The MeidasTouch Podcast - Nicolle Wallace on Restoring Normalcy to Government

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the latest news out of Iran after Trump pushed the United States into war and now wants to pretend we aren’t in war and Meiselas speaks with MSNBC Host Nicolle Wallace about the week’s developments and her new podcast “The Best People.” Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! 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 The Influence Continuum: 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 Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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these strikes on Iran. Here's what he's posting. Great unity in the Republican party, perhaps unity like we have never seen before. What the hell does that even mean? Now let's get the great big beautiful bill done. Our country is doing great. Maga, explanation point, like the Pied Piper of destruction.

Let me just spark a fire in the Middle East, embroil the United States of America in a war with Israel against Iran, and then let me run back and pretend that that's not happening, and now let me take away health care from 15 million people. Here's the thing too, that as we get more intelligence about these strikes in the Middle East, even the New York Times is reporting right now that while the strike on the Iranian nuclear sites seemed to have caused damage, it did not destroy the Fordow nuclear site. They still have their enriched uranium, and now they'll seem more likely to use it for weaponization and weapons-grade enriched uranium.

You have Ayatollah Khomeini's advisor saying that Iran's enriched uranium remains despite US attacks. You can take that for what it's worth. But you also have high-ranking Iranian sources right now who are saying that the Trump team gave advance notice of the bombings of nuclear sites and were insisting that, hey, these are just one-offs, one-offs, kind of like when Trump killed Soleimani, kind of like a symbolic attack so Trump can look tough. But that's not how Iran is perceiving it.

I mean, they're perceiving this as war, and I know that Donald Trump wants to talk about everything else. But again, this is not normal behavior right here. I had the opportunity to interview Nicole Wallace from MSNBC, and we talked about normalcy, and we talked about why this second Trump administration, I called the regime is so problematic. I'm also appearing on Nicole Wallace's Podcasts I want to show you in a moment what Nicole Wallace and I had to had to say I want to show you this though Right here. Here's what Democratic Senator Adam Schiff had to say. I just want to show you the contrast Here's what he had to say play this this clip. In terms of is there anything

positive to come out of it, yes. I mean the destruction of these facilities is a positive in the sense that it will set back Iran's program and look this is a nefarious regime that is a the preeminent state sponsor of terror should have never been pursuing a nuclear program But it is very possible and I think we have to anticipate Iran now kicks out any inspectors it leaves the non-proliferation treaty And if it wasn't in a sprint for a bomb it is now going to engage in a sprint for the bomb so a lot of uncertain

finally to engage in a sprint for the bomb. So a lot of uncertain... Finally, this was not constitutional, was not lawful in the absence of a declaration by Congress. And so the administration should have come to Congress. We will have a vote on a war powers resolution. But there's a reason to bring this to Congress. And it is you want the Congress bought in, you want the American people bought in on an action this substantial that could lead to a major outbreak of war. And now contrast that to Ron Johnson, MAGA Republican Senator from Wisconsin, who says that he doesn't care that he didn't get notice about the strikes, even though Congress is supposed to have notice of the strikes.

Play this clip. Well, I don't know how anybody could have been surprised at strikes. Play this clip. I didn't need notice. I've been saying for over a week. It'll be the president's decision I will support that decision because we cannot allow Iran the largest state sponsor terror To become a nuclear power and that's they wanted to be All right. Now, let me bring in my interview with Nicole Wallace. You're not gonna want to miss this I think she lays it all out. So perfectly here play this clip. I'm joined by Nicole Wallace, host of MSNBC's Deadline White House and the new MSNBC podcast, The Best People with Nicole Wallace. Me and my brothers will be appearing on that podcast. It drops on Monday. Nicole, such an honor to have you here on the Midas Touch Network. Great to see you. It's such a privilege. I've listened to so many of your podcasts

and to be on one is a treat. I wanna talk about normalcy. Now, one of the things you highlight on the best people, although I'm not necessarily sure how normal me and my brothers are, but navigating these very abnormal times. Navigating these very abnormal times. Like you've covered wars before as a reporter,

one of the most solemn obligations as the president, as a commander in chief is war powers and dealing with war and communicating to the public about what that means and putting troops on the ground, what that means in terms of our military commitments. And, um, Americans are obviously very uneasy when it comes to war. We need to understand what's happening.

As someone who's covered this as a legend in the field, what are you, what's your response? You know, I've really tried to come into the second Trump presidency as a newly curious student of Trump and, and at best he is a guy doing a bit, right. And this bit that he does in front of the people that he's using as props is this bit of American president, you know, at war. And what's so tragic and what I can't get out

of my own mental slideshow is Donald Trump standing with John Kelly at Arlington, incapable of comprehending why someone would fight and die for their own country. And so if you go to the most basic thing that his job is really about, it's about being the commander in chief, sitting atop the chain of command of the greatest military in the world, full of men and women who love this country so much,

they would die for it. It makes most people cry, even if it's not the choice they make. To Trump, it's something in his own telling. He can't get his brain around. Didn't want to go and visit veterans of World War I they make. To Trump, it's something in his own telling. He can't get his brain around. Didn't want to go and visit veterans of World War I when he was in France.

Believes that people who are captured are losers and suckers. Believes that people who are injured in the line of duty shouldn't be seen in military events. All that reporting has been done by the Atlantic and other places. And so to hear him do his bit about it is trivializing the gravest part of the job.

But to think about him actually in this capacity as the country's only commander in chief is tragic. It's really one of the most tragic parts of having him back as president. You know, and he is doing this bit that is directed at a certain audience and really a certain audience only here in the United States because the bit doesn't, the shtick doesn't work internationally

and we live in a globalized world. So when you start to say, oh, Xi Jinping called me and he begged me and said, and said, is this embarrassing that I'm giving you a call Donald that I said to Xi Jinping? This is not an embarrassing thing. I'm glad you called me. And then Xi Jinping's like, that never happened. I'm not calling you.

What in the world are you even talking about? Or when Donald Trump goes, I negotiated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. I did it, I mediated it. And Modi's like, you didn't, you had nothing to do with, what are you talking about? And by the way, let's have a meeting in the G7 to talk about it.

I mean, you had all these countries that had very important meetings with Donald Trump lined up for Tuesday, the second day of the G7. Anthony Albanese in Australia, because they have to figure out what the heck is happening with AUKUS, the Australia, UK, US trilateral deal. And Trump doesn't even know what AUKUS stands for.

Trump just doesn't show up on Tuesdays. He screws Modi, he screws Albanese, he screws President Claudia Sheinbaum, and all of these people. Yeah, and they're all just moving beyond him. But like, his bit though, is causing I think people to, to move away from America right now. That's what I'm seeing. Well, and listen, I, I worked for a president who became unpopular, in a very different way than Trump did,

but unpopular all the same. And it had, at its genesis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the thing that made the American people so unhappy and uncomfortable was, one, the tragedy and the reality of war, two, the predicates for particularly the Iraq War, but three, being isolated on the world stage. Americans hate going it alone. And what you just articulated is American isolationism by design.

Trump has designed an America that is totally apart from all of our allies by walking away from the greatest alliance, the greatest peacekeeping alliance, the world in human history, NATO. And I think the idea that he is opting out of America's alliances, which men and women fought and died for, is very discomforting to a vast majority of Americans. There's a lot of propaganda right now happening in the US. It feels sometimes in our coverage here, like we're living in North Korea with some stuff that I see out there. And whether it's independent media or the growth of digital media, I think is playing a major part in filling a void. I know that you're leaning heavily

into doing more things on digital. The launch of the podcast, The Best People, was also kind of part of that effort to not just have the audience engage with you on the incredible show you do on Amazon VC, to meet people on these other kind of growing platforms. Can you speak to how you see the evolution of the media right now and kind of how you're adapting in that environment to get out this truthful information to the people? So I, you know, a big sports house, my son plays baseball, my husband's covered baseball, we're big baseball fans.

And sometimes we sit with the scouts, and there are always scouts from other teams scouting the competition. And I think the pro-democracy side in the mainstream media, legacy media, stopped scouting the threats to democracy. They thought they were above them. And I think the attraction that certainly your audience

and mine has to the content that we put out that holds, that calls a lie a lie, that says bullshit when bullshit's the only word that accurately describes the nonsense coming out of a MAGA politician. You have to understand what the other side is doing to beat them at the ballot box. And I went and spent some time with folks close to Obama right after the election.

And he said, none of the conversations about who we're going to be when we grow up matter if you don't, if you can't win, if you can't appeal to a majority of Americans. And so I think scouting what the anti-democratic, the threats to democracy, scouting what they've done with content, how they've made disinformation and misinformation feel like a club people wanna be a part of is an imperative lesson. And the community you guys have created is,

I think the first answer, it's the front line. You're so quick, you watch Fox News, you have a dispassionate takedown of that, which is absolute nonsense and disinformation. And then you get to the truth and you do it in a way that is so sticky. People come to you, they come to you all day. They come to you for breaking news. They come to you when they know you have new content.

And I think that's the model. That's how you win the future. That's how you keep the country a democracy. Talk to us about the types of guests you're going to have on the best people. Obviously, we're on it on Monday, but who are you looking to have on the show and what sets this podcast apart from other podcasts that are out there? Well, first, I would say I'm learning some open to suggestions, but there are a group of people that, you know, I think if you get to do what we get to do, you get to talk to our listeners and our audiences,

you have to make sure that you're still growing and cracking your mind open. So I love talking to Doc Rivers about, he lived in a battleground state, he leads men, he leads some of the most elite athletes in the country, and he knows a lot about leadership. And I think there's something completely transferable between leadership in sports and leadership in a civic context.

So I talked to Doc this week. It's also the last week of a very exciting final series in the NBA. I talked to Sarah Jessica Parker, who is known for the iconic character, Carrie Bradshaw, someone she's played for three decades. But she cares so deeply about literacy and libraries and social security. And she grew up, you know, she would say, not wanting for anything, but really benefiting from things that were made available to everyone

through public libraries, through benefit systems. And so she's very, very cognizant of how reckless the entire Trump cabinet is and how they talk about all those things. I talked to Rachel Meadow, who's my North Star professionally, my friend and my colleague, Kara Swisher, who's so smart about this space. And really, I feel like I ask the most advice of people like Kara and and you and your brothers because

This is where I think I think if you study where autocratic movements have failed They fail on the pro-democracy side bands together and realizes that they're stronger together We are not in competition with one another it is our job in this moment If we care about the country and we care about the democracy, to lift each other up, just to learn best practices from one another, from the content you create. I'm totally inspired to go back to watching Fox News. From the conversations you have with your brothers,

I realized that people really want to hear you work things out with people you know and trust, where you can maybe debate and argue, but you all want the same things for the country. So I think the podcast is about some of the best people I've come across some of the best content I've consumed, and really trying to learn out loud. You know, there's actually a lot in common that the country has. When you think about it, there's about 65 to 70%

of the country agrees on actually most things. So it's like, how did we get here? Most people want common sense, gun reform. Most people support women's reproductive rights. Most people support having a job that pays wages with dignity. Most people, you go down the list of all of these. Most people do want there to the list of all of these.

Most people do want there to be a border, that's a strong border, but believe that there should be paths to citizenship of people who are working hard and don't wanna see people disappearing off the street. And people hate to see masked individuals walking around neighborhoods and going into Home Depot, parking lots and restaurants,

disappearing human beings off the streets. And you know, you see videos like this, the LA Times put this one together. I want to show you because right now, as we're doing this interview, there are masked federal agents and people who are deputized by them as well, who we don't even know who the hell they are, wearing masks out of a horror movie, going into businesses in America here in California and across the country, doing stuff like this. Here, I'll show you this first and arresting American citizens here. Let's play this. Several people were running upwards. Wilton's place. I informed them that ICE agents were around the area. They were aware of that and then that's when an SUV pulled up, came out. Two agents tackled down a individual with no questions. They placed his face into the dirt, physically apprehending him.

You know there, Nicole, they're going after street vendors in LA. Like the people who are selling the hot dogs by the Home Depot and the people who are selling the fruit. You know, they had masked agents in front of Dodger Stadium and the Dodgers wouldn't let them in and then they acted like they were just hanging out at Dodger Stadium. And I look at that and I go, I go, that's wrong. I said, I don't care what political party you are.

Like that's wrong. Yeah, nobody wants that. And I think that the success that the MAGA movement had in turning people against people in this country illegally is a completely overblown mandate. It's not what people wanted. People wanted illegal, people in this country illegally who had committed crimes, who had received due process,

who were adjudicated criminals to be sent out of our country. Nobody was asked if they wanted masked law enforcement people throwing sitting senators to the ground, let alone people who've been racially profiled. I mean, the racial profiling, because it's such an obvious piece of it, maybe doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. But imagine the terror of being brown in America right now, even if you're a child, you are subject to being hunted.

I mean, that video you just played was someone being hunted on the streets of an American city for we're not aware of any Crime that they committed right there's no But the whole tenant of law enforcement is you're not even allowed to pull someone over unless you have probable cause that a crime was committed it is now probable cause to hunt someone down while wearing a mask and Potentially wrestle them to their stomach on the ground and then handcuff them It is now probable cause to hunt someone down while wearing a mask and potentially wrestle them to their stomach on the ground and then handcuff them without any knowledge of their status. They have no knowledge of that person's immigration status.

None. So I think that people, I want to believe that nobody wants this. It is possible that other than Stephen Miller, there are some people in the MAGA movement that want this, but this is not what Trump campaigned on. And this is not what his mandate extends to. And finally, Nicole, last weekend, we saw those massive no Kings protests

and it's juxtaposition to Donald Trump's disastrous dictator parade. And I think the split screen you saw there of millions and millions of Americans peacefully protesting for freedom and for the love of this country, and then that miserable, sulking, inconsolable Donald Trump upset that the military parade

was a disaster and no one was really showing up. I gotta get your take on all of that. I saw a few minutes of Jon Stewart and he had some audio of a tank squeaking and I just thought that encapsulates it, right? We're showing the world that our tanks squeak and I don't know if it was real or not. But look, I think it's sad for the military

that Trump has made them so partisan that a parade is turned into something that is only about Trump. And I think that there are two victims here. I mean, one is the integrity of the military, which should never be impugned by any president. And Trump has sort of crossed red line after red line after red line

and thrust them into the middle of his narcissistic politics and policies and designs by having them parade through the streets of DC on the 79th birthday. The other is, you know, from the ridiculous to the sublime. I mean, the protests were amazing. And to have that kind of turnout in the morning of a terrifying political assassination in Minnesota was stunning. I mean, just stunning. That people understood it was a reality

to be targeted for murder based on your political beliefs. And they went out in the millions and millions and millions and millions in cities and states from the bluest parts of our country to the reddest parts of our country is absolutely stunning and inspiring. cities and states from the bluest parts of our country to the reddest parts of our country is absolutely stunning and inspiring. And it gives me hope.

Well, it gives me hope that we've got people like you out there who are delivering the news. And I love that you're expanding now into the podcast space with the best people with Nicole Wallace. I'm glad to be considered one of those. Oh, I love talking to all three of you. I love, you guys are, I mean, in the way you guys kind of jump in

and finish each other's sentences. I have two sisters and I call them. I'm like, we have to do something together. These guys are so cute. They're had people, people love you guys so much. And I felt so lucky to get to talk to all of you. The Biden sisters. I mean, I, I'll have to have some talks with some of the folks at MSNBC.

See if there can be a collab along those. How great would that be if you did the Midas brother version with you and your two sisters? It would be incredible. With you guys. That would be fun. We'll have to find an occasion. Maybe the next All Kings, No Kings march. We got have to find an occasion. Maybe the next All Kings, No Kings March. We got to do that. Nicole Wallace, host of MSNBC's Deadline White House and the new MSNBC podcast, The Best People with Nicole Wallace. And our episode drops on Monday wherever podcasts are available. And I know the video will drop also on the MSNBC YouTube page. Thanks, Nicole. Thank you so much.

And everybody hit subscribe and let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth Over Lies collection at store.mitustouch.com. All 100% USA Union made.