The MeidasTouch Podcast - Biden’s Grace vs. Trump’s Disgrace with Beto O’Rourke and Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

It's a big day! The Meidas Brothers celebrate the inauguration of President Joe Biden and try to make sense of the sudden return to normalcy, as he who shall not be named leaves in utter disgrace. The brothers discuss highlights the Inauguration, including the breathtaking speech by Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman. Former Congressman, Senate and Presidential Candidate, and founder of Powered by People Beto O'Rourke then joins the pod to discuss the work of his organization in Texas, the horrible human known as Ted Cruz, and the enduring legacy of the peaceful protests of Colin Kaepernick. The brothers then discuss the shattered reality of QAnon supporters before having a fascinating conversation with professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and Author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. The brothers finish the show by showing more examples of the return to normalcy, including Thursday's press briefing with Dr. Anthony Fauci. Learn more about Beto O'Rourke's organization Powered by People here: https://poweredxpeople.org/ Buy Ruth Ben-Ghiat's book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/strongmen --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/meidastouch/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/meidastouch/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. That's not America. No, that's not America. Welcome to the Midas Touch Podcast. Ben Mycelis here, joined by my brothers, Brett Mycelis and Jordy Mycelis. I don't know if you could hear it in the tone of my voice.

I hear it all right. Are you hearing it? Are you hearing it? Because I am feeling good. I'm feeling like a weight was lifted. I'm feeling like the sky has parted. I genuinely feel healthier mentally and physically that it's official. At its official, Donald Trump has left in disgrace. He's somewhere in Mar-a-Lago doing whatever the hell he's doing over there, probably moping and crying Trump tears with his kids. And we had... He's definitely not with his kids. And he's definitely not on Twitter either. And we had an incredible inauguration, if for the fact that it just finally person of South Asian descent and first woman to hold the title of vice president. It was an incredible day, an incredible celebration of democracy. I couldn't be prouder today to be an American. And I've been speaking to people just through my job of people in other countries, people in Australia, New Zealand, the UK.

They feel happy today. How are you doing, Jordy? I'm doing good, man. I had a full nine hours of sleep last night. Didn't wake up once. Well, maybe once to hit the inhaler, but other than that, I'm feeling good. Dude, yesterday was just amazing. Just an amazing day. So comfortable. So normal.

Just got to love it. And you know what? The fight goes on though. There's a lot of things that we have up our sleeves. A lot of people that we need to go after being those Trump loyalists and people that just continue to invoke and spout Trumpisms. So our fight's not done, but oh man, did I get a good night's sleep last night? And yesterday's headline, Jordy, this is the New York Times headline. Democracy has prevailed. Biden vows to mend the nation. And Biden says this is America's day as he began his inaugural address. I love this is democracy's day. I love it. I love it, guys. And it felt that way. And this is this is Brett here from Midas Touch coming at you. And so I got to say today when I woke up, I love it, guys. And it felt that way. And this is this is Brett here from Midas Touch coming at you. And so I got to say today when I woke up, I walked my dog and the birds were chirping a little bit louder.

The sun was shining a little bit brighter. It really you just feel it in the air. It's like a four hundred and fifty seven pound orange weight has been lifted off my shoulders and the world's shoulders. And yesterday was really just one of the most, I mean, we're going to get into all the people who we still have to hold accountable, but I just want to take a moment to appreciate yesterday because it was one of the most beautiful moments, I think, in American history, a stunning display of America. I honestly think that every inauguration going forward should be like that one. It just felt so inclusive, so beautiful, so moving. We had some of the biggest stars on the planet there performing alongside Joe Biden throughout the night, which, you know, just destroy Trump that

the best he could get is probably like vanilla ice at this point. But just incredible performances by everyone from Lady Gaga to John Legend. You had Tom Hanks as a host. You had an incredible poet laureate, Amanda Gorman speaking. The whole thing was just beautiful. But Jordi, I did hear that today you started the first day of the Biden presidency. Okay. We said we weren't going to talk about this. Okay, but you mentioned it. So now I can't. I heard you fell into the river by your house. Yeah, I did. Okay, so real quick.

If you can't tell by now, look, we're three brothers. Ben's the oldest brother. He's our legal expert. Brett's the middle brother. It's two-time Emmy award-winning digital editor. And if you can't tell, Jordy is struggling each and every episode. He's got allergies. Apparently, he fell into a river today. so basically i was playing with mellow i'm in an undisclosed location mellow is jordy's dog

you have to not everybody knows your dog's name is mellow so jordy when you say you're playing with mellow yeah you gotta you gotta there's a lot of imagination i think i think everybody in the world knows my dog mellow but okay my dog Mello and I were playing by the river and his ball went way too close into the river. And I said, Mello, wait here. Let me get that ball for you, bud. And of course he waited because he listens to me and I went close to the river. And as I got there, there was like a huge mud slide. And now I told myself, I'm not going to slip. I'm not going to slip,

but just telling yourself that doesn't actually make you not slip. So I went closer to grab the ball, completely slipped, fell into the river, got soaked. Mello was barking. It was a whole scene, man. Well, I think we all know what happened, Jordy. Let's just be honest with the people. You had a little bit too much champagne to celebrate last night. You were still feeling it this morning and you went headfirst into a river.

And I'm glad you're OK, because now I could just laugh at it because it's. Well, if I'm going to be honest, I mean, the party never stopped. Let me go back to the inauguration for those first listening. Ben, the older brother, brings the conversations back to politics as my brothers meander and talk about falling into rivers and Jordy's allergies and playing with people named Mello. Apparently going into the highlight for me, Brett, was Amanda Gorman, one of many highlights. She's the nation's first ever youth poet laureate, probably the most Googled person in the world yesterday.

What everyone's saying, who's Amanda Gorman? So when I checked her out in the morning, I was like, who is this just incredible person? And I looked her up on Twitter and she had about, I think like 20,000 followers at the time. And within hours, I believe. She's from LA. She went to Harvard. She's just one of the most impressive people and one of those people who you look at and they almost are so impressive that they make you feel bad about yourself and your own intelligence.

You ever have that feeling when you're watching somebody? This is the perfect person, you know, as you look in the mirror and you go, okay, okay, what do I got to I got to put in? I got to put in a little harder work. But no, she was incredible. And she wrote her poem that she read at the inauguration. She wrote it while watching the extremists and the terrorists storm the Capitol.

And so, Brett, if you have that clip of her poem. While once we asked how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe, now we assert how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us. We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation. Our blenders become their burdens.

But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might into might with right, then love becomes our legacy. Oh, my gosh. So here's what needs to happen. Netflix needs to just take the speech and just put it up there so that I could just watch it on repeat every single night. It is the most powerful, maybe one of the most consequential speeches. And I really felt like I was seeing the birth of a new American icon when I was watching that. Like this is somebody who made her mark in history with that one poem. And it's the perfect contrast to if you remember Trump's inaugural speech in 2016, it was all about American carnage. And he painted the picture of the America that he eventually created himself. I mean, the America that Trump was talking about in 2016 was not the

America that existed, but it was the America he created as exemplified by the extremist terrorists that he had invaded the Capitol building. And there was that photograph of the Capitol building with all the smoke and looking like, you know, it was basically destroyed. You know, there was that photo. And then to hear this incredible poem of unity and that message of unity, Brett, was echoed in the morning by Joe Biden's press secretary, the new press secretary. Her name is Jen Psaki. And before the inauguration even took place, Jen Psaki was asked, well, what does Biden think about going into this inauguration? What is Biden this, Biden that? And she had the perfect response. This speech and today is really not about Joe Biden. He is becoming the president today, but it's about the American people. And he's going to talk. He is becoming the president today, but it's about

the American people. And he's going to talk about the resolve of the American people, the benefit, the power of coming together. And that's really the message I think people are going to hear from his speech today. And that was the message from his speech. That was the America we saw. I feel like yesterday, guys, what we saw was the American ideal. It was what America could be if we all pushed in that direction. It was an America of inclusivity, of passion, of democracy. And by the way, just for all those listening, I want you to know that the press secretary, when she was speaking, she was not holding a binder full of blank pages. She was not waving her arm. She was not screaming at Jim Acosta and the fake news

and calling on OAN. But she was delivering an incredibly respectful message about President Biden's plan for the country. And here's the thing. These past four years have all been in Trump's world. Me, me, me, me, me. Even if those policies just destroyed and obliterated the United States. So the perfect tone to say, look, Joe Biden is the president, but this is America. OK, let's focus on what these policies are going to do for America. Everything I saw last night exemplified that notion. So it wasn't just talk. It was action from day one. And even through the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural festivities, we saw not Joe Biden getting up there and talking about how great he was going to be for America,

but how great Americans are for this country. They were highlighting first responders. They were highlighting teachers. They were highlighting the arts. It was really just an America that I know it's the one that I want to live in. It was just so beautiful and really just a memorable day. And we should all take a moment. You should all take a moment to just appreciate all the hard work that you did to get here. Your votes matter. Your activism matters. Your phone call, your text messages, your tweets, literally everything you did got us

to this moment. And why else does it matter? Because let's just talk about the actions that Joe Biden decided to take on day one. Not only did he wake up, do the inauguration, do all these festivities and events, appear on TV, have all these performances, speak to the press. He got started from the get-go at getting things done. The second he got to the Oval Office, and what an incredible sight that was, he went to work and signed 17 executive orders. 17 executive orders. I really think Joe Biden did more in his first 10 minutes of the presidency

than Trump did in the entire four years. And these are things, valuable things, that are really going to help people's lives. And I'll read off just some of them because there are so many. He instituted a mask mandate on federal properties. Finally, we have someone who's going to take COVID seriously. He immediately rejoined the Paris Climate Accord. He undid the racist Muslim travel ban, extended the moratorium on evictions. He ended the current wall construction. He rejoined the World Health Organization and he strengthened DACA protections. We finally have a serious leader in President Biden. And for the first time, I could just exhale and think, you know what, guys, things are going to be OK. We're going to get COVID under control. We're going to be a global player once again.

And then you have people like Ted Cruz who want to, I guess, prove just how vile and stupid they are at the same time. And Ted Cruz, you know, I think tweeted by rejoining the Paris climate agreement. President Biden indicates he's more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris and in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh. This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans. So the theme of Ted Cruz yesterday was showing how much of a clown he was and then just getting just destroyed by everybody on Twitter. I think he likes the abuse. I think he likes the embarrassment at this point. He loves the abuse. It's insane. But you know what? Look, we've said this before. He's a smart dude. He's evil. He's a smart dude. He knows what he was doing. He knows it's going to rally up his

base. And, you know, we're all going to dunk on him, obviously, because what he's saying is ridiculous. But his base doesn't read like that. You're exactly, exactly right. Because the guy graduated from Harvard Law. His wife works for Goldman Sachs. He's an intelligent person. And he's not saying this shit because he believes it. He's saying it because he knows his base will eat it up. And I think that's one of the most cynical, disingenuous things you could do as a politician. And it's the antithesis of what you want your leaders to do. You want leaders to show people in the right direction and not to play to their worst impulses. And AOC, Ben, just had the most brilliant retort. So did Greta Thunberg. He got in a fight with Seth Rogen. Do you have any of those tweets? Can we share those with everybody? Yeah, we have AOC saying, nice tweet, Senator Cruz. Quick

question. Do you also believe the Geneva Convention was about the views of the citizens of Geneva? Asking for everyone who believes U.S. senators should be competent and not undermine our elections to incite insurrection against the United States. I mean, let's not forget, at this point, Senator Ted Cruz is a terrorist. And when you say his base, the base that he wants is a base of terrorists at this point. That's the base he's trying to, you know, basically be, you know, the same way after bin Laden left ISIS, there was, you know, the new terrorist leader who emerges. Ted Cruz wants to be the new leader of ISIS after, you know, the other bin Laden Trump, you know, left. And so that was Ted Cruz's tweet. That was AOC's comeback. And Greta Thunberg wrote, so happy that the USA has finally rejoined the Pittsburgh agreement. Welcome back. Yeah, Greta and AOC are two of the best Twitter accounts in general. Greta went hard, though. She even did a tweet yesterday where she was as Trump was leaving. She was like, nice old man leaving leaving leaving for a long vacation obviously mocking trump's tweet at her from a couple years ago because greta keeps receipts the patience the patience

that that took to to wait and sit on that for just the right moment i mean you gotta applaud this is a little minus a touch podcast alert we're gonna have somebody shortly who's gonna talk about i'm sure ted cruz who's probably the best person in the world to talk about cruz we're going to have somebody shortly who's going to talk about, I'm sure, Ted Cruz, who's probably the best person in the world to talk about Cruz. We're going to have Beto O'Rourke on shortly. You heard that right. We're going to have Beto O'Rourke. But before we get to Beto, Brett, I do want to talk about the Trump leaving in disgrace. We've talked briefly about Biden's inauguration with grace. But let's talk about Trump leaving in disgrace. Grace, disgrace.

I think we have an episode title here. You guys like it. Trump's departure was an epitomized a weird the weird death spiral fascist craziness. That is Donald Trump. Almost nobody showed. Donald Trump wanted this big military sendoff at Maryland's Joint Base Andrews. The vice president didn't show. Mitch McConnell didn't show. Not even Kevin McCarthy, who was basically Trump's personal masseuse these past four years, who's also known as the Republican leader of the House. But he was Trump's. Yeah, he was Trump. What a what a multi-talented guy. And then I don't want to harp on this,

but your memes were very funny that Barron Trump wasn't there. Like we have no clue where in the world Barron Trump went. And I'm not going to fully delve into that. But your memes were hilarious. I thought it was like a home alone situation and like Melania an hour after was like, Baron! Well, it would be apropos with Home Alone, because as we know, Donald Trump was in Home Alone, too. And then when Macaulay Culkin character saw Donald Trump, rather than acknowledging that the little kid was clearly lost, Donald Trump was like, yeah, just go down there and you

could just die that way. You know, it perfectly full circle. Then Donald Trump gave a very bizarre speech in front of essentially nobody at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. I want to be clear. This is one of the last times I really want to mention to Donald Trump on this podcast. We may refer to him as he who should not be named when he gets arrested in the future. We'll talk about him.

But I want to talk about Elvis, whatever you want. You can feel free to pitch names. But in Trump's exit speech, you know, we'll talk about it for the historical nature. Apparently, Trump believes that he's not really a human being so much as an entity, something a thermal, something that could mutate, something that is intangible because Trump stressed that he was going to he would love to come back in some other form i don't know what that is let's listen to it how he worded it hey goodbye we love you we will be back in some form so have a good life we will see you soon thank you have a good life we'll will see you soon. Thank you. Have a good life? I'm going to do my Trump.

Oh, ready? Get ready, everybody. Good luck. I'm coming back in another form. Have a great life. BRB? BRB? Are the kids saying BRB?

And see you later. Is he like a racist Pokemon? He's going to come back in another form. He's going to come back from Pikachu. He's going to come back as Raichu. He kind of is like a Pokemon, though, because Pokemons like to refer to themselves in the third person, like Pikachu, Pikachu.

And he's just like Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. Don't ruin Pokemon for me. And he had immense power to cause damage. He had like a hypnosis power to cause damage. He had like a hypnosis power to brainwash his followers. Maybe he is like a hypnotic Pokemon. And I did some research into Pokemon earlier today. And I have not shared this with the brothers, but I found a Pokemon that looks like a Trump Pokemon.

Like literally this Pokemon, and this is excellent for an audio only podcast. But you can look at the clip of this when we post it online and we'll tweet it out. But guys, tell me this is not the Trump Pokemon. And you can look it up. His name is Gumshoes. Oh, my God. They modeled it after him. They had to have it. It's about 300 has the hair. All he needs is like a couple extra hundred pounds and it would be a spot on Pokemon for Donald Trump. And then in true Trump fashion, after talking about mutating into some other form and have

a good life, he does his dumb dance to the YMCA. It's inexplicable why Donald Trump is even playing this song or what he thinks this song means. But even as he was campaigning at maskless rallies and these super spreader events, he would end him with YMCA and he would do this weird thing with his fist. We did a video Trump dances. You die. That got millions of views. But he dancing is a very generous

thing to call what he's doing. It's more kind of like those toys where you control those punching toys. You know, growing up, he kind of does this thing with his hands. But it was beyond wild to hear Newsmax in a clip that I saw traveling around social media that tried to give a explanation, an intellectual insight into Trump's selection of YMCA. There is no president more aware, Mark, of the optics than maybe John F. Kennedy, our first real television president. And it's interesting you bring up the village people. So the song came out YMCA in 1978. Donald Trump was a young man in 1978, working in real estate in New York with his father. You know, the first line of that song is, young man, there's no need to feel down.

President Trump had a hand in setting up the events of today. And I'm sure that was a song that he had some fun with back in the late 70s. And even though he will not be the president at noon Eastern today, there is no need to feel down. As he said, I'll be watching. I'll be listening and I'll be back again in some form. Holy propaganda. A deep textualist analysis of YMCA. Is he saying that YMCA was basically written after, wrote for Donald Trump in the 1970s as he was a young man? That's kind of what he was inciting. He was saying that it told the story of that it was really fitting for Trump's story. Although in

a 2008 interview, the actual author of that of the song said that our first album, 1977's The Village People, was possibly the gayest album ever. I'm quoting. I mean, look at us. We were a gay group. So that was a song written to celebrate gay men. That's the YMCA. Yes, absolutely. And gay people love it. I mean, it is a it's a great anthem. It's a great gay anthem. Everything he touches, he wants to steal. Throughout the campaign, the other songs he played was Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra's My Way, and Sinatra hated Trump. He previously had played Born in the USA, a Springsteen song. You can't always get what you want, a Rolling Stones song. Trump gets cease and desist letters all the time from all of these people who say,

do not play these songs. We hate you. Which is why it must have killed him to have Bruce Springsteen and John Legend and Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga and all these incredible artists perform last night. It must have just killed him. And so that was Trump departing with disgrace.

We know earlier in the week, he pardoned 73 people, commuted 70 people in addition to earlier pardons, previous pardons, where he pardoned Roger Stone and he pardoned his campaign manager. In the most recent batch of pardons, he pardoned Elliot Broidy, the Republican fundraiser who pled guilty to lobbying the Malaysian government as an unregistered foreign agent. He pardoned Duke Cunningham. He pardoned Steve Bannon, who was charged with federal fraud and money laundering in an alleged scheme to defraud supporters of the president's border wall. Yeah. So let's be clear. Defrauding his own supporters to build a wall that Trump ran on a promise that Mexico would pay for. It's bananas. And you know, he used that money to pay for his pardon.

Probably. It's very, it's very possible. He definitely used it to pay for speculation, of course, but he definitely used it to pay for yachts and all the accoutrements that he became so accustomed to, Steve Bannon. And so for Mr. Drain the Swamp, it seemed like he left just by filling the swamp up to its murkiest, most disgusting levels of all time. That cannot be summed up more by the next move that Trump did hours before he was done being president. He revoked his lobbying ban, which would not allow people who worked in the administration to be lobbyists for five years after leaving the administration. He made such a big stink of signing this executive order. And I think he actually signed it like within his first

five hours. It was like priority number one once he got into office. Okay, enjoy, go be lobbyists, everybody. I guess the job market was getting tough and they were getting desperate because no one wants to hire anybody who enabled their work in this administration. The swampiest administration, the most corrupt administration by far. Donald Trump is the worst president in American history. I think we'll probably have just an asterisk next to 45. And, you know, I don't even know if his photo will be displayed there. But when we come back, we have Beto O'Rourke. I'm

excited to talk to him about yesterday's inauguration, his plans going forward, and other incredible current topics. So let's take a break. You're listening to the Midas Touch podcast. I'm so honored to be joined by Beto O'Rourke, former congressman, Senate and presidential candidate, founder of Powered by People, truly needs no introduction. Welcome to the show, Beto. Thank you for having me. Thanks for what you all are doing.

Looking forward to the conversation. Is it cool, first off, that I call you Beto? Am I getting too comfortable with you already? I just want to make sure that's all right. It's great. That's what everybody calls me. Some variant of that. Beto, Beto, Beto, Beto. But yes, that's great. Awesome. Beto, just starting off with your thoughts about yesterday, both in terms of just the inauguration and what was accomplished yesterday with those 17 executive orders that Biden issued. It's interesting. Probably like you, I have been looking forward to January 20th, 2021 for more than four years since the November 2016 election.

And I've been working very hard, doing everything that I know how to do within my power to bring about the end of the Trump presidency and the beginning of something better, which happens to be the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. But having done all that work and all that effort and time and work with so many extraordinary people in campaigns and through organizations like Powered by People, I was surprised by how good I felt yesterday, so much better than I expected to be feeling. Because by, you know, certainly the 19th, we knew the 20th was going to happen. We knew Biden was going to be inaugurated. And yet that knowledge did nothing to dampen the relief that I felt, my hope and excitement for the future. And just watching from home with our kids, our kids are 14 at Amy and she was crying and I can't remember at what point, but I certainly felt like crying as well.

And then Amanda Gorman, I'd never heard of her before. I didn't know she existed. And she was perhaps the most powerful presence yesterday and was able to say so many things that so many of us have been feeling and hoping. And just, I don't know that it could have been any better. And lastly, I was like, why are you having Garth Brooks? Why are you having him out here to sing? I don't know Garth Brooks. I was not, I knew who he was and I probably heard his songs in passing. He was amazing. I actually, my wife had stepped out of the room to take a call when he had sung and I made her watch it last night. He was awesome. Everything was so good. And it made,

this is corny as shit, but it made me feel so good about our country and so proud to be an American and so grateful to live here and so impressed that we still pull this thing off, that we can peacefully transfer power from one president to another 245 years into this deal. Pretty amazing. And Amanda Gorman's poem, to me, was such a perfect contrast to Trump's American carnage, apocalyptic vision that he delivered in his 2016 inauguration. Now, that wasn't what life was actually like in 2016, but what he talked about was ultimately the America that he created, you know, with the insurrection that he led. And early on in that, in his administration, you know, one of the things I was personally involved with is someone who represented, I was Colin Kaepernick's lawyer, him attacking private citizens, you know,

and saying, get that son of a bee off the field. You know, when Colin Kaepernick was peacefully protesting, you know, and taking a knee. And now we see Trump's vision of attacking peaceful protesters while supporting terrorist insurrectionists, along with people like enablers like Ted Cruz. And so you gave an incredible defense of peaceful protesters like Colin Kaepernick. What do you think, like the enduring legacy of Kaepernick's peaceful protest is in light of the violent have not necessarily held public office and maybe nominally were not involved in politics. And yet profoundly changed and strengthened our democracy, unlike anybody who has held public office. I think about, you know, my fellow Texan, Lyndon Baines Johnson, signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 64, the Voting Rights Act of 65. And many have recently made the case that we've really only been a democracy in the United States

since 1965, because, you know, until that point, practically, functionally, in real day-to-day life, so many of our fellow Americans, Black and in communities of color, especially in the former Confederacy, could not vote. Now, LBJ, to his credit, used the immediate goodwill that he had following his assumption of the presidency after the assassination of JFK, his limited political capital to push those bills through. But really, it was at that time, the unelected John Lewis, and Fannie Lou Hamer, and Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, and so many others, who frankly forced him to do that by engaging the conscience of this country. And how else does a population that will never amount to a majority compel the majority of white Americans to do the right thing in that case in 64 and 65? And in much the same way, I think Colin Kaepernick shocked the conscience of this

country and did so not through violence, not through breaking or destroying anything, but by taking a knee. And it's overwhelming to me to think about what his peaceful protest did to change the conversation and really the trajectory of this country for the better and how ultimately it will be Colin Kaepernick, not Donald Trump, who did everything he could to vilify and demean him, who will be victorious in the end. The ideas that he stands for, that he kneeled for, that he represents in the best traditions of this country. And the fight is still on though, right? Donald Trump might be gone and Joe Biden might've been sworn in yesterday, but this thing still hangs in the balance. And Colin Kaepernick willing to forego his career and some not

insignificant fortune for having the courage of his convictions, I think is a reminder to all of us that you've got to put this shit on the line now. If we are really in the fight of our lives and in the life of this country as to whether or not we will proceed as a democracy or descend into tyranny or fascism or autocracy, it's going to take everything from all of us, including a willingness to sacrifice those things that may come easy to you, that you may have earned, that you may have fought for before, but that you should be willing to sacrifice now for the common good of this country. That's where I think Colin Kaepernick stands right now in this tradition and why his example is more relevant than ever. There was something that

Amanda Gorman said yesterday. She said something to the effect of, in her poem at the inauguration, democracy, you know, it may be delayed, but it can never be permanently denied. She said that as fact. It heartened me and encouraged me. I don't know for a fact that it's true. And yet, I think she said that in part to remind us that it is up to us. We are the government. The government is all of us. And if we lose it, it won't be because of Russia. It won't be because of Trump. It won't be because of the GOP. It'll be because of all of us. And if we win it by that same token, it will be because of all of us. So look, these are, if you love democracy, these can be some tough, dark times. But if you love democracy, there's no better time to be alive and be on planet Earth and to live in the United States of America, because it's on.

And this is the fight of your life. And you were here in America at this moment to distinguish yourself and to account for yourself down the road when the history books and our kids and grandkids and those who succeed us will look back and wonder, you know, how we accounted for ourselves and what we did at this moment of truth. So I think that that has something to do with the victories that we've seen recently. Biden is president, Ossoff and Warnock winning these incredibly important, hard fought, close runoff Senate races in Georgia. The level of voter participation that you're seeing across the country. people, 20,000 unique individual Americans who pulled at least one shift with us to call or knock on the doors of complete strangers and compel them to register to vote or to participate

in these elections this year. So this is a time to be alive. I love the work you're doing with Powered by People. And I think it was Stacey Abrams, but I'm not 100 percent sure. But I heard somebody say in regards to Georgia that Georgia is not a red state and was never a red state. It was a voter suppressed state. Do you feel the same way about Texas? Is Texas a red state? Is it a purple state? What can we expect from the future? I know we were all itching for Texas to go blue this time and we didn't quite pull it through. And the future from Powered by People. Stacey, as always, is absolutely right on this one. Texas is not so much a red state as it is a non-voting state.

Despite the fact that we turned out, Texans did, in 2020 in record numbers, never before seen in the history of Texas, we still rank 46th in voter turnout. And it's not for a lack of love of democracy. It's not because we're less civically minded than the folks in Massachusetts or Idaho or California. It is because we were designed this way. And you look back at our history from reconstruction forward to 2021, this state has done everything within its power to keep Black Texans, Mexican American Texans, Texans in communities of color from registering to vote, from participating in the civic process, from running for office and holding positions of public trust. And the real amazing story is despite the most onerous voter ID laws in the

country, despite the worst racial gerrymander that exists in the United States, despite 750 polling place closures in Texas, despite the fact that this state is growing like gangbusters, and that those 750 polling place closures, more than in any other state, were concentrated in the fastest growing black and brown neighborhoods. The fact that people still find a way to transcend and overcome and bust through that shit and make their voice heard and ensure that their vote is counted is amazing. Imagine what we could do if everyone could freely register in a state that still does not have online voter registration in the year of our Lord 2021, for Christ's sake. Imagine what we could do if we didn't have a racial gerrymander that sought to diminish the impact that black voters can have on elections. So that far too many black voters make the rational, logical decision that, you know what, my vote does not count as much as this other person's vote. So I may stay home during this election. We would be leading this country, and not as Democrats,

although Democrats would be winning statewide elections, but we would be leading on the issues that come to a head here unlike any other state. Energy policy, climate, racial justice, education, health care in the least insured state in the United States of America. You name it. It's it's here in Texas. And we should and I think we can produce the leadership that can help not just this state, but all 50 of them. So you asked Ben about what Powered by People is doing around this. We are registering voters. Last year, we registered just under 200,000 voters in Texas. We made a little over 75 million voter contact attempts at the doors, by text, by phone.

We helped to produce one of the greatest turnouts in Texas history, much like we did in 2018 in the Cruz race, where we produced the largest turnout in a midterm since 1970. So we're trying to help make this democracy work in Texas to contribute to the fight for democracy in this country. Speaking of Cruz, three newspapers in Texas have now called for the resignation of Ted Cruz for enabling the insurrection that took place, which seems pretty obvious. What do you think should happen? It's really something when the Houston Chronicle, the paper of record for a county, Harris County, that has more people in it than I think 25 other states, more people live in Harris County than live in the state of Nevada, for example. Harris County, San Antonio, which is in Bexar County, El Paso County, my hometown, newspaper records in those three of the biggest cities in the country, and certainly in Texas. Soon, I hope to be followed by other papers,

make very clear that this is not an issue of partisanship. Because in fact, think about it this way, Ben. If Cruz were to resign, or if he would be expelled by his colleagues in the Senate, Greg Abbott, the very Republican governor of Texas, would appoint his successor, who would likely be far more competitive in the 2024 Senate race in Texas. I mean, I think Ted Cruz politically is wounded, perhaps mortally, should he stand for any election at all. And the fact that this fucker can, can hold public office or can attempt to hold office again, or to seek a higher office like the presidency after his participation in the sedition that we saw on, on the 6th of January, and that he stoked and incited for weeks preceding the 6th of January, trying to overturn a lawfully, legitimately, democratically

decided election for president. There should be no grounds for him to hold the position of public trust that he currently has. And some, and you're an attorney, I'm not, but some would read the 14th Amendment to say that Ted Cruz, having participated in insurrection, this failed coup on the 6th, should no longer be able to hold his seat in the Senate. But the fact that you have not just, you know, Sherrod Brown, who was courageous in stepping out there as his colleague saying Cruz should resign or be expelled, but you have Joe Manchin, the most conservative member of the Democratic caucus, the new Democratic member of the Democratic caucus, the new Democratic majority in Senate, saying almost the exact same thing, shows you that this is a consensus position across the ideological spectrum. And I'm not so sure that you wouldn't

have some Republican members of the Senate voting to expel him as well, if that were brought to the floor. So he should be expelled or he should resign. If there are no consequences, if there's no justice for what happened, you will have set the precedent that this is going to happen again, that they did this before and there was no real punishment. So it's okay to do this again. And the metaphor I liken it to is Cruz and Hawley and Trump blew a hole through our democracy that one of them is hoping to walk through in 2024. And mark my words, if there are no consequences, something like that will happen, if not in 24, then in some future presidential cycle. So there have to be consequences. We need to patch that hole

and we need to kick them back and not let them through it. Absolutely. And what you said, Beto, is completely spot on to me. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. There is a difference between having a disagreement on, say,

tax policy or even the minimum wage and inciting an armed insurrection against the United States of America. I mean, that is taking it to a step further and we need to have repercussions. But I think one of the points you're also hitting on is that democratic policies are policies for the people and Democrats win based on their policies. It's why there's so much voter suppression out there. I mean, we have Democrats fighting to raise the minimum wage for affordable education, health care for all. I mean, what do we need to do to get these policies in front of people and let people know that Democrats are the party of the working people? I saw in his one of his,

you know, dumb Twitter arguments with Seth Rogen today. All of a sudden, Ted Cruz tried to act like he was some man of the people saying that, oh, you don't know how union folk work to Seth Rogan. And Seth Rogan's like, yeah, you fascist, I'm in for unions. Like, what are you doing? So like, how could he claim this mantle of union guy? And how do we make it clear Democrats are for the people? And how do we deliver on these promises as well going forward in the Biden administration? What you just said at the end, I think, is the most important part of this. If you don't deliver, then it's only so much talk and only so many policy proposals and only so much vision. And Democrats have this extraordinary window of opportunity over the next two years

made possible only through what Reverend Warnock and John Ossoff and Stacey Abrams and everyone in Georgia, especially the voters, made possible. terms of jobs that pay so you don't have to work a second or a third. Healthcare, again, from a state where you have the least number of insured people, one of the highest levels of maternal mortality, three times worse for women of color. If you don't deliver on stimulus checks, if you don't demonstrably make people's lives better and do it as simply and directly as you possibly can, you will lose in 2022. And so will America. And to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, so will the rest of this planet, because we still remain the last best hope of earth. So, you know, no pressure Democrats and no pressure by the administration, no pressure those in the Senate and the House, but you really have to make this happen. And Brett, I think critical to answering your question and getting this done is ending the filibuster. who some of us think is being perhaps one of those most amenable to looking at least at what

Democrats are proposing. He's already said that the stimulus plan proposed by the Biden, the timing is all off. I mean, what the hell better timing could you have than still stuck in the worst recession since the Great Depression? 400,000 Americans having lost their lives, hundreds of thousands, unfortunately, most likely to come. If you're not going to act now, then when? And this vestige of the Confederacy and the planter class, one of the most undemocratic institutions in our democracy, the filibuster has to end. And so as you all rise in the podcast charts and your legion of faithful followers to take political action, whatever you can do to convince Joe Manchin, who seems to be the holdout on this issue,

and anyone else. And again, for Senator Manchin, not for Democratic Party advantage, but so that we can help people who otherwise will die without it, and so that we can deliver victories that will allow him to remain in the majority for the rest of his Senate career. That's what we have to do in order for this administration to be successful. And can you- Beto, this is the point of the interview where we make front of our younger brother, Jordy, for not asking any questions with an incredible guest. Lots of people think that Jordy's like the sound engineer. Jordy, you have Beto O'Rourke talking about saving our democracy.

You want to ask your final question? Or should we just wrap up the interview? No, man, I've been waiting for this. They usually kick it to me and allow me like a fun question towards the end. But you've been saying so many sharp things. I'd really be kicking myself if I didn't ask you this. You want to ask Beto who the dumbest Trump kid is?

You want to ask him that? Come on. As far as Jordan's question to marry Trump. Twice. It's Don Jr. Okay, so the question is, you're right. Trump is gone, but the battle still continues. It still rages on.

Trumpism is here. We see it in OAN. We see it in Newsmax. And they're literally just a news network or news networks that just provide this disinformation. We're in such a disinformation age. How do we combat these news networks that that really are just brainwashing so many, so many people? I'm here for Bet Rivers Online Casino and Sportsbook with poker icon Phil Hellmuth.

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and trusted um you know sources of information know, written and distributed by people you knew in your community, you know, now owned by these mega corporations that are providing really a, you know, hollow shell of what had previously existed in local news, exacerbated by Fox News and corporate media consolidation. And then really and then really just to, to completely light a match to this and see it burn Donald Trump, who just lied at, at a rate that not only no president has, has lied at that, but I don't know that any human being not in, you know, I think the final count was 34,000.

So, so, you know, I almost feel like we don't have, almost didn't have the institutions to deal with this kind of attack and threat and complete, you know, debasement of the truth. We almost don't have the vocabulary to describe what is happening right now. But, you know, I think to some degree, we just have to take matters into our own hands. And so, you know, present company excluded, getting out there and connecting with your fellow Americans with your point of view, as you should, and not pretend otherwise, but to do it in a truthful, honest, factual manner. I think that is the most powerful response to this threat that I can think of right now. I hope down the road that there are rules of the road established for social media and accountability

on those platforms that really do serve to distribute so much of this disinformation and so many of these lies. But until that happens and we can't hold our breath, you know, you all, I, others, we just got to step up, get out there and share the truth. And last thing, I think trying to do so, and maybe this is taking a page out of Biden's book, in the most empathetic, compassionate way that we can, not judging or condemning those who come to different conclusions or writing people off because of where they live or, you know, who they voted for. I think that's key to bringing people into the conversation and ensuring that you are not just preaching to the converted. I think that's also necessary. And it doesn't mean that you pull your punches and it doesn't mean that you don't call out Ted Cruz. And it doesn't mean that you don't lay it all out as it should be clear as day. But it does mean that you recognize these are our fellow Americans, and they're just as fundamentally a part of our future success as any of us who happens to agree with you. So those are some thoughts on how you meet this challenge. For those listening out there, listen to Beto. You can do it.

We were three brothers without any political background in March who created this organization to mobilize voters. And here we are a day after inauguration speaking with the incredible Beto O'Rourke. Pretty cool. We could do it. You can do it and get out there and don't take democracy for granted. I think that's the key takeaway from this interview. Beto, it's been incredible to have you on the show. I can tell you don't have to tell them. I know I'm your favorite brother. And we would love to have you back on the show in the future.

And just thanks so much for your time today. Anytime. Thank you all for doing this and for having me on. Before we let you go, where could people get involved with Powered by People? Where could they find you? Thank you so much for asking. Two quick things. One, if you are in this fight for democracy, there are two bills pending, H.R. 1 in the House, S.B. 1 in the Senate, the For the People Act that would address voter registration, restore Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, do a lot of

the things that John Lewis spent his life fighting for. So, you know, call your congressman or senator on those two. And then if you're interested in direct volunteer action, Powered by People is at poweredxpeople.org. So poweredxpeople.org. And you can sign up for a volunteership and we will put you to work registering and connecting with voters who will decide the outcomes of our future elections. I love it. Beto O'Rourke, thank you so much for being on the Midas Touch podcast. We'll be right back after this. Welcome back to the Midas Touch podcast. Great interview with Beto O'Rourke. Just an incredible guy. Incredibly good. Yeah. So it's funny, Brett, during the break, my law partner FaceTimed me. For those who can't see me, I'm not sure if we'll use it for a video, but I'm wearing a collar T-shirt that I've been just bizarrely bragging about today.

I don't know why I think this is so funny, a collar t-shirt, but it's a big deal to me. And literally my law partner goes, why the fuck are you dressed as a proud boy today? Is that a proud boy thing? You know, and I was like, I'm not dressed as a prop. I go, they're not taking collared t-shirts. Don't want to take collared t-shirts away from us because it's a collared T-shirt that kind of has stripes on the side. And it's just a polo. So Proud Boys do not own polos. But speaking of which, they don't stand back and stand by the Banana Republic. I don't think that's what the Proud Boys do. Speaking of which, though, the recent articles have been coming out post yesterday's inauguration that with all Trump scams, eventually his lies, you know, the chickens come home to roost. I mean, he's a big fucking that, you know, there's a

sexual pedophile ring that's leading the government and only Q and Donald Trump can figure it out. They've been telling everybody, you know, through they've been wrong about everything, but they've been saying for month after month that the storm is coming, that inauguration day. Horrible idea that all of the past presidents are going to be rounded up and executed. I mean, real crazy, disgusting criminal shit. They were like thirsty for this. It was like a bloodthirst in the morning. There were a lot of people tracking the QAnon forums and people were just ready for it. You know, like this is our moment.

The storm is here. They're going to be whisked away. They have this obsession with pedophiles and given their projection, it kind of scares me a little bit. Yeah. It's always them, their husbands, their brothers, their uncles, them directly. You know, it's the most actual pedophilic people involved in Q. I've never seen so much involved. Just ask Lauren Boebert's husband exposing himself to 16 year old girls. That's cute. Lauren Boebert's husband exposed himself. So Lauren Boebert's husband exposed himself in a bowling alley to two minors and claimed that it was actually the thumb that he put through his zipper and not his penis as well. So Lauren,

if you want to look for the pedophiles, why don't you look over right next to you in bed and maybe look in the mirror at yourself and try to figure this out. So yesterday as the days progressing, obviously it's clear that none of what Q's been saying is true because it's complete and utter bullshit. Except when JFK Jr. came back a couple months ago, that was a big moment that we all remember. They had somebody like, you know, like the ugliest dude in the world who they were saying that this is JFK Jr. with a straight face. Like, it's just Google it if you can, because it really is shocking. The man who they acted like was the was JFK Jr. just in hiding. And they'd go around and they'd see this guy who looks ridiculous. They'd be like, yo, JFK, what up, JFK? Take photographs

like he's JFK Jr. But, Brett, can you play that clip that we found that was circulating social media? It was a woman throughout the day who starts to realize maybe they've been lied to. Who else is feeling just a little silly? Just a little, like, went too far down the rabbit hole now I'm back out again and if nothing happens on the 20th how many of you are going to feel stupid as hell I can't do it anymore and who the fuck is is Q? Who is it? Who is this person? Because none of it has come true. I would think that maybe you ask that question from the outset and not go down the rabbit hole.

Before you devote your life to Q. Who is this man Q who I've been following the past four years that led me to engage in a terrorist attack against the united states i no longer talk to my family i no longer talk to my cousins or my brother or my mother but i've been following q you didn't think to ask who the fuck is this person on weird ass four chans eight chans eight colluding whatever these fucking websites are you didn't did it. Yeah. The weirdest. They don't even know what they are. A chun spelled C-H-U-N, you know, eight clan. You never thought to ask the question from the outset. Who is this guy? Who is this person telling me these crazy things?

Now you've come to the realization, but Brett, you have to share. You're going to share more or what? I was just thinking like, what if this person knows that none of this stuff is true and they're just messing with people like getting inside their heads i thought something would happen today in trump's speech nothing all right let's be clear it's still incredibly fucked up that the thing she wanted to happen was that all of the former democratic leaders and republican leaders were all going to be executed so that's what she was upset about that didn't happen that obama and bush and clinton

were not rounded up and killed and then it's not just her. Lots of Q people on social media saying, what the fuck? We could sell to these people. It's not a bad idea. Maybe we sell those on the store. Let us know if you want a T-shirt. I've been through hell, been assaulted twice in the past two years on my college campus for being an open Trump supporter in California. He lost me tonight. We will never vote for a Trump again. And look, I would tell our listeners, you should listen to the Midas Touch episode on cult deprogramming with Diane Benscooter, who talks about deprogramming cult members. She was a member of the Moonies and how deprogramming works. I think one of the lessons was lots of people in cults, they get so far in the rap at all that they feel humiliated to exit. Now, there's a lot of people who are far who really can't be redeemed.

They're kind of irredeemable based on, you know, some of the heinous acts and conduct they've engaged in. But I do think it is a point where you could at least reflect that the president of the United States at the time, Donald Trump was a fascist. He was a cult leader. He used the most important office in the world, in world history to brainwash people and that he's wrong and that you've been lied to and that in being lied to, democracy almost came crumbling down. And we got to expose, Brett, these Q, when Q lives in Congress, we have to expose these people. I always call her Majority Taylor Greene, even though her name is Marjorie. It's kind of like Lauren Bobbert when she goes unalienable. All right. So yeah, and it's Lauren and it's Lauren Boebert, but they don't deserve us to call their names correctly. So

keep it going. They haven't earned that right. And look, the other day, but they don't deserve us to call their names correctly. So keep it going. They haven't earned that right. And look, the other day, yesterday, when we were writing to the Q Congresswoman, Majorie or Marjorie Taylor Greene, I'm just going to do what they do and call them the wrong names. Majorie, Majorie Taylor Greene. Yeah, Majorie Taylor Greene. She blocked us on Twitter, which I don't know, Brett. Majoraya Telegra-nee? Yeah, Majoraya Telegra-nay. She blocked us on Twitter,

which I don't know, Brett. I don't think that's fully legal. Yeah, well, first let me tell you the tweet that set her off. So I replied to one of her tweets that I think she said she was going to impeach Joe Biden, which is a ridiculous concept, literally minutes after he was inaugurated.

And so I- Such a clown. What a clown. Such a clown. A mockery. Majeraya. Majeraya. I'm going to eat.

Granny. This is- If I acted like this the whole podcast. I know. This is the whole podcast. This is why the people listen. So this is what I said to her. I thought it was pretty tame.

Honestly, I said, you are so sad and pathetic, just a total loser. America is sick of your QAnon quackery. And she blocked me over that. But I really do believe a that America is sick of the lies is sick of this post truth era or just pro lie era where people just make up bullshit all the time like enough. But Joe Biden is president. Live in reality. Let's work on that plane. If we're going to move things forward, you're a clown, Marjorie Grenet. Let me go from saying Marjorie, a tie, a Larry Green. And let me give you some real legal analysis. But your law is a violation of the First Amendment to ban Midas touch or to ban anyone when you're a politician like that. There was an important case in the Second Circuit called Knights of First Amendment versus Donald Trump.

This was in the Second Circuit. But there's been a lot of case law that's developed about politicians blocking individuals on Twitter. And the short of it is, is that it's unlawful. And think about it in physical spaces. When a politician holds a town hall or a rally and they're engaged in public speech, they can't preclude people from listening to that and exchanging ideas. That's at the core of the First Amendment. So what the law generally holds in that case that I just mentioned is that when a government official opens a channel of communication to the general public, the Constitution prevents that politician from excluding specific individuals because of their political viewpoints. Blocking individuals from generally accessible government social media feeds is no different.

Thus, when you block Midas Touch for us expressing our views, you're chilling Midas Touch's First Amendment speech to a government account. And you're precluding others who are trying to access your government account for the free flow of information that's permitted by the First Amendment from accessing that information. So that's a long way of me from calling her Marjorie Talagrani to explaining to you the First Amendment law here. So the question becomes, should we, Midas Touch, sue her? I am leaning yes. I am a a lawyer i haven't mentioned that on the show so i have the ability to sue her i'd like to maybe put this as a poll to the midas mighty should midas touch file a lawsuit against marjorie taylor green for blocking midas touch unconstitutionally give us your feedback i like that you just became at the

end like a YouTuber. Give us your feedback, like, comment, subscribe. I'm just simping at this point. This show is so good. She's the worst. I would say I'm simping. Marjorie is just the worst. And I like what Beto said. Was I simping, Jody? No, you're good. I like what Beto said when he was like, you could call these people out. You don't have to pull punches. That's the energy that we need in 2021. Exactly. Because unity doesn't mean rallying and allowing you to spew these dumb fucking ideas. listen to Simpy Ben, Sneezy Jordy, and Big Brett. But I do want to have someone come into this conversation, Brett, who's an expert on fascism, an expert on cult behavior leading to fascist dictatorships. She's a professor at NYU, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Thanks for having me. So Ruth, democracy is seemingly

saved. For the time being. For the time being. But where do we go from here now that we have President Joe Biden, but still, you know, a lot of problems that we have to kind of go through. Yeah, it's like a balance between, I mean, we haven't really had time to celebrate like the victory in Georgia that, you know, you helped so much with. And we want to be able to celebrate this like beautiful inauguration. And yet as more, you know, information comes out about like the January 6th, you know, assault like today just came out that like one out of five of them, I think, were in the military or had served in the military. So, you know, we we're going ahead with optimism and hope. But we also have to be really very sober about the threats to our democracy that are not just outside like militias or ragtag, you know, cuckoos with animal costumes,

but they're people in law enforcement, they're people in the military. So that's like the balance, I think. So your book, Strong Men, Mussolini to the present, there's been lots of comparisons between Donald Trump and people like Mussolini, Hitler. Do you think those comparisons are apt? I mean, I want to poison the well here just briefly with just my theory, though, is that ultimately, Trump, what he kind of lacked was an ideology other than self-aggrandizement. And so when people kind of arrived at the Capitol building, it was kind of like, we're here and where's Donald Trump? You know, because it's built on him dancing to the YMCA.

That's why it has this weird QAnon-y strain to it that's like strange. But do you see the analogies there? Do you think that I'm onto something or am I just totally crazy? And I'll say I got rejected from NYU, so I may be totally crazy. It's both things are right, actually. You're onto something in that, of course, he abandoned them. He riled them up and then he was nowhere to be found. He was watching on TV because somebody like Trump, and unfortunately for us, I can say this with more relief now that after he's gone, he has the same personality as scary,

the exact same personality as all the other people I studied, like bad dictators. But the outcome's different today. You don't have as many one party states. But the one of the common things is that these men really they lure you in saying they love you and they're going to speak for you. I'm your voice. I'm going to fix it. But they actually despise the people who are supporting them. And they it's like use and discard. They just like, you know how Trump fleeces people for their money. And so, of course, he was nowhere to be seen. So there is that. But I do think he had ideologies. I mean, his biggest was, of course, Trump. He was loyal to only Trump. But racism, like this is an ideology he had. He's been a racist for years. He was a birther, right? And so what happens when these guys come to power is they will be whatever you need them to be. But, you know, there's a big market for racism. And he realized that. And so he kind of legitimized all this extremism. And he gave, like, we can't

overestimate, he gave a presidential authority to racism and to white supremacy. So that's something I think was really important principle for him besides making money. One of the things that I think is in the book about Mussolini, though, and I don't think people know this, Mussolini began as a socialist, right? And he was the author of the main socialist paper and kind of became, went from socialist to fascist because he just went to where the power center was. So his ideology in many ways like Trump just bended to what's good for me right now.

Yeah, no, mostly he was socialist. He was also a journalist and this is really important. And my research, I didn't realize how many of these guys over a century who have success had a background in some kind of mass communications, either journalism or like entertainment or TV. But Mussolini, he had a really good slogan because he was a very good journalist. And he said, fascism was a revolution of reaction. So it was a movement. And so it was going to like throw everything up for grabs and it excited people because it was new, but then it was a movement. And so it was going to like throw everything up for grabs. And it excited people because it was new. But then it was trying to shut down the left.

It was trying to shut down feminism. So the revolution of reaction thing is also applicable to Trump. Because remember, Trump said that his was a movement. Right. And then he obviously needed the GOP. And some of these Trump supporters, they think he was making a revolution. So this is important too. And you could see that malleability in ideology with Trump where he could say something one day, you would see his supporters get on that bandwagon and be all in on it. And then reverse course, sometimes within hours. And those same supporters would all of a sudden just be, you know, full on in support of the new mission completely saying,

oh, the fake news media wanted you to believe that's what he thought. We were talking about before you came on this whole notion of disinformation and the QAnon kind of crisis we're in right now. Has there been things that are similar to like a QAnon in past dictatorships? Do we know how to deal with it at this scale now that we have the internet and all these different sources just coming at people? I don't think there's been any conspiracy theory like QAnon in a dictatorship, but the whole idea of the leader cult, that everything the leader says is right, that the leader is going to save the world and save the nation. And if you think about January

6th, what's really interesting is that Trump's a victim, right? He's a big whiner, right? And all of them are like that. They all have victim cults. And so their followers, especially the militia types, the paramilitary types, they want to save their leader when he's in distress. And that was part of what happened on January 6th. So all of this propagandizing and repetition that Trump knew how to do, like hammering home 100 tweets per day, the same message, that's all very old. And the personality cult's old. The conspiracy theory, I think, is newer and it's really helped by digital media, which people like Mussolini didn't have. Right. And where do we go from here? You know, Joe Biden, one of his main messages at

the inauguration is and from his press secretary was this isn't about me. Yeah, I'm the president, but this is about America. And I think clearly in line intellectually with what you're saying is stop making the president a cult position and focus on the country. What do you think is happening in that direction? And can we, I think there's going to be a certain portion that's steeped in that QAnon movement that they're always going to be a certain way. But is there a way to engage with some of those people who feel disenchanted, lied to, We were just talking about that and bring them back to the fold and say, look, you were betrayed, but here's a soft

landing. I think there is. And I'm not known for my, I mean, I'm a personally, I'm an optimist, but I, you know, I've been like forecasting gloom and doom. And unfortunately I've been right. But I, on this, I'm kind of optimistic because there's a core of Trump supporters. You just can't, you're not going to be able to reach them because he's not really going away. He's going to, I don't know what he's going to do, but he's still going to be there, find do rallies or whatever. But I also think there are people who, because there's, you know, over 70 million, it's a lot of people. There are people who voted for him. Maybe they didn't love him, but they believed

that Biden and Harris were going to be socialist apocalypse. And I think that maybe it's going to take like six to nine months. I think that when they see that socialist apocalypse is not coming, like things are not falling apart. And in fact, maybe the government will handle coronavirus better or maybe give economic relief. I think some of those people, especially if people in their families don't give up on them and reach out to them, I think some of them can be brought back. And we saw some of these people. I mean, I'm not sure if you caught any of the viral kind of videos and tweets that were going around yesterday after the inauguration. Yeah, because people were so in tune with the idea that Joe Biden was going to get on stage. Trump was going to issue some emergency broadcast

order. Obama, Biden, all these people were going to be arrested and Trump would be instilled as the leader of America. And when that ridiculous notion did not happen, we saw a lot of videos of people kind of having a breakdown of people saying, I bought into this crap now for months. I've lost family members. Do you think like that's what it needs to take? Do you think they just need to kind of realize just head on that this is all, for lack of a better word, bullshit. And that's kind of has to be the turning point. They kind of have to hit that rock bottom. They do. And in fact, in my book, which I turned in the summer, one of the most interesting things was like, what causes a personality cult to disintegrate? When do people finally give up? And very sadly, like in fascist period where it was even worse, because of course there was no opposition media, right? It was just Hitler,

just Muslim. But the thing it took was being bombed by the allies. When people saw that, in fact, Hitler and Muslim hadn't defended them and everything went to total pot. That's what it took. So here it was really, it took the physical fact of having that inauguration, go ahead and Biden there. And it was like, I watched as many of those videos as I could, because for me, studying cults and, you know, and how do you get over them? I was like riveted. Yeah. It's like the world is falling apart, but then they're going to, I think that we can make some progress from that. So Jordi, we have the foremost expert on fascism, authoritarian leaders and propaganda. They always pick on me in the United

States and I can never get a question in. You want to you want to get the last word in, Jordi, before we have to go? I would love to. So you said something earlier that I thought, you know, was super sharp because it was something that we were actually just talking about prior to jumping on is that, you know, Trump might not be president, but he's still here. And so is Trumpism. Are we worried that others might emulate him, i.e. the Josh Hollies, the Ted Cruz's of the world? I am. I am worried because what he's done is leave a roadmap, especially for election manipulation. I mean, and also, you know, he's he's kind of riled up people who want to do extremist violence, although I was really happy that they had this armed March planned for January

17. And it didn't really like it kind of all their stuff kind of fizzled because I think the FBI was on to them. One person outside the New York state Capitol yesterday. Where is everybody? Yeah, I was a little worried about that. But but no, Trump, you know, it's very strong and he's putting going to end his his kids are going to run for office and he's not going to give up his 70 million souls because he needs the adulation. He needs their money. Right. But but I think the electoral manipulation is the thing I'm most worried about, because, you know, if someone else had been there as the Georgia secretary of state, it might have worked. On the other hand, we have, and you guys contributed to this, we have a formula that worked in Georgia about from voter mobilization, and it can be exported. So we also come out of this with a lot of knowledge, not just the Hollies and the Cruzes. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, thank you so much for joining the Midas Touch podcast. Her new book, Strongman from Mussolini to the Present is out

right now. Go and buy it. We hope you'll come back on the show soon. We hope that we don't have to be talking about fascism, though, so much so. I hope the circumstances in world history make it a little less topical to talk about fascism and current American fascists. But we'd love to have you back on. Thanks for your support of Midas Touch. It's been great knowing you during these periods and I look forward to continuing to talk to you and pick your brain on these very important issues. Thank you.

What a show this has been, guys. I can't even believe the caliber of guests that we've had. I mean, Peter O'Rourke, incredible. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, incredible. I mean, the Midas Touch podcast, man, this thing is here to stay. And we want to thank everybody for your support. We've talked about, you know,

things ranging from things as scary as authoritarianism to things as exciting as the new Biden administration. And so I want to lean on the latter here and talk about basically the new United States. America is back. America is back. Truth is back. Close the show out positive, Brett. Close it out positive.

Truth is back, guys. And this is so important. And I don't know about you guys, but I am feeling like this immense, incredible whiplash. And it's weird because it's a whiplash of going from just like a psychotic, like just alternate universe to reality.

But it feels so bizarre because all of a sudden it's so normal. And so, yes, the honest, Brett, I've been waking up earlier. I've been waking up feeling I mean, it's been two days, granted, but I've been waking up earlier, feeling healthier, you know, making healthier daily decisions. Oh, my gosh. It's got a big impact on your mental health for sure healthier daily decisions. Oh my gosh. It's got a big impact on your mental health for sure. Totally does.

It totally does. Totally does. I'm feeling it too. And I think aside from all the incredible speeches Joe Biden gave, and we had spoke about press secretary Jen Psaki earlier in the show, I just want to make it clear how different the world it is that we are living now. Here's a side-by-side. This video was done by our friends at The Recount. They did a side by side of Sean Spicer's first press conference,

the day of Trump's inauguration with Jen Psaki's press conference, the day of Biden's inauguration. And the difference is just staggering. Some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting. There will be times when we see things differently in this room. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. That's okay. That's part of our democracy. That's what you guys should be writing and covering.

The importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room. I will see you on Monday. Let's do this again tomorrow. Thank you on Monday. Let's do this again tomorrow. Thank you, Jen. Let me tell you what you should be covering. The biggest inauguration crowd ever. I'm auditioning for Dancing on the Stars.

Spicer's a fucking clown, man. That video is a great video. But here's the thing. Spicer did go on Dancing with the Stars after, correct? I'm pretty sure he did. He was a total trash dancer. If you cast these people, even as parodies of themselves going forward, who enabled and led to this treason,

this fucking Capitol riot, you're just as complicit, man. On day one, you're setting the tone for the administration. And there was not like a question asked or any sort of antagonistic thing that went Spicer's way that caused him to act like that.

That's how he decided. And that's how Donald Trump decided that they would kick off the presidency. And it kicked off a long line of this antagonistic, fascist, authoritarian, anti-free press run that they've had. And so it's so refreshing now to have a press secretary that's just not weird. Like these are like not we don't have weirdos in the White House anymore, which is nice. That's talking about truth and honesty and wants to be upfront about the challenges we're facing. It's so important. And that respectful dynamic between Psaki and the press is going to benefit all Americans at the end of the day. And you have these conservative idiots like Ben Shapiro. Don't call him conservative. They're terrorists. You have these fascist idiots like Ben Shapiro

and stuff who go on their shows. And Ben Shapiro goes, oh, well, the media is super, you know, the media just they just love to show adoration to these guys. They just love them so much. It's like, you know what? Like you give what you get in this life. And if you're going to be respectful, you're going to get respect back. The Biden administration is still going to be given tough questions. Do you know why so much of the coverage of Trump was negative? Because he was the worst president ever. When you're reporting negative facts, when you're reporting the negativity of the administration, the coverage will reflect that accordingly.

And one of the things that Biden said, I think a great tone was he said, if you act disrespectful to anybody in my presence and I see it, I'm firing you on the spot. He said that to his own people. You know, that's that's badass right there. That's badass. Play that clip, Brett. If you're ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone. I promise you, I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands or buts. Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity. Now that's what a president sounds like, Jordy. That's what a president is. That's leadership 101 right there. Yes, for so long, we were just waiting for exactly that.

And Biden delivers on day one, he's gonna continue to. One of my moments of elation was to see Dr. Fauci recently in all his glory. Fauci felt like you could tell that Fauci's back. Play this clip of Fauci setting a new tone and basically slamming the Trump administration. Now it's OK to talk about a new tone. One of the things that was very clear as recently as about 15 minutes ago when I was with the president is that one of the things that we're going to do is to be completely transparent, open and honest. If things go wrong, not point fingers, but to correct them and to make everything we do be based on science and evidence. One of the new things in this administration is,

if you don't know the answer, don't guess. Just say you don't know the answer. Yeah. The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is, and know that's it. Let the science speak. It is somewhat of a liberating feeling. That's Fauci uncensored. Fauci raw. That's Fauci lacing up the basketball sneakers back from the day and just dunking on the previous. And by the way, I haven't seen Fauci look so happy since Brad Pitt portrayed him on SNL. The guy looks like a weight has been lifted. I made the comment earlier that our country feels like it has a 427 pound orange weight

lifted off it. Fauci looked like he had that same weight lifted off his shoulders. And the things he is saying is so basic. It's we want to tell you the truth about the pandemic and lead with science. It shouldn't be controversial, but it's so revealing about how the past administration dealt with this. And we got some great guests on today. So thank you, everybody, for listening to the Midas Touch podcast. On the Midas Touch podcast, we just don't say things like we love 1776. We love the Constitution.

We put our work where our heart is and our heart is on saving the democracy of the United States and removing fascism in all of its forms. To quote, to quote the evil fascist who has left the White House. Thank you so much for listening to the Midas Touch podcast. You could download new episodes every Tuesday and every Friday. Thank you for listening. Make sure you rate us five stars and we'll see you next time. Shout out to the Mightness Mighty.