The MeidasTouch Podcast - Biden v. Trump Debate AFTER SHOW LIVE

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

MeidasTouch presents post-coverage for the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump featuring exclusive interviews and more. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown Lights On with Jessica Denson: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/lights-on-with-jessica-denson On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Donald Trump. I want to just reflect on what went down there. You know, on the one hand, you had a ranting and raving lunatic in Donald Trump. On the other hand, let's just be honest, President Biden, I don't think was fully on his game there. I think that that's saying it accurately. And I don't want to act like that was some great debate at all for President Biden. I think it was frustrating as a viewer. I think it was probably frustrating for you watching it as Donald Trump continued with a barrage of lies, didn't answer the questions that were being asked. I mean, look, there was no fact checking being done

by CNN, but also let's be real that a skilled debater would have been very clear or President Biden from 2016, or even the President Biden who debated Trump in 2020, I think would have been able to maneuver and say, let's be very clear what Donald Trump just said. He is okay with overturning Roe v. Wade. Let's be very clear with Donald Trump just said, he still doesn't accept the results of the 2020 election. Let's be very clear with what Donald Trump just said and repeat it because there were these kind of glimmer of hope moments where I thought when President Biden called Donald Trump a whiner and he talks about how Donald Trump can't accept

losing, I thought those moments were strong. But, you know, personality, nature to say the sky is falling. And I think there's a lot of commentary happening like that. That's, interestingly, when I speak with, actually, some people who are Trump voters or Trump supporters, they were even recognized, wait a minute, he's not answering the questions. He's not responding to things. And where Donald Trump was kind of meandering and then calling himself in the third person and doing things like that, I think that's a kind of turnoff to the American people. I think the question though is, is will the American people see this and say, we, one person who wants to overthrow democracy, who was ranting and raving like a lunatic? You know, and President Biden from the outset, you know, from the very kind of first question or two questions, you know, his voice was kind of hoarse.

And, you know, and that just kind of continued throughout. So I don't think that you can deny the optics. And people trust the Midas Touch Network because I'm not going to look at optics and then say the optics weren't the optics. That's not what we do here on the Midas Touch Network. I do want to focus, and I think you, the viewers, were watching, the substance is important. I mean, this is not a reality TV show. When you listen to Donald Trump

saying he's not going to accept the results of the election or refusing to answer that question, when you hear Donald Trump talk about his cognitive exams and things like that, it was, you know, it was, it was, it was definitely kind of strange and odd to see. And look, I think there were just some missteps by President Biden also, like where Donald Trump was bragging about, I just want to be real with everybody, like when Donald Trump was bragging about the golf thing, like why even engage on the, on, you know, with him on the golf? Trump sounds like a lunatic talking about golf and this and that, and that he's healthier than ever before. Just go with the kind of zinger that you can't even carry your own bag. You don't even walk the golf courses.

You're on a golf course. You're on a golf cart to take you around the golf course. What are you talking about? I thought it was another strong line when President Biden talked about Donald Trump being a convicted felon and having sex with a porn star. And Donald Trump had to say, I don't have sex with a porn star. I don't have sex with a porn star. But, you know, you got to go. You got to go on the offense with Donald Trump. You know, you got to call him out like that. You know, Donald Trump did not. I don't think Donald Trump looked great tonight. I mean, you got to call him out like that. You know, Donald Trump

did not, I don't think Donald Trump looked great tonight. I mean, he looked like a crazy person up there. You know, on the other hand, I don't think President Biden, if someone thought President Biden's, you know, on the older side, and that's the problem, he was not convincing people tonight that, you know, that that's not a potential issue, you know, and and that's kind of my my initial kind of reaction, you know, you know, looking at it. I mean, there was not jacked up, Joe, like, let's be clear about that. I mean, for all that, for all the whining about how rigged the debate was going to be, and how it was going to be a three-on-one against Donald Trump. It wasn't at all. You know, I think I've seen a lot of people be very critical of the CNN moderators

for just letting Donald Trump lie and not fact-check it. And I respect that perspective. You know, I would only push back on, though, as well as that there were still opportunities in the debate to fact check and push back if you're, you know, if you're debating and to push do when they would bring up topics like childcare or reproductive rights or climate, Donald Trump wouldn't answer those questions. He would go and talk about another question, take up all of his time. And then I think, you know, President Biden would take the bait and then argue with what Donald Trump said versus saying, look, he didn't answer the question. There's a reason he's not responding to your question about childcare. There's a reason he's not responding to your question about the climate because he doesn't believe in climate change. There's just, there was so many moments where I think you could

have went back to Donald Trump. Yes or no. Do you believe in climate change? Yes or no. Do you believe that states have the right to monitor women's periods and pregnancies and lock women up if that's what the state chooses to do? Is that what you believe? And you could say, well, the moderator should have done that. The moderator should have called him out. And I respect your view if you think that. But also, I think in the debate, when President Biden did think our country has kind of gone down, is the theatrics of the politics versus the substance. And the more and more I hear about the analysis, it's more, and look, and I believe that optics certainly matter, but this idea of focusing on the theater versus what the people are actually saying, because in normal times, the fact that one of the candidates still said they wouldn't accept a free and fair election and still don't accept the results of the 2020 election, I think is significant. And so that's my initial reaction, not really watching any of the other post-debate coverage. So I'm not trying to have my opinions formed by what anyone else is saying, but that's where I land. Brett and Jordy? Yeah. I mean, I'll use the Papakian phrase, we don't blow smoke or sunshine here. I don't think it was a good night for President Biden. If I got to be honest to everybody, like I think people come here for the honesty. I do not think President Biden had a good night. If I had to sum up tonight, I would say it was a big missed opportunity. I think President Biden had to show up there with energy. I think he had to come there to borrow a phrase, jacked up. He had to be like jacked up Joe. He had to be that Joe we all saw at the State of the Union. He had to be the Joe that we've seen when Ben, when you interviewed him. But unfortunately, he was not that tonight, and he let Trump take over this debate. I think the debate format was in fact helpful to Donald

Trump, because I think the muted microphones, as Jordy was alluding to earlier, I think it actually kept Donald Trump more on track than usual. And I bet Donald Trump's aides right now are begging for that mute button so that they could use it themselves when Donald Trump goes on his rants, because it kept Donald Trump more under control. And one of the issues as the night went on, though, I think President Biden started to get a bit more of his juice back, started to get a bit more going. And Trump started to get a bit more insane, to say the least, as it went on. But Biden far too often kept getting looped into Trump's framing of things. And I think that was one of the biggest

issues that Biden had tonight. To Ben's point, no matter what the question was, Trump didn't answer it. I forgot what the questions were, quite frankly, after they were asked, because Trump would go on some sort of tirade about the border or immigration or Afghanistan or something else where I was like, wait, didn't they ask? It wasn't this question about child care costs. Like, how did we get here? And I wish they would put the questions up so you could see what the individual was saying has nothing to do with the actual questions that was asked.

But as Ben was saying, I think it's also on President Biden to refocus the conversation and to recenter the conversation on where the issues are. And I think he failed to do that far too many times. And in fact, I think he took the bait too many times and switched gears of what he was discussing to speak about with the thing that Trump wanted to talk about. I mean, I think there was even a question early on, and I could be incorrect about the specific question, but it could have been a question about abortion or whatever it was. It was a question about a completely different topic. And Biden on his own, for some reason, took that and then brought it to an immigration issue about somebody being murdered by an

undocumented immigrant. And I thought it was just a bizarre choice, quite frankly, to do something like that. But I think Biden was at his best when he was speaking about protecting democracy. I think we saw a lot of fight in Biden talking about defending democracy. I think we saw a lot of fight in Biden when he was speaking about veterans and protecting our veterans and calling out Donald Trump for suckers and losers and saying, how dare you? My son was not a sucker. My son was not a loser. You're a sucker. You're a loser.

I think when President Biden was speaking about his family, I think he was very effective. And I think when he was taking on Trump's criminality, he was also very effective. Now, my issue was he didn't center the conversations there quite enough. And I think that was a major issue. And I think that's also kind of summed up, quite frankly, in Biden's closing statement, where he could have centered the conversation on this idea of a criminal president, a criminal candidate running for president who wants to overthrow our democracy and destroy everything our country's ever stood for. And instead he was making comments about like taxes and, and other things, which I just don't think met the moment that we needed there

as a country for him to say. Now, I think if folks are watching this, you know, I think, um, you know, I think they'll probably come to the conclusion. Biden looked really old tonight. Trump looked pretty crazy tonight. And so I don't know how that necessarily conflicts with what people thought kind of going into this debate about the two of them. But I think we'll see as the days go on. I agree with Ben. I'm not a sky is falling kind of person, but I think you also have to tell it straight. And I ultimately do not think it was a great night for President Biden. Jordy.

Yeah, look, I think you guys covered all the bases there, everything that we talked about in the group chat as we were watching. So I'm not going to rehash all of that. But to Brett's point, look, we're not shooting from the hip, right? We're data-driven folks. And here's the data point that I'm still walking away with after that debate. President Biden actually cares about this country. Donald Trump only cares about himself making the rich people richer. And honestly, that is my biggest takeaway here, other than what we all just talked about just now, is that President Biden actually cares about this country. That remains true.

And Donald Trump only cares about himself, period. End of story. Ben. You know, there's a lot of people, you know, not a lot of people. There are people in the chat, you know, saying Biden should drop out. You need to call that out right now. You're going to lose credibility for not saying that right now. I totally disagree with that because we're just watching something happen. I think that all of those sky is falling down type reactions is actually not the way to be deliberative and

think about things. I think that we need to reflect on what went down. I think we need to reflect on can there be improvements? I think we need to process all of the data. And, you know, if you want somebody to take a lot of decisions based on something that just happened, and if you want me as a host of this network to kind of react with a sense of emotion to what I observed without fully reflecting on it. That's not in my personality to do that. And if you know me very well, that's not how I respond to any type of data set is looking at something immediately and then one way or the other saying it's over. I'll say this, no decision been made emotionally in the heat of a moment has ever been a good decision. And I think you could look back at your lives, at conflicts you've had with

maybe family members or friends or just things in your life where you think things weren't going well, or when you typed up that angry email and you were about to hit send, nothing good has ever come from that. So I think it's important to not all of a sudden go to that kind of place, right? And I'd also look to kind of, you know, if we're going to go to recent history when I think some folks had similar kind of reactions after a debate, I remember similar reactions also to the John Fetterman, Dr. Oz debates after that. A lot of people also, there was a lot of doom and gloom around that and folks saying that, oh, you should drop out. This is going to be a disaster. And it wasn't. That's not what happened. Democrats ended up winning that seat. So I think

there's ultimately more to it. There's a holistic thing that people are going to be looking at, and they're going to be looking at the records of the two of them. But it's not to say optics aren't important. In the game of optics, President Biden certainly did not have a good night tonight. But I think as the next few months goes on, as folks start digging into the policies of the candidates and actually see the real stakes of what's going on, I think that could be a completely different story. And frankly, I think any sort of hot takes right now on anything to what Ben was speaking about before, I think are way too early. And any hot takes made in the heat of a moment are never, they're never a good idea. Trust me. I mean, look, just take a look at some of

the clips of what went down here, Donald Trump. I mean, do you ever think you'd be seeing this in a debate? Donald, someone running for this office saying that who was just convicted on 34 felony counts saying I didn't have sex with a porn star. Here, watch this. I didn't have sex with a porn star. Number one. Here was another moment where they were talking about Trump being a convicted felon. Let's let's play this clip. He could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he's done. He's done horrible things. All of the death caused at the border, telling the Ukrainian people that we're going to want a billion dollars.

You change the prosecutor. Otherwise, you're not getting a billion dollars. If I ever said that, that's quid pro quo, that we're not going to do anything. We're not going to give you a billion dollars unless you change your prosecutor having to do with the son. This man is a criminal. This man, you're lucky. You're lucky. I did nothing wrong. We'd have a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong. Thank you, President Trump. President Biden, you had. I mean, you know, watching that, I mean, that's quite literally watching an insane human being like there's nothing normal about that, although Trump does look like he has a lot of energy and there's a lot going on when when he's saying that he which to me should be irrelevant. But that's what you

know, the the media class is going to be talking about. This is Donald Trump's, you know, again, saying that Biden and others should go to jail. I thought this was a good line by Biden saying the only person who's a convicted felon is Trump. Let's play that clip. And Democrats, all Democrats, they destroyed and deleted all of the information they found because they found out we were right. We were right. And they deleted and destroyed all of the information. They should go to jail for that. If a Republican did that, they'd go to jail. Thank you, President Trump. President Biden, I want to give you a minute. The only person in this stage is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now. And the fact of the matter is, what he's telling you is simply not true.

The fact is that there was no effort on his part to stop what was going on up in Capitol Hill. And all those people, every one of those who were convicted deserves to be convicted. You know, and I thought there was also a moment there where President Biden could have said, look, Donald Trump believes that the insurrectionists are hostages. He calls them patriots. He says that they should all be freed, the most violent ones. You say that. Don't you say that? Release the hostages? Isn't that something that you said? So even if the moderators weren't fact-checking Donald Trump, which you can argue that they should have, I mean, I think President Biden should have looked at him and said, isn't that what you believe? You know, take a look over here where Donald Trump is

saying that everybody, Donald Trump says everybody wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Watch this clip. 51 years ago, you had Roe v. Wade and everybody wanted to get it back to the states. Everybody, without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives, everybody wanted it back, religious leaders. And what I did is I put three great Supreme Court justices on the court and they. You know, and that's an opportunity to say, look, Donald Trump is celebrating that Roe v. Wade is overturned and donald trump believes that states have the right to monitor women's periods that donald trump believes that states have the rights to lock women up lock their doctors up that he's okay with state's most extreme abortions he's he's okay with that he's celebrating that he's the reason for that aren't you isn't that what you're saying right there? You know, and you can make that point very clear. And then there was this moment here towards the end of the

debate where Dana Bashash Trump is, will you accept the results of the election? Here, watch what happens in this final clip. The question was, will you accept the results of the election, regardless of who wins? Yes or no, please. If it's a fair and legal and good election, absolutely. I would have much rather accepted these, but the fraud and everything else was ridiculous. And if you want, we'll have a news conference on it in a week, or we'll have another one of these in a week. And that's a perfect opportunity to say,

what are you talking about? You're going to hold a news conference whining that the 2020 election was stolen. That's what you're saying you wanted. You're still whining and you claim you won in 2020. Let's just be clear to the American people. That's what you believe you won in 2020. Is that what you're saying right now? And I think there were many, many missed opportunities, I think, would be putting it lightly, you know, like that. And look, you know, I see the comments and people are saying, I'm still voting for president. But of course, you're going to vote for democracy or you're going to vote for authoritarianism, but, you know, in terms of, in terms of this debate, you know, I don't think there's, there's any other way to look at the debate other than, you know, it was, it was disappointing, you know, to, and, and frankly, you know, if, if, you know, this may not be the, you know, the right way to articulate from the perspective of like a host of a media channel, but it was like a little bit it was a little bit sad to to watch and it was frustrating because you you know what biden wanted to say you know what he was trying to say you see donald trump lying up there and lying and lying and lying and you see in president biden someone who's decent and honest, you know, who was really just kind of

unable to, you know, to get out the thoughts and to push back the way Biden would have done, you know, in the past. And that's just kind of the honest observation of watching it. You know, I don't think Trump endeared himself to anyone. I don't think somebody watches that and goes, that's a stable individual. I don't think people watch that and go, yeah, that person was really strong and powerful and that what they're saying was, you know, made a lot of sense. But at the same time, you know, I don't think that President Biden, you know, and if you're watching that debate and you are going to make up your mind, it's hard to say that he won over people who were still somehow undecided. I just think that's – there's no other way to, I think, honestly be a commentator and come at it any way differently. Brett, Jordy?

No, I agree with you 110%. I know there was moments where I was screaming at the TV, come on, say it. It's an easy point. Let's go. Let's fire back. He's lying. He's lying about abortions after the baby is pregnant. He's lying about insulin. He's lying about veterans. He's lying about clean water and everything that he was putting forth. And there were so many low hanging moments to go after. And like I said, if I had to sum it up in any way, I think there's one phrase I would use about tonight and it is missed opportunity. I think tonight was such a tremendous missed opportunity for president Biden and for the Biden campaign. Um, but you know, I think they're going to have to double their

work and they're going to have to make a big splash over the next few days and the next few weeks and really prove to voters that he's got this in him. And I don't think, I certainly seeing the comments, I see everybody saying, I'm still voting for Joe. I'm still voting for Joe. I don't think this changed the mind certainly of a lot of the people watching this. I don't think it changed the minds of a lot of political junkies, but it's those folks in the middle, those moderate voters, so to speak. Not saying a lot of them, but there are certainly a portion of voters out there who don't necessarily focus on policy and don't necessarily focus on the words oftentimes of what folks are saying, but they focus on the optics. They focus on the way people

look, the way people speak, how confident they appear, how strong they appear. And in terms of that, it was not a great night for President Biden. But I think the folks who listened to the debate for the substance, the folks who understood what President Biden was saying, the points that he was making, I think those folks would see a man who cares deeply about the country, who cares deeply about democracy, who is empathetic, who cares about his kids, who cares about our veterans, who cares about people being able to afford prescription drugs, who cares about our allies. And you just have to hope that those messages, which are enduring American values, that quite frankly, if you went back to any other debate in the past before Trump, those are values that I think you would see candidates from, maybe not every single one of those things, but a lot of those things are things that you would see both candidates espousing. I think there is such a difference in this election between the candidates on fundamental issues concerning fundamental American values. going to pick the felon who lies about literally everything and who wants to destroy the American experiment? Or do you want to choose the guy who had a little bit of trouble speaking on debate

night and is three years older? I mean, it's frankly going to come down to that. And I'm not at all diminishing the impact of optics because I think it's an important thing. But I think we have to look beneath that and look to the core principles that define who these people are as human beings, who these people are as leaders. And when you peel that layer back and you look at that, it's undeniable the difference between these two. And look, I'm not here to make any excuses for tonight. I think we're all pretty much on the same between these two. And look, I'm not here to make any excuses for tonight. I think we're all pretty much on the same page of how things went, but I really do have to say, I just absolutely hated that format for all the reasons that we discussed up into the pre-show. It's like one of Donald Trump's biggest weaknesses is that he truly can't control himself.

And if you could start to bait him with a few things here and there, you know, he'll truly go off just off the deep end and really start to spew just just crazy, you know, rhetoric and behavior. I really think this two minute format here, it actually controlled him in a way where, you know, after those two minutes, his mic got cut off and boom, he couldn't continue to fall down that weirdo shark electrocution rabbit hole that probably most Americans don't get to hear from him on almost a daily basis at this point. I did not like that aspect of the format. And I also really didn't like the aspect that I'm not going to go too hard on the moderators here because by all means, I think they did an okay job. It's hard to fact check people in real time, but you know he's going to go up on that stage as Donald Trump and lie.

So be prepared to push back on that. You're there for a reason. I don't think you're just a robot talking head. If he's lying, use your brain and be, hey, that's not true. What do you say about X, Y, and Z? I think they let him out of too many of those instances. And the solve was to have one of their correspondents do fact checking on Twitter. That's the solve to fact check in real time over there where most Americans really aren't even, you know, just like a journalism hub. So just a confusing format take from CNN over there. Again, I'm not making excuses, but I just want to get off my chest what-

Yeah, and I get that, Jordy. And here's the thing. I think a lot of people are going to turn to that, right? I think a lot of people are going to try it, and I know that you're not blaming the moderators for the performance, but I think you will see, and. The one thing I wish they would have done was keep the candidates focused on the questions. That's where I think their moderating should have come in. If you ask a question about childcare and all of a sudden the person is talking about the border and immigration, I think that's when you step in and you say, sir, the question was about childcare. Could you please answer the question? That's where I think your moderating has to be. In terms of fact-checking though, I think that's part of being a debater.

I think that's part of being a candidate. I think it is in many ways your responsibility as the candidate to be there, be armed with the facts, to be able to push back strongly against the lies, especially when you know the lies are going to be coming as quickly and as furiously as they are and as they did tonight. And when you don't, when you let them slide, when you're unable to, I think that is an issue as a debater. I'm not saying it's an issue for your leadership style or your accomplishments, the things you're actually able to get done. But in terms of a debate context, I think a key component of being a good debater is being able to punch back against the lies

and to be able to correct, slap down, turn things back around against the other person when they lie. I think that's absolutely crucial. And I think that's one of the reasons why President Biden did not have a good night tonight. And right, wait, just to build on that though, like the mic muting thing goes both sides of it too, right? So look, President Biden did not have a good night tonight. And just to build on that, though, like the mic muting thing goes both sides of it, too. Right. So look, President Biden could have used his whole time to then just dispute everything that Donald Trump was saying. But at the same time, his mic was muted in the real time where Donald Trump was lying. So who knows if he was trying to push back at that time? I'm sure as heck the American people don't know because his mic was off. But But again, that would have been a moment had the Nikes not been muted to speak up forcefully as the lies were continuing to just be thrown out there.

I don't fault the format at all. I really don't. And sure, the moderators could have pushed back. But look, debating is a skill. And with all of the crazy lies that Donald Trump said tonight, let's be just real. There was layup after layup after layup with all of the stuff that Donald Trump was saying. Even when Donald Trump says, I didn't have sex with a porn star, you could go back and just say, he lies about everything. A jury disagreed with you. Was that rigged? Were the Emmys rigged, Donald? Were the Academy Awards rigged? Was the

primaries of Iowa in 2016 rigged? Is everything a massive conspiracy? No, you just whine over and over again because you are a loser. You could do that. Yeah, exactly. You could do that. When he goes in that direction, when he's not answering the question, you know, President Biden can look and say, I want the American people to realize why isn't he answering the question? Because he is not going to accept the results of this election. You thought January 6th was bad? He's out there changing the lyrics of our national anthem with the most violent insurrectionist. Aren't you, Donald? Didn't you change the lyrics to the J6th choir? Isn't that what you did? And you turn it on him. And there were so many moments there that, and I think the

frustrating part about me watching it and seeing it is all those thoughts race through my mind of what I think could have been said in those moments, which, yes, were the moderators. Sure, was the format. It doesn't matter. with these layup moments where Donald Trump was talking about clean water when it came to the question about climate change to go, did you listen to that? That made no sense. You want to know why? Donald Trump doesn't believe that climate change exists. Donald Trump doesn't believe that climate change is real. What he does believe is every QAnon conspiracy, because if you want to go and look at his posts all day, it's QAnon stuff all day. But when it comes to climate change, he can't even answer the most basic question. And to all of the voters out there, Gen Z and others who are watching this, he will destroy the climate.

Look, then you could say, look, I understand people are saying that I'm old, but with age comes wisdom and I want to leave this planet a better place for you. And he wants to leave this place a crappier place for you to help his deca-billionaire friends. Boom, boom. That's how you turn it that you you turn it just like that so that's why to me though the people talk about the format there was many a layup right there that that that that could have that you could have just done i could keep on going but those are just examples i'm voting voting for Ben. That's where the missus would be.

That's good. I'm voting for Ben. That was good right there. That was really good. I think maybe we do an edit where we splice in the debaters' questions. We put you in there and have you tee off against Trump in the debate. That was good. Very presidential, Ben, right there.

I enjoyed it. I think the things that folks hope, though, as they come to the Midas Touch Network is that they know that we're going to tell it straight. We know we're not going to be dictated by ideology, whatever our beliefs may be. And we wear our beliefs on our sleeve, I would say, but we would never be dictated in what we're going to talk about by beliefs. We could come out here, we could try to spin whatever. That's not us. That's not what we're going to do. I would say this was not a good night for President Biden. It was not a good night for pro-democracy because anytime that you have a person who wants to overthrow the democracy

having a better night, it's certainly not a good night for democracy. But debates are not elections. And I think that's something that's important to remember. Winning a debate, losing a debate, does it matter? Yeah, probably. It probably matters. It probably has an impact. Is it the end all be all? Probably not. But you never know how these things pan out, but probably not. But at the end of the day, you will have to see, are people going to be deciding this election based on a debate performance? That's something for the voters to decide. That's something we'll see. But I think we need to all remain together and stick together in this pro-democracy community, understand that we're all fighting for values here, right? We're all fighting for fundamentally

American values. And I think that's what is so powerful about everybody right now watching this network, watching the Midas Touch Network, all of you out here who consider yourself part of the Midas Mighty, that this is about so much more than any individual. This is about the ideals that our country was founded on, the imperfect ideals, quite frankly, that our country was founded on, the imperfect ideals, quite frankly, that our country was founded on, that we strive to be a more perfect union as we go on. This is about preserving and protecting our democracy and expanding rights for people, not taking them away. And the stakes of this election, quite frankly, could not be any higher. And I think that is one

of the interesting, I don't know, interesting is the right word, but that's one of the unique things about this election. It's that so much is at stake. And throughout the years, politicians have used that line ad nauseum, right? This is the most important election of your lifetime. And it probably wasn't true most of the time when politicians said that, to be honest. But it's certainly true this time. And I think you have to look at the two candidates, not just who they are as individuals, but what they stand for and what they want to do. What freedoms they either want to expand or what freedoms they want to take away from you. Do you want to have a president who is giving more benefits to veterans or who is taking

them away? You could do this with just about every subject matter here. And you could see the tangible results at the end of the day. And I think that's important for us to hone our focus in on tangible things that we could do to help people and not base any of our opinions, quite frankly, on if someone has a D next to their name and I and R, whatever the letter, you know, I think we need to be pushing for values, for shared values amongst Democrats, amongst Republicans, amongst independents, amongst all Americans. I think that is the single most important thing that should be our focus and

protecting and preserving all those values that we share. Yeah, and I see some of the comments, and I'm grateful for the comments. People say, Ben should run. Ben, you need to get into politics. You need to get into that. The kind of funny thing, and I'll leave everybody with this, considering that I founded a political media company, and here's a little secret about me. I actually don't love politics. What I actually care about are values and what I care about are principles over people. I learned when I started stepping into this arena in 2020

that actually over time, any specific person or politician, don't get me wrong, I like people. So I could become friendly with people over time or think someone's very talented over time or whatever. But ultimately for me, it's not about the politician, it's about the principles and the values. And I think when the media has created this both sides race and you've got to pick your team and you got to pick that team and no matter what, those are your teams and the teams have to hate each other and whatever. That to me is a real, to me, incorrect frame. I think there are these enduring principles and values that, frankly, I think progressives share with mainstream Republicans and independents. I think this MAGA thing is just something different. I can't both sides. This MAGA thing,

which is, in my personal view, an authoritarian movement. I think you can have people like Mitt Romney, who I may disagree with on a ton of issues, or people like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney, who I'm sure I disagree with on a ton of issues, but I can respect that these are people of character and integrity who strive to find truth, who try to reach compromise, and we try to kind of figure it out. So to me, when we are building the Midas Touch Network, to me, it's always about building the principles and building the values and talking about compassion and decency and pro-democracy over the hate and over the lies and over the disinformation i'm sorry if the internet's slow right now and anyone missed that i'm getting it and i think i think i think you came through loud and clear um yeah and we'll move. Came through loud and clear.

Yeah, and you know what? There's truly never any use in worrying, panicking. I mean, I think you always have to try to figure out a way to harness that energy into thinking, what could I do more with this, right? And I think you need to realize that means you need to make, you need to work that much harder. Right. And I think that should sort of be your goal, you know, get, have a drink, get some rest, do what you got to do tonight. Right. Right. I chill out. I get it. Believe me. Um, but you can wake up tomorrow, um, and figure out ways you could help, right. Let it energize you instead of demoralize you because nothing good comes with that sort of paralysis, that fear and anger and panic could bring.

And instead, if you say, you know what, I'm going to join a phone bank because I need a, you know, I need to do something right. Then, then find, find a place to phone bank. Phone banking is when you're calling voters up and encouraging them to, do something, right? Then find a place to phone bank. Phone banking is when you're calling voters up and encouraging them to vote, right? More texting if you don't like doing it on the phone. There are a lot of great organizations that do work like that. I would look it up. Turn panic into action, right?

I think that is the ultimate kind of thing that you could take away from tonight ultimately. You know what? Can I give you my takeaway? My takeaway is don't panic. kind of thing that you could take away from tonight ultimately once you know what i give you my takeaway my takeaway is don't panic yeah how many times we've heard this has fallen apart or that's fallen apart all the time it's literally all over it's all up it's all down like i i i think we need to be realistic i hope you i'm more just acknowledging that I know people are upset tonight. And rightfully so. And I hope this post-debate coverage, we're not like, Biden did great and Donald Trump did horrible.

That's not what we're saying. Donald Trump lied and the Biden who needed to show up did not show up. You had one liar and one person who did not accomplish the mission that was necessary tonight. That's what went down. And perhaps it's an understatement to say the other person didn't accomplish the mission, but that's an accurate reflection. Another accurate reflection are the values of these individuals and the actual job that's been done. And I believe the American people are overwhelmingly smart when it comes to seeing what's happening. I think people

see Donald Trump's stunts for what they are. They know the lies. They hear his dangerous rhetoric. People understand democracy is on the line. That doesn't mean that people should not be concerned or feel how they feel if they watch a debate like this. You have every right to feel the way that you do. My whole perspective on things in life in general, and for those who are asking if I'm old enough to run, yes, if I'm old enough to run, yes, I'm definitely old enough to run. Let me be, if I appreciate that for you thinking that,

for a few people who said that, but- Millennial Ben. I'm turning 40, I promise you. I'm 39 years old. I promise you I'm old enough to run. But the best perspective that I've had over the course of my career and just my life and just for those who know me is I'm not really a panic person. Doesn't mean I don't feel concerned. I'm a data person. And as I look to tonight, I look to collect as much data as possible and to reflect that over the coming days and over the coming weeks. And, you know, as I said, you had someone who was lying the entire time in Donald Trump. And I think people got that. He was not answering the questions. He was lying and he looked like a maniac. And in President and President Biden, he failed to show up.

He failed to meet the moment, he failed to show up. He failed to meet the moment that he needed to tonight. That's just the accurate assessment of where it's at. There's a lot of things happening. We've got Supreme Court rulings dropping soon, additional ones. We'll see what the Supreme Court does on the absolute immunity claim, on the Fisher case about obstruction of official proceeding. The Midas Touch Network has brought in a Supreme Court specialist in Mike Sachs. I hope you've been enjoying some of his coverage. He works for court accountability, and he's now a correspondent on Midas Touch to provide the most in-depth analysis on these

Supreme Court cases. We built out Michael Cohen's YouTube channel. So if you're not subscribed to Michael Cohen's YouTube channel, it's at the Michael Cohen show, at the Michael Cohen show on YouTube. It's free to subscribe there. Make sure you all are subscribed to this YouTube channel. It's free to subscribe to the Midas Touch Network. And one of the things I reflect upon is, and people don't think necessarily in historic terms about how Fox was created. Fox was created in the 1970s through a memo that was prepared by Roger Ailes. And they were trying to basically figure out if someone like Nixon were to emerge again in the Republican Party, how do they create a media propaganda arm that could

stop the truth from getting out? And they built that generationally. And as I've seen the damage they've done to the country, I've thought, how do we build something generationally that is the remedy to that? That's the project that we're at here in the Midas Touch Network. It's generational. It's about restoring facts and truth and decency and principles and values over specific politicians or tribalism. It's trying to reinvigorate that. And that's our focus, short-term, long-term. That's what we're going to keep on building here. You want to support this network? We don't have outside investors. Go to patreon.com slash MidasTouch, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash Midasas Touch. We're going to be doing a exclusive Zoom meeting with our patrons next week.

It's one of the ways you can help build this platform. Patreon dot com slash Midas Touch. Check that out. Make sure you subscribe to Michael Cohen's YouTube channel at The Michael Cohen Show. Shout out to- That channel's on fire, huh? Totally on fire. Over 32,000, 33,000 subscribers.

Let's go MC. I want to give a shout out to some of our other YouTube channels too. Make sure you're subscribed to the whole family of Midas Touch Network channels. We've got the Tennessee Brando YouTube channel, subscribe to that. We've got Adam Mockler's channel, our Gen Z correspondent, subscribe to that. We've got the Talking Feds channel with Harry Littman. Make sure you're subscribed to that. Coalition of the Sane with Denver Riggleman. Make sure you're subscribed to that. True Crime MTN, our true crime channel led by David Arenberg. Make sure you're subscribed to that. Just make sure you're

subscribed to all the Midas Touch YouTube channels. Let's keep on growing this together. And look, there's still a long road to go. We are in this together. It's okay to feel the way you feel right now. And I just want you to know that, you know, we're gonna keep getting the facts out there. We're going to keep reporting every day. Hot takes will still keep coming in and we're going

to keep on building this pro-democracy community together. We're going to follow all of the data as we always do. We're going to report on all of the court cases as we always do. Um, and I'm grateful for everybody here and we could all lean on each other in this pro-democracy community. That's what I have to say. Brett, anything you wanted to say before we go? Real quick, before we toss me to close it out, sorry to interrupt, Brett. Also subscribe to the audio feed of the Midas Touch podcast, wherever you get your podcasts. Good interruption. Yeah, I know. I thought you wouldn't mind it. That's the Midas Touch podcast, wherever you get it. That means if you're on the go and you can't watch the YouTubes, that means the podcast

are right there in your pocket for you. You can listen to the audio. We're putting about three hot takes on there a day. And look, buckle up, right? It's a sprint to the finish line now. And just time to really lock in, as the kids like to say. So subscribe to the Midas Touch podcast. Give us a five-star review on whatever app you use.

It's really helpful for us too. And check it out. It's great. And we can all stay in this together. Brett, back to say. So subscribe to the Midas Touch podcast. Give us a five-star review on whatever app you use. It's really helpful for us too. And check it out. It's great. And we can all stay in this together. Brett, back to you. Yeah. My only thing that I would add, well, first regarding the YouTube channels also, if you go to our YouTube channel and scroll all the way to the bottom, you're able to, you could just basically subscribe to all of them. You'll see all the channels kind of right there. It makes it super easy. The other thing I'm just going to add to what Ben was saying as we close out is that I think it's important that we are always realistic about what is going on. I think you don't do any good to delude yourself. You don't do any good to lie to yourself. And we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we came in here and viewed it as our job to try to spin things or create a false reality.

That's what MAGA does. That's what we're pushing back against. We want truth in reporting. That's a very important thing to us. We want honesty. We want a democratic system. These are all the values that we're fighting for. So I think it's important that we all stay grounded here and that's fine. It's okay. It's okay to think something went bad, something went good. It's fine. Don't let that impact one thing. Be realistic, but like Ben said, don't panic. Panicking, any sort of kind of, nothing good has ever come from thinking the sky is falling. Nothing good has ever come from, like I said, in the heat of a moment, making a certain decision here and there. I promise you the sky is not falling.

You'll wake up tomorrow, things will be okay, and you will get to work and you will fight that much harder. I mean, I think we all understand the stakes that this election has, the stakes to our country that this MAGA movement has had on our country in terms of removing our freedoms. And I think that's what we are up against. It's so much bigger than anything else. And so I just want to end with that. I want to thank everybody here at the Midas Touch Network for following our coverage, for watching the pre-show, for watching the post-show, for all your kind words. I want to thank all of you for being with us throughout all of our coverage and watching all of our podcasts and sharing this network with everybody.

I think it's so important that we continue to go out there and we continue to reach voices across the political spectrum, no matter if somebody is a Democrat or Republican and independent or something else. Because I think really unity uniting around these shared values, and I know I've said it a hundred times, I think that is the number one thing that we should all be doing here every single day. Well, with that, we'll turn it over to Jordy. I got some hot takes that I got to cook right here. Take it away, Jordy. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. It's Ken Harbaugh with the Midas Touch Network. The film Against All Enemies, which I co-produced with Ben Maisalis and this network,

has won awards around the world for its up-close portrayal of America's insurrectionist movement. It premieres in the U.S. on March 29th on Amazon and Apple TV. Go to againstallenemiesfilm.com or click the link below. But don't just watch Against All Enemies. Tell your friends about it. It's one more way to hold accountable those who threaten our democracy. Thanks, Midas Mighty. Let's use our power well.