The MeidasTouch Podcast - MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 1/20/26

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

In this episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast, we break down the rapidly escalating global crisis sparked by Donald Trump after he wrote to European leaders declaring he’s done with “peace” following his failure to win a Nobel Peace Prize and threatening to invade Greenland, while simultaneously inviting Russia and Belarus to join his absurd “Board of Peace” grift as Europe forcefully rebukes him. We also cover the Trump DOJ’s chilling threat to indict journalists for reporting on protests against ICE, the Trump DOJ’s stunning admission about the Epstein Files, Trump’s abandonment of Kurdish allies in Syria with potentially catastrophic consequences, the early and encouraging successes of Virginia Democrats pushing back against extremism, and more critical updates as the Trump regime continues to destabilize both the United States and the world. Ben, Brett, and Jordy break it all down! Subscribe to Meidas+ at https://meidasplus.com Get Meidas Merch: https://store.meidastouch.com Deals from our sponsors!  Home Chef: For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners FIFTY PERCENT OFF and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! Go to https://homechef.com/meidas Tushy: Get 10% off TUSHY with the code MEIDAS10 at https://hellotushy.com/MEIDAS10 Done with Debt: Go to https://donewithdebt.com right now to schedule a free consultation Delete Me: Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/MEIDAS and use promo code MEIDAS at checkout. Huel: Limited Time Offer – Get Huel’s full High-Protein Starter Kit with my exclusive offer of 20% OFF online with my code MEIDAS20 at https://huel.com/MEIDAS20. New Customers Only. Code only valid for the bundle. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Donald Trump sends no MLK Day message, breaking a 40-year tradition of MLK proclamations on MLK day. But Donald Trump did send another proclamation, a proclamation letter to the prime minister of Norway saying that because Trump didn't get a Nobel Peace Prize, that he is now even further desiring to invade Greenland and take it over. No more Mr. Nice Guy. He says, you didn't give me the Nobel Peace Prize, so now I don't care about peace. It's one of the most deranged even by Trump standards, proclamations that people were like, can you validate the source? And yes, the Prime Minister of Norway and the Prime Minister of Sweden, indeed confirmed that that was sent and received. Also sent and received, Donald Trump inviting Vladimir Putin

from Russia, Lukashenko, from Belarus, and other dictators to join what he's referring to as a Board of Peace. Now already most of the European nations have rejected this Board of Peace scheme by Donald Trump. It's obviously a direct threat to NATO to try to bring NATO down to create his own alliance with Putin and Belarusans who's going to want to be on a Board of Peace with them. And as part of a scheme where you give Donald Trump a billion dollars, he takes the billion dollars from the countries in order to join this Board of Peace and he puts it in a Katari bank account or an account like that. And then he takes it for himself. That's part of the plan here. And when we delve deeper into what's going on in Venezuela with Delsi Rodriguez,

who he's propped up, the authoritarian leader, former VP in the Maduro regime, you know, Trump is selling some Venezuelan oil to his right wing buddies, then taking the proceeds and putting it into a Qatari bank account that he controls. That's the height of corruption as the CIA leaders were there in Venezuela, just laughing it up with Delci Rodriguez. And Trump has a lot of for authoritarian because Trump is a wannabe authoritarian. With all of this news taking place where you talk about Donald Trump's betrayal as well of the protesters in Iran, Trump said, I got your back, protesters. Go out there. We've got you.

If any protester gets killed, the US will go in guns ablazing. Well, now Donald Trump says, guess what I did? I stopped 800 additional protesters from getting hung by the Ayatollah. I greatly respect the Ayatollah for doing. doing that. That's what you meant that you would come in, guns ablazing. So we talk about Iran, but we should also talk about nearby in Syria, where Donald Trump has, you know, propped up there, the authoritarian former ISIS leader, Al Jalani, who now goes by Al-Shara, but he's Al Jalani. I mean, he was the ISIS leader. There's a $25 million bounty on this guy's head, but he's the guy

who came into the White House. Right. Donald Trump loved this guy. He sprayed cologne on him, started sniffing him, saying how great looking he was and how good looking he was. It was so utterly bizarre. Well, now what the Syrian forces have done is they've basically slaughtered the Kurdish forces in the north who were fighting alongside the United States against ISIS for all of those years because ISIS is now the leader of Syria and they've destroyed and killed our Kurdish allies there. And now you have people like Lindsey Graham saying, oh, you're being. being naughty there, Al Jelani. Don't do that. We're going to have to put back on the Caesar sanctions that Donald Trump removed. I want to break that down because this is not getting

enough attention. Also, over the weekend, there were massive protests in Greenland and Denmark, the biggest protest, I think in recent history in Greenland and Denmark from nuke to Copenhagen City. We'll talk about that. Donald Trump is now threatening to send 1,500 United States Army paratroopers who are based in Alaska. to further invade Minneapolis and St. Paul, to add to the invasion by the ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo there. We'll break that down as well. Donald Trump is now launching a campaign to try to have Don Lemon arrested. Don Lemon reporter covering a protest at a church in St. Paul in Minnesota, where the leader of that church is also an ICE agent, and Lemon was covering it. And now the

Trump regime saying he should get arrested. Also, we need to talk about Trump's continued cover up of the Epstein files. Just because Donald Trump's creating all of this chaos, he wants us to be distracted. So we're not going to be distracted. There was a court filing late Friday by the Trump DOJ where they're now arguing to a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, Judge Engelmeyer, that no court can ever enforce the Epstein Transparency Act, the Trump DOJ, argues that Congress did not evince any intent for there to be enforcement of transparency in the Transparency Act. For those who are watching this on YouTube, we've literally highlighted that language. That's the argument by the Trump DOJ in their letter. Congress did not evince

an intent for courts to enforce transparency. I just want you to think about that. We'll cover that and more here on the Midas Touch podcast. Great to see everybody. buddy, and it is a day of reflection, Brett and Jordy, on MLK Day. It is a day of reflection. And, you know, I hope more than just, you know, I know a lot of people out there are going to be quoting Martin Luther King Jr. And especially get all these, like, Republicans who go against everything that, every single thing that he stands for quoting him, just totally not self-aware whatsoever.

But I hope that all of us could commit ourselves to action, actionable items, things that we could actually do to uphold his values and everything he fought for. And that's what I hope to do here at the Midas Touch Network. It's so great to see everybody. It's so great to see your brothers. It's so great to see everybody here watching, whether you're watching live on YouTube or whether you're listening on a podcast app, like an Apple podcast or a Spotify. Great to be here with everybody.

Yeah, I mean, every single day gets crazier and crazier. We're dealing with a complete and total wallless regime right now. And I've said this before, and I'll say it again, the United States is the bad guys right now. You know, and I know it's not us. It's not our listeners. It's not, you know, most of the country who does not support this crap, but it is the leader of this country. It is Donald Trump, and it is all of his enablers, and all of them are to blame for this. And the fact that when Donald Trump sends a statement, and we see statements like the one that was first reported out by that PBS NewsHour reporter last night, where Donald Trump was saying that he's done with peace now because Norway didn't give him the Nobel Peace Prize.

by the way, the country doesn't give a Nobel Peace Prize. It's an independent award by a board, not the country. But saying because he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize, now he's done with peace and he's going to invade Greenland and all this other crazy stuff, the fact that when the president of the United States writes things like that or says things like that, most people are like, ah, this is more clickbait.

Oh, this is a lie. This can't be real. This is a satire post. No, this is real life. This is the moment that we are living in. And we're not going to sugarcoat it here. We get a lot to get into. First, I got to toss it over to Jordy. Jordy, what's the latest?

Ben, Brett Brothers, what's going on, guys? Midas Mighty. Great to see y'all. Great to be with you guys tonight. I'm excited to get into tonight's show. Real quick, top of the show. We are so close to 6 million subscribers. So please, if you're watching right now,

I know we have a lot of folks in the live stream or if you're listening to the next day, please subscribe to the YouTube channel. Totally free. Let's hit 6 million. Let's hit 6 million in 30 days. That's my new goal. Brothers, Midas Mighty, 6 million and 30 days. If you're listening to this podcast, we are only a few

thousand reviews away from 50,000 reviews on the Midas Touch audio feed. So please, leave a review. Leave us five stars. It helps us in the algorithm. It really helps us out wherever you listen to the Midas Touch podcast on audio. I have a lot to comment on tonight, brothers. But Benji, why don't you kick it off and then you could toss it back to us and we'll get going too. Donald Trump is obsessed with invading Greenland, like a predatory. And that's how Trump and MAGA describe themselves. They say, we're the predators of the Western Hemisphere. And it's nonstop.

It's relentless. It's traumatizing to the people of nuke. And in Greenland, when you hear from them, it's also created a lot of European solidarity, also with Canada, Australia, and elsewhere standing up for the sovereignty of Greenland. But Donald Trump is relentless in saying this, that he wants to invade Greenland. At the same time, he's doing that. He creates what he's referring to as a board of peace. And originally, he says this is for Gaza, whatever he even means by that.

And I think it means basically displace all the Palestinians and create Trump resorts over there and take everybody out. I think that's what Trump's ultimate plan is. But it's bigger, the board of peace and what his mind is. as part of destroying NATO and the G7 and the UN and institutions like that, Trump views this Board of Peace, which is not at all, Board of Peace, like everything he says, it's the opposite, as a way to forge a new alliance to also do it in a pay-for-play scheme, where he takes the money, moves it to Katari accounts or other bank accounts. It gets paid to him the money, not the United States.

And it's ultimately, I think, his way to do a partnership with Putin, through a lens of a board of peace because if you just said America is doing an alliance with Russia, then that would be viewed as, ah, you know, how could you do that? But oh, you're joining this board together, right? So Trump extended this invitation to Vladimir Putin, to Lukashenko and Belarus, and then to these other countries, and most European countries are saying, we're not doing that. We're not joining.

We're not giving you a billion dollars in pay for play. For those who are listening in audio, we're showing the letters that, Donald Trump said. We're showing the source document. Sometimes people like, what's your source? The letter. The letter. I don't like citing secondary or tertiary sources. I like just going to the letter. Right. That's why my catchphrases play the clip. Right. Here's the clip. Here's what they're saying. Here's what they're saying. Let's read the court document. That's the source. I try to get you the underlying documents of what this is. So for anyone who's saying, well, you know, Donald Trump's got the back of Ukraine still. Donald Trump, this is a good relationship there.

What are you talking about? He's trying to do an alliance with Putin right now under something called the Board of Peace of Lukashenko while saying he wants to invade Greenland. And by the way, the coincidence is not coincidental that Donald Trump is all of a sudden the Greenland stuff takes off when two things are happening. One, Russia is there meeting in Miami

with Whitkoff and with Kushner. Russia sends its special envoys. And then all of a sudden, Trump talks about Jeff Landry, the governor of Louisiana, this crazy guy, you know, is going to, who like loves talking about, like, firing all the coaches of LSU. This guy is, like, the worst. And Louisiana is the worst at, like, every stat that, like, benefits human beings lives. A little bit later in the show, I want to just contrast that to Virginia with Governor Spanberger,

who was just sworn in in Virginia. You look at a list of all of her things versus, like, what they're doing in, let's just do it right now. Let me, let me, let me break the mold, and then I'll somehow weave it back. Let's go. I'm going to, let's weave it back. You're a good weaver. And then we'll take it back and remind me where I went.

So I can, I just want to highlight this. Like in the past 24 hours, the new governor of Virginia Spanberger, either signed executive orders or has signed her name behind referendums about the following. Ending police cooperation with Trump's ICE, passing new maps to combat Trump's gerrymandering and eliminating up to four Republican House seats, enshrining, enshrining, LGBTQ plus rights in the state's constitution, enshrining abortion rights in the state's constitution, protecting and expanding voting rights in the Commonwealth of Virginia, firing Republican appointees to the University of Virginia board, so there can be actual education

and people can learn what they want to learn and actually learn science, reestablishing support for diversity and inclusion, accelerating a minimum wage increase, building more housing to lower rent prices. And look, she's a very different style, politician than Zoran Mamdani in New York City. But as we seem like with Mamdani working with Governor Hokel, and I would say Hocal in my mind seems to be more like a Spanberger. But look at the Hocal Mamdani relationship where within eight days, what are they focused on? Are they focused on like what Trump and the Magas do, which is like how do they divide people

and inflict pain? No, they're talking about universal childcare, like actually helping people with a major issue. Because if you look at the fact that the Trump regime failed to extend. the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies. Now for people like healthcare costs are what, $20,30,000 a year, maybe more. What's childcare? 20, 30,000 dollars. So if you're getting childcare and healthcare, for many people, it's like $50,000, $60,000. And that's basically everybody's post-tax income at this point is crazy. No one can afford these things. That's what we talk about. Affordability. Then we have to talk about rent. Can people afford homes? Can people

afford all this stuff out there and everything's more expensive. I mean, I saw that you see this Kobayasi report letter Brett that talks about like beef prices are up 70% and, you know, other other items are up like 35% in the grocery store and all, you know, all fruits and vegetables are up, not 2.3% or 2.7% like all of that. All right. So I don't let's, that's just priorities by the also hat tip to Luis Stanton, the, the senator pro temporee, the leader of the Senate in Virginia. She's been pushing a 10 to one map for the redistricting in Virginia. People are like, oh, I think it was even like Democratic senators, Canaan Warner. Like, we don't need to go 10-1.

Let's go like 7-4 or maybe 8-3. And she, I forgot what her statement was. She's like, I ain't going to look at the cuck chair over there. You know, while this, you deal with the, you deal with the orange, whatever, fascist, however you want to deal with it. I'm going to go do a 10-to-one map. Okay. That's what I'm going to be doing. So hat tip to her and also the secretary or the Speaker of the House of Delegates, Speaker Scott, who we've had on the show before as well.

All right. That's the energy we need right there. That's the energy we need. Just to fight for the people. Okay. Here's the thing. Everything and I'll let you weave back in a second, Ben. But the thing is think about this Trump regime over the past year and think about all the problems that we have right now in our country. They're all created by Trump. They're all fabricated by Trump. He makes up everything. Did anybody before Donald Trump say, you know what the biggest thing on my mind is right now? Greenland, it's Greenland. We got to do something about Greenland. We got to do something about Canada, folks. We got to do something about these. Nobody, nobody in their right mind thought any of these things. The biggest thing on people's minds are they want to be

able to live. They want to be able to afford things. They want to be able to pay for their health care. They don't want to be harassed by their own government. And this regime right now views that as their job, as Ben said, to be predators and to prey on everybody, whether it's American citizens or whether it is our European allies or anybody in the entire world. These are freaking predators, man, and this is why they act like predators, and they even own up to being predators. And they do it all to distract from all of these things. They do it to distract from the fact that income inequality is that record highs, that people are suffering and they can't afford the basics in this country. They do it to distract from the Epstein files. And we'll get more into the Epstein files later in this episode.

It's cover up after cover up after cover up. And it is just this ridiculous aggression against the American people and against the entire world. And that's why when we started the show, I said, we are the bad guys. And I am urging, honestly, we have a, I know we have a lot of Canadian viewers, Canadian listeners. I know we have a lot of European viewers and listeners. And first, I apologize. Like, I don't know what else I could say. I apologize. I apologize. And I am urging all of these countries to treat us like the threat that we are at this point, honestly. And do whatever you can. Pull out all the stops.

We won't take it personally. I promise we won't take it personally. If you need to boycott the World Cup that's going to be here in L.A., that would be sad. I thought it was cool that we're going to have the World Cup here in the United States. You've got to boycott that. Do it. Apply whatever pressure you can right now because now is not the time for appeasement. And we've seen appeasement and what that looks like throughout history.

And what's the point of studying history? you are not going to learn from it. What we've seen thus far here in the United States is a bunch of Neville Chamberlains who are letting Donald Trump get away and do with whatever the hell he wants. And I think Europe took a posture early on that was like, okay, we'll humor the guy, we'll, you know, we'll give him, you know, these sort of things that don't really mean anything, but we'll just, we'll just appease the guy and he'll go away. But as you see, the more you give him the more he takes. What this this message came right after he stole Maria Machado's Nobel Peace Prize. She thought that would be enough to placate him, right? The world thought out, just give him

the award, just give him the medal. He'll stop, he'll shut up, he'll go away. No, he goes further. He said, I got one scalp. Let me get some more. Now I'm going to threaten the entire world with war. Now I'm going to make my own axis of evil and we're going to take Russia, Belarus, the United States. We're going to push out Europe and we're going to create our own things. thing and if you want to be part of it, you have to pay me $1 billion a year. I mean, this is psychotic stuff that we're witnessing. And so that's my message. I'll let Ben and back.

It's a pest of Jordan. It's literally Dr. Evil. One billion dollars. Like it literally is the Dr. Evil quote, Jordy. Sorry. No, no, no, you're fine.

I'm going to toss it right back to you in one second, Brett. But I wanted to, you know, talk more about that, that essence of appeasement. You know, appeasing Trump always produces the opposite result that the appeasel are hoping to achieve. There are thousands of examples over decades of this, but somehow people are, they just don't get it. Europe found out yesterday. Someone else will find out tomorrow, and then someone else is going to find out the next day. And look, I don't make this comparison lightly, especially as a Jewish American, but it's important to remember in Moscow when the last time countries took an overall appeasement approach as it related to a madman. And that was pre-World War II

with Hitler. Much of Europe, especially Britain and France, pursued this appeasement strategy toward Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Don't get me started on the U.S. neutrality policy back then, but most historians would agree that that appeasement strategy, it was a colossal mistake because it only emboldened Hitler. Now, our European allies have to stand up, Brett, to your point, to us, to Donald Trump, and just say, enough is enough, because if you give this guy an inch, he will take your life. So David Pepper, who's now the lieutenant governor candidate alongside Amy Acton in Ohio in the Democratic ticket. And they're leading right now against Vivek Ramaswamy. He came up with this concept called Laboratories of Autocracy and how red states like Ohio were becoming these laboratories of autocracy to brew up some of the worst of the worst.

We always view states as kind of laboratories of democracy. How do you perfect things and make it better? but it's actually the opposite. So going back to Landry, the governor of Louisiana, I mean, it's all of their priorities when you get a Republican governor like that is, how do we divide and how do we mock LGBTQ and how do we punch down

and what can we do to inflict pain and how do we take away from people and how do we not opt into certain Medicaid rights that people have, like when we can and actually expand healthcare to people? Like, how do we allow corporations to seize like power grids away from actually protecting it. So it's all schemes and plots like that that get tested,

and then they're brought through groups like the Heritage Foundation into Project 2025-style documents and then kind of imposed. So anyway, the point is that Landry becomes the special envoy to Greenland right when you have Witkoff and Kushner, meeting with Demetria, Venu Kikov, and others from Russia, which I don't think is a coincidence. and also at the same time, the Epstein Transparency Act is making its way into becoming law at the time. And I think Trump views every time he talks about Greenland or sends one of these letters,

we stop talking about the Epstein files and we stopped talking about how things aren't affordable. And we stopped talking about his promise that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours from Russia's invasion. And I mean, you just take a look at this thing that, this letter that he sent. This was what he wrote. He wrote, so he sent this to every ambassador in your. Europe. And he said, and it was sent from Trump's national security advisors. And it says, Dear Ambassador, fill in the blank name, Trump has asked that the following message shared with Prime Minister Jonas Garstor, be forward. That's the Prime Minister of Norway. Be forwarded to your,

then it's your name, head of government state, depending on which state or which, which country the ambassador is from. Dear Jonas, again, the prime minister of Norway. This is from Trump, text message that Trump said. Dear Jonas, considering your. country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having eight wars plus, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Here, pause there. First up, also, Norway doesn't give the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee does. So, you know, and then it's like, I will no longer support peace. Like, just what a weird thing to say.

Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China. And why do they have a right of of ownership anyway. There are no written documents. It's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago. But we had boats land there also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since it's founding. And now NATO should do something for the United States. The world does not secure unless we have a complete and total control of Greenland. Thank you, D.J.T. Then at the same time, he invites Putin to join a, quote, peace board, Lucasango to join a quote, peace board. And you know what Donald Trump was responding to. This was the message from the Prime Minister of Norway and Alexander Stubb, the Prime Minister of Finland. This is what they had, this is what they wrote to him. Dear Mr.

President, Dear Donald, regarding transatlantic relations regarding Greenland, Gaza, Ukraine, and your tariff announcement yesterday, you know our position on these issues. However, we believe that we should all work to calm the situation and de-escalate. So much is happening around us, and we need to stand together. We propose a call with you later. today with both of us or individually, please give us a hint as to what you prefer. Best regards, Alex and Jonas. That's Alexander Stubb, and then that's Jonas Stor, Finland and Norway, respectively. That's what Donald Trump responded to, that message with. I mean, that's utterly, I mean, it's deranged, it's predatory. It's, you know, at this point, NATO itself is just a fiction

that exists in the that exists purely because the NATO members think hopefully we can just try to get past this there'll be another American president what are what are we going to do or it exists to protect the other NATO members from Donald Trump this is what they're talking about on Russian TV hat tip to Julia Davis she monitors all this Russian TV stuff and this is the through line on Russian TV from from like their Sean Hannity's and Jesse Waters America is delivering a catastrophic blow to NATO. It absolutely benefits us. Russian TV praises Trump's attacks on Greenland.

Putin loves this right now, that the U.S. has given Russia more than it ever wanted or could ever dream about in such a short period of time. Let's pause there for a moment because I think it is important that we also talk about not just what's going on in Iran, not just what's going on in Venezuela, what also is going on in Syria. But the through line of this all is that Trump loves the authoritarian. In Venezuela, Delsi Rodriguez, is his preference way more than Machado, the opposition pro-democracy leader. He hates the democracy leader.

He's embarrassed, humiliated her, made her grovel. That's what he wanted Zelensky to do. Well, he made the Venezuela's opposition leader do that. But Zelensky realized if I do that, I lose. I lose all power. I show weakness. I'm done. Machado's done.

Don't you for a second think that Machado's going to get the respect now of the Venezuelan people after doing this? No way, no how he's destroyed everything she built to get the Nobel Peace Prize. And she destroyed it by thinking that's the right strategy. And he likes Delcy. Delcy helps him transfer oil money as tribute. to a Qatari bank account, to a Qatari. And that's where Trump wants the Board of Peace money

to go to Qatari Bank accounts for Donald Trump. And how do we not talk about this being the height of an impeachable offense? What do we, what are we doing? He's making the money for himself. It's not even corruption. It's straight out the highest form of criminality and betrayal that could exist

from the President of the United States. And then you have people like Lindsey Graham who foam out. the mouth and Lindsey Graham, you know, when it comes to, you know, his threats about the Ayatollah, or when it comes to, you know, his own view that Donald Trump is somehow getting rid of Maduro, not just extending the regime. Who even knows what Lindsey Graham thinks, you're like, we're coming for you, Ayatollah. We're coming from you. Donald Trump didn't come from the Ayatollah. Trump, the ultimate betrayal to these protesters, Trump said, go out there. I got your back.

There were mass casualties anywhere on the low end from three to four, 4,000, it may be as high as 20,000 of these protesters were killed by the Ayatollah. And then Trump said, I have a great deal of respect that the Ayatollah is not going to hang 800 people. So Trump went from we're going in guns ablazing to I have a great deal of respect for the Ayatoll and not hanging 800 people. Trump likes the authoritarian. And he got calls from MBS. He got calls from the leader of Turkey. He got calls from the leader of Qatar where he keeps his bank accounts now where Trump does. you will destabilize the region if you go after the Ayatollah chill. And Trump was like, okay, which finally brings me to Syria,

and this is an important point I want to talk about, that Al-Shara or Al-Jalani, as he was known, when he was the head of ISIS, is now the leader of Syria. And don't think for a moment that this guy, some reform-change guy, Trump removed the sanctions called the Caesar sanctions that were against Syria and the Assad regime. immediately because Trump thought Trump was physically attracted to the leader of Syria. He started sniffing him and spraying cologne on him.

Remember at the White House, he started sniffing the guy. Trump said how handsome he was because the guy looks the part. And now what's actually going down is that the Kurdish population is getting slaughtered by who? by the head of ISIS, who is the head of Syria. And so all of those people who were ISIS are now running Syria and the Kurds who were allied with the United States to defeat ISIS are getting destroyed. So the Kurdish women's force, remember those incredible images of the Kurdish women who were out there standing up against ISIS?

Yeah, mass slaughter right now at the hands of Syria. What about the kind of Syrian Democratic forces that are out there? The SDF and others getting slaughtered by the ISIS regime that's running Syria that Trump supports because Trump supports the authoritarian's. And now you have Lindsey Graham saying if the Syrian government forces continue to advance north toward Raqa, I will push for reimposing the Caesar Act sanctions on steroids. Remember Raqa in northern Syria, why it's also such a big deal? Remember all those disgusting images of ISIS when they took over. Iraqa and claim that that was their caliphate. That's what this regime is doing and Trump's allowing it to happen.

Trump removed the sanctions. The Syrian leader from ISIS viewed that as weakness. Let's go. We've got Trump's support to do this. And yeah, you know, he tries to claim, oh, we're integrating the Kurdish forces. No, you're not. You're exterminating the Kurdish forces is what you're doing. And then so Lindsey Graham goes, apparently no one in Syria is listening to me or other U.S.

government officials. I could go on on Lindsey Graham. They're listening to Trump who's sniffing their leader and saying, ooh, you smell good, you're so handsome. And they're saying, got it. We can do whatever we want. We're killing the Kurds. And just think of all these people,

the Lindsey Graham's, the Ted Cruz's, the Marco Rubios, the JD Vance's, all these people who sold their souls to get behind Donald Trump and sell out the United States of America. And when this story is written in the history books, they are going to go down as collaborators, the same way that collaborators of Nazi Germany are going down in history. These people are the worst of the worst. They are the scum of the earth, and they are the reason that this is all possible. Donald Trump cannot do any of this on his own,

and the calculation is simple for Donald Trump. Why does he like the authoritarian's? I think it's obvious, but I think I should just break it down quickly because the authoritarians have no guardrails, and he's able to get the authoritarian's to cut these very shady, corrupt and criminal deals with him so that he could be, so that he could enrich himself personally. Democratic governments don't do that, okay? It doesn't happen. And I'm not saying there's no corruption in Democratic government. God knows, we got a lot of corruption in our government.

We got a lot of corruption in plenty of democratic governments out there. But it's a totally different ballgame when there's just an authoritarian at the top who gets to decide, who gets to be judge, jury, and executioner. Donald Trump envies that. Donald Trump wants to be that. And Donald Trump knows that those are the people that he could enter in these corrupt deals and he could say, hey, if you give me a billion dollars, I'll give you this. If you give me a billion dollars, I'll give you a piece of Ukraine.

That's what we're dealing with right now, an unhinged madman who is being enabled by some of the most cowardly people in this country who happen to be United States senators, United States members of Congress, vice president of the United States, Secretary of State, people like Scott Besant, all of these people are total, total disgraces, and they are all part of it. They are all collaborators. They should never be forgiven. They should never be forgotten. Absolutely, Brett. Look, 2026 is going to be a very dark year for US foreign policy,

where everything that was built over many decades by leaders for collective security is just torn apart by one madman, Donald Trump, the president of the United States. And mainly, Brett, to your point, exactly because people in his own party are, not only remaining silent, but are actively enabling him. This long-term generational damage that's being done, it terrifies me for the future of not just my kids, but generations to follow. The rest of the world, man, they are already looking at us like, oh, the U.S. man, they're on the outs.

I can't partner with them. We have to figure out ways to cut ties with them and build other alliances because the U.S. can't trust them anymore. Quite frankly, I get where they're coming from, Ben. Right. You get the strategic $1 trillion trade deal with Canada and China. Chinese EVs are going to be heading into Canada. More canola from Canada going into China.

More importantly, more importantly, not more important, equally importantly, liquefied natural gas from Canada going to China. Can I say something about Canada right now? So, you're being brilliant. I'm so jealous of you guys. Y'all are brilliant. And you have, honestly, like, he seems like the most brilliant leader. I love the guy. Like, honestly, watching the guy, he is just the complete opposite of Donald Trump in every single way.

He's an actual statesman. He's intellectual. He's a guy who obviously understands the economy, given his background. The guy knows what the hell he's doing. He's a serious person. And so when you see those polls that say like 80% plus of Canadians, like, you know, are have a high approval of Carney. I'm like, I don't know how it's not 100% first of all.

And I'm so jealous of all you guys. And I'm just jealous. I don't know. And then also you look at Europe and the Mercutur countries with Brazil and Argentina and others entering into a massive free trade deal there, 700 million consumers under this Macuarser trade agreement. Like, Jordi, to your point, there are trade deals happening everywhere but with the United States right now. And these are things that just could be unwound in a day, right? These are generational things. This is generational damage to the United States.

And on the flip side, it's generational moves that are being made right now by leaders like Mark Carney because they understand what the hell is going on. And I have a lot of respect for that. All right. This was a long segment. But we had to cover it all. I could have not cover it all when we come back. We still have a lot to discuss on this. We didn't do it all on that segment.

Just as a reminder, if you can, not only subscribe to this YouTube channel, but become a member join if you can and gift memberships to others. You've seen the expansion of the Midas Touch network. You've seen our DC Bureau. You see the partnerships and work we're doing with status coup in Minneapolis. You're seeing, I think, rapid expansion in Canada and elsewhere. We need your help. Just the bottom line. That's how we grow.

So if you can join, click the join, and you can gift memberships to others. Also subscribe to Midasplus.com. That's our substack that helps us grow. And subscribe to our audio podcast, if you're just getting this on YouTube. and audio listeners, subscribe to our YouTube. All right, first break in the show. Let's do it. As the New Year kicks off, I'm trying to simplify everything I can, especially dinner.

With work and full swing in those long winter nights, Home Chef has honestly been a lifesaver for me. Having fresh pre-ported meals show up at my door takes a huge weight off my plate and makes weeknights feel manageable again. I've loved how easy Home Chef makes cooking. The meals I've gotten have been warm, comforting, and genuinely delicious. And the recipes are straightforward enough that I'm not. spending my whole evening in the kitchen. Everything comes pre-portioned, the instructions are clear,

and the food actually tastes great. The hot honey butter roasted chicken I made the other night, perfection. I also have this caccio Ipe pasta with broccoli. You got to try it. Home Chef is rated number one by users of other meal kits for quality, convenience, value, taste, and recipes. Home Chef makes cooking simple, fresh food delivered, easy recipes to follow, and meals that actually taste great. and now, with dishes co-created alongside celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey, you can enjoy restaurant-quality meals at home. You'll find these recipes across Home Chef's culinary collection, classic meal kits, and express options, each designed to help you feel confident in your kitchen. Whatever kind of day it is, classic recipes with fresh ingredients, 30-minute meals, oven-ready trays, or quick microwave lunches, home chef has you covered. There's even a dedicated family menu for hassle-free, four or six serving beans.

dinners. And it's not one-size-fits-all. Home Chef has over 30 meal options each week with choices for different diets and tastes. Plus, it's affordable. Home Chef customers save an average of $86 per month on groceries. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering our listeners 50% off and free shipping for your first box plus free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com slash mitus. That's homechef.com slash Midas for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Homechef.com slash Midas, that's M-E-I-D-A-S, must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. 2026 mantra, don't settle for number two, even when you're going number two.

Look, why is everyone so obsessed with technology like smart scales, smart water bottles, smart this, smart that? Not that there's anything wrong with that, but meanwhile, everyone's still using dumb toilet paper. Can you make it make sense for me? The days put your well-being. first, no matter what weird chapter of self-improvement you're in. Personally, I just want to leave the bathroom cleaner than when I walked in. And I'll be honest, when I traveled to Japan and then I came

back to the United States, I felt like I went backwards in time. That was one of the big reasons that I got a tushy bidet. And honestly, it's one of the easiest upgrades I have ever made. Installation took maybe 10 minutes. No plumber, no drama. It looks sleek, fits right in with the bathroom, and the warm water is a game changer, especially in winter. The cleaning experience is noticeably better than toilet paper, cleaner, gentler, and way easier than I expected. This is daily decadence with real benefits, less irritation, less toilet paper, and a routine that actually feels modern. Number two is Tushie's thing. Go take care of number one for a limited time. Our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use code minus 10 at checkout. That's 10% off your first bidet order at hellotushy.com

with promo code minus 10. M-E-I-D-A-S-1-0. Let's go. Shout to our sponsors, links in description to both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we send you.

We sent you. And just a reminder, if you're watching this right now, have a lot of folks in the live stream. Please hit that subscribe button. You may think you're subscribed, but you might not be. So just double check,

hit the subscribe button. And let's get to 6 million subscribers, y'all. Benji, where to next? two really big topics that I want to hit. First, I want to talk about the Epstein file cover up by the Trump regime, their latest court filing, which is absolutely horrific. And then I want to talk about the ICE and Border Patrol, Gestapo invasion in Minneapolis, in St. Paul, what they're doing there and the latest threats to arrest Don Lemon, which may actually be an imminent arrest. And I'll go over the law with you, which is called the Face Act. I'll explain to everything that's going on

there. We'll discuss that. But first, I want to talk about Epstein file, Trump regime cover-up, hat tip to Congress members Massey and Kana, not just for pushing forward the discharge petition and being the leads on the Epstein Transparency Act, but the work they've been doing afterwards. So they filed what's called an amicus curi brief. And they want status of what's called a Michi where they're friends of the court in order to make a recommendation to the federal judge in the Gilane Maxwell case, that judge, you have the authority to compel the Department of Justice based on the fact that they've requested to modify protective orders under your jurisdiction, judge, you have the authority

to order that they produce the documents pursuant to the Epstein Transparency Act. So these Congress members filed to become Amici, which means they're just making recommendations. They're not parties to the case. The case is USA versus Gilein Maxwell, but because the USA and Gilein Maxwell are sadly more aligned with each other than adversarial, there needs to be something that happens in this case where, you know, and someone calling out the DOJ for their violations of the Epstein Transparency. Transparency Act. What? It's been 31 days now since the documents were due. This is a criminal law. And the DOJ has produced, what, only 1% of documents. And here's the thing. They claim they

have 200 lawyers from SD&Y, that's the Southern District of New York Federal Prosecutorial Office and hundreds of others working on the Epstein document issues. Well, then why aren't you producing the documents on what's called a rolling basis, right? Like meaning if you do 10,000 documents reviewed, publish the 10,000 documents. I've never heard in my legal career, so many people working on a document production involving just a few million documents.

And it may even be more than that, but like, just letting you know, when I was a litigator, I would do four or five terabyte document production reviews with five associates and we'd get through it in 60 to 70 days. We'd work 15-hour days, but you can do what's called a rolling document production. Every time you go through 15,000 records, produce it, then produce the next 15,000, then produce the next 15,000, then produce the next 15,000 records as well. What are they doing? And then, well, I think we know they're covering it up. And then what were the 973 FBI agents who were tasked

with reviewing the files from March to May or June? What were they doing? doing for all that period of time, huh? So the taxpayers were what? Paying? We want to talk about waste, fraud and abuse then? They weren't doing any work. Or were they just looking for Donald Trump references to delete and destroy that? You've had over 1,100 people working on this, and you only produced 12,500 documents? Come on. Come on. Make no sense at all. We all know that. But this was the filing by from the Department of Justice. This is what they filed at the end of the end of last week on Friday. And here you'll see what they say.

They say over here, respectfully, the government submits that the court lacks the authority to enter the requested relief. And it says, when the constitution or laws of the United States do not support a cause of action, a federal court cannot reach out to award and remedies. The Epstein Transparency Act, the DOJ argues, does not provide a cause of action. Because the statute does not evince Congress's intent to create the private cause of action asserted, the court may not create that action through judicial mandate. So they're not just saying that Massey and Kana

lack standing. That's one of the arguments they make. They're saying the court can't do anything. And not just this court, Judge Engelmeyer, no court can actually address the Epstein transparency. That's what they wrote in the brief. And again, for those listening in audio, we posted the brief. I read word for word that they say Congress evinced no intent to allow a court to enforce transparency under the Epstein Transparency Act. A lot of reporters focused on, oh, the DOJ just argued that Massey and Kana don't have standing.

But they missed the broader point, which is what we've been focusing on, which is that they're saying no court ever can enforce the Epstein Transparency Act because Congress did not put in a private cause of action into the statute. So what they're saying is Congress should have added a line in the Epstein Transparency Act that said in the event of non-enforcement, in the event that the DOJ does not comply, any person can bring a private cause of action, or the Congress members can bring a cause of action, or the survivors have the right to bring a cause of action, and sue. So what really happened and why the Republicans ended up supporting this

is that the DOJ Bondi, when they all met in private, probably said, we're gonna take the position that this act is unenforceable. So just sign it, Donald, because ultimately, we think that it doesn't have teeth. I think they're wrong about that. And there's a lot of law that says, you can't construe a statute in a way that would render the statute meaningless. So clearly there's an implied cause of action or an enforcement mechanism because what would be the point of something to force the DOJ to produce records if a court can enforce the DOJ to produce records? But then on top of that,

in my view, the DOJ went to Judge Engelmeyer and another federal judge, Judge Berman. And they said, judge. Do you all remember this back on November 26th? They said judge because they wanted to blame the courts for why they were not producing the Epstein files. Their plan was defame and blame the federal judges. And that's what they tried to carry out. You remember they did this fact sheet also and said on December 21st.

They're like, the reason we're taking our time, the reason it's going. slow is because the courts, it's the court's fault, while now arguing that the courts can't do anything at all. So with the DOJ in a very sneaky way, and I wonder if Kana and Massey are going to bring this up in their reply papers to what the DOJ filed. Back on November 26, the DOJ said, judge, we need you to modify your protective orders in this case so we can release the grand jury transcript and also so we can release all the other files under the Epstein Transparency Act. So modify not just one protective order, modify all your protective orders. Then Judge Engelmeyer said, well, tell me what are all the documents you're going to produce

if I modify the protective orders. Then the DOJ listed all the documents. So when they always, when they claim also, we just found these documents in the SD&Y, millions of new documents, No, you listed it in your November 26th filing. I read it. I read the filing. You listed all those documents. So you knew that the SD&Y had it, not like December when you go, oopsies, we just discovered millions of more documents. Nah, you knew about it in your November 26 filing. You list those documents. Then on December 9th, the federal judge Engelmeyer says, great, I will amend the protective orders because you're promising to produce these records, the Epstein Transparency Act records.

then the DOJ doesn't comply. So I think that Massey and Kana can argue, well, you've already invoked the court's jurisdiction because you asked the court to modify protective orders. The court asked you why. You said because you're going to produce the documents. Now you're not, now you're blaming the court for your own delay while also filing that the court doesn't have authority.

So you're setting up the court. So this was all one gigantic rule. where you asked the court to amend the protective orders so you can blame the court for your delay. You see what they did? And I wanted to break it down because it's sneaky, it's pernicious. It's evil. And that's what they're doing. That's what their plan is. So I wonder what Judge Engelmeyer's going to do. And now today, Lisa Phillips, one of the Epstein survivors, filed that she supports an independent monitor or special master or some independent process for these documents to be produced in violation of the Epstein Transparency Act or because the DOJ is violating the Epstein transparency.

By the way, hat tip to Michael Popock was actually representing Lisa Phillips in the case from Legal A.F. I'm not a practicing lawyer anymore. Popak is a practicing lawyer now. And he represents Lisa Phillips. He's helped file that declaration on her behalf. So Michael Popak doesn't just talk to talk. He walks the walk. So that's my analysis there. The Trump regime, it's what, day 31 and 1% of the documents have been produced? Brett and Jordy.

Brett, before I give it back to you, I just have really quickly, Ben, if I could just summarize everything that you just laid out so beautifully in just a few sentences, is that what I'm hearing is Donald Trump and the Trump regime would just rather protect petos than you. get to the bottom of the Epstein saga. Is that, is that right? That's right, Jordy. Brett. And on that point, Jory, I think that's why you could draw an adverse inference. And I think juries could draw adverse inferences. I think the public could draw adverse inferences based on exactly what is going on. And by that, I mean is you could basically judge Donald Trump's

guilt by the fact that his Department of Justice, Donald Trump himself and all these people are withholding so much from the American people and are doing so much to withhold these documents from the American people. What other conclusion could you possibly come to other than that whatever is in these files about Donald Trump must be, in my opinion, devastating, horrific, some of the worst things

that you ever read or heard or seen? It's the only kind of thing that you could even possibly, it's the only conclusion you could possibly come to, given all of this. I'm super proud of Michael Popak, representing a survivor here and taken this to the court, this declaration. I think this is such an important issue. And I just always try to ground myself because this is something that, you know, I get certainly stressed about the fact that they've released less than 1% in the files. And

and it's painful and I think it's just awful. And then I think about these survivors who have been calling for the release of these files, who have been looking for some sort of just that, for all the people involved in this scheme now for decades and decades and decades. And I can't imagine the pain that continues and that these wounds that open back up every time this is brought back into the news. But I applaud their strength. I applaud Michael Popak for representing them. And, you know, representatives Kana and Massey.

And it's, you know, one of those examples where, you know, this isn't about political party. You know, I'm happy we have a Republican and a Democrat there coming together. and it's a shame that the others in Massey's party, all these other Republicans are doing everything that they can to cover up for this scheme, including all of the people out there who previously made this like their number one issue. I mean, the freaking FBI director

and the former deputy FBI director who left were like the biggest proponents of like release the Epstein files, what are you hiding FBI, coming up with all these conspiracy theories about Donald Trump's enemy and enemies, and they are the ones blocking the release of the fire. I mean, Benjino left. The guy left, he bounced, he couldn't handle it.

Too tough for him. God, see ya, later, bye. Now you have Cash Patel, you got Bondi. Just all of these people are complicit in this. And it's just, I think it's very obvious what it all tells you. Absolutely. On the Bongino note, the folks who were sort of put in positions to get the truth, he left.

He left. Because why? Because his boss told him not to get to the truth. Jorney, I'm gonna, let me say though, I know he couldn't get the truth. as the deputy FBI director, but I think now that he's back as a podcaster, I think he's going to get to the bottom of this. I think I think you're on to something with that one.

But look, if the files exonerated Trump, they would all be released. Don't make any other thoughts about that. Like if they truly exonerated Trump like he likes to put out on true social or whatever, they would all be released. You would have seen them a thousand times over at this point because he wouldn't let you forget that you've seen them. It is so utterly disgusting. This is not a political issue.

To me, it's simply, it's not. This is a humanity issue. Like, if you care about your fellow American, if you care about your fellow person, you care about this because you should want justice for the survivors. Period. End of story. The game, like the political gamesmanship that the Trump regime is doing to block the release of these files,

to delay the release of the files, to go over deadlines and say, oh, well, we did the first bet. We met the first deadline making things up. Every red flag that could go up is up. It's so utterly obvious that the Trump regime is trying to hide the files, and there's no other conclusion that could be drawn at this point, that Donald Trump must be literally all over them. And they can't avoid it at this point.

So what are they going to do? They're just not going to release it. or they're going to try and confuse things in the courts or or what but but i know one thing that you the listener here the might as might this pro democracy community and many americans quite frankly that don't even identify with the mightest touch network or pro democ they still want the release of the files because again this isn't political this is just like human to human you should want justice for the women now who were children at that time it's unbelievable in me ben And this is just how they handle everything.

You know, I saw an article before of Donald Trump saying, well, it must have been a, perhaps I got bad information that special forces were being sent into Greenland by these European countries and, you know, and then people, and I've seen like reporters go, oh, this is a way that Donald Trump can maybe try to de-escalate with dignity. It's just like enough of this, dude, I hate that.

Enough of the, you know, although now, now he's gonna be like, oh, well, now I I didn't really mean that because now I learned this and then, you know, because he sees the market start doing bad. You know, it's the same stick with him too. You know, and it's just like enough. You have to. Society has appeased him and his ilk where, you know, and just have a, you know, they're the snake that was allowed in. And it's like as adults, as people who have morals and ethics and who care about normalcy, you just have.

to assert yourself, you know, and stop babying this, you know, stop babying this guy. You know, be tough, put it on the line and it's just enough is enough. Enough is enough of this crap, this whole thing, just this whole just crap regime of every day, the onslaught of pathetic trolling and utilizing all that America meant historically for this. Again, no wonder what was his support among independence right now, 20, 27% or 20%, 29% among independence. It was 26% among independence, like the lowest ever of any president ever amongst independence right now, depending on which poll, 29, 29, 29, 36, 20, 29, 31.

It's just absolutely, absolutely pathetic anyway. 20. It's ridiculous. We'll take our last quick break of the show. A reminder, if you can join the YouTube by becoming a member, click join. and then gift memberships to other people. That helps our expansion. And you know, we're competing right now against Foxes, the CBSes, NBCs,

thanks to you. You keep us in the game and in the lead right now. And we're expanding the DC Bureau, on the ground coverage, what we're doing in Canada. That's all thanks to you. So join if you can. Also check out our substack mitusplus.com. Last quick break of the show,

we'll be right back for the home stretch. If you're stressed about getting out of debt, it's go time. Seriously. This is one of those moments where timing actually matters. Done with debt is one of the best I've seen at navigating debt relief. 2025 was a record year. They enrolled over $102 million in debt for our listeners and others. Here's why I'm telling you this now. According to the Federal Reserve's latest survey, many banks have tightened their standards. Right now may be your best window to negotiate settlements, before lenders tighten further. Done with debt tracks credit card and loan company behavior. Their experience at knowing who is negotiating and when and what it takes to get you the biggest reduction possible.

And whether you're carrying $10,000 or $500,000 in debt, this may be the best chance you'll get all year. Do not wait for lenders to tighten up their policies. Here's what you do. Schedule a free consultation. There's no pressure and it only takes a few minutes. Share who you owe, and they'll tell you if this is the moment you could see a major reduction in your debt. Imagine waking up without that weight on your shoulders and doing it without taking out another loan or filing bankruptcy.

Done with Debt helps you through the debt relief process so you keep more of your paycheck every month. Go to donewithdebt.com right now. That's done with debt.com. Delete me makes it easy, quick, and safe to remove your personal date. online at a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable. Data brokers make a profit off your data. Your information is a commodity and anyone on the web can buy private details about you. That can open the door to identity theft, fishing attempts, and harassment.

But now you can take steps to protect your privacy with Delete Me. As someone with an active online presence, privacy is really important to me. My name and information are out there constantly and I've seen how quickly can spiral when personal data ends up in the wrong hands. Even if you haven't dealt with identity theft or harassment yourself, you probably know someone who has. Removing your data can help to protect yourself and DeleteMe makes that process simple.

Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners. Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to join DeleteMe.com slash Midas and use promo code Midas at checkout. That's M-E-I-D-A-S. The only way to get 20% off is to go to join-deletme.com slash mitus and enter code mites at checkout.

That's join delete me.com slash mitus code midas. All right, real question, what's the hardest part of eating enough protein every day? Because for me, it's not knowing what to eat, it's life getting in the way. Some days I am locked in. I go to the gym. I meal prep. I feel like I've got it together. Other days, I look up at 3 p.m.

and realize I've had coffee and vibes. That's honestly why I started using Huell's high-protein starter kit. It's the first thing that's helped me actually stay consistent instead of falling off every time my schedule blows up. So the bundle comes with a black edition ready to drink and black addition powder. And that pairing right there is really the whole point. On days I'm sprinting out the door,

heading to the gym or I just forget to eat, I grab a ready to drink. It's a complete meal with 35 grams of protein, 27 essential vitamins and minerals, no artificial sweeteners, no weird colors or flavors and it actually fills me up. Zero prep, zero excuses. And then on home days or days when I just want something thicker or colder, I use the powder. That one has 40 grams of protein, same vitamins and minerals, gluten-free and super customizable. Sometimes I make a whole smoothie situation

out of it. Sometimes I just shake it with water and move on with my day. Having both of my kitchen is what keeps me from falling off my routine. Powder for slower days, RTD for chaos days. And either way, I'm still hitting my protein goals for under five. bucks a meal. If you're focusing on protein right now or just trying to feel a little more put together, this bundle really, really helps. Limited time offer, get Huell's full high protein starter kit today with 20% off using my code minus 20 at Huell.com slash minus 20. New customers only. Huge thanks to Huell for partnering and supporting our show. Honestly, it just makes hitting your protein goals a lot less stressful, even on the days when life is life. Huel,

dot com slash minus 20 code minus 20 m eid as 2 0 let's go shout out to our sponsors links in description of both the youtube and the audio use the links use the codes if there's an exit survey other than though we sent you benjy where to next you know it's interesting because you know wait hold on hold on hold on hold on brett's laughing over there in the third panel you do you know you know like my coming back from break phrase you know first i know the script of course i know what you say at this point I could, I was mad at every episode in the exact same way. Like a music video. I could do Jordy.

But you know, now you have like Trump advisors leaking out to CNN. Is an off ramp possible? Can we give him an off ramp? Now that all the other, you had Europe threatening a trade mazuka, like just going to shut off trade with the US and then the markets are reeling and then then Donald Trump moves on to the next one, then the next one, then the next one, one while he covers up the Epstein files and while he does, you know, longstanding damage to what the U.S. has built over centuries across the world and especially since the post-World War II world,

right? Where Trump views, what does he always say? We were our richest in 1871. We were our richest in 1871. What does that even mean? But like, you know, you have someone like Treasury Secretary Bessent, goes on the morning shows on Sunday. And, you know, here's what he said about Greenland. Let's play Greenland one. Let me just put this to you bluntly. Is Greenland or NATO more essential to the United States national security? Well, Chris, that's obviously a false choice. That's a maximum... Not from the perspective of European leaders. The European leaders will come around and they will understand that they need to be under the U.S. security umbrella. What would happen in Ukraine that if the U.S. pulled its support out, the whole thing would collapse.

They are under the security umbrella of NATO. Of NATO. That's the whole thing. America used to have 17 military bases in Greenland. America pulled out of 15 of them, and now we have two. If we wanted 17, we could have it. It would be ridiculous, but we could have 17. It's part of NATO.

But Donald Trump's more focused on his counter-NATO, which he calls the Board of Peace, which is a board of authoritarians. Right. It is the access of evil that he's creating. So then Treasury Secretary Bessent is then asked, so what's the justification? What's the emergency that you want to tariff all these European countries because they're not allowing Trump to invade Greenland? because the hook that Trump tries to use on his unlawful tariffs against the world, which the Supreme Court has never ruled on. There's never going to rule on it.

What's their game plan there, by the way? I mean, doesn't it show you how pathetic the Supreme Court is, and they just let Donald Trump's unlawful tariffs to stay? It's why our whole legal system is say this as someone who's a law professor, who's just like completely broken. No ruling. We don't get rulings on the tariffs. It takes a year while the unlawful tariffs are in place

for you to get any remedy and the status quo is preserving. utterly ridiculous. But any event, Trump's hook is that there's an emergency, a threat facing the country, right? And Trump's threats are Canada's bringing fentanyl and Mexico is bringing this. And this country is threatening us with all these, you know, I mean, Mexico is bringing the precursor to fentanyl, not Canada. But that's Trump's hook for all of the for all of the tariffs. But so what's the emergency best? The High Court's decision, what is the national emergency that justifies these new slate of tariffs? The national emergency is avoiding a national emergency.

It is a strategic decision by the president. This is a geopolitical decision, and he is able to use the economic might of the U.S. to avoid a hot war. So why wouldn't we do that? Same thing. He's just saying the law, there's no loss. That's what he's saying right there. What are you talking about, dude? And he does it in this like, argue.

Why wouldn't he do that? Because there's laws, man. Because there's laws. You know, and laws. We have NATO. We have a structure to protect all this stuff. All the things that you're saying are complete and totalized. You have China coming out and making statements.

Beijing's like, don't invoke our name for your justification to try to seize this. Meanwhile, you have the United States in effect justifying China to take Taiwan, Russia to take Ukraine. This goes far beyond even just Greenland. This is an issue of global importance, obviously, but there's ramifications that extend even far beyond this moment. And one of the things that I hate what these people say, and it wasn't in that clip,

but I think it was in that interview with Besson, is they'll go like, you know, this is just what happens when you're the hottest country ever. When you're so, we're so hot right now. We're hot. We're so hot. It's like, shut up. Shut the hell up. Shut the hell up.

The United States right now is hated. Hated by the world. Hated by the world. and it's your fault and you know better scott besson these people all know better and they are all collaborators didn't i can't i'm not i don't want to give besson any sort of street credit doesn't he like constantly get into fights with members of trump's cabinet too like didn't he punched elan or or you know these are they're all weirdos dude they all weirdos they all are narcissists they all hate each other they all hate themselves they hate their lives they're miserable people

That's the larger point. I think Bill Pulte, too, he threatened to punch at a country club. Like, this guy is like some sort of like hothead that they can't even get along with each other. That's how smug each one of these people are. You've seen someone wants Lori Chavez-Durremer out. I mean, I want her out. But there's someone in the Trump regime who's leaking to the New York Post because they're getting really good scoops on Lori Chavez-Duremer. She's the Secretary of Labor. And so the New York Post broke the story first that she was under Inspector General's investigation.

of the inspector general was that congress member who was pushed out i think he was for a new york congress member yeah i think it was new york um for like uh being involved in an affair and like bringing underlings to like getting underlings job that he was having an affair with which is one of the things that like lorry shavez is being investigated for and they made that guy the ig but in any event that's why i think the new york post is also leaking extra hard right now in order to um you know exposed what Laurie Shavez dreamers being investigated for. But there was the report last week that she took all these trips, these like lavish trips like Vegas and across the country on the taxpayer dime.

And then it said that she was potentially having an affair with an insubordinate. But not insubordinate, a subordinate. They were being insubordinate. And then and and now the reporting was that there was like a booze stash in her office and that she would bring this staff to strip clubs. By the way, like, and the taxpayers would be paying for these trips where they would go to strip clubs, and they got a photo of Angels PDX club in Portland.

She used to be a Congress member from Portland. She used to pretend Chavez-Dreamer that she cared about unions. And then as soon as she had her hearing to be confirmed, she was asked whether she supports the Pro Act. And she goes, no, no, I don't support the Pro Act. Your whole thing was you supported the pro act. Then she said she doesn't support the pro act. I don't know how you could be a labor secretary secretary if you literally despise

and he supports the poll act, an angel strip club in Phoenix. And this is what they're doing. This is what the taxpayers. You know, I mean, look, you have Christie Nome buying private jets, gallivanting around, you know, on these horse videos. That looks real high end. Highland. Really high end stric.

But this is what the Trump regime, like these are a group. of like degenerate. I mean, look, I'm not going to judge people. If you want to go to strip club, you go to strip club, but like don't do it on the taxpayer die. Yeah, that's the point. If you want to go to the strip line, but but don't do it on the taxpayer. Do you want to go? You go. But like, you're supposed to be the labor secretary and, you know, I'm not sure this is necessarily the support of labor that we expect. We expect to support the unions, not, you know, anyway, I won't get into the debate there. This is one way to support labor.

There's one way to say that that was, that's where I was going. But, but don't But don't use taxpayer money for it. And then there's more information about the person who worked for her. The whole, but there's so much that. Then like last week, they started doing this weird ad campaign for whole milk. And they did these like weird sexualized fetish whole milk videos that went beyond like the mustache. Like what do you do?

Okay, we like, whole milk's good. Sure. But like then people thought, well, maybe they were trying to push RFK Jr.'s raw milk because he likes raw milk. And someone's like, you can't do the raw milk stuff. So we're all in on whole milk and it's like, I want to even know, what are you even talking about? Like, what is this? It's the dumbest administration.

It's like for whole milk. I like home milk. I like home milk. I like home milk. It's great. Sure. But their messaging is too like, they wanted to take this away. It was gone.

We brought it back. We're like, when are you talking? Nobody was taking away your home milk. Who is trying to take your whole milk? Show me in the room. And they do these weird AI videos of RFK with milk mustache is dancing. And it's like weird. It's like it's honestly the most like this, this kind of.

combination of like these AI weird videos that they put out with the fascism, with the weird poly like just it's all so dystopian. It's also bizarre. It's also weird. It's like the worst slop that we see coming from the White House. And it's just atrocious. It's just atrocious. And I totally, totally, totally support the hypothesis that they had built an entire campaign around we're going to announce that everyone should be drinking raw milk and that the government lawyers went, y'all are going to kill a lot of people because this is not recommended for everybody and you should not do this. And I guarantee you, they were about to go live with that. And then we're told, please don't do it, please. And for some reason, they listen to those lawyers and they switch to

the whole milk. And now the entire campaign makes zero sense. It's just another ridiculous thing. Meanwhile, measles cases are skyrocketing across the country. We have like a measles, you know, outbreak in the country. Like, you know, RFK Jr. yelling at Germany as to what they should do for their health policy. And Germany's like, shut up, shut up, dude. Like, what are you talking about? Are our life expectancy is higher than yours? All right, the health of our people is higher than yours.

It's better than yours. Like, deal with your own crap. Like, stop trying to boss the world around. And you see how these America first, quote unquote, America first people now are just trying to use their predatory nature to inflict pain on countries around the world and bully them into doing what they want in every aspect. These are dangerous people.

They are predators. They got to go. The American people need to do something. Congress needs to do something. Step up people. Step up. And I'm calling on other countries. As I said in the beginning of this episode,

do something we won't be offended. I promise you. And this is why I just can't stand when corporate media bends over backwards to like make it seem like what Trump is doing is so genius, right? Like they work themselves. Like they work it all backwards. Like Trump announces the crazy fucking thing

that he's going to do. And they're going to be like, this is why, this is why it's so smart what Donald Trump is doing. I saw a couple headlines over the weekend about the whole Greenland thing. And they're just trying to make like Donald Trump is some sort of genius because he wants to take over Greenland. And it's just infuriating for me. So I just want to use the, I know we're running out of time on the show today. But like, thank you guys for always listening and supporting us here at the Midas Touch network, again, quite independent media, quite frankly, in general.

It's more important than ever that we amplify our voices to just get out the truth. Thank you for trusting us to get out the facts, the data, the information, the receipts. And Jorny, on that note, that's why I got to give a shout out to other people in independent media who are crushed it like Don Lemon, who right now is being, you know, basically threatened with arrest by the Trump regime for covering these protests in this church in Minneapolis. There were protesters at a church. I think the pastor was thought to be in ice or an ice patrol, something working with ice, and they were protesting inside this church. And now you have the Department of Justice, all these Twitter influencers, all these people. now calling for Don Lemon's arrest. You have the Department of Justice, the head of the Civil Rights Division, Harmy Dillon, going on TV, calling for Don Lemon's arrest. Essentially, you have Donald Trump on his social media calling for his arrest. And this obviously doesn't come in a vacuum. I mean, last week we saw the Trump regime raid the home of a Washington Post journalist who had a lot of sources inside the administration, just, you know, workers, people who were doing their duty. She would be on Reddit threads. asking if anyone had information about what was going on in the government, especially during Doge.

And while all this chaos was happening, well, they went to her house. They took her phones. They took her laptops. They took all of her communications. And this is what we're living under under Donald Trump. I mean, we've been threatened by these people, the Trump administration people, their followers, calling for our arrest for various things, for just covering these topics, for having on the ground reporting. This is the nature that we find ourselves in?

And so is it a position I ever thought I'd be in? No, is it a position that I think Don Lemon ever thought he'd be in? I think not. But, you know, there's a danger to reporting on authoritarian regimes, and that's shown throughout history. And so, yeah, I'm not asking for any sympathy here, but I will say, you know, support Don Lemon, you know, go check out his channel. He's doing a great job.

I'm proud of him for standing up to all this, for covering it the way that he's doing. And we're just dealing with right now, just fundamentally evil people who are really trying to erase everything, in my opinion. that's great for the country. Show that clip of Harmeet Dillon, who runs the Civil Rights Division of the TOJ, and what she said about Don Lemon. I think we've got this. Let's play it.

Imagine you have a bank robbery that's being planned by a number of criminals. The crossing state lines are using the wires. And then a podcaster says, well, let me embed myself in here and come along for the ride and live stream the crime. That would not be protected by the first. Amendment. And so it is a crime to disrupt and harass and make people in a church or any house of worship feel unsafe in this country. And when you're part of that planning and show up and write along and laugh outside about and make commentary outside about how disrupting and putting people in fear is literally part of protest and part of the plan, you know, we're not reaching conclusions now. Of course, everybody is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

But if I were giving advice to a journalist about this, which I have done in the past, I would say do not participate in a crime actively. So the statute they're threatening Lemon with is something called the Face Act, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994. And it says it's a federal crime to intentionally injure, intimidate, or interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate, or interfere any person by force threat. or physical obstruction at a reproductive health service clinic, or intentionally injuring, intimidating, or interfering with,

or attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere any person by force, threat, or physical obstruction, exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedoms at a place of worship. So originally, what this law was intended to cover was reproductive health care visits, where there were people standing outside of abortion clinics and would physically push people away and threaten you. If you do this, you'll get killed or you'll get hurt, right? Physical threat or physical use of body to block a woman who needed to access

Planned Parenthood or something like that. To make it a bipartisan bill, right-wing people wanted there to be churches that were, you know, that were covered. And so what they're arguing is that that's what applies here because Don Lemon was covering protesters inside this church. I watched the video and for you to prosecute somebody, you have to show that Don Lemon used force, physical obstruction, or the threat of force? I mean, we all watched the video. He didn't threaten anybody. It seemed like there was somebody at the church who touched him, actually. And then Lemon was like, don't touch me. Don't touch

me. And then Lemon was asking, why are, you know, why are you, you know, he would ask the people, like, what are you doing? Like, what, it. There's a reason that this DOJ loses a lot of cases right now, and they've been losing case after case after. Like, you know, you can indict a ham sandwich although this DOJ struggles to do that. Like, they're going to still have to impanel a grand jury in Minnesota that they've attacked that community. and ask for a Minnesota grand jury to indict Lemon for covering the ICE invasion, which I think is going to be hard, but you could, and we've seen this DOJ failed to secure indictments before, but that even if they do, they have to prove that he engaged in these

threats and intimidation, physical threats, physical abilities did it. I mean, as I've seen the video. So, you know, I, I, I, I, doesn't mean, they won't dry, but anyway, that's, that's where, that's where, that's where, that's where we're at, we're there. I'll leave everybody with this. Let, let's show that clip of, uh, Governor Spanberger's, uh, inauguration. I know I showed, I discussed what she did in the first 24 hours, but let's just watch this clip so we can have a YouTube cleanser and see what politics is supposed to be about. Let's play this clip.

This next chapter, we will work relentlessly to make life more affordable for our fellow Virginians. We will tackle the high cost of housing, whether you're renting, buying, or trying to stay in your home. We will cut red tape, increase housing supply, and help communities keep housing affordable. Work to lower energy costs by producing more energy and by ensuring that high energy users pay their fair share. And we will contend with an impending health care by protecting healthcare access, cracking down on the middlemen who are driving up drug prices, and making sure Virginians aren't going into spiraling medical debt because of a single emergency.

Powerful, powerful. Powerful, powerful. So we'll leave you with that. We covered a lot of topics here. A reminder, you want to support the growth of this independent media network. Join, subscribe, tell others to subscribe, but click join, then gift memberships to others. That's a great way you can help. us. So consider doing that. Also, go to our substack at Midasplus.com. Subscribe there. And thank you so much. I know we covered a lot of topics on this episode, a lot of topics, but it was all very important stuff. And subscribe. If you watch on YouTube, subscribe to our audio. Just search on audio podcast. Midas Touch. Same thing. If you listen on audio, subscribe to our YouTube. That helps us out a ton. Thanks, everybody. We appreciate you.

We'll see you next time on the Midas Touch podcast and keep checking back the Midas Touch YouTube channel and our podcast audio feed for updates throughout the day. Jordy, take it away. Shout out to the Midas My Day. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack at Midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philopowski,

add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at Midasplus.com. If you're not using Ironclad for contracts, you could be leaving millions on the table without knowing it. Every contract holds renewal dates, pricing terms, and obligations you can't afford to miss. But good luck finding them when it matters. Ironclad's AI instantly surfaces what matters so you can act before opportunities slip away. That's why they're trusted by OpenAI, L'Oreal, and Salesforce.

Find the savings hiding in your contracts at ironclad app.com slash podcast. That's ironclad app.com slash podcast.