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- [00:00]
Ben Meisellis
What is dadication?
- [00:01]
Brett Meisellis
The thing that drives me every day as a dad is Dariona.
- [00:04]
Ben Meisellis
We call him Dae Date for short.
- [00:06]
Brett Meisellis
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.
- [00:22]
Ben Meisellis
That's dadication. Find out more@fatherhood.gov Brought to you by the U.S. department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council 10 years.
- [00:30]
Brett Meisellis
From today, Lisa Schneider will trade in her office job to become the leader.
- [00:34]
Ben Meisellis
Of a pack of dogs as the.
- [00:36]
Brett Meisellis
Owner of her own dog rescue. That is a second act made possible by the reskilling courses Lisa's taking now.
- [00:42]
Ben Meisellis
With AARP to help make sure her income lives as long as she does. And she can finally run with the big dogs and the small dogs who.
- [00:49]
Brett Meisellis
Just think they're big dogs. That's why the younger you are, the.
- [00:53]
Ben Meisellis
More you need AARP. Learn more at aarp.org skills Want to.
- [00:59]
Brett Meisellis
Sharpen your aim, save money on ammo and train like the pros, all from the comfort of your home. Meet Mantis X, the cutting edge dry fire training system used by the Marine Corps, army and Special Forces to build precision and confidence. 94% of shooters report improved accuracy in just 20 minutes and you could be next. With Mantis X, you train with your own firearm anytime, anywhere without wasting a single round in less than two weeks. The system pays for itself in ammo savings alone. As a proud gun owner, I believe in the Second Amendment, but rights come with responsibility. That means refining your accuracy, mastering your skills and staying prepared every time you train. Whether you're a new shooter or an experienced marksman, Mantis X helps you train smarter, shoot better, and defend what matters most. Get yours today@mantisx.com that's mantisx.com More intelligence coming out of the United States government as well as Europe suggests that the strikes on Iran by Donald Trump were not successful. Now the Trump regime is in full fledged cover up mode. Secretary of Defense and former Weekend Fox host Pete Hegseth held a press conference earlier in the day where he just started berating reporters, including a Fox reporter, as one of the most shameful moments in the history of the Defense Department. Moments ago, Donald Trump announced another deal that he claims he made with China. To be very clear, there isn't one. He's making another fake deal up with China. He Said, I just entered one yesterday and now the regime's trying to cover it up and say, no, no, it was actually two days ago. What the hell are they talking about? They just lie about every single thing. And it's really just having a devastating effect on our country. When you look at Donald Trump's disastrous trip to NATO, you see things like entering into a defense pact with the European Union, basically saying, we're turning to Europe now and not the United States. The US Gets more isolated every single day. I want to talk about the big victory in New York City by Zoran Mamdani and the implications of that win. I want to talk about the latest developments with the disastrous budget bill where a parliamentarian earlier in the day filled found that a number of the provisions would actually require at least 60 senators to vote for it for there to be cloture, and it cannot be passed by simple majority based on what's called a violation of the Byrd rule. This specifically relates to some of the attacks the MAGA Republicans had against Medicaid. And now lots of MAGA Republicans are saying the parliamentarian is just too woke and needs to be fired. We'll talk about that and more here on the Midas Touch podcast. I'm Ben Meisellis. Joined Brett and Jordy. You know, Brett waking up today and seeing that Pete Hegseth press conference as he berated the reporters who were just asking questions, hey, our intelligence and the European intelligence and other intelligence communities suggest that Iran was able to move the uranium before the US Strikes because Donald Trump telegraphed the attack that Iran's going to be able to rebuild a nuclear program pretty soon that will. Now you're doing a ceasefire with Iran when you said that the objective was total surrender. And now at the same time, the Trump regime is praising Iran doing oil deals with China. Is that what Donald Trump's talking about when he talks about the China deal? A deal between Iran and China for China to get the blessing to purchase cheap oil from Iran. And all of that benefits, by the way, Vladimir Putin and Russia, who gets those Shahid drones from Iran. So what the hell were we even doing other than making Iran stronger? The whole. The whole thing makes absolutely no offense, no sense. And then to watch Pete Hegseth just yell at the reporters and MAGA try to portray that as strength when it looked like the ultimate weakness. It was another shameful day for the United States of America under the Trump regime.
- [05:15]
Ben Meisellis
Absolutely shameful. Good to be here, brothers. Good to be here, Ben. Good to be here, Jordy. Good to Be your Midas mighty. It's always great to be here on the Midas Touch podcast. Yeah. You know, I woke up and, you know, the first thing I always do, which probably the biggest mistake imaginable when you wake up in the morning is I check my phone. I always regret it. It's never a good decision. Don't do that. Go for a walk. Maybe first do something else. But I always check my phone. And this morning I had the privilege of waking up and turning on my phone to see pick Pete Hegseth having it, Throwing a tantrum with Donald Trump in this unhinged press briefing. Press briefing, I think is putting this whole thing nicely. It was like a cry fest. It was like the biggest, weakest appearance of American strength that I have ever seen in my entire. And, you know, it reminded me. Ben, you know, there's something that you say a lot. It's like the. The true Alpha people in the world don't go around going, I'm Alpha. I'm Alpha. I'm Alpha. Well, the people who really conduct a successful attack don't have to then come out every single day and say, it was the most successful. I did it. It's the best. It was the best. I obliterated him. I obliterated them. Because the more times you kind of say that and the more that the actual press comes out with the details, the reports that say the absolute opposite of what you're saying, the more I think you're totally full of. And we know now that they're completely here. And this tantrum that Pete Hegseth through this morning did nothing to remove those concerns for me that they are full of. I mean, just. You can look at this picture even. Which basically sums it up a Pete Hegseth I'm showing right now throwing a tantrum in this Pentagon briefing. Absolutely a crazy, crazy moment. And at the end of the day, we just want to know the truth. But it seems like the more and more we learn about what actually happened in this situation, a massive situation. We bombed another country. Okay, we got to know what actually happened here. We bombed another country. Well, it's now kind of appearing that Iran is actually coming out on top of. In all of this. Like, they're getting everything that they actually wanted. They're getting. They're able to now sell, like, more oil than they were before, and they're able to now fund their nuclear program in better ways. Trump apparently is preparing, they're negotiating ways now to give Iran money, like, a lot of money, so that they could Build out their nuclear sector. Like, what the heck is going on here? Like this, this is stuff that's actually happening here. Trump is praising ir, saying how, oh, they're very nice. You know, we, we coordinated these attacks together. They were so sweet. I love, I love what the hell is going on. Meanwhile, we obviously can't lose sight and we'll talk about it on the show. The GOP disastrous budget bill that they're trying to ram through, which is just absolutely obscene on every level. And just like they learned from Donald Trump, these Republicans in Congress quite literally lie about what is written in black and white. So we have to call out the propaganda. The propaganda has not never been more intense. We're going to call it all out here. I'm excited to dig into today's top stories. Jordy, what is new on your end?
- [08:07]
Jordy Meisellis
Excited to get into it. I just want to clarify for some audio listeners. So the brothers are west coast based. If you didn't know, I'm the one on the east Coast. So when the Hegseth interview and all that, the presser is going down, I have to wait for them to like, get up so I could actually, like, get out my rage and my anxiousness to be like, ah, that's why it's so great to have the Midas mighty. So we could all talk and be like in real time. Is this crazy? And obviously we have a great editorial staff that gets up at all hours to clip this stuff, shout out Asin. And it's just, you know, it's really predatory behavior that you see from Hegseth and Donald Trump. And what they're doing, Brett, to your point is they're, they're trying to project this strength, this, this alpha mentality. But it couldn't be further from the truth. They're. All they're doing is just berating reporters, literally attacking reporters for doing their job and doing a damn good job actually at trying to get behind what actually is happening and had happened. Because it's very important that we figure out, okay, was it, was it as successful as he's saying? If it is, what were the impacts of that? You know, what's going on on the ground? What are the details? This is a massive event. And the, you know, the, the Trump regime, what do they do? Well, when you can't trust anything that they're saying, you know, they just say, we have victory. Oh, they look like lunatics. Show that photo of Hexath again. I mean, come on, is this someone who looks really emotionally stable that you really trust to get well adjusted, Jordy.
- [09:24]
Ben Meisellis
Steady hand on the wheel.
- [09:25]
Jordy Meisellis
Exactly. Steady hand on the wheel. It's really just bizarre land to see. And what they do is then they just attack the reporters and that's how they try and conceal news, you know, from getting out there. And that's why it's so important. You can never bend the knee to these people because if you give them an inch, they'll take your life. You can never give them an inch. Benji, where do you want to go from here?
- [09:44]
Brett Meisellis
Well, look, these are predators, right? I mean, Donald Trump was found liable for sexual abuse. Donald Trump is a felon. Donald Trump is a fraud. Donald Trump makes up numbers. Donald Trump has bankrupted multiple, multiple companies. If there was a Guinness Book of Records for the most and biggest bankruptcies, Trump would be right out the top. His whole life has been being handed daddy's money and failing over and over again. Now he's got Uncle Sam's money and he's failing over and over again. Those character traits are there, by the way. Pete Hegseth was accused of sexual assault. He denied the allegations. He entered into a settlement agreement with the woman. He then claimed that it was consensual while he was married with his either second or third wife and then denied that when he was before the Senate confirmation hearing. I mean, look, we are dealing with bad people who have a track record of doing bad things, who would not be allowed to hold jobs at small, medium or large size companies or non profits. Yet they're running the country right now.
- [11:00]
Ben Meisellis
Except Fox News.
- [11:01]
Brett Meisellis
Except, except for Fox. Now I want to show you what went down a few hours ago, where Donald Trump's moved on in his own mind from like the war talk, right? Like in Donald Trump's mind, in his fictitious world, he was the hero. It's done. Iran is the good guy. Now, apparently. Brett, you mentioned the deal that Donald Trump's considering giving them $30 billion as I guess, a reward. It's being reported that the Trump regime is discussing giving Iran access to $30 billion to build a civilian energy producing nuclear program as well as easing sanctions. And Donald Trump has encouraged China to buy oil from Iran, which was not the United States position before or ever. In fact, it was in position before. He said that that money is financing terror. You know, it just makes me think. Also remember when Vladimir Putin called Trump and said that he wanted to mediate the dispute with Iran? If you were a self interested mediator, what would you want the outcome to be? If you were Vladimir Putin and you were getting your weapons From Iran. Remember what the alliance is here, right? The alliance is Putin's Russia, China, Iran and North Korea and other brics nations, you know, that are kind of on the periphery and maybe not in that initial click and there's like Belarus and others, but like, that's what the alliance is. So Donald Trump, in abandoning our allies and making deals like this, where now there's a ceasefire, which Trump said he never wanted. He wanted total surrender based on all of the intelligence, European intelligence and our own Pentagon intelligence, and CENTCOM intelligence says that Iran still has its nuclear materials. They moved out the uranium, the facilities in Iran were damaged, but they can get back up and running again soon. It seems that if you look at Trump's own self described objectives, not only was it a failure, but it's, it's, it's an utter failure. And what now he's going to pretend like a miracle, it's all going to go away? And then what? We'll find out six months, nine months, a year, maybe it's two years, right, that Iran has a nuclear weapon. And then Donald Trump will blame it on who? He'll blame it on the leakers, he'll blame it on Democrats, he'll find his new version of fauci, which is what he's trying to do with Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, who Trump appointed. And then in this press conference today, Trump attacked Biden for extending the term of the guy who Trump appointed. I just want you to think about that. As, by the way, we learned today that there was a revision to first quarter GDP downward, where it was negative 0.2% GDP, what we previously thought, it's now negative 0.5% for the first quarter, a much more significant drop than was originally reported there as well. All right, so you go to this press conference that Donald Trump held that was supposed to be on the disastrous budget bill. We'll break down the status of what's going on with that. But you all know at this point, I think the message has gotten out to the American people, thanks to independent media like the Midas Touch and others, that 15 million people get kicked off of Medicaid. Medicare is under attack. Food stamps are under attack. Rental assistance is under attack. So many basic essential services are being gutted by this disastrous budget bill. Farmers get screwed. Women's reproductive rights gets targeted. Horrible stuff. So Trump's plan was go in front of the American people and just do what he does. Lie, say that it has provisions for no taxes on Social Security, seniors. We're looking out for you seniors, there's no tax on Social Security in this. There's no provision that even mentions no tax on Social Security. It's not in the bill. So to the seniors who support Donald Trump, it's just an odd thing. It's like y' all just like him saying it to you, just like him lying to you. It's, it's very weird to me that you rather like, you know, if you're a senior, if you're going to be taxed or not taxed, but you like this weird orange Mandarin Mussolini blob, like, just lying to you. Just straight up strange to me. So he does this press conference and one of the first things he talks about is that yesterday he says, so that would be from the recording of this podcast. That would be Wednesday. He claimed a deal was. A major trade deal was entered with China. Here's what he has to say.
- [15:50]
Donald Trump
Play this clip, Jamison. Everybody, everybody wants to make a deal and have a part of it, Right. I know you and Howard and Scott are working overtime making deals with other countries. You remember a few months ago the press was saying, do you really have anybody of any interest? Well, we just signed with China yesterday. Right? Just signed with China. We have everybody. We're not going to make deals with everybody. Some we're just going to send them a letter, say thank you very much, you're going to pay 25, 35, 45%. That's the easy way to do it. And my people don't want to do it that way. They want to do some of it, but they want to make more deals than I would do. But we're having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India, very big one, where we're going to open up India.
- [16:35]
Brett Meisellis
He's been saying that there's going to be a deal with India in two weeks, every two weeks for the past 75 days. Same thing with Japan, same thing with the European Union. Now, I don't know is there a deal with China or not a deal with China? We know that there was a consensus reach where the United States and Trump. Taco. Trump always chickens out reducing the 145% tariffs against China to like 30%. Then it went back up to like 55% tariffs, which is just a 55% tax on the American consumer. And yes, those tariffs are being passed on to the consumer, and we're seeing that in our data. But again, this is one of those things where Trump just makes a claim and, and in a normal, orderly system, there would normally Be a readout of what happened. A trade deal is a major and significant development, by the way. It has to be approved by Congress. You don't just get to say, we've done a trade deal. Trade deals in general are very complicated. A trade deal with an ally probably take about three, three and a half years because these things are thousands of pages. They address every aspect of the economy and a trading relationship. So to do a comprehensive trade deal or a trade deal with China, it just doesn't happen overnight. Like, oh, we just did a trade deal, we did a handshake, we did whatever.
- [17:59]
Ben Meisellis
I think we should also mention that, you know, we're also dealing with the arsonist. Right, Being Trump, of course. And so he's the guy who set the world on fire. And when he describes these trade deals, the thing is, even if he does accomplish a so called trade deal, which we haven't seen any evidence of whatsoever, he's kind of just putting out the fire that he caused. But in many of the cases that we've already seen when he's tried to claim a trade deal, he's actually only kind of slightly put it out because actually we're now in a worse position than we were before any of these so called deals were even in progress. So I think we should also just, you know, specify that because one of the things that I've noticed that the corporate media likes to do and what Trump likes to do is they like to be like, what a brilliant deal. What a brilliant thing that he just came up with. And I'm like, what did he do? Okay, this how you have to judge the deal. What was our situation prior to all of this and what is the situation now? Oh, it's worse now. Okay, so now while you're celebrating that deal now, explain to me why this is a good thing. But by the way, we aren't even seeing any deals. We're seeing like intense to have discussions about deals and things like that. But no actual proof that any of these deals exist, thus far at least.
- [19:09]
Jordy Meisellis
And it feels like it's all trying to just manipulate the market too by doing these things and teasing. Oh, we might have a big deal coming up with India. Stay tuned. I mean, he's treating this like it's some sort of game show and it's really pathetic to see it play out. I've never seen someone spike the football after they recovered their own fumble more than Donald Trump does day in and day out. And it's because he's not a leader, he's a total Friggin loser. And he has nothing to actually run on other than like just hatred. And it's just despicable to see.
- [19:40]
Brett Meisellis
And the propaganda, a big beautiful bill. It's such. This was the perfect call. This was the perfect deal. Nobody has ever done it better. I mean, one of the things that Pete Hegseth said in his bizarre and disastrous press conference, this was the most incredible strike, surreptitious strike in the history of the military. Better than D Day. I mean, what, like, what are you, what are you even talking about here? It was a largely failed strike. And then the Trump regime says, if you criticize this strike, you're attacking the B2 fighter pilots. And Trump said this over and over again. The fighter pilots are getting really sad. They're seeing the coverage from cnn, who Trump says it's fake news. And msdnc, that Donald Trump calls it. And then Trump says, the fighter pilots, they're calling me up with tears in their eyes. Essentially, Trump's saying. And they're saying to me, this is really horrible. This isn't patriotism. We did it, Donald. How can people do it? And again, he is using his own kind of stolen valor, someone who's dodged a draft multiple times to make himself sound like a tough guy to put a fighter pilot of a B2 kind of next to him. If you criticize me, you're attacking the fighter pilots. No, we're just saying that you're lying. We're saying that this mission makes no sense. I think the fighter pilots, if they wanted to achieve the mission, they'd want to know, should we go back? We'd like to finish the mission so maybe we could have accurate data because we're equipped as fighter pilots to do the thing. And wait a minute, you're saying there's a ceasefire? When you said the mission was total surrender? So what was this for, Donald? Did you just want, you know how you have like the bodybuilder influencers and like the bathing suit influencers on Instagram. If you look at the White House Instagram, it's like Trump is a warmonger influencer, right? It's like him and all of these war photos and the B20 and the B2 and him looking like in a situation room, like that's all he's doing. He's playing a role, he's playing a gimmick and it's just very strange to see. And he's playing the role of ruler, dictator. So it didn't shock me during this press conference that he held a little bit ago, which on this disastrous budget bill, to refer to governance as ruling. He goes, the way I rule has been this. Here, play this clip aggressive when you're.
- [22:10]
Donald Trump
Turning the country backwards. But no matter what you are, it's all about common sense. And I think that's the way I've ruled. I do what's right. I want to have borders. I don't want to have transgender. For anybody that happens to leave the house at a young age, the things they do.
- [22:27]
Brett Meisellis
And what the hell is he talking about? What do you mean? Transgender for anybody who leaves the house? That is one of the craziest things that exist. And why is he saying it? Because there's a portion of the population that watches propaganda tv, North Korea style. They watch Fox and Newsmax and oan, and they're told that when you leave the house, you could become transgender, and that the liberals want to basically kidnap you and turn you into transgender. And it's transgender for everybody. And so Donald Trump saying what makes his ruling good is that he's stopping something that isn't happening and then bullying a population that just wants to exist and just wants to live. Brett.
- [23:18]
Ben Meisellis
And that's why, you know, when I see Trump say things like that, when I see what Fox does, when I see what people like Elon Musk do, when I see what people like Bill Ackman, you know, are doing regarding this new mayoral race, there's kind of one consistency that I see in all of this, and that it's these billionaires are pretty evil people. Listen, I'm not saying necessarily all of them, but I think you got to acknowledge here that, you know, on the whole, these billionaires are incredibly bad for society. They think their money equates to some sort of genius. They like to weaponize their money in order to propagandize the public. So even Trump himself, you know, a billionaire, now again off his crypto, ridiculous crypto schemes that he's doing. Trump out there says these transgender for everybody sort of lines right? Over and over again. Why does he say things like that? Because the propaganda is strong. He knows that Fox is going to pump that out, and he knows that ultimately that may lead to people voting for Republicans, which in turn allows these billionaires to save an extra few percentage points on their taxes, pay less tax. I mean, that's the whole game, okay? How do we get these people who are going to actually suffer under our rule? How are we going to take those people? And how are we going to actually, you know, make them suffer and get them to Vote for our own tax cut. That's what all of this is about. So when you say, how could Trump say this thing? This is so outrageous. Oh, my. These people are lunatics. It's all with that focus. It's all with that focus of these billionaires trying to make themselves richer by dividing the public. And it is so damn obvious everywhere you look, whether it's social media algorithms, whether it's in New York, whether it's with Trump, when you watch Fox News, when you watch Elon Musk, it's the one consistent thing that we see in all of these things. It's that there is a billionaire coup in our country right now. And they are doing everything possible to control the flow of information in order to get people to vote against their own interests time and time again. And this is obviously also another one of these moments with Trump going back to Iran. That is a Bush style mission accomplished moment. And this is the, these are the same tactics I just want to point out that George W. Bush used to get us into Iraq and to get us to stay in Iraq. These are the same tactics that the leaders, and I use that term lightly in many senses, have over generations and generations used to propagandize the American public. Where they go, oh, if you criticize this war effort, if you criticize what we are doing here, or you criticize the actions of the President of the United States, that is an attack on U.S. troops. Oh, you hate the troops. You hate the troops. Do you remember after 9, 11, you know, the outpouring of, you have to support our troops, support our troops. Well, that became synonymous with was you have to support us going into Iraq and Afghanistan. And if you didn't support that, it became your Communist, your, you hate America, you hate our troops. It's the same strategy again. But now Donald Trump has a stronger propaganda platform than even Bush had then. And it was a powerful platform back then, don't get me wrong. And Trump is using the same George W. Bush tactics that got us into those wars right now in order to try to pressure people and propagandize people, people into supporting these efforts that the American people are once again against. It's the same playbook over and over and over again. And you may be wearing a different outfit right now. Right. Trump may try to position himself as, I'm not the Bush style Republican, but.
- [26:35]
Jordy Meisellis
It'S the exact same shit, 1000%. And just to build on that, there's nothing more anti American than what Donald Trump is doing. He's using our brave men and women in uniform as literal human shields to move on his propaganda agenda. And that's what we're witnessing play in and, you know, play. Not one of us up here, not one of us on the network are talking bad about, again, the brave men and women in uniform. Absolutely not. But that's what they're trying to have you believe. Listen to them when they, you know, when. When they say their nonsense and they. They scream at you. If you don't support us, you hate our troops. You're anti. No, what you're doing actually is quite literally the most anti American thing you could be doing, and that's using our troops as human shields.
- [27:17]
Ben Meisellis
And I'll build on that for just a second. But it's also the most American thing I think that you could do in this country is be critical of the government, be critical of the United States, be discerning when you're told something. Be one of those reporters like we saw. And I'm good. I know this might sound crazy to people. I'm going to compliment a Fox News reporter, but Jennifer Griffin is a fantastic reporter at Fox News, and she was asking some of these questions about the misleading reports by the Trump administration as opposed to the actual intelligence that she has seen and has been reported through multiple outlets. And the administration reamed her out. You had Hegseth screaming at her, Trump screaming at her, then, you know, telling Fox to basically fire her. All of these things. That's the most American thing you could possibly do, is be critical of the government.
- [28:01]
Brett Meisellis
And, Brett, you talked about how Trump and these billionaires push all of these propaganda talking points, like it's transgender, for. For everyone to get people to vote against their own interests. But when we come back and later in this episode, I want to talk about how people are figuring it out now, and they're realizing the hustle that's taking place. I think that was demonstrated in the no Kings protests and the mass mobilization that we see. But I think it's also reflected in the huge crowds that are drawn to the Fight the Oligarchy tour by AOC and Bernie Sanders and others who join that tour, and also by the victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor of Zoran Mamdani as well. And I think you have this contrast, right, Brett, the victory of Mandami taking place in New York City. And then you have what's going on in Venice with Jeff Bezos's wedding, where hundreds of millions of dollars and all of these celebrities are spending millions of dollars just to attend this Wedding. You have Bezos doing foam part. He's doing foam parties, trying to get.
- [29:13]
Jordy Meisellis
In on the foam parties. Ben, you don't.
- [29:15]
Brett Meisellis
Foam parties. Let me finish the sentence. Foam parties on his yacht with his future stepson and his stepson's mom in a bikini on a yacht partying together. Which actually looks like one of the most lonely things in the world. And I couldn't imagine as a 19 year old to want to do a foam party with your mother in a bikini and your future stepdad grinding on your mom in front of you with, you know, you could, you could give me bajillions of dollars. But that's some weird ish right there. And I think that the American people though, see that though, and they're like, you're sque. We just want housing. We don't want to live paycheck to paycheck. And y' all are doing foam parties with your kids while you're grinding on the kid's mom. And what the hell is going on in Venice? As corporate media pushes these narratives. The Kardashians have arrived. I don't give a that the Kardashians arrived in Venice. What do you think this is 2007? You think I care that the Kardashians have arrived in a private jet? Nah, I want to make sure that the people are being taken care of. So I want to talk about that and more. We got to take our first break of the show. Jordy. I know for Canada Day we got it. We got a special sale that you wanted to plug.
- [30:37]
Jordy Meisellis
Absolutely. So if you go to store.midas touch.com if you add any of the commit Canadian made products to your cart, you get 15% off your entire order. As we know, Canada of the day is coming up July 1st. We're going to start the sale today. We're starting it right now. If you go to store.midastouch.com Add any Canadian made product to your cart, unlock 15% off automatically for your entire order. Benjamin.
- [31:00]
Brett Meisellis
Also, I want to remind everybody as well, we are doing our best to get more paid members for the YouTube channel since we don't have outside investors. That's how we grow this YouTube channel. Sometimes people say, hey, you know, I just. All I want to do is, is, is, is help out. How can I help out? And I said, look, become a member of the YouTube channel. You can gift memberships to people as well who may not be able to afford a membership. And you can do an unlimited amount of gift memberships as well. If you're already a member, so click the membership on the YouTube that helps this channel grow. We'll be right back after our first break of the show.
- [31:41]
Jordy Meisellis
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- [33:29]
Ben Meisellis
Okay, so here's the deal. I love animals. Always have. But the second I step into a house with a cat, instant allergy meltdown. It's like my body staging a protest. Itchy eyes, runny nose, the whole nightmare. I used to just avoid cats altogether until I discovered packagen. This podcast is sponsored by packagen and if you or someone in your home is allergic to cats, listen up. Nearly one in five people have cat allergies and most allergy solutions just mask symptoms. Packagen's Cat Allergen Neutralizing Spray. It goes straight to the source, the allergens floating around your home and actually breaks them down so you can live and breathe in Peace. Turns out it's not the cat fur, it's their saliva. When cats groom, they basically coat themselves in allergens. Packaging uses this brilliant protein called whisker block to neutralize those allergens safely without any harsh chemicals. Just spray it every few days and that's it. 97% of Packagen customers say they feel real relief. I used the last time my friend brought his cat over. No allergens meant no more sneezing, just good vibes. And this isn't some gimmick. It's engineered by scientists from Harvard and Princeton. Packagen is allergist recommended, vet approved, and PhD engineered. Your pets aren't just pets, they're family. So get the relief you need with Packagen. Head to packagen.com midas for 15% off your order and an exclusive gift for our listeners at checkout. That's P A C a g e n.com midas me I-for 15% off your order and an exclusive gift one last time. That's packagen.com backslash Midas for 15% off and an exclusive gift auto applied at checkout.
- [35:15]
Jordy Meisellis
Let's go. Shout out to our pro democracy sponsors links in description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. When there's an exit survey, please let them know that we sent y' all those Fair Harbors. I can't. I've been living in my Fair Harbors. Definitely check that out. Package in A plus as well. Benji, where to next?
- [35:31]
Brett Meisellis
Look, it's really unfortunate that every time Donald Trump speaks, you know that he's lying. Just as an American, you'd want the president to be a truth teller and someone who achieves the objectives. But I want to just prove to you that I don't approach my analysis of the Trump regime by saying I hate the regime. So therefore, let me find anything bad for them and let me report on just the bad things. It usually aligns that they do bad things. But I take the same approach that I once did when I was a trial lawyer and I tried to build the evidence and say to myself, who's telling the truth here? And that's why I often, I know sometimes you don't like when I play the Trump clips or the clips of MAGA Republicans. But I view it as the way I would cross examine a witness. And you know, it almost is like to me using deposition transcripts at trial to impeach the witness based on what they're now saying versus what they said before. So about what? Two weeks ago After Donald Trump was doing another press conference where he was talking about the big polls that remember poll day that was like, remember Alcatraz day? Then there was Pole Day. There's one day where he just talked about Alcatraz and how he loves Alcatraz and he did that whole thing. And then if. Then there was. Then there was poll day where he built gigantic poles and talked about how big they were. And then he gave this press conference in the Oval Office about Iran, where he lined up the Juventus football club behind him. For our Americans, the soccer team from Italy, the professional club, they were like, behind him. Weird. Why would you have Juventus that. The whole thing was so strange for the Alcatraz one, He had the NFL there, right? He had Goodell and the mayor of D.C. which, like, why. Why were they there? But he uses people as props in these, in these press conferences. But. So Donald Trump set out what his objective was going to be in Iran if there were to be strikes. And he said, we are not looking for a ceasefire. That's what he said. Here, I'll show you in his own words. Here, play this clip. The President, Emmanuel Macron of France the other day, the G7.
- [37:43]
Donald Trump
He's a nice guy. Look, he said, I was going back home to make a ceasefire, not a ceasefire. We're long beyond ceasefire. And I said, why do you say that? Why would you say ceasefire? It's a bad term to use because a ceasefire means, like, everything's going swimmingly, will take a little time off. It's not. We're not looking for a ceasefire. We're looking for a total, complete victory. Again, you know what the victory is? No nuclear weapon, Mr. President. So I thought it was a very badly worded statement by him, and obviously.
- [38:17]
Brett Meisellis
I let him know that, okay, so by his own terms, right, now that there's a ceasefire, Iran still has the capabilities to build a nuclear weapon. The nuclear material was moved before the strikes. Iran's parliament, and now their Security Council said no more IAEA cooperation, which was taking place. Now, Trump is also saying he wants to potentially give $30 billion to help the civilian nuclear program for Iran. I mean, it seems like if Iran were to view their terms of victory, what else would they possibly be asking for at this point? But now you also have to look at other witnesses, right? So assume Donald Trump is the defendant in my case that I'm prosecuting. Who are the other fact witnesses? Well, you got people who were showing up at the congressional briefings about what was taking place in Iran. So you have Maga Republican Senator Tom Cotton. And he now claims that it was never part of the mission to stop Iran from having uranium. I mean, that's kind of all we heard, right? I mean, am I, my, am I delusional? Because I kind of remember all them saying was to total surrender. But anyway, play the clip. We'll stop and explain the reason. Do you have some sense of where.
- [39:37]
Ben Meisellis
The enriched uranium is at this point?
- [39:39]
Brett Meisellis
This.
- [39:39]
Ben Meisellis
Has the intelligence community figured that out at this point?
- [39:43]
Brett Meisellis
I don't have a comment on that.
- [39:44]
Ben Meisellis
I will say it was not part of the mission to destroy all their enriched uranium or to seize it or anything else.
- [39:51]
Jordy Meisellis
Again, it's not.
- [39:53]
Brett Meisellis
What are we, what are we talking about there, Tom? The hell are you talking about? And this is what they all say. I mean, look, I can show you a quick look, quick clip of MAGA Mike Johnson saying we're under no illusions that you could just get rid of the nuclear program in a day. That's not the way it works. That's kind of, that's kind of what you've been saying. Like that's your whole shtick. Like that's the thing. Okay, play it after we crash them right now.
- [40:19]
Donald Trump
Mr. Speaker, Reuters is reporting Iran's nuclear chief says we're going to immediately start reconstituting our nuclear program.
- [40:27]
Brett Meisellis
I mean, that's how you negotiate.
- [40:29]
Donald Trump
Are you kidding me?
- [40:32]
Brett Meisellis
It's madness.
- [40:33]
Ben Meisellis
I mean, we're under no illusion that.
- [40:34]
Brett Meisellis
You can just kill all their nuclear ambition overnight. But I think reality has set in over there. We have decimated, okay? I mean, that's literally what you said. You said overnight, obliterated, doesn't exist anymore. And now you're saying something different. So at NATO, Donald Trump was asked some questions about are, are you okay? For example, with China now purchasing oil from Iran, is there going to be sanctions on Iran? You're, you're going to lift the sanctions from Iran after this? And here's what Donald Trump says.
- [41:10]
Donald Trump
Go ahead.
- [41:11]
Brett Meisellis
Yeah.
- [41:12]
Donald Trump
Blue dress.
- [41:13]
Ben Meisellis
Thank you so much. Mr. President. Yesterday you said China can now continue to purchase oil from Iran.
- [41:20]
Brett Meisellis
Yeah.
- [41:20]
Ben Meisellis
Are you giving up on your maximum.
- [41:22]
Donald Trump
Pressure campaign because there's sanctions right now? With who?
- [41:26]
Brett Meisellis
On Iran?
- [41:27]
Donald Trump
No, look, they just had a war. The war was fought. They fought it bravely. I'm not giving up. They're in the oil business. I mean, I could stop it if I want it. I could sell China the oil myself. I don't want to do that. They're going to need money to put that country back into shape. We want to see that happen? No. If they're going to sell oil, they're going to sell oil. We're not taking over the oil. We could have. You know, I used to say with Iraq, keep the oil. I could say it here, too. We could have kept the oil. Now China is going to want to buy oil.
- [41:58]
Brett Meisellis
Okay, that's very. They fought bravely. I mean, where do you. By the way, this doesn't really matter. Maybe it does. She wasn't wearing a blue dress. And by the way, referring to reporter as blue dress is odd. She's wearing a blazer. She wasn't wearing a dress. But I just don't want to normalize, even just things like the blue dress and she's not wearing a dress, but she's wearing a blazer. But. Okay, so then another reporter asks Donald Trump about. And look, just think about all the things he's saying here. Ending the war in Ukraine in 24 hours like he promised. Let me show you what Donald Trump said when he's asked by a reporter and the reporter says, you said you would end the war in 24 hours. And now you're saying that that was sarcastic. And Donald Trump goes, of course I was being sarcastic. And before we play the clip, I just want to say this is one of the things that he does as well. Corporate news allows him to get away with it. They wouldn't let anybody else get away with it because corporate news loves fascism. They love this shit. We don't hear. The people don't. That's why Donald Trump has some of the worst approvals in the history, if not the worst in, in America. But we all know that, we all know, you know, watching, you know, listening, that he never said when he was talking about ending the war in Ukraine that that was a joke or that that was sarcasm. If it is a joke or sarcasm, that's really disturbing. It may be worse. It may be worse. You're joking about ending the war. I mean, or, or being sarcastic. And then in this clip, he then pivots after saying, I was being sarcastic. And then he tries to take credit for, like, ceasefires that have happened in the past three decades that he had nothing to do with.
- [43:45]
Ben Meisellis
With.
- [43:45]
Brett Meisellis
He's like, I handled Serbia. That was me. I'm the reason that there's peace in Serbia. I did the India Pakistan ceasefire deal. When India's prime minister says, you had nothing to do with it and stop saying it, which is a barrier to the trade deal with India, because India's saying, stop acting like you dangled trade in front of it. We don't even have a trade deal right now. What trade have you. We don't have a deal and we're a sovereign nation. We're not going to sacrifice, like, our borders, you know, and the fact there was a terrorist attack in Kashmir because you dangled trade in front of us. But watch him mention every war and he claims that he solved everything here. Well, watch this clip.
- [44:25]
Ben Meisellis
Mr. President Johannes Petra from Austrian national television.
- [44:29]
Jordy Meisellis
How are you once said that you would end the Ukraine war in 24 hours. You later said you said that sarcastically.
- [44:36]
Donald Trump
Of course, it was sarcastic.
- [44:38]
Jordy Meisellis
But you've now been in office for five months and five days. Why have you not been able to end the Ukraine war?
- [44:44]
Donald Trump
Because it's more difficult than people would have any idea. Vladimir Putin has been more difficult, frankly. I had some problems with Zelensky, you may have read about him. And it's been more difficult than other wars. I mean, look, we just ended a war in 12 days that was simmering for 30 years, frankly. We ended Rwanda and the Congo. It's coming to sign the documents. We've already signed basic documents, but they're coming, I think, to the White House on Friday. We ended Serbia, was going to go at it, but maybe the most important of all, India and Pakistan, and that wasn't whether or not they may someday have nukes like we're talking about in the Middle east, like we're talking about with Israel and Iran. This is the half nuclear weapons. I ended that with a series of phone calls on trade. I said, look, if you're going to go fighting each other, it's going to. It was getting very bad. You know how bad that last attack was? It was really bad. If you're going to go fighting each other, we're not doing any trade deal. No, no, no, you have to do a trade deal. They said, we're not doing any trade deal. And in fact, I had the general who really was very impressive. The general from Pakistan was in my office last week. You know, Prime Minister Modi is a great friend of mine. He's a great gentleman. He's a great man. And I got them, Theresa, and I said, we're not doing a trade deal if you're going to fight. And if you're going to fight each other, we're not doing a trade deal. And you know what they said? No, I want to do the trade deal. We stopped the nuclear war. Go ahead.
- [46:22]
Brett Meisellis
We said, stopped a nuclear war. He creates fictitious scenarios that don't exist. And then he says that it was Sarcasm that he said he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Let me just show you some clips of when he said, and you judge for yourself. If this was a guy who was joking. Was this, was this humor? Was this a stand up comedy routine here, Play the clip.
- [46:45]
Donald Trump
And the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
- [46:48]
Brett Meisellis
Yes.
- [46:48]
Ben Meisellis
How would you do that?
- [46:50]
Donald Trump
I know Zelensky very well. I'll end that war between those two countries in 24 hours. It won't even take that long. I will get the war ended. I'll stop all of those lives from being wasted and lost. And there'll be no more bombing of Ukraine, there'll be no more bombing of Russia, and everybody will be happy. It can be negotiated, I think, within 24 hours. It really has to be done from the office of the president. And you have to get them both in a room and there are things you can say to each one of them which I won't reveal now, which will guarantee that this war will end immediately.
- [47:32]
Brett Meisellis
So, Brett, of course, hilarious. Of course, that was all sarcasm when he said that. Of course.
- [47:38]
Ben Meisellis
Yeah, just a hilarious bit. I know our audience cannot contain their laughter at the, at the sarcasm and dry wit of Donald Trump. I mean, listen, we're playing with people's lives here, okay? There are people dying in Ukraine. I know that, you know, there, there are people on the right who like to pretend this isn't still going on. I know there are people who like to be like, oh, why are we seeing all these images out of Iran, but we never see anything out of Ukraine? Because you're not looking at it and your, your sources of information aren't showing it. But there's still so much devastation happening in Ukraine right now. And the fact that Trump continues to trivialize, trivialize this issue, say that he was being sarcastic when he has lives in his hands, is just so atrocious to me. And we just see this time and time again. That's why, you know, his word just cannot be trusted. @. And it's all about propaganda. When you look back on those clips, like that montage that our editor in chief, Yaron Filipkowski put together of Trump saying that he'd end the war in 24 hours. It's just a quick look into how the propaganda works and how there is an ever shifting target, how there is a constant moving of the goalposts that somehow always tends to work out in Donald Trump's favor. Right. Whenever he's wrong. He wasn't actually wrong. He was just being sarcastic about it. They always find a way to, to excuse Donald Trump for being wrong. They always try to find a way to say, oh, on this technicality, he was right when he said this. But it's just part of what I went back when.
- [48:59]
Jordy Meisellis
I'm.
- [48:59]
Ben Meisellis
What I'm going back to in the beginning of this episode when I was speaking about this just horrific kind of propagandized flow of information that we're seeing right now. It's all related to just these very bad people out there with a whole lot of money that are just spreading lies and are just polluting the public with this toxicity every day.
- [49:18]
Jordy Meisellis
And this is where corporate news and legacy media, like, this is where it really upsets me and gets to me. Because if Biden was so bold to make a proclamation of I'm going to end a war in 24 hours and put that out there, and we just played the clips, I didn't sense any sarcasm. I'm pretty good at picking up on sarcasm.
- [49:39]
Ben Meisellis
I am.
- [49:40]
Jordy Meisellis
There's no sarcasm there. And so if Biden were to make that claim, him, the corporate news would crush him if after 24 hours and 1 second, that war wasn't over. But folks are just letting Trump skate by why? No, you really have to ask yourself why? Who's pulling the purse strings? Why are they covering him the way that they're covering him? Why are they letting him out of these things and using his. Is it because he's calling them names? Is it because he's using big bold letter on his social media platform and that's intimidating them? I'm sorry, but if that's scaring you, perhaps you're not fit for the role in which you're trying to play in this greater society. Because what we need right now is fearlessness out of our reporters and our newsmen and women. And we can't be scared to just tell the truth and tell the facts. Donald Trump is a liar. He did not end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
- [50:38]
Brett Meisellis
That is a lie.
- [50:39]
Jordy Meisellis
And we should hold his feet to the fire every second that that war continues to go on.
- [50:44]
Brett Meisellis
And it's just not a, like, it's beyond even a lie, right? It is always, every day the worst lies, the most damaging lies, the most vile lies. And in over, you know, where are we at a day we're almost at like day 160 or so. He has destroyed America's credibility abroad. You know, when we come back, I want to show this clip of the Canadian Euro defense pact press conference where Prime Minister Carney makes Some statements that I think should be getting way more attention. You know, when our media here is largely like Kim Jong Un style media, what they have in. In Russia style media. And Jordy, you know, the corporate news acts like, you know, there's another great victory for America. But, you know, I think the good news is that independent news like the Midas Touch network and others in this space are out there telling the truth and getting bigger audiences than the corporate news and letting people know what's happened. And, you know, I get it sometimes when I say play the clip, and you're like, oh, not another clip. But we, we have to be tethered to what's actually happening, not what you see on corporate news when they have the split screens or the roundtables and everybody's yelling and doing the spin and this. And I'm just saying, here's what he said and here's what happened. Here's what they said, and here's what happened. And then y' all can. Y' all can judge for yourself. All right, when we come back, I want to again talk about the big victory from Zoran Mandani in New York City. And I think how we can connect that to what we've been seeing with the no Kings protests, what we've been seeing in the fight, the oligarchy tour, what we've been seeing with the town halls, you know, what we've been seeing with, frankly, the rise of independent media. I think they're. I think they're linked together. And I think it's important that we all listen to what the people are actually saying, because if we're not responding to what the people are saying, the predators, the felons like Donald Trump, they have an instinct into people's suffering and problems, and they know how to prey on it and exploit it. We should be there to help it. Gotta listen. Gotta listen to what people are saying, because they're saying it pretty freaking clearly. There's a reason where the biggest crowds are going, what messages are connecting, because there's a reality that's happening in this country. All right, I want to remind everybody to become a member of this YouTube channel. That's one of the ways we've been finding a great deal of success growing this independent media network. So become a member. You can gift memberships to people as well. And as Jordy mentioned before, get 15 off at store.midas touch.com when you add a Made in Canada gear to your cart, that's a great discount. I'm not even sure Jordy ran that by. I'm not even running by.
- [53:52]
Jordy Meisellis
The brothers. Absolutely did not do that.
- [53:56]
Brett Meisellis
It's possible we lose money off of that.
- [53:57]
Jordy Meisellis
But that's okay. That's okay.
- [54:00]
Brett Meisellis
I haven't fully, I haven't fully figured this one out.
- [54:03]
Jordy Meisellis
Benji, we're not trying to do foam parties here for our birthdays. It's okay. It's okay if we start losing on some deals here and there.
- [54:10]
Brett Meisellis
I haven't fully discovered if this is actually something that's a break even proposition or not. But whatever, you know, do it. Do it before I speak to Jordy about that. We'll be right back after our last quick break of the show. Hey parents. We all know getting a good sleep can feel impossible when you have a newborn. That's where Happiest Baby comes in. And it's been a lifesaver for me. Founded by world renowned pediatrician Dr. Harvey Karp, they've created smart sleep solutions that help families get the rest they desperately need. Starting with Snoo. Snoo Smart Sleeper is a responsive bassinet that uses gentle rocking and white noise to to soothe babies to sleep. It can add one to two hours of extra rest each night and automatically responds when babies fuss. So you can stay asleep too. Very important for me. It's the only bassinet that's FDA de novo authorized to keep sleeping babies safely on their backs. It's trusted in over 180 hospitals. And now companies like JPMorgan Chase, Google, Red Bull, Activision Blizzard, Yeti, Barstool, Stool Sports, Rare Beauty and others are offering free SNU rentals as a benefit for their employees to help new parents get more rest. Want your company to give you a free SNOO? Head to happiestbaby.com referral to refer your employer. You could also be eligible for up to $10,000 if they join the program. Or head to happiestbaby.com Midas and use the code. Midas is to get 20% off SNOO and other smart sleep solutions like their award winning Sleepiest Swaddle and the Snoobie Smart White noise machine today. Because every family deserves better sleep. And for me, I can tell you it's been a lifesaver for me and my wife. So go ahead there. Happiestbaby.com Midas when was the last time.
- [56:04]
Jordy Meisellis
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- [57:36]
Ben Meisellis
If there's one thing I've learned the hard way, it's that most of us weren't really taught how to manage money growing up. I didn't learn about budgeting or responsible spending until I was already making mistakes that could have been avoided with just a little guidance early on. And that's why I think Acorns early is such a powerful tool for parents and families. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns Early. Acorns early is a smart money app and debit card for kids that helps them learn the value value of money. Acorns Early's Chores Tracker helps kids learn the value of a dollar. Just set up chores in the app, set a payment amount and tick the chore off when it's done. Acorns early lets parents pay allowances automatically. No more rummaging around for cash. Automatically send a weekly allowance to your kids account. With just a few taps, kids can spend what they earn with their very own debit card. They'll love their new sense of independence and getting to choose from 35 customizable card designs. Simple parental controls deliver extra peace of mind. Get real time notifications when your kids spend. Set your kids spending limits and instantly block lost or stolen cards. Helps your kids turn saving into a habit. Kids can use their app to set savings goals. They can even choose their own target dates and turn on the optional Auto Save feature to help them get there. Grow your kids money skills with bite sized financial lessons the Acorns early app has tons of fun interactive courses that help kids learn about all things things money. I really wish something like this existed when I was a kid. Acorns early helps families start the money conversation early and gives kids real world tools to build smart habits from day one. Head to acornserly.com Midas or download the Acorns early app to help your kids grow their money skills today. That's acornserly.com Midas Acorns early card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank Member FDA pursuant to license by MasterCard International. Terms and conditions apply. Monthly subscription fees starting from $5 per month unless canceled.
- [59:29]
Jordy Meisellis
Shout out to our sponsors links in description of the YouTube and the audio. Use the codes use the links. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you real quick. Wild Alaskan they we're going to be hearing more from them. Apparently the Midas Mighty y' all are huge fans. Type in the chat right now if you've ordered from Wild Alaskans because they've told me nothing but good things and Snoo Ben Happiest Baby nothing but good things from them as well.
- [59:51]
Brett Meisellis
Well of course an Acorn all great. Look, we're grateful for our pro democracy sponsors because as we mentioned before, we don't have outside investors. It's why I push the memberships here on the YouTube. I said if you can become a YouTube member or gift members, that goes a long way to help those sponsors go a long way to help. And Jordy, as you mentioned, Happiest Baby and their products new which I've used which has been invaluable for allowing me to sleep and do these shows and and my baby loved it. So I mean everybody check it out. Go check out their website at Happiest Baby and check out Snu and check out some of their other products. It's happiest baby.com all right, I wanted to show this clip and then I want to talk about the victory in the Democratic primary by Zoran Mamdani and I think the broader implications and I think it's related to the there's a relationship there to this disastrous budget bill as well and what's happening in our country as billionaires are screwing over everybody else. But I just want you don't see this clip really on American media. So I think it's important that I play it for you. The clip is Prime Minister Carney at a press conference at a Canadian EU summit in the Netherlands. The day before the g. The day before the NATO summit took place and they announced a defense pact together. And here you'll hear Carney saying that Canada now feels European no longer identifying with America. Doesn't say it with those exact words, but the implication is, is that, you know, it's Canada and Europe now and America, you know, you got to find who your allies are because it, it ain't us and it ain't Europe anymore. Here, listen. So we're meeting now in that context, in, as you just said, in hard times, we might say even a hinge moment of history, a world that's more dangerous and divided. A time where the rules based international, the global order, rules based global order is under threat in a time when technological change is accelerating and we really have two choices as a jurisdiction, as a country in this circumstance, we can nostalgically look back and long for the old order to somehow return, or we can build a new one with purpose and partnership. And as the most European of the non European countries, Canada looks first to the European Union to build a better world. And that's what today is about. It's about building on our triple alignment of values of interests and of trust, trust built over the years. And so today this is a new era of cooperation. Our strategic Canada, EU or EU Canada, strategic partnership for the future will build a new and deeper relationship that brings us closer together from defense to digital. So that's clearly all Trump coded right there. Right? This is a hinge moment. We can't look nostalgically to our past, which was the US And Canada. We're looking to our future, shared values, how we see the world order together. And you know, it's Canada saying goodbye to the United States. So we could have all the propaganda here that we want if that, that makes people feel good. But the reality is, is that Trump has pushed away our closest allies and you know, and, and he's changed the world order. That makes America much, much weaker. Speaker. You know, and I think, Brett, about the statement by Carney and I think it's a transition to the next topic that I want to talk about where he says we can look back and be nostalgic or we can move forward. You know, and I think to some extent you have, you know, some people in the Democratic Party who look back at a certain type of Democratic Party that they saw with nostalgia and you know, they have to wonder how come the election outcomes are not what you want? Why isn't the enthusiasm there anymore? Or you can look forward and you can see where the enthusiasm is. I just, I don't think it's a coincidence that independent media networks like ours are surging and growing the way they are. That the Fight the Oligarchy tour with AOC and Bernie have the largest crowds, that the no Kings protest has all organically formed at a grassroots level with people out there truthfully patriotically protesting peacefully. And then you look at someone like Zoran Mamdani who was down in all of the polls, But I think one, the aggregate had him down somewhere 7%, 6.6% in the Democratic primary and he pulled out this victory, you know, and they try to smear him with Islamophobia thing, which they're doing right now every day. They try to smear him every which way. But you know, I think as he was connecting with all different types of people in New York, what was he talking about? I mean, he was talking about housing and I'm going to fight for your housing, affordable housing. And he would say housing, housing, housing. It's one of the biggest issues. People can't afford houses right now. They can't afford a mortgage if they have one. And they certainly can't afford their rent right now. And people are living paycheck to paycheck. And that's psychological torture for people. And they have to decide, am I going to eat this dinner tonight or am I going to buy clothes for my kids? How am I going to live? How am I going to exist? And people don't even feel that their existence is respected by the political class. You know, when their health care is ripped away or when they're in the medical system, they can't get their treatments approved or the drugs are not affordable, educational opportunities are being taken away, factories getting shut down, they're not being able to get have to work multiple jobs and they still aren't getting paid with dignity. You should be able to work a job in the United States, the most richest country in the world, and be able to afford a house and college and support your kids. If you're working a 40 hour week, you know, which is still a lot or less. And you know, if you're a person with disabilities, if you're a veteran, if you, the government should be there for you. The government shouldn't be hurting you. The government shouldn't bullying marginalized communities. And I think, think, you know, Zoran Mamdani ran a modern campaign The. The branding was great. The message resonated. And the message is a message that I think Donald Trump was able to see because he's intuitively a He. He can recognize the pain points to exploit it. And Trump ran that playbook. While I think Democrats were not speaking to these issues in a direct way, Trump would lie. I mean, you saw the whole episode, right? I mean, and this is his whole thing where he would bankrupt things and he would promise people, oh, it's going to be perfect. It's going to be so rich. I mean, you know, Trump. Brett, I think we have the clip from today where Trump's like, this is a $1.7 trillion in cuts. This is the greatest bill ever. No tax on Social Security. He could just say it to your face. And those are things that people want. But he doesn't deliver it. He lies. Now he goes, there's no inflation. We don't need to play that. I don't hear his voice anymore. There's no inflation.
- [67:47]
Ben Meisellis
And then, by the way, you know, Trump could say all these things, right? Trump could be outright fascist. Trump could have masked agents in the street taking people off to foreign gulags. You do all of these things, Right, Right. But Democrats could elect somebody, nominate somebody, like Zoran Mamdani. And it's as if, I don't even know, just happened. Like, the entire kind of establishment, the media, the right wing. Oh, every Democrat now is going to be branded by this New York City mayoral primary winner. Like, give me a freaking.
- [68:21]
Brett Meisellis
Can I just give you just a few. Like, there's some. There's some ones that don't address the outright Islamic Islamophobia towards the guy. But, like. Like, there are ones that I see where they're like, this guy was a rapper. He was like a. Like, a rapper, like, which they're trying to say, like, he's a thug. Like, that's what they're trying to say, right? And so they show a video of him and his rap from, like, 2019 was, like, rapping about making, like, raps.
- [68:49]
Ben Meisellis
It's like, y' all. Y' all are making it more relatable, okay. With these things. And by the way, can I show you.
- [68:53]
Brett Meisellis
You.
- [68:53]
Ben Meisellis
Because the Republicans are going through and they're saying, you know, this guy's a radical and he hates Jews, and they're just smearing the guy with all of these things. Right? And let me just show you a photo of the Republican candidate, okay. Because this isn't getting a lot of attention, right. Who was actually running on the Republican side, who they're saying is, you know, a normal guy. And the Republicans shouldn't be branded with this guy Sliwa, who looks like a communist dictator. And I mean, look at this guy, Guy Brothers. I mean, this is crazy. And this man is a guy who runs like a, like a vigilante crime fighting organization club and has already admitted multiple times that he has faked what he does. Like, he, he goes out on the street and he'll just find like someone who he thinks is an immigrant and tackle them. And most of the time, these are like literally just random people that he just tackles because they have brown skin or whatever. And he goes, we got one. And he's admitted that he staged these. He's admitted that he's been. Been wrong about them. We've seen it happen live on tv, on Fox. And this is the guy who Republicans are running. And I am supposed. I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be afraid of Zoran Mamdani, who we had as a guest on the show, by the way. No matter what you think about his beliefs, I just want to say this. You have to acknowledge his campaign. You got to acknowledge, Ben, like you were saying, his focus. And you said housing, but it was broader than housing. It was affordability.
- [70:16]
Brett Meisellis
I said a lot of history.
- [70:17]
Ben Meisellis
His, his slogan, his slogan, a city you can afford. A city you can afford. And he hammered that day in and day out. And when you watch clips of him, they're modern, they're very social media focused, they're produced. Well, he's young. He's younger than me, which upsets me a little bit. He's charismatic. And you see the things that he's speaking about and what are the things that he's speaking about out there, right? He does a video going to like, like a shawarma food truck or something, a halal food truck. And he says, how much are your costs? How much do your permits cost? And the people say, I had to pay $22,000. And it took me 600 steps in order to get my permit so that I could run my store. It's been prohibitive. His whole thing was targeting these small businesses and saying, Your business took 600 steps to create because of barriers from the government and costs you tens of thousands of dollars. I'm going to find ways to fix that. I'm going to create a mom and pop czar and we are going to fix those sorts of issues. And every video he released, every message he put out was all along those lines, going into small businesses, saying how he was going to help. And listen, I'm not saying I agree with every one of these ideas. Some of these ideas, I'm like, I don't know how that's even possible, how that's going to work. Like, you know, his, his idea about kind of government controlled supermarkets and things like that. I don't know how things like that are going to work, to be honest. But I can tell you why people are afraid of, of him. People are afraid of him because he wants to tax billionaires higher. And so there's this coordinated campaign right now against him. And I've seen this even, by the way, from our own listeners and own followers. I've seen people address these concerns. And I, I understand because it's been a very difficult time, I think, out there in general for Jewish people in this world. There's been an increase in anti Semitism. October 7th was absolutely horrible and heinous. And Jews have long been a target of anti Semitism from all sides. And so there's a lot of tension surrounding that right now. And people are scared. And I understand that people are scared. But I also want folks to understand that their fears are being weaponized right now by a billionaire propaganda media who wants to smear this person into making you think that this is a hateful person who hates Jews, when this is somebody who strictly campaigns on one thing, and that's, I want to lower your costs. That's it. Okay? And I think we need to, as a country, as a society, as people who are doing podcasts and having conversations and people who are going to polls and voting and whatever. We have to understand right now that the government that we're seeing in Israel is run by a guy named Benjamin Netanyahu who is essentially a Trump of Israel. And, and we're under no obligation to support a government run by the Trump of Israel. I'm sorry. And criticizing that government does not make you anti Semitic. Criticizing the heinous acts, the crimes against humanity that we are seeing in Gaza right now at the behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, a criminal who's literally on trial as we speak. And Donald Trump is trying to bail out, criticizing that government, criticizing Netanyahu, criticizing what's happening in Gaza does not make you anti Semitic. Honestly, I think all people should be able to have that belief. Just like criticizing Donald Trump does not make you anti American. Criticizing Donald Trump's policies does not make you anti American. And we need to be clear about this right now. Republicans are going to throw all sorts of labels at Democratic candidates, no matter what, right? They called Kamala Harris a socialist. They called Barack Obama communist socialist. They called Joe Biden a communist socialist. Okay? They're, they're. They're going to throw out these labels. But I think people are sick and tired of the labels. And people want an authentic voice, somebody who they could relate to. And so there is a vibes element to that, right? This guy's a young guy, could speak to people. He was on every podcast, he was on every radio show. He was doing new media, crushing it. He was on Midas Touch. He was on Hot 97. He was on Bulwark. You name it. You, you look, he was. He was everywhere, right? But he also had ideas that resonated with the people that were for the working class. And that's why people like a billionaire like Bill Ackman are freaking out right now, because he doesn't want to have to pay more. God forbid you have to pay an extra 2% more. Bill Ackman. And so there's now this coordinated campaign, and it's coming from establishment Democrats, too, like the Cuomo side of things, that are pushing a lot of these things on him. Right. But when you look at the future of the Democratic party, who do you think the future of the Democratic Party party is? Just genuine. No matter what your even beliefs are, do you think the future of the Democratic Party is going to look a little more like Mamdani, or do you think it's going to look like Chuck Schumer? I. I just want to put that out there because I think somebody's actually resonating with people, and I think somebody's, you know, served as a utility and his purpose. Right, right. We appreciate the work that he's done in the past, but I don't think that's the modern leader for the modern times. And I also don't think that the lessons that should be derived from this is that we need a bunch of Mamdani clones around the country, because every district and every state is very different. I think when you look, I think you see a lot of new leaders cropping up. I think you could see an Abigail Spanberger. Right. I think you could see a Wes Moore. I think you could see people all over the country that have different beliefs. But at the end of the day, the folks who are resonating and breaking through right now are people who are authentic voices. And oftentimes they're people who understand modern media, modern ways of reaching people, and understand, and this is the most important part, what are people's concerns right now. What are people feeling? And I don't have to go through the list that Ben went through again, but let's face it, this country made a pact with its people. The pact was called the American Dream. It said that you would be better off than your parents would be if you did these few steps right, if you worked hard, if you went to college, if you graduated, you got a degree, you will be better off than your parents. You'll be able to have a home, two weeks vacation. You'll be able to have it made. You will live the American dream. And what are we seeing right now? People aren't part of the American dream. People aren't doing as good in most cases as their parents, certainly not doing better in most cases, let alone as good. And so when you see an entire generation of folks who feel like they are left out of a system, who feel like they've been rejected by a system that made a promise to them, you shouldn't be so surprised when they start looking outside of that system for new voices, for new candidates, for new ideas. And I think as a Democratic Party grappling with this idea that we have a new individual who a lot of people are just learning about right now. And a lot of people have preconceived notions about whether it's because of, of the Democratic social socialism label or whether it's because he's Muslim or you name it, whatever they're basing their preconceived notions off of. I think it's important for under people to understand why did this person resonate? And I think we've explained what I think at least why, why Memdami resonated and how do we build a bigger tent that allows us to include these people and include these voices? Because I think it's the ultimate key. We, you don't have to be one thing, you don't have to be one. You don't have to say, this is what a Democrat is and that's it. You could embrace new voices. You could say, this person did this well and we need more things like that in order to resonate with people. Yeah, I remember when Donald Trump kind of took over the Republican Party. What were the, what were the hot takes back then? This is the end of the Republican Party. It's all over. Everyone's going to be tied to Trump now and it's over and the whole party's done and they're never going to recover ever again. Has that been proven to be true? Because the same people right now are pushing that this mayoral primary winner is the death of the Democratic Party. When I think it's an opportunity for people to embrace a new Democratic Party, a Democratic Party of the future that includes a whole lot of new voices, a whole lot of new ideas, and is actually super hyper focused on what people care about right now. That's all I want to say about that. But I'll let you form, you know, your own, your own opinions and, you know, I encourage you to do research. But I, but I really just want to say you're going to be flooded. And I think this is the theme of the episode going from the beginning, what I'm saying, with a barrage of propaganda that is being spread by opposing campaigns, that's being spread by billionaires who are scared of this individual and want you to be scared of this individual. And they run the same playbook, no matter who the candidate is. I think it's more obvious in this case, you know, than we're seeing in other cases. But just be aware of what's coming at you. Beware of these forces that are coming at you. And, and yeah, I'll wrap it up there. I think, I think I summed up all my thoughts.
- [79:28]
Jordy Meisellis
You nailed it. I'm not going to add much more than that. I just want to say, Mamdani, he's relatable, he cares, and he's speaking to the people. And when you look at him on the ground and the videos that are coming out from his campaign versus how Fox News or your corporate news station is reporting about the guy, we're from New York. This guy's a New Yorker. Dude's a New Yorker, man. He's on the streets. He's talking to people, he's having conversations. He's shaking hands. He's just being a normal guy. That's what people like. He's a New Yorker. He's relatable.
- [79:59]
Ben Meisellis
And by the way, and I'm so sorry to interrupt, but like, sorry, I'm just piggybacking off what you're saying because you're so right. And like, if, if you really are as a Democratic Party establishment, right, if you're are actually, if you are actually in tune with what the voters want and you are actually scared of this candidate, I don't know why you should be scared of this candidate. Why do. Why is your person, Cuomo, why is your person somebody who ran out of office, disgraced? How is that your foil? Because that just shows me that you are banking on name recognition, that you are banking on people Just going along with the status quo, and people aren't just going to do that anymore. If you want to have what you think is a more moderate candidate, then put somebody out there who could inspire people. Put somebody out there who's going to go out and make the case, who's going to talk to folks, who's going to go on podcasts, who's going to do social media, who's going to act like he actually gives a damn about the people and not gives a damn about saving his own battered legacy. What are you doing?
- [81:05]
Brett Meisellis
Let me give us a few data points as well before we go. Number one, the US Trade deficit is surging. Right. I guess the whole point of Trump's trade war against the world was to rein in the deficits. But the trade deficits and goods surged to $96.6 billion in May. That's up 11% from April and 6.5% above expectations. And then there was a 5.2% decline in exports. Right. Trump's goal was to reduce trade deficits while expanding markets for US Export exports. And that is not working out right now. And then I want to talk about what's going on with this disastrous budget bill quickly. So the parliamentarian of the Senate, who makes procedural rulings about whether the procedures are being followed in the Senate, ruled that the Senate was improperly trying to sneak things into the budget bill under a reconciliation process that cannot be classified as reconciliation. So this concept of reconciliation, that basically means if there's a bill that deals with budgets and taxes and spending, and it's just on those categories and not anything outside of that, then you could avoid a filibuster and pass a spending bill via reconciliation with just a majority of votes in the Senate, because there are still enough Democrats to block any bill to block what's called cloture, which you can block and prevent that. You need 60 votes, if you are the Republicans on things outside of reconciliation. So Republicans in the Senate and the House wanted to call this all reconciliation. And when it comes to certain provisions, like provisions that relate to. Here's. Here's good news that, remember Brett talked about in the last episode, Senator Mike Lee of Utah wanted to sell $250,000 of public land to basically Trump's billionaire friends. Well, that's not spending.
- [83:27]
Ben Meisellis
He wants to sell millions of acres of public land. Land, yeah. What I say, he said, like $200,000. No, he went to two and a half million, three million acres.
- [83:36]
Brett Meisellis
250. I know. I said to it, 250 million acres. Of public lands to the, to the billionaires. And so that was viewed as not being in reconciliation.
- [83:48]
Ben Meisellis
And then there were 2 million acres, but just to clarify.
- [83:51]
Brett Meisellis
2 million acres.
- [83:52]
Ben Meisellis
Yeah. Of which you could. Of which they were looking at a 200 plus million acre proportion to decide which to sell. Just to, Just to fact check.
- [84:00]
Brett Meisellis
Yeah, fact check. Fact check the crap out of me before we go. And then there were certain provisions that the federal government wanted to move the burden of Medicaid to states and then block the states from raising additional taxes on providers to save the Medicaid once the federal government shifted the burden to the states. And the parliamentarian said that burden shift and the prevention of the states taxing providers, that, that falls outside of the, what's called the bird rule. And that was kind of the main scheme that Republicans did. See, Republicans wanted to get that. They had a scheme. They wanted to deceive the public by saying, look, we're not cutting Medicaid. But what they did is they did a financial burden shift to the states. The states are not equipped to afford Medicaid without a cost sharing. But then states would be like, oh my God, what do we do if we now have the burden totally and it's not shared? I guess we have to tax providers. So then the federal government said, no, hope, we're going to prevent you from taxing the providers above a certain limit. So then you set this, everyone sees what happens there. So then you set the state up for failure and then the state's Medicaid goes bankrupt. So then Trump and the MAGA Republican go, we didn't cut it, the states did it. And then they throw the states under the bus. And so the parliamentarians said that scheme right there is not something that you can throw in a reconciliation bill. So I think that's, that's an important thing. And Brett, I don't know if you wanted to add anything to that.
- [85:50]
Ben Meisellis
I'll, I'll just add also that this bill also seeks to gut a lot of the climate provisions that were put in there with the inflation Reduction Act. And this is an issue that is very close to our hearts, the climate. And by the way, I, I've heard you all speak out so loudly about this as well. And I'll, I'll just say if this is an important issue to you, speak out about it. Like even leave comments in this video and let us know if these climate provisions are important to you. We want to hear from you about what this means because we see right now what the Republicans are calling for as they're trying to now figure out how could we get more savings? What are we going to do? They're trying to strip away a lot of these provisions that actually save Americans money on, on their energy bills. They're trying to, to rip away things that actually help modernize the United States energy grid. They're trying to phase out or terminate tax credits for clean electricity, clean hydrogen, advanced manufacturing. They're trying to put at risk all these investments. And by the way, I will just say these are investments that when these Republicans go home to their voters, they brag about them. They say, look what we got you with clean energy. Look at the tax credits. Isn't this, this great? Look at all the jobs we got you for this new clean energy power plant here. They brag about it to their people and then they go in these bills and then they try to slash it. And so I want everybody to make noise and let folks know how important is. I'll just give you an example right here because I have a quote because we have these people on the record. Okay. Senator Thom Tillis, North Carolina. Okay. North Carolina has seen 34 new clean energy projects announced since the inflation Reduction Act. 17,515 new jobs, $20.72 billion in investment to North Carolina alone. This is just one example. And what has Tillis said about these investments? He said that he is, quote, proud of our work in North Carolina to be a leader in promoting renewable energy, praising the investments in his state's clean energy economy. And why are you trying to remove those credits from the people? It just, it's baffling. And they are counting on you not speaking out. They are counting on you not seeing this fraudulent game that they pull where they go and brag about these projects, brag about these jobs, brag about these new technologies to their people, and then they go behind closed doors or go in on the Senate floor and they strip those things away from the people. So we're going to call it out. We're going to continue to call it out. I hope you continue to make noise once again. As I said, let us know in the comments what you think, think you know about this topic because I think there's a, there's a kind of beltway thought that people don't care about this issue. And so I, I want to prove people wrong. But, and I, I have a list full of like dozens of more receipts from these Republicans who brag about, you know, these provisions, who now want to take them out. But, but I think you get the point with Tillis.
- [88:46]
Jordy Meisellis
Absolutely. And I just want to say this, and I'll close this out today is thank you guys. The Midas Mighty, this pro democracy community right here. Y' all are fighters in every sense of the word. Thank you for doing what you do day in and day out. Thank you for making noise. Thank you for peacefully protesting. Thank you for letting us know the issues that are important to you. It helps us understand how to cover these topics better. Sincerely, thank you. Thank you to all the members who become members this episode. Y' all the best. Hope you are liking the emojis and the the extended videos that we get to put out now. Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts. Y' all are the best. You're the engine that keeps us going. Let's keep fighting for democracy and as always, shout out to the Midas Mighty. 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.
- [90:06]
Brett Meisellis
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