The MeidasTouch Podcast - Inflation, Rittenhouse court drama, and the mainstreaming of fascism with David Jolly

Episode Date: November 12, 2021

On today’s episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, we have a very special guest, David Jolly. David Jolly served in the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 13th congressional district from 2014 to 2017. A prominent critic of former president Donald Trump, Jolly officially left the Republican party in 2018. During the interview, we discuss a variety of topics including the Republican Party's full-on embrace of QAnon ideology, the latest inflation numbers and what Biden should do about it and how Ron Desantis used Trump like a pawn to gain power & notoriety. During the episode, the brothers also take a moment to reflect on Veterans Day and provide a brief personal anecdote of how their grandparents fought bravely to preserve our democratic institutions. The episode is rounded out with updates on the bizarre behavior witnessed during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, Fox “News” rooting for fascism and much more. If you enjoyed today's episode please be sure to rate, review and subscribe! As always, thank YOU for listening. Support our sponsors: Raycon Everyday Wireless Earbuds -- Go to BuyRaycon.com/MEIDAS today to unlock exclusive deals up to 20% off your Raycon order Adam & Eve -- Go check out AdamandEve.com today, select one item and get 50% off including FREE shipping when you enter offer code MEIDAS GetUpside -- Download the GetUpside app and use code MEIDAS to get a a 25¢/gal welcome bonus. This means a total of up to 50¢/gal cash back on your first purchase. Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 Zoomed In: https://pod.link/1580828633 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Find a friend, a lover, a partner at Date My Age. Get 60% off when you join at datemyage.com today. That's datemyage.com to connect with thousands of singles worldwide. datemyage.com Welcome to the Midas Touch Podcast Veterans Day edition. Ben Micellis joined by Brett and Jordi Micellis, great guest on the podcast today. We will be joined by former Congressman David Jolly, served as a Republican congressman from Florida's 13th Congressional District from 2014 to 2017. David Jolly famously gave a speech on the House floor in 2015 stating that he would absolutely not support Trump. He was

consistent with that the whole time in 2018. He left the Republican Party, became an independent. He's actually now started a party called the Sam Political Party. The Sam Party will ask him about that as well as a number of current events. Brett Jordy on this Veterans Day, how you both doing? I'm doing really well, Ben. Thanks for asking. Excited to be here. Shout out to all the Midas Mighty out there for all your support over the past few weeks. We released a great new video this week hitting back against Kellyanne Conway and her lying about the economic situation during the Trump era, which I think is super important that we consistently remind people as to just how bad things were in this

country over Donald Trump. But today, you know, I'm just really grateful for all the veterans who served our country. Veterans Day is always a very humbling day. And I think it's, you know, I think it's worth bringing up that we come from a family with veterans and we have some great stories, both grandparents on both sides, our paternal and maternal sides, incredible stories about their heroism and bravery and serving for the United States military. And I'd love to just tell those stories if our listeners wouldn't mind us sharing a little bit of our lives with you. Go for it, Pete, definitely. Got to celebrate our maternal grandfather, Murray Golden, who, this is just like the craziest story to me, and it always just blows my mind what he did for our country. So he operated as a tail gunner on a B-29 Superfortress bomber plane that flew on 32 combat missions in the heart of Japanese

territory between January 29th, 1945 and July 19th, 1945. So he was a member of the 505th Bombardment Group. And for his heroic efforts and the efforts of the rest of the 505th Bombardment Group on March 10th, 1945, him and his entire crew received the Distinguished Flying Cross Medal for Extraordinary Achievement while participating in aerial flight. And the award came with the following letter letter which breaks down the harrowing story and you guys know the story that i'm about to tell yeah and it's just so crazy to think about kind of the butterfly effect too of this on our lives as well you know to think like a little selfishly also like if this went another way like we might not be here right now and and just all the work that our grandfather did to protect democracy in america and how we're

sort of you know in a way following in that lineage um but i just want to show you the bravery and this is a letter written by charles eisenhardt lieutenant colonel uh commanding officer he said these individuals were combat crew members on a b-29 aircraft engaging in a major incendiary attack on the Tokyo port and urban areas. Taking off 26 minutes late, after overcoming last-minute mechanical difficulties, they arrived over target alone, when all defense activities were alerted and the city was already ablaze. On the bomb run, the aircraft was under intense anti-aircraft fire and searchlights just prior to the bombs away, while their plane was in a nose-down altitude in a 70-degree bank. A terrific thermal caused by

an explosion in the target area tossed the aircraft 5,000 feet higher instantaneously. They recovered control of the plane and released their bombs on the target area. Under constant danger of enemy fire attacks, engine failure, and difficult navigational problems, these individuals displayed great courage and determination in overcoming all obstacles to the enemy. Their superior professional ability and devotion to duty reflect great credit on themselves and the Army Air Forces. And like I said, that was Charles Eisenhardt, Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Officer. And that story to me is just a story of bravery, a story of heroism. And that's what's in the DNA of this country. It's

a fight against fascism. It's a fight for democracy. It's a fight of sacrifice, of willing to put the country over yourself. And I think that's what I admire so much about that story from our grandfather. And I'd be remiss if I didn't also speak about our paternal grandfather, Harold, who took a year of internship after medical school and went into residency of psychiatry and enlisted in the air force and was activated in about six months and the air force was extremely short on psychiatrists and really needed help in this area and so they sent our grandfather to take this course in psychiatry in san antonio texas where he treated the mentally ill and ultimately he served all across the country in San Antonio, Texas, Geneva, New York, Montgomery, Alabama, until he left the service in 1957. So shout out to all the veterans today. I want to honor all the veterans for your bravery,

for your service to this country. And just thank you for all you do today and every single day. That's really heartwarming, Brett. I mean, thinking about Harold and Murray, who have since passed, it always hits me hard. And I think about why we started Midas Touch, the fact that we get to do a podcast like this and this is how we fight back. I mean, when you hear the stories of a grandfather enrolling in the Air Force and another grandfather as a B-29 tail gunner flying through Tokyo. And I think about Donald Trump massacring the American flag, Donald Trump massacring our democracy and a political party that sides with our enemies that, you know, we hear about Tucker Carlson basically saying, maybe we want a democracy, you know, and talking about,

we should support. What was that? That was bananas. And it makes me really sad on this Veterans Day that there is an entire political party in the Republican Party who has given up on democracy and who is closely aligned with our enemies, is closely aligned with Russia, is closely aligned with other fascist leaders historically, and that they look historically at Mussolini, at Hitler, as ways to control populations and as ways to lead, as opposed to warning signs of what not to be and what not to do. And all of know, all of these, you know, it's kind of become, we kind of become immune to it, right? Like when people do the thing with their fingers, with the circle sign, or when these groups that are these white supremacy groups out there

that are so mainstreamed in the Republican party, they identify with the people our grandparents fought against. And I think we really need to make sure that message is out there. And I guess we're just blessed that we get to talk about democracy on the podcast, because honestly, what we've built with Midas Touch is great. We sacrifice a lot of sleep. But I mean, hearing these stories that Brett told, that's- Nothing in comparison to the stories we told. Cannot even put them in the same category. I always feel like such a punk when we go through these stories and Brett told. Nothing in comparison to the stories we told. Nothing in comparison. Cannot even put them in the same category. I always feel like such a punk when we go through these stories, and there was a nine-year period of

my life where I was just terrified to fly, like fly commercial or anything like that. And then I think- Our grandfather was on the back of an airplane being shot at while his plane nosedived. Yeah, I'm kind of like, maybe I should toughen up a little bit here. Yeah, no, it certainly puts things in perspective. And on the note of Tucker Carlson, Ben, I think it's something worth talking about because this is where these sort of fascist talking, I would say laundered, but it's not even being laundered through Tucker Carlson. It's really just being amplified by Tucker Carlson. Like Fox News and Tucker Carlson now, they're just full blown.

It's a fascist propaganda network that's pushing fascism on the American people. They are trying, ironically, the Republicans and these right-wing conspiracy theorists, they all try to say the liberals and the Democrats and Soros, they're all trying to create this new world order in America. But who is really trying to create a new world order? It's the Republicans who are trying to mainstream fascism and are trying to make America the epicenter of that authoritarian takeover of the world. They are trying to bring a 1930s-style dictatorship to this country. And you don't have to take my word for it. As you said, Tucker last night had on Republican Congressman Mike Turner talking about the situation in

the Ukraine and Tucker was wondering why do why should we even take the Ukraine side maybe in fact we should take Russia's side and the Republican was very like flummoxed and didn't even know it he was like excuse me what and let's just play the uh we'll play the conversation and and we'll hear what Tucker had to say it is is. Make certain that we give them what they need. Give them intelligence, give them lethal weapons, give them assistance. But why would we take Ukraine? But hold on. Why would we take Ukraine's side and not Russia's side? It's a sincere question. If you're looking from the American perspective. No, but why? I mean, who's got the energy reserves? Who's the major player in world affairs? Who's the potential

counterbalance against China, which is the actual threat? Why would we take Ukraine's side? Why wouldn't we have Russia's side? I'm totally confused. Well, clearly, maybe if you get out a map and you look to see where the Black Sea is, and Bulgaria and Romania, Romania where we have our missile defense system, Greece and Turkey, the entrance to the Black Sea. And then from there, you look at what the conflicts have already been in Russia's areas there. Ukraine is a democracy. Russia is an authoritarian regime that is seeking

to impose its will upon a validly elected democracy in Ukraine. And we're on the side of democracy. That's why people were chasing those planes in Afghanistan and wouldn't be chasing Russian ones. We're for democracy. We're for liberty. We're not for authoritarian regimes coming in and changing borders by tanks. Russia isn't showing up on the border with ballot boxes. They're showing up on the border with tanks. And that's why we need to make certain we're on the side of democracy and give the aid that's necessary so we don't have another Obama sending blankets to a country that's being invaded. Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm for democracy in other countries, I guess, but I'm really for America.

Who was the congressman who said that? That was the Republican congressman, Mike Turner. And he's like almost doing everything in his power to get Tucker to agree to enjoy democracy. He's like, it's not like Obama. Like he tries to like throw these other sort of buzzwords that like oh tucker i can't agree with obama on something so i might let's make it clear tucker said i i guess i agree with democracy is is essentially what he said well the fact is he doesn't and he shows it in all of his actions he shows it in his series that is rewriting the

history of january 6th to position them as freedom fighters when they were domestic terrorists. We see it when he meets with Viktor Orban overseas and other right-wing autocratic dictators. We see it. We know what Tucker's doing. And he's also trying to now bully these politicians like this Republican congressman to embrace his view of the world, to embrace this autocratic view of America and of the world. And that's what's dangerous because we know that all Republicans try to do every single day is book their time on Hannity. All they want all day is to get that five minutes on Tucker's show, to get that five minutes on Laura Ingraham's show, and now they'll know, oh, in order to do that, if I just start

totally throwing away democracy and just start demanding autocracy in America, then they'll give me a couple minutes. And that's what we're seeing. And we see how these politicians fold to their whims and how an entity like Fox News is actually controlling the narrative of the entire party. This podcast is brought to you by Raycon Wireless Earbuds. It's never too early to start gift shopping for the holidays, especially because today you can save big on a gift that you will use every day. Brett's showing it on the camera for those listening. Maybe you're listening on your Raycon Everyday earbuds, but the Raycon everyday earbuds are incredible. I listen, we were talking about on the last podcast, I listen, put my earbuds in before I go to sleep.

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Love those earbuds. Brett, I referenced the video you made of Kyle Rittenhouse, which is a new format that we're trying out here on Midas Touch. I say we, so I can try to bask in the glory of your video and take credit for it. But you asked me a simple question yesterday, so I'll take 1% credit for the video and you can have 99%. The rest, you asked me if the judge grants a mistrial with prejudice, does that mean that Rittenhouse would be basically not guilty? With prejudice means yes. Without prejudice means that you could retry the case.

But Brett, that video really struck a chord. Tell us about the video and why do you think that it had this impact? There's a lot of content out there on the trial, yet your video from Midas Touch seemed to be the most prevalent one out there as a summary of the trial. And it wasn't even from the lawyer. That's what I love about it. You guys left to tell me why it hit so hard. I'm the one who made it, so I'm a little in the weeds on it. But I think it's kind of why Midas Touch videos in general do well. I was watching the trial. I was sitting here. I have the TV in front of me. And I just found myself frustrated at all the events that were going on and everything that I kept seeing come out.

And so I was just trying to figure out, I've been sitting here watching this trial all day, which is not the most fun thing in the world to do. And I know people have lives and have jobs and things. And so I thought, you know what? I think let's distill what happened today because so much crazy shit happened into a few minutes. Just put it in an easy to digest format and also an unabashedly just kind of pro-truth format. Like I wasn't going to be like, but this side said this and that side said this. I just wanted to deliver you as I saw it unfiltered. And I think maybe that's a bit why it resonated. But let's face it.

I mean, you know, you guys are the lawyers, Ben and Popak, and you guys have been discussing this on Legal AF ad nauseum. And I know you guys will discuss it more this weekend. But what I saw yesterday at the Rittenhouse trial, what I'm seeing today, the whole thing just seems like a total shit show, just all around. I know Popak is a defender of the judge in many ways, and not necessarily a defender, but just wants to kind of put it in perspective as to how courts operate and how things happen. But the things I am seeing, to me, shows a very biased judge and shows a lot of very sort of sketchy things happening in the courtroom. And I'd love to get your quick take on it before you do a

deeper dive this week in Legal AF. Yeah, we're going to do a deep dive on Legal AF. Look, the prosecutors, you know, you highlighted, I think, a very helpful cross-exam that the prosecutors did of Rittenhouse, where they basically got Rittenhouse to say that he pointed the gun at the individual first before an individual pointed the gun at them. But the prosecution has made some fumbles. I mean, basically bringing up the fact that Rittenhouse previously took the Fifth Amendment, even just asking the question in the presence of the jury to imply guilt is really a big no-no, as the judge would say, you know, in our legal system. You just don't do that. I mean, you have a constitutional right to take the Fifth, whether you're Rittenhouse or whether you're you listening in the podcast,

the right against self-incrimination. So and that should not be brought up at a trial. So kind of missteps like that are unfortunate. People have been complaining about this judge that his he's been one sided the whole way. Judges are curmudgeon-y weird people to begin with in a lot of cases. That's a good use of the word curmudgery. When I see the judge act like that, that's not inconsistent with a lot of judges that I've seen out there. He's obviously also got burner Twitter accounts and burner social media accounts because he's clearly following what social media is saying about him. And he's doing a lot of, he's heavily influenced by the media here. And look, he does seem to have leanings in favor of Trump kind of viewpoints. I don't know where he stands politically and I don't

want to insinuate that, but there are indications that he seems to be favorable to the defense in this case. But ultimately, if you want my prediction, they're going to find Rittenhouse guilty on the gun charges. It's unclear to me on the for possession of the firearm. But on the actual murders, you know, I think based on the evidence, you know on the evidence that's been put out there and the way the case has gone, I think it's going to be difficult to convict. I mean, the question is, is it beyond a reasonable doubt? Beyond a reasonable doubt.

And when you have testimony, like one of the individuals who basically said that he pointed a gun at Rittenhouse, does that create reasonable doubt in any one of the jurors to at least have a hung jury? I mean, I got to ask you something. Yeah. And you need a unanimous verdict. And Ben, I want to ask you this too. And I know you're going to do a deeper dive on Legal AF on Saturday night. Can a judge follow social media and follow the news cycle about this? Because I know the jury, for example, is given very specific instructions not to. Yeah. I mean, the short answer is that the judge is not the trier of fact. The jury is the trier of fact. And so the jury is not supposed to get any facts that are outside

of what's being presented in the courtroom and all those other factors could influence. And that's why they're not entitled to go out there because those facts, all that other information would be hearsay. They're out of court statements that they're not entitled to hear. And because juries are lay people, are lay persons evaluating the facts, the view is that they can be persuaded by the media. But judges, I think they're governed by a judicial code of ethics. And a judicial code of ethics would basically say for best practices, you shouldn't do that. You shouldn't be influenced by the media. But for a judge, he's going to open up the news. He's going to see the reporting. He's going to read about it.

He's going to read his cookie books, whatever else he's doing on the side. But let me speak as a layman, Ben, because as a layman, here's what I see the reporting. He's going to read about it. He's going to read his cookie books, whatever else he's doing on the side. But let me speak as a layman, Ben, because, you know, as a layman, here's what I see. First, going back to Tucker Carlson, I see a direct line between the rhetoric that Tucker Carlson uses and the rhetoric that the right wing uses and the actions of somebody like Kyle Rittenhouse. They are constantly dehumanizing their political opponents. I think they are calling people like Kyle Rittenhouse to violence. And then they applaud and celebrate and laud people like Kyle Rittenhouse as heroes. And I'm going to make, you know how we get Popakian predictions on Legal AF? I am going to make a, I don't know what you'd call my predictions, a Brettian prediction.

I don't know what you'd call it. But I'm going to make a, we'll workshop that, but I'm going to make a prediction. And I'm really not joking about it. If Kyle Rittenhouse gets off, we will see Kyle Rittenhouse at next year's CPAC. That's the kind of thing that they would absolutely do. Kyle Rittenhouse, CPAC, they might run this dude for Congress. These are the people who the Republican Party is actively recruiting. And if not at CPAC or those events, he will certainly be at those other conservative right wing fascist events that they have throughout the country. And you could bet on that.

You could absolutely bet. I would put money on that today that if he gets off, this kid will be a hero and will be on tour across the country as a hero. And I don't think anybody would even refute me on that. I mean, I think that's- I think you're 1000% spot on if he gets off. I mean, it's not going to be the last we hear of Rittenhouse, unfortunately. But for all you listening, definitely check out the Midas Touch YouTube account. Check out Brett's breakdown of the circus that was the Rittenhouse trial on Wednesday. And really watch that video because Brett does such an excellent job breaking

everything down. Absolutely. And Rittenhouse is already a superstar in the GQP world and the GQP party for the reasons that he is kind of representative of a brand of white supremacy. I mean, that's why they like him. I mean, that's the images that they spread of him making white supremacy signs. The groups that congregate around him, you know, are those groups want to bring in former Congressman David Jolly, get his take on all of the news. Before doing that, I want to talk about Get Upside. This podcast is sponsored by Get Upside. Hey, Midas Mighty, this is Ben Mycelis with Brett and Jordy Mycelis with an incredible app that everybody who buys gas needs to know about GetUpside. Lots of people buy gas. Our listeners are making up to 25 cents for every gallon of gas every time they fill up. It's really incredible. You download the app. It's free. It's called the GetUpside app, G-E-T-U-P-S-I-D-E app in the App Store or Google Play right now. Use the promo code Midas, M-E-I-D-A-S, and get a bonus 25 cents per gallon on your first fill up.

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now. You can multitask. Whatever you want to do. But go to GetUpsideApp and use the code MIDAS. Want to bring in David Jolly, former congressman from Florida's 13th from 2014 to 2017. Current contributor to NBC Universal Platforms. David was a former Republican, now independent, also running a fledgling political party I want to talk about called the Sand Party. Dave Jolly, welcome to the podcast. Hey, great to be with you. Thank you.

So, Dave, I got to ask you from the outset, you know, when I said it in the intro, the transition from Republican to independent, I assume inspired by Trump. Any regrets there or? Daily affirmation is how I would describe it. No, but look, I would tell you it was it was a longer journey than just Trump. But the Trump era, I would say, was the breaking point for me. And I'll also say for my wife, because so much of people's politics are personal. Right. And so when I registered as a Republican at 18 and was a Republican my whole life, I went through the fits and starts a little bit. I mean, even in the 90s, I was more a Bush 41 than a Newt Gingrich Republican. And then you saw the emergence of the Tea Party in the early 2000s that I didn't fully, I appreciated the doctrine

in some aspects, but not the governing philosophy or governing perspective. And then the emergence of Donald Trump just reflected a an organization that didn't reflect my political views nor my personal values. And so I did leave the party shortly after leaving Congress. Now, I will say, because a lot of people say, oh, yeah, you waited till you left. Look, I was the guy in December of 15, the only Republican in that entire cycle who went to the floor of the House and called on Donald Trump to drop out of the presidential race, condemned him, never pivoted, never changed my mind. You know, Paul Ryan and I, the day he got the nomination, the day Trump did, we both gave the same statement when asked, will we support him? But we hadn't coordinated. We both just said, hey, I'm not there yet. And Ryan found a way to get there. I never did. I ended up leaving

Congress in 16, left the party in 18. And what I will tell you is I knew I'd feel some mixed emotions, but largely relief from being outside of that environment that is today's Republican Party. What I didn't anticipate was the liberty, the freedom, the excitement of being untethered from a major political party. It was so liberating. One of my experiences in Congress is how the two major parties can really crush independent thought or at least not allow independent thought to be exercised. And once I had broken from the

Republican Party, it was liberating. I was untethered from that type of restriction. And so I remain an independent today, though my values have aligned in recent political cycles, probably more with Democrats. I remain an independent and anticipate doing so for quite some time. Could you ever imagine, though, that the Republican Party, the former party you were affiliated with then, and you saw the Tea Party leanings, though, but would be so engulfed by this anti-vax doctrine, this kind of massive conspiracy theory, allowing QAnon not to be the fringe, but to really be kind of seeped into what the party is like. Could you have predicted it was going to go that far to where we are today?

I don't think I ever anticipated it taking over. And and I would call it the anti-truth faction of the Republican Party that took over a little bit of the chip on your shoulder, angry populace, devoid of reason, devoid of any real intellectual investigation into some of the issues. And look, I like to paint it in the realm of opportunities lost as opposed to just condemning the current behavior, because I would say this on the take vaccine skepticism. Look, we're never going to have 100% agreement on vaccines, though I don't fully understand the other side. I'm pro-vaccine. My family is. Everybody I really speak to is. But I get it. There are people in compromised situations. There are people perhaps for health reasons, either from a doctor or for their own beliefs, might choose not to. There is a way for vaccine skeptics and today's leading Republicans to respect that, but also go all in and promoting the public health of vaccines.

I mean, it is public health. It is something we do for our community, but we do for our country. We do for other people. Every Republican wearing a what would Jesus do bracelet should have the vaccine. But that's not the doctrine they've adopted, because I think Trump introduced a winning strategy of questioning the man, questioning government, the skepticism of any authority. It's an angry form of populism painted in a grievance philosophy that somehow something's being taken from you. If you let government exercise its responsibility, then necessarily it's a zero-sum game and you are having to give up something of your individual liberty. It's a false premise, but it's a powerful one. We were talking, Brett, Jordy and I yesterday. I don't even know what got us on this topic.

We don't usually talk so much politics outside of the workday. We usually talk sports or something else, but we were just, we got into the topic of Dr. Fauci and we're like, why do we even know this? We're like, why do we even know this guy's name? Like why he's someone who maybe once a year should be cited like on page 12 of The Washington Post. Yet Dr. Fauci, the head of the CDC, is public enemy number one for Republicans is the craziest concept in the world. But it speaks, David, to that grievance politics you talked about. Yeah. So he's he's the director of the National Infectious Disease Center. It's a it's a division within NIH. And I'll tell you guys, I mean, completely humbling. In fact, I recently went to NBC to say, hey, is there any way I could get a

clip from, I think it was around March 25th, March 30th of what had been 2020 when the pandemic was just starting. So understand before being in Congress, I had about 20 years of experience on Capitol Hill as a staffer, as a lobbyist and so forth. So I had worked with Dr. Fauci. Dr. Fauci had an incredible relationship with Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats, a leading public health expert, a decent, kind man, a trusted person. So the reason I asked NBC for a clip was the last week of in-person TV, in-studio stuff. I'm at 30 Rock on Nicole Wallace's show. And I say to her, as the pandemic starting and this doctor next to us has already announced, I'm no longer shaking hands. Like this is actually, like this is now very serious. I say to Nicole, the world's about

to get introduced to one of the most remarkable men, universally respected by both sides of the aisle, an unimpeachable record, Dr. Anthony Fauci. And fortunately, Dr. Anthony Fauci is going to be one of the voices that gets us through this. That's what I said last March. To your point, who would have ever thought that he would have become such a political lightning rod. And unfortunately, it was a lightning rod that the Republican Party created. It was nothing of his undoing. And to your earlier point, any organization, any individual that understands science and understands emerging science in the face of a pandemic understands that guidance is going to move as we learn more. And the right decided if we don't accept that variation and instead condemn it as confusion

and a lack of expertise and the government just trying to control us, then we will have political capital throughout this pandemic. And that's what they did. You mentioned politics is personal. I think one of the problems, though, that exists in the Democratic Party is that politics is politics kind of for the Democratic Party. And they're not really listening to what people say. You know, the issues of inflation, education with schools being closed, both Democrats and Republicans had the same polling data that truly reflected what the Virginia voters cared about.

Yet McAuliffe kind of completely ignored it and the Republicans kind of leaned into it. So what's going on there and why? Why are Democrats ignoring the data in front of them? Ben, you nailed it. And I recently was having this exact conversation on a radio show. Democrats failed to meet the voters where they were on election night. At least a statistically significant enough portion of those voters to then tilt the election. And by failing to meet them where they were, it's exactly what you described. Democrats wanted to paint a picture of what the world could look like a year from now, with paid family leave and pre-K education, community college. But what enough voters

wanted to know about is what are you doing about the price of eggs right now? And what are you doing about the fight at my school board over masks and vaccines? And what are you doing about these culture war issues? Now, we can say Republicans were bad faith actors that created some of these controversies, but that's where enough voters were. And they wanted to hear what Democrats were going to do today, not the world they were going to create for them a year from now. And to your point, they knew that they had the same numbers, the same polling that that

Republicans had. A lot of people think of polling as just the horse race who's winning. It's not. Polling provides the picture, the snapshot of what issues are most important on any given day to voters. And it allows a candidate or a party to say, OK, we might really want to talk about pre-K, but pre-K is rates number six right now, and it'd be a waste of resources to spend money on pre-K. Instead, we've got to address the mask issue or the inflation issue. Democrats didn't do it, at least not sufficient enough to win the election. You have a finance background, David, and the US has a lot of good economic indicators, in my opinion. I mean, we added 531,000 jobs in October.

We've recovered 80% of the jobs lost during the peak of the pandemic. But this inflation issue seems like it will be a big issue until it's taken care of. First, I just want to get your thoughts. What do you think is behind the cause of the inflation? The pandemic, no question. The pandemic and the monetary policy that helped keep us stable during and just after the pandemic. And the Fed knows that. Monetary and fiscal policy, I should say. In terms of the Fed's realm, they know they have to adjust certain things to stem inflation. But we also know the pandemic has created an environment that has a shortage of supply necessary to meet demand. At the end of the day, if the pandemic can be solved, a lot of this will be solved. But I will say to your point, one of the most frustrating things for me as someone who is maybe more wonkish on the more wonkish side of the politics scale, what is frustrating for me is to recognize and embrace the fact that 90% of politics is decided in the low information space. And what I mean by that is what is the

price of gas? What is the price of eggs? What is the price of diapers? Don't talk to me about supply chains and opening new ports. Don't talk to me about all these other monetary and fiscal policy issues. What I know, because I spend all my day worrying about my family, my church, my school, my civic organization, I just know it costs me more to do all those things. And I want my politicians to fix it. And that's where this inflation issue could sink Joe Biden and the Democrats. And you can blame factors outside of his control. You can blame the former guy. It doesn't matter. He's the guy in the seat right now. I agree with that. I think it is an existential problem for the presidency if it's not something that's under control. We've seen it in past elections, how something like this could

affect a incumbent president. And so what could President Biden do about it? Should the Fed be raising rates? Is there anything fiscal policy-wise that President Biden could be doing to ease these concerns? Yeah, look, I think he's largely doing what is within his reach. And this is something I often think presidents get too much credit and too much blame for the state of the economy. There are market forces at work that are outside of our politics. And that's just unfortunate. I mean, you know, when Bill Clinton left, everybody remembers that the economy was at its height. Well, actually, a recession had started in December. It's two negative quarters, I think. And and Bush 43 actually did inherit a recession. But that's such a technical conversation.

It doesn't really matter. And so, you know, what Joe Biden can do, he is doing. He's trying to solve the logistics of the supply chain. He's trying to solve some of the labor shortages within certain markets domestically. He's trying to address government stimulus, if you will, which will have a long term, you know, lash back on us a little bit. And then he's relying on the Fed and those in charge of monetary and fiscal policy to do their part as well. I think that the most important thing going forward, which could be make a break for Biden, and it is outside of his control, is does the housing market just come to a slow acceleration and steady off? Or do we see some type of significant drop? Because if people start to see a loss of home value, a hit to the markets in their 401ks,

Democrats are in a hard spot going into next November. Switching subjects now, you know, one of the other threats that we're facing, and in my opinion, one of the most horrifying threats that this country is facing is the rise of fascism and the sort of right wing saying the quiet part out loud now kind of fascism. And you see this exemplified so much on Tucker Carlson's show. You know, you have Tucker Carlson literally hanging out with Viktor Orban. We have him defending Russia over the Ukraine last night on Fox News. You have him saying, yeah, I guess I support democracy.

And at the same time, you have Trump seemingly running this shadow government where he's sending Rick Grinnell, he calls it an envoy ambassador to the Kosovo-Serbia border. I mean, we laugh and it's silly, but is it just fascist cosplay or should we be taking this more seriously than we are? I think we have to take it seriously every day because it is the strategy of incrementalism. It is the frog in a boiling pot of water. The more we begin to accept of the incremental, the more that the end seems justified and acceptable. And this is where, look, my personal belief is that people responsible for elevating Donald Trump hold as great or greater responsibility for all of this than Donald Trump. This would not have happened pre-Donald Trump. Sure, you can talk about certain changes in the Republican Party when it comes to domestic policy, but there was not this

emerging element of authoritarianism. And this comes down then to Mitch McConnell, to Kevin McCarthy, to Steve Scalise, to John Cornyn. Go through the list of elected officials. Go through the governors unwilling to speak out. Look, Donald Trump might still have won the presidency, but the Republican leadership did not have to follow him. And they did. And that's what's created this affirmation community within today's GOP. On the topic of Trump, Ron DeSantis, he scares me. He's going to be the next president. He's going to be the next president of the United States. Well, that's what I'm getting at here is he's built this cult-like following around him, similarly to how Trump did. And as someone with

Florida roots yourself, what's so appealing to him, you know, with Floridians and, you know, the masses of America at this point, because it is truly scary. Appealing to Republicans. And I think that's the most important thing. Right. We're a nation that lives in the group think of either the GOP, the Democrats or an independent. And within the Republican Party, he he has been very coy in what he did. And back up, so in full disclosure, he and I ran for the U.S. Senate against each other when Rubio was running for president. Rubio decides to get back in, DeSantis and I both drop out. I got to see him kind of throughout that campaign and how he operated. A very quiet, reclusive guy who understand in today's politics, the magic is to raise the gazillion dollars.

And as a freshman Republican in a safe seat, he probably developed better connections to the mega, mega conservative donors across the country than anybody else within the party. And he didn't do that to keep his safe seat. He did that because he has always had a plan for how to get to the next level of the game. And then when Trump comes along, he used Trump for everything he could get out of him. That's the fascinating thing. DeSantis used Trump, used him, manipulated him, got everything he wanted from him. He ran as the Trump guy, that commercial where he had his kid build the wall and where he reads his infant kid, Donald Trump's book, the complete sellout, gets Trump to say all the right things. Ron DeSantis gets elected to the governor's mansion and disappears. He doesn't end up

defending Trump on everything. He's not on Fox News. He just quietly moves away from Donald Trump because he got everything he needed from Donald Trump. And then he set about to become the off ramp for the party from Donald Trump, which was I'm going to do all the things that are appealing about Donald Trump, but I'm going to distance myself from any real legal controversies, from any real personal controversies, from the stuff that makes people truly despise Donald Trump. And so he took on some very populist issues. He obliterated the Republican philosophy of local control and decided he was going to implement conservative doctrine with every tool he had, which was very similar to Trump. I'm going to use all the powers of the office to achieve exactly what conservatives want, even if it runs roughshod over the state constitution or local charters or whatever it might be. And what he's done is he has set himself up to be a very strong Republican nominee in a nation that's 50-50 when it comes to their politics.

But all you have to do is win your party and turn them out. And that's why if Ron DeSantis is not the next president of the United States, he is the next Republican president of the United States. I really believe that. Fascinating take, David. So basically what you're saying is that Trump was DeSantis' useful idiot. Yeah, without question. No, without question, Ron DeSantis used Donald Trump

to get everything Ron DeSantis wanted from him. And look, fast forward to when you had the condo collapse at this in Miami at the same time Trump wanted a rally. DeSantis did not want to appear at the Trump rally because this is DeSantis's road to the nomination, not Donald Trump's. And Ron DeSantis is trying to manipulate the Florida GOP to do everything he can to not have the Florida GOP go all in with Donald Trump, because Ron DeSantis's plan is that he's going to run in 24, and he's going to win the nomination. And so when you saw the collapse at Surfside, despite the human tragedy of it, that little moment in Florida politics provided Ron DeSantis an off ramp to escape from Donald Trump's shadow and be the practicing governor while Donald Trump was having

his campaign rally. My heart's literally palpitating right now. I have to switch gears here. Can you tell us more about the Sam party? Yeah, look, the Serve America movement operates as the Sam party in four states. We're a minor party. We ran tickets for unity tickets for governor and lieutenant governor in New York and Connecticut. We just selected the mayor of Newtown, Connecticut, or the first electman will be on the ballot in Pennsylvania and Texas in this next cycle. Here's the two things you need to know. Sam is the only big tent party in the country. We don't choose a spot on the ideological spectrum and try to gather our people around that. We say, wherever you are, let's gather around shared principles of problem solving, accountability, transparency, fundamental electoral reform, protection of democracy. And then the second is we don't have a national policy platform because we actually think we should empower our candidates, be they in Galveston, Texas or Newtown, Connecticut or Long Beach, California, to actually articulate positions that truly reflect their constituencies. A party shouldn't

tell the candidates what to believe. A candidate should tell the party what their constituents believe. So look, we put up a win on the board on last Tuesday, and we anticipate putting some more points on the board next November. Let me give you the hypothetical, David. So what do you do in this situation? You've got a Trump running for president versus a Biden person for running for president. Hypothetically, the Sam party's growing and you know that the Sam party's not going to win that election in the three party race over there. Do you tell people as the Sam party, hey, vote for Biden, or do you say vote for the Sam party knowing that that may mean that a Trump win? That's a hypothetical right there. What do you do? Yeah, no, look, so our state parties would likely go through an endorsement process. And my strong presumption is that each of our state

parties would endorse Joe Biden in those two races. I will tell you, whether it be a presidential race or down ballot, we're not interested in playing the spoiler role, right? We actually, New York changed their laws and ripped away our party status because we refused to run a presidential candidate in this last cycle. They changed the law to say, you have to run a presidential candidate. We said, we're not playing spoiler. We're not interested in this. What I will say about the spoiler argument, because this is important, we're also not going to shy away from races where we feel like we have a compelling candidate, a compelling message, or a viable shot at winning. And should we lose? I think it's embarrassing and shameful that the reaction of the two major parties is to blame independent voters for having left them.

In other words, if there is a spoiler element, whose fault is it? Is it the same parties or is it the Republicans and Democrats? Because they're not speaking to a broad enough constituency. I think it's the latter, because the only reason there are available voters out there willing to come to the same party is because the R's and the D's have left them far behind. And I think that's an issue where we point the scrutiny at the major parties for having created the spoiler effect. You know, and it's interesting, David, because our framing of these issues really is not so much even Democrat versus Republican. It's really pro-democracy. And given right now that the Democratic Party, as of the two major parties, is the only one that supports democracy, we're like, you know what,

we're with you. But as we like to say, if Biden started going up there and saying we need to inject Clorox in our veins, we're not going to support that shit. We're not for that team. Well, look, one of the reasons we have this issue around protecting democracy is because now look, there are unique circumstances in today's Republican Party. I don't want to play both sides. And that's not that's not what I want to play here. But what I will say is the construct of our elections have been rigged by both major parties to protect incumbency. And so I would suggest we don't really have a full democracy now. Trust me, if you spend any time in the independent or new party political space, you run into challenges in all 50 states that look differently in all 50 states where the two major parties have ensured

that you don't get to have a voice in the process, either through access to the ballot, creation of party status or campaign finance laws. And that's a that look, that's a real issue. Forty percent of the country, when they register, reject the two major parties. Gallup just came out with a poll that had 65 percent suggesting a new party would be beneficial to the system. But the two major parties work every day by rigging the rules to prevent the emergence of one. And look, this is a decade-long fight we're in in the new party space. But I will tell you, the activity and acceleration within this space, particularly since January 6th, has been something we haven't seen in a decade.

And really, the dichotomy now that people have to face between fascism versus democracy is a product of that problem. Because if you look at healthier democracies right now, as crazy as it is to say that, and you look to Europe with multi-party systems in places like Germany and other, there are coalitions with multiple political parties, or even if we look at our neighbors North, where there's not just really two parties, only have two major parties, the other parties have more clout than just the Democrat Republican. That's healthy to the system in those nations. Look, studies show and there's a book by Lee Druckmann called The Two Party Doom Loop. But studies show that multi-party democracies have

greater voter participation, greater voter satisfaction, greater diversity of representation, greater consensus of policymaking. Every measurable metric in multi-party democracies exceeds what we have here in the United States. We've just grown to, you know, kind of accept low expectations when it comes to American politics. Fascinating conversation, David Jolly. Thank you so much for joining us on the Midas Touch podcast. Gives us a lot to think about too on multi-party systems, which was not initially where, you know, the interview was going to focus on,

but I'm glad we went there and we'd love to have you on more to talk about that. And if you ever want to come on again, just let us know. Good to be with you. Thanks for what you guys do. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Brett, Jordy, a lot to learn.

I mean, it was actually a great interview. I mean, amazing interview. It was great. It was great to talk to David. And, you know, I don't agree with third parties in the United States of America. I just don't. Yeah, I don't agree with it. What the fuck does that mean? Well, well, here's why. Because the United States, what do you mean you don't agree with it? Well, because the United States is not a parliamentary system. So there's really no room for a third party to shine,

unfortunately, in the way our political system is set up. Like, you know, like David was saying, like it really, it really is a rigged system for the two parties. I mean, that's just kind of a fact of the matter. And so, you know, I am personally a believer in that this country, unless our type of government shifts over to some sort of parliamentary system, that I think our focus should be on the two-party system and on making sure that the party that stands for democracy is elevated in every single way and that we make sure that that party aligns with our values and fight for that heart rather than making these separate movements. That's my personal- So it's not that you disagree with it so much as you just don't think it's possible to

be in. No. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Like I would love if, if we lived in a country that had five, six party, I think that would be fantastic. Um, I think the reason why that is possible in Canada, I think the reason why that is possible in the UK and other countries in Europe is because they have a parliamentary system of government that allows for that to happen. And we just don't have that in the United States. And so we need to play the cards we're dealt. And yeah, but it was a fascinating conversation. And I totally get what he's saying about the parties having to deliver for people. And that's why I think we're fighting every single day to make sure that Democrats are delivering for people, that we give voters a reason to vote for Democrats. That's beyond just we're not Trump. And I think every single day we

are working towards those ideals and are trying our best to achieve them. Well said. Let's talk about Adam and Eve. This podcast is sponsored by Adam and Eve. And when the podcast is sponsored by Adam and Eve, that means it's Geordie time. Let's go. Hey, Brett, Ben, let me handle this one. Brett, can you zoom in on me and play a soft track in the background, please? You got it, buddy. Thanks, man. Hey, Midas Mighty, let me ask you a question. Are you getting enough? You know, my sex life, it's going pretty well these days. You want to know why? Because I've been checking out adamandeve.com. I just want to tell everybody that's not in the

copy. Like, like we have, we have stuff that we're supposed to, Jordy's adding, talking about all this. Okay. So go on. This is my read. Please play the music. Thank you. I'm starting over. Let me ask you a question, Midas Mighty. Are you getting enough? I am. You know why? Because I visited adamandeve.com. I bet you love more, right? Well, adamandeve.com wants to give you more with 50% off just about any item plus free shipping on your entire order. So what do you have to do to get your 50% off one item and free shipping? It's not hard. Just enter offer code Midas at checkout and you'll get 50% off one item and free shipping? It's not hard. Just enter offer code Midas at checkout and you'll get 50% off almost any item. Go check out adamandeve.com tonight, today, right now. Select one item and get 50% off, including free shipping when you enter offer code MIDAS. That's MIDAS, M-E-I-D-A-S, MIDAS at adamandeve.com. Trust me,

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Great job, Jordy. Really good. Thanks, guys. Really good job. I appreciate it. Great work. But everyone seriously go to Adam and Eve, use the code BITUS and definitely go there. Supporting our sponsors is helpful. And what I like about it is it's private and you could do it anonymously, basically. You don't have to go into a store and it's all know it's all yeah you don't even have to tell us about it you can just do it you know you can go right now i don't need to tweet about it code minus yeah but if you want it if you want it if you want to tell me about it

i'm gonna have to check jordy's dm see what's going on something's clearly happening let's just delete that from the podcast. Anyway, Jordy, you mentioned something at the end of that read though, actually about supply chain issues. And David Jolly talked about it too. Like we can't ignore, we can't pretend that it doesn't exist, right? It does exist. And we can't just close our eyes to it, nor can we just close our eyes to the fact that people are worried about that. Like the numbers, there are great economic indicators. There are great numbers that we talk about. And that was kind of our play on the words. Let's go, Brandon, to thank you, Brandon. But there's also some, you know, some some news that we need to worry about.

We need to be concerned about. We need to address. And David Jolly said that Biden's addressing it, but prices on consumer goods are up 6.3%. That's not an insignificant jump. That means the cost that people are paying for stuff like milk or holiday gifts or things like that are more expensive to get. Their home items, things are costing more expensive. It's taking a longer time to get there. And we need solutions for that. We can't blind our eyes. Here's what I like that Jolly said, and I could not agree with him more on this point. It's that it doesn't really matter how the inflation started. You could give the whole background on it. And the interesting thing is that the inflation is actually kind could give the whole background on it. The interesting thing is that the inflation is actually kind of happening for a good reason.

It's because our economy is actually in a recovery from one of the worst recessions we've had since the Great Depression. It's in a recovery from the COVID pandemic, which was mishandled by Trump when employers slashed their jobs and got rid of their supply. They were not prepared, though, for this economic bounce back. And we are seeing the consequences of that, where they are now squeezed on supplies. They are now squeezed on employees. And we are seeing the increased demand, the lack of supply.

We are seeing that catch up to us in basic economics. But the fact is, we could talk all about how we got here. We could spend the rest of the podcast talking about that. But the fact is people are voting for who is in charge right now. And they, like we were talking about with Virginia, are opening up their refrigerator. They are looking at their receipts at the supermarket and they are saying, I am spending more now than I spent a few months ago than I spent a year ago. And they will take that to the ballot box.

I mean, we saw this with the Jimmy Carter administration going into Reagan. It's one of the reasons why Carter lost. We saw an era of stagflation. We at this point, this is a problem that needs to come under control. And so I think President Biden needs to do whatever he can to try to get this issue under control. I think the Fed needs to do whatever they can to get this under control.

And I think we need to keep delivering on popular democratic policies that are going to actually help people get through these issues. I think those extra checks actually helped Americans so much make up for this. But the fact is, if inflation continues to rise at a higher rate, then wages are rising. And it's incredible that wages are rising. But the problem

is inflation is outpacing the rise of wages. And that's what workers are feeling. And if that is the case, it's going to be very hard to win elections because, like Jolly said and like we said in our last episode, people are voting on these kitchen table issues. People are not voting on lofty 30,000 foot issues. They're voting at the kitchen table. And this is the clearest example of people hurting at the kitchen table level. Absolutely. And so what do we do? We got to message this as Democrats. We got to talk about it. We got to confront the issues that voters care about versus issues that we think voters should care about. As Jordy would say on the back of his iPhone, run toward the problem. Don't run away from

the problem. And look, the infrastructure bill is going to be signed into law early next week. On Monday, it's anticipated to be signed. I'm excited for that. Democrats need to talk about all of the things they are delivering for this country. And we need to put the pressure on Build Back Better. But as we've said on other podcasts, not just using the phrase Build Back Better, not talking about trillions and trillions of dollars, but truly talking about the issues that are going to matter to people every single day, every single day. And the message needs to be coordinated the same way the GQP coordinates their messaging about being anti-Big Bird, the way they coordinate their messaging about Dr. Seuss. We need to, pro-democracy loving people, need to coordinate our messaging about how we're going to

make healthcare more affordable, more accessible, how we are going to make education more affordable, more accessible. These are issues that people care about, how we are going to continue opening up the country safely while being protective of the lives of members of your family and children and not risking them, not risking their lives. That's what we got to do. And also to add to that, I think we also need to not let the Republicans rewrite history as to what we went through over the past year and a half. I mean, we already see it with Kellyanne Conway, as we brought up before, going on Fox News and saying that there were never any supply issues during the Trump administration.

Them saying that the Trump administration was the best economy ever. I mean, all this is complete and total bullshit. The Trump economy was a tremendous disaster. They gave away trillions of dollars to the wealthiest Americans. They led us into a recession that was the biggest recession since the Great Depression, in which for months on end, we cannot buy basic goods like toilet paper, like canned goods, like Lysol, like pet food, like cereal, like anything you get at the supermarket. We had to get from specialty shops or we had to get shipped from other parts of the country. It was a complete and total disaster. And we need to continuously remind people also just of how far we've come, just of how far we've come since President Biden took office, because the memory span of the average American seems to be very, very, very short and how quickly we forget.

And the reason why also it's so important to me that we get these economic issues in check is because these economic issues are intrinsically intertwined with our democracy. And how? How is the price of milk related to our democracy? Well, if voters aren't feeling that they could afford goods, and then in 2022, they take that out on the Democrats and Kevin McCarthy or worse become Speaker of the House, guess what? Our democracy is in dire straits and people are going to be voting based on these economic issues. They're going to be voting based on how the economy feels to them.

So we need to make sure that we're delivering on these economic issues. We need to make sure we're delivering on the messaging of the economic issues and make sure that they're not only experiencing it, but that they're feeling this benefit. Because if we don't communicate that and we let Republicans take over, our democracy will be hanging by a thread or worse. We appreciate all of your support to the Midas Touch podcast, all the Midas Mighty out there. Love seeing the Midas Mighty meetups that you are all organizing with other members of the community that you have built. It's incredible just being a part of that movement with you. Special thanks to our guest, David Jolly, for joining the Midas Touch podcast. And another special

thanks to our sponsors, Raycon, GetUpside, and Adam and Eve. You go to their websites, you type in the promo code Midas for each of their websites and get the unlock, the discounts that we talked about. And it does, like it helps the podcast continue to happen every week, multiple podcasts. When you support our sponsors, when you let the sponsors know that you heard about them on the Midas Touch podcast, it's all very helpful. So make sure you check them out and get their products. I think GetUpside should be part of the economic plan. Like high gas prices, GetUpside. I mean, I think Biden should start working this into the mix.

That's all I'm saying. But thank you. Shout out to Raycon. Love the earbuds. Shout out to GetUpside. And thank you, Adam and Eve. And please go out and get them. And thank you for another incredible episode of the Midas Touch podcast.

Always a pleasure to do this show. Once again, thankful to all of our veterans. Please thank a veteran today. We've had a lot of you sharing stories of veterans in your family with us today on social media. It's so humbling and heartwarming and sobering to see all these incredible stories of these true, great American patriots. So thank you for spending this time with us. Please tell a friend about the Midas Touch podcast. Think about it. If each of you tell one friend about this show, our audience doubles overnight. And then we could be beating the Bonginas of the world and the Shapiros of the world and the Steve Bannons of the world. I mean, that's how we win, guys. So please spread the word, spread the love, spread love spread democracy and Jordy take us away

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