The MeidasTouch Podcast - Rally Against Trump and DeathSantis with Nikki Fried

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Starting point is 00:00:29 And make same-day withdrawals if you win. Download the BetMGM Ontario app today. You don't want to miss out. Visit BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, Welcome to the Midas Touch podcast, Ben, Brett, and Jordy fighting with you for democracy each and every podcast. We've got a great episode for you today. Our guest, Nikki Freed, Florida Agriculture

Starting point is 00:01:17 Commissioner, the only statewide elected Democrat since 2012 in the state of Florida. And as many of you know, and we'll find out in the interview, Nikki Freed is running for governor of Florida. She's in a Democratic primary. If she wins that primary, she will go on to face Governor Death Santas. And again, it bears emphasizing the only statewide elected Democrat since 2012. I'm excited for that interview. Let's go. Just imagine this country. Just imagine this country, guys.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Governor Beto O'Rourke, Governor Nikki Freed, Governor Stacey Abrams. Doesn't it just sound so nice? Isn't that an America we all want to live in, you guys? Can we make that happen, please? Avoid the coup in 2022 and vote blue. Trey Lockerbie 08.00 Jordy's been practicing some slogans over there. Jordy Carlson 08.00

Starting point is 00:02:10 I'm workshopping them. I think it's something like that. I don't know. We're going to hammer that one home. Hey, I have to speak up on something I did last podcast. I don't know why. I think I got nervous, Ben, when you and I were going back and forth last week when I was talking about the punches. And then I saw the comments. Ben Favreau 08.00 I have an impact on people. I get people nervous in the base. Trey Lock I'm nervous. Yeah. Somebody said in the comments, hey, I thought you punched because you're fighting to save democracy at the upper end of the podcast. If you watch us on YouTube, you see I do that every show. And you know what? That is the exact reason why I do it. I don't know last podcast why I said, yeah, I don't really know why I punch. I do it for that specific reason that

Starting point is 00:02:41 that YouTube commenter said. I do it because we fight for democracy every single episode. I truly have no clue what it is you're talking about. Jordy, but I'm excited to have, genuinely have no clue what it is you're referring to. And I hope that you're okay. I don't know if this basketball game you have against Attorney General Shapiro, Pennsylvania is like getting in your head.

Starting point is 00:03:02 So nervous. I'm so nervous. We're like 14 days away. We're 14 days away. The workouts are going nonstop. It's way too cold for me to get up shots. Like it's three degrees here right now in Pennsylvania. So I'm going to go in just cold to the game.

Starting point is 00:03:15 No shot. I'm just, I'm picturing like a Rocky style training montage of you running in the snow, Jordy, putting your arms up in the air. That's it. I know you're not doing any of that though. No, I'm doing similar things like that. But the problem is I'm not actually playing basketball. So I'm doing all of the basketball workouts

Starting point is 00:03:32 without actually shooting a basketball. So it's going to be an interesting game. And we've locked in the date. It's February 15th. And we're going to live stream it. So be on the lookout for exact details. Very, very exciting. And one of the things to reflect on

Starting point is 00:03:44 when you're listening to this Nikki Freed interview is that Governor DeSantis only won the last rate by like 0.3, 0.4. Like he literally almost lost. Like the balance was in the thousands of votes. And, you know, look what Governor DeSantis is doing there with all the medical misinformation that he's spreading, just totally giving up any sense of governance whatsoever. I mean, he's just one kind of propaganda stunt after another with no real substance and delivering nothing. People like Nikki Freed in Florida, people like Beto O'Rourke in Texas. I mean, Democrats who do things and who support democracy is what's important. And speaking about supporting democracy,

Starting point is 00:04:32 the journey calls it a charade. I call it a charade. I mean, the Republican Party, I don't even, should we even stop calling them a political party, you know, at this point, I mean, an extremist fascist hate movement that is used to be a Republican Party. I mean, embodied in this Trump event, this fascist Hitler like Nazi assembly of people that took place in Conroe, Texas over this weekend. Probably one of the most, if not the most unhinged Trump we've seen, you know, with the support of all the, all the GQP, they just watch that. They allow that to happen. They don't give a shit. Like that is who they are. They are Nazis. They are doing Nazi rallies. Here's the problem for me. And I think there's a lot of people out there who go, why are we even giving this guy oxygen? Why are we even talking about it? But to me, I honestly think that's a huge mistake.

Starting point is 00:05:34 I think we all need to be talking about it. And because I think us political junkies, you listening to this podcast, everybody on Twitter and Facebook and social media who are so involved in politics, you are the ones seeing the craziness that's going on. But what happens when we don't amplify what is going on at these rallies is the average person on the street going grocery shopping doesn't understand what is happening in the Republican Party. And the fact is that gives cover to the rest of Republicans to be like, oh, you know, they don't even have to say anything, but it's like, you know, it's kind of how Young can one. It's like, oh, well, he's not Trump. He's not that. And then these people get into power and they put in the same radical policies that Trump would have put in. And so I think it's important to highlight that this is

Starting point is 00:06:17 happening. I think it's important to highlight that the Republican Party seems to be in full support of what is happening. And I think it's an urgent threat to this country. Like we can't ignore it. I'm sorry. Like we've learned at this point, we cannot ignore what's going on. And what we saw the other night was the greatest hits of hate. And not only the greatest hits of hate, not only the stuff that we've heard before, but Trump has added some new numbers to the greatest hits of hate at his hate rally the other night, promising to pardon all the insurrectionists on January 6th, to pardon the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.

Starting point is 00:06:51 That is the platform that he is running on. Play the clip, Brad, of him promising to pardon the January 6th prison. How many people have been asking me about it? If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. A weird position to take that he wants to free all of Antifa and Black Lives Matter, because apparently that's who did January 6th. Can they get their story straight? So who was it? Was it Trump supporters or was it Antifa? No, no, no. They've abandoned the they've now fully embraced that it's Trump supporters, it's insurrectionists who in their mind are freedom fighters who are being poorly treated by the deep state. That's the full narrative.

Starting point is 00:07:49 They've given up on the other one because it's so absurd. And now this is where they've leaned into about giving part and inspiring another insurrection. They want a better, improved insurrection where the Capitol building is actually seized and people are killed. That's what he's rooting for. They want Nancy Pelosi killed. They wanted Mike Pence killed. They wanted all that stuff to happen. They're upset that it didn't happen. And they are all in on insurrection part two. This is all about insurrection part two. I mean, these aren't political rallies. People are wondering like, is Trump running in 2024? I don't know if he's running in 2024 or not, but I do know that these are not rallies for his election campaign. These are not rallies for other Republicans. You don't see him highlighting other Republicans at these rallies

Starting point is 00:08:28 and saying why you should vote because this person is going to do X for you and this person is going to do Y for you. These are hate rallies. These are insurrectionist rallies that, in my opinion, are designed to rile up Trump's army of troops for the next civil war. I mean, that's what we're happening. He wants another insurrection and he wants his people to be prepared to do it. And so we saw an example of obstruction of justice here where he basically says, basically tells anybody because the implicit nature of his statements is also is if you have the opportunity to cooperate with the January 6th committee or the department of justice, don't, because if I get in there in a couple of years, I'm going to bail you out. So don't even think about speaking. But it went much further than that. He went on from

Starting point is 00:09:09 dangling pardons to literally inciting violence against the prosecutors who are going after him. Let's play this clip where he basically tells everybody that they should go and protest should any of these prosecutors in Atlanta, New York, or DC indict him. If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, DC, in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere, because our country and our elections are corrupt. They're corrupt.

Starting point is 00:09:50 I mean, it's really, really sick. That is a authoritarian, a banana republic authoritarian. Just think about if this were literally any other country, Ben, right? Think about if we were watching this take place in any other European country right now. We would lose our minds. We would be horrified. We would be sending people in to help. That's how much of a red alert this is if we saw that going on. And he's trying, he wants bloodshed. He wants violence. Let's face it. Trump is not going to go down without a fight. I think this actually shows that the prosecutors like Fonny Willis, like Letitia James, like Alvin Bragg, that they're onto him and that they are more likely than not to indict him and press charges against him. And he's trying to get ahead of that and say, OK, you do that move that you're planning to do.

Starting point is 00:10:41 I'm going to sick my troops on you and you'll see what true chaos is. He basically wants the purge. He basically wants the purge as long as it's to protect his own ass. He doesn't give a shit about America. And I just don't understand how anybody could watch those clips and say, yeah, that's okay. Yeah, that's my guy. Yeah, I'll support a party who holds this person up as their most influential leader. This guy still controls the

Starting point is 00:11:06 Republican Party, which is why we have to speak to him. And to me, I don't think any Republican should be given any space to go on any talk show, any news show, any radio show, any podcast without first being asked, do you support those words? Do you agree with this belief? Exactly. And yes or no. Yes or no. Don't sidestep the question because this guy is the leader of your podcast. This guy is the leader of your party. So you have to choose a side. It's Trump or it's American democracy.

Starting point is 00:11:36 You can't choose both. Two quick things here. So first off, we're not going to let Trump quote unquote surprise anybody this time. This is why you have to talk about the guy. You have to take the air out of his words and you have to get people on record and let them say what they're going to, what they want to say about Trump. So then we know where they stand specifically in the Republican party. The other thing I want to say is the pardons, man. He holds his constituents like they're poker chips. If he actually wanted to pardon the January 6th

Starting point is 00:12:01 insurrectionists, the terrorists, he would have done that before he left office. And by the way, Joe Schmoe from West Virginia, he's not talking about you who he's going to pardon, who stormed the Capitol. No, he's talking about Steve Bannon. He still doesn't care about you. What he cares about is your money and he wants you to donate to his campaign or whatever the fuck he's selling you this time. Is Joe Schmoe your new nickname for Joe Manchin in West Virginia? I just think it's very coincidental that it was West Virginia. He's on my mind today for reasons we'll get to later. Well, you think about what's going on in the rest of the world. Brett, you mentioned this morning I was watching the House of Commons in the UK. I love watching videos of the House of Commons in the UK. Isn't it the best? I mean, it's full combat debate where the

Starting point is 00:12:45 opposition parties just throw questions at the prime minister, call for him to resign to his face. And there's just this combat of ideas. But the big scandal going on right now in the UK is called Partygate. And it's that Boris Johnson was holding these apparently alcohol fueled parties the prime minister alcohol fueled parties at the prime minister's house in Downing Street and in his flat and other locations during the lockdowns and they had this whole investigation um and he's withholding some of the investigation from the House of Commons, basically. But the key point is people are asking him to resign for throwing those parties without people wearing masks and observing the COVID protocols at the time. That's the big scandal in UK. Meanwhile, in the United States,

Starting point is 00:13:37 we have Donald Trump, who is literally trying to kill prosecutors who are prosecuting, who are trying to engage in a legitimate criminal investigation. That's what I thought while I was watching the House of Commons this morning. No, it's very true. But those House of Commons, whatever they do in the House of Parliament,

Starting point is 00:13:55 I don't know much about it. And so I'm not even gonna speak about the details of it. But it's like watching rap battles. It's like they say their lines, they drop the mic and everyone's like, oh, like it's literally like nothing I've ever seen before. I just cannot imagine if our Congress was like that. It just, and they're so close to each other. They're in like the world's tiniest room when they scream at each other. And it's like, imagine getting the president of the United

Starting point is 00:14:20 States in a room surrounded by all the lawmakers who are just screaming in their face and people from their own party as well, like taking the opposition side and screaming in their face, pointing at them, going, you idiot. It's really like nothing you've ever seen before in your life. Yeah, you should go and watch it. Just watch today's Partygate one. So then after Trump does that speech, the Fulton County DA who's impaneled a special grand jury, Fannie Willis has asked for the FBI to help in providing security for her buildings and staff after Trump's speech because he inspired people to potentially attack her. That was the intent of that meeting. And then Trump released—

Starting point is 00:15:02 Wait, Ben, do you think that's Fannie Willis getting ahead of it? Or do you think that's any indication of her basically saying an indictment is imminent? We need security because he just threatened to send. No, no, no. I think it's a direct response. She just impaneled the special grand jury. That's still going to take a little bit of time. And they're, of course, investigating the phone call that Donald Trump had to Brad Raffensperger, where he was trying to extort Raffensperger and interfere with the elections by having them find votes that don't exist to overturn the election. She just impaneled the special grand jury. I think she's genuinely fearful that he's going to inspire a radical to try to bomb one of the buildings or

Starting point is 00:15:41 kill her or kill some of the civil servants who work there. I think that's what it's in response to. That's the fear that I have really around the country. And it's a term that I brought up months ago and you made fun of me for using big words. But this notion of stochastic terrorism, which is you don't, I know big words and I'm on it today. But, you know, you don't go out and commit the acts on your own. But the words you say, the things you do inspire others to carry out acts of terror on your behalf. And you are not necessarily implicated because you

Starting point is 00:16:11 are able to remain sort of one step away from it. And that's what Trump's doing here. I mean, he is clearly inspiring to me quite directly, inspiring violence on law enforcement, inspiring violence to people to go and start, you know, killing people in the government. Like this is something that we keep seeing over and over again. And I don't think we should be taking it lightly. I don't think we should be taking it jokingly. This is deadly serious. Yeah, I don't make fun of the word stochastic. I just think it's it's superfluous. I don't think the word's needed. I think at the end of the day, just to say it's terrorist and he's a terrorist is enough.

Starting point is 00:16:45 I don't think stochastic gives it a level of intellectualism that I just don't think is required to refer to him as a terrorist is my only point. But on January 30th, the next day, Trump issues a statement, again, going after Pence, saying if the vice president Pence had absolutely no right to change the presidential election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come Democrats and rhino Republicans like wacky Susie Collins are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change results of elections? Actually, what they are saying is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take the right away.

Starting point is 00:17:30 Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power. He could have overturned the election. What a crazy statement to make, like an admission of trying to overturn a Democratic election. And again, you know, going after Susan Collins and people in his parties. I'm not going to give that statement really any more attention other than that.'s crazy, it's completely false. And it's a confession. The guy is trying to create ambiguity in the law where there is none. There's no way for Mike Pence to overturn the election. That's not a thing in the current law. But clearly, Trump is trying to use, parse any word that he can to try to make that be the reality. So yes, when somebody dangerous comes and tries to exercise every possible angle they can to overturn the results of elections, yes, perhaps legislation clarifying that then they complain about the solution. And I think one of the crazy things also about this whole Pence thing is like Jordy said, like he admitted it, like he, he, he, he's far beyond now saying, uh, oh yeah, the, you know, the election was rigged even,

Starting point is 00:18:36 or, you know, we actually won the election. He he's even, he's kind of in this one, he's thrown out the argument that we lost the election and is now in, we could have had this election overturned. And if that's Trump's standard, then okay, Kamala Harris has a whole lot of power in 2022 and 2024. Kamala Harris could just go start overturning whatever election she wants. Let's get all Democrats, right? Kamala Harris has that power. The VP has that power, according to Donald Trump. So go, have fun, have fun, VP Harris, have fun. Every time Trump releases one of these statements, I picture like from one of those movies, like those frat movies, like one of those fraternity guys hitting one of the pledges, like in the butt with the paddle. And then the pledge going, thank you, sir. May I have another?

Starting point is 00:19:16 And the pledge being Mike Pence in this situation, because what the hell do you guys think Mike Pence is thinking every time Trump releases one of these lunatic statements seemingly attacking Pence? I know I have an answer. The when we say that these Republicans have no spine, it's not simply like a metaphor. It is actually true. Like, I'm convinced that these Republicans may not even have like any emotions whatsoever, other than a moral compass that points like evil and follow. They are lemmings who follow any authoritarian strong person and they have no other views. They literally don't know what to do. And so they just follow whoever says the craziest shit, the loudest is who they follow, like little penguins running in Antarctica following

Starting point is 00:20:04 Donald Trump. I mean, it's a little weird of an analogy, but look at Susan. We went from frat boys getting hit in the ass with paddles to penguins following Donald Trump. The problem is my analogy was the best one. And Ben tried to top it with just throwing out all the analogies possible and then somehow confused. I don't know. It got weird. So just look at Susan. Yeah, we're done with analogies possible. And then somehow confused. I don't know. It got weird. So look at, yeah, we're done with analogies. Look at Susan Collins' statement, though, when she goes on George Stephanopoulos and she's asked, like, would she shut the door on supporting Trump? And she doesn't know how to answer it.

Starting point is 00:20:36 She goes, it's not likely, but I'd have to see all of the facts. Like, how is that possibly your position? Just play the clip. As you're working on this reform, former President Trump is out on the campaign trail. He was out in Texas last night suggesting he may pardon, if he were elected in 2024, those who were part of the January 6th riots. Given that, can you imagine any circumstances where you could support his election in 2024? Well, we're a long ways from 2024,

Starting point is 00:21:08 but let me say this. I do not think the president should have made, President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed. All right, just stop the video because it's already giving me a headache. The answer is a very simple answer. There is no circumstance I will ever support Donald Trump. Period. Period. End of story.

Starting point is 00:21:33 And then she even on the on the January 6th, she even tries to give nuance to it there. I don't think that he should do that? Of course he shouldn't do that. It's not even a question. It wasn't even the question that was really being asked. There is no circumstance under which I or any person who supports a democracy should support Donald Trump, period. That's what you see. She voted to convict him during the impeachment trial months ago or a year ago at this point. How do you vote to convict somebody and remove them from office and then say, yeah, maybe I'll vote for them again. Maybe I'll vote for the next. I'm not sure. I need all the facts. Listen, if you don't have all the facts by now, then I don't know what to tell you. And this is something that we've been saying here at Midas Touch for years at this point. I think since we started, we've been saying, don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the so-called

Starting point is 00:22:23 moderate. And I'm using quotes for the listeners, Republicans, because they really don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the so-called moderate, and I'm using quotes for the listeners, Republicans, because they really don't exist. Susan Collins likes to think of herself as a moderate Republican, and too often the media and people in general give her credit. They try to act like she's in a different league of Republican. And what we've said nonstop is there is not a lot of air between Susan Collins and Marjorie Taylor Greene. She is just as radical as the rest of the Republicans. She just hides it a lot better. So stop giving him cover. Stop giving him cover. And this is why we need to be talking about this. And this is why we need to be naming and shaming these people. Not that they care,

Starting point is 00:23:00 but we need voters to look at this and be like, this woman is insane. But let's also be clear. Susan Collins is one for two in voting for impeachment against Donald Trump. The very first time she voted no on impeachment because she thought that he would learn from his lessons. She showed her cards. She showed her cards. We know exactly who Susan Collins is. We got to bring in Nikki Freed. I know that she's got a lot to say on Governor DeSantis, this Republican fascist party. Excited to bring her in. But first, I want to talk about our partner, Athletic Greens.

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Starting point is 00:25:36 immune supporting vitamin D and five free travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com slash Midas. Again, that is athleticgreens.com slash Midas. Again, that is athleticgreens.com slash Midas and take ownership over your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance. Now let's go to our interview for this episode with Nikki Freed. Welcome back to the Midas Touch podcast. We are joined by none other than Nikki Freed, Florida's agriculture commissioner. I should say this, the only statewide elected Democrat since 2012. Nikki is running for governor to bring something new to Florida. Nikki Freed, welcome to the Midas Touch podcast.

Starting point is 00:26:26 Thanks for having me, guys. It's kind of like, where do we begin when we're talking about what's going on in Florida? I guess we should begin with what happened on Friday. It's just so absurd. Governor DeSantis announced on his Twitter account press releases that he will be awarding over 80 million dollars for infrastructure projects in southern Florida. Wait a minute. Wasn't that the infrastructure bill that Biden passed and that he was opposed to, Nikki? Yeah. You know, it's I live in like I feel like a twilight zone here in the state of Florida. Like not only the infrastructure bill first passed, the governor said everything from, you know, that this is a pork barrel bill to Florida didn't get enough. And I had press conferences like, well, what is it governor is that we didn't get enough

Starting point is 00:27:18 or any and somewhere in the middle. And but yeah, he loves to talk about how much money Florida has and all these great projects and forgets the fact that, wait a second, all of this money is coming from the federal government. In fact, not a single member of the Republican Party of the state of Florida even voted for any of this. But, you know, so hopefully the people of our state recognize this money is because of President Biden. And let's talk about what you would do as governor when it comes to Florida's infrastructure. What policies would you have to improve the infrastructure there? I mean, look, you can go to every single one of our cities and counties and everyone has problems, whether it's simple things as roads to broadband in our rural

Starting point is 00:28:03 communities to bridges. But you also have a real significant problem in our rural communities to bridges but you also have a real significant problem on our coastal communities we know that the sea level is rising and if we don't start looking at ways that we are going to make sure that those homes and people can live on the coast one there's not gonna be a 30-year mortgage because those homes won't be here in 30 years um but i think that a lot of it that I kind of talked through is how do we utilize this money to not only once in a generation to have this amount of money, but also looking at how to increase the workforce and the pay of salaries for so many people that are out there that are struggling. And so now it's not only utilizing it to fix our roads and to fix all the infrastructure,

Starting point is 00:28:42 but utilize it to truly stimulate the economy, get people back to work at reasonable jobs. And so there has to be some type of connection to not just the infrastructure, but how we're utilizing it to kind of move our state forward. So not only is DeSantis against, you know, seemingly against infrastructure or whining that he's not getting enough infrastructure it's unclear which side of the bed he wakes up on but let's talk about health care i mean one of the most important if not the most important issue in florida you tweeted out about 2.6 million floridians just enrolled or were auto re-enrolled in obamacare the most in the nation, and Floridians are desperate for leadership that cares about the cost of health care, yet Governor DeSantis hasn't expanded Medicaid.

Starting point is 00:29:33 Is that message resonating with the voters, Nikki? And how do you kind of pierce through, you know, all of kind of the DeSantis BS disinfo echo chamber to really connect to voters that he's against your health care. Yeah. And I think that's a really important thing because people need to understand that why we've got the largest enrollment in Obamacare is because we have not expanded Medicaid and we have not expanded. We're number 50, number 50 in the nation when it comes to healthcare insurance coverage, number 50. And so people are seeing that there is two worlds and they're talking about that healthcare. I mean, there was one of our legislators is healthcare is not a right or a privilege, you know? And so you have the mindset of that. And we're just going through a health care pandemic where you saw the disparities in our health care system.

Starting point is 00:30:29 I mean, even of last week, we heard that there was 1500 vials of the actual treatment for Omicron, as opposed to what the governor wants to say about Regeneron, but actual treatment for it. And he got those vials and he put it into a private healthcare center, not into our public hospitals, not into Jackson. And so people are starting to wake up that we've got a state that doesn't care about the health and wellness of the people, but it, look, it's, it's on both of our jobs, you know, to be elevating through your mediums and through the people that listen to you as I go on the campaign trail and I'm talking to Floridians and making them understand what is happening here in our state. And it's not just been under Governor DeSantis. It's been 20 straight years, almost 25 straight years of one party rule in our state. The fact that we are number 50 when it comes to healthcare coverage and the fact that we have the most amount of Obamacare entries is not something

Starting point is 00:31:25 to be bragging about. That is not a number one that I would like to continue or that I would like to post anywhere in our state. It actually shows that we are failing the people of our state. Did you watch the confirmation hearing last week of the Surgeon General who DeSantis appointed when the Surgeon General was asked whether or not vaccines were effective against COVID-19. He wasn't able to answer that question. What was your reaction to that? So painful, so painful to watch, like hearing his answers and his mannerisms and even the people behind him, you know, started to kind of shake their heads. It was an embarrassment. And actually, Rachel Maddow on Thursday evening had an entire clip, played the entire clip of the questioning. And like it is such an embarrassment to our state that this is somebody who's going to be Surgeon General.

Starting point is 00:32:18 And because I know the Republicans are going to rubber stamp this. I've been very strong even before the confirmation. This guy has no business running our state's, you know, Department of Health as Surgeon General. He's an embarrassment. And I am ashamed of my own university, University of Florida alma mater, who has given him a job inside of our amazing university. And he hasn't still hasn't shown up to that job either. And I'm only, I'm not only concerned about how he dealt with the questionings, but that how he responds to people. I mean, there was a press conference that he was at

Starting point is 00:32:54 and somebody was asking him questions and he was like laughing at them. And like, we're talking about a healthcare pandemic where here in the state of Florida, we've lost almost 64,000 people. And there are serious questions and he laughs at the, at the questions. He's an embarrassment and I will continue doing whatever I can to elevate this. And to, I go to the medical marijuana side.

Starting point is 00:33:17 They increased the costs for those applicants for the black Pitford plaintiffs license, the Black farmer's license, doubled it. And when I called him out that that's discriminatory on its face, he's like, well, at least we're getting it out. And I was like, you all are five years behind the eight ball of getting out a Black farmer's license, and then you doubled the fee. Okay, sure. Welcome to Florida. So Nikki Freed, first day as governor, what would you do to improve Florida's health care and access to health care for authorities? One, I'd start working on expanding Medicaid. I mean, we've got to be taking those federal dollars.

Starting point is 00:33:58 There's too many people in our state that are suffering. And certainly with the rise of inflation right now, people are struggling. And that's the class of people that are hurting the most. And we got to do everything we can. So that's definitely step number one. Nikki, I'm not sure if you've noticed this, but I've seen like in a lot of Rhonda Sandis' recent appearances, and I've seen it with other people as well, like even Marco Rubio, they always have police behind them. They always have people in uniform behind them, like as props. What do you make of that? What are they trying to do there? I saw a

Starting point is 00:34:30 comment from Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who's a historian who studies autocracy and fascism. And her commentary on it was that the more lawless they become, the more they will cloak themselves with the appearance of law and order. That's how authoritarianism works. I'd love to get your perspective. Well, that is a beautiful quote. I mean, because I agree that they do this, that they try to pretend that they are all about law and order, yet they do nothing to protect law and order. Look, we sent our troops to Texas border, spent $1.3, $1.6 million, put our guys and girls at risk. Not one arrest was made. This is all a political prop. And absolutely, now he's asking for $45 million to have his own security and election security team. Does he not believe in the current

Starting point is 00:35:23 program and the current institutions that's scary to think that we're going to utilize 45 million dollars that's what happens in fascist countries and in communist countries um and countries that people from across latin america and people from you know back in the day in germany fled from and that's what he's bringing here so when he loses the election to me you know now back in the day in Germany fled from. And that's what he's bringing here. So when he loses the election to me, you know, now he's going to actually steal the election because he's going to have all these policing people who are going to say, oh, there must have been fraud here. But I agree that this is scary. And the fact that they're utilizing fear tactics is what it is popping these people up. That's what I don't get, Nikki. It's that

Starting point is 00:36:02 things like that, that election fraud unit, that election police force that he's doing, that is the stuff that you see in communist countries. That is the stuff you see in countries with dictatorships. Yet somehow Republicans are very successful in claiming this mantle of freedom and pushing this label of communism on Democrats. And that's been a label that has stuck. And why do you think it's stuck? And how do Democrats push back and say, you want to see what communism looks like? You want to see what dictatorship looks like? It looks like these brown shirts that are intimidating you at the polls. It looks like these bills that are not allowing you to say

Starting point is 00:36:39 certain things in schools or read certain books. Yeah. It's freedom for who, you know, and is what I keep saying. And especially, you know, he did this whole, you know, state of the state address the first week of opening day of session talks about freedom and we won and they lost and freedom, freedom, freedom. And then they file a bill that takes away women's freedoms to decide on abortion. And so you're right. You know, unfortunately, Democrats have been labeled as socialist and communist. And truth be told, and I've said this very publicly, we as Democrats didn't do a good job defeating it and responding to it. Everybody kept saying, oh, it's not going to stick. That's that's crazy talk. And so I think that you're seeing

Starting point is 00:37:22 Democrats across our especially especially our state, that are fighting back, that are painting this other picture. Look, I was the first one who called him a dictator in May of 2021. It was the first one. I had a press conference right after legislative session last year. I called him a dictator. Everybody's like, oh my God. Yeah, I can't believe you just did that. And now the national media and everybody across the country and in our state are like, she was right. And in fact, this is actually happening and very scary. So I think that you're starting to see that rhetoric be turned around. And there is so many things. If you study the history of the rise of any of these dictators, you'll see that it is a playbook of what going after the media, taking away people's rights to vote, taking away people's rights to protest, banning books.

Starting point is 00:38:07 I mean, it is just one thing after another. And the last couple of things is, you know, is this policing of our elections. And, you know, he wants his own his own militia, his own guard. And, you know, this is what we're doing. And now we're going to tell, you know, LGBTQ kids that, oh my God, if you are having questioning your sexuality and you don't have, you know, a good enough relationship with your parents, you can't talk to your teachers either. I mean, this is where we're moving back into a time that's very dangerous. I'd like to, I'd like to pause on that for a second. Could you tell us more about this, what they're calling the don't say gay bill that's going right now through the Republican legislature in Florida? Yeah. You know, what they're calling the don't say gay bill that's going right now through the Republican legislature in Florida. Yeah. You know, basically they're going through and telling schools and teachers that you can't talk about sexuality in the classroom, that a child comes and talks to a teacher or a counselor or somebody who they trust,

Starting point is 00:39:07 then that the parents can sue. Like actually for a party who doesn't like trial lawyers, they certainly are opening up our cottage industry. And so say that they can sue because they've made their other kids feel uncomfortable and certainly not allowing that child. And I know that suicide rates for teens are up. Suicide rates, especially for the LGBTQ community, has always been high. And now you're intentionally telling them they have no safe spaces to go to. My stepbrother came out to me when we were in high school. And I remember those conversations.

Starting point is 00:39:46 He didn't know what to do, didn't know how to talk to his parents. And this is coming from a Jewish liberal family that is open-minded. And he had questions about how to approach his family. And so I can't even imagine a child who is in this circumstance and has parents who are the ones who are going and pushing this legislation, what does that kid do? And the results are potentially devastating. Yeah. This idea of discomfort is a new thing that we keep seeing in bills across the country. And we've seen it multiple times in Florida with this don't say gay bill. And also this bill, which is trying to ban the teaching of a lot of racial issues in Florida schools. To me, you know, school is a place where you can be exposed to maybe uncomfortable ideas and where you have to face American history. I mean, what do you make of that? What would your commitment be to Floridian parents about their kids education?

Starting point is 00:40:39 You know, I love I do love their saying, you know, discomfort, you know, when they've called Democrats woke for the last, you know, 10 years, like who's the snowflake and woke right now. Nikki, I'm sure you've heard about the green M and M so. Right. Oh my God. Flashback. I think it's crazy. You know, like, and I talk about this too. Like I, I think it's crazy. And I talk about this too. As somebody who is Jewish and was taught about the Holocaust all throughout my life, it was one of the first things I learned about Jewish history.

Starting point is 00:41:14 And Tennessee just banned one of the most influential books in talking about the Holocaust, Maus, which is something that Maus 1 and Maus 2 are things that I read in my studies on the Holocaust. And unfortunately, America sent back ships that were fleeing Nazi Germany. They sent ships back to to to the camps. And so what are we not going to talk about that? Because that's a bad omen on, you know, in a bad light of of American history. It's crazy. We have to teach history. And you're right, opening up people's eyes and getting through some uncomfortable conversations actually makes them stronger people. That they hear conflicting ideas

Starting point is 00:41:52 and they hear different things. And we gotta trust our population to be smarter than that. Of course, parents should have a role in the education of their kids. I've got three step-sons. I can't even imagine like having a hands-off approach and just letting them kind of roam free in schools. But I also know that, you know, we just had two years worth of, you know, virtual learning. I didn't hear a lot from parents saying, oh my God,

Starting point is 00:42:14 my kids are being taught crazy things. That didn't happen. And they're creating these culture wars that is, you know, heartbreaking, you know, in our society. Absolutely. And I feel like this is one where Democrats could win. I mean, I feel like saying, Republicans are trying to talk about cancel culture. I saw Molly Jung Fast write this. I thought it was brilliant. They're literally, in canceling books, they're literally canceling culture.

Starting point is 00:42:38 If you want to go down that route, they are canceling books. They are banning the teaching of American history. What is more un-American than that? What is more against our kids' education than that? Yep. And that's exactly it. You know, again, that's like back to what I just said, you know, they call us woke and, you know, snowflakes. When the reality is, you know, this is exactly what they're doing. I mean, it was funny just to, and I know you're about to ask another question to show this. I tweeted a picture of me in a tank top and a Budweiser hat and said how I'm going to do well in the panhandle.

Starting point is 00:43:12 My God, you should see the Republican responses to that. Like, I can't believe a gubernatorial candidate is in a tank top and a Budweiser hat and is trying to placate and trying to be persuasive. It's like, what? Let's put their tweets side by side to what they say about M&Ms wearing stilettos, and we'll see how those match up, I'm sure. One of the things I feel like we see, and I feel like Florida has often been ground zero for this, and in 2020 especially, is after the election, we discover all these deceptive tactics that were used by Republicans. I remember there was one congressional race where Republicans ran a shell candidate with a name that was similar to one of the other candidates to peel off votes, and they ended up winning that race. And I've also heard

Starting point is 00:43:54 about all these other campaigns that are, they're flooding the phone lines to Latino voters, spreading disinformation about Democrats, calling them communists. They're flooding Latino radio stations, and they are also calling Democrats communists. They're flooding Latino radio stations, and they are, you know, also calling Democrats communists and spreading all this disinformation about what Democrats are going to do to Latino families. I mean, how can we take a proactive approach to these sorts of tactics rather than looking at it in, you know, a year after the election, a few months after the election, and going, damn, they got us. Yes. You know, there might be punishments for those people. But guess what?

Starting point is 00:44:27 Those people got elected to these positions and some people had to pay fines. But but they got us. Yep. It's being proactive and aggressive now. And I think that we haven't done that as Democrats. You know, and to your point, you know, we look, you know, retrospect and look, you know, as what happened. You know, why in the world when that shell candidates were put onto the ballots to begin with, weren't there challenges and why weren't they fighting back in

Starting point is 00:44:48 the aggressive then? Because again, everybody thinks, well, it's not going to really work, but it does. And it has. And so that's why I have been on Spanish radio. I've been on Spanish TV. I have a very aggressive Latin American advisory council and consultants. And my campaign manager is Latina because we are not going to take that for granted. We are going to be in your face. We're going to dispel these conversations. We're going to show you the other side of the fact that they have completely pulled the wool over, you know, so much of our Latino population here in our state and are manipulating them. You know, and the governor wants to talk about, you know, the Cubans. But meanwhile, like

Starting point is 00:45:24 he placates to them. He goes down to Freedom Tower and gives $10, $20 million, whatever that number is. Well, how is that helping the lives of the people that are actually living here in our state? Or more importantly, how is that helping them have, you know, helping democracy in Cuba? And so it's taking those issues on and being in your face and being aggressive on the response. I think one of the highlights of your campaign, Nikki, has been when you called Ron DeSantis out for stockpiling those COVID tests in a warehouse. And there were up to a million COVID tests just sitting in a warehouse. And you called it out. You held an emergency press conference. And what

Starting point is 00:46:01 did Ron DeSantis do? He called you a liar. And then it was revealed, what, days later that he was the one lying and that you were exactly right. I would just love for you to like walk us through that. And what are the results of that? What's happening with those tests now? Yeah. So it all started kind of mid-December when the numbers were starting to spike again in Florida with Omicron. And you saw the four or five hour lines all across our state. And so, and Ron was MIA, literally MIA. No one knew where he was. We all started kind of asking, where's Ron? And we got one message from his press secretary and then it changed a day later. And then they posted a picture that was like two weeks old. Proof of life photos. Yeah. Proof of life, which wasn't the case.

Starting point is 00:46:43 Nikki, did you see the video? Sorry to interrupt. Did you see the video of him having trouble breathing? Yeah. I mean, what did you make of that? You know, I don't know. You know, I certainly won't speculate whether or not he had COVID or he had indigestion or, you know, was out of shape and walked upstairs very fast and couldn't catch his breath. But I think that it continues to go through the lines of something's happening. And you were not honest with people of our state. And I think that's kind of been my rhetoric for the last three years.

Starting point is 00:47:13 Just be honest and transparent. We're all we're all know how to take it. You know, we're not we're not two years old. Like we're adults. Right. Honest with us. And so that's exactly. So during this time in December, when we realized that governor was completely going to be MIA, not going to step up in leadership, I called my team. I said, look, we're going to have to do this again because Ron's gone. And so we're going to have to step up. And so we started calling around to our city and county commissioners, his own Department of Health, people in his administration, just kind of figuring out what is going on or what is not going to go on. And in those conversations is when we were told about that there's a million stockpile. So a million stockpile, the same exact time where families are trying to get together for the holidays, you know, end of the year work, not able to go back. And he's sitting on these things. So we had put out a press statement. We, you know, had conferences

Starting point is 00:47:59 and his entire team was like, she's crazy. She's the most, I think his press secretary said, this is a bizarre line of questioning from the commissioner. And the press secretary from the Department of Health literally quoted that I needed to turn on my blinker and get back in my lane. Very professional, very adult. And so at the end of all this and every I continue to elevate this and all of my press conferences and the media was like, well, how do you know? I was like, I'm not going to put my personal reputation. This is just a hunch. I know this to be the case. And finally, a reporter in a press conference asked him, and like Ron DeSantis fashion, didn't answer the question, moved away from the podium and threw his emergency management

Starting point is 00:48:40 secretary under the bus to answer the question. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Freed put out an official statement accusing me of stockpiling COVID tests that were expiring soon. Is there any truth to that? Kevin can talk about what they have at DEM. We had between 800,000 and a million test kits, Abbott rapid test kits in our warehouse that did expire. You know, whatever happened to the buck stops here concept just doesn't apply to Ron

Starting point is 00:49:05 DeSantis. Yeah, that was an incredible clip of him going up. Okay, you, I'm going to step aside over here. Man, he's such a jerk. It's pretty wild. So here's something that is kind of sweeping the nation and Republican states also, and it's the issue of abortion rights. And we're faced with, in a few months, a case that could very well overturn Roe v. Wade. At its worst, overturn it entirely. And at best, uphold these just abhorrent laws that are going into place across the country. Florida Republicans right now are pushing a similar extreme abortion ban. It's already passed through the first committee. They limited public comment to 30 seconds.

Starting point is 00:49:48 And its second committee, they kicked people out after public comments opposing the bill. And people were out there chanting, let us speak. And they did not let them speak. What could you do as governor if that worst case scenario happens and Roe v. Wade is overturned to protect the right to choose in Florida? Look, you know, the veto power is significant, but so is the calling of special sessions. And I have said this very clear that if the legislature doesn't work with me as governor, they become full-time legislators and they will come in here and they will have to be

Starting point is 00:50:22 here all year long until they fix some of these laws. And the fact of the matter is they're going to pass a bill that is a 15 week abortion ban. No exemptions for rape or incest. It is the most outrageous, especially in a state like Florida, that is not red conservative. You know that one out of four women have had an abortion. And the people that this is going to hurt the most are going to be the ones that have actually experienced rape and incest and can't go and financially afford to go someplace else outside the state of Florida to to have an abortion and those that are more socially and

Starting point is 00:51:01 economically disadvantaged. So as governor, and I've said this very clearly, that if they pass this bill, which I think they will, this will end the reign of terror over the state of Florida, because the women of our state are going to come out in droves because the pendulum will have swung so far. And it is unconscionable that there's so many things that are going on in our state, in our society right now. Everything from affordable housing and not having to be able to pay your property insurance and property taxes. Rent is being increased by 26 to 50 percent across the entire state. We've got buildings that collapse and environmental disaster in our state.

Starting point is 00:51:39 And this is what we are talking about today and kicking people out of legislative hearings. Such an undemocratic process. And this is going to backfire on them. And we will have a mandate going into my first legislative session to reverse this. And I'm going to pass it over to Jordi in just a sec. But I just want to let all the listeners know, Chris, a lot of people tend to have this idea that, I mean, people thought this about Trump. Oh, he's untouchable. He can't lose. People think that about DeSantis too. Remember, Ron DeSantis only won by 49.6% to 49.2% in the last election. He is an incredibly beatable candidate. And not only that, Ron DeSantis has done nothing to lead from the middle or to bring

Starting point is 00:52:26 all the sides together. He's just placated his extremist base. So we could do this thing. And now, Jordi, I'll let you go now because I know you have a question you're itching to ask. Yeah, no, and super important too is switching gears here, Nicky, onto a much lighter note. Do you know why Ron DeSantis' press secretary, Christina Pichaudaw just blocks everybody on Twitter. You know, she, she hasn't blocked me yet, but she, but she stalks me. Like she actually stalks me. Uh, you know, my, uh, my friends and my significant other thinks that there's a theory behind that, but, um, but, but she, yeah, she goes out of her way to, you know, stalk me on every opportunity that she has. It's actually quite hilarious. It's yeah, it's certainly strange behavior, especially from somebody's press secretary.

Starting point is 00:53:11 But Nikki, I think you've answered this throughout this entire interview. You've run a terrific campaign, but you're also in a contested primary. Now, what sets you apart in your opinion and Washington Floridians vote for you in the primary? Everything. This is an easy one for Democrats. You know, one, I have born and raised in Florida. Lifelong Democrat was doing Habitat for Humanity and soup kitchens and civil rights parades when I was in high school. The things that I have fought for as a public defender, fighting for individuals during the foreclosure crisis.

Starting point is 00:53:41 This is who I am. This is me as a fierce fighter. And the Democrats need somebody who is going to fight, who is a proven track record and has won statewide. This is a hard, hard state. I've been in the arena with DeSantis. I haven't just thrown punches. I have landed punches. And look, all of us in the Democratic primary are all going to have similar policies, you know, because we know what's wrong with our state. We're going to have similar policies. But what good is that if we can't win them?

Starting point is 00:54:09 And if we can't win, we can't effectuate any of those policies. And who is going to be the person not only who can win to get those policies, in fact, and actually enacted, but more importantly, or equally as important, is who's going to fight for those policies when you are governor and in a Republican legislature. I'm the one who is willing and ready to take on the Republicans to make sure that we're fighting for these issues. And Nikki, we always love to give our listeners ways to get involved. And we do have a lot of our listeners based in Florida who are Floridians who are rooting for you, but they definitely want to know how they can help volunteer or help with your campaign in any way. So what would you tell them? So very easy. Go to my website,

Starting point is 00:54:48 Nikki freed.com. That's N I K K I F R I E D.com. Uh, there is a link for volunteering. Uh, there's a link to give $4 and 20 cents. Um, there is opportunities. Um, this is a grassroots campaign, all the amount of money that we've raised, the average dollar is low because this is built on the grassroots. And that's how we're going to win the state. Every dollar, every individual and knocking on doors and talking to people all across our state from Key West to Pensacola to everything in between. Nikki Freed, Democratic candidate for governor of the state of Florida. Beat DeSantis, please. Let's win this.

Starting point is 00:55:32 Nikki Freed, thank you so much for joining us on the Midas Touch podcast. Well, thank you so much for having me. And thanks for you all using your voice to elevate these issues in Florida. We will be right back after these messages. Welcome back to the Midas Touch podcast. It was great catching up with Nikki Freed over the weekend. Thought it was great.

Starting point is 00:55:50 She's great. Great interview. And we'll keep following up on that race, see what's happening there. But Governor DeSantis absolutely needs to go. Brett, kicking it over to you. Guys, it finally happened. I could not be more excited about this. Do you know what's coming? What happened? What?

Starting point is 00:56:09 Okay. So I have been calling on the Midas Mighty to help us get a coffee sponsor for the show. Oh. I think since day one of the Midas Touch podcast. I said, listen, all I want is a coffee sponsor on this show. Is this true? And guess what?

Starting point is 00:56:21 What? Our friends at Trade Coffee heard you and they sponsored the Midas Touch podcast. And I could not be happier because I am the biggest coffee nerd, as everybody knows, rocking the hashtags Barista Brett on Twitter. 90% of the coffee in grocery stores is actually stale. They don't tell you that. You heard that right. The coffee you know and think you love needs an upgrade.

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Starting point is 00:57:41 Personally, I'm a light roast guy. I wanted it for my espresso machine They sent me the most incredible bag from dune coffee roasters in Santa Barbara And I never had dune coffee even though I've been to Santa Barbara a few times the coffee was incredible It had the roast date on the box. It came like within days of me ordering it I was amazed by how quickly it shipped to me and the coffee has really been fantastic. I'm drinking it right now. I made a little Americano. I cannot recommend it enough.

Starting point is 00:58:08 And the great thing is, you know, if you like different coffee than me or have different ways of making it, maybe you're a Chemex guy. Maybe you're an Aeropress guy. Maybe you fill your own cups within the Keurig and put it there. You could choose whatever you want and Trade will make the coffee for you. So for our listeners right now, Trade Coffee is offering a total of $20 off your first three bags when you go to drinktrade.com slash Midas. To get started, take their quiz at drinktrade.com slash Midas, that's M-E-I-D-A-S, and start your

Starting point is 00:58:39 journey to the perfect cup. That's drinktrade.com slash Midas for $20 off your first three bags. We talked about it too much on the read because that was an excellent read, but just for the listeners and for the viewers, Brett did that without even looking at the copy. That's how much Brett is. That's how confident Brett is in trade coffee. Good for you, man. Good job. That was really impressive. I'm so excited. Please support trade coffee because I want to keep getting coffee bags. Let me steer the ship back to politics. This is why you need older brother Ben on this podcast. We were talking about Susan Collins before. We were talking about her equivocation on whether or not she would support Trump, despite agreeing to impeach and convict him on the impeachment,

Starting point is 00:59:23 despite the fact that he calls her wacky, Susie Collins, and attacks her every day. And despite the fact that he's a fascist and wants to overthrow our democracy, she's a little bit on the fence. She's on the fence. She's not too sure. Maybe. Will I? Won't I? I don't know. And then Susan Collins, again, in that same interview, when she was asked about Biden's Supreme Court nomination, Biden's previously stated and again has affirmed his commitment to nominating the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. Susan Collins believes that that's politicizing the process and has questions about Biden doing that and thinks that Biden's commitment to that is inappropriate. Play the clip from her interview. I would welcome the appointment of a black female to the court. I believe that diversity benefits the Supreme Court. But the way that the president has handled this nomination has

Starting point is 01:00:19 been clumsy at best. It adds to the further perception that the court is a political institution like Congress when it is not supposed to be. And so, by the way, Biden's commitment is one no different than commitments other presidents have made in history. I mean, just most recently, Trump has said that he was going to nominate a woman to the bench. Before, Trump has said that he was going to nominate a woman to the bench. Before that, Ronald Reagan stated he was going to nominate a woman. Let's just play the Reagan clip quickly. Polls continuing to show he runs better among men than women. Reagan took a dramatic step today to reach out for female support. Now, I'm announcing today that one of the first Supreme Court vacancies in my administration will be filled by the most qualified woman I can possibly find.

Starting point is 01:01:08 One who meets the high standards I will demand for all court appointments. It's time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists. So there you have Reagan saying it. here for Republicans who want to create and support a white apartheid state in the United States of America is that the nominee for Biden's going to be a black woman. Yeah, there was one word added that seems to have triggered them. I think we could all agree on. Yeah. And let me be very clear. In the United States of America right now, the most qualified nominee for the Supreme Court is a Black woman, period. End of story. There's no discussion. That is who the most qualified

Starting point is 01:01:51 candidate is right now. And for Republicans to contest that and fight that and diminish the accomplishments of these incredibly, incredibly talented black justices who are and judges who are on Biden's shortlist is entirely, completely offensive, especially when you're going to put Amy Coney Barrett, who had basically no experience whatsoever before being, you know, she was a professor at Notre Dame. That was her basically qualifications before really becoming a Supreme Court judge. You had Kavanaugh, and we all saw his completely disastrous nomination process where he talked about his frat party days. Ski. Ski and all, you know, and- His love for beer. Very accurate accusations against him of sexual assault that were leveled against him, or even Neil Gorsuch. It's not exactly the Republicans have nominated highly qualified people. And so the people on Biden's shortlist, highly, highly qualified people, a D.C. circuit judge,

Starting point is 01:02:59 a D.C. circuit judge, a Supreme Court judge from California, and a district court judge from South Carolina. Who Lindsey Graham, by the way, the South Carolina district court judge, Lindsey Graham said was eminently qualified. At this point, we could just really, it seems like we could just ignore these people outright. They really don't even have a say in the process. It seems pretty clear that this isn't going to be like past confirmations where a majority of the Senate votes for the nominee despite not being of that party. Those days are long gone. But guess what? It's already been decided. The filibuster, it does not apply to these sorts of nominations. So we're good. We're going to be able to confirm this nominee. And

Starting point is 01:03:41 even Joe Manchin this morning said that he supports a quick nomination process and he supports getting the first black woman on the Supreme Court. Now, Jordy, I know you are still a little worried about Sinema. Look, man, I love your confidence and I want to buy into your confidence, but I refuse to get loosied with the football and the Charlie Brown showing the peanuts once again by Kirsten Sinema pulling the ball away from us the last second because she always, always finds a way, man. She always finds a way to just screw Democrats out of anything that we're trying to accomplish during this administration. So look, I hear you. Everything's looking good, but I'm going to

Starting point is 01:04:20 proceed with caution until the confirmation is actually complete. After her track record, I don't blame you at all. And I don't blame anybody who feels that way. I mean, she's the worst. But I feel good about this and I feel confident about this. And, you know, let's just call it the McConnell rule, right? The McConnell rule. We have to confirm somebody within 27 days or whatever it was that they confirmed the

Starting point is 01:04:40 last Justice Senate. So let's get it. Let's make it happen and let's run on it. And let's own this issue, because I think this is something that really excites Democrats. And as we're going to see, the Supreme Court is going to be more and more and more important as these months go on. Yeah. And we've talked about that on Legal AF. We've broke down in the most recent Legal AF. We talk about the affirmative action cases that the Supreme Court has just agreed to hear. The Supreme Court looks like it is going to overturn affirmative action cases that the Supreme Court has just agreed to hear. The Supreme Court

Starting point is 01:05:05 looks like it is going to overturn affirmative action in higher education or having race become a consideration of many factors and promoting a diverse student body. The Supreme Court seems now poised to eliminate that entirely. We talked about that on Legal AF. And of course, if you've been following as well, you know that Roe v. Wade is in significant jeopardy, a ruling likely to come out in June or July, perhaps sooner, but likely maybe late May, June, July. That will, in our view, in our analysis, is going to uphold the Mississippi 15-week ban on abortion. Abortion is being banned after 15 weeks and may overturn Roe v. Wade in general, making it an issue to the states to completely ban it if they want to.

Starting point is 01:05:56 But we'll follow up there. But the Supreme Court is imminently important. And Biden's judicial nominations have been incredible so far. And Biden's, you know, put a ton of judges in the bench. And I can't even emphasize enough having federal judges from diverse backgrounds who actually follow the law and don't hoist up the Trump fascist view of things is incredibly important. And, you know, again, especially as we look to, you know, what's going on in states. I mean, we saw this Jordy Brett in Michigan, this state Senate candidate, of course, Republican Mike Detmer told a crowd that he was speaking in front of that. He wants citizens to bring guns to polling places. And while the Constitution says that people should be peaceful.

Starting point is 01:06:43 I don't even think I want to play this clip, but let's, let's, let's talk about it. You could find it online. Yeah. Yeah. We won't play the clip, but it basically here's a Republican state Senate candidate speaking at a forum of people telling the people to, well, the first, the person who introduced him told people that if they think things are going wrong, just to start unplugging all of the machines and to tamper with the machines there. And first of all, I don't know who Mike Detmer was. So I thought that was Mike Detmer at first when I saw the clip, because I don't know the state of that candidate. But then Mike Detmer raised the bar. I thought unplugging and tampering with the election process was bad enough. And then Detmer comes in and tells the crowd that the constitution supports you being violent and bearing arms and using arms at polling

Starting point is 01:07:30 locations if the election isn't going in Detmer's favor or in Republicans' favor. I mean, that's all I'll say about that. And then you have actual Nazis. We're now seeing really like the GQP, Nazi QAnon are one in the same thing. And I know, Jordy, you saw these Nazis with these signs that are mixed with Trump's support going on, and then the press secretary of Florida supported them. Yeah, no, that's exactly what happened. There was a Nazi rally in Florida. These people were hiling, saying, F the Jews, and all these other derogatory statements. Very clearly obvious that they were Nazis. And Christina Pushaw, who we referenced in the Nikki Freed interview, her first instinct was to give the Nazis the benefit of the doubt. Hey, are we sure that

Starting point is 01:08:20 these are Nazis? Are you guys sure? Hey, Christina, the people hiling are fucking Nazis, okay? Your first reaction shouldn't be to defend them and give them coverage. You fucking sicko. Yeah. The next thing she said also was, you know, people were like, you know, talking about the signs they had because they had a let's go Brandon sign with swastikas all over it. And, uh, you know, somebody was like, you know, this is a problem. And Christina Pushow responds basically saying, Oh, what? So criticizing the president now means you're a Nazi. This is a problem. And Christina Puschauer responds basically saying, oh, what? So criticizing the president now means you're a Nazi? This is where we are? And I was like, Christina, no, I think, you know, saying hail Hitler and having swastikas, I think that's the part that makes you a Nazi if you really actually want to look at what's

Starting point is 01:08:57 going on. But this is why it's so scary when, you know, we let this stuff just go under the bridge and we don't really think about it because these people are now emboldened. They think they could go out there. They think that they could act this way and have no repercussions because as of now, we haven't really seen repercussions for behavior like this. So here's the analogy, Brett.

Starting point is 01:09:19 In the past, while I vehemently disagreed with Republican policy, at the very least, you still had some, I don't want to say all, but you still had some Republicans who would rise to leadership positions like John McCain, who would take the mic away from the person who would be shouting the insane, racist, disgusting things. That's the way it used to be. Now, instead of taking the mic away, the Republicans, like the DeSantis, like the Abbots, like the Youngkins, give the microphone. They make that person who's making that racist statement, who McCain said, uh-uh-uh, sit back down. That's not true. They make that person their hero. They put that person on CPAC stands and put fireworks around them and say, this person

Starting point is 01:10:13 is a hero. And then they embody that evil, that despotism, that racism, that disgustingness in their cult leader, in Donald Trump, who goes out and spreads more and more and more of this hate. That is who they've become right now. And then they applaud each other. I leave on this one note here, you know, Sarah Palin, one of the biggest mistakes McCain ever made was to hoist up Sarah Palin. And, you know, they were getting that polling data at that time that this was the direction the Republican Party was headed in, but they thought that McCain could kind of balance out that. So Sarah Palin was kind of foreshadowed what was going to be taking place and what was going on in that party. So more recently, Sarah Palin is in New

Starting point is 01:11:05 York for this defamation case that she's filed against the New York Times. She's against any types of vaccines. She said that she would get a vaccine over her dead body. And so she's COVID positive. She has to test because of the court rules. And she's going out dating like in new york at popular restaurants with covid spreading covet to people not just staying at home just spreading covet to people and then what does fox news do like that's bad enough fox news then brings on former congresswoman michelle bachman the original palin if you will the original palin, if you will, the original Palin and Michelle Michelle Bachman, who's I won't even comment there. But Michelle Bachman goes and says we should have basically applaud Sarah Palin. Play that clip.

Starting point is 01:11:56 But I think honestly, Sarah Palin is to be commended because she's trying to act like a normal human being in the greatest city in America, New York City. She's going out to eat at a wonderful little boutique Italian restaurant. So we don't just see a it's not even just an issue of should the government create mandates, you know, which I think when you have a significant part of the population spreading COVID, you almost have to at some point. You have to do that to protect other people when you have all this disinfo spreading.

Starting point is 01:12:32 Biden didn't start with the mandate. He got the vaccine to everybody. Then he realized, I have to do this. We have no other choice but to do the mandate. So it's not even just about though, whether the government should or shouldn't mandate the vaccine in certain circumstances. people are on team covet like the same way the same way people root for their favorite sports team the republicans root for spreading covet

Starting point is 01:12:56 they want to blow in your face and they want to spread this disease it is completely vile and it is so strange that this is precisely who the Republican Party has become right now, but that is who they are. Brett, I'm going to throw it to you. Talk to me a little bit about one of our partners, Thesis. Some days you're ready to wake up and take on the world, and other days you just can't take it. Imagine what you could do if you had a good day every day. With Thesis, you could get it all done and make the impact that you are meant to. Thesis makes personalized supplement formulas

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Starting point is 01:14:32 takethesis.com slash Midas. So go to takethesis.com slash Midas to take this quiz and discover your unique nootropic combination and save 10% on your first starter kit. That's takethesis.com slash Midas. Make sure to use our URL to let them know that we sent you. Look, there's also good news to report on the gerrymandering front. I mean, there've been some positive rulings. Most recently, there's a ruling in Alabama. Alabama drew this incredibly racist map. African-Americans make up about 27% of the population, yet they were only like kind of

Starting point is 01:15:14 put into one small district of the map. It's almost good that they're so brazenly racist. Like it actually really helps us when it comes to the Supreme Court cases where they look at it and go, yeah, no, this is like the most insanely racist drawn map ever. Like this is ridiculous. Like they don't they don't even try to hide what they're doing, which actually ends up helping us when these things are challenged. Yeah. And so to go into it, you know, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 has what's called a pre clearance requirement where a lot of these maps would have to go to

Starting point is 01:15:46 federal judges or to the Department of Justice before they could be approved in the first place and litigated because there were certain areas that had this history of racism and prejudice. There was a 2013 case in the Supreme Court called Shelby. And in a 5-4 decision, the preclearance requirement was overturned. And so there was no kind of, it wasn't really the preclearance requirement, it was the formula for determining which specific districts would be subject to the preclearance requirement. And so for all intents and purposes, it knocked out the preclearance requirement. So these states have felt emboldened to put forward these like heinously racist maps because this has been the first time since that 2013 Shelby decision where there hasn't been a preclearance requirement. That's why right now, you know, I'm giving you the nooks and crannies, but that's why these states have felt more emboldened to put forward these horrible maps. But they still go to a three-judge judicial panel

Starting point is 01:16:46 to be reviewed when lawsuits are brought. So here, like the NAACP and a number of groups brought lawsuits against this racist map. And here, the three-judge district said it's a racist map. And this is being done purely for racist reasons. And so Alabama is going to have to revisit that map and likely it's going to result in more districts that are more representative actually of the population. And so you have that happening in Alabama. And then in New York, based on the way the maps are being redrawn there, you have Democrats likely going to take up you know more get more seats about like five or six more seats let's go in new york that are tilting democratic based on the process there and the difference you go well is there gerrymandering in new york and the gerrymandering

Starting point is 01:17:39 exists the issue is is it being done that's still representative of the population or is it being done for racist reasons or discriminatory reasons? Whereas Alabama is being done in discriminatory ways. New York maps not being done in discriminatory ways. It's just being just being done in ways that are going to be more beneficial to Democrats. I don't like gerrymandering at all. But nonetheless, the fact that it exists, Democrats, we need to win elections. And the point of me giving you this whole lecture is that in 2022, the votes are there. We have the numbers actually to win and to keep the house. And so the defeatist attitude of, oh, 2022, nothing's going to happen. We're going to lose. Just stop it. Cut it out. I don't want to hear any of that right now. Right now is all about

Starting point is 01:18:39 being productive. And a special shout out to all of the Midas Mighty out there, all the listeners out there who, after they listen to this podcast, go out and register voters. You don't have to post about it if you're not comfortable posting about it. When you do post about it, we'll definitely amplify all of the work that you're doing. But we have lots of Midas Mighty, lots of people who listen to this who are registering voters. If you listening to this even register 5, 10, 15, 20 voters, our audience is so big that that could actually have an exponential effect that can tilt elections. Like that's the power that you have. So as we start kind of concluding the show, like that's my message to you is that like go out there right now.

Starting point is 01:19:21 I love what Beto is doing in Texas. He's treating it like the election days tomorrow. He's holding rallies right now. I love what Beto's doing in Texas. He's treating it like the election day is tomorrow. He's holding rallies right now like election day is tomorrow with the rallies, with the knocking on the doors. You usually see that kind of closer to the election day itself, you know, the two months before. No, that's not how we do it anymore. Right now we start today. I think we've got to acknowledge because I feel like too often, you know, we think about democratic weakness, you know, that's sort of the label.

Starting point is 01:19:50 It's like, okay, Republicans are crazy, but Democrats are weak. That's kind of become the stereotype. But I think we have to acknowledge when people are out there fighting, Beto is a great example. And this New York map is a great example of Democrats fighting back. And honestly, this is what happens when maps are drawn fairly. I mean, it just is. It's one of the reasons why Republicans are afraid to get rid of gerrymandering. Because when maps are drawn fairly around the country, hey, surprise, surprise, all of a sudden districts that were gerrymandered in this really unnatural way to have Republican

Starting point is 01:20:21 support get sliced and diced in a way that is fair. And all of a sudden, oh, look, Democrats now have a shot of winning those districts. And that's why legal experts are saying that these new maps in New York are more than likely to hold and be ruled constitutional by the state court because they didn't do anything wrong here. They basically just took the districts there and they, you know, they put them in the Democratic favor. But they would argue and

Starting point is 01:20:45 I would argue this is representative of the state of New York, a very blue state, these districts. And I'm so happy to see some of these Congress people just get destroyed in their districts who just sold their soul to Trump. I know one of the districts is Malia Takis, who's just been awful in just her subservience to everything Donald Trump says. It went from a plus 11 Trump district to a plus nine Biden district. I mean, just think about that swing. So I'm happy to see that Democrats are fighting back. And Republicans, if you hate this so much, if you think it's unfair, if you want to accuse it of, you know, democratic gerrymandering or whatever, okay, let's pass those voting rights bills then, okay? Let's make free and fair maps across the country that allow people to have fair

Starting point is 01:21:30 representation. Let's do that. If you're so afraid of legislative bodies making these decisions, then let's pass the voting rights bill. What are you afraid of? I'll tell you what they're afraid of, Brett. You look at Kentucky, for example, who is their governor? Andy Beshear, a member of the Democratic Party. And so when you do kind of a statewide race like that, and who's actually governing in the interest of the people, you get an Andy Beshear. And Beshear is incredibly popular in Kentucky. Wildly popular in Kentucky. And then we go to Pennsylvania, where their legislature is controlled by Republicans, because they have their own gerrymandering of those districts themselves within the statehouse. But then who do you have

Starting point is 01:22:08 as your attorney general? Shapiro, Democrat. Who do you have as your governor? Wolf, Democrat. You have wildly popular Democrats leading the states because at the end of the day, you have to get serious. You know, like someone like Youngkin in Virginia, at the end, he's going to have to govern. People are going to catch on to the bullshit. People don't want books being burned. People don't want their kids getting sick every day. People don't want these policies that benefit the billionaires and not benefit them and their families. People want infrastructure. Guess what? People want the federal government to help out with health care and make it free or very, very, very, very cheap.

Starting point is 01:22:51 That's what people want. And so it's not popular when you have and you heard, for example, what Nikki Freed said on the interview, when you have a Republican governor who's not funding health care, when it's so easy to fund in a state that's 50th is last in health care, but it's a state that's older and needs health care probably in the top one or two in the country. Like you're killing your state. You're killing your state. It's wild. You know, and I think it's important that we have these important debates. That's why we do this on Midas Touch podcast. And a lot of our Midas Touch listeners have been listening to a podcast that we recommend. I don't recommend podcasts

Starting point is 01:23:31 lightly, but one that I think is really good is a podcast called The Lost Debate. And whenever you're looking for news, maybe you feel that you have to choose between this echo chamber or that echo chamber. What I like about The Lost Debate, it's a podcast and a YouTube show for political eclectics who want to escape their media bubbles and engage in just a good faith discussion of ideas across the political spectrum. I'm confident when you have this battle of ideas, the same way we talked about in the House of Commons, the ones that help people are the ones that rise to the top. And those are democratic views. And so the host of the last debate, you have Robbie Gupta, former staffer of Obama and school principal, who founded Arena, an organization that's trained thousands of progressive staffers and helped elect hundreds of candidates. You have Corey Bradford,

Starting point is 01:24:19 progressive political organizer from the Deep South turned TikTok star who once hosted a Fox News radio show. Corey did this great takedown of the Rogan show on the last one, which everyone should check out. And then also you have Ricky Schlott, a Gen Z New York Post columnist and libertarian fighting to protect free speech. They cover the latest news, ideas, trends that the mainstream media overlooks. So join that conversation. Check out The Lost Debate today. New episodes drop twice a week, and you can check out their YouTube channel as well, The Lost Debate. Brett Jordy, really enjoyed this podcast. Enjoyed spending time with both of you. Special thanks to all of our sponsors,

Starting point is 01:25:01 Thesis, Trade Coffee, Athletic Greens, totally appreciate that. Go support our sponsors. Use those codes, Midas, to get the discounts that we help you unlock there. Special thank to our guest, Nikki Freed. Keep on fighting, Midas Mighty. Go out there, register voters, start canvassing. You hold the power for Democrats to win in 2022 because Democrats winning is democracy winning. Thank you so much. And we'll see you next time on the Midas Touch podcast. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. Shout out to the Midas Mighty.

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The MeidasTouch Podcast - Rally Against Trump and DeathSantis with Nikki Fried

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