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Host/Commentator
Donald Trump just finished a disastrous radio appearance with a far right wing host guy named Todd Starnes. This is one of the strangest things I've seen in a while, but here Donald Trump says that he's going to end the war in Ukraine in two weeks again. We'll know in two weeks what's going to happen. He literally just said the two weeks thing again today, just now. Here, play this clip.
Interviewer/Caller
Do you think we're going to be able to get peace in that region, Mr. President?
Donald Trump
Well, I'll let you know in about. I would say within two weeks we're gonna know one way or the other.
Host/Commentator
Two weeks again, I mean how is it would be parody if it wasn't so freaking dangerous. And then Trump says though, the reality is I need to get credit because I've ended 10 wars. Three you've never heard of, he said, and seven others that I still have never heard of. But he goes, I should get the Nobel Peace Prize because I've done it. I've brought peace to the world. Ten wars I've ended. Give me credit for it. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump
Other things going. We ended seven wars, probably more than that. You know, they wrote an article and they gave me three additional ones that I ended without even knowing it. But you know, I saw things would go in bed and it looked like it was going to go bad and it could have been, could have been.
Host/Commentator
10, but ended three wars without even knowing it. Seven others that we don't even really know about. What the heck he's talking. I mean he mentions like I ended the war between India and Pakistan and there was going to be nuclear war. Then you hear the India foreign minister basically say absolutely not. You had nothing, you had nothing to do with it at all. And then here Donald Trump says that he's going on patrol in D.C. with the National Guard tonight. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump
And I'm going to be going out tonight. I'm going to keep it a secret, but I'm going to go. You're the only one that knows you and your lots of listeners. You have a great show. You have a very successful show, by the way, in case you haven't heard that. But I'm going to be going out tonight, I think with the, with the police, with the, and with the military, of course. So we're going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They've done a fantastic.
Host/Commentator
And then the host of that show is saying that he's hopeful or he's will Donald Trump start tasing people? Will he bring his taser out here? Watch this.
Interviewer/Caller
Does the president have a gun? Are they going to let him tase somebody? I want to see my president tase somebody tonight. That's what I want is and I.
Host/Commentator
Want to show you that because that's what's happening in the right wing media ecosystem right now, how dangerous this is why Trump chose to go on that show. And like recently, that guy, this host is someone who's out there basically saying Democrats hate you. You can't be a Christian and vote Democrat. This is the vile stuff they're spewing there here. Just play a short version of this.
Interviewer/Caller
Alti, do you agree with president, with President Trump there that Jewish voters who continue to vote Democrat hate Israel and they hate their religion? I want to go a step further. I want to suggest that Catholics and Protestants who vote for Democrats also hate Jesus and they hate their religion.
Host/Commentator
If you, I don't need to see any more of that. Let's bring in Senator Elizabeth Warren. I could show more clips, Senator, but you get the point. I mean, as I said at the outset, this would be parody if it wasn't so dangerous. And one of the frustrating things for me as someone who's built up this media network though, is seeing how this behavior seems to be normalized in many other areas. And I'm just like, what are we talking about here anyway? What's your overall just reaction to this moment where we are in some of those clips I showed you?
Senator Elizabeth Warren
You know, I think you've got it exactly right. And that is this is detached from reality. But Donald Trump has surrounded himself with people who are not going to challenge him directly. He just keeps building on how he decides it. He has his people. Remember when the labor numbers came out bad and had to be readjusted in the number of people who were employed. And so what does Donald Trump do? He fires the person who is the Head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And it's just, it's more example of trying to create this alternative reality around Donald Trump and this whole ecosystem. And like you say, we have to remember, you can kind of look back and laugh at parts of it, but the truth is just the fact that it happens, kind of the momentum it builds up around itself is genuinely dangerous. And parts of it leak out to the rest of the world. So Donald Trump says something over and over and over. Listen, he says this stuff about tariffs in other countries, say, okay, what do we have to do? What do we have to offer you? People respond to the parts that Donald Trump just flings off and all of it to try to bend reality to fit Donald Trump's world. And I, I think that means we are in a very dangerous moment here.
Host/Commentator
You know, because they have people on the right wing who watch that show that I just shared that are rooting, wow, we just gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Big Victor. I mean, and they'll cheer. And I'm like, you're a consumer. Like, what are you cheering for? The fact that corporations can now defraud you? I mean, what are you doing? And, and what do you make of that?
Senator Elizabeth Warren
You know, you're exactly right. It's the watch who's getting hurt here and how much spin the Republicans and this right wing media are trying to put into this. So, for example, you know, the Republicans passed the big ugly bill and it's going to cut healthcare for 15 million Americans in about half of all the babies born in the United States and their mamas, about half of all the people who are in nursing homes right now, most of the people who have serious disabilities, like your neighbor who has to use a wheelchair to get around or who has home health aide so that she can still live at home, cutting health care for those folks and at the same time driving up the cost of health insurance for everybody who's got private insurance, for everybody who gets their insurance through their employers, and now triggering cuts in Medicare. So you really want to say, for all those people who cheered on the Republicans, did you really not notice that they're driving up your costs directly for health care, that you are the one who will pay more? Or let's put it another way, when they increase these costs, a lot of hospitals are going to have to close, particularly rural hospitals are going to have to close because they just, they can't do the uncompensated care. When people still show up in their emergency rooms, they take care of them and they've got no money to cover their costs. And when those hospitals close, they don't just close for Democrats, they don't just close for liberals. They close for everybody. And that means they close for you and they close for your family. And so that's why I think when you make the point about how dangerous this is, it's dangerous because it divides the world in a way that this alternative reality means. These are people who don't hold Donald Trump and the Republicans accountable for the things that they are actually doing to the people who are part of that echo chamber.
Host/Commentator
And you see that alternative reality, though, being bent and manifest on places like cnbc. I mean, I see your appearances there. This should be a straight financial network. Give us the data, let us know how companies are doing. But, you know, you go on Joe Kiernan, who's a full MAGA host, you know, he'll start attacking you for wanting to protect consumers or saying we should make healthcare accessible for all. And he'll be like, don't you think that. That. So you're a communist. You're a. So he'll yell at you and then you'll push back, you know, and you'll be like, do you see first off, bringing health care at all? Healthcare should be a human right. But then do you see what Donald Trump is doing every day? I mean, Donald Trump is going to corporations and saying, you win, you lose. Pay me this, you do that. I mean, Trump is literally running what I've seen play out, whether it's in Putin or communist China. It literally is that what Trump is doing right now? And they don't even do it. I'll let you. The other point I just wanted to bring out is then they're like, Trump did a great deal with this country. And I'm like, where's the deal? Like, you're a financial. Show me the paperwork. You can't just say deal. I don't get to see it. A social media post is not a deal. Anyway, I love when you go on that network.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
I gotta stick one in here. The other day, did you see that? Just a couple of days ago, Donald Trump called the CEO of Goldman Sachs and told him to fire the economic analyst for Goldman Sachs because the guy had said that Trump's tariff policy, his on off again with tariff was really creating problems for the economy. And Trump says, get rid of him. And it's more of this bend reality to what we say it is because we don't want to have to deal with what's really happening in the World. He wants to announce that he has settled seven wars ended. Seven wars, or maybe it's 10. He didn't even know about three of them. You notice nobody pushed back on him and said, really? Can you name what they are? Can we get somebody in here to verify this? Do you have any receipts for any part of this? It's like, it's just creating a whole world where there's no gravity. Right. There are no rules that apply. Except what did Donald Trump say? And now MAGA world lines up around that and says, yes, yes, yes, sir.
Host/Commentator
And then you have Stephen Miller acting like cosplaying a war general with the United States military in Union Station, saying, do not let those 90 year old white hippies go after you. I want you to go. Senator Healing literally said, he goes, I want you to go out there like, as though he was in like Fallujah tanks, you know, go out there, those 90 year old hippies, you better do it. Here, watch. I'm not even. He. He's more farcical than what I just did. Here, play this clip. So we're going to ignore these stupid white hippies that all need to go home and take a nap because they're all over 90 years old. And we're going to get back in the business of protecting the American people and the citizens of Washington DC.
Commercial Narrator
Thank you, Stephen.
Host/Commentator
Few questions, Mr. Vice President. Why are troops like, what is that? They're in Union Station, the military is there. And I'm saying to myself, oh, how is this America?
Senator Elizabeth Warren
Yeah, but you know that that is part of the problem we've got here is how do you connect this up with reality? So here are these states that red states, you know, these Republican governors who are sending their National Guard in to support Trump's efforts in Washington D.C. in order to fight back against crime in Washington D.C. when the first three states that sent people in collectively have 43 cities that have higher crime rates than Washington D.C. so why are you not using the National Guard in your own state if you think the National Guard is the way to deal with crime? And the answer is because Donald Trump has created this alternative reality for us. The answer has nothing to do with what's actually happening. The answer is all Donald Trump, all politics. Let's create this whole fictional world that's the world as Donald Trump declares that it is, rather than the one that actually exists. And that's why it's important that you be here, that we get out and talk about what is really happening and make sure that there are other places that are actually bound by reality, by what's happening to the cost of groceries, what's happening to the cost of utilities, what's happening to the cost of housing. Talk about the real things that affect people every day. That's which you got to be our.
Host/Commentator
Job, which you and I are going to be doing together. This weekend, August 23rd, we're going to be in Omaha, Nebraska for the Won't Back down tour hosted by Move on and the Midas Touch Network. You're going to be there. Congressmember Maxwell Frost is going to be there. If people want to get a seat there, it's running out quickly. Go to won't backdown tour.com if you're in the Omaha area and you want to see it Saturday, August 23rd. So talk to us about why you think this is so important. Oh, by the way, Adam Muckler from the Midas Touch Network, our Gen Z host who crushes it on cnn and he's all around debating people. He does such a great job. He's going to be hosting it with you. Why is this event so important to be doing right now?
Senator Elizabeth Warren
So, look, we're going to have fun because we're going to be out there talking about how, how it is that we don't back down and we don't back down on these Trump alternative versions of reality. We don't back down on our principles. And here's how I see this. Donald Trump promised on day one he would lower costs for American families. Do you remember that? Just go back a year from right now. Remember presidential races going on. And the number one promise Donald Trump keeps making is that he will lower costs on day one. Those were his words, not my words. His words said it over and over. After he gets elected, his first interview, they asked him why did he think he won. And he said, because I promised to lower costs on day one. Well, here we are. It is day 214 and the cost of groceries is up, the cost of utilities is up, the cost of housing is up and the cost of health care is through the roof. And thanks to the Republicans and Donald Trump and the big ugly bill, it's going up even more. So part of what we're going to do is talk about that reality and talk about getting back in the fight, holding Donald Trump and these Republicans accountable. So we're going to be there in Nebraska. Nebraska has two Republican senators and three Republican Congress people. All of them voted to cut health care for 15 million people. All of them voted to raise the cost of health care coverage for everybody who's got private insurance. All of them voted for taking money out of the health care system so that many rural hospitals will close. All of them voted for that. This is our chance to be right there in Nebraska, to have a town hall with people in Nebraska and to say to the people of Nebraska, you have power. You have power at the ballot box. You have power to hold these people accountable. And so that's what Saturday is going to be about. You know, Donald Trump thinks everybody should just bow down to him and to his version of reality, that he has stopped seven wars or 10 wars, that he has done it all well. This is about saying we don't bow down. We live in the world of reality and we want people to represent us who understand that reality. And instead of fighting for Donald Trump will be fighting for us. So that's what we're going to talk about on Saturday. We're going to have a town hall. We're going to hear from people, we're going to deal with their questions and do our best to strengthen democracy in this country. Because the truth is, we don't bow down.
Host/Commentator
Everybody go to won't back. Downtour.com Reserve your spot now in Omaha, Nebraska. We're going to be doing other stops after, but this is the one I want to see everybody at first. Senator Elizabeth Warren, thanks as always.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
You bet.
Host/Commentator
Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies collection@store.midas touch.com all 100% USA Union made.
Commercial Narrator
It's been so long. How have you been? Hello. I'm doing well, Dave. Why? Why are you talking that way? Please say one for a compliment or two for a. Yeah, this is weird. I think I'm gonna go.
Senator Elizabeth Warren
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Episode Title: Senator Elizabeth Warren Reacts to Trump Tanking US Economy
Date: August 23, 2025
Host: MeidasTouch Network (Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas)
Guest: Senator Elizabeth Warren
This episode features the Meiselas brothers in conversation with Senator Elizabeth Warren, focusing on Donald Trump's recent media appearances, his administration's buildup of "alternative realities," the economic repercussions of his decisions, and the urgent need for grounded, fact-based political engagement. Senator Warren offers her reactions to Trump’s statements and provides pointed critique on how right-wing media narratives are shaping policy and public perception to the detriment of everyday Americans. The conversation also previews the upcoming "Won't Back Down Tour" event in Omaha, Nebraska.
Quote:
"Two weeks again, I mean how is it would be parody if it wasn't so freaking dangerous."
—Host [01:01]
Quote:
"This is detached from reality. But Donald Trump has surrounded himself with people who are not going to challenge him...trying to create this alternative reality around Donald Trump and this whole ecosystem."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [04:03]
Quote:
"Did you really not notice that they're driving up your costs directly for health care, that you are the one who will pay more?... When those hospitals close, they don't just close for Democrats, they don't just close for liberals. They close for everybody."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [06:34]
Quote:
"He wants to announce that he has settled seven wars ended. Seven wars, or maybe it's 10. He didn't even know about three of them... There are no rules that apply. Except what did Donald Trump say?"
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [10:18]
Quote:
"Why are you not using the National Guard in your own state if you think the National Guard is the way to deal with crime?... The answer is all Donald Trump, all politics. Let's create this whole fictional world."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [12:13]
Quote:
"Donald Trump promised on day one he would lower costs for American families... Well, here we are. It is day 214 and the cost of groceries is up, the cost of utilities is up, the cost of housing is up and the cost of health care is through the roof."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [14:30]
Quote:
"This is our chance to be right there in Nebraska, to have a town hall with people in Nebraska and to say to the people of Nebraska, you have power. You have power at the ballot box. You have power to hold these people accountable."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [15:57]
On Trump’s war claims:
"He mentions like I ended the war between India and Pakistan and there was going to be nuclear war...absolutely not. You had nothing, you had nothing to do with it at all."
—Host [01:40]
On media normalization:
"As I said at the outset, this would be parody if it wasn't so dangerous...this behavior seems to be normalized in many other areas."
—Host [03:31]
On community accountability:
"We don't bow down. We live in the world of reality and we want people to represent us who understand that reality."
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren [16:34]
The episode maintains the MeidasTouch mix of sharp analysis, incredulous humor, and passionate advocacy for democracy and truth. Senator Warren’s contributions are pointed and urgent, calling out the dangers of disinformation, political theater, and harmful policies, while urging listeners to stay engaged and use their democratic power to effect real change. The importance of grounding politics in reality—and the responsibility of the media and the public to resist Trump’s “alternative reality”—is the clear through-line of the conversation.