Trump has Panic Attack as his Event is Total Failure

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: The MeidasTouch Podcast
Episode Title: Trump has Panic Attack as his Event is Total Failure
Date: December 8, 2025
Hosts: Ben Meiselas, Brett Meiselas, Jordy Meiselas

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Main Theme

This episode dives into Donald Trump’s recent, bizarre attempt to host a makeshift Kennedy Center Awards event, painting it as a public relations disaster symptomatic of his declining mental state, detachment from national crises, and manipulative media tactics. The Meiselas brothers also dissect the broader state of the country and Trump administration failures—ranging from economic and geopolitical crises to corrupt media maneuvers—while urging their audience to support independent journalism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s “Fake” Kennedy Center Awards Event [02:01 – 06:26]

• Trump hosted what the hosts dub a “bizarre” and “utter failure” of a Kennedy Center Awards-like event—firing the original board, replacing it with MAGA loyalists, and awarding friends like Sylvester Stallone and members of Kiss.
  • Ben: “This thing was frickin’ weird. And the timing of it while the American people are suffering is something that is a sight to behold or that we don’t want to behold, but we must expose what’s going on.” [02:49]
• The event was used as a distraction from real issues, including:
  • Record US layoffs exceeding Great Recession levels
  • Surging prices, healthcare losses, and housing unaffordability
  • Escalating wars worldwide—in Congo, Thailand–Cambodia, Ukraine, Gaza

2. Critique of Trump’s Leadership and Disconnection [06:26 – 07:18]

• The brothers lampoon Trump’s claims about his own memory and gold-plated decor, playing several video clips highlighting his apparent confusion and narcissism.
  • Trump: “I have a good memory, so I can remember things, which is very fortunate. But just, I want to just be myself. So you have to be yourself. Johnny Carson, he was himself.” [05:24]
  • Ben, mocking: “You have a good memory. You have the… What are you talking about? You have the worst memory imaginable.” [05:43]
• Trump’s tangent about real gold vs. gold paint is mocked as out-of-touch amid crisis.
  • Trump: “You can never imitate real gold. They’ve tried to do it for years. Paint, gold paint. Mr. Paint never worked, Mr. President. You got to go for the real 24 karat gold.” [07:04]

3. The Tariff Dividend “Scam” [07:18 – 10:27]

• The hosts address the absurdity of Trump’s promises to pay down national debt and give “tariff rebate checks” to middle- and lower-income Americans, calling it a Ponzi scheme.
  • Ben: “No, you’re a con artist. You’re a scammer. You’re going to increase the debt and not give people the tariff rebate checks.” [09:18]
  • Trump: “I also think that…we’re making so much money with tariffs that we’ll also be able to make a nice dividend to middle income people.” [09:18]
• Hosts fact-check the claim, noting the actual deficit and federal spending have worsened under Trump, not improved.

4. Ukraine, Putin, and Trump’s “Peace Plan” [10:27 – 12:45]

• Trump blames President Zelensky for “not reading” his peace proposal and suggests Russia accepts it, exposing Trump’s alignment with Russian narratives.
  • Trump: “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal…His people love it, but he hasn’t read it. Russia’s fine with it.” [12:05]
• The hosts clarify the plan is a Russian-laundered “surrender,” and connect it to broader Trump administration efforts to undermine NATO, boost right-wing/Putin-sympathetic parties, and alienate Ukraine.

5. Media Manipulation & MAGA Media Ambitions [13:02 – 15:20]

• Trump is questioned about the proposed Netflix–Warner Brothers merger. He signals his willingness to meddle in media company deals, to consolidate media “for state regime propaganda.”
  • Trump: “That’s going to be for some economists to tell. And also… I’ll be involved in that decision, too. He came up, he was in the Oval Office last week. I have a lot of respect for him.” [14:36]
  • Ben: “Trump wants to make sure that he creates MAGA media. So he’s going to get involved in issues over antitrust and merger approvals to steer things to create state regime propaganda.” [13:34]
• Warning about the threats to independent media, the brothers emphasize the need for audience support.

6. Trump’s Foreign Policy: NATO, Refugees, Racist Policy [15:54 – 19:30]

• Replay of Trump’s 2023 video promising to “reevaluate” NATO as non-essential and blaming domestic political opponents as the real threat to Western civilization.
  • Trump (clip): “The greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia…it’s probably more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible USA-hating people that represent us.” [15:54]
• Hosts share polling data showing Trump is widely disliked among young voters and most Americans reject his racist, “whites-only” refugee stance.
  • Ben: “Trump’s policy is just white South Africans…He’s made up that there’s a fake white genocide in South Africa.” [17:15]
• The hosts rigorously fact-check Trump’s claims about international conflicts, highlighting continued wars and failure to deliver peace.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ben Meiselas: “This thing was frickin’ weird. And the timing of it while the American people are suffering is…a sight to behold or that we don’t want to behold, but we must expose.” [02:49]
• Trump: “You can never imitate real gold. They’ve tried to do it for years. Paint, gold paint…Mr. Paint never worked, Mr. President. You got to go for the real 24 karat gold.” [07:04]
• Ben, on tariffs: “No, you’re a con artist. You’re a scammer. You’re going to increase the debt and not give people the tariff rebate checks.” [09:18]
• Trump, about music: “It’s something that has to be soft and soothing to your ear. I like some songs that other people don’t like. You ever hear the expression, that’s why they have menus in restaurants?” [13:10]
• Ben, on Trump’s white South African refugee policy: “You know how pathetic and small and racist you look, Donald?” [17:30]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:01 – Opening salvo: Trump’s failed Kennedy Center event, broader national crises
• 05:24 – Trump’s memory and self-adulation, direct audio clip
• 06:26 – Out-of-touch gold paint tangent
• 09:18 – Tariff rebate debunked
• 12:05 – Trump’s “peace plan” and Russia/Ukraine comments
• 13:10 – “What makes a song great?”—Trump’s meandering musical philosophy
• 14:36 – Trump muses on intervening in corporate media mergers
• 15:54 – Flashback: Trump’s anti-NATO rhetoric from 2023
• 17:15 – Discussion of Trump administration’s racist refugee policies

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Tone and Style

The episode is comedic, energetic, and unapologetically partisan in its criticism of Trump and defense of democracy. The brothers blend serious fact-checking and news analysis with snark and irreverent banter, reinforcing their outsider, grassroots media perspective.

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Conclusion

The MeidasTouch brothers paint a damning portrait of Donald Trump’s chaotic post-presidency, from dysfunctional media stunts to destructive policy. They fact-check headline-grabbing claims, poke fun at Trump’s out-of-touch statements, and warn of the growing threat posed by MAGA media consolidation and race-baiting policies—culminating in a rallying cry to strengthen independent journalism and preserve democracy.

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Transcript

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[D]

Looking good there, Donald. That's a real picture of Donald Trump at this bizarre Kennedy Center Award thing that he decided to host last night. It was an utter failure. Donald Trump was like, yeah, you can't look at the ratings though, now with streaming. But let's talk about what was actually happening in the country while Donald Trump was doing this bizarre event. We learned yesterday that US Layoffs are now officially on track to exceed the amount of layoffs during the great financial crises in recent history. So more than the Great Recession? Potentially more than Covid. We've already lost 1.1 million jobs, up 54% from the prior year under former President Biden, and that number may get close to 2 million before the year closes and the appropriate adjustments are made with tons of upward revisions that we've seen coming. So as prices are surging, as Americans are having their healthcare ripped away from them by this Trump regime, as Americans can't afford housing, what's Donald Trump doing again after giving himself a fake FIFA peace prize? Okay. At the same time, we are seeing an acceleration of war in Congo and acceleration of war in Thailand and Cambodia, an acceleration of war in Ukraine from Russia's unlawful invasion, an acceleration and a continuation of the killings in Gaza. While all of this is happening, Donald Trump says he's going to host a Kennedy Center Awards where he fired the entire board, made his own MAGA weirdos part of this board, and gave out medals to Sylvester Stallone and like members of the band Kiss. This thing was frickin weird. And the timing of it while the American people are suffering is something that is a sight to behold or that we don't want to behold, but we must expose what's going on. While we're at it. Let me just remind you the Midas Touch Network YouTube channel is under attack by by the Trump regime. They in state regime media known as Fox. I'm sure you've heard the stories and you've seen their post. They want to shut us down. They're going after us. They want us destroyed. They're going after our hosts. We're on our way to 6 million subscribers on this YouTube channel. We are leading independent media in exposing Trump and in views we get more views than Fox and all cable news combined pretty much at this point. So please, if you can subscribe. You may think you're subscribed, but you're not. Help us get to 6 million subscribers. Sorry for taking time out of the video to explain that, but it's really important to be to grow this channel to keep exposing Trump. So please hit subscribe if you can. So here, Donald Trump at this bizarre Kennedy center event. As we all know that Donald Trump's mental capacity is deteriorating, that could be an understatement. Le Kimby, anybody? Lembi. Here's what Donald Trump says. He's got a good memory. Here, play this clip.

[C]

How do you prepare for hosting this year's Kennedy Center? You had so much on your plate. Where do you play? And I didn't really prepare very much. I read a little bit. I have a good memory, so I can remember things, which is very fortunate. But just I want to just be myself. So you have to be yourself. Johnny Carson, he was himself.

[D]

You have a good memory. You have the. What are you talking about? You have the worst memory imaginable. Then Donald Trump knows that, like, no one's watching this thing. So he's like, like, ratings are a very complicated thing because of streaming right now. Here, play this clip.

[C]

What are you people watching in those days? What are you expecting, Mr. President, in terms of ratings for this year's Kennedy Central?

Ratings are complicated now because you have streaming added on and everything else. But I think it'll do very big. I mean, just look, just based on what you see right here, if you, if you came here last year, you saw a line that was about one tenth this size. You weren't even here last year. Right? I was here.

[D]

Then. Donald Trump talks about the things that I know. It's a very pressing concerns to all Americans. And Donald Trump, who's basically painted the Oval Office gold, he wants you to know that the thing about gold, no imitations. You can't just use gold paint. He says, I'm not sure if that was a pressing issue that you've been focused on, but I'm just letting you know you need real gold, okay? You can't use golden paint. That's what Donald Trump wants you to know right now, as we approach 2026, as the world is on fire with wars, as people in America can't afford things. He wants you to know about golden paint versus real gold. Everybody here play this clip.

[C]

But they had the fake gold. You know, the one thing about gold, you can never imitate real gold. They've tried to do it for years. Paint, gold paint. Mr. Paint never worked, Mr. President. You got to go for the real 24 karat gold. Yes.

[D]

Then Donald Trump is asked this ridiculous question there. Even the whole framing of this question is kind of ridiculous. The reporter goes, some Republicans have expressed concern that if you're going to give tariff rebate checks to the people with all the money that's been brought in from tariffs instead of paying down the debt, how would you respond to this, Donald? Okay, before I play you this clip, Donald Trump ain't giving anybody tariff rebate checks, okay? By the way, in the National Defense Authorization act, they've removed any reference to affordable housing. They removed helping service members get coverage for IVF, okay? Where they're removing IVF coverage for service members. They ain't giving you $2,000, okay? Let's be very clear. Just like the 5,000 Doge dividend checks, when SC artist fraudster, Ponzi schemer Donald Trump said that we haven't taken in all that much money from tariffs either. We haven't. We've taken in what, 200 billion, 300 billion from tariffs. But guess what's increasing our deficit year over year? The deficits increasing at a far higher rate right now than under former President Biden. Federal spending is up significantly. Despite all the disastrous things that Doge did, the federal government is still spending more. And guess what else? Trillions of dollars in debt are being added by Donald Trump. And the Treasury Department wants to brag that the treasury yields are up on the 10 and 30 year treasury notes. Yeah, that's a bad thing.

[F]

Okay.

[D]

That means the cost of borrowing is higher. It's not something to brag about. All right, now, with that as prelude, let me show you Donald Trump here saying that, you know, we're going to try to both pay down the debt and give people tariff rebate checks. No, you're a con artist. You're a scammer. You're going to increase the debt and not give people the tariff rebate checks. Here, play this clip.

[C]

Some Republicans have expressed concern about using the tariffs, the revenue for a dividend, saying we should be paying down the national debt. We will. What's your. But I also think that, you know, we're making so much money with tariffs that will also be able to make a nice dividend to middle income people. We're talking about middle income and lower income people. We're not talking about dividends to rich people. But there's so much money being made from the tariffs and countries that were taking advantage of us for many, many years are not taking advantage of us anymore. We're taking in tremendous amounts of money from countries that we were losing lots of money to. And you know what? They're okay with it. They're not complaining. They're not complaining about the tariffs and rather not have them, but they're not saying there's anything wrong. And the big thing is in the court, we have tremendous flexibility with the current system. It's unbelievable for national security. I've ended eight wars largely because of trade and because of tariffs. If we go the other tariff route and there are other routes we can go, but it won't give you the same pure national security security as this one. This one is swift and very powerful, Mr. President.

[D]

And then of course, Donald Trump has to attack Ukrainian President Zelensky and says I'm disappointed that Zelensky didn't read our peace plan. Donald was in a peace plan and he read was a plan of surrender that you and Putin came up with. That was laundered through Wit Cough and Kushner and presented to Zelensky it was Putin's plan. We have the audio recordings thanks to Bloomberg of Witkoff speaking to Yuri Ushakov and Kyril Dmitriev from Russia saying, here's the surrender plan. Go and give it to your boy Zelinsky. That's what went down. I'm paraphrasing a little, but that's what went down on the phone call. Okay. And by the way, I've been covering this a lot. I'll just mention it again, that the United States official national security strategy document that talks about all of the future national security prior priorities under the Trump regime, talks about dismantling the European Union, removing the perception of NATO as a permanent expanding organization and propping up right wing groups with the Trump regime calls the patriotic European movements, which means Russian. And Putin back groups like the AfD in Germany, the Reform Party in the UK and groups like that that are right wing extremist groups that support Putin. Here's Donald Trump attacking Zelensky. Play this clip. What's your next step in Russia? Ukraine talks after last week's negotiations.

[C]

So we've been speaking to President Putin and we've been speaking to Ukrainian leaders, including Zelensky, President Zelinsky. And I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn't yet read the proposal. That was as of a few hours ago. His people love it, but he has it. Russia's fine with it. Russia's, you know, Russia. Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it, but not sure that Zelinsky is fine with it. His people love it, but he hasn't read it. So someday you'll explain that one to me, Jeff?

[D]

I don't have an explanation, sir. What?

[C]

What?

[D]

And then you just get ridiculous questions like, in your opinion, Donald, what makes a song great? The hell are we even. What are we. What are we doing here, folks? What makes a song great? Here, play this clip right here.

[C]

There's no question about it. Could be a problem.

[B]

Mr. President, you mentioned some of your favorite songs. In your opinion, what makes the song?

[C]

Well, it's something that has to be soft and soothing to your ear. I like some songs that other people don't like. You know, you ever hear the expression, that's why they have menus and restaurants. We're all different, we all know different things. Otherwise you just serve one meal and that would be it.

[D]

Are you a country music fan?

[C]

But I like, I like, I love country music. And we have. Hey, we have the king of country music tonight. That's another one.

[D]

And then Donald Trump is asked about the merger between Netflix and. And Warner Brothers. And Donald Trump says he wants to get involved in it. Look, as our editor in chief, Ron Philip Koski says, I don't care if the deal isn't approved on antitrust grounds. Media company consolidation is a crime inflicted on America, just like Citizens United. But if it is done to steer this deal to his pal Ellison to create an even worse situation, that would be yet another travesty, because that is what is going on here. That's what Trump wants to make sure that he creates MAGA media. So he's going to get involved in issues over antitrust and merger approvals to steer things to create state regime propaganda. By the way, another reason we need you to subscribe here to this YouTube channel right now so we can keep getting out the truth before they try to take us out. So you saw the clip of should Netflix be allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Right? We played that clip.

[C]

Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Should. Well, that's a question. They have a very big market share. And when they have Warner Brothers, you know, that chair goes up a lot. So I don't know. That's going to be for some economists to tell. And also. And I'll be involved in that decision, too. Did they make. They have a very big market share. Did he make any guarantees to you about the merger if they do? No, no, not at all. He came up. He was in the Oval Office last week. I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great. He's a great person, but he's done one of the greatest jobs in the history of movies and other things. He's. And he's got a lot of interesting things happening, aside from what you're talking about. But it is a big market share. There's no question about it. It could be a problem, Mr. President.

[D]

Okay, now I'll share with you. And I just want you to know, like, this is the stuff that we were covering back in 2023 when we had a much smaller audience. Again, this is why we need you to subscribe, because we were calling out what Trump's NATO plan was. We were showing you the videos that he was making, and no one was taking it seriously. You were taking it seriously. But corporate news wasn't. They were Biden, Biden, Biden, Biden stutters or whatever they were doing. But this is Trump March 16, 2023. This is a video we extensively covered on the Midas Touch network. Here, play this clip.

[F]

At home, the State Department, the Defense bureaucracy, the intelligence services and all of the rest need to be completely overhauled and reconstituted to fire the deep staters and put America first. We have to put America first. Finally, we have to finish the process we began under my administration of fundamentally reevaluating NATO's purpose and NATO's mission. Our foreign policy establishment keeps trying to pull the world into conflict with a nuclear armed Russia based on the lie that Russia represents our greatest threat. But the greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia. It's probably more than anything else, ourselves and some of the horrible USA hating people that represent us.

[D]

Now, I just want to give you these additional data points right now. Let me give you two data points. Data point number one, we have young voters right now running away from Donald Trump. Trump's net approval amongst young people right now is like negative 60%. It's like negative six, like the worst ever. Now on this other question, the U.S. should accept refugees from a variety of countries. 53% of Americans believe Americans should accept refugees from a variety of countries. The idea of not accepting any refugees. 19% of Americans say they support the idea of not accepting any refugees at all. Okay, now only accept white South African refugees. That's the current policy of the Trump regime. Only 3% of Americans support. Only except white South Africans. Okay? That means 97% of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump's policy regarding refugees abroad. Because Trump's policy is just white South Africans. Because Donald Trump has made up falsely, of course, because he's a liar, he's a con artist, he's a scammer, he's a sexual abuser, he's a horrible human being. He scumbag. I just keep going on, right? He's made up that there's a fake white genocide in South Africa. And on that basis, the US did not attend the G20. And so a great day for South Africa hosting the G20 with President Ramaphosa showing up. And then Trump said, I'm not inviting the South African President Ramaphosa to the United States when the United states hosts the G20 next year. You know how pathetic and small and racist you look, Donald? You know how ridiculous you look. You know how ridiculous it looks when you give yourself fake peace prizes. And then we see Thailand and Cambodia, who started this war under your regime, continuing to go out war when you promised that there was a peace deal, there's not even a ceasefire. You know, at the same time you claim that Congo and Rwanda entered into a peace deal, you know what's currently going on in Congo right now? M23 Rwanda back group Although Rwanda denies involvement, they're invading Congo. Congo is at war with Rwanda. Thailand's at war with Cambodia. Russia invaded Ukraine. And every week there's like 2,000 drone strikes and missile strikes combined. That's what's happening. That's the reality. Things are much worse under this pathetic, weak regime. And then they have the audacity to say that Europe is not an American ally. And Trump in this document, we're going to bring back the Monroe Doctrine with America asserting its spheres of influence in the Western hemisphere. And just even the way the U.S. refers to Canada in that document, as though it's like a, like a vassal state. Despicable. Despicable. All right, one more time. Subscribe. Help us get to 6 million. We need your help to get to 6 million. Thanks for watching. We appreciate you love this video, support independent media and unlock exclusive content, ad free videos and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

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