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- [00:00]
Ben Meisellis
What is Dadication?
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Brett Meiselas
The thing that drives me every day as a dad is Dariona. We call him Dae Date for short. Every day he's hungry for something, whether it's attention, affection, knowledge. And there's this huge responsibility in making sure that when he's no longer under my wing that he's a good person. I want him to be able to sit back one day and go, we worked together. We did a good job.
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Ben Meisellis
That's Dadication.
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Brett Meiselas
Find out more@fatherhood.gov brought to you by.
- [00:26]
Ben Meisellis
The U.S. department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.
- [00:29]
Brett Meiselas
Hablas Espanol Spries to joy Nos if you've heard that sound from Babbel before, I bet you do. Babbel is the science backed language learning app that actually works with quick 10 minute lessons. Handcrafted by over 200 language experts, Babbel gets you on your way to speaking a new language in just a few weeks with over 16 million subscriptions sold and a 20 day money back guarantee. Just start speaking another language with Babbel right now. Up to 55% off your Babbel subscription at babbel.com Spotify podcast spelled B A B-B-E-L.com Spotify podcast rules and restrictions may apply what makes a great pair of glasses At Warby Parker, it's all the invisible extras without the extra cost. Their designer quality frames start at $95 including prescription lenses plus scratch resistant, smudge resistant and anti reflective coatings and UV protection and free adjustments for life. To find your next pair of glasses, sunglasses or contact lenses, or to find the Warby Parker store nearest you, head over to warbyparker.com that's warbyparker.com 10 years from today, Lisa Schneider will train in her office job to become the leader.
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Ben Meisellis
Of a pack of dogs as the.
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Brett Meiselas
Owner of her own dog rescue. That is a second act made possible by the reskilling courses Lisa's taking now.
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Ben Meisellis
With AARP to help make sure her.
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Brett Meiselas
Income lives as long as she does.
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Ben Meisellis
And she can finally run with the big dogs and the small dogs who.
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Brett Meiselas
Just think they're big dogs. That's why the younger you are, the More you need AARP.
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Ben Meisellis
Learn more at aarp.org skills Imagine you're.
- [01:59]
Brett Meiselas
A business owner relying on a dozen different software programs, each one disconnected, more expensive and more complicated than the last. It can be incredibly stressful right now. Picture Odoo. Odoo brings all the tools your business needs into one simple platform. CRM Accounting, Inventory, Manufacturing, Marketing, HR and more all seamlessly connected. Everything works together, giving you the peace of mind that your business is running smoothly from every angle. Odoo's open source applications are user friendly and designed to scale with your business, saving you time and money. Say goodbye to juggling multiple platforms and hello to efficient integrated management. Stop wasting resources on complicated systems and make the switch to odoo today. Visit odoo.com o d o o.com and discover how Odoo can simplify and streamline your business operations. Odoo Modern Management Made simple welcome to the Midas Touch Podcast. I'm Ben Meisellis, joined by Brett and Jordi Meiselas. Earlier today, the authoritarian Trump regime detained a sitting United States senator in California at the Los Angeles FBI office because he showed up to ask a question of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary cosplay dog killer Kristi Noem as she was giving a spe Los Angeles talking about liberating the city of Los Angeles. So the Trump regime has now arrested or detained a sitting United States senator, a sitting criminal judge in Wisconsin, a mayor from New Jersey, a congresswoman, a labor leader. They have deployed the Marines into Los Angeles. There are more federalized National Guard troops in LA and Marines than there are of our troops in Iraq, Syria, or anywhere in the Middle east. Or anywhere in the Middle east at this point. This is what fascism absolutely looks like. And then we have tanks rolling into Washington, D.C. for Donald Trump's dictator parade military parade on Saturday. The Midas Touch Network is the main news distributor for the no Kings protest that will be taking place on Saturday. Over 2,000 protests scheduled across the country and the world. We'd love for you to be out there peacefully protesting, of course, on Saturday for the no Kings protest. But let's break this all down of what took place. So you had Kristi Noem in Los Angeles delivering a speech at the FBI office in downtown Los Angeles. Like a coup leader of like a banana, like taking over a banana republic. So her speech was basically, I am here. There is a new government in town, the Trump regime. We are here to liberate Los Angeles from your communist political leaders. The liberation is going down now. Me and our troops are here to stay. This is exactly the kind of speech you see during a coup by coup leaders in like banana republics. Watch what Kristi Noem said and then you'll see towards the end of this clip, California Senator Alex Padilla, he's kind of in the corner and he's trying to ask a question as she talks about liberating the city from what? From itself. With Marines. The hell are we talking about here?
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Ben Meisellis
Play this clip, Dane, and increase our operations in this city.
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Brett Meiselas
We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into this city. So I want to say thank you to every single person that has been.
- [06:01]
Ben Meisellis
Able to do this.
- [06:04]
Brett Meiselas
We'll show you the attack in just a moment as well. She said liberate the city of Los Angeles. But that has been the language coming from Donald Trump that he's sending the Marines, he's sending military forces against citizens of the United States, against migrants living in the United States to have a military operation to take over a state. The. The state that's the largest GDP in the country, the fourth largest GDP in the entire world, if California was a country. And so Trump gave the dictator speech before the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He hand picked also the army members who were behind him. They had a. They had to follow a political test. I'll talk about that in a little bit. But in front of our soldiers, in a politicized speech, Donald Trump talks about liberating liberation of an American state. Here, play this clip, but I'll say it loudly and clearly. They better do something before it's too late. Very simply, we will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again. It's happening very quickly. That would be the type of speech you would hear of a dictator taking over another country. So the language that's being used, it would be an understatement to call it provocative and escalating. That would be an understatement. As tanks are rolling into lost or Humvees and military equipment and tank like vehicles rolling into California with the tanks that are rolling into Washington D.C. for Trump's dictator parade. Even though I think it was. I think it was Nathan Hockman, the District Attorney in Los Angeles, who said, in terms of anybody who's engaged in criminal conduct, it's been about maybe 400 people in all of Los Angeles, which is.003 of the entire population in LA of people who have actually engaged in any form of crimes, which of course we condemn here in a small area in downtown la, that Trump is calling the National Guard, federalizing it and the Marines because he's trying to provoke a situation. Now, I want to share with you what it looked like when a sitting United States Senator, Alex Padilla, whose job is oversight of the federal government. He has every right to be there to ask a question. I want to show you what, What? The Gestapo? What? Trump's Gestapo with Trump's brown shirts who are wearing FBI jackets because that's what they are. Let's just call it out what they did to Padilla. Here. Play this clip, sir. Sir, Hands up. Hands up. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary because the fact of the matter is a half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your, on your. I also want to.
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Ben Meisellis
On the ground.
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Brett Meiselas
On the ground. Hands behind your back. Hands behind your back. All right, cool. Other hand, sir, Other hand.
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Ben Meisellis
So you can see him on the floor here. And they are putting him in handcuffs after forcibly removing the senator.
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Brett Meiselas
What? I'm sorry, there's no recording. That's my boss. I have.
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Ben Meisellis
Now they're going to Alex Padilla staff and telling them to stop recording. They do not want the people to see what is going on here.
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Brett Meiselas
So then you have cosplay dog killer, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Gnome then goes on Fox to push the narrative that she was a victim, that Padilla was there to basically attack her and threaten her. Right? The Trump regime, they're always the victims. And that as soon as Padilla identified that he was a United States senator, because she didn't know, she says, and that none of the FBI officials knew one of two United States senators, like literally the top federal officer positions in California, that they then stopped what they were doing and then did not detain and did not handcuff him. We saw it on tape here, play this clip. Secretary.
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Ben Meisellis
Well, he was never arrested. He was never arrested.
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Brett Meiselas
And he, nobody knew who he was when he came into the room creating a scene, he was removed from the room. And yes, they started to put handcuffs on him when he finally identified himself. And then that was stopped. And we, then I, he, they said.
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Ben Meisellis
He wants to talk to you. I said, sure, I'd love to sit down and visit.
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Brett Meiselas
You saw it with your own eyes. It did not then stop. They then threw him in the hallway, threw him on the ground. And if they do that to a United States senator, if they've done that to a congresswoman, to a sitting criminal state court judge, what do you think they're doing to the rest of us? What do you think they're doing to the rest of us? I mean, by the way, you have the ICE raids going after farmers, ice, we see the helicopters that are usually used for, like, narcotics operations, tracking the farm workers as they send ICE agents to train, to chase people working in the farms down and tackle them on the floor. The ICE raids of factories and in restaurants here in California and across the country. People waiting in bushes, ICE agents waiting in bushes as people are pursuing their lawful process. ICE agents looking at people, and if their skin is a certain color, they'll ram their cars into you, Literally ram their cars into you, like American citizens with kids in the back, throw you out onto the street, leave your car trashed, and then just basically drive away. That's why we're in an authoritarian regime right now, an idiotic one, but a dangerous authoritarian regime. By the way, there are those FIFA games in Miami right now, and ICE has already announced and Customs and border Patrol that they're going to be basically the security guards at all the FIFA events in the United States, also for the World cup. And already they've been going to the soccer events, checking people's papers. The people who are competing in, like, FIFA events right now. Like, that's taking place in a place where the Republican mayor of my. Of Miami was there. If they're doing there, where do you think that they're doing it ever with the head of FIFA right there? So then you have MAGA Mike Johnson, he's just out there, you know. Well, you know, it was the senator who provoked this. And then Fox pushes the attack from the senator. The senator gone after her. The Trump regime is under attack. L. A is all burning down. It's all false. This is the. This is worse than the propaganda in North Korea, in Russia, while this is all going on, you've got MAGA Republican. I just want to show you what's going on in the hearings today, right? As they're all. As all these MAGA Republicans are kind of mimicking Trump, Trump's authoritarianism. Basically, what these hearings are now are Republicans. Like, they'll call in Democratic governors like that. That's who was subpoenaed today. And then the. Because there's like, no more rules, no more decorum, no more law. Like United States is because of Trump, any type of, like, decency. All. All out the window, all flushed in Trump's turd of a toilet. Orange turd of a toilet bowl. So you've got MAGA Republican James Comer. Like, they'll just start yelling at the other congressman. Shut up. You shut up. And then they'll have, like, Marjorie Keller Greene go, you're antifa. You're antifa. Because Democratic Congressmember Frost was trying to ask a question. And this is how the Republican Congress members behave. Here, watch this. Shut up. Just shut up. No, you don't know. You're not going to tell me to shut up. Let's. What? How do you get him in order? You're running. Not like that.
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Ben Meisellis
He's.
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Brett Meiselas
He has been out of order six times. He's trying to get on msnbc. You probably knocked. I get it. Somebody off. He's been arrested as a former antifa member.
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Ben Meisellis
Right.
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Brett Meiselas
Back to order. Ms. Green. He's a former Antifa member. Mr. Chairman, you got a surprise. Who's a former antifa member? Me.
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Ben Meisellis
Yeah, you.
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Brett Meiselas
I ask that these words be taken down. Then you have Marjorie Taylor Greene questioning Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul. Not questioning her. It's supposed to be questions. But calling her there so she can say, you need to be arrested. Right now, we're putting you in prison. We're throwing you in jail. Watch.
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Ben Meisellis
You are responsible for the murder of this little girl, Laken Riley, and the Department of Justice should prosecute you for her murder.
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Brett Meiselas
Objection. Objection. I don't care how much you object.
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Ben Meisellis
And if you support it, too, you're responsible for her murder.
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Brett Meiselas
On a point of order. Point of order. Gentle lady's time expired. Stage point. Mr. Chairman, these witnesses have been here for over four hours. They've all voluntarily have been engaging with our members with. With respect. They've all treated our members with respect. Lake and Riley is dead forever. Forever. Forever. They can sit there all day. My time. Hold on. Hold on. No. State your. State your point. I'm trying to state your. No, no. It's a point of inquiry, not a debate. Our rules, if you would let me speak. Our rules of decorum dictate that our witnesses should be treated with respect. And I ask you to enforce decorum and remind committee members to treat our witnesses with respect. So is it any shock to you right now that when you look at Donald Trump's approval, whether you're looking at the Quinnipiac poll, his approval is 38%. 54% of Americans disapprove. Whether it's Trump's disastrous bill, 53% oppose, 27% support. Whether it's Trump's handling of immigration, 54% disapprove, 43% approve. Remember for the past weeks where you had CNN and Fox and all of these networks trying to say, oh, you know, this is very popular. Trump's immigration. This is why he's going in. What a brilliant political strategist. Remember, they were all saying that on corporate news. Then pull up Brett, the ap, norc, The AP NORC poll right there, which similarly has Donald Trump significantly underwater. 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump. 39% approve of Donald Trump. YouGov has similar results. Trump is the least popular ever basically in the history of the presidency at this time. And Brett and Jordy, I know that was a long buildup right there, but I think you have to make all of those connections with Trump speaking before the army, before the 82nd Air Airborne Division.
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Jordi Meiselas
Yeah.
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Brett Meiselas
Having the army brass politically vet to make sure they're Trump supporters. By the way, they called in for that event. Trump MAGA vendors who were selling to the troops. Trump white privilege cards. They were given white privilege Trump's everything cards and MAGA hats there. And they were booing Gavin Trump would have them boo Gavin Newsom and boo the fake news, as Donald Trump would say, fake news. So anyway, like that, that's. It's no wonder that tours. No one wants to travel to the United States right now.
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Ben Meisellis
Yeah. Why would you come here? It's, it's incredibly dangerous for somebody to come here. I mean, it's dangerous for citizens. Why would a non citizen want to, want to travel here? No, I think it was important, Ben, that he set it up like that. And the thing you said at the very end there, I think is almost the most important because, you know, we see all this craziness happening and it's all horrifying. I don't want to diminish any of that, but the idea that Donald Trump is politicizing the military in the way he's doing to me is the most horrifying thing I know. Ron Philipkowski, the Midas Dutch editor in chief, has spoken about this at length. How Donald Trump has in the past few days turned these military events into Trump rallies. How he's turning this military parade for the 250th anniversary into a Trump ral. How he got people to kind of boo and laugh at and mock Gavin Newsom at the rally. How he played his, his songs at the, you know, like a rally when he was with the military, how he vetted the military. There was a story that came out that said Donald Trump vetted the members of the military who were able to sit behind him in order to make sure that they were ideologically aligned with him politically. And if they were not Trump supporters, they were told that they had to report to their superiors and tell their superiors, I do not support these politics. I do not support Donald Trump. And then they were not allowed to participate in the event. That is not what happens in the United States of America, but that is what happens under autocratic regimes. And that's what we are seeing right now in the United States of America. And this is Donald Trump's go to strategy that we've seen time and time again. You see, let's just go back for a second. Let's like the first few that come to mind, because we see right now la. You know, what's the excuse that Donald Trump is using right now to have ICE and have the National Guard and the Marines essentially invade Los Angeles? He's saying, Los Angeles is dangerous, it's burning to the ground. I'm the only person who could save it. The city is apocalyptic, is in an apocalypse right now. It is just beyond repair. I need to come in and I need to fix it. We need regime change in Los Angeles, is essentially what he's saying. Not too different than the lies that he made about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, eating cats and dogs. Not too different than the lies he told about Aurora, Colorado, when he was running, when he said that Aurora was invaded and it was under siege. Not too different than what Republicans have always done when they say, there's a caravan and the caravan is coming to get you and they're going to kill you once they cross that border. So you better elect Republicans in the midterms, because this caravan is going to come. And meanwhile, at the end of any midterm, once the election ends, polls close, boom, caravan disappears. You never see that on Fox News anymore. Interesting how that happens, huh? And, you know, I need you to understand as well that this cannot happen without people who are complicit in it. Donald Trump may be the engine behind this, but everybody around him right now are all equally, if not even more, to blame, and I would say probably even more to blame. What people are seeing when they turn into Fox News, for example, is a complete alternate universe, a complete alternate reality that does not reflect what is actually happening. They are simply shown images of things burning in la. People watching Fox are made to believe that LA is the apocalypse right now. Oh, it's like that North Korea, South Korea approach, right? South Korea is far too dangerous. You don't want to go to South Korea. We will keep you safe here. That's what they do in autocratic regimes all across the world. That's what Fox is doing. You don't want to go there. Meanwhile, LA, CA, actually some of the safer places in the country. And let's see if I could pull this up. I pulled it up before. Let me See if I could find it. But I bring receipts, so I bring some data here. And if you look at the top 10 U.S. states by homicide rate per capita, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because this is what Trump and Republicans are using as an excuse in order to have the military invade Los Angeles. Mississippi, number one. Louisiana number two. Alabama, number three. New Mexico number four. South Carolina number five. Missouri, number six. And I could go on and on and on. California is like number 30, by the way, on this list. Just want to give you a little bit of, you know, some context, you know, that we're going through. And you just see this complete denial of reality from everybody at this point. You see the denial of reality from all these mag influencers, including from this right wing media. You even have regular kind of corporate media normalizing this stuff and acting like what Trump's saying is true, which is even more disturbing. Even just the headlines they use about riots and everything. There was no issues in Los Angeles before Donald Trump got here. Even after Trump got here, the issues are very minimal and very contained. And he still continues to use that as an excuse and use this dangerous language. And the Department of Homeland Security continues to use this language. And you're in a world right now where like, even the most obvious lies are the ones where Republicans are going all behind. Like, you know, this is how. You know that it's a complete and total cult, right? Trump yesterday, he said, I spoke to Gavin Newsom yesterday about this. He. That was a comment that Trump made. And then every MAGA influencer and FOX host started saying, trump spoke to Gavin Newsom yesterday. Gavin Newsom said, I didn't speak to Trump yesterday. I told you when I spoke to Trump, it was June 7th. And then if Fox host gets a hold of Donald Trump's call logs, which actually proves Gavin Newsom, right, and shows that he spoke to Donald Trump on June 7, yet Fox and all these mag influencers were going, see, I told you Newsom lied. Newsom lied. He was actually, they actually spoke yesterday. If you can't just admit that Yesterday was not June 7th, then how could we agree on anything else? If you can't admit on something as black and white as what the day is, what the day is, then we're not going to get anywhere in this country on anything else. And then I'm not. I just can't take you seriously on anything. But it shows you how nefarious they are. It shows you how evil they are, how they're willing to just lie about absolutely and then when Fox plays these clips, they literally edit out words. So they'll edit out the word where Trump says, I spoke to Gavin Newsom yesterday. They literally edit out the word yesterday. And they go see, Newsom lied. And this is how they do it. And then they get their sheeple who are watching these channels to repeat, newsom's the liar. Newsom's the liar. No, you're being lied to. You are the sheep. You see Kristi Noem. Oh, we didn't know who Alex Padilla was. He didn't identify himself. We have no idea who that was. The first thing he says in that clip is, I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. It doesn't get much clearer than that. And as you continue to watch, all these people around Donald Trump too, and Ben, you said this best, all them are kind of molding themselves right now in the image of Donald Trump. Just a complete scumbag, excuse my language. But you see Caroline Levitt when she's asked a question because Donald Trump said that there was going to be. What did he say? Heavy force used against protesters this weekend. Don't let him scare you, by the way. He said there'd be heavy force used against protesters. What did Caroline Levitt say? She goes, shut up. That's a stupid question. Shut up. Stupid question. Caroline Levitt said that. Like, how dare you? Who the hell do you think you are? You work for us. Like, this is absolutely insane that we, like, we're seeing that sort of stuff in this government. And today, you know, Kristi Noem, you know, I said you didn't know who we were. I mean, it's just time after time, we continue to get just this gaslighting, this nastiness and, and it's just spread right now. And it's not a two party issue. This is all coming from one side. It's all coming from one person. And it's just totally become toxic in our politics. But when people say, oh, I hate politics, everybody sucks. Not really, though. Like, this is kind of coming from one side right now and we have to call it out and we have to remain focused on calling out that side. Jordy.
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Jordi Meiselas
Sorry, no, 1,000%. I mean, it's gaslighting 101. First, I just want to start here, the military style parade that this, this weekend, it's going to go down as one of the biggest stains on this country's history. What are we North Korea, we Russia, we don't do that stuff here. And to flaunt it in such a way on, on Dear Leader's birthday, having this military style parade. I mean, what's more disgusting and dystopian than that? And then back to Kristi NOEM, Brett, the Gaslighting 101. What does she do? She runs to Fox News and just starts writing the talking points for folks, for folks to run with on the right and Kristi Noemi. And to your point, Brett, this entire MAGA ilk have cloned themselves in the vision of Donald Trump. Kristi Noem, she gets the MAGA makeover, right? We all know that she didn't, you know, she had the short haircut and then she has these, you know, extensions or whatever and, and goes into Magaville and just has the Mar A Lago makeover as they call it. It's absolutely disgusting what we're seeing here. And it's gross from a human level. Because what they do is they just become pathological liars. Like the truth, it doesn't matter to them. They want to go on Fox News and rewrite history in live time. And then lastly, the Congressional Republicans, I mean, these are the dumbest, these are the dumbest people of all time. You got James Comer up there, you got Marjorie Taylor Greene up there. What do they even talk? They're telling Frost he's antifa and he was arrested because he's antifa. They're reality TV wannabe, quote unquote celebrities that have very serious positions. And I just wish we had our politics into a place where they're not the ones who are leading the charge and making laws and signing off on XYZ issues that impact the American people at such a granular human level. Because you clearly can tell from those clips that they don't give a damn. They don't give a damn about the American people. What we're seeing is actually exactly what they accused Frost of on that clip. You just want to show up on msnbc. No, you dunces. You just want to show up on Fox News and you just want to be celebrated and applauded on Fox News because you guys don't give a damn about your job or the American people. You want to make a name for yourself and fundraise off of Antifa and the scary leftist person. You guys are so friggin stupid, man. It actually, it makes my blood boil watching them speak.
- [28:20]
Brett Meiselas
You know, the image. Donald Trump's going to be watching the tanks go into dc. He's going to be watching the soldiers march. The way it looks in Russia, the way it looks in North Korea. Donald Trump's going to do that thing that he does with his head where he goes on the balcony and does the, you know, the Mussolini look. And he's going to give that dictator look, you know, and that's the image that he wants. And when we come back, I want to repeat what California Governor Gavin Newsom said, that that is weakness masquerading as strength, that it's weakness masquerading as strength. There's nothing strong about that. All of the international leaders are looking at that and seeing that he's weak and pathetic. And they are taking advantage of the United States and picking the United States apart like never before in a way that makes my dogs even upset. That's how upset they make it. I want to remind everybody as well that we just launched a new feature on the Midas Touch YouTube channel where I'm doing a series called Ask the Editor with their editor in chief, Ron Philipkowski. It is a members only feature. So everyone who's got those memberships on YouTube where you get those emojis, become a member and you can access the discussions that I have with Philip Kowski. We're also going to put other membership content on there. We don't have outside investors on the Midas Touch network, so we try to think of unique and interesting ways to be additive. So don't worry, we make almost all of our content as, you know, available for free. We've got great pro democracy sponsors who make that possible. But we are trying to create new ways to keep on growing because I think you see how important it is that we continue to expand here in the United States and internationally. So it's easy to become a member on our YouTube channel. You get the emojis and now you're going to get a bunch of extra bonus content as well. But don't worry if you can't do it. Just spread the word about this channel. Also, let's try to get to 5 million subscribers. I think we can get there in the next week or two. We're very, very close. So hit subscribe and tell everybody you know to hit subscribe when we come back. The theme of the next segment is weakness masquerading as strength. And I want to show how California Governor Gavin Newsom stood up, met the moment and fought back against the Trump regime. Let's take our first quick break of the show.
- [30:48]
Jordi Meiselas
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- [34:53]
Brett Meiselas
Weakness masquerading as strength. It's what California Governor Gavin Newsom said to me when I had the honor of interviewing him earlier in the week. Also, Gavin Newsom gave that address to the state of California and the nation and Midas Touch Network got the exclusive Stream. We had 150,000 concurrent viewers. That was a new record for our stream. I think that will only get higher over the coming weeks, months and years. And also Gavin Newsom I thought was we did about what, 1.7 million, 1.8 million views in about 20, 24 hours to 48 hours and it's still rising. But I think Gavin Newsom going back to that is really giving the template of how you have to fight back right now in 2025 against the Trump regime. I think Gavin Newsom really learned it and saw what Biden was dealing with. But Biden was an old school guy. Biden was let's bring people together. Let's be gentlemen and gentlewomen. Let's. Let's have dialogue and discussion. And I'm not going to be an Internet troll. We're above this. America's better than it, damn it. That was Biden's approach and we saw how Trump and MAGA exploited it. Maga, Trump, they have a right wing influencer army funded by right wing fascist billionaires who pour a ton of money into it. And we also know that Russia was using fronts to fund a lot of right wing influencers as well. You don't really even hear a peep about that. But we'll still bring that up here on the Midas Touch Network. By the way. It's why I think it's an important fact that we're an independent media network at the Midas Touch Network, and why we also, you know, make sure we say to all of you, if you can, you know, please try to become a member, please try to do everything you can, you know, whether it's joining on Substack or just spreading the word, that's a super, super helpful way of going about it. So let me talk about weakness masquerading as strength. And let me first talk about how there are so many countries that just see it. So you know how Donald Trump's bragging about China and Trump's posting great deal with China. Great deal. He goes, great deal, exclamation point, great deal. You didn't do a deal. And maybe Fox will repost that and maybe your MAGA mush brain, you know, whatever watches Fox. A million people an episode. A million and a half. By the way, more people watch the Midas Touch Network than Fox. I mean, maybe, maybe you get that by your audience, but you're not tricking the rest of the world who you actually have to make deals with. Right on. What was it? Around, on or around May 12, they entered into a consensus with China. Trump sent Treasury Secretary Scott Besant and Trade Representative Jameson Greer to Switzerland, and the United States caved. It's not a deal. China called it a consensus. And the US dropped its tariffs against China from 145% to about what, 35%. Ish. 33%. So the US was taxing itself 35% on the imports coming in from China, and China dropped it to 10%. So China was taxing its own people. 10%. China had still cut off the rare earth minerals being sent into the United States. And so the United States companies rushed to Trump and they were like, dude, we're all about to lose our businesses. All of the technology requires these rare earth minerals. You got to do something, you know? So then Trump sends Treasury Secretary Besant and Commerce Secretary Howard Nutlik, or Lutnick, whatever his last name is. They then go to London and then they announce, we've done it again. We did it twice. What'd you do? They claim it was a deal, but when you read it, it was a framework to implement the consensus. And then there was A time limit on it for six months that was set by China. China was putting a deadline on us. China's like, look, we'll give you the rare earth minerals for six more months. And then Trump's like, victory. And then Trump announces that the tariffs will now be 55% because Trump thinks 55% is a bigger number than 35%. So that's a win. But we're taxing American importers passed on to American consumers now 55%, not the 33 or 35%. And China's deal is 10%. And Trump thinks that's a good deal. Before Trump's trade war against the world, United States was trading with China. We were getting the rare earth minerals. So now Trump's idea of a great deal is not a deal. It's a consensus where the US cave from 145% tariffs to 55% tariffs and a six month deadline on receiving rare earth minerals, when none of those problems existed before Trump did a trade war against the world. And they post great deal. Like, if you think that that's actually a great deal, I've got something to sell you. And that's what Donald Trump does. He literally says, I've got something to sell you. You want the trump card. Because Trump, while all of this is going on, while we're also on the precipice of a war where Israel's apparently going to attack Iran, Iran's Revolutionary Guard is ready to attack US Military bases in Iraq and elsewhere. So the US had to evacuate everybody from the Middle East. Donald Trump was attending the play of Les Mis, where he was getting mostly booed but clapped on the red carpet. And when he was asked about what was going on in Iran, Donald Trump says, it's pretty dangerous. You know, it's, it's a dangerous situation. I don't really know. Dangerous place. Who knows? Who knows what's going to be on it? Then they asked him if, if he's seen Les Mis before and he shook his head yes, and he obviously hadn't. And they go, are you more like Javert or you. What's the other character? Jean. Jean Vijean. Jean Vince. And Trump's like, which one are you more the good guy or the bad guy? And Trump's like, it's a tough question. I'm probably, probably like, like both of them. I'm probably both of them. And do you know the plot of Les Mis also? Because it's like literally fighting back against an authoritarian regime, which maybe that was Melania's self troll against Donald Trump. But I don't. But let me go back to another example, though, because that's one example of weakness masquerading as strength. So now the message that's being sent to every other country in Asia and around the world, Europe, elsewhere, you just give Donald Trump a press release and then you literally take everything from the United States. All of the deals you can never get to exploit the US when the US Was actually had real qualified people and tough negotiators, you can now get. It's open season, go after it. China's flexing its military muscle, you know, in the oceans around Asia, by Australia, without any deterrence. It is open season because the US Looks utterly, utterly weak and pathetic. That's how it looks like to the world. You have Germany, you have Canada talk and other countries in Europe talking about building up their militaries. Now Japan wants to build up its military because everyone views the United States as incredibly, incredibly weak. So then. And then another weakness masquerading as strength. Just what's happening here domestically. So rather than stand up for the United States interest in the Middle east and actually project strength or project strength to China, Donald Trump decides he's going to attack inside the United States. Where am I going to send the military? I'm going to send it inside the United States. That, by the way, is why when Donald Trump says 51st state to Canada, it's not a joke. He literally wants to send the Marines and the 82nd Airport Airborne Division into Canada. That's actually what the guy wants to do. And then when it comes to Greenland, they want, they have military plans drawn up to invade a territory of our ally, Denmark, which is a member of the European Union and a member of NATO, which would trigger Article 7 against the United States. And so you had a MAGA Republican congressmember who used to be more centrist, this guy, Congressmember Mike Turner, he's asking Pete Hegseth in a hearing today, just to be clear, you don't have war plans ready to invade Greenland. And he. And he can't deny it because they have war plans to invade Greenland. Watch this. You know, lawyer here. I just want to help you out because people try to twist your words. You are not confirming in your testimony today that the, that at the Pentagon there are plans that. For invading or taking by force Greenland. Correct. That is not your testimony today. All my testimony is is that the.
- [44:21]
Jordi Meiselas
Pentagon has plans for any number of contingencies.
- [44:24]
Brett Meiselas
It is not your testimony today that there are plans at the Pentagon for taking by Force or invading Greenland. Correct. Because I sure as hell hope that it is not your testimony. We to look forward forward to working with Greenland to ensure that it is secured from any potential threats. Excellent. Now you're back. Weakness masquerading as strength. A former Fox host as the Secretary of Defense. Weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump at Fort Bragg before the 82nd Air Force Airborne Division attacking Gavin Newsom. Here, play this clip. You don't have to take this if you don't want. You could be great patriots. Say I don't want to raise. I do not, I will not accept it. Let it go back into our country. Let's give it to Garrett Gavin Newscomb so he can waste it in Los Angeles. No, we don't want to do that. Making a governor the enemy, saying that they need to be liberated from the enemy, that is, I mean, I'm just thinking like we have a huge international audience. Who's, who's watching this? Brett, you saw the Pew Research poll about like the international perspectives of the United States. You go down from, you know, whether it's Canada to Mexico and everyone in between. 77% of Canadians have zero confidence in the United States leadership under Trump. 91% of people in Mexico, even Argentina, where Donald Trump tries to suck up to 62% have zero confidence to low confidence. 81% in Germany, zero confidence. 78% in France, 68% zero confidence in Italy and 70, 78 France, 77 Netherlands, 68 Italy, 60 Poland, 63 Greece, 77% no confidence Australia. But in Israel, they're 69% has a great degree of confidence, confidence in Donald Trump. Brett.
- [46:26]
Ben Meisellis
It's all such, it's, it's, I would say it's such a joke, but it's, it's also dangerous. And yeah, you know, I guess him and then now have the same, you know, same style of governing. You got him, Netanyahu, Putin. I mean, this is, they're, they're all made from the same cloth, these people. And to see, you know, such heinous behavior here in the United States is appalling. It's, it's appalling to see that scene at Fort Bragg with Donald Trump and the United States military being so political. Those are the same. I mean, we covered all the speeches throughout the campaign. The speech we saw in front at the military base was, are the same kinds of speeches that Donald Trump would give on the campaign trail. That's not how a president is supposed to act. But Donald Trump is not acting like a president. And I Think it's all culminating this weekend as we have the no Kings protests this weekend, you know, and, you know, I'm worried about the weekend. I am, you know, watching with fear and anxiety at the same time, I'm excited that folks are going to be out there and they're going to be making their voices heard. I think it's important that, you know, we are out there, that we do show up in numbers, that we do not get afraid of the Trump regime when they make these threats, that we show that there is an opposition. And speaking of opposition, you know, I've been not pleasantly surprised, but it's been great to see kind of leaders emerge in the past couple of weeks. I think if there's any sort of silver lining, it's just that that people are start to rise to the occasion. And of course, I'm speaking about Governor Gavin Newsom. I mean, you know, me and Ben live in the state. Gavin Newsom's been our governor. I would say Newsom has taken more incoming from Republicans than probably any other governor in the entire country. I mean, they tried to recall the guy even though he won with like 60 plus percent of the vote, then he ended up winning with the same percentage of the vote after his recall election. Because, you know, in a state as big as California, if you just find, you know, as a large amount of people, but a very small percentage of the state, you could do things like that. And it's a big state. And, yeah, there are a lot of Republicans here. They're outweighed by, you know, Democrats, but they're able to do stuff like that. Right. And, you know, I know a lot of people, you know, especially earlier kind of in the year, were trying to figure out what to. What to think about Newsom as he was, you know, did his podcast and he was speaking to, you know, folks on the other side.
- [48:44]
Brett Meiselas
And.
- [48:45]
Ben Meisellis
And I know people were upset about that. But, you know, when I look at a person's character, you know, I really look at, you know, what are they doing in moments like this? What are they doing in moments of crisis? What are the. What is their. What are their actions? Tell me about who they are. And I think seeing Newsom rise to the occasion, you know, in this past, you know, week or two, it's. It's been really impressive to me. And it's been a voice that I think everyone sort of needed somebody who could speak with that sort of moral clarity on these issues, somebody who can effectively push back to Donald Trump. And I think he's a Great foil for Trump, you know, as well, for a whole host of other reasons. And I got to give it up also. It's like Newsom's digital, his social media team. Because one of the big issues in our current climate is that there are these algorithms and there are these social media influencers who band together. And on the right, they have all these MAGA people who say the same things at the same times every single day, just pushing out lies, pushing out lies. And you can look at their tweets. Sometimes they're literally like word for word with maybe a word here or changed around, but they get on message with the most horrible messaging on the planet. Just horrific stuff and horrific lies. But they all start just pushing it out and pushing it out. And I think Gavin Newsom's been incredibly effective in these past few days at understanding how this game works in 2025. This wasn't a skill that a politician needed in 2016. You know, you kind of started needing it in 2020. You cannot be an effective politician in 2025 if you don't have an elite, a digital comms team that every single second of the day is monitoring what is going on, that is pushing back, that is fact checking, that is making sure that people know the truth. And Newsom's team has been absolutely phenomenal. Like, I really gotta give it up to that whole operation because, damn, is it impressive. And it's. It's like finally, you know, you're watching, you know, these Democrats just get destroyed on social media and like, downplayed and say it's not important, then we should go on, you know, the legacy channels. And Newsom's doing it all. He's going on the legacy channels. He's going on. He's going on local Fox, he's going on local media, he's going on cable, he's going on the Midas Touch network where we had the exclusive YouTube stream of the speeches. You know, he's doing it all and he's crushing it on social media. And for better or for worse, I'm probably gonna argue for worse, that's where our conversations right now that we all have at home with our friends and family are starting. Now they're starting on social media and then they're se out into the real world. And that's what's setting the tone. So absolutely crucial. It's been absolutely great, just great to see that. We have some incredible, you know, great clips of Gavin Newsom that I definitely want to show you. We are going to take just another quick break before we do that. But I want to show you just how effective of a Messenger Newsom is being somebody who's really rising to the occasion. First, I want to remind everybody you could become a member of this YouTube channel. It's easy if you're here watching live on YouTube. Or you could go to our YouTube channel, YouTube.comitas touch the that's the @ symbol and it's the same way you get the emojis. It's the same thing. Ben's going to be recording some more content like Ask the Editor in Chief with Ron Philip Kowski. Just extra additive stuff. Make sure you join us on substack. Com Ron Filipkowski does his incredible daily politics recaps. The best in the game. I know I am biased, but I mean it. I've seen them all. This is the absolute best one that there is. So check it out on Midasplus.com and a lot of other good stuff there as well. Join us on Patreon. Next week we should be doing our live Patreon chat with everybody. Sort of state of a Midas Touch network. I'm excited to have a personal zoom chat with you all. So check that out. And of course add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And please leave a five star review. We get a lot of attacks from these MAGA folks on the pod, so make sure you check it out, okay? Like I said, I promise we'll be back very quickly. Message from our sponsors. Don't go anywhere. Struggling to stay focused. I sort from staring at screens all day. Then listen up because the remarkable Paper Pro might just be the productivity upgrade you've been waiting for. So what's a paper tablet? It's everything you love about paper. The feel, the freedom, the focus. But supercharged with digital features, the all new remarkable Paper Pro is their third generation paper tablet. It's thin, sleek and feels just like writing on real paper. But it also converts handwriting into text. 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- [54:59]
Jordi Meiselas
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- [57:21]
Brett Meiselas
Yeah.
- [57:21]
Ben Meisellis
And I'll say, like, you know, it's, none of it feels forced, right? Like, it's, it's, it's, this is, you know, just a great reaction to what's happening. He's been getting ahead of it. He's been, I think, acting effectively. I would think our, you know, listeners and viewers probably agree, you know, as they see him, I think I assume that they'd be impressed with him too, over these past few days. You know, I, I know I am. And when Ben, when you interviewed him the other day on this podcast, you know, you could hear it in his voice also. Right? Just how much. He's been, you know, given it. I want to show you just, you know, some other clip First. I want to show you a clip from. This is on the local Fox station here in Los Angeles with the great Alex Michelson, who's a great reporter. I know, you know, you hear Foxy go, I don't. But Alex Michaelson is a great reporter here locally on Fox. And you have Gavin Newsom speaking about how Trump lost a step. And I think Gavin, not only does he know how to get the information out, he also knows how to play the game and he also knows how to call out what needs to be called out about Donald Trump. And I thought this is a great.
- [58:21]
Brett Meiselas
Because the other night or he came out and said that when you guys spoke, he warned you that if you didn't get things under control, he was going to bring in Stone Cold Liar. Stone Cold Liar. He made that up like he makes up so many other things. He never said that. And he also seemed to make up this idea that the National Guard did.
- [58:45]
Ben Meisellis
A great job last, last night when.
- [58:48]
Brett Meiselas
They weren't here, they weren't even deployed. And he claimed victory. He's lost it. He hasn't lost a step. And I saw him trip on the steps today. I mean, he, this is serious. This is a, this, he is not the same person that I dealt with just four years ago. And he's incapable now of even a trained of thought. He's making things up and he's putting people's lives at risk. And he's got a band of people that are complicit in this. And that's what's so damn alarming.
- [59:24]
Ben Meisellis
It's, it's so true. And I think too often reporters, I'm not talking about Alex here, but I'm speaking about, you know, just reporters in general. They view Donald Trump's bluster and his loudness as cognitive ability when the things he's saying are each more insane than the next. Like, listen to what the guy is saying. Not to mention the lie after lie after lie after lie. Here, I want to show you from Newsom's speech the other night when he was speaking about how the situation was under control until Donald Trump came in. Here, check this out.
- [59:53]
Brett Meiselas
Thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully, the situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown. With that, that's not what Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation. He chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. He federalized another 2,000 Guard members. He deployed more than 700 active U.S. marines. These are the men and women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. We honor their service, we honor their bravery, but we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in la, not in California, not anywhere.
- [60:40]
Ben Meisellis
Speaking of militarized armed forces, let me show you Governor Newsom speaking about how Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles.
- [60:48]
Brett Meiselas
We're seeing unmarked cars, unmarked cars in school parking lots, kids afraid of attending their own graduation. Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles, well beyond it. His stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals. His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses. That's just weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities, they're traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point.
- [61:26]
Ben Meisellis
These are powerful moments from the governor. And I think, you know, one other thing that I want wanted to kind of share with you, because I'm not sure if I doubt that most of you are on these sorts of algorithms, but living in Los Angeles, I get fed a lot of LA content when I'm on social media, when I'm on Instagram or TikTok. And there are a lot of folks here who are, you know, fighting back, who are showing videos of the peaceful protests that are going on, by the way, that I don't see those images on the cable news. I see the images of, you know, chaos. I see images, you know, the same images that kind of Trump shows of like a Waymo on fire and things like that, like these. I don't see the images of the peaceful protests that I see when I see, you know, have images that are videos that are sent to me and when, you know, people I know are attending this thing. So I want that to be clear. But also, there are a lot of folks on social media in LA who are just straight out kind of mocking Donald Trump and mocking these talking points from the media, because for 99% of the city, when you look out your windows when you're going out, nothing's going on. It's a beautiful place. People are enjoying themselves. People are at farmers markets, people are going to the movies, people are hanging out. Even downtown, people are going out all over the place. The weather's actually been the best like it's ever been. And so let me show you this video that, you know, kind of gets to this point. This is a, you know, A woman who is walking through LA showing how dangerous Los Angeles is right now and why this is why Donald Trump needs to invade, because it's so dangerous. Watch this.
- [62:51]
Brett Meiselas
My grandma who only watches Fox News, she called me today, she said, you need to get out of la. LA is burden. Aren't you scared? Meanwhile, this is what's going on in la. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. I got snacks. Sometimes people will get me crazy when I say I live in downtown la. They're like, aren't you scared to live there? Tell me you don't get it without telling me you don't get it. Show me a city that shows up to defend its citizens the way LA shows up to defend its citizens. Citizens. Black community will always stay in solidarity. We're not going to get out of the streets until ice are out of our streets. Ain't that right? I side of LA.I side of LA Police in LA are overwhelmed. We got send in the marines, send in the Marines. Meanwhile, the police in LA, Pokemon Go playing motherfuckers got their McDonald's delivered. They're fine.
- [63:51]
Ben Meisellis
That really sums it up. That, that's, that's how I feel too. And, you know, shout out to all the people of Los Angeles who are under attack from this regime. You know, every. I think everybody here, you know, feels it, you know, in some ways, you know, if you're in these areas and you hear what Donald Trump is saying, I mean, you take it as a direct threat, you know, to our city, to our country, and don't, you know, think that Donald Trump isn't going to take this other places also, because he is, he's, he's starting here to make a point out of this, it. But his plan is to do this in, I would say, all sorts of, you know, kind of democratic cities throughout the nation using the same lies as a pretext to send the military in to try to overthrow governments, to try to scare the people. But I'm telling you right now, we're not going to be scared. We're not going to let this guy get us down. We're going to continue to rise up. It's democracy summer. We're going to be out there peacefully protesting. I'm excited for this weekend, the King's protest, to see folks, folks, you know, out there putting in all the work, doing everything, you know, that they can in order to make sure that our country is the way that it's supposed to be.
- [64:56]
Jordi Meiselas
And definitely, if you're on the ground this weekend, please, just like all the other Protests. Tag us in the post. Tag us in the post. We want to amplify all of that. We want to make sure that your voice is getting heard even beyond just where you are. I think you hear my son in the background. He's having his voice be heard right now. So please, yeah, tag us on it on all social medias and we'll repost as much as we can.
- [65:13]
Brett Meiselas
Benji. I also don't want us to get distracted. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can cover this all. I don't want us to get distracted. About the disastrous budget bill that will kick over 10 million Americans off of health care, literally rip the lunches out of the mouths of school children. Massive education cuts, massive agriculture cuts, massive cuts to food stamp program, supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, massive cuts to housing and rental assistance, attacks on women's reproductive rights. I could go on and on and on. I mean, there was a recent CBO report and other independent groups basically, you know, saying that if this Republican budget bill passes, 40% of the country becomes poorer in order to pay essentially for a 270,000 tax cut. $270,000 tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. I mean, they're literally ripping 1,000 to $2,000 out of the hands of people who make less than $50,000 to give people who are making more than $4.2 million a 270,000 to $500,000 tax cut or higher, depending on what your income is in a given year. I unapologetically say tax the rich and tax the rich more. I'm not afraid to, To. To say that that's where the people are and that's where you should be. Look, I think that I believe in capitalism. I don't believe the Republicans in MAGA believe in capitalism. I think they believe in a crony oligarchism that actually is an affront to capitalism. I also believe that, you know, we should have compassion. And, you know, back in the, back in the day, you know, CEOs weren't making 2,000 or 5,000 times what workers were making. I believe that if you work a job, you should be paid with dignity. You shouldn't have to work multiple jobs to be able to afford a home. Every American should be able to afford a home. Housing, housing. Housing should be talked about over and over again. Housing is dignity. And we shouldn't have people who can't afford homes, can't afford rent in the United States of America, live paycheck to paycheck and are experiencing the psychological torture of if they can feed their kids or pay their rent or pay their bills. That should never be the case in America. I believe everybody should have health care. Everybody should have education. I believe it should be free and available to everybody. And I think it can be paid for if you tax the rich more. I'm not afraid to express that opinion loudly and proudly. That's how I feel about the issues. I believe that diversity is a strength. I don't think that we should punch down on gay people or trans people. They're humans. We should treat them with respect. We should uplift. We should be allies always, not just when it selfishly helps us us. We should be there always. Period. Full stop. To me, these concepts should not be something that Democrats or people who care about humanity grapple with. And when I see somebody who's been here in the United States and they're working hard and they're at a factory and they're living their American dream, and they're not criminals, I'm not trying to disappear them to countries that they've never even stepped foot into or. Or deport them without any process, or deport them or separate them from their families at all, Period. These are people who contribute to our country, who contribute to our economy. You want the biggest proof in the world? You know how Donald Trump likes to say the United States subsidizes Canada? Because Trump doesn't understand what a deficit is. And even though there's not really a trade deficit between the United States and Canada, Trump just doesn't understand the relationship at all. It's actually significantly advantageous to the United States. Well, the United States isn't subsidizing Canada, but let me tell you who's subsidizing who. California is subsidizing basically all of the red states. All of the red states, as Brett alluded to earlier in the show, would be complete and utter failures. Failed states. They're the worst in education. They've got mortality rates that are disastrous. People die much younger in these red states. They have the worst health care. They're the poorest states, by far the worst quality of life, the highest homicide rate rates and violent crime rates by multiples of California. And by the way, even when you look in California sometimes and you see where the highest homicide rates are, they tend to be in the areas that voted Trump and had Republican leadership. But I don't think that's coincidental at all. But California is the fourth largest gdp, not in the United States, in the world. If California was a country, California would have the fourth Largest gdp. It is a donor state where most of these red states are taker states. They take from mostly the blue states, where there's the best education, the highest quality of living, the highest paying jobs, the best quality of life. So the red states, kind of like Trump is about all these things too. There's a jealousy factor of it. And while they depend literally their taker states, as they take from California, they attack the strengths of California that make California strong, which is our diversity. And there's a lot of immigrants in California. And yes, there are undocumented migrants in California. They're also contributing to California and the country. And there should be a pathway to citizenship. We should open up pro. And most Americans agree with this. We should open up a pathway the same way Obama did the Dreamers Act. And Obama was tough on immigration, was very tough on immigration, but he had the Dreamers Act. That type of program should be expanded to people who are paying their taxes, who check in, who have been contributing, who have been here. And there should be pathways to citizenship. And absolutely, we should go after the criminals. No doubt. Former President Biden was going after the criminals. Trump is sending all of these resources to attack school children and factory workers, and he's moving the resources away from going after the criminals, and he's taking our military away from doing the important thing that's needed. I'll even give you an example. There's a. Did you know there's wildfires happening in California and San Bernardino right now? You know, who helps with, you know, as Donald Trump likes to say, you gotta deal with the forest. You know, who actually helps, you know, we do a good job of that in California. And Donald Trump says, you know, the forest nations like Austria, they tell me all the time, how, how is California so bad? He used to make up that story about Finland, then he changed it to Austria. And he says that Austria refers to itself as a forest nation. Austria does not refer to itself as a forest nation. He's absolutely just completely making that up. So Trump's removed the National Guard who would otherwise. And he isn't paying them, by the way. They don't have health care because he's activated him. So sloppy. They're sleeping on the floor without pillows. There's like 100 or 200 of them who are like standing around a building, a federal building, because they don't really know what the hell they're doing. The LAPD chief is saying, I don't really know what they're even doing there. I mean, they're standing around in a building, we have to shift our LAPD resources to watch them because we, they don't know what the hell they're doing. And we're removing National Guard troops groups away from dealing with wildfire prevention, which is something that's absolutely necessary. And so going back to what Newsom said, that's weakness masquerading a strength. And for all the talks of Doge, what did Congress do? Congress passed a bill today, basically enacting until, you know, at least the House did a bill for what, $9 billion of doge cuts after all of this Doge, the bill they did was $9 billion, you know, and it was like attacking PBS, like attack, attacking Oscar the Grouch, like the, the strangest and most deranged things that's hurting the country, that's making us weaker. And then you had, on top of all of this, you had Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban refugees. The same way a lot of these MAGA Republican Congress members and state senators are sons and daughters of Venezuelan refugees, are sons and daughters of Cuban refugees as they bring in their own Chavez, as they bring in their own Maduro, as they bring in their, as they bring in their own Castro. You have Marco Rubio saying happy Russia Day and wishing the Russian Federation well in this we hope to do business with you. And if it says we hope to do business with the Russian Federation again in, you know, in the future, that's weakness masquerading as strength. And Donald Trump on the red carpet carpet going to lay Miz as he, like, weirdly holds Melania's thumb. But as I said, don't get distracted. The budget bill is an absolute disaster. Donald Trump has still not released the Epstein files. And remember, you had Elon Musk saying, he's in the Epstein files, he's in the Epstein files. And then all of a sudden, you have a lot of. We start activating the National Guard pretty quickly and federalizing them unlawfully. So don't be, we're not going to get distracted here about all of that. And when you talk to people, let people know about all of these things that are going on, it's why on this episode, we cover trade, we cover what Trump is doing in the Middle east, we cover what's going on domestically with the bill, we cover Epstein, and of course, we cover the news of the day. We have a special, special announcement right now, though, for everybody as well. So right after this, I'm doing a town hall. I guess you're putting me to more work. Let's go as soon as this ends, I'm going to be speaking with Kansas Governor Laura Kelly. And I'm going to be speaking with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And we're going to do a small little town hall. I'm gonna. You guys are working me hard.
- [75:09]
Ben Meisellis
That's a big deal.
- [75:11]
Brett Meiselas
As soon as this ends, just stay on. If you're in this chat, we're gonna transfer you to that town hall. All watch it. I think I'll probably go 20 minutes, 30 minutes or so. By 30 minutes, I'll probably go with the governors. I want to get there. As I said, don't get distracted. I'm going to talk about the budget bill. I'm gonna, I'm gonna see how it's affecting people in Michigan, affecting people in Kansas. And a reminder, we are adding lots of new bonus content on this YouTube channel for the members of the YouTube channel. It's so easy to become a member. We don't have outside investors. We're beating Fox and all of cable news and views. We're doing like 22 million views every 48 hours here. We're almost on our way to 5 million subscribers.
- [75:55]
Jordi Meiselas
You could give memberships too, Ben.
- [75:57]
Brett Meiselas
What'd you say?
- [75:57]
Jordi Meiselas
You could gift memberships too.
- [75:59]
Brett Meiselas
You can. Oh, it's a great idea because, you know, and if there's someone, look, and I'm not suggesting you should do this, but you know, if, if you have the means to. And you're always like, look, I, I have a membership and I really wanted to, you know, give a very big membership. Like you could do it in any amount. And I'm not saying you should do it for thousands and thousands of. But you can do whatever the membership is, it goes along to help a long way this network grow. And as I've said, you know, they did it with right wing billionaires. We've done it this way and we got to keep on growing. I think you see the importance of building this infrastructure now more than ever. So become a member. Gift memberships. We are grateful for you all. So reminder to subscribe as well to the YouTube channel. Subscribe to the audio podcast. Leave a five star review there. Go to substackmidasplus.com Brett, did I leave anything out? No, that's it, Jordan.
- [76:52]
Jordi Meiselas
All right then. Shout out to the Midas.
- [76:54]
Brett Meiselas
My day.
- [77:03]
Ben Meisellis
Against the fascists. We sing our song.
- [77:13]
Jordi Meiselas
Can't get enough Midas. Check out the Midas plus substack for ad free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free now@midasplus.com.