The MeidasTouch Podcast - MeidasTouch Full Podcast - 8/26/25

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

On this episode of the MeidasTouch Podcast, the brothers break down the latest chaotic headlines: governors across the country push back as Trump threatens to deploy the military into their states, while questions over Trump’s health intensify after new photos reveal more unexplained bruises on his body. Trump once again bows to Putin after a Russian attack on a U.S. business in Ukraine—promising, predictably, that there will be an update in “two weeks.” The brothers also cover developments in the Abrego Garcia case, Republicans’ disturbing defense of Ghislaine Maxwell over her victims, and much more in an episode with all the latest breaking news. Ben, Brett, and Jordy break it down. Subscribe to Meidas+ at https://meidasplus.com Get Meidas Merch: https://store.meidastouch.com Deals from our sponsors!  Fair Harbor: For 20% off your first purchase, head to https://FairHarborClothing.com/MEIDAS20 and use code MEIDAS20. Armra: Go to https://tryarmra.com/MEIDAS or enter MEIDAS to get 15% off your first order. Qualia: Head to https://qualialife.com/meidas and use promo code: MEIDAS at checkout for 15% OFF your purchase of Qualia's products. Shopify: Sign up for a one-dollar per month trial at https://shopify.com/meidas Graza: Go to https://Graza.co and use code: MEIDAS to get 10% off "The Trio" and get to cookin’ your next chef quality meal! 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 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown 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

Ontario, the wait is over. The gold standard of online casinos has arrived. Golden Nugget Online Casino is live. Bringing Vegas-style excitement and a world-class gaming experience right to your fingertips. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting, signing up is fast and simple. And in just a few clicks, you can have access to our exclusive library of the best slots and top-tier table games. Make the most of your downtime with unbeatable promotions and jackpots that can turn any mundane moment into a golden, opportunity at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Take a spin on the slots, challenge yourself at the

tables, or join a live dealer game to feel the thrill of real-time action, all from the comfort of your own devices. Why settle for less when you can go for the gold at Golden Nugget Online Casino. Gambling problem call connects Ontario 1866531-260. 19 and over, physically present in Ontario. Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. It's Rona Week. Now until Wednesday, rain or shine, you can always be building yourself a better summer. So, head over to Rona and save 30% on SICO endurance interior paint. Give that room you keep saying needs a fresh coat of paint, a fresh coat of paint. Build it right, build it Rona.

Conditions apply, details in store, and more offers at rona.ca. I said interior paint, right? Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision. They slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer through their own eyes. Light the path to a brighter future with stellar lenses for myopia control. Learn more at SLR.com.

And ask your family eye care professional for SLOR Stellist lenses at your child's next visit. Wendy's most important deal of the day has a fresh lineup. Pick any two breakfast items for $4. New four-piece French toast sticks, bacon or sausage wrap, biscuit or English muffin sandwiches, small hot coffee, and more. Limited time only at participating Wendy's taxes extra. It won't take long to tell you neutral's ingredients. Vodka, soda, natural flavors.

So, what should we talk about? No sugar added? Neutral. Refreshingly simple. The people are fed up with the Trump regime, and they are letting the Trump regime hear it. Democratic governors have grown a spine, and they are letting the Trump regime hear it, standing up for the Trump regime. their states. The people are demanding answers, where the hell are the Epstein files? And Donald Trump continues to physically and mentally decompose and rot before our eyes on the inside and on the outside. I want to cover it all here on the Midas Touch podcast. Let's bring in Brett and

Jordy. We have a lot to discuss, including the fact that the Trump regime continues to cover up the Epstein files. They turned over 33,000 documents at the end of last week. Mostly all of them were old recycled documents, not actually the Epstein files. They released the Gilane Maxwell interview transcripts, which just shows that the cover-up continues. I mean, these softball questions, it was so obviously coordinated. And then Fox and all of the MAGA influencers and politicians saying, see, we got to believe the convicted sex trafficker there. On Friday, you had Donald Trump standing there with the head of FIFA and Trump was holding up a photo of himself and Vladimir Putin from Alaska that Putin sent to Donald Trump and he was telling the head of FIFA. Look, Vlad, he sent

me this photo right here. Look at us in Alaska. Maybe Vladimir can show up for the World Cup and he can sign it for you and I'll sign it for you. But don't you like this picture right here? And this took place right before Ukrainian Independence Day, 34 years since Ukraine declared independence. The actual free world, which is not led by Donald Trump, was all there with Zelensky, wishing Zelensky, a congratulatory independence day. But Donald Trump and J.D. Vance were refusing to even condemn Russia for attacking United States factories in Western Ukraine as Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister is like, yes we absolutely did bomb that factory it was used in the war so of course we have no intention

of actually meeting with a zolinsky that is never going to happen and the u.s should be aware if you help out we're going to do it and then like christin welker on j d vans like are you enraged that russia was a good question are you enraged that russia is attacking american factories in ukraine and j d vance is just like that's war that's war that's what happens in war What I like about Donald Trump is he's not nitpicky about, like, who started the war. And I think that's really what makes him a really strong guy. He's not nitpicky about, like, what the cause of the war is, like literally parroting Putin-talkie points. In other words, we have a lot to discuss, brothers.

In other words, these are, to quote myself from the last episode, very bad, very evil people that we're dealing with. It's great to be here, Ben. It's great to be here, everybody watching here live on YouTube and everybody listening on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, make sure you check this show out on the audio podcast. But yeah, I mean, you know, we didn't need the last few days to tell us this. But folks, you have to understand, like the people we're dealing with are not on the up and up, okay? They're not playing by any sort of rules. They're not honest brokers. They will always defend the worst human beings. They will do anything to protect Donald Trump, even if that means getting the back, having the back of a literal convicted sex trafficker and believing the sex trafficker over the actual victims. I mean, some of the things I've seen in the past few days in particular have just disgusted me. I am just aghast at what I have witnessed. And it's just so appalling. And there are so many lies and so many different things that I know it's tempting. And a lot of people, you know, will say, why are you focusing on this? Why are you focusing on Donald Trump's health? Isn't that a distraction from the Epstein files? Why are you focused on

the deployments? Can't you see that's a distraction from the Epstein files? Why are you focusing on the Epstein files? Can't you see that's a distraction from the military deployments? And listen, Everything is a distraction. I want to say that. Sometimes you just got to understand that we're dealing with really shitty human beings who do a lot of really shitty things every single day. And so we have to do our best all of us to cover all the bad things that are happening. Because a military takeover and invasion of our states, yes, that is a big deal. Okay. The Epstein files, the cover up, the having the back, the giving cushy treatment to someone like Elaine Maxwell, that is a big deal. Donald Trump's deteriorating health. that we see, yes, that is a big deal. And there are so many war stories, Russia, Ukraine, what's happening in Gaza, these are all incredibly big deals. One is not a distraction from the other, but we need to stay focused on all of them. And we could walk and chew gum at the same time.

That's what we're going to work to do our best on on this show and in all the reports that you see throughout the day on the Midas Touch YouTube channel and the Midas Touch podcast feed. Jordy, great to be here with you. What's the latest on your end? Great to be here. Shout out to the Mightest Mighty. What's up, everybody. Thanks for joining tonight. Thanks for listening on audio. If you're an audio listener, excited to get into today's show. We have a lot to cover. Ben, that was a great layout of this episode. So, you know, let's just get ready here, folks, because there's a lot of ground to cover. And as Brett mentioned, you know, everywhere, every place, all at once. We could walk and chew gum at the same time, right? Just because he's doing something shitty here doesn't mean we have to ignore all of the shitty and craziness that's happening over here. the exact opposite direction. I know the Midas Mighty appreciates that. I know our audience here appreciates that because we're here to call it out every step of the way

and leave no stone left on turn, Benji. Where do you want to start off today? Well, you know, when Donald Trump tells the story about the snake, how the snake sneaks in and the woman nurses the snake to health and the snake bites and kills the woman. Donald Trump tells that story as an anti-immigrant story, one of the very first videos that we did at the Midas Touch Network when we were first formed over. five years ago was saying that Trump is the snake, and he absolutely is. But like the snake in that story, Donald Trump doesn't go out and say, I'm the snake, right? And we're seeing that right now.

So to the extent there are distractions, the common thread here is that Trump and his maga sycophants are not out there saying, hey, look, we're fascists, we're dictators, we're trying to destroy the Constitution, when that's exactly what they're doing. Instead, they see. steal the symbolism of our country. They use the language of democracy. They use the words of patriotism. They pump it through corporate media, which is now oligarch-led media at this point. And then they try to brainwash the masses into embracing this, or at the very least, both sides in the issues, while their fascist creep continues. And before you know it, we look like Nazi Germany. And then when you say that, then the corporate news and the Trump regime leading

the charge goes, oh my God, you're comparing us to Hitler? You're comparing us to the Nazi. How dare you say that? You're using the words authoritarian. Aren't you getting a little bit alarmist here? That's not really what's happening. No, it is happening. And we at the Midas Touch network have always used that language fearlessly, unapologetically, to refer to this regime. And it is great now that we're finally seeing a little late, but great, that we're seeing governors saying this is what it is. This is fascism. And calling out the media also. I've been noticing that a lot lately as well. I mean, we saw Governor Gavin Newsom, I think leading the way in California, which if it was a country would be the fourth largest economy in the world. And just think about it this way. California gives to the federal. government, $80 billion more than it takes, where a red state like Texas takes $70 to $75 billion more than it gives to the federal government. And you look across the United States, these red states have far higher crime rates, have the worst education, are the worst places for business,

are literally bankrupt states, but for the blue states that are funding and subsidizing the existence of the taker red states. And for a while, you'd have blue state governors just saying, ah, what's going on in these red states? This language is such nonsense. People aren't going to believe it. Just ignore it. But when you ignore it, the big lies become reality. So now we're seeing whether it's Governor Newsom, whether it's Governor Pritzker in Illinois, whether it's Governor Wals in Minnesota, whether it's Governor Westmore in Maryland, whether it's Governor Hockel in New York. I could continue and go dad there's a lot of other governors as well and i'm not going to spend the whole show naming every governor but who are finally pushing back and saying this is fascism stop both sides

and media stop trying to sow division within the democratic party when we literally have military invasions not in too foreign countries which would be bad by the united states into American cities. We're talking about deployments of active duty military with missions in states in the United States, also aided and abetted by red state governors who, again, are the takers, who wouldn't exist without the blue states, who have far higher crime rates than the blue states. And so it's like this whole system here in the United States is allowing this rule by red states minority rule in terms of, you know, who actually controls the highest population centers, the lowest economies, the failed states are now attacking the actual successful and

thriving states. So you go after California, like number one in almost every single stat from businesses to startup environments to public education systems. You go look at Massachusetts. You go look at Illinois. You look at these states. That's a commonality. Then you take a look at like what's going on in Mississippi. You take a look at what's going on in Oklahoma. You take a look at what's going on in Texas. You take a look at what's going on in all these red states. It's a common theme, Brett and Jordy. And the wild thing is that you have people in those states so brainwashed that they literally will go around, like in Mississippi, for example, you'll probably get a lot of people being like, I can't believe you live in California. Isn't that the worst place you've

ever heard of? I'm like, I don't know. I live here. It's kind of like the most beautiful place on the planet. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm sorry that you were force fed it, but okay, stay away, see what I care. But that's the power of propaganda. And as Ben's has said on the show before, it's exactly what they do in a place like North Korea. Could you believe what they're doing in South Korea? You don't want that here. You definitely don't want what's going on there here. And I want to remind everybody that, like, this authoritarian creep that Ben was speaking about, this is how it happens. Like, it's people don't, Vladimir Putin doesn't go into Russia and go, all right, everybody, I'm a dictator. It's happening.

Guess what? It's dictatorship time. Like, that's not how it happens, okay? But what happens is, is that little by little, rights are eroded, rights are chipped away. And in these authoritarian countries, people, most people feel like they're living normal lives, right? They're going to the movies. They're binge watching shows on Netflix, whatever it may be. They're trying to hang out with friends, trying to make ends meet.

They're living normal lives, okay? But they're living under autocratic governments, and their ability to have free speech has been eroded. Their ability to actually have a real say in elections have been avoided. And by the way, they have elections. Like Russia has elections, okay? They're not legitimate elections, but they have elections. And so you have to see that the playbook that the Republicans and Trump are running right now is exactly the playbook that they're running.

in autocratic nations. Troops patrolling the street. Businesses bowing to state pressure. Here, take 10% of my company, sir. You have it. You have, oh, you want me fired? Just give it away. Take my company. Take my company. You have independent media being silenced. Judiciarys packed with loyalists who do whatever they want. Descent labeled treason. Oh, you want to burn the flag. You want to do this. Guess what? You're going to prison. What we're seeing right now is exactly what has happened throughout history in autocratic countries. So don't give me the crap. Oh, that's inflammatory. Don't use that sort of language, we need to be calling it out. And also, people need to stop chasing whatever kind of polls they're looking at or whatever, because then you get in this weird sort of loop of like doing

whatever Donald Trump wants to do. You have to lead like the way you see Gavin Newsom leading. You have to lead the way you see J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore leading. You need to get out in front of this. You need to set the message. And it's one thing that Trump has actually been good at because the media parrots every damn thing that he says. But Trump says things in all caps. And media parrots it. Oh, Trump says he wants to send the military in to do a crackdown on crime. And the media goes, oh, Trump is cracking down on crime. It's a big crackdown. Crackdown alert. There's no crackdown on crime. Crime's at its lowest levels in like 50 years in all these states. The red states have higher crime. The places where these National Guards, people in the

military are going, aren't even the areas where the crime is. So don't give me that this is a crackdown on crime. It's a military invasion. And everybody needs to be seeing through the messaging of the White House. The press needs to stop parroting the message of the White House. And we need to get with it and stop shaming the people who are calling this stuff out. Exactly, Bray, you call it the authoritarian creep. I like to call it the leaky fascist faucet. That's what we're seeing, right? We have these business, we have these business CEOs, you know, going hand over for Donald here, take this gold, take this gold token. Please let me align myself with you. We have all these billionaires lining themselves around Donald Trump to get these favors, these oligarchs, if you will, within the United States.

Oh, oh, oh, we want to do a little gerrymandering here in Texas, y'all. Just over here. It's okay. We're just going to do it over here. We're not going to extend it to other states, other red states. No, no, no, just let us do it over here. We'll rig the midterms. We'll get ready for some, you know, election stuff to go down.

Don't worry about that. Or you know what, National Guard? Just let's send the National Guard into this one city. We're only going to do it here. You know, it's working so well here. Why don't we send the National Guard into another city? Oh, now how about another city after that? You know what?

Just to make sure nothing funky happens during the midterms or the next presidential election, why don't we send the National Guard out to everywhere, just so they're making sure that there's no election fraud happening. And this is how that leaky foscious facet continues to drip and drip and drip. And somehow you normalize it. I'm not talking about y'all. I'm not talking about the listeners here. I'm not talking about the mightest mighty, because we're going to call it out.

But I'm just talking about how the corporate media starts to just rationalize it. Oh, look, Donald Trump. He's just keeping everything safe, y'all. He's just keep everything. One National Guard over here at a time. That's what he's doing, Brett. Bookmark what Jordy just said there. Okay, I want everybody to bookmark exactly what Jordy just said.

Because I know damn well that you are right, that his plan will likely be, oh, well, we tested it out. And look how successful we were in D.C. and all these states, look how much we crack down on crime with the military doing their bidding. So now for these elections, we need to send the military out on the street. to monitor these elections because there are some very bad people out there and we need the military to be watching what's going on. You know that this is a prelude to that move. So bookmarked Jordy's comments. I think that's such a great point. Sending the military on the streets right now is trying

to prep the population and get the population used to a military-run country specifically for rigging the elections. And you don't have to go down a conspiratorial rabbit hole for that. I mean, Donald Trump was holding press conferences at the end of last week, he was saying, Vladimir Putin told me what we need to do for our elections here. I'm not really paraphrasing what Trump said. Trump actually said that, that he got advice from Vladimir Putin, from a genocidal dictator about how our elections should be run, that Trump said he will be implementing here. And the fact that that just fades away from corporate news coverage and they'll focus on other topics is something that we need to call out.

It's why networks like ours are thriving right now because we go, that is not normal. And the people know that that is not normal overwhelmingly. It's why Donald Trump has one of the lowest approval ratings in the history of the modern presidency, if not the presidency in general. and then Trump has to go out there with fake polls and fake numbers and say, actually, my polling's at 60 to 70 percent, despite what the fake media says. And actually the media, I mean, it's legitimate polling averages across the board have Trump at the lowest. If Republicans really love their budget bill, they would be out there every day, holding

town halls, celebrating what they're doing. Instead of gerrymandering their states, they should show up. up and be conquering heroes, right? They should stand up. Here's the new hospitals we're building. Here are the new benefits we're giving to you. Here's how we've just helped you. We did it.

No, instead, what are they focused on, gerrymandering and removing democratic seats in the House of Representatives as part of their authoritarian plan? Then when you call them out, when you retaliate against them, they behave as social. sociopaths behave, right? They go, oh my God, you started it. California is doing unlawful gerrymandering. Can you believe it? It's like California is doing what it's doing quite literally in response. The trigger for California to do a ballot initiative to gerrymander their state is that Texas goes first because Texas is the one that announced it. Democrats want to remove partisan gerrymandering. It's a very simple. debate to have is not a debate at all. Democrats all voted to get rid of partisan gerrymandering. The bill was called HR1. Democrats want campaign finance reform like McCain-Feingold

bipartisan, which Republicans are against. Republicans block the bill for removing partisan gerrymandering because they want all this dark money to go into politics and they want partisan gerrymandering. So you retaliate and they go, oh my God, you retaliated against us? that's so mean. You know, they do the same thing with Canada. You see the United States ambassador to Canada, this Pete Hoekstra guy, terrible human being. He's there and he's like, Canada's really messing with us. They've had the audacity to retaliate against us. They should just do what we say. They should be happy that Donald Trump says 51st state, and that should be the end of it. That's not the way it works. When you pick these fights with people, people who are strong are going to stand up. And Canada should be. strong. I know we the people are strong. We've always been feeling like we're alone. We the people in this fight. But it's good to see Democratic governors now fighting back and Democratic leaders fighting back. I've been covering what Bernie Sanders and AOC and Ro Kana and others in the Democratic Party have been doing. And frankly, independence too, if you stand up to this regime and

fight the oligarchy and talk about what's really happening. happening, how Donald Trump's made everything worse. The world is less safe, prices are higher, our economy is suffering, people are being laid off. That's just the reality. And Donald Trump says two weeks, two weeks, three weeks, two weeks, two weeks, three weeks, while he buys time for his fascist plan of a complete takeover, fires the people who actually compile the data, fire the data people, and then just replace it with whatever Donald Trump says. That's what the two weeks is, is time for the fascism creep. That's what two, three weeks is actually code for. So we've been covering it. You've been feeling it. That's what we see at the no kings protest, the energy

there. And now governors and politicians are talking about it because this is existential. I want to share that with you. We've seen Governor Pritzker do a press conference today. We've seen Governor Walls hold an event today where he spoke about it. I'll just show you one quick clip right now of Governor Pritzker. One of the things that Donald Trump's been doing is mocking Governor Pritzker's weight. He needs to hit the gym. He needs to do this. He needs this, you know, not really. He's a slob, you know, the way that Donald Trump behaves in such a infantile matter. Let me share with you right now what Governor Pritzker said from his perspective, what's really going on right now. Let's play this clip. Well, you know, from my perspective, it takes one to no one

on the wait question. And the president, of course, himself is not in good shape. So he ought to respond to that from me. I would say also that his personal attacks on me are just evidence of a guy who's still living in fifth grade. He's the kind of bully that throws invectives at people and because he knows that what he's saying is actually commentary on himself. Projection, classic projection and confession, and Governor Pritzker saying exactly what it is. I want to show you more clips of Governor Pritzker, of Governor Wals, of Democrats fighting back. I want to juxtapose it to what we're seeing in Trump and Maga World. I also want to show you how they're covering up the Epstein files and continuing to do that.

And much more right here on the Midas Touch podcast. A reminder, please subscribe right now to the YouTube channel. We're on our way to 6 million subscribers. And while you're at it, if you could become a member of our YouTube channel, it goes a long way to help us grow. We've been able to grow with zero outside investors. And one of the main ways we've been able to grow is through your memberships on this YouTube channel. You can gift memberships to as many people as you want as well, others who may not be able to afford memberships. You just click that join button and then it allows you to gift memberships.

All right. Let's take our first quick break of the day. We've got a lot more to show you when we're back. But we're back. We'll show you some receipts. We'll show you the evidence. We'll play the clips and we'll talk about much more. First break of the show.

Guys, have you ever worn those swim trunks with the scratchy mesh liners? Well, our next sponsor makes what might just be the world's most comfortable swimwear. And honestly, it checks out. This episode is brought to you by Fair Harbor, makers of the world's most comfortable swimwear. If you're heading to the beach or have a vacation coming up, pack their breeze-knit-line trunks and say goodbye to mesh lining forever. They're soft, chafe-free, and built-to-move. You know that mesh lining in swim trunks that every guy hates? Well, with Fair Harbor's built-in boxer brief liner, their trunks are softer than anything you have ever felt before. Fair Harbor trunks are

perfect for swimming, lounging, or soaking up some sun. A variety of designs and things. styles make finding your favorite pair easy. And Fair Harbor's super soft built-in liner keeps you comfortable all day. You'll never go back to mesh line trunks again. Trust me. After hearing about Fair Harbor's bathing suits, I just had to order a pair. Finally, I'm actually comfortable at the beach or sitting poolside. These are not your dad's swim trunks. I'm obsessed with the feel of Fair Harbor's breezinet liner trunks. The length is just perfect. It's not too long or not too short. and I can wear them just about anywhere. You wouldn't even know that it's swimwear.

They truly are the most comfortable pair I own. Head to fair harbor clothing.com slash mitis and use code Midas 20 for 20% off your first purchase. Once again, that's Fair Harbor, H-A-R-B-O-R-Cloathing.com backslash midas for 20% off your first purchase. And make sure you use my promo. code minus 20, so they know that I sent you. We live in an environment our biology was never designed for. EMFs, artificial light, seed oils, microplastics, endocrine disrupters, chronic stress. These modern

assaults disrupts cellular signaling, negatively impacting gut health, and accelerating aging. Armara Colostrum revives cellular signaling, bolstering our health from within to defend against everyday threats. Colostrum is nature's first whole food with over 400 bioactive nutrients that work at the cellular level to reactivate your body's innate capacity to regenerate and thrive. Ready to reclaim your health? We've worked out a special offer for my audience. Receive 30% off your first subscription order. Go to armbra.com slash mitus or enter Midas to get 30% off your first subscription order. That's A-R-M-R-A.com slash Midas. Let's go. Shout to our sponsors' links in description in both YouTube and the audio.

Use the links. Use the codes. If there's an exit survey, please let them know we sent you. It helps a lot. Those are some fabulous sponsors. Benji, where to next? Governor Pritzker then calls out the press and says to the members of the press who are assembled here today, here's my message for you. Let's play this clip. To the members of the press who are assembled here today and listening across the country, I am asking for your courage to tell it like it is. This is not a time to pretend here that there are two sides to this story. This is not a time to fall back into the reflexive crouch that I so often see where the authoritarian creep by this administration is ignored. In

favor of some horse race peace on who will be helped politically by the president's actions. Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidents, and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is, a dangerous power grab. AKA fascism, authoritarianism, dictatorship. Let me remind it quickly, too, because just based off the that, comment i want to remind everybody here what publications what kind of articles publications were running during the 2024 campaign very quickly so this was the hill they ran this op-ed uh this is from october 18th 2024 they posted comel is the newest lie trump will send the army after you this was in the hill

it was an op-ed it was an opinion piece they pick like a terrible photo of her to like make her look like hysterical right awful yeah they pick a bad photo of her um like it's just like the photo they pick is clearly you know chosen for a reason and by the way that's up to their editorial patrol. So, like, you know, I know they would probably defend themselves by saying, like, oh, but it was an op-ed and we give op-eds to all sides. Well, don't, first of all. Don't, how about you, no one's requiring you to pump out lies like that. Like, you have a responsibility, I think, not to just run everything you get. And then you also have an editorial decision about what photo you use, what headline you use, and all sorts of things like that.

And this is what you went with. And the road to fascism, the road to autocracy, is paved by legacy media networks and websites who do stuff exactly like this. And that's why I'm happy to see people like Governor Pritzker calling him out. Here, Governor Pritzker gives the data about red states versus blue states when it comes to crime. Here, play this next one. Crime is a reality we all face in this country. Public safety has been among our highest priorities since taking office. We have hired more police and given them more funding. We banned assault weapons. ghost guns, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines. We invested historic amounts into community violence intervention programs.

We listened to our local communities, to the people who live and work in the places that are most affected by crime, and asked them what they needed to help make their neighborhoods safer. Those strategies have been working. Crime is dropping in Chicago. murders are down 32% compared to last year and nearly cut in half since 2021. Shootings are down 37% since last year and 57% from four years ago. Robberies are down 34% year over year, burglaries down 21%, motor vehicle thefts down 26%. So in case there was any doubt as to the motivation behind Trump's military occupations,

Take note, 13 of the top 20 cities in homicide rate have Republican governors. None of these cities is Chicago. Eight of the top 10 states with the highest homicide rates are led by Republicans. None of those states is Illinois. Memphis, Tennessee, Hattiesburg, Mississippi have higher crime rates than Chicago. And yet Donald Trump is sending troops here and not there. Ask yourself why. If Donald Trump was actually serious about fighting crime in cities like Chicago, he, along with his congressional Republicans, would not be cutting over $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants nationally, including cutting $158 million in funding to Illinois for violence prevention programs that deploy trained outreach workers to de-escalate conflict on our.

streets. Cutting $71 million in law enforcement grants to Illinois direct money for police departments through programs like Project Safe Neighborhoods, the state and local anti-terrorism training program, and the Rural Violent Crime Reduction Initiative, cutting $137 million in child protection measures in Illinois that protect our kids against abuse and neglect. Trump is defunding the police. There's a reason why, under Donald Trump, during his first administration, too, you had the highest homicide rate, basically, in history. I mean, there is no method to the madness. There's just madness to the method, which is have the military on the streets to show dictatorship force while not actually addressing the root causes of crime.

and then actually exacerbating the root causes of crime by removing the grants and funding for cities and educational opportunities that exist to put people on a better path and a better direction. It's whether you're looking at Chicago or Philadelphia. I recently interviewed Larry Krasner. I'm going to drop that interview in the morning on Tuesday. Same thing. I mean, you look at Philadelphia, all of this funding that Biden, provided to improve the life of the city to help people get out and do things, right, which is a way

to have people avoid crime. Trump is gutting all of those things. Instead, spending hundreds of billions of dollars on ice to send people into concentration camps and then putting the military on the streets. Governor Walls also took aim at the coverage of what's taking place. Governor Wall speaking in Minnesota at a Democratic National Committee Summer Summit says, stop taking the freaking bait, media, stop taking it and focus on what's really happening here. Here, play this clip. But what we have to be clear about is, don't take the bait. It boggles my damn mind that in the midst of a military takeover our cities and the attempt

to go into others, the flaunting of the rule of law, the cruelness, and the unconstitutional nature of the way they're attacking our neighbors, that the press finds the need to talk about, oh, there's a division in the Democratic Party. There's a division in my damn house and we're still married and things are good. That's lie. That's why. We are strong because we challenge each other. We are strong because we're held accountable. We're strong because we believe that there's a place for everyone here. Think of how easy it would be to be a damn Republican. Oh, what should I wear today?

This stupid freaking red hat. What should I say today? I don't know. Just make sure it's cruel. Who do we listen to? That guy. Oh, the felon in the White House? Yeah, listen to him and that will be fine.

You know, it feels like these are some mightest touch speeches, huh? Brett and Jorny? You're on mute. I know you want to say something, but I just want to say also. You notice that we don't take the bait here at the Midas Touch podcast, right? Like, there's a reason why the stories we focus on are the stories we focus on, and without belaboring it too much and actually taking the bait. There's a reason we don't spend an hour speaking about Sidney,

or Cracker Bower, or whatever real distractions they're trying to throw at us, and we stay focused on the actual existential threats that are right in front of us, Jordan. Absolutely. Those clips get me fired up. Like, this is it. Like, that's the energy. And I don't know about y'all. I'm just sick of Dems taking toothpicks to night fights

because you know what happens when you take a toothpick to a knife fight? You get cut. And I'm just sick and tired of watching the Dems get cut. I'm sick and tired of watching the American people get cut. So like don't let yourself get bullied. You have to stick up for yourself. And in many cases now in 2025, be the bully. Because there's no reasoning with the Trump regime.

There's no reasoning with these mega-fascists. These are bad, bad people. And I'm not afraid to say it or call it out. You know, they want to make your life hell. They want to make your loved ones lives hell. Every single day, what they're trying to do is they're trying to make the world more unattainable for the average American while the rich get richer in the top 1%. Well, the government seems to be working really well for them. Kudos to Pritzker, man.

Kudos to Wals. Newsom, Jasmine Crockett, who's been doing it, Westmore. I mean, we need leaders who are going to get up there and fight for us because that's what people need in this moment. are fighters, and with each passing day, it becomes more and more clear who those folks are, in my opinion, Ben. Like, how is this normalized? This was from the end of last week, Donald Trump's in the Oval Office randomly with the head of FIFA again.

Like, again, like, this guy's going to show up, like, every week now. And I think the whole purpose of Trump inviting the head of FIFA was so Trump could steal the FIFA World Cup trophy. Trump already stole the FIFA Club World Cup trophy where he was booed in New Jersey. That's already in his office. Like he literally stole it. He took it. So FIFA had to give the winners a new trophy, like a fake trophy.

Trump has the real trophy. So anyway, Trump calls in the new head of FIFA who wasn't even going to give Trump the Trump. Trump's like, that's mine now. I'd like it. So it's now in the Oval Office. And then Trump goes, I was just sent a picture from somebody. who wants to be here very badly. Can you guess who it is, everybody?

And Trump is saying this right before Ukrainian Independence Day. And this is what gets Donald Trump off. And again, could you imagine Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, by you name it, holding up a photo with Putin. a genocidal dictator like, like as though you're in the honeymoon phase with your girlfriend. Hey, you see, you see Vladdy right here? Vladdy sent me this photo. Look at me and Vlad.

Watch Trump do it. Here, play this clip. And I just sent a picture from somebody that wants to be there very badly. He's been very respectful of me and of our country, but not so respectful of others. But he'll, I'm going to sign this for him, but I was sent one. And I thought you'd all like to see it. That's a man named Vladimir Putin, who I believe will be coming, depending on what happens. He may be coming and he may not, depending on what happens.

We have a lot of things happening over the next couple of weeks. But I thought it was a nice picture of him. Okay, that should be instantly game over. Right. I mean, if this was a normal functioning democracy in the United States, that right there should be game over. You know how Donald Trump, but by game over, I mean he should be removed from office. He should be impeached the 25th Amendment, whatever. You know how Donald Trump's like, Russia, Russia, Russia.

In 2016, they said Russia, Russia, Russia. Like their way to distract from the Epstein files right now is saying, Obama and everybody, they made up that I had this connection with Russia. What do you have to make up? You're in the Oval Office yesterday holding up a photo of you and Vladimir Putin. What you just did right there is frankly far worse than the world. worst things that could possibly have been in Russia, Russia, Russia, okay, which was real because we heard you then say, Russia, if you're listening, hack into my opponent's emails, but I just

saw it. It's like the same thing. Whatever the hell is in those Epstein files, and it must be horrific for Donald Trump. What just happened in front of our eyes, the Department of Justice giving Geelaine Maxwell a convicted sex trafficker, queen for the day immunity from future prosecutions, speak with her for two days, Donald Trump's former criminal defense attorney, and then after she says, I could barely remember, I miss, she was like Ms. Poppins, I miss Poppins, I could barely remember him. He was the perfect gentleman. I'm not even sure how I knew him. One of the parts that stood out to me, Ben, was, you know, this whole act that she put on with her little Mary Poppins bit when she was like, excuse me, do you know, sorry, I want to quote that

for you, but it's a bad word. Am I allowed to say a bad word in this room with you? It's a dirty word. I'm sorry. And they're like, yeah, you could say whatever you want, Ms. Maxwell. She's like, he said, fuck you. I was like, you're talking to a convicted sex trafficker. And I would say she's not playing you.

Like, you're all in on this ridiculous scheme. She's trying to act like Miss Goody Two Shoes. And she's saying all this good thing, all these good things about Trump. Like, that in and of itself is like worse. It's worse than the Alex Acosta sweetheart deal. from back in the day when Trump awarded the U.S. attorney back then and gave him a position in his administration during the first term for helping out Jeffrey Epstein with the sweetheart deal.

We're witnessing a sweetheart deal right now with Galane Maxwell, covering it up saying FU to the victims as they elevate this Galane Maxwell as like a source of truth, as like this all-knowing human who wouldn't dare say a lie about Donald Trump wouldn't dare say a lie. Meanwhile, everything that she says is obviously in direct contradiction to the actual court case, to even think she said during that court case, to what the victim said, to everything that we know because this has actually been in front of a jury and she was convicted on these charges. And that's why she is in prison in the first place. Like, how despicable is all this? She goes, she goes, to Epstein, he did nothing wrong. He didn't even like young. This is like almost verbat in the transcript. Yeah. I don't, I don't, he didn't like young girls. What he was. wanted to know as these were women on the younger age and he wanted to know what music they were

into so he could have his own musical selections. That's what this was about music. They just want to know what to help kids. Yes, they're young. And my point about why, how I'm weaving and connecting all of this, though, is that these things are happening in front of us right now, right? Trump is doing the Putin in front of us. Donald Trump, gave Delane Maxwell a deal moving her from Tallahassee to a minimum security facility in Bryan, Texas near Texas A&M's college campus. She gets a reward. Why are you, what did she do to get a reward? Oh, she said that Donald Trump didn't do anything. And then Donald Trump releases fake Epstein files. You know, it was in many ways what he did over the weekend was just as

bad, probably worse than when they held up the fake Epstein binder back in February. They just turned over 98% of documents, 33,000 documents that were already turned over. And like the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee led by Congressmember Garcia, like they hired a group of people to compare them and go, wait a minute. These were exactly everything that was released before. So they continued to do that. Again, these coverups in plain view right here. Oh, and by the way, at that camp, Brian, Texas, they moved a woman who was there legitimately to a facility where the sex traffics are because she spoke out about Delane Maxwell being there because the lady who was there had a family member who was the victim of sex trafficking. So she thought it was her obligation to

call out that a sex trafficker was moved there. And then she got moved to the bad facility. Ghilane got moved into the good facility. But you take a look at just even what Trump is saying today. This was Trump on Putin and saying, you know, the reporter was asking, well, look, Putin has not agreed to a ceasefire. Putin has not agreed to security guarantees, and Putin has not agreed to a bilateral or trilateral meeting with Zelensky. So all of the things you said he was going to do, not only is he not doing, he's basically saying he's never going to do. And if anything, the attacks on innocent Ukrainians have only escalated. So what are you going to do about it? And then Trump's like, well, the main concession that he made is that he went to a

Alaska. By the way, in Alaska right now, Trump's approval rating is that like 41%? And that was a Trump state. So people in Alaska are like, you're bringing Putin over here? Like, what the hell what the hell are you doing? Here's what Trump said this morning on Putin. Here, let's play it. Mr. President, when you met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, how soon did he say that he wanted to sit down with Ukrainian president Zelensky? Russia as have now says there's no meeting on the books and no agenda is set. Well, that's going to be up to them. It takes two to tango. I always say it. And they should meet, I think, before I have a meeting and probably close the deal. But I think it's appropriate they meet. They do not exactly get along well, as you can

understand. And I'm sure it's a meeting that perhaps he didn't like, but he wasn't happy about coming to the United States either. That was a big concession. And I appreciate the fact that he did. That was a big concession. That was giving the game away. Putin on American soil, claims Alaska may still be part of Russia. You have the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, wearing a USSR shirt mocking the United States. This was Russia after all of their history, which they view as being utterly humiliated and outmaneuvered by the United States, having their moment. This was their moment of Mr. Gorbachev tear down the wall. It was Putin and Lavrov coming into the United States for the ultimate Russian propaganda moment, giving absolutely nothing and having

the United States troops go down on their knees and roll out the red carpet for Putin. It could not have been a bigger victory. But again, corporate news, too afraid to report on that, too afraid to call Donald Trump a treasonous traitor for his behavior, too afraid to call him a felon, too afraid to call him a sexual abuser, too afraid to call him a loser and a bankrupter? How could anybody be with this? Like, that's the craziest part, even with the Alaska stat. What 41% of people in Alaska look at Putin going, or the remaining group of people, look at Putin and say, you know, you know what? I like that. Let's have more people coming in, mocking our country and potentially seize it.

Like who, yeah, I'm covering up for a convicted sex trafficker, making prices higher. I'm not going to believe my own eyes. I'm just going to believe what Donald Trump tells me. I want to talk about that and more. We've got to take our last quick break of the show. A reminder, become a member of our YouTube channel. It's one of the best ways to help us grow. You can gift memberships to as many people as you want.

It's hugely helpful. Lots of people can't afford it. So if you can gift people memberships, that's really, really helpful. We've got bonus features and extra content as well. Also, check out Midasplus.com while you're at it. Let's take our last quick break of the show. So you ever wake up and feel like your body just hit the snooze button on life? Yeah, same. Honestly, aging sneaks up on you in some wild ways. Whether it's a night out or a good workout, I just don't bounce back the way that I used to. One day, you're full of energy. The next

you're Googling how to stretch without pulling a muscle. I believe one of the best, aging breakthroughs of the last decade is qualicenolytic, and here's why. It's designed to help your body naturally eliminate something called senesin cells, also known as zombie cells. These are the ones that just hang around after they've stopped doing their job, draining your energy, and making you feel, well, old. Think joint discomfort, sluggish recovery, low energy, the whole deal. Qualicenolytic is a groundbreaking supplement made with nine plant-based nutrients, and you only take it two days a month. That's it. Since I started. taking it, I felt more energized, quicker to recover from workouts, and honestly, just more like

me again. Plus, Qualia's breakthrough formulation is vegan, non-G-MO, and tested by leading scientists. Experience the science of feeling younger. Go to qualilife.com slash mitus for up to 50% off your purchase and use code Midas for an additional 15%. That's Q-U-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-E-I-D-S for that extra 15% off. Your older self, We'll thank you. And thanks to Qualia for sponsoring this episode. Look, starting a new business can be intimidating. I get it.

My DisTouch Network was not built overnight. You need the tools to help you engage in the day-to-day tasks, the growth. And so it's why we use Shopify. It made things easy for us. And I think you should use Shopify too. So Shopify is a commerce platform. It is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around. the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the United States, from household names like Mattel and

Jim Shark to brands like the Midas Touch Network. Get started with your own design studio with hundreds of ready-to-use templates. Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand. Style, accelerate your content creation. Shopify is packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography. Get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. Even if you don't. create email and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling to the Midas Touch network and best yet Shopify is your commerce expert and with its world class expertise and everything for managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns

and beyond you can count on Shopify if you're ready to sell you're ready for Shopify so turn your big business idea into boom boom boom boom boom with Shopify on your side. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.com slash Midas. Go to Shopify.com slash Midas. One more time, that's Shopify.com slash Midas. This episode of the Midas Touch podcast is brought to you by Graza, my new favorite olive oil. What makes it so good? It's fresh. Never blended and made from a single type of olive, the Pequal, grown in high in Spain, which produces over half. half of the world's olive oil. Let me tell you why Graza stands out. First, single origin goodness.

One olive, one region. That means no mystery blends and no water down lower grade oils, just a pure, traceable, fresher product. Second, the squeeze and spray bottles are legit game changers. No more messy tins or dripping spouts. Just aim, squeeze, and go. And finally, they've got three types for any task. Frizzle with a higher 490 degree Fahrenheit smoke point, perfect for frying, crisping, and grilling, sizzle at 410 degrees Fahrenheit, your go-to everyday cooking oil for roasting, marinating, and sauteing, and drizzle a bold, punchy finishing oil that's perfect on salads, breads, or even ice cream if you want to get fancy like I do. Personally, what I love most is that as a busy guy who loves to cook, the squeeze and spray bottle makes everything easier, whether I'm roasting veggies or just whipping up a quick marinade, zero mess and full flavor. Plus, you get 10% off your first order when you order on Graza's site. I personally recommend the trio.

That's all three bottles, sizz, frizzle, and drizzle, so you're covered for every style of cooking. So head to graza.co and use code Midas to get 10% off of trio, which includes sizz, frizzle, and drizzle, and drizzle. And get to cooking your next chef quality meal. That's MEI-DAS. Let's go. Shout to our sponsors.

There's links in description of both the YouTube and the audio. Use the links, use the codes. If there's an exit survey, let them know we sent you. That graza can't speak more highly of it, Brett. Amazing stuff. Benji, where to next? So Trump is sitting there today in the Oval Office with the trophies that he's stolen, with the gold offerings that were given to him as essentially, in my opinion, bribes by corporations.

And he's there with the president of South Korea. So naturally, Donald Trump talks about how much he loves the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. Here, play this clip. Kim Jong-un wants to meet. When do you want to meet with him? Do you? Do you want to have a meeting? I like to have a meeting. I get along great with him. You know, you were there. We even had a press conference. He had his first press conference. Kim Jong-un had a press conference. This was a little different press conference.

It's one of the things to note as well that since that press conference, North Korea has accelerated. Its nuclear program has more nuclear capabilities than ever before. Donald Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-un a total failure. I mean, again, you look at what Donald Trump did by striking Iran other than potentially trying to benefit Donald Trump personally so he can feel tough about himself, helping Netanyahu try to delay the criminal proceedings against him. It didn't hurt Iran. Trump. basically remove the sanctions against Iran, encourage them to do more oil deals with China. Iran's been able to get way more money. The enriched uranium wasn't destroyed by the United States.

The facilities are mostly fine and they're able to rebuild. They're giving more Shahid drones to Russia to attack innocent Ukrainians and kill innocent Ukrainians. And you go back to right before Donald Trump attack, the attack of Iran. Remember what Donald Trump said, he was speaking with Vladimir Putin who wanted to help mediate. Think about who was

the winner in the strikes against Iran, Iran, Putin, China, Netanyahu personally, and not Israel as a country, and not the Middle East at all. But those were who actually benefited from that. Donald Trump

then claims that Westmore, the governor of Maryland, the one time they met, praised Trump and said how great Trump is and that you're the greatest president. You'll play this clip. Baltimore is a horrible, horrible deathbed. It's a deathbed. I know Governor Moore said, oh, he wants to take a walk with me. He mentioned it a derogatory tone. I said, no, no, I'm the president of the United States. Clean up your crime and I'll walk with you. But it's tremendous crime. But he was trying to be derogatory. He doesn't have what it takes. But he's trying to be derogatory and I met him at the Army Navy game. They said, oh, there's Governor Moore. He'd love

to see you. He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand. You were there. He said, sir, you're the greatest president of my lifetime. I said, it's really nice that you say that. I'd love you to say it publicly, but I don't think you can do that so it's okay. But no, sir, you're doing a fantastic job. I want to just shake your hand. Thank you very much, Governor. That was that. There's actually footage of that entire interaction. Interestingly, Fox published, that footage, but then they told their audience, so who are you going to believe the footage or Westmore when the footage literally confirms that that's not what happened? We have the footage. Here, play it. Knocking the hell out of him, Westmore is posting on social media saying

that President Trump can't walk, but maybe he should walk the streets of Baltimore. It didn't take him long to respond to the president there in the Oval Office. He said, L.O.L. Keep telling yourself that, Mr. President. It'd be wild, though. If only we had the footage that President Trump had referenced about the meeting at the Army Navy game. And thanks to the art of the surge on Fox Nation, we have the footage. The President's, welcome back to Maryland, sir. Welcome back to Maryland.

It's good to see you. It's a good person, too. Thank you, sir. Great to see you. And great to have you back here. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Well, we are very, very anxious to be able to work closely with you and

I know I know the key bridge is something that we're So does that go? It's going well. I mean, we spoke to Speaker Johnson yesterday, and Speaker Johnson says he believes them close to the 100% cost share. And the thing is I told them, when we get that 100 cost share done, we are going to be able to open the key bridge under your watch because I will have it done in 28.

All the time on budget. We'll help you out. Thank you, sir. We didn't hear their greatest president ever, but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm and so excited to meet you, Mr. President. Who's telling the truth? we'll let you decide we'll let you decide we we actually have the footage now you could argue that was early on in the trump regime that governor westmore was at least trying to strike a

conciliatory tone and wasn't like f you whereas right now governor more is ready to fight and he's out there clearly um being you know way more aggressive than that but we we we have the footage, right? Like, like, we literally have the tape. But I guess as Donald Trump said, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his people would be like, oh, you didn't do it. You didn't do it. Yeah, there was a, there was a, I think a lot of people thought that social media on the internet would be used for good when it was getting started that, you know, and then there were at the beginning, you know, there was a lot of these kind of democratic uprisings and authoritarian places. And it seemed like, oh, the social media could actually be used for

for democracy and for good. Fortunately, the bad guy. got a hold of all of it and they took over all the platforms and uh and you have all this propaganda media out there right now that is just feeding this bullshit to people every single day and so there's no concept of truth at all with these people um they don't they're not viewing anything through any sort of objective lens their view is how do we help Donald Trump here and they could tell you just like a 1984 what you're seeing is not actually what is happening don't believe you're lying eyes and that's basically the entirety of Fox at this point maybe except for like Jessica guitar law. It's the entirety of these influencers online. And it doesn't matter if they held one

position one day and a different position the next day. Like you saw Charlie Kirk a few weeks ago was posting about how dare we have all these Chinese students in our universities. This is an invasion of our schools and da-da-da-da-da-da. And what did Donald Trump say today that he was going to allow 600,000 Chinese students to come into the United States? And Charlie Kirk, without showing any sense of hypocrisy, you know, not acting like he's being hypocritical at all will change his mindset like immediately and go, this is a genius idea by Donald Trump. The same way like he did with the Epstein files when at first he was like, I don't know about this guys, I'm going to talk. And you got his little phone call from Donald Trump. And suddenly he's now, okay, I got my message.

I got my marching orders. I know what to do here. We're under not only an authoritarian regime of governance, but an authoritarian media. And we are being propagandized every single. single day. And these people, for whatever reason, the MAGA people, and at the end of the day, I don't know who's worse. Like, who's worse in this situation? Is it Donald Trump? Or is it these people like the Foxes, like the Charlie Kirk's, like the Megan Kelly's, like all these various kind of MAGA propagandists who are willingly and knowingly spreading these lies every day and telling people that they shouldn't be concerned about the Epstein files, telling people the complete opposite of what is actually going on. I think you can make an argument that those people

are even more evil because without them, Donald Trump simply does not exist, but he is built on these platforms which so division, so hatred, and spread lies all day long. Yeah, but also the reality is they're all terrible. They're all just awful people, awful human beings, if you could even call them now, and they all work together. And that's why to a certain degree, I'm very conflicted on how I feel about this. We're all adults, right? You should be able to know right from wrong by the time that you're an adult. At the same time, there is a trillion dollar propaganda arm that gets fed literally,

and for the audio listeners, I'm holding my phone, literally directly beamed into your eyes 24-7 between Fox News, the New York Post, the algorithms on X, you name it, face, wherever you are, that trillion-dollar propaganda arm is hitting you. And it prays to your worst in a bitch. It just, it just praise on you. And it's a sticky thing for people too, right? Because it's a dopamine hit. And so I'm very conflicted about the MAGA base in general.

Because again, at a certain point, you're an adult. You have to make the decision in your life. Hey, is this the right decision? Is it a wrong decision? Is it a morally bankrupt decision? Am I going to go out and back the guy that is truly an awful human? being, that being Donald Trump, or am I going to be able to step away from that and realize, no, I know right from wrong. It's tough for me because that trillion dollar propaganda arm,

you know, these folks, folks, they're just not built to withstand it. So I sympathize, but I also get so angry that you can allow yourself to get sucked in by it at the same token, Brad and Ben. Let me give you these two examples to close out this episode strong using a logical-based approach. the way media should cover things. So first up, Abrago Garcia, right? He's the guy from Maryland. He was, he had a protected status that just said, you can't move him to El Salvador.

You can move him to any other country. He worked in a union there. He had an American wife, American kids. He's been here since he was basically 16 years old. He's been checking in. of that society, according to all the people who worked with him. I'm not here to defend Abrago Garcia's character, but I am here to defend due process. There was an order that said, don't send him to El Salvador.

They send him to a concentration camp in El Salvador. The Supreme Court says, bring him back here. They don't bring him back here at first. And finally, before all the Trump people are held in contempt for what they did by various federal judges, They then bring him to Tennessee and then prosecute him for a traffic stop from 2022, where he was let off, I think, without even a ticket. And they call him a human traffic smuggler. And they're accusing him of basically driving a car with other people who are going to work. And they're almost acting like he's a sex trafficker.

They use that terminology, human trafficker. They then post images of himself, of Abrago. This was from today, the White House account, MS-13. Just think about tainting the jury pool. Like, bottom line, if you want to prove that he's a gang member who shouldn't be here, follow the process. If you want to argue that he's a human trafficker, well, then surely you will have the trial take place in Tennessee. You'll introduce evidence and you'll prove your case. But no, that's not what you want to do because as soon as he was released temporarily,

earlier today when he went back with his family in this incredible moment because the judges are like there's no evidence against him we're going to release him until his criminal trial takes place in tennessee let him be with his family ice immediately arrests him and because he refused to plead guilty to the charges they were trying to shake him down they said if you plead guilty we'll let you go to costa rica and you can have a you can live your life in costa rica we won't bother you. But if you don't plead guilty, we're going to send you to Uganda.

Uganda doesn't even want him. He has no connection to Uganda. So they then arrest him today so he doesn't get a trial and then ship him to Uganda. And then at the Oval Office press conference, Pam Bondi said the following about him today. Here, play this clip.

He beat the hell out of his wife. His wife is afraid to even talk about him. She's been mauled by this animal. And, you know, through a system of liberal courts, you know, he's doing things. But no, we have that under control. And Pam has got that very much under control. Do you want to comment on it? No, no, we got him under control.

He will no longer terrorize our country. He's currently charged with human smuggling, including children. The guy needs to be in prison. He doesn't need to be on the streets like all these liberals want him to be. First off, it was a Trump immigration judge in 2019 that gave the protected status to Abrago Garcia, but said, you want to deport him to any other country other than El Salvador, do it. So that's what the Trump immigration judge said. And now, after the Supreme Court said facilitate his return, rather than allow him to even have his trial in Tennessee,

they want to ship him to Uganda. Now, again, do I don't know Abrago's background. I don't know him personally. Again, I'm not here to say Abrego is a great guy or a bad guy. But as a lawyer or just as a human being, I say Abrago, if you're going to charge him, allow him to have the process and charge him. If you're going to deport him to deport him to some country that he has some connection to. Costa Rica says they're willing to take him. Why are you sending him to Uganda other than you want to be.

cruel and unusual in your punishment. So to me, that's just a perfect example where the issues should be crystallized very easy and objectively on what we're dealing with. It's not a confusing issue if you care about our American system of justice. Brett, and then I'll go into the next one. And if you could, and if they could do this to Abrago Garcia, they could do this to anybody, right? I think that's the thing that, you know, you might think, well, how would this affect me? Well, you see the federal government in a really dystopian 1984 style fashion, just labeling this person as a gang member, calling them MS-13, putting all this stuff out there. But when it comes time to file an indictment, to try to actually try the case in court, they're not doing any of that. And once you have a government that could take it upon itself to say, you are a gang member, you are an evil human being, you are a terrorist.

This is the language. They called him a terrorist. You are a terrorist. You're a gang member, your MS-13, so you need to go. We're sending you to a torture chamber. Then they could do that to any of us. And all we want here at this show, and I think a lot of people who are listening to the show and watching this show want is to have due process rights because it's one of the bedrocks of our democracy. So you have that. Okay. To me, basic issue. Next issue, Russia bad, right? Russia bad. But it's even more than that. Like Donald Trump and the media have been saying now for all of this time that there are these deals and ceasefires and if there's no ceasefire, Donald Trump's going to be tough and that Russia's agreed to security guarantees and bilateral or trilateral meetings with Zelensky. They've agreed to none of it. It just hasn't happened. Like that's just not the facts. Not only has that not happened, but Russia has hit American factories in Ukraine. like the chamber of commerce president from the united states is like they're humiliating our businesses

this company called flex it makes electronics russia targeted in an area in western ukraine that's very close to the u border intentionally to show we don't give a shit if it's american we're going to go and attack like it's the ultimate statement by russia to show its dominance over america oh how is this not the biggest or could you imagine if when Biden was there or whoever, Russia attacked an American company on purpose. Now, do you think that Sergei Lavrov, I was having a conversation with my wife about what happened and she's not necessarily following all the ins and out. And she goes, what?

So is Russia, as Russia, they're saying they didn't do it, right? Like they're saying it didn't happen and they're blaming what a mistake. I go, no, no, no. Lavrov went on American media and said, we did it. Of course, we did it. What you don't understand? We do what we want to do. Here, watch Labrov right here.

Let's play it. This week, Russia bombed an American-owned factory near the Hungarian border. I've spoken to people who frankly see that as a slap in the face to President Trump to the entire peace process, isn't it? Well, I would say that those who are sincerely interested in understanding what is going. going on, would know, should know by now that never ever Russia deliberately targeted any sites which are not linked to military abilities of Ukraine. This is an electronics factory, though, sir.

This is an electronics factory. I've spoken to people on the ground there. It builds coffee machines, among other electronics. This is not a military site. Well, I understand that some people are really naive, and when they see a coffee machine in the window, they believe that this is the place where coffee machines are produced. Our intelligence has very good information. Well, it's not a slap in the face to Donald Trump.

It is an act of war. He wasn't denying it. He was saying, I don't think that it actually makes electronics. He wasn't saying it wasn't an American factory. he was saying that Russia deliberately targeted an American factory because they believe that American factory was helping Ukraine. So we attacked an American factory. So surely J.D. Vance, the vice president, would be enraged.

How could this possibly be an issue that doesn't enrage you? Here's what J.D. Vance said. But was President Trump, were you enraged when you learned that Russia targeted an American company based in Ukraine? I don't like it, Kristen, I don't like it, Kristen, but this is a war, and this is why we want to stop the killing. The Russians have done a lot of things that we don't like. A lot of civilians have died. We've condemned that stuff from the get-go, and frankly, President Trump has done more to apply pressure and to apply economic leverage to the Russians, certainly than Joe Biden did for three and a half years

when he did nothing but talk, but do nothing to bring the killing to a stop. First off, the strikes against Ukraine right now, have doubled or tripled under Donald Trump. Donald Trump has removed sanctions. Donald Trump and his regime, led by people like Colby Elbridge and the Defense Department, have limited and rejected the ability of Ukraine to launch various strikes against Russia. America at various points in time have withheld weapons from Ukraine. And so it's a blame Biden when Biden brought two new members into NATO, what could be a more powerful counterpunch to Russia's aggression than bringing in Finland and Sweden into NATO?

What could be a more powerful move than expanding NATO and imposing strong sanctions? And then this is war. I mean, have we lost the moral compass? that we can't even acknowledge that this isn't even like a big story, right? Russia attacked America and America just took it right on Ukrainian independent, right around Ukraine independence day after rolling out the red carpet for Putin. How is it not being said the way I'm saying it? Like how is that just something normal? And so contrast that finally to Prime Minister Carney so we can see what leadership actually looks like

as the prime minister of Canada shows up in Ukraine on Ukrainian Independence Day and behaves like an adult leader like this is what actual leader we should have someone here who's like smart and intelligent who speaks in full sentences who's not decomposing before our eyes this is prime minister Carney let's play when peace comes we must fortify Ukraine by rebuilding your cities expanding your industries, developing your resources, and creating the foundations for true prosperity. And when that piece comes, and it will come, that day will come, Canada will be there. To close, Mr. President, in the last of those paintings I referred to, those Kuralik paintings, the one with the Ukrainian farmer amidst a Canadian field of plenty, a keen eye can see

in the distance, a mushroom cloud, a bomb. It's a reminder that peace, when it comes, can never be taken for granted. And it's a reminder to Canadians that we are connected. That your fight is our fight. That your struggle is our cause. And that your independence will be our victory. And vive the Canada. That's what should be happening here.

That's what a leader should be doing. That's why I wanted to close this episode with this. Brett, anything before we go? No, I'll say, you know, if we're able to get out from under the weight of everything that we are currently experiencing, the next, you know, Democratic leader is going to have a whole lot ahead of them to clean up. And there's a lot of destruction, a lot of time bombs. that Trump and this administration have set a lot of legal activity that they have conducted and continued to conduct. So I hope whoever a future administration, if and when we get there,

is able to fight back and combat it and make sure that these people are held accountable. We've been talking about a lot of heavy stuff. I think maybe should make a positive announcement here on the Midas Touch podcast for everybody. So brothers, well, you guys know this. Imagine if I told you this for the first time on the show. So I'm, I'm, having a kid. I'm really, you know, excited, anxious, all the feeling, all the things, all the feelings, all the emotions. So I truly don't know when it's going to happen. I'm in that crazy waiting period. So it's a boy for those wondering. And that's all I'm going to tell you for now. But they say this too about Brett. Brett is the secretive brother. I share every time I have like a toothache and root

canals and back pains and herniated discs. I just spew it all out. Brett, this can happen at any day now, and you've, you've kept in close to the second, any minute. I have quite literally, yeah. So not only my telling the mightest, mighty, and telling everybody, because I do view this community as family, but it's literally, it could happen in any moment. So, you know, I will likely be here Thursday, but like, we went to the doctor the other day, and he's, you know, he said that it could happen at basically any time at this point. So if I'm not here, you know why.

And I want to thank everybody. I see all the, you know, nice. wishes coming on in through the live chat so thank you guys i i really appreciate it um but yeah so big news i'm super excited um and you know it gives gives me all the more reason you know to continue to continue to fight continue to push forward um but i thought you know we've been speaking about a lot of a lot of not so great news so i thought i'd share some good news with you and i know if i suddenly vanish one day and you wonder where's bre i haven't seen brett on instagram today or i haven't seen him on could be mid-episode could just be mid-stream legitimately that's how close we are so it legitimately

could be like that if you see me just run off the screen um so yeah so thanks everybody for the kind wishes and uh and we'll keep you posted but but very very exciting and i'm super psyched for uh you know for us the you know the cousins man we're gonna have some cousins we're going to be close and best buds and so i'm i'm looking forward to that so secrets out love it secrets out let's go what a way to end the show Please, if you haven't yet, add the Midas Touch podcast on audio, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast. Please add the Midas Touch podcast. Give us a five-star review. Leave a comment.

Let us know. Congratulations, Brett, on the exciting news. Let's go. Super. I love this community. Y'all are the best. Shout out to the Midas Mighty. The Midas Mighty standing strong.

Against the fascists, we sing our song. We will get it right whenever. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscribers for our substack at Midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcasts, and more exclusive content only available at Midasplus.com.