MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 5/16/25

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast – Episode: MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 5/16/25

Release Date: May 16, 2025

In this compelling episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas deliver a sharp critique of President Donald Trump's administration, focusing on his recent Middle East trip, the administration's domestic policies, and the media's role in shaping public perception. The discussion is enriched with insightful analysis, notable quotes, and a clear stance supporting democracy and transparency.

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Trump’s Middle East Diplomacy: A Diplomatic Disaster

The episode opens with a scathing review of President Trump’s latest diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. The hosts argue that Trump's interactions with Middle Eastern royal families were more about image management than substantive diplomacy.

Ben criticizes Trump’s portrayal of economic improvements:

"Donald Trump's ... use of terms like 'groceries' being an old-fashioned sound and manipulating economic statistics is a transparent attempt to deceive." [03:53]

Jordi highlights the discrepancies in Trump's economic claims:

"He mentioned that egg prices dropped by 97-98%, but such figures are fabricated and misleading." [06:19]

The trio underscores Trump's solicitation of luxurious gifts, such as a gold-plated jet from Qatar, framing it as a blatant display of vanity and a sign of compromised national interests:

"Trump is essentially begging the Qatari royal family for gifts, undermining America's security by accepting bribes from authoritarian regimes." [07:51]

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Media Complicity and Fox News’ Bias

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the media’s role, particularly Fox News, in perpetuating Trump's misleading narratives while deflecting criticism onto political opponents.

Brett asserts:

"Fox News consistently spins Trump's disastrous trips as successes while defaming Biden to distract from the administration's failures." [16:34]

Ben elaborates on the media's strategy to obscure Trump’s broken promises:

"They distract by focusing on Biden, making baseless claims to cover up Trump’s administration’s incompetence." [24:36]

The hosts criticize the media for promoting narratives that align with Trump’s agenda, thereby hindering objective reporting:

"The media portrays Trump’s actions positively despite evidence of economic losses and policy failures." [27:00]

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Achievements and Community Engagement

Amidst critical discussions, the hosts celebrate their recent accomplishments, including being awarded "Podcast of the Year" at the Webby Awards and conducting a 40-minute interview with media legend Katie Couric. This segment showcases MeidasTouch Podcast’s influence and commitment to deep, meaningful conversations.

Brett shares:

"Our interview with Katie Couric was a milestone, providing an in-depth look at our values and mission." [12:41]

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Domestic Policies: Budget Cuts and Federal Agency Failures

The conversation shifts to Trump’s domestic policies, emphasizing significant budget cuts and the detrimental impact on federal agencies.

Ben discusses the proposed budget bill:

"The bill includes $880 billion cuts to Medicaid to fund tax cuts for billionaires, exacerbating the deficit." [33:48]

Jordi highlights the FAA’s staffing crisis:

"The FAA head couldn’t provide accurate figures on staff reductions, revealing a lack of oversight and accountability." [54:02]

The hosts express concern over the administration’s disregard for essential services and the resulting strain on public welfare programs:

"Cuts to Medicaid and SNAP are leading to increased homelessness and food insecurity." [38:18]

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Congressional Hearings and Government Accountability

The episode delves into recent congressional hearings, where government officials failed to provide transparent answers, showcasing the administration’s evasiveness.

Ben references RFK Jr.’s statements:

"RFK Jr. dismissed his role in advising on health policies, undermining public trust." [43:52]

Brett critiques Kristi Noem’s handling of doctored evidence:

"Secretary Noem’s refusal to address doctored photos related to MS-13 raises serious ethical concerns." [47:24]

These instances are presented as evidence of the administration’s broader strategy to obfuscate truth and avoid accountability.

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Republican Rhetoric on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

The hosts dismantle the Republican narrative that labels government spending on public services as "waste, fraud, and abuse," arguing that such rhetoric masks their own financial mismanagement.

Brett counterpoints:

"Republicans calling for cuts to Medicare and Medicaid while they themselves engage in fiscal irresponsibility is hypocritical." [41:48]

Ben adds:

"Reducing IRS staff to lower tax revenue only increases the deficit, contrary to their claims of fiscal conservatism." [33:48]

The discussion underscores how the administration’s policies are detrimental to both the economy and vulnerable populations.

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Economic Implications: Tariffs and Consumer Prices

Analyzing the economic fallout from Trump’s trade policies, the hosts cite the CFO of Walmart, who acknowledged that tariffs are driving up consumer prices.

Brett quotes the Walmart CFO:

"Prices are rising quicker than they have ever risen due to the tariffs imposed by Trump’s trade war." [60:53]

Ben explains:

"These tariffs force retailers to pass costs onto consumers, leading to unprecedented price hikes." [61:35]

The hosts emphasize that such economic measures disproportionately affect everyday Americans, contradicting Trump’s promises of economic prosperity.

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Immigration Policies Under Trump: Favoritism and Inconsistencies

The episode criticizes Trump’s inconsistent immigration policies, highlighting the preferential treatment of certain groups while others face harsh deportations.

Jordi discusses the influx of Afrikaners and cartel families:

"Trump expedited the entry of 2.7 million Afrikaners and cartel families without proper vetting, endangering national security." [69:21]

Brett contrasts this with the treatment of legitimate refugees:

"Meanwhile, Afghan interpreters and Venezuelans fleeing persecution are being harshly deported, showcasing discriminatory practices." [69:01]

This segment underscores the administration’s flawed and biased approach to immigration, favoring those aligned with its agenda over genuine refugees.

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Final Thoughts: Upholding Democracy and Accountability

In conclusion, the hosts call for greater accountability and vigilance in protecting democratic values against authoritarian tendencies.

Ben urges listeners:

"Don’t just rely on the media’s portrayal. Research and hold leaders accountable for their actions." [70:21]

Brett emphasizes the importance of truth-telling and responsible governance:

"The devastation caused by Trump’s administration requires us to stay informed and actively support democratic institutions." [72:00]

Jordi reinforces the message of collective responsibility:

"Support our democracy by staying engaged and questioning misleading narratives." [73:11]

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Closing Remarks

The episode wraps up with appreciation for their audience and a reminder to subscribe for more in-depth discussions. Hosts also tease upcoming live sessions and special episodes, maintaining their commitment to fostering informed and engaged listeners.

Brett shares:

"Thank you for your support. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a five-star review to help spread our message." [71:31]

Ben adds:

"Join us on future episodes as we continue to fight for transparency and democracy." [73:46]

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Key Takeaways:

• Critical Analysis of Trump’s Diplomacy: The hosts argue that Trump's Middle East engagements are more about personal image than effective diplomacy, highlighting misleading economic claims and inappropriate solicitations from foreign leaders.

• Media Bias and Complicity: Fox News is criticized for its biased reporting that favors Trump’s narrative while undermining opposition, contributing to public misinformation.

• Domestic Policy Failures: Significant budget cuts to essential services like Medicaid and the FAA’s staffing issues are discussed as detrimental moves by the administration, exacerbating social and economic problems.

• Economic Impact of Trade Policies: Trump's trade wars and tariffs are shown to directly increase consumer prices, with real-world examples from major retailers like Walmart.

• Inconsistent Immigration Policies: The administration’s preferential treatment of certain groups juxtaposed with harsh deportations of genuine refugees is highlighted as a flawed and discriminatory approach.

• Call for Accountability: The episode concludes with a strong call to uphold democratic values, encourage informed citizenship, and hold leaders accountable for their actions.

This episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast offers a thorough and critical examination of the Trump administration’s policies and actions, advocating for transparency, accountability, and the protection of democratic principles.

Transcript

[Ben]

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[Ben]

Donald Trump's disastrous trip to the Middle east is perhaps best summed up by this video of Donald Trump with the royal family and the United Arab Emirates. Let's just play this clip.

[Jordi]

It's jobs, because to me the most important jobs. I want jobs. And we have. Costs are way down. Groceries, where they have a term grocery. It's an old term, but it means basically what you're buying. Food. It's a pretty accurate term, but it's an old fashioned sound. But groceries are down, costs are down, eggs are down. They were, first week they were hitting me with eggs were up 200% and now they're down to a number that is amazing. Down 97, 98% from where they were. And everybody, they said, you won't have eggs for Easter. Well, we had egg, everybody had eggs for Easter at a very reasonable price. At the White House, we had our little Easter egg roll and we had hundreds of thousands of eggs purchased. They said you have to go out and buy plastic eggs. That didn't work out.

[Ben]

So while Donald Trump is in the Middle east begging for gifts from Middle east royal families, like a $400 million gold plated jet from the Qataris, Donald Trump is talking to the various royal families in the different countries like they're in the United Arab Emirates. Saying the word groceries is an old fashioned sound, he says. And he said that nobody make up numbers 200% and down 98% and that people don't really know the word groceries and that eggs were never this cheap. Just everything he's saying is a lie. But just what are we watching? How humiliating. I mean, you can go back to when he visited Qatar and he told this story about people, Pete Buttigieg, riding bikes and that he doesn't like that Buttigieg rides bikes. And then he starts talking about Sean Duffy climbing trees and just, just what this is what he's talking about with the Qatari royal family before the United Arab Emirates royal family. Here, play this clip.

[Jordi]

Tree comes down also, by the way, it's so intense. I mean, you see these trees being knocked down like, like they're being sawed down by a top of the line timberman, like, like you know who. Sean Duffy. Do you know that? Sean Duffy, the head of the transportation department who's working right now in the airports and getting a system because Biden didn't do a thing for four years. And Pete Buddha Dej was the head and he goes bicycle into work. He takes a bicycle to work. Can you believe he's. He's running the biggest air system in the world and he takes a bicycle to work. What a. And they say he's going to run for president. I don't see it. Who knows, right? But I don't see it. But when I look at what they've done, it's so horrible what they have done and the work they did do. They wasted billions of dollars. They're trying to hook up air systems to copper and they tried to hook up copper to glass and the glass doesn't work with the copper. And they had 30,000 different contractors doing 30,000 jobs. And when they put it all together, they spent billions of dollars. It didn't even come close to working. And we're going to be giving out a brand new system. It's very important that we'll have the best system. And we think we know who that system is.

[Ben]

I mean this sincerely. What the hell did he just say? What the hell is going on right now? Seriously. And just to show you how profoundly dangerous this is, yes, Pete Buttigieg responded to that, saying it's a perfect up north Michigan morning. Good day for a bike ride, eh? Then Donald Trump starts saying that he's not a huge fan of stealth, that he doesn't like stealth all that much. He's not a fan of stealth. And then he tries to talk about how he says that stealth is not effective technology because you can figure out the shapes easily. And he's saying this, visiting the Middle east while he's begging for seconds or thirds of the jets from the Qataris and the Royal and the. I just want to contextualize what's taking place here. Play this clip.

[Jordi]

And so I want to do that. And sometimes, you know, stealth, they do stealth. I'm not a huge believer in stealth because stealth is basically a lot of, it's the design and the shape and, you know, I'm sure you maybe think. But also if, if that's the case, they're going to figure it out pretty fast, I think. So you're going to design an ugly plane for stealth reasons and then six months later they're going to figure out this. Then you're stuck with a plane. Now we, we're doing, we're doing a Super F22 and we're going to be going with it pretty, pretty quickly.

[Ben]

He then goes on to say he wants to call it an F55 and how he doesn't think it should have the same amount of engines that it does and he likes more engines than less engines. And then just play the B roll of the spread of the motorcade in Qatar. As you know, in order to kind of suck up to the Trump regime in Qatar and these other countries, they were riding around in like red Elon Musk cybertrucks as the motorcrack motorcade as like Donald Trump pulled up to the various Middle east palaces. First the Saudi Arabian palace and then the palace in Qatar and then the palace in United Arab Emirates. And then we've learned that one of the reasons Donald Trump needs a gold plated 747 jet is that he says that he feels humiliated around these. Roy is what many people are reporting right now, that he feels actually humiliated being with the royal families and only having Air Force One in its current form and not gold plated jets. So he wants to get these gifts from Qatar. Let me bring in Brett and Jordi. You know, obviously, guys, when Donald Trump is telling the United Arab Emirates royal family that prices are down and things are great, I mean, it's obviously a complete lie. But I wanted to lead with that clip because I don't think you can just talk about what's happening in the Middle East. As Donald Trump is a grifter, that's not enough. I think you have to make it clear that he's broken every single one of his campaign promises, his entire campaign of lowering prices, making housing more affordable. Just a complete and total fraud. Ending the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, ending the war in Gaza in 24 hours. All lies. Things are actually much worse. But there he is in Lorraine palace, in this palace, in that palace, you know, cuddling up to authoritarians, while at the same time his regime has basically ordered the State Department and others to stop doing any work for the G20 summit because it's in South Africa and Donald Trump is claiming that there's a genocide amongst all white people in South Africa. And, and while Donald Trump is treating his own voters, Latinos for Trump, Venezuelans for Trump, Cubans to Trump, like horrifically, and sending him to concentration camps. He's allowing in 2.7 million Afrikaans from, from, from Africa because Elon Musk is a white South African who came to the United States. So how about that for an intro?

[Brett]

Yeah, it was quite the intro. It's good to be here, Ben.

[Ben]

Good to meet.

[Brett]

Yeah, no, it's, it's absolutely Nuts. It's absolutely crazy, as expected. And it shows that Trump is always going to put the kind of appearances before the actual action and getting things done. I think that's something we see constantly, you know, in Trump's remarks. And he doesn't care if things are true or not true. He doesn't care if it actually benefits our troops or benefits our military. All he wants is the appearance. He wants the appearance of things are better, we are strong, things look nice. When you see him speaking even about this jet, this Qatari jet that he's been gifted, he constantly speaks about how everyone else's jets are so much bigger and better and we need a bigger and better jet. Oh my goodness. It's just the most ridiculous thing. And I think that stealth clip kind of gives it away, you know, as well. Like what's better than having the top of the line stealth jet in the United States military or Air Force? And then you have, you know, Donald Trump saying that he doesn't care about that actually. He just wants them to look pretty. That's his whole thing. Anyway, I want to address the fact that we are once again off location. We've been traveling around. Jordy is in the room with me. Once again, it should be the last day of our little off road podcast tour over here and I hope everybody's been, been digging it. We had a, we had a big week this week. You know, as we mentioned earlier in the week, we had the Webby Awards on Monday. Thank you to everybody. Midas Touch podcast was awarded podcast of the year, which was awesome. And then one of the things that's very cool that was just released today so you all could check this out right now is we got to do a, our 40 minute interview with Katie Couric. I mean somebody who I've admired for an incredibly a long time. We sat down in studio with Katie Couric. Our first in studio interview, the of us together. And I think if you ever wanted to hear from us in kind of a long form format and really dig into kind of who we are and our values and our thoughts, go check it out. It's on her YouTube channel. She called it the Midas Touch versus the Right Wing Media Machine. And you could check that out right now. And thanks for all the very nice comments about that that have been pouring in all day.

[Lisa]

Absolutely. Katie's an absolute legend. So that was really awesome to do. I mean, just an icon in the space. So that was awesome. We were, we were thrilled to do it. Check it out, let us know what you think? It was cool. We got to talk more long before we bought the. Let us know what you think. It was awesome. Today has been a day Brothers Midas. Mighty excited to get into the news. Ben just reacting really quickly there.

[Brett]

I don't like stealth.

[Lisa]

Like, what is what, what? And then Buttigieg, he's saying he controls the airspace. He's taking a bike. I don't like that. Does he want Pete to fly?

[Brett]

To.

[Lisa]

To fly, to work? Like, what is he even trying to say in these clips? And it really is just so aggravating, right? For all, for all the emphasis on mental acuity with the previous administration from folks, where is that same energy when it's staring you in the goddamn face every second of the day with someone who is actually currently the President of the United States and has access to the nuclear code?

[Brett]

It's a race. And you know, one of the things we've seen also, you know, is Donald Trump will do those rambling speeches that we just showed you. They're just totally nonsensical. And Donald Trump's team will, you know, they're easily flattered, right? So the Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Emirs of Qatar, you know, all these people, they will go and they will say things like, wow, groundbreaking speech by Donald Trump. Incredible. One of the best, the best we've ever heard ever. And this just then gets parroted by other people in the media and stuff. And you're like, he didn't say really words, okay? Like there's nothing, nothing is. There's nothing going on there. Let's stop pretending like that was anything but Donald Trump just ranting and raving like a lunatic and frankly selling out the United States. It's been interesting actually, in particular, and I want to call this out up front to see Fox News spin, or should I say state run medias spin with all this because they sure as hell know that this trip has been an utter disaster. And they know that Donald Trump is selling out America quite literally to the highest bidder. So they always say the opposite. And you could always see what they're afraid of by looking at how Fox News frames things. And then think, what's the opposite of that? And that's what they are trying to combat. That is like Fox Propaganda 101. So as we see this trip, the way they describe it is, you know, President Trump puts America first and America first in what? What are you talking about? He's literally going out there and he is selling out the country to the highest bidder. And that's how you want to frame all this. I mean, if you just go through everything and then to add to it, it's not even just Trump himself. It's his ca, the people around him. We are dealing with the most incompetent administration in history right now. And people's lives are being risked through all of this. It's not just all fun and games. It's not a horse race. This isn't, you know, palace intrigue. And, and the stuff Jordy was talking about that the media seems to be very focused. They're talking about President Biden right now. I mean, what the heck are you doing? Like, this is the weirdest, weirdest thing ever. Meanwhile, you have these FAA shortages and this is stuff that I've even encountered just going to air airports over the past few days and seeing, hearing them speak about it, saying they have shortages over the speaker and saying that there are issues with the flights going to Newark and all this stuff. Now we're hearing about more of this happening in airports across the country. And this administration and Fox, they just continue to try to pass the buck, pass the blame. Oh, this is Biden's fault. Everything's Biden's fault. Is he even Trump then? And we'll get to this soon. But Trump's like, I actually only been here for a month or two, actually. Oh, yeah, January doesn't actually, my term doesn't actually start in January. It actually starts, it starts kind of now. It starts like a month ago because, you know, it's, it takes a little bit to get up started. It just, we need to have the media stop buying into all of the BS and all of the crap. And if they're not going to do it, we will do it here.

[Ben]

Well, the media is complicit. And my theory of the case of them bringing up Biden and I'm going to stop talking about it, is that Donald Trump has looked so addled. This has been such a disastrous trip. This has been the worst kind of few days in a row in presidential history. From the capitulation in China where Donald Trump bent the knee, basically sent his stooges, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Trade Representative Jameson Greer to go to Switzerland to pull back the tariffs and then try to claim it was a deal. I mean, just literally America losing massively in the world stage, to China where China looks like the adult in the room and America looks the way like China used to look or America looks the way North Korea looked. It was the biggest loser move ever with China. You put 145% tariffs. You say it's going to get you rich. You say you're not going to need to do taxes ever again and the External Revenue Service is going to collect all this money. You're not even going to need to do an irs. You, you take that, right? Then you take this trip to the Middle East. You compound it with, just look at what Donald Trump is saying. Like, look, look physically at him. It's staring us in the face, right? What have I been saying? It's like the movie don't look up. I guess the equivalent here is don't look at him, don't listen to him. Just pretend it's all, oh, okay, and like a miracle, we're all going to, we're all going to be fine. You layer on top of that the qatari bribe, the $400 million gold plated jet, as Donald Trump's out there saying, I deserve gifts. Why wouldn't I get the gifts? It's embarrassing that I don't have a gold plated jet the way, the way they have gold plated jets, right? You have Donald Trump saluting the Qatari army. Saluting the Saudi army. He's saluting Saudi troops. Why are you saluting Saudi troops for one by one he would salute them. Saluting United Arab Emirate troops. What the hell are you.

[Brett]

What do you make of the fact that now in both Trump administrations, his first like kind of official state trip abroad has been to Saudi Arabia? Like, I think that, I think it's kind of obvious to me. I'm curious to get your perspective though.

[Ben]

What country behind 9 11. The country behind 9 11. Then you go to Qatar, the country behind funding Hamas. And we're not supposed to comment on that and act like that's some normal thing. Here's the thing. He rubbed shoulders with these guys. They're like him, right? You know, you know, as Donald Trump would say, like, was like, they not like us. They like him. Okay? They just like him. Normally we look at them and be like, they not like us. But with Trump, they are, they are Trump. Bribes, fraud, you know, royal family, it's, it's all of the things that he wants to be. Have you seen the oil, the Oval Office where he tries to make it look like a royal palace by spraying these stupid statues gold around it. Like, look, just look at the Oval Office and you'll see that he wants to be just like these people. So much so that what it takes to buy him off. We know the number now, America, right? With our 30 plus trillion dollar GDP compared to Qatar, whose entire GDP is 200 billion dollars. The price to pay off an American President, a 400 million dol. Million dollar hand me down jet, which is probably bugged, where it compromises America's security interests from a country that's helped fund Hamas. That's the number. That's the number. So Trump loves them because they treat him like a fellow authoritarian, which he is. And why do you think he doesn't like Canada? Why he doesn't like, you know, European countries? Because he doesn't like democracies. He thinks that's weak when that's actually strength. And you wanted, like, I'll show you the like.

[Brett]

And then let me just show this to the, to the crowd, you know, because I think oftentimes people are speaking about this kind of authoritarian creep, right. That it's kind of incoming. I would argue that it's here and, and we're, we're dealing with it right now. And I'm going to give you Exhibit A right now, which to me, as an American citizen, as somebody who's grown up in this country, as somebody who's looked at these other countries, like North Korea, like Russia, like Saudi Arabia, not in a positive light to see stuff like this. Ben, I'm not sure if you've seen this right now, but these are real posters that are going up across Washington D.C. on government buildings. And you could see this for our audio listeners, there are these posters that they're hanging up of Donald Trump's face. It's his portrait. It looks like his, that looks like his mug shot. And it's these big roll down all across the big pillars columns in D.C. at these buildings. And this photo that we are showing right now, for those listening, you have the image of Donald Trump on one of these government buildings on the left. And then it's showing you on the right what it looks like in these other countries, like in North Korea and Russia, when these autocratic leaders also put their big pictures, roll it down on these big columns across the country. And to me, when I see things like this, I think there are some folks that may look at this and say, oh, what's the matter with that? When I see this, I go, this is a clear sign of fascism. We've never seen this before in this country. And it is not what the United States stands for. I think this is grotesque, grotesque stuff that we're looking at right here.

[Lisa]

Could you imagine just the outrage if President, I'm going to keep beating this drum because I think it's Important to compare. Could you imagine if President Biden did this? If he would just put up these images of his faces on buildings like this and the outrage that Fox News would run with for weeks. This isn't normal stuff that we're dealing with. And that's why I just get so frustrated when we get gaslit by people who are just like, oh, it's another day. You know, this is normal.

[Brett]

Do you remember the coverage of President Obama back in the day?

[Ben]

There would be, oh, all this would.

[Brett]

Be Fox all the time. For those who maybe didn't watch the movie, all hail the anointed one. Oh, King Obama. He wants to be king. Like, the things they would say about the guy are quite literally what Donald Trump did. And President Obama never did anything like this. It's just a complete bizarro world. Like I've said in the past, this cannot exist without the complicity of the media. This cannot exist without the foxes and without this right wing ecosystem just pumping these right wing algorithms getting into people's veins. Because anybody who could look at this objectively should be able to see exactly what we all see, what this audience sees right here.

[Ben]

There's, there's two things, as I was saying, my theory of the case, though, with all of those things going on, why has the media been going wild on the stupidest stuff about Biden right now? Like, why now? You have to ask yourself. Well, one, they always did it right, but they're doing it in a coordinated fashion because they're trying to cover for Donald Trump and the disaster that he's having. They got to go back to the playbook, right? Let's just spend all of this time distracting people by now, bringing up Biden this, Biden that. So because there's no justification for what Donald Trump is doing and, or their corporate overlords at these corporate media networks are afraid to criticize him because they've got their mergers and they've got all of these things going on and they've.

[Brett]

Got books to sell, Ben. Got books to sell. Honestly, shame on those people. Shame on you for focusing on this. Shame on you for trying to turn this into a story when we have serious issues in this country right now, when it is unclear if we are even going to have elections in the future. And we are fighting every day for our democracy. Shame. And you know exactly who I'm speaking about. Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of ax. All you people are a disgrace, honestly, to the entire journalism profession, to American citizens, to everybody who has fought and died to protect this country from fascism. Shame on you. You should be absolutely ashamed.

[Ben]

I mean, because, you know, you want to, you want to talk about what's right before us. How about Donald Trump in one, in these rambling speeches, he just talks about like, like he just brings up random numbers every time. Like, and again, imagine if former President Biden did this. I think Donald Trump's lying about the amount of districts that he won. And he, he just starts rambling and says that there's like. Is he talking about. First of all, I don't know. He's talking about, about. Is he talking about congressional district? Because there's not thousands of congressional districts. Okay, is, is he, is he talking about counties? Just watch what he's saying, though. And he'll go, there's 2, 37, 535. That's 7,032, 34, 7, 13, 33, 4, 9 or 11. Here, play, play this club.

[Jordi]

We want everything. We want a thing called that. People don't like districts. So in the country, you have districts, thousands of districts. We got 2,750 districts versus 525 districts. Think of that. That's why when you look at a map, it's actually a very important stat. When you look at a map, the map shows it's practically all red. The Republican. And very importantly, we won counties throughout the United States. 2,660, 60 to 451. That's why when you look at a map, they're all red. It's all. The whole country is red. Red stands for Republican. We won 2,750 districts. We call them districts out of a total. If you look at the numbers, 2,750 to 500, the whole map was red. Red meaning Republican counties throughout the United States. 2000, 660 to 451. That's why when you see the maps, they're all bright red. Red meaning Republican. We won all seven swing states. We won the popular vote by a lot. We won the counties by 27, 25 to 505. That's why the map is completely red. When you look at the map, it was, it was an obliteration.

[Ben]

This election wasn't an obliteration. He didn't even get the majority of votes. There's only 435 congressional districts. And he just keeps on making up different numbers. And I'll give you a real world impact of that. Why numbers matter. And for Donald Trump, just make up whatever number comes to mind. So out of this trip to Qatar, what was their Big announcement that the Trump regime announced Qatar is committing $1.2 trillion to the United States, whatever the hell that's going to mean. Look what I did. $1.2 trillion economic commitment. Well, what's the GDP of Qatar? What's the overall annual GDP? It's about $200 billion. So you're saying that the deal you cut with Qatar, they've agreed to give you 6x their entire GDP. We're supposed to believe that. And that's what they expect us to believe. You know, Donald Trump goes and makes.

[Brett]

I bet that's in every headline also that like the, that people wrote about this.

[Ben]

Exactly. They'll go in and they report that this was like a successful diplomatic trip when it was the biggest, the objectively the biggest disaster. I mean, the cognitive decline is there. But I don't even want to focus so much on the cognitive decline because it lets him off the hook, you know, or doesn't let him off the hook. But I want to make sure we hold this idiot accountable. But just describe what's going on. I mean, we can see it and I'm sick and tired of this. Don't look at him. Just pretend that this is supposed to be some normal things. Pretend when they're putting his posters like Nazi style, like frickin Kim Jong Un, Putin style in Washington D.C. that we're supposed to be like, yeah, you know, whatever, you know, that has Donald Trump, first off, why is he even talking about those things to the royal families in the Middle east who don't have elections? What is the even purpose of that? Okay, so I want to talk about more about that when we get back from our first break. I also want to talk about a major victory though by Democrats in Omaha, Nebraska, which I think is a major sign of things to come. They're the longest serving Republican incumbent mayor in the United States lost her campaign to a Democratic candidate, John Ewing Jr. A 20 point swing in that mayoral race from the last race in 2021. We want to talk about what that indicates. Now let's talk about some of these congressional hearings where RFK Jr. Said that you shouldn't trust him for any advice regarding health or medicine. He's the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Excuse me. Although I agree with him, we shouldn't rely on him. That's what he said. Kristi Noem refusing to answer the question about whether the photo that has the doctored letters miss numbers 13 on Abrego's hands are actually doctored. She refuses to answer that. That we'll talk about that and more. A reminder hit subscribe on our YouTube channel. Check us out on patreon.com midastouch we'll be right back after our first quick break of the show.

[Brett]

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[Lisa]

Let's face it, after a night of drinks, I don't bounce back the next day like I used to. Now I thought I had to make a choice. I can either have a great night or a great next day. Now that was until I found pre alcohol zebiotics. Pre Alcohol Probiotic Drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Now here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. Now it's a buildup of this byproduct, not dehydration. That's to blame for rough days after drinking. Pre alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make pre alcohol your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Now every time I have pre alcohol before drinks, I notice a difference the next day. Even after a night out, I can confidently plan on having a great next day without worrying. Look, I won't lie, I was a bit on the fence about pre alcohol initially, but then while hanging out with some friends in dc, I gave it a shot and well, believe me, it's the real deal. So I first gave pre alcohol a try when I was at a wedding. I drank it before my first espresso martini and you wouldn't believe how on top of my game I felt the very next morning. Spring is here, which means more opportunities to celebrate warmer weather and before drinks on the patio, that tropical vacation or your best friend's wedding. Don't forget your Zebiotics Pre alcohol Drink one before drinking and wake up feeling great the next day. Go to ZBiotics.com Midas to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use Midas at checkout. Zebiotics is backed with 100% money back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to ZBiotics.com Midas and use the code MIDAS at checkout for 15 off. Let's go shout out to our sponsors Links in description both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. Let them know we sent you if there's an exit survey. Those are some fabulous products. If you're in the market for them, definitely check them out. Benji where to next?

[Ben]

Let's go to the halls of Capitol Hill, where this giant tax bill is a giant tax scam. Trump calls it one big beautiful bill, which should indicate right away it's one big giant scam when you actually look at it when it comes to the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. All of the exemptions basically make the whole Promise BS to begin with. But let's just talk about the the fact that it still basically gets rid of Medicaid and they're pretending that it doesn't, right? Like $880 billion cuts to Medicaid are still there to pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the billionaires. You know it's going to add to the deficit. Do you know how? Because they literally put it in the big beautiful bill. Right? These people who are referred to by our idiotic media as fiscal hawks. Right? Hawks. Cuckoo. Cuckoo. It's the stupidest name in the world that they give these people. Fiscal what makes you a hawk? It's a stupid nickname. Stop calling them fiscal hawks. I don't even know what the hell you're talking why? What makes you a hawk? Every time you do a budget, you're the idiots who increase our deficit and then Democrats have to fix it. And then you blame the Democrats, the firefighters, for putting out the fire by the arsonist and the arsonists come back in and screw it again. And then they get the cool name as like the hawks. So stupid. It just goes to show you, though, why the media is so broken that they just perpetuate narratives and labels that may quite possibly be the freaking stupidest thing ever. So in this budget bill, it literally raises the debt ceiling by about 4 to 5 trillion dollars. It says we have to increase the debt ceiling by trillions of dollars. Why? Because they're going to increase our dollar. That go back to some of the videos that I was making even over the summer when everyone was like, no, it's not going to be that much. It's not. They're not going to do that. And I would say, I bet you when all is said and done, I still will stand by this. Guess Trump will add 20 to $30 trillion, I think, to our deficit. I'm convinced of it. If you add the lack of tax revenue that's going to be coming in because Trump's firing all these people at the irs. So I think Trump's rich buddies are going to not pay their tax and have loopholes to try to get around it. And there's not going to be enforcement mechanisms. When you add the actual reckless spending by Donald Trump, I mean, look, he's adding, he's doing a trillion dollar defense budget. A trillion dollars. DOGE has only added costs, actually. And the inefficiencies created by DOGE are going to cause trillions of dollars. More federal spending is up month over month now than where it was under former President Biden. And they're gutting infrastructure, they're gutting Medicaid, they're gutting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. I mean, they're literally getting rid of like snap. They're getting rid of critical programs that, from HUD that support housing. You know, all, all of those programs that basically support, you know, people in low income areas to get housing housing. They are cutting it by 40 to 50%, which is going to increase the homeless problem. Just look, this thing is the biggest disaster. And then you layer on what they've done to FEMA and how they've destroyed, they, they've destroyed fema. They fired a MAGA guy who was running fema, the guy who called himself an ultra MAGA candidate when he was previously running for Congress. And lost. Who was the interim FEMA director? He attended a hearing last week where he was asked a very basic question by a Democratic congressmember. He was terrified to answer the question. I saw it go down in real time. I did videos on it last week. You can watch it. He was, they asked him, do you want to destroy fema? Do you think FEMA should be eliminated? They asked the head of fema, do you think FEMA should be eliminated? His answer was, I can't speak for what Trump wants. I personally believe that FEMA serves an important purpose. That was his answer. Fired right away. They perp walked him. Within hours after that, they invited him to Kristi Noem's office, the dog killer, Secretary of Homeland Security. And then they fired him right away and they replaced him with the guy who wants to eliminate fema. Eliminate fema.

[Brett]

Now, you know, one of the things I noticed and, and I think, you know what? I think a lot of y' all, well, it's crazy. I think a lot of the people, you would agree with this, but Elon Musk and Donald Trump and the Republican Party, they've come in and their whole thing, one of the words that they've repeated ad nauseam, we're going to deal with waste, fraud and abuse. Waste, fraud and abuse. Meanwhile, let's put aside the fact that they themselves are the waste, fraud and abuse. And let's focus, though, on the fact of what are they actually calling waste, fraud and abuse? Because if there is actual fraud, fraud going on, there would be arrests right now. There would be arrests happening. Right? And what we have found also throughout history is that fraud in these systems is not perpetrated by citizens for the most part. It's perpetrated by people like Rick Scott, Republican senator, who took advantage of the healthcare system. It's, it's, it's done by corrupt healthcare companies who take advantage of the system, not by the people. So don't take away the health care from the people. People. Don't take away people's Medicare. Don't take away people's Medicaid. That's the first thing I want to focus on. Second, what Donald Trump also always describes as waste, fraud and abuse is just the idea of spending money in general to help people. And like, this is called an economy. It's a free market. And when you spend money, if you're getting things in return, that doesn't mean you lost. Lost the money. Okay? And we've seen Trump now time and time again, like the trade deficit and this tariff. Donald Trump's Trade war is the perfect example of this. Because what is something that Donald Trump says, Donald Trump says it's great that there are no ships in the ports anymore. It's great that we're not getting any goods because we're not losing money to China. Huh? What the heck does that even mean? It's because in Donald Trump's mind, just the very fact that people are purchasing goods that they need and want, that is losing money. I mean, if you purchase a television, right, if you purchase a television, if you purchase a, a car, if you purchase groceries, which Donald Trump has an issue with that word for some reason, you are getting something in return. You are not just losing money. It is not waste, it is not fraud, it is not abuse. It is the act of getting, paying money and getting something in return. And Trump and these Republicans think, oh, all these programs, oh, you know, funding for the nih, funding for Medicare, for Medicaid, it's just all waste. It's all a fraud. We shouldn't be spending money on this period. Neglecting the fact that it has real tangible benefits and that people rely on this stuff and that it actually helps the economy because it allows people to live and be productive members of society. They always neglect that fact. Oh, let's get rid of all of these IRS workers. Let's get rid of all the people who are actually, actually bringing in the money. You don't think you're going to lose revenue because of that? Because there are plenty of nonpartisan studies and there's plenty of historical reference points that you could point to and show that when you do things like that, you're actually decreasing the revenue that you are bringing into the United States of America. You are actually harming the United States economy and you are increasing the deficit that you pretend to care about and that the media likes to label you as fiscal hawks for. Even though every time these Republicans get into power, they explode the deficit, they are the most reckless spenders and they do it all while causing chaos and while destroying the programs that folks really rely upon. And the irony of it all is their own voters are often the people who rely on them the most.

[Lisa]

And look, no, there are no adults in the room here anymore with this Trump administration, with this Trump regime. This is a cacistocracy, right? This is your guys favorite word. These are the most incompetent people running the government at this time. And it's painful to watch play out. And we all saw it with those cabinet meetings that we played here last week or a week And a half ago, when you surround yourself by a bunch of yes men and women who have to subscribe to your MAGA brand of politics, and they have to pledge their allegiance to Donald Trump, and before they could even say anything, they have to compliment their dear leader and What a great 100 days he's doing and how this is. They're not getting any work done for the American people, and it's painful to see out because their lack of action and the things that they are actually doing are hurting this country so dramatically. And people are feeling it day in and day out, and they don't care. And that, for me, is just the worst part. It's that they don't care. It's cruelty for cruelty's sake. How can we line our pockets with the money while everyone else suffers?

[Ben]

So then the trial lawyer in me brings out my exhibits. Jordi and I say to Brett, let's play exhibit A, which is the head of NIH refusing to answer a question from a Democratic senator, Senator Murray, about how much staff has left the nih. Just what's the number? Do you have an estimate? Is it 1,1000? Just tell us. Here, play this clip.

[Jordi]

But to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks. Now, an extra four weeks may not sound like a long time, but I will tell you. You, for stage four cancer patients like Natalie, this could mean the difference between life and death. Secretary Kennedy, how many staff have been cut from the NIH's Clinical Center? I want a specific number. I can't tell you that now, Senator Murray, what I can tell you is that if you contact my office tomorrow.

[Ben]

I'll look specifically into that.

[Brett]

Well, that.

[Jordi]

That is not acceptable. I want an answer back by that. She deserves it. I do it. She doesn't have much time. She deserves an answer back. Wouldn't you rather get her into that clinical trial as fast as you can?

[Ben]

Absolutely.

[Jordi]

So if you contact my office tomorrow, this is a.

[Brett]

If that happens, you are here to defend your budget. I'm here to ask you questions about.

[Jordi]

The impact of that.

[Ben]

Yeah, there's actually another clip where she then goes to the head of the nih. Sorry, Brent, I gave you the RFK clip. I'll just tell people what it says. She goes to the head of the NIH and she goes, well, how. How many people have you cut? What's the number? Is it 1? Is it 100? Is it 1000? Then the person refuses to answer the questions. In the next clip I want to show you, RFK Jr says that his opinions about vaccines and his opinions about health advice are irrelevant. When he was asked some basic questions. Let's play it. Something that might be helpful is you've previously said you vaccinated your children just because. I think this is a helpful answer. And this isn't a gotcha, I promise. If you had a child today, would you vaccinate that child for measles? For measles, probably for measles.

[Jordi]

What I would say is my opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. I have directed Jay Bhattachara.

[Brett]

Sure.

[Ben]

No, like I said, I don't want.

[Jordi]

To so that everybody can make that decision. But I, I, you know, I don't want to. Measle seem like I'm being evasive.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Jordi]

But I don't think people should be taking advice, medical advice from me right now.

[Ben]

I got that. And I'm not asking you to give them. Would you vaccinate your child for me?

[Jordi]

Answer that question directly and it will seem like I'm giving advice to other people. And I don't want to be doing that. I want people to make.

[Ben]

But that's kind of your jurisdiction because.

[Jordi]

CDC does give advice.

[Ben]

Right. I'm not trying to do it as a gotcha. As just, yeah, I'll tell our viewers to go. We could rewind in our audio. Listen. If you watch it, there's a guy in a purple sweatshirt behind him. When he says the thing, he looks over to the person next to him. He goes, you know, he's whispering something, but it's like, you're the head of Health and Human Services, America's health department, and you're saying that we should not rely on you for any guidance regarding health. And here's the thing, too. We have the largest measles outbreak in America in recent history. We don't even know the full scale and scope of it because they fired the people who collect the data. So I don't even, it's hard to even trust what the data is. And the head of Health and Human Services is saying, don't trust me. And then the surgeon general, minimum, at minimum.

[Brett]

We know that there are over a thousand cases and it's the most since Donald Trump was president the last time. That's, that's at minimum what we know right now from the data that we're.

[Ben]

But they're deep sixing the day. I mean, it's one of those things where, and here's the thing, across the board, we know they fired the data people, too. That's one of the first people who got fired were the data people. So how do we. And we know that their whole theory is if you don't test, you don't know what's going to happen, basically, or you don't have to actually report cases. So who the hell knows? Let me just play this cross exam of dog killer Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem by Congressmember Eric Swalwell where she refused to just admit that the letters MS.13 are not supposed to act, are not actually on Abrego Garcia's knuckles and just watch her try to evade and run away from it. Let's play it.

[Lisa]

This is doctor.

[Brett]

Is that right? The same protocols that are.

[Lisa]

Secretary, I want you to have credibility and I want you to be taken seriously. Is this doctored or is it not?

[Brett]

I am taking quite seriously.

[Lisa]

Is it doctored or not?

[Brett]

The importance that the President has given me to. I understand.

[Lisa]

Is it doctored or not?

[Brett]

That's important to remember. Is that every single time a kid case is built. Madam Secretary, I have a 7 year old, a 6 year old, and a 3 year old. I have a detector.

[Lisa]

I'm just asking you, is this doctored or not doctored?

[Brett]

Sir, the protocols in the case built against.

[Lisa]

Can you answer the question?

[Brett]

Were exactly the same. I don't have any knowledge as to that photo you're pointing to. Okay. Can you take her the photo?

[Ben]

Walk.

[Lisa]

Walk with the photo.

[Brett]

Down there? No, that one. Please take a look at this photo.

[Lisa]

It was tweeted by the president on April 21. It's been hanging out there for about a month.

[Brett]

So what is your point?

[Ben]

So what is your point? The point is, is that you're in charge of this. This is your jam. Okay? And you and Donald Trump are saying that it says the letters MISS and the numbers 13 on it, and it doesn't. And you're using that somehow as pretext to deny a human being due process who you've thrown in a concentration camp and you want to throw other human beings in concentration camps. Camps in El Salvador. That's. That's the point right there. Speaking of which, I want to talk about the Supreme Court oral argument that went down today. I want to talk again about the mayor's race in Omaha and some other things. Let's just take our last quick break of the show.

[Lisa]

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[Ben]

Welcome back. Welcome back. Thank you to those pro democracy sponsors.

[Lisa]

Jordy, I love those pro democracy sponsors. Links in description, both YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, you know what to do. Let them know we sent you. Benji, where to next?

[Ben]

I got my Trump hacks confused. That was the right clip of RFK junior. But then the FAA guy couldn't answer the question about how many people were fired.

[Brett]

You know, keeping a track of it's a lot.

[Ben]

There's a lot of people who don't know who works in their organization anymore. So here's the head of the FAA with all the issues that are going on. And Brett, what was the Latest from Denver. The radars went out for what, like six minutes in Denver or this, by.

[Brett]

The way, you know, what was that? What was a tell when Sean Duffy went on TV the other day and explicitly said this could happen in a lot more. This could actually affect all airports all over the country. Like, like, is that the thing you want to hear from the guy in charge of, of our transportation that, like, oh, yeah, just get ready. Buckle up, folks. Good luck at the airport. Have a, have a good flight. Good luck, everybody. That's not the kind of messaging I want coming. I want people who are actually proactive, who are actually going to do things. That's why the honesty is important and that's why the lying isn't just a game. It's not just a horse race issue. It's not just, oh, this person said this. That person said that there are lives on the line. There are people traveling across the country by airplane, by train, by whatever it is. And we have to be able to figure out, we have to be able to understand and trust our leaders that they are being honest when they're telling us about our safety, of our, of our air travel and everything.

[Ben]

So here's the FAA guy. Let's, let's play this. Head of the faa, let's play it. Let me ask you this.

[Brett]

How many people, how many air traffic controllers have left the system since January 20th of 2025? I'm not aware of how many have returned, but.

[Ben]

So could it have been a hundred?

[Brett]

It could have been one. One? It could have been a thousand. It could have been 5000. No.

[Ben]

Maybe 2500?

[Lisa]

No.

[Brett]

2000? I don't believe so, sir.

[Lisa]

I track how many air traffic controllers are in this.

[Ben]

Tell us how many have left their jobs since January 20th?

[Lisa]

I can't tell you that exact number.

[Brett]

So I'm happy to come back.

[Ben]

What does that even mean? How do you not know? That's literally your job. You don't know if it's one or 1,000. You're confident it's not 5,000. You don't think it's 2,000. So we have to play a guessing game. But that is 1500. What was it, 1600? These are basic questions. And this is where I always like to say on this show, this should not be. I don't view this through political lenses. Like, what the hell is that? If that was a Democratic head of the FAA or if that person was part of a Democratic administration, I would be saying the exact same. I'd be saying the. But that never happened. You Know why? Because they showed up prepared. And if they didn't show up prepared, they got fired or they got let go. That, that, that, that's what ended up happening. And again, basic leadership, again, should not be partisan. I mean, to see Donald Trump in a foreign country whining about Biden while even being with foreign leaders, that's just not what leadership even was. Even if you thought your predecessor, professor, was not a good leader, and I happen to think former President Biden was a very good leader who ran a competent administration and America was actually first. If you just look at the objective data, but just assume, argue endo for the sake of argument, that's not the case. A good leader takes over and doesn't go around whining about the past guy or the past person. That's just not what good leaders do. You just fix it. You move. But just think about a coach. You become the new coach. Coach, you're coaching seven, eight games in. Have you think about it, you know, football or basketball. Say you're 40 games in and you're losing everything. Do you see coaches? Yeah. You know, in the press conference, it was because the other guy was so bad. That's why I'm losing. Do you see that? If, if a coach did that? Jordy, you. You follow sports?

[Lisa]

Let me get you here. Exactly. You know what this is reminding me of? Remember that great line from. Remember the tight items? Attitude reflects leadership, Captain. And that's what we're seeing here. This, this, this leadership or lack thereof, leadership that we see from Donald Trump whenever he gets pressed on a question. Oh, I haven't heard of that. I don't know what you're talking about. I need to look into it. Or, or, you know, no one's told me about this yet. It's never like, let me figure this out or I have an answer for you. It's never that level of let me take accountability for xyz. It's this deny till you die mentality that this guy's had and now he's fostered it through his entire administration where no one wants to raise their hand and say, you know what? Maybe we could have done better here. Because you know what happens? What we talked about early in this episode, you get the boot because you no longer subscribe to that MAGA brand of politics, that Donald Trump is the dear leader and everything he says is the smartest thing ever. If it's for the American people, it's not for Donald Trump in that instance. And then, you know what? Sorry, get out of here. That's what we're seeing.

[Brett]

And in fact, the people who they are giving the boot are the people who are actually trying to tell the truth to the American people. I mean, it's not the people who are trying to fix the problems. It's the person, the people who are raising their hands and going, there's an issue here. We gotta solve this. They go, get out. You're not allowed to say that in this regime. You're not allowed to criticize this regime. You gotta say everything's great, and if it's not great, it's because of Biden. You can't criticize this. Like, have you guys seen this story with Tulsi Gabbard? Tulsi Gabbard has fired the leaders of the intelligence group agency who wrote the assessment on Venezuela that contradicted Donald Trump's BS legal rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members. They said, this just isn't true. This is bs. Donald Trump is predicating. All of his comments right here in the courts and to the American people are on lies. I'm sorry, These are lies. And instead of saying, oh, thank you for telling the truth to the American people, they go, get the hell out. That's what the Trump administration is doing, and that's how they handle things across. Across agencies. And, you know, it would be one thing, and no pun intended here, if, if Donald Trump came in and said, I'm going to leave everything on autopilot, you know, no, no pun intended. But if he goes, listen, things are on a good trajectory. I'm just going to golf and, like, we'll let this stuff happen, right? But what's the first thing he did? He came in, he disrupted the faa, he started firing people. He started asking people to take these buyouts. He caused trauma throughout every organization. He disrupted every single agency without thinking of the effects. He dismantled the Ebola prevention in Africa. Like, everything he did was not with a scalpel, it was with a sled hammer. And then people's lives were on the line and continue to be on the line. And then after doing all these damage, the tariffs, you name it, whatever it is, they cause real harm, real damage to both people. They cause damage to companies. Prices right now are skyrocketing. And if they haven't yet with some companies, we're hearing these announcements already that prices are about to come up in a big way. The Walmart CEO today was on television and he was warning about these tariffs. He said, we got to raise prices. Prices are going to rise quick. Also we're putting our price increases in effect asap. Listen to the Walmart CEO, the famous woke lib Walmart CEO, I say obviously, but listen to him today.

[Ben]

That's the crystal ball that all retailers.

[Brett]

Wish they had right now is to.

[Ben]

Try to figure out where tariffs are.

[Brett]

Going to be at what point in.

[Ben]

Time so they can manage their inventory flow. We importantly are continuing to flow inventory.

[Brett]

We want to have production products on shelves for customers and members when they.

[Ben]

Want to buy them. So understanding what that demand is going to be though is pretty challenging. We've not seen a period where you've had prices go up this high this quickly. We're, we're well equipped and experienced in.

[Brett]

Dealing with elasticities or price increases that are going up 2 or 3% but not 30%.

[Ben]

So understanding by category, by item what the demand is going to be is really important to me. Making sure that you have the right amount of inventory in the right places at the right time.

[Brett]

And I said CEO, that's the CFO of Walmart. But his words there were incredibly clear. Prices are rising quicker than they have ever risen. This is not some woke company saying this. This is Walmart saying this. And they directly are citing Donald Trump's tariffs and his trade war for this. Because even though the markets, the Wall street traders, the media wants to fall for the scam where Donald Trump puts extra tariffs and he goes, we're going to put a zillion percent, zillion percent tariffs on China. He goes 1% hundred 45% there. And then he brings it back down to a still very high elevated tariff that's still incredibly detrimental. All the recession indicators are still on. They may be slightly less than they were, but we're still there.

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Brett]

And the prices are still increasing and people are still about to get screwed. And so the Walmart cfo, in addition to saying that, said that the tariffs are forcing this issue. The tariffs are forcing us to raise the prices.

[Ben]

Why?

[Brett]

Because we cannot afford within with thin margins to not pass this on to the consumer. Remember when Howard Lutnick and Donald Trump and all these people in the Trump administration just days ago and over the past few weeks have been saying the companies actually eat the tariffs.

[Lisa]

In fact, the companies act always eat.

[Brett]

That they're the country eats the tariffs. Doesn't even make any sense. Of course it's passed along to the consumer. This isn't up for a debate. And that's why, you know, a lot of these argument shows also that I see on tv. You know, when you see the Clips of like, oh, you can, you got, you know, the, what's the guy from Shar o' Leary, Kevin o' Leary from Shark Tank. He's screaming at, you know, the person from the Biden administration and they were having a debate about the tariffs and o' Leary says suck it up, nothing's going to happen. It's great. It's. No, this isn't, these aren't debatable things sometimes, okay? This is basic facts. It's basic facts that the tariffs are going to be passed along to you and me. We are going to pay the price. And you could listen to the Walmart CFO discuss this and the effects of Donald Trump's trade war here with we.

[Ben]

Had a good quarter in what is an otherwise pretty unpredictable and dynamic environment right now. Our goal though, we're wired to keep.

[Brett]

Prices low for customers.

[Ben]

But the level of tariffs that have.

[Brett]

Been proposed is pretty challenging for all retailers, for suppliers.

[Ben]

And, and certainly our concern is that consumers are going to feel some of that. So we're going to keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can. And by the way, that's coming from Walmart, which has taken a lot of market share from small businesses. I've been putting it gently. How do you think this is affecting medium sized and small size businesses right now who don't have access to the secret meetings with Treasury Secretary Scott Besant that their lines of credit are running dry. The indicators I've seen from all of the banks, whether it's Goldman or JP Morgan, they really haven't changed, changed their recessionary projections as a result of this. The market's gone up. The market goes down. The market, it's very volatile based on the manipulation taking place in a trades more like a meme coin now than like a real sound marketplace. And you can tell what's really happening when you look at the bond market as we're approaching the five handle on the 10, 20 and 30 year treasury yields that are again going up significantly, which really to me is an expression of a lot of foreign countries don't want to buy our bonds anymore. And these bond sales that take place from the Treasury Department aren't going well. There's not the same type of demand to buy American bonds and they have to make it more enticing. That's why the numbers are going up to try to make more people buy the bonds in the first place to try to find a buyer. You don't want to go up when it goes up. That's bad because that Means people aren't buying them unless they're going to be guaranteed a certain level of return on them. The dollars weakening America, the American brand has been destroyed. It just probably irreparably. Right now, China left. Donald Trump's like, no one other than our ridiculous corporate media here views what went down in China as a win for America. I mean, I saw a reporting today about how the European Union and Japan, they know that they can wait this out and try to strike. You know, they know that Trump will cave. Right. It's just getting him to cave at the right price at this point, because Trump always caves. I, I, what would they call it? Taco. What was the acronym? Yeah, Trump always caves. What's the E every time? I'm not sure. No. Oh, Taco. Trump always caves. I don't know. He always caves. Taco something. They call him Taco. But I'll, I'll go back and think of that, whatever that acronym. I forget what the O is. Trump always caves. Always. I don't know. I don't know what the O is. Anyway, so, so, so you, you, you have that going on. And again, systemically, the markets, like our overall structural economy is not going well right now. And nothing that Donald Trump's doing by pretending to scam his way out of it is actually helping. I think it's, it's deeply problematic. Just two other things I want to point out if you, Because I think this isn't getting enough attention. If you just take a look at some of the actual deals Trump's made. I just want to put yourself in the position again where we started. Imagine if Putin, the President, did this, did a ceasefire deal with the Houthis, and then called the Houthis great, respectful, powerful, admirable people. So Donald Trump called the Houthis after they shot down eight Predator drones. Drones after we lost two F18 Hornets in the Red Sea. The Trump regime's Department of Defense refuses to release casualty numbers or any data from the Red Sea about what's happening out there or why things are happening. Then we enter into a ceasefire with the Houthis. The United States think about the win for the Houthis, you know, like, why would the United States even need to enter a ceasefire with the. Like, like, just think about the win for them. We got the United States to do a ceasefire deal with us. Like, holy crap. So I'm not sure they use that language, though. But that's the, the, the Houthis. Donald Trump did a deal with El Chapo's family to bring in 17 family members of the Guzman family into the United States. They crossed the Tijuana American border. Donald Trump didn't consult Mexico about it at all. Just people saw 17 family members of the Chapos come in. And I guess the DOJ is trying to cut some deal with Chapo's son, who's been indicted in the United States since 2023. And so he's bringing the family in. So we just bring cartel families into the United States now while we send people with no criminal records to concentration camps in El Salvador. I mean, just think about it. You're a Trump supporter, right? I mean, good luck. But if you're a Cuban for Trump, a Venezuelan for Trump or whoever, like, your family, like, pregnant women, like women who are breastfeeding, they're getting sent back to the Maduro regime in Venezuela while.

[Brett]

Trump's like, Chapo's family, family, Afrikaners, like, if you. If you were pro apartheid, you are experiencing a genocide right now. That not. Not a true thing. Trump is making this up. Your experience, and you need to come here. And then you see these ridiculous videos. These Afrikaners, you know, coming here. They look great. You know, I mean, they're doing fine. And not only is Trump allowing, you know, them in the country, 7 million can enter.

[Ben]

2.7 million million.

[Brett]

Yeah. And the first batch, I think, of 50 came in, and I think a lot of people don't even want to come in. But not only are they coming in, but normally the process takes. It could take up to, like, years to get to. To get all this happening, to get people in the country in these sorts of programs could take 18 months. Donald Trump expedited it.

[Jordi]

Boom.

[Brett]

They're in the country, like, overnight. And they said, and not only that, if you look at the criteria for how to prove you are a quote, unquote, refugee, because it's total. You look at the criteria. There is no criteria. All they have, this literally doesn't exist. All it says is, oh, no, you don't have to prove anything. Just say you want to come here, and you're. You're in. You're good. Meanwhile, like the Afghan interpreters who risk their lives, literally put their lives on the line in order to protect our troops. They are being sent back to the country. They are being kicked out. The Venezuelans fleeing the Maduro regime has been said they are being kicked out. The people who are actually escaping persecution across the world are being kicked out of the country while Donald Trump fabricates this excuse in order to bring these Africanos in and El Chapo's family. And I mean, it's so far beyond parody right now that I don't even know what else to say about it other than just lay out the facts of what is happening right now before our eyes to just utter insanity of it all.

[Ben]

So as we conclude this episode, I mean, ask yourself, I'm not suggesting that this stuff isn't covered anywhere else. I'm sure bits and pieces you may have seen before. I don't know. I mean, I'd love to see in the comments, like the stuff that we've talked about and we've brought receipts to show you. And you could Google any of this stuff too. Research it yourself, have you? I mean, it's a serious question. Other than on this show, do you see this stuff being talked about in this level of detail or even something close to it, or certainly all of these topics? Or when you turn on corporate news, do you see them praising Donald Trump's deals in the Middle east that aren't deals? Do you see them talking about, about, for some reason, Biden, which makes zero sense to me why they're doing that right now other than to try to further defame him and distract from Trump or what? What? Tell me. I'd love to actually know in the comments. So leave a comment right now, put it in the chat. We'd love to hear from you. All right. We've got some travel that we, that we've got to do right now, so I'd love to spend some more time on the show. I want to thank everybody, though, so much for watching, for all of your support. Support. It's been a very productive trip here in New York. Very productive.

[Brett]

And Ben, if I could just do a little housekeeping before we go. I want to, you know, first I, I want to express my gratitude towards everybody here. You know, it's been a whirlwind of a week for us. We've been doing a lot for the network, you know, behind the scenes and in front of the camera. And it's all because of you. The Webbies, you know, that was incredible. But, you know, the work is what's most important, getting this message out. But I do want to thank you because we wouldn't be there without you today. Also, you know, we got to attend a, a special event event with YouTube, which was extra special. YouTube announced the launch of their YouTube podcast charts, the first time they're ever doing it. And the Midas Touch podcast is the top news podcast on the YouTube podcast charts. And so, you know, it's an honor to be a part of that group. And once again, that's thanks to you. I also want to encourage everybody who's watching this right now live or even if you're listening this, make sure that you're, you are subscribed to the Midas Touch podcast on audio. So that means go to Apple Podcasts, go to Spotify or any other podcast that. But Apple Podcasts and Spotify are the two big, big ones. Add the show, it's totally free. Leave a five star review if you can. That really helps, you know, get the message out. It's, it's so important in getting the message out, you know, to do that and to do it, you know, if, like, if you're an Apple podcast, you go to our page, you scroll down, you'll see there's like a five star rating. You could write a review. It's a whole thing. It's easy. And then lastly, I also want to remind people to check out our interview with Katie Kirk. It's the first time the three of us were in the same room at the same time on an interview. Is an honor to do it with Katie Kirk, somebody who we, we've, you know, grown up watching, somebody whom we admire and, and I think you'll really enjoy that interview. You just go to Katie Kirk's YouTube channel or go to her podcast feed and, and I think you guys will like it. Let us know what you think also, you know, in the comments because I'm, I'm curious to get your thoughts. We really opened up in a way that we don't get to as much, you know, on this show or other shows. So I hope you, I hope you enjoy it.

[Ben]

Thank you Everybody. Check out Midasplus.com that's our substack patreon.com Midas Touch. That's our Patreon on. We'll do a whole live in the next few weeks where we'll talk about our trip here. We'll do a state of the Midas Touch address. I think the next time everyone's gonna see me on, on the Brother Live show. You'll see me on YouTube every day. But next Monday I turn 40. It's my birthday. On the next live show I'll be turning 40. So that'll be a fun birthday episode. And thank you everybody so much for watching. We appreciate you, we love you, we're grateful for you. Jordy, take it away.

[Lisa]

Shout out to the Midas night A can't get enough Midas. Check out the Midas plus substack for ad. Free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Philip Lepkowski and more. Sign up for free [e-mail].