The MeidasTouch Podcast - Trump calls for RIOTS, Biden calls out MAGA Republicans, an interview with Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro + MORE

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Trump calls for RIOTS, Biden calls out MAGA Republicans, an interview with Josh Shapiro + MORE On today’s episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, we sit down with the Attorney General of Pennsylvania and the Commonwealth’s Democratic Candidate for Governor, Josh Shapiro! During our conversation, we discuss AG Shapiro pro-freedom platform, including his strong advocacy for a woman’s right to choose and his steadfast support of democracy – a platform that runs counter to the anti-freedom beliefs espoused by his extremist opponent, Doug Mastriano. During the rest of the episode, the brothers break down the latest news of the week to keep you up to date heading into the weekend! In this episode we cover Trump, Lindsey Graham and the rest of the MAGA maniacs calling for riots if Trump is indicted for stealing top secret documents, President Biden ripping MAGA Republicans and calling them fascists, Democrats rising in the polls and much more! New episodes of The MeidasTouch Podcast are released every Tuesday and Friday at 5am ET/2pm PT. If you enjoyed today’s show please be sure to rate, review and subscribe! GET MEIDAS MERCH: https://store.meidastouch.com 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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charge bet mgm operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming ontario trump lindsey graham and the maga maniacs are calling for riots if Trump is indicted for stealing national secrets from the government. Biden, meanwhile, is ripping MAGA Republicans, calling them out as fascists, as Biden and the Democrats are delivering for the people. Just common sense policies that help American people each and every day. And so it's no surprise, to Midas Mighty at least, that Biden and the Democrats are rising in the polls. Fighting for people's rights actually is very popular, as Republicans are not just fighting against the rights of people, fighting to take away the rights of Americans,

but supporting some of the weirdest, fascist, cosplay, most extreme ideology that we've seen. And that's coming out in the polling. Oh, and how can I forget our guest today, the current Attorney General of the commonwealth of pennsylvania and the democratic nominee for governor of pennsylvania josh shapiro ben bretton jordy joining you here on the midas touch podcast i mean where do we start do we start with there's just so much ben there's just so much i i i don't even know you know what was pissing me off

too when i was watching msnb the other day. We did our show and we started speaking about how Biden is improving in the polls. And we were like, hell yeah, this is good. We got the momentum. This is great. Look at the shifts in the midterms. And I turn on MSNBC, which I think is going to be like good reporting on it, too. I mean, generally, I thought it seemed to be good. And the reporting was, Biden's sluggish polls. Will this impact the Democrats in the midterms? I was like, these guys' poll numbers right now are as high or higher than any of his predecessors, basically except for George W. Bush after 9-11 at this time.

That's how good President Biden is doing. And it's reflecting in the polls. So why isn't that being reported on? But that's why we're here to deliver you the truth. And it's good to be here with the brothers. That's such a great anecdote, Brett, because it's such a headline grabbing mainstream media thing that they do. And it's just it's disgusting. And that's what you won't see here on the Midas Media Network. I just find myself rolling my eyes constantly as I turn this stuff on. But, you know, the good thing is

people are seeing through it. Like people are seeing the real effects of it. And I've been traveling a little. I'm in New York right now. And everybody I speak to is like amped up. Everybody I speak to is like excited and feels like the Democrats are actually on their side.

They're hitting their stride. They're doing stuff for them. People are excited to see justice for Trump. So yeah, Ben, we got a lot to talk about and a lot to be really excited about. Yeah. Just putting some specifics behind that. Brett Biden's poll numbers are rising fast. Forty five percent from a CBS, you go all forty four percent from the Gallup poll. And here's the thing, Brett, too, because if you if you go and dig into it like a little deeper, you know, you have, for example, like Joe Scarborough, who an individual like reporter will tweet out the fact. Right. Scarborough's tweet is exactly what you said. If you go back 50 years, Joe Biden's numbers are actually higher than all of his predecessors at this point or the same other than George H.W. Bush after the Gulf War and George W. Bush after 9-11.

But who's ever writing the copy for these networks? It's that they buy into the radical right extreme narratives and they get so lazy and sloppy. And it's like, OK, Biden sluggish, Biden sluggish. Let's just plug that in. And it's like, no, you have to think critically here about the bigger picture, about what's going on. It's not sluggish at all. Democrats have the momentum in every one of these races that we've seen.

Democrats have overperformed and, you know, people act shocked because the media reportings, the reporting so bad when there are these, you know, votes like in Kansas, right, where they voted against a constitutional amendment, which would take away a woman's right to choose in Kansas. They actually had in their constitution an amendment protecting it. The radical right extremists wanted that constitutional right revoked. And the citizens of Kansas came out in record numbers, like beyond like any other voting block in the history of Kansas and voted to preserve the constitutional right to choose. And then it's almost reported as like a shock, shockwaves, you know, and it's if you actually follow what's going on in America right now, and're speaking to real people and you're talking to their, you know, that Americans are saying these radical Republicans, these extremists who don't stand for anything, by the way. devotion to Trump and their constant gaslighting and lies to support his criminality.

So right. And taking away the rights of people and making up fake labels to take away the rights of people like you had Boebert lesbian dance theory. That's their new one here. Play this clip of Lauren Boebert talking about how Biden's plan to actually help students help 75, 85 percent of this bill helps Americans who are making seventy five thousand dollars or less. And it caps the amount of debt relief at ten thousand dollars, twenty thousand dollars for Pell Grants. But it's a very limited and targeted loan forgiveness plan that Biden has for those taking out student

loans. But this is how the Republicans take it so not seriously. Play this clip of Lauren Boebert. How the heck can Joe Biden call America first conservatives a threat to democracy with a straight face and a dry diaper? He's the one who has allowed millions to invade our southern border. He's the one who is robbing hardworking Americans to pay for Karen's daughter's degree in lesbian dance theory. You know, Breton, there was one Twitter commentator who goes,

as soon as Lauren Boebert said lesbian dance theory, you know, Governor DeSantis was out there coming up with the legislation to ban lesbian dance theory. It's so good. And you saw this is like the weird thing about the Republican offensive right now against the student debt relief. Their thing is to mock students and to mock hardworking Americans. And I just don't think it's going to work out for them the way they think it's going to work out for them. Ted Cruz on his podcast, because all of these politicians, they're just podcasters like I'm a podcaster. I don't want our politicians to get kicked off all the committees.

So they don't have anything to do with their time. So Ted Cruz on his podcast, you know, you think, oh, Lauren Boebert, look at this kook. Ted Cruz is just as crazy. Lindsey Graham, who we'll get to in a bit. They're all the same level of authoritarian, fascist, weirdo, cosplay jackass. And Ted Cruz goes on his show, and he basically calls, not basically, he does. He calls hardworking Americans who are getting student debt relief. He calls them lazy.

He says they need to get off the couch and stop hitting the bong and get to work. You have Marco Rubio going out there. Let's play this clip of Marco Rubio, the most pathetic U.S. senator maybe in the history of the United States, saying, oh, you know what? If you want to get rid of your debt, just do what I did, become a senator. When I became a senator, I got $100,000 for my book deal and I was able to pay off my debt. Let's play this clip. I owed over $100,000 in student loans. The day I got elected to the Senate, I had over $100,000 still in student loans that I was able to pay off because I wrote a book. And from that money, I was able to pay it. If not, I would never, I'd still be paying it. Okay. So see that everybody, see that Americans, all you got to do if you want to pay

off your debt, you don't need student debt relief. The Republicans have a plan for you. They have a plan and it didn't take two weeks like the health care plan. They just came up with a quick plan. All you have to do is become a United States senator, then get a lucrative book deal, and then you could pay off the one hundred thousand dollars in loans that you owe. That's it. Isn't that easy, everybody? It's not the most out of touch thing on the planet, guys? And the American people overwhelmingly are seeing right through this stuff. I mean, we've said it on the podcast now quite a few times. And honestly, it's becoming a good mantra for us. It's stability over stupidity.

They are intentionally self-harming their entire party in the name of soundbites. Well, in the name of Trump as the reality, and they have to speak in soundbites because they don't actually have any deeper policy. And their soundbites are things now like defund the FBI, lock up Dr. Fauci. And no matter what your view is right about the FBI. And I think that we all should view in general law enforcement with a degree of skepticism, there's nothing wrong with saying, oh, we should always trust 100 percent law enforcement. appointed the FBI director, Christopher Wray. It's Trump's guy. It's Trump's FBI director. It bursts that soundbite really easily, Jordy. And when you talk about, you know, lock up Dr. Fauci, you know, I think Americans, you know, can have, you know, and this is where I think we could have respectful debates about should the government be the one who actually mandates a vaccine versus testing and what that

policy looks like? And should the government take adverse actions against businesses? I think there are some fair debates and conversations to have. At the end of the day, the government had to do that because these radical right fascists pretended that the pandemic was fake. They pretended that this thing killing millions of people was not a real thing. So it was like, come on, people, you're not going to just recognize the pandemic is real and action had to be taken to help people. But we could have debates, right? And then it was also let's be upfront about it. It was also to deflect from Donald Trump's utter and complete catastrophic failure to contain the pandemic. So they needed a scapegoat. So who's the scapegoat here? Oh, it's Dr. Fauci. It's not the guy who's telling us to inject bleach. It's not the guy who told us,

oh, you got to take hydroxychloroquine and these horse medicine and all this other crazy stuff. No, it's the guy who's telling you to actually follow the guidance that you are rejecting and you are dying and your family members are dying because you're not listening to this man. But he's the guy who you should harness your anger against. And it's we need to lock Dr. Fauci. You need to arrest him and imprison that man. That's who the radical right extremist says, imprison that man. And then they pretend that the pandemic to this day, even with the numbers like you would think that after more than a million people in America died from this, you would say, you know what? That was a very serious pandemic that caused a great deal of travesty. And if you still talk to them, they go, that's like less than the

flu. And it's like, you know, and parents, which is inaccurate, by the way, by high magnitude, I would hope that the tone that I used there was demonstrative. Just making sure before we get a comment, you know, I was doing the Republican voice. I don't think that was a that was a difficult stretch. I was I didn't realize you switched to your Republican voice. I was saying that the Republicans are the ones out there saying these ridiculous things. It should be a foregone. My whole premise is that what they're saying is false and absurd. You want to talk about the issues over education. The Republicans are the ones fighting against making college more affordable, too.

Right. I mean, one of the points that we should never forget about this debate is that Democrats are out there with policies to make colleges cheaper and more accessible for Americans. And Republicans fight that. And then they fight any type of debt relief based on the problems and solutions that they create. And then the overall hypocrisy is when you delve down into it, the radical right extremist Republicans, these individuals took out not $10,000 in debt that they want forgiven, not $20,000. We're talking about hundreds and thousands of dollars in PPP loans that these Republicans rush to have forgiven. In some cases, millions.

Millions of dollars. Millions. Not $10,000, not $20,000. As they're politicians, what are you doing? You're supposed to be a Congress member. what are you doing? Like, you're supposed to be the you're supposed to be a congressmember. Like, why are you out there, you know, taking out millions of dollars of PPP loans, you radical right Republicans? And then you have the audacity to criticize Americans, most of which this is benefiting people who make less than seventy five thousand dollars. And the distribution, if you look at who it's actually helping, like it helps everybody. It's helping older Americans. It's helping, you know, Americans who are in their 30s and 40s. It's helping younger Americans. It's not there's no such thing as lesbian dance theory. And it's like, let's get serious on what these issues are

versus the fake labeling of things. And then this clownish Mr. Potato Head style Republican debate. It's just, as you said, Jordy, stupid. And Jordy, what I like, and I want to get your take on it, that not only is Biden and the Democrats passing the policies that help the people, right? We could talk about the Inflation Reduction Act. We could talk about the PAC Act. We can go down the list of ways Democrats are fighting for the people. But remember, there's that scene in Braveheart. I always talk about it. And I always get it mixed up a little bit if he's saying, hold or wait for it. Wait for it. You always talk about Braveheart. Ben thinks about this a lot. Ben thinks about this a lot. Never heard you talk about Braveheart on the podcast once. We've been doing this for two

and a half years, but go on. Okay. So Brett knows what i'm talking about so you know they go hold hold wait for it as the other army's charging and then uh the braveheart guy he's got his army it's a much smaller army as as the bigger army's approaching and so they've got all of their like spikes and they're all getting nervous. Right. But they realize that if they kind of prematurely start attacking the bigger army is going to knock him down. So he's going to hold,

wait for it. And then once the course is charged, then it goes now. And then they all put their spikes up and then boom. And then it was like a perfect defense. So what my point here is, is that the Democrats were wait for it whole. They didn't want to put too much energy out there at first in terms of the messaging followed the policy, right? It wasn't sound bites.

It was let's get this done. Let's put our heads down. Let's do the work. Let the work speak for itself. Wait for it. And now and now and then and now you have the Chips Act. Now you have the PACs Act. Now you have the expansion of NATO. Now you have the American Rescue Plan. Now you have now you have now you have and now the Republicans don't have a fucking platform to run on because the Biden administration keeps delivering. And when my point is, though, is that now the Democrats are unleashing the messaging journey. That was the ultimate point that I wanted to make with this whole thing. Yeah. And so Biden, if you saw, was in Maryland the other day and he was in a high school in Rockville in Montgomery County, and he was out there just calling Republicans

fascist. It was unbelievable. You know, and he was saying, I got, he said, he goes, I've got no respect. He goes, I have no respect for MAGA Republicans. What a badass thing to say. And then he went on to say, and I'm just telling you, in this speech, he's like, I got no respect for these people. And who's, how, like these people. How incredible is that? The president says that. That's some ruthless stuff. And then he goes and lists the litany of things. And he says that he thinks that this is the death knell for MAGA Republicans and that we have all these Democratic policies. American people are waking up and we're fighting for the people.

I thought it was an unbelievable speech that he gave in Montgomery. I thought he was on fire. He's fantastic. I mean, he's got this new energy about him right now, and it's great to see. And I think, you know, people are seeing it as well.

Did you see the one, Brett, when the White House law on the next day after Montgomery, when he was asked about the criticism from these radical right extremists who were saying why the government should forgive these loans and it's due to debt.

And he was saying, what's her name? I forget that lady. Play play that clip oh good and I found it absolutely fascinating that some of the folks who were talking about this is big spending are the same people that got 158 000 in PPP money including the what's her name? That woman who believes in, anyway, a whole lot of Republicans who got a lot of money. They're very people criticized. Yeah, and he's obviously talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene here. It's great to just demeanor.

Like we've said for so long, like these kind of, these fascist Republicans, these MAGA Republicans, you just need to treat them like the dirt they are. And you need to mock them ruthlessly all the time. Just treat them like the scumbags. That's why that thread that the Biden team did from the White House, just calling them all out was so effective also, because these people are just liars. You got to explain to people what that means, Brett. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. Which one? The thread.

Oh, yeah. Well, the thread is world famous at this point. I mean, literally has a million reach. You presume everybody will know the thread? Yeah, I actually do, because our audience is very tuned in and everyone knows what I'm talking about. But the thread is the White House calling out the Republicans who took those PPP loans and got loan forgiveness on them, who are then calling out students for getting ten thousand dollars worth of relief. That was the famous White House thread where they activated dark brand demote and went after it. And that's the kind of energy that the White House is moving ahead with right now. And it's a great sight to see. And, you know, once again, the reaction from the media

and everybody is so out of touch because you see like the whole framing after Joe Biden gave that speech was how dare Joe Biden call them semi fascists? How dare he use that language? Isn't that divisive? Isn't that mean? And it's like, no, that's once again, that is calling out the facts. If anything, here's my criticism for Joe Biden there. Semi. You just call him straight up fascist. You don't have to use the term semi. He was being nice. He was being generous, if anything. But to have the whole coverage, it reminded me of when Biden came out during the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, and he said, Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.

And everybody went, oh, my God. Did you hear what Joe Biden just said? Is that what you really call it? It's like, yes, Vladimir Putin is a war criminal. That should not be a controversial take. So stop taking the side of fascist media. There's only one side. You know why he called him semi-fascist, though, Brett? And this is the kind of fascist media. There's only one side. You know why he called them semi-fascist though, Brett? And this is

the kind of the brilliance and it was intentionally used because they're not smart enough to even be fascist. Like the semi-fascist. It's like a subtle jab. Yeah. They want to be fascist, but they're semi-fascist because it's kind of

yeah, because it's fascist cosplay and they're just a bunch of fucking weirdos and that's why he calls them semi-fascist i mean i have no doubt that that was the thinking behind using those words like we call them fascist and like they'll they'll view that like they'll view that with pride so we got to call them semi-fascist like wannabes because they're something and something i want to take the call attention to also is to look at what biden is doing right now as well like there's a reason he brought up Marjorie Taylor Greene. Hey, even if you think that the congressperson who you are voting for in your district might not be as wild as Marjorie Taylor

Greene, by putting that person in, you are putting Marjorie Taylor Greene in power. And I think that needs to be understood as well, especially to these independent voters who are now turning overwhelmingly for the Democrats, especially due to the issue of abortion rights, which is really motivating people. So what does Marjorie Taylor Greene and all of her infinite wisdom do? She is asked about what are the top three things that you are seeing people interested in? What are the top three things that you are doing to get independent voters on your side? And let's play this clip. If you had to advise based on your traveling around, what are the three issues that the average American resonates with so that at least

messaging wise, Republicans are able to nail it? What are the top three that create the greatest emotional reaction in your opinion? Well, I think that's traditional political thinking. The question that you asked, that's that's the way to go towards the independent voter to help swing or grow more seats in the majority. And I'll tell you what I think the top three are to go after those voters, but then I'm going to push back and tell you why that's wrong. So not only does Marjorie Taylor Greene fail to name the top three things, which should have been like a very easy, it was a very softball question. What is motivating voters right now? She then proceeds to somehow answer something that wasn't even asked, make the question, make the answer entirely worse and say, you know what?

I think that's not even, you know, that's traditional political strategy. We shouldn't be trying to pursue independent voters. That is wrong. We don't want independent voters. That's her infinite wisdom. They just want to play to the radical MAGA base. And so, you know, I think that's an if you were to ask her what she wants. I mean, her whole thing is we need to and this is the whole view of the Republicans. We need to turn America into a Christian theocracy, that there is no separation

of church and state. This is what they repeat over and over again. and that America needs to have a Bible, a Christian Bible study that that that is what leads the government. Like if you go back and you look at what she and Boebert and that whole crew of Republicans want, that's it. And then if you ask them, well, how are you going to fix this issue? How are you going to fix that issue? If you watch any of these speeches like Democrats are asked these questions all the time, right. If you if you watch even like a Bernie Sanders or Senator Warren or whoever on these networks, Democrats are asked the questions and then they spend three to five minutes in responses and they pack in those three to five responses so much information about what they want to do to specifically address health care costs and making sure Medicare

is more affordable, like things like capping insulin. We go really into the weeds and what we can do to cap insulin prices, not just for Medicare recipients, but for Americans in general. And we can start with insulin, but then we can go to a host of other drugs. What can we do to make the Obamacare Affordable Health Care Act more productive and efficient and work for more Americans? You know, how do we help? How do we help soldiers who come back and they're exposed to toxic? Like we give very specific answers when you ask us those questions. But Ben, I was looking at I was watching Fox last night and they were

talking about the issues that all Americans care about, like holding FBI director Chris Wray accountable and investigating Trump's FBI. Yeah. Should they want Trump hired investigating Biden family corruption? One sec. I'm not done with the priorities, Jordy, that that the Republicans are running on. They want to defund the FBI investigating Fauci. These are the things that Fox News was saying that voters care about last night. So I don't know. I don't know. And Ben, to what you're saying, too, though. When Democrats go on these shows, not only do the Democrats actually have plans and then they're able to speak to it, but for whatever reason. And our listeners notice we know this.

There's a double standard with how these reporters are treating Democrats who give answers versus how they allow, for the most part, so true Republicansasel out. Like 10 out of 10 times, a Democratic candidate, someone like a Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, their feet will be held to the fire if they don't answer the question very pointedly and very specifically. I'm telling everyone, please focus this weekend on watching any of your Sunday shows. Watch a Republican get asked a question and watch how they weasel out of it without any sort of pushback. It's bizarre.

It's really a good point, Trudy. Like a Democrat will go in and they'll like break down like the various sections within Medicare and they'll talk about, you know, certain Part B benefits and they'll like do like a deep dive and they'll be like,

but aren't you ignoring the fact that subsection C Part two dash three says this? And then you have. Right. And then you'll have a Republican and they'll ask the question they'll like. They'll be so it seems that there's top secret sensitive compartmented information found at Mar-a-Lago. And Trump's lawyers just went on and they said that he has the right to declassify everything with a magic wand. What do you think about that? And then the guest will just be like, well, yeah, he has a magic wand that former presidents use. Everyone knows about the magic wand. Like, oh, that's a good point with the magic wand. So moving on now to moving on, let's actually talk about the woke

mob and the green M&M. This is what I also want our listeners and viewers to do. If you have a Republican in your family and it's obviously totally fine if you do, but if you have someone who considers themselves a Republican, ask them to define what woke means. Please just ask them very point blank. Hey, to you, what does woke mean? Well, and the fact that woke and like, that's what energizes the radical right. Like the thing that Ted Cruz, like his and like, that's what energizes the radical, right? Like the thing that Ted Cruz, like his main point, like let's focus on some of what their main points are like this idea that they've created in their mind of like, of like woke and this woke concept. They go, they, they, they, they, they go crazy at Brett. I'm going to make you tell a personal story. Now you don't

have to name names here. Um, but I know that you were recently telling me about a conversation that you had with an old friend of yours who texted you a very urgent, what was on his mind politically. He's a far right guy who you used to be friends with and he wanted to tell you. You're not saying the name, but you're giving so many specifics about this text. No, I think it's fair. I mean, it's just as specific, Jordy, as when Brett goes, everybody know the thread? Everyone knows the thread. I stand by that. Everyone knows the thread. But Ben, tell the story because I think it's really indicative of this right-wing echo chamber, this bubble that they're in and why they are just unable

to connect with voters right now and why we're primed to take advantage of this. So it's someone who I know and someone who's went down the right wing rabbit hole and occasionally will kind of send things in a group chat that I'm a part of. And I genuinely I usually ignore it. And for this one, I just had to I couldn't I couldn't help myself. So I had to I had to, I couldn't, I couldn't help myself. So I had to, I had to. Are you pulling up the text? Yeah, I'm pulling up the. This is real people.

This is real. So I get this message from this friend. And what was his name again? The friend. I almost got, almost got you. The friend is confidential. And then it's sending me someone's tweet, someone named Sidney Watts. And it goes, I feel bad for the citizens of they hadn't.

And then it's tweeting this thing about how Governor Hochul has signed a new law banning gendered language for professions. Cannot say salesman, councilman, he or her. It was replaced with they woke is now official in New York law. And then the person goes, is this shit true? And I was like, without doing any research, I can almost certainly say it's false. And so I go down the rabbit hole. I take your bait. Wait, you did your own research?

I go and I look at what is even being talked about here. And so I look at whatever the and sure enough, this is what's energizing radical right extremists right now. And what happened is, is that in the real estate code with the New York legislature, by the way, which was passed on a bipartisan basis, all Republicans and Democrats voted for because it wasn't a controversial concept. What they did was they just simply changed and updated some of the definition sections of the law. So whereas it used to say salesmen or like councilmen, but here it's real

estate. So it was like salesmen. They simply changed the definition, so it just says salesperson. There's no law banning people from saying salesman. If you go say, oh, the salesman, they're not going to go, you're under arrest. It's not against the law. They simply have updated definitions. They're making that piece of the government code just more inclusive. You try to make it a more inclusive language. And just to update the definition sections, that's literally it. They're the most fragile snowflakes on the planet that that bothers them. I mean, these people are just weak, right? They're weak-willed. They're weak people.

And that's really what it was. Because then I asked, I said, is there a government presently or in history that you can point to that you think met the standards that you would like to see as an example? Or is your whole concept just the idea of a government in and of itself something that you don't like. And then the response I get was the US government pre 14th amendment came pretty close. And Ben, for our listeners, what's the 14th amendment? The 14th amendment states that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property with out due process. The equal

protection clause of the constitution. So that's where it all went wrong when people started getting equal protection under the law. Got it. So that's how the conversation devolved. But this is what they're saying in the right wing. That's what's that's what's energizing them. You know, these issues. Well, we're trying to deliver for the people. That's those are the issues. But again, I think that and then just going back really quick to our earlier conversation. I mean, I think that's a smaller subject.

I think that subsection continues to get smaller and smaller. Yes. And people are waking up. And that's, again, just just to say what we started this podcast with. People are loving the stability over the stupidity. Because, Jordy, finally, you go and you look at, you know, and I want to bring in our guest, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who actually held held up and fought for election, true election integrity, fought for a free and fair election against the efforts by the radical right extremists to overturn our free elections. He's one of the greatest fighters

in that when we needed it the most. You just have Trump today basically saying this is what he writes on his failing social media company where he doesn't even have the trademark to it. The social media company, by the way, Trump failed to secure the trademark to his social media company. Right. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied it. He owes his vendors money. He hasn't paid his hosting service one point eight million dollars. And it's under like two separate federal investigations. Are you saying Trump hasn't paid for criminal conduct? Well, it has it has the Trump trifecta, right? Like incompetence, failing to pay and criminality all in one. Like you can't

do anything without those three things right away. It's like it's on a speed run to like this. They're very quick. We can't do anything normal. You create a social media company, criminal, incompetent, and you're not paying your bills. Boom, all in one. And this is what he says on his platform. He goes, when are the great agents and others in the FBI going to say we're not going to take it anymore? And then he says that we need to the end result. We won in 2016 and did much better. But now the left has lost their minds. He says the 2020 election, this is another one, was irreparably compromised. And we need to hold a new election immediately.

A new election immediately. I mean, this guy's out of his mind. He retweeted Lindsey Graham calling for riots here. Just play this crazy clip on Lindsey Graham. So just to give you the context, right? After the radical right extremists, you know, all of their lies about the search got exposed. First, they said, oh, the documents were planted at Mar-a-Lago. Then with the magic wand, Trump can declassify everything and then defund the FBI, repeal the Espionage Act.

The Presidential Records Act has no criminal penalties. When all of those things were proven to be just stupid and utterly false. Now they're just like, you know what? Burn it all down. If you indict him, burn it down. They're going to burn it to the ground. This clip of Lindsey Graham. If there's a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle, which you presided over and did a hell of a good job, there'll be riots in the streets. So that's violence. It's just calling for violence, calling for riots. And this is the party that was supposedly the party of law and order that claimed that

Democrats are rioters and whatnot. You have one of the highest ranking politicians in the Republican Party, somebody who's on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Republicans, calling for riots in the streets as Donald Trump is prosecuted for his crimes. You have Trump calling for an immediate new election or to be reinstated. And let's bring in Josh Shapiro. A lot more to talk about after after Josh, a lot more to talk about. But let's bring in Josh Shapiro. We got to talk to him about this and much more. Let's get the attorney general of Pennsylvania here on the show. All right. And let's bring in the attorney general

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Democratic candidate for governor, Josh Shapiro, Attorney General Shapiro. Welcome to the Midas Touch podcast. Yo, guys, good to be back with all of you, including Jordy. And so for those who don't know or have been living under a rock, you played Jordy in a basketball game. What was your interpretation of the results there, Attorney General? Well, OK, the way I remember it is that I crushed him the way it actually went down. No, no, no. We played two games games we played a game of gov which is like pig and i did beat him in that yeah and then we played we played one-on-one and i would have won except oh always a butt except he was a ringer from three but what he did what he did was each

three-pointer counted as two and every other basketball and count as one. So in effect, it was like a four pointer each time. If you look at it that way. So I, yeah, I'm not sure I should have agreed to those rules. So now that we're just, we're starting off the podcast hot. I'm not going to say I let you win gov, but I'm not going to say I let you win, Gov, but I'm not going to say that. And I'm actually going to even throw down another gauntlet here and go as far as to say if things shape up as they're looking and not to put any jinxes or anything like that. But I know there's this governor's mansion in Philly.

We could always do a rematch. Oh, you know what? We can ante up the stakes a little bit too. It could be me and you versus another two. And I'm thinking me and you versus little Dickie and Meek Mill. Oh, I love that. Meek's pretty good. I don't know about little Dickie, but he could hoop. Oh, can he? Yeah. Is he a Pennsylvania guy? Oh, he's a Philly guy. He grew up just down the, you know just down the road from where I live now. But man, I would love that.

And in all seriousness, you guys are just great. The way we did that to raise money for charity, the fact that you all came out to Pittsburgh, which was great. I just thought it was a ton of fun. And the students in Pitt loved it. In fact, many of them are now the core of our group of students for Shapiro Pitt. So in all seriousness, all candor, thank you for for doing that. The fact that I could hold my own against a dude 20 years younger than me, I thought it was great.

And let's talk about the governor's race. You know, your opponent, Doug Mastriano, a radical extremist. The other day, photos emerged of him wearing a Confederate uniform, which is kind of fairly par for the course there. What's your response generally there, though, to the Confederate uniform scandal that's emerged? But it's one in a litany of things that are coming out about this extreme. Yeah. And look, I hate to get serious on your podcast because I always enjoy coming on because you guys are fun and you keep it light. But this is not something to keep light about. I mean, look, first off, let's just go over the facts. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, a state senator who represents Gettysburg on the grounds of the U.S. Army War College,

not that long ago, in 2014, decided to dress up in a Confederate uniform and be photographed there. That photo was hung on the wall of the U.S. Army War College until they discovered it recently and took it down because, as the U.S. Army War College until they discovered it recently and took it down because as the U.S. Army War College says, it doesn't reflect their values and the values of the U.S. military. If you think about this for a minute, the Republican nominee for governor wore the uniform of the traitors, wore the uniform of those who were fighting to defend slavery. That's what he chose to do. And this is, you know, I think the reaction I've gotten from Pennsylvanians over the weekend since this story came out is,

they all kind of say, like, we're not shocked. And I think the reason why they're not shocked is not because it's not shocking and horrific what he did, but because this is the same guy who's the only one in the country who's out recruiting supporters to his campaign on a white supremacist website known as Gab, the same website used by the Tree of Life killer, the person who murdered 11 worshipers at the synagogue in Pittsburgh a couple years ago. This is the same guy who went and tried to storm the Capitol on January 6th to stop Pennsylvania's votes from being counted. This is the guy who's got the most extreme stance on abortion in the entire country, wanting to ban abortion with no exceptions and jail doctors who perform them. I mean, this is what we're up against.

He has told us time and time again, he's dangerous and extreme. And the thing is, I think Pennsylvanians are now tuning into that and recognizing that. And the final thing I'll say on this, and guys, I'm sorry to go on and on, but I do think it's an important point. He fundamentally believes that certain people shouldn't exist in our commonwealth, right? I mean, like he fundamentally believes that. And my view is no matter what you look like or where you come from, who you love, who you pray to, you belong here in Pennsylvania. And I want to be a governor for all folks. That's not the way he views life. And that's certainly not the way he views the role of governor in Pennsylvania. One of the things you mentioned too, is his extreme stance on

reproductive rights and the idea that he wants the government to go and get involved in that decision making and stop it and to ban it in all cases, total, absolute abortion ban, regardless of circumstances. And what we're seeing, I think, as some of these in these primary races and special elections and over and over again in the pollings, reproductive rights is on the ballot. And that is an energizing force as these rights are being taken away from women. What are you seeing in Pennsylvania? And can you talk about the differences in your campaign versus Doug Mastriano's? Sure. I mean, look, just first on the policy, it's clear he wants to ban abortion. I'll protect abortion rights. Our legislature, because they're run by Republicans, they're going to put a bill on the desk of the next governor to ban abortion.

He'll sign it into law. I'll veto it. So the contrast could not be clearer. I will trust women in Pennsylvania to make decisions over their own bodies. And this is not new to me. This is the way I viewed this issue for my 20 years in public service. It's the way I've always voted. It's the way I've always campaigned and what I've always believed. I got to just say, like, as a dad, right? I mean, y'all have met Sophia, our daughter, our 20-year-old daughter. The idea as a father of a, you know, as a girl dad, the idea that our daughter has fewer rights today than the world Lori and I brought her into 20 years ago is very, very upsetting. And I think that visceral feeling of being upset and angry has permeated the electorate. By the way, of all parties, Democrats, Republicans,

independents. I was out in rural communities across Pennsylvania and say places where Democrats typically lose 80-20, 90-10. And I was showing up, we were getting huge crowds, incredible intensity, Republicans and Democrats. And people of both parties were coming over to me saying, I can't believe they tried to take away our right. I'm voting for you. In some cases, they said, you're the first time I've, this will be the first time I've ever voted for a Democrat. I'm voting for you because you're the only one out there who's standing up and defending my rights. And I'm scared about what other rights they might take away. So I think this issue has permeated the electorate, both parties. And I know you guys probably look at the polling and this and that. The polling bears that out.

I'm just telling you from being on the ground here in Pennsylvania, I feel that every day. I feel it as the attorney general. I feel it as Democratic nominee for governor of Pennsylvania. And I feel it as a dad, too. And so every day this issue is top of mind for folks. This November is Rovember. Midas Touch just released its brand new collection of Rovember t-shirts and pins to let the country know what's at stake this upcoming midterm election. Thank you. It seems like Doug Mastriano and these other radical extremist candidates, their focus,

whether it is reproductive rights of women or just rights in general, they're running on taking away the rights of people and bragging about how they're going to go after the LGBTQ plus community next, then whoever it is. And I mean, can you speak to Doug Mastriano's record on just some of these other issues and some of the other differences that exist? Like just how dangerous it would be if you if this person was anywhere near the governor's mansion? Yeah, I mean, look, he has said climate change is, quote, fake science. Those are his words. He has said in his words, not all religions are created equal and has, you know, avowed to sort of I don't know what the right way to say this is sort of set aside Islam here in Pennsylvania. He has stood up and said that he supports, quote, traditional marriage. Well,

for me, traditional marriage is you love the other person, you want to commit your life to them, then you should be able to marry them. That's the law of the land. He wants to undo marriage equality in Pennsylvania. And I'll tell you, I think there's something deeper here. Am I allowed to say shit on your podcast? You can go off. Okay. So thank you for that. This guy is full of shit when it comes to freedom. He and some of these others across the country, they love to talk a good game about freedom, right? You see them, you know, for freedom, I'm for freedom.

Well, you know, let me tell you something. It's not freedom to tell women what they're allowed to do with their bodies. It's not freedom to say you're allowed to worship, but only in the church of my choosing. It's not freedom to say, I'm going to tell your kids what books they're allowed to read. And it sure as hell isn't freedom to say, yeah, you can go vote, but I'm going to pick the winner. I'm going to use my power to pick the winner, which is what he said he'll do. That's not freedom. And so this sort of idea that the other party gets to corner freedom and it's somehow theirs, that's bullshit. And I think the people who listen and watch this podcast every day are freedom loving because we believe in respecting all people. We believe in making

sure people get to govern their own bodies. We believe that people should worship the God they want or not worship at all. We believe you should be able to marry who you love. That's real freedom. And that is on the ballot right now in Pennsylvania. And we should take a backseat to no one when it comes to standing up and defending freedom. We're the people out front standing up for and defending freedom. Well said. I think that's spot on. And when you look at the candidates right now, it's clear that the Democrats are the pro-freedom, pro-democracy party.

And you just have Republicans, like we've been saying, just trying to take away our rights, taking away our freedom. And people on all sides. I mean, you have Republicans pushing out people from their own side, you know, calling them rhinos, if they disagree, you have independents flocking to Democrats in larger numbers than ever. And I think you see like you have Republicans now running on like your opponent overturning the 2020 election. You have them running on trying to lock up Dr. Fauci. You have them running on wanting to defund law enforcement agencies.

But what are the actual things, in addition to abortion rights like we discussed before, what are the actual things that you are hearing from voters on the ground about what they truly care about? Well, Brett, by the way, what you just said in your lead up in that question is why so many Republicans are endorsing me. Republican office holders, you know, your regular Republicans living in the community. We announced, I think it was nine or 10 prominent Republicans just a couple of weeks ago endorsed our campaign. Just today, the former general counsel to our former Republican governor here in Pennsylvania and the associate general counsel to former President Trump endorsed my campaign.

Wow. associate general counsel to former President Trump, endorsed my campaign. People like Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary under George Bush, showed up at an event the other day just to say he's for me because I care about democracy. And the list goes on and on. We'll have lots more Republicans come out and endorse us. But the point here is that we're building a big, broad coalition around the issues people care a lot about. So now to your question, they care a lot about their rights and freedoms being defended. They wanna know that we're gonna invest

in their kids' education, not just put more money into schools, but making smart decisions, like doing away with standardized testing and putting in its place VoTech for our kids to be able to learn a trade going forward, making sure we've got a mental health counselor in every school, investing in law enforcement to ensure that our communities

are safe, growing our economy by growing our workforce, investing in things like workforce development, for example, and pardon me, apprenticeship programs, for example. And so these are the kind of things I hear about every day when I'm on the trail, rights, education, public safety, grow the economy. And that's what we're focused on every day. And that's why so many Republicans, along with Democrats and independents, are joining our campaign. And while you're building this big tent, your opponent is actively pushing people out.

And this is an extreme example, but he is an extreme guy. And I want to get your thoughts on this. As we were talking about earlier, Doug Mastriano is well connected to that gab, that white supremacist social media platform that has ties to neo-Nazis. And he's been advised by the creator of Gab who says that Jews should not be allowed in the Republican Party. How serious should Pennsylvanians be taken that sort of threat, that sort of viewpoint that this candidate has? Well, we have to take it seriously. You got to take him at face value. This is what he believes. He is someone who is actively recruiting white supremacists,

racists, anti-Semites to be part of his campaign. The only candidate in the entire country paying to recruit those people. Think about that for a minute. I mean, haven't we learned through our politics, when they tell you what they're going to do, when they tell you what they're all about, we should believe them. And so on this, we should believe him that he believes certain folks based on who they worship and what they look like don't belong in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He's made that clear. I'm sorry, Brett, we're going to say something. No, I was just going to say, it's like, it's beyond disbelief

when you even see things like that. It just, it makes my heart sink and it's just so against everything America stands for. I mean, with all these extremist comments that you see, I'm going to ask you something. And President Biden recently criticized the far right, these MAGA Republicans, as being semi-fascist. And you've seen some other governors use that term. You've seen Charlie Crist calling Ron DeSantis fascist. Could I get you to use the F word here?

I went talking about your opponent and what these MAGA Republicans, these far right Republicans stand for. Yeah, I mean, I've heard those labels. I'm not sort of a label guy or a name calling guy. What I am is a guy that just tries to point out the truth. And the truth is, he believes that if you're gay, you don't belong here. He believes that if you're Muslim, you don't belong here. He believes that if you're a Jew, you should convert. He believes that, as I said before, climate change is fake science. And he also believes that if you voted in the 2020 election, your vote shouldn't count.

Right. I mean, so think about that. He's trying to strip away everybody's voice in our democracy. But yet he's the nominee of the Republican Party in the swingiest of swing states in the nation. So you got to take these folks seriously. And it's not just enough to say, oh, they're crazy. They're out there. No, this is who they are. This is what has overtaken the leadership of the Republican Party. And by the way, Democrats aren't the only ones offended

by that. So are Republicans and independents. That's why they're joining our campaign. And I think many of them long for the day where we had two healthy parties kind of battling it out on the ideas that we should be fighting about, right? On whatever taxes or foreign policy or whatever the case may be. We got to get back to those healthy fights. But in order to do that, we have to defeat this dangerous extremism. I cannot agree more. And to that point, your opponent was recently on a radio show and he called it disgusting. That was his words. Disgusting that you, Josh Shapiro, are taking steps to end the barbaric practice of LGBTQ

conversion therapy. What are your thoughts to that? Well, again, it just shows how this is a guy who is the Republican nominee who feels that for him to be successful, he's got to bully trans kids and he's got to go out and attack the LGBTQ community. That is not who we are as Pennsylvanians. That is not our values. Go back and look at what the U.S. Army War College said about him wearing a Confederate uniform. He said, that doesn't reflect our values. Go back and look at what the U.S. Army War College said about him wearing a Confederate uniform. He said, that doesn't reflect our values. I think more and more Pennsylvanians

are waking up every single day to the fact that this is a guy who is out of step with our values here in Pennsylvania. A.G. Shapiro, what I really want our listeners to know here, I live in Pittsburgh. I've lived here two and a half, going on three years. I've visited on and off the last eight and a half, 10 years with my fiance, my now wife. And what I want our listeners to really understand is that you're a genuine person. I don't even want to call you a politician. You are a genuine person. And I think one of the first times we had you on the podcast, you said, look, guys, I am a father first and then a politician second. And I think that resonates so well with the people here.

Like just the authenticity of you as a person is what I think is attracting all of these, you know, Republicans coming over and endorsing you and all these Democrats who see it right away saying, oh, my God, this is the guy that's going to stand up for my values. This is the guy that's going to stand up for my family. So I just want to commend you for that. And I just wanted to give that that quick anecdote here as someone who's on the ground every day, seeing the Shapiro signs all plastered all over county to county. And I'm just so excited for the vote.

And I'm so excited for you to be the next governor of this Commonwealth. Jordy, thanks, man. That means a lot to me. And I try to keep it real. And I'm surrounded by the same woman I've been with since the ninth grade. She keeps it real. And we didn't get married in the ninth grade, though. But our four kids and I must say, like, they don't get enough credit. I'm surrounded by a great team, both in the Attorney General's office and here on the campaign. Folks who have been with me for years and years and years who keep it real and who tell me straight up, you know, when I screw up or when we do something good, you know, we don't go around just patting each other on the back.

We try and keep it real. And we try and always remember the purpose in our work, which is to fight for the good people of Pennsylvania and make their lives a little bit better. So thanks, man. I appreciate the kind words. Of course. And I'm not done yet. I want to talk about your team. Your team is phenomenal. And again, not just saying this, the way you've used social media to your benefit to engage that younger vote out here in Pennsylvania and really get your pro-democracy message across throughout the entire country has been something that's been so amazing and missing in this country. It's something that I think we pride ourselves with Midas Touch, how we're able to get our messages out via TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or YouTube. Thank you. We have a lot of great folks working for us. And by the way, not everybody working on our campaign has a political background, which I think has actually served us really well that we've got a big, big, broad group. So we got some folks who, you know, probably had a drink or two at the bar at Old Epic Grill in D.C., but then we also got

a few folks who have never been involved in politics. And I think that works really well for our campaign. And our theory is you just got to meet people where they are. And if they're online, they're in their communities, they're at their doors. We want to meet you where you are. And we want to have a conversation with you about how we can make your life a little bit better here in Pennsylvania. And I think you also just recently launched an app. Can you tell us more about that? Yeah, man, I have an app. How about that? That's awesome.

That's fancy. That's what I'm saying. No one is doing this shit. This is innovative shit right here. It's very cool. If you go to the Apple store and just search for who kicked Jordy's ass in basketball,

you'll see my app pop up. That comes up? You have that as a tag? That's a tag, yeah. That's good. Yeah, but no, no, no. Grab the app in up. That comes up. You have that as a tag. That's a tag. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. But no, no, no. Grab the app in the Google Play Store or the app store. But the point of the app is not just to throw a bunch of press releases at you about stuff we've done, but actually, it's all about engagement, how you can get engaged in your community from getting a free

lawn sign to put on your lawn, to knocking on doors, to sending texts, to getting involved in Students for Shapiro, whatever the case may be. It's an action-based app. And so we're really excited to have it. And even if you're not from Pennsylvania, you can still download it and you can still help us out from wherever you are. I love it. I love it. And then just to get onto a more serious note here before Ben and Brett kick me off the podcast. We're good. No, but seriously, Mastriano was in my neck of the woods not too long ago. And Ron DeSantis actually flew down over here to help promote his campaign, if you will. What does that say to you that a guy like Ron DeSantis coming to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to come into Pittsburgh to help

Mastriano's campaign? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it probably says more about Ron DeSantis' desperate attempt to court the extreme than it says about my opponent. But listen, I mean, I think a lot of people look at what Ron DeSantis has brought to Florida as just total chaos, right? I don't think we want that kind of chaos. Look, we have heard from CEOs in Pennsylvania who have said if Doug Mastriano is governor and bans abortion, tries to ban marriage equality, they're going to take their jobs out of the Commonwealth, right? It's just going to bring a level of chaos into Pennsylvania.

And, you know, there you got Ron DeSantis, pardon me, you got Mastriano saying, I want to be a governor like DeSantis. I think what that means is I'm going to bring more chaos into the Commonwealth. And I don't think that's what anybody wants. I think folks want calm. They want government to work. They want it to be bipartisan. And you know what, guys, they want their leaders to get shit done, not to attack them. And that is what I bring to the table. I've got a lot of experience in getting things done and bringing people together to make progress. So before you came on, Josh, I told Jordy, I said, we should do a shirt saying, I said, I told Jordy, I said, we need literally right

before you went on. I said, Jordy, we should do a shirt, get shit done. You know what Jordy said? And this just goes to speak to, you know, Jordy and his basketball skills as well. Jordy goes, I think that that is not a good idea for a t-shirt, Ben. Jordy, just valid. You didn't even know Josh and I didn't coordinate that. We did not. You and Josh are in a first name, but you and the attorney general are in a first name. So attorney general Shapiro, before we go and we have guests on, like you with all of your accomplishments, we just want to, a lot, a lot of times in these interviews get asked all the same questions.

You know, is there any question that we haven't asked that you haven't gotten asked that you just want to say, here's something that I really wanted to speak to Pennsylvanians about that I think is being not spoken about enough? Yeah. I mean, first of all, I think you guys ask good questions and you keep it light, which I appreciate. You know, we didn't talk about democracy. And that's something that's on my mind a lot as I travel across Pennsylvania. You know, this is the birthplace of our democracy. And I think Pennsylvanians have a unique responsibility to defend it, to make sure that it continues.

We're 246 years into this great experiment. And for 246 years, when you look at the story, the arc of our democracy, the chapters that have been written, many of them have taken on, many of these chapters have taken on a similar theme. We take a couple steps forward and we get knocked back a little bit. But each chapter ends with us making forward progress, with forward momentum, with progress. We're in the midst of writing a chapter right now in year 246, where we've gotten knocked back. For the first time, the Supreme Court of the United States has taken away a right from

people. We find ourselves in a position where our politics are really frayed and there's divisions and there's all kinds of political violence that's making its way into the conversation. And I know a lot of people are kind of wondering right now how this next chapter is going to end. Is it going to end with us getting knocked back a step or is it going to end like every other chapter in the American democracy with us making forward progress? And despite all the negativity, despite the extremism on the other side, I am very, very hopeful right now. And that's because I bet on the people of Pennsylvania and the American people

to write this next chapter of forward progress, to reject this extremism and to help us move forward. And if you look at the themes in every chapter in our democracy, the stories are written not by people with titles next to their names, but by ordinary Americans rising up, demanding more, wanting change, and not accepting anything other than forward progress. And I think these midterms, especially this race for governor in Pennsylvania, is going to define how this next chapter in our democracy ends. I am hopeful and I'm optimistic it's going to end with us making forward progress. But right now it's in the hands of the good people of Pennsylvania over these next 71 days and people of the United States of America to ensure that it continues. And I'm grateful to be on the ballot. I'm grateful to be the Democratic nominee for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

And, you know, I'm also mindful that while my name is on the ballot, it's it's your rights and your future that's on the line. And the next chapter in our democracy is being written. And I think all of us, especially those who are listening to this podcast today, are going to look back on November 9th, the day after the election, and have to answer the question, what did we do to write that next chapter? And that is what's on the line right now. And that's what I want folks who are listening and watching your pod to think about. 71 days until election day. Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Democratic nominee for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thank you so much for joining us on the Midas Touch podcast. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for fighting for the people. You got it. Great to be with you guys. Appreciate you.

What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Guys, great having Josh Shapiro on the podcast. And Jordy, I think you said it best when you were just telling Josh. I mean, and Josh said it too. These aren't partisan issues anymore. These are just issues about fighting for the rights of American people and all of these

issues. And this is what we started saying when we got involved in politics in 2020, when we were not political people. I was like, wait a minute. These are political issues now that Republicans want to like lock up the head of the head of our health response to a global pandemic. That's that's that makes you a Republican. And for me to say, hey, don't lock him up, that that makes me a Democrat. Radical lefty. Radical. That's a radical. But you know what, Ben, like they just keep I love that the attorney general stated how important the idea of democracy was in this campaign, how important democracy is in this country.

Because all you see right now from the right, from these radical Republicans, is they're pushing away everybody who believes in democracy. And that includes the Republicans on their side. That includes independents. They don't even want their support. I mean, like we said earlier, Marjorie Kellogg Green says we don't want to go after independence. They just want to be an authoritarian fascist party. And that's indicative of Donald Trump's statements that we saw today where he even said, you know, reinstate me as president immediately. What we were talking about before we brought Josh on.

Lunacy. Just say it like lunacy. It's pure lunacy. And if they want to run on reinstate Donald Trump, the 2020 election, Fauci, the fun FBI, please do that. And we will continue to fight for the American people and what actually matters. And the fact that the media acts like, oh, well, the Republicans are these positions, the Democrats are those positions. And I go, these Republican positions are extreme, fascist, crazy, wild, anti-American positions. Before we go, I also want to talk about the issues relating to the search warrant just very, very briefly, right? And to put this just in full

context, there's a magistrate judge out of the Southern District of Florida. A magistrate judge is different than an Article III federal judge. Article III federal judges appoint magistrates, but it's the role of the magistrate to do things like sign off on search warrants. And that's what the magistrate Judge Reinhart did on August 5th. The search warrant was executed on August 8th. Right. For all the whining and complaining that Trump and his radical right extremists who go on Fox News do for all of the whining, they filed no documents before Judge Reinhart. The most simple basic move that you would do as a lawyer, literally 101, would be the moment a search was taking place.

Right. If you thought something wrong was happening, what do you do? You go to Judge Reinhart, the magistrate, and you file something immediately. That's what you do. You say, my rights are being violated. Here's how. Here's why. You do a declaration and you put the facts forward. That's not what Trump did. Instead, they it's supposed to be random, but they drew a judge who is a Trump appointed judge from 2020, Judge Eileen Cannon. And they wrote this made up motion for judicial oversight. They asked Judge Cannon, can you appoint a special master? And all a special master is, is just an independent person to review records and review documents. So when people talk about what's a special master, that's what it is. The judge didn't even really know what they filed when they filed the first one on like August 22nd, asked that they file a supplemental brief. So Trump filed a supplemental brief on August 26th.

I read it and it still was a very, it's an emotion that didn't make any sense. There's no declarations, there's no affidavits, like nothing under penalty of perjury. There's nothing that emotion would normally be accompanied by when you're asking for relief. It's just like a letter to the judge. Dear judge, can you give me this? That's not the way our federal system works. Our federal courts is we have to file motions. There's like steps and procedures. Ridiculous Hail Mary, like bullshit. In any event, what I was always saying is even if the special master, if a judge considers a special master, the government's already looked at all the documents. You filed this thing three weeks after that.

We're four weeks after the Warren is August 8th. We're August 29th right now when we're recording this podcast. And this judge kind of showing that the judge doesn't really even understand the law. She's one of these young appointees that Trump appointed. She was not even a partner at her law firm. And she was appointed by Trump in 2020, a member of the federal side, a few years older than me, was never a partner at the law firm. And her order basically said over the weekend that she would consider appointing a special master. And so she asked

the federal government to respond by August 30th, and that she would hold a hearing on September 1st. Now, the federal government wasn't even served with whatever Trump's motion is. So the fact that the judge is asking a party that didn't even get service, like, you know, the movies or the, you see it on TV, there's a process server, like there's steps you have to take to file. I've seen the government express. I know how it works. The government didn't even take the steps to file it. But so she goes, well, I would be considering appointing a special master. And so what'd the government do? As of this recording earlier in the morning, the government filed a document and they basically said, judge,

guess what? We're happy to respond more fully to you, but we've looked through all of these documents already. The documents are now with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, ODNI. They're looking to see how much of our nation's secrets have been compromised. And in terms of issues of privilege, this small group of potentially privileged documents, guess where that set out what we were going to do? In the freaking search warrant before Judge Reinhart, where we listed the procedures,

there was going to be a filter team that looked at it and they're done with their work already. So we'll file something, Judge, but we're done looking at these documents. So we're not really sure the utility of what a search warrant, what a special master with the search warrant would even do here. But the fact that the judge would even consider a special master, these are top secret sensitive

compartmented information. You have to have the highest level of clearance to look at it, even look at him, even look at him. And Trump's thought anyway, I wanted to give everybody that update, though, right there. And then what was Lindsey Graham's response to all of this, which is going on as all of their lies have been debunked? Their basic response is always there's going to be a riot. There's going to be a riot. These are the least law and order people that there is. Think about Carrie Lake. You think about what they're talking about. Lesbian dance theory. Big dick energy. You have Don Trump Jr. His response to the search warrant being redacted.

His response. He does a redaction over his dad's genitals in a photo. Normal family stuff. And he goes father something. Normal father stuff. And he goes redact this. That's his response to the FBI. I mean, and these are the leaders of the Republican Party. I mean, strange, strange stuff. And he goes, redact this. That's his response to the FBI. I mean, and these

are the leaders of the Republican Party. I mean, strange, strange stuff. And then the Republican Party goes, you need to not redact the affidavit, unredact everything. OK, well, we unredact the part of Kash Patel's name because Kash Patel, what Trump's lackey, has been on TV talking about what he did. Can we play this clip, the side-by-side? Play this clip before we sign it. Yeah, play this clip. Now they're trying to hide behind this magistrate judge who is going to supposedly play this game of redactions.

We saw it in Russiagate. And when I was a deputy DNI, we lifted all those redactions from the Russiagate docks. And what do we see, Mark? Corruption. FBI and DOJ corruption and breaking of the law. And then DOJ left Cash's name unredacted, thereby endangering a witness. And they wonder why people think there's a double standard. All right. I mean, if that doesn't show you that they're just scrambling for a legal theory,

I'm not one to normally comment on looks, but I feel like the word pinhead was named after Trey Gowdy here. He's just the strangest looking man on the planet. You have Kash Patel who always has his eyes bulging out of his head. You cannot find a frame of Kash Patel in which he does not look guilty of something is the way his facial impression always is. But you have his legal team just scrambling now. We have all these reports of Donald Trump's inner circle just freaking out about what's going to come next. I think Trump knows that his back's against the wall, that he's in a lot of trouble here. And so his last resort and the last resort of these MAGA Republicans is

lash out, burn it all down, call for riots, call for an insurrection in the country, call for an insurrection within the FBI, try for an insurrection within the FBI, try to get an uprising within the FBI and the lower ranks of the FBI against the higher ranks of the FBI. It's really despicable. You know what you say, Brett, as you say it, it literally follows the exact same pattern as January 6th. To a T, Ben. And you know what, you could even swap out the characters, right? We were speaking about, I don't think it was on this podcast, but I think it was on one of our YouTube hits, Jenna Ellis, the lawyer most famous for being farted on by Rudy Giuliani

and getting COVID. We replaced those horrific lawyers that Trump had then with now the new cast of characters of the Christina Bob and the Alina Haba and the like. It's the same exact thing with different characters. It's like a reboot of season one of The Insurrection. Yeah, season two of The Insurrection. This is season two of The Insurrection featuring Alina Haba in the role of Jenna Ellis. But the difference, everybody, Donald Trump is not president of the United States.

President Biden is president of the United States. Merrick Garland is the attorney general of the United States. And justice is coming, folks. I know it's going slow for a lot of you, but you see the wheels turning. Justice is coming. And that's why you are seeing these MAGA Republican politicians lashing out the way they are. Couldn't say it better. Jordy, tell us about the YouTube site. Look, this is what I want to say to our listeners and our watchers right now. And honestly, I'm not even asking you anymore. I'm telling you. Look, we are unapologetically

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