Trump SCREWS HIS TERM before it EVEN STARTS

Summary

Summary of "Trump SCREWS HIS TERM before it EVEN STARTS" – The MeidasTouch Podcast

Release Date: November 15, 2024

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Overview

In the episode titled "Trump SCREWS HIS TERM before it EVEN STARTS," hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas delve into the tumultuous beginnings of Donald Trump's administration. The brothers critically analyze Trump's initial nominations for key cabinet positions, the concerning behavior within the Republican Party, the failure of corporate media to address these issues adequately, and the broader international implications of these domestic decisions. The discussion underscores the urgency of defending democracy amidst alarming political developments.

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Trump’s Nominees: Analysis and Concerns

Brett Meiselas initiates the conversation by expressing frustration over Trump's cabinet selections, labeling them as the "weakest link" for those who expected responsible appointments. He lists controversial nominees, including:

• Matt Gaetz for Attorney General
• RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services
• Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence
• Christy Noem for Homeland Security
• Tom Homan for Border Czar
• Peter Hegseth for Secretary of Defense

He emphasizes the lack of qualifications and appropriateness of these choices, noting their potential to destabilize essential government functions. Brett states, “Donald Trump giving our nuclear codes to a dude named Hexith. That is where we are right now. The markets are not responding to it very favorably” ([01:00]).

Ben Meiselas echoes these concerns, highlighting the chaos induced by these nominations even before Trump officially takes office. He laments the “relatively calm and nice and quiet” expected by some, contrasting it with the "pandemonium" unfolding ([03:15]).

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Corporate Media and Its Failings

Both Brett and Jordan Meiselas critique the corporate media for prioritizing ratings over substantive reporting. Brett accuses media outlets of seeking "drama and torment" to boost their viewership, sidelining credible journalism. He remarks, “You have to remember Trump is presenting his nominations as a boost for cable ratings. But it's not about ratings; it's about governance” ([04:31]).

Jordan adds that corporate media’s penchant for "gamifying politics" undermines the seriousness of governmental decisions. She asserts, “Politics should never be gamified in such a way where it's a football game” ([06:36]).

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Internal Republican Critique

The hosts discuss the troubling statements and actions of Republican figures in response to Trump’s nominations. Brett shares clips where Republican Tony Gonzalez labels Matt Gaetz as engaging in unethical behavior, stating, “Gates is a scumbag who pays minors to have sex with him at drug parties” ([33:09]).

They also highlight Mike Huckabee’s extremist views on Middle Eastern geopolitics, including his refusal to acknowledge the West Bank's existence and denial of a Palestinian state:

• “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria” ([37:52])
• “There's really no such thing as a Palestinian Arabs and Persians” ([39:05])

Ben underscores the alarming trend of Republicans internally denouncing their own members, further destabilizing the party's stance.

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International Repercussions

The podcast extends its critique to the global stage, examining how Trump's administration could affect international relations, particularly with Russia and Ukraine. Brett points out the missed opportunity for de-escalation, noting Trump’s ineffective and contradictory approach:

• “Vladimir Putin denied having any conversations with Donald Trump. He called it pure fiction” ([52:55])
• “Donald Trump leaked to the Washington Post that he had called Vladimir Putin and said Putin De escalate” ([50:24])

They argue that Trump's actions have emboldened adversaries, leading to increased aggression instead of fostering peace.

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Discussion on Specific Nominees

The hosts delve deeper into specific nominees, highlighting their unfitness for the roles:

• Matt Gaetz: Accused of unethical behavior, Brett cites Gaetz’s own statements about purging the FBI if he becomes Attorney General ([34:04]).

• Tulsi Gabbard: Criticized for allegedly parroting Russian propaganda, Brett states, “She's someone who word for word, verbatim parroted Russian propaganda” ([17:35]).

• Peter Hegseth: Described as having questionable personal habits, Brett mocks his claims of not washing for years ([17:38]).

• RFK Jr.: Concerns about his leadership over Health and Human Services ([20:37]).

Ben emphasizes the dangers of placing such individuals in positions with substantial power, warning of potential mismanagement and authoritarian tendencies.

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Conclusion: The Urgency to Protect Democracy

In their concluding remarks, the Meiselas brothers underscore the critical need to defend democratic institutions against what they perceive as a fragile and compromised administration. Brett calls for solidarity and action, urging listeners to stay informed and engaged:

• “We stand with you. We're going to keep on growing. We're not stopping” ([66:37]).

Ben adds a personal note of concern, highlighting the psychological and societal ramifications:

• “This whole federal government right now is just like one big grift” ([61:39]).

Jordan reiterates the importance of community and collective action in the face of rising authoritarianism:

• “Love and hope and optimism and helping people and progress will ultimately always win” ([67:24]).

The episode concludes with a call to action, encouraging listeners to support democratic efforts and stay vigilant against the erosion of democratic principles.

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Key Quotes with Timestamps

• Brett Meiselas [03:15]: “This is just chaos. Every single day. It's pandemonium. We're right back in it, and the guy is not even in office yet.”

• Ben Meiselas [04:31]: “Those are the things they're saying about these people, and that includes Tulsi, that includes RFK Jr.”

• Jordan Meiselas [06:36]: “Politics should never be gamified in such a way where it's a football game.”

• Brett Meiselas [33:09]: “Matt Gaetz. He paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties.”

• Mike Huckabee [37:52]: “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria.”

• Brett Meiselas [66:29]: “Dark times call for leadership. Dark times call for solidarity and people to speak up and not be silenced.”

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Final Thoughts

The MeidasTouch Podcast episode "Trump SCREWS HIS TERM before it EVEN STARTS" offers a critical examination of the Trump administration's early moves, highlighting significant concerns about the qualifications and intentions of key nominees. The hosts advocate for informed vigilance and proactive measures to safeguard democratic institutions against what they perceive as emerging authoritarianism. Through incisive dialogue and pointed critiques, Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas call upon their audience to remain engaged and uphold democratic values in these challenging times.

Transcript

[Ben Meiselas]

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[Brett Meiselas]

This is not a time to gloat and say I told you so while wagging our fingers. That's not all that productive. We do have to fight. We do have to protect our democracy. For anybody who had some semblance of a delusional view, or as I like to say, a DULU view, that Donald Trump was going to put responsible people into cabinet positions, you are the weakest link. Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump nominates to BE Attorney General RFK Jr. Donald Trump nominates to lead the Health and Human Services Department. Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump nominates to be the Director of National Intelligence, despite many people believing she's compromised by Russia, who she parrots word for word in many of her posts. Christy Gnome, who killed her dog, Cricket, the Homeland Security chief, Tom Homan, who talks about bloody mass deportations, to be the border czar. And a random dude named Peter Heth, who is a weekend host on Fox and Friends, not even the weekday host to become Secretary of Defense. Donald Trump giving our nuclear codes to a dude named Hexith. That is where we are right now. The markets are not responding to it very favorably. Markets down today. Dow futures and other markets are down. This is the chaos, the drama, the torment that the corporate media, they wanted this. They wanted this. Every, every moment now, there's drama. You have Matt Gaetz saying that he's resigning from Congress to avoid an ethics report from being released that will purportedly talk about how he had sex with a underage girl who was 17 years old. But then the House Committee, which is also led by Republicans and Democrats, but the Republicans pushing For this, the McCarthy disciples leaking the fact that the woman, the underage girl, rather, who Gates had sex with, she testified before the Ethics Committee that Gates did indeed have sex with her when she was underage. Are you happy, media? Are you happy with this? No one's watching you anymore. They're watching the Midas Touch Network because you've lost all credibility. And Jordy, who was who? Who was it? I know it's your favorite, your favorite reporter, Jordy, who said, oh, these hearings are gonna be great for the ratings, right? Chuck Todd, who I actually, I started to Slightly.

[Jordan Meiselas]

I don't even want to say come around on the guy up until very again recently. You know, it shows his true colors once again. Can you believe it?

[Brett Meiselas]

Yeah. The post we're referring to Chuck Todd posted. The hearings are going to be fire. The hearings are going to be great. You know what would be great? If the people of America were safe and secure. You know what's great? Stable financial markets. You know what's great? Strong alliances abroad. You know what's great? Helping our allies like Ukraine. You know what's great? Infrastructure Act. CHIPS Act. Inflation Reduction Act. PACT Act. Helping veterans. That's. That's what I find great. Perhaps too boring. Perhaps it's not. The Hulkamania is coming for you. The Hulkamania is coming for you. Perhaps it's not that. But you know, for me, I don't know about you brought Jordan Midas mighty for me. I like my politics to deliver for the people. I like my politics with a side of no drama. The way President Biden delivered it, that's how I like it. Served, not chaos, torment, drama. Brett. Brett.

[Ben Meiselas]

Yeah. You know, I think what it's been a little over a week now. I think they're sure there's got to be a lot of people out there who are thinking, oh, wow, it's actually been relatively calm and nice and quiet. And all those, you know, people who would go, sleepy Joe, Sleepy Joe. I bet at least a small portion of them right now are like, I wish we had some sleepiness right now because this is just chaos. Every single day. It's pandemonium. We're right back in it, and the guy is not even in office yet. And we are seeing just the government be completely upended. And we're just getting started, folks. Like, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I don't enjoy it. I don't enjoy even like having to report on these things. But it's important that we are always, you know, on top of everything, that we're aware of everything going on. It's because it's our lives that are on the line. And when people think it's funny that he's nominating this person for this position or this person for this, or you have these anchors and pundits and executives going, oh, this is going to be so great for our ratings. We're going to love this. This is awesome. Like, to me, I'm just like, this isn't a game, okay? Like, this is not a game to me. I don't think it's funny. I don't think it's humorous. I wor for the country. I worry about people and I worry that we're going to look back at the country maybe not even a year from now and go, this place is unrecognizable. This is not America. And we are already seeing the seeds of that be planted. At minimum, the seeds of that be planted. This was the Chuck Todd quote directly. He said on Wednesday, these confirmation hearings may just save cable TV for the short. I don't care about your cable TV ratings. I really don't give a damn about your cable TV ratings. And that's also assuming that there are confirmation hearings in the first place. If Trump has his way, you know, he's going to try these recess appointments and he's going to try to jam these people through and rule like a dictator. I don't think people quite grasp, like, what is going on. He still thinks it's funny. Ha, ha ha. I don't think you're going to be laughing when he tries to actually take away your broadcast licenses and take you off the air. I don't think you'll find it all that funny. You won't have any ratings to worry about. Chuck Todd.

[Jordan Meiselas]

Exactly. It just goes to show you how broken corporate media's brains have become. I mean, the fact that the first place that your mind goes to is, oh, I bet this is going to.

[Brett Meiselas]

Be great for cable ratings.

[Jordan Meiselas]

It's like, what are you doing, man? You know, politics should never be gamified in such a way where it's a football game. And I know that we don't do that here at the Midas Touch Network. And it's what people appreciate. Data, facts, you know, actually news updates. And not this team versus this team, Red team versus blue team. It's just a backwards way of thinking, and it's a tired way of thinking. And when I see Chuck Todd post like that, it just reconfirms all of my, you know, just beliefs about corporate media. It's a dying industry based on gamifying politics where there are actual consequences on the line for the American people based on the decisions that Donald Trump is making day in and day out.

[Brett Meiselas]

You know, as a kid, one of my favorite books growing up that my parents would read to me was C Spot Run. And it's a book that I read to my little daughter, Ximena. See Spot Run. It's kind of like the GOP mantra now, right there. See the GOP run. Donald Trump makes a nomination. The press asks the GOP about it. See Gop Run watch Senator run watch. Congress member run watch it. I'm having trouble.

[Ben Meiselas]

What about Matt Gates?

[Unnamed Speaker]

I don't know yet.

[Ben Meiselas]

I think about that one. Do you have any concerns about it?

[Brett Meiselas]

We'll see.

[Ben Meiselas]

Do you think Matt Gates is confirmable?

[Brett Meiselas]

We'll find out, won't we?

[Ben Meiselas]

Senator Kennedy, what do you think of Matt Gaetz's Attorney General? Happy Thanksgiving.

[Brett Meiselas]

By the way, one of the funniest things about Senator Kennedy, who's actually not a Kennedy, he. He doesn't really talk like that. He has a. He does a fake accent to. To cosplay, like a Southerner. I won't even do the acts anyway.

[Jordan Meiselas]

But Ben, real quick, like that.

[Ben Meiselas]

Capacity. Capacity. Go there.

[Jordan Meiselas]

Should I go there? Right there is also infuriating to me of just the reporter there who's generally a solid, you know, just solid work, but just let them off the hook like that.

[Ben Meiselas]

Right?

[Jordan Meiselas]

And corporate media, again, letting Republicans off the hook. Happy Thanksgiving. Could you imagine if a Democrat congressperson gave that response to a pretty serious and legitimate question, and you just let him go on. You just let him go do his business.

[Ben Meiselas]

And frankly, I don't blame the reporter on that. Like, you know, it's the Republicans, though, in that situation, right? Like, they're going there. They're making a mockery of the whole situation. They're going, oh, what?

[Brett Meiselas]

I can't hear you.

[Ben Meiselas]

Oh, sorry, I couldn't hear you. Oh, sorry, I don't have an opinion on that. They're making a mockery of the whole thing. So, honestly, what else could you do? Is he supposed to, like, attack them? Like, what are you supposed to do? These are, like, the people that they're dealing with. They're dealing with, like, brick walls. They're dealing with the most soulless people on the planet. And to me, I'm going to criticize these Republicans who are just complete and utter cowards and who have been for now, what, like a decade in this specific reign? I mean, I would go further back than that, but they really show their cards because they like to act tough if they think that there's no stakes in it. But once Donald Trump is coming to power, all of a sudden they need to BO to him, and they become so afraid of Trump, he becomes this big boogeyman. And now, because even though Trump is ultimately going to finish with this election, when all the votes are counted by not even winning by, like, more than a couple of percentage points, it's gonna actually be like, a very narrow victory. He's gonna win by less than he Beat Hillary by in the popular vote, but he's claiming a mandate. Yeah, less than Hillary beat him by in the popular vote. And he's claiming this mandate, and he's trying to flex this muscle, and the Republicans are all buying into it. And I saw a quote that was so revealing, Jordy, today from one reporters where they asked somebody in the Senate, they said, like, so are you going to oppose all these, you know, things that Donald Trump is doing? And the guy's like, I don't know. We're just so exhausted. We're just so exhausted now. I don't know if we have the end.

[Brett Meiselas]

I don't.

[Ben Meiselas]

I don't know if we have it in us. And it's like, okay, so an entire branch of the government is now abdicating its responsibility and saying, we don't even want to be a check on the government. We just want to be a stooge for the government, not provide a check on the other branches. We just want this to be a dictatorship. And it's all the people from, like, the magic cultists to, like, the Susan Collins of the world who try to act like they're these moderates. And then every time Trump goes to do something, what do they do? Oh. Oh. Wo is me.

[Brett Meiselas]

I am shocked.

[Ben Meiselas]

I am so concerned. Oh, my God, I'm so worried by this. Like, she's still saying the same things that she said. Like, back in 2016. This was what, today? Or was this last night? It was in the past 24 hours, Susan Collins saying that she's shocked by Trump's appointment of Matt Gaetz. Shocked.

[Brett Meiselas]

I was shocked that he has been nominated.

[Ben Meiselas]

If the nomination proceeds, I'm sure that.

[Brett Meiselas]

There will be an extensive background check by the FBI and public hearings and.

[Ben Meiselas]

A lot of questions asked. At least she found a new word from concerned. Jordi, what are you shocked about?

[Jordan Meiselas]

What you'd be shocked about at this point are.

[Ben Meiselas]

Let me just make it clear for Susan Collins. I'm shocked that he is doing everything that he said he was going to do, and it's actually as bad as everyone said it's going to be. Let me tell you, it's going to get worse. Like, I want to tell Susan Collins. I want to be real. I don't want to level with all the listeners and watchers out there. I don't mean to, like, depress you, but this is just. This is just the beginning, folks. Like, like everything he said he wants to do, like, he's. He's gonna do, and he's gonna have free range to do a lot of these things where we need to hope as a community here that we're able to apply enough pressure, that we have enough politicians with backbone, that we have enough judges out there with backbone that Biden in these last few weeks is able to get even more judges in the judiciary with backbone to stand up to all this. Because ultimately, that's what it's all going to come down to when we have to start opposing all of this crazy stuff that's about to happen. Because he's going to go full speed with, like, with everything he was talking about, and people are going to get a real dose of what this Trump presidency means really fast. And we're seeing the seeds of that. And those seeds are going to blossom like crazy the second he steps into that office. It's not going to be pretty.

[Brett Meiselas]

Forget the seeds. It's here. It is. Look this way. We started the show. It's Matt Gaetz, it's Tulsi Gabbard, it's RFK Jr. It's Christy Noem, it's Tom Homan, it's Peter Hegseth. I could go on and on and on. It's here right now. And that shouldn't shock you. This is someone who launched his campaign pretty soon after leading an insurrection against our country on the 30th anniversary of the Waco siege to show solidarity with the individuals and the, and the cult and the Branch Davidians who were attacking the FBI and who were holding out against the FBI, where the first speaker was Ted Nugent, who began his speech by saying President Zelensky is a raging homosexual. That's how Donald Trump kicked off his campaign. Then Donald Trump took the stage and played the January 6th insurrection anthem that he created with the band that he was a part of called the J6 choir, some of the most violent insurrectionists who attacked and tried to kill police officer. So let's wait until Donald Trump's other day one promise. In addition to 2,000, 5,000% tariffs, bloody deportations, when he pardons all of the January 6th insurrectionists on day one, like he says he's going to the Oath Keepers, the proud boys. Does that mean Stewart Rhodes? Does that mean Enrique Tarrio? I mean actual terrorists getting pardoned on day one. That's what he said he's going to do. He's doing the other things he said he was going to do. Shocked? Shocked, I tell you. But look, I thought Bretton Jordan, Midas Mighty. What potentially was a worse outcome, if I want to find a silver lining, here is that he brings on still extreme people, but who are a little more under the radar. And he kind of drips out his agenda over a long period of time and doesn't try for this immediate thud. Kind of immediate crisis, immediate shock to the system, literally on day one or before day one, to the extent there's good news here because we're ready to fight. The showdown is actually happening, like right now already, and the pressure needs to be applied right now. I mean, just think about it. He announces Matt Gaetz. What does the Ethics Committee do? They leak right away that Matt Gaetz had sex with an underage girl, which people knew about, but they've leaked the fact that she testified before the Ethics Committee. The Ethics Committee is now meeting to try to ensure that Gates does not get confirmed by. Are they going to release the full report? I think they're going to release the report. Gates resigns from his seat in Congress, which actually many people are relieved for, so that he can take the position of Attorney General. But more importantly, he thinks that will preempt the Ethics Committee from releasing the report. But I think they're probably just release it, you know. You know, anyway, and they'll leak it even if it's not like a formal release. And so we're going to see this. I mean, the outcry against Tulsi Gabbard, who Donald Trump nominated to be the Director of National Intelligence. I mean, she's someone who word for word, verbatim parroted Russian propaganda. She's the one who said that Vladimir Putin was justified for invading Ukraine because of bio labs, which frankly don't exist. But she was literally parodying his, parroting his talking points. And she said if NATO didn't encroach in Russian territory, Vladimir Putin would not have had to do what he had to do. That's who Donald Trump is appointing as the Director of National Intelligence. And then a dude named Pete Hegseth to become the Secretary of Defense. Like a dude who said that he doesn't like to wash his. Who he hasn't washed his hands in 10 years or wash his body in 10 years. So he could be, you know, at.

[Ben Meiselas]

Least, at least he's not in charge of health, I guess.

[Brett Meiselas]

But on the other hand, person in charge of health wants an eight year moratorium on any research and development dealing with infectious diseases. Brett. I mean, just think about that. And he wants to gut about a thousand people as well.

[Jordan Meiselas]

The dogs are not happy about it, Ben.

[Ben Meiselas]

The dogs are certainly not happy. Yeah, I mean, you know, here we're dealing with now, you know, a pretty big crisis where we're putting really incompetent people in positions of a lot of power. Like the department that RFK is nominated to run has a big budget and controls a lot of things. I mean, he's going to be in charge of overseeing the fda, the cdc. I mean, if this was during the COVID pandemic, we would still be in the height of the pandemic and there would be like even more deaths. And you saw how horrifically they handled it then. And you see that across the board. I mean, putting a Fox host as the Secretary of defense, like, yes, the guy was in the military and I of course respect his service there. But there are a lot of people in the military that actually have high ranking positions of power and leadership experience and have been doing this for a very long time and actually know what the heck they're doing, rather than somebody who hosts the morning show on Fox and has no experience in this field, has no business running this department with these massive budgets. Somebody who's a massive war hawk, by the way. Like one of the big pitches of all the kind of Trumpers before he won was like, oh yeah, Donald Trump is gonna, he's the peace candidate. He's the peace guy. He's got all these Democratic warmongers and neocons. And then you got Donald Trump the peace guy. Nothing in Donald Trump's history has ever said he was the peace guy. I mean, he would constantly say that he wanted to bomb the crap out of people. He did bomb the crap out of people when he was president just because he didn't like start new wars and stuff. He was still oversaw a bunch of other conflicts and wars and bombed a lot of people and did a lot of extra judicial killings and did a lot of kind of crazy things. And so let's like not, let's put away this, this facade that he was some sort of anti war dove. Donald the Dove. Absolutely not. Who does he stock his stack, his cabinet, his new cabinet, with a bud of war mongers, a bunch of these neocons where if you know these Trump supporters, saw them in any other administration, they'd go, what the heck is going on? This guy, These, these are horrible people. You have people who want to like literally, you know, wipe Palestine off the face of the earth. You have people who want to go to war with Iran. You have people who really want to ratchet things up. And so these are kind of all the things that we're seeing percolating right now. And part of the strategy, I think is like, with a lot of Trump things, it's throw so much crap out there that you just overwhelm the system. Right? That's what he did with legal. You throw so much crap out there, you overwhelm the courts. You're able to push things back with this. It's like, okay, let's just make every cabinet position just insane. And what are they going to do? They're going to fight me on all of them.

[Brett Meiselas]

They're going to put up a battle.

[Ben Meiselas]

On all of them, or they're going to have to choose their battles. But, you know, that's where we're at. It's, it's interesting because the first day when Trump made his, like initial appointments, like his first few appointments, you know, and you started hearing about Rubio a little bit, you know, that wasn't named yet, but you were like, these are bad. But, you know, they're, they're bad, but by Donald Trump standards, they could be much worse. Right? Like, like the, you could see these people in other Republican administrations, you know, like more normal Republican administrations. But the whole time we were like, yeah, but wait, but, but give it, give it a day, give it two days. And sure enough, you know, everything since then has just been all right, this is crazy. This is crazier. This is even crazier. This is even crazier and it's not going to let up.

[Brett Meiselas]

I couldn't agree more with you, Brett. Look, I want to show you in their own words what these individuals who Donald Trump's appointing have said. I want to show you what Republicans have said about them. I want to also talk about Donald Trump creating a make believe government agency that doesn't exist, the Doge Department, and appointing Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk to lead the Doge Department. I want to talk about, I want to talk about that in a moment as well, because Elon Musk right now has a gray check mark next to the name of the Doge Department, which signifies this account is verified because it is a government or multilateral organization based upon my review and interpretation of the law. And this is my opinion, although I think if you look at the law, it will comport with us. You can create fake government agencies and masquerade as federal officials. Also, Elon Musk made a post. We are very. Or the Doge Department made a post. We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at Doge. We don't need more part time idea Generators. We need super high IQ small government revolutionaries willing to work 80 plus hours per week on unglamorous cost cutting. If that's you, DM, this account with your CV, Elon and Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants. So creating a make believe government agency based upon a kind of scammy meme coin that is very volatile for those watching, it's got this, the, the Doge.

[Ben Meiselas]

Meme logo, by the way, Ben, a meme coin that Elon Musk is known to also own a lot of. So by creating this fake department, he knows that it's going to inflate his own net worth even further because he is bringing attention to this meme coin which is causing the price to spike. And he gets the profit off it. And he also gets the profit off this whole concept of the way you even apply for the job. Like he puts it on Twitter and he says that message that you read about, you got to work 80 hours a week. He says, Send in the DMS. You send me in the DMS your resume. And we're only going to accept resumes via Twitter DMS and only accept them from premium Twitter users or X users. So the people who are eligible for the pseudo government position because they're trying to find a gray area, I guess so they're not under oversight or something. But Donald Trump is like calling it a government position, but it's not because it's like they, they speak to like other departments and they give recommendations. But so in order to apply for that, in order to get the privilege of working 80 hours a week in this fake government job, you have to apply via Twitter DM and pay Elon Musk $8 a month. I mean, this is like one of the single most brazenly corrupt things I have ever seen. And you think back to like Jimmy Carter who had to sell like his peanut farm, you think back to all these things that used to be kind of ethics scandals, and then you have the biggest ethics scandal in the world staring you in the face, literally on social media, being retweeted and posted at you. And everyone just like, oh yeah, it's just a billionaire thing. We can live in an oligarchy now. That's cool. Isn't that cool? Isn't that cool that we live in an oligarchy? And that's what you see forming right now, unfortunately, you see really the US heading kind of towards a full Russian style oligarchy where you have people like Donald Trump, where you have people like Elon Musk who are completely, completely, completely running the show, who are dictating what people do, who are dictating where people spend their money, who are picking winners and losers based on and you'll see Trump do this with tariffs too, by the way. You'll see him implement these tariffs. But lagrant an exception to his buddy in this industry or grant an exception to this buddy. It's going to be bribery through and through and through. Like the whole administration is going to be one big kind of scam. And that's what we're already seeing with Trump. That's what we're already seeing with Elon. And it's just going to continue to get worse.

[Brett Meiselas]

I want to remind everybody that patreon.com Midas Touch we will be hosting a live zoom meeting on Monday. So be there. Patreon.com oh, that's exciting. Midas touch Monday after the show we will be meeting with all of you. So I haven't really seen anybody since the election and so I'd love to see your faces. Love to see all. We've got a lot to discuss. I want to remind everybody or show everybody, corporate media is not talking about this, just how Vladimir Putin's just like trolling and dominating Donald Trump now ordering state run media to like play nudes of Melania over and over again denying that he's had any communications with, with Donald Trump. I mean, I saw Russian TV yesterday, they were just saying, and Donald Trump showing his love affair or his love of Putin by doing all this. Like we know Donald Trump said, like the world's laughing at us. No, that right now Putin and our adversaries are laughing at us and the rest of the world is like, all right, see you later, America. You know, not sure how you did that, but like, I guess, I guess we're going to without America. Now we've got a lot to discuss. Let's take our first quick break of the show.

[Ben Meiselas]

You would never clean your face with an abrasive scrub because it messes with your skin's natural barrier. Right? So what if I told you that toilet paper is doing the exact same thing to your bottom, causing micro tears on your body's most delicate skin. Yikes. The solution? Switch to a tushy bidet and wash with a gentle soothing stream of water every time you go. I've been using the tushy bidet and there is no going back. The installation was super easy. It took me less than 10 minutes to set and I didn't need any special tools or extra plumbing. It fits right in with my bathroom vibe too, and you actually feel clean after you use it. The tissue bidet easily attaches to your existing toilet and it doesn't need electricity or complicated plumbing. You just sit, do your thing and turn the knob for a refreshing stream of water. Then you could pat dry with a little toilet paper. Simple and effective. Plus, every hello Tushy bidet comes with a 30 day hassle, free return and a 12 month warranty. It's time we give love and care to our body's most sensitive skin and join the 2 million butts who have already switched to tushy for a limited time. Our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use Code Midas at checkout. That's 10% off your first bidet [e-mail] with promo code Midas. M E I D A S Midas Touch is brought to you by bookshop.org you may be watching or listening to our show right now, but are you reading enough? It's time to dive back into books and conquer that reading goal you set for yourself this year with bookshop.org there are so many great books out right now that help you make sense of this moment. Or maybe you just want to get away from the political noise and unwind with a good novel. Bookshop.org has just the book you're looking for. Bookshop.org is unapologetically anti Amazon. Why? Because when you purchase from bookshop.org you're supporting local independent bookstores so they'll be around for all of us to enjoy in the future. They're committed to helping independent bookstores not just survive, but thrive and continue to foster foster culture, curiosity and a love of reading in your community. Bookshop.org has raised over $30 million from local bookstores. You can even pick which bookstore you want to support, whether it's your local bookstore or your hometown favorite. Bookshop.org is truly for everyone who loves to read and knows the power of a good book. I just finished reading the attributes 25 hidden drivers of Optimal Performance by Rich Devinney and I cannot recommend it enough. This is one of Bookshop.org's best sellers and after reading through it, I totally understand why. Start feeling good about where you buy books. Use Code Midas to get 10% off your next [e-mail] that's code MIDAS. M E I D A s to get 10% [e-mail] I'm always on the.

[E]

Lookout for immune strength during cold and flu season So I just discovered an incredible product, Armor Colostrum. Now, my immune health has never been stronger. I recently began using Armor Colostrum because I need something to help strengthen my gut barrier, protecting against toxins, chemicals and pollutants that drive inflammation. Colostrum is the first nutrition we receive in life and is an exclusive source of all the essential nutrients we need in order to thrive. Armra Colostrum is sustainably sourced and is a proprietary concentrate of bovine colostrum that harnesses over 400 functional nutrients to strengthen your immune barriers, your body's inside suit of armor, and the first line of defense against harmful particles from the environment that can trigger inflammation and make you sick. Armor Colostrum strengthens immunity, ignites metabolism, fortify, purifies gut health, promotes hair growth and skin radiance, and powers fitness, performance and recovery. Armor colostrum strengthens all four layers of your gut wall where 80% of your immune cells are housed. When the immune barriers of your gut are compromised, you are left vulnerable. The body's gut wall system is your critical line of defense against particles from the environment that can make you sick. Armra Colostrum strengthens all four layers of gut wall system, naturally optimizing your microbiome, fortifying your gut wall architecture and replenishing your army of immune cells, securing your highest integrity, gut health and immune system. It's a rich, exclusive source of immunoglobulins, antibodies that optimize your immune defense during cold and flu season. So I take three to four scoops of Armra Colostrum a day and increase increase it as desired for amplified defense as a whole. Food there's no such thing as too much. We've worked out a special offer for our audience here for this armor colostrum receive 15% off your first order. Go to try Armor Midas or Enter Midas to get 15% off your first order. That's tra.com you spell it t r y a r m r a.com Midas M E I D A S Go and check that out. Now try Armra.com Midas.

[Ben Meiselas]

Shout out to.

[Jordan Meiselas]

Our pro democracy sponsors links in description of both YouTube and audio. Use the links, use the codes, let them know we sent you. Benji, where to next?

[Brett Meiselas]

Let's just talk about what some of Matt Gaetz's own Republican colleagues has said about Matt Gaetz. So, for example, here's Republican Tony Gonzalez. When he was asked previously several months back about Matt Gaetz, he says, you know, Gates is a scumbag who pays minors to have sex with him at drug parties. So. But his own party says about him. Here, play this clip.

[Ben Meiselas]

He will survive.

[Brett Meiselas]

Look, the house is a rough and rowdy place, but Mike Johnson is going to be just fine. I served 20 years in the military. It's my absolute honor to be in Congress. But I served with some real scumbags. Look, Matt Gaetz. He paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo Nazi. These people used to walk around with white hoods at night. Now they're walking around with white hoods in the daytime. By the way, he's talking about people in his own party, too. This, to be clear, that was. It was a Republican talking about Republicans having sex with minors and being Nazis. Here, listen to Matt Gaetz in his own words. This was back during the 2022 midterms when he said that really, he says the only women who are fighting for women's reproductive rights are. Are the ugly ones. He says. Here, play this clip.

[Ben Meiselas]

Is it safe to say that based off of your comments, you're suggesting that these women at these abortion rallies are. Are ugly and overweight?

[Brett Meiselas]

Yes.

[Ben Meiselas]

What do you say to people who think that those comments are offensive?

[Brett Meiselas]

Be offended. Be offended, he says. And Matt Gaetz also once said that if he was the Attorney General, he would fire tons of people in the FBI. He would do a mass purge of the FBI. Let's play that one. Maybe I should serve as Attorney General of the United States. I'd be easy on marijuana and tough on big tech. Wouldn't that be a nice reversal? If necessary, I'd fire every little shit kicker at the J. Edgar Hoover Building and send them all packing. If you really want to drain the swamp, hire a Florida man. We've drained plenty of swamps in Florida and we know how to finish the job. Just like the alligators in the Everglades, D.C. swamp creatures have spent seemingly millennia adapting to their surroundings. They can be very dangerous if not properly handled. But we know that the swamp isn't truly drained until the hides of the gators are hanging on the wall. It's Matt Gaetz. How about Mike Next? Mike Huckabee, the new ambassador to Israel, who self identifies as a Christian Zionist, who believes that the west bank doesn't really exist. And it's Judea Sumera. You shouldn't even call it the west bank, he says. And he says that there's no such thing as the Palestinian state, that Palestine just doesn't exist at all. And look for Donald Trump, who convinced many Palestinians and Arab Americans as well and took that trip to Dearborn, Michigan and with leaders in the Arab American community. Donald Trump signed a peace plaque in Dearborn, Michigan. And they said, ah, he's going to call for the ceasefire. He's going to call. Meanwhile, you had Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden quite literally calling for a ceasefire and actually working to try to apply pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to have a ceasefire. You've heard President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris articulate a two state solution as well. Well, we were trying to say, by the way, the uncommitted protests and a lot of people who I understand and empathize with the strong feelings, but they seem to only exclusively protest at Vice President Kamala Harris events and President Biden. And they frequently went on the record and said, either vote for Jill Stein or Donald Trump, but under no circumstance should you vote for at first President Biden and then Kamala Harris under.

[Ben Meiselas]

Where did Jill, where did Jill go? Where's Jill style? She got into her hibernate. She's back in her hibernation for the next four years when she's got to reappear for an election and then try to screw over another leg. That's just her thing. She just goes, just dead silent. And then she props up a couple months before an election, she builds all this animosity and then vanishes, disappears. Yeah, you all got played. I just gotta say sorry.

[Brett Meiselas]

Well, here is Mike Huckabee at a recent speech that he gave talking about how he refuses to even acknowledge the word West Bank. Here, play this clip.

[Unnamed Speaker]

My feelings personally, and I'm speaking only as a person, I think Israel would only be acting on the property it already owns. I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria. There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It's Judea and Samaria. There's no such thing as a settlement. Their communities, their neighborhoods, their cities. There's no such thing as an occupation that they get out of their minds that people are living in lean to's and tents, sleeping in cars circled around a tree. They're living in very well designed and beautiful cities and communities. Can't wait to get back. I'm going to take an extra hat. I'm going to get it to President Elect Trump. Build Israel great again. Who knows, we may see him wear this out there in one of his rallies somewhere. I don't know. Can't promise that. I can only promise he will get a Copy of the hat. Thank you very much.

[Brett Meiselas]

And here's another clip of Mike Huckabee saying that he just doesn't even believe that a Palestinian state should ever exist. Here, play this clip.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Basically, there really is no such thing as. I have to be careful in saying this, because people really get. There's really no such thing as a Palestinian Arabs and Persians. And there's such complexity within that there's really no such thing that's been a political tool to try to force land away from Israel.

[Brett Meiselas]

So now, as I mentioned before, we're hearing from the uncommitted leaders and they're now saying, oh, they protesting Donald Trump, Are they? In front of Mar A Lago, Are they? Is that what we see now? Where are they? They're still either attacking or pleading with President Biden. You need to stop Donald Trump. Help us. Donald Trump's going to do an ethnic cleansing. Unique. You need to jump in and stop this Biden. They're actually. How do you, how do you go on TV after all of that? And, and do what this guy just did? After everything we know that happened, he goes on TV like, have you no shame? You now go to Biden and say, biden, I need you to help out. Biden's a lame duck president now. I hate that. But he is. Go, go ask. Go ask Trump. Go ask Mike Huckabee. I mean, here, this is for real. Watch this. It looks like ethnic cleansing. It sounds like ethnic cleansing. It's an ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza and West bank and southern Lebanon. And Mike Huckabee was just named as the guy who's going to oversee the final stages of that campaign. And so our message right now is to President Biden, you've got to do something about this. President Biden, stand up for once to Netanyahu before Donald Trump successfully gets away with pinning this legacy of this ethnic cleansing campaign on your. On you and you alone forevermore.

[Ben Meiselas]

Sorry if I'm in artful here, but, like, how dare you? Honestly, How. How dare you? It's, it's really shame. It's really shameful stuff to try to pin this on, on Joe Biden. You're going to pin this on President Biden because now you realize the consequences of your actions. Like, this is an issue that we were all trying, everyone was trying to solve in this administration. This is something that we were all hoping for, right? Everyone is pushing for a ceasefire. Everyone is pushing to get the hostages home. This is something that Kamala Harris reiterated on the campaign trail over and over. And over again. We want peace in Gaza. We want a two state solution, we want to bring the hostages home. We want to ensure that people aren't dying every day. And this is a very delicate situation that goes back a very, very, very long time. And it's horrible to watch, of course, every single day. But to see all these efforts happening and to see all these intricate pieces where you have a Netanyahu who's like a Trump of Israel, like, we gotta remember that, right? And then you have all these other bad actors around him, all with their interests in mind, right? And you see all of this happening and you see President Biden and Kamala Harris trying to thread the needle and doing everything they can. And then you see Donald Trump going out there and saying, we want Israel to, quote, finish the job. We want them to finish the job. That. What do you think he meant by finish the job? What do you think Jared Kushner meant by there's some good beachfront property over there in Gaza that we could build some nice high rise condos in. What do you think? You, what do you think he meant by that? When he would, he said that on, on. It was on a recording. I'm not like, making this up. Like, it's not a rumor. It wasn't in a leaked email. He said this on a recording. You knew that. And to fall for Donald Trump's gaslighting, to fall for his constant lies and then after it's all said and done, to then go back and blame President Biden. I mean, how dare you? Honestly, how dare you? It really makes, it really makes me angry. And, and honestly, I'm, I'm very scared for all the people in that area right now. I, I mean, they've just given a green light for anything to happen there. Donald Trump, you think he's going to handle this delicately? You think he's going to go in there and, and try to thread the needle and try to ensure that all sides get a, a lasting peace? Or do you think he's going to do the same strategy he does where he goes anywhere, which is, all right, let's just let him take over everything. That's my peace plan. That's the peace plan. That's what he wants to do in Ukraine also. He just want Russia to take over everything. I mean, that's how, that's how Donald Trump envisions peace. So if you had another envision of peace in your mind, I, I don't know what to tell you.

[Brett Meiselas]

Well, you know, I, I understand that somebody like an Elon Musk is voting in his interest. Right. I understand that there is a group of rich oligarchs voting in their interest, but there were so many groups voting against their interest repeatedly over and over again. And you know, I, I, as I said at the outset, I don't want this to be and I told you so moment, but what do you think it meant when Donald Trump said, you are vermin, you are the enemy from within? What do you think he said when he said bloody mass deportations? Like, what do you think that actually meant? You know, what do you think he meant when he said he was going to send Haitian migrants who were lawfully here back to Venezuela? Like, what do you think he meant when he made those comments? You know, there's so many people now googling, what's a tariff? You know, can I get deported? What's going to happen? And it's like the time to do that research was before the election. Still have a lot to discuss. I want to remind everybody, patreon.com Midas Touch we're gonna do a zoom meeting with all of our patrons on Monday. Then we're going to start doing more regular patron meetings. You know, I just think it's a good time to, you know, just spend time with each other and see each other. So. Patreon.com Midas Touch let's take our last quick break of the show.

[E]

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[Brett Meiselas]

And I know you're probably busy like me this season.

[E]

So getting up on a ladder and cleaning your gutters can be very difficult. And I'm a low maintenance kind of homeowner. So I want to try to find solutions that protect my home and that don't require that much work for me while I'm focused on our pro democracy media network. So look, I made an investment in something called Leaffilter because it's really an investment in protecting my home and in your case, your own home, I mean, clogged gutters, they're not just a nuisance, they can cause extensive problems and do it yourself. Solutions may work for the time being, but ultimately cost more money in the long run.

[Brett Meiselas]

So what Leaffilter does is it uses.

[E]

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[F]

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[Ben Meiselas]

Let's face it, after night with drinks, I don't bounce back the next day like I used to. Hey, I gotta be honest with myself right it feels like I have to choose between having a great night or a great next day. That is, until I found pre alcohol Zbiotics. Pre alcohol probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It's this byproduct, not dehydration, that's the blame for your rough next day. Pre alcohol produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. Just remember to make Zbiotics your first drink of the night. Drink responsibly and you'll feel your best tomorrow. Every time I have pre alcohol before drinks, I notice the difference the next day. For example, after a fun night out with friends at like, a local bar or wherever we go, I could still get up the next morning and hit the gym. And I'll admit I was skeptical at first. But I tried it at a dinner party with some friends the next morning. I felt great. Ready to tackle the day, ready to do more videos here at the Midas Touch Network. I kept hearing about pre alcohol and wondered what it was actually like. Now that I've tried it, I get the hype. Plus, with their GMO technology, ZBiotics is continuing to create probiotics that tackle the challenges of modern living. Go to ZBiotics.com Midus to learn more and get 15% off your first order. When you use code MIDAS at checkout, ZBiotics is backed with a 100% money back guarantee. So if you are unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com midus and use that code Midas. It's M E I D A S at checkout for 15% off. Off.

[Jordan Meiselas]

Shout out to our sponsors links in description of YouTube and audio. Use the codes, use the links, let them know we sent you. Benji, where to next?

[Brett Meiselas]

Let's talk about what's going on in international affairs. Because one of Donald Trump's promises, of course, was that within 24 hours of being elected, he said, before he was even sworn in, he said he was going to call Putin. They were gonna call up Zelensky and he was gonna say, hey, Putin. Hey Zelensky. Will you stop it? Stop it. And then, voila, a deal would be made. A deal would be made. Well, that didn't happen. Instead, Donald Trump leaked to the Washington Post that he had called Vladimir Putin and said Putin De escalate now in reciprocity of mutual respect and international relations. One would assume that Vladimir Putin would issue a response. We had a phone call that was productive and we are exploring options that would be a signal back of respect. What did Vladimir Putin do? Hey, Russian TV show, some Melania nudes. And they started airing the nudes of Melania on basically their version of Sean Hannity each and every night as the hosts literally were laughing and saying, ha ha ha. America, your body, your choice. Huh? Donald, your wife's body, her choice. Ha ha ha. So that's what was going on there. And then Vladimir Putin denied having any conversations with Donald Trump. He called it pure fiction. In other words, saying to Donald Trump, Trump didn't happen. Don't know what you're talking about it. You're a liar. You're making it up. And then you know what he did? He intentionally blew up a reservoir in Ukraine to escalate further, pushing North Korean troops further into Ukraine and amassing another 50,000 troops, demonstrating actually an escalation versus a DE escalation. So. So quite literally all of those steps, every single one of them, was basically to give the middle finger to Donald Trump on purpose right there. But what does Donald Trump do in turn? You have to realize, you have to think about the Tulsi Gabbard selection in the context of Putin showing domination to Trump, right? As Putin dominates, dominates, dominates. What does the beta do? I'm using their MAGA language, right? What does the weak one do? Trying to now show. But, but, boss, but, boss, I got Tulsi, boss, but boss, I've got Tulsi. I've got Tulsi Gabbard. So are we good now? And I think we're going to see more and more of that and just complete and utter weakness, you know, is being shown by Donald Trump. You know, the international community is taking notice as well. You have in the uk, the British Parliament, you know, and parliaments across the country, you know, they're factoring in what things will look like, of course, without the America being an ally. This is now, you know, part of the discussion. I think we have it here. Here's Ed Davey in the UK Parliament addressing the Prime Minister. And they're basically saying, look, Don, just listen to how he says it too. Like, listen to how Davey says it. He goes, donald Trump's senior advisor, his son Don Jr. Is posting memes saying that Zelinski will have his allowance cut off. What are we doing now? Because America has just completely lost it. You're watching I could show you dozens of clips in different parliaments, but I think I just want to give you an international perspective of what's going on here. Play this clip. A senior adviser to President Elect Trump, Donald Trump Jr. Has shared a post on Instagram that declares that President Zelensky will soon, within the next few weeks, lose his allowance. The Trump administration does withdraw support from our brave Ukrainian allies. Will the UK And Europe step up to fill the gap? Will he seize frozen Russian assets, not just the interest, but the assets underlying that so we can fund a huge boost to the Ukrainian forces in their fight against Putin's war machine? Mr. Speaker, as he knows, we've been rescued, resolute and strong in our support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. And I have been speaking, as he will know, in recent weeks, with other leaders about how we put Ukraine in the best and strongest possible position at this time. And I'll continue those discussions. Thank you.

[Ben Meiselas]

I mean, I think the whole world at this point has to look at it. I think the whole world has to look at America right now and be like, this is a country that's been infiltrated. Like, not to sound conspiratorial, but in many ways, you know, whether in many ways it feels like America's been infiltrated by, like, Russian intelligence and we're getting, like, literal, you know, who people say are like Russian stooges. When you have a Tulsi Gabbard and things like that, you're getting them in places of power. You're getting people who repeat literal Russian propaganda against America in power. And that, that includes Tulsi, that includes RFK Jr. Who both spread this bio lab conspiracy theory Russia, on Russian state tv, they call Tulsi. They call her something like our little girlfriend and, like, our little agent in America. That's how they refer to her on that same show. Like those versions of Sean Hannity. Those are the things they're saying about these people, and those are the people who Donald Trump chose to put in high levels of his administration. So, you know, a guy like Putin has to be laughing his ass off right now about what he's done to this country. Laughing his ass off when he sees these people who go so against America's interests, but so pro Russia, that he's got to just be, wow, that was far too easy.

[Brett Meiselas]

You know, Brett, you raised such an ultimate point now, and we could tie this whole episode together, because here in the United States of America, we saw so many groups vote against their interest. I mean, you know, some groups voted Technically for their interest in a short sighted way. But by and large you had people voting to deport themselves, ban themselves, destroy the countries that they care about and that they've been fighting for. You've had people vote to increase their own taxes, to destroy their own unions. You could go through all the list, right? Groups voting against their self, but the biggest group that voted against itself at large is the United States of America. You add it all up as a collective whole. America just handed this all. And this is the big reveal of who's Kaiser. So say at the end of the movie to Vladimir Putin at the end of the day, all of this, who did this all benefit. Who's the one who's laughing at this? Because he didn't have the military power to even be the second biggest army in Russia. Ukraine was. He couldn't do it with actual military, Microsoft, but he did it psychologically, turning America into an idiocracy where Hulk Hogan's there going, oh yeah, do you smell what the Hulkamania is cooking? And we're watching that in the Republican National Convention, like, what the heck? And by the way, on cnn, do we have the clip of Scott Jennings bread or whatever the guy's name is who's on cnn? And he's there talking about this like last night, and he's wearing a Hulk shirt and he's like, and this is what they do on CNN now. And he's like, all right, here's what we're gonna do. Let me tell you someone who's gonna deliver the smackdown on the. And I'm watching this and I'm like, people's lives are on the freaking line here. You know, this would be semi amusing if this was commentary for like WWE wrestling where it belongs, but this is the United States. Here, play this clip.

[Ben Meiselas]

All right, all right. If Marco Rubio does in fact become Secretary of State, we're going to need.

[Unnamed Speaker]

A new senator from the state of.

[Ben Meiselas]

Florida and we need someone with Rubio's national security credentials. Now there's one Floridian who can do it. He stood up to the Russians and the Iranians in the 1980s when he.

[Unnamed Speaker]

Defeated the Iron Sheik.

[Ben Meiselas]

And Nikolai Volkov, two of America's most lethal foes. He is a real American. He fights for the rights of every man. He knows that courage is the thing that keeps us free. Ladies and gentlemen, I announce Ron DeSantis. Get on it. Hulk Hogan for U.S. senate.

[Unnamed Speaker]

And what you going to do, Chuck.

[Ben Meiselas]

Schumer, when Hulkamania runs wild on you, brother? All Right. We got to leave it there. Everyone talk.

[Brett Meiselas]

Thank you very. By the way, you could say, Ben, where's your sense of humor in all of this? He's just, he's joking. Well, really, because Hulk Hogan was the keynote speaker on the final day of the Republican National Convention. Hulk Hogan was one of Donald Trump's main surrogates on fox, who was selling Donald Trump's lie that tariffs are a tax on the foreign country, not a tax on Americans, which it is. So I don't find it funny when my fellow Americans are going to be hurt, hurt and injured or worse and feel pain. Or as Elon Musk, who's now worth like $400 billion, said, the American people are going to have to face hardship. You're going to need to feel the hard. Why would you vote for your hardship? Why would you vote for that? We were on a path out of it. Why would you vote for your own suffering? But here's the thing, and I was going to talk about Melania Trump. Trump, you know, it's going to talk about Melania Trump ditching the White House when President Biden invited her there. And she, and this looks like an AI statement. Mr. She goes, Mrs. Trump will not be attending today's meeting at the White House. Her husband's returned to the Oval Office to commence the transition process is encouraging. She wishes him great success. That's my Borat impression in the instance several unnamed sources in the media continue to provide false, misleading and inaccurate information about what? Melania, you didn't show up. It seems pretty damn accurate to me. What false information are people spreading about you? You didn't show up. You were invited to show up to be at the White House where President Biden was going above and beyond anything he needed to or frankly should have been doing. But I reflect on that moment, too. I mean, oh, by the way, Melania is now she's selling photos of herself for her 100. It was $195. These photos of herself that she's selling, this isn't a real post from her today. This is her new series of photos of her for 100. Yeah, that's right, 195.

[Ben Meiselas]

Our whole, our whole federal government right now is just like one big grift. It's so great.

[Brett Meiselas]

Yeah.

[Ben Meiselas]

Melania selling this. You have Elon after he posted about that, after he was nominated or whatever. It's not a real job. It's not a real, real agency to this Doge Committee. He's like, guess what, guys, merch is coming soon. Get ready for that Doge merch, that Doge Department merch. This is what we're doing. This is what we've done with the government. I guess. Yeah, I guess. I guess.

[Brett Meiselas]

And by the way, you know, and by the way, you know, on Fox, on Hannity and all these shows, they're like, Donald Trump's appointments are triggering the woke libs. It's, it's so triggering. It's like, could you just have normal people do the normal position? It should triggering woke blood. Just hire competent people.

[Ben Meiselas]

And by the way, I'm, I'm happy to acknowledge when there's something good. Okay. The bad is far outweighs anything. But I'm happy to acknowledge if somebody's qualified for a position, even if I do not agree with them and what they do. I, I, I'm at least like, that's that, that's somebody that Marco Rubio.

[Brett Meiselas]

Yeah.

[Jordan Meiselas]

That's why we didn't attack the Rubio position. Because any other sort of administration, I'd be like, okay, I guess I hate to be about it, but relatively normal, all things aside.

[Ben Meiselas]

Such a good point, Jordy. Like Rubio, fine, you know. Right. I disagree with him on everything, but that's a fine. That's fine for an administration like this. Fine, go ahead with Rubio. Who else is Trump? Like, he's nominating Todd Blanche to be like, Deputy AG Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer in the criminal cases. I mean, he's a real lawyer, right? He's, he's, Did Blanche work in doj, Ben? I forget. Blanche, like, Blanche is a serious guy. That's, you know, you might not like that he represented Donald Trump, but he's a serious guy. He's a competent guy. Far more competent than Matt Gaetz. I mean, you could actually see a situation where, like, a Matt Gates doesn't get the nomination if they bring these into hearings and where somebody like a Todd Blanch ends up getting boosted up to that position, which would actually make sense and be a responsible thing to do. But we're seeing at the tops of these levels far too many of the positions him put in, people who do not have the experience, who do not have the qualifications, and they are putting those people in control of your lives. And this is something like we've warned about what the entire time where we said, you know, we joked, watch, she's going to put, we didn't even joke. We were like, what? She's going to put this person in charge of the education, this person in charge of this, like these lunatics people, and you'll see if a Supreme Court seat opens up, he'll definitely put, like, I'll cannon or, you know, somebody like that in there. Like, that's, this is what he's doing. He's also, he's rewarding all of his loyalists, also all the people who stuck by him who may have risked their careers, all this stuff. They're also now getting rewarded by Trump, and Trump is putting them in to be loyalists to him to also further insulate himself from any other damage or any sort of discord or any sort of disagreement or anything. So it's very clear. And I'll be, you know, I'm happy to be straight and say I don't agree with this person, but he's qualified. But that person's qualified for the job, or she is qualified for the job. But there are far too many people who, like, quite literally, Trump is putting these people's, our health in their hands. He's putting our education in these people's hands. He's putting our military in these people's hands. Military in the hands of a Fox News host. Like, it's just the whole thing is so baffling. It's so dangerous. You know, our adversaries are completely laughing at us. It's not an own the libs thing. You know, I don't like, whatever. Like, governing should not be about triggering the lips. Governing should be about what, what is best for the country, what makes us a serious country, what makes a country that's ready to handle challenges. Because as we've seen with literally every administration going back to the beginning of America and going back to the beginning of any country ever, there are always going to be big problems that arise, problems that arise. And when those problems arise, you better hope that you have the right people in those positions. Covid Donald Trump woefully unprepared. And when it came, what happened, he did everything wrong. He denied that it was a thing. He called it a hoax. It was a disaster because he was in charge and it led to the deaths of more than a million people in this country, country. And we can't let that happen. We've seen through other administrations too, right. We've seen other things that could have turned into pandemics. That, that, that, that could have been really bad. But the government dealt with them. And we'll never know at this point how bad it could have been because we had competent people in charge. But now, inevitably, if conflict breaks out overseas, if another pandemic hits, if any of this happens, we are leaving our fate not to end this on a cheery and optimistic note, but we are leaving our fate in the hands of these lunatic squ.

[Brett Meiselas]

Right.

[Ben Meiselas]

And it's incredibly unsettling to me and I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

[Brett Meiselas]

Jordy, I want to pass it to you for your final thoughts of this.

[Ben Meiselas]

But look, that was dark.

[Brett Meiselas]

I'll leave it at this though. Look, but, but, but look. Dark times call for leadership. Dark times call for solidarity and people to speak up and not be silenced. It's why the day after the election we picked ourselves up and it was hard but we immediately made it clear to everybody in this community that we stand with you. We're going to keep on growing. We're not stopping and we are going to keep building coalitions, getting the word out and making sure that people know what the stakes here. I not to end it on a dark note like Brett, but on an optimistic, positive one like Ben or like me.

[Ben Meiselas]

Sorry guys.

[Jordan Meiselas]

I like when you refer to yourself as a person.

[Brett Meiselas]

Well, that's why I called myself out on it self aware. But I was doing the Brett Ben dichotomy is that is, is that we, I believe love and hope and optimism and helping people and progress will ultimately always win because people want to be happy. You know, the, the, the being filled with hate and being driven on anger that, that, that the gas runs out quickly on that, that so we want to be optimistic and help each other and, and, and live in communities where we can love and support each other and respect each other's freedoms and respect each other's ability to live as human beings and not hurt each other. And so I'm confident that we build that. I'm confident that people are seeing what's going on and you all midas mighty who are a part of this community, you're going to help get the word out right now about everything that's happening, about what tariffs really are, about who Trump's appointing, about like Huckabee, about Homan, about Tulsi Gabbard. That's why we give you the clip. Show people the stuff. Show people the data. Show me the data. We're doing an after show. Patreon.com Midas Touch see at the after show after the show. We'll see you there right now. And then we're gonna do the live zoom meeting. Not today, the live Zoom meeting. Patreon.com Midas Touch Next Monday after the show today we'll have a, we're going to record an after show. Thanks everybody. For watching Jordy shout out to the Midas.

[Jordan Meiselas]

My day.

[Ben Meiselas]

Against the fascists we sing our song.

[Jordan Meiselas]

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