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- [00:01]
Ben Meiselis
This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. The New year brings new health goals and wealth goals.
- [00:29]
Brett Meiselas
Protecting your identity is an important step.
- [00:32]
Ben Meiselis
Lifelock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, Lifelock's restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. Resolve to make identity, health and wealth part of your New Year's goals with Lifelock, save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply if you love your phone but not your carrier, just switch to T Mobile. You can keep your phone, keep your number and we'll help pay it off up to $800 per line. You can also use our savings calculator to compare our plans and streaming benefits against Verizon and AT&T. So switch and keep your phone, keep your number and keep more of your moolah. @t mobile.com up to four lines via virtual prepaid card Allow 15 days Qualify Unlock device credit service port in 90 plus days with device intelligible carrier and timely redemptor required Card has no cash access and expires in six months. Trump's inauguration ratings were absolutely awful. The worst ever. His approval rating is abysmal, maybe even the worst ever. His loathsome executive orders are despised almost universally by Americans. His term is spiraling even quicker than we expected. His attempt to distract us all has failed. Prices are not lower, they're higher. Housing is not more affordable, it's less affordable. There's no peace in Ukraine. Trump's plan to do social media posts as a way to handle the Ukraine unlawful invasion by Russia, just very odd. He gave this speech at the World Economic Forum where he was just like, you know what, we're probably just gonna have to leave it to Russia. We'll see what Russia wants to do. He's been giving a bunch of these press conferences and these unhinged speeches. Each one looks worse than the next. I mean, this guy needs like a 5150 involuntary psychological hold. Didn't even know who he was. Even if I know he was, I think he deserves one. Even Hannity, who interviewed Donald Trump was like, what the heck are you even talking about? When Donald Trump was boasting about pardoning the Oath Keepers and Proud boys and other violent insurrectionists and talking about how he likes to make sing songs with them and he likes to record songs that are that go to the top of the Billboard charts. I mean, how vile and weird. Also, federal judges already fed up at Donald Trump. Trump lost a major court ruling in federal court in the state of Washington holding that his birthright citizenship ban is egregiously illegal and a violation of the Constitution. The most clear cut example, this Reagan appointed federal judge that he's ever seen in his entire career of something that violates so clearly the United States constit. Trump's billionaire tech bros are at war with each other. That thing they call Doge is falling apart. Vivek Ramaswamy was basically fired and pushed out. The top Doge lawyer quit. Donald Trump tried to distract us today by releasing a bunch of other files. The MLK file, the John F. Kennedy file, the RFK file. What he was not releasing were the Epstein files. Those weren't being released. His tax returns, those weren't being released. His medical records, those weren't being released. So in other words, Brett and Jordan Midas mighty. We've got a lot of news to discuss. Welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. I'm Ben Meiselis, joined by Brett and Jordy. And I don't know, perhaps it's just the optimistic side of me. I feel fired up. I don't think my optimism is coming from a place of naivety. I think I have a real politician vision of what this dystopian mess is. But I just feel that this community, this country, the world, pro democracy communities are banding together and he's failing. He looks weak, he's not gonna look tough. His plans to distract not working. I don't know, that may be just me. Brett, Jordy, how are you doing?
- [04:51]
Brett Meiselas
Well, I have two feelings on it, Ben. I say first, this feels like the world's longest week we've ever had. I mean, this week feels like it's been 10 years somehow. But we're getting through it, folks. At the same time, I also share your optimism here. I also think that Donald Trump really does look weaker than ever. Trump, you know, probably is at his safest when he is campaigning because that's when he could just lie without consequence and he could do his bluster and he could do everything he wants when he actually has to lead and he actually has to say things that are consequential and affect major issues going on in the world. You realize quite quickly, and I'm not saying I know all you all know this, but you realize quite quickly how completely and utterly incompetent he is, how he doesn't understand how anything works, how his actions are being blocked left and right by the federal judiciary. He's not even able to get around that because his actions are so egregious. And you really see kind of an emperor has no clothes kind of situation happening right now. When Donald Trump's biggest promises that he made, whether it's with Ukraine or anything else, all of a sudden those are all falling to the wayside. I haven't heard Donald Trump say one thing about prices, nothing about egg prices, nothing at all. It's like he's. He's simply trying to distract from all that stuff because he knows right now, oh, crap, like, I actually got to do things. Well, I don't know how to do things. So let me distract them and throw a bunch of other stuff out there to try to give the kind of impression that I'm doing a lot while I'm actually doing nothing to help people's lives. In fact, what I'm doing is I'm doing everything I can to enrich the billionaires around me, to extract more money from my followers and give it to the richest people in America. That's what we're seeing right now, folks. I mean, that's the one thing that I think he is succeeding at. It's enriching his billionaire buddies, enriching himself through illegal schemes. That's what we see kind of forming at this point, in my opinion. And we're going to see him completely fail at the actual job of being president, because quite frankly, he does. He doesn't want the job of being president. He didn't run because he wants to help people. He ran because he wanted to stay out of prison. Mission accomplished there. But he didn't run to actually help the people. He ran to stay outta prison. He ran to make himself and his billionaire buddies richer. That's what he's actually going to focus on. So we need to focus on Donald Trump's actions and not the distractions. Jordy, great to see you as always. What's new on your end?
- [07:21]
Jordy Meiselas
Great point there, Brett and Ben, the thing here too is the MAGA talking points are going to dry up pretty really quickly if they haven't already. You know, it's easy to wage culture wars, if you will, when you're not the party in charge, but all of a sudden, when you have the Senate, when you have the House and you have the presidency, you're going to ultimately have to make decisions other than, well, Joe Biden. Well, Joe Biden. But, but Biden. Here's the thing. Maga. Biden's not the President anymore. So it's time to look inward. And as you know, unfortunately for this country, as the decisions, you know, become more and more chaotic and the leadership, or lack thereof at the top becomes more disjointed, ultimately this MAGA party is going to have no one but, you know, to blame but themselves. Now they won't, of course, but the American people are smart and they will start to see through their shtick. And you know, you can't be blaming Biden anymore. Trump, you can't be blaming Biden anymore. Congress, you know, MAGA Congressman, it's not going to work. You guys are in charge. What are y'all doing for the American people? Nothing. You're grifting off of them. That's what you're doing.
- [08:28]
Brett Meiselas
Jordy, to piggyback off that comment, I think one of the interesting kind of dynamic switch ups that we are already seeing is that MAGA had presented itself the last few years as the voice of the anti establishment. Right? They position themselves as. We are the counterculture, we are the counterculture and we're coming after the establishment. There is nothing more establishment than the MAGA movement right now. I mean, y'all are in power and every branch of government, you are literally like the party of the billionaire oligarchs. You run social media, you run the news media. Guess what? You are the establishment. You are the man. So all you people, all you right wing propagandists out there trying to still act like you are some anti establishment type. You are just out there simping for billionaires and for the elite. And I find it so utterly embarrassing when I see you licking those boots every single day. It's embarrassing. You are embarrassing the hell out of yourself. And we all see it.
- [09:29]
Ben Meiselis
Look, they literally have a billionaire car wash where they try to take off the dirt of the billionaires. I call it Joe Rogan washing. It's like, all right, let's try to make Zuckerberg look cool. All right, Zuckerberg, do that perm with your hair. And then let's, and then let's have Rogan ask you about hunting. And you know, Zuckerberg's like, yeah, I've got a bow and arrow. And then Rogan's like, okay, which type? You know, like, like the, the big one. When was it made? You know, like Whenevs like you, you know what we do? Like. Like, there's nothing more I like to do than eat the meat. Like, I eat the meat. Like a. Like an Alpha. Okay, okay, I'm an Alpha. Let me. Let me look at the boobs of Bezos's wife, who's wearing a bra during the inauguration. That's what dudes do, right? That's what Alphas do. It's like, what in the world is even going on with these people? But I digress. I guess the point is they are the. They are the establishment. Look, I don't want to show a lot of Trump clips because you get the point, but he's so psycho, so demented. This is newsworthy stuff. The reality is, is that we can cover our eyes or, you know, or close our ears. We have to see literally what's happening. So I won't show too many. But I think it's important that we say, this is ridiculous. So this because. Because I want to show you specifically, like, the pivot of, like, what happened. So even Hannity's like, all right, so let's talk about the economy. And Trump's like, I don't want to talk about the economy. Let's talk about Biden. Why didn't Biden pardon himself? That's pretty crazy, right? He didn't pardon himself. What about Biden? And Hannah's like, yeah, but it's time to talk about the economy. And Trump goes, I don't care. I don't care about the economy. I want to talk about Biden. Watch this moment. It's incredible. Play this clip.
- [11:18]
Donald Trump
Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him. They wanted to take care of the economy. Yeah, but you're. They wanted to. I don't care. They're yelling at. This is more.
- [11:28]
Ben Meiselis
Because I don't care. When even Heine's like, let's talk about the economy. Brexit.
- [11:32]
Brett Meiselas
This is more important. This is more important. My. My vendetta against Joe Biden and my threats of prosecuting Joe Biden for nothing because he didn't do anything wrong is more important to the American people than the economy. That's what Donald Trump is trying to tell people in that clip.
- [11:49]
Ben Meiselis
So then Donald Trump speaks at the economic forum. He appeared virtually. The forum takes place in Davos in Switzerland. So he's asked a question during the Q and A portion about, when you're back here next year, do you think there will be peace in Ukraine next year? Because you promised 24 hours. Take a look at what Trump Says, let's play it.
- [12:10]
Donald Trump
Mr. President, when you're back here in Davos next year, will there be then a peace agreement with Ukraine and Russia by then? Well, you're going to have to ask Russia. Ukraine is ready to make a deal. Just so you understand, this is a war that should have never started. If I were president, it would never have started.
- [12:30]
Ben Meiselis
He goes, you're going to have to ask Russia. Russia's leading this, by the way, 24 hours ago, Donald Trump said that it would actually be Xi Jinping who would be leading the negotiations. He said he was going to delegate it to President Xi. And then Trump rolled out his great plan. Everybody remember during the campaign, he said, first it was going to be 24 hours after the election, but it was super secret, super serial secret stuff, everybody. So just give him the benefit of the doubt. We shouldn't give him the benefit of the doubt ever. But just whatever, for the sake of, you know what? In giggles, let's. Let's allow him to say it was 24 hours after the inauguration. By the way, he had the audacity when he was asked the day of the inauguration, hey, this is what a big liar is. They were like, hey, you didn't do it yet. There's no peace. Should we expect that to happen? He goes, well, there's still. This is half a day. Like, he still lies until the very moment that it's a lie. Then he has Marco healthcare plan, Ben, it's the new health care.
- [13:25]
Jordy Meiselas
It's coming in two weeks. It's coming in two weeks. Y'all remember that?
- [13:29]
Ben Meiselis
Then he had Marco Raine as the Secretary of State. Yeah. Then he has Marco Rubio, his Secretary of State, start giving news appearances. And Rubio's like, actually, he did what he said he was going to do. Like, he goes, what Trump said was that he was going to say that there would be peace in 24 hours, not that he would actually do it. And so he said it, therefore, mission accomplished. Okay, Rubio, first off, like, that's why you can never work for Trump, because you just look like an absolute idiot having to even go and say that. Like, you have zero credibility now on day one as the Secretary of State, by the way. The same way Pam Bondi as Attorney General has zero credibility. Right. During her confirmation hearing, she said that she would not be okay with pardoning the violent January 6th insurrections. Right. She made that distinction. She said that the other January 6th insurrectionists should be pardoned, not the violent ones. What does Trump do? He undermines her. So now she's not even speaking as an Attorney General anymore. So he makes the people right away powerless around him. And now what Donald Trump is saying is, you're going to just have to ask Russia. Oh, and then his secret plan that he released was a social media post in, in lots of all caps. And this was his plan, everybody. He goes, I'm not looking to hurt you, Russia. I love the Russian people and always had a very good relationship with Putin. And despite the radical Fs, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, we must never forget that Russia helped win the Second World War, losing almost 60 million lives in the process. Let me just fact check it. That's not true. It was around 24 million lives. Actually, a lot of those lives were Ukrainian. 60 million is the total loss in World War II. But he has to lie about every number. And then he has his revisionist history where he ignores that Russia was our sworn enemy every single year after World War II, during the Cold War to the present. And then he goes, hey, Russia, you better stop at the. For real. This is literally what he's saying. You better stop it because it's going to get worse for you, Russia. And he says that we're going to institute tariffs on you, Russia. Well, you're going to institute tariffs on Russia. You realize that there are sanctions right now against Russia where there's basically zero trade, zero trade between Russia and the United States. Tariffs are a. He doesn't know what tariffs are. Tariffs are a tax on American companies importing. American companies can't import from Russia or else they're criminally prosecuted for felonies. So if what Trump is saying is he's going to loosen the sanctions by imposing tariffs, that would actually be a benefit to Russia since they can then have access to the American markets and then American citizens will be taxed by the American company that's importing the Russian goods. But it just shows him the most basic stuff he doesn't know. Let me show you this as well, because while he praises Putin, this was his strategy. I'm going to do not a semi mean social media post. And I was talking to others about this. It was like, what do you think Putin was like when Putin's. When like Lavrov, Sergey Lavrov goes to Putin, Putin, I've got bad news for you. Please don't tell me he did a social media post. Yes, yes, Putin, he did. Was it in all caps? I hate to inform you, he did use capitalized letters in this post. I guess we're going to have to do peace now. I guess we're going to have to give up Crimea. Mr. Putin, brilliant strategy by him. We didn't expect this, but he did unleash the all caps. It's like, what in the world? You want to know what Putin did? Putin called Xi Jinping the day of the inauguration when Donald Trump claimed that he was going to call Putin and Zelinsky and bring him together. He did bring together Putin and Xi Jinping who called each other and said they were going to strengthen their alliance. He also brought Putin closer to Iran, who announced a 20 year overall relationship to provide each other with military weapons and drones and other things. So great work there, Donald. But he did have time to attack Canada during his speech at the World Economic Forum. And I want you all to remember this is an international audience. So While I guess 30% of the American population's like, yeah, Gulf of America, yeah, man, this is now in front of an international audience. Like, they don't take kindly to threats of annexation and reshaping of the world order. But here, Donald Trump said, I'm going to have to tariff Canada unless they agree to become the 51st state. This is what he said at Davos. Here, play it.
- [18:05]
Donald Trump
We're going to be demanding is. We're going to be demanding respect from other nations. Canada, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada. We're not going to have that anymore. We can't do it. I don't know if it's good for them. As you probably know. I say you can always become a state and if you're a state, we won't have a deficit. We won't have to tariff you, et cetera, et cetera. But Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years and it's not fair that we should have a 200 billion or 250 billion deficit. We don't need them to make our cars and they make a lot of them. We don't need their lumber because we have our own forests, etc. Etc. We don't need their oil and gas. We have our. We have more than anybody. So, you know, just as an example with Mexico, we're dealing with Mexico, I think very well. And we're just, you know, we just want to be treated fairly with other nations because, by the way, just a.
- [18:59]
Ben Meiselis
Bunch of word salad. He goes, we don't. In addition to the fact that he said that they need to become a 51st state and that would is referring to annexation or literal conquest, but leave that aside. We don't need their lumber because we have forests, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We don't need their gas, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Like, it is the world's stupidest speech. Like, if the corporate media had a shred of credibility, which they don't, and they're basically just completely irrelevant now, you would be like, I mean, imagine if Biden was like, we need to annex Canada, etc, etc, etc, etc, and we don't need Canada, etc, etc, etc. I mean, they would go like, it's like, this is like, crazy. One more stuff.
- [19:47]
Brett Meiselas
The kid gloves, they treat. Yeah, the kid gloves, they treat these people with, like, him and Elon Musk. It's like, why? What are you doing? Like, like, they're like, technically the most powerful people and like rich people. Like, like, they could handle a little bit. They could handle, you know, a little bit of pushback. Okay, I'll also just say the facts here of Donald Trump's numbers were wrong. I will specify because he said we had, like, a $250 billion deficit with Canada. It's 54.999 billion. And that's only driven. And that's driven only by the fact that we do have to import Canadian oil and gas. If you remove those energy imports, we actually have a surplus of like, two, like a. We actually have a trade surplus with Canada if you remove those key imports. But there's a reason that we import oil and gas from Canada. And you see these countries, whether it's Canada, whether it's Mexico, you buckling over. And he's actually uniting factions in these countries who wouldn't ordinarily come together for a common purpose. That common purpose striking back at the United States of America. And this is wholly unprecedented in our history where we have our allies coming together, all their different political factions, to actually try to oppose the United States, to try to inflict pain on the United States as they defend themselves. And it just shows just so, such utter weakness from the White House that we are now embroiled in all of these kind of foreign countries in this way. It's just. It's so shameful.
- [21:16]
Jordy Meiselas
And Trump is such just the epitome of a schoolyard bully. Because if you've noticed, too, he's really, I think, led up a bit on Mexico because the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, is a straight up G, and she just keeps, like, just annihilating the guy for every one of his most ridiculous moments. So now he's, what, trying to pick on Canada because Trudeau's on the Outs and there isn't necessarily like, like the leader on top there that's going to buckle him like that. But here's the thing. We've had Charlie Angus on the show. Like, there are so many leadership level people in Canada that are speaking out and we and the community is coming together. Brett, to exactly your point, I just think it's very on brand for Trump. Once a strong female is, is standing up for, you know, not just herself, but her people, her country, in such a powerful way that he immediately backs off.
- [22:05]
Ben Meiselis
I think it's a great point, Jordy. It's also why he picks on like Greenland, because he views them as weak and vulnerable and he thinks that he can create disunity with Denmark and he tries to pick on peaceful people, but he always sucks up to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. It's why I always say you just have to stand up to Donald Trump. You cannot show any sign of weakness at all. You can't give him an inch. If you give him an inch, he takes your life. Look at the Alberta premier here, Daniel Smith, who just looks ridiculous. She's right wing conservative, Maple maga. She shows up to Mar a Lago and she's just been trying to social media post through all of this. She's always like, we've made progress today. We've had some great progress. It seems that they really understand. No, they don't. No, they don't. Alberta, you're trying to protect your gas and oil industry. Trump's literally saying, we don't need you, Alberta. And then for her to be like, but what can we do, Donald? What can we do? When he sees that weakness, that's when he takes advantage of you more and he's like, oh, that person's weak. That person's gonna break. It's why you just have to stand up to him and make this unified front. Want to share this with you as well. Donald Trump also in this Oval Office interview talked about how he wants to get rid of fema. He doesn't think FEMA should be a thing. He wants to leave emergency relief to the states, which by the way, states have their own emergency services, but then they rely on FEMA because that's literally the job of the federal government. For to Trump and maga, the federal government's what, like policing penises and vaginas, right? Like, for them, it's like, who's in the bathroom? Who's in the bathroom? Today there was a story with in the in House of Representatives where Lauren Boebert was like screaming. She's like, oh, there's a guy in there. There's a guy in there. And like, there was just four women in there. And then she's like, I was wrong. There was a rumor that there was a. There was a rumor that there was a guy in there. You know, it's like, we've stopped the woke. I mean, okay, okay, just shut up. Like, literally what the federal government is supposed to do is like, I don't know, like, help people, like, do federal relief, you know, do things like that. Here's Trump basically saying we're going to have to look very thoroughly at female. We're going to have to look very thoroughly at it. Here, play this clip.
- [24:30]
Donald Trump
Now, I will say that Los Angeles has changed everything because a lot of money is going to be necessary for Los Angeles, and a lot of people on the other side want that to happen in North Carolina, too. Well, they don't care about North Carolina. The Democrats don't care about North Carolina. What they've done with FEMA is so bad. FEMA is a whole other discussion because all it does is complicate everything. FEMA has not done their job for the last four years. You know, I had female are working really well. We had hurricanes in Florida. We had Alabama tornadoes. But unless you have certain types of leadership, it's really, it gets in the way. And FEMA is going to be a whole big discussion very shortly because I'd rather see the states take care of their own problems if they have a tornado someplace and if they let that state. Oklahoma is very competent. I love Oklahoma. 76. 7 out of 77 districts. And that's never been done.
- [25:30]
Ben Meiselis
Okay. I think he's wrong about the amount of districts there, first and foremost. And then second off. Okay, you want to, want me to give you numbers about Oklahoma? They're like 49th in education, 49th in health. Like, they're like the most impoverished of all of the states. Like, I would say Oklahoma is the exact example of what it shouldn't be like, where meanwhile, a state like Massachusetts and California are on the higher end of income, health, wealth, education, you name the standard. But again, imagine if President Biden, in the interview I did with him, imagine if President Biden made a comment like that. It would literally be the front page everywhere. And because Donald Trump doesn't make a duty in his diaper or whatever, the MAGA people are all like, I mean, I mean, the corporate media is like, what a day. It's a, it is a changed world. Everybody and there he did. He accomplished an incredible thing. And it's like, what are we talking? Like any one of those things. And I could show you a thousand of them and I'm not because why you get the point would be the biggest crisis ever if it was anybody else. But as the movie Captain Phillips, my favorite quote was when the pirates took over the ship and they said, where are the captains now? Well, we're the captains right now of the media, you, the Midas Mighty. And we're going to shed light on what these things are. We're going to have the real headlines, we're going to have the real news. We're going to show you the facts. I don't want to show you a lot of Trump clips, but I feel like I got to show you some of these. So you're like, oh, oh wow. He really did say that. Not that you don't believe me, but I feel like you need me to do that few things. We're going to go and have a zoom meeting. You want to meet me and Jordy and Brett next Monday on our Patreon patreon.com Midas Touch P A T R E O N.com Midas Touch Sign. Just join there and then you'll have access to the secret link that we're going to post soon. And then Also we have Midas Plus.com our editor in chief Ron Philip Kowski runs that. We have zero outside investors, folks. So subscribe. You can even test it out too. You can subscribe to Midasplus.com for free to start out with and just be like Dwight, am I into this? Is this good quality? Is this good content? I promise you you'll think it is. But just sign up@midasplus.com or help or subscribe because it helps us grow this independent media platform. Let's take our first quick break of the show. Midas Mighty. I'm pumped up. I'm pumped up. How about you? Let's do this. Let's do this. Let's take our first quick break. Break. Your nighttime bedroom temperature has a huge impact on your sleep quality. If you wake up too hot or too cold, I highly recommend you check out Miracle Maid's bed sheets. Miracle Maid sheets are inspired by NASA and use silver infused fabrics that are temperature regulating so you can sleep at the perfect temperature all night long. I get so many emails from the Midas Mighty saying how great miracle made sheets are and how it's changed their lives for the better. Here's why it uses silver infused fabrics inspired by NASA. So therefore Miracle made sheets are thermoregulating and designed to keep you at the perfect temperature all night long no matter the weather, so you get better sleep every night. Now these sheets are also infused with silver as I said and that prevents up to 99.7% of bacterial growth, leaving them to stay cleaner and fresh three times longer than other sheets, so so no more gross odors. Also, Miracle sheets are luxuriously comfortable without that high price tag of other luxury brands and it feels as nice to me, if not nicer, than the sheets used by some five star hotels. So upgrade your sleep this year. Go to trymiracle.com midas that's T R Y M I R a c l e.com Meidas to try Miracle made sheets today and whether you're buying them for yourself or as a gift for a loved one, if you order today you can save over 40%. And if you use our promo code Midas at checkout, you'll get a free three piece towel set and save an extra 20%. Miracle is so confident in their product it's backed with a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you aren't 100% satisfied, you'll get a full refund. So upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made, go to try Miracle.com Midas and use the code Midas to claim your free three piece towel set and save over 40% off. Again, that's try Miracle.com Midas to treat yourself. Thank you Miracle Made for sponsoring this episode.
- [30:07]
Brett Meiselas
All right, you know who could really use our next sponsor? Honestly, every politician having these meltdowns in Congress and on social media. If they had just a moment to chill, the world might be a better place. And if you're looking to take the edge off after a long day without the nasty hangovers, you've got to try Soul. What kind of night is it? A single, double, triple or quad? I'm not talking about drinks, I'm talking about Soul's out of office gummies. Perfectly microdosed with hemp derived THC and cbd, these gummies are like a mini vacation in edible form, giving your day that chill sitting on the beach vibe. Last time I had an out of office gummy, I felt just the right amount of relaxed. No overthinking, no anxious thoughts, just warm, fuzzy and perfectly content. Whether I was lounging on the couch or out for a walk, it was pure me time and the best. Thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp derived THC is now legal in all 50 states. So you can buy THC products like these online and have them shipped right to your door. What I love about Sol is how they've made chilling out stress free. With Sol's microdoses, you get all the good vibes without blasting off into orbit. It's perfect for watching a show, heading to a party, just kicking back with your favorite snack. Soul is founded by a brother sister duo, Mike and Angie Lee, who wanted natural alternatives to tackle sleeplessness, anxiety and pain. Mike's a former world ranked professional boxer and Angie is a professional speaker and author. So they know a thing or two about overcoming challenges and feeling their best. And Soul isn't just about gummies. They've got solutions for sleep, focus, pain relief, you name it, all grown right here in the USA on organic farms. Oh, and everything is gluten free as well. So if you want to feel your best, head to getsoul.com and use code MIDAS for 30% off your order. That's 30, 30 off your order using code Midas. M E I d a s one last time. Getsoul.com and code Midas for 30% off.
- [32:06]
Jordy Meiselas
Let's go. Shout out to our sponsors links in description of YouTube and audio. Use the links, use the codes, let them know we sent you. If there's an exit survey, please let them know the Midas brothers sent you guys. Take some soul. Get cozy in your miracle made sheets. I love our sponsors. We got some good sponsors.
- [32:22]
Ben Meiselis
You know, Jordy, I think Trump, I think when Trump voters went to the ballot box, they were saying, you know what? I really hope for meme coins. I hope that Donald Trump releases a Trump meme coin. I hope Melania does a dollar sign. Melania. That looks like Melania. I love meme coin.
- [32:41]
Jordy Meiselas
Did anyone, you think, anyone told her like, hey, it looks like it says Melania.
- [32:45]
Ben Meiselis
I know. She's like, I, I am smell honey. I am smell honey. I smell, I smell any. I think the American voters really were like, we want a meme coin rug pull. Just make the price like $75. Claim it's not a meme coin. Then let's just crash it and then we'll be like, cool dude. And then everyone will be happy and great because, you know, look, it wasn't like, you know, while that's happening, by the way, Trump's rolling back efforts to lower Medicare and Medicaid drug costs. An executive order halting an effort to cap the co payment of generic medications at $2 for Medicare benef beneficiaries. Trump's federal hiring Freeze raises fears about medical care at the va. I'm sure all those veterans who voted for Trump are going to appreciate having far worse veterans benefits and care. How about Trump gutting key aviation safety committees? Firing the head of the TSA and the Coast Guard? How about pulling us out of the World Health Organization? So now the map of the countries that are part of the WHO is basically every country other than us. But it is a good way to find out which countries just entirely lost its mind. And look, the 2024 word of the year was brain rot. And I said 2025 is going to be rug pull. Brain rot equals rug pull in 2025. Trump's trade battle spiking food prices likely helping China as well. Prices are not going down. Food prices are going up. You know, the cost of eggs have already been significantly higher, about 37% higher. But, you know, look, Donald Trump's focused on the important things, like demanding an apology from the bishop at the National Cathedral, who simply asked him, can you please just have mercy? You say that you're a man of God, then okay, have mercy on those who are weaker than you. Turn the other cheek. Remember hearing those things. Have mercy on the LGBTQ + community. Have mercy on the migrant community to which Donald Trump felt entirely offended. And they made faces while the bishop was saying that. But let's talk about what's actually happening.
- [35:00]
Brett Meiselas
Let me just say those moments, to me, are the most revealing moments for Trump and the MAGA movement and the right wing media because they, they, they choose very carefully about what they cover and how they go about it. And when there's a moment like that, that a religious figure speaking out, and by the way, not speaking out against Donald Trump, but speaking out about the actual values of the religion, speaking out about mercy, speaking out about kindness, speaking out about treating your neighbor, you know, with care and love, when that message hits and goes viral in the way it did, that is the biggest threat imaginable to this entire house of cards. That Donald Trump, maga, Fox News, the whole right wing propaganda has built. So what do they have to do? They have to attack it like an immune system attacking, like a virus in, in your body, and you just see them all at once go into immediate mode. Okay, how do we take this message of love and unity and the teachings of the church and make it so it's repulsive and that our people don't want anything to do with it? Okay, let's call it woke. Let's call her a woke lib. Let's call her Nasty and rude and this and that. And you very clearly see the moment, moments that they fear the most. And I think that says a whole lot about it. I know we posted the clip of this bishop on our social media, received something like over last time I checked over 150, 000 likes. Something like over 10 million views.
- [36:33]
Jordy Meiselas
300, 000 likes now is getting out, which is great.
- [36:37]
Brett Meiselas
And that's just Instagram, right? And then we got hundreds of thousands of likes on the other platforms. It's insane. The response that you saw from people online, all those like kind of blue check people on Twitter and all that were. That was Satanic. Satanic. There couldn't be anything less satanic than a bishop of a church preaching kindness and loving thy neighbor. These people need to pick up a fricking Bible and actually understand what their religion is supposed to be about, because clearly they are not worshiping their God. They are worshiping Donald Trump. And they've gone way astray at some point over the past few years and they should be ashamed of who they become.
- [37:20]
Jordy Meiselas
Do you guys, you know what this reminds me of a bit is, do you guys remember the Jesus Loves commercial that was during the super bowl? And it was really just like a lot of messages about helping your neighbor and helping people, you know, in need and coming together as community. And the maga, these same blue checks were attacking that commercial. And then, oh, what was the surprise reveal?
- [37:40]
Ben Meiselis
It was, it was for Jesus.
- [37:41]
Jordy Meiselas
Like it was just a Jesus commercial. And they hated all the values of which they, they pretend that they so dearly want to uphold. And it couldn't be further from the truth. Like, if they actually met Jesus in person, they would think the dude was woke, as they would just think he's woke, man.
- [37:59]
Ben Meiselis
Well, well, Jordy, I think it actually turned out though, that that was run by a right wing group that was actually affiliated with maga. And then. And they started saying, oh, wait a minute, like they were trying to appeal to us. And it was like a big backfire because MAGA got pissed. But it was actually a way to try to encourage people to be MAGA and to actually go against women's reproductive rights, I think was the arc that that one took. Oh, wait, wait, wait a minute. We're on each other's sides here. All right, all right, all right, all right. By the way, Trump didn't put his hand on the Bible when he took the oath of office. And it's also notable too, that one of Donald Trump's defenses in the 14th Amendment Section 3 case was that he never actually took took an oath of office to like, protect and defend the Constitution. He was like, my oath is actually different than the oath that's in the 14th Amendment, Section 3. I remember reporting on it then. But let's talk about the actual ramifications of these Trump initiatives. 75% of immigrant farm workers didn't show up yesterday in Bakersfield because of fears of ICE raids. Under the new presidency, America's rural and agricultural regions will be hit the hardest. US From Trump's immigration policy. Food prices, which are already increasing, are poised to skyrocket. He's wrecking the food industry. And you just want to know what happened today as well. We're just getting word of this high profile workplace raid that took place in the blue city in the blue state in Newark, New Jersey. This comes from the mayor of Newark, quote. Today, U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided a local establishment in the city of Newark, York, detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens without producing a warrant. One of the detainees is a US Military veteran who suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation question. This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and defects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized. I will be holding a press conference in alliance with partners ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights. Details to come. We're going to be hearing about a lot more high profile workplace raids. Donald Trump raiding churches, Donald Trump raiding schools. Donald Trump raiding all these places where people are just working hard to help our country. And again, for all of those Latinos who voted for Trump and said this wasn't going to happen, he was going to just go after the criminals and the terrorists. Wake the hell up. Because President Biden was going after the criminals and the terrorists. Border crossings were down under President Biden to the low in the Trump administration, which by the way, was in April 2020 during COVID because people weren't crossing the border because of COVID but it was at an all time low under President Biden. Of course he was going after criminals and terrorists, but you bought into the stupid, idiotic, brain rot rhetoric that, oh, Biden's harboring the terrorists and the criminals. Every time there was a terrorist attack or some natural disaster, these magas would flood the zone with all the lies and disinformation. And you Bought into it. And now y'all are being deported, your family members are being deport and basically put into freaking concentration camps like we warned you against the leopards eating your face. You effed around and found out whatever it is you want to say, y'all screwed up and screwed your family members big time. Because these workplace raids are happening now. The Brolors and the people who own private prisons, they're sure as hell making a lot of money. Oh, and by the way, the oligarchs are telling us us, we shouldn't even care if this causes us inflation. Inflation's not a big deal. They're saying, first off, Trump was asked, he goes, people don't care about inflation. He goes, people care about the mental institute. They care about Hannibal Lecter. That's what Trump was saying. And then he's got his oligarchs like the chair, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jamie Dimon. He goes on and he goes, yeah, who gives a crap if it's inflation or we, we don't really care about inflation. Get over it. He goes, goes. He goes, get over it. Here, watch. Jamie Dimon, let's play this clip. Yeah, look, I look at tariffs. They are an economic tool. That's it. They're an economic weapon, you know, depending how you use it and why you use it, stuff like that. And you know, people argue, is it inflationary and non inflationary. I would put in perspective if it's a little inflationary, but it's good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it. So be it. Get over it, Brett. So be it.
- [42:48]
Brett Meiselas
I know we could say this with just about everything, but imagine if somebody, if Joe Biden or somebody that close to the Biden, Biden administration was asked about inflation and they said, what? How are we going to deal with this inflation issue? A lot of American consumers are suffering out there. Egg prices are through the roof. People are really, they're taking two jobs, three jobs. They're really trying their hardest right now to just stay afloat and to live. I tell them to get over it. Get over it. So be it. Get over it. I mean, what a let them eat cake moment right there from Jamie Dimon and from the Trump administration and once again, again, going back on all of the rhetoric that was stated throughout the entire campaign. I guess it's easy to get over it when you are worth approximately $2.7 billion last time I checked. But there are families out there who are struggling and when egg prices go from being $1.99 for a dozen 299 to 13 bucks. That affects people's ability to do other things. To pay their rent, to pay their mortgage, to send their kids to school, to do even just the very basics to put she know for their family to actually help their families. This is serious stuff that people are dealing with. And the broligarchs, the oligarchs, all these people, Donald Trump, all the people around Donald Trump, they just seem so out of touch to me when you're making comments like that and are just so brazen about it. While people are in pain. And while I'm sure a lot of the people who voted for Trump were also hoping that one of his first day actions would be to do something to help prices, not to help drive all the prices up on everything like he actually did. I mean, he's screwing people over in such a huge way while he lines the pockets of people like Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon and Mark Zuckerberg. It's atrocious. Like I've said on the show numerous times, it's the most obvious contrast to be made right now that this is really a battle of the working class versus the oligarchs. And the oligarchs are think they could openly mock you? I mean, that's what Jamie Dimon is doing in that clip. He's basically spitting in your face like, are you going to really take that because you want a simp for Donald Trump? Like, seriously, guys just really.
- [45:06]
Jordy Meiselas
They're not even sly about it to your point. They're so overt with it and like they have no tact. Zuckerberg and Musk and Diamond, all the, all the old, like they have no tact about it. And so obvious. I just have to imagine and hope. And it's very clear too that it is happening already with Trump's approval rate this early on, like just where it is, how terrible it is that the American people are, are going to be upset with this like, weird relationship that he's got with his billionaire buddies. It's disgusting. It has no place in this country as far as how government should run. And yet Donald Trump seems to not care. But you know who does care? The person trying to go to the grocery store, meet and make ends meet. You know, you know who does care? The single mother who's trying to get her son through the, through the week and make sure there's meals on the table. You know who does care? Just the average American person who's looking at this and there's just that wide gap Right. To your point, between Donald Trump and his oligarchs and them on their private islands and their mansions and their boats, versus the American people who are just disgusted with this filth.
- [46:09]
Brett Meiselas
And here's, you know, here's like the one small area where I'm gonna differ from you because I'm just not going to pretend like I know what the American people are going to think about policies. Like, they, they're, they're going to think about things the way they consume information. And the problem is Donald Trump is out there doing all these distractions in order to make people look the other way. So that's why I think it's our ultimate job, and when I say our, I mean this entire community, is to get out this truth in a world where Donald's distractions rise to the top of the algorithms and are pushed out by the same oligarchs who are taking advantage of the American people so that they don't hear that comment by Jamie Dimon, so that they don't see that Donald Trump is raising prices, so that they don't see that they're working. Workplace was just raided by ice. That's up to all of us to be shoving these images in people's faces. That's why I think it is important that we occasionally, in these circumstances show Donald Trump saying this stuff because we need, people need to be seeing right now what is actually going on. Trump's going to continue to throw everything out to see what sticks.
- [47:09]
Ben Meiselis
Right?
- [47:09]
Brett Meiselas
He's going to see, he's going to, he's the master of distraction, as Ben says, a weapon of mass distraction. He's going to use that tool to his advantage. And I've seen comments by journalists in the media, media, and they freaking love him. They love him. Like, like, like. I've seen all their posts. I've said they're giddy. They're giddy that Trump is back. I'm just telling you the truth. I've seen them. I've seen comments they made to each other. It's disgust. It disgusts me. Why are they giddy? Because, oh, we get to go in the Oval Office and we get to shell things to Donald Trump. We get to go in the Oval Office and you look, it's so cool in here because we get to yell questions at him and he gets the spew some bullshit back at us and we get to be in here and it's so cool, you guys. We didn't get to be in here as much under President Biden. I don' Access to the Oval Office. I care about. Are you getting the true information? There was an article that came out over the past 24, 48 hours or so that said that these reporters for these corporate media stations were very happy that Trump is back. Because during the Biden administration, instead of getting shouted out, shouted at by President Biden in the Oval Office and in these impromptu press conferences, they were given data from the experts about what is actually going on. And that bored the hell out of of them. That was very boring for them to get the actual updates about how policies were impacting people's lives and what the moves are at the administration. But now they get the show. You know, if their reporter gets yelled at, guess what? That's a story. My reporter got yelled at by Donald Trump. I'm going to talk about that. We're going to show that moment. It sickens me that they like this so much for all the wrong reasons. It's not because they're going to be able to deliver more accurate information to the American public. It's because simply they are able to kind of be in the fray and be part of the story, which I think is exactly what you do not want to be doing at this stage.
- [48:58]
Ben Meiselis
I mean, look to the American people. Would you rather have your prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients capped at $2,000 a year? Allow Medicare to negotiate to lower the overall price of prescription drugs? Have the PACT act, which helps veterans. Would you rather have 40,000 infrastructure projects across the country, 16.6 million jobs created, bringing the semiconductor industry here to the United States? Thriving economy, GDP growing faster than China, our economy growing faster than China. Never a consecutive month where jobs were lost. Or you get Donald Trump in the Oval Office going half pipes. You see them all the time, the half pipes. People live in half pipes. You know. You know what I'm talking about. The half pipes. You got homeless people. They're in half pipes. Pipes. I call them half pipes. And it's like, dude, what? What the hell are you talking about? What is this? Wmd weapon of mass distraction? Don't get distracted every single day. Say, what about the economy? What about the prices? What about housing? What about education? What about health care? We're going to stay laser focused here as corporate media has made themselves irrelevant and swirling the drain. We are the captains of the ship now. Now. And we're going to focus on what needs to be focused on. Reminder, next Monday, we're going to hold our live Zoom meeting exclusive for Patreon members. Patreon.com Midas Touch Join us there. Ask us any questions. No questions. Off limits patreon.com Midas Touch Also join Midas Plus.com by the way, it's free to join Midas Plus.com there's pay walled content there once you start but you can test it out. Do I like it? Do we don't have outside investors. We got to grow this thing. I want to be bigger than Washington Post. I want to be bigger than the New York Times. I want to be bigger than Fox. Our ratings are better than most of them. Fox is slightly ahead now. We were always beating them before. We're going to get ahead again but we need your help. Midas+.com let's take our last quick break of the show. We still got a lot to discuss. Foreign why aren't my blinds smart and automatic like the rest of my home? Are your blinds still from 2025? Look, there's a better way to buy blind shade shutters and drapery. It's called three day blinds. They are the leading manufacturer of high quality custom window treatment in the United States. And right now if you go to three day blinds.com Midas they're running a buy one get one 50% off deal. Look, we can shop for almost anything at home so why not shop for blinds at home too. Three day Blinds has local professionally trained designed consultants who have an average of 10 years plus experience. They provide expert guidance on the right blinds for you and the comfort of your home. Just set up an appointment and you'll get a free no obligation quote the same day. It's what I did. And then I put their blinds all over my home except for right there. Cuz my neighbors at my dis touch fan and she likes to see her green friends when I do these hot takes. Look if you're not very handy like I am, just go trust them. They come into your house, they figure it out for you and you're not going to regret it. I am so happy I have three day blinds. Look it's 2024. I have so many smart gadgets and gizmos in my house. Why not do that for your blinds as well? That's what I did. I'm very happy. So right now get quality window treatments that fit your budget with 3 days blinds. Head to 3day blinds.com Midas for their buy one get 50% off deal on custom blind shade shutters and drapery for a free no charge, no obligation consultation. Just head to three day blinds.com Midas one last time that's buy one get 50% off when you head to the number three. D A Y blinds.com Midas and spell Midas right. M E I D A S thank you.
- [52:49]
Brett Meiselas
Thank you.
- [52:49]
Jordy Meiselas
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- [54:17]
Ben Meiselis
Wmd? Weapon of mass distraction, Everybody. Donald Trump's released the MLK files, the JFK files, the RFK files. Ooh, is there gonna be some conspiracy hunters? Is this. This is. You got what you wanted. I mean, look, I'm not trying to make.
- [54:36]
Jordy Meiselas
He released the Epstein files too, right, Ben?
- [54:38]
Ben Meiselis
He.
- [54:38]
Jordy Meiselas
He released those?
- [54:39]
Ben Meiselis
Oh, no ones where he's all over the flight logs. You mean how Epstein found the women at Mar A Lago?
- [54:46]
Jordy Meiselas
Yeah. Did he release those?
- [54:48]
Ben Meiselis
Like Virginia Giuffre? I mean. You mean the fact that Donald Trump said that Epstein's a great guy who likes women on the younger side? You mean Donald Trump who is found liable for sexual assault? You mean Donald Trump who wished Ghislaine Maxwell well? You mean Donald Trump who hosted, like, preteen teenage beauty pageants? You mean the guy, Donald Trump who said that he would inspect women at beauty pageants naked without their consent? I mean the guy who says he grabs Women by their new. You know what? Because when you're rich, they let you. Do you mean. You mean that. You mean the guy who spoke.
- [55:20]
Brett Meiselas
And let me also specify. Because a lot of guy.
- [55:23]
Jordy Meiselas
The guy who Epstein's brother said was best friends with. With.
- [55:26]
Ben Meiselis
Jeff wants us to start. Brett. Brett. Sorry.
- [55:28]
Brett Meiselas
Well, let me just also hit some people, Hit the people with some facts here about this executive order, because it's the. It's really. It's the ultimate distraction.
- [55:34]
Ben Meiselis
Fred's coming in with the facts. Let me come.
- [55:36]
Brett Meiselas
Let me come in with the fact. Let me come in with a fax. Haymaker Brothers. Okay, the executive order, when you actually read it, it just requires the DNI and the AG plan within 40, 45 days to release those documents. It doesn't actually release the documents. It Requires them within 45 days to come up with a plan to release them and has a zero actual concept of a release. It's a concept of a release. So there's no.
- [56:03]
Ben Meiselis
It's.
- [56:03]
Brett Meiselas
Yes, it's a concept of a release of these files. So there's literally no timeline on the release of any of these files. It's like I say on every episode, Trump is the king of. Of doing the, you know, the squirrel, the. The, you know, waving the keys in front dog or. Or saying squirrel to the dog in the movie up. He's able to distract his people as he picks their pockets by putting these, you know, things that attract their attention, like, like this and a move like this, which really doesn't in its current stage have really any meaning, but also avoids the real fact that he's hiding the Epstein files, which he could release if he wanted to release them, I presume, and, and doing this to distract his people because they all jump on this stuff right away. Like, it's just such an obvious pattern that we've seen. And I'm all for transparency. I'm all for releasing, release everything, who cares? But I think what he's not doing is really the story in all of this, and it's important that people don't take the bait of what he's trying to do. The, The. The. The announcement of Trump is him waving the keys to the dog. Don't get distracted by the jingle jangle. Look at what's actually going on behind his kind of slight hand.
- [57:23]
Ben Meiselis
I also would like to see those tax returns, his medical records, the records from the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. I'd like to see Trump's crypto wallet. That matters a little bit more to me than a concept of a plan. To release other things. But I digress. Let's talk about the bro ligar civil war taking place. Who would have thought that billionaires who hate each other, who are so greedy and selfish and are all suing each other, they're not getting along. I thought that Donald Trump says everybody's getting along swimmingly here. So Donald Trump has a bunch of brolig archs, including Sam Altman from OpenAI, the SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, brings him into the Oval Office and they roll out this program that they, you know, give, you know, a name like a, like a Space Force name, and it sounds like really cutting edge. And they're going to, they call it the Stargate project. And also from Elon Musk's perspective, like, he's like, I'm starlink, like, so you're calling it Stargate, right? And they're all just kind of petty with each other. And they say that they're going to be investing $500 billion or they intend to invest one day, $500 billion into Stargate to invest in AI concepts of $500 billion. And Elon Musk's like, they don't actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10 billion secured. I have that on good authority. And look, Elon Musk's wrong about mostly everything. But when you do look into these companies, they really don't have $500 billion to deploy on their balance sheet. If you look at their cash flow, like, they don't have that money. Like SoftBank has an investment in Alibaba that's worth a lot of money and another company, but like, they would have to divest literally everything and then they'd still only be 1/4 of the way to $500 billion. Open AI is losing money. And then Elon Musk starts like, further mocking Trump's first major initiative in the Oval office with these OpenAI people. And then he reposts leaked image of the research tool OpenAI used to come up with their $500 billion number for Stargate. And it's a crack pipe with like literal kind of crack. The photos are crack. Elon Musk is suing Open AI. And Elon Musk's beef with OpenAI is, look, you launched OpenAI as a nonprofit that was supposed to then help all of the other tech companies and you were not supposed to make money off it. I invested $100 million because you were going to share all of your technology with us for the other tech companies, but then you converted it into a for profit and then you didn't cut me in. And Sam Altman did a rugby pull. So. And then Microsoft helped him and others helped him. This is like a vicious billion, billion dollar lawsuit that's going on. And so now they're all, like, suing each other. And then Elon Musk is basically insinuating that Sam Altman goes to Epstein island and he dug up Sam Altman post from 2021 that congratulated other people for going after Donald Trump. And he goes, oh, interesting, interesting stuff. So there's this whole civil war developing, then the Bannon kind of contingency within the Trump White House. They hate Musk. They think that Musk is basically giving the middle finger to Trump. But then there's nothing that Trump can do because Trump's afraid of Musk. Meanwhile, that whole Doge thing is like, absolutely falling apart. The Doge top lawyer, Bill McKinley, the, like, the general counsel for Doge, the top lawyer, like the person who puts this thing legally together, together. He quit, he departed. Vivek Ramaswamy got fired or pushed out. Elon Musk has a office in the West Wing now, like, literally right there. And many just suspect Elon Musk really just wanted access to classified information. By the way, one of Donald Trump's executive offer orders gave Trump the ability to declare anybody having access to top secret security stuff, stuff. So, like, just by Trump saying it, you can now have access to top secret security information, like our nation's most highest and guarded secrets. So you have all of that going on. Meanwhile. Meanwhile, you have Trump MAGA people like Andy Ogles, they're suggesting that the Constitution should be amended, the 26th Amendment should be amended so that Trump could basically become an emperor. Not making this up, folks. Literally, literally, the MAGA Republican Congress members, this is what they're focused on again. Stay focused. Not lower prices. Not ending the war in Ukraine, which Donald Trump didn't do. Literally. The MAGA Republicans are putting forward an amendment to allow Donald Trump to become a dictator. They're doing that in 72 hours. And let me show you this, too. I thought this was a telling moment where even Sean Hannity was fed up at Donald Trump, where Hannity was saying, so why did you pardon, like, the violent insurrection this? Like, why did you pardon the Oath Keepers and the proud boys, like, the people who try to kill the cops? Like, you're being criticized. And Hannity tried to ask it in a very Hannity suck up kind of way, but he's like, but the violent ones, you sure about that? You sure you should have done that because, remember, Trump pardoned the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and then I'm not going to show you these other clips, but in other clips, Trump bragged about making musical songs with them and that they're great people and he's thinking about bringing them to the White House. And maybe there's a whole ceremony for these people. But watch this moment right here. Let's play it.
- [62:56]
Donald Trump
So you did run on a platform. You were very straightforward. You said you would pardon these people that were sentenced for January 6th. No. Totally you did. The only criticism or pushback I've seen is about people that were convicted or involved in incidents where they were violent with police.
- [63:18]
Ben Meiselis
Why?
- [63:18]
Donald Trump
Why did they get a pardon? Number of reasons. Number one, they were in there for three and a half years, a long time, and in many solitary confinement, treated like nobody's ever been treated so badly. They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote and that you should be allowed to put protest a vote. You should be allowed to, you know, the day, when the day comes, you shouldn't be able to invade the Capitol. Ready? Most of the people were absolutely innocent, okay? But forgetting all about that, these people have served horribly a long time. It would be very, very cumbersome to go and look, you know how many people are talking about 1500 people. Almost all of them are. Should not have been. They should not have happened. And the other thing is this, some of those people with the police too. But they were very minor incidents, okay? You know, they get built up by that couple of fake guys that are on CNN all the time. Nobody watches. They were very minor incidents. And it was time.
- [64:30]
Ben Meiselis
He goes, they were very minor incidents. He claims the 2020 election was rigged. He said they've been treated very unfairly. He later in the interview brags about making a song with them, which he says gets better ratings than Taylor Swift. And again, corporate media wants to treat that as some normal thing. Not here on the Midas Touch Network. What I heard was treasonous. What I heard was traitorous. That's my opinion that I'm sharing. But it's an opinion that's also shared by federal judges who are not just, just Democratic appointees. I mean, we're talking about Reagan appointees, Democratic appointees, Trump appointees, Obama appointees who are out there saying in no uncertain terms that, you know, and this, for example, comes from Amy Berman, Jackson. Patriotism is Loyal to country and loyalty to the Constitution, not loyalty to a single single head of state. And then you had Judge Chutkan basically saying, you know, Trump, you may have done this, but you're not going to whitewash the blood, feces and terror that the mob left in its wake as these people tried to kill cops. Judge Beryl Howell blasted the decision, saying this is a grave national injustice and talked about how dangerous and lawless these people are. And this, this sole justification was that these people like Donald Trump. And then also another federal judge struck down. Just think about this as MAGA Republicans are fighting today to have Donald Trump be a dictator for life and amend the 22nd Amendment, which has term limits. A federal judge in the state of Washington made the following ruling, temporarily blocking Donald Trump's order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. This judge who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, Judge Koh I Noor, says, quote, I've been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case in my entire career where the question presented to me is so clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order by Donald Trump and struck down Donald Trump's executive order. I think we're going to be seeing that with most of these executive orders as well. And again, that is a Reagan appointed federal judge from the state of Washington who made that ruling. And you know, as Donald Trump tries to turn the United States of America into Russia, you know, Russia has a history with strongmen, right? I mean, they've had kings, they've had dictators. You know, America doesn't have that experience. I mean, America was born a democracy and we've been a democracy. And thanks to corrupt propagandist media like Fox and corporate media owned by oligarchs, they pushed Americans to flirt with all of this stuff. And now America's getting the shock therapy after flirting with this stuff. And we're seeing it. This is what they're trying to do. Yes, the things he said he was going to do. Dictator on day one. All this stuff. He's, he's doing it. He's screwing up the economy, he's screwing up our international relations. He's not bringing peace. He's doing all of these awful things, things. You're feeling it at home. He's screwing you over. This is the find out stage. This is the leopards eating your face stage. And we here at the Midas Touch Network, though, need to be at the front lines of helping us all get through this with you. The Midas mighty and reminding people that this is not who we are as Americans and that we need to be better and we need to survive this period. We will survive this period together, and we never can ever go back to this ever again. It's only day three and a half at the time of this live video. It'll, by the time you listen to this tomorrow, it'll be day four. And the amount of carnage that he's caused on our country in a short period of time is, is really striking. But we're going to band together. We'll be in this together every single step of the way. Look, his approval ratings are at basically all time lows for someone who's just became the president. His ratings from the inauguration, 10 million less views than Biden, down 27% from Biden. He couldn't even hold it outside. He had to blame it on the cold weather because he wasn't going to be able to get a crowd that even looked anywhere near the 2021, the 2017 crowd, rather. And so he said, oh, it's so cold out. This is a pathetic, weak individual. He is a criminal, he is a felon, he is a sexual assault alter. He is a horrible businessman. He's the worst deal maker. And we just have to be very clear and precise with our language. Brett, I'll let you take the, the last, the last strike in.
- [69:24]
Brett Meiselas
I don't have much else to add. I think you summed it up perfectly. You know, I think one of the things that we're all going to have to kind of figure out going forward here as a community is we have to understand that every single day, in addition to the real tangible stuff that is going to happen and is going to affect people. Donald Trump and his allies are also going to throw out a bunch of things to distract you. These might be outlandish statements to get you focused on the shiny object. This may be what Andy Ogles is doing right here with this amendment, right? Oh, Trump's gonna be there for a third term and that's not gonna go anywhere, I promise you. But they're gonna throw out all this stuff every single day to try to spark outrage, to try to get a new cycle, to try to make you, you kind of lose it, feel defeated and all of that. What it's our job to do here when we report the news and as part of a community that considers itself to be pro democracy, is to figure out how to parse and separate what is real and what is bs. What do we need to be worried about? What is somebody trying to take our eye off the ball. What is actually happening to our country as a result of these actions? And what is Donald Trump saying is going to happen to our country with his rhetoric? And that's, you know, I think one of the main goals of this community right now is to figure that out and make sure that we remain focused. And I know that this community is intelligent. I know that this community is more geared up for this task than anybody out there. And so I'm so grateful to have this opportunity, even in these dark moments, to be in this with you, to be fighting with you all and to be able to get out the truth in this way with these sorts of numbers, with the strength that we have. And I feel the strength in this community right now as we come together. I feel you all with this energy right now coming together in order to protect what we've got of our democracy. And it's just such an honor reminder.
- [71:28]
Ben Meiselis
Patreon.com Midas Touch on Monday we will hold our Zoom meeting for patrons. We don't have outside investors here. We're 100% people powered, 100% independent. So if you want to meet us, it's a fun way to do that, that in a zoom meeting. And it, and it helps us, it helps us grow. We all. Jordy gets a lot of funny questions his way too. You could ask him questions, ask me, ask Brett questions and then midasplus.com that's where our editor in chief, Ron Philip Kowski leads the way. Midasplus.com I want to try to grow that subscriber base as well to a bigger subscriber base than the Times, the Washington Post. Hopefully one day we can get there. So Please subscribe to Midasplus.com Ron's Daily Reviews or reports on everything that happened. It's the best in the biz by far. He spends the whole day writing it. Meticulous. Helps you catch up on every single thing. Then you get to hear from me occasionally in the morning as well. Thank you, Midas. Mighty. We're in this together. We will fight this one together. We will prevail in the end. I make you that promise. Promise. Let's go Jordy. Take it away.
- [72:38]
Jordy Meiselas
Shout out to the Midas.
- [72:39]
Ben Meiselis
My day.
- [72:58]
Jordy Meiselas
Love this video. Continue the conversation by following us on Instagram. Midas Touch and help US blow past 700 150,000 followers.
- [73:13]
Ben Meiselis
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