Howard Lutnick (5:40)

The best line I could say is let the greatest deal maker make his deals.

Ben Miceli (5:45)

Yeah, right.

Howard Lutnick (5:46)

When you, you don't bet on Donald Trump, you're making a mistake. He understands he's got great people around him. Let him work through the process of getting a better deal from everybody else in the world. We're going to do it smart. We're going to do it thoughtfully. We don't want to raise the price of these things like little toys on the shelf. Why would we want to do that? We love Americans.

Ben Miceli (6:07)

Yeah, but let folks, Donald Trump is literally the worst dealmaker of all time. Just go read Donald Trump's securities and Exchange Commission filing for Trump Media. Donald Trump bankrupted in the 90s, casino after casino. Then in the 2000s, bankrupted the reorganization of those casinos after casino. He destroyed Atlantic City. Donald Trump's never been a builder. He's a destroyer. He's bankrupted so many companies and he's destroyed so many companies that his name has been attached to. And he's doing the same scam and schemes now with the American economy. He's like, oh, he's the worst deal maker ever. Here's Jameson Greer, Donald Trump's top trade representative, being asked in this interview by Fox, have there been any talks at all with China? There's 145% tariffs against China. The ships from the ports in China are not coming to the United States anymore. We are heading towards a period of scarcity. It's right around the corner where products are not going to be on shelves. Here's what Jameson Greer, Trump's trade representative, says. Play this clip.

Jameson Greer (7:21)

Leaders level with the president and the prime minister. But we stand ready to engage as.

Howard Lutnick (7:25)

Last thing for the people who look at this policy and say this is designed to put pressure on China. It's all designed to kind of put the squeeze on China. Is that a fair assessment? Are you trying to get China to the table in a weakened negotiating state? Because that's the biggest adversary.

Jameson Greer (7:43)

I think that's a very Washington thing.

Howard Lutnick (7:45)

Look, look at it.

Jameson Greer (7:47)

I think it is, you know, for me, we're worried about the United States of America. We have this giant trade deficit. We have offshore manufacturing. Our ag exports are way down. It's a affecting normal people in the country. We want them to have jobs, we want them to have opportunities. Obviously, China is a huge part of this and we want to make sure that we have fair trade with China.

Howard Lutnick (8:08)

And they're not official talks yet, right?

Jameson Greer (8:10)

Not yet. Not yet. I did speak with my counterpart before April 2nd for a long time over an hour. It was a virtual meeting, but I thought it was constructive. This is not a plan just to encircle China. It's a plan to fix the American economy. To have a greater share of manufacturing as gdp, to have real wages. Real wages go up to be producing things. Instead of having an economy that's financed by the government. We want to make real stuff and sell it. And it means we. We have to deal with foreign trade practices that are harmful, including in China and elsewhere.

Howard Lutnick (8:40)

Serve for the companies.

Ben Miceli (8:41)

Did you hear what he said? This is Trump's top trade representative. I want you to hear it in his own words that there has not been a single discussion, not one, since April 2, when Trump announced Liberation Day, which is liquidation or Great Recession Day. Not one. But Donald Trump says it's fine. Donald Trump says suck it up. Donald Trump says pain and suffering should be what is inflicted on American families. Donald Trump mocks children getting toys. Here's a photo of Donald Trump from what, probably 15, 20 years ago or maybe more at this point. Donald Trump, Melania. And that's Barron at the time. Just look at where Donald Trump lives. He literally lived in a penthouse that was. It's probably fake gold. Who knows? But that's made of gold. He has a golden toilet bowl seat. Not because he's a great businessman. He inherited daddy's money. His dad was uber wealthy. Then Trump got into a fight with all of the family members over the inheritance. I think. I think I saw reports that if basically Donald Trump did almost nothing with the money, he'd have more money than had he done a lot of his failed endeavors. But that's him over there. But here's Donald Trump saying, look who's going to really complain about the economy. Children who want more dolls. Children. Children who want their dolls. Here, play this clip.

Howard Lutnick (10:12)

Much of it we don't need. You know, somebody said, oh, the shelves are going to be open. Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we're not talking about something that we have to go out of our way. They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don't need.

Ben Miceli (10:35)

I mean, how tone deaf can you be? And by the way, isn't that a literal war on Christmas that Donald Trump saying he's going after kids and kids wanting toys? It's not just kids and toys, though, right? It's going to be parts to air conditioning it's going to be lots of hardware parts, and there's lots of products that we import from China that's not going to be arriving. The ships are not coming. And Donald Trump knows that. That's why he's blaming next quarter on former President Biden. All this guy does is blame, blame, blame. Here was Donald Trump yesterday saying, even next quarter is going to be bad because of former President Biden playing this clip.

Howard Lutnick (11:15)

The stock market in this case is. It says how bad a situation we inherited. I took place. This is a quarter that we looked at today. And I took, we took all of us together. We came in on January 20th. So this is Biden. And you can even say the next quarter is sort of Biden because it doesn't just happen on a daily or an hourly basis.

Ben Miceli (11:38)

What former next quarter? I guess, what, in 2029, it won't be Biden's fault anymore? Is that it? I want to show you this as well, because this video over here really hit home to me. A Reuters drone captured detainees, Venezuelan detainees, at the Blue Bonnet Immigrant Detention center in Texas. And you'll see these people here spelling out the message to the outside world, S.O.S. they need help. No one has been able to get access to this Blue Bonnet facility. That's where they go right before they get shipped to the concentration camp in El Salvador to be disappeared and never heard from again. Here they are at this facility. I mean, when you see this, you have to think to yourself, this is what America has become. Play this clip. As Chris Hayes says, this is America now. Your kids get a max of two toys, then they grow up, as Howard Lutnick said in another interview, to work in the same factory as their father and grandfather screwing in tiny screws in an iPhone. That's the American dream. Take it. Take it. Want to show you this as well. Donald Trump was asked about his attacks on universities, his attacks on Harvard, by Stephen A. Smith during an interview late last night. Donald Trump then confuses Harvard with Harlem. And Donald Trump starts talking about getting black votes in Harlem. Play this clip. Mr. President, thank you for your time. And it's interesting that you brought up Harvard, because when people think about Harvard, what they're basically talking about is they're asking, what do you say to those who view your actions as an attack on academic freedom rather than a defense of fairness? What do you say to that?

Howard Lutnick (14:03)

Well, I say this. We had riots in Harlem. In Harlem. And frankly, if you look at what's gone on and people from Harlem went up and they protested Stephen, and they protested very strongly against Harvard. They happened to be on my side. You know, I got a very high black vote, you know, that very, very high black vote. It was a very great compliment to me. I did criminal justice reform. I did opportunity zones for one of the greatest economic deals ever for the black and Hispanic community. I got tremendous. They agree with what I'm doing with respect to Harvard. Harvard gets four or five.

Ben Miceli (14:44)

And finally, I want to report that Mohsen Madawi, who is a permanent resident here in the United States, was released based on the order of a federal judge. He was one of the leaders in the protest of Colombia. And let me just read for you what the federal judge said in this order. Jeffrey Crawford, the judge in Wednesday's ruling, wrote that those who know Madawi describe him as a peaceful figure who seeks consensus in a highly charged political environment. Judge Crawford added though even if he were a firebrand, his conduct is protected by the First Amendment. The court is aware that he has offended his political opponents and apparently given rise to concerns at the State Department that he is an obstacle to American foreign policy based on his support of Palestine. Such conduct is insufficient to support a finding that he is in any way a danger, as we use the term in the context of detention and release. Legal residents like Madawi, not charged with crimes or misconduct, are being arrested and threatened with deportation for stating their views on political issues of the day. For Madawi, it's a free Palestine, crawford said, citing the red scare and McCarthy error targeting of political people for their views. The wheel of history has come around around again. But as before, these times of excess will pass. I think we have to make sure that we're fighting for it to pass. It's not inevitable that it will pass. And what we try to do here on the Midas Touch Network every day is highlight the authoritarian tactics of this Trump regime. Thanks for watching. Hit subscribe and help us get to 5 million subscribers. New Midas Merch Drop Check out the latest pro democracy sticker packs, T shirts, hats, sweatshirts and more, all at store midas.com.