The MeidasTouch Podcast - DIY Democracy with Lauren Windsor & Walter Masterson

Episode Date: July 30, 2021

On today’s episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast. the brothers sit down with TWO incredible guests and do-it-yourself democracy warriors, Lauren Windsor & Walter Masterson. Lauren, who is also a Creator/EP of a political reporting web-show TheUndercurrent.tv, sits down with us to discuss what it’s like going undercover and exposing the GQP politicians on their own turf. As you may remember, Lauren was most recently in the news for asking Matt Gaetz directly to his face if he is a pedophile, a question which seemingly went unanswered. Prior to Lauren’s interview, we chat with the hilarious Walter Masterson. Masterson, who takes more of a comedic approach when behind enemy lines, talks about his own viral moment with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene & Matt Gaetz. The remainder of the conversation is rounded out by the brothers discussing the latest infrastructure updates, new mask mandates and much, much more. If you enjoyed today’s episode please be sure to rate, review and subscribe. As always, thank YOU for listening! Follow Walter on Twitter @waltermasterson and follow Lauren on Twitter @lawindsor Get your Meidas Merch here! --- 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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You don't want to miss out. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager ontario only please gamble responsibly if you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you 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 That's not America. What's up, Midas Mighty, and welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Ben Micellis joined by Brett and Jordy Micellis. Whether you are tuning in by podcast, do you even use that tuning in on podcast?

Or is that old school lingo? Or whether you are watching this on YouTube live, welcome to the show. Welcome to the movement. For those who are new, we have a lot to cover today and we have incredible guests. Today's theme is do it yourself democracy. And we have two incredible guests that represent this theme probably more than most people out there. It's Walter Masterson. Walter Masterson is a comedian. You've seen him at the various MAGA and QAnon events. He finds his way to sneak in there.

He told Matt Gaetz, you're definitely not a pedo. And that seemed to cause Matt Gaetz some uncomfort. You've seen Walter Masterson's video all over TikTok, Twitter, YouTube. You name it, a big friend of Midas Touch. Walter Masterson is a guest. Then after Walter, we have Lauren Windsor. Lauren Windsor is an incredible creative content creator. She runs the Undercurrent TV. You've seen Lauren at all

these events as well. She embeds herself in rallies. She's there at the airport confronting political leaders as they arrive in D.C. She is relentless in her quest to bring the truth. So excited to speak to Lauren Windsor. It sounds like a law firm in many ways. Masterson and Windsor. Oh, there you go. Is this just your way of weaving in that you're a lawyer again? This is how you're going to do it this episode.

Masterson and Windsor sounds like two different countries in Game of Thrones. Okay, I'm just going to ignore that for now. I feel like you're burying the lead here with Windsor too. Windsor is a total expert at her craft. She's incredible. Most people will quickly remember this week, she confronted Marjorie Telegreen and Matt Gaetz at a rally and repeatedly asked Matt Gaetz, are you a pedophile? Are you a pedophile? Are you a pedophile? And for whatever reason, Gaetz refused to answer. Yes, we heard Walter take different approaches. Walter approaches it with the comedy. Walter gets in there. He asks the funny questions. He gets people to say some outrageous things without much effort because these people just spout outrageous shit in their

daily lives. And Lauren embeds herself in a way where she just kind of lets people talk and sets them up to, you know, she gives them enough rope to hang themselves, so to speak. And so she got Ted Cruz to admit that he led the insurrection on January 6th. That was a pretty viral moment of Lauren Windsor. I think we all remember that. And then instead of saying to Matt Gaetz, hey, you're not a pedophile, she said, are you a pedophile? And either way, Matt Gaetz just seems to run away. He doesn't want to answer the question. What is it, Matt? Tell us. What is it, man? Do it yourself, democracy. And we have these individuals on to show you who are listening to this podcast, to those watching this podcast on our YouTube live stream, that whatever your talent is, whether it's comedic, whether it's art, whether it's being

an attorney, an activist, an educator, whether it's performing, whether it's being an architect, whether it's design, no matter what your talent is, or whether it's just using your voice, which shouldn't just be just. Each one of you have the ability to be, as we like to call ourselves, accidental activists. We didn't just wake up and just say, hey, this is what we need to do. We were fed up with all of the corruption, with the fascism that was taking over our nation. And we said, we want to put it to work. So we want to showcase these two incredible individuals today. But there are others out there doing it. Yes, Brett. I want to thank everybody out there who subscribes to our YouTube channel and watches. We got an

incredible award this week. And I wanted to just thank everybody for our YouTube silver award. We're currently at 130,000 subscribers to YouTube, but I'm really excited about this because as many of you know, I've worked in the digital industry at managing accounts. I used to work for the Ellen DeGeneres show and other accounts. And at Ellen, when I worked in the digital department, we had these plaques on the wall. Of course, they had 100,000, a million, 10 million, you know, it just kept going up, but we valued these very much and it was very cool to see them on the wall.

The fact that the Midas Mighty now has its own silver YouTube plaque is just a really cool thing. And thank you to everybody. And that's the biggest point. It's not the Brothers Award, it's the Midas Mighty Award and it's not possible without this amazing group who tunes in every week. So thank you to everybody. And that's the biggest point. It's not the Brothers Award. It's the Midas Mighty Award. And it's not possible without this amazing group who tunes in every week. So thank you all. We're going to keep on going. Two points I want to make before diving

into the news. One, one of the funny things about that plaque is wasn't that plaque supposed to be delivered to you, Jordy? I thought there was. It message. Yeah, it was. We got multiple ones, but I got one. Okay, Brett. I'm pretty sure there's a message out there. Can we pull up the message, Jordy, and just post it up there for everybody out there where Brett says the plaque is coming to you?

It is coming to Jordy. It just is coming later to Jordy. I want to be on your team completely, Ben, but the problem is the receipts don't line up with the story that we're trying to architect here. And frankly, that's true, but it's kind of a partial truth because there was a bit of a more of an exchange. Brett said that he was getting the award first. Again, I want to be on your side, but Brett's going to hit us with those receipts. Pull up the text message.

Put the screenshot right there. It's right there. Instead, I'm putting up the receipt of Jordy's award that shows that it's in the process of shipping to Jordi and I don't control you. That's my schedule. Second, happy birthday, Midas Keisha. Let's go. Let's go. One of the incredible parts about starting this Midas movement is meeting so many incredible people. Midas Keisha became Midas Keisha within like three or four days of Midas Touch starting. She's been incredible, motivating force in our movement. And we just want to wish her a very happy, happy, happy birthday. Happy birthday, Midas Keisha. Happy birthday, Keisha.

Moving on to the news. Let's talk about what everyone is talking about, but let's dive slightly deeper on the select committee that is examining and investigating the January 6th insurrection. Earlier this week, the commission was first publicly impaneled. The law enforcement officers told their incredibly compelling stories. We've had Congressman Eric Swalwell on here who told us that he thinks that many people in Trump's orbit are going to be subpoenaed. Play the clip from Congressman Swalwell on what he said on the Midas Touch podcast. With the Senate having to confirm Joe Biden's nominees wanting to get COVID relief and infrastructure done, the pressure of the Senate was bearing down on us. And I don't think the Select Committee has the same pressure. And I hope, as Chairman Thompson has said, you know, no witness is off

limits, which would include, you know, Trump, McCarthy at all. So to that end, you heard it there from Congressman Eric Swalwell. And look, we bring you the news here on Midas Touch Podcast first. This isn't no soundbite news program. We let people deliver you the truth. And here's what we learned just this week as well. The Department of Justice issued a decision by letter to the select committee that was obtained by multiple sources, which stated that they were not going to recognize as the DOJ the executive privilege on behalf of the Trump administration officials. Now, what does this mean? Executive privilege could be asserted as a way not to testify at hearings by asserting certain privileges that are recognized at law. There's

attorney-client privilege. There's other privileges as well. But one of the main privileges is executive privilege, where under the Trump administration, basically everybody in Trump's orbit invoked that to say, you can't call us to testify. Well, here the DOJ said there is no executive privilege here. And this is interesting for a number of reasons. There's been a lot of frustration at the DOJ over it recognizing the executive privilege in certain circumstances, which we've talked about on the Midas Touch podcast and Legal AF. Specifically, as it relates to the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit against Trump, there the DOJ said, well, because the questioning of Trump was at a official press conference, we believe there is executive privilege in that situation such that the DOJ

can substitute in, which caused a lot of frustration. Second, we saw executive privilege recognized with respect to the Lafayette Square attack on peaceful protesters, where, again, the DOJ said that that was within the course and scope of being an executive. And here that there's a change saying this is distinct and this is distinct because look at the words of what Trump and others were saying. They were talking about campaigning. They were talking about winning an election. They were talking about taking back, I mean, in fascist terms, power in a dutifully pursued and elected election. So at the end of the day, they're saying this is not subject to it. So that's interesting. What does that mean? Donald Trump could be subpoenaed. Donald Trump's inner circle could be subpoenaed. That was my breakdown.

That was a very astute analysis. I just kept thinking to myself, he's brushing the cobwebs off, man. He hasn't done a legal AF pod now in two and a half, three weeks. I thought we were going to do one together, but it just never panned out. I won't get into that here. Taking LSAT practices. We'll get into that here, But I'm excited, Ben. You got some news for the folks. Yeah, we absolutely got news for the folks. There will be another legal AF.

Popak has finished his Michael Popak. My co-host on legal AF has finished his, I think, two to three month vacation. We're way too late. What are we, France? We're way too lax on vacation policy. No, we're all for no cheap shots at France. Let's be clear. We're all for vacationx. What are we, France? We're way too lax on vacation policy. No, we're all for. No cheap shots at France. Let's be clear. We're all for vacation time at Midas Touch.

I'm just messing around. We're all for work-life balance. But to be fair here in this situation, Popak genuinely didn't fully express to me what this vacation was going to be like. I thought he would at least be in hotel rooms where he could record the podcast or be able to like figure it out. But this man was like backpacking through. I saw the video he put out the other day, though.

He is like tanned. He looks relaxed. He's going to be ready to go this Sunday. And one of the things that I, you know, when I was reading the brief that DOJ filed about this, they said something that, you know, is so silly that the DOJ actually had to write this in a memo. But they said, instigating an attack on the Capitol would not actually be part of Mo Brooks' official duties as a representative. Instigating attacks on the Capitol, not your official duties when you're an elected representative. I think that's quite the astute legal opinion of the DOJ. But this really opens up a whole host of options now to pursue Trump, to pursue Mark Meadows, to pursue Jim Jordan, to pursue all these people who have had some involvement. You're talking Rudy, you're talking Don Jr.,

you're talking Josh Hawley, you're talking Ted Cruz. I mean, all these people now I think are susceptible to subpoenas, and I think they could get in front of there to testify. Now, what will that do? That was to be determined. But I think they could get in front of there to testify. Now, what will that do? That was to be determined. But I think Speaker Pelosi has handled this absolutely masterfully so far. I think if anyone had any doubts, and I don't think any of you had any doubts about her decision, but I think Politico did to not have, you know, Jim Jordan and Jim Banks on this committee. I think what we witnessed during this committee, it vindicated Speaker Pelosi's decision 150%. We saw that Liz Cheney had a very important and involved role in the

select committee. We saw that Representative Kinzinger had a very involved leadership role in this committee. They were getting at the truth of what happened that day. And even in what we've seen so far, I think the testimony has been extremely powerful. And I really feel a seismic shift in politics over these past few days since these hearings have begun and a seismic shift in Trump's power. Now, I'm not saying that he is powerless, but I think that we've seen a chipping away at Trump's influence at least little by little. We saw that he backed a House candidate the other day. The candidate's husband had died due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people spreading disinformation and they end up dying of COVID. And the white, the widow was running and Trump backed her and lost that election.

We see now that he could be subpoenaed and could actually be facing legal trouble for the insurrection, among other areas. 17 Republicans decided to go away from Trump to vote for President Biden's infrastructure bill, to move to the next phase. And we'll get into that more later. But I think you're starting to see all these signs where people are having enough of this just nut job, you know, guy living in Florida or Bedminster, wherever he is. That doesn't mean the GOP is any less crazy. In fact, I think they're going to triple down on their craziness. I think the more that you see the walls closing in here, the more that people are exposed to the truth of what happened on January 6th and the complicity of the Republican Party in the attack on January 6th, the more crazy batshit behavior you will see

from these people. And here's what you got going here, Jordy. You got a democratic three-dimensional chess match versus fascist QAnon checkers. Okay. That's what's going on. You have people like Merrick Garland, Nancy Pelosi, who are incredibly bright and brilliant politicians and strategists in mapping out these things against kind of just shoot from the hip, but totally dumb and off base messaging coming from the new GQP leadership that runs the Republican Party. And again, I'm very critical of Merrick Garland's decision not to contest executive privilege, to go along with executive privilege when it comes to the E. Jean Carroll case and when it comes to arguing in favor of immunity for the DOJ, Trump and Barr in connection with the Lafayette Square attack.

But just think about how Merrick Garland did play this out, though. Think about what a credible actor he will look like now when he goes in front of district courts to make his argument why Donald Trump should be subpoenaed in where it truly kind of matters at the heart. It's a great point about our democracy. Like, to some extent, at the end of the day, we know Donald Trump's a fascist. And so at the end of the day, the lawsuit against Lafayette Square, while it should be definitely pursued, its outcome is truly not a make or break for democracy. And while Donald Trump's heinous acts with respect to E. Jean Carroll should be held accountable. It is a individualized lawsuit that impacts a finite group and not the overall state of our democracy.

But here, when it comes to January 6th, Merrick Garland and the DOJ are going to go in front of federal courts and going to say, look, here's where our distinctions end. We certainly recognize the fine edges of the executive privilege document. And arguably, the E. Jean Carroll, the Lafayette Square, just fall into that executive privilege argument, Your Honor. But when we move a little bit over here, we're no longer in that territory. This is clear campaigning and outside executive. That's exactly what Merrick Garland doing. And that's what very smart and sophisticated lawyers in the DOJ are strategizing. And look, going back to that point about 3D chess, though, you're 100 percent right.

And like Pelosi is playing 3D chess in the aspect that, look, if Jim Jordan's on the committee, he can't be subpoenaed to go and speak. Now that he's not on the committee, I think he was genuinely shook. He openly admitted to now, for the first time ever, speaking to Donald Trump on January 6th, the day of the insurrection. Brent, I think we have that clip, right? Did you talk to the former president that day? I've talked to the former president umpteen times, thousands. I mean, I may not. I mean, on January 6th, countless times I talked to the president. I never talk about what we talk about, but I just don't think that's appropriate. Just like I don't talk about what happens in Republican conferences. So I've talked to the president numerous times. I continue to

talk to the president. I mean, on January 6th, Congressman. Yes. I mean, I've talked to the president. I've talked to the president so many. I can't remember all the days I've talked to him, but I've certainly talked to the president. Yeah. can't remember all the days I've talked to him but I've certainly talked to the president yeah so you see there like Jim Jordan did not want to answer that question whatsoever but I think that's what's so amazing about when you actually get people at in their what they think is their safe space which is why they go to Fox quote unquote news as we call it um when they go to Fox they think that they'll be okay and then occasionally once in a blue moon they'll get a question that throws them. And the question of did you talk to Donald Trump the day of the insurrection just totally through Jim Jordan and he didn't know how to respond.

So this opens the door up to subpoenas for Jim Jordan. Mo Brooks admitted that he was wearing body armor that day, January 6th. So to me, Ben, and you could tell me from your legalese, that leads me to believe that he thought there were threats abound as he was riling up this crowd for literal war. He also slept in his office that night. He didn't go back to his apartment. He slept in his office. And then you marry that with the idea

of what Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on July 28th, where she said, At Speaker Pelosi, why didn't you have the National Guard at the Capitol on January 6th? You were given intelligence about threats of violence ahead of time. You ignored the pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC on January 5th. Why are these questions being asked during your witch hunt? Well, Marjorie Taylor Greene, because nobody except you apparently knew about pipe bombs on January 5th being planted at the DNC. So I'm giving them way too much credit when I'm talking about even calling it fascist checkers. They're ideating criminal conduct in tweets.

But honestly, it's part of the playbook that Trump would do. He would admit to a crime openly in a public forum. It's what his kids do. And they expect just because they're the ones saying it, that it's no longer a crime. No, we're going to investigate all of that shit. And you're all going down. Talk about these lines of attack, though, Brett, from the GQP, that they are blaming the Democrats for not doing enough to apparently stop the insurrection that the GQP encouraged, which the GQP tries to minimize by calling it an altercation. So I'm just trying to understand. There's nothing to understand, Ben.

I mean, as this goes on, as the more and more testimony comes out, as the American people see firsthand via footage and firsthand accounts as to what happened on January 6th from law enforcement and from others involved, the Republican Party is going to become increasingly conspiratorial. They're going to continue to blame the victim and ramp up attacks on those who are actually attacked and threatened that day. And so right now they are blaming Speaker Pelosi for the insurrection, which is just absolutely appalling, especially because, well, Donald Trump actually controlled the Department of Defense. And Donald Trump was the reason that the National Guard

was not there that day, not Speaker Pelosi. But they will try to blame Pelosi. They will try to cause any distraction whatsoever. And we just need to be laser focused on the truth and getting the truth out there because they know that as Americans see these attacks over and over, as that is beamed into the living rooms of Americans across this country, it is absolutely indefensible to anybody who is not within the Trump cult. There's actual video of Donald Trump and his family members watching the insurrection happen on TV as though they were watching the Super Super Bowl. And they were like cheering it on. Like when the calls were being made for the National Guard to be activated. And we know all of this because we have the statements by credible Republican governors like Larry Hogan of Maryland here. Just if you can play the clip. And this is an important one just to remind everyone what Governor Hogan of Maryland. Here, just if you can, Brett, play the clip. And this is an important one just to remind everyone what Governor Hogan of Maryland said when he tried reaching out to the National

Guard, what he was told. We were repeatedly being told by the National Guard at the national level that we did not have authorization. I was actually on the phone with Leader Hoyer, who was pleading with us to send a guard. He was yelling across the room to Schumer, and they were back and forth saying, we do have the authorization. And I'm saying, I'm telling you, we do not have the authorization. And so we had multiple times the general was we running up the flagpole we're ready don't have authorization don't have authorization and we all remember that and we all know the truth of that day and republicans are trying to erase the truth of that day and it's really dystopian it's orwellian and it's really un-american and it's really unfortunate to see a major political

party downplay a terrorist attack against our country. It's really heartbreaking. Every time I see the raw footage, it really makes me sad. And the attack, obviously, made me incredibly sad. It was a tragic day. People were hurt. People were killed. But the cover-up, the attempted cover-up by the Republican Party, the ongoing cover up, the fact that the insurrection is still going on, but now it's moved into the halls of Congress. It really breaks my heart, and we just need to stay strong and expose the truth. And I think this is a good analogy throughout. I mean, do it yourself, democracy, number one. But then there's three-dimensional democratic chess versus this kind of fascist Q of fascism in this country. And then, though, you have some positive, you have some good news, you have some actual legislation for the people that's being pushed with a bipartisan infrastructure plan, which Donald Trump has

adamantly opposed, basically calling his own party traitors. If you support infrastructure for the people, when it was Donald Trump who actually claimed to have an infrastructure plan every week coming, but he didn't know how to write an actual infrastructure plan to begin with. You know, I guess I am excited that there is a infrastructure deal. The Senate advanced a one point two trillion dollar infrastructure deal, which is indeed a bipartisan breakthrough where there were 17 Republicans who joined Democrats on key procedural votes. And this was in the face of Donald Trump calling them traitors if they would support infrastructure. I mean, it's the most absurd thing. The guy was talking about infrastructure for four years and couldn't write anything.

And so now he's against infrastructure. You're not. It just goes to show you. And Brett, you mentioned this on the last podcast. Jordy, you've said at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The policies are irrelevant. If you don't agree with Donald Trump's form of fascism, you are a traitor in their minds. There is no coherent

policy or anything. And this is just an example that's so glaring. And that's why, Ben, it frustrates me so much when you see people say that, oh, Democrats, Republicans, two side of the same coin. You have Republicans who literally led an insurrection and a terrorist attack against the United States government. First of all, you have the Democrats who are supporting Capitol Police, who defended the Capitol, who are supporting America, who are pushing through this infrastructure bill and who would have pushed through infrastructure when Trump was president. They wouldn't have viewed it as a partisan thing. They wouldn't have said, oh, we're traitors if we support a legitimate infrastructure bill because Trump put it forward. No, Trump is just too much of a loser to even assemble an infrastructure bill for anybody to even see.

He talked about infrastructure week every week. The guy couldn't even put it to paper. This infrastructure bill is certainly not the bill that the Democrats wanted. The Democrats had a three point.5 trillion bill. Unfortunately, Senator Sinema of Arizona, Kristen Sinema, did not support this bill, which if she supported it and Manchin supported it, and Manchin indicated that he was likely to support it, and it could have been passed through what's called the reconciliation process,

a lot of that bill, it could have gotten passed, but Sinema didn't agree with it. It's just interesting. Just I'm going on a bit of a tangent here. Did you see the poll that was like 66% of Democrats in Arizona want Sinema primaried and said that they would vote against her? 95% of Arizona Democrats approve of Biden, 75% approve of Mark Kelly. Only 42 percent of Senator Sinema. She's clearly not on the right side of this issue in her home. No, because Sinema got elected to get shit done, not to hold shit up. That's why people voted in 2020. That's why we won Georgia. That's why we won these seats in Arizona, because Democrats want fighters. Democrats want people who are going to go in there and they're going to get people COVID

relief. They're going to pass infrastructure. They're going to do stuff for the American people. They're going to pass democratic and progressive policies. That is where Kristen Sinema owes her entire elected office to. And she is betraying her constituents every time she does stuff like this. And it's why we need to expand our majority. But it's also why in this current moment, we need to keep the pressure on Senator Sinema so that we can pass this $3.5 trillion reconciliation package so that we can have a full and complete infrastructure package between these bills. This is as important as it gets. Our infrastructure is how we literally, it's roads and bridges. It's when people think about government,

it's what they think about. It's modern infrastructure. It's broadband. It's internet. Imagine living your life without internet access. Imagine living your life without roads. For many Americans, that's how they are still living. We are a third world country. And that's why we need to modernize our country, modernize our roads and bridges, modernize our airports, modernize our broadband, especially in rural areas that currently do not even have access. They're still using dial-up. Some people are still using dial-up in the United States of America. These should be public utilities. You dial-up shaming? Yeah, I am. We shouldn't be using it. I'm shaming the people who are forcing dial up upon people. There we go. Therefore,

not giving them the opportunities that other Americans have to succeed. We need a level playing field in this country. And that starts with infrastructure for everybody in this country. And everybody should get behind this. You too, Kristen Sinema, get behind your constituents. And if you're in Arizona, write to Kristen Sinema, send her an email, send her a letter, call her office and tell her why passing infrastructure is so important to you and remind her why you probably voted for her. Can I just add this too before Ben Jensen is that depending on the news source that you read this report in, you get either A, the accurate interpretation that cinema has been just a pain the whole process all the way through, or you get the Rutgers approach, which is Kristen Cinema. Reuters, Reuters, Reuters. They're saying Reuters, Reuters News.

Reuters, like New Jersey. Rutgers? Yeah, like Rutgers, like Rutters. Like New Jersey. Rutgers? Yeah, like Rutgers. Like the university? Correct. Is that not it? You're saying, what are you talking about? What's the Rutgers approach? Well, if you just give me like three seconds, I'll tell you how they framed it. They made her out like a hero. Why was Rutgers University?

Just go on. Just go on. I'm trying to understand. Routers, Rutgers. I fucking sound like Trump now. The routers, the routers, the routers. You're talking about the news organization, not the New Jersey Public University. Yes. I don't know why this is so hard.

Because he said Rutgers. He said Rutgers. He literally just embraced Rutgers like the university. This stays in the pod. Fine. It can't come out. We're live. This is the most, like, I am so angry right now.

What are you talking about the news organization rudders not pronounced routers we're losing viewers by the second so anyway that news organization framed this as if kristen cinema like save the day this is how they said it since I'm the one who pulls the outline before we start reading, is Senator Kristen Sinema of Arizona, who was leading the talks for the 10 Democrats at the negotiating table, told reporters at Capitol Hill, we're very excited to have this deal. And so that she's spoken with President Biden about it. Biden later told reporters he was feeling confident about the bill. I mean, look, there's two sides to every coin. Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but they framed her to be like some hero in the situation when honestly,

she couldn't have been more of a pain. I don't disagree with you, Jordy. And that was NPR that wrote that, not Re, first of all, Reuters is a news agency that literally just like publishes like they're like a wire agency, like a wire agency. That was OK. OK, let's get back to the theme here. Do it yourself. Democracy, everyone. And here's what I want to say, though, and this is what I think about the building. Well, we need Jordy to come back for the next interview for the one question he's going to ask our guests. But before Jordy comes back, I'd like to say the following. Do it yourself. Democracy is more important now than ever. The GQP right now is on the ropes. They literally look like the craziest people publicly, and they can't even get their own messaging across. On the one hand, you have Mitch McConnell out there and you have people like Governor Hutchinson, Republican from Arkansas. You have people who are looking at

what the polling is actually showing, which is that people support wearing masks if it helps people and keeps you staying safe and people support vaccines and people trust Dr. Fauci. And so you actually see on some sides, people on the Republicans saying you need to you need to take this vaccine. What are you doing? You're causing the Delta variant to spread. And on the other hand, though, the loudest voices in the GQP, the Marjorie Taylor Greene's and others in her ilk who are out there front and center are out there acting like wearing a mask and not wearing a mask is a civil rights issue to their basic liberties. And that the most important thing is for them not to wear a mask on the floor of the House of Representatives or in the Senate chambers. Like that's not a civil rights issue. Just wear a fucking mask. Nobody goes out there

and like loves the concept of wearing a mask. I don't wake up thrilled. Well, I'm going to wear a mask today. That just excites me. Yay. Mask. But at the end of the day, I know if I have to do it, it's minimal inconvenience to me to help people at the end of the day. And it's crazy to be against that and champion not wearing masks as your major civil rights issue, as you go and attack the police, as you go and attack the blue, your whole. And by the way, it's attacking the police at their most courageous moments. Like the critique from the left is systemic issues that surround over militarization of police but very few people look at the police saving somebody's lives and go fuck that fuck that that's a loser right there

i mean it's always it's that's a loser right there right but imagine imagine it back during 9-11 and i hate to bring it to 9-11 but it it's the you know, it's another terrorist attack in American history. If the Democrats, because George Bush was president, what? Fuck you, cops. Fuck you, firefighters. What the fuck are you doing? You and then use the names and oh, the dramatics, all the tears. Oh, you're trying to get an Oscar. That's exactly what they did. What the GQP members of Congress did in this January 6th commission issue when they're speaking about it on Fox. It's what Fox is doing. It's mocking people at their most

courageous moment. It's literally- Imagine going to the prison where there are terrorists locked up and complaining about, first of all, I'll say prison treatment is a real issue, but calling those people political prisoners for doing a terrorist act against the country. These people are despicable. These are disgraceful. And I'll tell you what, and that's why we need you to be active. And when we come back from these messages, we're going to have Walter Masterson first on deck, and then we're going to have Lauren Windsor, and we're going to show you their styles of do-it-yourself democracy. We'll be right back after these messages.

What's up, Midas? Are you trying to whistle there, Jordy? I am. I am. Well, listen, we're about to bring on walter masterson and lauren windsor to the podcast and as you saw over this past week we saw what defeats fascism what defeats fascists apparently all you need is a whistle whistle whistle whistle that's it it's that easy and i can't whistle myself i guess i wonder if ben can whistle is it a thing that my cellos brothers cannot whistle but here's, guys. We have a solution to all you non-whistlers out there and to all the people. If you've got fascists coming into town, if you've got Marjorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz coming into town, we are selling GQP repellent whistles. Yes, people have asked me,

is that a real product? You guys are seriously selling that? Because if you are, I'll buy one. Oh, we're dead serious about this. You could buy it. It says Q Busters on it. It's a Q-A-N-A-B-U-S-T-E-R-W-I-S-S-L-E-G-Q-P-R-E-P-E-L-L-E-N. You could get yours right now at store.midustouch.com. And by the way, Brett, another thing that you could do too is you don't have to wait for the politician to come to your hometown. have somebody in your family who starts to spew the q anon talking points whistle whistle just right in their face make them shut up tell them to stop that like brett said store.midastouch

that's m-e-i-d-a-s-t-o-u-c-h.com and go get your whistle today Welcome back to the Midas Touch podcast. Hey, Nathan, you know who's in town? Sky Masterson. Sky Masterson's in town. No, it's not Sky Masterson. It's Walter Masterson. And if you know what I was doing there, that was my performance of Angie the Ox, a made-up character they gave me on the guys and dolls reprise for my sixth grade but a far better

comedic talent than myself is here you know him as the individual who confronted matt gates called matt gates not a pedophile which matt gates took extreme issue with oh my god i'm so excited i'm so excited i mean just oh everyone thinks you're crazy. I don't think you're crazy. People think you're a pedophile. I don't think you're a pedophile at all. I don't think he's a pedophile at all. Your plans against him are totally false. They're totally false. Oh my God. Walter Masterson, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Although this, you know, that might be a little dated. I think a lot of people have been calling him a pedophile to his face recently. And to that point, we have the yin and the yang there on this episode, Walter.

We also have on this episode, which our theme is do it yourself democracy. We have Lauren Windsor, who took the other approach, who just said, you're a pedophile, you're a pedophile, you're a pedophile. So for those out there who are living in a box, Walter, tell everybody what you did in the Matt Gates situation. So, OK, let me start from the beginning. So they were having like a VIP meet and greet. One of my fans sent this to me. They're like, God damn it. Can you do something like MTG and Matt Gates are coming to L.A. to do like this VIP meet and it can you do something like mtg and matt gates are coming to la to do like this vip meet and greet and i was like oh i can just pay to meet them i can pay money i was like hells yeah let's go um and i was like thank you mtg and matt gates like so i paid

i signed up for the event and all day that day, they were shutting down venues because protesters. Right. And, you know, I was happy that they were, but I was also like, come on guys. I'm trying to work here, you know? But every time they shut down a venue because I had paid for VIP access, I got a text message with the new location. So I thought that was hilarious. On social media, every progressive's like, yeah, because I had paid for VIP access, I got a text message with the new location. So I thought that was hilarious.

On social media, every progressive's like, yeah, we shut him down. I was like, no, no, you didn't. I'm going to the next one. Like, leave us alone. This is delicate. So they lost every venue. Then they decided to have it on the beach, on Huntington Beach.

They're like, oh, meet us by this lifeguard stand, whatever. And then so all these suckers and losers lined up, and then I lined up as well. My friend and I, we were debating the entire time. He's like, dude, what you're... I was like,

I just want to call him a pedo six inches from his face. He's like, that's not very creative. And I was like, yeah, want to call him a pedo, like six inches from his face. He's like, that's not very creative. And I was like, yeah, but what else do you talk about right now? Like, there's nothing else to talk about. It's a forefront of conversation. I don't even know. And I was like, what do I even say to MTG?

Like, you know, what do I say to this loser? Tell us how you were dressed, too, because it's a theme in all of your uh videos where you embed in these MAGA rallies and you're always dressed to kind of fit the part and I would say you camouflage in the American flag yeah so I was doing like this patriot cosplay this MAGA cosplay where I was wearing you know you know flag shorts flag shirt flag hat just the whole thing just the whole kit and caboodle and the funny thing is and the irony here is like these people who are at these rallies they're doing the cosplay themselves they just fully don't realize what they're even doing and you're able to expose that. So obviously, the Matt Gaetz was one of the

most recent, but let's rewind here. Like, how did you even get involved in the first place in going to MAGA events and QAnon events? You know, I'm a performer. I'm just not, I'm not a, what I do becomes very journalistic, but it's not at all and i hope no one confused me confuses me as a journalist because i'm a piss poor journalist so i i thought it was like great comedy and i always like loved sporad and the daily show and what they do and on top of that it was like there was just this is fueled by this just you know rage of like all right i know i can you know when you know when you know certain talking points are nonsense and you're like okay you know what i know if i ask you three questions you're going to totally contradict yourself you know and very quickly so i mean uh

and so that was the the motivation and just the the spark happened after tulsa after trump's tulsa rally remember that faith thing where he thought he was getting a million people and it was like 3,000. And I just kept telling everyone, I said, dude, like, why don't if all one million of us had shown up? Can you imagine that? Like if a million of us showed up to a rally and just booed them off the stage? And everyone's like, like, and just booed them off the stage, like, and everyone's like, nah, nah. And I was like, this isn't cute.

Like, it was cute for the Tulsa rally. It was funny. But like, after that, they kept doing it. I'm like, no, show up. Boo them. Make them look dumb. Don't show up for violence. Show up and make comedy out of them.

When did this start? I mean, it started as, you know, I think. It started before the election. It started before the election. It started before the election. Leading up to the election, I would go and it was always difficult to find people to go with me. Everyone was like, this is before the vaccine rollout. So there were multiple reasons why everyone was like, no, I'm not doing this. This is like insane on too many levels.

And after the election, I thought, I think about this a lot. I thought, well, that's it. You know, I guess I have to find something else to do because there's not going to be any more rallies. Why would people still be talking about this guy after the election? Right. And then lo and behold, it was like, I've been to more after the election. I'm like, these are non-election years where they're holding rallies. Let me read some of the posts that you've made where you've embedded yourself in these QAnon and Trump rallies. And by the way, your followings become massive. You got close to 100,000 followers

on Twitter. On TikTok, you're at basically a million followers. Every video gets hundreds of thousands of views that you post on TikTok. But here are just some of the names for those listening or watching at home. Trolling the Q morons, trolling Giuliani, Trumpers walking away from rally, trolling anti-vax rally, stopping socialism with socialism. Which of these is your favorite? Trolling Andrew Giuliani was just fun. I mean, he actually was hard to pin down.

He didn't really bite. I threw out a bunch of bait and he really didn't take it, to his credit. And then finally, at the end of the interview, he like bit down hard on nationalism. And I was like, wow, why don't I just start here? Because I just said we need to end forced indoctrination and then we have to mandate that everyone stands for the Pledge of Allegiance. And then the video ends with he and I reciting the Pledge of Allegiance together like it's excitement. We want to get forced indoctrination out of schools. 100%. It's very scary.

We need kids saying the Pledge of Allegiance again and not kneeling. They can't kneel. They've got to say it under God, indivisible like every morning. Yeah. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Let's get the indoctrination out of school. It's forced indoctrination. Of course. No, no indoctrination, please. But the other thing which is important is so the stopping socialism with socialism. I speak to so many Trump supporters. And I if you use buzzwords, obviously they lock up and you're getting, it's a debate. But if you describe something without buzzwords and it's very basic terms, it's, they're very agreeable.

Like if you, if you, next time you're in a debate with someone, say, I want to audit the police. I want a full audit of where the money going is, what, you know, and just say, listen, you know, the, if you just defund that just hits payroll. And that doesn't really go after the higher ups. Doesn't go after the big government contracts with big tech that they have and blah, blah, blah. It's actually, it's hard to, it's, they're actually pretty decent about it. And it's, you know,

it actually forces a conversation because it's like, well, yeah, well, of course, we want to protect the officers and not hurt their payroll. It's like, yeah, and we want to go after literally everyone else, you know, and stuff like that. So or talking about socialism, I have like videos of Trump supporters, full on QAnon people talking about, you know, like spouting anarchist communists like rhetoric. And I'm like, wow, we did that, like, cancel the Catholic Church. There's actually a fair amount of them that are not about the Catholic Church at all. And I'm like, you go, boy, like, you get it, like, let's do this. So it's like it's this weird thing where like I found that they go so far to the right. They just come out the other side. You know, like, you know, wealth tax, bring down the billionaires, bring down. Or if you say is the best part, if you say if something is part of the socialist agenda, you don't like something, make it part of the socialist agenda. So, you know, of course, Amazon's part of the socialist agenda.

Pfizer, Moderna, they're all part of the socialist agenda. They need to go. Billionaires pushing the socialist agenda. Big banks. And then they're like, yep, yep. They're like, they get on board. Big banks, part of the socialist agenda. Dude, I'm not kidding. I've had them tell me that, you know, the big banks are responsible for disseminating Karl Marx though, that there are not more people actually out there in the field exposing what's going on?

For us, we were shocked. Like, why is it just us out there? Like, where is everybody else? Because the hypocrisy is so it's so right for exposition. Oh, I don't know why more people don't do it because they are just wonderful comedic partners. I mean, it's just like you're never going to find a better comedic partner. It's so, and their timing is just, you know, the creativity, the timing, it's just perfect. And, you know, you know, an improv class, they teach you to work at the top of your intelligence and everything. So, like, you have to know what a chair is. It's like, no, you can't just pretend to know.

Like, what's that? It's a chair. You know what a chair is. You know, whereas a Trump supporter is like that chair was made by Antifa. And you're like, yes. I don't know why more people don't do it. I mean, what do you have? In local to me, you have like the Good Liars, you have Crackhead Barney. I mean, those are the two big dogs that are killing it. Crackhead Barney has a whole different methodology. I don't know. I'll have to check them out. Crackhead Barney is the opposite of me. I met her at rallies, and she's like, I go in under the radar.

She goes in like lights and sirens. She's a black girl that wears a bikini and would just run up to people and just start cursing at them and being completely vulgar and everything. It's amazing. And obviously everyone is familiar with the Good Liars. They're awesome. Good Liars are the best. We love them as well. And I know that you're always able to expose the hypocrisy when you speak to them, like very clearly, you can get them to say one thing and then in the next breath, get them to say a completely different thing. What are like

your favorite examples of that? What have you seen the most? The best joke, I mean, it's old, but I do it again and again, because it's just the timing the best joke i mean it's it's old but i i do it again and again because it's just the timing of it is never it never fails so it's you know talking about how trump doesn't get enough credit for the vaccine rollout and he got got it through all the bureaucratic hurdles because he's a businessman right and they just are like yes yes it's his vaccine it's a trump you know and in the same i used to think oh well let me just wait a little bit and ask him if they've been vaccinated now i just go right in it's that he's the best because a businessman are you vaccinated now

like and they say immediately boom like not vaccinated and it and this is after sometimes they'll even go into this lengthy explanation about how he really, really utilized the private sector in the you know, in blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, and then and then just boom, right into it, right into I'm not vaccinated. I'm never and I never will be. Trump doesn't really get enough credit for pushing the vaccine out really quickly, getting it out there, just, you know, greasing the skids and getting it, you know, on the market really quick. Do you think Trump doesn't get enough credit for getting the vaccine out so quickly? 100% agree with you. 100% agree with you. He got it out really quickly.

He got the short end of the stick and they were very rude to him. I don't think, you know, Trump gets enough credit for, you know, rushing to get the vaccine out. Biden took Trump's vaccine. Like, it was Trump's vaccine. He doesn't get enough credit for getting it out there fast. Yeah. Are you vaccinated? Oh, no, no, no, no.

I just feel like the vaccine was way too rushed. I don't know. I just feel like the vaccine was a little bit too rushed. Yes, it was rushed. I didn't want to take it. I'm kind of scared. I feel like it's been rushed. It's not FDA approved. It's not FDA approved. It has been rushed. You are right. Just rushed it out there. And I'd like to see more research. We all would. I totally agree. What have you seen at these rallies in terms of like, have you seen them get bigger and bigger as time went on? Have you seen them, people get more kind of dejected by it all? Like what's kind of the passion out there? They're not, they're not fading. The problem is, is that your

moderate Trump supporter, it's not your Trump supporter of 2016, 2018. Your moderate Trump supporter believes really insane things. Your moderate believes in election fraud, believes that January 6th was all Antifa, stuff like that. So that's what is very disturbing to me to realize this, like someone that, that you know would seem like just a moderate that you could just get along with right those are like the mainstream beliefs now are like the craziest they voted for trump because they you know because you know they're conservative that's it um and then they you know they seem sort of reasonable and then they spout this you know you know rhetoric that i'm like this this is insane. This is ridiculous. Walter, I know you're not, and I'm sorry,

Brett Printer, I know you're not a psychiatrist. Maybe some skits you pretend to be one. When you're there, though, in this sea of crazy, it looks from the outside that these people are just truly

disturbed on a very deep seated psychological level. There's actually one thing that I really want to, I don't talk about it a lot. Actually, this is the first time I've talked about it publicly. So a lot of women that go to these rallies and they hold up signs that say, save the children. And they're big on the whole, you know, child trafficking, pedophilia thing. I've spoken to a lot of them and here's the messed up part a lot of them are victims of long-term sexual assault as children not just one a one-off like they were repeatedly molested by someone that they knew a friend of the family or a family member, someone that was upstanding within the community. And here's the thing, you know, if you, if any one of us were to be accused of being a pedophile, you know, we'd all look at each other and be like,

no, not him, not Brett, not Brett, you know. But they have no problem believing that anyone can be a pedophile because the person that assaulted them when they were young was an upstanding member of the community. Right. So, and it's, I mean, this is a pain point that's been, you know, pinched for them. And they're very like, they feel like they're crusaders of this. And it's like... And the odd part of it for me, and I'm sure for you as well, is always how they will bend themselves into a pretzel to defend Matt Gaetz or Donald Trump or other people who have been accused and very credibly accused of the things that they purport to be concerned about. I actually kind of like, I wonder like if Trump ever dumped Gaetz, if Trump was like, if he just was like,

forget this guy, I don't like him. He would be a pedophile tomorrow. Like they would, they would ske skewer they would eat him alive i totally buy that absolutely yeah no that makes sense here hey walter going back speaking on gates going back talking about that viral clip that literally if you haven't seen you must be living under a rock during that segment if you will marjorie tay Greene the whole time just has her thumbs up smiling like the entire time. What do you think she was thinking? Yes, just like that. What do you think she was thinking during those, you know, 10, 15 seconds while you were there?

The same thing that she's always thinking. Nothing. I mean, have you heard? I've heard her speak like I've been at rallies and heard her speak it's it's she's like frighteningly stupid um she's like she's and like people send me her Instagram posts and they're like parodies it's like it's like she's going on with like the parodies that I have like I had this whole bit where I show up at an anti-vax rally saying, I don't listen to doctors. I listened to my roommate.

Who's a personal trainer. Right. And she like just made an Instagram post. I saved it where it's still there. And in the caption, it's like, listen, Dr. Fauci. And she like, I used to be a trainer. I used to run a gym and she talks about like the results that she got with her um her clients but from training them and and like this is her like defense and you know like her the way she qualifies herself as like having a better a better medical opinion it's like you've been to tons of these events is she the most full of shit out of all the politicians

or is there one that that really strikes a chord? Like, oh my God, this person is your straight actor. I think she really believes it. I think she really, I think she's that. I don't, I think she's like the least intelligent and she believes all of it. You know, like it's not like, you know, you know, you know, like Tucker Carlson

is actually a very smart human being. He used to be the chief editor of the National Review. He's Ivy League educated. Like he's even said in interviews, he knows that Venezuela isn't socialist and it wasn't a socialist uprising. It was a populist uprising. He's like said this.

So he's smart enough. He's smart. Oh, he's not in public office, but he's like one of those people that's smart enough to know that he's being a white supremacist where she's just, you know, like, she's a true believer. Absolutely. A hundred million percent. She's a true believer. Walter, what's next for you? I mean, I don't want to ruin your, I don't want to blow your cover. I also wanted to talk to you. I just wanted to bring up your school board initiative that you

were doing, which I think is really cool and unique. So why don't you just tell us about kind of what's going to do that? I'm going to be doing, I'm going to be speaking at school board initiative that you were doing, which I think is really cool and unique. So why don't you just tell us about kind of what's going to do that? I'm going to be doing, I'm going to be speaking at school board meetings about critical race theory as a Trump supporter. And my friend Max and I made a speech at a school board meeting as Trumpers, and it was, it was glorious. And, you know, that's, that's also what's like the super vile videos. My name is Walter Masterson and I am an American and a patriot. I've never read critical race theory

like most of my conservative friends, but I did watch Tucker Carlson talk about it once. That was like a new level of trolling because immediately the progressives in the audience knew that this was satirical. They're like, this is satire. Like, it's too over the top. Right. And the Trump supporters in the audience didn't know.

Like, they were cheering, clapping. And I have that on tape. Like, I've documented this. And I'm like, wow, if I control a room full of people and get them to clap, you know, it's one thing I'm interviewing you and I, it's like, oh, okay, I gotcha. I got you to contradict yourself. It's another thing if you're applauding. And I just said something totally contradictory. Like I said in this speech, I said, we need to end forced indoctrination. And right after that, we need to make sure everyone stands for the Pledge of Allegiance every day.

And they're like, yay. And I was like, yes. And half the room had to be told that, like, he's messing with you. He's not. And it was amazing. So I'm going to be doing that a lot. I'm trying to make an itinerary right now all over the United States of America. So if you're having a school board meeting and it's like in the United States of America, just DM me, slide my DMs. Don't, you know, and don't tell me like how bad the school board is. I know how bad the school board is. Just tell me when this school board meeting is. And can I give a speech?

And you could find Walter Masterson on all social media accounts. It's at Walter Masterson on TikTok. It's at Walter Masterson on Twitter. Walter Masterson also has a lot of incredibly funny gear memorializing a lot of the skits that he's done. Go out and buy that gear. You could find the links on his social media accounts. I made a I made a T-shirt of me calling Matt Gates a pedophile. And it's a photo of me calling him a pedophile. And I own the rights to that photo. It's my photo. And the best part is that their security team took it, took that picture with my phone.

I love that. I did. Did their security team take the entire video that went viral? No, my friend, Max took the video. We took it with his phone, but on my phone,

they took my pictures of me calling him a pedophile while MTG just holds the thumbs up. That's too good. It's amazing. I love that. This is the Midas touch. Do it yourself. Democracy initiative. out there and do something, whether it's comedic expositions of fascism like Walter Masterson, whether it is what our next guest, Lauren Windsor, does by also embedding herself in events

and exposing the corruption on the right. Do something. And Walter Masterson is a perfect example of a great, true American. Lauren Windsor, the other she's the other one who called Matt Gaetz a pedophile. the other she's the other one who called mac it's a pedophile yes that's the theme of this episode you don't get this content on cnn msnbc absolutely not always you know speaking of msnbc and say i mean i'm you know i'm my Soros check is like two weeks late. And like the baby that I got was like, it had been dead for two days by the time I ate it.

So, I mean, listen, just saying, you know, Midas needs to step it up a bit. I mean, when I got my baby from CNN, it was like fresh. You know what I mean? So just FYI, I'm just not complaining, just saying, all right. I mean, you know, Midas has been great to me, but you know. Midas brothers need to step it up a little bit here. Hear you loud and clear, Walter Masterson,

but thank you so much for coming on our podcast and everything you do. We will be right back after these messages. Thank you. What's up, Midas Mighty? Ben Micellus here, joined by my younger brothers, Brett and Jordy Micellus. Have you got your Midas merch gear? If you haven't gotten your Midas merch gear, I don't know what's taking you so long. I got my gear.

Most of the Midas Mighty got their gear. We have some incredible stuff. Isn't that right, Brett? That's right. And with the new CDC guidelines that say you no longer have to wear masks indoors or outdoors if you've been vaccinated, a lot of people have been asking us, how do you let people know you've been vaccinated? How do you know if you're around other vaccinated people?

A lot of people are concerned. But, you know, we already thought about this, guys. We got our Vaxxed and Relaxed merch line. You could get it now. If you still want to wear masks, if you still feel comfortable wearing masks around indoors or outdoors, we got the masks. We got the tees. We got the shirts. We got it all.

And we got more on the way. So let people know you've been vaccinated. Shop at store.midastouch.com to get yours. And that's not all we have. We got the Club Democracy gear. We got the shout-out to the Mid club democracy gear. We got the shout out to the Midas Mighty gear. We got it all. Go check it out. That's store.midastouch.com. Welcome back to the Midas Touch podcast. Do it yourself. Democracy edition. We are joined by, I guess, someone who could only be described as our hero.

Yes. Lauren Windsor. Lauren Windsor is a content creator, an executive producer, a political reporter, a leader in the democratic movement, the fight for democracy. Of course, she runs the Undercurrent TV. That's the Undercurrent.TV. Lauren Windsor, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Thanks for having me, guys. Big fan. Well, we're a big fan of you, Lauren. So why don't you just, let's start at the beginning,

which is what has motivated you to have this kind of relentless, nonstop exposition of all that is wrong with this GQP and that you're willing to confront them, whether it's at the airport at press conferences, like what, what explain the drive? Well, I mean, you know, I've been doing this for, I guess, eight or nine years now. I launched a web show in 2012, with the Young Turks called the undercurrent. And so it's originally like one of their affiliate programs. And, you

know, I've been doing it over the years, and have broken some major stories. But you know, really, in the last year, we've just, you know, really hit in like on a sweet spot of, there's a combination of being more aggressive and like doing more undercover work for undercurrent. But like keying in on these threats to democracy is really like what drives it all is, you know, we were this close to, you know, having an election overturn. And I feel very strongly that, you know, if there's anything that I can do to expose the people who are perpetrating that, that, you know, I'm obligated to do that. So let's, let's talk about some of the recent undercover and let's say less undercover work that you've done recently. So I guess more of the undercover work. Talk about the Ted Cruz interaction that made national headlines. So I've interviewed Ted

Cruz on a number of occasions over the years, but this one really took off. And, you know, when we came out of the event, you know, looking over the footage, you know, didn't think it was necessarily like that newsy, but it was really just confirming his willingness to confirm, like take credit for leading the charge in the Senate to overturn the election, really struck a nerve with a lot of people. You know, it's one thing when you know someone is doing something, it's kind of just like in the general sphere of knowledge it's another when you're seeing it actually captured on video it's that power of video that hits people you know seeing somebody say that and have having the cojones to say that something that's like so blatantly unpatriotic really struck a nerve for most people. And it's that they're saying it and they believe they're saying it behind closed doors in safe

spaces where they feel that they could truly be talking about what their true agenda is. And so you really embed in these events and you dress up and you play, you know, and you play the part to a T when you're at these rallies. Do you have any, you know, there's a lot from the outside looking in that a lot of these people are, are crazy that these people, you know, are just straight up fascists that they're, you know, frankly, idiots sometimes. Like when you're embedded there, what do you see around you that may be kind of a unique observation as you've gone to a lot of these GQP events? Well, I mean, this is really just an outgrowth of the Tea Party. So, you know, I got my start in politics being an Occupy activist and so much of what was

going on with Occupy. It's, you know, there's a lot of actual overlap between Occupy activists and Tea Party type folks. And it's, I think this reaction to feeling helpless in a system that is broken. And what has happened over time, because the right wing has been much more willing to heighten that politicization, like take it to the extremes, is that you've seen, you know, people who are like Tea Party folks evolve into people who are, you know, QAn people who are you know q anon folks like willing to believe any conspiracy theory so i think you know this is one thing that we really need to keep in mind like when people talk about needing to be bipartisan and you know taking down the rhetoric that really does need to happen.

Obviously, we can't negotiate with people who are unwilling to really govern whatsoever. But we need to get back to a place where, you know, people across the political spectrum are actually like trying to forge some kind of compromises, because right now it's just, you know, a devolving like vicious cycle. And talking about the, I would say the less undercover work, you've confronted politicians in the airport to ask them questions that they've tried to hide and not answer those questions. And just recently you've made national headlines again. It seems like you make national headlines every day, though, on this case, confronting Congressman Gates in front of whatever the hell they call that, a press conference, an anti-democratic fascist rally

outside of Capitol Hill and confronted him and asked him a very simple question, which is, are you a pedophile? Are you a pedophile? Talk about the importance you think of asking these very simple but tough questions when really you're the only person I see really out there doing that. Well, thank you. You know, I think that I'm in a unique position as an advocacy journalist to ask the questions that media, traditional media is too afraid to ask. And, you know, is that to say that there aren't like journalists out there that are doing the hard work of holding folks accountable? accountable no I'm not saying that at all but um so much of at least like broadcast journalism in traditional like you know digital publication is just this desire to not rock the boat too much because you don't want to lose access to powerful figures and I don't have that to worry about in terms of access because I don't have that access anyway. I'm independent.

And if I'm going to get an interview, it's not because I wrote an email to somebody's communications director saying, hey, will you let me interview? I have like five minutes from so-and-so. It's never going to happen. I have to fight for it. I have to go out and claim it. And so having that mentality of just like, I'm going to be really aggressive and hungry for the interview. I'm going to get in. I'm going to ask the questions that people want to know. And to that, Lauren, you look, you're, you're an expert at your craft. You've been to hundreds, if not thousands of these type of rallies or press conferences, which politician in the GQP do you think is just like the biggest fraud? Like someone, while you're sitting there

waiting to ask your question, you think to yourself, like, how did the constituents even buy this BS? I mean, in terms of being, so if you want to say someone who's just an out and out fraud, I would have to say it's Ted Cruz because he's definitely smart enough to know better. The man is Harvard educated. He knows better and he's pandering to the lowest, like worst form of conspiracy theorists in his party. And so, yeah, I would say he's a fraud. If you want to talk about like who's the most extreme, you know, it's probably going to be somebody like, you know, Marjorie Taylor Green or Lauren Boebert. Louie Gohmert's pretty extreme, but most of them aren't actually that clever. I wouldn't use clever as a word to describe them at all. I would say, you know, they're very dumb.

And I think a lot of them, I think they believe to some, a fair amount of the lies that they're spewing. I would love to know, and now I don't want you to reveal any of your secrets here, Lauren, but I'd love to just know, like, the anatomy of the Matt Gaetz moment. Like, how did it come to be? You know, what's your prep like? You know, what does it feel like when you're in the moment and chasing him down, screaming the question? I'd like to just get in your shoes for a second. Well, so in the early years, I think I spent a lot more time trying to think of like every conceivable question that I might want to ask. But, you know, I've gotten over the years to realize like having one question and sticking to that one question over and over again is really like the best way.

And you definitely want to like have wiggle room like because this is all like looking for opportunities in the moment. It's what's like so great about this style of reporting because you're not setting up, you know, an interview with somebody ahead of time where it's like all of these parameters. This is like, you're basically like fishing, you know what I mean? Like you're out on an expedition and you don't know what you're going to get. You go in as prepared as you can as to like, you know, this is where it is. These are the people I'm dealing with, like doing, you know, research on the people that you're going to talk to. But what is the one question? What's the burning question that you want to know? And like sticking

with that, but also, you know, thinking about as they're talking, what are other angles that now actually are open to me that I, you know, hadn't thought of before. So I mean, there's a lot of in the moment sort of positioning and analysis. And you know, you're there's a lot of in the moment sort of positioning and analysis. And, you know, it's a lot of competing things because you need to, you know, watch the person who's talking at the press conference, but then watch everyone that's around. What are the other journalists asking? If they've already asked it, I can't ask that. So I need to pivot to something else. So pivoting is super key but knowing like scout like looking around the

location wherever you are like what are the exits what are the entries like where am I going to go and move into place so that as soon as they're off stage I can like swoop in to get an interview I mean you just have to really be on your toes and it really helps to have a you know good colleague a camera person co-producer with you Pete and I've been working together for years and we both just kind of like fall in lockstep of like it's all this like dance it's fun it's really fun and what's interesting Lauren is you were kind of warning everybody about this eight years ago, what you were seeing in the Tea Party. I mean, we think that this is somewhat of a new phenomenon, but really, I think there's the meme of like

the QAnon movement now leading the Republican Party and the Republican Party thought that they had to bring that Tea Party along to get votes. But in the end of the day, they conquered the Republican Party. And you were out there shouting that from the rooftops eight years ago, nine years ago. Do you think, though, now that it's become, you know, that it's reached such public attention that there's truly a way to, you know, defeat it? Or do we have this kind of alarmist, you know, three siren, you know, call for democracy right now, that's not going to get any better anytime soon? Well, I mean, I definitely don't think it's going to get better soon, given, you know, just the dynamics with COVID. And, you know, the attacks on, you know, our institutions of like science and public health. You know, there's, I think, a lot of economic lag to the public health crisis that we haven't

seen yet and fully come to fruition. And so, you know, I think that it's really tough to train and try to say, okay, we're going to dial back the rhetoric and everyone's going to go back to being like, you know, more collegial and, oh, let's, you know, work together in this period of bipartisanship. I mean, there's always been, you know, really heightened rhetoric from, you know, the hardest factions of the Republican Party. I think that the key in changing the dynamic is, one, the media holding people accountable and really stopping with the bullshit false equivalencies

between the two parties. Because to say that, yes, it's a broken system, and yes, Democrats do some shitty things too. But to say that they're anywhere like on par with each other is ludicrous. And I think that we need to be much more courageous as members of the media in calling people out for blatant lies. So the more that the media can expose the truth so that voters are motivated, you know, like I do believe that, you know, when you're showing the worst of these abuses,

it sinks in with voters to say, you know what, I'm tired of this and I'm going to vote for somebody like I'm going to remove you from office as a ballot box but people feel like very you know uh they just don't feel like their vote matters and you know I really do worry if we don't get you know hr1 passed ss1 passed um you know to have federal uh federal baseline of voting rights that it, you know, that we're not too far from having an entrenched system where these people can't be defeated at the ballot box. And Lauren, finally, our theme of this podcast is do it yourself democracy. What do you say to the person watching this podcast right now on our YouTube live stream or listening to it who goes, I just, I don't think I can do what Lauren does. It requires too much, or I'm not sure I

could go out there and do anything. What do you say to that person listening who's on the fence about whether or not they can make a difference? Well, I mean, I think that, you know, everyone makes a difference in their own ways. And, you know, what I do is definitely not most people's cup of tea. There's very few people doing the type of work that I do in D.C. within the progressive movement. And that's not something that everyone has to aspire to. Like you should start, you know, dipping your toe in the water and doing small things like, you know, voting in all of your elections, not just like every four years, you know, sharing voting information with

friends and family to make sure that they're voting, you know, making, like researching things to have cogent arguments and actually engaging your friends and family in those conversations And I think that, you know, any sort of turnaround of being engaged is going to be like, people just have to invest a lot more time to educate themselves on the political process, be engaged. Well, Lauren Windsor, it's been incredible fighting with you side by side. We look forward to many more years of doing that together. And I truly think that if we can expose what's going on and bring sunshine to all of the idiocracy that's truly represented by this

new strain of GQP fascism, that we could be the difference collectively to try to bring hope and prosperity and just normalcy back to our country. And we appreciate you fighting for all of those things. You could catch Lauren Windsor at her social accounts, which is at L-A-W-I-N-D-S-O-R. That's at Law Windsor on Twitter at LaurenWindsor.com. And you could also watch the web show at The Undercurrent TV. Lauren Windsor, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much. And there you have it, folks. This is Do It Yourself Democracy. I like to think that the

Midas Touch brothers, Do It Yourself Democracy, accidental activists. We like to encourage everybody out there to be the accidental activist. The fact that you're listening to this podcast right now just shows you have an interest in preserving and fighting for our democracy. And we can do it in a way that's fun. You know, one of the things that Lauren said that resonated so much to me during her interview is that where the right, where the crazy loony GQP side has been able to engage with these individuals is that people want hope. They want people who fight for them. sometimes the loudest voices, the voices that encourage community, the voices that are inspiring people to get together, sometimes they use that for bad. And that's what we've seen with the GQP. You know, that's what we've seen with this fascism strain at these conventions. They're being led off the cliff by people who are playing, as we said at the beginning, fascist, totalitarian,

stupid checkers who don't know what they're doing. And so it's important that all of us out here fight for what's right, to fight for our democracy every day, right here, right now. And so we appreciate that and we appreciate you fighting with us. What an incredible addition. I love that theme today, having both Lauren Windsor on and Walter Masterson. I hope you enjoyed it too at home. We will see you on the next Midas Touch podcast. And for now, Jordy, what do we say? Shout out to the Midas Mighty!