Trump Loses it as Redactions of Himself Uncovered!!

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Trump Loses it as Redactions of Himself Uncovered!!
Date: February 2, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the explosive revelations and ongoing cover-up attempts surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files—most notably the bizarre, unsuccessful efforts by the Trump DOJ to redact Trump’s own face from released photos. The Meiselas brothers expose the global and domestic ramifications of these documents, highlighting the damage to the Trump brand, U.S. democracy, and the broader world order. With their signature mixture of biting humor and sharp analysis, the hosts scrutinize both new bombshell evidence and public figures’ responses, from Trump’s bizarre Kennedy Center shutdown to MAGA politicians spinning the Epstein fallout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump DOJ Botches Epstein Files Redactions

[02:57–05:30]

• The hosts reveal that recently released documents show the Trump Department of Justice trying—and failing—to obscure Trump’s face in photos from the Epstein files. The attempt was “so sloppy that it’s obvious it’s him.”
• Ben notes the partial nature of the release (3 million documents out, but an estimated 50 million pages remain, possibly holding the more damning content).
• The files reference Donald Trump over 5,000 times “in some of the most disgusting, grotesque and vile ways imaginable.”
• Notable global ramifications:
  • Lord Mandelson (UK): Resigned from the Labour Party after being implicated in the Epstein documents.
  • Slovakia’s National Security Advisor: Resigned over Epstein links.
  • The files expose extensive communication between Epstein and major world leaders—including Vladimir Putin, with over 1,000 mentions, suggesting a possible KGB connection.
• Quote:

  “Some of the documents produced are devastating. They’re toppling world leaders.” – [03:48, Ben]

2. Inside the International Corruption Web

[05:30–09:40]

• Analysis of a newly revealed $500 million secret deal between the Trump family and UAE royals, occurring just before Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
• The Trump side received large upfront payments—in some cases for companies/products that “didn’t really exist.” In apparent quid pro quo, the UAE subsequently received access to classified U.S. semiconductor chips.
• Quote:

  “World Liberty Financial did not really even have any product at all…what they did get in, what appears to be a quid pro quo, is access to the most classified semiconductor chips in the United States.” – [07:39, Ben]

• Broader point: Trump’s foreign corruption and how these moves damage national security.

3. Trump’s Kennedy Center Collapse

[09:40–13:25]

• Trump’s public posts claim he “saved” the Kennedy Center (dubbed by him as the “Trump Kennedy Center”), but he then moves to shutter the institution for two years.
• Staff and executives flee, musicians cancel, audiences disappear—culminating in a national embarrassment.
• The hosts refute Trump’s claims of fixing a “failing” Kennedy Center, noting it was operating with net positive income as a nonprofit.
• Satirical rundown of Trump’s “business graveyard” (failed ventures from Trump Steaks to Trump Taj Mahal)—drawing a parallel to his stewardship of the Kennedy Center and the U.S. government.
• Quote:

  “Donald Trump’s view of making the Kennedy Center better is shutting it down and bankrupting it and taking away a national treasure from our country.” – [12:45, Ben]

4. Geopolitics & Declining U.S. Standing

[13:25–14:44]

• Ex-Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett glorifies Trump's “reordering of the world order” at Davos, touting U.S. growth.
• Ben and the brothers lampoon Hassett’s narrative, pointing to the U.S. being “cut out” of major global trade deals (EU with India, China–Canada, Europe–South America).
• Quote:

  “We are reordering the World Order and it’s going to end up being great for everybody.” – [14:18, Kevin Hassett]
  “Yeah, you are reordering the World Order where America is the weakest.” – [14:44, Ben]

5. Epstein Fallout & The Trump/MAGA Defense Machine

[15:41–18:58]

• House Speaker Mike Johnson (MAGA Mike) goes on record claiming Trump has “never had any concern” over the Epstein documents, spinning Trump’s past actions as him being the whistleblower on Epstein.
  • Quote:

    “He’s never had any concern about that at all.” – [16:02, Mike Johnson]

• Fox commentator rails against “compassion, empathy, and inclusion” as being “weaponized against us, especially us as women.”
  • Quote:

    “Words like compassion, empathy and inclusion have been weaponized against us. What the hell are these people talking about?” – [16:52, Fox clip, commentary Ben]

• Trump’s ex-defense attorney Todd Blanche, now DOJ deputy, tries to minimize Trump’s social media rants while deflecting on the administration’s child separation/asylum abuses.
  • Quote:

    “The president’s priorities are executing on making America safe again. And that’s what we’re doing.” – [17:41, Todd Blanche]

  • George Stephanopoulos presses Blanche on the kidnapping of Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old separated under Trump policies, resulting in a tense exchange and Blanche dodging specifics.
  • Ben notes:

    “Apparently Todd Blanche has attended the Mike Johnson ‘I haven’t seen it and I don’t know what words mean’ school of lies.” – [18:58, Ben]

6. Midterms and the Erosion of MAGA Power

[18:58–End]

• Sudden Democratic win in Texas State Senate District 9 (a +31 overperformance) demonstrates MAGA weakness and an energized opposition—“a major warning sign” for Republicans.
• Even Ron DeSantis publicly acknowledges the upset as a “major red alert” for the GOP heading into the midterms.

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Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “We clearly can tell that this is Donald Trump in this photo right here… but the Trump DOJ redacted his face, but they did it in such a way that is so sloppy that it’s obvious it’s him.” – [03:02, Ben]
• “Some of the documents produced are devastating. They’re toppling world leaders.” – [03:48, Ben]
• “Epstein’s sex empire was entirely a KGB honey trap.” – [04:38, referencing media reports]
• “World Liberty Financial did not really even have any product at all…” – [07:39, Ben]
• “Donald Trump’s view of making the Kennedy Center better is shutting it down and bankrupting it and taking away a national treasure from our country.” – [12:45, Ben]
• “We are reordering the World Order and it’s going to end up being great for everybody.” – [14:18, Kevin Hassett]
• “Yeah, you are reordering the World Order where America is the weakest.” – [14:44, Ben]
• “He’s never had any concern about that at all.” – [16:02, Mike Johnson]
• “Words like compassion, empathy and inclusion have been weaponized against us. What the hell are these people talking about?” – [16:52, Fox clip, commentary Ben]
• “Apparently Todd Blanche has attended the Mike Johnson ‘I haven’t seen it and I don’t know what words mean’ school of lies.” – [18:58, Ben]
• “What happened in Texas is a major warning sign, major red alert for MAGA Republicans heading into the midterms.” – [19:50, referencing Desantis]

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Segment Timestamps

• Epstein Files Redactions & Fallout: [02:57–09:40]
• Kennedy Center Controversy: [09:40–13:25]
• International Trade & U.S. Weakness: [13:25–14:44]
• MAGA Politicians Respond to Epstein Leaks: [15:41–18:58]
• Midterms/Electoral Shifts: [18:58–End]

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Tone & Style

The Meiselas brothers blend outrage, humor, and detailed research—combining lawyerly analysis, pop-culture references, and biting satire. Their banter moves fluidly from breaking news to historical parallels, with a focus on defending democratic norms while lampooning Trumpist talking points.

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For New Listeners

This episode provides an incisive, news-driven breakdown for anyone wanting to understand recent bombshell developments in U.S. politics, global power shifts, and the far-reaching effects of the Epstein files. The brothers cut through political spin, presenting facts and context with their characteristic candor and wit.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host]

Get [e-mail] Donald Trump is losing it and he has ordered his Department of Justice to redact his face. From photos of him in the Epstein files, we clearly can tell that this is Donald Trump in this photo right here in a text message between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein when they're talking about Jair Bolsonaro, the leader of Brazil attending his inauguration with wearing a colostomy bag. You see this photo of Donald Trump. Obviously Trump is the person in this photo, but the Trump DOJ redacted his face, but they did it in such a way that is so sloppy that it's obvious it's him. And we know that the Epstein files that were produced on Friday, while it includes a ton of bombshells, is only a partial production. The Department of Justice released 3 million documents, but we believe there's at least 3 million more documents that have not been released by the way, by the Department of Justice's own admission. But what they don't say is that could actually total about 50 million pages if those documents include multiple pages, as we've seen before. So there is a massive cover up still taking place and we believe the most devastating documents have not been produced yet. But wow. Some of the documents produced are devastating. They're toppling world leaders who are referenced in the Epstein files. But the Trump cabal continues to claim they're vindicated despite the fact that Donald Trump is referenced over 5,000 times in the Epstein files that were produced on Friday in some of the most disgusting, grotesque and vile ways imaginable. And I've been covering it here in the Midas. Go back and watch those videos because the things it says about Donald Trump are disgusting. But you have Lord Mandelson from the United Kingdom who used to be the UK Ambassador to the United States. He resigned as the Ambassador to the United States when the Epstein Epstein estate released photos and documents that included him a few months back. He's now fully resigning from the Labor Party over the Epstein files. Latest tranche produced by the DOJ on Friday cuz he's Referenced in some really grotesque ways. There's photos of him in his underwear. It's gross. Also, you have Slovak. Gross is an understatement. Let's just be very clear. You have Slovakia's Prime Minister's national security advisor resigning over Epstein links. There's multiple communications there talking about girls. And one of the revelations as well is the amount of communications Epstein's claim that he was having with Vladimir Putin. There's over 1,000 references in the Epstein files to Putin. And Epstein speaks to people like former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. He speaks with the former Prime Minister of Norway. He speaks to leaders in the United Arab Emirates and others about having meetings with Putin and conveying and shuffling information back and forth with Putin. You know, such that you had a Daily Mail and Telegraph report over the weekend say that Epstein's sex empire was entirely a KGB honey trap. I'm going to go and do a whole video on that this morning. So I want you to watch that if you can. But I'll just read for you this email right now, dated May 22, 2013. It's an email from Jeffrey Epstein to Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel. And Epstein says Putin asked that I meet with him in St. Petersburg the same time as his economic conference. I told him no. If he wants to meet, he will need to set aside real time in privacy. Let's see what happens. And there's a lot more messages like that that talk about meetings. I want to talk about domestic affairs, though, right now in the United States because as Trump is losing it over the release of the Epstein files, he's redacting his face from photos. He's all over these files. Elon Musk is all over the files. Peter Thiel is mentioned repe repeatedly. You have people like Howard Lutnick named repeatedly. I wanna talk about the American people who are suffering right now, because you have right now, based on the latest consumer confidence reports, the worst economic record of any president since 1960 at this point. I mean, take a look right here. Americans right now feel the economy is devastatingly harmful to them. And that's because it is. People feel the way it is not the gaslighting from Donald Trump and his regime. I know that Donald Trump is more focused on doing deals with the United Arab Emirates. By the way, the UAE leaders are all over the Epstein files having communications with Epstein. I know that Donald Trump's more focused on bringing money into his family and he's more focused on golden arches and golden ballrooms and shutting down the Kennedy center and destroying the treasure that was the Kennedy Center. But the American people are suffering right now. I mean, just think about what we learned in the past 24 hours. Some great reporting over here from the Wall Street Journal talked about how four days before Trump's inauguration, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million. According to documents and people familiar, the buyer paid half up front, steering $170 million to Trump family entities and $31 million to Steve Witkoff entities. The investment was backed by the UAE National Security Advisor, Tanoon Bin Zaid. And if you look at who's a part of World Liberty Financial, it's the wit coughs. It's the Trumps who enriched themselves. And by the way, World Liberty Financial did not really even have any product at all. They had like a, like a digital token. But the money that was paid by the UAE didn't even give them access to the digital token. But what they did get in what appears to be a quid pro quo is access to the most classified semiconductor chips in the United States that every prior administration deemed not only a national security risk if those chips got into the hands of a country like the uae, because it would quickly then get to China, but something that would be absolutely catastrophic to our national security. But the Trump regime gave the UAE those semiconductor chips and all of our technology, highly classified stuff after the UAE did that deal with Donald Trump. So utterly, utterly pathetic. But look, Donald Trump's been posting more about the arch that he wants to build. He wants it 250ft tall. It would block the Lincoln Memorial. It would be kind of right in that location in the Washington Mall, blocking the Lincoln Memorial. Donald Trump was also ranting and raving about the Kennedy center all day. He was making posts like the following. The former leadership of the Kennedy center created a broken budget and failed this great institution. $100 million operating deficits, $26 million bottom line deficits under Donald Trump. We have a balanced budget, a balanced budget of the Kennedy Center. And Donald Trump writes, people don't realize the Trump Kennedy center suffered massive deficits for many years. And like everything else, I merely came in to save it, if possible, make it far better than ever before. President DONALD J. Trump So that's what he reposted earlier in the day. That was a message that he also wrote on January 26th. So, Donald, how are you making, making it better? What are you doing to improve the Kennedy Center? Oh, On Sunday, Donald Trump announces that he's shutting it down. In this post right here, where he rans and raves like a lunatic. He said that in order to bring the Kennedy center to its maximum grandeur, which he unlawfully calls the Trump Kennedy center when there's no congressional approval for that. It's a memorial for former President Kennedy and Trump. Trump plastered his name on it. But Trump says to improve its grandeur, Donald Trump says he's shutting it down for two years, and maybe he'll open it up sometime in the future. But what the reality is is that all the staff from the Kennedy center are resigning. Its executives are resigning. Trump got rid of the prior board, brought in a new board. That's been absolutely horrible. All of the performers and musical acts started canceling their shows, and people weren't showing up. It was empty and embarrassing. And so the Trump regime had to shut it down because it was becoming such an embarrassment. I want to fact check, though, what Donald Trump says, that the Kennedy center was a failure before or that it wasn't turning a profit. It's a nonprofit. The Kennedy center is a nonprofit. So inherently, it's not supposed to need to make a profit. But it did have net income. Its revenue in 2024 was $266 million, and its revenue was $306 million. Its expenses were $266 million. So it had a net operating income of $40 million. Even though it was a nonprofit, it had net income of $40 million. So you're saying, did Donald Trump lie? Yeah, Donald Trump lies about everything. And so Donald Trump's view of making the Kennedy center better is shutting it down and bankrupting it and taking away a national treasure from our country. So now it joins the list of other Trump failed businesses. Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump board games, Trump University, Trump Mattresses, Trump Ice, Trump Shuttle, Trump Vitamins and urine test kits, Tour de Trump New Jersey Generals, Trump Modeling, Trump Princess Trump Mortgage Trump Success Cologne. Trump Magazine, Trump Style, Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Castle, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Trump Entertainment, Trump Marina, Trump Casino Indiana, Trump Travel Agency, Trump Net Telecom, Trump Tower, Tampa, Trump Empire Cologne, Paris is out Musical. And now the United States of America. I don't know how somebody could look at someone who's destroyed all of those businesses and go, that's a smart businessman right there. And just take a look at this photo of Donald Trump standing in front. Senator Andy Kim says he's standing in front of his casinos in New Jersey that he destroyed. And Andy Kim goes. We here in New Jersey. He's the United States Senator from New Jersey. We here in New Jersey know Trump's track record of crash and burn property management. We can't let him do this to the Kennedy center, what he did to Atlantic City. And that's precisely what he's doing at the Kennedy center and to our country right now and to our alliances. You had Kevin Hassett, Donald Trump's national economic adviser, he was doing the weekend shows and he kept on talking about, we're reordering the World Order. Listen to what he said.

[Kevin Hassett]

Don't forget that when we were here in the spring of last year, everybody was saying that we're going to cause a global recession and so on. And President Trump just went really into the mouth of the beast. He went to Davos and he said, hey, not only is the US booming with our growth north of 5%, but you guys are booming, too, because when the US booms, the world booms. And so we are reordering the World Order and it's going to end up being great for everybody.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, you are reordering the World Order where America is the weakest. Right now, we've seen the European Union enter into what they refer to as the mother of all trade deals with India. You have China and Canada entering into a massive trade deal. And Trump's like, if they do that deal, Canada's gonna lose ice hockey right now. Okay? You have. You have Canada making deals with Europe, you have Europe making deals with South America. And the United States is cut out of all of this as Donald Trump's wayward, destructive, malicious, idiotic policies are crippling our. Let's check in, though, with what MAGA Mike Johnson had to say over the weekend about the fact that Donald Trump's name is all over the Epstein files in the most grotesque and disgusting ways. This is. This is Trump sycophant, the speaker of the House. Right now, MAGA Mike Johnson here. Play this clip.

[Interviewer]

President Trump's name appears throughout the Epstein files, including in many of the new documents released this week. Now, we want to stress appearing in the Epstein files does not amount to or imply criminal wrongdoing. But do you have any outstanding questions, given that, about the relationship between President Trump and Jeffrey Epstein?

[MAGA Mike Johnson]

I do not. I mean, I've spoken to the President about this privately and personally many times, and he's spoken very candidly and openly to the public. He says the same things privately that he does publicly. He's never had any concern about that. Remember, President Trump was one of the first people that called Ed Epstein out, he kicked him out of Mar a Lago, off the property because he heard of some of the nefarious things he was engaged in. He's never had any concern about that at all.

[Interviewer]

He did at one point call these files a Democratic hoax. But let me ask you about something.

[MAGA Mike Johnson]

Well, what he said specifically was the hoax of the Democrats trying to turn this into a political issue and use it against him.

[Podcast Host]

And let's check in right now with Fox reporter gains. Let's see what she has to say about the state of our country here. Play this clip. Yeah, I believe that words like compassion.

[Kevin Hassett]

And empathy and inclusion and love, they've been weaponized against us, especially us as women.

[Podcast Host]

Now coming up. Yeah, she goes, words like compassion, empathy and inclusion have been weaponized against us. What the hell are these people talking about? And then you have Donald Trump's former former criminal defense attorney who's now the number two at the doj, Todd Blanche. He's been all over the press as Pam Bondi. Donald Trump's attorney general's too scared to show up in public right now. And you have Todd Blanche saying that when Donald Trump puts social media posts, those don't represent his priorities. Here, play this clip.

[Todd Blanche]

Well, you just, you just actually made my point right there. You said it's the president's priorities. The president calls for them publicly to be prosecuted, says they're guilty as hell and then they're prosecuted.

[Interviewer/George Stephanopoulos]

Now that's not the president's priorities. That's a truth that he sent out. The president's priorities are executing on making America safe again. And that's what we're doing. And so when we go to prosecutors and we say you are going to do violent crime, you are going to do fraud cases out of Minnesota, because that's a horrible thing that's happening there. If individual prosecutors say, no, I don't want to do that, they, they need to leave and they do leave.

[Podcast Host]

And, and then you have George Stephanopoulos examining Todd Blanche about Liam Ramos, the five year old who was kidnapped by the Trump regime in Minneapolis. And take a look at this exchange. Let's play this clip.

[Todd Blanche]

I should say to clarify, the lawyer for Liam Ramos and his father say they were following the legal process for asylum.

[Interviewer/George Stephanopoulos]

I mean, I don't know what that means. They were following legal process. So apply for a judge disagreed with us.

[Todd Blanche]

Excuse me. They applied for asylum and they were going through the legal process.

[Interviewer/George Stephanopoulos]

Well, there's so that's not true. That is not true. There's a very meaningful dispute about whether they had properly applied for asylum. And again, I don't, I cannot get into the specifics, the specifics of this litigation. But you can read the same briefs I can. And what you just said is not true.

[Todd Blanche]

Okay. That's what his lawyer says. So they, I'm sure they'll have a response to that as well. I also want to ask, and as.

[Podcast Host]

Our friend Lee McGowan says, apparently Todd Blanche has attended the Mike Johnson, I haven't seen it and I don't know what word means, what words mean school of lies. Now, MAGA Mike Johnson is also panicking as he's looking at the midterms where it looks like he's going to lose his job. We've been covering this a lot on the Midas Touch Network. There was that special election over the weekend in Texas State senate district number nine where a Democrat over performed by plus 31 points flipping a plus 17 Trump district to go plus 14 for Taylor remit. Big victory right there over the MAGA Republican candidate who was endorsed by Donald Trump. I'm going to do a whole other video this morning about Donald Trump panicking over that loss in Texas State Senate District 9 and how Texas is turning blue and how that was fueled by independents and Republicans voting for the Democratic candidate. Even Florida MAGA Governor Ron DeSantis posted on social media that what happened in Texas is a major warning sign, major red alert for MAGA Republicans heading into the midterms. So that's where we stand today. We'll keep you posted throughout this process, of course, hit subscribe, help us get to 6 million subscribers subscribers and we appreciate you so much. Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.