The MeidasTouch Podcast - NRA SLAMMED for throwing Party after Uvalde Massacre + Interview with Fox LA’s Elex Michaelson

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

On today’s Memorial Day episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, we have an incredible show! We sit down with one of the best news anchors of the modern era, Elex Michaelson, to discuss a wide range of topics across the political landscape at both the national and local levels. Elex is a news anchor for Fox LA and host of the political talk show The Issue Is, which airs across California. The remainder of the episode, we honor the brave men & women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice defending this country. Perhaps the best way to honor their memory is for us to do everything we can to ensure that American democracy is protected from those who seek to dismantle it. Lastly, we discuss the NRA convention in Texas over the weekend, Trump’s disgusting actions at that event and the bombshell Georgia probe into Donald Trump's demand to 'find' him votes during the 2020 election. If you enjoyed today’s episode please be sure to rate, review and subscribe! As always, thank YOU for listening! Follow Elex Michaelson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Elex_Michaelson Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 Zoomed In: https://pod.link/1580828633 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The NRA holds its convention in Texas following the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Democrats and independents, meanwhile, push for common sense gun reform while Republicans push for more guns. The Georgia probe into Trump extorting Brad Raffensperger to find more votes accelerates and we are joined by journalist Alex Michelson of Fox 11 LA as our guest on this podcast on Memorial Day to talk about the state of journalism with all these truly horrific and difficult breaking news stories that are taking place. Ben, Brett, and Jordy joining you on

Memorial Day. I want to first and foremost say that on this Memorial Day, we think about all of those who have sacrificed for our country, all of the troops who have given their life for this country. Many people who listen to Midas Touch know our history, but if you're a new listener, both of our grandparents were in various capacities in World War II. Our grandpa on our mom's side, Murray, was a tail gunner in a B-29 fighter jet, fighter airplane, the Super Fortress. And then on our dad's side, Harold was a doctor in the military, a psychiatrist who practiced and focused on mental health of our troops. And so it's an issue that's near and dear to our hearts. Brett and Jordy, how are you doing today? You know, I'm doing as best as I can trying to enjoy this Memorial Day weekend and trying to really think about what this Memorial Day means. family and all that sorts of stuff, which is great, is just make sure that we are dedicating

ourselves every day to doing what we can to really protect the democracy that all these fallen soldiers have made this ultimate sacrifice for. I think they gave their lives for the American experiment. And so I know every day we here at Midas Touch are committed to preserving this American experiment and fighting for truly what it means. And I know that all of our listeners here are as well. Exactly. And I would just reemphasize that point, Brad. I just want our listeners to ask themselves, hey, what have you done today, this week, in the last couple of days to push democracy forward, to make sure that this country is going to be better off when you leave it than when you came here. We have a number of Supreme Court rulings that are likely going to be issued in the next two or three weeks, all of which are going to have some disastrous consequences. On the one hand, we have the Roe v. Wade overturning draft decision, which has circulated,

which I think there's beyond any doubt that it's going to be the final opinion of the court. They may change a few sentences here or there. I've predicted on the Legal AF podcast that they may get rid of that one sentence that talks about the 14th century English jurist who wanted to burn women at the stake, but probably not the best optics there. But other than that, I think the decision is likely going to look the same and overturned Roe v. Wade. And on the other hand, you actually have a decision as well that is focused on the Second Amendment, expanding this personal right that was found for the very first time in this Eller decision in 2008 and basically finding that the Second Amendment is an unfettered right with no regulations

permitted whatsoever. And that began with Scalia in 2008. And that Supreme Court ruling is going to drop right on the heels of Uvalde. And so I expect that ruling to come out in the next two or three weeks. And so we definitely know what's at stake. And you see how stark these issues are with the fact that the NRA and the GQP, the Republicans, this fascist political party held a convention. It's really an NRA GOP convention. It's not really just an NRA convention. They both it's all of the Republican leaders. And you're right. It's a merger. You know, and that was in Houston, Texas, which is just three and a half, four hours west of or east of Uvalde is where is where Houston is. And you have these people, you know, whether

it's Trump. I mean, did you see Trump's speech where he played those like the bells that would ring every time a name would, it was the most darkest, grimmest thing ever. And then he started dancing to YMCA. I mean- He was on stage dancing. He was on stage dancing. It's really the most ghoulish, most horrifying image that I've ever seen. I don't understand how anybody like as a human being, as a human being, put politics aside for a second. I don't understand how you could look at that, how you can look at that man purposely mispronouncing the names of the victims of a shooting, the children who died in a shooting and then doing a little dance after it with these weird gongs and sound effects. And you go, oh, yeah, that's my guy. That's who I support here. I truly just don't understand the humanity behind it. And I guess there just is no humanity behind it. I mean, let's put it in perspective. There were two of the deadliest mass shootings that we've ever seen, two horrific

attacks on Americans, including 19 children slain, slaughtered in an elementary school. And the NRA threw a party afterwards. They threw a party and Trump danced. That's the sequence of events that we saw. And the people, the politicians in Texas went. And even Greg Abbott, he got a lot of credit from the media too. Greg Abbott, he's not speaking. Greg Abbott's not going to be speaking at the NRA event. He recorded a video that they played at the NRA event and everybody gave him all this credit. Oh, he backed out. He backed out. You had Ted Cruz speaking there. You had all these other Republican politicians speaking there because the NRA is an arm of the Republican Party. to compromise one iota to implement common sense gun reforms that would actually help solve this problem because they would rather have their guns because it makes them feel good about their manhood or whatever it is, then save the lives of kids. I mean, that's frankly it at the end of the day. If there's any silver lining from this NRA event, it was that the protests being held outside

looked to be actually much bigger than the crowd in the auditorium for this NRA convention. So if we could just pull up those two side-by-side photos, I think our audience would really appreciate that. Pulling that up now, I recommend everyone look at this. And I hope everybody also watches the video. It's not going to play well in sound, I don't think, on the podcast, so I'm not going to play it, but I'll play a video clip on the video. But of the moms outside at this protest outside of the NRA event, basically pushing out this NRA guy from the event in one of the moms outside at this protest outside of the NRA event, basically pushing out this NRA guy from the event in one of the most epic situations I've ever seen. And that's the energy where we need really at this point. I mean, I'm sick of giving any of these people

quarter. You have a rabble rouser NRA guy trying to get in and cause trouble at this protest. And the moms are just like, get the fuck out of here. Get out of here. And that's the energy I need. We have the citizens of Uvalde. We have them booing Greg Abbott as he shows up to the memorial in Uvalde saying, do something. Let's change something. We're hurting here. The boos are great. I love the boos. Keep the boos going. I love the confrontation that we saw with Ted Cruz in the restaurant. At this point, I don't think any of these people should really have an opportunity to go to dinner in peace if our children aren't allowed to go to school in peace without being worried about being gunned down. So I think you could respectfully protest these people in public. I am all for it personally at this stage in the game. But at the end of the

day, booing is great, but you got to get out and vote. You got to get out and vote. As Obama said, don't boo, vote. Well, boo, I'm okay with the booing part, but vote as well. And let's get these people out of office. Let's actually get some real change because it doesn't take much to solve this crisis. It really doesn't take much. Just look at every other country in the world. You don't have to take away everybody's guns. You just have to implement common sense procedures that make it so 18-year-olds cannot have access to weapons of war. It's pretty damn simple. Play the clip, if you will, of Jim Acosta speaking to a board member of the NRA and asking the board member, why does an 18-year-old need an assault weapon? On the AR-15, how is it that an 18-year-old can buy an AR-15 style rifle and have

1,600 rounds of ammo with him like we saw in Uvalde? Well, he did not have any prior convictions. He didn't have any prior issues that would have kept him from purchasing one. It's my understanding from the news that he purchased it through a firearms dealer. He passed a background check because he didn't have any prior convictions. Right, but should an 18-year-old have an AR-15? That's how he bought it. Should an 18-year-old have an AR-15? What's he going to do with it? I don't know. Should an 18-year-old have one in-15? What's he going to do with it? I don't know. Should an 18-year-old have one in the Army?

They have military training in the Army. This 18-year-old in Uvalde did not have military training. He turned 18 and he went out and bought an AR-15. You know, and I think that silence of that NRA board member is really telling. There really is no answer to that question. And whether we're talking about driver's license or regulations of alcohol, or people give all of these different examples. But to me, it's just far more basic than that even. It's just

at the age of 18, why do you need an assault weapon? And then, well, they always go to this, well, in the military, 18, well, this isn't the military. This isn't the military. This is an 18-year-old. And then what we learn more and more, too, is this company called Daniel Defense. This is the manufacturer or seller of the gun. This Daniel Defense sold the guns in both the Vegas mass shooting and in Uvalde. They're the ones doing advertisements that show toddlers holding assault weapons. Let's pull this up, Ben, because I want everybody to look at this image right now of this little child with one of their weapons in an advertisement. And now let's think about the way that we think

about advertisements from the 50s of kids smoking cigarettes. We all know those old advertisements of kids with cigarettes in their hands and stuff like that. We're appalled, appalled by that, and rightfully so. But we're allowed to have gun manufacturers put ads of children holding AR-15s or babies laying next to AR-15s, and that's an acceptable form of advertising in 2022? It's batshit. Well, here's the thing too. So Daniel Defense was pushing those ads showing toddlers holding weapons and also what's that video game to Call of Duty? They were also kind of linking it to like video games and Call of Duty. They were pushing ads like that when this shooter bought his weapon. And I think the shooter bought about $3,000 to $5,000 worth of weapons and ammunitions, AR-15 and ammunition. And he did it based on the fact

that Daniel Defense allows you not to even have any credit. So they have a financing plan where you're able to buy the assault weapon without actually even having the money and have a payment plan, even if you don't even qualify for the credit card. I mean, just think about that. That's disgusting. And that's how this individual got the weapon. So then you basically hear people like Ted Cruz and others go, well, if the Democrats plan was in place, it still wouldn't have prevented bad people from doing bad things. Bullshit. If the Democrat plan was in place and 18 year olds weren't allowed to have assault weapons, this 18 year old wouldn't have the assault weapon. And that brings me to The New York Times, a front cover of The Sunday Review, which goes through all of the shootings. And it says authority said the gunman

was able to obtain the weapons legally. Authority said the gunman was able to obtain the weapon legally. Authority said the gunman was able to obtain illegally. And it goes through Uvalde, Buffalo, Boulder, Dayton, Virginia Beach, Pittsburgh, and it goes on and on and on. And so the question is, is we need to make sure that these individuals don't get the guns legally. And here's the thing. Here's my position on the second amendment. If you want to have a handgun for self-defense, I'm fine with that. If you want to have a hunting rifle, like an actual hunting rifle, because you go hunting and you can show that you're a hunter. I mean, that's fine. Like go, go hunting. I'm totally fine with that. There's just no reason why you would need a weapon.

That's the sole purpose is designed to, to murder as many people as possible. As you said, Brett, a weapon of war. What's next? I mean, if you, if you take this to the next logical conclusion, I mean, I wonder if I ask the NRA board member, so can I get a tank? Can I just drive around in a tank or an Apache helicopter that has, or an F whatever, an F-14, F-15, an F-15 plane? Like, where does it stop? It's just common sense stuff. Nobody wants to take people's guns away. And it's the same common sense procedures that we've taken throughout history with so many

different things. I mean, in 1967, a woman named Jane Mansfield was killed when her car ran under the rear end of a tractor trailer. Since then we had to have a bar at the rear to keep cars from going over them. In 1982, seven people died when Tylenol package was tampered with. Since then, we have those bottles. Everyone knows the bottles that are hard to open now. Those are now a requirement. In 1995, we saw bombing with a certain kind of fertilizer. We've now imposed severe restrictions on that fertilizer. In 1988, the federal government banned metal-tipped lawn darts because a single child died from a metal tipped lawn dart. It's like we could implement simple changes to gun violence and solve the problem.

But we have a party that refuses to do anything, anything, even the most simple things. And this is a very new thing in American history, Ben, like you were talking about Scalia before. There was never, ever in American history, the idea that people had an unfettered right to own any kind of weapon and do anything they wanted with them ad nauseum. That's never been a thing. And the NRA has pushed this myth that people should have this unregulated access to weapons of war, no matter what age you are, no matter what your history is, no matter what the circumstances are without having to get a license, without having to get registered, without having to get anything. And then they can't articulate why though, like, well, we need it for self-defense, but there's a lot of other

guns for self-defense. You just don't need the assault weapon. They haven't ever really articulated why do you need an AR-15? It's not for hunting. It's purely to kill as many people as possible. And then if there is an AR-15, why wouldn't it, you know, and if you wanted to have it out, why wouldn't you want a common sense licensing process? Like if you were the owner of one, you, you know, the same way that you would want, you know, the right kind of license. Like if you were a truck driver, you know, you wouldn't want just anybody being able to drive a truck. Like you got to be appropriately licensed for it. No doubt about it. And let me just say, it's not Democrats who, you know, the Republicans

like to say, oh, look how woke and far left the Democrats have gone on this issue. It's not the Democrats who've gone far left on this issue. It's the right wing that has gone so far right on this issue that you're willing to put these mass murdering weapons in the hands of 18 year olds who could then go and shoot up schools. And let me just play this one clip before we go to Alex Michelson. This is Justice Warren Burger, a conservative justice on the Supreme Court. He was, a conservative justice on the Supreme Court. He was actually the chief justice on the Supreme Court. And he completely annihilates the Republican Party's Second Amendment, what he calls a fraud perpetrated by the Republican Party. Remember, this is a Republican conservative justice in 1991 speaking about the Second Amendment.

If I were writing the Bill of Rights now, there wouldn't be any such thing as the Second Amendment. If I were writing the Bill of Rights now, there wouldn't be any such thing as the Second Amendment. Which says? That a well-regulated militia being necessary for the defense of the state, that people's rights to bear arms. This has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud. I repeat the word fraud on the American public by special interest groups that I have

ever seen in my lifetime. Now just look at those words. There are only three lines to that amendment. A well-regulated militia. If the militia, which was going to be the state army, was going to be well-regulated, why shouldn't 16 and 17 and 18 or any other age persons be regulated in the use of arms the way an automobile is regulated? That's, once again, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court, a conservative Republican.

It's really the greatest. It's just common sense. It's just common sense. Well, it's really the greatest point, what he says there, too. Because even if you don't read that to basically say that the right to bear arms solely relates to a well-regulated militia, what his point is, why would the militia need to be well-regulated, but not the individual? That makes no sense. So the actual army needs to have regulation, but the individual should have no regulation?

That's the logic there that makes that even such a brilliant, such a brilliant point. And how do you argue with that individual? No regulation, militias, actual armies, make sure that's well regulated, makes no sense whatsoever. And he nailed it. And that was what a Republican used to be. That's what conservatives used to be that position. These people have totally manipulated what it means to be conservative, and conservative isn't what conservative used to be. With that said, let's bring in Alex Michelson from Fox 11 LA, friend of Midas Touch Podcast. Alex has been with us from the beginning. We've been on Alex's show. Alex has been on our

show. Let's bring in Alex Michelson. We are joined by Alex Michelson from Fox 11 LA, friend of the pod, friend of Midas. How the tables have turned. How the tables have turned. I'm so proud. It's like my boys have blossomed. That's true, Alex. And you've been there from, you know, really day one when we didn't even have that many followers and supporters. You were like one of our first supporters and you said, hey, you know, you're, you're onto something. And, and what I really think it is too, as I've kind of, you know, got to know you as well, it really is just delivering the truth, no BS, and just kind of being relentless in the pursuit of just what's real. And I think that's what the journalistic work that you do embodies,

and we try to do that as well. Well, what you guys do is so important to be able to have a conversation, to meet people where they are, to find creative ways to get people into the system and into the tent that may not be there and to bring up, you know, real shit. So I appreciate the invite. It's great to be on with you guys and I'm proud of what you you created. It's pretty incredible to see. Thanks, Alex. And one of the things that I've noticed recently, and I want to get your take on it. While I think the big kind of mainstream media networks have in many ways failed us and turned this into kind of a boxing match of who you know, who's up or down in the day without focusing truly on what the issues are.

Like local news, like the kind of news that meets politicians the way you do, you know, at Fox 11, the way we see politicians try to hold people like Madison Cawthorn accountable in North Carolina. Really, to me, the mantle of kind of journalistic integrity has fallen on, you know, journalists who are focused, you know, interstate as opposed to kind of the national media. Are you seeing that or what do you think about that? Well, the polls all show that, that the most trusted place for news these days is local news. I mean, because as a local news reporter, you're on the ground every day, you're living in the community, you know, these people, these are people you see at the

grocery store. These are people who your kids are going to the same school. You have an investment in the place. It's not just about theatrics. You know, so often when there's a big national news story, national reporters will parachute in for a few days, try to sort of suck the life out of a community, trying to go to victims of a crime or something like that and try, and there's this like almost bidding war between the networks of who can, you know,

create the most fear porn process and get somebody to cry on camera and all the rest of it without a lot of empathy for the community, because it's not their community and they're gone in a few days. Whereas if you're a local news reporter, that's somebody you know, or somebody you've known before, or you're going to deal with, or you're going to cover on the one year anniversary. There's a different interaction between things. And in terms of politics, I mean, I think, unfortunately, the incentive structure

right now for so much of cable news is based off of partisanship and conflict. But the incentive structure for local news is based off of building trust in the community. And it is not a place that a lot of people want to turn to for super partisan information, because ultimately it's about what matters in their community. Like, for example, during the coronavirus, we saw this more than ever when, you know, the information you needed in terms of is your school going to be open or not? What is the correct process that you need to go for? What are exactly your local rules? You know, all of the decisions of government, especially local government,

who had huge power in all of that, directly impacted people's lives. And they didn't necessarily need, especially at the beginning, partisan spin all that. They just needed the information and a place that can filter it in a way that made it make sense for people.

So there's tremendous value in that. I just hope going forward that we can find a way to invest in that more as a society, find a way to maybe even subsidize some of that, because as the profit system changes, you know, local news could use some help. I mean, a big part of Build Back Better, there was actually, you know, a giant chunk of change that was supposed to go towards local newsrooms that was going to help places, not necessarily a place like Los Angeles, which has a huge market, but in the middle of the country where a lot of these local newsrooms have died. And because of, you know, your favorites, Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema, one of the many

aspects of Build Back Better that didn't happen is that. You know, and at, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, one of the many aspects of Build Back Better that didn't happen is that, you know, and at the same time, while we don't see that with Build Back Better, what we do see under Trump's PPP program, for example, is groups like Daniel Defense getting millions and millions of dollars so that they could get their weapons in the hands of shooters like the one in Uvalde, which is just sickening. Were you able to watch this NRA convention or see any of those clips kind of coming out of it? And what's your view about, you know, basically the NRA, you know, holding a party within a few days after, you know, one of the most tragic mass shootings in the history of this country?

Well, President Trump still has the dance moves. I guess that was one of the takeaways. I mean, it is quite stunning the way that a lot of Republicans seem to want to have it both ways on this. Greg Abbott, I'm not going to appear, but I'm going to do a virtual thing. You know, over the weekend, I saw on Meet the Press, Chuck Todd invited all 48 Republicans in the Senate to talk on gun control and talk about ways forward on potential compromises. And not a single one of them said yes. So clearly they're uncomfortable with this conversation. Some of them, you know, are happy to go all in like a like a Ted Cruz on this. And it's interesting that Donald Trump seems to be even more pro Second Amendment now than he used to be, realizing that there's a base there. And you see gun sales going up in the country.

Every time there's a mass shooting, they are able to market it successfully to increase their own bottom line. So in reality, all of these mass shootings are good for business for the NRA and good for business for gun manufacturers, which are kind of one in the same. And, you know, that itself is pretty sickening. I mean, it is so frustrating, I think, for so many people in this country, this sense of just complete political paralysis on this issue. One moment for me that was a real wake-up was I had covered so many different mass shootings, especially when I was at ABC. I think it went to seven states covering mass shootings. And in every community I would go to, they would say, couldn't believe that it would happen in my hometown. Couldn't believe it would happen in my hometown. You see it on the news. You think it's somebody else's problem until it happens here. And I remember in place that I used to go to in high school. And I knew the people there.

And I went to cover that. And they said, I couldn't believe it would happen in my hometown. And that time, it was my hometown. And it makes you realize that people want to act like this is somebody else's problem, or it's a theoretical thing, until one day it happens in your hometown, or it happens to your kid. And I don't understand why after we've seen this problem over and over and over again, there isn't more of an acknowledgement of that. Or even, frankly, if Republicans keep saying that the problem is mental health, why don't the Democrats call what may be a bluff and say, okay, let's not even do a gun bill. Let's do a massive mental health bill. Let's increase counseling in this country and make it more

affordable for people who don't have access to it. Let's work on some of these, you know, major mental health challenges that we've had. Let's do it and put it up on the floor and vote, make them vote on it over and over again. If they say that mental health's the issue, then what's the solution on mental health? Let's do something on that. And it's frustrating, I think, for a lot of people to see, you know, the complete just sort of putting your hands up and the acknowledgement, I think, that so many people feel like this is just going to happen again. And it's going to happen again soon. I mean, you know, that's the thing.

It seems like every week this is happening. And in terms of what the people want, you know, there's such this incongruity between what the people want, number one, and this political paralysis that you speak of. I mean, I think it's 75% of Americans want reform in this area, you know, and want common sense gun control. And then you think about another area where there's, you know, this complete incongruity as well. When we talk about overturning Roe v. Wade with 65, 70 percent of Americans, you know, support the right of a woman and a childbearing person to choose. Yet we've had the Republicans fighting consistently to overturn Roe v. Wade. And look, they finally got it. And it's been like, you know, once they got what they want, I don't see them celebrating. You know, I don't see them out there. You know, it's just a

strange thing that that's what they fought for is to hurt people like that. And I know you've been very outspoken on this draft decision over. Yeah. And it's interesting to see the contrast on those two issues. Right. Because they think that guns is a political winner, especially in Republican primaries. Because if you look at Republican primary ads around the country, it's like who can shoot something faster, right? I got a gun. I got a bigger gun. I got 15 kids and all of them are holding a gun, right? Every single one of them. My kid in the womb is getting a gun as a birth present is like the Republican strategy right now for primaries because they realize that the more pro-second amendment you can be, they see that as just a political winner. And clearly, they're reading the polls on the abortion issue, and they don't

necessarily think that's a political winner. I mean, Mitch McConnell literally said when that draft opinion came out to his people as a political strategy, don't talk about the ruling, talk about the leak. That was a coordinated thing to not acknowledge that they had accomplished a goal that the party had been working for in a coordinated way for over 50 years. I mean, Mitch McConnell cares about one thing, really, which is holding on to power. But the two things that he's used that power for more than any other issues are tax cuts and getting conservatives on the court. That's what he really cares about. He basically admitted in the new This Will Not Pass book that he used Donald Trump as a vessel to get those two things. And then once he was done

with him on January 6th, you know, the Democrats will take care of that son of a bitch because he didn't want anything to do with him. He had used him and abused him and he was done with him. So now Republicans get it. They get it. I mean, Mitch McConnell, I mean, didn't give Merrick Garland a hearing over this. He changed the rules of the Senate over this. He got Amy Coney Barrett in with like a day left before the election in order to do this. This was the goal. This is the most important thing. And they finally get it. And the focus is on the leak, not even an acknowledgement,

like this is an important policy goal. Now we'll see what happens if and when Roe v. Wade is overturned. And it is still possible that it's not. It's still possible that the public outcry on this changes it. It's we don that the public outcry on this changes it. It's we don't really know what led to this leak and who's behind it. It may have been a Republican, by the way. It might not necessarily have been behind it.

We don't know what's going on internally. We've never seen something like this. But if Roe does go down, this is a real political issue that Republicans are going to have to deal with. And there clearly are going to be millions of people who do celebrate this, who think that abortion is murder and feel like, you know, they have not been listened to for decades. And this is a great thing. But there clearly are millions, perhaps millions more, based off the current polling, that feel the opposite, and that may now realize that politics isn't just theater acting. We've gotten so used to faux outrage, you know, the Ted Cruz school of, you know, I'm angry, that people forget sometimes that this is a real thing. And we're not just watching a House of Cards episode on Netflix, that these decisions impact

people's lives in a real way. And what is more personal to a woman than this issue, which gets to the foundation of who we are as a country. And I think people maybe, maybe will wake up in a way that they haven't woken up in a long time. And I think it's important when we look at all these issues to look about how, for example, each party uses their power when they have it. And what I mean by that is obviously we have the filibuster system in the federal government, which makes it very difficult for the Democrats to really do much at the end of the day, to be honest. But when you look at a state like California that has Democratic super majorities, there's truly no excuse at the end of the day to not get the agenda through.

And so when you're looking at a state like California and Governor Gavin Newsom, I know you've had Governor Newsom on your show quite a bit. What are the Democratic supermajorities in a state like California doing when it comes to the abortion issue, when it comes to the gun issue and so on? I will answer that question in a second, but I will also say that Republicans have been better at moving the rules around to get what they want. Because if you look at the Senate itself, the things that Mitch McConnell really cares about, the two things I said, tax cuts and the judiciary, he doesn't need the filibuster for that. They've changed the rules because they use reconciliation to get the tax cuts through on 50 votes, and they gutted the

filibuster for the Supreme Court. And so we can get that in 50 votes. So it's great for Republicans to keep the filibuster in place because they get all this that stops from happening, all the stuff that they don't really care about, stuff they really do care about. They have changed the rules in order to make happen. All right. So on to California and Gavin Newsom. Totally different situation, right? Because the Democrats in California have super majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly, a Democratic governor, every single statewide elected officer is a Democrat.

So the Democrats can essentially do whatever they want. Republicans can't stop them. Gavin Newsom, I think, thinks that this is an important issue from a policy perspective. And I also think he thinks it's an important issue from a political perspective as somebody women to come to this state if they need to get an abortion from a state that doesn't allow it. Trying to expand the rights of women in every possible thing that that they possibly can. And then trying to pass other bills, even on issues like guns. One of the biggest things that California is trying to pass right now is a reaction to the Texas abortion ban, right? So in Texas right now, if you have, if there's a fetal heartbeat detected, somebody can sue somebody who is helping to create an abortion. So far, the Supreme Court didn't condone it, but didn't stop it. So it's this weird sort of

in-between where they haven't technically ruled on it. So California said, and the governor said, well, if that is the rationale and you guys believe in that, well, then let's use that rationale for guns, right? So if you're a manufacturer of an illegal ghost gun, anybody can sue them. And we'll give you $10,000 as a bounty to try to rat that person out. It's kind of genius. So, and then it's like, okay, Supreme Court, well, if you want to get rid of that rule, then you got to get rid of the Texas rule too. And then you take them both out. So that is the most prominent of a series of gun bills, 12 gun bills that the governor is trying to expedite through the legislature in California, which he wants to have signed within

the next month and expedited so it doesn't take effect January 1st, but that it would take effect this summer. And so that's a real push. So right now, because California has the votes, as you said, they're doing a big push on both abortion rights and on gun control. Or I think gun safety is probably a better phrase to use than gun control because people use the word control, which is part of the reason why they buy a gun in the first place. And trying to set up a real contrast with the rest of the country. And when I was at a press conference with Governor Newsom, right after Roe, he was at Planned Parenthood, and he was just expressing exasperation at the Democratic Party for not being more on the offensive,

which I know is something that the Midas Touch brand is all about going on the offensive, which I know is something that the Midas Touch brand is all about going on the offensive and not being reactive, but trying to be proactive on some of this stuff and take the fight to the Republicans. And he's trying to establish himself that way, which may or may not be helpful in a primary a couple of years down the road or maybe six years down the road. I think at the end of the day, I think people react to passion and people react to people standing by their principles and actually acting more than anything. So I think he should go all in on it. And that's, of course, already in addition to the rules that California already has on guns and the protections that California already has for abortion. But I think it's a time where Democrats need to go all in on these issues.

And what I'm curious in speaking with you is that we spoke about the difference between local news and national news. And I think you also see that difference in politics. You see the difference between local politics and national politics. And before we were speaking about this paralysis of our national politics, but are you seeing that same paralysis at the local level or are local legislators actually able to get stuff done on occasion? Well, I think that, you know, that depends on where you are in California. There isn't a lot of paralysis because the Democrats have such control and have such huge margins that they're able to do pretty creative, pretty dramatic things on a state level and even on a local level. But I think, you know, what you see in both local news and local politics is the more local you get, the less political it becomes and the more about results it often is. You know, a pothole is not a Republican or a Democratic issue.

It just needs to be filled. Right. I mean, when it comes to like kids schools, like people just want to have good teachers and like have their kids be safe. You know, people need the trash to be picked up on time and not smell bad or for the water to be clean. I mean, all those things. I mean, I know you if you get into it, you could say that those are Republican and Democratic. But there and there are aspects of that, I'm sure. But but like on the micro level, like people want things to just work. And even in California, where some of us live in Los Angeles, we've had this escalating homelessness problem and an increase

in crime, which is actually more of a feeling than it is a statistic. If you actually look at the statistics, crime isn't as up as much as people think that it is, but sometimes feelings matter in politics. And so I think that's starting to sort of change the way some people think and is creating an opening for in the L.A. mayor's race. A guy named Rick Caruso, who is a billionaire and had been a Republican for much of his life, became a Democrat about a month and a half before running for mayor. local level, I think people are sort of sick of some of the what they're seeing directly in front of them and are willing to maybe take a chance on something else when he doesn't make the election about Donald Trump. Yeah. And the L.A. mayoral race has honestly been one of the most fascinating things that I've been following recently. Obviously, it's very close to home for me, but I cannot turn on my TV. I cannot

leave my house. I cannot go to my damn mailbox without seeing Rick Caruso's name there. And it's really fascinating because like you said, you got Democratic Congresswoman Karen Bass, who was on President Biden's shortlist for VP. I mean, a very national Democratic figure going up against this billionaire developer, Rick Caruso, who's designed some of the most famous developments in Los Angeles. People might know the Grove, the Americana, those are all his properties. Do you think people are gravitating though to like, in a race like that, are they gravitating towards his policies or his views or has he just flooded the zone with his name so much that people just like like when they see his name, they go,

I saw it's the guy I saw on TV. That's the guy I saw in my mailbox. That's the guy I saw on the billboard. Like he's everywhere. I think it's both. I think people are, you know, I mean, when you spend twenty five million dollars to flood the zone, he's spending more than anybody in the history of the Los Angeles mayor's race. He's spending more than any candidate in the country, in any election, governors, Senate, anything for this primary. That makes a difference, right? And obviously ads in LA are a lot more expensive than they are in other places, which increases that price tag a little bit. But his message also is a pretty good one, right? Which is that L.A. is has a lot of crime that people make sense or all the rest of it. But the messaging itself is good. And he is not running a partisan message at all, right? Because he says that those issues are above partisanship. And his ads are full of a lot of diverse people, right? Because he has, to his credit, spent millions and millions and

millions of dollars on philanthropy in LA in a lot of the poorest neighborhoods for years. And I've personally been out there way before he got into college and worked with him on some of that stuff to his credit and done great work in the process. And so a lot of those people that he helped are now, you know, becoming a part of his ads and are sort of the faces of this. And it is not a bunch of white, rich Westsiders that are on the ads. There are some, I mean, he has Gwyneth Paltrow in his ad. It doesn't get more white, rich Westsider than her. But there are other people too. And I think that's, I think it's been an effective message. Now, Karen Bass could end up winning in the end, who knows, but Caruso's got a real shot message. Now, Karen Bass could end up winning in the end.

Who knows? But Caruso's got a real shot. And you interviewed Karen Bass recently. How is she feeling about the state of the race? And what's her message now going into the home stretch? Well, Karen Bass's message is basically that what Caruso is proposing isn't really the way that the world works. She sees herself as a coalition builder,

which is something that she's done her entire career. She built something called the Community Coalition in South LA after the riots. She was a member of the Speaker of the Assembly during the time when Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, and we had a lot of financial problems in California. She was the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. She was the author of the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. She's somebody who's reached across the aisle, brings people together, is very well liked by Democrats and Republicans alike. And that that is how you get stuff done. That just denigrating politicians, denigrating the system is not what really accomplishes the goals. What accomplishes the goals is getting a bunch of people in the

room, finding what everybody wants and finding a way to make it happen, which is a more complicated message, frankly, politically, than the system sucks. Let's change it. Yeah. Yeah. Your message. But that is how she really believes. And I think she feels that if they can get past June 7th, that she's got a real good shot. The way that it works in Los Angeles, which is different than the way that it works in California,

which is confusing, is for the California statewide races, June 7th is a primary. The top two people in the race advance no matter what. For the city election and county election in Los Angeles, June 7th, is actually an election. And if somebody gets 50% plus one, they win. If nobody gets 50% plus one, the top two advance to a runoff. So like Gavin Newsom could get 75% on June 7th, and there's still a runoff. If Rick Caruso gets 50% plus one on June 7th, the race is over, which is part of the reason he's spending so much money and trying to make this happen now, because they know that I think a lot of the Democratic Party, traditional constituencies, traditional interest groups would get behind Karen Bass in the fall, spend a lot more money against Rick Caruso, spend a lot of capital, probably people like Barack Obama, other people would probably endorse Karen Bass, and Caruso would have a harder time in that thing. Doesn't mean he wouldn't win then, still could, but a harder time, which is part of the reason they're trying

to get to June 7th. I think she feels confident about a race in the fall. And I think she feels and expressed that she doesn't think he's going to get to 50 percent by June 7th. But I think in the back of her mind, in the back of other people's minds, that that there is still a possibility, small one, but still a possibility that he does. And then the election is over. Yeah, I think everybody at this point is shocked that the race is this close to begin with. And I think it should be a warning sign for the Democratic establishment that, hey, maybe don't wait, maybe actually go there and start fighting and get on the offensive right away because they let a guy like Caruso, who is a billionaire Republican until, like you said, basically like a month ago, until a month before he decided to run and say that he was a Democrat. They let this guy basically run up the numbers on

Karen Bass just by pure name recognition and saying that he's going to shake up the system. And it reminds you, and I'm not comparing them in policy or anything, but it does remind you about kind of Trump a little bit, how Trump basically came out. Nobody really took him seriously. He was able to flood the airwaves with all this free media and paid media. And he was able to get his name out there and run up the polls, even though people didn't think he was a threat. And I think it's hard not to see that comparison. I think it's interesting too, when you listen to the ads, he does have a lot of nonpartisan ads, Caruso, but a lot of the ads, at least on the radio that I noticed as they go, vote Democrat Rick Caruso, Democrat Rick Caruso, Rick Caruso, Democrat, Democrat Rick Caruso,

because that is his biggest liability is the fact that he literally just became a Democrat. And once the establishment really starts ramping up their efforts, it's going to be eventually be a problem for him. But at this point, it almost looks like it might be too late. We'll have to see what happens. Yeah. I mean, Rick Caruso has spent about $30 million in ads and Karen Bass spent $600,000. That's a huge differential in terms of the fact that they're on.

It's crazy. There is an independent expenditure now, which is led by Jeffrey Katzenberg. A lot of people know this big Hollywood mogul type. And they are running ads, Republican Rick Caruso, Republican Rick Caruso, Mitch McConnell, Republican Rick Caruso was, you know, indifferent on choice, all of that stuff. But again, it came, you know, weeks after he had spent all this other money. And is it too little, too late? We will see. We've never had an election like this. We've never had somebody spend this much money. So it's tough to tell who's actually going to vote. The thing in California, unlike other parts of the country, is every single person gets a ballot. We have same day registration. We have a party that believes in making it easier to vote, not harder.

What a novel concept. So we have right now over 80 percent of Californians are eligible to vote in this upcoming election, which is the highest it's ever been in this country. And, you know, so we'll see how many of them actually get out and do it. But there's like no excuse. I mean, you got 10 days of open voting where people can go to the polls. You've got a ballot literally mailed to your house, which you have a month plus to fill out. And then there's actually, you know, the election day itself. So, you know, there's no excuse. Midas followers, get out there and have your set. There you go. And I think this is what separates you from everybody else. This is what separates you from the Pac-Man. You are just incredibly well-researched about everything. I mean,

no, and I say that truly sincerely, when you came on the show today, we really didn't discuss with you the topics that we were going to hit on. And you just have this endless knowledge of information at your disposal. And I think it credits and it really shows in your work. And so I want to ask you more about that specifically, like, what do you believe the roles and responsibilities are of journalists and news anchors in 2022? You know, to tell the truth, to get to a Midas touch, you know, branding thing, which is not just a branding thing, I think it's who you guys really are. Yeah, I mean, look, I think that the challenge in this moment compared to 30 years ago or 50 years ago when, you know, Walter Cronkite's getting 50% of the country

to watch his newscast at the same time, is that there is just so much information out there. And it's overwhelming. I think it's hard for a lot of people to process. It's often hard for me to process. And I'm literally a professional who does this shit all day long. And it's still sometimes hard for me to tell what's true and what's not. And I think what we have a responsibility to act a little bit as a filter, to try to discern through stuff, to do some of the research for you and to help, you know, create something that people can trust. Ultimately, your value as a journalist is, do you earn the trust of your viewers or your readers or your listeners or whatever it is? And that's based off of years

of good work and research and, you know, and also owning up if you ever make mistakes, which of course you will, or also saying, I mean, I appreciate your compliment, but like, there's a lot I don't know. And being like comfortable enough to say, I don't know. I see all those books behind you, Alex. I don't buy that one bit. I see all the books. They're props. Okay. I'm in Hollywood. No, I mean, it's, you know, a lot of it is being comfortable enough with that as well and having an honest conversation with people. And I don't think there's enough places that do that.

And I think for all of us, it's a challenge. And I look to what you guys do, I think, for inspiration in a lot of ways in how can we communicate to people, especially a younger generation of people who isn't processing information in the same way that older people are. How can we get to them, get reliable information to them, make them feel a part of the conversation?

Because what's challenging now compared to that time 30, 40 years ago was when everybody was watching the same thing and every generation was watching the same thing. Right now you have every generation in this country basically getting and processing their news in very different ways. And that's really, that's never happened before. And it's really hard. I think, you know, for me even coming up with a post, it's like, I got to do seven versions of the same post for all these days. No, I'm just like one guy here. You've got, at least there's three of you. Are you on TikTok, Alex?

I'm not on TikTok. I got to see, I want to do the jiggle, jiggle. I already have the dance moves on our show, the issue of like a natural thing for TikTok, but I do actually want to get, at first I didn't want to, but now I do want to start on TikTok because that's where people are. And so just ignore that space, I think is a miss on my part. I was a little concerned with all the Chinese and everything with that for a while. But I think at this point, we just got to say, screw it. Are you guys, are you big TikTokers? Oh, absolutely. No, we made a conservative effort when we launched Midas actually to show up on every platform for all the reasons that you just

explained, you know, everybody's getting their news from different places. And so we wanted to be able to, especially that younger voter, knowing such a big effort of ours is that get out to vote to be on TikTok, to be on Instagram, you know, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, you name it, we're on it. And I joke about the, my money don't jiggle, jiggle. If I joke about the dances and stuff, cause it is a big component of TikTok, but I've actually found there to be a real intellectual side of TikTok as well of really brilliant thinkers and journalists and scientists and, and people who are just delivering information straight to people. And there's clearly an audience on, on TikTok for that. You're not going to make a better pitch than this to get any looks on TikTok.

I think right after this, he's going to set up his account. Yeah. Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with a good dance too. You know, when we start. Do you want to go viral right now? We can make it happen right now. Let's see it. Your dances as we start. Yeah. We started our show. The issue is on episode number three, we had Gloria Allred and Lisa Bloom,

her daughter, on together. And I started playing, because I love music, and I had the Gloria song by Laura Branigan, which is a part of her great documentary, Seeing Allred. And then she just started, she started dancing and moving and grooving, and she got up and got me going with her. And then she said to me, I'll come back on your show anytime, Alex, under one condition. We always are going to dance and I'm always going to leave. and play it and all the rest of it. And it's really fun. And it's such a humanizing aspect of a lot of these really stiff politicians who you don't really get to see who they really are, but then you play the music and some of them really come to life.

Some of them don't, but some of them really do, which is fun. It's so funny. Alex Michelson, thank you so much for joining us on this Memorial Day episode of the Midas Touch podcast. We appreciate your time. We'll let you go and spend the rest of the day with your family. Appreciate you as always. Thank you very much. And we should give a shout out to our troops and to all the people who've been lost defending this great country and defending the ability to say what we said today

as well as we think about them on this Memorial Day. Thank you guys for the invite. Keep up the great work. Love you guys. You too. We will be right back after these messages. So great to have Alex Michelson on the pod. As I mentioned before the interview, Alex has been with Midas from day one, someone who I look up to, you know, for all the great journalistic work he does out here in LA and throughout the country. And so really great to have Alex. I mean, at the very beginning of Midas Touch, like when we first started Catch Me, Alex reached out and put us on the show. And I'll always be really grateful for having that platform. We've been back a bunch of times and Alex features some incredible people on his shows. In addition to politicians, our friend of the show, Brian Tyler Cohen goes on quite often

to discuss issues. He's got a really unique, really great show. And I really speaks to how important local journalists are right here. And the one other thing I'd add is my money. Don't jiggle, jiggle it fold. It's an authenticity for me. All right. All right. All right. All right. Makes me want to, you know, riding in my Fiat. You really an authenticity for me. All right. All right. All right. All right. It's that often, you know, riding in my Fiat, you really got to see it. We got a rapid bread on the show. For me, it's really the authenticity of E that shines through. There are just so many talking heads out there that are just utter clowns and they use their platform to spread misinformation. But E really gives you the news, the news the way it should be

reported. And I'll say this, Jordy, I've watched Alex every night. He's on like six times a night. You turn on your TV to Fox LA in Los Angeles, you see Alex Michelson. I have no idea what his political beliefs are. I legitimately have no idea how he would like I have no clue. All I know is that every night he gets up there, he gives the facts, he does it straight and he does a damn good job at it. And I appreciate it. Before we go on this Memorial Day weekend, let's get back to your your weekend. Ben, what is going on in Georgia and why should everybody be paying attention?

Well, everyone knows that in Georgia, based on Trump's amazing phone call with Brad Raffensperger, finding him 11,500 blah, blah, blah votes, the extortion embodied in that phone call and the election crimes in that phone call and the election interference embodied in that phone call is criminal conduct. And fortunately, Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis is someone who wants to hold Donald Trump accountable and hold anyone accountable who engages in that conduct. So we've previously spoken about a grand jury in Fulton County, a special grand jury being impaneled to investigate and to possibly make a criminal referral with respect to Donald Trump's criminal conduct as it relates to his conduct in Georgia. But now what we also learned is that that probe with that grand jury has really

heated up. As many as 50 witnesses are expected now to be called before this special grand jury criminal investigation into the election interference by Trump. And one of the things that Fannie Willis wanted to wait for, obviously, was the end of the primaries in Georgia so that it wouldn't be hyper politicized. But now that the primaries are over, she's moving expeditiously and methodically towards eventually possibly charging through the grand jury process. Donald Trump with criminal conduct. And I know everyone racketeering, right? That's what she's trying to build a racketeering case here. Amongst other claims, racketeering would be one of the criminal counts. But if people want to know,

oh, I've heard this before, is there really going to be criminal conduct? Is there really going to be criminal charges? With respect to this Georgia probe, I would just say this, it's impossible to ever predict anything, but I think there's a high likelihood we have the audio on tape. We know what he said. We also know about the alternative slate of electors and all of that paints a picture about what was going on in Georgia. So the work of the January 6th committee, the work of the DOJ and those other cases are also going to be used in Georgia. Why was Donald Trump making this call to Brad Raffensperger here? Because they wanted to have Trump electors on January 6th, as opposed to the actual electors on January 6th. And so I genuinely think criminal charges are going to be brought against Trump here. And let me just say, we've spoken to on this show, we've talked to people like Representative Jamie Raskin, and we've heard from a lot of people

who often say a similar thing. They say that Trump is very good at evading the law. Trump is very good at distancing himself from criminal activity. He doesn't use email, he doesn't text, he doesn't do any of that shit. But in this case, Trump was on the phone call. Trump made the phone call. The phone call was recorded. We have his criminal acts on recording. So you could be damn sure that if there is any case where Trump is going to be indicted, this is number one, in my opinion. This is number one where Trump should be nervous. And I think that Trump is incredibly nervous. Fannie Willis is an absolute professional and Donald Trump knows it. And that's why you're

starting to see the panicked statements coming out of Trump world on his truth social platform, trying to disparage her, trying to say that this is the radical left trying to get him. I think this is the one scenario where there is no ambiguity and it is Trump's voice on tape. And in the words of Rachel Maddow, I will say, watch this space. Definitely watch this space. I want to thank everybody for listening to or watching this episode of the Midas Touch podcast on Memorial Day, the Memorial Day episode. Again, our thoughts, our sentiments. Today's a day where we need to reflect on the troops who have sacrificed and made the ultimate sacrifice for this country fighting for democracy. And the way we can honor the troops is really not just with our thoughts

and prayers, but with our actions. And what we try to do every day on Midas Touch is lead with our actions and not just preach these things, but to actually live by them each and every day. And that's why we're so grateful for all of you in the Midas Mighty who have done the same, who have committed yourselves to this great fight for democracy, this existential fight against fascism, this fight for decency, this fight for what the United States of America should be, not what the GQP wants to turn it into. Thank you, everybody, for listening. Ben Brenton, Jordyy signing off on Memorial Day. Shout out to the Midas Mighty.