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Arthur
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Brian
oh, I have had no luck lately.
Arthur
Wait.
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Donald Trump (clips)
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Brian
facing a brutal response after giving the worst speech of his life. The White House correspondent speech that he gave last night was truly the worst speech he ever gave. And that's saying something. Frankly, I think it was the worst speech that anybody has ever given in the history of humankind. And so when the speech ended, you had the C span host say, wow, so Donald Trump there said that his own speech was a stupid freaking speech. That's how he referred to it as. Let me show you what the C Span host said here.
Host
Play this clip President Trump from earlier this evening delivering his remarks at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He referred to his own speech as this whole frickin stupid speech. We want to get your reaction to what you heard from the Then C
Brian
SPAN took phone calls and they asked their caller so what did you think about that speech? And one of the callers or the first caller said well he's a total chode. He was deranged and psychotic. He didn't fall asleep while he was actually giving the speech. So there was at least that. But this was one of the most awful things ever. I just want you to listen to the C SPAN caller. But Donald Trump actually did fall asleep after the speech and he fell asleep before the speech. But listen to what the C SPAN caller said here, play this clip.
Host
Absolutely. So what did you hear tonight? What was your reaction?
Paula
I thought he was as usual, he was a bore, he was a chode and long winded and he didn't fall asleep tonight. That's a good thing. He rambled on a name about a name things and cares about chandeliers he renamed, wants to rename everything in his name in the ballroom and he talked about those who criticize him. It wasn't worth watching him and it wasn't just like it wasn't worth watching him on the, on Wednesday regarding the election security. Also I was very disgusted and appalled at the hat that he pulled out at the last minute. All he does is runs for president and rallies and talks rally speeches.
Host
Paula, you didn't, you didn't take that as a joke, him donning a 2028 hat?
Paula
Oh no, no, not at all. He truly means that he does and the 22nd Amendment doesn't allow him to do that. He has to. It has to be changed and ratified by two thirds of the Congress and both in both houses and 38 out of 50 states have to ratify that. So I don't see it happening. But he does not pay attention to our laws. He's running through our, our Constitution. He doesn't care about our laws nor our Constitution and he has sycophants following him and doing his bidding.
Host
All right, Paula, I'm going to move on to Jonathan.
Brian
Let me show you some of the other reactions right here. You had Brian Stelter on CNN and he said, you know, I once bombed giving a speech in high school and I still feel humiliated for that speech. Watching Donald Trump give this speech giving gave me flashbacks to when I bombed my high school speech. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump (clips)
John.
Host
Laura, I once had to give a comedic speech in high school and I totally bombed and it was humiliating and I kind of feel like that's what I watched. It was giving me flashbacks to 11th grade and high school tonight.
Guest Commentator
I'm sorry that you had that triggering.
Host
Do you want to talk about it more, Brian?
Guest Commentator
I think she hasn't gotten over it yet.
Host
I think Trump will be more resilient at that particular point in time. But it's important to note, I mean, the idea of we do have expectations.
Brian
Then you had Van Jones saying nothing that Donald Trump was saying was funny. It was bomb after bomb after bomb. Let's play this clip.
Host
This was a moment a couple months from before the midterm elections that I wonder why he chose this route as opposed to one that would have been advantageous or dignified.
Harry Enton
Well, every one of those names are legitimate targets for a funny joke, right? I mean, like, those are all newsmakers. I could see it. But none of them were funny. They were all just like literal bombs. Like, it was just bomb after bomb after bomb. It's like, we're not Iran, we're the American people. Quit bombing.
Brian
Let's go to Brian Stelter. You then had Harry Enton, the pollster on CNN. He's like, it's one thing to be unfunny for 30 minutes, but being unfunny for an entire hour and making us all suffer through that here, play this clip.
Harry Enton
Speech wasn't just that it was unfunny, but, you know, there was that time in which he kept trying to explain the joke over and over, over again.
Brian
Like, we get it.
Host
You can't go up the stairs and make love. We get it, we get it.
Harry Enton
We get it, bro. We get it, Mr. President. And if he truly understood what was going on, he would have gotten off the stage. It's one thing to be unfunny for 30 minutes. It's another thing to be unfunny for over an hour and make the rest of us suffer. I mean, what did the American audience do to deserve an hour and four
Arthur
minutes of that bad boy. Relax.
Brian
It was pretty bad, man.
Arthur
It was okay.
Paula
Let me just tell you, I'm about
Host
to tell on you, Arthur.
Guest Commentator
You weren't even.
Host
You weren't even paying attention.
Paula
You're on TikTok.
Host
That whole I watched you. I was trying to, or whatever. The real you were not saying twice.
Arthur
You gave me up tonight. Jokes at the table. Listen, the scrolling on the phone, even
Brian
the right wing panelist that was on the CNN fight show, as I like to call it, was like, yeah, you know, one of my buddies from Hollywood said that no one wants to write speeches for Donald Trump. None of the funny comic writers wants to write speeches. So that's why it was so bad. Cuz no comedians want to actually even write speeches for Donald Trump. Okay, here, play this clip.
Arthur
I'll be very careful, but yeah, it's. You have a much better shot when you cooperate and try to at least move the boundaries a little bit. But I mean, we all said something tonight about Trump not being as funny as he could be. But one of my buddies from Hollywood who's watching, he's been there six decades in Hollywood, he said all of the best comedy writers who write these speeches, for every presence, they refuse to work for Trump. He said, he said they're all Democrats. They're somebody. Okay, maybe there was somebody. They didn't do a really great job. Whoever did it didn't get a great job.
Guest Commentator
But, but Puerto Rico got.
Arthur
Look, those were not even Donald Trump said, who wrote these things. Like he was bumming out about the quality of the jokes. I mean, yeah, I think Trump, if we just try to be himself a little bit more, may have been funnier than trying to follow a script.
Host
You know, I, Look, I agree with you because it's obvious that, you know, the SNL writers are not clamoring to work with Donald Trump.
Commercial Voice
Right.
Donald Trump (clips)
Thank you.
Host
But you got, I mean, there's gotta be somebody who would write a speech.
Brian
I don't know that Harry Entin said, you know, he must have just been so angry because he has the worst polls in modern history. I mean, Trump's polling worse than Nixon at the time that Nixon resigned. Trump's worse than Nixon at that time. Here, listen to what Harry Entin said. Let's play this clip.
Host
Thank you for having me. Demand more. You deserve better. Trust me.
Paula
Okay.
Harry Enton
He's mad because his approval rating is lower than the percentage of that speech in which I was yawning. This is why he is so angry. He is so angry because he is an unpopular president, the least popular president at this point in their second term of any president this century. And so he is lashing out because he knows that in a few months his party is going to face the voters. And, and more likely than not at least part of that party, at least, at least in the House of Representatives, is going to get turned out of power. And that is because Donald John Trump, simply put, is significantly less popular than he was a year and a half ago.
Brian
That's the most important thing. I did a whole recap of the speech, so I'm not going to do a whole thing here, but I just wanted to show you, just to get a taste of it. Go back to the YouTube feed. You'll see that I did a whole recap of the speech if you want to watch it, but, oof, not great.
Donald Trump (clips)
Here, play this clip, because I see what's happening. I see what's happening. The other day, a senator I knew got a text, a great guy from his wife, and she said, when you get home, I want to have you immediately come up the stairs and make love to me. And he said, I can't do both. You know what? You know, in other words, you can't go up the stairs and make love. Does anybody get that? Well, I thought that was actually pretty good.
Brian
And then Donald Trump was like, I won't call you lying, Ted, because that's my past conquests. Those are my past conquests, dude, what are you talking about? Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump (clips)
Got much credit for that fake news. Good, Pocahontas, good. I won't say Lyon, Ted, because he's at my side. I don't talk about past conquests, but we have a lot of them. I won't talk about. They got a whole table full of Republicans there. They're saying, no, don't mention my frickin name, will you please? But we've had a lot of good names.
Brian
Then you had Abby, Phillip, and she was like, it must just be his age. I mean, the guy's addled, you know, I think that there's a lot of Americans who just realize that Donald Trump just cognitively can't give speeches anymore. Just think about how long have we been saying this on Midas Touch? And everybody was like, oh, you're being hyperbolic by saying his health is crashing and his health is collapsing. And you're not. Why are you being hyperbolic? It's not happening. It is happening, okay? It's been happening and I've been chronicling it every damn day, Right? I mean, it's happening, you know, and now everybody's reporting on it finally. But we talk about the same way we've been talking about the Epstein files five years ago here. Anyway, here, play this clip.
Host
I mean, obviously the presidency ages everyone who is in it, but man, he really seemed like a shadow of his former self.
Harry Enton
It's been a decade. And, you know, the American people for the first time, you know, have said essentially that Trump doesn't necessarily have the physical health in order to carry on and be President of the United States or be an effective president, which is very different from what we have generally seen.
Brian
And more From Harry Enton. Low energy, a total bore. It was terrible. Let's play this clip.
Harry Enton
Low energy, Donald. I mean, in my, in a word, I would just call it. It was a bore. It was a bore for a man that I think can crack a lot of jokes. And the bottom line is this. You know, I have a lot of trouble sleeping at night. I often have to take Benadryl, but I'm not going to have to take any Benadryl tonight because I could just replay that speech and I'll fall asleep like that.
Interviewee
I agree.
Brian
Honestly, though, even Scott Jennings, right, Even the ultra maga Scott Jennings is saying, all right, I think the problem with Donald Trump there is a lot of the people in the audience didn't like him. So it was, it was hurting his feelings. And maybe that's why this is the President of the United States. What do you mean they didn't like him? This isn't some, you know, I'm trying to, you know, not offend like little children or. What do you mean they didn't like him and he got nervous. This is the president, right? What the hell was this? Here's, here's Jennings here. Play this clip.
Host
It's this. Who's putting this on there?
Guest Commentator
And I thought at one point, at one point he appeared to get annoyed with the material because it was on the prompter. And I think maybe, maybe he realized that. That some of the things that were on the prompter were just not landing. By the way, that's a tough room. I mean, because, let's be honest, a lot of the people in there don't like him. They're not inclined to laugh at his jokes. They're not inclined to, you know, to be of his persuasion. And so to land something in there has got to be really good. And I think I got the feeling he got somewhat annoyed with the material. My. I was surprised he didn't take this opportunity, major opportunity to, to make some news, like something, you know, that he wanted to announce or some point he wanted to drive home. And, and, and they chose not to
Brian
use it, you know, and then when Donald Trump was not speaking, it looked like he was vomiting on his hand. Play this clip. Are more than usual in the past few weeks.
Interviewee
Is that a fair characterization?
Brian
I think that is an eminently fair characterization.
Guest Commentator
First of all, it's gonna be with you, Chris.
Brian
Look, and again, this is not. AI was Donald Trump falling asleep throughout this evening, even though the C Span caller. I think the c. The first C Span caller was referring to the fact that Trump was not sleeping during his speech itself, but he was sleeping throughout the rest of the event. Here, play this clip.
Interviewee
Washington Post reporters in supposedly searching her office, her computer.
Guest Commentator
Then the New York Times subpoenas.
Brian
Scott, you know, one of the more disturbing parts though, of the speech, though, in all seriousness, though, is when he started to talk about Iran again. And he's like, maybe I'll do a deal, maybe I won't do a deal. And while I want to mock him, obviously, the reality is, is that our service members are being killed as a result of this. The psycho who we're seeing give this speech, he's the psycho who's sending our service members into war, and our service members are getting killed because of him in this catastrophic and unlawful war. There are so many Americans. You watching this? Who are suffering right now as a result of this guy, as a result of this thing, as a result of this. And so people in the United States are getting crushed right now. The cost of living is impossible. And this guy over here who's having imaginary conversations with ayatollahs that aren't happening and doing fake deals in his mind, and he thinks Xi Jinping is his friend and Putin is his friend. And then he has these MAGAs in the house and Senate who are like, yeah, yeah, Donald. It's like, no, this is a psychotic human. This is a deranged, cognitively addled. The 25th Amendment doesn't do it justice. I mean, this is a real sick thing that's speaking. And he's killing people. He's killing people. He's killing Americans. He's crushing this country. This guy's not fit to be anywhere near anything. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump (clips)
It's the only thing I've ever. We were talking before. I said so. We've hit Iran very hard there. Navy is gone. There are. Air force has gone. 250 jets. No longer. 159 boats, good boats, in fact, I said, why the hell didn't we keep them? We could have used them. But 159, but all at the bottom of the sea. They have no radar. They have very few drones left, despite what you see. And every once in a while, they're going to set some things up, but they don't have much left. And by the way, they are talking to us right now. They'd love to make a deal. I don't think they're ready to. I don't think it's time yet, but I'm willing to listen.
Brian
And by the way, Donald Trump's Chief propagandist Caroline Levitt said the following about that speech. She wrote, the president's speech will be a combination of unifying, yet vicious and serious, yet hilarious all at the same time, if you can imagine that. One thing I can assure you, it will be entertaining. Caroline Levitt on Donald Trump's White House correspondence dinner speech. And notably, you have, you know, people like Murdoch and others who, you know, push these messages, too. And again, you know, I'm not trying to be like, donald Trump doesn't have any agency over himself. He's a sicko who deserves to be tried for his war crimes in the Hague. But you'll have New York Post say, go big or go home. Trump weighing massive attack on stalling Iran. You know, then it was like state regime media, Fox, owned by Murdoch yesterday, they were showing nuclear power plants, like in Bushi or in Iraq. And they were like, maybe he blows up Bushir in order to send a message that we control the Strait of Hormuz. It's like, maybe he blows up Bushir a nuclear power plant that Russia's helped building and helped build with Iran. You think that makes sense? To blow up the nuclear power plant and have like 10 times worse than Chernobyl in the region and have like a nuclear winter? Like, we shouldn't be worried that the President of the United States is so deranged and psychotic he's going to start blowing up nuclear power plants because state regime media is telling him to do it. And here he was, remember, on the tarmac again, the deranged person who you saw at that White House correspondence dinner. Here he is saying that the service members who died recently in the war, by the way, he deleted their names from the list of war deaths because he claims epic fury's over and that there was a ceasefire so they didn't die during the war. So he could lower the numbers of the war death that killed in action and injured.
Arthur
A sicko.
Brian
He's a psycho sicko. I don't care what political party you are. This isn't a political thing. And then he puts words in the mouth of the killed in action service members. And he said, all of them said very strongly, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. Why are you defaming the killed in action service member? They didn't say any of those things. Why are you lying about what they're saying? He's a sick thing. Here, play this clip.
Donald Trump (clips)
Some of you are going with us to honor our heroes. And they are indeed great heroes, actually, they said, and they all of them said very strongly, we can't let you, cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. They won't have a nuclear weapon. So we're going to honor them.
Brian
Now, in response to that, in response to Donald Trump saying that we're going to kill the Iranians, then you have Iran issuing statements like this. For every Iranian citizen killed, one US soldier will be killed. We have prepared free direct tickets to hell for you. And remember, the person you saw in that White House correspondence dinner stage is the person who's there at 1:00am, 3:00am posting, oh, I'm gonna blow up the bridges and destroy the civilization and kill every Iranian, and you're gonna send you back to the Stone Age. He's a sick thing. This isn't a Democrat. He's a sick creature. Do we all get that right? And it's causing all of us, you, everybody in the fricking world, to be put in danger by this sick, fricking creature in the Oval Office. Let me contrast that and we'll leave with a YouTube cleanser, if you will. Pete Buttigieg. Here's what he had to say when he went on State, regime, media, Fox play this clip.
Interviewee
Listen. Then he did something else.
Host
So at this point, based on where we are, what would you like to see happen next, if you were advising President Trump?
Interviewee
Well, if I was advising President Trump, I'm trying to try that scenario on for size. I guess I'd advise him to start by telling the truth to the American people. Because when he says it's going to be four weeks and then breaks that promise, it reminds people of when he said he wouldn't start this war and broke that promise. When he says he will settle for nothing less than unconditional surrender and regime change, and then changed his mind, backpedaled and agreed to a framework for a ceasefire. That was very different then. That ceasefire has been broken. The outrageous news that we just got that the Trump administration removed the names of four of our service members who were killed in action, apparently because the fact that they had been killed in action goes against his fiction that sometimes he says we're actually not in a war, even though everybody knows we are. What I would say to him is, you know, when I was in uniform, when I was deployed, I knew that on some level, my life depended on the credibility of the people running our government. And American lives depend on him telling the truth, even when it's hard.
Host
Do you agree with removing Iran's nuclear cap?
Brian
There you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. By the way. Do you have a copy of WTF America? The book I wrote with my brothers? It comes out in October. Scan the QR code wherever the QR code is and put in the comments. WTF America? If you it helps if you pre order it Right now it comes out in October, but the pre orders help us know the locations where the books are being bought so we can decide where we're going to go on the book tour. All right, thanks for watching Hit Subscribe. Appreciate you Breaking news right now. My brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America? And well, doesn't that just say it all. It comes out officially this October, but you can pre order your copy today. Just scan the QR code or click the link in the description below.
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Date: July 25, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
This episode centers on the intense and widespread backlash following President Donald Trump’s much-criticized performance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The Meiselas brothers break down reactions from both media and the public—emphasizing Trump’s lackluster delivery, questionable jokes, apparent cognitive decline, and controversial political rhetoric. The discussion evolves into concerns about Trump’s mental fitness and its dangerous implications, especially regarding foreign policy and ongoing conflict with Iran.
This episode captures the immediate fallout from Trump's ill-fated White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech—portrayed as an embarrassing, unfunny, and worrying display of cognitive decline. The brothers and their media clips convey shock, concern, and amusement-tinged horror, while also sounding alarms about the real dangers posed by erratic leadership, especially regarding Iran policy. The episode closes on a hopeful note—with Pete Buttigieg exemplifying the integrity and honesty that the MeidasTouch hosts wish to see restored in American politics.