now iheartspot Podcast of the year in the news category. Big victory. Thanks to all of you. We'll be right back after our last quick break of the show.

[Brett]

Okay, I need to talk about jeans for a second because over the pandemic, I started to hate jeans. I was like, why am I doing this to myself? They're stiff, they squeeze you in all the wrong places, and ordering online is a nightmare. Wrong fit. Weird sizing returns the worst. So when the perfect gene hit us up to sponsor, sponsor the show, I told Jordy, we are not doing this unless they're the real deal. Then I put them on and I'm not kidding, I had a full on emotional moment. These things are so soft, insanely stretchy, and they actually fit. Like not I'll make it work fit, but the perfect fit. No crushed nuts, no saggy butt, just clean, sharp confidence. I looked in the mirror and was like, okay, I look good too. And they move with you. I'm bending, sitting, running around. No plumber, shoulders crack, no fighting the waistband. These things are basically yoga pants disguised as jeans. Normally I'm paying like I don't know, $150, $200 for jeans that I can't wait to take off. These are 79.99 and better than anything I've ever owned. They've got six fits thousands of size combos. These are made for real bodies, thick, skinny, whatever you are covered. I'm telling you. I would wholeheartedly recommend For a limited time, our listeners get 15% off their first order plus free shipping at ThePerfectGene NYC or Google the Perfect Gene and use code MIDAS15 for 15% off. That's me. I D A S15. Seriously upgrade your life. These things are a game changer. That's 15% off for new customers at ThePerfectGene NY NYC with promo code MIDAS15. After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Forget your khakis and get the perfect gene. You know what's easier than fixing a problem? Not having the problem in the first place. Your liver is one of those organs that you don't think about until you have to. Supporting it daily is one of those small things that can make a huge difference in how you feel overall. And that's where dose comes in. Dose for your liver is a clinically backed liver health supplement. This isn't just another capsule or powder. Dose is a liquid supplement. It's taken in a daily 2 ounce shot and it tastes like fresh squeezed orange juice. Here's why it matters. Your liver is your body's filter. It processes everything you consume and handles over 500 daily functions. Energy production, digestion, fat metabolism, vitamin storage. When your liver is overworked, you feel it. Dose helps cleanse the liver of unwanted stressors that may be slowing your liver down. And it promotes daily liver function so that your liver can do its job. Zero sugar, zero junk, zero calories. And when you take dose daily, you're going to reduce sluggishness, get rid of those midday crashes, support your metabolism and even aid your daily digestion. Plus, this is the real deal. There are two double blind placebo controlled studies showing doses positive impact on liver enzyme levels. Are you ready to give your liver the support it deserves? Head to dosedaily code MIDAS or enter MIDAS to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it. That's D O S E D A I l y co midas m e I d a s for 35% off your first month subscription.

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[Jordy]

Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in the description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. Brett, that was just really powerful. Read reads. Great job today, Benji. I just wanted to say I needed to get this off my chest. This actually has nothing to do with you. For the viewers I've been. I'm visiting some family right now. It's not my normal place and I'm just gonna fess up to it. I've been battling the sun all episode so if you scroll back to the beginning to where we are now, I've changed like my seat adjustment like six times. That's why I. Apparently my in laws don't believe in curtains. So we have no curtains where I am right now. And so that's why that, that's. That that's the cause of all the movement here. If you're an audio listener, you have no idea what I'M talking about. You're just like, shut up. Toss it back to Ben. Which I will do right now.

[Ben]

Ben, you also look like you may be in a medieval times.

[Jordy]

Yeah. Very specific.

[Ben]

Trying to figure out where you are as well. Let's go from Geordie's a medieval cast hustle to the Oval Office right now, where Donald Trump was with Prime Minister Take Ishi, the prime minister of Japan. A reporter asked Donald Trump, why didn't you tell any of your allies about this war before attacking Iran? And Donald Trump makes a Pearl harbor joke or I'm not even sure if he's trying to make it. I just listen to what he says and it was like, silence. Like, nobody. Everyone's like, did he really just say that? Here, play this clip.

[Brett]

Of course, no. Japan and US Are very good friend. But one question. Why didn't you tell US allies in

[Donald Trump]

Europe and Asia, like Japan about the

[Brett]

war before attacking Iran? So we are very confused about Japanese citizens.

[Donald Trump]

Well, one thing, you don't want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted some surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay. Right. He's asked me. You believe in surprise. I think much more so than us. And we had a surprise and we did. And because of that surprise, we knocked out the first two days. We probably knocked out 50% of what we we and much more than we anticipated doing. So if I go and tell everybody about it, there's no longer a surprise. Right?

[Ben]

You believe in surprise more than we do because of Pearl Harbor. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Every time I watch that, it's more uncomfortable than the last time I watched it. Here, Donald Trump attacks NATO. NATO doesn't want to help us defend the Strait. Here, play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

But we think of it, we don't use the straight. We're defending the straight for everybody else. And then in the case of NATO, they don't want to help us defend the Strait, and they're the ones that need it. But now they're getting much nicer because they're seeing my attitude. They're getting much nicer, but it's as far as I'm concerned, it's too late. You know, UK wants to send aircraft carriers now. And I said, I want the aircraft carriers before the war. I don't want them after the war is won.

[Ben]

But you didn't tell them about the war. Per the previous clip, you wanted it before the war you didn't tell anybody about. And you're upset that once you launched a war that you didn't tell anybody about, you're lying and claiming that they want to help, which they don't. They said defensively, and Europe said defensively. Once the war is over, we'll help in the strain of her moves, but not now. But, like, literally, this is some demented stuff I'm showing you right here.

[Brett]

Right.

[Ben]

And then Donald Trump is asked about what he wants Japan to do. And then Donald Trump sees, like, a Japanese reporter is like, is he one of your people? To Prime Minister Takeshi, he's like, is he one of your people? And then he's like, I expect you to step up. But actually, I don't need you to step up. It's like, what are you talking about? Here, play this clip.

[Donald Trump]

This looks like one of your people right here.

[Congressman Gomez]

Thank you.

[Donald Trump]

Is he good or bad? Is he a good reporter or bad? You know? All right, looks like a nice guy. Go ahead.

[Brett]

Mr. President, you just mentioned Japan is stepping up. What kind of the support do you

[Ben]

expect from Japan in the future?

[Donald Trump]

Look, I expect Japan to step up because, you know, we have that kind of relationship and we step up in Japan. We have 45,000 soldiers in Japan. We have. We spend a lot of money on Japan. So. And we've had that kind of relationship. So I expect. I'm not surprised that they would step up. We don't need much. We don't need anything. I mean, honestly, we don't need anything from Japan or from anyone else. But I think it's appropriate that people step up.

[Ben]

Yeah. I mean, I could show you more clips, but you get the point. I want to bring you into this Tulsi Gabbard hearing in the House of Representatives. She was in the Senate with John Ratcliffe the day before. Now it was her, Ratcliffe and Cash Patel. This was some cross examination by Democratic Congress member Gomez from Los Angeles, where Gomez said, so last year you testified that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Do you stand by that statement? Here, play this clip.

[Congressman Gomez]

Last year, you testified that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Do you stand by that statement? Yes or no?

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Context matters with that.

[Congressman Gomez]

Yes or no.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Iran had all of I reclaim my time. I reclaim my time to do so.

[Congressman Gomez]

Mr. Chairman, I reclaim my time. It's an easy answer. You either stand by what you said last year or not.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

It is a serious question that requires Director Gabbard.

[Congressman Gomez]

I reclaim my time.

[Ben]

I reclaim my Time more from Congressmember Gomez right here asking about, you know, you said that the only person to determine if it's an imminent threat is Donald Trump. Do you stand by that statement that he's the one who decides whether or not there actually is one or not? Here, play this clip.

[Congressman Gomez]

Today you said that only the President. Only the only person who can determine, determine what is an imminent threat is the President of the United States. Do you stand by that statement?

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Yes, I do.

[Congressman Gomez]

Director Ratcliffe, do you agree with that assessment that the President is the only person that can determine if something is an imminent threat or not?

[Pete Hegseth]

The President's Commander in Chief gets to make a decision about what's an imminent threat.

[Brett]

The intelligence community, well, the intelligence reclaim

[Congressman Gomez]

my time is intelligence reclaimed.

[Pete Hegseth]

My intelligence community provided a body of intelligence.

[Congressman Gomez]

The reason why the decision that if the President can determine and ignore what you're doing, why do you guys even have a job? Why even, like, why do you even advise them? So you're saying tomorrow the President of the United States can say China is an imminent threat, and then he can take his own. No matter what the intelligence says, he can take his own action.

[Ben]

Bro, let me pass it over to you.

[Brett]

Great having you on the show, Big Ben. And you know, I think one of the things that we need to talk about with Tulsi Gabbard is she would never accept these answers from anybody else in the past. You know, one of her whole things was she was anti war, right? That was her whole shtick. Then she would go and she would criticize administrations of the past, including the previous Trump administration, for wanting to warmonger with Iran. And now in this hearing, when she is somebody who has the intelligence in front of her about what Iran is doing, she's doing everything she can to possible to not contradict Donald Trump, even though she knows Donald Trump is a complete liar. And to me, that shows that she just has no moral backbone, no character at all. We saw her top deputy, Joe Kent, leave recently saying that the entire reasoning for the war is bullshit. And don't get it twisted. Joe Kent is not a good person, very bad person, anti Semitic, just not a good human being at all. I'm not lauding him at all. But it's worth noting that the guy who had the intelligence, the guy who is Tulsi Gabbard' top deputy, left and said that the whole Iran war justification is complete and total bullshit. But Tulsi Gabbard is worried about her job. She does not want to have that confrontation with Donald Trump she's been somebody who, it's been reported on, has been under fire for being against, you know, a lot of these actions privately, while she supports them publicly and enables them, which to me is like even a, a worse thing. But I think there was something interesting, which is in a riddle statement that she gave before the congressional testimony began on Wednesday. In the written statement, she actually said point blank that there was no intelligence that Iran had a new. Well, first she said that the previous Trump mission operation, which I referenced earlier, that Operation Midnight Hammer, the strike on the nuclear facilities. First Tulsi Gabbard said that the nuclear facilities facilities were totally obliterated, mimicking Trump's language. And then she said that Iran never built back their nuclear program after that. And so that right there is saying pretty clearly that Trump's entire justification for this war is completely bs but she did not want to say that out loud. And so there had to be congressmen, there had to be senators, that had to be people in there who actually kind of force that out of her. And I want to give a huge shout out right now to Senator John Ossoff, who yesterday was grilling Tulsa Gabbard. And what I liked about Senator Ossoff's questioning is that Ossoff, you know, a lot of some people get up there and they try to, like, deliver a speech, they do a long winded wind up, and they try to say whatever they want to say so that it gets on tv. What Ossoff did was very precise, very quick questioning and, and not allowing for any sort of ambiguity in the answers. So he drilled down on Tulsi Gabbard yesterday, and Senator Ossoff said, you know, you said in your written statement that Iran did not pose a nuclear threat to the United States or to anybody. Do you stand by it? And when she tried to kind of evade the question, he said, do you stand by that? Do you stand by that? And Ossoff actually got Tulsi Gabbard to admit all she said was, yes, you know, she gave a very short, quick, terse response, but she actually admitted because of Ossoff's questioning that basically the entire basis of this war is completely bs And I think that's a big deal. And it's also why, you know, these hearings are important. But you see how Gabbard, she would just constantly dance around the issue. She'd be like, I'm just here to show the 2026 threat assessment. These are not my own words. I'm not saying it from me. This is just the threat assessment that our intelligence community had just no spine. I'll show you an example of that here.

[Tulsi Gabbard]

I'm here today to present the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment and joined by my colleagues, the directors of the CIA, the dia, FBI, and nsa. This briefing is being provided in accordance with ODNI statutory responsibility. What I'm briefing here today does not represent my personal views or opinions, but rather the assessments of the intelligence community of the threats that facing the United States, our homeland, and our interests. In this assessment, we're following the structure of priorities that were laid out in the President's national security strategy, starting with threats to our homeland, then shifting to

[Brett]

global risks, constantly evading responsibility, trying to distance herself from all of this. But then there was another question that was asked, and it was about, you know, the Iranian threat, that Iran actually, you know, pose a threat. Was a preemptive strike necessary? And watch Tulsi Gabbert's technique here. She didn't want to tell the truth in public because that would prove Donald Trump to be a liar. So she suggests that she could only give the answers if there is a closed door here.

[Congressman Gomez]

Rectors Gabard and Radcliffe. Is there any evidence that Iran intended to conduct a preemptive attack on the United States? And I asked them this because 13 service members have been killed in Trump's war, including Captain Seth Koval, a husband and a dad from my state of Indiana. And my constituents want answers. So is there any evidence that Iran intended to conduct a preemptive attack on the US Prior to beginning this war? Yes or no,

[Tulsi Gabbard]

Congressman? The answer to this question needs to be reserved for a close, closed hearing. I will say, however, the intelligence community does provide the assessments of the threats that exist to the President so that he can make that determination within the body of information and intelligence and activities within the region that ultimately he is responsible for what is an imminent threat. And, and if there is an imminent threat, what actions need to be taken?

[Brett]

And that last remark that Tulsi Gabbard made to me is the biggest cop out ever. Because what she says, and she kept going back to this throughout the hearings, it's not my responsibility as the Director of National Intelligence to give Donald Trump the threat assessment and the intelligence. I mean, it's quite literally your job description to do that. She would say it's Donald Trump's job to decide what the threat is and what the intelligence is. No, that's why you. You have your job because you're supposed to be, sir, you can be one of those people in Donald Trump story, sir. If you want to say it. Sir. Sir. This is bullshit. There is no threat. There's no reason to do this. And I think one of the interesting things that we've also seen in. In recent days, there was a. An op ed, an article written by that mediator in Oman, the foreign minister in Oman, who was mediating the discussions between the United States and between Iran. And it was quite damning what he said in this piece in the Economist. And he basically said that the United States has basically sold out its entire foreign policy. It's made the entire world weaker. He said that he was in those negotiations, and those negotiations were heading for a resolution. And instead of resolving the issues and instead of taking the path of diplomacy, which he said was working out, remember, he went on television the day that Donald Trump did the strikes. He said that Donald Trump decided to start this war. And he said. He's like, listen, I'm from Oman, and there are all these countries around me who are now suffering because Iran is now doing these retaliatory strikes on all these other countries, on Saudi Arabia, on the United Arab Emirates. And he's like, I'm not happy about that. And I want them to stop immediately. But I understand why they're angry. Donald Trump attacked them, and they're fighting back. And so it just. The dynamics right now in the Middle east are even more dangerous, worse than ever. Ben was talking about all these countries who gave Donald Trump, you know, take the jet, take the money. I'm gonna, you know, give you this money. I'll give Jared Kushner a couple billion dollars. All this stuff that they did right now or did in the past to kind of try to build this shield around themselves of protection by bribing Donald Trump, essentially. It's all backfiring right now. And that's why you can never get into bed with Trump. That's why you could never get into business with him, because he will always screw you over. Now, this entire, entire region is learning that the hard way. Unfortunately, the American people are learning it, too.

[Jordy]

Yeah, Brett, everyone in the Trump regime always abdicates accountability. It's always somebody else's fault.

[Brett]

Right?

[Jordy]

It's never. The buck stops with me. I'm here to. To take accountability and responsibility for my actions. And. No, it. It can. It's insane. It's. It's truly so pathetic. Tulsi Gabbard embarrassed herself. I mean, she always embarrasses herself, but she especially embarrassed herself. She's supposed to be the United States. United States Director of National intelligence. And yet she's out there acting like she's like a political spokesperson for the Trump administration. It's ridiculous. Our troops are dying, civilians are dying, and she can't even sit there and justify the intelligence used to launch the attack in the first place. I mean, just how pathetic is that? These officials, all of them, they were more focused on protecting the Trump range regime's image than on providing the Senate and the public with just honest data about their failing war. And that's all we're asking for, right? Like, we want the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. And I'm sorry if that sounds like cheesy, but again, American soldiers are dying, civilians are dying, and you have draft dodger Donald. He's got a bunch of yes. People around him that are too scared to give the public the truth and the data because they know it's damning for them. And when you don't have the truth on your side, you see what you saw, right? You lie, you cheat, you cover up, you deflect. And that's exactly what we're witnessing there with those clips from Tulsi to Cash to Radcliffe. These people aren't showing allegiance to this country, to America, but to Donald Trump, their dear leader. I mean, what we're witnessing is the absolute worst of government. There's just simply no way to sugarcoat it. As someone who deeply loves this country, when I. When I. When I'm watching up there, it breaks my damn heart. It just. It is just so upsetting. Brett.

[Brett]

Yeah. I mean, this administration, the way they're handling this war, the lies, the weakness, the subservience by these Republicans, they will all go down. This will go down as probably like the biggest foreign policy failure in history, the biggest communications failure in history, the biggest congressional failure in history. All of these people should wear the shame and the stain of this administration, the Trump administration, the Trump regime, for the rest of their lives, quite frankly, for them to put this man over the safety and security over the United States of America, over the global safety and security. This is so beyond reprehensible, what we are witnessing right now. And all of these people should be incredible, incredibly, incredibly ashamed. And I think that's why we're seeing, as each and every poll comes in, Donald Trump doing worse and worse and worse. There was that viral clip, which I know I don't have to play because I'm sure everybody has seen it.

[HIMS Representative]

Pennsylvania.

[Brett]

Yeah. The woman in Pennsylvania who voted for Donald Trump three times and did not have nice things to say about Him. I think she called him a piece of shit and said that. I guess I'm an idiot. I guess I must be the biggest idiot on the planet for voting for him. And that's a sentiment that's shared by a lot of people. And so you have, you know, then you have CNN and Caroline Levitt sharing, like, these propaganda polls. 100% of MAGA supports Donald Trump. Yeah, because they kick out anybody who doesn't support Trump. If you have North Korean numbers, they.

[Jordy]

It's clear the definition of MAGA is just anyone that shows allegiance to Donald Trump. So of course it's always going to be 100% in these.

[Brett]

And Trump says that repeatedly.

[Jordy]

The propaganda coming out of the White House, I say this often. It would make Kim Jong Un blush. Like, it is that embarrassing. Brett's not joking. Like, we're not saying she posted the poll that says Donald Trump is 100% approved. Like, she actually did that. And she's being serious. It's so pathetic.

[Brett]

It's a disgrace. And quite frankly, every American should be ashamed of, of this regime and everybody who's enabling it. And just the way they're stealing from you, the American people, and not giving people their basic needs, not ensuring their basic needs are met while they funnel hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, into more endless wars, into enriching Donald Trump's family. It is truly, truly, truly a disgrace. Anyway, I want to thank everybody for joining us on this episode of the Midas Touch podcast and for being with us, you know, whether you have been with us since day one. And shout out to all the Midas mighty who have been with us since day one. Maybe this is your first episode. Listening. You saw us win the I Award. He said, let us check these people out. Let's see what it's all about. Well, this is what we're all about. Truth, facts, receipts. Pro democracy. We're about community. We're about uplifting one another. This isn't a movement of negativity. This is a movement of positivity. And we are here with you all. We view this as a group effort. This isn't about me or Jordy or Ben. This is not about any one of our contributors. This is about you. This is about all of us. So let's continue to grow. Let's continue to grow pro democracy communities all over the place, all over the Internet, all over the world. Shout out to our Midas Canada team, led by Charlie Angus. Make sure you subscribe to that. Shout out to all of our contributors Katie Fang doing an incredible, incredible job. Katie Fang is going to be doing a live show next week, by the way, on her channel. So get ready for Katie Fang Live. And they have the Katie Fang podcast rolling out soon. I might have just let that slip, but keep a lookout for that. Keep a look out for that. More news coming there soon. I know everybody loves Katie. Aaron Parnas crushing it with the Parnas Perspective Podcast. And you could just go down the list. Legal, af, Tennessee, Brando. Lot of really, really excellent creators. Make sure to check them out. And once again, thanks for having our back. When the podcast wasn't showing up, we saw your comments. It frustrated us, stressed us out, I'll be honest. But it was so great seeing all of you rise up and say, what the hell is going on? We want our show back. And I really, really thank you. So remember, if you haven't yet, go leave a five star star review on Apple Podcasts. Check out the show. Apple Spotify. It's everywhere. It's there. People are like, why is it only on Apple?

[Jordy]

It's not.

[Brett]

It's everywhere. It's everywhere. We just had issues with Apple. That's why we're talking about it. So be sure to check it out. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And Jordy, I think it's about that time. Take it away.

[Jordy]

Shout out to the Midas Mighty, the

[Brett]

mighty Standing strong against the fascist we sing our song.

[Jordy]

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