Transcript
Ben Meiselas (0:01)
Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Meiselis and this is Breaking news. Let's get into it, folks. Donald Trump right now experiencing an unprecedented death spiral when it comes to American politics. At least you wouldn't know that if you turned on corporate news. They still want to talk about how heroic Donald Trump was regarding the alleged White House correspondence dinner incident, which has so many red flags, it's not even visible which flag from the next. It's just one gigantic kind of red screen. At this point, we learned that the alleged suspect's lawyer was saying that the lawyer wasn't even able to meet with the suspect in a private and confidential place. We're going to keep you updated there. But there's not really a clear explanation about whether the alleged suspect was actually the person who shot one of the Secret Service agents or whether it was friendly fire. They're saying that the alleged suspect had a shotgun. And it seems that it would be pretty easy to run a quick ballistic to determine if it was a shotgun residue or shotgun spray versus a handgun. But we'll set that aside because I think think you all have the same red flags and questions that we do. But the reality is, is that Donald Trump is historically unpopular.
Co-host or Guest Commentator (1:37)
Right?
Ben Meiselas (1:37)
The latest AP NORC poll has Trump's approval at 33% nationwide amongst all respondents. The latest Reuters poll has Trump's approval at 34% in terms of standard of living. 8% approval amongst independents, 8% amongst independents. That's a very low number right there when it comes to Trump's approval on the economy. And the AP north poll, it's at like 30%. Overwhelmingly Americans don't support this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran. New polling data as well over here that we're posting from Washington Post ABC Ipsos showing that Americans despise that. Donald Trump's priorities right now are golden ballrooms and 250 foot arches and putting his face and signature on currency. Overwhelmingly the support for these things is anywhere. Top support for the ballroom is 28%. The ballroom is the most popular amongst this cohort. 28% approval and all, all the other stuff that Trump wants to do, it's like 12% approval. He just thinks people are stupid. Like, nobody wants UFC fights at the White House. Nobody wants him to keep posting about reflecting pools or golden ballrooms or arches or putting his face on passports. No one wants any of this stuff. People are struggling here in this country. For most Americans, this economy is in a great recession. And you may be saying, but no one's reporting It's a great recession. I understand that the gdp, the technical definition of a recession is having successive quarters of declining GDP and declining growth. The issue though is that with the spread of wealth being so disparate at this point and rich people being so rich and the rest of the kind of 98% of the country struggling and the rich hoarding all of this money that props up the GDP. So in theory the GDP is like, ah, you know, it's 2% still slow and sluggish. The estimates were that the GDP was supposed to be about 2.3%. But the same way the economy is not the GDP, the economy is not the stock market, the economy is are people getting jobs? Right. The economy is can most people afford things? And overwhelmingly there the answer is no. I think when we looked at past recessions and great recessions because the wealth gap was less wide and less severe, collectively the country experienced the pain and suffering a little bit more as a collective enterprise, if you will. Whereas now you have the super rich and rich doing very well. They call this K a K shaped economy. But in terms of that K shape, it's a very small amount of people who hoard most of the wealth. And most Americans are experiencing great recession or depressionary environments right now. I mean this is a reality. People can't afford their mortgage or their rent. Lucky if they can have a mortgage, meaning they have a home to begin with that they technically may own. But people can't afford rent, they can't afford groceries. Gas is at all time highs. I think the average nationwide now is somewhere close to $4.50. If you're in California, that's above five bucks. Other states for 99, five bucks on average. But nationwide we're looking at, you know, I think it was 423, then 429. The futures, when you talk about Brent and WTI crude, that's where you're looking at like $120 per barrel. But the spot price, meaning what it's actually being sold at right now, not in the future, not a futures market which is manipulated by the kind of jawboning techniques of Trump and leaking information to sycophantic stenographers who call themselves reporters. But the spot prices, you know, meaning
